Cherubino Ghirardacci: The Historian and the Believer

Abstract

This paper tackles some elements of Cherubino Ghirardacci’s life and biography. He was the son of a notary and grew up in an educated environment, with a particular interest in the history of the city, and in the juridical documents that defined it. Also the study of chronicles contributed to form his own way of writing history, even though he cannot be defined as a chronicler. He was also the first to write history in a modern way, by researching documents that were contemporary to the events and to the figures he narrated and described, and by leaning on them. In addition, he was a religious, pledged to infuse the principles, established by the Council of Trent, in the rules of lay confraternities.