Paradigms and styles of thinking. Suggestions on humanism and legal culture starting from the professional library of the Bolognese notary Albizzo Duglioli (1504)

Abstract

The legal texts of Albizzo Duglioli, appointed notary in 1451 and likely died in 1500, offer an example of the library and the tools of a Bolognese notary during the Bentivoglio era. They are suitable for further reflection on the Bolognese Renaissance culture and on the pervasiveness of the concept of humanism, especially in the legal field. On the one hand, legal humanism, even in its early stages, is not a fifteenth-century phenomenon, but rather a later one, dating back to the mid-sixteenth century, and is marginal within the overall legal production, especially in Italy. On the other hand, the literary genres of the consilium and the commentary, typical of scholastic jurisprudence, flourished precisely at the time of the birth and development of Italian humanism. Controversy over legal culture is therefore not implicit in humanist culture. Both of them represent different styles of thinking within a common cultural ecosystem.