Engineers of the Renaissance by Bertrand Gille

Review by: Allen G. Debus

The American Historical Review, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Jul., 1967), pp. 1341-1342
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
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 General 134I
thereduringthatyear,theeditor,also director of thelibrary, selectedsevenfor
publication in thisvolume.
The book,typographically scholarly,
fitting, and well written, standsas a
monument to theenlightened humanismof theFolgerduringthelastfifteen or
so years,whenit couldhavebeen merelya warehouseof foliosand quartos.It
doesnot,of course,carryinsurance thatit willescapethedifficultiesthatusually
besetFestschriften; a few wordsin this journalabout each essay may guide
scholarstoitin future decades.
In thefirstpaper,"Shakespeare betweenTwo CivilWars,"C. V. Wedgwood
givesa pleasantaccountof England'sconditionand prospectsduringShake-
speare'slife,concentrating particularlyon the high valuationplacedon peace
afterthetroubles of thefifteenthcentury and thedangersof thesixteenth. To ac-
complishthisshe choosesand discussespassagesfromthe plays,especiallythe
histories,thatmayreflect Shakespeare's pointsofview,hopes,andfears.
D. B. Quinn,in "The Road to Jamestown," suggeststhatthe Englishand
Frenchhad a moreexperimental attitudetowardcolonizingthanthe Iberians,
thattheEnglishexperience duringthesixteenth and seventeenth centuriesshowed
thatthe morecompletethe social entityestablished, the morechanceof per-
manence,and thatstatesupport, and thedesireto haveitseconomy complement
England's,counteddecisively towardthesuccessof Jamestown. MadeleineDoran,
in "Shakespeare as an Experimental Dramatist," makesa case thatwhileShake-
spearestoodfor"Nature"as opposedto "Art"in theancientdebate,it was with
fullknowledge of therulesof "Art"thathe transgressed themevermoreboldly.
A. R. Humphreys, in "Shakespeare and theTudorPerception of History,"shows
how Shakespeare's histories"embodya peculiarwealthof nationalstoryand
character."
"Shakespeare in Czechoslovakia," byZdenekStrfibrn', tracesthehistory ofthe
Bohemiansvisitingthe London theaterin Shakespeare'stime and seeinghis
playsat home fromthe seventeenth centuryto I964, and he pointsout how
Shakespeare ralliedthespiritsand rousedthenationalism of Bohemians.Sergio
Baldi discussesShakespeare as poet,in "Shakespeare's Sonnetsas Literature," to
showhow "literary trends,thePlatonic,themanneristic, and eventhebaroque,
workedtogether to givetheiractualformto Shakespeare's sonnets."The finales-
say,byFrederick Hard,"SidneyLanier:AmateurShakespearean," bringsShake-
speareto nineteenth-century America,and showshow this descendantof the
courtmusiciansof Shakespeare's
illustrious day led Americaintoscholarly study
ofShakespeare, stressingmusicas a key.
Althoughfiveof thesevenessaysare written by professors of Englishlitera-
ture,historiansshouldnotneglectthisbook.Somewill findit useful;mostwiu
enjoyit.
Universityof California, Davis WALTER L. WOODFILL

ENGINEERS OF THE RENAISSANCE. By Ber-trand Gille. (Cambridge,

Instituteof Technology.I966. Pp. 254.
Mass.: M.I.T. Press,Massachusetts
$I2.00.)

PROFEssoR Gille's study,publishedfirstas Les inge'nieurs

dc ak Renaissance

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1342 Reviews of Books
(I964), is thefirstbookdevotedentirely to thissubject.Two themesdominate:
thefirstdealswiththeplaceof Leonardoda Vinci in thehistory of scienceand
technology; a secondemergesin Gille'sattempt to base thescientific revolution
largelyon theinterests and activitiesof the engineers. Of the two,the author's
reappraisal ofLeonardoseemsthemoreconvincing, and herehis viewsare based
upona detailedknowledgeof fifteenth-century manuscript sources.A viewof the
Renaissanceengineeremergesthatcorresponds closelywiththe careerand in-
terestsof Leonardo.Even his famedinventions are shownto have been largely
borrowedfromthe work of men such as Alberti,Fontana,Valturio,Taccola,
and Francescodi Giorgio.
The readermaywell sympathize withthischaracterization of Leonardoas a
manof hisown age ratherthanas an isolatedgenius,buthe mayentertain grave
doubtsabout Gille's interpretation of the birthof modernscience,which he
views primarily as the triumphof Archimedean engineering tradition.Surely
fewwouldargueagainsttheimportance of technologicaladvancein theriseof
modernscience,but the complexity of this periodrequiresthatit be viewed
againsta muchbroaderbackground thanthatGille has chosento depict.I feel
thatthe Scholasticcriticism of Aristotelian thoughtis of moreimportance for
modernsciencethanhe has indicated.One cannothelpbut feelthatGille'sen-
thusiasm has led himto overplay his handin attempting to connectthiscriticism
withtheworkof contemporary engineers. In addition,it is perhapsevenmore
questionable forhim to haveignoredRenaissanceNeoplatonism in his account.
This may have had littleconnection withengineering, but it mostcertainly in-
fluenced sixteenth- and seventeenth-century viewsof natureand mathematics. In
short,whileRenaissance technology mayproperly be considered it is
significant,
doubtful whether it shouldbe considered themostimportant stimulus fortherise
ofmodernscience.
The scholarmaybe disturbed byotheraspectsof thisbook.Historians might
well questionthecategorization of all Greekworksafterabout50 B.c. as "By-
zantine."And thedecisionto eliminateall footnotes is hardlyatonedforby the
shortlist of additionalreadingsfor each chapter.The "Catalogueof Manu-
on the otherhand,is a mostvaluablecontribution
scripts," thatmostcertainly
willbe usedbyall researchers in thisfield.
As a firstattemptto deal withan important subject,thisbook predictably
succeedsin some areas and failsin others.The multitudeof questionsthatit
poses,however, cannothelpbutencourage further research.
University of Chicago ALLEN G. DEBUS

VOLTAIRE'S CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER. By Merle L.

Perkins.[Studieson Voltaireand theEighteenthCentury,VolumeXXXVI.]
et MuseeVoltaire;distrib.
(Geneva: Institut byLibrairieDroz, Geneva.1965.
Pp. 342.)

of Voltaire.In thisscholarly
on the writings
MERLE L. Perkinsis an authority
analysishe dissectsVoltaire'sviewson government and statecraft
beforehe dis-
cussesthetitulartheme,international order,in the ninthand concludingchap-
,er.The firsteightchaptersare titled"The Nationsof the Earth,""European

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