Muratori, Ludovico Antonio

Muratori, Ludovico Antonio lo͞odōvēˈkō äntôˈnyō mo͞orätôˈrē [key], 1672–1750, Italian historian, a Roman Catholic priest. One of the foremost scholars of his age, he was long archivist and ducal librarian at Modena. He discovered the Muratorian Canon, a scrap of early Christian literature (c.a.d. 190) containing the earliest known list of the New Testament books. Muratori edited the important source collections Rerum Italicarum scriptores (28 vol., 1723–51) and Antiquitates Italicae medii aevii (6 vol., 1738–42). He also wrote a history (12 vol., 1744–49) of Italy from Christian times.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Historians, European: Biographies