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121-515: Francesco Guicciardini ( Italian: [franˈtʃesko ɡwittʃarˈdiːni] ; 6 March 1483 – 22 May 1540) was an Italian historian and statesman . A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli , he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance . In his masterpiece, The History of Italy , Guicciardini paved the way for a new style in historiography with his use of government sources to support arguments and

242-594: A PhD degree for new full-time hires. A scholarly thesis, such as a doctoral dissertation, is now regarded as the baseline qualification for a professional historian. However, some historians still gain recognition based on published (academic) works and the award of fellowships by academic bodies like the Royal Historical Society . Publication is increasingly required by smaller schools, so graduate papers become journal articles and PhD dissertations become published monographs. The graduate student experience

363-577: A Scottish historian, and the Historiographer Royal published the History of Scotland 1542 – 1603 , in 1759 and his most famous work, The history of the reign of Charles V in 1769. His scholarship was painstaking for the time and he was able to access a large number of documentary sources that had previously been unstudied. He was also one of the first historians who understood the importance of general and universally applicable ideas in

484-432: A banner painted by Verrocchio , and his horse was named Morello di Vento. Piero sent Lorenzo on many important diplomatic missions when he was still a youth, including trips to Rome to meet the pope and other important religious and political figures. Lorenzo was described as rather plain of appearance and of average height, having a broad frame and short legs, dark hair and eyes, a squashed nose, short-sighted eyes and

605-409: A belief that history was a type of science. However, in the 20th century historians incorporated social science dimensions like politics, economy, and culture in their historiography, including postmodernism. Since the 1980s there has been a special interest in the memories and commemoration of past events. History by its nature is prone to continuous debate, and historians tend to be divided. There

726-465: A career that spanned much of the century, Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources ( empiricism ), an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics ( aussenpolitik ). Sources had to be hard, not speculations and rationalizations. His credo was to write history the way it was. He insisted on primary sources with proven authenticity. The term Whig history

847-684: A clear plan to stem the territorial ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV, in the name of the balance of the Italic League of 1454. For these reasons, Lorenzo was the subject of the Pazzi conspiracy (1478), in which his brother Giuliano was assassinated. The Peace of Lodi of 1454 that he supported among the various Italian states collapsed with his death. He is buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence . Lorenzo's grandfather, Cosimo de' Medici ,

968-632: A comprehensive body of Italian political philosophy before Paolo Sarpi . Guicciardini is best known as the author of the Storia d'Italia ( History of Italy ), which provides a detailed account of politics in the Italian Peninsula between 1490 and 1534. Written during the last years of his life, this work contains the historian's observations collected over his entire lifetime and was a work intended for posterity. As Gilbert writes: "The History of Italy stands apart from all his writings because it

1089-567: A diplomat and statesman. His Spanish correspondence with the Signoria reveals his power of observation and analysis, a chief quality of his mind. At the Spanish court, he learned lessons of political realism. In his letters back home, he expressed appreciation for being able to observe Spanish military methods and estimate their strength during the time of war. However, he also distrusted the calculated gestures of Ferdinand and referred to him as

1210-416: A harsh voice. Giuliano, on the other hand, was regarded as handsome and a "golden boy", and was used as a model by Botticelli in his painting of Mars and Venus . Even Lorenzo's close friend Niccolo Valori described him as homely, saying, "nature had been a stepmother to him in regards to his personal appearance, although she had acted as a loving mother in all things concocted with the mind. His complexion

1331-562: A highly influential cluster of British Marxist historians , who contributed to history from below and class structure in early capitalist society. Members included Christopher Hill , Eric Hobsbawm and E. P. Thompson . World history , as a distinct field of historical study, emerged as an independent academic field in the 1980s. It focused on the examination of history from a global perspective and looked for common patterns that emerged across all cultures. Arnold J. Toynbee 's ten-volume A Study of History , written between 1933 and 1954,

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1452-548: A member of the Otto di Balìa, who controlled internal security, and in 1515, he served on the Signoria, the highest Florentine magistracy. In 1513, Giovanni de' Medici, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent , became Pope Leo X and brought Florence under papal control, which provided opportunities for Florentines to enter papal service, as did Francesco in 1515. Leo X made him governor of Reggio in 1516 and Modena in 1517. This

1573-581: A mixed republican government based on the model of the Venetian constitution; despite working so often and closely with the Medici, he viewed their rule as tyrannical. Guicciardini was still able to reconcile his republican ideals and his support of the Medici: "The equality of men under a popular government is by no means contradicted if one citizen enjoys greater reputation than another, provided it proceed from

1694-639: A model of the art of political deceit. During his time in Spain, the Medici regained power in Florence. Under the new regime, his embassy in Spain dragged on, frustrating Guicciardini as he yearned to return to Florence and participate in its political life. Guicciardini insisted on being recalled and even sent a letter to the youthful Lorenzo de’ Medici in an attempt to secure a position in the new ruling group. Guicciardini eventually returned home to Florence, where he took up his law practice again; in 1514, he served as

