Lecturer: Eva Schlotheuber
11. 6. 2018, 17.00
Venue:
Centre for Medieval Studies, study room
Abstract
The letters of the Florentine-born grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples, Niccolò Acciaioli (1310–1365), remain a relatively underappreciated source. They offer a detailed insight into the political situation on the Italian peninsula and into the diplomatic networks of Italian humanists in the mid-fourteenth century. Niccolò Acciaioli held the reins of power at the court of Queen Joanna of Naples and cultivated contacts with leading humanists such as Zanobi da Strada, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. His prominent role is reflected, for instance, in the fresco of the Nine Worthies painted for the Villa Carducci (now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence), in which he was included by the Renaissance painter Andrea del Castagno.
The paper will focus on the interpretation of a letter composed by Acciaioli at Christmas 1354, recently discovered in the collection of the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania. In an atmosphere of anxious anticipation, Acciaioli reports on the imminent arrival of King Charles IV in Italy.