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The Renaissance
The Renaissance refers to a time period in European history in which cultural ideas and motivations developed and changed from those traditionally found in the Middle Ages. The term Renaissance is a French word which means “rebirth,” and was first used by an art critic in the mid-1500s. Historians believe that the Renaissance movement started in Italy due to political and cultural conditions that favored learning and inspired men to re-evaluate the classics. Generally, historians mark the period as lasting between 1300 and 1600 CE. During this period, many wonderful works were created in the fields of literature, art, and philosophy. These fields came to be known as the humanities.
In the fourteen century a revolution began in European life and thought, a series of sweeping changes we call the Renaissance. Historians can’t agree on when it began or even what it was, but the period is often seen as the birth of the modern age.
"Renaissance" literally means "rebirth." It refers especially to the rebirth of learning that began in Italy in the fourteenth century, spread to the north, including England, by the sixteenth century, and ended in the north in the mid-seventeenth century (earlier in Italy). During this period, there was an enormous renewal of interest in and study of classical antiquity.
Yet the Renaissance was more than a "rebirth." It was also an age of new discoveries, both geographical (exploration of the New World) and intellectual. Both kinds of discovery resulted in changes of tremendous import for Western civilization.
Aspects of the Renaissance: Renaissance Humanism
Perhaps the earliest expression of the Renaissance was in Humanism, an intellectual approach which developed among those being taught a new form of curriculum: the studia humanitatis, which challenged the previously dominant Scholastic thinking. Humanists were concerned with the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety.
1454: The Gutenberg Bible published; print revolutionises European literacy.
Another important concept of the Renaissance was the importance of experience and feeling of a person. The Renaissance artists and writers believed that the study and expression of a person's experiences was just as important as a person's knowledge. The best way to share experiences and feelings was to write in one's own language and not in Latin. This contrasted with the Middle Ages' texts, which were usually on religion or philosophy and always in a complex style of Latin. Petrarch was an Italian poet and writer who lived at the beginning of the Renaissance period. He wrote many sonnets and poems which spoke about his love for a girl named Laura. Another example is that of Dante He wrote a very famous work called the Divine Comedy.
Humanists believed with the ancient Greek philosopher Protegra’s that “man is the measure of all things.”
In the fourteen century a revolution began in European life and thought, a series of sweeping changes we call the Renaissance. Historians can’t agree on when it began or even what it was, but the period is often seen as the birth of the modern age.
"Renaissance" literally means "rebirth." It refers especially to the rebirth of learning that began in Italy in the fourteenth century, spread to the north, including England, by the sixteenth century, and ended in the north in the mid-seventeenth century (earlier in Italy). During this period, there was an enormous renewal of interest in and study of classical antiquity.
Yet the Renaissance was more than a "rebirth." It was also an age of new discoveries, both geographical (exploration of the New World) and intellectual. Both kinds of discovery resulted in changes of tremendous import for Western civilization.
Aspects of the Renaissance: Renaissance Humanism
Perhaps the earliest expression of the Renaissance was in Humanism, an intellectual approach which developed among those being taught a new form of curriculum: the studia humanitatis, which challenged the previously dominant Scholastic thinking. Humanists were concerned with the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety.
1454: The Gutenberg Bible published; print revolutionises European literacy.
Another important concept of the Renaissance was the importance of experience and feeling of a person. The Renaissance artists and writers believed that the study and expression of a person's experiences was just as important as a person's knowledge. The best way to share experiences and feelings was to write in one's own language and not in Latin. This contrasted with the Middle Ages' texts, which were usually on religion or philosophy and always in a complex style of Latin. Petrarch was an Italian poet and writer who lived at the beginning of the Renaissance period. He wrote many sonnets and poems which spoke about his love for a girl named Laura. Another example is that of Dante He wrote a very famous work called the Divine Comedy.
Humanists believed with the ancient Greek philosopher Protegra’s that “man is the measure of all things.”
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