The Renaissance's intellectual basis was founded in its version ofhumanism, derived from the concept of Romanhumanitas and the rediscovery ofclassical Greek philosophy, such as that ofProtagoras, who said that "man is the measure of all things". Although the invention ofmetal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe: the first traces appear in Italy as early as the late 13th century, in particular with the writings ofDante and the paintings ofGiotto.
As a cultural movement, the Renaissance encompassed innovative flowering ofliterary Latin and an explosion ofvernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, which contemporaries credited toPetrarch; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting; and gradual but widespreadeducational reform. It saw myriad artistic developments and contributions from suchpolymaths asLeonardo da Vinci andMichelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".[5][6] In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, and in science to an increased reliance on observation andinductive reasoning. The period also saw revolutions in other intellectual andsocial scientific pursuits, as well as the introduction of modern banking and the field of accounting.[7]
In addition to the standard periodization, proponents of a "long Renaissance" may put its beginning in the 14th century and its end in the 17th century.[c]
The traditional view focuses more on the Renaissance'searly modern aspects and argues that it was a break from the past, but many historians today focus more on its medieval aspects and argue that it was an extension of the Middle Ages.[11][12]
Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors, including Florence's social and civic peculiarities at the time: its political structure, the patronage of its dominant family, theMedici,[15] and the migration ofGreek scholars and their texts to Italy following thefall of Constantinople to theOttoman Empire.[16][17][18] Other major centers wereVenice,Genoa,Milan,Rome during theRenaissance Papacy, andNaples. From Italy, the Renaissance spread throughout Europe and also to American, African and Asian territories ruled by the European colonial powers of the time or where Christian missionaries were active.
The Renaissance has a long and complexhistoriography, and in line with general skepticism of discrete periodizations, there has been much debate among historians reacting to the 19th-century glorification of the "Renaissance" and individual cultural heroes as "Renaissance men", questioning the usefulness ofRenaissance as a term and as a historical delineation.[19]
Some observers have questioned whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism andnostalgia forclassical antiquity,[20] while social and economic historians, especially of thelongue durée, have instead focused onthe continuity between the two eras,[21] which are linked, asPanofsky observed, "by a thousand ties".[22][d]
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in theearly modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence was felt inart,architecture,philosophy,literature,music,science,technology, politics, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.[25]
Renaissance humanists such asPoggio Bracciolini sought out in Europe's monastic libraries the Latin literary, historical, and oratorical texts ofantiquity, while thefall of Constantinople (1453) generated a wave ofémigréGreek scholars bringing precious manuscripts inancient Greek, many of which had fallen into obscurity in the West. It was in their new focus on literary and historical texts that Renaissance scholars differed so markedly from the medieval scholars of theRenaissance of the 12th century, who had focused on studyingGreek andArabic works of natural sciences, philosophy, and mathematics, rather than on such cultural texts.[citation needed]
In the revival ofneoplatonism, Renaissance humanists did not rejectChristianity; on the contrary, many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church patronized many works of Renaissance art.[citation needed] But a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life.[26][better source needed] In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were brought back fromByzantium to Western Europe and engaged Western scholars for the first time since late antiquity. This new engagement with Greek Christian works, and particularly the return to the original Greek of the New Testament promoted by humanistsLorenzo Valla andErasmus, helped pave the way for theReformation.[citation needed]
Well after the first artistic return toclassicism had been exemplified in the sculpture ofNicola Pisano, Florentine painters led byMasaccio strove to portray the human form realistically, developing techniques to renderperspective and light more naturally.Political philosophers, most famouslyNiccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe political life as it really was, that is to understand it rationally. A critical contribution to Italian Renaissance humanism,Giovanni Pico della Mirandola wroteDe hominis dignitate (Oration on the Dignity of Man, 1486), a series of theses on philosophy, natural thought, faith, and magic defended against any opponent on the grounds of reason. In addition to studying classical Latin and Greek, Renaissance authors also began increasingly to use vernacular languages; combined with the introduction of theprinting press, this allowed many more people access to books, especially the Bible.[27]
In all, the Renaissance can be viewed as an attempt by intellectuals to study and improve the secular and worldly, both through the revival of ideas from antiquity and through novel approaches to thought. Political philosopherHans Kohn describes it as an age where "Men looked for new foundations"; some likeErasmus andThomas More envisioned new reformed spiritual foundations, others. in the words ofMachiavelli,una lunga sperienza delle cose moderne ed una continua lezione delle antiche (a long experience with modern life and a continuous learning from antiquity).[28]
SociologistRodney Stark plays down the Renaissance in favor of the earlier innovations of theItalian city-states in theHigh Middle Ages, which married responsive government, Christianity and the birth ofcapitalism.[29] This analysis argues that, whereas the great European states (France and Spain) wereabsolute monarchies, and others were under direct Church control, the independentcity-republics of Italy took over the principles of capitalism invented on monastic estates and set off a vast unprecedentedCommercial Revolution that preceded and financed the Renaissance.[citation needed]
HistorianLeon Poliakov offers a critical view in his seminal study of European racist thought:The Aryan Myth. According to Poliakov, the use of ethnic origin myths are first used by Renaissance humanists "in the service of a new born chauvinism".[30][31]
Many argue that the ideas characterizing the Renaissance had their origin inFlorence at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, in particular with the writings ofDante Alighieri (1265–1321) andPetrarch (1304–1374), as well as the paintings ofGiotto di Bondone (1267–1337). Some writers date the Renaissance quite precisely; one proposed starting point is 1401, when the rival geniusesLorenzo Ghiberti andFilippo Brunelleschi competed for the contract to build the bronze doors for theBaptistery of theFlorence Cathedral (Ghiberti won).[32] Others see more general competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti,Donatello, andMasaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance.
Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, and why it began when it did. Accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. Peter Rietbergen posits that various influential Proto-Renaissance movements started from roughly 1300 onwards across many regions ofEurope.[33]
In stark contrast to theHigh Middle Ages, when Latin scholars focused almost entirely on studying Greek and Arabic works of natural science, philosophy and mathematics,[e] Renaissance scholars were most interested in recovering and studying Latin and Greek literary, historical, and oratorical texts. Broadly speaking, this began in the 14th century with a Latin phase, when Renaissance scholars such asPetrarch,Coluccio Salutati (1331–1406),Niccolò de' Niccoli (1364–1437), andPoggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such Latin authors asCicero,Lucretius,Livy, andSeneca.[34] By the early 15th century, the bulk of the surviving such Latin literature had been recovered; the Greek phase of Renaissance humanism was under way, as Western European scholars turned to recovering ancient Greek literary, historical, oratorical and theological texts.[35]
Unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. Ancient Greek works on science, mathematics, and philosophy had been studied since theHigh Middle Ages in Western Europe and in theIslamic Golden Age (normally in translation), but Greek literary, oratorical and historical works (such asHomer, the Greek dramatists,Demosthenes andThucydides) were not studied in either the Latin or medievalIslamic worlds; in the Middle Ages these sorts of texts were only studied by Byzantine scholars. Some argue that theTimurid Renaissance inSamarkand andHerat, whose magnificence toned with Florence as the center of a cultural rebirth,[36][37] were linked to theOttoman Empire, whose conquests led to the migration ofGreek scholars to Italian cities.[16][38] One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity.
Muslim logicians, most notablyAvicenna andAverroes, had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conqueredEgypt and theLevant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West intoIberia andSicily, which became important centers for this transmission of ideas. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, many schools dedicated to the translation of philosophical and scientific works fromClassical Arabic toMedieval Latin were established in Iberia, most notably theToledo School of Translators. This work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history.[39]
The movement to reintegrate the regular study of Greek literary, historical, oratorical, and theological texts back into the Western European curriculum is usually dated to the 1396 invitation from Coluccio Salutati to the Byzantine diplomat and scholarManuel Chrysoloras (c. 1355–1415) to teach Greek in Florence.[40] This legacy was continued by a number of expatriate Greek scholars, fromBasilios Bessarion toLeo Allatius.
The unique political structures ofItaly during theLate Middle Ages have led some to theorize that its unusual social climate allowed the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence. Italy did not exist as apolitical entity in the early modern period. Instead, it was divided into smallercity-states and territories: theNeapolitans controlled the south, theFlorentines and theRomans at the center, theMilanese and theGenoese to the north and west respectively, and theVenetians to the north east. 15th-century Italy was one of the mosturbanized areas in Europe.[41] Many of its cities stood among the ruins of ancient Roman buildings; it seems likely that the classical nature of the Renaissance was linked to its origin in the Roman Empire's heartland.[42]
Historian and political philosopherQuentin Skinner points out thatOtto of Freising (c. 1114–1158), a German bishop visiting north Italy during the 12th century, noticed a widespread new form of political and social organization, observing that Italy appeared to have exited fromfeudalism so that its society was based on merchants and commerce. Linked to this was anti-monarchical thinking, represented in the famous early Renaissancefresco cycleThe Allegory of Good and Bad Government byAmbrogio Lorenzetti (painted 1338–1340), whose strong message is about the virtues of fairness, justice, republicanism and good administration. Holding both Church andEmpire at bay, these city republics were devoted to notions of liberty. Skinner reports that there were many defences of liberty such as theMatteo Palmieri (1406–1475) celebration of Florentine genius not only in art, sculpture and architecture, but "the remarkable efflorescence of moral, social and political philosophy that occurred in Florence at the same time".[43]
Even cities and states beyond central Italy, such as the Republic of Florence at this time, were also notable for theirmerchant republics, especially the Republic of Venice. Although in practice these wereoligarchical, and bore little resemblance to a moderndemocracy, they did have democratic features and were responsive states, with forms of participation in governance and belief in liberty.[43][44][45] The relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic advancement.[46] Likewise, the position of Italian cities such as Venice as great trading centres made them intellectual crossroads.Merchants brought with them ideas from far corners of the globe, particularly theLevant. Venice was Europe's gateway to trade with the East, and a producer offine glass, while Florence was a capital of textiles. The wealth such business brought to Italy meant large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned and individuals had more leisure time for study.[46]
One theory that has been advanced is that the devastation inFlorence caused by theBlack Death, which hit Europe between 1348 and 1350, resulted in a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy.Italy was particularly badly hit by the plague, and it has been speculated that the resulting familiarity with death caused thinkers to dwell more on their lives on Earth, rather than onspirituality and theafterlife.[47] It has also been argued that the Black Death prompted a new wave of piety, manifested in thesponsorship of religious works of art.[48] However, this does not fully explain why the Renaissance occurred specifically in Italy in the 14th century. The Black Death was apandemic that affected all of Europe in the ways described, not only Italy. The Renaissance's emergence in Italy was most likely the result of the complex interaction of the above factors.[19]
The plague was carried by fleas on sailing vessels returning from the ports of Asia, spreading quickly due to lack of proper sanitation: the population ofEngland, then about 4.2 million, lost 1.4 million people to thebubonic plague. Florence's population was nearly halved in the year 1348. As a result of the decimation in the populace the value of the working class increased, and commoners came to enjoy more freedom. To answer the increased need for labor, workers traveled in search of the most favorable position economically.[49]
The demographic decline due to the plague had economic consequences: the prices of food dropped and land values declined by 30–40% in most parts of Europe between 1350 and 1400.[50] Landholders faced a great loss, but for ordinary men and women it was a windfall. The survivors of the plague found not only that the prices of food were cheaper but also that lands were more abundant, and many of them inherited property from their dead relatives.
