THE ITALIAN REINASSAINCE  (1330-1550)

Katherinne Moran period 6

The renaissance began in the city-state of Italy. The great artist of the day were supported by the political entities and the Italian merchants. The most powerful city states were Florence, the papal states, Venice and Milan, each of them grew wit its own character, mostly due to the different forms of government that was over each other. Renaissance man may indeed have found himself suspended between faith and reason.

The Renaissance is one of those historic events that needs to be understood not just for what it achieved but also for how it came to be in the first place.the rebirth of art, literature, architecture and intellectual debate that began in Northern Italy in the 15th century.

Florence the birthplace of the renaissance

The economic strength owned by Florence was what created a growth in the mercantile industry that was what attracted immigrants, and set the scenario for a massive movement like the renaissance. Florence exported massive amounts of textiles of a very high quality all over Italy and Europe, and that’s what helped it maintain the economic strength that has always characterized the city.

HumanismHumanism is the term that applies to the predominant social philosophy from 1400 to 1650. this was the time when classics stimulated the philosophy and secularism, the appreciation of words and intensified the personal independence and individual expression, it also intensified the growing of secular view of life. Expansion of trade, growth of prosperity and luxury, and widening social contacts generated interest in worldly pleasures, despite the loyalty to the Christian doctrine. Humanism welcomed classical writers who revealed similar social values and secular attitudes.

The most fundamental point of agreement is that the humanist mentality stood at a point midway between medieval supernaturalism and the modern scientific and critical attitude. Medievalists see humanism as the terminal product of the Middle Ages. As the grip of medieval supernaturalism began to diminish, secular and human interests became more prominent. The facts of individual experience in the here and now became more interesting than the shadowy afterlife.

Indeed, as the age of Renaissance humanism wore on, the distinction between this world (the City of Man) and the next (the City of God) tended to disappear. Humanistic contributions to science consisted mainly in the recovery of Greek scientific literature which evinced a more accurate and acceptable body of facts and ideas than most medieval scientific works. 

Individualism and the instinct of curiosity were vigorously cultivated. Honest doubt began to replace unreasoning faith. the spirit of individualism to a certain degree incited the Protestant revolt, which, in theory at least, embodied a thorough application of the principle of individualism in religion.

ScienceAt the beginning of the 15th century, humanist faith in classical scholarship led to the search for ancient texts that would increase current scientific knowledge. science succeeded in becoming a permanent part of Western culture, soon after its first appearance it was swept away by its antithesis, that is, by Italian humanism.  For humanism turned the minds of prospective scientists from fact to form, from substance to grammar, from empirical investigation to the adoration of ancient authorities.

Renaissance scholars inherited from the Middle Ages intellectual views and approaches in philosophy, medicine, and science, and challenged almost all of them.Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) absorbed Aristotelian science and then rejected it in favor of a mathematically based analysis of physical reality, the modern science of mechanics. And along the way he offered evidence that Copernicus's daring view was not just mathematical hypothesis but physical reality. Another mathematical achievement affecting Europe and the rest of the world in future centuries was calendar reform.

Renaissance medical scholars inherited an understanding of the human body and an approach to healing based on the ancient Greek physician Galen (c. 129–c. 199 c.e.).  they applied humanistic philological techniques and ideological criticism to both medieval and ancient medical texts. With the Renaissance came an increase in experimental investigation, principally in the field of dissection and body examination, thus advancing our knowledge of human anatomy.

TechnologyDuring this period technology and inventions were very primitive and crude.The most important technological innovation of the time was the printing press.  The technology to make this possible was introduced from China in the 1300’s.  By the 1400’s, movable type was being used in Europe as Johann Gutenberg began printing the Bible in everyday language. Soon millions of books were in circulation.  This invention led to a higher literacy rate among people, and helped with the spreading of Renaissance ideas.Here are some examples:

Clocks, eyeglasses and

spectaclesIn the beginning of the Renaissance time period, we can see the first portable clocks developed in Florenece, Italy, in 1410 by Filippo Brunelleschi, a famous architect. Before this time, mechanical clocks were large, fixed devices. The spring- driven clock made it possible to carry the time around with you.An important advance in the science world came from the development of convex and concave lenses first used as vision correctors in about 1280, in Florence, Italy. These spectacles can be seen in paintings of Pope Leo X, who was often depicted wearing concave lenses to correct his vision problem of myopia, or near-sightedness. From the development of these lenses came development of the microscope and telescope, which will be discussed later. 

