Uses of Humanism

Gábor Almási, Ph.D. (2005) in history, Central European University, Budapest. He is a Magyary Zoltán postdoctoral fellow at the Eötvös Loránd University. He has published extensively on Renaissance humanism and early modern patriotism.

• List of illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: On the uses of humanism PART I: HUMANIST LEARNING AND NETWORKS IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE1. Aspects of East Central European humanist learning 2. Humanist networks and the ethos of the Republic of Letters 3. The uses of humanism at the imperial court PART II: THE CASE OF JOHANNES SAMBUCUS4. An ornament to the imperial court? 5. The multiple identities of the humanist: “vates, medicus bonus, historicusque” PART III: THE CASE OF ANDREAS DUDITH6. The curious career of a heterodox humanist 7. The making of the humanist: self-fashioning through letters and treatises Epilogue: Sambucus and Dudith encounter confessionalisation Conclusion Bibliography Index

Sambucus and Dudith were internationally acknowledged heroes of the Republic of Letters [...] To draw their portraits, Alma´si mobilises and handles with ease a great quantity and variety of sources in a variety of languages, and his book will undoubtedly become the main reference on the life and times of these two humanists.Dóra Bobori, European Review of History, Vol. 18, no. 5/6 (2012) pp. 863-865.It is in the specificity of the chosen empirical examples that the book excels; it raises the standards of Central European historiography and continued in the best Anglo-Saxon tradition.Lucie Storchová, Acta Comeniana, Vol. 25 (2011), pp. 298-304"[E]ine reichhaltige und wichtige Untersuchung...eine durchweg lesenswerte Studie. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass die vielen Untersuchungsstränge, die diese Arbeit ausmachen, auch in Zukunft weiter verfolgt werden und die von Almási eingeschlagene Richtung beibehalten." Matthias Roick, Sehepunkte Vol. 11, no. 9 (2011).A welcome addition to our knowledge of Sambucus and Dudith...[this book] justly draws attention to the cultural and intellectual wealth of Central Europe in the Renaissance.Demmy Verbeke, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, Vol. 73, no. 3 (2011), pp. 556-558.The basic issues Almási addresses have a long history. The way they are all brought together however is fresh and memorable. The author has real flair in developing his argument delivering often unexpected insights and confirming previous research, while significantly shifting the perspective in which it is viewed. This makes the book standout by virtue of its clarity, offering a reading that is difficult to ignore.Cristina Neagu, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 306-307