On the Spot: Alexander Lee
‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That the Renaissance was a ‘secular’ age.’
Why are you a historian of the Renaissance?
I find everything about it fascinating: the political ferment; the social upheaval; the omnipresence of war and disease; the opening of intellectual horizons – the palpable sense of possibility.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That there are no lessons.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Jorge Luis Borges’ short stories and Alberto Manguel’s All Men Are Liars offer a catechism of justified uncertainty.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
The fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 – if only for its unbearable pathos.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Quentin Skinner.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
Machiavelli, of course!
How many languages do you have?
Fewer than I’d like.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
Most things. History is a discipline of doubt: if you aren’t willing to change your mind about everything, I’m not sure you can progress with anything.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
All fields are exciting, if you give them a chance – except politically motivated history.
What is the most common misconception about your field?
That the Renaissance was a ‘secular’ age.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
Sara Copia Sullam, a Jewish poet from the Venetian Ghetto betrayed by her friends.
… and the most overrated?
Leonardo da Vinci (sorry).
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
Where would be the joy if you’d read everything?
What’s your favourite archive?
The Bibliothèque nationale de France is where I first fell in love with Renaissance manuscripts.
What’s the best museum?
The National Gallery, London.
What technology has changed the world the most?
Can I have three? The plough, moveable type, and vaccines.
Recommend us a historical novel...
The Leopard.
... and a historical drama?
Les Rois Maudits (1972), the definitive adaptation of Maurice Druon’s novels.
You can solve one historical mystery. What is it?
What do the rongorongo tablets of Easter Island really say?
Alexander Lee is a columnist at History Today. His latest book, The First Ghetto: Venice and the Jews, is published by Picador.
