A Revival of Ancient Greek Thought Art and Architecture

The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of scientific discipline & civilization

Michelangelo's David Masterpiece.
Michelangelo's David masterpiece. (Epitome credit: piola666/Getty Images)

The Renaissance, which means "rebirth" in French, typically refers to a period in European history from  A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1600. Many historians, yet, assert that it started before or concluded later, depending on the country. It bridged the periods of the Middle Ages and modern history, and, depending on the country, overlaps with the Early on Modern, Elizabethan and Restoration periods. The Renaissance is well-nigh closely associated with Italian republic, where information technology began in the 14th century, though countries such as Germany, England and France went through many of the same cultural changes and phenomena.

Nevertheless, while the Renaissance brought about some positive changes for Europe, the geographical exploration that flourished during this time led to destruction for the people of the Western Hemisphere every bit European conquest and colonization brought plagues and slavery to the Indigenous people living there. In Africa, it also brought nearly the nascency of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that saw Blackness people shipped from Africa to the Western Hemisphere to work as slaves on European colonies.

"Renaissance" comes from the French word for "rebirth." According to the City University of New York at Brooklyn, intense involvement in and learning almost classical antiquity was "reborn" later the Middle Ages, in which classical philosophy was largely ignored or forgotten. Renaissance thinkers considered the Middle Ages to have been a flow of cultural refuse. They sought to revitalize their culture through re-emphasizing classical texts and philosophies. They expanded and interpreted them, creating their ain fashion of art, philosophy and scientific inquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include astronomy, humanist philosophy, the printing press, vernacular language in writing, painting and sculpture technique, world exploration and, in the late Renaissance, Shakespeare'due south works.

What is the Renaissance?

Many historians, including U.Thou.-based historian and writer Robert Wilde, prefer to call back of the Renaissance every bit primarily an intellectual and cultural motion rather than a historical period. Interpreting the Renaissance as a time period, though convenient for historians, "masks the long roots of the Renaissance," Wilde told Live Science.

During this time, interest in classical artifact and philosophy grew, with some Renaissance thinkers using information technology as a fashion to revitalize their culture. They expanded and interpreted these Classical ideas, creating their own mode of art, philosophy and scientific enquiry. Some major developments of the Renaissance include developments in astronomy, humanist philosophy, the printing press, colloquial linguistic communication in writing, painting and sculpture technique, globe exploration and, in the belatedly Renaissance, Shakespeare'south works.

The term Renaissance was not commonly used to refer to the menstruum until the 19th century, when Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt popularized it in his classic, "The Civilization of Renaissance Italia" (Dover Publications, 2016).

Historical evolution

In this painting by Jules Laure, Charlemagne is surrounded by his principal officers as he welcomes Alcuin who shows him manuscripts.

In this painting by Jules Laure, Charlemagne is surrounded by his principal officers every bit he welcomes Alcuin who shows him manuscripts. (Image credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Reverse to popular belief, classical texts and knowledge never completely vanished from Europe during the Center Ages. Charles Homer Haskins wrote in "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century" (Harvard University Press, 1927) that in that location were iii main periods that saw resurgences in the art and philosophy of artifact: the Carolingian Renaissance, which occurred during the reign of Charlemagne, the offset emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (eighth and ninth centuries), the Ottonian Renaissance, which developed during the reigns of emperors Otto I, Otto II and Otto III (10th century) and the 12th century Renaissance.

The 12th century Renaissance was especially influential on the after Renaissance, said Wilde. Europeans at the time studied on a larger scale Classical Latin texts and Greek science and philosophy; they also established early versions of universities.

The Crusades played a role in ushering in the Renaissance, Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modern History" (Ginn & Company, 1902). While crusading, Europeans encountered advanced Middle Eastern civilizations, which had made strides in many cultural fields. Islamic countries kept many classical Greek and Roman texts that had been lost in Europe, and they were reintroduced through returning crusaders.

The autumn of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Ottomans too played a role. "When the Ottomans sacked Constantinople in 1453, many scholars fled to Europe, bringing classical texts with them," Susan Abernethy, a Colorado-based historian and author, told Live Science. "Conflict in Espana between the Moors and Christians also caused many academics to escape to other areas, particularly the Italian metropolis-states of Florence, Padua and others. This created an atmosphere for a revival in learning."

