Flavio Biondo, LatinFlavius Blondus, (born 1392,Forlì, Romagna [Italy]—died June 4, 1463, Rome), humanist historian of the Renaissance and author of the firsthistory ofItaly that developed a chronological scheme providing an embryonic notion of the Middle Ages.

Biondo was well educated and trained as a notary before he moved in 1433 toRome, where he was appointed apostolic secretary the following year. After serving on diplomatic missions to Venice and to the condottiereFrancesco Sforza, he wroteDe Roma instaurata, 3 vol. (1444–46; “Rome Restored”), a reconstruction of ancient Romantopography. In 1459 he wroteDe Roma triumphante, a discussion of pagan Rome as a model for new reform in administrative and military institutions. The book was extremely influential, serving both to provide a newconception of the papacy as a modern continuation of the Roman Empire and to awaken Roman patriotism and respect for antiquity.

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Biondo’s two greatest works were theItaliaillustrata (written between 1448 and 1458, first published in 1474) and theHistoriarum ab inclinatione Romanorum imperii decades (written from 1439 to 1453, first published in 1483; “Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire”). TheItalia illustrata, based on the author’s extensive travels through Italy, described the geography and history of 18 Italian provinces, beginning with the Roman Republic and Empire, tracing 400 years of barbarian invasion, and analyzing the influence ofCharlemagne and subsequent emperors. In this work Biondo gave anacute description both of contemporary internal divisions betweensecular and papal power in Italy and of the restoration of the classics and revival in letters during the first half of the 15th century.

Biondo’s other great work, the 32-bookHistoriarum, was acomprehensive treatment of both Europe and Christendom from the sack of Rome by the Goths inad 410 to the rise of Italian cities and renewal of Italian dignity and glory up to 1442. A careful and critical work based on the most reliable sources, theHistoriarum provided a definite chronological scheme betweenancient Rome and Biondo’s own time and influenced the later notion of a 1,000-year period of the Middle Ages. The work was consulted byNiccolò Machiavelli in his analysis of Italy’s disunity.