Renaissance

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This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th17th centuries. For the earlier European
Renaissance, see Renaissance of the 12th century. For other uses, seeRenaissance
(disambiguation).

David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.

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Ancient

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The Renaissance (UK /rnesns/, US /rnsns/)[1] is a period in Europe, from the 14th to the 17th
century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as
a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe,
marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age.
The intellectual basis of the Renaissance was its own invented version of humanism, derived from
the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said that "Man is the
measure of all things." This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science and
literature. Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled
knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of metal movable type sped the
dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not
uniformly experienced across Europe.

As a cultural movement, the Renaissance encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular
literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, which
contemporaries credited to Petrarch; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of
rendering a more natural reality in painting; and gradual but widespread educational reform. In
politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions
of diplomacy, and in science to an increased reliance on observation and inductive reasoning.
Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and
political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of
such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinciand Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".[2]
[3]

There is a consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century.[4] Various theories
have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors
including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time: its political structure; the patronage
of its dominant family, the Medici;[5][6] and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following
the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.[7][8][9] Other major centres were northern Italian citystates such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, and finally Rome during the Renaissance Papacy.
The Renaissance has a long and complex historiography, and, in line with general scepticism of
discrete periodizations, there has been much debate among historians reacting to the 19th-century
glorification of the "Renaissance" and individual culture heroes as "Renaissance men", questioning
the usefulness of Renaissance as a term and as a historical delineation.[10] The art historian Erwin
Panofsky observed of this resistance to the concept of "Renaissance":
It is perhaps no accident that the factuality of the Italian Renaissance has been most vigorously
questioned by those who are not obliged to take a professional interest in the aesthetic aspects of
civilizationhistorians of economic and social developments, political and religious situations, and,
most particularly, natural sciencebut only exceptionally by students of literature and hardly ever by
historians of Art.[11]
Some observers have called into question whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from
the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for classical antiquity,
[12]
while social and economic historians, especially of the longue dure, have instead focused on the
continuity between the two eras,[13] which are linked, as Panofsky observed, "by a thousand ties". [14]
The word Renaissance, literally meaning "Rebirth" in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s.
[15]
The word also occurs in Jules Michelet's 1855 work, Histoire de France. The
word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as
the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century.[16]
Contents
[hide]

1Overview

2Origins
o

2.1Latin and Greek phases of Renaissance humanism

2.2Social and political structures in Italy

2.3Black Death/Plague

2.4Cultural conditions in Florence

3Characteristics
o

3.1Humanism

3.2Art

3.3Science

3.4Music

3.5Religion

3.6Self-awareness

4Spread
o

4.1Northern Europe

4.2England

4.3France

4.4Germany

4.5Netherlands

4.6Spain

4.7Portugal

4.8Hungary

4.9Poland

4.10Russia

4.11Further countries

5Historiography
o

5.1Conception

5.2Debates about progress

6Other Renaissances

7See also

8References
o

8.1Notes

8.2Citations

9Bibliography

10Further reading

10.1Historiography

10.2Primary sources
11External links

Overview
Renaissance

Topics

Humanism

Exploration

Architecture

Dance

Fine arts

Literature

Music
Philosophy

Science
Technology

Warfare
Regions

Bengal

England

Germany

Poland

Portugal

Italy

France

Spain
Scotland
Northern Europe
Low Countries

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in
the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century,
its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects
of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched
for realism and human emotion in art.[17]
Renaissance humanists such as Poggio Bracciolini sought out in Europe's monastic libraries the
Latin literary, historical, and oratorical texts of Antiquity, while the Fall of Constantinople (1453)
generated a wave of migr Greek scholars bringing precious manuscripts in ancient Greek, many
of which had fallen into obscurity in the West. It is in their new focus on literary and historical texts
that Renaissance scholars differed so markedly from the medieval scholars of the Renaissance of
the 12th century, who had focused on studying Greek and Arabic works of natural sciences,
philosophy and mathematics, rather than on such cultural texts.
Portrait of a young woman(c. 1480-85) (Simonetta Vespucci) by Sandro Botticelli

In the revival of neo-Platonism Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity; quite the contrary,
many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church patronized many
works of Renaissance art. However, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached
religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. [18] In addition, many Greek Christian
works, including the Greek New Testament, were brought back from Byzantium 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 humanists Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus, would help pave the way for the Protestant
Reformation.
Well after the first artistic return to classicism had been exemplified in the sculpture of Nicola Pisano,
Florentine painters led by Masaccio strove to portray the human form realistically, developing
techniques to render perspective and light more naturally. Political philosophers, most
famouslyNiccol 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 wrote the famous text "De hominis dignitate" (Oration on the Dignity of Man, 1486), which
consists of 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 printing, this would allow many more people access to books, especially the Bible. [19]
In all, the Renaissance could 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. Some scholars, such as Rodney Stark,[20] play down the Renaissance in
favor of the earlier innovations of theItalian city-states in the High Middle Ages, which married
responsive government, Christianity and the birth of capitalism. This analysis argues that, whereas
the great European states (France and Spain) were absolutist monarchies, and others were under
direct Church control, the independent city republics of Italy took over the principles of capitalism
invented on monastic estates and set off a vast unprecedented commercial revolution that preceded
and financed the Renaissance.

Origins
Main article: Italian Renaissance

View of Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance

Many argue that the ideas characterizing the Renaissance had their origin in late 13thcentury Florence, in particular with the writings of Dante Alighieri (12651321) and Petrarch (1304
1374), as well as the paintings of Giotto di Bondone (12671337). Some writers date the
Renaissance quite precisely; one proposed starting point is 1401, when the rival geniusesLorenzo
Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi competed for the contract to build the bronze doors for the
Baptistery of theFlorence Cathedral (Ghiberti won).[21] Others see more general competition between
artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio 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.
During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand. Artists depended entirely on patrons
while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th,
15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia and Europe. Silver mining in Tyrol increased
the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during theCrusades, increased
the prosperity of Genoa and Venice.[22]
Jules Michelet defined the 16th-century Renaissance in France as a period in Europe's cultural
history that represented a break from the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity
and its place in the world.[23]

Latin and Greek phases of Renaissance humanism

See also: Transmission of the Greek Classics

The examples and perspective in this article may not include all significant
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Coluccio Salutati

In stark contrast to the High Middle Ages, when Latin scholars focused almost entirely on studying
Greek and Arabic works of natural science, philosophy and mathematics,[24] 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 as Petrarch, Coluccio Salutati (13311406), Niccol de' Niccoli (13641437)
and Poggio Bracciolini (13801459) scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such Latin
authors as Cicero, Lucretius, Livy and Seneca.[25] By the early 15th century, the bulk of 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.[26]
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, maths and philosophy had been studied since the High Middle Ages in
Western Europe and in the medieval Islamic world (normally in translation), but Greek literary,
oratorical and historical works (such as Homer, the Greek
dramatists, Demosthenes and Thucydides) were not studied in either the Latin or medieval Islamic
worlds; in the Middle Ages these sorts of texts were only studied by Byzantine scholars. 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. Arab logicians had inherited
Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and
commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain andSicily, which
became important centers for this transmission of ideas. This work of translation from Islamic culture,
though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in
history.[27] This 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 scholar Manuel Chrysoloras (c.13551415) to
teach Greek in Florence.[28] This legacy was continued by a number of expatriate Greek scholars,
from Basilios Bessarion to Leo Allatius.

