:''This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. For the earlier European Renaissance, see
Renaissance of the 12th century.''
The 'Renaissance' (
French for "rebirth";
Italian: ''Rinascimento''), was a
cultural movement that spanned roughly the
14th through the
17th century, beginning in
Italy in the late
Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of
Europe. It encompassed the revival of learning based on
classical sources, the rise of courtly and
papal patronage, the development of
perspective in painting, and advancements in science.
[1] The Renaissance had wide-ranging consequences in all
intellectual pursuits, but is perhaps best known for its
artistic aspect and the contributions of such
polymaths as
Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, who have inspired the term "
Renaissance men".
[2][3]
There is a general — though by no means unchallenged — consensus that the Renaissance began in
Florence in the fourteenth century.
[4] Various theories have been proposed to explain its origin and characteristics, focusing on an assortment of factors, including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at this time including its political structure and the patronage of its dominant family, the
Medici.
The Renaissance has a long and complex
historiography, and there has always been debate among historians as to the usefulness of the Renaissance as a term and as a historical age.
1 Some have called into question whether the Renaissance really was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for the classical age.
[5] While nineteenth-century historians were keen to emphasise that the Renaissance represented a clear "break" from Medieval thought and practice, some modern historians have instead focused on the continuity between the two eras.
47 Indeed, it is now usually considered incorrect to classify any historical period as "better" or "worse", leading some to call for an end to the use of the term, which they see as a product of
presentism.
[6] The word ''Renaissance'' has also been used to describe other historical and cultural movements, such as the
Carolingian Renaissance and the
Byzantine Renaissance.
Overview
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the
early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence was felt in
literature,
philosophy,
art,
politics,
science,
religion, and other aspects of intellectual enquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the
humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.
1
Renaissance thinkers sought out learning from
ancient texts, typically written in
Latin or
ancient Greek. Scholars scoured Europe's monastic libraries, searching for works of antiquity which had fallen into obscurity. In such texts they found a desire to improve and perfect their worldly knowledge; an entirely different sentiment to the transcendental
spirituality stressed by
medieval Christianity.
1
They did not reject Christianity; quite the contrary, many of the Renaissance's greatest works were devoted to it, and the Church
patronized many works of Renaissance art. However, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life.
[7]
Artists such as
Masaccio strove to portray the human form realistically, developing techniques to render
perspective and light more naturally.
Political philosophers, most famously
Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe political life as it really was, and to improve
government on the basis of reason. In addition to studying classical Latin and Greek, authors also began increasingly to use vernacular languages; combined with the invention of
printing, this would allow many more people access to books, especially the Bible.
[8]
In all, the Renaissance could be viewed as an attempt by intellectuals to study and improve the
secular and worldly, both through the revival of ideas from antiquity, and through novel approaches to thought.
The Renaissance's origins
Most historians agree that the ideas that characterized the Renaissance had their origin in late
13th century Florence, in particular with the writings of
Dante Alighieri (
1265–
1321) and
Francesco Petrarch (
1304–
1374), as well as the painting of
Giotto di Bondone (
1267-
1337).
[9] Yet it remains unclear why the Renaissance began in Italy, and why it began when it did. Accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins.
Assimilation of Greek and Arabic knowledge
The Renaissance was so called because it was a "rebirth" of certain classical ideas that had long been lost to Europe. It has been argued that the fuel for this rebirth was the rediscovery of ancient texts that had been forgotten by Western civilization, but were preserved in some
monastic libraries and in the
Islamic world, and the translations of
Greek and
Arabic texts into
Latin.
[10] Renaissance scholars such as
Niccolò de' Niccoli and
Poggio Bracciolini scoured the libraries of Europe in search of works by such classical authors as
Plato,
Cicero and
Vitruvius.
[11] Additionally, as the
reconquest of the
Iberian peninsula from Islamic
Moors progressed, numerous Greek and Arabic works were captured from educational institutions such as the library at
Córdoba, which claimed to have 400,000 books.
[12] The works of
ancient Greek and
Hellenistic writers (such as
Plato,
Aristotle,
Euclid, and
Ptolemy) and
Muslim scientists and
philosophers (such as
Geber,
Abulcasis,
Alhacen,
Avicenna,
Avempace, and
Averroes), were imported into the Christian world, providing new intellectual material for European scholars.
