HISTORICAL MEMOIRS

ON THE LIFE

OF MASTER DONATO DA CASENTINO.

BY THE EDITOR

PERHAPS some will wonder that I passed over in silence, in the brief Notice to the Readers, the person of Master Donato da Casentino Donato degli Albanzani (c. 1326–1411), known as Donato da Casentino, was a famous humanist, a friend of Petrarch, and the translator of Boccaccio's Latin works into the Italian vernacular., the author of this valuable book; and perhaps in their thoughts they might have deemed me lazy or ignorant. But if I remained silent concerning his life, it was from a desire to offer in a separate discourse whatever I might manage to discover in other books regarding the Life and Works of Master Donato. And here is the fruit of my labors—if small, it is not useless.

The fourteenth century The 1300s, a period marked by both the early stirrings of the Renaissance and significant political turmoil across the Italian peninsula. was underway: and although this poor land of Italy was troubled by