How to Use History: The Construction and Manipulation of Historical Memory for Political Purposes in Renaissance Lombardy (late 14th century) Seminar

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The social use of history and the construction of the past for political purposes are common nowadays as they were in the past. This paper explores how these practices were actually pursued in Renaissance societies, and specifically in the signoria of the Visconti in Lombardy. The practices of constructing and inventing historical memory and civic tradition can be examined through an extraordinary and little-known manuscript, the Dal Verme codex, a miscellany that contains a variety of short texts with abundant corrections and marginal notes. The manuscript is a “construction kit for the social memory” produced by the chancery of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, between 1395 and 1402. This source together with other manuscripts allow to focus on three topics: the practices of writing in a Renaissance state, the role of the administrative offices and government officials in the service of the signoria, and the study and editing of miscellanies today.