欧洲历史上的〈文艺复兴〉以为社会、政治、文化对一次知识趋势的一系列反应被大众所了解，这个趋向始于十四世纪，地点在意大利。这个知识趋势被认为是人文主义，或者人文主义研究，它几乎是三百年里，文学、艺术、科学、宗教、政治的发展核心。本课程中，我们着重研究这种人文主义历史，但还会探讨宗教改革，上层政治，农民的世界，以及这一时期欧洲的向外征服和扩张。

The "Renaissance" as a phenomenon in European history is best understood as a series of social, political, and cultural responses to an intellectual trend which began in Italy in the fourteenth century. This intellectual tendency, known as humanism, or the studia humanitatis, was at the heart of developments in literature, the arts, the sciences, religion, and government for almost three hundred years. In this class, we will highlight the history of humanism, but we will also study religious reformations, high politics, the agrarian world, and European conquest and expansion abroad in the period.