After completing my 'Early Renaissance Europe' paper today, I reflected a little on the module and decided on what was probably my greatest takeaway:
Robert Lopez compared the three stages ('early', 'high' and 'late') of the Renaissance to the life cycle of a 'beautiful woman.' The early Renaissance corresponded to her youth, when she was filled with 'confident expectation.' The 'high' Renaissance was a time of maturity, during which she fluctuated between 'self-assurance and disenchantment.' The 'late' Renaissance represented old age and 'despondency.'
A misguided metaphor of questionable historical utility but I'm sure that this will be vividly etched in my memory even after I've forgotten every other detail about the period.
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