Pope Eugene IV. and the Papal Court in Florence—The Greeks in Florence—Gemisto’s Plethon—Origin of the Platonic Academy—Youth of Marsilio Ficino—John Argyropulos—Philosophical Studies—Cristoforo Landino Saint Antoninus Archbishop of Florence—Orlando Bonarli as Archbishop—Epistolaries and Dedications—Hermaphroditus—Literature and Life—Agnolo Pandolfini—Villa Life—Franco Sachetti—Poggio Bracciolini’s Country Life—Learned Connections of Florence with Foreign Countries—William Grey, Earl of Worcester, and others—The Humanists during the Last Years of Cosimo de’ Medici—Erudition and the Vernacular 457 CHAPTER IV. LIBRARIES AND THE BOOK TRADE. VESPASIANO DA BISTICCI. Cosimo de’ Medici’s Library Establishments—San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice—Library of the San Marco Convent—The Niccolo Manuscripts—Library of the Abbey of Fiesole—Inscriptions of the Codices—The Duke of Urbino and Vespasiano da Bisticci—The Copyists of the Fifteenth Century—The Material Perfection of the Copies—Prices—Manuscripts and Printed Matter 472 CHAPTER V. LITERATURE OF THE VULGAR TONGUE. POPULAR AND SACRED POETRY OF THE PEOPLE. The Italian Language and Literature at the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century—Fra Giovanni de’ Medici’s Book on Domestic Life—Leon Batista Alberti and the Vulgar Tongue—Poetical Competition in the Cathedral—Corruption of the Language in the Hands of the Learned—The Vulgar Tongue—Caterina of Siena Letters—Religious Sentiment among the People and in their Literature—Sacred Poetry of the People—The Fraternities and their Hymns—The Jesuits and their Poetry—Substance and Melody of the Hymns—Feo Belcari; his Poems and Prose Writings—Girolamo Benivieni—Lucrezia Tornabuoni de’ Medici as a Sacred Poetess—Historical Writings in the Vulgar Tongue—Gino Capponi—Buonaccorso Pitti—Jacopo Salviati—Neri Capponi—Domenico Buoninsegni—Goro Dati—Giovanni Cavalcanti 482 _FIRST BOOK_ FLORENCE AND THE MEDICI TO THE DEATH OF COSIMO THE ELDER CHAPTER I. THE HOUSE AND FAMILY OF THE MEDICI—DEVELOPMENT OF THE FLORENTINE DEMOCRACY.