The Blackness Death helped set up the stage for the Renaissance, wrote Robert Southward. Gottfried in "The Blackness Decease" (Simon and Schuster, 2010). Deaths of many prominent officials caused social and political upheaval in Florence, where the Renaissance is considered to have begun. The Medici family moved to Florence in the wake of the plague and over the centuries produced business and political leaders as well as 4 popes.

The Medici's, and many others, took advantage of opportunities for greater social mobility. Becoming patrons of artists was a pop way for such newly powerful families to demonstrate their wealth. Some historians also fence that the Black Decease acquired people to question the church building's accent on the afterlife and focus more on the present moment, which is an element of the Renaissance's humanist philosophy.

Many historians consider Florence to be the Renaissance's birthplace, though others widen that designation to all of Italy. From Italy, Renaissance thought, values and artistic technique spread throughout Europe, according to Van Ness Myers. Military invasions in Italia helped spread ideas, while the end of the Hundred Years State of war between France and England allowed people to focus on things also conflict.

The term "Renaissance Man," which is used today to depict someone who is talented in multiple fields, is derived from the Italian word "Uomo Universale," which means "universal human" and is often used to describe individuals similar Leonardo da Vinci who thrived in multiple fields like art and scientific discipline.

Characteristics of the Renaissance

This illustration depicts Johannes Gutenberg in his workshop, showing his first proof canvass. (Image credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

The development and growth of the printing press was perhaps the most important technical accomplishment of the Renaissance. Johannes Gutenberg developed it in 1440, although the technology was used in China centuries earlier. It allowed Bibles, secular books, printed music and more than to be fabricated in larger quantities and reach more than people. "The need for perfect reproductions of texts and the renewed focus on studying them helped trigger one of the biggest discoveries in the whole of human history: press with movable blazon. For me, this is the easiest and unmarried greatest evolution of the Renaissance and immune modernistic civilisation to develop," said Wilde.

Intellectual motility

Wilde said one of the most significant changes that occurred during the Renaissance was the "development of Renaissance humanism equally a method of thinking. … This new outlook underpinned so much of the world and so and now."

Renaissance humanism, Wilde said, involved "attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety." Renaissance humanism looked to classical Greek and Roman texts to change contemporary idea, allowing for a new mindset subsequently the Middle Ages. Renaissance readers understood these classical texts as focusing on human being decisions, deportment and creations, rather than unquestioningly post-obit the rules set along by the Cosmic Church as "God's programme."

Though many Renaissance humanists remained religious, they believed God gave humans opportunities, and it was humanity'southward duty to do the all-time and most moral beings. Renaissance humanism was an "ethical theory and practice that emphasized reason, scientific inquiry and homo fulfillment in the natural world," said Abernethy.

Renaissance fine art

Here, part of the artwork of Michelangelo that adorns the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Italia. (Image credit: Fotopress/Getty Images)

Renaissance art was heavily influenced past classical art, wrote Virginia Cox in "A Short History of the Italian Renaissance" (I.B. Tauris, 2015). Artists turned to Greek and Roman sculpture, painting and decorative arts for both inspiration and the fact that the techniques meshed with Renaissance humanist philosophy. Both classical and Renaissance art focused on human dazzler and nature. People, even when in religious works, were depicted living life and showing emotion. Perspective, equally well as light and shadow techniques improved; and paintings looked more than three-dimensional and realistic.

Patrons made it possible for successful Renaissance artists to work and develop new techniques. The Catholic Church commissioned most artwork during the Middle Ages, and while it continued to do so during the Renaissance, wealthy individuals also became important patrons, co-ordinate to Cox. The virtually famous patrons were the Medici family unit in Florence, who supported the arts for much of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Medici family supported artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, da Vinci and Raphael.

Florence was the initial epicenter of Renaissance fine art, simply past the end of the 15th century, Rome had overtaken it. Pope Leo X (a Medici) ambitiously filled the city with religious buildings and art. This catamenia, from the 1490s to the 1520s, is known as the High Renaissance.

Renaissance music

As with art, musical innovations in the Renaissance were partly made possible considering patronage expanded beyond the Catholic Church. According to theMetropolitan Museum of Art, new technologies resulted in the invention of several new instruments, including the harpsichord and violin family. The press press meant that sheet music could exist more than widely disseminated.

