Born out of a love of language, text, classical learning, art, philosophy and philology, the Christian Humanist project lasted beyond the turmoil of sixteenth-century Europe to survive in a new form in post-Reformation thought. Jonathan Arnold here explores the finest intellects of late-Renaissance Europe, providing an essential guide to the most important scholars, priests, theologians and philosophers of the period, now collectively known as the Christian Humanists. "The Great Humanists" provides an invaluable context to the philosophical, political and spiritual state of Europe on the eve of the Reformation through inter-related biographical sketches of Erasmus, Thomas More, Marsilio Ficino, Petrarch, Johann Reuchlin, Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples and many others. The legacy of these thinkers is still relevant and widely-studied today, and this book will make invaluable reading for scholars and students of philosophy and early-modern European history.

IntroductionPART I: ITALY1. Francesco Petrarch: The Father of Humanism2. Lorenzo Valla: The Confrontational Philologist3. Marsilio Ficino: The Platonic Theologian4. Pico della Mirandola: The Italian CabbalistPART II: THE LOW COUNTRIES5. Rudolph Agricola: Father of Northern European Humanism 6. Desiderius Erasmus: The Prince of HumanistsPART III: GERMANY7. Johann Reuchlin: The Great German Hebraist8. Phillip Melanchthon: The Lutheran HumanistPART IV: ENGLAND9. John Colet: The Would-be Reforming Dean of St. Paul's10. Thomas More: The King's Good Servant, but God's First11. Thomas Linacre and the English ErasmiansPART V: FRANCE12. Lefèvre d'Étaples: The Greatest French HumanistPART VI: SPAIN 14. Juan Luis Vives : The Spanish ErasmianAPPENDICESAppendix I: Other Notable HumanistsAppendix II: Glossary of Terms and other Notable Figures