The spread of disease was significantly more rampant in areas of poverty.Epidemics ravaged cities, particularly children. Plagues were easily spread by lice, unsanitary drinking water, armies, or by poor sanitation. Children were hit the hardest because many diseases, such astyphus andcongenital syphilis, target the immune system, leaving young children without a fighting chance. Children in city dwellings were more affected by the spread of disease than the children of the wealthy.[51]
The Black Death caused greater upheaval to Florence's social and political structure than later epidemics. Despite a significant number of deaths among members of the ruling classes, the government of Florence continued to function during this period. Formal meetings of elected representatives were suspended during the height of the epidemic due to the chaotic conditions in the city, but a small group of officials was appointed to conduct the affairs of the city, which ensured continuity of government.[52]
It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began inFlorence, and not elsewhere in Italy. Scholars have noted several features unique to Florentine cultural life that may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasized the role played by theMedici, a banking family and laterducal ruling house, in patronizing and stimulating the arts. Some historians have postulated that Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance as a result of luck, i.e., because "Great Men" were born there by chance:[53] Leonardo, Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born inTuscany. Arguing that such chance seems improbable, other historians have contended that these "Great Men" were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.[54]
The Renaissance was certainly underway before Lorenzo de' Medici came to power – indeed, before the Medici family itself achieved hegemony in Florentine society.
In some ways,Renaissance humanism was not a philosophy but a method of learning. In contrast to the medievalscholastic mode, which focused on resolving contradictions between authors, Renaissance humanists would study ancient texts in their original languages and appraise them through a combination of reasoning andempirical evidence. Humanist education was based on the programme ofStudia Humanitatis, the study of five humanities:poetry,grammar,history,moral philosophy, andrhetoric. Although historians have sometimes struggled to define humanism precisely, most have settled on "a middle of the road definition... the movement to recover, interpret, and assimilate the language, literature, learning and values of ancient Greece and Rome".[56] Above all, humanists asserted "the genius of man ... the unique and extraordinary ability of the human mind".[57]
Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period. Political philosophers such as Niccolò Machiavelli andThomas More revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers and applied them in critiques of contemporary government, following the Islamic steps ofIbn Khaldun.[59][60]Pico della Mirandola wrote the "manifesto" of the Renaissance, theOration on the Dignity of Man, a vibrant defence of thinking.[citation needed]Matteo Palmieri (1406–1475), another humanist, is most known for his workDella vita civile ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528), which advocatedcivic humanism, and for his influence in refining theTuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin. Palmieri drew on Roman philosophers and theorists, especiallyCicero, who, like Palmieri, lived an active public life as a citizen and official, as well as a theorist and philosopher and alsoQuintilian. Perhaps the most succinct expression of his perspective on humanism is in a 1465 poetic workLa città di vita, but an earlier work,Della vita civile, is more wide-ranging. Composed as a series of dialogues set in a country house in the Mugello countryside outside Florence during the plague of 1430, Palmieri expounds on the qualities of the ideal citizen. The dialogues include ideas about how children develop mentally and physically, how citizens can conduct themselves morally, how citizens and states can ensure probity in public life, and an important debate on the difference between that which is pragmatically useful and that which is honest.[citation needed]
The humanists believed that it is important to transcend to the afterlife with a perfect mind and body, which could be attained with education. The purpose of humanism was to create a universal man whose person combined intellectual and physical excellence and who was capable of functioning honorably in virtually any situation.[61] This ideology was referred to as theuomo universale, an ancient Greco-Roman ideal. Education during the Renaissance was mainly composed of ancient literature and history as it was thought that the classics provided moral instruction and an intensive understanding of human behavior.
Humanism and libraries
A unique characteristic of some Renaissance libraries is that they were open to the public. These libraries were places where ideas were exchanged and where scholarship and reading were considered both pleasurable and beneficial to the mind and soul. As freethinking was a hallmark of the age, many libraries contained a wide range of writers. Classical texts could be found alongside humanist writings. These informal associations of intellectuals profoundly influenced Renaissance culture. An essential tool of Renaissance librarianship was the catalog that listed, described, and classified a library's books.[62] Some of the richest "bibliophiles" built libraries as temples to books and knowledge. A number of libraries appeared as manifestations of immense wealth joined with a love of books. In some cases, cultivated library builders were also committed to offering others the opportunity to use their collections. Prominent aristocrats and princes of the Church created great libraries for the use of their courts, called "court libraries", and were housed in lavishly designed monumental buildings decorated with ornate woodwork, and the walls adorned with frescoes (Murray, Stuart A.P.).
Renaissance art marks a cultural rebirth at the close of the Middle Ages and rise of the Modern world. One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic linear perspective.Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337) is credited with first treating a painting as a window into space, but it was not until the demonstrations of architectFilippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) and the subsequent writings ofLeon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) that perspective was formalized as an artistic technique.[63]
The development ofperspective was part of a wider trend towardrealism in the arts.[64] Painters developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case ofLeonardo da Vinci,human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature and to unravel the axioms ofaesthetics, with the works of Leonardo,Michelangelo andRaphael representing artistic pinnacles that were much imitated by other artists.[65] Other notable artists includeSandro Botticelli, working for the Medici in Florence,Donatello, another Florentine, andTitian in Venice, among others.
In theLow Countries, a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed. The work ofHugo van der Goes andJan van Eyck was particularly influential on the development of painting in Italy, both technically with the introduction ofoil paint and canvas, and stylistically in terms of naturalism in representation. Later, the work ofPieter Brueghel the Elder would inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life.[66]
In architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi was foremost in studying the remains of ancient classical buildings. With rediscovered knowledge from the 1st-century writerVitruvius and the flourishing discipline of mathematics, Brunelleschi formulated the Renaissance style that emulated and improved on classical forms. His major feat of engineering was building the dome ofFlorence Cathedral.[67] Another building demonstrating this style is theBasilica of Sant'Andrea, Mantua, built by Alberti. The outstanding architectural work of theHigh Renaissance was the rebuilding ofSt. Peter's Basilica, combining the skills ofBramante, Michelangelo, Raphael,Sangallo andMaderno.
During the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns,pilasters, andentablatures as an integrated system. The Roman orders types of columns are used:Tuscan andComposite. These can either be structural, supporting an arcade or architrave, or purely decorative, set against a wall in the form of pilasters. One of the first buildings to use pilasters as an integrated system was in the Old Sacristy (1421–1440) by Brunelleschi.[68] Arches, semi-circular or (in theMannerist style) segmental, are often used in arcades, supported on piers or columns with capitals. There may be a section of entablature between the capital and the springing of the arch. Alberti was one of the first to use the arch on a monumental. Renaissance vaults do not have ribs; they are semi-circular or segmental and on a square plan, unlike theGothic vault, which is frequently rectangular.
