Flavio Biondo

Flavio Biondo (Latin Flavius Blondus) (1392 – June 4, 1463) was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian. He was the first historian to coin the term Middle Ages and is known as 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).

Related Topics:
1448 - 1458 - 1474 - 1439 - 1453 - 1483

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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.

Related Topics:
Charlemagne - Holy Roman Emperor - 15th century

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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.

Related Topics:
410 - 1442 - Leonardo Bruni - Dark Ages - Petrarch

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