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On Francesco Guicciardini's Thought 2021-4142-AJHIS-HIS – 08 MAR 2021 1 On Francesco Guicciardini’s Thought 2 3 Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), Italian historian, politician and writer, - 4 descendant of one of the most important and faithful families to the Medici family in 5 Florence - received a solid humanistic education and was also the protagonist of the 6 Italian politics in the XVIth century; during the wars between France and Spain for 7 the domination of the peninsula, he became the objective interpreter of these events 8 in terms of historiography. Upright and austere character, he is the author of one of 9 the best histories of Italy, written in the spirit of the time, whose prime quality is the 10 historical veracity. Guicciardini fed the feeling of nationality and the aspiration to 11 independence of Italy. In his works he shows the painful efforts of the princes and 12 heads of republics, dragged in continuous wars, trying to defend, to confederate, to 13 seek help in various foreign powers in order to save themselves from the oppression 14 of the rulers. His genius, intuitive and painfully prophetic, discerns the events from 15 the things; he pronounces safe judgments and recommends possible remedies to save 16 the nation. 17 18 Keywords: Francesco Guicciardini, Sixteenth Century, Italian States 19 20 21 Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), Italian historian, politician and writer, 22 - descendant of one of the most important and faithful families to the Medici 23 family in Florence - received a solid humanistic education and was also the 24 protagonist of the Italian politics in the XVIth century; during the wars 25 between France and Spain for the domination of the peninsula, he became the 26 objective interpreter of these events in terms of historiography. 27 Upright and austere character, he is the author of one of the best histories 28 of Italy - Storia d’Italia - The History of Italy - written in the spirit of the time, 29 whose prime quality is the historical veracity. We must add his considerable 30 diplomatic skills. Cavour put him ahead of Machiavelli: politician, performing 31 many high dignities, Guicciardini is an imposing figure. 32 The marriage with Maria Salviati, in 1508, strengthened the political 33 influence and it granted him the political ascension. After the war against Pisa, 34 in 1509, he ascended very quickly in the international politics and in 1512 he 35 was appointed by the Florentine Republic as ambassador to Spain at 36 Ferdinand the Catholic. In 1512 he stopped writing his first work, Storie 37 fiorentine - The Florentine Histories, to assume the diplomatic assignment that 38 we mentioned before, the embassy to the court of Spain, where he remained 39 until 1514. The result of this experience in his diplomatic activity will be the 40 political work Il Discorso di Logrogno - The Discourse from Logrogno (1512), a 41 proposal for a political organization of the Florentine state, within which 42 Guicciardini sustains the reform in the aristocratic sense of the Florentine 43 Republic. 1 2021-4142-AJHIS-HIS – 07 MAR 2021 1 After the moment when Giulio de’ Medici became Pope Clement VII, 2 Guicciardini is sent to govern the Romagna, a region very agitated by the 3 struggles between the richest families. To counterpoint the power of Charles 4 V, he proposed an alliance between the regional states of Italy and France, in 5 order to safeguard the independence of the peninsula. The agreement was 6 signed in Cognac in 1526, but was never put into practice. After the predation 7 of Rome – il sacco di Roma - (1527), he was removed from the diplomatic 8 assignments that he had been given. 9 In 1529 he left Florence and returned to Rome with the intention to enter 10 the service of Pope Clement VII, and was offered the position of a diplomat to 11 Bologna. After the fall of the Republic of Florence and restoration of the power 12 of the Medici family, in 1531, Guicciardini returned to Florence, where he held 13 various duties on behalf of the Medici family and Pope Clement VII, but after 14 1534, the new Pope Paul III didn’t give him any big assignments. 15 After the return of the Medici family in Florence, he remained in their 16 residence as counsellor of Duke Alessandro. In the latest years, he finished the 17 Ricordi politici e civili („The Political and Civil Memories”), he collected his 18 Discorsi politici („Political Discourses”) and wrote the Storia d’Italia (History of 19 Italy-1537-1540). None of Guicciardini’s works was published during his 20 lifetime. 21 „The History of Italy”- Storia d’Italia begins with the history of Italy from 22 1490, which is the year of the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent and ends in 23 1534, the year of the descent into Italy of Charles VIII of France (after the 24 predation of Rome by the Lanzichenecchi and the death of Pope Clement VII). 