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Civic Humanism and the Rise of the Medici*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Mark Jurdjevic
Mark Jurdjevic*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
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Abstract

This article analyzes the intellectual content of civic humanism in the specific context of Medici power, asking the question: what ideological role did civic humanism play in Medicean Florence? It argues that there is no contradiction between the ideals of civic humanism and support for the Medici regime. On the contrary, civic humanism could be used to justify and legitimate Medici power. The article analyzes the writings of principal humanists such as Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, and Francesco Filelfo, showing that Hans Baron's republican “civic humanism “ was compatible with different constitutional forms and different distributions of power.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , Winter 1999 , pp. 994 - 1020
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1999

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