The Sense of the Past in Saint Antoninus of Florence's Summa Historialis

104 Pages·2016·4.97 MB·English

by  Brian Nathaniel Becker

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Master's Theses Graduate College
12-2002
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Brian Nathaniel Becker
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Becker, Brian Nathaniel, "The Sense of the Past in Saint Antoninus of Florence's Summa Historialis"
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THE SENSE OF THE PAST IN SAINT ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE’S
SUMMA HISTORIALIS
by
Brian Nathaniel Becker
A Thesis
Submitted to the
Faculty of The Graduate College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the
Degree of Master of Arts
History
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan
December 2002
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THE SENSE OF THE PAST IN SAINT ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE’S
SUMMA HISTORIALIS
Brian Nathaniel Becker, M.A.
Western Michigan University, 2002
This study examines Antoninus of Florence’s Chronicles for the presence of a
"sense of the past.” Through the careful examination of those sections of the
Chronicles that are original to Antoninus and the utilization of important scholarly
works on medieval and Renaissance Italian literature, it is shown that the Chronicles
is characteristic of both a history written in the traditional "medieval” style and the
increasingly modem style of historical writing that was coming into vogue during the
later part of his life in mid-fifteenth century Florence.
By defining a "sense of history” as containing, and organizing the three body
chapters according to, “awareness of evidence,” "interest in causation,” and "sense of
anachronism,” the results of this examination show that the Sunmia Historialis,
although evincing an organization and style that might lead scholars to characterize it
as fitting the traditional mode, nevertheless possesses some “sense of the past.” This
offers a revision to those scholarly studies that were content to dismiss Antoninus’
work as being little more than a continuation of the traditional method of historical
writing. Also, the thesis concludes that this ambivalence found in the Sunmia
Historialis was the result of the combination of the author’s monastic intellectual and
spiritual training in the Dominican style and his involvement in the secular world in
which he was forced to participate as the archbishop of Florence.
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UMI Number: 1412966
Copyright 2002 by
Becker, Brian Nathaniel
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Copyright by
Brian Nathaniel Becker
2002
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to begin by thanking Dr. James Palmitessa, who allowed me a
great deal of freedom in extracting a thesis-worthy topic from a rather obscure source.
Without his support, encouragement, and guidance, this project would not have been
possible. I am also grateful to him for sharing with me his vast knowledge of the
historical trends and issues not just of Italy, but of Europe as well.
I would like to thank Dr. Larry Simon for imparting me with the skills
necessary for the study of medieval history. His knowledge of medieval Italian and
medieval Mediterranean history has been a valuable resource on which I was
fortunate enough to draw as I worked on this study. In addition to this, his assistance
and instruction at the Biblioteca Nazionale and the Archivio di Stato in Florence
proved to be invaluable. I also wish to thank Dr. Rand Johnson for his attention to
and assistance with my Latin study. He has gone above and beyond the call of duty
time and again to aid me in my translation of Antoninus’ Chronicles, tolerating my
many questions and concerns along the way.
Finally, I also owe tremendous thanks to my family and friends, who lent me
constant support not only throughout the writing of this thesis, but throughout my
entire degree program. Their encouragement has been invaluable, and without it this
study would have been impossible.
Brian Nathaniel Becker
ii
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................ ii
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. I
CHAPTER
I. AWARENESS OF EVIDENCE........................................................................ 20
II. INTEREST IN CAUSATION........................................................................... 42
III. SENSE OF ANACHRONISM........................................................................... 65
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................. 78
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................. 84
iii
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INTRODUCTION
In this thesis I study the historical thought contained in the Summa Historialis
of Saint Antoninus of Florence.' The Summa Historialis or Chronicles of Saint
Antoninus is a world chronicle in twenty-four chapters, beginning with the creation of
man and ending with the last years of his own life. (The vast majority of works on
the Chronicles refer to these chapters as “titles,” so in accordance with these works. I
will call them "titles” hereafter). Antoninus began work on the Summa Historialis
sometime before he was named archbishop of Florence in 1446. At his death in 1459,
he had not yet completed it/ In composing this work Antoninus drew on the histories
of many writers, both preceding and contemporary to him, including Vincent of
Beauvais, Giovanni di Colonna, Giovanni Villani, Giannozzo Manetti, Domenico
Buoninsegni, Leonardo Bruni, and Poggio Bracciolini.3 Many modem scholars have
dismissed Antoninus as being not a historian, but simply a “compiler” because he
used so many other works as the basis of his own.4 These same historians go even
' Three sources will be used regarding the Summa Historialis-. Antoninus (Antonmo Pierozzi). Diui
Antonini archiepiscopi Florentini. et doctoris s. theologiae praestantissimi Chronicorum opus: in tres
partes diuisum, 3 vols, (London. 1586); Les Chroniques de Saint Antonin: Fragments Originaux du
Titre XXII, ed. by Raoul Monjay (Paris. 1913); James Bernard Walker. O.P.. M.A. “The “Chronicles'
of Saint Antoninus; A Study in Historiography.” Ph.D. dissertation. The Catholic University of
America. (Washington. D.C., 1933.)
: For a discussion on the dating of the whole work, including individual volumes, see Walker.
Chronicles, 22-26; and Monday, Les Chroniques. VI-VII. n. 3.
' The sources used by Antoninus are discussed in Walker, Chronicles, 53-100; Monday. Les
Chroniques; A. Schaube, “Die Quellen der Weltchronik des heil. Antonin. Erzbischofs von Florenz.”
Programm 156 (1880); and William A. Hinnebusch. O.P, The History of the Dominican Order. 2 vols.
(New York; Alba House, 1973). 259-60.
4 The dismissal of Antoninus’ Summa on these grounds is very common. Among those scholars who
have put forward this idea are: Walker, Chronicles, 149-ff.; Hinnebusch, The History of the Dominican
Order, 260; and Wallace K. Ferguson, The Renaissance in Historical nought: Five Centuries of
Interpretation (Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, 1948), 16.
1
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