MicroscopeAnother major development in the science world was the microscope invented in 1590 by Zacharias Janssen and his father in Holland. It was a compound microscope with two lenses. The microscope was used for viewing things too tiny to be seen by the naked eye. It used concave and convex lenses to bend light and greatly enlarge images. In 1660, Dutch scientist and microscope builder Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first to study bacteria using a microscope. His microscopes had a magnifying power of up to 270 times larger than actual size and used a single lens. This was considered to be the best available power for his time, used to study microorganisms and human blood cells. Because many of our scientists and inventors went against common knowledge and belief, many were ridiculed and some were even punished. 

TelescopeUsing the idea of the microscope to guide him, Hans Lippershy of Middleberg decided to invent the telescope in 1608. Lippershy thought that if a microscope could enlarge images too small for the naked eye to see, there must be a way to enlarge objects too distant for which to get a good view. He accomplished this by combining two lenses and a tube in a different way than previously used in the microscope. By using convex and concave lenses he was able to magnify stars and planets. Like the microscope, the telescope was invented in Holland and bent light to view a desired image. Galileo Galilei used the telescope to develop his theories and ideas about Earth and its relation to the stars and the rest of the universe. 

AstronomyAstronomy languished for centuries after the fall of Rome. Much of the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greeks was lost, apart from Aristotle’s concepts about a spherical Earth and its location at the center of the universe. Nicolas Copernicus arrived at a new model of the cosmos, with the Sun at the center rather than the Earth. The invention of the telescope led Galileo to new discoveries and a defense of Copernicus, while later astronomers used the instrument to map the heavens. The Copernican system would finally be proven through the work of Isaac Newton in the early 1700’s.

PhilosophyStoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism underwent a revival over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as part of the ongoing recovery of ancient literature and thought. While many humanists shared Petrarca’s esteem for Stoic moral philosophy, others called its stern prescriptions into question. They accused the Stoics of suppressing all emotions and criticized their view for its inhuman rigidity.In contrast to the extreme ethical stance of the Stoics, they preferred the more moderate Peripatetic position, arguing that it provides a more realistic basis for morality, since it places the acquisition of virtue within the reach of normal human capacities. Another Stoic doctrine that was often criticized on religious grounds was the conviction that the wise man is entirely responsible for his own happiness and has no need of divine assistance.

The most important exponent of Stoicism during the Renaissance was the Flemish humanist Justus Lipsius (1547–1606), who worked hard to brighten the appeal of Stoicism to Christians. His first Neostoic work was De constantia (On Constancy, 1584), in which he promoted Stoic moral philosophy as a refuge from the horrors of the civil and religious wars that ravaged the continent at the time. His main accounts of Stoicism were Physiologia Stoicorum (Physical Theory of the Stoics) and Manuductio ad stoicam philosophiam (Guide to Stoic Philosophy), both published in 1604. Together they constituted the most learned account of Stoic philosophy produced since antiquity.

 Some humanists tried to harmonize Epicurean with Christian doctrine.The revival of ancient philosophy was particularly dramatic in the case of Skepticism, whose revitalisation grew out of many of the currents of Renaissance thought and contributed to make the problem of knowledge crucial for early modern philosophy. The major ancient texts stating the Skeptical arguments were slightly known in the Middle Ages. It was in the fifteenth and sixteenth century that Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Mathematicians, Cicero’s Academica, and Diogenes Laertius’s Life of Pyrrho started to receive serious philosophical consideration.

LiteratureThe Renaissance in Europe was in one sense an awakening from the long slumber of the Dark Ages. What had been a stagnant, even backsliding kind of society re-invested in the promise of material and spiritual gain. There was the sincerely held belief that humanity was making progress towards a noble summit of perfect existence. How this rebirth  came to fruition is a matter of debate among historians.  In Italy, for example, educated citizens rediscovered the grace and power of their classical, pagan traditions. Greek and Roman mythologies and philosophies served as the inspirational material for a new wave of artistic creation. 

The spirit of the Renaissance was expressed in literature as well as art. The poetry of Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) powerfully expressed the principles of humanism extremely early in the budding Renaissance. 

