Timothy Kircher, H. Curt ’56 and Patricia S. ’57 Hege Professor of History, published an article on Renaissance letter-writing and narrative medicine entitled “The Community of Letters in Renaissance Italy” in the latest edition of the journal Antike und Abendland.
The essay explores how Renaissance humanists, in particular Francesco Petrarch and Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, developed the use of 'humanitas' — understood as both culture and care — in their letter collections. As a form of narrative medicine, letters created a dialogue that demonstrated the role of learning in the concern for friends.