Humanist Historiography. Innovation in an Age of Classicism - Detailseite

The roots of modern historiography are supposed to lay in Renaissance humanism. Yet the works of history written by European humanists from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries appear just as premodern as modern, as determined to imitate the ancient historians and adhere to classical canons of style as to deconstruct myths and prioritize truth. How much room was there for methodological innovation, and just how modern is humanist historiography?

These questions will drive our investigation of history writing in the European Renaissance (ca. 1350-1700). The course will introduce students to a wide range of historiographical writings, going beyond narrative history to explore biography, epic, chorography, and other genres as well. The focus will the be mainly on reading primary sources, including works by Lorenzo Valla, Leonardo Bruni, Conrad Celtis, Niccolò Machiavelli, and the Magdeburg Centuriators. Ultimately students should grasp humanist historiography as both a link to the past and a bridge to the future, and they should ask what the modern discipline of history can learn from its Renaissance forerunner.