Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe

The updated second edition of a highly readable synthesis of the major determining features of the Renaissance.

Charles G. Nauert (Author)

9780521547819, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 May 2006

266 pages, 12 b/w illus.
22.6 x 15 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

'A student reading Nauert will get a comprehensive, intelligent, and eminently sensible discussion of the topic. [Nauert] effectively conveys the sweep of humanism over three centuries. He is notably excellent in discussing the sixteenth century … in every chapter of the book he convincingly brings out why and how the classical tradition played such an important role in Renaissance humanism.' John Monfasani, International Journal of the Classical Tradition

In this updated edition of his classic account, Charles Nauert charts the rise of humanism as the distinctive culture of the social, political and intellectual elites in Renaissance Europe. He traces humanism's emergence in the unique social and cultural conditions of fourteenth-century Italy and its gradual diffusion throughout the rest of Europe. He shows how, despite its elitist origins, humanism became a major force in the popular culture and fine arts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the powerful impact it had on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. He uses art and biographical sketches of key figures to illuminate the narrative and concludes with an account of the limitations of humanism at the end of the Renaissance. The revised edition includes a section dealing with the place of women in humanistic culture and an updated bibliography. It will be essential reading for all students of Renaissance Europe.

Introduction
1. The birth of humanist culture
2. Humanism and Italian society
3. Crossing the Alps
4. Triumph and disaster
5. Humanism and High-Renaissance culture
6. Humanism in the late Renaissance
7. The end of an age
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]