In the Footsteps of the Ancients: The Origins of Humanism from Lovato to Bruni

by Ronald G. Witt

This monograph demonstrates why humanism began in Italy in the mid-thirteenth century. It considers Petrarch a third generation humanist, who christianized a secular movement. The analysis traces the beginning of humanism in poetry and its gradual penetration of other Latin literary genres, and, through stylistic analyses of texts, the extent to which imitation of the ancients produced changes in cognition and visual perception. The volume traces the link between vernacular translations and the emergence of Florence as the leader of Latin humanism by 1400 and why, limited to an elite in the fourteenth century, humanism became a major educational movement in the first decades of the fifteenth. It revises our conception of the relationship of Italian humanism to French twelfth-century humanism and of the character of early Italian humanism itself.
In the Footsteps of the Ancients is the recipient of the Jacques Barzun Prize 2000 in Cultural History of the American Philosophical Society.

Genres: Renaissance, Philosophy, History

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a genuinely crazy number of books that have been written about humanism during the Italian Renaissance. I guess it makes sense - historians often like to write about other historians, and the modern idea of history was born alongside the broader ideas of humanism. But it's still pretty daunting and it's the sort of subject that leaves you feeling like you have less and less of an idea of what's going on as you read more and more about it.

But if you were going to read one author on humanism, Ronald Witt is a pretty good choice. He's a very enjoyable and accessible writer, and this book (along with it's sort-of-prequel, The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy) is a good overview of what humanism is, where it came from, and how it developed.

Witt takes a broad view of humanism, tracing it back to the 13th century - and, if you include his other book, through pretty much the entirety of the Middle Ages. In this work, he suggests that the 'founder' of humanism in Italy was not the traditionally-accepted Petrarch and Florence but Lovati di Lovato and Padua. Lovato's more purely 'classical' tradition in poetry and history shifted in the 14th century to a classicism more overly infused with Christianity, particularly under Coluccio Salutati, the celebrated chancellor of Florence, and Petrarch. By the 15th century, humanism shifted once again (particularly under the influence of Leonardo Bruni), taking on a more civic orientation. In this last step Witt follows the ideas of Hans Baron to a certain extent, but he suggests that the shift was caused by a reinterpretation of Cicero more than any external threat from Milan.

Ronald Witt is deeply familiar with the period and the sources he's working with, and he's very good about providing lengthy excerpts from the sources he's studying. History books on humanism can occasionally take on a dusty, ivory-tower vibe, but Witt clearly loves his subject and it usually comes through in his writing.

[Daniel Schotman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the most interesting books I ever read about the rise of humanism and role within this movement of Petrarch, Salutati, Bruni, Dante, etc.

An unbelievable work of scholarship and philology. In so many ways you can feel that this book was years in the making, well overthought, primary sources studied and restudied.

The plethora of footnotes will undoubtedly set you in the direction of more interesting books and primary sources. Really have to read and reread may of them.

[Khitkhite Buri · Rating 2 out of 5]

sighs and pahs and oomphs for Cicero up on his chair in a book that is a 'chronological study of style'.