1815-491: A monopoly against the Turkish-derived goods by prohibiting trade in alum with infidels. When they realized the value of the alum mine, the people of Volterra wanted its revenues for their municipal funds rather than having it enter the pockets of their Florentine backers. Thus began an insurrection and secession from Florence, which involved putting to death several opposing citizens. Lorenzo sent mercenaries to suppress

1936-571: A most capable intelligence and marvelous knowledge of world affairs, yet he lacked the corresponding resolution and execution. For he was impeded not only by his timidity of spirit, which was by no means small, and by a strong reluctance to spend, but also by a certain innate irresolution and perplexity, so that he remained almost always in suspension and ambiguous when he was faced with those deciding those thing which from afar he had many times foreseen, considered, and almost revealed." Moreover, what sets Guicciardini apart from other historians of his time

2057-559: A part of that sum in their purse, I consider it to have been a great honour to our state, and I think the money was well-expended and I am well-pleased. From 1479 Lorenzo became a permanent member of the committee supervising the rebuild of the signoria in Florence. He created a court of artists in his sculpture garden at San Marco which allowed him to exert 'enormous influence on the selection of artists on public projects'. Lorenzo married Clarice Orsini on 7 February 1469. The marriage in person took place in Florence on 4 June 1469. She

2178-535: A priest out of greed for wealth or great position." Thus, the ambitious Guicciardini once again turned his attention to law. At 23, he was appointed by the Signoria of Florence to teach legal studies at the Florentine Studio. In 1508, Guicciardini married Maria Salviati , the daughter of Alamanno Salviati, cementing an oligarchical alliance with the powerful Florentine family. In the same year, he wrote

2299-503: A prisoner of the king for several months, ultimately resolved the crisis. That success enabled Lorenzo to secure constitutional changes within the government of the Florentine Republic that further enhanced his own power. Thereafter, Lorenzo, like his grandfather Cosimo de' Medici , pursued a policy of maintaining peace, balancing power between the northern Italian states and keeping major European states such as France and

2420-450: A progressive model of British history, according to which the country threw off superstition, autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward-looking culture combined with the freedom of belief and expression. This model of human progress has been called the Whig interpretation of history . In his main work Histoire de France , French historian Jules Michelet coined

2541-560: A rebellious imperial army, which turned toward Rome instead. Less than two weeks later came the news of the Sack of Rome and the imprisonment of Clement in the Castel Sant'Angelo . Guicciardini served three popes over a period of twenty years, and perhaps because of his experiences, he was highly critical of the papacy: "I don't know anyone who dislikes the ambition, the avarice, and the sensuality of priests more than I do.... Nevertheless,

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2662-418: A regular academic career, must entice other scholars to help him; and with the present [high] demand for college teachers, this is no easy task. An undergraduate history degree is often used as a stepping stone to graduate studies in business or law. Many historians are employed at universities and other facilities for post-secondary education. In addition, it is normal for colleges and universities to require

2783-483: A role in bringing Savonarola to Florence. Lorenzo died during the late night of 8 April 1492, at the longtime family villa of Careggi . Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his deathbed. The rumour that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has been refuted in Roberto Ridolfi 's book Vita di Girolamo Savonarola . Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report that he died peacefully after listening to

2904-469: A simple accounting of events, but strived on the contrary to pose and solve problems and, neglecting surface disturbances, to observe the long and medium-term evolution of economy, society, and civilisation. Marxist historiography developed as a school of historiography influenced by the chief tenets of Marxism , including the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes. Friedrich Engels wrote The Condition of

3025-622: Is a significant rupture in our thinking about the past... Human agency was a central element in the historical thought of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, but they did not have a modern notion of individuality.... They started to disentangle historiography from its rhetorical framework, and in Guicciardini's work we can observe the first traces of a critical historical method ." The following list contains alternative names used for Guicciardini's works in Italian and English: Historian In

3146-468: Is difficult—those who finish their doctorate in the United States take on average 8 or more years; funding is scarce except at a few very rich universities. Being a teaching assistant in a course is required in some programs; in others it is a paid opportunity awarded a fraction of the students. Until the 1970s it was rare for graduate programs to teach how to teach; the assumption was that teaching

3267-411: Is especially true of narrative history, which nonprofessionals have all but taken over. The gradual withering of the narrative impulse in favor of the analytical urge among professional academic historians has resulted in a virtual abdication of the oldest and most honored role of the historian, that of storyteller. Having abdicated... the professional is in a poor position to patronize amateurs who fulfill

3388-464: Is his understanding of historical context. His approach was already evident in his early work The History of Florence (1509): "The young historian was already doubtlessly aware of the meaning of historical perspective; the same facts acquiring different weight in different contexts, a sense of proportion was called for." In the words of one of Guicciardini's severest critics, Francesco de Sanctis : "If we consider intellectual power [the Storia d'Italia ]