Social and political structures in Italy

A political map of the ItalianPeninsula circa 1494

The unique political structures of late Middle Ages Italy have led some to theorize that its unusual
social climate allowed the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence. Italy did not exist as a political
entity in the early modern period. Instead, it was divided into smaller city statesand territories:
the Kingdom of Naples controlled the south, the Republic of Florence and the Papal States at the
center, the Milanese and the Genoese to the north and west respectively, and the Venetians to the
east. Fifteenth-century Italy was one of the most urbanisedareas in Europe.[29] 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. [30]
Historian and political philosopher Quentin Skinner points out that Otto of Freising (c. 11141158), 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 from Feudalism so that its
society was based on merchants and commerce. Linked to this was anti-monarchical thinking,
represented in the famous early Renaissance fresco cycle Allegory of Good and Bad Government in
Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (painted 13381340), whose strong message is about the virtues of
fairness, justice, republicanism and good administration. Holding both Church and Empire at bay,
these city republics were devoted to notions of liberty. Skinner reports that there were many
defences of liberty such as the Matteo Palmieri (14061475) 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". [31]
Even cities and states beyond central Italy, such as the Republic of Florence at this time, were also
notable for their merchant Republics, especially the Republic of Venice. Although in practice these
were oligarchical, and bore little resemblance to a modern democracy, they did have democratic
features and were responsive states, with forms of participation in governance and belief in liberty.[32]
[33][34]
The relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic
advancement.[35] 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 the Levant. Venice was Europe's gateway to trade with the East, and a producer of
fine 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.[35]

Black Death/Plague
One theory that has been advanced is that the devastation in Florence caused by the Black Death,
which hit Europe between 1348 and 1350, resulted in a shift in the world view of people in 14thcentury 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
on spirituality and the afterlife.[36] It has also been argued that the Black Death prompted a new wave
of piety, manifested in the sponsorship of religious works of art.[37] However, this does not fully explain
why the Renaissance occurred specifically in Italy in the 14th century. The Black Death was a
pandemic 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. [10]
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 of England, then about 4.2 million, lost 1.4 million
people to the bubonic plague. Florence's population was nearly halved in the year 1347. 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.[38]
The demographic decline due to the plague had economic consequences: the prices of food
dropped and land values declined by 30 to 40% in most parts of Europe between 1350 and 1400.
[39]
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 as typhus and syphilis
target the immune system and left young children without a fighting chance. Children in city
dwellings were more affected by the spread of disease than the children of the wealthy.[40]
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.[41]

Cultural conditions in Florence

Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler ofFlorence and patron of arts (Portrait by Girolamo Macchietti)

It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began in Florence, 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 the Medici, abanking
family and later ducal ruling house, in patronizing and stimulating the arts. Lorenzo de'
Medici (14491492) was the catalyst for an enormous amount of arts patronage, encouraging his
countrymen to commission works from the leading artists of Florence, including Leonardo da
Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo Buonarroti.[5] Works by Neri di Bicci, Botticelli, da Vinci
and Filippino Lippi had been commissioned additionally by the convent di San Donato agli Scopeti of
the Augustinians order in Florence.[42]
The Renaissance was certainly underway before Lorenzo de' Medici came to power indeed, before
the Medici family itself achieved hegemony in Florentine society. 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:[43] Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born
in Tuscany. 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.[44]

Characteristics
Humanism
Main article: Renaissance humanism

Pico della Mirandola wrote the famous Oration on the Dignity of Man, which has been called the "Manifesto of
the Renaissance".[45]

In some ways humanism was not a philosophy but a method of learning. In contrast to the
medieval scholastic mode, which focused on resolving contradictions between authors, humanists
would study ancient texts in the original and appraise them through a combination of reasoning
and empirical evidence. Humanist education was based on the programme of 'Studia Humanitatis',
the study of five humanities:poetry, grammar, history, moral philosophy and rhetoric. 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". [46] Above all, humanists asserted "the genius of
man ... the unique and extraordinary ability of the human mind". [47]

Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period. Political
philosophers such as Niccol Machiavelli and Thomas More revived the ideas of Greek and Roman
thinkers and applied them in critiques of contemporary government.Pico della Mirandola wrote the
"manifesto" of the Renaissance, the Oration on the Dignity of Man, a vibrant defence of
thinking. Matteo Palmieri (14061475), another humanist, is most known for his work Della vita
civile ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528), which advocated civic humanism, and for his influence in
refining the Tuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin. Palmieri drew on Roman philosophers and
theorists, especially Cicero, who, like Palmieri, lived an active public life as a citizen and official, as
well as a theorist and philosopher and also Quintilian. Perhaps the most succinct expression of his
perspective on humanism is in a 1465 poetic work La citt di vita, but an earlier work, Della vita
civile (On Civic Life), 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.
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.[48] This ideology was referred to as the uomo 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.

Art
Main articles: Renaissance art, Renaissance painting, and Renaissance architecture
See also: Islamic influences on Western art

The tomb of Michelangelo in theBasilica of Santa Croce, Florence

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 (12671337) is credited with first treating a painting as a
window into space, but it was not until the demonstrations of architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377
1446) and the subsequent writings of Leon Battista Alberti (14041472) that perspective was
formalized as an artistic technique.[49]
The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts.[50] Painters
developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case of Leonardo 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 of aesthetics, with the works of
Leonardo, Michelangelo andRaphael representing artistic pinnacles that were much imitated by
other artists.[51] Other notable artists include Sandro Botticelli, working for the Medici in
Florence, Donatello, another Florentine, and Titian in Venice, among others.

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man(c. 1490) demonstrates the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance
thinkers. Based on the specifications inVitruvius' De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the
perfectly proportioned man.

In the Netherlands, a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed. The work of Hugo van der
Goes and Jan van Eyck was particularly influential on the development of painting in Italy, both
technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas, and stylistically in terms of naturalism in
representation (see Renaissance in the Netherlands). Later, the work of Pieter Brueghel the
Elderwould inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life.[52]
In architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi, the most inventive and gifted designer of all time, was foremost
in studying the remains of ancient classical buildings. With rediscovered knowledge from the 1stcentury writer Vitruvius 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 of the Florence Cathedral.[53] Another building demonstrating this style is the
church of St. Andrew inMantua, built by Alberti. The outstanding architectural work of the High
Renaissance was the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, combining the skills
of Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, Sangallo and Maderno.
During the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an
integrated system. The Roman orders types of columns are used: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
and Composite. 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 (14211440) by Brunelleschi. [54] Arches, semi-circular or
(in the Mannerist 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 the Gothic 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. 1220c. 1278) imitated classical forms by portraying
scenes from the Bible. His Annunciation, from the Baptistry at Pisa, demonstrates that classical
models influenced Italian art before the Renaissance took root as a literary movement [55]

Science
Main articles: History of science in the Renaissance and Renaissance technology

Portrait of Luca Pacioli, father of accounting, painted by Jacopo de' Barbari, 1495, (Museo di Capodimonte).

