The Renaissance

The Renaissance

Renaissance is derived from the latin word ‘rinascere’, which means the act of being reborn. Renaissance literally means rebirth. It is a cultural movement, the word is usually used with reference to the revival of learning of classical literature between 14^th century and 16^th century. The great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300s and spread all over the Europe is known as The Renaissance. The changes that brought by the renaissance were gradual and hardly affected the people. It influenced future generations in many areas such as art, literature, education and history. In this period the social, political and religious ideas were all revolutionized.

Renaissance

 The word renaissance suggests different things to the different people. 

i)To the student of social history : the word suggest the breaking up of the regime of feudalism and chivalry and the birth of new social conditions.

ii) To a student of religious evolution : The word suggest the reformation and counter-reformation.

iii) To the lover Art and Literature : it means the recovery of the masterpieces of the ancient world and the revived knowledge of Greek and Latin.

iv) To a scientist: the word implies maritime exploration and the founding of astronomy, anatomy, physiology and modern medicine.

Inventions

i) Printing Press

The art of printing was introduced in Europe by John Gutenberg (Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg) of Germany in 1454. The first printing press in England was established in 1476 by William Caxton at Westminster. In few years the establishment of press is high in many towns of England. Thus the press at Oxford was setup in 1478. All these presses printed mostly Latin books, but books in English were printed for the first time in 1483. The immediate effect was that the books became cheaper and more plentiful.

ii) Mariner’s Compass

It enabled sailors to undertake longer voyages than had hitherto been possible. Before this invention navigators could not venture far out of sign of land, after the compass came into use, the exploration of distant seas became possible and then accepted ideas of the world’s shape and size were found to be false.

iii) Telescope

Galileo Galilei (Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Galileo has been called the "father of observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of the scientific method", and the "father of modern science") invented the telescope which helps the observers to scan the sky, which made the beginning of the science and astronomy. The greatest shock to medieval notions of the universe was given by Nicolaus Copernicus, for two hundred years mankind believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus proved that the sun was the center around which the earth and other planets revolved. This new idea and the invention of telescope encouraged the study of astronomy. The true position of the earth in the solar system was realized and the former teaching on this matter was discredited.

Discoveries

In the field of geographical discovery, no other age in the history of the world had made so much progress. Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India via Cape of Good Hope, and Ferdinand Magellan was the first amn to sail around the world. Some of the well known British mariners were Sir John Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh.

Art

In the field of art also, Italy was the pioneer during early 1300s, the Florentine painter Gitto became the first artist to portray nature realistic art during the late 1400s the early 1500s was dominated by three men Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. The focus of Renaissance art was on realism. They tried to make their work as life like as possible Michelangelo’s statue of Moses his painting on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s portrait of the Madonna and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and Mona Lisa rank among the greatest achievements of Renaissance art.

Religion

The Renaissance in religion consists of two movements the reformation and the counter reformation. The reformation started in Germany Martin Luther the leader of the movement.

Architecture

Architecture like other branches of learning underwent a classical Revival which spread over the whole of Europe. Roman and Greek replaced the medieval Gothic style, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is a greatest example of new style

The effect of Renaissance in religion

The spirit of inquiry that resulted due to the new learning of The Renaissance inspired people to question the old values. This acted as a disturbing force in the realm of religion. People of the medieval age unquestioningly accepted the authority of the Catholic Church.

Economy and Trade 

During the Renaissance, the European economy grew dramatically, particularly in the area of trade. Developments such as population growth, improvements in banking, expanding trade routes, and new manufacturing systems led to an overall increase in commercial activity. Feudalism*, which had been widespread in the Middle Ages, gradually disappeared, and early forms of capitalism* emerged. The changes affected many aspects of European society, forcing people to adapt to different kinds of work and new ways of doing business with others.

Literature

The Renaissance in Literature may be said to have been began in England with Sir Thomas More. His most famous work ‘Utopia’ which is a Greek word meaning ‘nowhere’ was written in Latin and first published in 1516.Eramus was one of the last European writers who wrote in Latin. His most famous work was ‘the praise of Folly’. The first general great English epic is Fairy Queen by Edmund Spenser is representative poetry of the English Renaissance

Translation

Apart from the study of the classics in their original the period of Renaissance was also an age of translation. Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Demosthenes and Plutarch were all translated into English. This translations enabled even those who did not know Greek and Latin to share the fond of classical literature.

Education

During this period of Renaissance educational ideals underwent great changes. In the middle ages there were two schemes of education one devised for the clergy and other to make a “perfect and gentle Knight”.

The discovery of new sea routes brought countries closer as a result see traffic developed and within trade and Commerce.

Society during the Renaissance was sharply distinguished into two classes, the very wealthy and the very poor. Farmers were very wealthy and the noble and barons possessed huge estates. The poor have no right for their own they were protected by the lord for whom they worked.