Ludovico Antonio Muratori Bust

Ludovico Antonio Muratori helped historians work from a wider body of evidence. His Rerum Italicarum Scriptores assembled texts relating to medieval Italy in a major publishing project begun in the 1720s. Bringing scattered chronicles into print made comparison possible for readers who could not inspect every manuscript.

Born in Vignola in 1672, Muratori was a priest and scholar whose career included work in Milan and Modena. Libraries and archives supplied the foundation of his research. Publication required an extensive network of correspondents and collaborators as well as his own editorial labor.

The Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi examined medieval institutions and practices across many kinds of documents. The Middle Ages became a period to investigate in detail, rather than merely an interval between classical antiquity and its revival.

His editions remain historically important even where later scholarship has corrected readings or attributions. Making a source accessible does not settle every question about it. Muratori’s achievement was to enlarge the material on which those questions could be pursued.