Die Enzyklopädie der berühmten Männer und Frauen

The scholar Domenico Bandini of Arezzo's Fons memorabilium universi, dating from around 1340-1418, is not only a work of enormous dimensions but also one of extraordinary content and layout. On the one hand it contains an encyclopedia of natural history, on the other, two comprehensive collections of biographies of renowned men and women. One could say that it is part medieval encyclopedia and part Renaissance biography compilation. Markus Schürer opens up the life of Domenico Bandini by exploring his position in Florence's humanistic milieu at the turn of the 14th to 15th century, and the genesis and structure of his Fons. He thereby focuses on the biographical collections, which together constitute an important and exceptional testimony of Renaissance biography.