Renaissance Humanism: An Anthology of Sources

Abstract

Antiquity reborn. Introduction ; Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch): Letter to Cicero (1345), Letter to Homer (1360) ; Giovanni Boccaccio: Genealogy of the pagan gods, Book XIV (1360/1374) ; Pier Paolo Vergerio: On liberal studies and the moral education of the free-born youth (c. 1402/1403) ; Poggio Bracciolini and Cencio Romano, book hunters : Poggio Bracciolini, Letter to Guarino Veronese (1416); Cencio Romano, Letter to Francesco da Fiano (1416) -- Explorations of the self. Introduction ; Petrarch: To posterity (1351/1372) ; Giannozzo Manetti: On the dignity and excellence of man (1452/1453) ; Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the dignity of man (1486) ; Michel de Montaigne: To the reader (1580) and Of experience (1587-1588) -- The civic experience. Introduction ; Leonardo Bruni: In praise of the city of Florence (1404) ; Francesco Barbaro: On marriage (1415) ; Alamanno Rinuccini: On liberty (1479) ; Juan Luis Vives: On assistance to the poor (1526) -- A world in crisis. Introduction ; Lauro Quirini: Letter to Pope Nicholas V, on the fall of Constantinople (1453) ; Angelo Poliziano: Account of the Pazzi conspiracy (1478) ; Luigi Guicciardini: The sack of Rome (1527) ; Olympia Fulvia Morata: Letters (1551-1555) -- Machiavelli, Erasmus, and More: visions of the state. Introduction ; Niccolo Machiavelli: The prince (1513) ; Desiderius Erasmus: On the education of a Christian prince (1516) ; Thomas More: Utopia (1516) -- Humanism and the arts. Introduction ; Leon Battista Alberti: On painting (1435) ; Isabella d'Este: Letters on painters and painting (1497-1506) ; Albrecht Durer: Letters to Willibald Pirckheimer (1506) ; Benvenuto Cellini: Autobiography, Book II (1558/1566) -- Humanism and religion. Introduction ; Lorenzo Valla: On the donation of Constantine (1440) ; Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples: Exhortatory letter on translating the Gospels into French (1523) ; Bernardino Ochino: Dialogue about the thief on the cross (1540) ; Gasparo Contarini et alii: Report on the reform of the church (1537) -- Humanism, science, and philosophy. Introduction ; Marsilio Ficino: Letters (1473/1474) ; Nicholas Copernicus: Preface to On the revolutions of the celestial spheres (1543) ; Galileo Galilei: Letter to the grand duchess Christina (1615) ; Rene Descartes: Discourse on method (1637) -- Women and humanism. Introduction ; Isotta Nogarola: Dialogue on the equal or unequal sin of Adam and Eve (1451) ; Laura Cereta: Letters to Bibolo Semproni (1488) and Lucilia Vernacula (1487) ; Cassandra Fedele: Oration in praise of letters (c. 1487) ; Marie Le Jars de Gournay: The equality of men and women (1622) -- Other worlds. Introduction ; Amerigo Vespucci: New world, letter to Lorenzo de Pierfrancesco de' Medici (1502/1503) ; Garcilaso de la Vega, "El Inca": Royal commentaries of the Incas (1609-1617) ; Saint Francis Xavier: Letter to his companions in Europe (1552) ; Luis Vas de Camoes: The Lusiads (1572).