The Chronicle Of Dino Compagni Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Chronicle of Dino Compagni The said city of Florence is very well populated, and the good air promotes generation. The citizens are very courteous, and the women very handsome and well attired. The large houses are very beauti ful, and better supplied with comforts and conveni ences than those in the other cities of Italy. On this account many people come from distant lands to visit the city, not from necessity, but by reason of her flourishing industries, and for the sake of her beauty and adornment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"A lively first-hand account of Florentine history in the lifetime of Dante and Giotto."--

Excerpt from Medallions From Early Florentine History The following pages are not intended as a complete and detailed history of Early Florence. The important task of writing such a work has already been accomplished by abler pens. The object of the present volume has been rather to detach from the phantasmagoria of mediæval Italian politics certain of the more striking and important events connected with Florence; to free as far as possible from the dark atmosphere of petty intrigue, by which they are apt to be obscured and overshadowed, some of the most picturesque incidents, some of the most attractive personages, out of that entrancing but confused past. It has been endeavoured to place these before the reader as a sequence of Medallions rather than to weave them into a fixed design; to display them thus, hung as it were separately and with space for each to be viewed against its own background, instead of on those overcrowded walls of mediæval history where they of right belong, but where they may easily fail to acquire their due significance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Dino Campagni's classic chronicle gives a detailed account of a crucial period in the history of Florence, beginning about 1280 and ending in the first decade of the fourteenth century. During that time Florence was one of the largest cities in Europe and a center of commerce and culture. Its gold florin was the standard international currency; Giotto was revolutionizing the art of painting; Dante Alighieri and Guido Cavalcanti were transforming the vernacular love lyric. The era was marked as well by political turmoil and factional strife. The inexorable escalation of violence, as insult and reprisal led to arson and murder, provides the bitter content of Compagni's story. Dino Compagni was perfectly placed to observe the political turmoil. A successful merchant, a prominent member of the silk guild, an active member of the government. Gompagni—like Dante—sided with the Whites and, after their defeat in 1301, was barred from public office. He lived the rest of his life as an exile in his own city, mulling over the events that had led to the defeat of his party. This chronicle, the fruit of his observation and reflection, studies the damage wrought by uncontrolled factional strife, the causes of conflict, the connections between events, and the motives of the participants. Compagni judges passionately and harshly. Daniel Bornstein supplements his lucid translation with and extensive historical introduction and explanatory notes.

Giovanni Villani’s New Chronicle traces the history of Europe, Italy, and Florence over a vast sweep of time – from the Tower of Babel to the great earthquake of 1348. In the eleventh and twelfth books, Villani depicts a particularly eventful period in the history of Florence, whose grandeur is illustrated in several famous chapters describing the city’s income, expenses, and magnificence. The dramatic account follows Florence’s internal affairs as well as its conflicts with powerful lords like Castruccio Castracani and Mastino della Scala. The chronicler’s perspective, however, ranges beyond his city, as he documents such events as the imperial coronation of Louis of Bavaria, the penitential pilgrimage of Venturino da Bergamo, and the first campaigns of the Hundred Year’s War.