First, the author examined why and how we distinguish Renaissance humanism from medieval humanism. He concluded that "...it can be plausibly maintained that medieval culture at its height was generally "humanistic" in a deeper sense than that of the Renaissance." Than author tried to resolve difficulties in the definition of the word humanism, and he defined Renaissance humanism as "... a reaction against excessive emphasis on logic and at the same time a reassertion of the value of grammar and especially of rhetoric."
Renaissance humanism was a urban phenomena in both southern and northern parts of Europe. The difference between north and south was that in the north (France, England, Germany) humanism was "... closely associated with schools and universities" unlike Italy where it was associated with "... public life and courts".
| time | people | comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1st half of XIV c. |
Petrarch (1307-74) |
Referred as a father of the Renaissance movement; he studied Latin literature in Avignon; "he made language into an increasingly creative, flexible , and versatile instrument of communication"; he contributed a new historical perspective. |
|
End of XIV c. - beginning of XV c. |
Coluccio Salutai (1331-1406) |
"He ... applied the classicism of Petrarch to the needs of society" serving as chancellor of Florence. |
|
Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444) |
He succeeded Salutai as a Florence chancellor; "he employed his learning and eloquence to celebrate the moral values of life in a free society"; | |
| Piero Paolo Vargerio | "He proposed a curriculum stressing classical ethics as the theoretical knowledge of virtue, history as its illustration by practical examples, and rhetoric as the art of moving other men to virtue". | |
|
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) |
"He revels the intimate connection between rhetorical culture and Renaissance art" | |
|
Silvius Piccolomini (1405-64), Pius II |
From his high position as a pope he " employed his persuasive powers to promote recognition of papal clams and peace among the nations of Europe and above all to stimulate the European powers to join him in a new crusade." | |
|
Lorenzo Valla (1405-57) |
"most profound thinker among the humanists of Italy"; | |
| Later XV c. |
Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) |
He initiated movement that employed " Plato as a guide to the philosophical meaning of Christianity". |
|
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94) |
He tried to fuse Arabic, Hebrew , Greeks, and Roman wisdom into Christianity. |
| people | comments |
|---|---|
|
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), France |
wrote The Imitation of Christ |
|
Robert Gaguin (1433-1501), France |
His interest was "in the fusion of eloquence with learning for the promotion of a thoroughly traditional Christianity".(p. 33) |
|
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (1450-1536), France |
"He aimed to renew the study of ancient Christian literature". |
|
John Colet (1466-1519), England |
He lectured at Oxford using sacred texts ignoring the Scholastic commentaries. |
|
Rudolph Agricola (1444-85), Germany |
He’s considered the father of German humanism; he " retained a strong sensitivity to the charge that Germans were still only uncultivated barbarians". |
|
Conrad Celtis (1459-1508) |
"Under his leadership German humanism became a more coherent movement in which national feeling, esteem for the broad culture of the rhetorician, and a typical Northern concern for the deepening of piety were fused into an increasingly aggressive opposition to Scholastic culture as the primary obstacle to human improvement." |
|
Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) |
Leading Hebrew scholar of his age. |
|
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), |
In 1516 he published the first Greek edition of the New Testament in Western Europe. |
|
Guillaume Budé (1468-1544), France |
He "applied ... historical interest particularly to legal study, with aim of initiating legal and institutional reform by exposing the early sources of contemporary institutions and practices." |