The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance
A Sourcebook, Second Edition

Kenneth R. Bartlett (Edited by)

9781442604858

Paperback / softback, published 30 June 2011

320 pages
23.6 x 19.6 x 2.5 cm, 0.72 kg

The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance brings together a selection of primary source documents designed to introduce students to the richness of the period. For this edition, a new chapter on Dante and his time provides a useful transition to the Renaissance from the culture of the Middle Ages. There are also new selections on warfare, education, Florence, humanism, the Church, and the later Renaissance. The introductions to the readings are revised, and an essay on how to read historical documents is included.

Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
How to Read a Historical Document

1.Introduction to the Italian Renaissance

Introduction: The Renaissance
The Classical Heritage
Quintilian: On the Early Education of the Citizen-Orator
Cicero: The Orator
Brutus
On Duties

2. Dante and Medieval Italy

Introduction
Dante's Contemporaries
Brunetto Latini: Proem to the Tesoretto
Rustico di Filippo: "
On the Illness of a Little Girl"

"
Portrait of Messerino de'Caponsacchi"

Guido Cavalcanti: "
To Dante"

Cino da Pistoia: "
To Dante, on the Death of Beatrice"

Dante Alighieri: Inferno, Canto I, Canto V
Paradiso, Canto XV, Canto XVI

3. Petrarch

Introduction
Letter to Posterity
The Ascent of Mount Ventoux
Letter to the Shade of Cicero
On His Own Ignorance

4. Florence in the Renaissance

Introduction
Giovanni Villani: Selections from The Chronicle of Giovanni Villani: Villani Writes His Chronicle
The Rebuilding of Florence after 1293
The Black Death
Fire
Famine
Flood
Plague
Flagellants
The City
Giovanni Boccaccio: A Description of the Plague from the Decameron
Selections from The Life of Dante: Proem
Family Cares, Honors, and Exile of Dante
Rebuke of the Florentines
Short Documents Illustrating Guild, Political, and Commercial Activity
Guelfs and Ghibellines, 1347
The Aftermath of the Ciompi Revolt: A Community in Disorder, 1382
The Decline of the Guelf Party, 1413
Guild Corporations: Wine Merchants
Guild Philanthropy
The Catasto of 1427: The Declaration of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sculptor
Benedetto Dei: Letter to a Venetian
Leonardo Bruni: The Events of 1292-93
Speech of Giano della Bella

5. Humanism

Introduction
Coluccio Salutati: Letter to Peregrino Zambeccari
Vespasiano da Bisticci: From Vespasiano's Lives
Poggio Bracciolini
Niccolò Niccoli
Lorenzo Valla: The Glory of the Latin Language
Leonardo Bruni: History of Florence: The Struggle against the Visconti, From Book Twelve
The Life of Dante
Isotta Nogarola: Of the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve

6. Florentine Neoplatonism and Mysticism

Introduction
Marsilio Ficino: Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love
On the Two Origins of Love and the Double Venus
On the Painting of Love
How the Soul Is Raised from the Beauty of the Body to the Beauty of God
How God Is to Be Loved
Selections from His Letters: On Law and Justice
On the Duty of a Citizen
The Astonishing Glories of Lorenzo de'Medici
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of Man
Angelo Poliziano: Selections from Stanzas on the Occasion of the Jousts of Giuliano de'Medici

7. Marriage, the Family, and Women

Introduction
Francesco Barbaro: Selections from On Wifely Duties: On the Faculty of Obedience
On Love
On Moderation
On the Education of Children
Leon Battista Alberti: The Family in Renaissance Florence
Marriage and the Family in Renaissance Florence
The Marriages of Gregorio Dati
Two Marriages in the Valori Family, 1452 and 1476
Marriage Negotiations: The Del Bene, 1381
Marriage Neotiations: The Strozzi, 1464-65
Illegitimacy and Marriage, 1355
A Broken Marriage, 1377
The Children of Gregorio Dati, 1404
Niccolo Machiavelli: Selections from Mandragola
Baldassare Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier
Laura Cereta: Letter to Augustinius Aemilius: Curse against the Ornamentation of Women
Documents Illustrating the Lives of Poor and Marginal Women in Renaissance Florence
The Establishment of Communal Brothels, 1415
Profits of Prostitution, 1427 and 1433
Prostitutes and the Courts, 1398-1400
The Recruitment of Prostitutes, 1379
A Panderer's Career
The Story of the Servant Girl Nencia
The Tribulations of a Slave Girl
A Witch's Career

