TheLiber sine nomine (The Book without a Name) is a collection of nineteen personal letters written inLatin by the fourteenth centuryItalianpoet andRenaissancehumanistPetrarch. The letters being harshly critical of theAvignon papacy, they were withheld from the larger collection of hisEpistolae familiares (Letters to Friends) and assembled in a separate book. In this fashion, Petrarch reasoned, a reader could throw away this collection, and the other letters to friends could be preserved for posterity.[1]
These letters were sent to his closest friends, who many times were well known figures to the public. So that he would not divulge their identities, he withheld these particular 19 letters and published this book "without a name" on any letter. Among these public figures werePhilippe de Cabassoles,bishop of Cavaillon;Cola di Rienzo, a political leader;Francesco Nelli, secretary to the bishopAngelo Acciaioli I;Niccola di Capoccia, a cardinal;Lapo da Castiglionchio of Florence;Rinaldo Cavalchini, the son of the notary Oliviero;Stefano Colonna the Elder, the son ofGiovanni Colonna who was one of the most important political figures in Rome; andIldebrandino Conti, a bishop of Padua. The final letter also included an appendix, addressed toCharles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.[2]
Several other works have used the titleBook without a name including those by
