The Italian Renaissance | Guicciardini and The History of Italy (Lecture 33)

Lecture 33: Guicciardini was a remarkable, if flawed genius. Born into the highest ranks of the Florentine patriciate, he studied law in order to further his ambitions. A brilliant man, he attracted the attention of the republic and served, despite his youth, as an ambassador to Spain in 1511. The fall of the republic affected him not at all, as he was appointed by the Medici Pope Clement VII as governor of Modena in 1516, followed by ever greater responsibility until he became one of the pope’s chief advisors.

Unfortunately, it was, in part, his advice that resulted in the sack of Rome in 1527, after which he retired to Florence, where the restored republic had little use for him. The return of the Medici rehabilitated Guicciardini, and he assisted in the irresponsible despotism of Alessandro, on whose murder he hoped to advance. Cosimo de’Medici, however, intended to rule personally, and Guicciardini sought refuge in scholarship. During his diplomatic and political career, he had written some history and a collection of maxims that reflected his belief in experience over abstraction and his cynical belief in human fallibility. He himself had little loyalty and did whatever those in power required. However, his monumental work, The History of Italy, completed just before his death, became the model for new Humanist historiography, using documentary evidence and making balanced judgments on men and events. This book has been called the most important work of history between Tacitus and Gibbon.

Primary Source Texts:
Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Francesco Guicciardini,” pp. 381−391, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance.
Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy.

Secondary Sources:
Mark Phillips, Francesco Guicciardini: The Historian’s Craft.

Supplementary Reading:
Felix Gilbert, Machiavelli and Guicciardini: Politics and History in Sixteenth-Century Florence.

Lecture 34: https://rumble.com/v4ywe5h-the-italian-renaissance-the-counter-reformation-lecture-34.html