A little-known text of political Humanism: Francesco Patrizi’s “De gerendo magistratu”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6093/2974-637X/1210080

Keywords:

Francesco Patrizi, Italian Humanism, Virtue politcs, Political Humanism, Political Theory

Abstract

The paper intends to investigate the figure of Francesco Patrizi from Siena by analysing an unpublished work, the epistle-treaty titled De gerendo magistratu. The epistle was composed in 1446 and addressed to Achille Petrucci, elected prior of Siena. The work focuses on the widespread theme de optimo magistratu, which aims to support the new prior and to guide him towards virtuous political action inspired by the fundamental principles of humanistic doctrine. This text represents the first political work of the Humanist, enriches the conceptual framework underlying Patrizi’s political thought, and provides additional elements to the genre of humanistic epistolography.

Author Biography

Giovanni De Vita, L'Orientale University of Naples

Giovanni De Vita is a research fellow in Italian literature at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. His research interests are focussed on Medieval Italian Literature, in particular on the Decameron and on the edition and study of fourteenth-fifteenth-century novella. A second field of ​​ research concerns the tradition of thirteenth-century italian poetry. He is completing the critical and commented edition of Ser Pace’s poetries.

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Published

2022-12-29

How to Cite

De Vita, G. (2022). A little-known text of political Humanism: Francesco Patrizi’s “De gerendo magistratu”. Cesura Journal, 1(2), 305–321. https://doi.org/10.6093/2974-637X/1210080

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022): CESURA - Rivista, 1/2 (2022)

Section

Studies