The portrait of Cosimo de Medici, Pater-Patriae, in contemporary Florentine humanist literature

Abstract

This thesis seeks to re-evaluate the role played by Cosimo de' Medici in Florence in the fifteenth century by studying the literary traditions in which he was idealised during his lifetime, and seeing how far his later political reputation was derived from these traditions. The material on which this study is based is of three kinds: principally the literary writings in which the humanists described Cosimo, including all those in the 'Collectiones Cosmianae', a largely-unpublished codex of writings in praise of Cosimo; secondly, material of a biographical nature relating to the humanists and their relationship with Cosimo, including many unpublished letters; and finally, published and unpublished archive-material relating to the political government of Florence in this period. Its scope is primarily to show how much of Cosimo's historical reputation is derived from the rhetorical portrait painted of him by the humanists during his lifetime, which became realised in terms of politics only after his death. At the same time, its more detailed study of two humanists who idealised Cosimo after his death illustrates the political significance of the rise to power of a new social class in Florence in the second half of the century, and in general, it helps to provide more evidence of the close relationship between literature and political idealism in this period.