Denys Hay is one of the best known British historians of the Renaissance. His work is marked by a judicious and readable style, an equal interest in the affairs of England and Italy, and an ability to hold in balance the claims of political and cultural history. This collection brings together the important part of Professor Hay's work that has appeared as essays and represents all his major interests.

Originally published in 1953 From Roman Empire to Renaissance Europe looks at the broader picture of the Middle Ages, drawn in terms of the men and women and the situations that they had to face. The constant theme of change is revealed not by detailed narrative of elements but by commentary and examples that show how ideas and systems developed, and how theses affected the patterns of everyday life. The book looks at how the Roman Empire of the West gave way to a decentralized society, vigorous, brutal and inventive for which the only unifying factor was a universal acceptance of Latin Christianity. In turn Christendom began to lose its coherence during the 13th and 14th centuries and by the fifteenth century Europe had emerged as a rival term, a Europe in which the landed magnates had capitulated to the omnipotent and ubiquitous prince, commerce, as well as land now being a source of wealth. This is not a static picture of the 'Middle Ages' with fixed characteristics, but of real men and women facing genuine situations.

In his book, Denys Hay analyses the structure of later medieval society in Europe, identifying its main groups and their political programmes, and examining their impact on the political, economic and social history of the major European states. Key themes explored in it also include the secular and religious roles of the Church; the early Renaissance in Italy and its influence beyond the Alps; and the cohesive effects of inter-European commerce. Professor Hay has revised his text throughout to take account of a whole generation of new scholarship since the original version appeared. There are many additions and expansions; the extensive bibliographies have been entirely reworked and updated; and the important chapter on the Central Monarchies (of Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Rumania and Lithuania) has been newly contributed by Professor J. M. Bak of the University of British Columbia at Vancouver.

The second edition of this highly successful textbook analyses the structure of later medieval society in Europe, identifies its main groups and their political programmes, and examines their impact on the political, economic and social history of the major European states. There are many additions and expansions in this new edition, and the important chapter on the Central Monarchies (of Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Rumania and Lithuania) has been newly contributed by Professor J M Bak of the University of British Columbia.

Originally published in 1953 From Roman Empire to Renaissance Europe looks at the broader picture of the Middle Ages, drawn in terms of the men and women and the situations that they had to face. The constant theme of change is revealed not by detailed narrative of elements but by commentary and examples that show how ideas and systems developed, and how theses affected the patterns of everyday life. The book looks at how the Roman Empire of the West gave way to a decentralized society, vigorous, brutal and inventive for which the only unifying factor was a universal acceptance of Latin Christianity. In turn Christendom began to lose its coherence during the 13th and 14th centuries and by the fifteenth century Europe had emerged as a rival term, a Europe in which the landed magnates had capitulated to the omnipotent and ubiquitous prince, commerce, as well as land now being a source of wealth. This is not a static picture of the 'Middle Ages' with fixed characteristics, but of real men and women facing genuine situations.

This book, originally published in 1977, is a survey of European historiography from its origins in the historians of Greece and Rome, through the annalists and chroniclers of the middle ages, to the historians of the late eighteenth century. The author concentrates on those writers whose works fit into a specific category of writing, or who have inlfuence the course of later historical writing, though he does deal with some of the more specialist forms of medieval historiography such as the crusading writers, and chivalrous historians like Froissart. He maintains that 'modern' history did not develop until the 18th Century.

The century before the Reformation in Italy has generally been treated with either neglect or recrimination. Protestants tended to see the Church becoming ever more corrupt; Roman Catholics assumed that it was ‘paganised’ by the Renaissance. Indisputably it was becoming more Italian in its leadership. This book attempts a dispassionate survey of the popes and the clergy of the peninsula during the hundred years prior to Luther and the Sack of Rome. There is no book in Italian (or in any other language) which tries to describe what the Italian clergy and their parishioners were like at this time. The resulting picture will perhaps offend traditionalists; it will give no comfort to ‘modernists’. It aims to be about ‘life as it was lived’. There are many saints and sinners, and if there are more of the latter, there always are in history books, for that is how the historian invariably finds his material.

A second edition of a well-established work, revised in the light of recent scholarship. Final chapter on the Renaissance in the north has been rewritten and expanded.

This lively, first-hand narrative of the turning-point in the affairs of the Council of Basle was written by Aeneas Sylvius (later Pope Pius II) during his unregenerate conciliar period. It provides us with an important contemporary account of the personalities and principles involved in the election of the anti-pope Felix V. Originally published in 1967, this volume offers the first critical edition and English translation of this work. Unavailable in recent years, it has now been revised by Denys Hay and reissued by the Oxford University Press.

This book, originally published in 1977, is a survey of European historiography from its origins in the historians of Greece and Rome, through the annalists and chroniclers of the middle ages, to the historians of the late eighteenth century. The author concentrates on those writers whose works fit into a specific category of writing, or who have inlfuence the course of later historical writing, though he does deal with some of the more specialist forms of medieval historiography such as the crusading writers, and chivalrous historians like Froissart. He maintains that 'modern' history did not develop until the 18th Century.