When the famous Dutch historian Jan Huizing published his seminal study,

The Waning of the Middle Ages

(1919), he created a paradigm shift, identifying the late Middle Ages as a time of general decline before the rise of Humanism, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation. As insightful as Huizinga’s observation proved to be in many respects, modern research has strongly fought back against his pessimistic outlook and identified the transitional period from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries as generally productive, innovative, and transformative both in economic and political, as well as literary and artistic terms. In fact, various areas of human endeavor, from philosophy and the sciences to mathematics and medicine witnessed remarkable improvements during that period,…

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Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Nicolaus Cusanus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 January 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12560, accessed 14 February 2025.]

12560 Nicolaus Cusanus 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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