Florence and its University during the Early Renaissance.

Jonathan Davies. Florence and its University during the Early Renaissance. (Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 8.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 1998. xii + 234 pp. $81.50. ISBN: 9-0041-1003-8.

Among the universities of early Renaissance Italy Florence, has always seemed something of an anomaly. Situated in the capital of the Florentine Republic, rather than in one of the subject towns, host in its early days to some notable scholars, among them Filelfo, Andronicus Callistus, Leonicus and Ficino himself, it nonetheless failed to maintain its standing in the wider republic of learning but was cherished, regardless, by the Florentines. Dr. Davies's slim volume sets itself the bold ambition of setting the history of the university between 1385 and 1473 in its social, economic, political, ecclesiastical, and cultural context and, astonishingly, achieves it, at least in the context of Florence.

Within that context he analyzes the existing evidence for the Florentine studio in its internal structure, considering in turn: its administrators (the ufficiali and arruoti), whose chief task was the appointment and payment of teachers; the students (the Universita degli Scolari); the teachers; and finally, the colleges of doctors (one for canon and civil law; one for arts and medicine) which were responsible for the examination of doctorands. He then considers the social status of Florentines both serving as teachers and as students of the studio. His social distinctions are somewhat confusing on first impact, but become clear as his analysis progresses, taking into account the differing social status of teachers in different faculties, and of teachers and students in the same faculty, and their variations over time. In this regard, Davies sets a standard of which historians of universities would do well to take note.

A constant theme is the influence on the studio of the Florentine patriciate, and in particular, of course, of the Medici dynasty. A less compact book might here have drawn interesting analogies with, for instance, the English universities in the eighteenth century, but Davies has more than enough data at his disposal, and wields it with confidence and elegance. Relations with the ecclesiastical establishment are also examined, but, as the studio had no faculty of theology, the web is finer spun, and we are reminded that in Florence teaching in this faculty for much of the time was tacitly relegated to the friaries. Indeed, even in other faculties, there were notable scholars, like Chrysoloras, who chose rather to teach in the city than within the university. It would be pleasing to read a more elaborate interpretation of the significance of this, and of the apparent social respectability at different times of teaching and/or studying in certain faculties than Dr. Davies affords us, but it is churlish to com plain.

Davies has found a significant amount of new material, notably on doctors created at Florence in his period and on payments to teachers; he supplies appendices listing administrators, doctorands, members of the colleges of doctors, and payments to teachers, which will prove an invaluable resource, and, as a bonne bouche, provides a transcript of an oration made by a non-Florentine student in the cathedral at Florence urging the continued fostering of the study of humanities. Altogether this is a fine study of a complex institution considered, as the author promised, in its social, economic, political, ecclesiastical, and cultural context, at least with regard to the Florentine republic. Others will certainly enjoy the opportunity to consider it in the wider European context.