Flavio Biondo (Latin Flavius Blondus) (b.1392- d.June 4, 1463). Italian Renaissance humanist historian. The first historian to coin the term Middle Ages. Flavio Biondo is known as one of the first archaeologists.

Biography

Born in the capital city of Forlì , of the Romagna region, Flavio was well schooled from an early age. He moved to Rome in 1433 and was appointed papal secretary in 1444 where he began work on his writing career.

Archaeology Works

Flavio published three works that were systematic and documented guides to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome for which he has been called one of the first archaeologists. At the time ancient Rome was overgrown and unexplored. When in 1430 Poggio Bracciolini climbed the Capitol he saw only deserted fields around. The Forum was inhabited by pigs and unweeded vegetation. Flavio and fellow humanists like Leon Battista Alberti began to explore and document the architecture, topography and history of Rome, and in the process revived a vision of Romes former glory.

Flavio's first work was De Roma instaurata (Rome Restored, 3 vol, 1444-1446) a reconstruction of ancient Roman topography. It was and remains a highly influential humanist vision of restoring Rome to its previous heights of grandeur by recreating what Rome used to look like based on the ruins which remained.

The second was the highly popular De Roma triumphante (Rome Triumphs, (1459)) about pagan Rome as a model for contemporary governmental and military reforms. The book was highly influential in reviving Roman patriotism and respect for ancient Rome and presenting the papacy as a continuum of the Roman Empire.

Finally he published Roma instaurata (Rome Established) which provided the first systematic and well documented guide to the ruins of Rome, or indeed any ancient ruins, for which he has been called one of the first archaeologists.

History Works

Flavio Biondo's greatest works were Italia illustrata (Italy Illuminated, written between 1448 and 1458, published 1474) and the Historiarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades (Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire, written from 1439 to 1453, published in 1483).

The Italia illustrata is geography, based on the authors' personal travels, and history of eighteen Italian provinces. The history starts with the Roman Republic and Empire, through 400 years of barbarian invasions and an analysis of Charlemagne and later Holy Roman Emperors. He gives an excellent description of the humanist revival and restoration of the classics during the first half of the 15th century.

Flavio's greatest work is the 32-book Historiarum, a history of Europe from the fall of Rome in 410 to the current day Italy in 1442. Using only the most reliable and primary sources, it was highly influential in furthering the chronological notion of a Middle Age from the fall of Rome to Flavio's own time. It is the first work in which the term Middle Age is used; earlier Leonardo Bruni was the first to conceptualize the concept of a three tiered history in his History of the Florentine People and a century earlier the foundation of a Dark Ages was laid out by Petrarch.

Sources

• Italy Illuminated, Volume 1 : Liguria and Lombardy, Edited by Jeffrey A. White, English translation, ISBN 0674017439 (June 1, 2005)
• Rome Restored, Edited by Marc Laureys and William McCuaig, English translation, To be announced.