Page "Poet laureate" Paragraph 2

In ancient Greece the laurel was sacred to the god Apollo, and was used to form a crown or wreath of honour for poets and heroes.

This custom, first revived in Padua for Albertino Mussato, was followed by Petrarch's own crowning ceremony in the audience hall of the medieval senatorial palazzo on the Campidoglio on the 8th of April 1341.

For lack of detailed knowledge on Roman precedents, these ceremonies took on the character of doctoral candidatures.