3509-563: Is no past that is commonly agreed upon, since there are competing histories (e.g., of elites, non-elites, men, women, races, etc.). It is widely accepted that "strict objectivity is epistemologically unattainable for historians". Historians rarely articulate their conception of objectivity or discuss it in detail. And like in other professions, historians rarely analyze themselves or their activity. In practice, "specific canons of historical proof are neither widely observed nor generally agreed upon" among professional historians. Though objectivity

3630-418: Is not seen as possible in historical practice: a historian's interest inevitably influences their judgement (what information to use and omit, how to present the information, etc.); the sources used by historians for their history all have bias, and historians are products of their culture, concepts, and beliefs. Racial and cultural biases can play major roles in national histories, which often ignore or downplay

3751-640: Is often seen as the goal of those who work on history, in practice there is no convergence on anything in particular. Historical scholarship is never value free since historian's writings are impacted by the frameworks of their times. Some scholars of history have observed that there are no particular standards for historical fields such as religion, art, science, democracy, and social justice as these are by their nature 'essentially contested' fields, such that they require diverse tools particular to each field beforehand in order to interpret topics from those fields. There are three commonly held reasons why avoiding bias

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3872-478: Is poor and getting worse, with many relegated to part-time "adjunct" teaching jobs with low pay and no benefits. C. Vann Woodward (1908–1999), Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, cautioned that the academicians had themselves abdicated their role as storytellers: Professionals do well to apply the term "amateur" with caution to the historian outside their ranks. The word does have deprecatory and patronizing connotations that occasionally backfire. This

3993-434: Is the history of the arts, of commerce, of civilization – in a word, – of the human mind." He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history, and achievements in the arts and sciences. He was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture, and political history. At

4114-415: Is the most important work that has issued from an Italian mind." Guicciardini was friends with Niccolò Machiavelli ; the two maintained a lively correspondence until the latter's death in 1527. Guicciardini had a somewhat higher social standing than his friend, but through their letters, a relaxed, comfortable relationship between the two emerges. "Aware of their difference in class, Machiavelli nevertheless

4235-636: The Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, the court relied on Richard Evan's witness report which mentioned "objective historian" in the same vein as the reasonable person , and reminiscent of the standard traditionally used in English law of " the man on the Clapham omnibus ". This was necessary so that there would be a legal benchmark to compare and contrast the scholarship of an objective historian against

4356-591: The Yale Law Journal , Wendie E. Schneider distils these seven points for what he meant by an objective historian: Schneider uses the concept of the "objective historian" to suggest that this could be an aid in assessing what makes a historian suitable as expert witnesses under the Daubert standard in the United States . Schneider proposed this, because, in her opinion, Irving could not have passed

4477-492: The science of biography , science of hadith and Isnad (chain of transmission). They later applied these methodologies to other historical figures in the Islamic civilization . Famous historians in this tradition include Urwah (d. 712), Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 728), Ibn Ishaq (d. 761), al-Waqidi (745–822), Ibn Hisham (d. 834), Muhammad al-Bukhari (810–870) and Ibn Hajar (1372–1449). During

4598-640: The Age of Enlightenment , the modern development of historiography through the application of scrupulous methods began. French philosophe Voltaire (1694–1778) had an enormous influence on the art of history writing. His best-known histories are The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations (1756). "My chief object," he wrote in 1739, "is not political or military history, it

4719-561: The Gospel of the day. Many signs and portents were claimed to have taken place at the moment of his death, including the dome of Florence Cathedral being struck by lightning, ghosts appearing, and the lions kept at Via Leone fighting one another. The Signoria and councils of Florence issued a decree: Whereas the foremost man of all this city, the lately deceased Lorenzo de' Medici, did, during his whole life, neglect no opportunity of protecting, increasing, adorning and raising this city, but

4840-687: The Great Reform Act of 1832 in England. Thomas Carlyle published his magnum opus, the three-volume The French Revolution: A History in 1837. The resulting work had a passion new to historical writing. Thomas Macaulay produced his most famous work of history, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second , in 1848. His writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident, sometimes dogmatic, emphasis on

4961-785: The Holy Roman Empire out of Italy. Lorenzo maintained good relations with Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire , as the Florentine maritime trade with the Ottomans was a major source of wealth for the Medici. Efforts to acquire revenue from the mining of alum in Tuscany unfortunately marred Lorenzo's reputation. Alum had been discovered by local citizens of Volterra , who turned to Florence to get backing to exploit this important natural resource. A key commodity in

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5082-462: The League of Cognac in 1526, which led to war with Charles V. Later that year, as the forces of Charles V threatened to attack, Clement made Guicciardini lieutenant-general of the papal army. Guicciardini was powerless to influence the commander of papal forces, Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino , to take action. In April 1527, Guicciardini succeeded in averting an attack on Florence from

5203-718: The Memorie di famiglia , a family memoir of the Guicciardini family, the Storie Fiorentine ( Tales of Florence ), and began his Ricordi , a collection of personal maxims and reflections. Having distinguished himself in the practice of law, Guicciardini was entrusted by the Florentine Signoria with an embassy to the court of the King of Aragon , Ferdinand the Catholic , in 1512. He had doubts about accepting

