Peter N. Herdon
A. Useful Texts
Beers, Burton F.,
World History
.
Patterns of Civilization
. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: PrenticeHall, Inc., 1984.
Textbook used in the New Haven high schools in the Western Civilization course.
Strayer, Joseph R. and Hans W. Gatzke,
The Mainstream of Civilization
. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1984.
Excellent collegelevel text; adaptable for use in high schools. Chapters on Renaissance (sixteen) and Reformation (seventeen) have appropriate primary source quotations and brief biographies of famous men of the period. Very helpful in preparing this unit.
Walker, Williston,
A History of the Christian Church
. New York: Charles Scribner’s and Sons, 1959.
Of particular value in understanding the Chritian humanist thinkers such as Erasmus. Valuable history of the causes of and events surrounding the Reformation.
B. General References
Bainton, Roland H.,
Here I Stand. A Life of Martin Luther
. New York: Abingdon Press, 1950.
Highly recommended for student and teacher alike. Accurate, balanced and readable account with excellent illustrations and woodcuts. Especially valuable for the details of the “tract and pamphlet war” waged between Luther and his detractors. Full of usable quotations.
____________.
Studies the Reformation
. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963.
A collection of brief articles by a foremost Luther scholar. Not directly quoted in this unit.
Clark, Kenneth,
Civilization. A Personal View
. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1961.
Excellent general work. Chapters four through seven are rich with color plates with helpful commentary on artists, architects and their work.
Dolan, John B., ed.,
The Essential Erasmus
.
On Mending the Peace of the Church
. New York MentorOmega Books, 1964.
Contains an excellent introduction and a sixpage life of this scholarly Christian humanist. Articles by Erasmus include, “The Handbook of the Militant Christian,” “The Praise of Folly, and “On Mending the Peace of the Church.”
Gadol, Joan.
Leon Battista Alberti. Universal Man of the Early Renaissance
. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969.
Scholarly study of the versatile Alberti; welldocumented and filled with fascinating diagrams, photographs and illustrations. Somewhat technical, but helpful in following the development of this “universal man” in his artistic and humanistic thought.
Gentles, Frederick and Melvin Steinfield,
Hangups From Way Back. Historical Myths and Canons
, Volume 1. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1970.
Chapter nine, “Individualism in Renaissance Italy,” contains several vignettes and quotations by Cellini, Alberti, Michelangelo and others quoted in this paper.
Gilmore, Myron P.,
The World of Humanism, 14531517
. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1952.
General history, written textbookstyle, containing good discussions of the Renaissance papacy and the effects of humanistic thought both in Italy and in the North. Illustrated, with forty pages of anotated bibliography.
Gundersheimer, Werner L., ed.,
The Italian Renaissance
. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: PrenticeHall, Inc., 1965
Essential primary source collection of representative works by Salutati, Pico Della Mirandola, Machiavelli, Castiglione and others, with helpful bibliography.
Hyma, Albert,
Erasmus and the Humanists
. New York: F. S. Crofts and Company, 1930.
Collection of four of Erasmus’ more familiar essays. Erasmus is presented as an heroic individual with his serious as well as satirical side.
Janson, H. W., with Dara Jane Jans on,
History of Art. A Survey of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present Day
. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: PrenticeHall, Inc., 1968.
Janson’s book is essential to any library including art of the Western world. Useful in understanding artistic works cited in this paper.
Olin, John C., ed.,
Christian Humanism and the Reformation. Selected Writings of Erasmus
. New York: Fordham University Press, 1975.
Contains an autobiographical sketch by Erasmus and two evaluations of the man and his work, one by a friend and colleague, Beatus Rhenanus.
__________, James D. Smart and Robert E. McNally, S.J., eds.,
Luther, Erasmus and the Reformation. A Catholic-Protestant Reappraisal
. New York: Fordham University Press, 1969.
Stimulating collection of eight essays viewing Luther and the age in which he lived. Bainton’s article “The Problem of Authority in the Age of the Reformation” was particularly worthwhile in the preparation of this unit as were several others.
Panofsky, Erwin,
The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer
. Princeton: The Princeton University Press, 1955.
Contains over 300 reproductions of Durer’s works and assesses his impact on the Renaissance and the Reformation.
Rukwert, Joseph, ed.,
Ten Books on Architecture by Leone Battista Alberti
. London: Alec Tiranti Ltd., 1955.
Translation of Alberti’s work; includes more than forty pages of drawings and diagrams by Alberti. Also includes an interesting tribute to Alberti by Raphael du Fresne, a contemporary admirer of this great man of the Renaissance.
Simon, Edith,
Luther Alive. Martin Luther and the Making of the Reformation
. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1968.
Scholarly but readable book which treats Luther in a balanced and engaging human way within the framework of events which led to the schism in the Western Christian Church.
Spitz, Lewis W., ed.,
The Reformation: Material or Spiritual?
Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1962.
Stimulating articles by ten historians who debate economic, social and political implications and interpretations surrounding the events of the Reformation. Contains an excellent anotated bibliography.