To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.

The nineteenth-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt noted that Jean Buridan had climbed the same mountain a few years before and ascents accompliPetrarchd during the Middle Ages have been recorded including that of Anno II Archbishop of Cologne. In 1345 he personally discovered a collection of Cicero's letters not previously known to have existed the collection ad Atticum. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism".

Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca. Petrarch's sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry.