Authored by some of the most preeminent Renaissance scholars active today, the essays of this volume give fresh and illuminating analyses of important aspects of Renaissance humanism, such as the time and causes of its origin, its connection to the papal court and medieval traditions, its classical learning, its religious and literary dimensions, and its 'dramatis personae'. Their interpretations are varied to the point of being contradictory. The essays bear the imprint of the work of the eminent scholars of the second half of the twentieth century, especially Kristeller's, and demonstrate an awareness of the various modes of critical inquiry that have prevailed in recent years. As such they are an important exemplar of current scholarship on Renaissance humanism and are, therefore, indispensable to the scholar who wishes to explore this pivotal cultural movement.
Author(s): Angelo Mazzocco (ed.)
Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 143
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 340
City: Leiden
Preface ix
Contributors xi
Introduction / Angelo Mazzocco 1
PART ONE
Kristeller’s Humanists as Heirs of the Medieval 'Dictatores' / Ronald G. Witt 21
The Origins of Humanism / Robert Black 37
Humanism: Ancient Learning, Criticism, Schools and Universities / Paul F. Grendler 73
Curial Humanism Seen Through the Prism of the Papal Library / Massimo Miglio 97
Humanism and the Medieval Encyclopedic Tradition / Giuseppe Mazzotta 113
PART TWO
Humanism and Scholasticism: Toward an Historical Definition / Riccardo Fubini 127
Religion and the Modernity of Renaissance Humanism / James Hankins 137
Rethinking “Christian Humanism” / Charles G. Nauert 155
Renaissance Humanism: the Rhetorical Turn / Eckhard Kessler 181
Literary Humanism in the Renaissance / Arthur F. Kinney 199
PART THREE
Petrarch: Founder of Renaissance Humanism? / Angelo Mazzocco 215
Angelo Poliziano, Aldo Manuzio, Theodore Gaza, George of Trebizond, and Chapter 90 of the 'Miscellaneorum Centuria Prima' (With an Edition and Translation) / John Monfasani 243
Reinterpreting Renaissance Humanism: Marcello Adriani and the Recovery of Lucretius / Alison Brown 267
Bibliography 293
Index 315
