With an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses the history of ideas, political history, cultural history and art history, this volume, in the successful Routledge Worlds series, offers a sweeping survey of Europe in the Renaissance, from the late thirteenth to early seventeenth centuries, and shows how the Renaissance laid key foundations for many aspects of the modern world.
Collating thirty-four essays from the field's leading scholars, John Jeffries Martin shows that this period of rapid and complex change resulted from a convergence of a new set of social, economic and technological forces alongside a cluster of interrelated practices including painting, sculpture, humanism and science, in which the elites engaged.
Unique in its balance of emphasis on elite and popular culture, on humanism and society, and on women as well as men, The Renaissance World grapples with issues as diverse as Renaissance patronage and the development of the slave trade.
Beginning with a section on the antecedents of the Renaissance world, and ending with its lasting influence, this book is an invaluable read, which students and scholars of history and the Renaissance will dip into again and again.
Introduction: The Renaissance – A World in Motion John Jeffries Martin Part 1: Three Preludes 1. Rome at the Center of a Civilization Ingrid Rowland 2. Framing and Mirroring the World Lyle Massey 3. The Black Death, Tragedy, and Transformation Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. Part 2: A World in Motion 4. The Manufacture and Movement of Goods Joanne M. Ferraro 5. Cities, Towns, and New Forms of Culture Alexander Cowan 6. European Expansion and a New Order of Knowledge Francisco Bethencourt 7. The Invention of Europe John A. Marino 8. Humanity Anthony Grafton Part 3: The Movement of Ideas 9. The Circulation of Knowledge Peter Burke 10. Virgil and Homer in Poland Michael Tworek 11. Montaigne in Italy François Rigolot 12. "Shared Studies Foster Friendship:" Humanism and History in Spain Katherine Elliot van Liere 13. Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas More: Parallel Lives David Harris Sacks Part 4: The Circulation of Power 14. Courts, Art, and Power Malcolm Vale 15. An Imperial Renaissance Thomas Dandelet 16. Renaissance Triumphalism in Art Randolph Starn 17. The Ottoman Empire Daniel Goffman 18. Religious Authority and Ecclesiastical Governance Constantin Fasolt 19. Mothers and Children Caroline Castiglione 20. The Renaissance Goes Up in Smoke Robert C. Davis Part 5: Making Identities 21. Human Exceptionalism Kenneth Gouwens 22. Worthy of Faith? Authors and Readers in Early Modernity Albert Russell Ascoli 23. The Renaissance Portrait: From Resemblance to Representation Bronwen Wilson 24. Objects and Identity: Antonio de’Medici and the Casino at San Marco in Florence Jacqueline Marie Musacchio 25. Food: Pietro Aretino and the Art of Conspicuous Consumption Douglas Biow 26. Shakespeare’s Dream of Retirement David Bevington Part 6: Beliefs and Reforms 27.Speaking Books, Moving Images Meredith J. Gill 28. Religious Minorities N. S. Davidson 29. Humanism and the Dream of Christian Unity Susan R. Boettcher 30. Christian Reform and its Discontents Brad S. Gregory 31. A Tale of Two Tribunals David Gentilcore 32. Christianity in Sixteenth-Century Brazil Alida C. Metcalf 33. Toward a Sacramental Poetics Regina Mara Schwartz Part 7: A New Order of Knowledge 34. The Sun at the Center of the World Paula Findlen
Biography
John Jeffries Martin is Professor of History at Duke University, North Carolina. He is editor of The Renaissance: Italy and Abroad.
