The traditional concept of the Renaissance, as it was worked out by Burckhardt and others, has been unfashionable for some time. Instead of the sudden, inexplicable explosion de chaleur, recent historians have tended to see continuity, the unbroken continuity of the classical tradition.
In this programme a group of historians now working on a study of the Italian Renaissance try to decide how far, and in what senses, the traditional concept is still valid.
Chairman: E. F. Jacob, Chichele Professor of Modern History, Oxford.
Speakers: Denys Hay, Professor of Medieval History, Edinburgh; Nicolai Rubinstein, Lecturer in History, Westfield College, London; Charles Mitchell, Warburg Institute; John Hale, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford
(BBC recording)