Major Problems in the Italian Renaissance: The Significance of Civic Humanism
Hans Baron argued that from Salutati to Ficino, humanists in Florence were identified with the wealthy ruling families, shared the interests of those families, and developed a positive evaluation of social activity. Such a development was only possible in a republic; humanists who patronized the courts of despots were contemptuous of the business enterprises of the Florentine burgher and extolled the life of leisure. Thus, civic humanism cannot be separated from Florence’s republican political tradition, for it could have developed…