1543' Vesalius' studies inspired interest in human anatomy.

Galileo Galilei. Portrait incrayon by Renaissance sculptor Leone Leoni

The rediscovery of ancient texts and the invention of printing democratized learning and allowed a
faster propagation of ideas. In the first period of the Italian Renaissance, humanists favoured the
study of humanities over natural philosophy or applied mathematics, and their reverence for classical
sources further enshrined the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic views of the universe. Writing around
1450, Nicholas Cusanus anticipated theheliocentric worldview of Copernicus, but in a philosophical
fashion.
Science and art were intermingled in the early Renaissance, with polymath artists such as Leonardo
da Vinci making observational drawings of anatomy and nature. Da Vinci set up controlled
experiments in water flow, medical dissection, and systematic study of movement and
aerodynamics, and he devised principles of research method that led Fritjof Capra to classify him as
the "father of modern science".[56]
A suitable environment had developed to question scientific doctrine. The discovery in 1492 of
the New World by Christopher Columbuschallenged the classical worldview. The works
of Ptolemy (in geography) and Galen (in medicine) were found to not always match everyday
observations. As the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation clashed, the Northern
Renaissance showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristotelean natural philosophy to chemistry and
the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine). [57] The willingness to question previously
held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of major scientific advancements.
Some view this as a "scientific revolution", heralding the beginning of the modern age,[58] others as an
acceleration of a continuous process stretching from the ancient world to the present day.
[59]
Significant scientific advances were made during this time by Galileo Galilei, Tycho
Braheand Johannes Kepler.[60] Copernicus, in De Revolutionibus, posited that the Earth moved
around the Sun. De humani corporis fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body), by Andreas
Vesalius, gave a new confidence to the role of dissection, observation, and the mechanistic view of
anatomy.[61]
Another important development was in the process for discovery, the scientific method,[61] focusing
on empirical evidence and the importance ofmathematics, while discarding Aristotelian science.
Early and influential proponents of these ideas included Copernicus, Galileo, and Francis Bacon.[62]
[63]
The new scientific method led to great contributions in the fields of astronomy, physics, biology,
and anatomy.[64][65]
Applied innovation extended to commerce. At the end of the 15th century Luca Pacioli published the
first work on bookkeeping, making him the founder of accounting.[66]

Music
Main article: Renaissance music
From this changing society emerged a common, unifying musical language, in particular
the polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish school. The development of printing 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 of chansons, motets,
and masses 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
as Palestrina, Lassus, Victoria and William Byrd.

Religion
Main articles: Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation

Alexander VI, a Borgia Pope infamous for his corruption

The new ideals of humanism, although more secular in some aspects, developed against
a Christianbackdrop, especially in the Northern Renaissance. Much, if not most, of the new art was
commissioned by or in dedication to the Church.[18] However, the Renaissance had a profound effect
on contemporarytheology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man
and God.[18] Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method,
including Erasmus, Zwingli, Thomas More, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.

Adoration of the Magi and Solomonadored by the Queen of Sheba from theFarnese Hours by Giulio
Clovio marksthe end of the Italian Renaissance ofilluminated manuscript together with theIndex Librorum
Prohibitorum.

The Renaissance began in times of religious turmoil. The late Middle Ages was a period of political
intrigue surrounding the Papacy, culminating in the Western Schism, in which three men
simultaneously claimed to be true Bishop of Rome.[67] While the schism was resolved by theCouncil
of Constance (1414), a resulting reform movement known as Conciliarism sought to limit the power
of the pope. Although the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by the Fifth
Council of the Lateran (1511), it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption, most famously
in the person of Pope Alexander VI, who was accused variously of simony,nepotism and fathering
four children (most of whom were married off, presumably for the consolidation of power) while a
cardinal.[68]
Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church, often based on
humanist textual criticism of the New Testament.[18] In October 1517 Luther published the 95 Theses,
challenging papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption, particularly with regard to

instances of sold indulgences.[note 1] The 95 Theses led to the Reformation, a break with the Roman
Catholic Church that previously claimed hegemony in Western 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.
Pope Paul III came to the papal throne (15341549) after the sack of Rome in 1527, with
uncertainties prevalent in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation. Nicolaus
Copernicus dedicated De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial
Spheres) to Paul III, who became the grandfather of Alessandro Farnese (cardinal), who had
paintings by Titian, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as well as an important collection of drawings, and
who commissioned the masterpiece of Giulio Clovio, arguably the last major illuminated manuscript,
the Farnese Hours.

Self-awareness

Leonardo Bruni

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 as modi antichi (in the antique manner) or alle
romana et alla antica (in the manner of the Romans and the ancients) to describe their work. In the
1330s Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua (ancient) and to the Christian period
as nova (new).[69] From Petrarch's Italian perspective, this new period (which included his own time)
was an age of national eclipse.[69] Leonardo Bruni was the first to use tripartite periodization in
his History of the Florentine People (1442).[70] 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 in Decades of History from the Deterioration of the
Roman Empire (14391453).
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 as media tempestas (middle times).[71] The term la
rinascita (rebirth) first appeared, however, in its broad sense in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists,
1550, revised 1568).[72][73] Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase
contains Cimabue, Giotto, and Arnolfo di Cambio; the second phase
contains Masaccio,Brunelleschi, and Donatello; the third centers on Leonardo da Vinci and
culminates with Michelangelo. 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. [74]

Spread

Chteau de Chambord (15191547), one of the most famous examples of Renaissance architecture

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 the printing press by German printer Johannes
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.

Northern Europe
Main article: Northern Renaissance

Pieter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death (c. 1562) reflects the social upheaval and terror that followed the plague
that devastated medieval Europe.

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 in music.[75] The music of the 15th centuryBurgundian
School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in music, and the polyphony of the Netherlanders,
as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of the first true international
style in music since the standardization of Gregorian Chant in the 9th century.[75] The culmination of
the Netherlandish school was in the music of the Italian composer Palestrina. At the end of the 16th
century Italy again became a center of musical innovation, with the development of the polychoral
style of the Venetian School, which spread northward into Germany around 1600.
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 by Albrecht Drer. Later,
the works of Pieter Bruegelinfluenced artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or
classical themes. It was also during the Northern Renaissance thatFlemish brothers Hubert and Jan
van Eyck perfected the oil painting technique, which enabled artists to produce strong colors on a
hard surface that could survive for centuries.[76] 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 of Dante 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.[77] The spread of the printing press technology boosted the
Renaissance in Northern Europe as elsewhere, with Venice becoming a world center of printing.

England
Main article: English Renaissance

"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.

