This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th17th centuries. For the earlier European Renaissance see Renaissance of the 12th century. For other uses see Renaissance (disambiguation). David by Michelangelo (The Accademia Gallery Florence) is an example of high Renaissance art

The Renaissance (UK: /rines.ns/ US: /ren.sns/ French pronunciation: nss Italian: Rinascimento French: Renaissance from ri- "again" and nascere "birth")1 was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe this is a general use of the term. As a cultural movement it encompassed a flowering of literature science art religion and politics and a resurgence of learning based on classical sources the development of linear perspective in painting and gradual but widespread educational reform. Traditionally this intellectual transformation has resulted in the Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits as well as social and political upheaval it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo who inspired the term "Renaissance man".23

There is a general but not unchallenged consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence Tuscany in the 14th century.4 Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its dominant family the Medici;56 and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.789

The Renaissance has a long and complex historiography and there has been much debate among historians as to the usefulness of Renaissance as a term and as a historical delineation.10 Some have called into question whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for the classical age11 while others have instead focused on the continuity between the two eras.12 Indeed some have called for an end to the use of the term which they see as a product of presentism the use of history to validate and glorify modern ideals.13 The word Renaissance has also been used to describe other historical and cultural movements such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. Contents 1 Overview 2 Origins 2.1 Latin and Greek Phases of Renaissance humanism 2.2 Social and political structures in Italy 2.3 Black Death/Plague 2.4 Cultural conditions in Florence 3 Characteristics 3.1 Humanism 3.2 Art 3.3 Science 3.4 Religion 3.5 Self-awareness 4 Spread 4.1 Italy 4.2 Portugal 4.3 Croatia 4.4 Spain 4.5 Northern Europe 4.6 England 4.7 France 4.8 Germany 4.9 Hungary 4.10 Netherlands 4.11 Poland 4.12 Russia 5 Historiography 5.1 Conception 5.2 Debates about progress 6 Other Renaissances 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 9.1 Primary sources 10 External links Overview Renaissance Topics

Architecture Dance Literature Music Painting Philosophy Science Technology Warfare Regions

England France Germany Italy Netherlands Northern Europe Poland Spain Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in Vitruvius's De architectura around 1500 years before Da Vinci tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century its influence affected literature philosophy art politics science religion and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study and searched for realism and human emotion in art.14

Renaissance thinkers sought out in Europe's monastic libraries and the crumbling Byzantine Empire the literary historical and oratorical texts of antiquity typically written in Latin or ancient Greek many of which had fallen into obscurity. It is in their new focus on literary and historical texts that Renaissance scholars differed so markedly from the medieval scholars of the Renaissance of the 12th century who had focused on studying Greek and Arabic works of natural sciences philosophy and mathematics rather than on such cultural texts. Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity; quite the contrary many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it and the Church patronized many works of Renaissance art. However a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life.15 In addition many Greek Christian works including the Greek New Testament were brought back from Byzantium to Western Europe and engaged Western scholars for the first time since late antiquity. This new engagement with Greek Christian works and particularly the return to the original Greek of the New Testament promoted by humanists Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus would help pave the way for the Protestant Reformation.

Artists such as Masaccio strove to portray the human form realistically developing techniques to render perspective and light more naturally. Political philosophers most famously Niccol Machiavelli sought to describe political life as it really was that is to understand it rationally. A critical contribution to Italian Renaissance humanism Pico della Mirandola wrote the famous text "De hominis dignitate" (Oration on the Dignity of Man 1486) which consists of a series of theses on philosophy natural thought faith and magic defended against any opponent on the grounds of reason. In addition to studying classical Latin and Greek Renaissance authors also began increasingly to use vernacular languages; combined with the introduction of printing this would allow many more people access to books especially the Bible.16

In all the Renaissance could be viewed as an attempt by intellectuals to study and improve the secular and worldly both through the revival of ideas from antiquity and through novel approaches to thought. Some scholars such as Rodney Stark17 play down the Renaissance in favor of the earlier innovations of the Italian city states in the High Middle Ages which married responsive government Christianity and the birth of capitalism. This analysis argues that whereas the great European states (France and Spain) were absolutist monarchies and others were under direct Church control the independent city republics of Italy took over the principles of capitalism invented on monastic estates and set off a vast unprecedented commercial revolution which preceded and financed the Renaissance. Origins Florence the center of Renaissance Main article: Italian Renaissance Most historians agree that the ideas that characterized the Renaissance had their origin in late 13th century Florence in particular with the writings of Dante Alighieri (12651321) and Francesco Petrarca (13041374) as well as the painting of Giotto di Bondone (12671337).18 Some writers date the Renaissance quite precisely; one proposed starting point is 1401 when the rival geniuses Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi competed for the contract to build the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral (Ghiberti won).19 Others see more general competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi Ghiberti Donatello and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy and why it began when it did. Accordingly several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance money and art went hand in hand. Artists depended totally on patrons while the patrons needed money to sustain genuises. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th 15th and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia and Europe. Silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world brought home during the Crusades increased the prosperity of Genoa and Venice.20 Cicero Latin and Greek Phases of Renaissance humanism Further information: Greek scholars in the Renaissance In stark contrast to the High Middle Ages when Latin scholars focused almost entirely on studying Greek and Arabic works of natural science philosophy and mathematics21 Renaissance scholars were most interested in recovering and studying Latin and Greek literary historical and oratorical texts. Broadly speaking this began in the 14th century with a Latin phase when Renaissance scholars such as Petrarch Coluccio Salutati (13311406) Niccol de' Niccoli (13641437) and Poggio Bracciolini (13801459 AD) scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such Latin authors as Cicero Livy and Seneca.22 By the early 15th century the bulk of such Latin literature had been recovered; the Greek phase of Renaissance humanism was now under way as Western European scholars turned to recovering ancient Greek literary historical oratorical and theological texts.23 Demetrius Chalcondyles (14241511) was a Renaissance teacher of Greek and of Platonic philosophy who taught in Italy for over forty years;24 at Padua Perugia Milan and Florence.25 Unlike the case of Latin texts which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. Ancient Greek works on science maths and philosophy had been studied since the High Middle Ages in Western Europe and in the medieval Islamic world but Greek literary oratorical and historical works (such as Homer the Greek dramatists Demosthenes and Thucydides and so forth) were not studied in either the Latin or medieval Islamic worlds; in the Middle Ages these sorts of texts were only studied by Byzantine scholars. