The Relationship Between Humanism and the Republic of Florence

Humanist point can be understood more synthetically if we reflect that the value of liberty could mean at least two things in this period. By instituting a system of laws, the Florentines could claim to be offering that to their subject cities. Second, though, there was the more positive idea of liberty as self-rule or self-determination. But it's not only that some humanists were less than fully committed and consistent Republicans; quite a few of them were not Republicans at all.