The European Renaissance

As represented in: The Engines of Our Ingenuity
Originally created to complement Distance Education course: Engl 4330

Recommended Reading
by John Lienhard jhl [at] uh.edu (jhl[at]uh[dot]edu)

My dating of the Renaissance is fairly traditional. For endpoints, I like to take Gutenberg's mature printing press in 1455 and Francis Bacon's articulation of the new experimental science in 1620. The following Engines scripts are centered on that period. However, since no such dating is ever wholly accurate, a few of the following scripts describe circumstances on the eve of, and in the near wake of, that dating.

1. The Invention of Printing and the New Literacy

What People Said About Books in 1498Drunk on InkJohann GutenbergReady for an InventionPrinted MusicPrinter's MarksAn Armor of CommentaryA Wittenburg BibleWilliam CaxtonMenocchio's BooksParacelsus and OporinusVesalius's Woodblocks  

2. Natural Philosophy (Science) and Mathematics

The Pendulum and Experimental ScienceVocabulary of ScienceAge of the MarvelousAlbrecht DürerIn Which Europe QuantifiesDouble-Entry BookkeepingJohn DeeDee, Jones, and Magic007Robert FluddThe Age of the EarthAlchemySteam and AlchemyNatural MagicChemical Analysis and MedicineWilliam GilbertNicolaus StenoLight and ExperienceGalileo's ExperimentArtists and the MoonSun SpotsTopsell's BeastsSixteenth-Century PneumaticsBeyder Artzeney: Two DoctorsParacelsusIn VacuoScientific InstrumentsOld GalileoHroswitha  

3. Medicine and Anatomy

Medicine and New FranceAmbroise ParéParé's MonstersAndreas VesaliusVesalius's WoodblocksMedicine in New SpainArt and DissectionLeonardo, AnatomistLeonardo and EmbryosLeonardo and LedaMichael ServitusShakespeare and MedicineMedicine in New SpainMedicine and New FranceChemical Analysis and MedicineBarber Pole  

4. Architecture

Two Kinds of Structural DesignA New Architectural EyeStereotomyThe Leaning Tower of PisaSt. Paul's CathedralMoving an ObeliskDee, Jones, and Magic  

5. Other Technology

Wiers in the Turriano CodexA Car for Anne BoleynThe Pendulum ClockA Metaphor CollapsesSpectaclesParachutesCeredi's PumpThe Hoovers and AgricolaMoving an ObeliskGuns Go to SeaThe HourglassGuido da VigevanoThe Last GalleysThe Ironclad Turtle  

6. Art, Music, and Theater

Learning What Makes Musical TonesJan van EyckDonatello in TimeTrompe-L'OeilTricking the EyeJosquin des PrezJosquin and ErrorPrinted MusicLeonardo and LedaLight and ExperienceArtists and the MoonMacbethSimple GiftsShakespeare and MedicineDee, Jones, and Magic  

7. Renaissance Culture and Attitudes

Humanism and FeminismMedieval TimelessnessA Metaphor CollapsesRicci's Memory PalaceThe ElizabethansTobaccoMachiavelliFurnishing the MindGiordano Bruno  

8. Discovering, and Telling About, The New World

Abraham Ortelius: The First AtlasAmerigo VespucciAge of the MarvelousMercator's MapsTheodor De BryMartin FrobisherIron in AmericaMedicine in New SpainMedicine and New FranceCreating a New Country  

Each of these short readings includes source material.