Preface

In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Italian scholar and poet Petrarch looked at his world with fresh and critical eyes and had new ideas. In place of medieval values and methods of learning, he looked back to the literature and philosophy of the ancient world for inspiration and advice on how to live. By the time of his death in 1374, other Europeans had begun to share his vision. By about 1400 a group of Italians, scholars as well as men and women from many walks of life, had created a new intellectual movement called humanism that combined ethics, rhetoric, and education. Their ideas began to transform Italian and European civilization.

The intellectual, artistic, political, and social initiatives that began in Italy about 1350 spread to the rest of Europe and to the wider world over the next three centuries. The men and women of those times believed that they were giving birth to a new age. They called it a Renaissance because they saw their era as a rebirth of the best of the ancient world and as a departure from the world of the Middle Ages. By the late fifteenth century, their actions, concerns, writings, and artistry had spread to the rest of Europe. In the sixteenth century few doubted that a new age had dawned. The changes affected every area of life and knowledge, from art to zoology, from commerce to science. The Renaissance was one of the most innovative periods in the history of mankind. It transformed Europe and then the rest of the world, even into the twenty-first century.

The influence of the Renaissance is still remarkably strong. Everyone recognizes the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Students at many levels read the plays of Shakespeare, which have probably been performed more frequently than those of any other playwright in history. His Romeo and Juliet has been retold so many times in prose and poetry, screen and music, that everyone knows the tragic story. At the other extreme, the word "Machiavellian still refers to the use of deceit to reach political goals and the notion that the end justifies the means, even though Niccolò Machiavelli set down these ideas nearly five hundred years ago. In addition, the writers and artists of the Renaissance have inspired authors, artists, and musicians in every century."

In 1999 Charles Scribner's Sons, in collaboration with the Renaissance Society of America, produced the six-volume Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (ER), with Paul F. Grendler as editor in chief. It was the first comprehensive encyclopedia in any language devoted to the Renaissance. Librarians and scholars hailed it as the essential reference work on this period. It received the Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association, the Roland H. Bainton Reference Prize of the Society for Sixteenth Century Studies, and many other honors.

Now Charles Scribner's Sons presents The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students, a condensed version of ER written especially for students. Like ER, it covers people and events beginning in Italy about 1350, then broadens geographically to embrace the rest of Europe in the middle to late fifteenth century. The coverage ends around 1620, when Europe once again moved into a new age with different values and events. Between these dates the encyclopedia discusses important political events, concepts, ideas, works of art and literature, and scientific achievements across Europe. It incorporates the most recent scholarship on these subjects. In particular, it addresses the three most important developments in the study of the Renaissance in the second half of the twentieth century: the numerous studies of humanism throughout Europe, the increased concentration on the social history of the Renaissance, and the study of the many roles of women. The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students provides comprehensive discussions of all aspects of the European Renaissance. Coverage of the rest of the world is limited to how Europeans influenced other continents, and discussion of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations is limited to the way they affected the Renaissance and vice versa.

The work contains 461 entries organized alphabetically. These discuss the important themes, events, ideas, and individuals of the Renaissance on a level suitable for a young audience. Each page consists of a major column containing the article text plus a minor column. The latter contains many special features designed for students: entry titles, brief definitions of unfamiliar terms, small illustrations, lists of rulers, and sidebars that expand the main text. Cross-references appear at the end of articles. The encyclopedia also contains 60 color plates, which are organized into four visual essays that illustrate various aspects of Renaissance society: "Art and Architecture," "Daily Life," "The Renaissance City, and" New Frontiers."

More than 160 black-and-white illustrations of people, places, artifacts, and events enhance the text. The work also contains 18 maps and 5 genealogical charts. A chronology of the most important events of the Renaissance can be found at the beginning of each volume.

Many talented people made this work possible. Frank Menchaca, publisher of Charles Scribner's Sons, launched The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. John Fitzpatrick oversaw the project from the vantage point of Scribner's. The staff at Visual Education Corporation did the essential work of organizing the table of contents, rewriting the articles, and editing the volumes. Darryl Kestler and Amy Livingston managed the project, assisted in the editorial work by Tobey Cloyd, Cindy George, and Sarah Miller. The work is the product of all these able and dedicated people.

It is our hope that The Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students will encourage students everywhere to appreciate, understand, and learn more about a fascinating part of our past.