The renaissance

Introduction

To better explain and tell about the Renaissance period, we have to give the explanation of what the Renaissance means. Renaissance is a rebirth of a culture. It occurred in Europe from about the fourteenth through the middle of the seventeenth centuries. Renaissance was based on rediscovery of the literature, art, music and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. People at that time saw Rome as the base of the civilization. And the important part is that America was discovered at that time, and the reformation began. During the renaissance, the change occurred in everything: in music, literature, art, and architecture. The major shift was from the communal to the individual.

The power was also taken away from the church and toward a secular government. It was a period of exploration and adventure. It was also an age of curiosity and individualism. Everything was focused on human life and its accomplishments. With the fall of Roman Empire, the Enlightment came. It happened about 476 AD. The city of Rome was attacked by Barbarians from Germany. Even though Emperor Constantine made Christianity a state religion, the Rome fell little by little. The Catholic Church was far less powerful during the Renaissance than it had been during the Middle Ages. That is when the Protestant Reformation began led by Martin Luther in 1483-1546. The church no longer monopolized learning. The upper classes and aristocrats thought that education was considered a status other than the necessity. They hired teachers to teach their own children. A little before, the books were copied by hands, and were very expensive. But with the Renaissance, the invention of the printing helped to publish the books needed to teach the children. Overall, Renaissance brought a lot of changes into the world in every aspect of it.

Discussion

Late in the Middle Ages, new ways of looking at life took hold in Europe and soon affected human affairs of all kinds as a new spirit of optimism, confidence, and creativity developed. This remarkable period began in the fourteenth in the city-states of Italy and lasted into the sixteenth century. It is known as the Renaissance, from the French word for "rebirth."

Renaissance scholars were interested in Greek and Roman learning. This developed into the study of the humanities--subjects concerned with humankind and culture, as opposed to science. Enthusiasm for ancient Greece and Rome spread from scholars to the rest if the Italian upper classes.

Unlike the medieval thinkers who thought of earthly existence chiefly as preparation for an afterlife, the people of Renaissance, following the examples of classical Greece and Rome, believed that life on earth should be lived as fully as possible.

The Renaissance people had new attitudes borrowed from classical times. The people of the Renaissance were interested in the unique qualities that made one person stand out from others. They were also ambitious for fame and worldly success. These attitudes encouraged a spirit of curiosity and adventure.

The Renaissance was a time of change in technology as well as in ...