In England, the sixteenth century marked the beginning of the English Renaissance with the work of
writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Sir Thomas More, Francis
Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, as well as great artists, architects (such as Inigo Jones who introduced
Italianate architecture to England), and composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner,
and William Byrd.

France
Main article: French Renaissance
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 French historian Jules
Michelet (17981874) in his 1855 work, Histoire de France (History of France).[78][79]
In 1495 the Italian Renaissance arrived in France, imported by King Charles VIII after his invasion of
Italy. A factor that promoted the spread of secularism was the inability of the Church to offer
assistance against the Black Death. Francis I imported Italian art and artists, including Leonardo da
Vinci, and built ornate palaces at great expense. Writers such as Franois Rabelais, Pierre de
Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Michel de Montaigne, painters such as Jean Clouet, and musicians
such as Jean Mouton also borrowed from the spirit of the Renaissance.
In 1533, a fourteen-year-old Caterina de' Medici (15191589), born in Florence to Lorenzo II de'
Medici and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, married Henry II of France, second son of King Francis
I and Queen Claude. Though she became famous and infamous for her role in France's religious
wars, she made a direct contribution in bringing arts, sciences and music (including the origins
of ballet) to the French court from her native Florence.

Germany
Main article: German Renaissance

The Arnolfini Portrait, byJan van Eyck, 1434

In the second half of the 15th century, the Renaissance spirit spread to Germany and the Low
Countries, where the development of the printing press (ca. 1450) and early Renaissance artists
such as the painters Jan van Eyck (13951441) and Hieronymus Bosch (14501516) and the
composers Johannes Ockeghem (14101497), Jacob Obrecht (14571505) and Josquin des
Prez (14551521) predated the influence from Italy. In the early Protestant areas of the
country humanism became closely linked to the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation, and the art
and writing of the German Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.[80] However, the gothic style
and medieval scholastic philosophy remained exclusively until the turn of the 16th century.
Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg (ruling 14931519) was the first truly Renaissance monarch of
theHoly Roman Empire.

Netherlands
Main articles: Renaissance in the Netherlands and Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting

Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1523, as depicted by Hans Holbein the Younger

Culture in the Netherlands at the end of the 15th century was influenced by the Italian Renaissance
through trade via Bruges, which made Flanders wealthy. Its nobles commissioned artists who
became known across Europe.[81] In science, the anatomist Andreas Vesalius led the way;
in cartography, Gerardus Mercator's map assisted explorers and navigators. In art, Dutch and
Flemish Renaissance painting ranged from the strange work of Hieronymus Bosch[82] to the everyday
life depictions of Pieter Brueghel the Elder.[81]

Spain
Main article: Spanish Renaissance
The Renaissance arrived in the Iberian peninsula through the Mediterranean possessions of
the Aragonese Crown and the city of Valencia. Many early Spanish Renaissance writers come from
the Kingdom of Aragon, including Ausis March and Joanot Martorell. In the Kingdom of Castile, the
early Renaissance was heavily influenced by the Italian humanism, starting with writers and poets
such as the Marquis of Santillana, who introduced the new Italian poetry to Spain in the early 15th
century. Other writers, such as Jorge Manrique, Fernando de Rojas, Juan del Encina,Juan Boscn
Almogver and Garcilaso de la Vega, kept a close resemblance to the Italian canon. Miguel de
Cervantes's masterpiece Don Quixote is credited as the first Western novel. Renaissance humanism
flourished in the early 16th century, with influential writers such as philosopher Juan Luis Vives,
grammarian Antonio de Nebrija and natural historian Pedro de Mexa.
Later Spanish Renaissance tended towards religious themes and mysticism, with poets such as fray
Luis de Len, Teresa of vila and John of the Cross, and treated issues related to the exploration of
the New World, with chroniclers and writers such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega andBartolom de las
Casas, giving rise to a body of work, now known as Spanish Renaissance literature. The late
Renaissance in Spain produced artists such as El Greco and composers such as Toms Luis de
Victoria and Antonio de Cabezn.

Portugal
Main article: Portuguese Renaissance

So Pedro Papa, 1530-1535, byGro Vasco Fernandes. A pinnacle piece from when the Portuguese
Renaissance had considerable external influence.

Although Italian Renaissance had a modest impact in Portuguese arts, Portugal was influential in
broadening the European worldview,[83]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, including Pedro Nunes, Joo de Castro,Abraham Zacuto and Martin Behaim.
Cartographers Pedro Reinel, Lopo Homem, Estvo Gomes and Diogo Ribeiro made crucial
advances in mapping the world. Apothecary Tom Pires and physicians Garcia de
Orta and Cristvo da Costa collected and published works on plants and medicines, soon
translated by Flemish pioneer botanist Carolus Clusius.
In architecture, the huge profits of the spice trade financed a sumptuous composite style in the first
decades of the 16th century, theManueline, incorporating maritime elements.[84] The primary painters
were Nuno Gonalves, Gregrio Lopes and Vasco Fernandes. In music, Pedro de
Escobar and Duarte Lobo produced four songbooks, including the Cancioneiro de Elvas. In

literature, S de Mirandaintroduced Italian forms of verse. Bernardim Ribeiro developed pastoral

romance, plays by Gil Vicente fused it with popular culture, reporting the changing times, and Lus
de Cames inscribed the Portuguese feats overseas in the epic poem Os Lusadas. Travel
literature especially flourished: Joo de Barros, Castanheda, Antnio Galvo, Gaspar
Correia, Duarte Barbosa, and Ferno Mendes Pinto, among others, described new lands and were
translated and spread with the new printing press.[83] After joining the Portuguese exploration of Brazil
in 1500, Amerigo Vespucci coined the term New World,[85] in his letters to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco
de' Medici.
The intense international exchange produced several cosmopolitan humanist scholars,
including Francisco de Holanda, Andr de Resende and Damio de Gis, a friend of Erasmus who
wrote with rare independence on the reign of King Manuel I. Diogo and Andr de Gouveia made
relevant teaching reforms via France. Foreign news and products in the
Portuguese factory in Antwerp attracted the interest of Thomas More[86] and Drer to the wider world.
[87]
There, profits and know-how helped nurture the Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age, especially
after the arrival of the wealthy cultured Jewish community expelled from Portugal.

