Portuguese Abbot in Renaissance Florence

This book is an annotated edition of the letters of Gomes Eanes, a Portuguese who lived for three decades in Italy and was head of the Badia Fiorentina (Monastery of Santa Maria of Florence) between 1419 and 1439. It includes a transcription of 550 missives that he received, of which the originals are currently kept in two Florentine archives (Biblioteca Laurenziana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale). The text provides a detailed record of the abbot’s activities and of his constant communication with men and women living in Italy, Portugal, and other parts of Europe, revealing a multilingual cultural world and a wide field of human relations. As well as an introductory study of the abbot and his career, the history of the letter collection within the intellectual and institutional context of the Benedictine abbey, and of letterwriting as a cultural practice in Portuguese and Italian societies, are considered. A general index of the letters closes the volume.

Rita Costa Gomes is Professor of History at Towson University (USA), where she teaches Medieval and Renaissance history. A historian of medieval Portugal with strong interests in Iberian and Mediterranean history, she published in book form the first complete study of the royal court of Portugal (Portuguese version 1995, English version 2003), two volumes on the history of the Portuguese frontiers, and a biography of King Fernando I (r. 1367-1383). She collaborates in the project for the English edition of the works of the historian Fernão Lopes (c. 1380-c.1460).