Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Naples (Italy) – Intellectual life – 15th century »

A Diary of a Journey to Italy and Switzerland in 1815–1816 written by Rozalia Dunin-Borkowska is one of few preserved descriptions of a journey to Italy made by a Polish woman in the early 19th century. Rozalia and her husband Stanisław embarked on their expedition on 27 May 1815 in Lvov; they went to Italy and spent nine months there, from October 1815 to July 1816. The Italian tour started in Venice and included Padua, Bologna, Florence (twice), Rome, Naples, Milan and Geneva. The spouses spent the journey actively although their main goal was to learn about the culture of the Italian Peninsula. Undoubtedly, their time in Italy was filled with admiring the works of art and visiting the most famous art galleries in almost every city on the itinerary. Consequently, the journal is full of reflections on the aesthetic value of Italian works of art. Rozalia Dunin-Borkowska was an informed traveller: while she admired the sights and paintings, sculptures and other works of art, she did that in a thoughtful way. She needed quality time to form her own opinions. Her journal demonstrates very well that visiting foreign countries was an intellectually stimulating experience. Getting to know a new culture significantly broadened the horizons of 24-year-old Rozalia. As her journal suggests, she was well-prepared for her European journey. The outstanding lesson that she learnt allowed her to reap the rewards of the tour and satisfy her intellectual aspirations. The Diary is a great source of experience accumulated by a Polish traveller; it provides an opportunity to find out about Rozalia’s cultural life, her preparation for the journey and how the trip affected her. Furthermore, Dunin-Borkowska’s testimony was compared with Katarzyna Platerowa’s and Teofilia Morawska’s diaries due to the fact that all three of them shared certain common features. Namely, their cultural background, material status and, most importantly, the travel itinerary. They were all well prepared for their respective journeys; they were also well educated, fluent in foreign languages and, above all, they were curious about the world and interested in learning about a new culture. Each of these travellers was influenced by the European journey which provided educational values combined with unforgettable experiences.

Prenant appui sur une historicisation critique des postulats méthodologiques et idéologiques au fondement des catégories d’humanisme civique et de républicanisme, la thèse entend renoncer à une lecture uniquement théorique de l’œuvre des humanistes florentins et restituer aux textes leur statut d’énoncés historiques. L’enjeu est de redessiner les lignes portantes d’une tradition civile et républicaine propre à la réalité florentine dont les penseurs des guerres d’Italie (Savonarole, Guichardin, Machiavel) seront les dépositaires critiques. Un travail d’interprétation de la correspondance familière de Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) constitue le socle de la recherche et fait apparaître la dimension juridique de la pensée du chancelier, et ce à double titre : d’une part elle révèle l’omniprésence d’un lexique juridique qui fournit l’essentiel de l’arsenal interprétatif de l’analyse politique, et d’autre part, elle définit un « office d’exhortation » qui constitue la théorie politique de Salutati non pas simplement comme une rhétorique propagandiste mais aussi comme un discours réformateur. L’apport de Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) est ainsi réévalué dans le sillage de l’humanisme politique de Salutati, et se distingue de ce dernier surtout par la valeur nouvelle accordée à l’histoire dans l’élaboration d’une langue et d’une science de la vie civile
Starting from a critical historicization of the methodological and ideological foundations of categories such as civic humanism and republicanism, this thesis investigates the works of the Florentine humanists not only from the point of view of political theory but also in relation to their historical significance. The aim is to redefine the structural lines of a republican tradition characteristic of Florentine history, a tradition which the thinkers of the Italian Wars (Savonarola, Guicciardini, Machiavelli) inherited and criticized. An extensive reading of the private letters by Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) constitutes the central part of this work and reveals the juridical character of the Chancellor’s thought : on the one hand, the juridical vocabulary is omnipresent in the letters and provides the core of the hermeneutic tools necessary to political analysis ; on the other hand, it helps defining an « office of exhortation » which discloses Salutati’s urge for reform rather than his role of propagandist. New light is then shed on Leonardo Bruni’s contribution to political thought as Bruni is seen following the path of Salutati’s political humanism. Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444), in comparison with his master, stresses the superiority of history, but finds himself equally involved in the formulation of a language and a science of political life

Duke Humphrey of Gloucester is often given credit for the renaissance of English learning in the fifteenth century. It is true that the donations of books he made to Oxford, his patronage of English and Italian writers, and his patronage of administrators who had humanist training resulted in the transmittal of humanist values to England. But is it also true that these accomplishments were mainly the by-product of his self-aggrandizing style, rather than a conscious effort on the duke's part to promote learning. The duke, however, does deserve recognition for what he unwittingly may have done.

Defence date: 26 October 2009
Examining Board: Prof. Martin van Gelderen (EUI) - supervisor; Prof. Anthony Molho (EUI); Prof. Riccardo Fubini (University of Florence); Prof. Thomas Kaufmann (University of Göttingen).
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The present study returns to Giovanni Gioviano Pontano's role as a thinker and philosopher. It is based on the treatises and tracts Pontano wrote, to which scant attention has been paid until now, but also on his ad hoc political writings and his better known dialogues and poems. It moves between different fields of inquiry including history, philosophy, and literature, trying to represent Pontano's thought not only in its doctrinal aspects, but in a more comprehensive and contextualized perspective. Within this perspective, his thought will appear as mercurial as Pontano himself. It is not a set of explicit, philosophical doctrines that can be described within a coherent theoretical framework, but a cluster of different thoughts, attitudes, and practices.