Аннотация:Leonardo Bruni (ca. 1370–1444), scholar and statesman, was perhaps the most influential humanist of the early Renaissance and one often credited with pioneering modern historical methods. In this comprehensive, painstakingly researched, and thought-provoking study of Bruni's historical works, Gary Ianziti's central question is not whether Bruni innovated, but why. He acknowledges Bruni's “critical questioning and probing of evidence … and search for new sources, which extended even into the archives” (p. 93). He notes Bruni's emphasis on human causation, his pragmatic interpretation of politics (likened several times to Niccolò Machiavelli's), and his novel experiments in historical genre. But by taking into consideration a wide spectrum of Bruni's historically minded writings—commentaries, biographies, memoir, and works often classed as translations, as well as the histories proper—and setting them firmly in their immediate context, Ianziti argues convincingly that Bruni's innovations were a by-product of his quest to promote a partisan vision of the past, geared to present purposes.
