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How did Petrarch become connected to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna’s household?
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Petrarch
Petrarch, engraving.
Petrarch became connected to the household of Cardinal Giovanni Colonna after his father died in 1326. Following his father's death, Petrarch was finally free to abandon his legal studies and pursue his own literary interests. Upon returning to Avignon, he took minor ecclesiastical orders and entered the service of the influential Colonna family cardinal.1