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Three Interpretations of the French Renaissance1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

Henry Hornik
Henry Hornik*
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
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Extract

Whatever chronological limits be determined for the French Renaissance, its history, scholarship, and literature are at least characterized by a clearly discernible attitude which distinguishes them from the work of preceding centuries. This atmosphere is perhaps best expressed by Rabelais in the letter from Gargantua to Pantagruel. Gargantua writes: ‘Maintenant toutes disciplines sont restitutes, les langues instaurées…'. He claims with enthusiasm that ‘Tout le monde est plein de gens savants, de precepteurs très doctes … . Je voy les brigans, les boureaulx, les avanturiers, les palefreniers de maintenant plus doctes que les docteurs et prescheurs de mon temps’, and concludes: ‘Somme queje voy un abysme de science.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 7 , 1960 , pp. 43 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1960

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Footnotes

1

This paper was read, in a modified version, to the Columbia University Seminar on the Renaissance. Its particular orientation is the result of a reconsideration of French Renaissance theory from the perspective of a previous article (‘On Change in Literature’, Jour, of Aesthetics and Art Criticism XVIII, 1959, pp. 330-342) in which I seek to determine the limits within which objective characterization of a ‘period’ in literature may be possible. It is not my intention to attempt the absurd, to rival the already great number of Renaissance bibliographies (in Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, PMLA, Studi Francesi, Studies in Philology, etc.). I must mention, however, one of the most complete studies of the Renaissance problem, Wallace K. Ferguson's The Renaissance in Historical Thought (New York, 1948). Its exact historical study and selective but thorough bibliography provide a valuable guide for all future Renaissance studies.

References

2 Oeuvres, ed. Abel Lefranc (Paris, 1922), III, 103.

3 Ibid., pp. 103-104.

4 Ibid., p. 108.

5 Ibid., p. 102. Cf. Garin, Eugenio, L'educazionc in Europa (1400-1600) (Bari, 1957), especially pp. 71–85 Google Scholar.

6 Recent support of this position may be found in Herbert Weisinger's articles, e.g., ‘The Self-awareness of the Renaissance as a Criterion of the Renaissance’, Papers of the Michigan Acad, of Science, Arts, and Letters XXIX (1943), 561-567, and Verdun L. Saulnier's preface to the French translation of W. K. Ferguson's book (n. 1) published at Paris, 1950. Prof. Saulnier, for example, writes (p. xi): ‘La nouveauté est dans l’accent'.

7 La Renaissance, vol. IX of his Histoire de France (new rev. and augmented ed., Paris, 1879), p. 15. For more recent evaluations of the Italian Renaissance see, among others, the ‘debate’ by Baron, H., Cassirer, E., Durand, D., Johnson, F. R., Kristeller, P. O., Lockwood, D. P., and Thorndike, L. in the Jour, of the History of Ideas IV (1943), 1–74 Google Scholar; also Panofsky, E., ‘Renaissance and Renascences’, Kenyon Rev. VI (1944), 201–236 Google Scholar.

8 P. 175.

9 Op. cit., p. 1. Cf. Simone, Franco, La coscienza della Rinascita negli umanisti francesi (Rome, 1949)Google Scholar, ch. II, and ‘Per una nuova valutazione del quattrocento francese’, Studi Francesi I (1957), 5-25, for an analysis of this and other perspectives of Renaissance historicism. Prof. Simone concludes on the need for reconciliation of the ‘Italian’ and the ‘continuity’ orientations.

10 See, among others, Haskins, Charles H., The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1927)Google Scholar, Huizinga, Johan, The Waning of the Middle Ages: a Study of the Forms of Life, Thought and Art in France and the Netherlands in the XlVth and XVth Centuries, tr. Hopman, F. (London, 1924)Google Scholar, Murăraşu, D., La Poésie néo-latine et la renaissance des lettres antiques en France (1500-1549) (2d ed., Paris, 1928)Google Scholar, Nordstrocm, Johan, Moyen âge et Renaissance, tr. Fr. Hammar (Paris, 1933)Google Scholar.