5324-678: The Middle Ages . They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes. An example of this type of writing is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles , which were

5445-474: The Storia d'Italia . He died in 1540 without male heirs. His nephew, Lodovico Guicciardini , was also a historian known for his 16th-century works on the Low Countries . None of Francesco Guicciardini's works was published during his lifetime. It was not until 1561 that the first sixteen of the twenty books of his History of Italy were published. The first English "translation" by Sir Geffray Fenton

5566-438: The 15th-century Renaissance . Although Lorenzo did not commission many works himself, he helped these artists to secure commissions from other patrons. Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for three years, dining at the family table and participating in discussions led by Marsilio Ficino . Lorenzo was an artist and wrote poetry in his native Tuscan . In his poetry, he celebrates life while acknowledging with melancholy

5687-478: The 16th century BCE, and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people and also explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts , which is the primary source for the Apostolic Age . Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in

5808-468: The 19th century scholars used to study ancient Greek and Roman historians to see how generally reliable they were. In recent decades, however, scholars have focused more on the constructions, genres, and meanings that ancient historians sought to convey to their audiences. History is always written with contemporary concerns and ancient historians wrote their histories in response to the needs of their times. Out of thousands of Greek and Roman historians, only

5929-559: The Florentine citizens for their resistance to the Medici, and he dealt out justice mercilessly to those who had opposed the will of the Pope. Benedetto Varchi claimed that in carrying out his task, "Messer Francesco Guicciardini was more cruel and more ferocious than the others". In 1531, Guicciardini was assigned the governorship of Bologna , the most important city in the northern Papal States by Clement VII. Guicciardini resigned after Clement's death in 1534 and returned to Florence, where he

6050-405: The Florentine government. Salviati acted with the blessing of his patron Pope Sixtus IV . Giuliano was killed, brutally stabbed to death, but Lorenzo escaped with only a minor wound to the neck, having been defended by the poet Poliziano and the banker Francesco Nori , the latter of whom was killed in the attack. News of the conspiracy spread throughout Florence, and it was brutally put down by

6171-728: The French (1521)." In 1523, Guicciardini was appointed viceregent of the Romagna by Clement VII (1478–1534). These high offices rendered Guicciardini the virtual master of the Papal States beyond the Apennine Mountains . As he later described himself during this period: "If you had seen messer Francesco in the Romagna...with his house full of tapestries, silver, servants thronged from the entire province where—since everything

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6292-824: The Greek tradition . While early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines , composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder (234–149 BCE), was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo (63 BCE – c.  24   CE ) was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. Livy (59 BCE – 17 CE) records

6413-533: The Mediterranean region. The earliest known critical historical works were The Histories , composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 – c. 425  BCE ) who later became known as the "father of history" ( Cicero ). Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on

6534-565: The Universities of Ferrara and Padua , where he stayed until the year 1505. The death of an uncle, who had occupied the Diocese of Cortona , induced the young Guicciardini to seek an ecclesiastical career. His father, however, "thought the affairs of the Church were decadent. He preferred to lose great present profits and the chance of making one of his sons a great man rather than have it on his conscience that he had made one of his sons

6655-818: The Working Class in England in 1844 , which was salient in creating the socialist impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the Fabian Society . R. H. Tawney 's The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century (1912) and Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926), reflected his ethical concerns and preoccupations in economic history . A circle of historians inside the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) formed in 1946 and became

6776-581: The actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. Thucydides largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element that set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon ( c.  431 – 355 BCE) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis . The Romans adopted

6897-464: The balance of power within the Italic League , an alliance of states that stabilized political conditions on the Italian Peninsula for decades, and his life coincided with the mature phase of the Italian Renaissance and the golden age of Florence. As a patron, he is best known for his sponsorship of artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo . On the foreign policy front, Lorenzo manifested

7018-528: The commission of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Cosimo Rosselli from Rome to paint murals in the Sistine Chapel , a move that has been interpreted as sealing the alliance between Lorenzo and Pope Sixtus IV. In 1471, Lorenzo calculated that his family had spent some 663,000 florins (about US$ 460 million today) on charity, buildings and taxes since 1434. He wrote, I do not regret this for though many would consider it better to have

7139-411: The common people, rather than the leaders and institutions of the country. Another important French historian of the period was Hippolyte Taine . He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism , a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him. One of

7260-577: The commonwealth with might and wisdom. Lorenzo was buried with his brother Giuliano in the Basilica di San Lorenzo in the red porphyry sarcophagus designed for Piero and Giovanni de' Medici, not, as might be expected, in the New Sacristy , designed by Michelangelo. The latter holds the two monumental tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano's less known namesakes: Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino , and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours . According to Williamson and others,

