After Class, Heated Debate on Renaissance Man

Today in class we had a heated debate on who was the best renaissance man. Was it Erhard Ratdolt? Aldus Manutius? Geoffroy Tory? As the debate finished, Geoffroy Tory was the winner (maybe that was because it was led by an awesome group!)

All three of these men achieved many accomplishments during their lifetime to put them in the running as the best renaissance man. Erhard Ratdolt was an early German printer who succeeded in his innovations with typography, layout, woodcuts, and mixing type. Aldus Manutius was a printer and publisher and the inventor of the italics type. His innovation of the italics type is very important, considering we still use italics today. Geoffroy Tory had lots of accomplishments (in which that's why he is the best renaissance man hands down) and was very well known for writing letters in French. He was one of the most influential graphic designers of his time and many people looked up to him as an idol.

Considering I only read about Geoffroy Tory's small biography, today I learned about Ratdolt and Manutius. I was unaware of their accomplishments and how their accomplishments had many impacts on things we use today, such as italics that Manutius invented.

One question I have after class discussion is where did Manutius come up with the idea of innovating italics type? It seems for that time that italics would have came later. I wouldn't have thought a man would have innovated italics in this specific century.