The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy

This book traces the intellectual life of Italy, where humanism began a century before it influenced the rest of Europe.

Ronald G. Witt (Author)

9780521764742, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 March 2012

618 pages
25.4 x 18.3 x 3.6 cm, 1.66 kg

'This is a book that no one with an interest in the intellectual history of medieval Italy can possibly afford to ignore; it is a book furthermore that is a landmark in the discussion of the origins of the Renaissance, and will surely remain an essential point of reference, not only for the remarkable synthesis that it offers, but for the way in which it puts its material at the reader's disposal in a bibliography and outstanding analytical index that between them account for one fifth of the volume. Such technical generosity allied to the scholarly generosity of spirit that infuses every phase of the argument is rare indeed, and can only be the mark of wisdom as Socrates described it.' Nicholas Mann, Nexus Institute (https://www.nexus-instituut.nl/en/nexus-review)

This book traces the intellectual life of the Kingdom of Italy, the area in which humanism began in the mid thirteenth century, a century or more before exerting its influence on the rest of Europe. Covering a period of over four and a half centuries, this study offers the first integrated analysis of Latin writings produced in the area, examining not only religious, literary, and legal texts. Ronald G. Witt characterizes the changes reflected in these Latin writings as products of the interaction of thought with economic, political, and religious tendencies in Italian society as well as with intellectual influences coming from abroad. His research ultimately traces the early emergence of humanism in northern Italy in the mid thirteenth century to the precocious development of a lay intelligentsia in the region, whose participation in the culture of Latin writing fostered the beginnings of the intellectual movement which would eventually revolutionize all of Europe.

Introduction
Part I. The Two Latin Cultures of Medieval Italy: 1. The Carolingian conquest
2. Italy and the Ottonian renaissance
3. The golden age of traditional book culture and the birth of a new book culture (1000–1075)
Part II. The Birth of New Order: 4. The investiture conflict and the emergence of the communes
Part III. The Dominance of the Legal-Rhetorical Mentality: 5. The triumph of the legal culture
6. The institutional structure of education, 1100–1180
7. Literary creativity in an age of intensifying legal-rhetorical culture
Part IV. The French Renaissance of the Twelfth Century: 8. French literary and scholarly achievement in the twelfth century
Part V. Toward a Broader Intellectual Life: 9. The destabilization of the elites and the expanding market for education
10. New knowledge and the tempering of the legal-rhetorical culture
11. The development of the traditional disciplines and the resolution of the crisis of language
12. The return to antiquity
Conclusion
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]