Renaissance

**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 was Leonardo da Vinci, a painter, scientist, musician, and philosopher.

The Renaissance started in Italy but soon spread throughout Europe. In Italy, the period is divided into three parts:
- the Early Renaissance
- the High Renaissance
- the Late Renaissance  (also called the "Mannerist period")

Following the Mannerist period was the Baroque period, which also spread across Europe starting around 1600. Outside Italy, it can be hard to tell when the Renaissance period ended and the Baroque began.

### Reading and printing

In the Middle Ages, most artistic, legal, and historical production took place in and around books. Monasteries, churches, universities, and rich people them produced and owned books. They were produced entirely by hand and so were called manuscripts; illuminated manuscripts include handcolored, drawn, and gilded pictures.

Most books were written in Greek or Latin, which was used in the Catholic Church. Only priests and well-educated people could read Latin. People were forbidden by church 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 to 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 on to rule.

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.

### Ancient Roman things

From about 400 BC to 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, which 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 and so they could not be used. Many were pulled down to use as building stone.

Among the ruins of the once-great city, the people of Rome lived in cottages. They still went to church in the huge churches (basilicas) that had been 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 the teenager 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. When 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.

### Money and politics

The Renaissance really began in the city of Florence. In those days, Italy was not one single country but was made of many little states. All of them were governed in different ways and were constantly making alliances and fighting one other.

Rome was politically powerful, because the city had the Pope, the head 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 him. After a pope died, a new pope was elected. Rich and powerful people hoped that 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 so was to have many daughters and to get them to marry rich and powerful men from different cities, which was how politics then worked.

There were other powerful cities in Italy. 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 the Renaissance is said to have started, was another important city.

Florence’s strength came from a strong army, strong fortress, or control over trade but came from banking. The ruling Medicis were an important banking family and helped to make Florence a powerful city and the centre of Renaissance learning.

### In art

- 1401: Lorenzo Ghiberti wins a competition to create the Florence _Baptistry Doors_. Over the next 21 years, he creates two famous bronze doors with relief sculptures showing religious scenes.
- 1420s: Masaccio and Masolino paint the _Brancacci Chapel_ in Florence.
- 1440s: Donatello makes the statue of _Gattamelata on Horseback_ in Padua.
- 1470s: Botticelli paints the _Birth of Venus_ in Florence.
- 1490s: Leonardo da Vinci paints _The Last Supper_ and the Mona Lisa in Milan.
- 1508-1512: Michelangelo paints the _Sistine Chapel Ceiling_ in Rome.

### In architecture

- 1420: Workers begin to build _The Dome of Florence Cathedral_, using Brunelleschi's design.
- 1420s: Filippo Brunelleschi designs the _Church of San Lorenzo_ in Florence.
- 1444: Michelozzo designs the _Medici-Riccardi Palace_ for Cosimo de' Medici.
- 1471: Leon Battista Alberti designs the _Church of Sant' Andrea_ in Mantua.
- 1506: Work begins on the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
- 1550: Andrea Palladio designs the _Villa Rotunda_ near Vicenza.

### In science and technology

- Early 1300s: The first guns are made.
- 1455: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press and uses it to create the first printed book in Europe.
- Late 1400s: The quadrant was developed to help sailors find their way at sea.
- 1480s: Leonardo da Vinci studies human anatomy.
- 1550s: Peter Henlein of Nuremberg makes the first watches.
- 1608: Hans Lippershey of the Netherlands makes the first telescope.
- 1618, William Harvey discovered that the heart pumps blood.

### In thinking

(See illustration above: Raphael's "School of Athens")
- Early 1300s: Petrarch publishes writings based on the works of St. Augustine and other classical writers.
- Mid 1400s: The Humanist Academy is created to discuss ancient writings and modern ideas. The Medicis supports the academy financially.
- 1511: Erasmus publishes _In Praise of Folly,_ which satirizes the traditions of the Catholic Church.
- 1532: Machiavelli publishes _The Prince_ and states that people who wish to have political power often do wicked things to get it.

### In religion

- 1382: John Wycliffe first translates the Bible from Latin to English. A movement begins to translate the Bible io many other European languages.
- 1454-1455: Johannes Gutenberg prints his famous Bible. The mass production of Bibles begins.
- 1517: Martin Luther writes the _Ninety-Five Theses_ on his ideas about problems in the Catholic Church, which is an important event in the Reformation.
- 1534: Henry VIII splits from the Catholic Church to form the Church of England.
- 1545: Pope Paul III calls the Council of Trent. Catholic leaders meet and discuss the problems that the Reformation has caused for the Catholic Church, which is the beginning of the Counter-Reformation.
- 1559: John Calvin starts the Geneva Theological Academy to teach people the Reformation's ideas about Christianity.

### In writing

- Early 1300s: Dante Alighieri writes _The Divine Comedy_ in Italy.
- 1348: Giovanni Boccaccio starts writing a collection of stories called _The Decameron_ in Italy.
- 1477: William Caxton publishes _The_ _Canterbury Tales_, which was written in the 1300s by Geoffrey Chaucer. It is the first important book written in English in England.
- 1532 and 1534: François Rabelais writes _Pantagruel_ and _Gargantua_ in France.
- 1550: Giorgio Vasari publishes _Lives of the Great Architects, Painters and Sculptors of Italy_ in Italy.
- 1590-1612: William Shakespeare writes his 37 plays in England.
- 1605 and 1616: Miguel de Cervantes publishes the tale of _Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha_ in Spain.

### In exploration

- 1487-1488: Bartholomeu Dias sails down the coast of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1492: Christopher Columbus sails from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies.
- 1497-1499: Vasco da Gama sails from Portugal to India by going around Africa.
- 1519-1522: Ferdinand Magellan leads an expedition to sail around the world. The expedition is completed under the command of Juan Sabastian del Cano.
- 1577-1580: Sir Francis Drake completes from England the second voyage around the world.

## Related pages

- Renaissance music
- List of Renaissance artists
- Medical Renaissance
- Duecento
- Humanities
- Trecento

## Sources

- Ilan Rachum, _The Renaissance: an Illustrated Encyclopedia_, Octopus,
- Edmond Wright, Ed., _The Medieval and Renaissance World_, Chartwell Books, Inc.
- Margaret Aston, _The Fifteenth Century_, Tames And Hudson,
- Denys Hay and John Law, _Italy in the Age of the Renaissance_, Longman,
- John T. Paoletti and Gary M. Radke, _Art in Renaissance Italy_, Laurence King Publishing, (2005),

## Other websites

- Links for Middle School students  _from the Courtenay Middle School Library Collection_