Renaissance music was characterized past its humanist traits. Composers read classical treatises on music and aimed to create music that would touch listeners emotionally. They began to contain lyrics more than dramatically into compositions and considered music and poetry to be closely related, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Renaissance literature & theatre

This engraving from 1876 shows Hamlet, Horation, the grave-digger and the Skull of Yorick. Shakespeare's Hamlet is thought of as an educated Renaissance man.

(Image credit: traveler1116/Getty Images)

Renaissance literature, too, was characterized by humanist themes and a render to classical ethics of tragedy and comedy, according to the Brooklyn College English Department. Shakespeare's works, especially "Village," are good examples of this. Themes like human bureau, life's non-religious meanings and the truthful nature of man are embraced, and Village is an educated Renaissance homo.

The printing press allowed for popular plays to be published and re-dperformed around Europe and the earth. A play's popularity often determined whether publishers chose to print the script, wrote Janet Clarke, an emeritus professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Hull, U.K., in her book "Shakespeare's Phase Traffic" (Cambridge University Press, 2014). "Publishers invested in plays that were popular as theatre traffic as much equally they invested in the authors" wrote Hull.

Renaissance society & economics

The most prevalent societal alter during the Renaissance was the fall of feudalism and the rise of a backer market economy, said Abernethy. Increased trade and the labor shortage caused by the Blackness Death gave rise to something of a middle form. Workers could need wages and adept living conditions, so serfdom concluded.

"Rulers began to realize they could maintain their power without the church. At that place were no more knights in service to the king and peasants in service to the lord of the estate," said Abernethy. Having money became more important than your allegiances.

This shift frustrated popes. The "Peace of Westphalia," a series of treaties signed in 1648, made information technology harder for the pope to interfere in European politics. Pope Innocent 10 responded that it was "cypher, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, and devoid of meaning for all fourth dimension."

Renaissance organized religion

Due to a number of factors — including the Black Death, the rise in merchandise, the development of a center class and the papacy's temporary move from Rome to Avignon (1309 to 1377) — the Catholic Church's influence was waning as the 15th century began. The re-emergence of classical texts and the rise in Renaissance humanism changed society's approach to religion and the authority of the papacy, said Abernethy. "[Humanism] created an temper that gave rise to dissimilar movements and sects … Martin Luther stressed reform of the Cosmic Church, wanting to eliminate practices such as nepotism and the selling of indulgences," Abernethy said.

"Perhaps most important, the invention of the press press allowed for the broadcasting of the Bible in languages other than Latin," Abernethy continued. "Ordinary people were now able to read and learn the lessons of Scripture, leading to the Evangelical motion." These early Evangelicals emphasized the importance of the scriptures rather than the institutional ability of the church and believed that salvation was personal conversion rather than being determined past indulgences or edifice works of art or compages.

The fracturing of Christians in western Europe into different groups led to conflicts, sometimes chosen the "wars of religion," that lasted for centuries in Europe. These conflicts sometimes led groups of people to leave Europe in hopes of fugitive persecution. 1 of these groups would go known as the Pilgrims when they came to Plymouth in 1620.

Renaissance geography

This globe map shows Ferdinand Magellan'due south circumnavigation of the world (dashed line). (Image credit: Fine Fine art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Thirsty to learn more than about the world and eager to amend trade routes, explorers sailed off to nautical chart new lands. Columbus "discovered" the New Globe in 1492, and Ferdinand Magellan became the first person to successfully circumnavigate the globe in the early 1500s.

For the people of the Western Hemisphere, the European exploration and colonization that occurred was disastrous. With little or no immunity to the diseases Europeans brought over, the Ethnic population was ravaged by plagues, with decease rates in some areas estimated as high as 90%. The Spanish conquered the Aztec and Inca Empires, forcing the native survivors to work as slaves.

European powers also explored more of Africa, starting to conquer and colonize parts of the continent. As their strength in Africa grew, Europeans began to take people from Africa to work every bit slaves — in some cases sending them to piece of work on colonies in the Caribbean area and Southward America — this trans-Atlantic slave trade somewhen expanding to what is now the United States.

Renaissance scientific discipline

This 1708 depiction of the Copernican heliocentric solar arrangement shows the orbit of the moon around the World, and the orbits of the Earth and planets circular the dominicus, including Jupiter and its moons, all surrounded past the 12 signs of the zodiac. (Epitome credit: Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images)

As scholars studied classical texts, they "resurrected the aboriginal Greek belief that cosmos was constructed around perfect laws and reasoning," Abernethy said. "There was an escalation in the study of astronomy, anatomy and medicine, geography, alchemy, mathematics and architecture as the ancients studied them."

