ABSTRACT
Sir Thomas More’s History of King Richard II and Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia are the only two humanist histories written in England. Polydore Vergil himself was a native of Urbino and came to England in 1502 with his patron Adriano de Castello of Corneto who had been preferred to the see of Hereford. The archbishop used the imprisonment as a means of bringing pressure to bear on Vergil’s friends in Rome, so that they would promote his own interests. The humanist historians exploited the evidence of topography and antiquities, including ancient buildings, archaeological remain and coin—particularly those of the classical period. Modern scholars have tended to divide the humanist historians into two main groups: Leonardo Bruni, who concentrated on style and structure, characterizes one group, and Flavio Biondo, who was notable for his criticism of sources and antiquarian zeal, characterizes the other.
