This is a selection of Renaissance primary sources across a wide range of disciplines, including the impact of humanism, court patronage, poetry and drama in Britain, and science, magic and witchcraft. Each extract is introduced by a brief note describing the author and source.



The Renaissance, as both a period and a concept, continues to generate lively debate about its origins and influence on European culture and thought. Recent research has emphasized the need to look again at original texts, documents, and artifacts. Any new evaluation of the historical significance of the Renaissance requires attention to these kinds of primary evidence. This anthology responds to the impetus with an important collection of primary sources, selected to reflect the richness and wide variety of Renaissance studies.

The original texts are arranged thematically, and each is introduced by a brief headnote describing the author and the source. Sections of the volume are devoted to humanism and its impact on music, philosophy, and politics; Renaissance court culture; poetry and drama in Renaissance Britain; the Reformation; and science, magic, and witchcraft. Some of the texts are short and familiar, others—such as an early sixteenth-century demonology by Italian humanist Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola—appear here in translation for the first time. The anthology is illustrated throughout.