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity. This movement to reintegrate the regular study of Greek literary historical oratorical and theological texts back into the Western European curriculum is usually dated to Coluccio Salutati's invitation to the Byzantine diplomat and scholar Manuel Chrysoloras (c.13551415) to Florence to teach Greek26 his knowledge of the Greek language was of significant importance. Another Greek Byzantine scholar of importance was Demetrius Chalcondyles (14241511) who taught Platonic philosophy and the Greek language in Italy for a period of over forty years; at Padua27 Perugia28 Milan and Florence.25 Among his pupils were Johann Reuchlin Janus Lascaris Poliziano Leo X Baldassare Castiglione29 Giglio Gregorio Giraldi Stefano Negri and Giovanni Maria Cattaneo.3031 The fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 accompanied by the closure of its schools of higher learning by the Ottoman Turks brought many other Greek scholars to Italy and beyond who brought with them Greek manuscripts and knowledge of the classical Greek literature some of which had been lost for centuries in the West.32 Social and political structures in Italy A political map of the Italian Peninsula circa 1494 The unique political structures of late Middle Ages Italy have led some to theorize that its unusual social climate allowed the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence. Italy did not exist as a political entity in the early modern period. Instead it was divided into smaller city states and territories: the Kingdom of Naples controlled the south the Republic of Florence and the Papal States at the center the Milanese and the Genoese to the north and west respectively and the Venetians to the east. Fifteenth-century Italy was one of the most urbanised areas in Europe.33 Many of its cities stood among the ruins of ancient Roman buildings; it seems likely that the classical nature of the Renaissance was linked to its origin in the Roman Empire's heartland.34 Historian and political philosopher Quentin Skinner points out that Otto of Freising (c. 1114 1158) a German bishop visiting north Italy during the 12th century noticed a widespread new form of political and social organization observing that Italy appeared to have exited from Feudalism so that its society was based on merchants and commerce. Linked to this was anti-monarchical thinking represented in the famous early Renaissance fresco cycle Allegory of Good and Bad Government in Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (painted 13381340) whose strong message is about the virtues of fairness justice republicanism and good administration. Holding both Church and Empire at bay these city republics were devoted to notions of liberty. Skinner reports that there were many defences of liberty such as Matteo Palmieri's (14061475) celebration of Florentine genius not only in art sculpture and architecture but "the remarkable efflorescence of moral social and political philosophy that occurred in Florence at the same time".35 Even cities and states beyond central Italy such as the Republic of Florence at this time were also notable for their merchant Republics especially the Republic of Venice. Although in practice these were oligarchical and bore little resemblance to a modern democracy they did have democratic features and were responsive states with forms of participation in governance and belief in liberty.363738 The relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic advancement.39 Likewise the position of Italian cities such as Venice as great trading centres made them intellectual crossroads. Merchants brought with them ideas from far corners of the globe particularly the Levant. Venice was Europe's gateway to trade with the East and a producer of fine glass while Florence was a capital of textiles. The wealth such business brought to Italy meant large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned and individuals had more leisure time for study.39 Black Death/Plague One theory that has been advanced is that the devastation caused by the Black Death in Florence which hit Europe between 1348 and 1350 resulted in a shift in the world view of people in 14th-century Italy. Italy was particularly badly hit by the plague and it has been speculated that the resulting familiarity with death caused thinkers to dwell more on their lives on Earth rather than on spirituality and the afterlife.40 It has also been argued that the Black Death prompted a new wave of piety manifested in the sponsorship of religious works of art.41 However this does not fully explain why the Renaissance occurred specifically in Italy in the 14th century. The Black Death was a pandemic that affected all of Europe in the ways described not only Italy. The Renaissance's emergence in Italy was most likely the result of the complex interaction of the above factors.10 The plague was carried by fleas on sailing vessels returning from the ports of Asia spreading quickly due to lack of proper sanitation: the population of England then about 4.2 million lost 1.4 million people to the bubonic plague. Florence's population was nearly halved in the year 1347. As a result of the decimation in the populace the value of the working class increased and commoners came to enjoy more freedom. To answer the increased need for labor workers traveled in search of the most favorable position economically.42 The demographic decline due to the plague had some economic consequences: the prices of food dropped and land values declined by 30 to 40 percent in most parts of Europe between 1350 and 1400.43 Landholders faced a great loss but for ordinary men and women it was a windfall. The survivors of the plague found not only that the prices of food are cheaper but also found that lands were more abundant and that most of them inherited property from their dead relatives. Cultural conditions in Florence Lorenzo de' Medici ruler of Florence and patron of arts It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began in Florence and not elsewhere in Italy. Scholars have noted several features unique to Florentine cultural life which may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasized the role played by the Medici a banking family and later ducal ruling house in patronizing and stimulating the arts. Lorenzo de' Medici (14491492) was the catalyst for an enormous amount of arts patronage encouraging his countryman to commission works from Florence's leading artists including Leonardo da Vinci Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo Buonarroti.5 The Renaissance was certainly underway before Lorenzo came to power; indeed before the Medici family itself achieved hegemony in Florentine society. Some historians have postulated that Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance as a result of luck i.e. because "Great Men" were born there by chance.44 Da Vinci Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born in Tuscany. Arguing that such chance seems improbable other historians have contended that these "Great Men" were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.45 Characteristics Humanism Main article: Renaissance humanism In some ways Humanism was not a philosophy per se but rather a method of learning. In contrast to the medieval scholastic mode which focused on resolving contradictions between authors humanists would study ancient texts in the original and appraise them through a combination of reasoning and empirical evidence. Humanist education was based on the programme of 'Studia Humanitatis' that being the study of five humanities: poetry grammar history moral philosophy and rhetoric. Although historians have sometimes struggled to define humanism precisely most have settled on "a middle of the road definition... the movement to recover interpret and assimilate the language literature learning and values of ancient Greece and Rome".46 Above all humanists asserted "the genius of man ... the unique and extraordinary ability of the human mind."47 Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period. Political philosophers such as Niccol Machiavelli and Thomas More revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers and applied them in critiques of contemporary government. Pico della Mirandola wrote what is often considered the manifesto of the Renaissance a vibrant defence of thinking the Oration on the Dignity of Man. Matteo Palmieri (14061475) another humanist is most known for his work Della vita civile ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528) which advocated civic humanism and his influence in refining the Tuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin. Palmieri's written works drawn on Roman philosophers and theorists especially Cicero who like Palmieri lived an active public life as a citizen and official as well as a theorist and philosopher and also Quintilian. Perhaps the most succinct expression of his perspective on humanism is in a 1465 poetic work La citt di vita but an earlier work Della vita civile (On Civic Life) is more wide-ranging. Composed as a series of dialogues set in a country house in the Mugello countryside outside Florence during the plague of 1430 Palmieri expounds on the qualities of the ideal citizen. The dialogues include ideas about how children develop mentally and physically how citizens can conduct themselves morally how citizens and states can ensure probity in public life and an important debate on the difference between that which is pragmatically useful and that which is honest. The humanists believed that it is important to transcend to the afterlife with a perfect mind and body. This transcending belief can be done with education. The purpose of humanism was to create a universal man whose person combined intellectual and physical excellence and who was capable of functioning honorably in virtually any situation.48 This ideology was referred to as il uomo universal an ancient Greco-Roman ideal. The education during Renaissance was mainly composed of ancient literature and history. It was thought that the classics provided moral instruction and an intensive understanding of human behavior. Art Main articles: Italian Renaissance painting Renaissance painting and Renaissance architecture The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo The Renaissance marks the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the Modern world. It represents a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries. Early Renaissance mostly in Italy bridges the art period during the fifteenth century between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance in Italy. It is generally known that Renaissance matured in Northern Europe later in 16th century.49 One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic linear perspective. Giotto di Bondone (12671337) is credited with first treating a painting as a window into space but it was not until the demonstrations of architect Filippo Brunelleschi (13771446) and the subsequent writings of Leon Battista Alberti (14041472) that perspective was formalized as an artistic technique.50 The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts.51 To that end painters also developed other techniques studying light shadow and famously in the case of Leonardo da Vinci human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature and to unravel the axioms of aesthetics with the works of Leonardo Michelangelo and Raphael representing artistic pinnacles that were to be much imitated by other artists.52 Other notable artists include Sandro Botticelli working for the Medici in Florence Donatello another Florentine and Titian in Venice among others. Concurrently in the Netherlands a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed the work of Hugo van der Goes and Jan van Eyck having particular influence on the development of painting in Italy both technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas and stylistically in terms of naturalism in representation. (For more see Renaissance in the Netherlands). Later the work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder would inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life.53 Leonardo da Vinci Self-portrait his Mona Lisa The Last Supper and Vitruvian Man are examples of Renaissance art In architecture Filippo Brunelleschi was foremost in studying the remains of ancient classical buildings and with rediscovered knowledge from the 1st-century writer Vitruvius and the flourishing discipline of mathematics formulated the Renaissance style which emulated and improved on classical forms. Brunelleschi's major feat of engineering was the building of the dome of Florence Cathedral.54 The first building to demonstrate this is claimed to be the church of St. Andrew built by Alberti in Mantua. The outstanding architectural work of the High Renaissance was the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica combining the skills of Bramante Michelangelo Raphael Sangallo and Maderno. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is a master piece of Renaissance and world art The Roman orders types of columns are used: Tuscan Doric Ionic Corinthian and Composite. These can either be structural supporting an arcade or architrave or purely decorative set against a wall in the form of pilasters. During the Renaissance architects aimed to use columns pilasters and entablatures as an integrated system. One of the first buildings to use pilasters as an integrated system was in the Old Sacristy (14211440) by Filippo Brunelleschi.55 Arches semi-circular or (in the Mannerist style) segmental are often used in arcades supported on piers or columns with capitals. There may be a section of entablature between the capital and the springing of the arch. Alberti was one of the first to use the arch on a monumental. Renaissance vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or segmental and on a square plan unlike the Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular. The Renaissance artists were not pagans although they admired antiquity and they also kept some ideas and symbols of the medieval past. Nicola Pisano (c. 1220-c. 1278) imitated classical forms by portraying scenes from the Bible. The Anunciation by Nicola Pisano from the Baptistry at Pisa demonstrates that classical models influenced Italian art before the Renaissance took root as a literary movement 56 Science Main articles: History of science in the Renaissance and Renaissance technology The upheavals occurring in the arts and humanities were mirrored by a dynamic period of change in the sciences. Some have seen this flurry of activity as a "scientific revolution" heralding the beginning of the modern age.57 Others have seen it merely as an acceleration of a continuous process stretching from the ancient world to the present day.58 Regardless there is general agreement that the Renaissance saw significant changes in the way the universe was viewed and the methods with which philosophers sought to explain natural phenomena.59 Galileo Galilei. Portrait in crayon by Renaissance sculptor Leone Leoni Science and art were very much intermingled in the early Renaissance with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci making observational drawings of anatomy and nature. An exhaustive 2007 study by Fritjof Capra 60 shows that Leonardo was a much greater scientist than previously