Greek and Arabic knowledge were not only assimilated from Spain, but also directly from the Middle East. The study of mathematics was flourishing in the Middle East, and mathematical knowledge was brought back by
crusaders in the
13th century.
[13] The decline of the
Byzantine Empire after
1204 - and its eventual
fall in
1453 - led to an exodus of
Greek scholars to the West. These scholars brought with them texts and knowledge of the classical
Greek civilization which had been lost for centuries in the West.
[14]
Social and political structures in Italy
The unique political structures of late
Middle Ages Italy have led some to theorize that its unusual social climate allowed the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence. Italy did not exist as a
political entity in the early modern period. Instead, it was divided into smaller
city states and territories: the
kingdom of Naples controlled the south, the
Republic of Florence and the
Papal States the center, the
Genoese and the
Milanese the north and west, and the
Venetians the east. Fifteenth-century Italy was one of the most urbanised areas in Europe.
[15] Many of its cities stood among the ruins of ancient Roman buildings; it seems likely that the classical nature of the Renaissance was linked to its origin in the Roman Empire's heartlands.
[16]
Italy at this time was notable for its merchant
Republics, including the
Republic of Florence and the
Republic of Venice. Although in practice these were
oligarchical, and bore little resemblance to a modern
democracy, the relative political freedom they afforded was conducive to academic and artistic advancement.
[17] Likewise, the position of Italian cities such as Venice as great trading centres made them intellectual crossroads.
Merchants brought with them ideas from far corners of the globe, particularly
the Levant. Venice was Europe's gateway to trade with the East, and a producer of fine
glass, while Florence was a capital of
silk and
jewelry. The wealth such business brought to Italy meant that large public and private artistic projects could be commissioned and individuals had more leisure time for study.
17
The Black Death
One theory that has been advanced is that the devastation caused by the
Black Death in Florence (and elsewhere in Europe) resulted in a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. Italy was particularly badly hit by the plague, and it has been speculated that the familiarity with death that this brought thinkers to dwell more on their lives on Earth, rather than on
spirituality and the
afterlife.
[18] It has also been argued that the Black Death prompted a new wave of piety, manifested in the
sponsorship of religious works of art.
[19] However, this does not fully explain why the Renaissance occurred specifically in Italy in the 14th century. The Black Death was a pandemic that affected all of Europe in the ways described, not only Italy. The Renaissance's emergence in Italy was most likely the result of the complex interaction of the above factors.
[20]
Cultural conditions in Florence
It has long been a matter of debate why the Renaissance began in Florence, and not elsewhere in Italy. Scholars have noted several features unique to Florentine cultural life which may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasised the role played by the
Medici family in patronising and stimulating the arts.
Lorenzo de' Medici devoted huge sums to commissioning works from Florence's leading artists, including
Leonardo da Vinci,
Sandro Botticelli, and
Michelangelo Buonarroti.
11
The Renaissance was certainly already underway before Lorenzo came to power, however. Indeed, before the Medici family itself achieved hegemony in Florentine society. Some historians have postulated that Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance as a result of luck, i.e. because "
Great Men" were born there by chance.
[21] Da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo were all born in
Tuscany. Arguing that such chance seems improbable, other historians have contended that these "Great Men" were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.
[22]
The Renaissance's characteristics
Humanism
Humanism was not a philosophy per se, but rather a method of learning. In contrast to the medieval
scholastic mode, which focused on resolving contradictions between authors, humanists would study ancient texts in the original, and appraise them through a combination of reasoning and empirical evidence. Humanist education was based on the study of
poetry,
grammar,
ethics and
rhetoric. Above all, humanists asserted "the genius of man... the unique and extraordinary ability of the human mind."
[23]
Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern period. Political philosophers such as
Niccolò Machiavelli and
Thomas More revived the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers, and applied them in critiques of contemporary government. Theologians, notably
Erasmus and
Martin Luther, challenged the
Aristotelian status quo, introducing radical new ideas of
justification and
faith (''for more, see
Religion below'').
Art
One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic linear perspective.
Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) is credited with first treating a painting as a window into space, but it was not until the writings of architects
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and
Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) that perspective was formalised as an artistic technique.
[24] The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts (''for more, see
Renaissance Classicism'').