Hungary
After Italy, Hungary was the first European country where the renaissance appeared. [88] The
Renaissance style came directly from Italy during the Quattrocento 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. Largescale 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 Visegrd, Tata and Vrpalota. In Sigismund's court
there were patrons such as Pipo Spano, a descendant of the Scolari family of Florence, who invited
Manetto Ammanatini and Masolino da Pannicale to Hungary.[89]
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
the Florentine humanist center, so a direct connection withFlorence evolved. The growing number of
Italian traders moving to Hungary, specially to Buda, helped this process. New thoughts were carried
by the humanist prelates, among them Vitz Jnos, archbishop of Esztergom, one of the founders of
Hungarian humanism.[90] During the long reign of emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg the Royal Castle
of Budabecame probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. King Matthias
Corvinus (r. 14581490) rebuilt the palace in early Renaissance style and further expanded it. [91][92]
After the marriage in 1476 of King Matthias to Beatrice of Naples, Buda became one of the most
important artistic centres of the Renaissance north of the Alps.[93] The most important humanists
living in Matthias' court were Antonio Bonfini and the famous Hungarian poet Janus Pannonius.
[93]
Andrs Hess set up a printing press in Buda in 1472. Matthias Corvinus's library, the Bibliotheca
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 the Vatican Library.
(However, the Vatican Library mainly contained Bibles and religious materials.) [94]
In 1489, Bartolomeo della Fonte of Florence wrote that Lorenzo de' Medici founded his own GreekLatin library encouraged by the example of the Hungarian king. Corvinus's library is part of UNESCO
World Heritage.[95] Other important figures of Hungarian Renaissance: Blint
Balassi (poet), Sebestyn Tindi Lantos (poet), Blint Bakfark (composer and lutenist) and Master
MS (fresco painter).

Poland
Main article: Renaissance in Poland

Pozna Town Hall rebuilt from the Gothic style byGiovanni Batista di Quadro(15501555)

An early Italian humanist who came to Poland in the mid-15th century was Filippo Buonaccorsi.
Many Italian artists came to Poland with Bona Sforza of Milan, when she married King Sigismund I
the Old in 1518.[96] This was supported by temporarily strengthened monarchies in both areas, as
well as by newly established universities.[97] The Polish Renaissance lasted from the late 15th to the
late 16th century and was theGolden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellon dynasty,
the Kingdom of Poland (from 1569 known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) actively
participated in the broad European Renaissance. 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 populated eastern and southern borderlands. The Reformationspread
peacefully throughout the country (giving rise to the Polish Brethren), while living conditions
improved, cities grew, and exports of agricultural products enriched the population, especially the
nobility (szlachta) who gained dominance in the new political system of Golden Liberty. The Polish
Renaissance architecture has three periods of development.

Russia
Renaissance trends from Italy and Central Europe influenced Russia in many ways. Their influence
was rather limited, however, due to the large distances between Russia and the main European
cultural centers and the strong adherence of Russians to their Orthodox traditions andByzantine
legacy.
Prince Ivan III introduced Renaissance architecture to Russia by inviting a number of architects
from Italy, who brought new construction techniques and some Renaissance style elements with
them, while in general following the traditional designs of Russian architecture. In 1475 the
Bolognese architect Aristotele Fioravanti came to rebuild the Cathedral of the Dormition in
the Moscow Kremlin, which had been damaged in an earthquake. Fioravanti was given the 12thcentury Vladimir Cathedral as a model, and he produced a design combining traditional Russian
style with a Renaissance sense of spaciousness, proportion and symmetry.

The Palace of Facets on theCathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin

In 1485 Ivan III commissioned the building of the royal residence, Terem Palace, within the Kremlin,
with Aloisio da Milano as the architect of the first three floors. He and other Italian architects also
contributed to the construction of the Kremlin walls and towers. The small banquet hall of
the Russian Tsars, called the Palace of Facets because of its facetted upper story, is the work of two
Italians, Marco Ruffoand Pietro Solario, and shows a more Italian style. In 1505, an Italian known in
Russia as Aleviz Novyi or Aleviz Fryazin arrived in Moscow. He may have been the Venetian
sculptor, Alevisio Lamberti da Montagne. He built 12 churches for Ivan III, including the Cathedral of
the Archangel, a building remarkable for the successful blending of Russian tradition, Orthodox
requirements and Renaissance style. It is believed that the Cathedral of the Metropolitan
Peter in Vysokopetrovsky Monastery, another work of Aleviz Novyi, later served as an inspiration for
the so-called octagon-on-tetragon architectural form in the Moscow Baroque of the late 17th century.

Theotokos and The Child, the late 17th century Russian icon by Karp Zolotaryov, with notably realistic depiction
of faces and clothing.

Between the early 16th and the late 17th centuries, an original tradition of stone tented
roof architecture developed in Russia. It was quite unique and different from the contemporary
Renaissance architecture elsewhere in Europe, though some research terms the style 'Russian
Gothic' and compares it with the European Gothic architecture of the earlier period. The Italians, with
their advanced technology, may have influenced the invention of the stone tented roof (the wooden
tents were known in Russia and Europe long before). According to one hypothesis, an Italian
architect called Petrok Maly may have been an author of the Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye,
one of the earliest and most prominent tented roof churches. [98]

By the 17th century the influence of Renaissance painting resulted in Russian icons becoming
slightly more realistic, while still following most of the old icon painting canons, as seen in the works
of Bogdan Saltanov, Simon Ushakov, Gury Nikitin, Karp Zolotaryov and other Russian artists of the
era. Gradually the new type of secular portrait painting appeared, called parsna (from "persona"
person), which was transitional style between abstract iconographics and real paintings.
In the mid 16th-century Russians adopted printing from Central Europe, with Ivan Fyodorov being
the first known Russian printer. In the 17th century printing became widespread,
and woodcuts became especially popular. That led to the development of a special form of folk
art known aslubok printing, which persisted in Russia well into the 19th century.
A number of technologies from the European Renaissance period were adopted by Russia rather
early and subsequently perfected to become a part of a strong domestic tradition. Mostly these were
military technologies, such as cannon casting adopted by at least the 15th century. The Tsar
Cannon, which is the world's largest bombard by caliber, is a masterpiece of Russian cannon
making. It was cast in 1586 by Andrey Chokhov and is notable for its rich, decorative relief. Another
technology, that according to one hypothesis originally was brought from Europe by the Italians,
resulted in the development of vodka, the national beverage of Russia. As early as
1386 Genoese ambassadors brought the first aqua vitae ("the living water") to Moscow and
presented it to Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. The Genoese likely developed this beverage with the
help of the alchemists of Provence, who used an Arab-invented distillation apparatus to
convert grape must into alcohol. A Moscovite monk called Isidore used this technology to produce
the first original Russian vodka c. 1430.[99]

Further countries

Renaissance in Croatia

Renaissance in Scotland

Historiography
Conception

A cover of the Lives of the Artists byGiorgio Vasari

The Italian artist and critic Giorgio Vasari (15111574) first used the term rinascita retrospectively in
his book The Lives of the Artists(published 1550). In the book Vasari attempted to define what he
described as a break with the barbarities of gothic art: the arts (he held) had fallen into decay with
the collapse of the Roman Empire and only the Tuscan artists, beginning with Cimabue (12401301)
and Giotto(12671337) began to reverse this decline in the arts. Vasari saw antique art as central to
the rebirth of Italian art.[100]
However, only in the 19th century did the French word Renaissance achieve popularity in describing
the self-conscious cultural movement based on revival of Roman models that began in the late-13th
century. French historian Jules Michelet (17981874) defined "The Renaissance" in his 1855
work Histoire de France as an entire historical period, whereas previously it had been used in a
more limited sense.[16] For Michelet, the Renaissance was more a development in science than in art
and culture. He asserted that it spanned the period from Columbus to Copernicus to Galileo; that is,
from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 17th century.[78] Moreover, Michelet distinguished
between what he called, "the bizarre and monstrous" quality of the Middle Ages and
the democratic values that he, as a vocal Republican, chose to see in its character.[10] A French
nationalist, Michelet also sought to claim the Renaissance as a French movement. [10]
The Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt (18181897) in his The Civilization of the Renaissance in
Italy (1860), by contrast, defined the Renaissance as the period between Giotto and Michelangelo in
Italy, that is, the 14th to mid-16th centuries. He saw in the Renaissance the emergence of the
modern spirit of individuality, which the Middle Ages had stifled.[101] His book was widely read and
became influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance.
[102]
However, Buckhardt has been accused[by whom?] of setting forth a linear Whiggish view of history in
seeing the Renaissance as the origin of the modern world.[13]
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 the University 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".[13]

