As part of a unique series covering the grand sweep of Western
civilization from ancient to present times, this biographical
dictionary provides introductory information on 315 leading
cultural figures of late medieval and early modern Europe. Taking a
cultural approach not typically found in general biographical
dictionaries, the work includes literary, philosophical, artistic,
military, religious, humanistic, musical, economic, and exploratory
figures. Political figures are included only if they patronized the
arts, and coverage focuses on their cultural impact. Figures from
western European countries, such as Italy, France, England, Iberia,
the Low Countries, and the Holy Roman Empire predominate, but
outlying areas such as Scotland, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe
are also represented.
Late medieval Europe was an age of crisis. With the Papacy
removed to Avignon, the schism in the Catholic Church shook the
very core of medieval belief. The Hundred Years' War devastated
France. The Black Death decimated the population. Yet out of this
crisis grew an age of renewal, leading to the Renaissance. The
great Italian city-states developed. Humanism reawakened interest
in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. Dante and Boccaccio
began writing in their Tuscan vernacular. Italian artists became
humanists and flourished. As the genius of Italy began spreading to
northern and western Europe at the end of the 15th century, the age
of renewal was completed. This book provides thorough basic
information on the major cultural figures of this tumultuous era of
crisis and renewal.
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