PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

changing world. The agenda of French humanists was broad and varied, and their
shared cultural values were applied to natural philosophy with the same ease as to
literary works, politics and religion.
The case of Boaistuau exemplified the adaptability of humanism, which was not a
rigid, self-contained unit as many scholars still believe, but had many forms and
embraced many different aspects to suit the changing political, religious, and
intellectual character of the mid sixteenth-century. This broad nature and system of
beliefs and practices of humanism, which cannot be put into a single formula,
constituted its dynamic and ability to penetrate almost every aspect of Renaissance
life, ensuring its longevity.
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