From Renaissance to Revolution

From Renaissance to Revolution (1923) traces in some of its many expressions the influence of the Renaissance on the politics and culture of Europe during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It starts with the decay of medieval civilisation and the emergence through the Renaissance of the independent state and the individual, and goes on the analyse the Renaissance state as perfected in one form by France and in another by its rival Holland. It discusses the influence of the Renaissance on literature and culture, and estimates the intellectual freedom it achieved for the individual in politics, science and religion.