Description
Book SynopsisThe Civilization of the Italian Renaissance brings together a selection of primary source documents designed to introduce students to the richness of the period.
Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition How to Read a Historical Document 1.Introduction to the Italian Renaissance Introduction: The Renaissance The Classical Heritage Quintilian: On the Early Education of the Citizen-Orator Cicero: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; Niccol 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
