1st Edition
From Christians to Europeans Pope Pius II and the Concept of the Modern Western Identity
1. From Siena to Vienna: The Foundations of Aeneas’s Worldview 2. 1453–1455: Constantinople, "Europe vs. Asia" 3. "The German Cardinal" at the Roman Curia 4. Papacy and Crusade (1458–1464)
Biography
Nancy Bisaha is Professor of History at Vassar College. She works on Renaissance humanism and identity and is the author of Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks (2004), and co-author of a translation of Pope Pius II’s Europe, c. 1400-1458 (2013).
"Pius II was an accomplished humanist and a key shaper of the 15th-century Church’s response to the Ottoman conquests. He was also, as Nancy Bisaha’s learned and compelling biography, From Christendom to Europe, argues, one of the architects of European identity."
John Tolan, Professor of History, University of Nantes
"Pius II was the most important of the Renaissance popes, enriching the work of the Church with humanist techniques and values. Pius’s concept of Europe was a key element in his world view and Nancy Bisaha, a leading scholar of humanism, offers the first book-length treatment of the subject in From Christendom to Europe."
Norman Housley, Professor Emeritus, University of Leicester
"From Christendom to Europe expertly reconstructs a forgotten and crucial chapter in the conceptualization of Europe and the development of European identity. At the same time, Bisaha's sharp analysis sheds important new light on Pope Pius II — a towering figure in the intellectual, political, and religious worlds of Renaissance Italy."
Emily O'Brien, Associate Professor, Departments of History and Humanities, Simon Fraser University
