The histories of the church, Italy, and
Christendom, have contributed to the chapter which I now
conclude. In the original Lives of the Popes, we often
discover the city and republic of Rome: and the events of
the 14th and 15th centuries are preserved in the rude and
domestic chronicles which I have carefully inspected, and
shall recapitulate in the order of time.
1. Monaldeschi (Ludovici Boncomitis) Fragmenta Annalium Roman. A.D. 1328,
in the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum of Muratori, tom. xii. p.
525. N. B. The credit of this fragment is somewhat hurt by
a singular interpolation, in which the author relates his
own death at the age of 115 years.
2. Fragmenta Historiae Romanae (vulgo Thomas Fortifioccae) in Romana Dialecto vulgari (A.D. 1327-1354, in Muratori, Antiquitat. Medii
Aevi Italiae, tom. iii. p. 247-548); the authentic
groundwork of the history of Rienzi.
3. Delphini (Gentilis) Diarium Romanum (A.D. 1370-1410), in the Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. ii. p. 846.
4. Antonii (Petri) Diarium Rom (A.D. 1404-1417), tom. xxiv. p. 699.
5. Petroni (Pauli) Miscellanea Historica Romana (A.D. 1433-1446), tom. xxiv. p. 1101.
6. Volaterrani (Jacob). Diarium Rom. (A.D. 1472-1484), tom. xxiii p. 81.
7. Anonymi Diarium Urbis Romae (A.D. 1481-1492), tom. iii. P. ii. p. 1069.
8. Infessurae (Stephani) Diarium Romanum (A.D. 1294, or 1378-1494), tom. iii. P. ii. p. 1109.
9. Historia Arcana Alexandri VI. sive Excerpta ex Diario
Joh. Burcardi (A.D. 1492-1503), edita a Godefr. Gulielm.
Leibnizio, Hanover, 697, in 4to. The large and valuable Journal of Burcard might be completed from the MSS. in
different libraries of Italy and France (M. de Foncemagne,
in the Memoires de l'Acad. des Inscrip. tom. xvii. p. 597-606).
Except the last, all these fragments and diaries are
inserted in the Collections of Muratori, my guide and master
in the history of Italy. His country, and the public, are
indebted to him for the following works on that subject:
1. Rerum Italicarum Scriptores (A.D. 500-1500), quorum
potissima pars nunc primum in lucem prodit etc. 28
vols. in folio, Milan, 1723-1738, 1751. A volume of
chronological and alphabetical tables is still wanting as a
key to this great work, which is yet in a disorderly and
defective state.
2. Antiquitates Italiae Medii Aevi, 6 vols. in folio, Milan, 1738 - 1743, in 75 curious dissertations, on the manners, government, religion, etc., of the Italians of the darker ages, with a large supplement of
charters, chronicles, etc.
3. Dissertazioni sopra le Antiquita Italiane, 3 vols. in4to, Milano, 1751, a free version by the author, which may be quoted with the same confidence as the Latin text of the Antiquities.
4. Annali d'Italia, 18 vols. in octavo, Milan, 1753-1756, a dry,
though accurate and useful, abridgment of the history of
Italy, from the birth of Christ to the middle of the 18th
century.
5. Dell' Antichita Estense ed Italiane, 2 vols, in folio, Modena, 1717, 1740. In the history of this illustrious race, the parent of our Brunswick kings, the critic is not seduced by the loyalty or gratitude of the subject. In all his works, Muratori approves himself a
diligent and laborious writer, who aspires above the
prejudices of a Catholic priest. He was born in the year
1672, and died in the year 1750, after passing near 60 years
in the libraries of Milan and Modena (Vita del Proposto
Ludovico Antonio Muratori, by his nephew and successor Gian.
Francesco Soli Muratori Venezia, 1756 in 4to).