James A. Palmer - The Chronicle of an Anonymous Roman: Rome, Italy, and Latin Christendom, C.1325-1360

The Chronicle of An

Anonymous Roman

Rome, Italy, and Latin Christendom, c.13251360

Translated,

with an Introduction,

by

James A. Palmer

Italica Press

New York & Bristol

2021

Copyright 2021 by James A. Palmer

ITALICA PRESS, INC.

Wall Street, New York, NY 10005

Italica Press Medieval & Renaissance Texts Series

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of Italica Press. It may not be used in a course-pack or any other collection without prior permission of Italica Press. Please contact inquiries@italicapress.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Palmer, James A. (James Allen), 1977 - editor, translator, writer of

introduction.

Title: The chronicle of an anonymous Roman : Rome, Italy, and Latin

Christendom, c. 1325 - 1360 / translated, with an introduction by James A.

Palmer.

Other titles: Vita di Cola di Rienzo. English.

Description: New York ; Bristol : Italica Press, Inc., . | Series:

Italica Press medieval & Renaissance texts | Includes bibliographical

references and index. | Summary: The Chronicle of an Anonymous Roman offers the first complete English translation of the Anonimo Romanos Cronica. Includes an introduction to the text and its author, as well as an introduction to its fourteenth-century world-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021020506 (print) | LCCN 20210 20507 (ebook) | ISBN

9781599103846 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781599103853 (trade paperback) | ISBN

978159 9103860 (kindle edition) | ISBN 978159910414 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Rienzo, Cola di, - 1354 . | Rome (Italy)--History--- 1420 .

| Revolutionaries--Italy--Rome--Biography. | Rome (Italy)--Biography.

Classification: LCC DG..V 6513 2021 (print) | LCC DG. (ebook) |

DDC ./ 3205092 [B]--dc

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ 20210 20506

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ 2021020507

Cover image: Paolino Minorita da Venezia, Map of Rome, from Chronologia Magna. c. 1325 . Venice, Bibl. Marciana, MS. Lat. Z [= 1600 ], fol. . Wikimedia . Detail showing the medieval abitato , with the Capitoline Hill.

For a complete list of titles in Medieval & Renaissance Texts , visit our website at: http://www.italicapress.com/index .html.

Contents

List of Maps

4.T-O Map. 12th century. British Library, MS Royal 12 F. IV,
fol.135v.Wikimedia Commons.

Preface & Acknowledgements

I first began working with the Anonimo Romano in 2010 at Washington University in St. Louis, where I was a graduate student preparing to undertake dissertation research. From my first encounter with the text, I was utterly enamored with the Anonimos unusual, vivid style and daydreamed about publishing a translation. While in Rome undertaking dissertation research in 2011 - 2012 , I was struck by how little of the Anonimos city remained, with so much either buried by layers of successive modernities or scraped away to reveal the bones of the classical past. Appreciating the Anonimos chronicle as a beguiling remnant of a lost world led me to treasure it all the more.

By the time my dissertation was written and defended in 2015 , my translation daydreams had evolved into firm intentions, but intentions necessarily delayed. I was extremely fortunate to be offered a tenure-track job in an age of ever leaner employment prospects, which meant that earning tenure immediately became my primary concern. Over the years, many senior scholars had cautioned me that, despite their essential role in teaching and growing the discipline, history departments simply did not value translations highly, tending to prize monographs above all else. So, for several years, my ambition to publish a translation of the Anonimo was put on hold as I worked toward the publication of my tenure book.

Only in 2018 , once that book was out of my hands and into those of the press, was I able at long last to sink happily into the Anonimos pages and begin work on this translation. Perhaps fittingly for a fourteenth-century text, the introduction and finishing touches were completed during the Covid- pandemic of 2020 - 2021 . The work was often done at odd hours as I struggled to balance it and the joyful task of helping to care for a new baby daughter, Charlotte (another pleasure too long delayed by the demands of academia). This translation, then, has been a labor of love, and it is truly a joy to have completed it. Inevitably, I have incurred many debts along the way, the most important of which I now wish to acknowledge.

First, I am indebted to my advisor, Daniel Bornstein, whose own experience as a translator of a medieval chronicle made him an invaluable source of advice from the nascence of the project all the way through to its completion. Heartfelt thanks are also owed to Michael Sherberg, who patiently worked with me during my days as a graduate student struggling to come to grips with fourteenth-century Romanesco. He spent many hours patiently reading through this text with me in his office, and was the first to introduce me to the Italian scholarship on the Anonimo. I am both indebted and extremely grateful to him for his time and guidance.

Time to do ones work is always in short supply, so I must also thank Grinnell College for the time I spent there as a visiting scholar during the 2018 - 2019 academic year. That year gave me two of the things a scholar values most: time and access to a library. The vast majority of the translation and most of the notes were completed during those months.

I would like to offer special thanks to Ronald G. Musto and Eileen Gardiner at Italica Press. I was delighted and relieved when they, very early on, expressed interest in publishing this translation. Knowing that my work would have a home encouraged me to begin the project in earnest. Working with them has been a pleasure and a boon. Above all, Mustos extensive knowledge of the Anonimo, Rome, and late medieval Italian historical writing have helped me clarify and enrich the introduction and notes beyond what would have been possible otherwise. I will be ever grateful to him and Eileen for helping me bring this project to fruition.

Finally, I dedicate this book to my wife, Weiwei Luo. For her committed partnership in the difficult task of being a two-body academic family, and in overcoming the many related challenges that coincided with my work on this book, I will be forever grateful.

James A. Palmer
Florida State University
May 2021

Maps

Map. 1. Rome in the fourteenth century, showing gates, rioni, and major baronial families. Italica Press.

Map.. Central Italy in the fourteenth century. Italica Press

Map . Battle of Rio Salado, 1340 . From Joseph F. OCallaghan, The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 ).