ABSTRACT
Few words are more apt to rouse historical passions than the word Renaissance. At one time all art and literature, politics and international affairs, religion and morals, economics and philosophy and history were regarded as coming to the end of their medieval forms about 1500 and as turning out different and new under the influence of the Renaissance. The basis of the revival was a movement in education to which the name humanism is commonly given. It has been explained that humanism was not the coming of light after darkness; it was a break with the over-formal, over-abstracted dialectics of the later middle age. The Tudor age delighted in colour and lavish display, as any portrait of—say—Henry VIII or Elizabeth makes plain. The lively brashness of an exuberant time often fell short of good taste, but its brightness and richness—even its bizarre touches—are signs of sprouting life.
