Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, count and prince of Concordia, an Italian scholar, born at Mirandola, Modena, Feb. 24,1463, died in Florence, Nov. 17, 1494. Almost from childhood he displayed an extraordinary memory. At the age of 14 he was sent to Bologna to study canon law; but he soon went to Ferrara and applied himself to philosophy, theology, and languages, acquiring a knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, and the different systems of philosophy. After mastering all the learning of the time, he went to Rome in I486, and propounded there 900 theses as subjects of controversy. His challenge was not accepted, but some of his theses were denounced to Pope Innocent VIII. as heretical; and though he ultimately proved their orthodoxy, he suffered much persecution. These trials induced him to give up the study of profane literature and to devote his attention to religion and philosophy. Resigning his principality in favor of his nephew, he lived at Florence until his death, a year before which Pope Alexander VI. absolved him of all heresy.

A collective edition of his works was published at Bologna in 1496, Venice in 1498, Strasburg in 1504, and Basel in 1557-1601.