Debates about progress

See also: Continuity thesis

Painting of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, an event in the French Wars of Religion, by Franois Dubois

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
towards the modern age. Burckhardt likened the change to a veil being removed from man's eyes,
allowing him to see clearly.[43]
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.[103]
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, the Wars
of Religion, the corrupt Borgia Popes, and the intensified witch-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.[104] 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.[72] Some Marxist 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 from feudalism towards capitalism, resulting in
a bourgeois class with leisure time to devote to the arts.[105]
Johan Huizinga (18721945) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned
whether it was a positive change. In his book The Waning of the Middle Ages, he argued that the
Renaissance was a period of decline from the High Middle Ages, destroying much that was
important.[12] The 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 saw Latin revert to its classical form. Robert S. Lopez has
contended that it was a period of deep economic recession.[106] Meanwhile, George Sarton and Lynn
Thorndike have both argued that scientific progress was perhaps less original than has traditionally
been supposed.[107] Finally, Joan Kelly argued that the Renaissance led to greater gender dichotomy,
lessening the agency women had had during the Middle Ages.[108]
Some historians have begun to consider the word Renaissance to be unnecessarily loaded, implying
an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "Dark Ages", the Middle Ages.
Most historians now prefer to use the term "early modern" for this period, a more neutral designation
that highlights the period as a transitional one between the Middle Ages and the modern era.
[109]
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.[110]

Other Renaissances
The term Renaissance has also been used to define periods outside of the 15th and 16th
centuries. Charles H. Haskins (18701937), for example, made a case for aRenaissance of the 12th
century.[111] Other historians have argued for a Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th and 9th centuries,
and still later for an Ottonian Renaissance in the 10th century.[112] Other periods of cultural rebirth
have also been termed "renaissances", such as the Bengal Renaissance, Tamil Renaissance, Nepal
Bhasa renaissance, al-Nahda or the Harlem Renaissance.

See also
Main article: Outline of the Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

Weser Renaissance

Gilded woodcarving

List of Renaissance figures

List of Renaissance structures

Renaissance Humanism

Medical Renaissance

Age of Enlightenment

Scientific Revolution

Western culture

Haskalah

References
Notes
1.

Jump up^ 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. (See Indulgence.)

Citations
1.

Jump up^ French pronunciation: [ns s], from French: Renaissance "rebirth", Italian: Rinascimento[rinaimento], from rinascere "to be reborn" "Online Etymology
Dictionary: "Renaissance"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved July 31, 2009.

2.

Jump up^ BBC Science and Nature, Leonardo da Vinci Retrieved May 12, 2007

3.

Jump up^ BBC History, Michelangelo Retrieved May 12, 2007

4.

Jump up^ Burke, P., The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries 1998)

5.

^ Jump up to:a b Strathern, Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (2003)

6.

7.

Jump up^ Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel,
SLOVO, Moscow, 2006. ISBN 5-85050-825-2
Jump up^ Encyclopdia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.

8.

Jump up^ Har, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World, Scarecrow Press
Incorporate, 1999, ISBN 0-8108-3724-2

9.

Jump up^ Norwich, John Julius, A Short History of Byzantium, 1997, Knopf, ISBN 0-67945088-2

10.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Brotton, J., The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction, OUP, 2006 ISBN
0-19-280163-5.

11.

Jump up^ 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.

12.

^ Jump up to:a b Huizanga, Johan, The Waning of the Middle Ages (1919, trans. 1924)

13.

^ Jump up to:a b c Starn, Randolph (1998). "Renaissance Redux". The American Historical
Review.103 (1): 122124. doi:10.2307/2650779. JSTOR 2650779.

14.

Jump up^ Panofsky 1969:6.

15.

Jump up^ The Oxford English Dictionary cites W Dyce and C H Wilsons Letter 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 in Civil Engineer &
Architects Journal: "Not that we consider the style of the Renaissance to be either pure or good per
se." See Oxford English Dictionary, "Renaissance"

16.

^ Jump up to:a b Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1963) The Art of the Renaissance.
London: Thames & Hudson (World of Art), p. 9. ISBN 978-0-500-20008-7. "...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."

17.

Jump up^ Perry, M. Humanities in the Western Tradition, Ch. 13

18.

^ Jump up to:a b c d Open University, Looking at the Renaissance: Religious Context in the
Renaissance (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

19.

Jump up^ Open University, Looking at the Renaissance: Urban economy and
government(Retrieved May 15, 2007)

20.

Jump up^ Stark, Rodney, The Victory of Reason, Random House, NY: 2005

21.

Jump up^ Walker, Paul Robert, The Feud that sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi
and Ghiberti Changed the Art World (New York, Perennial-Harper Collins, 2003)

22.

Jump up^ Severy, Merle; Thomas B Allen; Ross Bennett; Jules B Billard; Russell Bourne;
Edward Lanoutte; David F Robinson; Verla Lee Smith (1970). The Renaissance Maker of Modern
Man. National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-87044-091-8.

23.

Jump up^ Brotton, Jerry (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar. Oxford University Press. pp. 21
22.

24.

Jump up^ For information on this earlier, very different approach to a different set of ancient
texts (scientific texts rather than cultural texts) see Latin translations of the 12th century, andIslamic
contributions to Medieval Europe.

25.

Jump up^ Reynolds and Wilson, pp. 113123.

26.

Jump up^ Reynolds and Wilson, pp. 123, 130137.

27.

Jump up^ Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase,
Margaret C. Jacob, James R. Jacob, 2008, 903 pages, p.261/262.

28.

Jump up^ Reynolds and Wilson, pp. 119, 131.

29.

Jump up^ Kirshner, Julius, Family and Marriage: A socio-legal perspective, Italy in the Age of
the Renaissance: 13001550, ed. John M. Najemy (Oxford University Press, 2004) p.89 (Retrieved on
May 10, 2007)

30.

Jump up^ Burckhardt, Jacob, The Revival of Antiquity', The Civilization of the Renaissance in
Italy (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878)

31.

Jump up^ Skinner, Quentin, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol I: The
Renaissance; vol II: The Age of Reformation, Cambridge University Press, p. 69

32.

Jump up^ Skinner, Quentin, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol I: The
Renaissance; vol II: The Age of Reformation, Cambridge University Press, p. 69)

33.

