Measure, Nobility, and Trust in Coluccio Salutati’s Letters

• In Event: Decorum, Dignity, and Nobility in Humanist Language and Thought

Abstract

This paper examines the Correspondence of Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) in order to highlight the notion of nobility as the key-element in understanding his concept of trust. The research focuses on notions like nobility, decorum, reverence, and shame. Ronald Witt's classic study has shown the relevance of scholastic authors such as Aquinas and Scotus in Salutati's De nobilitate legum et medicinae. Recent literature on the social and political dimensions of Coluccio’s idea on nobility includes P. D. McLean, The Art of Network, 2007. Building on this and other works, I will examine Salutati's ideas on nobility, taking into account for instance his Letter to Domenico Bandini (1403). In this letter Salutati engages with Dante’s canzone “Le dolci rime”, where the Florentine poet discusses what nobility truly is. Answering Bandini’s philosophical doubts, Salutati seems to argue, as I will shown, for a sort of natural aristocracy.

Author

• Andrea Aldo Robiglio, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven