The Italian Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and the Diffusion of Renaissance Culture

Abstract

The Italian Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and the Diffusion of Renaissance Culture. A Bibliography of the Secondary Literature (Ca. 1750-1997). Compiled by John Tedeschi in association with James M. Lattis. With an Historiographical Introduction by Massimo Firpo. [Istituto di Studi Rinascimentali, Ferrara, Strumenti.] (Modena: F C. Panini. 2000. Pp. iliii, 1047. Lire 300,000.) To review a bibliography is always an arduous task, but how much more so when one finds oneself in the presence of John Tedeschi's monumental construction. Yet the undertaking is assuredly rewarding because of the fact that, in the year it has been in existence, this imposing volume has already assumed its place as an indispensable working tool and a familiar companion in our research. The Italian Reformation of the Sixteenth Century and the Diffusion of Renaissance Culture.-A Bibliograpby of the Secondary Literature is the valuable product of a multi-decade commitment, achieved not only with discipline and erudition but also with a rare capacity to master a vast field of studies over the chronological sweep of more than two centuries. The bibliography takes as its starting-point the first systematic effort to write a history of the Reformation in Italy, namely, the Specimen Italiae Reformatae of Daniel Gerdes (1765), a work through which Italy's role in the Protestant Reformation entered the realm of historical scholarship; and it closes with publications appearing in 1997 after an extended journey through a good 6429 entries or headings. This is a remarkable figure when one considers that Chiminelli's bibliography of 1921 counted a little more than 2000 confusingly listed items.' In Tedeschi's work, it suffices to cast a glance over the list of journals that have been examined, to recognize the scope of the investigation and the accuracy and patience with which even the most obscure periodicals have been combed. To these have been joined monographs, studies in symposium volumes, and critical editions of sources. With the exceptions indicated by an asterisk, the material has all been examined at first hand in order to be able to highlight the essential contribution of each item. In fact, the entries are not limited to reporting the basic bibliographical data but furnish brief, clear resum,6s of the contents, accompanied by critical annotations that help to orient the reader. At times an adverb or an adjective alerts us to the compiler's disappointment after he had gone to a great deal of trouble to locate a particular work, only to find nothing of interest there. It is almost a well-mannered hint to the users of the bibliography that neither should they also expend energy tracking it down! On other occasions the reader is cautioned that a work whose title might lead one to suspect the presence of information pertinent to the themes of the bibliography contains nothing of the sort. In still other cases, we find ourselves confronting stem, succinct opinions about particular entries. Thus, we read about one scholar:Laments gaps in our knowledge of aspects of the Italian tribunal [of the Inquisition] but seems unaware of existing research that would have filled these lacunae. A study on Vittoria Colonna is rapidly disposed of with Uncritical observations on the evidence of Franciscan religiosity in Colonna, About an article devoted to the churches of the foreign Protestant exiles in London, we read:The author would not have lamented 'Little is known of the Italian congregation' if he had used L. Firpo (n. 3673). Furthermore, within the single entries one frequently finds useful references to other listed studies that can serve to integrate, correct, and illuminate the data and information presented by the title under discussion. If I have dwelt on some of the technical aspects of this work-and one could point to many other equally useful ones-it is precisely to make the point that the bibliography is not a dry catalogue of names and titles, but an analytical exposition that suggests new paths of research to follow and serves as a guide to the reader through a morass of studies of uneven quality and substance, and, thus, is especially useful to help newcomers to the field wend their way through the mare magnum of titles. …