Renaissance and Reformation: Primary Sources presents eighteen full or excerpted documents written by people who lived during the Renaissance and Reformation period. The autobiographical essays, diary entries, poems, trial testimonies, and letters in this volume reflect the experiences of religious reformers, world leaders, early scientists, authors, and artists. Some entries such as William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote display just some of the extensive literature and drama that was being written during the Renaissance period. Other excerpts, including Martin Luther’s "The Ninety-Five Theses" and Teresa de Ávila’s The Life of Teresa of Jesus, are meant to detail the causes of the Protestant Reformation and the experiences of people living through the Catholic Reformation.