[25] To that end, painters also developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case of
Leonardo da Vinci,
human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature, and to unravel the axioms of
aesthetics, with the works of
Leonardo,
Michelangelo and
Raphael representing artistic pinnacles that were to be much imitated by other artists.
[26]
Concurrently, in the
Netherlands, a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed, the work of
Hugo van der Goes and
Jan van Eyck having particular influence on the development of painting in Italy, both technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas, and stylistically in terms of naturalism in representation. (''for more, see
Renaissance in the Netherlands''). Later, the work of
Pieter Brueghel the Elder would inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life.
[27]
In
architecture,
Filippo Brunelleschi was foremost in studying the remains of ancient Classical buildings, and with rediscovered knowledge from the 1st century writer
Vitruvius and the flourishing discipline of
mathematics, formulated the Renaissance style. Brunelleschi's major feat of engineering was the building of the dome of
Florence Cathedral.
[28] The outstanding architectural work of the High Renaissance was the rebuilding of
St. Peter's Basilica, combining the skills of
Bramante,
Michelangelo,
Raphael,
Sangallo and
Maderno.
Science
The upheavals occurring in the arts and humanities were mirrored by a dynamic period of change in the sciences. Some have seen this flurry of activity as a "
scientific revolution," heralding the beginning of the modern age.
[29] Others have seen it merely as an acceleration of a continuous process stretching from the ancient world to the present day.
[30] Regardless, there is general agreement that the Renaissance saw significant changes in the way the universe was viewed and the methods with which philosophers sought to explain natural phenomena.
[31]
Science and art were very much intermingled in the early Renaissance, with artists such as
Leonardo da Vinci making observational drawings of anatomy and nature. Yet the most significant development of the era was not a specific discovery, but rather a ''process'' for discovery, the
scientific method.
31 This revolutionary new way of learning about the world focused on
empirical evidence, the importance of
mathematics, and discarding the Aristotelian "
final cause" in favour of a
mechanical philosophy. Early and influential proponents of these ideas included
Copernicus and
Galileo.
The new scientific method led to great contributions in the fields of astronomy, physics,
biology, and
anatomy. With the publication of
Vesalius's ''
De humani corporis fabrica'', a new confidence was placed in the role of
dissection, observation, and a
mechanistic view of anatomy.
31
Religion
It should be emphasised that the new ideals of humanism, although more secular in some aspects, developed against an unquestioned
Christian backdrop, especially in the
Northern Renaissance. Indeed, much (if not most) of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to the
Church.
[32] However, the Renaissance had a profound effect on contemporary
theology, particularly in the way people perceived the relationship between man and God.
7 Many of the period's foremost theologians were followers of the humanist method, including
Erasmus,
Zwingli,
Thomas More,
Martin Luther, and
John Calvin.
The Renaissance began in times of religious turmoil. The late
Middle Ages saw a period of political intrigue surrounding the
Papacy, culminating in the
Western Schism, in which three men simultaneously claimed to be true
Bishop of Rome.
[33] While the schism was resolved by the
Council of Constance (
1414), the fifteenth century saw a resulting reform movement know as Conciliarism, which sought to limit the pope's power. While the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical matters by the
Fifth Council of the Lateran (
1511), it was dogged by continued accusations of corruption, most famously in the person of Pope Alexander VI, who was accused variously of
simony,
nepotism and fathering four
illegitimate children whilst Pope, whom he married off to gain more power.
[34]
Churchmen such as Erasmus and Luther proposed reform to the Church, often based on humanist
textual criticism of the New
Testament.
7 Indeed, it was Luther who in October 1517 published the
95 Theses, challenging papal authority and criticising its perceived corruption, particularly with regard to its sale of
indulgences. The 95 Theses led to the
Reformation, a break with the Roman Catholic Church that previously claimed hegemony in
Western Europe. Humanism and the Renaissance therefore played a direct role in sparking the Reformation, as well as in many other contemporaneous religious debates and conflicts.
Renaissance self-awareness
By the fifteenth century, writers, artists and architects in Italy were well aware of the transformations that were taking place and were using phrases like ''modi antichi'' (in the antique manner) or ''alle romana et alla antica'' (in the manner of the Romans and the ancients) to describe their work. The term "la rinascita" first appeared, however, in its broad sense in
Giorgio Vasari's ''
Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori Italiani'' (The Lives of the Artists, 1550, revised 1568).
