Michael F. Peters Jr.

Research

I am interested in the origins and development of civic humanism in Spain from the Middle Ages to the early stages of the Renaissance. In part I want to better understand how civic humanism was used to solve political and social problems that were resulting in the fragmentation of the medieval polity, as well as how the humanist movement lent itself to consolidating royal power, defeating the unruly nobles, and laying the foundations of the early modern Spanish state. 

Some of my related interests include:

• the study and edition of medieval manuscripts;
• politics and ethics;
• the history of monarchy;
• the revival of sociopolitical and ethical views from the Roman Empire/Republic;
• legal studies.

Publications

• Peters Jr., Michael F., 2020. “Virtue, Nobility, and the Public Good: ‘de vera nobilitate’ and Spanish Humanism in Diego de Valera’s Espejo de verdadera nobleza”, Lemir 24, p. 309-330. https://parnaseo.uv.es/lemir/Revista/Revista24/11_Peters_Michael_F.pdf 
• Under review at Medium Ævum: “A Fifteenth-Century Spanish Compendium of the Nicomachean Ethics at the Bodleian Library (MS Span.d.1): Introduction, Codicological Description, and Edited Prologue”
• MPhil Dissertation: Proposal accepted at Tamesis Books. Subject to initial review upon completion of revisions: Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo’s ‘Suma de la política’, Edition and Introduction:The Civic Kingdom-City and Spanish Vernacular Humanism