This article is about the 14th-century Florentine chronichler and statesman. For Italian World War I general, see Giovanni Villani (general).
Giovanni Villani
Statue of Giovanni Villani by Gaetano Trentanove in the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo in Florence
Born
c. 1276 or 1280
Florence, Republic of Florence
Died
1348 (1349)
Florence, Republic of Florence
Occupation(s)
Banker, official, diplomat, chronicler
Giovanni Villani (Italian pronunciation:[dʒoˈvannivilˈlaːni]; c. 1276 or 1280 – 1348)[1][2] was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica (New Chronicles) on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavoury reputation and served time in prison as a result of the bankruptcy of a trading and banking company he worked for. His interest in and elaboration of economic details, statistical information, and political and psychological insight mark him as a more modern chronicler of late medieval Europe.[3] His Cronica is viewed as the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history.[4]
However, historian Kenneth R. Bartlett notes that, in contrast to his Renaissance-era successors, "his reliance on such elements as divine providence links Villani closely with the medieval vernacular chronicle tradition."[5] In recurring themes made implicit through significant events described in his Cronica, Villani also emphasized three assumptions about the relationship of sin and morality to historical events, these being that excess brings disaster, that forces of right and wrong are in constant struggle, and that events are directly influenced by the will of God.
Villani was inspired to write his Cronica after attending the jubilee celebration in Rome in 1300 and noting the venerable history of that city. He outlined the events in his Cronica year for year, following a strictly linear narrative format. He provided intricate details on many important historical events of the city of Florence and the wider region of Tuscany, such as construction projects, floods, fires, famines, and plagues.[6][7][8]
While continuing work on the Cronica and detailing the enormous loss of life during the Black Death in 1348, Villani died of the same illness.[9] His work on the Cronica was continued by his brother and nephew. Villani's work has received both praise and criticism from modern historians. The criticism is mostly aimed at his emphasis on supernatural guidance of events, his organizational style, and his glorification of the papacy and Florence.
^Bartlett (1992), 35.
^Cite error: The named reference encyclopedia 1517 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Bartlett (1992), 35–36.
^Villani, Giovanni. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 4, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD
^Bartlett (1992), 36.
^Bartlett (1992), 36–40.
^Kleinhenz (2004), 1102.
^Benedictow (2004), 286.
^Cite error: The named reference kleinhenz 2004 1144 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
GiovanniVillani (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni vilˈlaːni]; c. 1276 or 1280 – 1348) was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from...
year-by-year linear format and written by the Italian banker and official GiovanniVillani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). The idea came to him in the year 1300, after...
Proto-Renaissance period. Giotto's contemporary, the banker and chronicler GiovanniVillani, wrote that Giotto was "the most sovereign master of painting in his...
founded in the 1st century, according to the 14th century chronicler GiovanniVillani. The diocese was directly subordinate to the Holy See (Papacy) until...
Leggenda was once thought to be a source for the Nuova Cronica of GiovanniVillani, itself a source for the Vespers. Brunetto Latini, in his Tesoro, similarly...
is said that on one particular day some 30,000 people were counted. GiovanniVillani estimated that some 200,000 pilgrims came to Rome. Boniface and his...
Palazzo dell'Esecutore di Giustizia, once owned by the Uberti family. GiovanniVillani (1276–1348) wrote in his Nuova Cronica that the Uberti were "rebels...
dedicated to Mars, the tutelary god of the old Florence. The chronicler GiovanniVillani reported this medieval Florentine legend in his 14th-century Nuova...
Apulia Gestis. GiovanniVillani (1322–1348). Cronica (PDF). (In this book, Giovanni Pipino di Altamura is called il Paladino, while Giovanni Pipino da Barletta...
Sicily and Naples. Contemporaries regarded Peter as feeble-minded. GiovanniVillani, in his Nuova Cronica, calls him "almost an imbecile" (Italianate Latin:...
valley of the Arno River. According to the Italian medieval historian GiovanniVillani, the town was founded in 1296, by the Republic of Florence. The design...
professional murderer in this general sense. The Italian chronicler GiovanniVillani, who died in 1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent 'his assassins'...
(1349–1351). Chronicon de Rebus in Apulia Gestis. GiovanniVillani (1322–1348). Cronica (PDF). (In this book, Giovanni Pipino di Altamura is called "il Paladino"...
Europe, with able bankers and merchants such as the famous chronicler GiovanniVillani of the Peruzzi Company engaging in commercial transactions as far away...
away again in 1333 except for two of its central piers, as noted by GiovanniVillani in his Nuova Cronica. It was rebuilt in 1345. This location marks one...
conquered and destroyed.'" A typical medieval account is given by GiovanniVillani (1300): He relates that "it measured eighty miles [130 km] round, and...
Tagliacozzo, from the Chancellor, using material also to be gleaned later by GiovanniVillani, the Florentine merchant and historian. As a result, Dante reserved...
Guidi were mortal enemies of Florence. In the Nuova Cronica wrote by GiovanniVillani in 1306, Matilda was a decent and pious person. She is described there...
indeed the posthumous daughter of Roger II and half-sister of William. GiovanniVillani said William I sought to put her to death due to the prediction until...
Poggibonsi. Declared an Imperial City by emperor Frederick II, according to GiovanniVillani it was one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. Poggiobonizio, which...
jubilee are Cimabue, Giotto, Charles, Count of Valois, the chronicler GiovanniVillani, and Dante Alighieri, who mentions it in the Divine Comedy in Canto...
crumbling with age, according to the 14th-century Nuova Cronica of GiovanniVillani, and was no longer large enough to serve the growing population of...
River Arno floods, causing massive damage in Florence, as recorded by GiovanniVillani. A famine (lasting until 1337) breaks out in China, killing six million...
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