Book Description
5th in the Civilization series - A word painting of the Italian Renaissance, a magnificent cultural flowering.
V. The Renaissance (1953)
This volume covers the Renaissance.
1. Prelude: 1300-77
The Age of Petrarch and Boccaccio: 1304-75
The Popes in Avignon: 1309-77
"Venetian merchants invaded every market from Jerusalem to Antwerp; they traded impartially with Christians and Mohammedans, and papal excommunications fell upon them with all the force of dew upon the earth." (p.39)
2. The Florentine Renaissance: 1378-1534
The Rise of the Medici: 1378-1464
The Golden Age: 1464-92
Savonarola and the Republic: 1492-1534
"But it took more than a revival of antiquity to make the Renaissance. And first of all it took money-smelly bourgeois money: ... of careful calculations, investments and loans, of interest and dividends accumulated until surplus could be spared from the pleasures of the flesh, from the purchase of senates, signories, and mistresses, to pay a Michaelangelo or a Titian to transmute wealth into beauty, and perfume a fortune with the breath of art. Money is the root of all civilization." (p.67-68)
3. Italian Pageant: 1378-1534
Milan
Leonardo da Vinci
Tuscany and Umbria
Mantua
Ferrara
Venice and Her Realm
Emilia and the Marches
The Kingdom of Naples
"He was not handsome; like most great men, he was spared this distracting handicap." (p.185)
4. The Roman Renaissance: 1378-1521
The Crisis in the Church: 1378-1521
The Renaissance Captures Rome: 1447-92
The Borgias
Julius II: 1503-13
Leo X: 1513-21
5. Debacle
The Intellectual Revolt
The Moral Release
The Political Collapse: 1494-1534
6. Finale: 1534-76
Sunset in Venice
The Waning of The Renaissance
7. Envoi
About the author
William James Durant (November 5, 1885 November 7, 1981) was an American philosopher, historian, and writer. He is best known for his authorship and co-authorship with his wife Ariel Durant of The Story of Civilization.
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