Bruni, Leonardo (c. 1370–1444)

Italian humanist scholar and historian. Chancellor of Florence 1427–44, he was one of the leading scholars of his day, translating Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch into Latin. He is best known for his Historiarum Florentini populi libri/A History of Florentine People, an influential history of Florence that presents the city as the heir to the republican traditions of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Life Born in Arezzo (hence his other name, Aretino) he was a pupil of Salutati and learned Greek from Manuel Chrysoloras in Florence. His thorough knowledge of the language enabled him to make the first idiomatic translations of Greek literature. Briefly a tutor to the Medici, he then spent the years 1405–15 as a papal secretary (to four consecutive popes) but in 1415 returned to Florence, where, like his master Salutati, he became secretary to the republic.

He was buried in the church of Santa Croce, Florence, his monument being one of the finest works of the sculptor Rossellino.

Works Most of Bruni's translations were of prose works, although he also translated some passages of Homer and Aristophanes. In 1406 he produced a translation of Demosthenes' De corona and De falsa legatione.

By 1414 he had begun to translate Aristotle's Ethics, and from 1414–37 he translated six of Plato's dialogues, including the Phaedo and Apology. Like many of the Renaissance neo-Platonist, he sought to reconcile Plato's philosophy with Christian doctrine.

These translations were the means by which the political thought of Greece entered into the life of 15-century Italy. Bruni also translated Plutarch's Lives – his Latin version was the basis of all early vernacular translations – and works by Xenophon. In 1437, at the request of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, he translated Aristotle's Politics. He wrote De interpretatione recta to defend his theory of translation.

As early as 1404 Bruni had begun work on his Historiarum Florentini populi libri, which remained unfinished at his death. An Italian (Tuscan dialect) translation was published by Acciaiuoli in Venice in 1476, the original Latin version appearing in 1610. The work represented a new departure in Renaissance historiography, showing the influence of Petrarch and Salutati as well as classical models.