11 ‘Le vrai siécle de la Renaissance’, Humanisme et Renaissance I (1934), p. 9. Cf. Panofsky, op. cit., Françon, M., Leçons et notes (Paris, 1957), pp. 112 Google Scholar f., and Wiley, W. L., ‘The French Renaissance Gallicized: an Emphasis on National Tradition’, Stud, in Philology XXXIV (1937), 248–258 Google Scholar.

12 ‘Le Moyen-âge, la Renaissance et la critique moderne’, Revue de Littérature Comparée XVIII (1938), 427, and La coscienza (cited in n. 9), ch. IV.

13 Konrad Burdach, a revisionist, thought to trace the concept back to the middle ages and the idea of rebirth in God in Reformation, Renaissance, Humanismus (2d rev. ed., Berlin-Leipzig, 1926). Prof.Kristeller, , however, in Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters (Rome, 1956), p. 554 Google Scholar, cites a secular example of 1330 and challenges Burdach's attempt to derive the general Renaissance concept from specific religious sources via Cola di Rienzo. Among other scholars concerned with tracing the origin and meaning of the word were Huizinga, J., ‘Le Problème de la Renaissance’, Revue des Cours et Conférences 30 Dec. 1939 Google Scholar; Langevin, E., ‘Sur le mot Renaissance’, in Morçay, R., La Renaissance (Paris, 1933, Histoire de la littérature française, ed. Calvet, J., II—III), 1, 497 Google Scholar f.; Lefranc, A., ‘Diverses définitions de la Renaissance’, Revue des Cours et Conférences XVIII (1910), 490 Google Scholar f.; Plattard, J., ‘Restitution des bonnes lettres et Renaissance’, Mélanges Lanson (Paris, 1922)Google Scholar; Thorndike, L., ‘Renaissance or Prenaissance?’ Jour, of the History of Ideas IV (1943), 65–74 Google Scholar.

14 ‘La coscienza della Rinascita negli umanisti’, Rinascita II (1939), p. 839; cf. also his ‘La coscienza storico del Rinascimento francese e il suo significato culturale’, Convivium (1954), 156-170, and note 9 above.

15 Ibid., p. 852. Cf. also Toffanin, G., Storia dell' umanesimo (Naples, 1933), pp. 306–307 Google Scholar.

16 E.g., Plattard, , op. cit., pp. 128–131 Google Scholar.

17 Op. cit., p. 15.

18 Op. cit., p. 253; cf. also pp. 258-262.

19 See Ferguson, pp. 259-261 for bibliography and discussion.

20 Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien (Basel, 1860), p. 131. Among the many scholars who share Burckhardt's view are Hauser, Henri, Les Débuts de l'âge moderne (Paris, 1929)Google Scholar, and Monnier, Philippe, Le Quattrocento, étude sur le XVe siècle littéraire italien (Paris, 1901)Google Scholar. Cf. also Baron, Hans, ‘Renaissance in Italien. Literaturbericht’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte XVII (1927), 226–256, XXI (1931), 95-128, 215-239, 340-356Google Scholar; Cantimori, Delio, ‘Sulla storia del concetto di Rinascimento’, Annali delta R. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Serie II, I (1932), 229–268 Google Scholar; P. O. Kristeller, op. cit.; W. K. Ferguson, op. cit.

21 Op. cit. (n. 7 above), pp. 174-175.

22 The Literature of the French Renaissance (Cambridge, 1885), p. 14.

23 Les Sources d'idées au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1912), p. 3.

24 Op. cit. (n. 13 above), 1, 30.

25 Les Moeurs polies et la littérature de cour sous Henri II (Paris, 1886), p. 139

26 The rôle of humanism in its relevance to this discussion is treated further on. See note 80 for the bibliography.

27 Op. cit., p. 160.

28 P. 156.

29 Pp. 156-176.

30 Les Origines de la poésie française de la Renaissance (Paris, 1920), p. 65. This is the position he maintains in the study of the predecessors of the Pléiade in vol. I of his Histoirc de la Pléiade (Paris, 1939).

