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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Renaissance
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A notoriously elusive concept relating to western Europe in the 14–16C. In 14C Italy there was renewed interest in ancient Latin literature and this was followed, from around 1400, by a similar interest in Roman art and architecture. From these beginnings there developed humanism, an attitude giving man a central place in the attention of scholars, who had previously been more concerned with God.
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In the optimistic 18C this emergence from the Middle Ages was seen as the greatest single step in mankind's progress towards higher civilization. But in the 20C a certain loss of confidence in man's perfectibility, combined with greater understanding of the Middle Ages, has dealt this simple view of the Renaissance a mortal blow. Nevertheless the emergence of humanism remains a demonstrable fact, and with it came certain changes in literature, art and architecture.
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These changes came late in Britain. There were some early patrons of the new learning, such as Duke Humfrey of Gloucester (1390–1447) whose library went to the Bodleian at *Oxford, but it was not till the 16C, with the emergence of men such as Thomas *More, that humanism was clearly established. By then strong Tudor rule provided a setting in which the arts of the Renaissance could flourish. The people who look out of portraits by *Holbein are men and women of the Renaissance. So were *Spenser and *Sidney. So too were the patrons who commissioned the great houses such as *Longleat, *Wollaton, *Montacute or *Hardwick, in which elaborate symmetrical architecture emphasizes the owner's status.
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