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Pier Paolo Vergerio – The Life of a Reformer

Type of Story: Single person biography with related objects

Story Expert: Gregor Pobežin (ZRC SAZU)

Story Editors: Gregor Pobežin, Eva Mayr

Target Group: General public with an interest in the history of the 16th century, religious persecutions, and the origins of the protestant literature

Short Description: The story walks readers and viewers through the life of the 16th century jurist turned clergyman Pier Paolo Vergerio the Younger. Born in Justinopolis (present-day Koper, Slovenia), a Venetian town in Northern Istria, Vergerio became one of the most influential protestant writers of his time. By taking the reader/viewer through the main events of Vergerio's life the story delves into important aspects of not only his biography, but also the (local and Europe-wide) religious and political tensions experienced by many of his contemporaries.

Content Types and Visualizations:

  • Text: A story portrays Pier Paolo Vergerio's life, offering the relevant historical context.
  • Image: Visual representations of Vergerio's birthplace, his contemporaries and predecessors, his memorial plaque from the Church of the Assumption (Koper) exhibiting the damnatio memoriae
  • Quiz: An interactive quiz tests your knowledge on Vergerio's life and historical context.
  • Visualizations: Timeline and map visualizations enable viewers to trace significant events and milestones in Pier Paolo Vergerio's life

Special Story Features:

How is the data generated? The data has been manually generated by Gregor Pobežin and is based on his prior/ongoing research (Pobežin, 2020). The biographical data and the historical context are supported by quiz questions.

Is there anything special in the story (branch, AR, hook …)? The story has an outstanding story hook at the very beginning, enticing the viewers to pay some thought to the dire circumstances a person could find themselves in due to their special convictions. By way of this story hook it subordinates the whole story of Pier Paolo Vergerio to his eventual plight – the excommunication and his ultimate conversion to Protestantism; this way, the viewers can better appreciate the ultimate cooperation with Primož Trubar, another important Slovenian writer. The story contains the image of Vergerio's memorial plaque from the Church of the Assumption in Koper, an outstanding find a few years ago.