31 Op. cit.,p. 31.

32 See notes 10 and n above. Spaak's position is stated in the introduction to his Jean Lemaire de Beiges: sa vie, son oeuvre et ses meilleurespages (Paris, 1926).

33 Op. cit. (n. 10 above), p. 8.

34 Gilson, Étienne, La Philosophic au moyen âge, des origines à la fin du XIVe siècle (2d rev. and augmented ed., Paris, 1944)Google Scholar; Voigt, Georg, Die Wiederbelehung des classischen Alterthums oderdas erste jahrhundert des Humanismus (3d rev. ed., Berlin, 1893)Google Scholar; Sandys, John E., A History of Classical Scholarship (Cambridge, 1900-1918)Google Scholar, especially the second volume.

35 A position not necessarily in keeping with evidence presented by scholars like Augustin Renaudet in Préreforme et humanisme à Paris (2d rev. and augmented ed., Paris, 1953) especially pp. 80 f., 114 f., 130 f., 472 f., 500 f. See also Bollea, , ‘Reflets d'humanisme italicn’, Études Italiennes IX (1926), 217–218 Google Scholar, and Picot, Eugene, ‘Pour et contre l'influence italienne’, Etudes Italiennes 11 (1920), 17–25 Google Scholar.

36 Op. cit. (n. 32 above), p. 2.

37 Op. cit. (n. I I above), p. 9.

38 ‘Du rôle des troubadours dans la formation de la poésie lyrique moderne’, Mélanges Mario Roques (Paris, 1950), 1, 74.

39 Ibid., p. 77. See also Hoepffner, H., ‘Dante et les troubadours (à propos de quelques publications récentes)’, Etudes Italiennes IV (1922), 193–210 Google Scholar; Hauvette, H., ‘La France et la Provence dans l'œuvre de Dante: Dante et la poésie provençale’, Revue des corns et conférences (1929), pp 37–52, 239-256, 299-320Google Scholar. Hoepffner insists (p. 199) ‘c’est avec soin qu'il a dú étudier cet art dont il s'est lui-même si fortement imprégné’ but that his imitation was far from slavish.

40 Frank, pp. 78 ff.

41 See the introduction and pp. 315-327 of the second volume as well as the bibliography of Jeanroy's La Poésie lyrique des troubadours (Paris-Toulouse, 1935) and the introductory discussion and conclusion of Lewis’ Allegory of Love (Oxford, 1936).

42 Op. cit., pp. 67-71.

43 Les Origines, pp. 44-54, and vol. 1, ch. 1 of the Histoire de la Pléiade. Obviously these themes have little direct relevance to this study as they represent neither the predominant nor the new themes, nor their causes.

44 La Survivance des dieux antiques (London, 1940), especially pp. 181-188, 278-279, 187-188.

45 Ibid., p. 181.

46 Jean Lemaire de Belges et la Renaissance (Brussels, 1934, Académie Belgique XXXII), p. 317. Cf. Le Temple d'honneur et de vertus, ed. H. Hornik (Geneva-Paris, 1957), introduction, and my review of Bambeck's, M. article, ‘Aus alter Form zum neuen Leben’, Zts. für französische Sprache und Literatur LXVIII (1958), 1–42 Google Scholar, in Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance XX (1958), 586-587.

