Introduction

Whenever one thinks of the Renaissance, one focuses on its early and high phase; we remember, then, such phenomena as Italian humanism and the Reformation. The period immediately following its heyday tends to be overshadowed by the great changes of the epoch or, at most, is considered to be an introduction to a new chapter in the history of literature. In studying this period, it is all too easy to look either backwards to the preceding decades, or – timidly – toward what happened later. If something like this happened in literary reality, however, the intellectual transfer of tradition would be impossible, much as it is impossible to experience one's life outside of their existential present. Literature cannot be created in isolation from the past and tradition, but also it cannot develop outside the present. Every epoch may be likened to a turbulent sea which mellows with time, but still is made to move by an invigorating wave sustaining its life and consolidating its identity. Such an invigorating wave for the literature of the Renaissance may be found in studies on the traditions of classical antiquity.

In this article I would like to focus on one of the last waves of interest in the ancient tradition – just before the advent of the Baroque which expanded to cultural centres in Silesia (Wrocław) and the Royal Prussia (Toruń, Gdańsk), where the German form of studia humanitatis found its distinguished followers.