Medieval Aspects of Renaissance Learning

Fülszöveg

This book consists of three essays, two of which have not previously appeared in English. All of them have been revised and brought up to date. Without the intention of challenging conventional or current notions of the Renaissance, the essays call attention to significant features that the period inherits from the Middle Ages and transforms according to its own style.
The first essay argues that the literary use of scholastic and humanistic Latin and of the vernacular reflects not so much a basic attitude in the authors using these languages but rather different layers of the reading public that the writers wanted to address. The essay on Thomism tries to show that this medieval school of philosophy and theology exercised a significant, though by no means predominant influence during the Renaissance period. The essay draws on a number of texts and documents and emphasizes especially two interesting works that had been previously unknown; an invective against Thomism by the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

This book consists of three essays, two of which have not previously appeared in English. All of them have been revised and brought up to date. Without the intention of challenging conventional or current notions of the Renaissance, the essays call attention to significant features that the period inherits from the Middle Ages and transforms according to its own style.
The first essay argues that the literary use of scholastic and humanistic Latin and of the vernacular reflects not so much a basic attitude in the authors using these languages but rather different layers of the reading public that the writers wanted to address. The essay on Thomism tries to show that this medieval school of philosophy and theology exercised a significant, though by no means predominant influence during the Renaissance period. The essay draws on a number of texts and documents and emphasizes especially two interesting works that had been previously unknown; an invective against Thomism by the Blessed Baptista of Mantua of the Carmelite order, and a critique of the Platonist Ficino by the Thomist Vincenzo Bandello. The third essay shows that while the learning of the Renaissance was on the whole more secular than that of the Middle Ages, the religious orders had a much stronger share in this learning than is usually realized. The essay is followed by an appendix which cites many little known authors and their writings and refers to many rare bibliographical sources and to manuscripts and should increase the value of the book as a reference tool.
Students of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance should find the essays useful in clarifying their general notions and in adding a certain amount of fresh information otherwise not easily available. Vissza