Renaissance

Renaissance is a term used to describe a revival in intellectual or artistic effort. In History, this term is most often used to describe a period in European History between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. However, there have been other periods and places said to under go a renaissance, such as the "Harlem Renaissance" in that Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which took place in the early 20th Century. This article is about the European Renaissance,"the great revival of art and letters, under the influence of classical models, which began in Italy in the 14th century and continued during the 15th and 16th" centuries in Europe. (reference for quote: Oxford English Dictionary online http://www.oxfordonline.com/)

Country Specific History

Civic Humanism=

See also Republicanism and Machiavelli Pocock (1981)traces the Machiavellian belief in and emphasis upon Greco-Roman ideals of unspecialized civic virtue and liberty from 15th-century Florence through 17th-century England and Scotland to 18th-century America. Thinkers who shared these ideals tended to believe that the function of property was to maintain an individual's independence as a precondition of his virtue. Consequently, in the last two times and places mentioned above, they were disposed to attack the new commercial and financial regime that was beginning to develop.

The influential concept of civic humanism of German Renaissance scholar Hans Baron (1900-88) emphasized the male citizen's participation in the republic of Florence. He saw medieval religion as antithetical to this republicanism and denied religion any constitutive role in Renaissance culture. In medieval Thomism there is a broader concept of participation than that of Baron. Despite the supposed ignoring of religion by Jacob Burckhardt (1818-97), he asserted that Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-92) reclaimed medieval spirituality in his late writings. Lorenzo's writings point toward a broader definition of participation to include human associations that focused on charity, thereby including men and women in participatory roles in society.

Najemi (1996) examines Hans Baron's ambivalent portrayal of Machiavelli. He argues that Baron tended to see Machiavelli simultaneously as the cynical debunker and the faithful heir of civic humanism. By the mid-1950s, Baron had come to consider civic humanism and Florentine republicanism as early chapters of a much longer history of European political liberty, a story in which Machiavelli and his generation played a crucial role. This conclusion led Baron to modify his earlier negative view of Machiavelli. He tried to bring the Florentine theorist under the umbrella of civic humanism by underscoring the radical differences between The Prince and the Discourses and thus revealing the fundamentally republican character of the Discourses. However, Baron's inability to come to terms with Machiavelli's harsh criticism of early 15th-century commentators such as Leonardo Bruni ultimately prevented him from fully reconciling Machiavelli with civic humanism.

Historiography

Medieval history was consisted primarily of descriptive chronicles. Humanism in created a new kind of historical writing, with attention to motives and causes, animated by a belief that the study of the past had direct applications to governance and military science, and a sense that historical change is best understood in the context of deep values. Leonardo Bruni, one of the earliest humanist historians, presents the history of Florence as a battle between tyranny and civil liberty. Sabellicus presents Venice as the successor of the ancient Greek ideal of the independent city-state. Political history was a seen as to statecraft argued by Machiavelli and Polydore Vergil.

In the 19th century, the great romantic historians Jules Michelet (1798-1874) focused on the French Renaissance and Jakob Burckhardt (1818–97) interpreted at Italy. In both cases they assumed there had been an abrupt and fundamental change in society: the Middle Ages end and the modern world suddenly begins. Michelet abhorred the Middle Ages; Burckhardt and Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) did not, but each explored the ways in which a dynamic Renaissance could develop from static medieval culture. Each historian brought his own personal history and ideals to his study of culture, cultural change, and the idea of modernism.