Jump up^ Stark, Rodney, The Victory of Reason, New York, Random House, 2005

34.

Jump up^ Martin, J. and Romano, D., Venice Reconsidered, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins
University, 2000

35.

^ Jump up to:a b Burckhardt, Jacob, The Republics: Venice and Florence, The Civilization of
the Renaissance in Italy, translated by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878.

36.

Jump up^ Barbara Tuchman (1978) A Distant Mirror, Knopf ISBN 0-394-40026-7.

37.

Jump up^ The End of Europe's Middle Ages: The Black Death University of Calgary website.
(Retrieved on April 5, 2007)

38.

Jump up^ Netzley, Patricia D. Life During the Renaissance.San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc.,
1998.

39.

40.

Jump up^ Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of
Western Civilization (Vol. 2, p. 217). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Jump up^ "Renaissance And Reformation France" Mack P. Holt pg.30,39,69,166

41.

Jump up^ Hatty, Suzanne (1999). "Disordered Body: Epidemic Disease and Cultural
Transformation". ebscohost. State University of New York. p. 89.

42.

Jump up^ Guido Carocci, I dintorni di Firenze, Vol. II, Galletti e Cocci, Firenze, 1907, pagg.
336-337

43.

^ Jump up to:a b Burckhardt, Jacob, The Development of the Individual, The Civilization of the
Renaissance in Italy, translated by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878.

44.

Jump up^ Stephens, J., Individualism and the cult of creative personality, The Italian
Renaissance, New York, 1990 p. 121.

45.
46.

Jump up^ Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) wsu.edu

Jump up^ Burke, P., "The spread of Italian humanism", in The Impact of Humanism on
Western Europe, ed. A. Goodman and A. MacKay, London, 1990, p. 2.

47.

Jump up^ As asserted by Gianozzo Manetti in On the Dignity and Excellence of Man, cited in
Clare, J., Italian Renaissance.

48.

Jump up^ Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of
Western Civilization (Vol. 2, pp. 245246). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

49.

Jump up^ Clare, John D. & Millen, Alan, Italian Renaissance, London, 1994, p. 14.

50.

Jump up^ Stork, David G. Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

51.

Jump up^ Vasari, Giorgio, Lives of the Artists, translated by George Bull, Penguin Classics,
1965,ISBN 0-14-044164-6.

52.

Jump up^ Peter Brueghel Biography, Web Gallery of Art (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

53.

Jump up^ Hooker, Richard, Architecture and Public Space (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

54.

Jump up^ Saalman, Howard (1993). Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. Zwemmer. ISBN 0271-01067-3.

55.

Jump up^ Hause, S. & Maltby, W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of
Western Civilization (Vol. 2, pp. 250251). Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

56.

Jump up^ Capra, Fritjof, The Science of Leonardo; Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of
the Renaissance, New York, Doubleday, 2007. 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.

57.

Jump up^ Allen Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1978).

58.
59.

60.

Jump up^ Butterfield, Herbert, The Origins of Modern Science, 13001800, p. viii
Jump up^ Shapin, Steven. The Scientific Revolution, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1996, p. 1.
Jump up^ "Scientific Revolution" in Encarta. 2007. [1]

61.

^ Jump up to:a b Brotton, J., "Science and Philosophy", The Renaissance: A Very Short
IntroductionOxford University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-19-280163-5.

62.

Jump up^ Van Doren, Charles (1991) A History of Knowledge Ballantine, New York, pp. 211
212,ISBN 0-345-37316-2

63.

Jump up^ Burke, Peter (2000) A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to
Diderot Polity Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 40, ISBN 0-7456-2484-7

64.

Jump up^ Joseph Ben-David wrote:

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).

65.

Jump up^ Hunt, Shelby D. (2003). Controversy in marketing theory: for reason, realism,
truth, and objectivity. M.E. Sharpe. p. 18. ISBN 0-7656-0932-0.

66.

Jump up^ DIWAN, Jaswith. ACCOUNTING CONCEPTS & THEORIES. LONDON: MORRE.
pp. 001002. id# 94452.

67.

Jump up^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Western Schism (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

68.

Jump up^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Alexander VI (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

69.

^ Jump up to:a b Mommsen, Theodore (1942). "Petrarch's Conception of the 'Dark

Ages'". Speculum. Cambridge MA: Medieval Academy of America. 17 (2): 226
242. doi:10.2307/2856364.JSTOR 2856364.

70.

Jump up^ Leonardo Bruni, James Hankins, History of the Florentine people, Volume 1,
Books 14 (2001), p. xvii.

71.

Jump up^ Albrow, Martin, The Global Age: state and society beyond modernity (1997),
Stanford University Press, p. 205 ISBN 0-8047-2870-4.

72.

^ Jump up to:a b Panofsky, Erwin. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, New York:
Harper and Row, 1960.

73.

Jump up^ The Open University Guide to the Renaissance, Defining the
Renaissance (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

74.

Jump up^ Sohm, Philip. Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001) ISBN 0-521-78069-1.

75.

^ Jump up to:a b Lng, Paul Henry (1939). "The So Called Netherlands Schools". The Musical
Quarterly. 25 (1): 4859. doi:10.1093/mq/xxv.1.48. JSTOR 738699.

76.

Jump up^ Painting in Oil in the Low Countries and Its Spread to Southern
Europe, Metropolitan Museum of Art website. (Retrieved April 5, 2007)

77.

Jump up^ Celenza, Christopher (2004), The Lost Italian Renaissance: Humanists,
Historians, and Latin's Legacy. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press

78.

^ Jump up to:a b Michelet, Jules. History of France, trans. G. H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton,
1847)

79.

Jump up^ Vincent Cronin (30 June 2011). The Florentine Renaissance. Random
House.ISBN 978-1-4464-6654-4.

80.

Jump up^ Strauss, Gerald (1965). "The Religious Renaissance of the German
Humanists". English Historical Review. 80 (314): 156157. JSTOR 560776.

81.

^ Jump up to:a b Heughebaert, H.; Defoort, A.; Van Der Donck, R. (1998). Artistieke opvoeding.
Wommelgem, Belgium: Den Gulden Engel bvba. ISBN 90-5035-222-7.

82.

Jump up^ Janson, H.W.; Janson, Anthony F. (1997). History of Art (5th, rev. ed.). New
York:Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-3442-6.

83.

^ Jump up to:a b University, Brown, The John Carter Brown Library. "Portuguese Overseas
Travels and European Readers". Portugal and Renaissance Europe. JCB Exhibitions. RetrievedJuly
19, 2011.

84.

Jump up^ Bergin, Speake, Jennifer and Thomas G. (2004). Encyclopedia of the
Renaissance and the Reformation. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 0-8160-5451-7.

85.

Jump up^ Bergin, Speake, Jennifer and Thomas G. (2004). Encyclopedia of the
Renaissance and the Reformation. Infobase Publishing. p. 490. ISBN 0-8160-5451-7.

86.

