Leonardo Bruni (1377–1444), chancellor of Florence, is today more famous as an initiator of civic humanism and a proponent of early modern republicanism than as a historian of medieval Florence. He owes this position most of all to Hans Baron, who argued that Florentine civic humanism—an exemplary mode of communal existence dedicated to the active life—as found particularly in Bruni's writings, stemmed from the resurgence of interest in antiquity, which pointed forward to a liberating, civilizing, and progressive modernity. Though James Hankins has recently argued that the dual theses of civic humanism and republicanism are mischaracterizations of the larger thrust of Italian Renaissance political thought, the scholarly literature overwhelmingly portrays Leonardo Bruni as incipiently modern and, by definition, un-medieval. But in emphasizing the role of antiquity in Bruni's “modern” thought, scholars have overlooked the importance of medieval history in the formulation and the content of Bruni's arguments. This article seeks to rectify this misappreciation by demonstrating how that quintessential medieval struggle, the conflict between popes and emperors, plays a central role in Bruni's political thought as it is found in the History of the Florentine People, written from 1415/16 to 1444.

佛罗伦萨总理莱昂纳多·布鲁尼（Leonardo Bruni，1377-1444 年）如今作为公民人文主义的发起者和早期现代共和主义的支持者，比作为中世纪佛罗伦萨的历史学家更为出名。他的这一立场主要归功于汉斯·巴伦（Hans Baron），汉斯·巴伦认为，佛罗伦萨的公民人文主义——一种致力于积极生活的集体存在的典范模式——尤其在布鲁尼的著作中被发现，源于对古代兴趣的复兴，这预示着解放、文明、进步的现代性。尽管詹姆斯·汉金斯最近认为，公民人文主义和共和主义的双重论点是对意大利文艺复兴政治思想更大主旨的错误描述，但学术文献绝大多数将莱昂纳多·布鲁尼描绘成早期现代的，并且从定义上来说，是非中世纪的。但在强调古代在布吕尼“现代”思想中的作用时，学者们忽视了中世纪历史在布​​吕尼论点的表述和内容中的重要性。本文试图纠正这种误解，通过展示典型的中世纪斗争，即教皇与皇帝之间的冲突，如何在布鲁尼的政治思想中发挥核心作用，正如在1415/16 年至 1444 年撰写的《佛罗伦萨人民史》中所发现的那样。