Renaissance artists were not pagans, although they admired antiquity and kept some ideas and symbols of the medieval past.Nicola Pisano (c. 1220 – c. 1278) imitated classical forms by portraying scenes from the Bible. HisAnnunciation, from thePisa Baptistry, demonstrates that classical models influenced Italian art before the Renaissance took root as a literary movement.[69]
Applied innovation extended to commerce. At the end of the 15th century,Luca Pacioli published the first work onbookkeeping, making him the founder ofaccounting.[7]
Science and art were intermingled in the early Renaissance, with polymath artists such asLeonardo da Vinci making observational drawings of anatomy and nature. Leonardo set up controlled experiments in water flow, medical dissection, and systematic study of movement and aerodynamics, and he devised principles of research method that ledFritjof Capra to classify him as the "father of modern science".[g] Other examples of Da Vinci's contribution during this period include machines designed to saw marbles and lift monoliths, and new discoveries in acoustics, botany, geology, anatomy, and mechanics.[72]
A suitable environment had developed to question classical scientific doctrine. Thediscovery in 1492 of theNew World byChristopher Columbus challenged the classical worldview. The works of Ptolemy (in geography) andGalen (in medicine) were found to not always match everyday observations. As the Reformation andCounter-Reformation clashed, theNorthern Renaissance showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristotelean natural philosophy to chemistry and the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine).[73] The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of major scientific advancements.
Another important development was in theprocess for discovery, thescientific method,[77] focusing onempirical evidence and the importance ofmathematics, while discarding much of Aristotelian science. Early and influential proponents of these ideas included Copernicus, Galileo, andFrancis Bacon.[78][79] The new scientific method led to great contributions in the fields of astronomy, physics, biology, and anatomy.[h][80]
During the Renaissance, extending from 1450 to 1650,[81] every continent was visited and mostly mapped by Europeans, except the south polar continent now known asAntarctica. This development is depicted in the large world mapNova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula made by the Dutch cartographerJoan Blaeu in 1648 to commemorate thePeace of Westphalia.
In 1492,Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain seeking a direct route to India of theDelhi Sultanate. He accidentally stumbled upon the Americas, but believed he had reached theEast Indies.
In 1606, the Dutch navigatorWillem Janszoon sailed from the East Indies in theDutch East India Company shipDuyfken and landed inAustralia. He charted about 300 km of the west coast ofCape York Peninsula in Queensland. More than thirty Dutch expeditions followed, mapping sections of the north, west, and south coasts. In 1642–1643,Abel Tasman circumnavigated the continent, proving that it was not joined to the imagined south polar continent.
By 1650, Dutch cartographers had mapped most of the coastline of the continent, which they namedNew Holland, except the east coast which was charted in 1770 byJames Cook.
The long-imagined south polar continent was eventually sighted in 1820. Throughout the Renaissance it had been known asTerra Australis, or 'Australia' for short. However, after that name was transferred to New Holland in the nineteenth century, the new name of 'Antarctica' was bestowed on the south polar continent.[82]
From this changing society emerged a common, unifying musical language, in particular thepolyphonic style of theFranco-Flemish school. The development ofprinting made distribution of music possible on a wide scale. Demand for music as entertainment and as an activity for educated amateurs increased with the emergence of a bourgeois class. Dissemination ofchansons,motets, andmasses throughout Europe coincided with the unification of polyphonic practice into the fluid style that culminated in the second half of the sixteenth century in the work of composers such asGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina,Orlande de Lassus,Tomás Luis de Victoria, andWilliam Byrd.
The new ideals of humanism, although more secular in some aspects, developed against a Christian backdrop, especially in theNorthern Renaissance. Much, if not most, of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to theRoman Catholic Church.[26] However, the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporarytheology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God.[26] Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method, includingErasmus,Huldrych Zwingli,Thomas More,Martin Luther, andJohn Calvin.
The Renaissance began in times of religious turmoil. The Late Middle Ages was a period of political intrigue surrounding thePapacy, culminating in theWestern Schism, in which three men simultaneously claimed to be trueBishop ofRome.[83] While the schism was resolved by theCouncil of Constance (1414), a resulting reform movement known asConciliarism sought to limit the power of the pope. Although the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by theFifth Council of the Lateran (1511), it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption, most famously in the person ofPope Alexander VI, who was accused variously ofsimony,nepotism, andfathering children (most of whom were married off, presumably for the consolidation of power) while acardinal.[84]
Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church, often based on humanisttextual criticism of theNew Testament.[26] In October 1517, Luther published theNinety-five Theses, challenging papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption, particularly with regard to instances of soldindulgences.[i] The 95 Theses led to theReformation, a break with the Roman Catholic Church that previously claimed hegemony inWestern Europe. Humanism and the Renaissance therefore played a direct role in sparking the Reformation, as well as in many other contemporaneous religious debates and conflicts.
By the 15th century, writers, artists, and architects in Italy were well aware of the transformations that were taking place and were using phrases such asmodi antichi (in the antique manner) oralle romana et alla antica (in the manner of the Romans and the ancients) to describe their work. In the 1330sPetrarch referred to pre-Christian times asantiqua (ancient) and to the Christian period asnova (new).[85] From Petrarch's Italian perspective, this new period (which included his own time) was an age of national eclipse.[85]Leonardo Bruni was the first to use tripartiteperiodization in hisHistory of the Florentine People (1442).[86] Bruni's first two periods were based on those of Petrarch, but he added a third period because he believed that Italy was no longer in a state of decline.Flavio Biondo used a similar framework inDecades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire (1439–1453).
