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Petrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book

Petrarch worked on Livy’s surviving decades, collating and annotating, as part of the same Roman-history hunger that fed Africa and De viris. In the causal graph this event strengthens Protection of Minority Rights, a driver that strengthens Having a say in government — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

Petrarch worked on Livy’s surviving decades, collating and annotating, as part of the same Roman-history hunger that fed Africa and De viris. It is not a later critical edition’s copyright.

Context

Rights here means access to a civic-Roman narrative, not a charter of liberties. Shared with earlier medieval Livy readers. Medium confidence on any single manuscript campaign. Distinct from the Verona Cicero letters.

Shared responsibility is part of Petrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book. Naming Petrarch does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1328-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Why it matters

It does not recreate a republic. Mixed: Roman history can also teach conquest.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Petrarch

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.24 · verified

    Named collator of Livy decades. Earlier scholars and later pads share the tradition. Complex on a long philological file.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactPetrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book
    2. strengthensDriverProtection of Minority Rights
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.25 · Effect from 1 January 1328 · verified

    • Having a say in government

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.11 (weight 0.25 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      Two readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).

      20212023

      Above normal = better

    • Rule of Law Gap from the Highest Governance Score

      via Protection of Minority Rights

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.11 (weight 0.25 × strength 0.45)

      Observed

      43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.

      Normal is zero · any amount = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Treccani — Francesco PetrarcaIstituto della Enciclopedia Italiana · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Vatican Apostolic Library — Henry VIII letters to Anne Boleyn as later public fileVatican Apostolic Library · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Vatican Library at https://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ (opens in a new tab) is the public manuscript neighbourhood. Treccani at https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-petrarca/ (opens in a new tab) independently stresses classical recovery. Britannica names the manuscript journeys.

Established as received: lifetime Livy collation. Not established: a unique 1328 colophon for the whole file. Year-level early cluster. Official locator https://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ (opens in a new tab) is not independent locator https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-petrarca/ (opens in a new tab).

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Livy notes are not Africa and not the 1345 Cicero letters. Mixed effects of Petrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book are separate paths.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorPetrarch
  2. contributed toFactPetrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book
  3. strengthensDriverProtection of Minority Rights
  4. strengthensIndicatorHaving a say in government

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Petrarch collates and annotates Livy as a working historian’s book. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/pet-livy-work

https://factrail.ai/facts/pet-livy-work

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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