Leonardo Bruni or Leonardo Aretino ( – March 9, 1444) was an Italian

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. He has been called the first modern historian. He was the earliest person to write using the three-period view of history: Antiquity,

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, and Modern. The dates Bruni used to define the periods are not exactly what modern historians use today, but he laid the conceptual groundwork for a tripartite division of history.

Biography

Leonardo Bruni was born in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

circa 1370. Bruni was the pupil of political and cultural leader

Coluccio Salutati Coluccio Salutati (16 February 1331 – 4 May 1406) was an Italian Renaissance humanist and notary, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history ...

, whom he succeeded as Chancellor of Florence, and under whose tutelage he developed his ideation of civic humanism. He also served as apostolic secretary to four popes (1405–1414). Bruni's years as chancellor, 1410 to 1411 and again from 1427 to his death in 1444, were plagued by warfare. Though he occupied one of the highest political offices, Bruni was relatively powerless, compared to the Albizzi and Medici families. Historian Arthur Field has identified Bruni as an apparent plotter against Cosimo de' Medici in 1437 (see below). Bruni died in 1444 in Florence and was succeeded in office by

Carlo Marsuppini Carlo Marsuppini (1399–1453), also known as Carlo Aretino and Carolus Arretinus, was an Italian Renaissance humanist and chancellor of the Florentine Republic. Biography Marsuppini was born in Genoa into a family from Arezzo, but grew up and ...

Significance

Bruni's most notable work is ''Historiarum Florentini populi libri XII'' (History of the Florentine People, 12 Books), which has been called the first modern history book. While it probably was not Bruni's intention to secularize history, the three period view of history is unquestionably secular and so Bruni has been called the first modern historian. The foundation of Bruni's conception can be found with

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

, who distinguished the classical period from later cultural decline, or ''tenebrae'' (literally "darkness"). Bruni argued that Italy had revived in recent centuries and could therefore be described as entering a new age. One of Bruni's most famous works is ''New Cicero'', a biography of the Roman statesman

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

. He was also the author of biographies in Italian of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

and

. It was Bruni who used the phrase '' studia humanitatis'', meaning the study of human endeavors, as distinct from those of theology and metaphysics, the source of the term humanists. As a humanist Bruni was essential in translating into Latin many works of Greek philosophy and history, such as

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

. Bruni's translations of Aristotle's ''

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

'' and ''

Nicomachean Ethics The ''Nicomachean Ethics'' (; , ) is Aristotle's best-known work on ethics: the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim. () It consists of ten sections, referred to as books, and is closely ...

'', as well as the pseudo-Aristotelean ''

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

'', were widely distributed in manuscript and in print. His use of

Aelius Aristides Publius Aelius Aristides Theodorus (; 117–181 AD) was a Greek orator and author considered to be a prime example as a member of the Second Sophistic, a group of celebrated and highly influential orators who flourished from the reign of Nero unt ...

' '' Panathenicus (Panegyric to Athens)'' to buttress his republican theses in the '' Panegyric to the City of Florence'' () was instrumental in bringing the Greek historian to the attention of Renaissance political philosophers (see Hans Baron's ''The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance'' for details). He also wrote a short treatise in Greek on the Florentine constitution.Stuart M. McManus, 'Byzantines in the Florentine polis: Ideology, Statecraft and ritual during the Council of Florence', ''The Journal of the Oxford University History Society'', 6 (Michaelmas 2008/Hilary 2009), pp. 8-10 Bruni was one of the first Humanists to confront Plato's discussion of same-sex relationships. Bruni died in Florence in 1444, and is buried in a wall tomb by Bernardo Rossellino in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.

Works

Latin text and English translation

* * *

Latin texts online

''An vulgus et literati eodem modo per Terentii Tullique tempora Romae locuti sint''''Calphurnia et Gurgulia''

''De Bello Gallico Adversus Gothos''
* Digitized from a copy at th
John Adams Library

''De studijs et litteris ad illustem dominam baptistam de malatesta tractatulus. Leipzig 1496.''Epistola ad Baptistam de Malatestis.De interpretatione recta
on

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

Lewis E 54 De primo bello punico (On the first Punic War) at OPenn

German texts online

De duobus amantibus Guiscardo et Sigismunda.
Ulm, Johann Zainer, ca. 1476–1477. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruni, Leonardo 1370s births 1444 deaths 15th-century writers in Latin Greek–Latin translators Italian Renaissance humanists Italian Renaissance writers People from Arezzo Translation theorists