Renaissance+&+Reformation

RENAISSANCE-OVERVIEW

**THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY ** A new age called the Renaissance, meaning “rebirth,” marked a great change in culture, politics, society, and economics. In Italy, it began in the 1300s and reached its peak around 1500. Instead of focusing on religion, as in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance explored the human experience. At the same time, there was a new emphasis on individual achievement. At the heart of the Renaissance was an intellectual movement called humanism. Renaissance humanists studied the classical culture of Greece and Rome to try to comprehend their own times. They wanted to broaden their understanding. They emphasized the humanities—subjects such as rhetoric, poetry, and history. Poet Francesco Petrarch was an early Renaissance humanist. He gathered a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts. This opened the works of Cicero, Homer, and Virgil to Western Europeans.  Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance for many reasons. It had been the center of the Roman empire; remains of that ancient culture were all around. Rome was also the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, an important patron of the arts. Furthermore, Italy’s location encouraged trade with markets on the Mediterranean, in Africa, and in Europe. Trade provided the wealth that fueled the Renaissance. In Italy’s city-states, powerful merchant families, such as the Medici family of Florence, lent political and economic leadership and supported the arts.  Renaissance art reflected humanism. Renaissance painters returned to the realism of classical times by developing improved ways to represent humans and landscapes. For example, the discovery of perspective allowed artists to create realistic art and to paint scenes that appeared three-dimensional. The greatest of the Renaissance artists were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.  Some Italian writers wrote guidebooks to help ambitious people who wanted to rise in the Renaissance world. The most widely read of these was The Book of the Courtier, by Baldassare Castiglione. His ideal courtier was a well-educated, well-mannered aristocrat who mastered many fields. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a guide for rulers, titled The Prince, on how to gain and maintain power.

Medieval and Renaissance Art compared (source analysis) Medieval and Renaissance Art compared (II) (source analysis)

**THE RENAISSANCE IN THE NORTH ** By the 1400s, northern Europe began to enjoy the economic growth needed to develop its own Renaissance. An astounding invention—the printing press—helped to spread Renaissance ideas. In about 1455, Johann Gutenberg printed the first complete edition of the Bible using the new printing press. The printing press caused a printing revolution. Before, books were made by hand. They were rare and expensive. Printed books were cheaper and easier to produce. Now more books were available, so more people learned to read. Printed books exposed Europeans to new ideas and new places.  The northern Renaissance began in the prosperous cities of Flanders, a thriving center of trade. Flemish painters pursued realism in their art. One of the most important Flemish painters was Jan van Eyck. He portrayed townspeople and religious scenes in rich detail. Pieter Bruegel used vibrant color to portray lively scenes of peasant life. Peter Paul Rubens blended the tradition of Flemish realism with themes from mythology, the Bible, and history. German painter Albrecht Dürer traveled to Italy to study the techniques of the Italian masters. He soon became a pioneer in spreading Renaissance ideas to northern Europe. Dürer applied the painting techniques he learned in Italy to engraving. Many of his engravings and paintings portray the theme of religious upheaval.  Northern European humanists and writers also helped spread Renaissance ideas. The Dutch priest and humanist Desiderius Erasmus called for a translation of the Bible into the vernacular so that it could be read by a wider audience. The English humanist Sir Thomas More called for social reform in the form of a utopian, or ideal, society in which people live together in peace and harmony.  The towering figure of Renaissance literature, however, was the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. His 37 plays are still performed around the world. Shakespeare’s genius was in expressing universal themes, such as the complexity of the individual, in everyday, realistic settings. He used language that people understand and enjoy. Shakespeare’s love of words also enriched the English language with 1,700 new words.

**THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION ** In the mid-1500s, a big shift in scientific thinking caused the Scientific Revolution. At the heart of this movement was the idea that mathematical laws governed nature and the universe. Before the Renaissance, Europeans thought that Earth was the center of everything in the heavens. In 1543, Polish scholar Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric, or sun-centered, model of the solar system. In the late 1500s, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe provided evidence that supported Copernicus’s theory. The German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler used Brahe’s data <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 140%;">to calculate the orbits of the planets revolving around the sun. His calculations also supported Copernicus’s heliocentric view. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Scientists from different lands built on the foundations laid by Copernicus and Kepler. In Italy, Galileo assembled a telescope and observed that the four moons of Jupiter move slowly around that planet. He realized that these moons moved the same way that Copernicus had said that Earth moves around the sun. Galileo’s findings caused an uproar. Other scholars attacked him because his observations contradicted ancient views about the world. The Church condemned him because his ideas challenged the Christian teaching that the heavenly bodies were fixed in relation to Earth, and perfect. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Despite the opposition of the Church, a new approach to science had emerged, based upon observation and experimentation. To explain their data, scientists used reasoning to propose a logical hypothesis, or possible explanation. This process became known as the scientific method. The new scientific method was a revolution in thought. Two giants of this revolution were the Englishman Francis Bacon and the Frenchman René Descartes. Both were devoted to understanding how truth is determined, but they differed in their approaches. Bacon stressed experimentation and observation. Descartes focused on reasoning. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 140%;"> The 1500s and 1600s saw dramatic changes in many branches of science. English chemist Robert Boyle explained that matter is composed of particles that behave in knowable ways. Isaac Newton used mathematics to show that a single force keeps the planets in their orbits around the sun. He called this force gravity. To help explain his laws, Newton developed a branch of mathematics called calculus.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Note: The above information provided in this "Renaissance-Overview" section is the reproduction of the text found at: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">http://www.phschool.com/atschool/worldhistory/pdfs/HSWH_SU_NTSG_nad_1307.pdf