Res nauticae: Mediterranean Seafaring and Written Culture in the Renaissance

Abstract

In characteristic fashion, the Iter Italicum of Paul Oskar Kristeller reveals the richness of Renaissance thought on seafaring. The literature on seafaring conserved in manuscripts cataloged in the Iter Italicum ranges from commentary on ancient seafaring to eulogies of contemporary heroes to works on mechanics and engineering with unusual proposals for naval weaponry. Those manuscripts likewise highlight the Renaissance conceptualization of seafaring as an art and a creative tension in Renaissance scholarship between looking back to the past and looking forward to the future.