25 Written by a „senior official and advisor to three popes”, with ambitions of 26 classicism – he was inspired by the “Commentaries” of Caesar -, but with a 27 great modernity1. 28 Objective and impartial critic of his times, in his Storia d’Italia (History of 29 Italy) - vast and detailed image of what happened in Italy between the last 30 decade of the Quattrocento and 1534 - he achieved excellent results as an 31 analyst and political thinker. In Guicciardini there is a political realism that 32 follows the idea of a unified Italian state by taking as examples the great 33 national monarchies of Europe, but not taking into account the fact that those 34 had been created through the strength of an enterprising and opened 35 bourgeoisie, while in Italy a petty bourgeoisie survived, unable to look 36 beyond the narrow limits of the municipality or region. 37 In Discorsi politici - Political Discourses Guicciardini imitates the ancient 38 historians, and makes them the main characters of the time. Their councils are 39 intent to make Guicciardini’s contemporaries to seek the salvation of the states 40 which were at that time involved in the ambitions of the foreign rulers, eager 41 to divide Italy. The Discourses have a general character because they highlight 1V. De Caprariis, Francesco Guicciardini. Dalla politica alla storia, Bari, 1950, p. 28 2 2021-4142-AJHIS-HIS – 07 MAR 2021 1 the conditions of the states of Europe and their relationships with those of the 2 peninsula. It’s part of a series of Discourses that Guicciardini wrote in 1511, 3 after being appointed ambassador of the Republic of Florence through the 4 Crown of Aragon, ruled at the time by Ferdinand the Catholic. This 5 experience made him understand, in a more detached and professional way, 6 the high-level politics of Florence, which he analyzed in his work. 7 Il Discorso di Logrogno („The Discourse of Logrogno”) is a juvenile political 8 work written in 1512 in which Gucciardini sustains a reform - in the 9 aristocratic sense - of the Florentine Republic, proposing a system similar to 10 that of Venice. The discourse takes its name from the city where it was 11 written, the current Logroño. In “The Discourse from Logrogno” he begins from 12 the analysis of the various political events in Italy, still divided into regional 13 states, to arrive at the influence on the peninsula made by the monarchical 14 states of Europe of that time. 15 During the same period, Guicciardini also wrote the Relazioni di Spagna 16 („The Relationships of Spain”) and Il Diario di Spagna („The Diary of Spain”), 17 and started the first draft of the Ricordi („Memories”). His political thinking is 18 exposed in Ricordi - “Memories”2 and he is the author of a skeptical and 19 disenchanted vision on politics and on the human ability to manipulate 20 reality. „The Memories” relates to various periods of Guicciardini’s activity as 21 diplomat and politician, taking its resources from this long and complex 22 experience. Hence the character of the work (the title really means “things to 23 remember” and then, by extension, “thoughts”, “reflections”), that faces, with 24 a bitter and disillusioned pessimism, more general problems. These reflections 25 can provide a useful teaching but they don’t have, however, absolute validity, 26 because reality does not obey to universal laws, maintaining a changing and 27 unpredictable course. 28 Between 1516 and 1527 Guicciardini works for the papal curia, in the 29 service of the Medici popes: Leo X, afterwards Clement VII. In this period, he 30 writes Dialogo del reggimento di Firenze („The Dialogue of the Regiment of 31 Florence”) - 1521-1526, in two books. This is his only political-theoretical 32 treaty. The work is a dialogical treaty, under the form of two days of 33 discussion, a few weeks after the expulsion of Piero de’ Medici from Florence, 34 among people of different political views: Bernardo del Nero, a partisan of the 35 Medici, Piero Capponi, aristocratic, Paolantonio Soderini, a partisan of the 36 people, Piero Guicciardini, father of the writer, moderator. It is a general 37 reflection on the state and on human nature. The author imagines a discussion 38 held in Florence in 1494, after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. The 39 interlocutors are the writer’s father, Piero, Paolantonio Soderini and Piero 40 Capponi, all Republicans, to whom Bernardo del Nero - who was linked to the 2Marin Vătafu, С. Antoniade, Trei Figuri Din Cinquecento, in “Gând românesc”, Cluj, anul IV, nr.3-4/1936, p. 236 3 2021-4142-AJHIS-HIS – 07 MAR 2021 1 Medici party - opposes.
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