The Civilisation of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy, Vol. 1: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Civilisation of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy, Vol. 1, credited to Jacob Christoph Burckhardt, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Civilisation of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy, Vol. 1 by Jacob Christoph Burckhardt. (Translated by S. G. C. Middlemore.) Read in English by E. Sharp. Though Jacob Burckhardt describes his work as a mere "essay" in his introduction, "The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy" is a foundational work of cultural history that seeks to capture the “spirit” of the Italian Renaissance by examining its social, political, and intellectual life. The first volume explores how Renaissance Italy fostered new forms of political power, self-conscious individuality, and renewed engagement with classical culture. Burckhardt treats art, literature, festivals, religion, manners, and even everyday customs as interconnected expressions of a single civilization, fostering what he saw as the emergence of “modern” European consciousness. The work’s legacy is immense - it helped establish the Renaissance as a distinct historical period, pioneered the art-and-society method of cultural history, and popularized influential (if debated) ideas such as the birth of individualism and modernity in Renaissance Italy. Later historians have criticized some of its generalizations and omissions, yet Burckhardt’s synthesis remains a classic shaping scholarly and popular understandings of the Renaissance to the present day. (Summary by E. Sharp)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Civilisation of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy, Vol. 1
• Author credits: Jacob Christoph Burckhardt
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 27
• Listed recording duration: 8:20:13

Catalogue topics

• history
• culture
• renaissance
• Italy
• art history

Opening tracks: first 24 of 27

1. 01 - I.I - Introduction — 10:06
2. 02 - I.II - The Tyranny of the Fourteenth Century — 14:32
3. 03 - I.III - The Tyranny of the Fifteenth Century — 22:03
4. 04 - I.IV - The Petty Tyrannies — 13:46
5. 05 - I.V - The Greater Dynasties — 38:51
6. 06 - I.VI - The Opponents of Tyranny — 11:34
7. 07 - I.VII - The Republics: Venice and Florence — 25:44
8. 08 - I.VII.2 - The Republics: Venice and Florence (cont.) — 23:03
9. 09 - I.VIII - Foreign Policy of the Italian States — 15:02
10. 10 - I.IX - War as a Work of Art — 6:13
11. 11 - I.X - The Papacy and Its Dangers — 21:50
12. 12 - I.X.2 - The Papacy and Its Dangers (cont.) — 22:28
13. 13 - II.I - The Italian State and the Individual — 8:20
14. 14 - II.II - The Perfecting of the Individual — 8:58
15. 15 - II.III - The Modern Idea of Fame — 18:47
16. 16 - II.IV - Modern Wit and Satire — 25:33
17. 17 - III.I - Introductory Remarks — 13:18
18. 18 - III.II - Rome, the City of Ruins — 18:47
19. 19 - III.III - The Old Authors — 31:59
20. 20 - III.IV - Humanism in the Fourteenth Century — 13:50
21. 21 - III.V - The Universities and Schools — 13:05
22. 22 - III.VI - The Furtherers of Humanism — 25:47
23. 23 - III.VII - The Reproduction of Antiquity, etc. — 22:14
24. 24 - III.VIII - Latin Treatises and History — 12:34

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This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.