The Renaissance
is a period in European history that followed the
Middle Ages
and ended in the
17th century
. “Renaissance” is a
French
word for “cultural rebirth.” During this period, there was a “rebirth” of
classical learning
. People started relearning the teachings of scholars from
Ancient Greece
,
Rome
, and other
ancient
societies. The Renaissance is often said to be the start of the "
modern age
"
During the Renaissance, there were many advances in
art
,
literature
, the
sciences
,
mathematics
, and
culture
. Many famous
artists
,
writers
,
philosophers
, and
scientists
lived during this period. A person who is clever at a great number of things is sometimes called a "
Renaissance man
". The most famous Renaissance man is
Leonardo da Vinci
, who was a
painter
, a scientist, a
musician
and a philosopher.
The Renaissance started in
Italy
, but soon spread across the whole of Europe. In Italy, the period is divided into three parts:
Following the
Mannerist
period was the
Baroque
period, which also spread across Europe starting around 1600. Outside Italy, it can be hard to tell where the
Renaissance
period ends and the
Baroque
begins.
In the Middle Ages, most artistic,
legal
, and historical production took place in and around books.
Monasteries
,
churches
,
universities
, and people who could afford them produced and owned books. Books were produced entirely by hand, which is why they were called manuscripts;
illuminated manuscripts
include hand-colored, drawn, and gilded pictures.
Most books at that time were written in
Latin
,
Greek
, and Roman, which was used in the
Catholic Church
. Only
priests
and well-educated people read Latin then. People were forbidden by
law
from translating the
Bible
into
Italian
,
English
,
German
, French, or other "local"
languages
.
Around 1440 the first printed books were made in Europe. The
printing press
made it possible to print copies of large books like the
Bible
and sell them cheaply. It took 300 calf skins or 100 pig skins to print the Bible.
Printers
soon began to print everything that they thought was interesting: Ancient Greek and Roman
writings
,
poetry
, and
plays
; stories about the lives of the
saints
;
mathematics
textbooks
;
medical
textbooks; Christian
stories
;
erotic stories
; books about animals and
monsters
;
maps
of the world; and
advice
to
princes
about how to rule their people.
Before the invention of the printing press,
knowledge
had belonged to priests, monasteries and universities. Suddenly many thousands of people, even
merchants
, could learn far more than they ever could before.
From about 400 B.C. to about 400 AD, Europe experienced a
Golden Age
. In Ancient Greece and Rome, there were many philosophers, writers,
painters
,
sculptors
,
architects
and
mathematicians
. Things were beautiful, well-organized and well-run.
However, by the year 1400, the
city
of
Rome
was in
ruins
. Inside the broken
walls
that had been smashed in 410 AD were the remains of huge
temples
,
sports arenas
,
public baths
,
apartment
blocks and
palaces
. Nearly all of them were half-buried and ruined, so they could not be used. Many were pulled down to use as building
stone
.
Among the ruins of this once-great city, the people of Rome lived in
cottages
. They still went to church in the huge churches (
basilicas
) built by the first Christian
Emperor
,
Constantine the Great
, in the
4th century
. They still held market day in the Ancient Roman
market place
of
Campo dei Fiori
("Field of Flowers").
In 1402,
Filippo Brunelleschi
and a teenage
Donatello
came to Rome. They were probably the world's first
archaeologists
. They were fascinated by everything that they saw. They measured ancient ruined buildings, drew things, and dug around for weeks looking for bits of broken
statues
and painted
pottery
that they could put back together. By the time they went back home to
Florence
, they knew more about Ancient Roman
architecture
and
sculpture
than anyone had known for about a thousand years. Brunelleschi became a very famous
architect
and Donatello became a very famous
sculptor
.
The
Renaissance
really began in the city of
Florence
. In those days, Italy was not one single
country
. It was made of many little
states
, all governed in different ways. These states were constantly making
alliances
and fighting with each other.
Rome was
politically
powerful, because Rome had the
Pope
, the person in control of the
Roman Catholic Church
. Because of his very great importance as a spiritual
leader
, most people and most cities did not want to argue with any pope. After a pope died, a new pope was elected. Everyone who was rich and powerful hoped a member of their family would be chosen. It was always a good idea to have several young men in the family trained as
priests
, just in case. It also helped to be good friends with other rich families. One way to do this was to have lots of daughters and get them to marry rich powerful men from different cities. This was the way that politics worked.
There were other powerful cities in Italy too.
Venice
had a large and powerful
navy
.
Milan
controlled
trade
with
Northern Europe
and was very rich.
Genoa
was also very rich, because it controlled trade with
France
and
Spain
. Florence, where many people say the Renaissance started, was another important city.
Florence’s strength did not come from a strong
army
, a strong
fortress
, or control over trade. It came from
banking
. The
Medicis
were an important banking family. They helped to make Florence a powerful city and the centre of Renaissance learning.
Capture of Constantinople
List of important events of the Renaissance
[
change
|
change source
]
(See illustration above: Raphael's "School of Athens")
- Ilan Rachum,
The Renaissance: an Illustrated Encyclopedia
, Octopus,
ISBN
0-7064-0857-8
- Edmond Wright, Ed.,
The Medieval and Renaissance World
, Chartwell Books, Inc.
ISBN
0-89009-264-8
- Margaret Aston,
The Fifteenth Century
, Tames And Hudson,
ISBN
0-500-33009-3
- Denys Hay and John Law,
Italy in the Age of the Renaissance
, Longman,
ISBN
0-582-48358-1
- John T. Paoletti and Gary M. Radke,
Art in Renaissance Italy
, Laurence King Publishing, (2005),
ISBN
1-85669-439-9