Ane of the major scientific discoveries of the Renaissance came from Polish mathematician and astronomerNicolaus Copernicus. In the 1530s, he published his theory of a heliocentric solar system. This places the sun, not the Globe, at the center of the solar system. Information technology was a major quantum in the history of science, though the Cosmic Church banned the press of Copernicus' book.

Empiricism began to take concord of scientific thought. "Scientists were guided by experience and experiment and began to investigate the natural world through observation," said Abernethy. "This was the showtime indication of a departure between science and religion. … They were beingness recognized as two separate fields, creating disharmonize between the scientists and the church, and causing scientists to exist persecuted," continued Abernethy. "Scientists found their work was suppressed or they were demonized as charlatans and accused of dabbling in witchcraft, and sometimes existence imprisoned."

Galileo Galilei was a major Renaissance scientist persecuted for his scientific experiments. Galileo improved the telescope, discovered new angelic bodies and found support for a heliocentric solar organization. He conducted motion experiments on pendulums and falling objects that paved the way for Isaac Newton's discoveries about gravity. The Catholic Church forced him to spend the terminal nine years of his life under house arrest.

Renaissance festival

While the term "Renaissance festival" typically refers to modern-day festivals that celebrate the fine art and civilisation of the Renaissance, there were festivals that took place during the Renaissance itself.

For instance, Henri 2, who was rex of France betwixt 1547 and 1559, held festivals periodically throughout his reign that included stages of performers and lengthy parades. The festivals included the arrivals of the king into the city or town where the festival was beingness held, wrote Richard Cooper, an emeritus professor of French at the Academy of Oxford, in a paper published in the volume "Court Festivals of the European Renaissance" (Taylor & Francis, 2017). Henri II sometimes held these festivals to brand an important event such as the coronation of his queen or a military machine victory, wrote Cooper.

How the Renaissance inverse the world

"The Renaissance was a time of transition from the ancient world to the modern and provided the foundation for the birth of the Age of Enlightenment," said Abernethy. The developments in science, art, philosophy and trade, as well as technological advancements like the printing press, left lasting impressions on society and set the stage for many elements of our modern culture.

However, while the Renaissance had some positive affect for Europe, it had devastating impacts for people of the Western Hemisphere, as plagues decimated Indigenous populations and the survivors often found themselves enslaved and nether the rule of European colonizers. This system of conquest, colonization and slavery likewise repeated itself in Africa equally European ability grew. Today, the ramifications of European colonization and slavery are yet felt and hotly debated around the earth.

Additional resources

—Learn more than virtually the geniuses of the Renaissance, from da Vinci and Galileo to Descartes and Chaucer on this History Channel page, with links to biographies of each.

—In this book by author Catherine Fet, kids will acquire about the Renaissance and its characters through tales of adventure.

—In this four-part BBC Television set serial called "Renaissance Unchained," Waldemar Januszczak gives you a peek within the more heady aspects of the time, from an episode on the gods and myths to one on a flow of war, defoliation and … "darkness."

Bibliography

"The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy Paperback" by Jacob Burckhardt, Dover Publications, September 16, 2010. https://world wide web.amazon.com/dp/0486475972

"The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century" by Charles Homer Haskins, Harvard University Press, 1927. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674760751

"The Black Death: Natural and Homo Disaster in Medieval Europe" by Robert Southward. Gottfried, Free Printing, March ane, 1985. https://world wide web.amazon.com/Black-Death-Natural-Disaster-Medieval/dp/0029123704

"A Short History of the Italian Renaissance" by Virginia Cox, I.B. Tauris, 2015. https://world wide web.amazon.com/History-Italian-Renaissance-I-B-Tauris-Histories/dp/1784530778

"Music in the Renaissance" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hard disk drive/renm/hd_renm.htm

Introduction to the Renaissance past the Brooklyn Higher English Section. http://bookish.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ren.html

Philip Van Ness Myers wrote in "Medieval and Modern History" (Ginn & Company, 1902). https://www.amazon.com/Mediaeval-Modernistic-History-Philip-Middle/dp/B001R6ARQI

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Source: https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html

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