Paolo Sarpi

Paolo Sarpi was a Venetian historian, prelate, scientist, canon lawyer, polymath and statesman active on behalf of the Venetian Republic during the period of its successful defiance of the papal interdict (1605–1607) and its war (1615–1617) with Austria over the Uskok pirates. His writings, frankly polemical and highly critical of the Catholic Church and its Scholastic tradition, "inspired both Hobbes and Edward Gibbon in their own historical debunkings of priestcraft." Sarpi's major work, the History of the Council of Trent (1619), was published in London in 1619; other works: a History of Ecclesiastical Benefices, History of the Interdict and his Supplement to the History of the Uskoks, appeared posthumously. Organized around single topics, they are early examples of the genre of the historical monograph.

14 August 1552

Born on the same birth day (14 August): Amaza Lee Meredith • Antonio Fargas • Arthur Jeffrey Dempster • Ben Sidran • Braian Rodríguez • Clay Buchholz • Cosimo III de' Medici • Dick Tiger • Ernest Thayer • Georges Prêtre • James Horner • Juan Pierre • Magic Johnson • Margaret Lindsay Huggins • Mstislav Dobuzhinsky • Peter Franzén • Pope Pius VII • Richard Freitag

Born in the same month (August 1552): Lavinia Fontana • Naushah Ganj Bakhsh