Welcome to Renaissance Florence!

Or should that be Mediaeval Florence? Currently under construction, this site will be the result of my research into late Mediaeval / early Renaissance Florence. I am creating it simply as a way of storing and retrieving what I have learned. I do this entirely for my own benefit but if others find it useful, well and good.

As you will see, the site covers a period of about 250 years from the late 13th century to the early 16th century. So why ‘quattrocento.info’? Simply because my original idea was just to cover the heyday of Florentine culture that was the 15th century. After I had registered the name of the site and begun work, I realised that I needed to expand the period at both ends but, so far, have not come up with a suitable alternative name.

The pages are being developed by a process of ‘stepwise refinement’. In other words, a page may start out as a series of notes or sections which do not contain much detail. These will be fleshed out as time permits. Sometimes there will be preliminary speculations which require later verification. Additional detail may be added on the page itself or via links to other pages.

I am not an academic but do have post-graduate qualifications in both history and political science; anything I post will be in accordance with standard academic principles.