Renaissance
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Renaissance. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a name given to the. great intellectual movement which marks Middle Ages to the transition from the the modern world. It was a change in attitude of mind and ideal of life, in philosophy, art, literary criticism, political and religious thought. Substantially a revolt against the dogmatism of the Middle Ages, the new spirit claimed the entire liberation of reason, aimed at a complete rehabilitation of the human spirit with all the free activities and arts and graces which invested the classical age. Zeal for the Litteræ Humaniores brought forth a new ideal of culture, and the new view of life for which the name of Humanism is frequently used. Renaissance, rebirth, was originally used as synonymous with the Revival of Letters, the revived study in a new spirit of the classical languages and classical literatures of Greece and Rome. The new spirit powerfully aided in weakening the power of the papacy, in the establishment of Protestantism and the right of free inquiry. Under its impulse astronomy was eventually reformed by Copernicus and Galileo, and science started on its modern unfettered career; by it, too, feudalism, which had been weakened by the communal movements of the Middle Ages, was abolished, and the demand for political po liberty was advanced. National languages began to flourish. To the same general impulse belonged also the invention of printing and multiplication of books, new methods of paper making, the use of the mariner's compass, the discovery of America, and the exploration of the Indian Sea. The fall of the Eastern empire in 1453 sent Greek scholars to promote the revival of scholarship already in progress in western Europe. No definite date can be given for the beginning of the Renais- In its main elements the movesance. ment originated in Italy toward the end of the 14th century, and, attaining its full development there in the earlier half of the 16th the Renaissance communicated itself throughout the whole of the rest of Europe; France, Germany, England, and other countries participating later in the movement. The culmination of the Renaissance in Italy may be regarded as having fallen within the half century 1456-1500; and its close for the land of its birth may be fixed at the sack of Rome in 1527 by the Constable de Bourbon, followed by the transference of Humanism in its later developments to France, England, and the rest of Europe. In Germany the change was as marked as in Italy, but the Humanism of Germany and the Low Countries was very different in spirit from that of Italy. Not less tinged by a revived love for ancient learning, it was never divorced from morality nor hostile to Christianity; and its most important direct outcome was the Reformation. Biblical and Oriental studies were strenuously cultivated. Among the noted leaders were Erasmus, Melanchthon, Reuchlin, and Von Hutten. In the Netherlands and Flanders the new school of painting was a notable development. In France the movement had rich results in art and letters. Villon, Marot, Ronsard, but above all Rabelais are types of the French Renaissance in pure literature; while within the sphere of scholarship and religious reform are Scaligers, Dolet, Muretus us, Cujacius, Salmasius, , Casaubon, Beza, Calvin. In England, Wyclif and Chaucer may be regarded as the forerunners of the Reformation and the Renaissance; but the main streams of both these movements reached England contemporaneously. In scholarship the great names are Grocyn, Linacre, Colet, Ascham, and More; but the fullest English outcome of the Renaissance was the glorious Elizabethan literature, with Spenser and Shakespeare, and in philosophy Bacon, as its most noted representatives.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) re-nas'sans, in history, an intellectual awakening that began about 1350. The term is from the Latin, meaning a rebirth. Owing to the inroads of the barbarians the customs of the Greeks and Romans had been overthrown and their learning lost. After western Europe settled down gradually to regular methods of life a desire for scholarship arose. The Crusades prepared the way. The new desire for learning showed itself in the republican cities of northern Italy first. Venice and Florence were leaders. Manuscript copies of the Greek authors that lain neglected in monasteries for centuries were brought out and copied diligently. The Greek models of architecture and sculpture were studied. The universities at Bologna, Paris, and Oxford were thronged with students. The great buildings and cathedrals of western Europe resulted from this movement. Even the discovery of America was a part of the general intellectual awakening.