The Renaissance

"It was a movement, a revival of man's powers, a reawakening of the consciousness of himself and of the universe – a movement which spread over Western Europe, and may be said to have lasted over two centuries. It was between 1400 and 1600 that it held full sway. Like other movements it had forerunners, but, unlike other movements, it was circumscribed by no particular aim, and the fertilizing wave which passed over Italy, Germany, France, England and, in a much fainter degree, over Spain, to leave a fresh world behind it, seems more like a phenomenon of nature than a current of history – rather an atmosphere surrounding men than a distinct course before them. The new birth was the result of a universal impulse, and that impulse was preceded by something like a revelation, a revelation of intellect and of the possibilities in man..." - Edith Sichel

Contents: Introductory. The Medici in Florence, 1434-1492. The Renaissance in Florence. Lorenzo Il Magnifico. The Renaissance in Rome. Baldassare Castiglione and the Women of the Renaissance. The Cynics and the Swashbucklers of the Renaissance. Macchiavelli and the Prince. Venice and Pietro Aretino. Benvenuto Cellini. The Fruits of the Renaissance. The Renaissance of the Northern Races. The Thinkers of the Northern Renaissance. The French Renaissance. The English Renaissance.