Twenty questions: the gross round

[han-shahanshah]

That’s problematic.. it would be yes even if he only stayed there for a year of study, or some conference, travel across Europe.

Associated with the Catholic Church?

[Spartaculous]

Did he ever live in the territory we now know as "Italy" ?

Yes.

[Spartaculous]

That’s problematic.. it would be yes even if he only stayed there for a year of study, or some conference, travel across Europe.

Associated with the Catholic Church?

He did not hold any formal position in the Roman Catholic church (pope, bishop, priest, etc.), but did interact with church leaders (which was not always a pleasant experience for him).

[Jamiet99uk]

That’s problematic.. it would be yes even if he only stayed there for a year of study, or some conference, travel across Europe.

Nonsense. Attending a conference or travelling from A to C with a weekend layover in B does not constitute "living" in that place.

I attended an academic conference in Edinburgh a few years ago and stayed overnight.

I have friends in Edinburgh and visit them about once a year.

I have never lived in Edinburgh.

[mOctave]

Please don't count this as a question. If you feel you have to count it, then just don't answer.

By "church leaders", do you mean Roman Catholic clergy?

[Spartaculous]

That’s problematic.. it would be yes even if he only stayed there for a year of study, or some conference, travel across Europe.

Nonsense. Attending a conference or travelling from A to C with a weekend layover in B does not constitute "living" in that place.

I attended an academic conference in Edinburgh a few years ago and stayed overnight.

I have friends in Edinburgh and visit them about once a year.

I have never lived in Edinburgh.

I will clarify to offer that the person in question resided inside (current) Italy for at least 5 consecutive years.

[Spartaculous]

Please don't count this as a question. If you feel you have to count it, then just don't answer.

By "church leaders", do you mean Roman Catholic clergy?

I am not counting this as a question. The "church" in "church leaders" does refer to the Roman Catholic church. I am not Catholic myself, so I do not know everything about their hierarchy of positions, but he definitely interacted with people who would have been Roman Catholic clergy, and not just mere Roman Catholic priests.

[damo666]

Galen?

[Spartaculous]

Galen?

No. He would fall under my definition of an ancient Roman.

[damo666]

Died after 1300?

[Spartaculous]

Died after 1300?

Yes.

[DougJoe]

Free guess: Andreas Vesalius

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: Andreas Vesalius

No.

[BrianBaru]

Born in Belgium, Poland or Switzerland?

[Spartaculous]

Born in Belgium, Poland or Switzerland?

No. (As usual, I am using present-day boundaries.)

[Jamiet99uk]

1. Real dead human man.
2. Born before 1st Jan 1800
3. Not born in Asia, Africa, South America, or any island nation except the current UK or Ireland.
4. Not aristocratic.
5. Not a native speaker of a Germanic language.
6. Born in a "country" with a standardised flag.
7. Speaker of a romance language.
8. He did something that he thought was art but most people now would not classify it as "the arts".
9. Died before 1599.
10. Published writer.
11. Scientist, philosopher, or person primarily involved in the gaining of knowledge.
12. Not an ancient Roman.
13. A practitioner of medicine.
14. Lived in Italy for 5+ years of his life.
15. Interacted with the Catholic church (not always positively) but held no official position in it.
16. Died after 1300.
17. Not born in Belgium, Poland or Switzerland.

NOT

Niccolò Machiavelli
Mondino de Luzzi
Luigi Galvani
Galen
Andreas Vesalius

[han-shahanshah]

Some comments, clarifications, clues, and corrections.

4. I definitely found a picture of the flag of the nation-state he was born in (for the appropriate year) on Wikipedia, and it seems clear that the flag is representing the nation-state itself (rather than being a personal flag of the ruler of the state). Again, European political borders were somewhat fluid at the time period we are discussing, due to wars and things like that, but I will stand by my answer to Q6.

“Nation state” seems to me a pretty major clue.

[mOctave]

Was he born in a (now) Italian city with a population (at the time) of at least fifty thousand people?

[BrianBaru]

Free Guess - Leonardo da Vinci

[Spartaculous]

Was he born in a (now) Italian city with a population (at the time) of at least fifty thousand people?

Do you mind if I punt on that question and not count it towards one of the 20 allowed? I am having difficulty finding historical population data for this city during the 1300s - 1500s. Sorry to give a negative reply to your question, but this really is quite a complex situation.

Free Guess - Leonardo da Vinci

No. I think we can agree that producing arguably the world's most famous painting definitely counts as being involved in "the arts".