Flavio Biondo
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Engraving by Theodor de Bry (1597)
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Born
| 1392
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Died
| June 4, 1463
(1463-06-04)
(aged 70?71)
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Scientific career
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Fields
| Humanism
and
history
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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
Forli
, in the
Romagna
region, Flavio was well schooled from an early age, studying under Ballistario of Cremona. During a brief stay in Milan, he discovered and transcribed the unique manuscript of
Cicero
's dialogue
Brutus
. He moved to
Rome
in 1433 where he began work on his writing career; he was appointed secretary to the
Cancelleria
under
Eugene IV
in 1444 and accompanied Eugene in his exile in Ferrara and Florence. After his patron's death, Flavio was employed by his papal successors,
Nicholas V
,
Callixtus III
and the humanist
Pius II
.
Archaeological works
[
edit
]
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
pagan
Rome as a model for contemporary governmental and military reforms. The book was highly influential in reviving Roman patriotism and respect for ancient Rome, while presenting the
papacy
as a continuation of the
Roman Empire
.
Historical works
[
edit
]
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
Strabo
for his model, reinstated the idea of
Italy
to include the whole of the peninsula. Through topography, he intended to link Antiquity with modern times, with descriptions of each location, the etymology of its
toponym
and its changes through time, with a synopsis of important events connected with each location. This first historical geography starts with the Roman Republic and Empire, through 400 years of barbarian invasions and an analysis of
Charlemagne
and later
Holy Roman Emperors
. He gives an excellent description of the humanist revival and restoration of the classics during the first half of the fifteenth century.
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
[
edit
]
- 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
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