Leonardo Bruni (or Leonardo Aretino) (c. 1369 – March 9, 1444), was a leading humanist, historian and a chancellor of Florence. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it The Chancellor of Florence held the most important position in the bureaucracy of the Florentine Republic but did not hold any political power He has been called the first modern historian.
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Biography
Born in Arezzo, Tuscany, Bruni was the leading pupil of Coluccio Salutati and succeeded him as chancellor from 1410 to 1411 and again from 1427 to the end of his life. Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 Coluccio Salutati ( February 16 1331 &ndash May 4 1406) was an Italian man of letters and one of the most important political and cultural leaders Bruni's time in office was not as perilous a time for Florence as a few years earlier, but it was still very involved in long running warfare. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Bruni did not lead the city to nearly the extent of his predecessor as first the Albizzi family and then the Medici family dominated the city during his time in office. The Albizzi family was a Florentine family based in Arezzo and rivals of the Medici and Alberti families Bruni has been identified by Arthur Field (see below) as a plotter against Cosimo de Medici in 1437. Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (September 27 1389 &ndash August 1 1464 was the first of the Medici political dynasty de facto rulers of Bruni died in 1444 and was succeeded in office by Carlo Marsuppini. Carlo Marsuppini (1399 - 1453 also known as Carlo Aretino and Carolus Arretinus, was a famous Renaissance humanist and chancellor of the Florentine Republic
Significance
Leonardo Bruni's most notable work is History of the Florentine People, which has been called the first modern history book. [1] Bruni was the first historian to write about the three period view of history: Antiquity, Middle Age and Modern, a concept from which the term Middle Age was coined by a contemporary Flavio Biondo. Flavio Biondo ( Latin Flavius Blondus) (1392 &ndash June 4, 1463) was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian The dates Bruni used to define the periods are not exactly what modern historians use today, but he laid the conceptual groundwork for a tripartite division of history. While it probably was not Bruni's intention to secularize history, the three period view of history is unquestionably secular and for that Bruni has been called the first modern historian. Secularism is generally the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from Religion or religious beliefs [1] The foundation of Bruni's conception can be found with Petrarch who had first written, a generation earlier, about a "Dark Age" covering the period from the time of the fall of Rome extending to the time of Petrarch. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar This article is about the phrase "Dark Age(s" as a characterization of the Early Middle Ages in Western Europe The Decline of the Roman Empire, leading to the Fall of the Roman Empire, or the Fall of Rome, was the end of the Western Roman Empire. Bruni and his fellow humanists believed they had reached the end of the Dark Age and were entering a modern period and thus logically called the intervening period a Middle Age. The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also modern times) is the period of history that followed the Middle Ages between c
It was Bruni who used the phrase studia humanitatis, meaning the study of human endeavors, as distinct from those of theology and metaphysics, which is where the term humanists comes from. The humanities are academic disciplines which study the Human condition, using methods that are primarily Analytic, Critical, or Speculative Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal
As a humanist Bruni was essential in translating many works of Plato and Aristotle. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Bruni's translations of Aristotle's Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, as well as the pseudo-Aristotelean Economics, were widely distributed in manuscript and in print. His use of Aelius Aristides' Panathenicus (Panegyric to Athens) to buttress his republican theses in the Panegyric to the City of Florence (c. Aelius Aristides (AD 117 - 181 was a popular Greek orator who lived during the Roman Empire. 1403) was instrumental in bringing the Greek historian to the attention of Renaissance political philosophers (see Hans Baron's The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance for details). Hans Baron (1900-1988 was an acclaimed German historian of political thought and literature in the Italian Renaissance
Bruni died in Florence in 1444, and is buried in an influential wall tomb by Bernardo Rossellino in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Bernardo di Matteo Gamberelli (1409 &ndash 1464 better known as Bernardo Rossellino, was an Italian sculptor and architect the elder brother of the painter The Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a Minor basilica of the [2]
Bibliography
- Latin text and English translation:
- Leonardo Bruni (April 2001). History of the Florentine People, Volume 1, Edited and Translated by James Hankins, Harvard University Press. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing. ISBN 0-674-00506-6.
- Leonardo Bruni (November 2004). History of the Florentine People, Volume 2, Edited and Translated by James Hankins, Harvard University Press. Harvard University Press ( HUP) is a Publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in Academic publishing. ISBN 0-674-01066-3.
Notes
- ^ a b James Hankins (ed. ). History of the Florentine People, Excerpts and 'Editor Introduction'.
- ^ Levey, Michael; Early Renaissance,p. Sir Michael Vincent Levey LVO (born 1927 is a British Art historian and former director of the National Gallery, London. 57-9, 1967, Penguin
References
- Gow, Andrew Colin, Gordon Griffiths. "Pope Eugenius IV and Jewish Money-Lending in Florence: the case of Salome di Bonaventura during the chancellorship of Leonardo Bruni," Renaissance Quarterly, 47,2 (1994), 282-329.
- Hankins, James: Repertorium Brunianum : a critical guide to the writings of Leonardo Bruni, Rome : Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo 1997
- "Leonardo Bruno". In Encyclopedia Britannica Online. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc
- Field, Arthur: "Leonardi Bruni, Florentine traitor? Bruni, the Medici, and an Aretine conspiracy of 1437," Renaissance Quarterly 51 (1998): 1109-50.
Latin texts online
- An vulgus et literati eodem modo per Terentii Tullique tempora Romae locuti sint
- Calphurnia et Gurgulia
- De Bello Gallico Adversus Gothos
- De studijs et litteris ad illustem dominam baptistam de malatesta tractatulus. Leipzig 1496.
- Epistola ad Baptistam de Malatestis.
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