ArtIn keeping with the spirit of humanism, artists of the early Renaissance strove to portray lifelike human forms with correct proportions and realistic clothing and expressions. Artists developed new techniques to give paintings a more three-dimensional, life-like quality, and commonly studied human and animal anatomy in efforts to better understand their subjects.During the renaissance, a lot of important humanist started to express themselves by paintings that now form an important part of our history.

Architecture

Italian Renaissance architects based their theories and practices on Classical Roman examples. The Renaissance revival of Classical Rome was as important in architecture as it was in literature. A pilgrimage to Rome to study the ancient buildings and ruins, especially the Colosseum and Pantheon, was considered essential to an architect's training. Classical orders and architectural elements such as columns, pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes form the vocabulary of Renaissance buildings. Vitruvius's writings on architecture also influenced the Renaissance definition of beauty in architecture. As in the Classical world, Renaissance architecture is characterized by harmonious form, mathematical proportion, and a unit of measurement based on the human scale.

During the Renaissance, architects trained as humanists helped raise the status of their profession from skilled laborer to artist. They hoped to create structures that would appeal to both emotion and reason. Three key figures in Renaissance architecture were Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Andrea Palladio.

EconomyThe reason northern Italy was so much more prosperous than other European countries was that commerce was extremely developed in northern Italy.contact with other cultures through Crusades helped reviving commercial activity. Trade was increased with the exchange of luxury goods in the Mediterranean region and various commodities such as fish and fur. 

Eventually, commerce soon moved inland, bringing new prosperity to the citizens of cities along major trade routes. As traffic along these routes increased, existing settlements grew and many non-residents came from the countryside. Simultaneously the international and inland trade became active centering around the Mediterranean, and the commerce of port cities advanced. Also the merchant families accumulated enormous amount of properties by trade, and they supported the port cities. Thus, though the northern Italy was not abundant of resources compared to other places of Europe, the advancement created by trade allowed it to prosper. 

ReligionThe new ideals of humanism, although more secular in some aspects, developed against a Christian backdrop, especially in the Northern Renaissance. Much, if not most, of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to the Church. However, the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary theology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God. Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method.

The Age of Exploration

officially began in the early 15th century and lasted until the 17th century. The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of trading partners, new goods, and new trade routes. In addition, some explorers set sail to simply learn more about the world. Many nations were looking for goods such as silver and gold but one of the biggest reasons for exploration was the desire to find a new route for the spice and silk trades.

The Protestant Reformation

"The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Its religious aspects were supplemented by ambitious political rulers who wanted to extend their power and control at the expense of the Church. The Reformation ended the unity imposed by medieval Christianity and, in the eyes of many historians, signaled the beginning of the modern era. A weakening of the old order was already under way in Northern Europe, as evidenced by the emergence of thriving new cities and a determined middle class.

Famous People in the Renaissance

Leonardo Da Vinci(1452 – 1519) Leonardo was the supreme Renaissance painter, scientist, inventor, and polymath. Da Vinci is widely regarded as one of the greatest minds the world has ever produced. He was interested in everything from music to art and science. Da Vinci was an immense creative force at the start of the renaissance period. Amongst his many works was the immortal painting - The Mona Lisa.

Famous People in the Renaissance

MICHELANGELO RAPHAEL

(1475 – 1564) Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect. Michelangelo is often thought of as embodying the spirit of the renaissance. His greatest works include the statue of David and his painting of the Sistine Chapel.

(1483 – 1520) Italian painter. One of the three members of the high Renaissance trinity. Raphael was asked by Pope Julius II to work on rooms in the Vatican at the same time as Michelangelo worked on the Sistine chapel. Raphael was known for the perfection and grace of his classical interpretations.

Famous People in the Renaissance

TITIAN DONATELLO (1488-1576) An Italian painter,

Titian was a member of the 16th Century Venetian school. He was a prolific and verstaile artist who experimented with new forms of art, such as subtle variations in colour.

(1386-1466) An Italian painter and sculptor. Donatello was a key figure in the early Florence renaissance. Major works includ David, Virgin and Child with Four Angels, St Mark and The Feast of Herod.

Bibliography

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/renaissance1/summary.html

http://www.italianlegacy.com/brief-history-of-florence.html by anon.

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/humanism.html

http://www.scienceandyou.org/articles/ess_15.shtml

http://nides.bc.ca/Assignments/Invent69/Renaissance1.htm