reasons for emergence of renaissance

For what reasons, and in what ways did the Renaissance emerge and develop in Italy? The periods between 14th and 17th century were marked by a return to classical ideas and culture, known as the Renaissance. The Renaissance or some may say “Rinascita” meaning rebirth, represented a break away from conformist society and culture of the previous medieval Europe to the revival of lost knowledge. This cultural movement, where changes occurred in almost every aspect of intellectualism, we know evoked in the in the heart of Florence, Italy. The unique characteristics of this city enabled an atmosphere of learning and artistic expression. An independent city like Florence was quickly capable to grow prosperous through trade and banking creating a class of wealthy businessmen who became patrons to individual artists giving them funds and other necessities. It were these men too who become the most prominent face of the Renaissance movement. The Renaissance marked an important moment in human history and ending of the dark ages. Having changed the way in which people thought has given us many of the freedoms we have today. This essay will be further exploring the question ‘For what reasons, and in what ways did the Renaissance emerge and develop in Italy?’ To do this I will analyze the emergence of the Renaissance from three factors Wealth, Politics and Humanism. While also considering the development of the Renaissance by looking at changes in science, art and finally the printing press.
“As fifteen-century Italians would have been the first to acknowledge, any study of the Renaissance in Italy must start with the wealth which made it possible.” As Robert Hole states wealth is certainly an important factor when considering how the Renaissance emerged. Italy was one of the wealthiest areas in Europe during the Renaissance, due to its geographical location it became a major trade route with a banking capital. This created a society full of rich guilds and rich cities ruled by rich merchants and rich popes. So by the 15th century the upper class rich families grew even wealthier, which came with the desire to demonstrate ones wealth through flourishing their town. In the words of an unknown historian “Italians had a sense of great patriotism which allowed them with a great incentive for embellishment of the town”. Their pride also came with a need to compete and outdo other towns to beautify ones city with the newest and most extravagant art and architecture. These families also became patrons to individual artists providing them with the funds, residences, and other necessities so that they might focus on using their talents to create beautiful feats of art.
The Medici family were a major force at play here; they were a banking family based in Florence and huge patrons of the art and are a prime example of the culture that thrived to start the Renaissance. It was under their power art was able to flourish, commerce increased and the economy expanded significantly.
Moving on to politics, Italy had a unique political system compared to others in Europe, which influenced the emergence of the Renaissance. In contrast to much of Europe being ruled by monarchs, most of Italy consisted of city-states, in which individual regions ruled centrally from a single city, within cities, leading families held power. The Italian cities were allowed a high degree of independence and expanded their political influence over the areas surrounding them. The most prominent city-states included Florence, Venice, Milan, and Rome. Florence was a republic where democratic ideals were admired during the Renaissance. The city-states were very competitive and wars among them were common.
Further to the unique political system, collecting classical manuscripts became familiarly widespread to the wealthy classes in the northern Italian city-states. As Robert Hole further states “At its heart, the Italian renaissance was about Christian humanist scholars reading Latin and Greek text.” These manuscripts studied by scholars, contained ideas highlighting human interests and goals. Humanism which these studies later become to be known by thrived in many academic fields, creating a thirst for knowledge and a foundation to grow from.
Humanist came to realise that what they were studying had great value on their own lives which as well as embracing the notion of a person becoming adept and knowledgeable in many areas. Mention by Robert Hole “What they read they copied and soon the Italian historians were writing the history of their own times in the style of the ancient writers”. So, without refusing Christianity, the Italians strove to imitate and then to improve on their classical relations in government, in art, in literature, in building and so on. To rulers seeking to legitimise their control in an uncertain world, or to architects trying to build a brighter one.
Take Flavio Biondo, who is one of the first great humanist historians who grew up in Florence. Known for writing the history of Europe from the end of the Roman Empire to his own century, which is a three-period division of history (Ancient, Medieval, and Modern). Flavio and a few fellow humanists began to e document the ancient architecture and in one manner or another they seemed to be scientifically exploring Rome’s history. Their work sparked a revival in lost ideas for the former glory of the great Imperial Roman capital.
