Renaissance primary sources

EWP3: Renaissance, recovery, and reform. Not such a priority for this paper, but still helpful

The Tiburtine Sibyl

Painting by Antoine Caron, depicting Charles IX of France as Augustus, receiving a vision of the nativity

The Faerie Queene

Epic poem by Edmund Spenser in honour of Elizabeth I of England, aligning her with a mythic past

Equestrian portrait of Charles V

Titian’s 1548 portrait of the HRE in his military glory following his victory at the 1547 battle of Mühlburg

The Equestrian Statue of Gattemelata

Donatello’s 1453 statue of Erasmo da Narni, condottiere (military leader) of Republic of Venice. Reintroduces Classical equestrian statuary

David

Michealangelo’s marble statue to the hero of Florence, made c. 1501-4. Displayed in public square outside civic government

Four evangelists stoning the pope

A protestant allegory, showing the Pope, avarice, and hypocrisy, beaten to the ground by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Painting appears in Henry VIII’s inventory between 1542 and 1547

Diaries of Samuel Maskiewicz

Hussar of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, recorded his time in Russia (1625-31) and its recent history. Use for monarchy: contrasts Polish rule by consent to Czarist authoritarianism

Trew Law of Free Monarchies

1598 treatise by James VI of Scotland in favour of absolute monarchy answerable only to God, argues that the dissemination of political thought is necessary for stability

On the lawful authority of a Christian Commonwealth

Guilliame Rossaeus’ 1590 tract suggests that the clergy could lead the people against the king, as scriptural law superseded national

De Rege et Regis institutione

Juan de Mariana’s 1598 pragmatic discussion of kingship, claiming that hereditary monarchies required counciliar guidance, legal moderation, and the people as the source of authority

Concordia liberi arbitrii cam gratia donis

Jesuit Luis de Molina’s controversial 1585 endorsement of monarchical limits, including tyrannicide, based on free will

Field Museum Madonna of St Luke

Chinese copy of Spanish-imported Madonna, demonstrating an exchange of iconography

Evangelicae Historiae Imagines

Printed Antwerp, 1593. Containning 153 engravings of the life of Christ, this book was a popular missionary tool

Acta ecclesia Mediolamensis

Borromeo’s practical guide to Tridentine Catholicism, found from Poland to Peru. Instructs on decorating churches, giving sermons, record-keeping.

Dreams of Luther’s pen

1617 broadsheet celebrating the centenary of the 95 theses, showing the fantastical dream of Frederick III of Saxony

Kerstenspeigal

1470 catechism by German Franciscan Dietrich Coelde, paralleling lay and clerical ideals

The Prince

Written (probably) 1513 by ex-Medici diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli, pub. 1532, posthumously. Pessimistic view of human nature, politics a continuous process of domination, not a route to utopia

Leviathan

1651 political treatise by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Claims nature is not the root of morality, but a state of “war of all against all”. Social contract with an absolute monarch.