creative individuals.
Humanist scholars were working with the texts of Aristotle and Socrates and Plato and were closely scrutinizing the position of the Roman Catholic Church both as a powerful political force and as an institution increasingly concerned with and involved in worldly affairs. Humanists were reacting against the abuses of the clergy and some were calling for reform within the Church itself. As Laurie Adams (244) puts it, "humanism is a philosophy that attaches prime importance to human values, free will, and dominance over nature." The origins of humanism can be traced to the fourteenth century Italian humanist Petrarch, who inspired a revolution in education that originated in Italy and then spread throughout Europe.
Humanism as an ethos inspired much of the great artistic resurgence of the Renaissance. Collectors sought out original Greek and Roman texts and works of art. Artists used
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