Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers the first synthetic interpretation of the humanist movement in Renaissance Florence in more than fifty years. Brian Jeffrey Maxson shows how this network of humanists enabled the launch of a cultural movement that established Florence as the pre-eminent center of learning in Italy, and that spread beyond Italy to the rest of Europe.
Trade Review'A compelling and challenging synthesis of intellectual, social and quantitative history.' History Today
'In recent years, a number of scholars have belittled or denied the importance of Italian Renaissance humanism. This excellent book sets the record straight. Using an array of archival, manuscript, printed, and secondary sources, Maxson demonstrates that the humanist movement in Florence had an early impact (1420s), included many more individuals than previously thought, and played a major role in Florentine government and society in the fifteenth century. Summing up: highly recommended.' P. Grendler, Choice
Table of ContentsIntroduction. A social conception of the humanist movement; 1. Learned connections and the humanist movement; 2. Literary and social humanists; 3. The social origins of the Florentine humanists; 4. The humanist demands of ritual; 5. Civic failure of the literary humanists or literary failure of the civic humanists?; 6. The rise of the social humanists, 1400–55; 7. Humanism as a means to social status, 1456–85.
