William Harrison Woodward – författare

'The humanist idea of education is among the permanently influential legacies of the Italian Renaissance. Four short Latin treatises published between 1400 and 1460 define it admirably: Pier Paolo Vergerio's De ingenuis moribus et liberalibus adolescentiae studiis; Leonardo Bruni's De studiis et literis; the De liberorum educatione of Aeneas Sylvius, who later became Pope Pius II; and Battista Guarino's De ordine docendi et studendi. Translated into English by William Harrison Woodward and framed, on the one hand, by his description of the famous school founded by Vittorino da Feltre in 1424 at the court of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, and, on the other, by a judiciously balanced analysis of the aims and methods of the humanist educators, these important texts form the heart of a book that has remained for almost seventy years the fundamental study of early Renaissance educational theory and practice.' From the foreword by Eugene F. Rice Jr.

Originally published in 1921 as part of the Contributions to the History of Education series, this book sets out the roots of modern educational ideas as invented by celebrated educators in the Renaissance, both in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Woodward describes the innovations provided by Continental Renaissance figures such as Erasmus, Melanchthon and Budé, and English authors like Thomas Elyot, as well as other figures previously unaddressed in English studies of educational history. He also includes a brief study of the subjects thought suitable for women in this period. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the development of European education, or in the Renaissance more generally.

Originally published in 1904, this book discusses the fundamental importance of education and theories of education within the works of Erasmus. Beginning with an outline of the life and characteristics of Erasmus, the text moves through his educational aims, ideas on the beginnings of the educational process and conception of the liberal arts. The second part of the text presents four extracts from the writings of Erasmus which express his views on education. Apart from a short chapter from De Conscribendis Epistolis, which is given in Latin with English headings, these extracts are all translated into English. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Erasmus and the historical development of education.