The preaching of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola and the period of his dominance (1494-1498) are a well-known chapter in the history of Renaissance Florence. However, comparatively less research has been done on Savonarola's predecessors, the mendicant preachers of Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century. The Dominican Giovanni Dominici (1356-1419) and the Franciscan Bernardino da Siena (1380-1444) were the most important of these preachers. Dominici's and Bernardino's sermons, as they appear in Tuscan reports (reportationes) of their preaching, are a valuable historical source. Written down by anonymous listeners, these are the major reports of sermons preached in fifteenth-century Florence before Savonarola. The reportationes are unique in that they transmit in full the actual preaching event and are not merely a doctrinal summary composed by the preacher. Many of these sermons are still in manuscript form, especially those of Dominici, which have never been studied in detail and remain unpublished to this day. Dominici and Bernardino were active in Florence at a time when broad legal, social and cultural changes were taking place. The central purpose of this study is to examine the response of these preachers to the changes, the alternatives they offered and their attempts to direct the life of the laity. The four principal chapters are devoted to the preachers' opinions on secular and ecclesiastical politics, education and humanism, morality and the family and the economy and usury (the role of the Jews), the discussion built around a comparison between the two preachers. Although they differed in their interests and in their style - the unbending Dominici concentrating on politics and culture while the more flexible Bernardino focused on morality and the economy - they shared ideologies.
Author(s): Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby
Series: Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 4
Publisher: Brepols
Year: 2001
Language: English, Italian
Pages: 358
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter One: Introduction
I. The Significance of Preaching
II. Preaching in Renaissance Florence
III. Observant Preaching in Florence
IV. Giovanni Dominici and Bernardino da Siena: Their Life and Works
Giovanni Dominici (1356-1419)
Bernardino da Siena (1380-1444)
Chapter Two: The Sermon: Traditional Genre, Literary Creation and Theatrical Performance
I. The Mode of Preaching
II. The Sermon as a Traditional Literary Genre
III. The Sennon as a Creative Work
IV. The Sermon as a Theatrical Performance
V. Conclusions
Chapter Three: The Preachers on Politics
I. On External Politics
Il. On Church and Commune
III. On Internal Politics: Ideals and Institutions
IV. On Internal Politics: Factions and Vendetta
V. Conclusions
Chapter Four: The Preachers on Culture and Education
I. On Culture and Knowledge
Theory and Ideals
Religious versus Secular Leaming
The 'Studia humanitatis'
Poetry and Literature
II. On Education and Learning
Theory and Ideals
Didactic Principles and Teaching Techniques
Institutions: Schools and Universities
III. Conclusions
Chapter Five: The Preachers on Family, Women and Social Fringe Groups
I. On Family
II. On Women
III. On Prostitution
IV. On Homosexuality
V. Conclusions
Chapter Six: The Preachers on the Economy, Usury, and Jews
I. On Merchants
II. On Avarice
III. On Usury
IV. On Jews
V. Conclusions
Chapter Seven: The Public Image of the Preachers and their Impact on the Society
I. The Image of the Preachers in the Eyes of their Contemporaries
II. The Impact of the Preachers on Renaissance Florence
III. The Legacy of the Preachers
Conclusions
Appendix: A Selection from Giovanni Dominici's Florentine
Sermons
I. Manuscripts
II. Description of Manuscript Ricc. 1301
III. The Choice of Sermons and Criteria Used in Selection
Selected Sermons: Predica 3
Predica 4
Predica 6
Predica 13
Predica 19
Predica 22
Predica 23
Predica 30
Predica 41
Predica 44
Bibliography
Index