[35][36] Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase contains
Cimabue,
Giotto, and
Arnolfo di Cambio; the second phase contains
Masaccio,
Brunelleschi, and
Donatello; the third centers on
Leonardo da Vinci and culminates with
Michelangelo. It was not just the growing awareness of classical antiquity that drove this development, according to Vasari, but also the growing desire to study and imitate nature.
[37]
The Renaissance spreads
In the 15th century the Renaissance spread with great speed from its birthplace in Florence, first to the rest of Italy, and soon to the rest of Europe. The invention of the
printing press allowed the rapid transmission of these new ideas. As it spread, its ideas diversified and changed, being adapted to local culture. In the twentieth century, scholars began to break the Renaissance into regional and national movements, including:
★ The
Italian Renaissance
★ The
English Renaissance
★ The
German Renaissance
★ The
Northern Renaissance
★ The
French Renaissance
★ The
Renaissance in the Netherlands
★ The
Polish Renaissance
★ The
Spanish Renaissance
★
Renaissance architecture in Eastern Europe
The Northern Renaissance
Main articles: Northern Renaissance
The Renaissance as it occurred in Northern Europe has been termed the "Northern Renaissance". It arrived first in
France, imported by King
Charles VIII after his invasion of Italy.
Francis I imported Italian art and artists, including
Leonardo Da Vinci, and at great expense built ornate palaces. Writers such as
François Rabelais,
Pierre de Ronsard,
Joachim du Bellay and
Michel de Montaigne, painters such as
Jean Clouet and musicians such as
Jean Mouton also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance.
In the second half of the 15th century, Italians brought the new style to
Poland and
Hungary. After the marriage in 1476 of
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, to
Beatrix of Naples,
Buda became the one of the most important artistic centres of the Renaissance north of the
Alps.
[38] The most important humanists living in Matthias' court were
Antonio Bonfini and
Janus Pannonius.
38 In 1526 the
Ottoman conquest of Hungary put an abrupt end to the short-lived
Hungarian Renaissance.
An early Italian humanist who came to
Poland in the mid-15th century was
Filip Callimachus. Many Italian artists came to Poland with
Bona Sforza of Milano, when she married King
Zygmunt I of Poland in 1518.
[39] This was supported by temporarily strengthened monarchies in both areas, as well as by newly-established universities.
[40]
The spirit of the age spread from France to the
Low Countries and
Germany, and finally by the late
16th century to England,
Scandinavia, and remaining parts of Central Europe. In these areas
humanism became closely linked to the turmoil of the
Protestant Reformation, and the art and writing of the
German Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.
[41]
In England, the
Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the
English Renaissance with the work of writers
William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe,
John Milton, and
Edmund Spenser, as well as great artists, architects (such as
Inigo Jones), and composers such as
Thomas Tallis,
John Taverner, and
William Byrd.
The Renaissance arrived in the Iberian peninsula through the Mediterranean possessions of the
Aragonese Crown and the city of
Valencia. Early Iberian Renaissance writers include
Ausiàs March,
Joanot Martorell,
Fernando de Rojas,
Juan del Encina,
Garcilaso de la Vega,
Gil Vicente and
Bernardim Ribeiro. The late Renaissance in Spain saw writers such as
Miguel de Cervantes,
Lope de Vega,
Luis de Góngora and
Tirso de Molina, artists such as
El Greco and composers such as
Tomás Luis de Victoria.
In Portugal writers such as
Sá de Miranda and
Luís de Camões and artists such as
Nuno Gonçalves appeared.
While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy, there was a simultaneous southward spread of innovation, particularly in
music.
[42] The music of the
15th century Burgundian School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in that art and the
polyphony of the
Netherlanders, as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of what was the first true international style in
music since the standardization of
Gregorian Chant in the
9th century.
42 The culmination of the Netherlandish school was in the music of the Italian
composer,
Palestrina. At the end of the 16th century Italy again became a center of musical innovation, with the development of the polychoral style of the
Venetian School, which spread northward into Germany around
1600.
