Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher.[1] He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy, and magic against all comers, for which he wrote the Oration on the Dignity of Man, which has been called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance",[2] and a key text of Renaissance humanism and of what has been called the "Hermetic Reformation".[3] He was the founder of the tradition of Christian Kabbalah, a key tenet of early modern Western esotericism. The 900 Theses was the first printed book to be universally banned by the Church.[4] Pico is sometimes seen as a proto-Protestant, because his 900 theses anticipated many Protestant views.[5]

Pico della Mirandola
Portrait from the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence
Born	(1463-02-24)24 February 1463 Mirandola, Duchy of Mirandola
Died	17 November 1494(1494-11-17) (aged 31) Florence, Republic of Florence
Education	University of Bologna, University of Ferrara, University of Padua, University of Paris
Era	Renaissance philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Renaissance philosophy Christian humanism Neoplatonism
Main interests	Politics, history, religion, esotericism
Influences Hermes Trismegistus, Plato, Aristotle, Kabbalah, Neoplatonism, Chaldean Oracles, Pseudo-Dionysius, Nicholas of Cusa, Marsilio Ficino
Influenced John Colet, Thomas Cajetan, Erasmus, Sir Thomas More