37? Al8ld MO. 3V8Q HUMANISM AND THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE, 1438-1439 DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR' OF PHILOSOPHY By Samuel J. Swisher, Jr., B.A., M.Div. Denton, Texas December, 1991 37? Al8ld MO. 3V8Q HUMANISM AND THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE, 1438-1439 DISSERTATION Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR' OF PHILOSOPHY By Samuel J. Swisher, Jr., B.A., M.Div. Denton, Texas December, 1991 Swisher, Samuel J. Jr., Humanism and the Council of Florence, 1438-1439. Doctor of Philosophy (History), December, 1991, 256 pp., bibliography, 108 titles. The Council of Ferrara-Florence was important to the church because it was an attempt to reunite the Latin and Greek obediences which had been separated since 1054. A notable aspect of the council was the fact that it brought together some of the greatest scholars of the era to participate in the debates. Humanism was an attempt among intellectuals committed to the study of the humanities to rediscover and imitate the literary and oratorical style associated with the classical past of ancient Greece and republican Rome. The humanist methodological approach to the arts of rhetoric, grammar and textual criticism can be said to have gained widespread acceptance among intellectuals in fifteenth century Italy. Curiously, however, little has been written regarding the influence of humanism on the church during that same period, particularly in the early fifteenth century. This work was written to address this issue, at least in part, by exploring the relationship between humanism and the proceedings of the important Council of Florence. The examination focuses solely on the Latin delegation, since the humanist movement was primarily a western phenomenon. The study begins with the development of the nature and character of fifteenth century Italian humanism. It then proceeds to delineate the humanist methodological approach to three key areas; rhetoric, grammar, and historical criticism. Having thus laid this necessary foundation, the work examines selected portions of the debates of the council with regard to each of the three key areas, in order to ascertain whether or not a humanistic approach was utilized by the Latin participants in their argumentations. This investigation concludes that the Latin advocates of the council did indeed employ humanist methodology in both the preparation and presentation of their arguments in the debates. Therefore, such evidence strongly suggests that an appreciation and acceptance of the humanist approach to rhetoric, grammar, and textual criticism existed in the church in the early decades of the fifteenth century. Copyright by Samuel James Swisher, Jr, 1991 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I. EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALIAN HUMANISM 1 Introduction and purpose General character of Italian humanism Toward a definition of humanism II. HUMANISTIC CONCERNS: RHETORIC 30 Historical background Rhetoric in the Renaissance Rhetoric and Salutati, Bruni, Traversari, Valla III. HUMANISTIC CONCERNS: GRAMMAR, TEXTUAL CRITICISM...58 Historical background Grammar, Textual Criticism in the Renaissance Grammar, Textual Criticism and Salutati, Bracciolini, Traversari and Valla IV. THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE: BACKGROUND 98 The church and the Great Schism Councils of Pisa, Constance, Pavia, and Basel The Council of Lyons, 1274. Conciliarism V. THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE: OVERVIEW 132 The Greeks come to Ferrara Preliminary discussions The addition to the creed The council resumes at Florence VI. THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE AND RHETORIC 176 VII. THE COUNCIL OF FLORENCE AND GRAMMAR, TEXTUAL CRITICISM 206 CONCLUSIONS 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY 248 IV CHAPTER 1 EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALIAN HUMANISM While the Burckhardtian thesis1 concerning the nature of the period we know as the Renaissance may now be considered inadequate after more than a century of additional research, Burckhardt nevertheless accurately identified the unique blend of cultural milieu and men of intellect which existed in Italy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This period, as Kristeller notes, witnessed a rebirth of Italian arts and letters which provided her a certain independence from the other western European countries, especially France, which had culturally dominated the continent since the early middle ages.2 Italy during this era also produced the great literary genius Dante, the talented Bocaccio, and the pious poet and philosopher, Francesco Petrarcha. Within the context of the Renaissance, an intellectual movement emerged which had as one of its primary objectives a return to the classical past, the humanist movement. There is, of course, a great debate as to the definition of the term "humanist", but Kristeller argues convincingly that in Renaissance Italy it was strictly applied to a teacher of the humanities, a prescribed discipline of academic subjects known as the studia humanitatis, consisting of; grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral philosophy.3 A humanist, therefore, was primarily a scholar-educator, who because of the nature of his craft, was interested in the writings of ancient authors, both Roman and Greek. This interest was engendered by a love of the wisdom and eloquence which characterized the writings of the ancients and which came to be prized virtues among the humanists themselves. Burckhardt viewed the humanists as mediators "between their own age and a venerated antiquity," who by virtue of their understanding and imitation of the ancients overthrew a Church-based medieval culture.4 Although Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch (1304-1374), has been generally acknowledged as the progenitor of Renaissance humanists, some have resisted the tendency to exaggerate his importance to the Renaissance and the humanist movement. Burckhardt, for example, credited Dante with being the first "mediator" between antiquity and Renaissance culture in Italy, not Petrarch.5 In a similar fashion, Kristeller prefers to speak of Petrarch as humanism's "first great representative" rather than its initiator.® Nevertheless, no one denies the important role which Petrarch played in directly contributing to the humanist movement with his own literary efforts, and the influence which he had upon many disciples who actively promoted its ideas. Eighteen years after the death of Petrarch, in 1392, one such disciple, Giovanni Conversini (1347-1406), was appointed to the Chair of Rhetoric at the University of Padua. Conversini was an admirer of Petrarch and Cicero and promoted humanistic interests at the university when other academic institutions were shunning the ideas of the new movement."7 Several of Conversini's pupils such as Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459), Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446), and Guarino da Verona (1374-1460), became great humanists and made significant contributions to the movement.® Milanese humanism also stemmed from Petrarchan influence as well as from close ties to Florentine humanism in general.9 A number of important humanists resided in Milan or in its subject-city Pavia, the ancient Lombard capital, during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, including Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457) and Francesco Filelfo. In 1421, after a successful teaching carreer, the well known humanist-educator Gasparino Barzizza (1360-1430) was recalled to Milan from Padua by Filippo Maria Visconti because of an important discovery of Ciceronian manuscripts by the bishop of Lodi, Gerardo Landriani.10 This discovery alone would have assured Milan a significant place in the tradition of Italian humanism, but there was to be more. Barzizza, for example, was established after his return in an important chair of rhetoric at Pavia, and many humanists, including Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) and Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481), were educated under his tutelage. Barzizza was succeeded by Valla in 1431.1:1 While at Pavia, Valla wrote his first important work, De Voluptate (1431), as well as the early notes regarding his De Elegantiis Linguae Latinae (1442).12 However, fifteenth century Milan achieved its most lasting contribution to Renaissance humanism as a center for the discovery, editing and publication of classical texts, such as the Lodi manuscripts, for which it later became renowned.13 The existence of a large papal bureaucracy at Rome provided a great opportunity for humanist employment and service in the early Quattrocento.14 The voluminous paperwork requirements of the curia ensured an ongoing need for men of letters such as the humanists. One of the most important curial posts was that of apostolic secretary. This office was originated to assist the pope with his heavy workload.15 Certainly one of the most famous of these secretaries was Poggio Bracciolini, who held his appointment for a half century (1403-1453), arid during his tenure, accompanied Eugenius IV to the Council of Florence.16 Lorenzo Valla, like Bracciolini, also served as secretary in a papal administration, having been appointed to this office by Pope Nicholas V in 1448. Yet another opportunity for service for humanists in Rome in the early Quattrocento was provided by the existence of "familias," or groups of individuals who assisted popes, cardinals or secular lords in the performance of their work.1"7 Humanists made up a large part of the members of these "familias", with two of the best known of these groups being those