The previous paragraphs examined the factors for the emergence, now I will examine the factors allowing the development of the Renaissance.
It is important to consider how science flourished during the renaissance and the results it had, as much of modern physics and astronomy have their roots in the late fifteenth century. During the renaissance, many people stared to consider more than what they were being taught from the Bible, the world and everything around it was looked at from a different perspective, in a scientific way, though this was not new. Long before the Renaissance people understanding of the Earth was restricted and vague; they considered the Earth to be at the centre of the universe. This idea knows as the “Cosmos” was later proved wrong by Nicolas Copernicus, who was the main proponent of those new sciences. He applied science to revive the understanding of the world and the method many people acquired their knowledge during the renaissance. He establish the idea of a heliocentric universe which confirmed the sun was in fact the centre of the universe, not the Earth , and was orbited by the planets, this had important effects on the new attitudes of Renaissance people.
This revolutionary discovery challenged much of what the people had been told while creating new attitudes. People were now willing to question beliefs and things they had taken for granted as true before the renaissance and look deeper for explanations. People were reluctant to accept that "religion" or “magic” explained what happened in the world. They sought after to see the way things worked with their own eyes. Instead of believing purely what they were told, they began to use scientific experimentation and careful observation to learn how the real world worked.
Additional, the status of art rose significantly during the renaissance and it saw the most far-reaching improvements and breaks with the Middle Ages. Before artist were seen largely as craftsmen, like masons and carpenters. Medieval art was based on religious often representing biblical stories and was for the glory of God. Much of this work was lifeless and neglected fine details, details such as background, perspective, proportion, and individuality were all virtually unknown.
However, art started to transform and was a contrast with medieval art in most aspect, portraying lifelike human forms with correct proportions and realistic clothing and expression. In keeping with the spirit of Humanism, artist also focused on the accurate representation of the human body and on naturalistic landscapes. In is clear from the works of great artist such as Leonardo Di Vinci and Michelangelo, renaissance artists increasingly perfected and incorporated such things as background, proportion, perspective, and individuality.
As mentioned above prior to renaissance artist were not considered to hold high levels of intellectuality, however this changed and renaissance artists now insisted they were akin to scholars, intellects and the minor artists benefitted to some extent from this new persecution. According to art critic Robert Hole “ For every ‘famous’ artist, whose work is preserved today in the leading galleries of the world, there were perhaps 100 others who churned out poor quality paintings of the Madonna to be sold in tiny shops as devotional objects”
Moving on to the printing press which according to Francis Bacon, printing was one of the three inventions that transformed the world. Just as science and art benefitted literature was also transformed. Johann Gutenberg invented the Gutenberg printing press, a moveable-type printing press. This invention was revolutionary in changing the nature of book publishing, as a result the process of printing spread throughout of Europe allowing masses of books to be printed. Increasing printing volume allowed the decreasing of prices of books and made accessing knowledge easier to a wide population including the poor.
Humanist writers had sought a way to more easily express their ideas to the public; the invention of the printing press allowed this and benefited extremely the renaissance focus on learning. Now literature was becoming a part of the lives of many people, not just the rich families. The rise in literacy meant the middle class became involved in the intellectual aspects of life and the opportunities for middle class grew in other aspects likewise. There is no doubt that the printing press underpinned renaissance thinking.
Modern science, critical thinking, and the artistic method, perspective, all developed during the renaissance. This “rebirth” of classical culture and values was spurred by the wealth and political situations of Italian as well as the rise of Humanist ideas. It was these factors that allowed the renaissance to prosper in Italy and for Italy to enjoy an authority over Western Europe. Further, we know some of the greatest minds of all time emerged and several masterpieces were created during the Renaissance.