At 03:03 PM 11/3/1999 +0000, you wrote:
>Dear Tom
>To add to Sharon Dale's point about context - I wonder whether Catherine's
>association with the Soderini family and the Parte Guelfa in Florence
>contributed to this writer's attitude? The factionalism in Florence in
>the 1370's was very bitter, with many leading families being exiled in
>1377-8. Gene Brucker describes all this in Florentine Politics and
>Society, 1343 - 1378 (Princeton, 1962). Brucker describes her (p.333) as
>'intimately associated with the Parte leadership' and says 'she aroused
>both enthusiasm and hostility within the city'.
>
>Best
>Catherine Lawless
I don't think so. I think this writer was almost certainly either a
Florentine Dominican or one of the Parte Guelfa laymen associated with the
Dominicans. He seems to have learned much of what he tells from direct
contact with Catherine's Sienese Dominican superiors on the occasion of her
visit to Florence in 1374. In other words, he was part of the group that
supported Catherine in Florence, whereas her enemies were more likely (as
you point out) to be opponents of the Parte.
Tom
-----------------------------------
F. Thomas Luongo
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118
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