The Prince and the Condottiero in Italian Humanism and Renaissance

This volume explores the process of definition, evolution and representation of the figures of the prince and the condottiero in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy: two roles that often appear as interconnected and, in some cases, are embodied by the same political actor. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach and considering different cultural centres (e.g. Milan, Florence, Naples, Ferrara), the contributions to this book examine different forms and genres through which these key political figures have been portrayed and theorised: historical narratives, political treatises, chivalric romances, historical-epic poetry, and visual and artistic representations. These media overlap in various ways but have been rarely considered through a comparative and unified perspective. This viewpoint helps to highlight the synergies, similarities and specificities of these fields and brings recognition to their contribution to the evolution of political ideologies in the Italian Renaissance.

Marta Celati is Professor of Medieval and Humanist Literature at the University of Pisa. She was previously Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, Part-time Lecturer at the University of Oxford, and Frances Yates Short-term Fellow at the Warburg Institute. Her research mainly focuses on humanist and Renaissance literature.

Maria Pavlova is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford. She has held research fellowships at Villa I Tatti, Warwick and Oxford, and in 2023 she was Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Humanities and Arts at the Technion. Her research focuses on Italian Renaissance literature and history.