St Antoninus of Florence on Trade, Merchants, and Workers

Author: Jason Aaron Brown Series: Toronto Studies in Medieval Law

This book interprets the life and teachings of Saint Antoninus, an important Catholic saint and fifteenth-century writer, and offers a critical edition of his major work on moral theology.

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Summary

This book interprets the life and teachings of Saint Antoninus, an important Catholic saint and fifteenth-century writer, and offers a critical edition of his major work on moral theology.

Description

Saint Antoninus of Florence was a Dominican friar and archbishop of Florence from 1446 to 1459. He composed one of the most comprehensive manuals of moral theology, the Summa, which has long been counted among the more copious, influential, and rewarding medieval sources.

St Antoninus of Florence on Trade, Merchants, and Workers gives an orientation to the life and teaching of Saint Antoninus, focusing on his writings on economic ethics, and includes a critical edition of his original Latin text with an English translation. The book provides an extensive introduction to his thought, situating it in its intellectual and social context, and elucidates the development of medieval economic and moral doctrines in law and theology. Jason Aaron Brown examines historians' arguments about Italian business culture in the wake of the medieval 'Commercial Revolution' and whether this culture can be considered capitalistic. He concludes that while Saint Antoninus is surprisingly modern in the economic concepts he deploys, his moral teaching on proper means and ends in the marketplace stood against certain nascent capitalistic tendencies in fifteenth-century Florence. Through examination of the manuscripts, this book opens a window into a premodern author's writing process that will be of interest to scholars of medieval manuscripts and literary production.

Critic Reviews

"In this erudite volume Jason Aaron Brown locates the writings of Archbishop Antoninus of Florence within the intertwined contexts of late medieval theology and economic history. Brown's work comprises two books in one: a critical edition of chapters on trade, merchants, and workers from Antoninus's Summa and a beautifully written introduction covering subjects including translation theory, theology, law, economics, and the history of labour. The resulting study will prove useful to experienced scholars and beginning students alike."--Roisin Cossar, Professor of History, University of Manitoba
"This is an impressive piece of scholarship that is clearly the product of both in-depth research and a thoughtful editorial approach. The extended introduction provides a range of useful background information, as well as detailed palaeographical and codiocological analysis. This thorough edition of the text is expertly presented and translated and, with the Latin original and English translation presented side-by-side, it showcases the importance of scholarly interpretation."--James Davis, Professor in the School of History, Queen's University of Belfast
"St Antoninus of Florence on Trade, Merchants, and Workers is a superb scholarly resource. The scholarship is very impressive, the edition and translation hugely useful for a range of scholars and students, and the introduction illuminating and insightful. The book will be of enormous value to the wider scholarly community."--Hannah Skoda, Associate Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford