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University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 5

The Renaissance

John W. Boyer and Julius Kirshner, General Editors
The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization (nine volumes) makes available to students and teachers a unique selection of primary documents, many in new translations. These readings, prepared for the highly praised Western civilization sequence at the University of Chicago, were chosen by an outstanding group of scholars whose experience teaching that course spans almost four decades. Each volume includes rarely anthologized selections as well as standard, more familiar texts; a bibliography of recommended parallel readings; and introductions providing background for the selections. Beginning with Periclean Athens and concluding with twentieth-century Europe, these source materials enable teachers and students to explore a variety of critical approaches to important events and themes in Western history.

Individual volumes provide essential background reading for courses covering specific eras and periods. The complete nine-volume series is ideal for general courses in history and Western civilization sequences.

The table of contents for all nine volumes in the RWC series.


444 pages | 6 x 9 | © 1986

Readings in Western Civilization

History: European History

Table of Contents

In Memoriam
Series Editor’s Foreword

General Introduction and Select Bibliography

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
1. Bartolus of Sassoferrato, On the Tyrant
2. Francesco Petrarca, Letters on Familiar Matters
3. Francesco Petrarca, Secretum: Second Dialogue
4. Giovanni Dondi dall’Orologio, Letter to Fra Guglielmo Centueri da Cremona


The Social and Economic Structure of Early Renaissance Italy

5. Leon Battista Alberti, On the Family
6. Alessandra Macinghi negli Strozzi, Letter to Filippo degli Strozzi
7. Bernardino da Siena, Sermons: "On the Vanity of the World and Especially of Women"
and "On Usury"


Humanist Culture and Problems of Politcal Order in Renaissance Florence

8. Leonardo Bruni, On the Constitution of the Florentines
9. Luca Landucci, Florentine Diary
10. Bartomomeo Scala, Dialogue on Laws and Judgments
11. Niccolò Machiavelli, Letters
12. Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius
13. Scipione Ammirato, The Florentine Histories
14. Giovanni Botero, The Reason of the State


Arts and Letters

15. Giorgio Vasari, Life of Michelangelo
16. Jacopo Pontormo, Letter to Benedetto Varchi
17. Marguérite de Navarre, The Heptameron
18. Montaigne, Essays: "Of Cannibals" and "Of Books"
19. Vincenzo Galilei, Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music


The Religious Reformation

20. Martin Luther, Letter to Pope Leo X
21. The Twelve Articles and Admonition to Peace
22. Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
23. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
24. The Council of Trent: Bull of Convocation and Canons and Decrees, Sessions 4 and 6
25. A Reformation City: The Diary of Giambattista Casale

Index of Names

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