The paintings of the Italian Renaissance differed from those of the Northern Renaissance. Italian Renaissance artists were among the first to paint secular scenes, breaking away from the purely religious art of medieval painters. At first, Northern Renaissance artists remained focused on religious subjects, such as the contemporary religious upheaval portrayed by
Albrecht Dürer. Later on, the works of
Pieter Bruegel influenced artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or classical themes. It was also during the northern Renaissance that
Flemish brothers
Hubert and
Jan van Eyck perfected the
oil painting technique, which enabled artists to produce strong colors on a hard surface that could survive for centuries.
[43]
The Renaissance's historiography
Conception
It was not until the nineteenth century that the French word ''Renaissance'' achieved popularity in describing the cultural movement that began in the late 13th century. The Renaissance was first defined by French historian
Jules Michelet (1798-1874), in his 1855 work, ''Histoire de France''. For Michelet, the Renaissance was more a development in science than in art and culture. He asserted that it spanned the period from
Columbus to
Copernicus to
Galileo; that is, from the end of the fifteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century.
[44] Moreover, Michelet distinguished between what he called, "the bizarre and monstrous" quality of the Middle Ages and the
democratic values that he, as a vocal
Republican, chose to see in its character.
20 A French nationalist, Michelet also sought to claim the Renaissance as a French movement.
20 The Swiss historian
Jacob Burckhardt, (1818-1897) in his ''Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien'', by contrast, defined the Renaissance as the period between
Giotto and
Michelangelo in Italy, that is, the 14th to mid-16th centuries. He saw in the Renaissance the emergence of the modern spirit of
individuality, which had been stifled in the Middle Ages.
[45] His book was widely read and was influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance.
[46] However, Buckhardt has been accused of setting forth a linear
Whiggish view of history in seeing the Renaissance as the origin of the modern world.
[47]
More recently, historians have been much less keen to define the Renaissance as a historical age, or even a coherent cultural movement. As Randolph Starn has put it,
For better or for worse?
Much of the debate around the Renaissance has centred around whether the Renaissance truly was an "improvement" on the culture of the Middle Ages. Both Michelet and Burckhardt were keen to describe the progress made in the Renaissance towards the "
modern age". Burckhardt likened the change to a veil being removed from man's eyes, allowing him to see clearly.
On the other hand, many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the "medieval" period - poverty, warfare, religious and political persecution, for example - seem to have worsened in this era which saw the rise of
Machiavelli, the
Wars of Religion, the corrupt
Borgia Popes, and the intensified
witch-hunts of the 16th century. Many people who lived during the Renaissance did not view it as the "
golden age" imagined by certain 19th-century authors, but were concerned by these social maladies.
[48] Significantly, though, the artists, writers, and patrons involved in the cultural movements in question believed they were living in a new era that was a clean break from the Middle Ages.
35 Some
Marxist historians prefer to describe the Renaissance in material terms, holding the view that the changes in art, literature, and philosophy were part of a general economic trend away from
feudalism towards
capitalism, resulting in a
bourgeois class with leisure time to devote to the arts.
[49]
Johan Huizinga (
1872–
1945) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned whether it was a positive change. In his book ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', he argued that the Renaissance was a period of decline from the
High Middle Ages, destroying much that was important.
5 The
Latin language, for instance, had evolved greatly from the classical period and was still a living language used in the church and elsewhere. The Renaissance obsession with classical purity halted its further evolution and saw Latin revert to its classical form.
Robert S. Lopez has contended that it was a period of deep
economic recession. Meanwhile
George Sarton and
Lynn Thorndike have both argued that
scientific progress was slowed.
James Franklin has argued that the idea of an European Renaissance around the 15th century is a myth.
[50] He claims that the gap between 1453 and 1564 was in fact a period when thought declined significantly, bringing to an end a
period of advance near the end of the Middle Ages. He sees the medieval
Twelfth-century Renaissance as the "real, true, and unqualified renaissance", noting for example that the
rediscovery of ancient knowledge, which the later Italian humanists claimed for themselves, was actually accomplished in the twelfth century. Franklin concedes that painting was an area where the Renaissance really did excel, but unfortunately, he says, the skill of the Renaissance in art covered up its incompetence at anything else.
Historians have begun to consider the word ''Renaissance'' as unnecessarily loaded, implying an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "
Dark Ages" (Middle Ages). Many historians now prefer to use the term "
Early Modern" for this period, a more neutral designation that highlights the period as a transitional one between the Middle Ages and the modern era.
