The Censorship and Fortuna of Platina's 'Lives of the Popes' in the Sixteenth Century (Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies, vol. 9) by Stefan Bauer ISBN 13: 9782503518145

Brepols Publishers, 2007. 1st. hardcover. New. 104x20x152.

Hardback. New.

Brepols Publishers, 2007. Hardcover. New. bilingual edition. 390 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.25 inches.

Turnhout Brepols 2007. Hardback, XVIII+390 p., 160 x 240 mm. ISBN 9782503518145. When Bartolomeo Sacchi ('Platina', 1421-1481) wrote his Vitae pontificum (Lives of the Popes) and presented it to Pope Sixtus IV in 1475, he surely could not have imagined how influential it would become over the centuries. His was the first papal history composed as a humanist Latin narrative and, as such, marked a distinct breakthrough in relation to the Liber pontificalis, the standard medieval chronicle of the papacy. Whatever Platina's intentions for the book, it soon came to be regarded as the official history of the Roman pontiffs. After the editio princeps of Venice 1479, updated and extended editions continued to be produced until late in the eighteenth century. The largely untold story of Platina's Lives of the Popes and its fortuna is the focus of this book. The Lives were particularly popular because of Platina's frank criticisms of papal behaviour which did not live up to his humanist… Read More