Jump up^ Bietenholz, Peter G.; Deutscher, Thomas Brian (2003). Contemporaries of
Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation, Volumes 13. University of
Toronto Press. p. 22. ISBN 0-8020-8577-6.

87.

Jump up^ Lach, Donald Frederick (1994). Asia in the making of Europe: A century of wonder.
The literary arts. The scholarly disciplines (University of Chicago Press, 1994 ed.). ISBN 0-22646733-3. Retrieved July 15, 2011.

88.

Jump up^ Peter Farbaky; Louis A. Waldman (November 7, 2011). Italy & Hungary:
Humanism and Art in the Early Renaissance. Harvard University Press. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

89.

Jump up^ Title: Hungary (4th edition)Authors: Zoltn Halsz / Andrs Balla (photo) / Zsuzsa
Bres (translation) Published by Corvina, in 1998 ISBN 963-13-4129-1, 963-13-4727-3

90.

Jump up^ "the influences of the florentine renaissance in hungary". Fondazionedelbianco.org. Retrieved July 31, 2009.

91.

Jump up^ History section: Mikls Horler: Budapest memlkei I, Bp: 1955, pp. 259307

92.

Jump up^ Post-war reconstruction: Lszl Ger: A helyrelltott budai vr, Bp, 1980, pp. 11
60.

93.

^ Jump up to:a b Czigny, Lrnt, A History of Hungarian Literature, "The Renaissance in

Hungary" (Retrieved May 10, 2007)

94.

Jump up^ Marcus Tanner, The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of his Lost
Library (New Haven: Yale U.P., 2008)

95.

Jump up^ Documentary heritage concerning Hungary and recommended for inclusion in the
Memory of the World International Register. portal.unesco.org

96.

Jump up^ Bona Sforza (14941557). poland.gov.pl (Retrieved April 4, 2007)

97.

Jump up^ For example, the re-establishment of Jagiellonian University in 1364.

98.

Jump up^ The first stone tented roof church and the origins of the tented roof
architecture bySergey Zagraevsky at RusArch.ru (Russian)

99.

Jump up^ Pokhlebkin V. V. / . . (2007). The history of vodka / .

Moscow: Tsentrpoligraph / . p. 272. ISBN 5-9524-1895-3.

100.
Jump up^ "Defining the Renaissance, Open University". Open.ac.uk. Retrieved July
31, 2009.

101.
Jump up^ Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (trans. S.G.C
Middlemore, London, 1878)
102.

Jump up^ Gay, Peter, Style in History, New York: Basic Books, 1974.

103.
Jump up^ Burckhardt, Jacob. "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy". Retrieved August
31,2008.
104.
Jump up^ Savonarola's popularity is a prime example of the manifestation of such concerns.
Other examples include Philip II of Spain's censorship of Florentine paintings, noted by Edward L.
Goldberg, "Spanish Values and Tuscan Painting", Renaissance Quarterly (1998) p.914
105.

Jump up^ Renaissance Forum at Hull University, Autumn 1997 (Retrieved on May 10, 2007)

106.
Jump up^ Lopez, Robert S. & Miskimin, Harry A. (1962). "The Economic Depression of the
Renaissance". Economic History Review. 14 (3): 40826. doi:10.1111/j.14680289.1962.tb00059.x. JSTOR 2591885.
107.
Jump up^ 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): 4974. doi:10.2307/2707236. JSTOR 2707236.
108.
Jump up^ 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.
109.
Jump up^ Stephen Greenblatt Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to
Shakespeare, University of Chicago Press, 1980.
110.

Jump up^ Osborne, Roger (November 1, 2006). Civilization: a new history of the Western
world. Pegasus Books. pp. 180. ISBN 978-1-933648-19-4. Retrieved December 10, 2011.

111.

Jump up^ Haskins, Charles Homer, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1927 ISBN 0-674-76075-1.

112.

Jump up^ Hubert, Jean, L'Empire carolingien (English: The Carolingian Renaissance,
translated by James Emmons, New York: G. Braziller, 1970).

Bibliography

Burckhardt, Jacob The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860), a famous classic; excerpt and
text search 2007 edition; also complete text online

Reynolds, L. D. and Wilson, Nigel Scribes and Scholars: A guide to the transmission of Greek and
Latin Literature Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1974

Further reading

Cronin, Vincent (1969), The Flowering of the Renaissance, ISBN 0-7126-9884-1

Cronin, Vincent (1992), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-00-215411-0

Campbell, Gordon. The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2003). 862 pp. online at OUP

Davis, Robert C. Renaissance People: Lives that Shaped the Modern Age. (2011). ISBN 978-1-60606078-0

Ergang, Robert (1967), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-442-02319-7

Ferguson, Wallace K. (1962), Europe in Transition, 13001500, ISBN 0-04-940008-8

Fisher, Celia. Flowers of the Renaissance. (2011). ISBN 978-1-60606-062-9

Fletcher, Stella. The Longman Companion to Renaissance Europe, 13901530. (2000). 347 pp.

Grendler, Paul F., ed. The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. (2003). 970 pp.

Hale, John. The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance. (1994). 648 pp.; a magistral survey, heavily
illustrated excerpt and text search

Hall, Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and
Tactics (2001) excerpt and text search

Hattaway, Michael, ed. A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture. (2000). 747 pp.

Jensen, De Lamar (1992), Renaissance Europe, ISBN 0-395-88947-2

Johnson, Paul. The Renaissance: A Short History. (2000). 197 pp. excerpt and text search

Keene, Bryan C. Gardens of the Renaissance. (2013). ISBN 978-1-60606-143-5

King, Margaret L. Women of the Renaissance (1991) excerpt and text search

Kristeller, Paul Oskar, and Michael Mooney. Renaissance Thought and its Sources (1979) excerpt and
text search
Nauert, Charles G. Historical Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2004). 541 pp.
Patrick, James A., ed. Renaissance and Reformation (5 vol 2007), 1584 pages; comprehensive
encyclopedia

Plumb, J. H. The Italian Renaissance (2001) excerpt and text search

Paoletti, John T. and Gary M. Radke. Art in Renaissance Italy (4th ed. 2011)

Robin, Diana; Larsen, Anne R.; and Levin, Carole, eds. Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance:
Italy, France, and England (2007) 459p.
Rowse, A. L. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society (2000) excerpt and text search
Ruggiero, Guido. The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the
Rinascimento (Cambridge University Press, 2015). 648 pp. online review

Rundle, David, ed. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. (1999). 434 pp.; numerous brief
articles online edition
Turner, Richard N. Renaissance Florence (2005) excerpt and text search
Ward, A. The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902) older essays by scholars;
emphasis on politics

Historiography

Bouwsma, William J. "The Renaissance and the drama of Western history." American Historical
Review (1979): 1-15. in JSTOR
Caferro, William. Contesting the Renaissance (2010) excerpt and text search

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+
Ruggiero, Guido, ed. A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. (2002). 561 pp.

Starn, Randolph. "A Postmodern Renaissance?" Renaissance Quarterly 2007 60(1): 124 in Project
MUSE

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: 127155.

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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