7381-543: The concept of historical materialism into the study of world-historical development. In his conception, the economic conditions and dominant modes of production determined the structure of society at that point. Previous historians had focused on the cyclical events of the rise and decline of rulers and nations. Process of nationalization of history , as part of national revivals in the 19th century, resulted with separation of "one's own" history from common universal history by such way of perceiving, understanding and treating

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7502-465: The course of Lorenzo's lifetime. Lorenzo, like his grandfather, father, and son, ruled Florence indirectly through surrogates in the city councils by means of payoffs and strategic marriages until 1490. Rival Florentine families inevitably harboured resentments over the Medicis' dominance, and enemies of the Medici remained a factor in Florentine life long after Lorenzo's passing. The most notable of

7623-420: The cultural context of the times. An important part of the contribution of many modern historians is the verification or dismissal of earlier historical accounts through reviewing newly discovered sources and recent scholarship or through parallel disciplines like archaeology . Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around

7744-400: The development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends, including the philosophers Marsilio Ficino , Poliziano and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola . They studied Greek philosophers and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity. Apart from a personal interest, Lorenzo also used the Florentine milieu of fine arts for his diplomatic efforts. An example includes

7865-541: The entire Florentine city-state under interdict . When these moves had little effect, Sixtus formed a military alliance with King Ferdinand I of Naples , whose son, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria , led an invasion of the Florentine Republic, still ruled by Lorenzo. Lorenzo rallied the citizens. However, with little support from the traditional Medici allies in Bologna and Milan , the war dragged on, and only diplomacy by Lorenzo, who personally traveled to Naples and became

7986-500: The family's business interests. Lorenzo's mother, Lucrezia Tornabuoni , was a writer of sonnets and a friend to poets and philosophers of the Medici Academy . She became her son's advisor after the deaths of his father and uncle. Lorenzo, considered the most promising of the five children of Piero and Lucrezia, was tutored by a diplomat and bishop, Gentile de' Becchi , and the humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino , and he

8107-468: The first "modern historian". The book sold impressively, earning its author a total of about £9000. Biographer Leslie Stephen wrote that thereafter, "His fame was as rapid as it has been lasting." The tumultuous events surrounding the French Revolution inspired much of the historiography and analysis of the early 19th century. Interest in the 1688 Glorious Revolution was also rekindled by

8228-469: The focus of historical research in France during the 20th century by stressing long-term social history, rather than political or diplomatic themes. The school emphasized the use of quantification and the paying of special attention to geography. An eminent member of this school, Georges Duby , described his approach to history as one that relegated the sensational to the sidelines and was reluctant to give

8349-640: The fragility and instability of the human condition, particularly in his later works. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse. Cosimo had started the collection of books that became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian Library ), and Lorenzo expanded it. Lorenzo's agents retrieved from the East large numbers of classical works, and he employed a large workshop to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported

8470-622: The glassmaking, tanning and textile industries, alum was available from only a few sources under the control of the Ottomans and monopolized by Genoa before the discovery of alum sources in Italy at Tolfa . First the Roman Curia in 1462, and then Lorenzo and the Medici Bank less than a year later, got involved in backing the mining operation, with the pope taking a two-ducat commission for each cantar quintal of alum retrieved and ensuring

8591-444: The goal of an ancient work was often to create political or military paradigms. It was only after the emergence of Christianity that philosophies of history grew in prominence due to the destiny of man from the Christian account. Epics such as Homer 's works were used by historians and considered history even by Thucydides . In the 19th-century historical studies became professionalized at universities and research centers along with

8712-423: The highest posts of honour in the state for many generations, as may be seen in his own genealogical Ricordi autobiografici e di famiglia . Piero Guicciardini had studied with the philosopher Marsilio Ficino , who stood as his son's godfather. Like his father, Francesco received a fine humanist education and studied the classics, learning both Latin and a little Greek. The boy was sent by his father to study law at

8833-871: The historian uses the "objective historian" standards, they are a "conscientious historian". It was Irving's failure as an "objective historian" not his right-wing views that caused him to lose his libel case, as a "conscientious historian" would not have "deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence" to support his political views. The process of historical analysis involves investigation and analysis of competing ideas, facts, and purported facts to create coherent narratives that explain "what happened" and "why or how it happened". Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics , sociology , politics , psychology , anthropology , philosophy , and linguistics . While ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within

8954-490: The history of institutional change, particularly the development of constitutional government. William Stubbs 's Constitutional History of England (3 vols., 1874–78) was an important influence on this developing field. The work traced the development of the English constitution from the Teutonic invasions of Britain until 1485, and marked a distinct step in the advance of English historical learning. Karl Marx introduced

9075-539: The illegitimate methods employed by David Irving , as before the Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt trial, there was no legal precedent for what constituted an objective historian. Justice Gray leant heavily on the research of one of the expert witnesses, Richard J. Evans , who compared illegitimate distortion of the historical record practiced by Holocaust deniers with established historical methodologies. By summarizing Gray's judgment, in an article published in

