Florence in the Forgotten Centuries, 1527-1800
A History of Florence and the Florentines in the Age of the Grand Dukes
9780226111513
9780226115955
Florence in the Forgotten Centuries, 1527-1800
A History of Florence and the Florentines in the Age of the Grand Dukes
The city of Florence has long been admired as the home of the brilliant artistic and literary achievement of the early Renaissance. But most histories of Florence go no further than the first decades of the sixteenth century. They thus give the impression that Florentine culture suddenly died with the generation of Leonardo, Machiavelli, and Andrea del Sarto.
Eric Cochrane shows that the Florentines maintained their creativity long after they had lost their position as the cultural leaders of Europe. When their political philosophy and historiography ran dry, they turned to the practical problems of civil administration. When their artists finally yielded to outside influence, they turned to music and the natural sciences. Even during the darkest days of the great economic depression of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, they succeeded in preserving—almost alone in Europe—the blessings of external peace and domestic tranquility.
Eric Cochrane shows that the Florentines maintained their creativity long after they had lost their position as the cultural leaders of Europe. When their political philosophy and historiography ran dry, they turned to the practical problems of civil administration. When their artists finally yielded to outside influence, they turned to music and the natural sciences. Even during the darkest days of the great economic depression of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, they succeeded in preserving—almost alone in Europe—the blessings of external peace and domestic tranquility.
Reviews
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Preface: To the Benevolent Reader
Prologue: The siege
BOOK I
FLORENCE IN THE 1540s
How Cosimo de’ Medici turned a worn-out republic into a well-run monarchy
I. Election
2. Survival
3. Affirmation
4· Consolidation
5. Elaboration
6. Triumph
BOOK II
FLORENCE IN THE 1590s
How Scipione Ammirato solved just about all the problems of his age
I. The countryside
2. The city
3. How Ammirato solved Machiavelli’s dilemma by putting politics and religion together again
4. How Ammirato made historiography obsolete by writing a definitive history
5. The twilight of a perfect day
BOOK III
FLORENCE IN THE 1630s
How Galileo Galilei turned the universe inside out
Prologue: How Galileo came home after eighteen years abroad
Preface: Condemnation and abjuration
I. The campaign progresses
2. The campaign falters
3. Plague and depression
4. The campaign loses its auxiliaries
5. The campaign fails
6. The Galileans hold out
7. The Galileans win
BOOK IV
FLORENCE IN THE I680s
How Lorenzo Magalotti looked in vain for a vocation and finally settled down to sniffing perfumes
1. How Magalotti started out being a scientist
2. How he then gave it up
3. How Magalotti went traveling and then came home
4. How Magalotti became an art connoisseur, a lexicographer, a poet, and a literary critic
5. How Magalotti became a theologian
6. How Magalotti stopped trying to become anything at all
BOOK V
FLORENCE IN THE I730s
How Giovanni Lami discovered the past and tried to alter the future
Prologue: The journalist
1. From Santa Croce to Florence
2. From librarian to historian
3. The end of the Medici
4. Lawyers in office
5. Bottoming out
6. The university and the church
7. The collaborators and the disciples
8. The battles
9. The retreat
BOOK VI
FLORENCE IN THE I780s
How Francesco Maria Gianni spent twenty-five years building a model state only to see it torn down in a single morning
1. Peasants, plebeians, and proprietors
2. The riot
3. How Gianni became a professional bureaucrat
4. How Gianni tried to replace a controlled economic system with a free one
5. How Gianni tried to turn an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy
6. How Gianni tried to turn a hierarchical society into an egalitarian society
7. How Gianni tried to keep a civil society from turning into a theocracy
8. The invasion
A Postscript
Bibliographical Note
Abbreviations
Prologue
BOOK I
BOOK II
BOOK III
BOOK IV
BOOK V
BOOK VI
Index
Preface: To the Benevolent Reader
Prologue: The siege
BOOK I
FLORENCE IN THE 1540s
How Cosimo de’ Medici turned a worn-out republic into a well-run monarchy
I. Election
2. Survival
3. Affirmation
4· Consolidation
5. Elaboration
6. Triumph
BOOK II
FLORENCE IN THE 1590s
How Scipione Ammirato solved just about all the problems of his age
I. The countryside
2. The city
3. How Ammirato solved Machiavelli’s dilemma by putting politics and religion together again
4. How Ammirato made historiography obsolete by writing a definitive history
5. The twilight of a perfect day
BOOK III
FLORENCE IN THE 1630s
How Galileo Galilei turned the universe inside out
Prologue: How Galileo came home after eighteen years abroad
Preface: Condemnation and abjuration
I. The campaign progresses
2. The campaign falters
3. Plague and depression
4. The campaign loses its auxiliaries
5. The campaign fails
6. The Galileans hold out
7. The Galileans win
BOOK IV
FLORENCE IN THE I680s
How Lorenzo Magalotti looked in vain for a vocation and finally settled down to sniffing perfumes
1. How Magalotti started out being a scientist
2. How he then gave it up
3. How Magalotti went traveling and then came home
4. How Magalotti became an art connoisseur, a lexicographer, a poet, and a literary critic
5. How Magalotti became a theologian
6. How Magalotti stopped trying to become anything at all
BOOK V
FLORENCE IN THE I730s
How Giovanni Lami discovered the past and tried to alter the future
Prologue: The journalist
1. From Santa Croce to Florence
2. From librarian to historian
3. The end of the Medici
4. Lawyers in office
5. Bottoming out
6. The university and the church
7. The collaborators and the disciples
8. The battles
9. The retreat
BOOK VI
FLORENCE IN THE I780s
How Francesco Maria Gianni spent twenty-five years building a model state only to see it torn down in a single morning
1. Peasants, plebeians, and proprietors
2. The riot
3. How Gianni became a professional bureaucrat
4. How Gianni tried to replace a controlled economic system with a free one
5. How Gianni tried to turn an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy
6. How Gianni tried to turn a hierarchical society into an egalitarian society
7. How Gianni tried to keep a civil society from turning into a theocracy
8. The invasion
A Postscript
Bibliographical Note
Abbreviations
Prologue
BOOK I
BOOK II
BOOK III
BOOK IV
BOOK V
BOOK VI
Index