Humanist historians argued that contemporary scholarship restored direct links to the classical period, thus bypassing the Medieval period, which they then named for the first time the "Middle Ages". The term first appears in Latin in 1469 asmedia tempestas (middle times).[87] The termrinascita (rebirth) first appeared, however, in its broad sense inGiorgio Vasari'sLives of the Artists, 1550, revised 1568.[88][89] Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase containsCimabue,Giotto, andArnolfo di Cambio; the second phase containsMasaccio,Brunelleschi, andDonatello; the third centers onLeonardo da Vinci and culminates withMichelangelo. It was not just the growing awareness of classical antiquity that drove this development, according to Vasari, but also the growing desire to study and imitate nature.[90]
Spread
In the 15th century, the Renaissance spread rapidly from its birthplace in Florence to the rest of Italy and soon to the rest of Europe. The invention of theprinting press by German printerJohannes Gutenberg allowed the rapid transmission of these new ideas. As it spread, its ideas diversified and changed, being adapted to local culture. In the 20th century, scholars began to break the Renaissance into regional and national movements.
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!" – fromWilliam Shakespeare'sHamlet
TheElizabethan era in the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance. Many scholars see its beginnings in the early 16th century during the reign ofHenry VIII.[91]
The English Renaissance is different from theItalian Renaissance in several ways. The dominant art forms of the English Renaissance wereliterature andmusic, which had a rich flowering.[92]Visual arts in the English Renaissance were much less significant than in the Italian Renaissance. The English Renaissance period in art began far later than the Italian, which had moved intoMannerism by the 1530s.[93]
Elsewhere, SirFrancis Bacon (1561–1626) was the pioneer of modern scientific thought, and is commonly regarded as one of the founders of theScientific Revolution.[95][96]
The word "Renaissance" is borrowed from the French language, where it means "re-birth". It was first used in the eighteenth century and was later popularized by FrenchhistorianJules Michelet (1798–1874) in his 1855 work,Histoire de France (History of France).[97][98]
In the second half of the 15th century, the Renaissance spirit spread toGermany and theLow Countries, where the development of the printing press (ca. 1450) and Renaissance artists such asAlbrecht Dürer (1471–1528) predated the influence from Italy. In the early Protestant areas of the countryhumanism became closely linked to the turmoil of the Reformation, and the art and writing of theGerman Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.[99] However, theGothic style and medieval scholastic philosophy remained exclusively until the turn of the 16th century. EmperorMaximilian I ofHabsburg (ruling 1493–1519) was the first truly Renaissance monarch of theHoly Roman Empire.
After Italy,Hungary was the first European country where the Renaissance appeared.[100] The Renaissance style came directly from Italy during theQuattrocento (1400s) to Hungary first in the Central European region, thanks to the development of early Hungarian-Italian relationships — not only in dynastic connections, but also in cultural, humanistic and commercial relations – growing in strength from the 14th century. The relationship between Hungarian and Italian Gothic styles was a second reason – exaggerated breakthrough of walls is avoided, preferring clean and light structures. Large-scale building schemes provided ample and long term work for the artists, for example, the building of the Friss (New)Castle in Buda, the castles of Visegrád,Tata, and Várpalota. InSigismund's court there were patrons such asPippo Spano, a descendant of the Scolari family of Florence, who invited Manetto Ammanatini andMasolino da Pannicale to Hungary.[101]
The new Italian trend combined with existing national traditions to create a particular local Renaissance art. Acceptance of Renaissance art was furthered by the continuous arrival of humanist thought in the country. Many young Hungarians studying at Italian universities came closer to theFlorentine humanist center, so a direct connection with Florence evolved. The growing number of Italian traders moving to Hungary, specially toBuda, helped this process. New thoughts were carried by the humanist prelates, among themVitéz János, archbishop ofEsztergom, one of the founders of Hungarian humanism.[102] During the long reign of Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg the Royal Castle of Buda became probably the largestGothic palace of the lateMiddle Ages. KingMatthias Corvinus (r. 1458–1490) rebuilt the palace in early Renaissance style and further expanded it.[103][104]
After the marriage in 1476 of King Matthias toBeatrice of Naples,Buda became one of the most important artistic centers of the Renaissance north of theAlps.[105] The most important humanists living in Matthias' court wereAntonio Bonfini and the famous Hungarian poetJanus Pannonius.[105]András Hess set up a printing press in Buda in 1472. Matthias Corvinus's library, theBibliotheca Corviniana, was Europe's greatest collections of secular books: historical chronicles, philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century. His library was second only in size to theVatican Library. (However, the Vatican Library mainly contained Bibles and religious materials.)[106] In 1489, Bartolomeo della Fonte of Florence wrote that Lorenzo de' Medici founded his own Greek-Latin library encouraged by the example of the Hungarian king. Corvinus's library is part of UNESCO World Heritage.[107]
Matthias started at least two major building projects.[108] The works in Buda andVisegrád began in about 1479.[109] Two new wings and ahanging garden were built at the royal castle of Buda, and the palace at Visegrád was rebuilt in Renaissance style.[109][110] Matthias appointed the ItalianChimenti Camicia and the DalmatianGiovanni Dalmata to direct these projects.[109] Matthias commissioned the leading Italian artists of his age to embellish his palaces: for instance, the sculptorBenedetto da Majano and the paintersFilippino Lippi andAndrea Mantegna worked for him.[111] A copy of Mantegna's portrait of Matthias survived.[112] Matthias also hired the Italian military engineerAristotele Fioravanti to direct the rebuilding of the forts along the southern frontier.[113] He had new monasteries built inLate Gothic style for theFranciscans in Kolozsvár,Szeged and Hunyad, and for thePaulines in Fejéregyháza.[114][115] In the spring of 1485,Leonardo da Vinci travelled toHungary on behalf of Sforza to meet King Matthias Corvinus, and was commissioned by him to paint aMadonna.[116]
