king, or to the downfall of Charles the Bold, the last great feudal
noble. Others name later starting-points such as the establishment of
modern art by Michelangelo and Raphael at Rome, the discovery of America,
with its opening of vast new lands for the pent-up population of narrow
Europe, or the Reformation, which has been called man's revolt against
superstition, the establishment of the independence of thought.

All of these epochs fall within the limits of the Renaissance, and all,
except that of Petrarch, within the later Renaissance which we are now
considering. The period is therefore worth careful study.

INTELLECTUAL SUPREMACY OF ITALY

Gutenberg's invention had no immediate effect upon his world.[1] Indeed,
so little enthusiasm did it arouse that while the inventor's plans were
probably evolved as early as 1438, it was not until 1454 or thereabouts
that the first completed book was issued from his press. His business
partner, Faust, sold his wares in wealthy Paris without explaining that
these were different from earlier hand-written books; and when their
cheapness, as well as their exact similarity, was discovered, the
merchant was suspected of having sold himself to the devil. Hence
probably originated the Faust legend. Superstition, it is evident, had
still an extended course to run.

It is worth noting that to sell his books Faust left Germany for Paris,
and that while printing-presses multiplied but slowly in the land of
their origin, the new art was instantly seized upon in Italy, was there
made widest use of and pushed to its perfection. In fact, through all the
Middle Ages the Romance or semi-Teutonic peoples of Italy, France, and
Spain were intellectually in advance of the more wholly Teutonic races of