Джироламо Маджи: Итальян ғалымы, заңгер және ақынның өмірі мен еңбектері

Italian scholar, jurist, and poet
Girolamo Maggi (1523, in Anghiari – 27 March 1572 in Constantinople), also known by his Latin name Hieronymus Magius, was an Italian scholar, jurist, poet, military engineer, urban planner, philologist, archaeologist, mathematician, and naturalist who studied at Bologna under Francis Robortello. He authored several works, including a collection of poems on the Flemish wars, (Cinque primi canti della guerra di Fiandra, 1551), one detailing military fortifications (Della fortificatione delle città, by his friend Giacomo Fusto Castriotto, but edited, annotated, and published posthumously by Maggi in 1564), and several on the subject of philosophy.

Maggi was born in Anghiari, Tuscany. Little is known about his youth. His year of birth is unknown; several authors have speculated, based on varying access to information. Maggi specifically mentioned how, in infancy, he was attacked by the same pestilence which, in 1563, he states was the most recent one to occur. This was most likely the black death of 1527 spread by Charles V's Protestant mercenaries (Landsknechts) when they defeated the French and pillaged the Vatican, but may have been one of the following year or of three years later. His parents were Paolo and Luisa, who quickly left him an orphan. As a young man, Maggi studied oratory with Pierantonio Ghezzi from Laterina, a master of Latin. Afterwards, to proceed with the then popular studies, he went at first to the nearby University of Perugia, then to that of Pisa, and finally to that of Bologna. In Pisa, he attended the lectures of the famous professor of Latin and Greek oratory, Francis Robortello, who was a faculty member from 1543 to 1549.

He was a judge and military defense engineer in Famagusta on Cyprus when the island was invaded by Ottoman Turks in 1571. Besieged by the Turks, he invented machines to defend Famagusta against their attacks. When the island was conquered, Maggi was sent to the dungeons at Constantinople where, locked in chains, he wrote from memory two detailed treatises, De tintinnabulis, on bells and carillons, and the explicitly illustrated De equuleo, on torture devices. In attempts to be freed, he dedicated the first treatise to Carolus Rym (Charles Ramire), ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, and the second treatise to François de Noailles, bishop of Aire and ambassador to the King of France. They were pleased with his works, and endeavoured to obtain his release. Their efforts, however, were brought to light as he was being released to the Italian ambassador. The prison captain ordered him to be detained and executed by strangulation. His two treatises were published posthumously in 1608 and 1609, respectively.