The Communal Ideology in Giovanni Villani’s Nuova cronica

• Authors: Zofia Anuszkiewicz
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The essay analyses the ideological message of Giovanni Villani’s Nuova Cronica. Rather than a cohesive theory of good governance, the Florentine chronicler shows scattered images, and in the comments added to the events described he makes explicit what political virtues and inadequacies he considered crucial. Insofar as the earlier books seem to have been inspired by the Roman republican ethos and the Franciscan cult of paucity preached by Dante, he focuses in the final section mostly on the citizens’ internal disposition: their expected attitude would be to hold the Commune in magnanimous love. Villani discerns between the virtues of citizens and those of the rulers, with whom discretion and prudence, rendering political practice efficient, is paramount; such prudence is easier to find with affluent burghers than good artisans. The superior value that ought to be sought through the citizens activities, in the area of policymaking and not only, is the grandeur of their Commune.

Keywords

EN

Nuova Cronica; Giovanni Villani; political ideology; commune; popolo; good government; Florence

PL

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Acta Poloniae Historica
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 112

Dates

published

2015

online

2015-12-01

Contributors

author

Zofia Anuszkiewicz

Identifiers

DOI

10.12775/APH.2015.112.09