Jacob Burckhardt articulated the single most fruitful idea about the Renaissance: "the discovery of the individual," but that came under challenge from postmodern scholars. The contributions of the New Historicists, particularly literary historian Stephen Greenblatt, have made it impossible to approach the history of individualism in traditional humanistic terms. Accordingly, postmodern scholars now view the "individual" as a cultural construct rather than as an underlying human "essence" or "protagonist" in narratives of modernization or progress. Martin (1997) challenges the postmoderns and offers a new reading of the history of individualism in the Renaissance. He argues many New Historicist practices are inadequate because they tend to ignore long-term historical shifts in the Western European vocabulary of selfhood and to envision constructions of the self as shaped by a narrowly defined cultural context. The history of individualism in the Renaissance should be approached as a discursive field in which there was a new understanding of "prudence" as a strategy for concealing one's views and sentiments and a newly invented notion of "sincerity" that called for the expression of personal convictions and feelings. As a result of the tension between these two ideals, the Renaissance self came to be defined in increasingly expressive and individualistic terms. Because these ideals had a European-wide currency and developed over several generations, the origins of individualism cannot be traced in any exclusive manner to specific national contexts or particular moments in time. Rather than a return to traditional assumptions about the self, Martin's approach encourages discussions of individualism and identity to take into account two critical issues: the need to remain open to complex intellectual and cultural forces that transcend particular times and places, and the need to recognize that the Renaissance sense of interiority was often immune to precisely the sort of ideological manipulation that New Historicists have seen as decisive in the construction of identities.

Bouwsma (1979) laments the virtual collapse in recent historiography of the venerable conception of the Renaissance as a decisive turning point in the drama of Western history and to the postmodern substitution for it of the vague notion of the Renaissance as an "age of transition" to the modern world. This shift is attributed to a general tendency in recent historiography to minimize process in favor of structure. However valuable in some respects, structuralist history is not well adapted to explain change, argues Bouwsma. As a result, it has undermined the dramatic organization of Western history and - since historiography cannot finally dispense with dramatic patterns of some kind - opened the way for a "myth of apocalyptic modernization" that rejects the relevance of all but the most recent past to the present. The traditional idea of the Renaissance, since it saw the modern world as the goal of linear history, was itself vitiated by apocalypticism. Detached from this metahistorical assumption, however, it is still useful to explain much (if not all) in contemporary culture, in the meaning of that term now common among anthropologists.

Further Reading

• Brotton, Jerry. The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction (2006) excerpt and text search
• Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860), a famous classic; excerpt and text search 2007 edition; also complete text online
• Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 1. The Renaissance (1903), older atticles by scholars complete text online
• Campbell, Gordon. The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2003). 862 pp. online at OUP* Grendler, Paul F., ed. The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. (2003). 970 pp.
• Fletcher, Stella. The Longman Companion to Renaissance Europe, 1390-1530. (2000). 347 pp.
• Hale, John. The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance. (1994). 648 pp. 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.
• Johnson, Paul. The Renaissance: A Short History. (2000). 197 pp. excerpt and text search* 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; encyclopedia
• Plumb, J. H. The Italian Renaissance (2001) excerpt and text search
• Ross, James Bruce, and Mary M. McLaughlin, eds. The Portable Renaissance Reader (1977) excerpt and text search
• Rowse, A. L. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society (2000) excerpt and text search
• Ruggiero, Guido, ed. A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. (2002). 561 pp.
• Sider, Sandra. Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe (2007) excerpt and text search
• Rundle, David, ed. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. (1999). 434 pp. online edition
• Speake, Jennifer and Bergin, Thomas G., eds. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation. (2004). 550 pp.
• Turner, Richard N. Renaissance Florence (2005) excerpt and text search

