Kategoria BISAC: History >> Europe - Renaissance

Bartolomeo Fonzio (1447-1513) was a leading literary figure in Florence during the time of Lorenzo de' Medici and Machiavelli. A professor of poetry and rhetoric at the University of Florence, he included among his friends and colleagues leading figures such as Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano, John Argyropoulos, Cristoforo Landino, and Pietro Soderini. He was one of the principal collaborators in creating the famous humanist library of King Mattyas Corvinus of Hungary. As a scholar and teacher, he devoted himself to the study of classical authors, particularly Valerius Flaccus, Livy,...

Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) is widely recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. But why this recognition came about--and what it has meant for the field of historiography--has long been a matter of confusion and controversy. Writing History in Renaissance Italy offers a fresh approach to the subject by undertaking a systematic, work-by-work investigation that encompasses for the first time the full range of Bruni's output in history and biography.

The study is the first to assess in detail the impact of the classical Greek historians...

The dark side of early modern European culture could be deemed equal in historical significance to Christianity based on the hundreds of books that were printed about the topic between 1400 and 1700. Famous writers and artists like William Shakespeare and Albrecht Durer depicted the dark side in their work, and some of the first printed books in Europe were about witches. The pervasive representation of these monsters and apparitions in period literature, folklore, and art clearly reflects their power to inspire fear and superstition, but also demonstrates how integral they were to early...

Law and History in Cervantes' Don Quixote is a deep consideration of the intellectual environment that gave rise to Cervantes' seminal work. Susan Byrne demonstrates how Cervantes synthesized the debates surrounding the two most authoritative discourses of his era - those of law and history - into a new aesthetic product, the modern novel.

Byrne uncovers the empirical underpinnings of Don Quixote through a close philological study of Cervantes' sly questioning of and commentary on these fields. As she skilfully demonstrates, while sixteenth-century historiographers...

- Shows how famous Renaissance philosophers and scientists called for a Hermetic reformation of Christianity by building a magical Temple of the Sun in Rome

- Explains how the Vatican architect Bernini designed St. Peter's Square to reflect heliocentric and Hermetic principles

- Reveals how the design was masterminded by Bernini, Jesuit scholars, the mystical Queen Christine of Sweden, and several popes

In 16th century Italy,...

The Peasant's War in Germany and his own ill-health combined to keep Erasmus confined to the city of Basel during 1525, but he was still able to maintain an active correspondence spanning all of Europe. In the preceding year, he had published De libero artbitrio/Freedom of the Will, his first open attack on the teachings of Martin Luther. Despite this public defence of Catholic doctrine, Erasmus was continually forced in his correspondence to reply to open or veiled attacks by Catholic critics.

Erasmus directly addressed one of his critics, No+l BTda, of the Paris theological...