47 ‘Sur quelques rapports entre l’humanisme italien et l'humanisme français', Pensée humaniste et tradition chrétienne aux XVe et XVIe siècles (Paris, 1950), pp. 242-243

48 Saulnier, op. cit. (n. 6 above), p. iii.

49 The following works form the basis for this section: Hauser, Henri and Renaudet, Augustin, Les Débuts de l'âge moderne (Paris, 1929)Google Scholar; Pierre Inibart de La Tour, vol. III of Hanotaux's, G. Histoire de la nation française: histoirc politique (Paris, [1920])Google Scholar; Lavisse, Ernest, Histoire de France illustrée: depuis les origines jusqu'à la Révolution V (Paris, 1926)Google Scholar; Batiffol, Louis, Le Siècle de la Renaissance (Paris, [1947])Google Scholar, as well as the other works cited in the text and the notes.

50 See Sée, Henri, Histoire économique de la France (Paris, 1939)Google Scholar, especially the first volume.

51 Op. cit. (n. 7 above), p. 30.

52 P. 94.

53 See Bloch, Marc, L'Ennoblissement en France sous Francois Ier (Paris, n.d.)Google Scholar for a detailed discussion. Cf. H. Sée, op. cit.

54 Op. cit., p. 94

55 P. 95.

56 Esquisse historique de la littérature française au moyen âge (4th rev. ed., Paris, 1926), p. 208.

57 Ibid., p. 242.

58 See vol. I, Des Origines à 1595 (Lyon, 1939), of the Histoire de Lyon now in process of publication under the editorship of A. Kleinclausz, especially pp. 357-370, 381-388, 486-534. Also important are Henry Guy's École des rhétoriqueurs (Paris, 1910), particularly the first chapter, and Saulnier's, V. L. Maurice Scèvc (Paris, 1948)Google Scholar, especially the introduction and the first two chapters.

59 Kleinclausz,p. 358

60 Ibid., pp. 496, 534.

61 The fallacy of applying this generalization to all aspects of medieval life is obvious. The statement is true, however, if we grant the change in attitude, if we admit that there is a difference between medieval and modern man.

62 Op. cit., p. 21.

63 Ibid., p. 223.

64 Ibid., p. 40.

65 Ibid., p. 214.

66 Ibid., p. 30

67 Ibid., p. 44.

68 Ibid., p. 243. Prof. Huizinga cites several examples of fifteen-sixtecnth-century ‘art appreciation’ by members of the educated classes. I grant that aesthetic response may not be much more refined today.

69 Ibid., pp. 59, 67. See also the discussion in Doutrepont, Georges, La Littérature française à lacour des dues de Bourgogne (Paris, 1909)Google Scholar, and Weber, Henri, La Création poétique au XVIe siècle en France de Maurice Scève à Agrippa d'Aubigné (Paris, 1956)Google Scholar.

70 Op.cit., pp. 226-228.

71 Lenient, Charles, La Satire en France au moyen âge (Paris, 1893), p. 261 Google Scholar.

72 See notes 58, 69 above.

73 Lenient, , op. cit., p. 261 Google Scholar; Paris, G., op. cit. (n. 56 above), pp. 209 Google Scholar f.

74 G. Paris, p. 211; Huizinga, p. 31; Doutrepont, , op. cit. (n. 69 above), p. 367 Google Scholar; Guy, , op. cit. (n. 58 above), pp. 61 Google Scholar f.

75 Huizinga, p. 31.

76 Doutrepont, p. 367.

77 Op.cit. (n. 58 above), p. 61. Cf. also Murăraşu, , op. cit. (n. 10 above), pp. 99–104 Google Scholar.

78 Ibid., p.46.

79 Ibid., p. 47.

80 Cf. especially Burckhardt, op. cit.; Coville, A., Gontier et Pierre Col et l'humanisme en France au temps de Charles VI (Paris, 1934)Google Scholar; Delaruelle, L., Études sur l'humanisme français: Guillaume Badé (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar; W. K. Ferguson, op. cit.; E. Garin, op. cit. (n. 5 above); É. Gilson, op. cit. (n. 34 above); Gilmore, M. P., The World of Humanism, 1453-1517 (New York, [1952])Google Scholar; Kristeller, P. O., ‘The Place of Classical Humanism in Renaissance Thought’, Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters (Rome, 1956), pp. 11–15 Google Scholar; de Nolhac, P., Ronsard et l'humanisme (Paris, 1921)Google Scholar; A. Renaudet, Préreforme et humanisme (n. 35 above); F. Simone, La coscienza (n. 9 above); G. Toffanin, op. cit. (n. 15 above); G. Voigt, op. cit. (n. 34 above). These form the basis of the following discussion.