[51]
Other Renaissances
The term Renaissance has also been used to define time periods outside of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Charles H. Haskins (1870–1937), for example, made a convincing case for a
Renaissance of the 12th century.
[52] Other historians have argued for a
Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth and ninth centuries, and still later for an
Ottonian Renaissance in the tenth century.
[53] Other periods of cultural rebirth have also been termed "renaissances", such as the
Bengal Renaissance or the
Harlem Renaissance.
References and sources
References and notes
1. Open University, ''Looking at the Renaissance: Defining the Renaissance'' (Retrieved 10-05-2007)
2. BBC Science & Nature, ''Leonardo da Vinci'' (Retrieved on May 12 2007)
3. BBC History, ''Michelangelo'' (Retrieved on May 12 2007)
4. P. Burke, ''The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries'' (Blackwell, Oxford 1998)
5. Johan Huizinga, ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'' (1919, trans. 1924)
6. ''The Idea of the Renaissance'', Richard Hooker, Washington State University Website (Retrieved on May 2 2007)
7. Open University, ''Looking at the Renaissance: Religious Context in the Renaissance'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
8. Open University, Looking at the Renaissance: Urban economy and government (Retrieved May 15 2007)
9. See below, under "Sources".
10. Hugh Bibbs, ''The Islamic Foundation of the Renaissance'', (Northwest and Pacific, 1999) (Retrieved on 10-05-2007)
11. Strathern, Paul ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (2003) p81-90, p172-197
12. ''The Islamic World to 1600'', University of Calgary Website (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
13. ''History of Medieval Mathematics'' University of South Australia Website (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
14. ''History of the Renaissance'', HistoryWorld (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
15. Julius Kirshner, "Family and Marriage: A socio-legal perspective" ''Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 1300-1550'', ed. John M. Najemy (Oxford University Press, 2004) p.89 (Retrieved on 10-05-2007)
16. Jacob Burckhardt, "The Revivial of Antiquity," ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'' (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878)
17. Jacob Burckhardt, "The Republics: Venice and Florence," ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'' (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878)
18. For more, see Barbara Tuchman's book, ''A Distant Mirror''
19. The End of Europe's Middle Ages: The Black Death University of Calgary website. (Retrieved on 5 April 2007)
20. J. Brotton, ''The Renaissance: A Very Short Introdution'' (OUP, 2006)
21. Jacob Burckhardt, "The Development of the Individual," ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'' (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878)
22. J. Stephens, "Individualism and the cult of creative personality", ''The Italian Renaissance'' (New York, 1990) pp. 121
23. As asserted by Gianozzo Manetti in ''On the Dignity and Excellence of Man''. Cited in Clare, J, ''Italian Renaissance''.
24. John D. Clare & Dr. Alan Millen, ''Italian Renaissance'' (London, 1994) p14
25. David G. Stork, ''Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
26. Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists'', trans. George Bull, Penguin Classics,(1965), ISBN 0-14-044-164-6
27. ''Peter Brueghel Biography'', Web Gallery of Art (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
28. Richard Hooker, ''Architecture and Public Space'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
29. Herbert Butterfield, ''The Origins of Modern Science, 1300-1800'', p. viii
30. Steven Shapin, ''The Scientific Revolution'', (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1996), p. 1.
31. J. Brotton, "Science and Philosophy", ''The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction'' (OUP 2006)
32. Open University article on ''Religious Context in the Renaissance'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
33. Catholic Encyclopedia, ''Western Schism'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
34. Catholic Encyclopedia, ''Alexander VI'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
35. Erwin Panofsky, ''Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art'', (New York: Harper and Row, 1960)
36. The Open University Guide to the Renaissance, ''Defining the Renaissance'' (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
37. Philip Sohm, ''Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
38. Lóránt Czigány, ''A History of Hungarian Literature'', "The Renaissance in Hungary" (Retrieved on May 10 2007)
39. History of Poland on Polish Government's website (Retrieved on April 4-2007)
40. For example, the re-establishment of Jagiellonian University in 1400.
41. Review of Lewis Spitz, ''The Religious Renaissance of the German Humanists''. Review by Gerald Strauss, ''English Historical Review'', Vol. 80, No. 314, p.156. Available on JSTOR (subscription required).
