Civilization of the Italian Renaissance

Kenneth R. Bartlett is Professor of History and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The English in Italy 1525–1558: A Study in Culture and Politics (1991), The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook (2011), and A Short History of the Italian Renaissance (2013).

• Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First EditionHow to Read a Historical Document 1.Introduction to the Italian Renaissance Introduction: The Renaissance The Classical HeritageQuintilian: On the Early Education of the Citizen-OratorCicero: The Orator; Brutus; On Duties 2. Dante and Medieval Italy Introduction Dante's Contemporaries Brunetto Latini: Proem to the TesorettoRustico 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 IntroductionLetter to Posterity; The Ascent of Mount Ventoux; Letter to the Shade of Cicero; On His Own Ignorance 4. Florence in the Renaissance IntroductionGiovanni 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 CityGiovanni 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 FlorentinesShort Documents Illustrating Guild, Political, and Commercial ActivityGuelfs and Ghibellines, 1347The Aftermath of the Ciompi Revolt: A Community in Disorder, 1382The Decline of the Guelf Party, 1413Guild Corporations: Wine Merchants Guild Philanthropy The Catasto of 1427: The Declaration of Lorenzo Ghiberti, SculptorBenedetto Dei: Letter to a VenetianLeonardo Bruni: The Events of 1292-93; Speech of Giano della Bella 5. Humanism IntroductionColuccio Salutati: Letter to Peregrino ZambeccariVespasiano da Bisticci: From Vespasiano's Lives; Poggio Bracciolini; Niccolò Niccoli Lorenzo Valla: The Glory of the Latin LanguageLeonardo Bruni: History of Florence: The Struggle against the Visconti, From Book Twelve; The Life of DanteIsotta Nogarola: Of the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve 6. Florentine Neoplatonism and Mysticism IntroductionMarsilio 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'MediciGiovanni Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of ManAngelo Poliziano: Selections from Stanzas on the Occasion of the Jousts of Giuliano de'Medici 7. Marriage, the Family, and Women IntroductionFrancesco Barbaro: Selections from On Wifely Duties: On the Faculty of Obedience; On Love; On Moderation; On the Education of ChildrenLeon Battista Alberti: The Family in Renaissance FlorenceMarriage and the Family in Renaissance FlorenceThe Marriages of Gregorio DatiTwo Marriages in the Valori Family, 1452 and 1476Marriage Negotiations: The Del Bene, 1381Marriage Neotiations: The Strozzi, 1464-65 Illegitimacy and Marriage, 1355A Broken Marriage, 1377The Children of Gregorio Dati, 1404Niccolo Machiavelli: Selections from MandragolaBaldassare Castiglione: The Book of the CourtierLaura Cereta: Letter to Augustinius Aemilius: Curse against the Ornamentation of WomenDocuments Illustrating the Lives of Poor and Marginal Women in Renaissance FlorenceThe Establishment of Communal Brothels, 1415Profits of Prostitution, 1427 and 1433Prostitutes and the Courts, 1398-1400 The Recruitment of Prostitutes, 1379A Panderer's CareerThe Story of the Servant Girl NenciaThe Tribulations of a Slave GirlA Witch's Career 8. Art and Architecture IntroductionFilippo BrunelleschiMariano Taccola: A Speech by BrunelleschiThe 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 1502Isabella 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 1504Leon Battista Alberti: On Painting and on Sculpture; On ArchitectureLeonardo da Vinci: Selections from the Notebooks 9. Learning and Education IntroductionPietro Paolo Vergerio: Concerning Liberal StudiesLeonardo Bruni: A Letter to Battista Malatesta on the Study of LiteratureBattista Guarino: On the Means of Teaching and LearningColuccio Salutati: Letter to Caterina di Messer Vieri di Donatino d'ArezzoLaura 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 IntroductionAeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pius II): The Election of Pope Pius IILorenzo Valla: The Principal Arguments from the Falsely-Believed and Forged Donation of ConstantineRoderigo 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 AlexanderGirolamo Savonarola: "O Soul, By Sin Made Blind"; A Preacher of Reform ; Selections from a Draft Constitution for FlorenceFrancesco Guicciardini: Savonarola, a PortraitAntonio Alamanni: Carnival Song: "The Triumph of Death"Gregorio Dati: Individual Piety: Selections from the RicordanzeMichelangelo Buonarroti: "Love's Justification"; "To Vittoria Colonna: The Model and the Statue" 11. Life in Renaissance Italy IntroductionThe ElitePietro Aretino: Letter to Messer Giannantonio Da Foligno; Letter to Messer Domenico Bollani; Letter to Messer Simone Bianco Michelangelo Buonarroti: Letter to Tommaso CavalieriNiccolo 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'MediciJohannes Burchardus: Life in Papal Rome During the Reign of Alexander VIGiovanni Boccaccio: The Tale of AndreuccioThe Poor Pensions for Retired Employees, 1395Plague, Famine, and Civil DisorderAppeal for Tax Relief, 1369Justice for the Poor, 1367The Condemnation of a Labor Organizer, 1345The Demands of the Ciompi, 1378WarfareAlessandro Benedetti: Diary of the Caroline WarFrancesco 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 IntroductionFrancesco Guicciardini: Selections from Maxims and ReflectionsGiovanni Della Casa: Selections from GalateoGiorgio 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, 1475-1564Benvenuto Cellini: Selections from The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Girolamo Cardano: On Himself and His Life Source Credits