9196-542: The late 20th century: historical editing. Edmund Morgan reports on its emergence in the United States: It required, to begin with, large sums of money. But money has proved easier to recruit than talent. Historians who undertake these large editorial projects must leave the main channel of academic life. They do not teach; they do not write their own books; they do not enjoy long vacations for rumination, reflection, and research on whatever topic interests them at

9317-460: The love and reverence of all, and can be withheld by the people at their pleasure. Indeed, without such supports, republics can hardly last." Shortly after the Sack of Rome, Guicciardini returned to Florence, but by 1527, the Medici had been expelled from the city, and a republic had been re-established by the extreme anti-Medici Arrabiati faction. Because of his close ties to the Medici, Guicciardini

9438-567: The major progenitors of the history of culture and art , was the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt Burckhardt's best-known work is The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). According to John Lukacs , he was the first master of cultural history, which seeks to describe the spirit and the forms of expression of a particular age, a particular people, or a particular place. By the mid-19th century, scholars were beginning to analyse

9559-441: The moment. Instead they must live in unremitting daily pursuit of an individual whose company, whatever his genius, may ultimately begin to pall. Anyone who has edited historical manuscripts knows that it requires as much physical and intellectual labor to prepare a text for publication as it does to write a book of one's own. Indeed, the new editorial projects are far too large for one man. The editor-in-chief, having decided to forego

9680-440: The motive power of the huge clockwork of events may be traced down the mainspring of individual behavior. Not any individual, be it noted, but those in positions of command: emperors, princes and popes who may be counted on to act always in terms of their self-interest—the famous Guicciardinian particolare." Inn the following excerpt, the historian records his observations on the character of Pope Clement VII : "And although he had

9801-489: The needed function he has abandoned. Lorenzo de%27 Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici ( Italian: [loˈrɛntso de ˈmɛːditʃi] ), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent ( Italian : Lorenzo il Magnifico ; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic , and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lorenzo held

9922-671: The official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481 BCE, is among the earliest surviving Chinese historical texts arranged on annalistic principles. Sima Qian (around 100 BCE) was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing. His written work was the Shiji ( Records of the Grand Historian ), a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as far back as

10043-411: The papacy as Pope Clement VII . During Lorenzo's tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and in later years he got into financial difficulties and resorted to misappropriating trust and state funds. Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the influence of Savonarola , who believed Christians had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played

10164-469: The past that constructed history as history of a nation. A new discipline, sociology , emerged in the late 19th century and analyzed and compared these perspectives on a larger scale. The modern academic study of history and methods of historiography were pioneered in 19th-century German universities. Leopold von Ranke was a pivotal influence in this regard, and is considered as the founder of modern source-based history . Specifically, he implemented

10285-435: The past, the sensibility which studies the past 'for the sake of the past', which delights in the concrete and the complex, which 'goes out to meet the past', which searches for 'unlikenesses between past and present'." Butterfield's formulation received much attention, and the kind of historical writing he argued against in generalised terms is no longer academically respectable. The French Annales School radically changed

10406-550: The populace through such measures as the lynching of the archbishop of Pisa and members of the Pazzi family who were involved in the conspiracy. In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy and the punishment of supporters of Pope Sixtus IV, the Medici and Florence earned the wrath of the Holy See , which seized all the Medici assets that Sixtus could find, excommunicated Lorenzo and the entire government of Florence, and ultimately put

10527-573: The position I have enjoyed with several popes has forced me to love their greatness for my own self-interest. If it weren't for this consideration, I would have loved Martin Luther as much as I love myself—not to be released from the laws taught by the Christian religion as it is normally interpreted and understood, but to see this band of ruffians reduced within their correct bounds." Like many Florentine aristocrats of his day, Guicciardini believed in

10648-405: The position because it came with so little profit and would disrupt his law practice and take him away from the city. However, Francesco's father convinced him of the court’s prestige and the honour of having been chosen at such a young age. "No one could remember at Florence that such a young man had ever been chosen for such an embassy", he wrote in his diary. Thus Guicciardini started his career as

10769-592: The realistic analysis of the people and events of his time. Francesco Guicciardini was born on 6 March 1483 in the Italian city of Florence , which was part of the Florentine Republic . He was the third of 11 children of Piero di Iacopo Guicciardini and Simona di Bongianni Gianfigliazzi. The Guicciardini were well-established members of the Florentine oligarchy as well as supporters of the Medici family . Influential in Florentine politics, Guicciardini's ancestors had held

10890-409: The revolt by force, and the mercenaries ultimately sacked the city. Lorenzo hurried to Volterra to make amends, but the incident would remain a dark stain on his record. Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero and Antonio del Pollaiuolo , Andrea del Verrocchio , Leonardo da Vinci , Sandro Botticelli , Domenico Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo Buonarroti , who were instrumental in achieving

11011-569: The rise of Rome from city-state to empire . His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history . In Chinese historiography , the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. The Spring and Autumn Annals ,

