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This book examines the life and political career of Albertino Mussato (1261-1329), a Paduan poet, historian and politician. Mussato was one of the first writers of the late medieval period to begin reviving classical Latin in his works. His classical style tragic drama Ecerinis, inspired by the writings of Seneca, paved the way for him to be crowned as the first poet laureate since antiquity. This work outlines how Mussato depicted the course of his own career, from being an impoverished teenager of insignificant birth to becoming a celebrated poet and scholar, as well as an influential political figure. It looks specifically at the years leading up to Mussato's public coronation, on 3rd December 1315, as poet laureate for his city. His writings are a key component of his political manoeuvres as he tried to navigate through the troubled waters of northern Italian politics. The book demonstrates how the sources pertaining to Mussato's life and career are part of an exercise in self-promotion and self-fashioning, intended to secure his position within factional politics, but rooted in a philosophical approach derived from his early classical studies. Accordingly, this book acts as a fully-fledged account of the interaction between Mussato's writings and his political career, and how this contributed to his rise to fame.
List of contents
Chapter One: Mussato's World / Chapter Two: Mussato the Poet / Chapter Three: Mussato the Historian / Chapter Four: Mussato the Statesman / Chapter Five: Mussato the Dramatist
About the author
Aislinn McCabe completed her doctoral studies in the Department of History and Centre for Neo-Latin Studies at University College Cork, Ireland. Her work has been presented at several conferences including the Social History Society Annual Conference (Lincoln, 2019), the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies (Regina, 2018), and the Annual Neo-Latin Symposium (Cork, 2017). Aislinn was the recipient of the Irish Research Council's "Government of Ireland Fellowship" in 2015.
Summary
This book examines the life and political career of Albertino Mussato (1261-1329), a Paduan poet, historian and politician. Mussato was one of the first writers of the late medieval period to begin reviving classical Latin in his works.
