This book looks specifically at the years leading up to Mussato's public coronation, on 3rd December 1315, as poet laureate for his city / His writings are a key component of his political manoeuvres as he tried to navigate through the troubled waters of northern Italian politics and will therefore appeal to those interested in that topic / The book demonstrates how the sources pertaining to Mussato's life and career are part of an exercise in self-promotion and self-fashioning, intended to secure his position within factional politics, but rooted in a philosophical approach derived from his early classical studies.

This book looks specifically at the years leading up to Mussato’s public coronation, on 3rd December 1315, as poet laureate for his city / His writings are a key component of his political manoeuvres as he tried to navigate through the troubled waters of northern Italian politics and will therefore appeal to those interested in that topic / The book demonstrates how the sources pertaining to Mussato’s life and career are part of an exercise in self-promotion and self-fashioning, intended to secure his position within factional politics, but rooted in a philosophical approach derived from his early classical studies.