11132-405: The rise of constitutional government , personal freedoms , and scientific progress . The term has been also applied widely in historical disciplines outside of British history (the history of science , for example) to criticize any teleological (or goal-directed), hero-based, and transhistorical narrative. Butterfield's antidote to Whig history was "...to evoke a certain sensibility towards

11253-460: The rival families was the Pazzi , who nearly brought Lorenzo's reign to an end. On Sunday, 26 April 1478, in an incident known as the Pazzi conspiracy , a group headed by Girolamo Riario , Francesco de' Pazzi , and Francesco Salviati (the archbishop of Pisa), attacked Lorenzo and his brother and co-ruler Giuliano in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in an attempt to seize control of

11374-478: The roles on other groups. Gender biases as well. Moral or worldview evaluations by historians are also seen partly inevitable, causing complications for historians and their historical writings. One way to deal with this is for historians to state their biases explicitly for their readers. In the modern era, newspapers (which have a bias of their own) impacts historical accounts made by historians. Misplaced Pages also contributes to difficulties for historians. During

11495-688: The same time, philosopher David Hume was having a similar impact on history in Great Britain . In 1754, he published the History of England , a six-volume work that extended from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688. Hume adopted a similar scope to Voltaire in his history; as well as the history of Kings, Parliaments, and armies, he examined the history of culture, including literature and science, as well. William Robertson ,

11616-448: The seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and analysis of historical documents. Beginning with his first book in 1824, the History of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514 , Ranke used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses". Over

11737-515: The shaping of historical events. The apex of Enlightenment history was reached with Edward Gibbon 's, monumental six-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , published on 17 February 1776. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources , at the time its methodology became a model for later historians. This has led to Gibbon being called

11858-424: The standard Daubert tests unless a court was given "a great deal of assistance from historians". Schneider proposes that by testing a historian against the criteria of the "objective historian" then, even if a historian holds specific political views (and she gives an example of a well-qualified historian's testimony that was disregarded by a United States court because he was a member of a feminist group), providing

11979-703: The statues of the lesser Lorenzo and Giuliano were carved by Michelangelo to incorporate the essence of the famous men. In 1559, the bodies of Lorenzo de' Medici ("the Magnificent") and his brother Giuliano were interred in the New Sacristy in an unmarked tomb beneath Michelangelo's statue of the Madonna. Medical researchers have suggested that Lorenzo may have suffered from acromegaly , a rare disorder that results from excessive secretion of growth hormone, based on interpretation of his reported symptoms, and later analysis of his skeleton and death mask. Lorenzo's heir

12100-630: The term Renaissance (meaning "Re-birth" in French language ), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world. The nineteen-volume work covered French history from Charlemagne to the outbreak of the Revolution . Michelet was one of the first historians to shift the emphasis of history to

12221-495: The theories which Machiavelli advanced in the Discourses was that Machiavelli put things 'too absolutely.' Guicciardini did not agree with Machiavelli's basic assumption that Rome could serve as a perfect norm." Both were innovative in their approach to history: "Machiavelli and Guicciardini are important transitional figures in the development of historical writing. The historical consciousness that becomes visible in their work

12342-582: The tiniest fraction's works survive and it is out of this small pool that ancient historians and ancient historiography are analyzed today. Modern historians of the ancient world have to deal with diverse types of evidence, which are debated more today than in the 19th century due to innovations in the field. Ancient historians were very different from modern historians in terms of goals, documentation, sources, and methods. For instance, chronological systems were not widely used, their sources were often absorbed (traceability of such sources usually disappeared), and

12463-640: The work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of Alfred the Great in the late ninth century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154. Muslim historical writings first began to develop in the seventh century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammad 's life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, scholars had to verify which sources were more reliable. To evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as

12584-403: The world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see philosophy of history ). The earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt , though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece , a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around

12705-540: Was a daughter of Giacomo Orsini , Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano by his wife and cousin Maddalena Orsini. Clarice and Lorenzo had 10 children, all except Contessina Antonia born in Florence: Lorenzo adopted his nephew Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici (1478–1534), the illegitimate son of his slain brother Giuliano . In 1523, after serving four years as ruler of Florence, Giulio ascended to

12826-482: Was always ready with counsel, authority and painstaking, in thought and deed; shrank from neither trouble nor danger for the good of the state and its freedom.... it has seemed good to the Senate and people of Florence.... to establish a public testimonial of gratitude to the memory of such a man, in order that virtue might not be unhonoured among Florentines, and that, in days to come, other citizens may be incited to serve

12947-674: Was an important influence on this developing field. He took a comparative topical approach to independent civilizations and demonstrated that they displayed striking parallels in their origin, growth, and decay. William H. McNeill wrote The Rise of the West (1965) to improve upon Toynbee by showing how the separate civilizations of Eurasia interacted from the very beginning of their history, borrowing critical skills from one another, and thus precipitating still further change as adjustment between traditional old and borrowed new knowledge and practice became necessary. A new advanced specialty opened in