81 See, e.g., Renaudet, A., Préreforme et humanisme, pp. 64 Google Scholar rf.; F. Simone, La coscienza, ch. III.

82 Cf. A. Coville, op. cit.; Renaudet, A., Préreforme et humanisme, especially pp. 53–290 Google Scholar, 500-584; F. Simone, La coscienza, ch. III.

83 Simone, F., La coscienza, pp. 46 Google Scholar f.

84 Ibid., especially pp. 50-57.

85 Delaruelle, L., op. cit., pp. 3–26 Google Scholar; Renaudet, A., Préreforme et humanisme, p. 690 Google Scholar and elsewhere; Simone, F., La coscienza, pp. 118–157 Google Scholar. For an analysis of French and Italian travel and study during the Renaissance cf. Émile Picot, Fraçais italianisants au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1906), and the articles on ‘Les Italiens en France au XVIe siècle’ in Bulletin Italien I-IV, XVII-XVIII (1901-1904,1917-1918).

86 See, especially, Murăraşu, op. cit. (n. 10 above), and Tieghem, Paul Van, La Littérature latine de la Renaissance (Paris, 1944)Google Scholar.

87 Murăraşu, especially pp. 1-26, 138; Van Tieghem, especially pp. 14-17.

88 Cf. Delaruelle, , op. cit. , pp. 20–26 Google Scholar; Murăraşu. pp. 11 ff., 23 f., 39, 128, 138; Renaudet, Préreforme et humanisme, pp. 80 ff., 130 ff.; Van Tieghem, p. 36.

89 P. 32.

90 See, e.g., Coville, op. cit., and É. Picot, op. cit.

91 Hauser-Renaudet, , op. cit. (n. 49 above), pp. 35–38 Google Scholar.

92 See Müntz, Eugene, La Renaissance en Italie et en France à l'époque de Charles VIII (Paris, 1885)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, introduction and pp. 31 f.

93 Ibid, p. 44.

94 Ibid., p. 437.

95 Ibid. Müntz’ study has interesting comparative statistics to prove his point.

96 Op.cit. (n. 7 above), p. 147; Müntz. pp. 502 f.; notes 20, 22, 23, 30 above.

97 Monday, op. cit. (n. 13 above), 1, 75. See also Villey, op. tit. (n. 23 above), p. 2.

98 See, e.g., Morçay, I, 79; Müntz, pp. 503, 518; Murăraşu, pp. 24, 138; Villey, p. 2.

99 Op. cit. (n. 10 above), p. 252. Cf. P. O. Kristeller, op. tit. (n. 80 above), p. 11, who writes, ‘there seems to be no doubt about the distinctive physiognomy of the Renaissance’ and that the Renaissance problem ‘is largely a pseudo-problem’.

100 ‘Le Moyen-âge, la Renaissance et la critique moderne’, Revue de Littérature Comparée XVIII (1938), p. 421.

101 Ibid., p. 427.

102 V. L. Saulnier, Préface (n. 6 above), p. xi, writes: ‘Ce qu’une époque a pensé d'elle même peut être illusion, mais cette illusion est déjà un fait historique.’ See also Weisinger, op. cit. (n 6 above), p. 567.

103 Ibid., p. xiv.

104 Saulnier (p. xi) stresses that, however important the Italian influence, it ‘fut loin de tout submerged.’

105 ‘Espace et humanisme’, Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance VIII (1946), p. 10.