Flavio Biondo
Flavio Biondo | |
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Born | 1392 |
Died | June 4, 1463 | (aged 70–71)
Scientific career | |
Fields | Humanism and history |
Patrons |
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Flavio Biondo (Latin Flavius Blondus) (1392 – June 4, 1463) was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian. He was one of the first historians to use a three-period division of history (Ancient, Medieval, Modern) and is known as one of the first archaeologists. Born in the capital city of
Archaeological works
Flavio published three encyclopedic works that were systematic and documented guides to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome, for which he has been called one of the first archaeologists; subsequent antiquaries and historians built on the foundations laid down by Flavio and by his older contemporary, Poggio Bracciolini. At the time the ruins of ancient Rome were overgrown and unexplored. When in 1420 Bracciolini climbed the Capitol he saw only deserted fields. The Forum, buried in eroded topsoil, was grazed by cows—the Campo Vaccino—and pigs rooted in its unweeded vegetation. Flavio and fellow humanists like Leon Battista Alberti began to explore and document the architecture, topography and history of Rome, and in the process revived a vision of Rome's former glory.
Flavio's first work was De Roma instaurata (Rome Restored, 3 vols., 1444–1448), a reconstruction of ancient Roman topography. It was and remains a highly influential humanist vision of restoring Rome to its previous heights of grandeur by recreating what Rome used to look like based on the ruins which remained. This work was the first systematic and well documented guide to the ruins of Rome, or indeed any ancient ruins.
The second was the highly popular De Roma triumphante (Rome Triumphant, 1479) about
Historical works
Biondo's greatest works were Italia illustrata (Italy Illuminated, written between 1448 and 1458, published 1474) and the Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades (Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire, written from 1439 to 1453, published in 1483).
The Italia illustrata (1474) is a geography, based on the author's personal travels, and history of fourteen Italian regions (regiones). Unlike medieval geographers, whose focus was regional, Biondo, taking
Flavio's greatest work is the Historiarum ab Inclinatione Romanorum Imperii (Venice, 1483), a history of Europe in thirty-two books, from the plunder of Rome in 410 by the Visigoths to contemporary Italy (1442). Using only the most reliable and primary sources, it used a three-period framework, with Italy reviving in Biondo's own time and breaking free of earlier trends. Leonardo Bruni also used a three-period framework in History of the Florentine People, written at about the same time as Biondo's work.
Sources
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2009) ) |
- Repertorium Blondianum [1]
- Rome Restored, Edited by Fabio Della Schiava and William McCuaig, English translation, To be announced.
- "Flavio Biondo". In Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- "Flavio Biondo" in Catholic Encyclopedia (1907).
- Castner, Catherine J. (ed., trans., comm.). Biondo Flavio's Italia illustrata: Text, translation, and commentary. Vol. I: Northern Italy. (Binghamton, NY: Global Academic Publishing, 2005).
- J. A. White (ed., trans.), Biondo Flavio, Italy Illuminated. Vol. 1: Books I-IV, I Tatti Renaissance Library 20 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005) and Italy Illuminated. Vol. 2: Books V-VIII, I Tatti Renaissance Library 75 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016)
- F. Della Schiava (ed.), Blondus Flavius, "Roma instaurata". Vol. 1, Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Biondo Flavio, 7 (Roma: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo, 2020)
External links
- De Origine et Gestis Venetorum (part of the Opera Basel 1531)
- Historiae Ab Inclinatione Romanorum Imperii (part of the Opera Basel 1531)
- Historiarum ab inclinatione romanorum imperii (Venice: Octavianus Scotus, 1483; Hain *3248)
- In Romam Instauratam
- Roma Instaurata (part of the Opera Basel 1531)
- Italia Illustrata (part of the Opera Basel 1531)
- Triumphans Roma (part of the Opera Basel 1531)
- Historiam Blondi forliviensis ab inclinatione Imperii romanorum (Naples, 1494)