Authors and Works 28/46

My Secret

Author: Petrarch

Description: Petrarch reflects on his inner moral struggles

Significance: Shows early Renaissance humanism and self-examination

The Decameron

Author: Boccaccio

Description: Collection of stories told by young people sheltering from the Black Death

Significance: Reflects early human nature and everyday life during the early Renaissance

Divine Comedy

Author: Dante

Description: Dante’s journeys through hell, purgatory, and heaven guided by Virgil and Beatrice

Significance: Blends Christian theology with classical ideas and showed the medieval worldview

Book of the Courtier

Author: Castiglione

Description: Describes the ideal courtier’s behavior

Significance: Defines Renaissance ideas of education, balance, and refined character

Canterbury Tales

Author: Chaucer

Description: Group of pilgrims tell stories wiggle traveling to Canterbury

Significance: Portrays medieval society and human behavior through diverse voices

Oration of the Dignity of Man

Author: Mirandola

Description: Argued that humans have free will to shape their own nature

Significance: Expresses Renaissance humanism and human potential

Lives of the Artists

Author: Vasari

Description: Collection of biographies from famous Renaissance artists

Significance: Helped shape art history and celebrate artist’s works

Gargantua

Author: Rabelais

Description: Satirical novel about the giant Gargantua and his life

Significance: Used humor to criticize medieval education and promote humanism

Pantagruel

Author: Rabelais

Description: Satirical story about the giant Pantagruel and his adventures

Significance: Continues Rabelais’ humanist critique of society

Utopia

Author: Thomas More

Description: Describes an ideal society

Significance: Explores Renaissance ideas about government and justice

In Praise of Folly

Author: Erasmus

Description: Satirical work where Folly praises herself

Significance: Criticizes corruption and promotes humanist reform

95 Theses

Author: Martin Luther

Description: Martin Luther described 95 things wrong with the Catholic Church

Significance: Began the Protestant reformation

Address to the Christian Noblity

Author: Martin Luther

Description: Calls on Christian rulers to reform the corrupt Catholic Church

Significance: Helped launch the Protestant Reformation by challenging papal authority

Institutes of Christian Religion

Author: Calvin

Description: Systematic explanation of Protestant Christian Beliefs

Significance: Shaped Calvinism and influenced the Protestant Reformation

Spiritual Exercises

Author: Loyola

Description: Guide of meditations and practices for spiritual discipline

Significance: Formed the foundation of Jesuit spirituality and Catholic Reform

The Prince

Author: Machiavelli

Description: Political writing on how rulers should gain and maintain power

Significance: Introduces a realistic pragmatic approach to politics

The History of Italy

Author: Guicciardini

Description: Detailed account of Italy’s history

Significance: Shows a realistic and detailed account of Italy’s history

On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres

Author: Copernicus

Description: Scientific work proving the heliocentric theory

Significance: Challenged traditional scientific views

Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems

Author: Galileo

Description: Compared heliocentric theory and geocentric theory

Significance: Defended heliocentric theory and advanced the scientific theory

Principia Mathematica

Author: Newton

Description: Expanded the laws of motion and universal gravitation

Significance: Laid the foundation of classical physics and modern science

New Atlantis

Author: Bacon

Description: Story about a society devoted to scientific knowledge

Significance: Promotes science and experimentation as keys to progress

Novum Organum

Author: Bacon

Description: Argued for a new method of scientific inquiry

Significance: Promotes empiricism and the scientific method

Discourse on Method

Author: Descartes

Description: Philosophical work showing a method for acquiring true knowledge

Significance: Emphasizes reason and doubt, shaped modern philosophy

Pensées

Author: Pascal

Description: Collection of short reflections on faith and human nature

Significance: Explores the limits of reason and the need for faith

Essais

Author: Montaigne

Description: Personal reflections on life, morality, and human experience

Significance: Pioneered the essay form and emphasized skepticism

Don Quixote

Author: Cervantes

Description: A novel about a man who believes he is a knight

Significance: It satirizes chivalry and marks the rise of the modern novel

Leviathan

Author: Hobbes

Description: A work arguing for a strong central authority to maintain order

Significance: It lays the foundation for modern political philosophy and the social contract theory

Ethics

Author: Spinoza

Description: A philosophical work exploring god, nature, and human emotions

Significance: It presents a rationalist view on ethics