Renaissance: The Transformation of the West

Learning how the Renaissance pioneers a new way of thinking about history itself; exploring who, exactly, the typical Renaissance man is; getting answers to the questions about the Renaissance's powerful fusion of classical and medieval worldviews.

Considering how the key contexts and values of the European Renaissance set the stage for a new era of questions; the two chief examples to chart the origins of the European Renaissance are the Black Death and the letters of Petrarch.

The Renaissance first blooms in Italy; the politics and economics of medieval Italian states; the legacies of antiquity gain traction throughout the peninsula; the influence of trade revivals, a dynamic social order and the profits from holy wars.

Focusing on humanism, one of the most challenging foundational concepts of the Renaissance; how and why education undergoes its extreme makeover; exploring the fields that dominate this new way of learning; humanist schools and schoolmasters.

How Florence becomes synonymous with the Italian Renaissance; exploring the complex political journey of this "most noble" of cities, from model republic to six decades of domination by the iconic Medici family, and back again.

Diving into the history and legacy of Venice during the period of the Renaissance, when the city prospers without land; how Venice is shaped by its merchant elite; how it joins the ranks of Italian city-states; how Venice experiences humanism.