Matthias enjoyed the company of Humanists and had lively discussions on various topics with them.[117] The fame of his magnanimity encouraged many scholars—mostly Italian—to settle in Buda.[118] Antonio Bonfini,Pietro Ranzano, Bartolomeo Fonzio, andFrancesco Bandini spent many years in Matthias's court.[119][117] This circle of educated men introduced the ideas ofNeoplatonism to Hungary.[120][121] Like all intellectuals of his age, Matthias was convinced that the movements and combinations of the stars and planets exercised influence on individuals' life and on the history of nations.[122]Martius Galeotti described him as "king and astrologer", and Antonio Bonfini said Matthias "never did anything without consulting the stars".[123] Upon his request, the famous astronomers of the age,Johannes Regiomontanus andMarcin Bylica, set up an observatory in Buda and installed it withastrolabes andcelestial globes.[124] Regiomontanus dedicated his book on navigation that was used byChristopher Columbus to Matthias.[118]
The Renaissance in Northern Europe has been termed the "Northern Renaissance". While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy, there was a simultaneous southward spread of some areas of innovation, particularly inmusic.[127] The music of the 15th-centuryBurgundian School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in music, and thepolyphony of theNetherlanders, as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of the first true international style inmusic since the standardization ofGregorian Chant in the 9th century.[127] The culmination of the Netherlandish school was in the music of the ItaliancomposerGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. At the end of the 16th century Italy again became a center of musical innovation, with the development of the polychoral style of theVenetian School, which spread northward into Germany around 1600. InDenmark, the Renaissance sparked the translation of the works ofSaxo Grammaticus intoDanish as well asFrederick II andChristian IV ordering the redecoration or construction of several important works of architecture, i.e.Kronborg,Rosenborg andBørsen.[128] Danish astronomerTycho Brahe greatly contributed to turn astronomy into the firstmodern science and also helped launch theScientific Revolution.[129][130]
The paintings of the Italian Renaissance differed from those of the Northern Renaissance. Italian Renaissance artists were among the first to paint secular scenes, breaking away from the purely religious art of medieval painters. Northern Renaissance artists initially remained focused on religious subjects, such as the contemporary religious upheaval portrayed byAlbrecht Dürer. Later, the works ofPieter Bruegel the Elder influenced artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or classical themes. It was also during the Northern Renaissance thatFlemish brothersHubert andJan van Eyck perfected theoil painting technique, which enabled artists to produce strong colors on a hard surface that could survive for centuries.[131] A feature of the Northern Renaissance was its use of the vernacular in place of Latin or Greek, which allowed greater freedom of expression. This movement had started in Italy with the decisive influence ofDante Alighieri on the development of vernacular languages; in fact the focus on writing in Italian has neglected a major source of Florentine ideas expressed in Latin.[132] The spread of the printing press technology boosted the Renaissance in Northern Europe as elsewhere, with Venice becoming a world center of printing.
The Polish Renaissance lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and was theGolden Age ofPolish culture. Ruled by theJagiellonian dynasty, theKingdom of Poland (from 1569 known as thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) actively participated in the broad European Renaissance. An early Italian humanist who came to Poland in the mid-15th century wasFilippo Buonaccorsi, who was employed as royal advisor and councillor. The tomb ofJohn I Albert, completed in 1505 byFrancesco Fiorentino, is the first example of a Renaissance composition in the country.[133][134] Many Italian artists subsequently came to Poland withBona Sforza ofMilan, when she married KingSigismund I in 1518.[135] This was supported by temporarily strengthened monarchies in both areas, as well as by newly established universities.[136]
The Renaissance was a period when the multi-national Polish state experienced a substantial period of cultural growth thanks in part to a century without major wars, aside from conflicts in the sparsely populatedeastern and southern borderlands. Architecture became more refined and decorative.Mannerism played an important part in shaping what is now considered to be the truly Polish architectural style – highattics above thecornice with pinnacles andpilasters.[137] It was also the time when the first major works ofPolish literature were published, particularly those ofMikołaj Rey andJan Kochanowski, and thePolish language became thelingua franca of East-Central Europe.[138] TheJagiellonian University transformed into a major institution of higher education for the region and hosted many notable scholars, chieflyNicolaus Copernicus andConrad Celtes. Three more academies were founded atKönigsberg (1544),Vilnius (1579), andZamość (1594). The Reformation spread peacefully throughout the country, giving rise to theNontrinitarianPolish Brethren.[139] Living conditions improved, cities grew, and exports of agricultural products enriched the population, especially the nobility (szlachta) andmagnates. The nobles gained dominance in the new political system ofGolden Liberty, a counterweight tomonarchicalabsolutism.[140]
Although Italian Renaissance had a modest impact in Portuguese arts,Portugal was influential in broadening the European worldview,[141] stimulating humanist inquiry. Renaissance arrived through the influence of wealthy Italian and Flemish merchants who invested in the profitable commerce overseas. As the pioneer headquarters of European exploration,Lisbon flourished in the late 15th century, attracting experts who made several breakthroughs in mathematics, astronomy and naval technology, includingPedro Nunes,João de Castro,Abraham Zacuto, andMartin Behaim. CartographersPedro Reinel,Lopo Homem,Estêvão Gomes, andDiogo Ribeiro made crucial advances in mapping the world. ApothecaryTomé Pires and physiciansGarcia de Orta and Cristóvão da Costa collected and published works on plants and medicines, soon translated by Flemish pioneer botanistCarolus Clusius.
