MALISPINI, RICORDANO
(probably 14th century)
Ricordano Malispini was allegedly the thirteenth-cen-
tury author of a history of Florence from its legendary
origins to 1282; a continuation down to 1286 was as-
cribed to a nephew, Giacotto. Some scholars consider
this chronicle an important source for Giovanni Villani
and Dante. Documentary evidence has been found for
Giacotto’s existence, though not for Ricordano’s. How-
ever, the chronicle itself contains anachronisms, some
of which were fi rst noted by Scheffer-Boichorst (1870),
and these make a fourteenth-century date very probable.
A chief purpose of the chronicle appears to have been
to celebrate the exploits of members of the Bonaguisi
family, and to link the Bonaguisi with the aristocratic
and once-powerful Malispini family. Malispini writes
that he derived his information from chronicles he
found in the house of his Capocci kinsmen in Rome,
and also in the Badia of Florence. The Capocci records
seem identifi able with the Libro fi esolano, which is
a translation and adaptation of the Liber de origine
civitatis, the fi rst surviving account of the founding of
Florence. The Badia records seem identifi able with an
anonymous compendium of Giovanni Villani. The only
known text of this compendium, discovered by Lami
(1890), is manuscript 2.1.252, held in the Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale in Florence. Malispini also includes
information about some families that are not mentioned
either in the Libro fi esolano or in the compendium of
Villani.
The Libro fi esolano covers the period from the leg-
endary origins of Florence to its rebuilding after Totila’s
sack (which is fi ctitious) and the fi nal capture of Fiesole.
The anonymous compendium abridges and paraphrases
Villani’s chronicle from chapter 30 of the fi rst book
(Catiline’s conspiracy) until 1336. Malispini copies
his account of early Florentine history from the Libro
fi esolano, rather than from the anonymous compendium,
but he includes Charlemagne’s supposed participation
in the rebuilding of Florence, which is mentioned in the
compendium but omitted in Libro fi esolano. Malispini
then follows the anonymous compendium to 1282, and
Giacotto’s coda follows it to 1286.
One manuscript, often considered the oldest and most
reliable copy of Malispini, has a distinctive relationship
to the anonymous compendium. This is manuscript
2.4.27, in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Flor-
ence. It corresponds almost exactly to the anonymous
compendium not only for the period from Charlemagne
to 1286, but also for 1286–1317. The only novelty in this
concluding post-Malispinian portion of the manuscript
is its interpolated passages praising the Bonaguisi and
other related families. These passages are very similar
to others praising the same families in this and other
manuscripts of the Malispinian chronicle. The presence
of such passages in both the Malispinian and the post-
Malispinian portions of this manuscript points to the
genealogical purpose and the fourteenth-century date
of the Malispinian compilation. A further confi rmation
of its late date is furnished by Porta (1986, 1994), who
discovered links between the texts of the anonymous
compendium of Villani and Malispini on the one hand,
and a revised version, made after 1333, of Giovanni
Villani’s chronicle on the other. If Villani had copied
Malispini, diese links would be present in the fi rst ver-
sion of Villani’s chronicle as well.
Such evidence should lay to rest the old theory
that Malispini was the thirteenth-century father of
Florentine historiography. Malispini was, rather, a late
fourteenth-century compiler, whose originality was
limited to celebrating the nobility and antiquity of cer-
tain Florentine families and to furnishing information
about himself and his sources designed to validate such
genealogical lore.Further ReadingEditions
Libro fi esolano, ed. Otio Hartwig. In Quellen und Forschungen
zur ältesten Geschicbte der Stadt Florenz, Vol. 1. Marburg:
N. G. Elwert’sche Verlagsbuch, 1875, pp. 37–65.
Malispini, Ricordano. Storia fi orentina, col seguito di Giacotto
Malispini, dalla edifi cazione di Firenze sino all’anno 1286,
ed.Vincenzio Follini. Florence: G. Ricri, 1816.
Villani, Giovanni. Nuova cronica, 3 vols., ed. Giuseppe Porta.
Parma: Ugo Guanda Editore, 1990–1991.Critical Studies
Aquilecchia, Giovanni. “Malispini, Ricordano.” In Encyclopedia
dantesca, Vol. 3. Rome: Istituto della Encyclopedia Italiana,
1971, pp. 791–792.
Barnes, John C. “Un problems in via di chiusura: La ‘Cronica’
malispiniana.” Studi e Problemi di Critica Testuale, 27, 1983,
pp. 15–32.
Davis, Charles T. Dante and the Idea of Rome. Oxford: Clarendon,
1957, pp. 244–263.
——. “The Malispini Question.” Studi Medievali, Series 3(10),
1970, pp. 215–254. (Reprinted in Dante’s Italy and Other
Essays. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984,
pp. 94–136.)
De Matteis, Maria C. “Ancora su Malispini, Villani, e Dante: Per
un riesame dei rapporti tra cultura storica e profezia Erica
nell’Alighieri.” Bullettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il
Medio Evo e Archivio Muratoriano, 82, 1970, pp. 329–390.
(Published 1973.)
——. “Malispini da Villani o Villani da Malispini? Una ipotesi
sui rapporti tra Ricordano Malispini, il ‘Compendiatore,’ e
Giovanni Villani.” Bullettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per
il Media Evo e Archivio Muratoriano, 84, 1973, pp. 145–221.
(Published 1978.)
Lami, Vittorio. “Di un compendio inedito della cronica di
Giovanni Villani nelle sue relazioni con la storia fi orentina
malispiniana.” Archivio Storico Italiano, Series 5(5), 1890,
pp. 369–416.
Maissen, Thomas. “Actila, Totila, e Cario Magno.” Archivio
Storico Italiano, 152 (fasc. 561), 1994, pp. 586–639.MALISPINI, RICORDANO