13068-507: Was coined by Herbert Butterfield in his short book The Whig Interpretation of History in 1931, (a reference to the British Whigs , advocates of the power of Parliament ) to refer to the approach to historiography that presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater liberty and enlightenment , culminating in modern forms of liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy . In general, Whig historians emphasized

13189-423: Was completely referred to him—no one, from the Pope down, recognized anyone as his superior...". The political turmoil in Italy was continuously intensifying. As hostilities between King Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , escalated, the Pope remained undecided over which side to back and so sought Guicciardini's advice. Guicciardini advised an alliance with France and urged Clement to conclude

13310-405: Was dark, and although his face was not handsome it was so full of dignity as to compel respect." Lorenzo, groomed for power, assumed a leading role in the state upon the death of his father in 1469, when he was 20. Already drained by his grandfather's building projects and constantly stressed by mismanagement, wars, and political expenses, the assets of the Medici Bank were reduced seriously during

13431-490: Was easy and that learning how to do research was the main mission. A critical experience for graduate students is having a mentor who will provide psychological, social, intellectual and professional support, while directing scholarship and providing an introduction to the profession. Professional historians typically work in colleges and universities, archival centers, government agencies, museums, and as freelance writers and consultants. The job market for new PhDs in history

13552-468: Was enlisted as advisor to Alessandro de' Medici , "whose position as duke had become less secure following the death of the pope". Guiccardini defended him in Naples in 1535 before Charles V , contesting the exiled rebels' accusations of tyranny. He assisted in successfully negotiating the marriage of Alessandro to the emperor Charles V’s daughter Margaret of Parma in 1536, and for a short time Gucciardini

13673-466: Was held suspect in his native city. In March 1530, as a result of his service to the Medici, Guicciardini was declared a rebel and had his property confiscated. This final Florentine Republic did not last long, however, and after enduring the Siege of Florence by imperial troops for nine months, in 1530 the city capitulated. Under the command of Clement VII, Guicciardini was assigned the task of punishing

13794-549: Was his eldest son, Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici , known as "Piero the Unfortunate". In 1494, he squandered his father's patrimony and brought down the Medici dynasty in Florence. His second son, Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X , retook the city in 1512 with the aid of a Spanish army. In 1531, Lorenzo's nephew Giulio di Giuliano – whom Lorenzo had raised as his own son and who in 1523 became Pope Clement VII – formalized Medici rule of Florence by installing Alessandro de' Medici

13915-403: Was not intimidated by Guicciardini's offices... or by his aristocratic connections. The two established their rapport because of mutual regard for each other's intellect." They discussed personal matters and political ideas and influenced each other's work. Guicciardini was critical of some of the ideas expressed by Machiavelli in his Discourses on Livy : "Guicciardini's principal objection to

14036-460: Was published in 1579. Until 1857, only the History and a small number of extracts from his aphorisms were known. In that year, his descendants opened the Guicciardini family archives and committed to Giuseppe Canestrini the publication of his memoirs in ten volumes. These are some of his works recovered from the archives: Taken in combination with Machiavelli's treatises, the Opere inedite offer

14157-478: Was the beginning of a long career for Guicciardini in papal administration, first under Leo X and then under his successor, Clement VII . "He governed Modena and Reggio with conspicuous success" according to The Catholic Encyclopedia . He was appointed to govern Parma , and according to the Encyclopedia , "in the confusion that followed the pope's death, he distinguished himself by his defence of Parma against

14278-641: Was the first member of the Medici family to lead the Republic of Florence and run the Medici Bank simultaneously. As one of the wealthiest men in Europe, the elder Cosimo spent a very large portion of his fortune on government and philanthropy, for example as a patron of the arts and financier of public works. Lorenzo's father, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici , was equally at the centre of Florentine civic life, chiefly as an art patron and collector, while Lorenzo's uncle, Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici , took care of

14399-515: Was the most trusted advisor to Alessandro until the Duke's assassination in 1537. Then, Guicciardini allied himself with Cosimo de' Medici , who was just 17 and new to the Florentine political system. Guicciardini supported Cosimo as duke of Florence; nevertheless, Cosimo dismissed him shortly after rising to power. Guicciardini retired to his villa in Arcetri , where he spent his last years working on

14520-401: Was the one work which he wrote not for himself, but for the public." In his research, Guicciardini drew upon material that he gathered from government records as well as from his own extensive experience in politics. His many personal encounters with powerful Italian rulers serves to explain his perspective as a historian: "Francesco Guicciardini might be called a psychological historian—for him

14641-626: Was trained in Greek by pivotal Renaissance scholar John Argyropoulos . With his brother Giuliano , he participated in jousting , hawking , hunting, and horse breeding for the Palio , a horse race in Siena . In 1469, aged 20, he won first prize in a jousting tournament sponsored by the Medici. The joust was the subject of a poem written by Luigi Pulci. Niccolò Machiavelli also wrote of the occasion, perhaps sarcastically, that he won "not by way of favour, but by his own valour and skill in arms". He carried

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