Writing History in Renaissance Italy: Leonardo Bruni and the Uses of the Past, by Gary Ianziti
Oren Margolis
Gary Ianziti’s new book is not, per se, a study of Leonardo Bruni (c.1370–1444). Rather, it Bruni—first-rank humanist, translator Aristotle, and chancellor Florence—as writer history, its aim to push back against what Ianziti describes as two ‘diametrically opposed’ attitudes towards humanist historians: that held largely by Renaissance early modern specialists, which identifies his peers ‘the founders critical methodologies’ fundamental historiography; the ‘medievalists’, who deny such methodological rupture, see contribution humanists mainly in terms classicising language rhetoric they introduced (pp. 3–4, 7). The humanists, argues Ianziti, could do both, but these changes were accessories their real goal ‘upgrading’ historical accounts fit needs tastes readership’ (p. 4). Far from initiating linear process leading academic history-writing, historians Renaissance—despite regular emphasis on rational causation generally treatment sources—practised something quite different. Seeking show writing history Italy was, or be, moves chronologically through works most notable exponent uncover mechanics processes contemporaries actually practiced them’ 3).
The English Historical Review