Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Writing History in Renaissance Italy : Leonardo Bruni and the Uses of the Past / Gary Ianziti.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance HistoryPublisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]Copyright date: ©2011Description: 1 online resourceContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674061521
  • 9780674063266
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 945.007202 21
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Bruni on Writing History -- Part one. Beginnings -- 2. The Plutarchan Option -- 3. A New Life of Cicero -- 4. Between Livy and Polybius: Bruni on the First Punic War -- Part two. Florence under the Oligarchy -- 5. Genesis of the Florentine Histories -- 6. The Florentine Histories: A Sourcebook for Statesmen -- 7. Bruni and Biography: A Life of Aristotle -- Part three. Medici Florence -- 8. Parallel Lives: Dante and Petrarch -- 9. Bruni, the Medici, and the Florentine Histories -- 10. The Florentine Histories: From Policy to Propaganda -- Part four. Late Works -- 11. A Distant Mirror: Athens, Sparta, and Thebes -- 12. Memoirs of a Humanist -- 13. Writing from Procopius -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index
Summary: Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) is widely recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. But why this recognition came about-and what it has meant for the field of historiography-has long been a matter of confusion and controversy. Writing History in Renaissance Italy offers a fresh approach to the subject by undertaking a systematic, work-by-work investigation that encompasses for the first time the full range of Bruni's output in history and biography.The study is the first to assess in detail the impact of the classical Greek historians on the development of humanist methods of historical writing. It highlights in particular the importance of Thucydides and Polybius-authors Bruni was among the first in the West to read, and whose analytical approach to politics led him in new directions. Yet the revolution in history that unfolds across the four decades covered in this study is no mere revival of classical models: Ianziti constantly monitors Bruni's position within the shifting hierarchies of power in Florence, drawing connections between his various historical works and the political uses they were meant to serve.The result is a clearer picture of what Bruni hoped to achieve, and a more precise analysis of the dynamics driving his new approach to the past. Bruni himself emerges as a protagonist of the first order, a figure whose location at the center of power was a decisive factor shaping his innovations in historical writing.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780674063266

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Bruni on Writing History -- Part one. Beginnings -- 2. The Plutarchan Option -- 3. A New Life of Cicero -- 4. Between Livy and Polybius: Bruni on the First Punic War -- Part two. Florence under the Oligarchy -- 5. Genesis of the Florentine Histories -- 6. The Florentine Histories: A Sourcebook for Statesmen -- 7. Bruni and Biography: A Life of Aristotle -- Part three. Medici Florence -- 8. Parallel Lives: Dante and Petrarch -- 9. Bruni, the Medici, and the Florentine Histories -- 10. The Florentine Histories: From Policy to Propaganda -- Part four. Late Works -- 11. A Distant Mirror: Athens, Sparta, and Thebes -- 12. Memoirs of a Humanist -- 13. Writing from Procopius -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) is widely recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. But why this recognition came about-and what it has meant for the field of historiography-has long been a matter of confusion and controversy. Writing History in Renaissance Italy offers a fresh approach to the subject by undertaking a systematic, work-by-work investigation that encompasses for the first time the full range of Bruni's output in history and biography.The study is the first to assess in detail the impact of the classical Greek historians on the development of humanist methods of historical writing. It highlights in particular the importance of Thucydides and Polybius-authors Bruni was among the first in the West to read, and whose analytical approach to politics led him in new directions. Yet the revolution in history that unfolds across the four decades covered in this study is no mere revival of classical models: Ianziti constantly monitors Bruni's position within the shifting hierarchies of power in Florence, drawing connections between his various historical works and the political uses they were meant to serve.The result is a clearer picture of what Bruni hoped to achieve, and a more precise analysis of the dynamics driving his new approach to the past. Bruni himself emerges as a protagonist of the first order, a figure whose location at the center of power was a decisive factor shaping his innovations in historical writing.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)