The Modernity of Philippe de Commines

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: The Modernity of Philippe de Commines

Saturday 18 October 2025 is the 514th anniversary of the death of Philippe de Commines, who died on Wednesday 18 October 1511. The birth date of Commines hasn’t been preserved by history, and I’ve seen at least four ways of spelling his name—Commines, Comines, Commynes, and Comminaeus (there may well be other spellings of which I’m not aware).

Commines Memoirs were written to be source material for a proper history of Louis XI. The memoirs survived but Commines himself didn’t write the proper history, though countless historians since the time of Commines have relied upon his as a primary source for the second half of the 15th century. To what extent to Commine’s Memoirs reveal an already modern perspective?

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #PhilippedeCommines #PhilippedeCommynes #modern #modernity #Machiavelli #Petrarch #EarlyModern #renaissance