Bibliography

• Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny (2 vol 1955), highly influential, deep study of civic humanism (republicanism); 700 pp. excerpts and text search
• Bock, Gisela; Skinner, Quentin; and Viroli, Maurizio, ed. Machiavelli and Republicanism. (1990). 316 pp. excerpt and text search
• Bouwsma, William J. The Waning of the Renaissance: 1550-1640. (2001). 288 pp.
• Bouwsma, William J. The Waning of the Renaissance: 1550-1640. (2001). 288 pp.
• Brotton, Jerry. The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction (2006) excerpt and text search
• Brown, Meg Lota. Women's Roles in the Renaissance. (2005). 335 pp.
• Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860), a famous classic; excerpt and text search 2007 edition; also complete text online
• Burke, Peter. The European Renaissance: Centres and Peripheries. (1998). 284 pp.
• Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 1. The Renaissance (1903), older atticles by scholars complete text online
• Campbell, Gordon. The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2003). 4000 entries in 862 pp.; online at OUP
• Connell, William J. Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence (20020 online edition
• Cook, James Wyatt. Encyclopedia of Renaissance Literature. (2005). 598 pp.
• Copenhaver, Brian P., and Charles B. Schmitt. Renaissance Philosophy (1992), 453pp online edition
• Crum, Roger J. and Paoletti, John T., eds. Renaissance Florence: A Social History. (2006). 674 pp.
• Fletcher, Stella. The Longman Companion to Renaissance Europe, 1390-1530. (2000). 347 pp.
• Frazier, Alison Knowles. Possible Lives: Authors and Saints in Renaissance Italy. (2005). 527 pp.
• Frommel, Christoph Luitpold. The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance. (2007). 224 pp
• Grendler, Paul F., ed. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. (6 vol. 1999). 3000 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. excerpt and text search
• Hall, Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics (2001) excerpt and text search
• Hartt, Frederick and Wilkins, David G. History of Italian Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. (5th ed. 2003). 768 pp.
• Hattaway, Michael, ed. A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture. (2000). 747 pp. * Holt, Mack P., ed. Renaissance and Reformation France, 1500-1648. (2002). 263 pp.
• Hay, Denys. The Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background (1961) online edition
• Johnson, Paul. The Renaissance: A Short History. (2000). 197 pp. excerpt and text search
• Kelley, Donald R. Renaissance Humanism. (1991). 176 pp.
• King, Margaret L. Women of the Renaissance (1991) excerpt and text search
• Kinney, Arthur F., ed. A Companion to Renaissance Drama. (2002). 623 pp.
• Kittell, Ellen E. and Madden, Thomas F., eds. Medieval and Renaissance Venice. (1999). 345 pp.
• Kraye, Jill, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism. (1996). 320 pp.
• Kristeller, Paul Oskar, and Michael Mooney. Renaissance Thought and its Sources (1979) excerpt and text search
• Levi, Anthony. Renaissance and Reformation: The Intellectual Genesis. (2002). 483 pp.
• Mackenney, Richard. Renaissances: The Cultures of Italy, c. 1300-c. 1600. (2005). 302 pp.
• Najemy, John M. "Baron's Machiavelli and Renaissance Republicanism." American Historical Review 1996 101(1): 119-129. ISSN 0002-8762 Fulltext in Jstor.
• Nauert, Charles G. Historical Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2004). 541 pp.
• Ongaro, Julio. Music of the Renaissance. (2003). 202 pp.
• Panofsky, Erwin. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1969) online edition
• Patrick, James A., ed. Renaissance and Reformation (5 vol 2007), 1584 pages; encyclopedia
• Perkins, Leeman L. Music in the Age of the Renaissance. (1998). 750 pp.
• Plumb, J. H. The Italian Renaissance (2001) excerpt and text search
• Pocock, J.G.A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (1975; new ed. 2003), a highly influential study; excerpt and text search
• Rabb, Theodore K. The Last Days of the Renaissance and the Rise of Modernity. (2006). 272 pp. excerpt and text search
• Rabb, Theodore K. Renaissance Lives: Portraits of an Age. (1993). 257 pp. excerpt and text search
• Rowse, A. L. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society (2000) excerpt and text search
• Ruggiero, Guido, ed. A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. (2002). 561 pp.
• Rundle, David, ed. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. (1999). 434 pp. online edition
• Skinner, Quentin. Visions of Politics. Vol. 2: Renaissance Virtues. (2002). 461 pp.
• Sider, Sandra. Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe (2007) excerpt and text search
• Soergel, Philip M., ed. Arts & Humanities Through the Eras. Vol. 1: Renaissance Europe (1300-1600). (2005) 465 pp.
• Speake, Jennifer and Bergin, Thomas G., eds. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation. (2004). 550 pp.
• Turner, Jane, ed. Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art. (2 v. 2000), 1881 pp. excerpts from Grove's Dictionaries.
• Turner, Richard N. Renaissance Florence (2005) excerpt and text search
• Wightman, W. P. D. Science and the Renaissance - Vol. 1 (1962) online edition

