Chapter 12: The Civilization of the Renaissance
Research Topics
The Rebirth of Classical Humanism
In what ways did the humanist scholars of the period 1350-1550 need to create a world based on the rebirth of Classical ideals?
It was the Renaissance of the 14th and 15th centuries that seemed certain that the past could produce models for the future. It has been for this reason alone that this period of "rebirth" has exercised so much energy in the quest for identity -- as the medieval world fell apart, Renaissance scholars and artists, humanists, if you will, had to pick up the pieces and refashion the world. Of course, the "Renaissance problem" is that there was no monolithic Renaissance, meaning all things to all people. The very best that we can say is that the Renaissance had to be "made," and in this respect, this cultural movement of rebirth was produced by individuals conscious of their past and present.
In what ways did the humanist scholars of the period 1350-1550 need to create a world based on the rebirth of Classical ideals?
It was the Renaissance of the 14th and 15th centuries that seemed certain that the past could produce models for the future. It has been for this reason alone that this period of "rebirth" has exercised so much energy in the quest for identity -- as the medieval world fell apart, Renaissance scholars and artists, humanists, if you will, had to pick up the pieces and refashion the world. Of course, the "Renaissance problem" is that there was no monolithic Renaissance, meaning all things to all people. The very best that we can say is that the Renaissance had to be "made," and in this respect, this cultural movement of rebirth was produced by individuals conscious of their past and present.
- Petrarch, "Letter to Posterity" (c. 1320)
The "father of the Renaissance" grasped that Europe had emerged from a dark age into the rebirth of a golden age. - Petrus Paulus Vergerius De Ingenuis Moribus (c. 1404)
An important Renaissance treatise of education, Vergerius stresses the importance of studying history, moral philosophy, rhetoric, and literature. - Machiavelli, Of Cruelty and Clemency, from The Prince (1513)
The prince ought to be both loved and feared but by no means hated. - Erasmus, The Praise of Folly (1515)
Erasmus' satire on the traditions of lawyers, monks, philosophers, the Catholic Church and popular superstitions. - Description of Sir Thomas More by Erasmus, (1519)
Erasmus describes the admirable qualities of his best friend, Sir Thomas More. - Vasari, The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci (1553)
Vasari's biographical sketch of da Vinci, written from the perspective of the Renaissance artist.
Topic: The Rebirth of Classical Humanism - The Autobiograph of Benvenuto Cellini (1558)
Cellini gives us a portrait of the Renaissance artist as well as a window in to the world of the Renaissance itself.
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