Petrarca, Dante, Boccaccio, die imitatio und die Geburt der humanae litterae : Zur Handlungsdimension des 'Secretum'

The importance of Dante Alighieri’s, Francesco Petrarca’s, and Giovanni Boccaccio’s contributions to the construction of the humanae litterae are more than well known. Yet, there is still much to discover about the different positions of the three authors and about the dialogue that Petrarch and Boccaccio conducted about their famous predecessor Dante. Some undetected traces that lead us to a deeper understanding both of the “three crowns” and of their time are shown in this contribution on the actional and behavioral dimension of imitation (sequela and imitatio auctorum) in Petrarch’s ‘Secretum’.