had the merit of proving to the European trading compa-
nies that neither the northeast nor the northwest passage
could afford easy access to the riches of the Orient.
Huguenots The name given to French Protestants from
the mid-16th century, apparently derived from a King
Hugo in a medieval romance. By the early 1520s LUTHER’s
ideas were circulating in France and a reform movement
was established. The first French Protestant martyr was
burnt in 1523. After the appearance of posters attacking
the Mass (1534) many Protestants, including CALVIN, had
to leave France, but Protestantism still spread, attracting
members of the nobility like Antoine de Bourbon (father
of Henry of Navarre who became HENRY IV). At a synod in
Paris (1559) the Huguenots drew up a confession of faith
(see GALLICAN CONFESSION) which was strongly influenced
by Calvin; hence they became a Calvinist rather than a
Lutheran movement.
The Huguenots were fiercely opposed by the GUISE
FAMILY and their Catholic supporters (see RELIGION,
(FRENCH) WARS OF). After the Edict of NANTES (1598)
granted them religious and political freedom the
Huguenots prospered, but the revocation of the edict in
1688 drove most of them into exile.
humanism In general, any system of belief that places
human affairs at its center. In the Renaissance context hu-
manism is associated with the rediscovery of the culture of
the Greco-Roman world, particularly Greek literature and
philosophy (see GREEK STUDIES). The medieval world had
some knowledge of classical Latin literature; indeed, indi-
vidual scholars such as Alcuin (735–804) and John of Sal-
isbury (died 1180) show an impressive range of reference,
but this cannot properly be described as humanism. The
term humanismus itself seems first to have been used by
PETRARCHand his contemporaries to express the spirit of
intellectual freedom by which man asserted his indepen-
dence from the authority of the Church. Characteristically,
Petrarch was influenced by the use of the term humanitas
by both CICEROand the Roman scholar Varro to define
their educational ideal. By the 16th century humanistic
concepts had become inextricably involved with theolog-
ical controversy but even the earliest humanists, by their
exaltation of personal freedom, challenged the hierarchi-
cal structure of the medieval theocracy. Humanism grew
up in the cities and communes of Italy which were fight-
ing for their political autonomy against the control of
pope or emperor, both personifications of fundamentally
medieval institutions.
According to orthodox theology, man was born sinful
and was incapable of virtue without the aid of divine
grace. Humanism offered an alternative, which said that
man could freely choose his destiny and by the exercise of
his own will could act rightly. PICO DELLA MIRANDOLAex-
pressed this idea most comprehensively in his Oratio de
dignitate hominis but other humanists took up and devel-
oped the idea. For such men Prometheus, the foresighted
Titan, is the prototype of the humanist “wise man.” This
did not necessarily mean a rejection of religion; on the
contrary many humanists strove to synthesize the new ap-
proaches with Christianity, a Christianity which came
more and more to depend not on the interpretations of ec-
clesiastical authority but on the scientific study of original
texts. The methods of classical scholarship which were
evolved to deal with secular literature were applied to the
Scriptures and the Church Fathers (see PATRISTIC STUDIES)
and the same standards of coherence and connection were
demanded (see CRITICISM, TEXTUAL). The interaction of
humanism with religion produced another consequence—
a search for some underlying principle that would unite
the warring elements of different doctrines. This search
made many humanists more tolerant of religious differ-
ences; Pico for example aimed at nothing less than a
demonstration of the accord between PLATO, ARISTOTLE,
classical and Jewish esoteric wisdom, and the spectrum of
patristic interpretation and exegesis. He felt that the di-
versity of belief reflected partial but not contradictory
glimpses of the original One to which humanism sought
to return (see also NEOPLATONISM, RENAISSANCE).
Renaissance humanism also helped to create the con-
ditions that led to the scientific revolution. The revival of
interest in classical doctrines of the nature of the physical
universe, the insistence on autopsy of original texts, the
shift away from the authoritarian ipse dixit (“he said”) of
scholasticism, all helped to stimulate a spirit of critical ob-
jective inquiry. By stressing that man is a natural being,
the humanists implied that he could understand his phys-
ical environment by using the tools that nature gave him,
namely his senses.
Another of the major contributions of Renaissance
humanism to the stock of western European concepts is
the idea of historicity. Medieval thinkers had little sense
of the difference between the ancient world and their
own time. The humanists, by virtue of their own self-
consciousness about their relationship with the ancient
world, focused sharply on precisely those differences and
coined the term “Middle Ages” to express that historical
awareness (see also HISTORIOGRAPHY).
As humanism diffused beyond the bounds of Italy it
became increasingly involved in theological controversy.
The potential for such controversy was always there, and
frequently it was only the direct intervention of humanist
popes such as Nicholas V, Pius II, or Eugenius IV that pro-
tected humanists from ecclesiastical wrath. In France and
Germany humanism was associated first with the move-
ment for reform within the Church, then with the more
radical reformers; it was said that LUTHERhatched the egg
that ERASMUSlaid.
It is difficult to assess briefly the lasting contribution
of Renaissance humanism to Western civilization. Many of22446 6 HHuugguueennoottss