The Italian artist and criticGiorgio Vasari (1511–1574) first used the termrinascita in his bookThe Lives of the Artists (published 1550). In the book Vasari attempted to define what he described as a break with the barbarities ofGothic art: the arts (he held) had fallen into decay with the collapse of theRoman Empire and only theTuscan artists, beginning withCimabue (1240–1301) andGiotto (1267–1337) began to reverse this decline in the arts. Vasari saw ancient art as central to the rebirth of Italian art.[146]
However, only in the 19th century did the French wordrenaissance achieve popularity in describing the self-conscious cultural movement based on revival of Roman models that began in the late 13th century. FrenchhistorianJules Michelet (1798–1874) defined "The Renaissance" in his 1855 workHistoire de France as an entire historical period, whereas previously it had been used in a more limited sense.[24] For Michelet, the Renaissance was more a development in science than in art and culture. He asserted that it spanned the period fromColumbus toCopernicus toGalileo; that is, from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 17th century.[97] Moreover, Michelet distinguished between what he called, "the bizarre and monstrous" quality of the Middle Ages and thedemocratic values that he, as a vocalRepublican, chose to see in its character.[19] A French nationalist, Michelet also sought to claim the Renaissance as a French movement.[19]
More recently, some historians have been much less keen to define the Renaissance as a historical age, or even as a coherent cultural movement. The historian Randolph Starn, of theUniversity of California Berkeley, stated in 1998:
Rather than a period with definitive beginnings and endings and consistent content in between, the Renaissance can be (and occasionally has been) seen as a movement of practices and ideas to which specific groups and identifiable persons variously responded in different times and places. It would be in this sense a network of diverse, sometimes converging, sometimes conflicting cultures, not a single, time-bound culture.[21]
There is debate about the extent to which the Renaissance improved on the culture of the Middle Ages. Both Michelet and Burckhardt were keen to describe the progress made in the Renaissance toward themodern age. Burckhardt likened the change to a veil being removed from man's eyes, allowing him to see clearly.[53]
In the Middle Ages both sides of human consciousness – that which was turned within as that which was turned without – lay dreaming or half awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession, through which the world and history were seen clad in strange hues.[149]
— Jacob Burckhardt,The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
On the other hand, many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the medieval period – poverty, warfare, religious and political persecution, for example – seem to have worsened in this era, which saw the rise of Machiavellian politics, theWars of Religion, the corruptBorgiaPopes, and the intensifiedwitch-hunts of the 16th century. Many people who lived during the Renaissance did not view it as the "golden age" imagined by certain 19th-century authors, but were concerned by these social maladies.[150] Significantly, though, the artists, writers, and patrons involved in the cultural movements in question believed they were living in a new era that was a clean break from the Middle Ages.[88] SomeMarxist historians prefer to describe the Renaissance in material terms, holding the view that the changes in art, literature, and philosophy were part of a general economic trend fromfeudalism towardcapitalism, resulting in abourgeois class with leisure time to devote to the arts.[151]
Johan Huizinga (1872–1945) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned whether it was a positive change. In his bookThe Autumn of the Middle Ages, he argued that the Renaissance was a period of decline from theHigh Middle Ages, destroying much that was important.[20] TheMedieval Latin language, for instance, had evolved greatly from the classical period and was still a living language used in the church and elsewhere. The Renaissance obsession with classical purity halted its further evolution and sawLatin revert to its classical form. This view is however somewhat contested byrecent studies. Robert S. Lopez has contended that it was a period of deepeconomic recession.[152] Meanwhile,George Sarton andLynn Thorndike have both argued thatscientific progress was perhaps less original than has traditionally been supposed.[153] Finally,Joan Kelly argued that the Renaissance led to greater gender dichotomy, lessening the agency women had had during the Middle Ages.[154]
Some historians have begun to consider the wordRenaissance to be unnecessarily loaded, implying an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "Dark Ages", the Middle Ages. Most political and economic historians now prefer to use the term "early modern" for this period (and a considerable period afterwards), a designation intended to highlight the period as a transitional one between the Middle Ages and the modern era.[155] Others such as Roger Osborne have come to consider the Italian Renaissance as a repository of the myths and ideals of western history in general, and instead of rebirth of ancient ideas as a period of great innovation.[156]
It is perhaps no accident that the factuality of theItalian Renaissance has been most vigorously questioned by those who are not obliged to take a professional interest in the aesthetic aspects of civilization – historians of economic and social developments, political and religious situations, and, most particularly, natural science – but only exceptionally by students of literature and hardly ever by historians of Art.[157]
^French:[ʁənɛsɑ̃s]ⓘ, meaning 'rebirth', fromrenaître 'to be born again';Italian:Rinascimento[rinaʃʃiˈmento], fromrinascere, with the same meanings.[3]
^TheOxford English Dictionary cites W Dyce and C H Wilson'sLetter to Lord Meadowbank (1837): "A style possessing many points of rude resemblance with the more elegant and refined character of the art of the renaissance in Italy." And the following year inCivil Engineer & Architect's Journal: "Not that we consider the style of the Renaissance to be either pure or good per se." See Oxford English Dictionary, "Renaissance"
^ "Historians of different kinds will often make some choice between a long Renaissance (say, 1300–1600), a short one (1453–1527), or somewhere in between (the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as is commonly adopted in music histories)."[8] Or betweenPetrarch andJonathan Swift, an even longer period.[9] Another source dates it from 1350 to 1620.[10]
^Some scholars have called for an end to the use of the term, which they see as a product ofpresentism – the use ofhistory to validate and glorify modern ideals.[23]
^Exhaustive 2007 study by Fritjof Capra shows that Leonardo was a much greater scientist than previously thought, and not just an inventor. Leonardo was innovative in science theory and in conducting actual science practice. In Capra's detailed assessment of many surviving manuscripts, Leonardo's science in tune with holistic non-mechanistic and non-reductive approaches to science, which are becoming popular today.[71]
Rapid accumulation of knowledge, which has characterized the development of science since the 17th century, had never occurred before that time. The new kind of scientific activity emerged only in a few countries of Western Europe, and it was restricted to that small area for about two hundred years. (Since the 19th century, scientific knowledge has been assimilated by the rest of the world).
^It is sometimes thought that the Church, as an institution, formally sold indulgences at the time. This, however, was not the practice. Donations were often received, but only mandated by individuals that were condemned.
^The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music: Volume 1, p. 4, 2005, Cambridge University Press,Google Books.
^See Rosalie L. Colie, quoted in Hageman, Elizabeth H., inWomen and Literature in Britain, 1500–1700, p. 190, 1996, ed. Helen Wilcox, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0521467773,Google Books.
^abMurray, P. and Murray, L. (1963)The Art of the Renaissance. London:Thames & Hudson (World of Art), p. 9.ISBN978-0500200087. "...in 1855 we find, for the first time, the word 'Renaissance' used – by the French historian Michelet – as an adjective to describe a whole period of history and not confined to the rebirth of Latin letters or a classically inspired style in the arts."
^Walker, Paul Robert,The Feud that sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World (New York, Perennial-Harper Collins, 2003)
^abRietbergen, P. J. A. N. (2000).A Short History of the Netherlands: From Prehistory to the Present Day (4th ed.). Amersfoort: Bekking. p. 59.ISBN90-6109-440-2.OCLC52849131.
