Renaissance in Italy In part three of Jacob Burckhardt's book, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, he writes that the Italian Renaissance was shaped by "..not the revival of antiquity alone, but its union with the spirit of the people..." The spirit of the Italian people re...

The greatest of medieval civilizations was the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was divided in 395. The Western half, ruled from Rome, was ruled by the barbarians in the 5th century. The Eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire, lasted for more than over 1,000 years. The Byzantine ...