Historiography

• Bouwsma, William J. "The Renaissance and the Drama of Western History." American Historical Review 1979 84(1): 1-15. Issn: 0002-8762 in Jstor
• Copenhaver, Brian P. "Did Science Have a Renaissance?" Isis 1992 83(3): 387-407. Issn: 0021-1753 in Jstor
• Cochrane, Eric. Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renaissance. (1981). 640 pp.; covers writers who died before 1610
• Dannenfeldt, Karl H., ed. The Renaissance: Medieval or Modern? (1959), excerpts from scholars online edition
• Gatti, Hilary. "The State of Giordano Bruno Studies at the End of the Four-hundredth Centenary of the Philosopher's Death." Renaissance Quarterly 2001 54(1): 252-261. Issn: 0034-4338 Fulltext: in Jstor
• Gouwens, Kenneth; with Commentary by Bouwsma, William J.; Grafton, Anthony; and Starn, Randolph. "Perceiving the Past: Renaissance Humanism after the 'Cognitive Turn.'" American Historical Review 1998 103(1): 55-82. Issn: 0002-8762 in Jstor
• Helton, Tinseley, ed. The Renaissance: A Reconstruction of the Theories and Interpretations of the Age (1961)
• Hudson, Lorna, ed. Feminism and Renaissance Studies. (1999). 467 pp.
• Lamb, Mary Ellen. "Recent Studies in the English Renaissance." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 2006 46(1): 195-252. Issn: 0039-3657. Covers literature
  • Quint, David. "Recent Studies in the English Renaissance." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 1998 38(1): 173-200. Issn: 0039-3657 in Jstor
• Martin, John Jeffries, ed. The Renaissance: Italy and Abroad, Rewriting Histories. (2002) 328 pp.
• Martin, John. "Inventing Sincerity, Refashioning Prudence: the Discovery of the Individual in Renaissance Europe." American Historical Review 1997 102(5): 1309-1342. Issn: 0002-8762 in Jstor
• Muir, Edward. "The Italian Renaissance in America." American Historical Review 1995 100(4): 1095-1118. Issn: 0002-8762 in Jstor
• Pocock, J. G. A. "The Machiavellian Moment Revisited: a Study in History and Ideology.: Journal of Modern History 1981 53(1): 49-72. ISSN 0022-2801 in Jstor.
• Snider, Alvin. "Recent Studies in the English Renaissance." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 1999 39(1): 171-216. Reviews 109 books published 1996-98, categorizing them as early modern culture, writing women, Renaissance authors, religious identities, and the print and politics of prose. See Lamb (2006) for later books. Issn: 0039-3657; in Jstor
• Tollebeek, Jo. "'Renaissance' and 'Fossilization': Michelet, Burckhardt, and Huizinga." Renaissance Studies 2001 15(3): 354-366. Issn: 0269-1213, online
• Trinkaus, Charles. "Humanism, Religion, Society: Concepts and Motivations of Some Recent Studies." Renaissance Quarterly 1976 29(4): 676-713. Issn: 0034-4338 in Jstor
• Woolfson, Jonathan, ed. Palgrave Advances in Renaissance Historiography. (2005). 317 pp.

Primary sources

• Bondanella, Julia Conaway, and Mark Musa. The Italian Renaissance Reader (1987) excerpt and text search
• Elmer, Peter et al., eds. The Renaissance in Europe: An Anthology. (2000). 412 pp.
• Findlen, Paula, ed. The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Readings. (2002). 354 pp.
• Ross, James Bruce, and Mary M. McLaughlin, eds. The Portable Renaissance Reader (1977) excerpt and text search
• Whitlock, Keith, ed. The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader. (2000). 363 pp.