Humanism and Empire: The Imperial Ideal in Fourteenth-Century Italy
- ISBN-10
- 019166264X
- ISBN-13
- 9780191662645
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 464
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2018-02-02
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- Alexander Lee
Description
For more than a century, scholars have believed that Italian humanism was predominantly civic in outlook. Often serving in communal government, fourteenth-century humanists like Albertino Mussato and Coluccio Saltuati are said to have derived from their reading of the Latin classics a rhetoric of republican liberty that was opposed to the 'tyranny' of neighbouring signori and of the German emperors. In this ground-breaking study, Alexander Lee challenges this long-held belief. From the death of Frederick II in 1250 to the failure of Rupert of the Palatinate's ill-fated expedition in 1402, Lee argues, the humanists nurtured a consistent and powerful affection for the Holy Roman Empire. Though this was articulated in a variety of different ways, it was nevertheless driven more by political conviction than by cultural concerns. Surrounded by endless conflict - both within and between city-states - the humanists eagerly embraced the Empire as the surest guarantee of peace and liberty, and lost no opportunity to invoke its protection. Indeed, as Lee shows, the most ardent appeals to imperial authority were made not by 'signorial' humanists, but by humanists in the service of communal regimes. The first comprehensive, synoptic study of humanistic ideas of Empire in the period c.1250-1402, this volume offers a radically new interpretation of fourteenth-century political thought, and raises wide-ranging questions about the foundations of modern constitutional ideas. As such, it is essential reading not just for students of Renaissance Italy and the history of political thought, but for all those interested in understanding the origins of liberty
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2018-03
- 464 pages
- Paperback
- Oxford University Press
Similar books
-
Empire, Humanism and Rights: Collected Essays on Francisco de Vitoria
By José María BeneytoClarendon Press, Oxford Guyuk Khan (1955) Guyuk Khan's Letter to Pope Innocent IV (1246). ... 10 Dec 2018 Lorimer J (1883) The institutes of the law of nations: a treatise of the Jural relations of separate political communities, vol 2.
-
Venice's Intimate Empire: Family Life and Scholarship in the Renaissance Mediterranean
By Erin MaglaqueBoth Frank Lestringant and Tom Conley have commented on the way in which the genre of the isolario lends itself to use as a ... 2: 101–33; and Cozzi, “La politica del diritto,” in Stato società e giustizia nella Repubblica Veneta (sec.
-
The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe
By Thomas James Dandelet63 John Lynch, Spain Under the Habsburgs (Oxford: Blackwell, 1981), vol. 1, p. 95. 64 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Art of War, trans. Christopher Lynch The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe 102.
-
Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire: Towards a New Humanism
By Peter McLaren, Nathalia JaramilloArt , alienation , and the humanities : A critical engagement with Herbert Marcuse . Albany , NY . State University of New York Press . Reitz , C. ( 2003 ) . Herbert Marcuse and the new culture Wars : Campus Codes , Hate Speech ...
-
The French Imperial Nation-State: Negritude and Colonial Humanism between the Two World Wars
By Gary WilderHis name was Hanna Charley. A very bizarre man, halfmad [cinglé], but also half philosopher and halfbum [clochard], who hung outin the Latin Quarter and interrogated every black student. He had moments ofprosperity and moments ofpoverty ...
-
Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought
By Margaret MESERVED. Webb, “Andrea Biglia at Bologna, 1424–7: A Humanist Friar and the Troubles of the Church,” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 49 (1976): 41– 59. 51. Aeneas was to recall, in his De viris aetate sua claris: “Hoc tempore ...
-
Humanism & Liberty: Writings on Freedom from Fifteenth-century Florence
By Renée Neu WatkinsHumanism & Liberty: Writings on Freedom from Fifteenth-century Florence
-
Humanism and America: An Intellectual History of English Colonisation, 1500–1625
By Andrew FitzmauriceThe analysis is conducted through an interdisciplinary examination of a broad spectrum of writings on colonization, ranging from the works of Thomas More to those of the Virginia Company.
-
Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks
By Nancy BisahaThroughout, Bisaha probes these texts to reveal the significant role Renaissance writers played in shaping Western views of self and other.
-
Renaissance Civic Humanism: Reappraisals and Reflections
By James HankinsThe evolution of republican concepts compared to medieval and early modern traditions of political thought.