8. Art and Architecture

Introduction
Filippo Brunelleschi
Mariano Taccola: A Speech by Brunelleschi
The Competition for the Baptistry Doors
Lorenzo Ghiberti
Antonio Manetti
Girogio Vasari
Il Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto): Contract of Pinturicchio with Cardinal Francesco de'Todeschini-Piccolomini for Decorating the Library in Siena Cathedral, 29 June 1502
Isabella d'Este
Pietro Vanucci Perugino: Instructions of Isabella d'Este to Perugino, 19 January 1503
Letter of Perugino to Isabella d'Este, 10 December 1503
Letter of Isabella d'Este to Perugino, 12 January 1504
Letter of Perugino to Isabella d'Este, 24 January 1504
Leon Battista Alberti: On Painting and on Sculpture
On Architecture
Leonardo da Vinci: Selections from the Notebooks

9. Learning and Education

Introduction
Pietro Paolo Vergerio: Concerning Liberal Studies
Leonardo Bruni: A Letter to Battista Malatesta on the Study of Literature
Battista Guarino: On the Means of Teaching and Learning
Coluccio Salutati: Letter to Caterina di Messer Vieri di Donatino d'Arezzo
Laura Cereta: Letter to Bibulus Sempronius: A Defense of the Liberal Instruction of Women
Letter to Lucilia Vernacular: Against Women Who Disparage Learned Women

10. The Church and the Papacy

Introduction
Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pius II): The Election of Pope Pius II
Lorenzo Valla: The Principal Arguments from the Falsely-Believed and Forged Donation of Constantine
Roderigo Borgia (Alexander VI): Selections from Pope Alexander VI and His Court
The Accession of Alexander VI
The Year of the Jubilee
The Death and Funeral of Alexander
Girolamo Savonarola: "
O Soul, By Sin Made Blind"

A Preacher of Reform
Selections from a Draft Constitution for Florence
Francesco Guicciardini: Savonarola, a Portrait
Antonio Alamanni: Carnival Song: "
The Triumph of Death"

Gregorio Dati: Individual Piety: Selections from the Ricordanze
Michelangelo Buonarroti: "
Love's Justification"

"
To Vittoria Colonna: The Model and the Statue"


11. Life in Renaissance Italy

Introduction
The Elite
Pietro Aretino: Letter to Messer Giannantonio Da Foligno
Letter to Messer Domenico Bollani
Letter to Messer Simone Bianco
Michelangelo Buonarroti: Letter to Tommaso Cavalieri
Niccolo Machiavelli: Letter to Francesco Vettori (1513)
Letter to Francesco Vettori (1514)
Lorenzo de'Medici: "
Song for Dance"

"
Song of Girls and of Cicadas"

Francesco Guicciardini: A Portrait of Lorenzo de'Medici
Johannes Burchardus: Life in Papal Rome During the Reign of Alexander VI
Giovanni Boccaccio: The Tale of Andreuccio
The Poor
Pensions for Retired Employees, 1395
Plague, Famine, and Civil Disorder
Appeal for Tax Relief, 1369
Justice for the Poor, 1367
The Condemnation of a Labor Organizer, 1345
The Demands of the Ciompi, 1378
Warfare
Alessandro Benedetti: Diary of the Caroline War
Francesco Guicciardini: The Formidable French Artillery and Troops Compared with the Italian Forces
Character of Prospero Colonna
Changes in the Nature of Warfare

12. The Late Italian Renaissance

Introduction
Francesco Guicciardini: Selections from Maxims and Reflections
Giovanni Della Casa: Selections from Galateo
Giorgio Vasari: Selections from The Lives of the Artists: The Life of Raphael of Urbino, Painter and Architect, 1483-1520
The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine Painter, Sculptor, and Architect, 1475-1564
Benvenuto Cellini: Selections from The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
Girolamo Cardano: On Himself and His Life


Source Credits