James M. Estes

Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe.

In this updated edition of his classic account, Charles Nauert charts the rise of humanism as the distinctive culture of the social, political, and intellectual elites in Renaissance Europe. He traces humanism’s emergence in the unique social and cultural conditions of fourteenth-century Italy and its gradual diffusion throughout the rest of Europe from the late fifteenth century onwards. He shows how, despite its elitist origins, humanism became a major force in the popular culture and fine arts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the powerful impact it had on the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. He uses art and biographical sketches of key figures to illuminate the narrative and concludes with an account of the limitations and eventual transformations of humanism at the end of the Renaissance. This comprehensive account of the development and significance of humanistic culture will be essential reading for all students of Renaissance Europe.