thought and not just an inventor. In science theory and in conducting actual science practice Leonardo was innovative. He set up controlled experiments in water flow medical dissection and systematic study of movement and aerodynamics; he devised principles of research method that for Capra classify him as "father of modern science". In Capra's detailed assessment of many surviving manuscripts Leonardo's science is more in tune with holistic non-mechanistic and non-reductive approaches to science which are becoming popular today. Perhaps the most significant development of the era was not a specific discovery but rather a process for discovery the scientific method.59 This revolutionary new way of learning about the world focused on empirical evidence the importance of mathematics and discarded the Aristotelian "final cause" in favor of a mechanical philosophy. Early and influential proponents of these ideas included Copernicus Galileo Newton and Ren Descartes6162 The new scientific method led to great contributions in the fields of astronomy physics biology and anatomy. With the publication of Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica a new confidence was placed in the role of dissection observation and a mechanistic view of anatomy.59 Religion Main articles: Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation The new ideals of humanism although more secular in some aspects developed against a Christian backdrop especially in the Northern Renaissance. Indeed much (if not most) of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to the Church.15 However the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary theology particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God.15 Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method including Erasmus Zwingli Thomas More Martin Luther and John Calvin. Alexander VI a Borgia Pope infamous for his corruption The Renaissance began in times of religious turmoil. The late Middle Ages saw a period of political intrigue surrounding the Papacy culminating in the Western Schism in which three men simultaneously claimed to be true Bishop of Rome.63 While the schism was resolved by the Council of Constance (1414) the 15th century saw a resulting reform movement known as Conciliarism which sought to limit the pope's power. Although the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by the Fifth Council of the Lateran (1511) it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption most famously in the person of Pope Alexander VI who was accused variously of simony nepotism and fathering four illegitimate children whilst Pope whom he married off to gain more power.64 Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church often based on humanist textual criticism of the New Testament.15 Indeed it was Luther who in October 1517 published the 95 Theses challenging papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption particularly with regard to its sale of indulgences. The 95 Theses led to the Reformation a break with the Roman Catholic Church that previously claimed hegemony in Western Europe. Humanism and the Renaissance therefore played a direct role in sparking the Reformation as well as in many other contemporaneous religious debates and conflicts. Self-awareness By the 15th century writers artists and architects in Italy were well aware of the transformations that were taking place and were using phrases like modi antichi (in the antique manner) or alle romana et alla antica (in the manner of the Romans and the ancients) to describe their work. The term la rinascita (rebirth) first appeared however in its broad sense in Giorgio Vasari's Vite de' pi eccellenti architetti pittori et scultori Italiani (The Lives of the Artists 1550 revised 1568).6566 Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase contains Cimabue Giotto and Arnolfo di Cambio; the second phase contains Masaccio Brunelleschi and Donatello; the third centers on Leonardo da Vinci and culminates with Michelangelo. It was not just the growing awareness of classical antiquity that drove this development according to Vasari but also the growing desire to study and imitate nature.67 Spread In the 15th century the Renaissance spread with great speed from its birthplace in Florence first to the rest of Italy and soon to the rest of Europe. The invention of the printing press allowed the rapid transmission of these new ideas. As it spread its ideas diversified and changed being adapted to local culture. In the 20th century scholars began to break the Renaissance into regional and national movements. Italy Main article: Italian Renaissance While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy there was a simultaneous southward spread of some areas of innovation particularly in music.68 The music of the 15th century Burgundian School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in that art and the polyphony of the Netherlanders as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy formed the core of what was the first true international style in music since the standardization of Gregorian Chant in the 9th century.68 The culmination of the Netherlandish school was in the music of the Italian composer Palestrina. At the end of the 16th century Italy again became a center of musical innovation with the development of the polychoral style of the Venetian School which spread northward into Germany around 1600. The paintings of the Italian Renaissance differed from those of the Northern Renaissance. Italian Renaissance artists were among the first to paint secular scenes breaking away from the purely religious art of medieval painters. At first Northern Renaissance artists remained focused on religious subjects such as the contemporary religious upheaval portrayed by Albrecht Drer. Later on the works of Pieter Bruegel influenced artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or classical themes. It was also during the Northern Renaissance that Flemish brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck perfected the oil painting technique which enabled artists to produce strong colors on a hard surface that could survive for centuries.69 A feature of the Northern Renaissance was its use of the vernacular in place of Latin or Greek which allowed greater freedom of expression. This movement had started in Italy with the decisive influence of Dante Alighieri on the development of vernacular languages; in fact the focus on writing in Italian has neglected a major source of Florentine ideas expressed in Latin.70 The spread of the technology of the German invention of movable type printing boosted the Renaissance in Northern Europe as elsewhere; with Venice becoming a world center of printing. Portugal In Portugal the Renaissance arrived through the influence of the wealthy Italian merchants that started investing their money in the profitable Indian commerce that Portugal had monopolized during the late 15th century. Lisbon flourished and writers such as Gil Vicente S de Miranda Bernardim Ribeiro and Lus de Cames and artists such as Nuno Gonalves appeared. Croatia Main article: Renaissance in Croatia Spain Main article: Spanish Renaissance The Renaissance arrived in the Iberian peninsula through the Mediterranean possessions of the Aragonese Crown and the city of Valencia. Indeed many of the early Spanish Renaissance writers come from the Kingdom of Aragon including Ausis March and Joanot Martorell. In the Kingdom of Castile the early Renaissance was heavily influenced by the Italian humanism starting with writers and poets starting with the Marquis of Santillana who introduced the new Italian poetry to Spain in the early 15th century. Other writers such as Jorge Manrique Fernando de Rojas Juan del Encina Juan Boscn Almogver and Garcilaso de la Vega kept a close resemblance to the Italian canon. Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece Don Quixote is credited as the first Western novel. Renaissance humanism flourished in the early 16th century with influential writers such as philosopher Juan Luis Vives grammarian Antonio de Nebrija or natural historian Pedro de Mexa. Later Spanish Renaissance tended towards religious themes and mysticism with poets such as fray Luis de Len Teresa of vila and John of the Cross and treated issues related to the exploration of the New World with chroniclers and writers such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega or Bartolom de las Casas giving rise to a body of work now known as Spanish Renaissance literature. The late Renaissance in Spain also saw the rise of artists such as El Greco and composers such as Toms Luis de Victoria and Antonio de Cabezn. Northern Europe Main article: Northern Renaissance The Renaissance as it occurred in Northern Europe has been termed the "Northern Renaissance". England Main article: English Renaissance "What a piece of work is a man how noble in reason how infinite in faculties in form and moving how express and admirable in action how like an angel in apprehension how like a god!" from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In England the Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the English Renaissance with the work of writers William Shakespeare Christopher Marlowe Edmund Spenser Sir Thomas More Francis Bacon Sir Philip Sidney John Milton as well as great artists architects (such as Inigo Jones who introduced Italianate architecture to England) and composers such as Thomas Tallis John Taverner and William Byrd. France Main article: French Renaissance In 1495 the Italian Renaissance arrived in France imported by King Charles VIII after his invasion of Italy. A factor that promoted the spread of secularism was the Church's inability to offer assistance against the Black Death. Francis I imported Italian art and artists including Leonardo da Vinci and built ornate palaces at great expense. Writers such as Franois Rabelais Pierre de Ronsard Joachim du Bellay and Michel de Montaigne painters such as Jean Clouet and musicians such as Jean Mouton also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance. In 1533 a fourteen-year old Caterina de' Medici (15191589) born in Florence to Lorenzo II de' Medici and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne married Henry second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude. Though she became famous and infamous for her role in France's religious wars she made a direct contribution in bringing arts sciences and music (including the origins of ballet) to the French court from her native Florence. Germany Main article: German Renaissance In the second half of the 15th century the spirit of the age spread to Germany and the Low Countries where the development of the printing press (ca. 1450) and early Renaissance artists like the painters Jan van Eyck (13951441) and Hieronymus Bosch (14501516) and the composers Johannes Ockeghem (14101497) Jacob Obrecht (14571505) and Josquin des Prez (14551521) predated the influence from Italy. In the early Protestant areas of the country humanism became closely linked to the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation and the art and writing of the German Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.71 However the gothic style and medieval scholastic philosophy remained exclusively until the turn of the 16th century. Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg (Ruling:14931519) was the first truly Renaissance monarch of the Holy Roman Empire later known as "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (Diet of Cologne 1512). Hungary The Renaissance style came directly from Italy during the Quattrocento to Hungary first in the Central European region thanks to the development of early Hungarian-Italian relationships not only in dynastic connections but also in cultural humanistic and commercial relations growing in strength from the 14th century. Italian architectural influence became stronger in the reign of Zsigmond thanks to the church foundations of the Florentine Scolaries and the castle constructions of Pipo of Ozora. The relationship between Hungarian and Italian Gothic styles was a second reason exaggerated breakthrough of walls is avoided preferring clean and light structures. The new Italian trend combined with existing national traditions to create a particular local Renaissance art. Acceptance of Renaissance art was furthered by the continuous arrival of humanist thought in the country. Many young Hungarians studying at Italian universities came closer to the Florentine humanist center so a direct connection with Florence evolved. The growing number of Italian traders moving to Hungary specially to Buda helped this process. New thoughts were carried by the humanist prelates among them Vitz Jnos archbishop of Esztergom one of the founders of Hungarian humanism.72 During the long reign of emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg the Royal Castle of Buda became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. King Matthias Corvinus (r. 14581490) rebuilt the palace in early Renaissance style and further explanded it.7374 After the marriage in 1476 of king Matthias to Beatrice of Naples Buda became one of the most important artistic centres of the Renaissance north of the Alps.75 The most important humanists living in Matthias' court were Antonio Bonfini and the famous Hungarian poet Janus Pannonius.75 Andrs Hess set up a printing press in Buda in 1472. Matthias Corvinus's library the Bibliotheca Corviniana was Europe's greatest collections of secular books: historical chronicles philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century. His library was second only in size to the Vatican Library. (However the Vatican Library mainly contained Bibles and religious materials.)76 In 1489 Bartolomeo della Fonte of Florence wrote that Lorenzo de Medici founded his own Greek-Latin library encouraged by the example of the Hungarian king. Corvinus's library is part of UNESCO World Heritage.77 Other important figures of Hungarian Renaissance: Blint Balassi (poet) Sebestyn Tindi Lantos (poet) Blint Bakfark (composer and lutenist) Netherlands Main article: Renaissance in the Netherlands Poland Main article: Renaissance in Poland Pozna City Hall rebuilt from the Gothic style by Giovanni Batista di Quadro (15501555) An early Italian humanist who came to Poland in the mid-15th century was Filip Callimachus. Many Italian artists came to Poland with Bona Sforza of Milan when she married King Zygmunt I of Poland in 1518.78 This was supported by temporarily strengthened monarchies in both areas as well as by newly established universities.79 Russia Renaissance trends from Italy and Central Europe influenced Russia in many ways though this influence was rather limited due to the large distances between Russia and the main European cultural centers on one hand and the strong adherence of Russians to their Orthodox traditions and Byzantine legacy on the other hand. Prince Ivan III introduced Renaissance architecture to Russia by inviting a number of architects from Italy who brought new construction techniques and some Renaissance style elements with them while in general following the traditional designs of the Russian architecture. In 1475 the Bolognese architect Aristotele Fioravanti came to rebuild the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin damaged in an earthquake. Fioravanti was given the 12th-century Vladimir Cathedral as a model and produced a design combining traditional Russian style with a Renaissance sense of spaciousness proportion and symmetry. The Palace of Facets on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1485 Ivan III commissioned the building of a royal Terem Palace within the Kremlin with Aloisio da Milano being the architect of the first three floors. Aloisio da Milano as well as the other Italian architects also greatly contributed to the construction of the Kremlin walls and towers. The small banqueting hall of the Russian Tsars called the Palace of Facets because of its facetted upper story is the work of two Italians Marco Ruffo and Pietro Solario and shows a more Italian style. In 1505 an Italian known in Russia as Aleviz Novyi or Aleviz Fryazin arrived in Moscow. He