The Renaissance

The renaissance began around the mid fourteenth century. It was a time of awakening for Europe, which is why it was called a “re-birth”. I agree that the renaissance was unmatched to any other time in world history with its political and economic upheaval. Many things changed like their politics, economy, and the social changes they had. Politics was a factor that changed during the renaissance. An example of change was the separation of christianity from politics. They wanted a separation from the church and state, to have more freedom for themselves. Another example of change was they brought an end to feudalism around the fifteenth century. The three main reasons for that were the black plague, the 100 years war, and many political reforms in England. A last example is they established an effective central government. There were many other changes made to politics. The politics and government did have a changing effect to the renaissance. Another factor that changed the renaissance was the economy. For instance, the move there was toward using money. There were more than 20 city-states in Italy using its own currency. People began using coins to buy goods, which created a money economy. There was a need for people to change money and convert one type of currency to another. Thus, many merchants, crafts people, and bankers became important in society. Another example is Medici’s bank. In the 15th century Cosimo de Medici opened a bank, and began to open up branches in major cities in Europe. Therefore, it shows the economy during the renaissance changed in an uprising way. My last factor of change during the renaissance is the social change. In the middle age, they found trade routes to be able to trade in goods from different city-states. The trade grew between cities, states, and other countries. Trades in goods and in ideas also had increased. Along with the trade, Florence became a wealthy city inspite of its inland location away from the major trade