Coluccio Salutati notaio e cancelliere

This essay was written for the catalogue of the show that exhibited a large number of codices related to Coluccio Salutati at the Biblioteca Laurenziana of Florence in November 2008, on the occasion of the sixth centennial of his death. It traces the main events of the famous humanist’s life, but it centers especially on the beginnings of Salutati’s work as a notary of the Republic of Florence, a period difficult to interpret and only partially known. The author sheds new light on these early years in this office thanks to the discovery of new material at the Florentine State Archives, particularly some registers of the Captain of the People that contain the oaths of the Florentine officers from 1374 to 1377.