Robert Black, ed., Renaissance Thought: A Reader (London:
Routledge, 2001), xii + 310pp, ISBN 041520593X
This collection gathers extracts from eighteen key studies of Renaissance
humanism, scholarship, and philosophy. The authors of these studies
include Ernst Gombrich, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Nicolai Rubinstein, Felix
Gilbert, Alison Brown, and Anthony Grafton.
In a stimulating
introduction, Robert Black makes clear the focus of the collection: 'The
scope of the Renaissance has been limited here to the disciplines of
learning, or arts, which were explicitly thought by contemporaries in the
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to have been undergoing a
process of reinvigoration; among these particular attention has been
concentrated on the areas of classical learning, political thought, and
philosophy.’ Black is also clear on what has been excluded: ‘Little
attempt has been made to link this revival, in the Burckhardtian manner,
to social history. Many recent preoccupations with diverse aspects of
social life in Italy from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century (marriage,
birth, child-rearing, social and religious rituals, sexuality and so on) may
be interesting in themselves and may be legitimate topics for historical
research but they have no intrinsic connection with the Renaissance.’
The collection is divided into five sections. Part One considers the
definition of Renaissance and of humanism. Part Two discusses
Renaissance scholarship and learning. Part Three analyses political
thought and ‘civic humanism’. Part Four focuses on Renaissance
philosophy. Part Five examines the spread of humanism. Unfortunately,
due to publishing limitations, the studies have had to be truncated and
they appear without their original notes and appendices. However, Black
adds his own notes wherever necessary. As he points out, the original
and full versions of the studies can be found in most university libraries.
The collection should perhaps be seen primarily as a teaching resource.
In this it succeeds admirably. Indeed it is hard to think of a better
introduction to recent scholarship on Renaissance thought and as such it
should be required reading for all students of the Renaissance.
Jonathan Davies
University of Warwick