The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy: reading level, length and free edition

Name: The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy
Author: Jacob Burckhardt

The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt is a history in English, in English translation. Our team rates it C1. It runs to 211,395 words with 18,566 different word forms, about 18–35 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.

By the Readlang Mobile team (an independent app, not affiliated with readlang.com). Updated 31 October 2026.

Cover of The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy

Author: Jacob Burckhardt
Language: English
Level: C1
Form: history
Words: 211,395
Different word forms: 18,566
Forms for 95% / 98%: 8,675 / 14,339
Reading time: 18–35 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

"The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy" by Jacob Burckhardt is a historical work published in 1860. This groundbreaking study examines the Italian Renaissance by capturing the spirit of the age across its main manifestations—politics, manners, religion, art, and social life. Burckhardt explores how the Renaissance shaped the state, developed the individual, revived antiquity, and transformed society. His scholarly judgements have been largely validated by subsequent research, establishing this work as a classic of Renaissance historiography.

Is The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy, you need its 8,675 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 14,339. The median English C1 book in our table needs 4,633 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is harder than most for its level: number 11 of 11, easiest first.

A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.

Which words should you know before you start?

These are the words that The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 309 English books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.

fifteenth 144
antiquity 143
poetry 135
viii 102
culture 101
della 95
poets 86
literature 85
princes 81
fourteenth 80
fame 78
writers 77
humanists 77
sixteenth 77
elsewhere 72

How does it begin?

Contents Index : A , B , C , D , E , F , G , H , I , J , K , L , M , N , O , P , R , S , T , U , V , W , Z . Footnotes

From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.

How long does it take to read?

Hours to read *The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy* (211,395 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
211,395	35 h	23 h	18 h	14 h

Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?

Where can you read it for free?

The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #2074. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.

To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.