The Idea of the Renaissance, Revisited
The idea of the Renaissance as a historical period was first formulated by Jacob
Burckhardt in his book Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860). In this lecture I want to review some of the many directions taken by Renaissance studies since then, and to make some suggestions for future work.
The Agrarian Problem in the Early Fourteenth Century
Until recently it was widely believed that feudal tenurial relationships sanctioned and facilitated the extra-economic exploitation of tenants by their lords. Together, the heaviness of rent charges and the arbitrariness of lordship discouraged and depressed tenant investment in agriculture.