Monday, March 7, 2008

As you're already aware, we’ve encountered humanism at its beginning stages in the readings of Petrarch, who sets up an alternative approach to education as a rebellion against the abstractions of the scholastics. However, as we also know, he doesn’t show much interest in the social dimension of humanism; what he focuses on most is self-discovery and on learning to love God. He struggles with his own desires for fame in the world, and his love for Laura. Both of these attachments are, to him, dangerous distractions.

Civic humanism adopts the premises of Petrarchian humanism and takes them into the political and social arena. The civic humanists believe the classics are an important resource for ethical development, and continue to embrace Christianity as the ultimate good. However, their interest is in the city as a venue for human life, and political activity as a positive good. We've already seen this with Salutati's letter to Pelegrino. Both Salutati (1331-1406) and Bruni (1370-1444) were chancellors of the Florentine republic, and served as spokesmen for the Florentine government. They used their literary talents to extol the virtues of Florence and Florentine policies.

Hans Baron, a major historian of the Renaissance in the mid 20th century, argues that civic humanism was prompted by a crisis in Florentine history, at a point when Florence faced the real possibility of being swallowed up by Milan, ruled by a duke. Just on the eve of victory in 1402, Milan lost its leader, Giangaleazzo Visconti, and retreated from the field. Bruni wrote a couple of pieces in the wake of this incident, one of which is the account in his History of Florence. The dialogue with the Venetians is almost a direct reenactment of a similar dialogue from the ancient world: the Greek historian Thucydides' account of the Athenians and the Spartans before the Carthaginians. Bruni sees a similar clash in values in his own time, between tyranny and republicanism.

Bruni's Life of Dante appropriates the story of Dante's life to tell a tale of civic virtue.

Finally, we have another of Vespasiano's lives, this time of Nicolo Nicoli. What does this add to our understanding of the values of the period?

Here are some things to keep in mind when reviewing King, 75-85:

• Dignity of man. Why is it inappropriate to call this "individualism"?
• How does Gianozzo Manetti challenge the view of humanity and creation expressed in Innocent III'sDe contemptu mundi?
• What is the essence of the controversy between rhetoric and philosophy?
• How does Bruni use the distant past as a basis for lauding the excellence of Florence?

Homework Questions:

1. Begin by sketching the arguments the Milanese use in an effort to win the Venetians' support.
2. Next, do the same for the Florentines. Who has the better argument, and why?
3. What seems to be the moral lesson or ultimate point of Bruni's account of the conflict between Florence and Milan?
4. Compare some of the details and concerns Bruni reveals in his Life of Dante with the Boccaccio Life we read earlier. What is Bruni's focus?
5. Compare Vespasiano's account of Nicoli's life with that of Poggio. How does each man function as a role model, even though they followed different paths?

Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: January 23, 2008

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