^Kirshner, Julius,Family and Marriage: A socio-legal perspective,Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 1300–1550, ed. John M. Najemy (Oxford University Press, 2004) p. 89 (Retrieved 10 May 2007)
^abSkinner, Quentin,The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol I:The Renaissance; vol II:The Age of Reformation, Cambridge University Press, p. 69
^Stark, Rodney,The Victory of Reason, New York, Random House, 2005
^Martin, J. and Romano, D.,Venice Reconsidered, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 2000
^Stephens, J.,Individualism and the cult of creative personality,The Italian Renaissance, New York, 1990 p. 121.
^Guido Carocci, I dintorni di Firenze, Vol. II,Galletti e Cocci, Firenze, 1907, pp. 336–337
^Burke, P., "The spread of Italian humanism", inThe Impact of Humanism on Western Europe, ed. A. Goodman and A. MacKay, London, 1990, p. 2.
^As asserted by Gianozzo Manetti inOn the Dignity and Excellence of Man, cited in Clare, J.,Italian Renaissance.
^Pico Della Mirandola."Oration on the Dignity of Man".Reading About the World, Volume 1. Translated by Hooker, Richard. Archived fromthe original on 4 January 2011 – via World Civilizations at Washington State University.
^Miller, John H.Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli : an examination of paradigms.OCLC11117374.
^Religion and Political Development: Some Comparative Ideas on Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli by Barbara Freyer Stowasser
^Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001).A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2, pp. 245–246). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
^Murray, Stuart (2009).The Library: An Illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 88.
^Clare, John D. & Millen, Alan,Italian Renaissance, London, 1994, p. 14.
^Saalman, Howard (1993).Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. Zwemmer.ISBN978-0271010670.
^Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001).A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2, pp. 250–251). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
^Woodward, David (2007).The History of Cartography, Volume Three: Cartography in the European Renaissance. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.ISBN978-0226907338.
^Cameron-Ash, M. (2018).Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook's Endeavour Voyage. Sydney: Rosenberg. pp. 19–20.ISBN978-0648043966.
^Klein, Jürgen (2012),"Francis Bacon", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University,archived from the original on 22 October 2019, retrieved17 January 2020
^abMichelet, Jules.History of France, trans. G.H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton, 1847)
^Franz-Joachim Verspohl [de],Michelangelo Buonarroti und Leonardo Da Vinci: Republikanischer Alltag und Künstlerkonkurrenz in Florenz zwischen 1501 und 1505 (Wallstein Verlag, 2007), p. 151.
^Wootton, David (2015).The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution (First U.S. ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-175952-9.OCLC883146361.
^Celenza, Christopher (2004),The Lost Italian Renaissance: Humanists, Historians, and Latin's Legacy. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press
^Rundle, David (2012).Humanism in fifteenth-century Europe. Oxford: The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature. p. 143.ISBN9780907570400.
^Suchodolski, Bogdan (1973).Poland, the Land of Copernicus. Wrocław: Ossolineum, Polska Akademia Nauk PAN. p. 150.OCLC714705.
^Girolamo Savonarola's popularity is a prime example of the manifestation of such concerns. Other examples includePhilip II of Spain's censorship of Florentine paintings, noted by Edward L. Goldberg, "Spanish Values and Tuscan Painting",Renaissance Quarterly (1998) p. 914
^Thorndike, Lynn; Johnson, F.R.; Kristeller, P. O.; Lockwood, D.P.; Thorndike, L. (1943). "Some Remarks on the Question of the Originality of the Renaissance".Journal of the History of Ideas.4 (1):49–74.doi:10.2307/2707236.JSTOR2707236.
^Kelly-Gadol, Joan. "Did Women Have a Renaissance?"Becoming Visible: Women in European History. Edited by Renate Bridenthal and Claudia Koonz. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.
^Panofsky,Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art 1969:38; Panofsky's chapter "'Renaissance – self-definition or self-deception?" succinctly introduces the historiographical debate, with copious footnotes to the literature.
^Haskins, Charles Homer,The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927ISBN0674760751.
^Hubert, Jean,L'Empire carolingien (English:The Carolingian Renaissance, translated by James Emmons, New York: G. Braziller, 1970).
Reynolds, L. D.; Wilson, Nigel (1974).Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN978-0199686339.OL26919731M.
Tanner, Marcus (2009).The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of his Lost Library. Yale University Press.ISBN978-0300158281.
Paoletti, John T. and Gary M. Radke.Art in Renaissance Italy (4th ed. 2011)
Potter, G.R. ed.The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 1: The Renaissance, 1493–1520 (1957)online; major essays by multiple scholars. Summarizes the viewpoint of the 1950s.
Robin, Diana; Larsen, Anne R.; and Levin, Carole, eds.Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England (2007) 459 pp.
Ferguson, Wallace K. "The Interpretation of the Renaissance: Suggestions for a Synthesis."Journal of the History of Ideas (1951): 483–495. online in JSTOR
Ferguson, Wallace K. "Recent trends in the economic historiography of the Renaissance."Studies in the Renaissance (1960): 7–26.
Ferguson, Wallace Klippert.The Renaissance in historical thought (AMS Press, 1981)
Grendler, Paul F. "The Future of Sixteenth Century Studies: Renaissance and Reformation Scholarship in the Next Forty Years",Sixteenth Century Journal Spring 2009, Vol. 40 Issue 1, pp. 182+
Murray, Stuart A.P. The Library: An Illustrated History. American Library Association, Chicago, 2012.
Ruggiero, Guido, ed.A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. (2002). 561 pp.
Summit, Jennifer. "Renaissance Humanism and the Future of the Humanities".Literature Compass (2012) 9#10 pp: 665–678.
Trivellato, Francesca. "Renaissance Italy and the Muslim Mediterranean in Recent Historical Work",Journal of Modern History (March 2010), 82#1 pp: 127–155.
Woolfson, Jonathan, ed.Palgrave advances in Renaissance historiography (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Primary sources
Bartlett, Kenneth, ed.The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook (2nd ed., 2011)
Ross, James Bruce, and Mary M. McLaughlin, eds.The Portable Renaissance Reader (1977);excerpt and text search
External links
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