42. Paul Henry Láng, "The So Called Netherlands Schools," ''The Musical Quarterly'', Vol. 25, No. 1. (Jan., 1939), pp. 48-59. (Subscription required for JSTOR link.)
43. ''Painting in Oil in the Low Countries and Its Spread to Southern Europe'', Metropolitan Museum of Art website. (Retrieved April 5-2007)
44. Jules Michelet, ''History of France'', trans. G. H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton, 1847)
45. Jacob Burckhardt, ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'' (trans. S.G.C Middlemore, London, 1878)
46. Peter Gay, ''Style in History''. (New York: Basic Books 1974).
47. Randolph Starn, "Renaissance Redux" ''The American Historical Review'' Vol.103 No.1 p.124 (Subscription required for JSTOR link)
48. Savonarola's popularity is a prime example of the manifestation of such concerns. Other examples include Phillip II of Spain's censorship of Florentine paintings, noted by Edward L. Goldberg, "Spanish Values and Tuscan Painting", ''Renaissance Quarterly'' (1998) p.914
49. Renaissance Forum at Hull University, Autumn 1997 (Retrieved on 10-05-2007)
50. Franklin , J., "The Renaissance myth", Quadrant 26 (11) (Nov, 1982), 51-60. (Retrieved on-line at 06-07-2007)
51. S. Greenblatt, ''Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare'' (University of Chicago Press, 1980)
52. Charles Homer Haskins. ''The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century''. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927).
53. Jean Hubert. ''L’Empire Carolingien'' (English: The Carolingian Renaissance, Translated by James Emmons (New York: G. Braziller, 1970).
Sources
★ Brotton, Jerry, ''The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction'' ISBN 0-19-280163-5
★
Burckhardt, Jacob (1878),
''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'', trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X
★ Burke, P, ''The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries'' ISBN 0-631-19845-8
★
''The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902)
★
Cronin, Vincent (1967), ''The Florentine Renaissance'', ISBN 0-00-211262-0; (1969), ''The Flowering of the Renaissance'', ISBN 0-7126-9884-1; (1992), ''The Renaissance'', ISBN 0-00-215411-0
★ Ergang, Robert (1967), ''The Renaissance'', ISBN 0-442-02319-7
★ Ferguson, Wallace K.] (1962),
''Europe in Transition, 1300-1500'', ISBN 0-04-940008-8
★
Haskins, Charles Homer (1927), ''The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century'', ISBN 0-674-76075-1
★
Huizinga, Johan (1924), ''
The Waning of the Middle Ages'', republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-013702-5
★ Jensen, De Lamar (1992), ''Renaissance Europe'', ISBN 0-395-88947-2
★ Lopez, Robert S. (1952), ''Hard Times and Investment in Culture''
★
Strathern, Paul (2003), ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'', ISBN 1-844-13098-3
★ Stephens, John, ''The Italian Renaissance: The Origins of Intellectual and Artistic Change before the Renaissance'' ISBN 0-582-49337-4
★
Thorndike, Lynn (1943) 'Renaissance or Prenaissance?' in "Some Remarks on the Question of the Originality of the Renaissance", ''
Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 4, No. 1, Jan. 1943'' (Subscription required for JSTOR link.)
★
Weiss, Roberto (1969) ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity'', ISBN 1-597-40150-1
See also
Internal Links
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Renaissance man
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List of Renaissance figures
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Humanism
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Protestant Reformation
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Scientific Revolution
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Renaissance architecture
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Bengal Renaissance
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Pederasty in the Renaissance
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Continuity thesis
External links
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Notable Medeival and Renaissance Women
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Ancient and Renaissance women by Dr. Deborah Vess
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Renaissance Style Guide
★ Interactive Resources
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Florence: 3D Panoramas of Florentine Renaissance Sites(English/Italian)
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Multimedia Exploration of the Renaissance
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Virtual Journey to Renaissance Florence
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RSS News Feed: Get an entry from Leonardo's Journal delivered each day
★ Lectures and Galleries
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The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum
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The Idea of the Renaissance
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The Islamic Foundation of the Renaissance
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Leonardo da Vinci, Gallery of Paintings and Drawings
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Renaissance in the "History of Art"
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The Society for Renaissance Studies
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