Francesco Maria Pratilli

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Francesco Maria Pratilli (1689–1763) was an Italian priest, scholar, antiquarian, whose name is known, from the 19th century, for being involved in a vast series of skilled forgeries.

Life and works[edit]

Born in Santa Maria in Сapuа, where he was canon, he lived mostly in Naples where he died. King Charles III of Bourbon made him a member of the Accademia Ercolanese.

Works[edit]

His writings span both ecclesiastical, theological, numismatic topics, often disseminated by his historical forgeries.[1][2]

Among his works are:

  • Della Via Appia, libro IV, Naples, 1745.
  • Lettera sopra una moneta singolare del tiranno Giovanni, Naples 1748.
  • Dissertazione su i consolari della Campania, Naples, 1757.
  • Della Metropolis ecclesiastica della chiesa di Capua, Naples 1758.
  • Relazione della concessione de' pontificati fatta da Benedetto XIII al capitolo di Capua, Naples, 1725.
  • Lettera sopra un antico marino in cui si fa parola di Giove Ortense, volumen 28 della raccolta del Calogera.
  • Lettera sur l'antico equatutico.
  • Lettera sur una moneta di Guglielmo II il Buono.
  • Lettera sur la colonia in Bauli.
  • Vita di Camillo Pellegrino-De monasterio Theanensi (volumen 1 della Historia principum Longobardorum).
  • De familia et patria Divi Thomae de Aquino.
  • De Ludovico Imperator Augusti captivate-De Liburia.
  • Chronicon Cavense, an alleged 12th century chronicle, which in 1847, due to the conclusive work of Pertz and Köpke,[3] it revealed to be "one of the most audacious forgeries of the eighteenth century".[4]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Herbert Bloch, Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages, Vol. 1, Harvard University Press, 1986 ISBN 978-0-674-58655-0 (p. 222-224)
  2. ^ Nicola Cilento, Il falsario della storia dei Longobardi meridionali: Francesco Maria Pratilli (1689-1763) in Italia meridionale longobarda, Riccardo Ricciardi editore, Milano-Napoli, 1971, 2a ed., pp. 35-51
  3. ^ Georg Heinrich Pertz e Rudolf Köpke, Über das Chronicon Cavense und andere von Pratillo herausgegebene Quellenschriften, in "Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde", IX (1847), Hannover, pp. 1-239
  4. ^ Herbert Bloch, Monte Cassino in the Middle Ages, Vol. 1, Harvard University Press, 1986 ISBN 978-0-674-58655-0 (p. 222)

References[edit]