Leonello was held in high regard by humanists who fantasized about him as being the patron and the defender of the arts; Leonello also symbolized the perfect model of a prince and a man of letters. Leonello's education of the new principles in the "studia humanitatais" and his bias for the arts were what allowed Leonello to develop a widespread cultural development in Ferrara. From this, he was able to decree the reformation and extension of the University of Ferrara and conveying of public and private conferences that brought scholars to come teach at the university such as Teodoro Gazs who was a master in Greek, and Basinio Basini, the Parmesan poet, who was well known from his Latin rhetoric. Leonello, for his successful peacemaking policy, was hailed as "salus Italiae" and "specs Italum", and in 1448 the mythological poem "Melegridos" – about the mythical hunt for a ferocious boar – was used as an imaginative representation to demonstrate how Leonello dealt with the policy. Leonello d' Este became known as the patron of the arts in the eyes of such humanists as Angelo Decembrio.