may have been the Venetian sculptor Alevisio Lamberti da Montagne. He built 12 churches for Ivan III including the Cathedral of the Archangel a building remarkable for the successful blending of Russian tradition Orthodox requirements and Renaissance style. It is believed that the Cathedral of the Metropolitan Peter in Vysokopetrovsky Monastery another work of Aleviz Novyi later served as an inspiration for the so called octagon-on-tetragon architectural form in the Moscow Baroque of the late 17th century. Theotokos and The Child the late 17th century Russian icon by Karp Zolotaryov with a notably realistic depiction of faces and clothing. Between the early 16th and the late 17th centuries however an original tradition of stone tented roof architecture had been developed in Russia. It was quite unique and different from the contemporary Renaissance architecture elsewhere in Europe though some researches call that style 'Russian Gothic' and compare it with the European Gothic architecture of the earlier period. The Italians with their advanced technology may have influenced the invention of the stone tented roof (the wooden tents were known in Russia and Europe long before). According to one hypothesis an Italian architect called Petrok Maly may have been an author of the Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye one of the earliest and most prominent tented roof churches.80 By the 17th century the influence of Renaissance painting resulted in Russian icons becoming slightly more realistic while still following most of the old icon painting canons as seen in the works of Bogdan Saltanov Simon Ushakov Gury Nikitin Karp Zolotaryov and other Russian artists of the era. Gradually the new type of secular portrait painting appeared called parsna (from "persona" person) which was transitional style between abstract iconographics and real paintings. In the mid 16th century Russians adopted printing from Central Europe with Ivan Fyodorov being the first known Russian printer. In the 17th century printing became widespread and woodcuts became especially popular. That led to the development of a special form of folk art known as lubok printing which persisted in Russia well into the 19th century. A number of technologies of Renaissance period was adopted by Russians from Europe rather early and perfected subsequently to became a part of strong domestic tradition. Mostly these were military technologies such as cannon casting adopted at least in the 15th century. The Tsar Cannon which is the world's largest bombard by caliber is the masterpiece of Russian cannon making. It was cast in 1586 by Andrey Chokhov and is notable also by its rich relief decoration. Another technology that according to one hypothesis originally was brought from Europe by Italians resulted in the development of vodka the national beverage of Russia. As early as 1386 the Genoese ambassadors brought the first aqua vitae ("the living water") to Moscow and presented it to Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. The Genoese likely got this beverage with the help of the alchemists of Provance who used the Arab-invented distillation apparatus to convert grape must into alcohol. A Moscovite monk called Isidore used this technology to produce the first original Russian vodka c. 1430.81 Historiography Conception The term was first used retrospectively by the Italian artist and critic Giorgio Vasari (15111574) in his book The Lives of the Artists (published 1550). In the book Vasari was attempting to define what he described as a break with the barbarities of gothic art: the arts had fallen into decay with the collapse of the Roman Empire and only the Tuscan artists beginning with Cimabue (12401301) and Giotto (12671337) began to reverse this decline in the arts. According to Vasari antique art was central to the rebirth of Italian art.82 However it was not until the 19th century that the French word Renaissance achieved popularity in describing the cultural movement that began in the late-13th century. The Renaissance was first defined by French historian Jules Michelet (17981874) in his 1855 work Histoire de France. For Michelet the Renaissance was more a development in science than in art and culture. He asserted that it spanned the period from Columbus to Copernicus to Galileo; that is from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 17th century.83 Moreover Michelet distinguished between what he called "the bizarre and monstrous" quality of the Middle Ages and the democratic values that he as a vocal Republican chose to see in its character.10 A French nationalist Michelet also sought to claim the Renaissance as a French movement.10 The Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt (18181897) in his Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860) by contrast defined the Renaissance as the period between Giotto and Michelangelo in Italy that is the 14th to mid-16th centuries. He saw in the Renaissance the emergence of the modern spirit of individuality which had been stifled in the Middle Ages.84 His book was widely read and was influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance.85 However Buckhardt has been accused of setting forth a linear Whiggish view of history in seeing the Renaissance as the origin of the modern world.12 More recently historians have been much less keen to define the Renaissance as a historical age or even a coherent cultural movement. Randolph Starn Historian at the University of California Berkeley stated: "Rather than a period with definitive beginnings and endings and consistent content in between the Renaissance can be (and occasionally has been) seen as a movement of practices and ideas to which specific groups and identifiable persons variously responded in different times and places. It would be in this sense a network of diverse sometimes converging sometimes conflicting cultures not a single time-bound culture".12 Debates about progress See also: Continuity thesis Painting of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre an event in the French Wars of Religion by Franois Dubois There is debate about the extent to which the Renaissance improved on the culture of the Middle Ages. Both Michelet and Burckhardt were keen to describe the progress made in the Renaissance towards the modern age. Burckhardt likened the change to a veil being removed from man's eyes allowing him to see clearly.44 In the Middle Ages both sides of human consciousness that which was turned within as that which was turned without lay dreaming or half awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith illusion and childish prepossession through which the world and history were seen clad in strange hues.86 Jacob Burckhardt The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy On the other hand many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the medieval period poverty warfare religious and political persecution for example seem to have worsened in this era which saw the rise of Machiavelli the Wars of Religion the corrupt Borgia Popes and the intensified witch-hunts of the 16th century. Many people who lived during the Renaissance did not view it as the "golden age" imagined by certain 19th-century authors but were concerned by these social maladies.87 Significantly though the artists writers and patrons involved in the cultural movements in question believed they were living in a new era that was a clean break from the Middle Ages.65 Some Marxist historians prefer to describe the Renaissance in material terms holding the view that the changes in art literature and philosophy were part of a general economic trend from feudalism towards capitalism resulting in a bourgeois class with leisure time to devote to the arts.88 Johan Huizinga (18721945) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned whether it was a positive change. In his book The Waning of the Middle Ages he argued that the Renaissance was a period of decline from the High Middle Ages destroying much that was important.11 The Latin language for instance had evolved greatly from the classical period and was still