The German National authority file gives P’s place of origin as Castiglione del Conte in Abruzzo (now Castiglione a Casauria, prov. Pescara) and mentions, as does TUI 1584, that he was a judge in Rome. TUI 1584 adds that he was a judge of criminal cases. There is reason to question the identification of Castiglione as the one in Abruzzo. TUI 1584 says that G. was of ‘Castilionis Florentini’, which would be modern Castiglion Fiorentino (prov. Arezzo). All the previous editions that we have been able to consult (1536, 1545, 1547) simply descibe G. as ‘Castilionei’, which could be any one of a large number of places. What tips the balance in favor of Abruzzo is that the dedicatory epistles in the 1536 and a number of subsequent editions are to the archbishop of Chieti and the bishop of Fano. A stub in English Wikipedia ventures that he was born c. 1490, and states that he was a judge of heretics and witches in Rome from 1517. It links to an Italian translation by the popular modern author Guido Pagliarino of what seems to P’s own account of his career. Three of P’s works, De hereticis et sortilegiis (TUI 1584, t. 11.2), De questionibus et tortura, and De relaxatione carceratorum (TUI 1584, t. 11.1), first published together (Lyon 1536), enjoyed considerable printing success, and his ideas about inference are of some interest.

Source: CERL Thesaurus; German National authority file; Italian edit16, CNCA 5651; mentioned by M. Sammarco in DGI, s.n. Tirabosco, Marcanonio.

Entry by: CD 23.iv.2019

TUI database