page_title: Giovanni Villani
section_title: Death and continuation of Villani's work
hierarchical_section_title: Giovanni Villani / Death and continuation of Villani's work
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Beulenpest Karte &#8211; mit Englischem Text Ausbreitung der Beulenpest in Europa zwischen 1347 und 1351 Hinweis: Die Grenzen der Karte zeigen deren heutigen Verlauf, nicht den der späten 1340er Jahre! English: Bubonic Plague Map &#8211; with English text Spreading of the Bubonic Plague in Europe between 1347 and 1351 Note: The borders on the map illustrate present day borders, not those of the late 1340s!
context_page_description: Giovanni Villani was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavory reputation and served time in prison as a result of the bankruptcy of a trading and banking company he worked for. His interest in and elaboration of economic details, statistical information, and political and psychological insight mark him as a more modern chronicler of late medieval Europe. His Cronica is viewed as the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history.
  However, historian Kenneth R. Bartlett notes that, in contrast to his Renaissance-era successors, "his reliance on such elements as divine providence links Villani closely with the medieval vernacular chronicle tradition." In recurring themes made implicit through significant events described in his Cronica, Villani also emphasized three assumptions about the relationship of sin and morality to historical events, these being that excess brings disaster, that forces of right and wrong are in constant struggle, and that events are directly influenced by the will of God.
context_section_description: Villani wrote during the bubonic plague: "The priest who confessed the sick and those who nursed them so generally caught the infection that the victims were abandoned and deprived confession, sacrament, medicine, and nursing ... And many lands and cities were made desolate. And this plague lasted till ________"; Villani left the "_______" in order to record the time in which the plague was to end. Villani was unable to finish the line as he succumbed to the same plague. He was buried in the Church of Santissima Annunziata, Florence.
  Villani's Cronica was considered an important work at the time, valuable enough for his brother and nephew to continue it. Little is known of Villani's brother, Matteo, save that he was twice married, that he died of the plague in 1363, and that he continued work on the Cronica until his death. Filippo Villani, Matteo's son, flourished in the latter half of the 14th century and ended the Cronica at 1364; his portion includes details of the lives of many Florentine artists and musicians, including Giotto di Bondone and Francesco Landini. Filippo's chronicles were approved by the Chancellor of Florence, Coluccio Salutati, who made corrections to the work and added commentary. The 15th-century Florentine historian Domenico di Leonardo Buoninsegni also featured in the first two chapters of his Istoria Fiorentina a summary of Villani's Cronica.
  By the 16th century, more than one edition of the Cronica was available in printed form. There was also an abundance of handwritten illuminated manuscripts, including one from Venice by Bartholomeo Zanetti Casterzagense in 1537 and one from Florence by Lorenzo Torrentino in 1554.
caption: Map showing the spread of bubonic plague in Europe, a process Villani described in detail, noting that the death toll from the Black Death in Florence was not as great as other cities and regions he listed, such as Turkey, Pistoia, Prato, Bologna, Romagna, France, etc.[71]
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