a living language used in the church and elsewhere. The Renaissance obsession with classical purity halted its further evolution and saw Latin revert to its classical form. Robert S. Lopez has contended that it was a period of deep economic recession.89 Meanwhile George Sarton and Lynn Thorndike have both argued that scientific progress was perhaps less original than has traditionally been supposed.90 Finally Joan Kelly argued that the Renaissance led to greater gender dichotomy lessening the agency women had had during the Middle Ages.91 Some historians have begun to consider the word Renaissance to be unnecessarily loaded implying an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "Dark Ages" (Middle Ages). Many historians now prefer to use the term "Early Modern" for this period a more neutral designation that highlights the period as a transitional one between the Middle Ages and the modern era.92 Others such as Roger Osborne have come to consider the Italian Renaissance as a repository of the myths and ideals of western history in general and instead of rebirth of ancient ideas as a period of great innovation 93 Other Renaissances The term Renaissance has also been used to define periods outside of the 15th and 16th centuries. Charles H. Haskins (18701937) for example made a case for a Renaissance of the 12th century.94 Other historians have argued for a Carolingian Renaissance in the 8th and 9th centuries and still later for an Ottonian Renaissance in the 10th century.95 Other periods of cultural rebirth have also been termed "renaissances" such as the Bengal Renaissance al-Nahda or the Harlem Renaissance. See also Main article: Outline of the Renaissance Italian Renaissance Weser Renaissance Gilded woodcarving List of Renaissance figures List of Renaissance structures Medical Renaissance Scientific Revolution Notes "Renaissance Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. http://www.etymonline.com/index.phpsearchrenaissance&searchmodenone. Retrieved 2009-07-31.  BBC Science and Nature Leonardo da Vinci Retrieved on May 12 2007 BBC History Michelangelo Retrieved on May 12 2007 Burke P. The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries (Blackwell Oxford 1998) a b Strathern Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (2003) Peter Barenboim Sergey Shiyan Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel SLOVO Moscow 2006. ISBN 5-85050-852-2 Encyclopedia Britannica Renaissance 2008 O.Ed. Har Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World Scarecrow Press Incorporate 1999 ISBN0810837242 Norwich John Julius A Short History of Byzantium 1997 Knopf ISBN0679450882 a b c d Brotton J. The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction OUP 2006. a b Huizanga Johan The Waning of the Middle Ages (1919 trans. 1924) a b c Starn Randolph. "Renaissance Redux" The American Historical Review Vol.103 No.1 p.124 (Subscription required for JSTOR link) The Idea of the Renaissance Richard Hooker Washington State University Website (Retrieved on May 2) Perry M. Humanities in the Western Tradition Ch. 13 a b c d Open University Looking at the Renaissance: Religious Context in the Renaissance (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Open University Looking at the Renaissance: Urban economy and government (Retrieved May 15 2007) Stark Rodney The Victory of Reason Random House NY: 2005 See below under "Sources". Walker Paul Robert The Feud that sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World (New York Perennial-Harper Collins 2003) Severy Merle; Thomas b Allen Ross Bennett Jules B Billard Russell Bourne Edward Lanoutte David F Robinson Verla Lee Smith (1970). The Renaissance Maker of Modern Man. National Geographic Society. ISBN 0870440918.  For information on this earlier very different approach to a different set of ancient texts (scientific texts rather than cultural texts) see Latin translations of the 12th century and Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe. L.D. Reynolds and Nigel Wilson Scribes and Scholars: A guide to the transmission of Greek and Latin Literature Clarendon Press Oxford 1974 p.113-123. L.D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson Scribes and scholars p. 123; 130137. Valeriano Pierio; Gaisser Julia Haig (1999). Pierio Valeriano on the ill fortune of learned men: a Renaissance humanist and his world. University of Michigan Press. p. 281. ISBN 0472110551 9780472110551. "Demetrius Chalcondyles was a prominent Greek humanist. He taught Greek in Italy for over forty years."  a b Bze Thodore de; Summers Kirk M. (2001). A view from the Palatine: the Iuvenilia of Thodore de Bze. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. p. 442. ISBN 0866982795 9780866982795. "Demetrius Chalcondyles (14231511) a Greek refugee who taught Greek at Perugia Padua Florence and Milan. Around 1493 he produced a Greek textbook for beginners."  L.D. Reynolds and Nigel G. Wilson Scribes and scholars p. 119 131. "Demetrius Chalcondyles.". www.britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157045/Demetrius-Chalcondyles. Retrieved 2009-09-24. "Demetrius Chalcondyles born 1424 Athens Greece died 1511 Milan Italy. In 1447 Demetrius went to Italy where Cardinal Bessarion became his patron. He was made professor at Padua in 1463."  Cubberley Ellwood Patterson (2008). The History of Education Volume 1. BiblioBazaar LLC. p. 264. ISBN 0554225239 9780554225234. "Another Greek of importance was Demetrius Chalcondyles of Athens (14241511) who reached Italy in 1447. In 1450 he became professor of Greek at Perugia."  "Baldassare Castiglione". britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98529/Baldassare-Castiglione. Retrieved 2009-12-26. "Castiglione was educated by Demetrius Chalcondyles."  Valeriano Pierio; Gaisser Julia Haig (1999). Pierio Valeriano on the ill fortune of learned men: a Renaissance humanist and his world. University of Michigan Press. p. 281. ISBN 0472110551 9780472110551. "Demetrius Chalcondyles was a prominent Greek humanist. He taught Greek in Italy for over forty years; among his pupils were Ianus Lascaris Poliziano Leo X Castaglione Giraldi Stefano Negri and Giovanni Maria Cattaneo."  "Demetrius Chalcondyles.". britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157045/Demetrius-Chalcondyles. Retrieved 2009-09-25. "One of his pupils at Florence was the German scholar Johann Reuchlin."  History of the Renaissance HistoryWorld (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Kirshner Julius Family and Marriage: A socio-legal perspective Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 13001550 ed. John M. Najemy (Oxford University Press 2004) p.89 (Retrieved on 10-05-2007) Burckhardt Jacob The Revival of Antiquity' The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore 1878) Skinner Quentin The Foundations of Modern Political Thought vol I: The Renaissance; vol II: The Age of Reformation Cambridge University Press p. 69 Skinner Quentin The Foundations of Modern Political Thought vol I: The Renaissance; vol II: The Age of Reformation Cambridge University Press p. 69) Stark Rodney The Victory of Reason New York Random House 2005 Martin J. and Romano D. Venice Reconsidered Baltimore Johns Hopkins University 2000 a b Burckhardt Jacob The Republics: Venice and Florence The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy translated by S.G.C. Middlemore 1878. For more see Barbara Tuchman's book A Distant Mirror. The End of Europe's Middle Ages: The Black Death University of Calgary website. (Retrieved on April 5 2007) Netzley Patricia D. Life During the Renaissance.San Diego:Lucent Books Inc. 1998. Hause S. & Maltby W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2 pp. 217). Belmont CA: Thomson Learning Inc. a b Burckhardt Jacob The Development of the Individual The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy translated by S.G.C. Middlemore 1878. Stephens J. Individualism and the cult of creative personality The Italian Renaissance New York 1990 p. 121. Burke P. The spread of Italian humanism in The impact of humanism on western Europe ed. A. Goodman and A. MacKay London 1990 p. 2. As asserted by Gianozzo Manetti in On the Dignity and Excellence of Man cited in Clare J. Italian Renaissance. Hause S. & Maltby W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2 pp. 245246). Belmont CA: Thomson Learning Inc. http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/renaissance/earlyrenaiss.htm Clare John D. & Millen Alan Italian Renaissance London 1994 p. 14. Stork David G. Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Vasari Giorgio Lives of the Artists translated by George Bull Penguin Classics 1965 ISBN 0-14-044-164-6. Peter Brueghel Biography Web Gallery of Art (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Hooker Richard Architecture and Public Space (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Saalman Howard (1993). Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. Zwemmer. ISBN 0271010673.  Hause S. & Maltby W. (2001). A History of European Society. Essentials of Western Civilization (Vol. 2 pp. 250251). Belmont CA: Thomson Learning Inc. Butterfield Herbert The Origins of Modern Science 13001800 p. viii Shapin Steven. The Scientific Revolution Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1996 p. 1. a b c Brotton J. "Science and Philosophy" The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction OUP 2006. Capra Fritjof The Science of Leonardo; Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance New York Doubleday 2007. Van Doren Charles (1991) A History of Knowledge Ballantine New York pages 211212 ISBN 0-345-37316-2 Burke Peter (2000) A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot Polity Press Cambridge Massachusetts page 40 ISBN 0-7456-2484-7 Catholic Encyclopedia Western Schism (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Catholic Encyclopedia Alexander VI (Retrieved on May 10 2007) a b Panofsky Erwin. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art New York: Harper and Row 1960. The Open University Guide to the Renaissance Defining the Renaissance (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Sohm Philip. Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001) a b Lng Paul Henry. "The So Called Netherlands Schools" The Musical Quarterly Vol. 25 No. 1. (Jan. 1939) pp. 4859. (Subscription required for JSTOR link.) Painting in Oil in the Low Countries and Its Spread to Southern Europe Metropolitan Museum of Art website. (Retrieved April 52007) Celenza Christopher (2004) The Lost Italian Renaissance: Humanists Historians and Latin's Legacy. Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press Review of Lewis Spitz The Religious Renaissance of the German Humanists. Review by Gerald Strauss English Historical Review Vol. 80 No. 314 p.156. Available on JSTOR (subscription required). "the influences of the florentine renaissance in hungary". Fondazione-delbianco.org. http://www.fondazione-delbianco.org/inglese/relaz0001/mester.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-31.  History section: Mikls Horler: Budapest memlkei I Bp: 1955 pp. 259307 Post-war reconstruction: Lszl Ger: A helyrelltott budai vr Bp 1980 pp. 1160. a b Czigny Lrnt A History of Hungarian Literature "The Renaissance in Hungary" (Retrieved on May 10 2007) Marcus Tanner The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of his Lost Library (New Haven: Yale U.P. 2008) 1dead link Sforza (1494%E2%80%931557)1958.html History of Poland on Polish Government's website (Retrieved on April 42007) For example the re-establishment of Jagiellonian University in 1400. The first stone tented roof church an the origins of the tented roof architecture by Sergey Zagraevsky at RusArch.ru (Russian) Pokhlebkin V. V. / . . (2007). The history of vodka / . Moscow: Tsentrpoligraph / . pp. 272. ISBN 5-9524-1895-3.  "Defining the Renaissance Open University". Open.ac.uk. http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/renaissance2/defining.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-31.  Michelet Jules. History of France trans. G. H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton 1847) Burckhardt Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (trans. S.G.C Middlemore London 1878) Gay Peter Style in History New York: Basic Books 1974. Burckhardt Jacob. "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy". http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/2-1.html. Retrieved August 31 2008  Savonarola's popularity is a prime example of the manifestation of such concerns. Other examples include Philip II of Spain's censorship of Florentine paintings noted by Edward L. Goldberg "Spanish Values and Tuscan Painting" Renaissance Quarterly (1998) p.914 Renaissance Forum at Hull University Autumn 1997 (Retrieved on 10-05-2007) Lopez Robert S. and Miskimin Harry A. The Economic Depression of the Renaissance Economic History Review 2nd ser. 14 (1962) pp. 40826. Available on JSTOR (subscription required) Thorndike Lynn (1943) Renaissance or Prenaissance in "Some Remarks on the Question of the Originality of the Renaissance" Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 4 No. 1 Jan. 1943. Available on JSTOR (subscription required) Kelly-Gadol Joan. "Did Women Have a Renaissance" Becoming Visible: Women in European History. Edited by Renate Bridenthal and Claudia Koonz. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1977. Greenblatt S. Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare University of Chicago Press 1980. Osborne Roger Civilization: a new history of the Western world Pegasus Books 2006. Haskins Charles Homer The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1927. Hubert Jean L'Empire carolingien (English: The Carolingian Renaissance translated by James Emmons New York: G. Braziller 1970. References 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 Burke P The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries ISBN 0-631-19845-8 Cronin Vincent1969) The Flowering of the Renaissance ISBN 0712698841 Cronin Vincent(1992) The Renaissance ISBN 0002154110 Campbell Gordon. The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. (2003). 862 pp. online at OUP Ergang Robert (1967) The Renaissance ISBN 0-442-02319-7 Ferguson Wallace K. (1962) Europe in Transition 13001500 ISBN 0-04-940008-8 Fletcher Stella. The Longman Companion to Renaissance Europe 13901530. (2000). 347 pp. Grendler Paul F. ed. The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. (2003). 970 pp. Grendler Paul F. "The Future of Sixteenth Century Studies: Renaissance and Reformation Scholarship in the Next Forty Years" Sixteenth Century Journal Spring 2009 Vol. 40 Issue 1 pp 182+ Hale John. The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance. (1994). 648 pp.; a magistral survey heavily illustrated excerpt and text search Hall Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder Technology and Tactics (2001) excerpt and text search Haskins Charles Homer (1927) The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century ISBN 0-674-76075-1 Hattaway Michael ed. A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture. (2000). 747 pp. Jensen De Lamar (1992) Renaissance Europe ISBN 0-395-88947-2 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; comprehensive encyclopedia Plumb J. H. The Italian Renaissance (2001) excerpt and text search Robin Diana; Larsen Anne R.; and Levin Carole eds. Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy France and England (2007) 459p. 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.; numerous brief articles online edition Speake Jennifer and Thomas G. Bergin eds. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation. (2004). 550 pp. Starn Randolph. "A Postmodern Renaissance" Renaissance Quarterly 2007 60(1): 124 Trivellato Francesca. "Renaissance Italy and the Muslim Mediterranean in Recent Historical Work" Journal of Modern History (March 2010) Vol. 82 No. 1: 127155. Turner Richard N. Renaissance Florence (2005) excerpt and text search Ward A. The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902) older essays by scholars; emphasis on politics Primary sources Ross James Bruce and Mary M. McLaughlin eds. 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