n, that spell was
broken, and the right of peoples to choose their faith, in dissent from
a Church declared corrupt, was loudly proclaimed.

So long as we keep this line of reasoning in view, we shall recognize
why it is not only uncritical, but also impossible, to separate the two
movements severally called Renaissance and Reformation. Both had a
common root in humanism, and humanism owed its existence on the one hand
to the recovery of antique literature, on the other to the fact that the
Papacy, instead of striving to stamp it out as it had stamped out
Provencal civilization, viewed it at first with approval. The new
learning, as our ancestors were wont to call it, involved, in
Michelet's pregnant formula, the discovery of the world and man, and
developed a spirit of revolt against mediaevalism in all its
manifestations. Its fruits were speedily discerned in bold exploratory
studies, sound methods of criticism, audacious speculation, and the free
play of the intellect over every field of knowledge. This new learning
had time and opportunity for full development in Italy, and for adequate
extension to the Northern races, before its real tendencies were
suspected. When that happened, the transition from the mediaeval to the
modern age had been secured. The Empire was obsolete. The Church was
forced into reaction. Europe became the battle-field of progressive and
retrogressive forces, the scene of a struggle between two parties which
can best be termed Liberalism and Conservatism.

Stripping the subject of those artistic and literary associations which
we are accustomed to connect with the word Renaissance, these seem to me
the most essential points to bear in mind about this movement. Then,
when we have studied the diverse antecedent circumstances of the German
and Italian races, when we take into account their national qualities,
and estimate the different aims and divergent enthusiasms evoked in each
by humanistic ardor, we shall perceive how it came to pass that
Renaissance and Reformation clashed together in discordant opposition to
the Catholic Revival.

V.

Italy, through the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the Roman
Church, gave discipline, culture, and religion to the Western world.
But, during the course of this civilizing process, a force arose in
Northern Europe which was destined to transfer the center of gravity
from the Mediterranean basin northwards. The Teutonic tribes effaced the
Western E