We Are the Kingdom of Sicily: Humanism and Identity
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
WE ARE THE KINGDOM OF SICILY: HUMANISM AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN THE SICILIAN RENAISSANCE A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy Anne Maltempi August, 2020 WE ARE THE KINGDOM OF SICILY: HUMANISM AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN THE SICILIAN RENAISSANCE Anne Maltempi Dissertation Approved: Accepted: Advisor Department Chair Dr. Michael Levin Dr. Martin Wainwright Committee Member Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Martha Santos Dr. Joe Urgo Committee Member Acting Dean of Graduate School Dr. Martin Wainwright Dr. Marnie Saunders Committee Member Date Dr. Janet Klein Committee Member Dr. Matthew Crawford Committee Member Dr. Alan Ambrisco ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have completed this work without a network of amazing peers in the University of Akron graduate program, including Michael Selzer, Suraj Lakshminarasimhan, Kat McDonald-Miranda, Dr. Thomas Weyant, Dr. Angela Riotto, and my dearest friend in the program Flint Tyler-Wolf. I would also like to express my immense gratitude to the entire History Department faculty at the University of Akron particularly Dr. Martha Santos, Dr. Janet Klein, Dr. Steve Harp, Dr. Martin Wainwright, Dr. Michael Graham, Dr. Walter Hixson, and most of all to the most incredible advisor I could have ever asked for Dr. Michael Levin. Thank you all for your support and for helping me become the best scholar I could possibly be. I would like to thank Dr. Oghenetoja Okoh and Dr. Matthew Crawford, both have been instrumental in helping to facilitate my research and offering support and suggestions through the years. I want to thank my grandparents, Anna and Vincenzo Maltempi. Both of them passed away through the course of my Ph.D. program, but their lives served as an example of dedication, hard work, and integrity which fostered my ability as a scholar. I would like to thank my parents Salvatrice and Carlo Maltempi whose love and commitment have inspired my work, and who always supported and fostered my hopes and dreams. Ti voglio tanto bene Mamma e Papà. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Daniel Hovatter who has been patient enough to get me through my highs and my lows, and who was always willing to engage in debate with me as I worked through my theoretical premises. I love you very much Daniel, I hope I can always do the same for you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS Pages I. INTRODUCTION: SICILIANITÀ IN THE RENAISSANCE ..................1 a. Sicilian Identity Formation in the Renaissance ....................................6 b. Conceptualizing Sicilianità ...................................................................10 c. Reconceptualizing the Mediterranean ...................................................16 d. Concepts of Empire: Sicily and the Influence of Spain ........................21 e. Methodology .........................................................................................29 f. Conclusion ............................................................................................32 II. THE MIXED HERITAGE OF SICILIANITÀ ...........................................37 a. Sicily in the Middle Ages: A History of Cultural Exchange ................38 b. Greek Culture in Sicilian Identity and in Italian Humanism ................41 c. Muslim Sicily and its Influence on Sicilianità ......................................44 d. Norman Integration of Greek and Muslim Sicily .................................45 e. The Role of the Parlamentu in Sicilian Identity Formation .................49 f. The Economics of Sicily in the Middle Ages .......................................52 g. Conclusion ............................................................................................56 III. TOMMASO FAZELLO: WRITING THE SICILIAN RENAISSANCE ..58 a. Writing History in Renaissance Sicily: The Italian “Other” .................58 b. Tommaso Fazello: Le Due Deche della Storia Siciliana ......................66 c. Fazello and the History of Norman Sicily ............................................81 iv d. The End of the Norman Dynasty and the Arrival of Spain...................90 e. Conclusion ............................................................................................97 IV. TOMMASO SCHIFALOD AND LUCIO MARINEO SICULO: SICILIAN HUMANISM ..............................................................................................102 a. Introduction: Sicilian Academies and Sicilian Humanism ...................102 b. Tommaso Schifaldo and the Sicilian Schools .......................................110 c. Lucio Marineo Siculo: A Sicilian Humanist in Spain ..........................121 d. Conclusion ............................................................................................151 V. CLAUDIO MARIO D’AREZZO AND ANTONIO VENEZIANO: SICILIAN POETS ........................................................................................................160 a. Language, Literature, and Subverting the Tuscan Paradigm ................160 b. The Standard Sicilian Form: The Case of Claudio Mario D’Arezzo....163 c. Sicilianità in the Art of Language in Antonio Veneziano .....................185 d. Conclusion: The Literary Construction of Sicilianità ...........................203 VI. CONCLUSION: REFRAMING MEDITTERRANEAN IDENTITY IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD .....................................................................205 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................211 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: SICILIANITÀ IN THE RENAISSANCE The island of Sicily in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is not well documented in current Renaissance historiography, particularly that which is produced in the Anglophone world. While some recent historians have attempted to bring attention to Sicily’s role in the Renaissance, they often do so superficially or through their discussions of the court of Naples, since Sicily and Naples were both part of the southern Italian Kingdom.1 In this dissertation, I aim to begin filling this gap in Anglophone Renaissance historiography. Doing so will provide insight into the functions of identity formation in the early modern Mediterranean. I will analyze the work of five Sicilian humanists: Tommaso Fazello (1498-1570), Tommaso Schifaldo (1430-1500?), Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533), Claudio Mario D’Arezzo (?-1575), and Antonio Veneziano (1543-1593). I chose these humanists because they represent different facets of the rhetorical humanist movement of the Renaissance: Fazello and Siculo wrote histories, while Schifaldo, D’Arezzo, and Veneziano wrote about pedagogy, grammar and linguistics, and poetry respectively. These humanists have been given little attention in 1 Guido Ruggiero, The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Renaissance, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015). 1 current Renaissance historiography, and each of them conceptualized a unique Sicilian identity (Sicilianità), which scholars initially thought did not exist until the nineteenth century. Thus, in this dissertation I argue that Sicilian humanists had a distinct multicultural conceptualization of Sicilian identity which can be traced through the contribution of Sicilian intellectuals in the Renaissance. Throughout this dissertation I will use the work of these Sicilian humanist intellectuals to show how they helped Renaissance humanism develop in Sicily. I will highlight the changes and continuities between the northern Renaissance and the southern Renaissance to show Sicilian contributions, and to help reintegrate Sicily into the narrative of the Renaissance. In so doing, I will also trace the changes and continuities in the development of Sicilianità from a cultural conceptualization to the embodiment of an identity. The evolution of Sicilianità shows that it was not a static concept, but rather was an idea that was conceptualized in many ways throughout time by different Sicilians. Sicilianità will also serve as an indicator of the humanist movement on the island. Analyzing Renaissance Sicily will help overturn problematic nineteenth and twentieth century Italian nationalist narratives of the island which continue to propagate racist, classist, and sexist beliefs about Sicilians to this day. By reexamining the role of Sicily in the Renaissance we are able to understand several key factors. First, examining Sicily in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries will allow us to explore the development of Sicilian identity. Sicily had a “parliament” and a “constitution,” these two state structures indicate the process of state-making, however while this may indicate the formation of a state it is necessary to do more research before 2 discussing a Sicilian “nationalism.”2 In addition, the words of these Sicilian humanists indicate that they all identified with a similar ancestral heritage, formulating their culture by blending the tradition of primarily three groups: Greeks, Arabs, and Normans. Later Sicilian humanists used the word “nation” in discussing Sicily, and many even used familial rhetoric such as the “Father of the nation” or a “mother tongue.” Though familial language is common in the process of conceptualizing national identity we must first contextualize Sicilianità without the veil of nationalist assumptions. The identity Renaissance Sicilian humanists conceptualized was inclusive, and strikingly different from the way northern Italians were conceptualizing identity. As I will show in subsequent chapters,