Effects Of Humanism In The Middle Ages

Arguably the greatest and longest impacting movement brought about by the forward thinkers of the Renaissance was humanism. Humanism was a cultural and intellectual movement that emphasized the human potential to attain excellence through direct study of the literature, art, and civilization of the classical Greek and Roman societies (Merriam-Webster). The scholars and believers in humanism sought to change the course of society away from the narrow pedantry of medieval scholasticism and utilitarianism. Humanism was a basic desire for every citizen to be able to speak with eloquence and read and write with clarity, so that common citizens were capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities (Gray). The movement also emphasized the value of a human being as well as the importance of rational thought rather than blind faith in spiritualism or superstition. It also pushed people to explore human desires and pleasures while also enriching their minds. The influential nature of humanism was far reaching and most notable for its effects on Renaissance art, literature, and philosophy.

Humanism is derived from the movement that happened from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The start point of Humanism is in Italy. It is an important development during the Renaissance. Because of the terrible Black Death in 14th century. The population of Europeans decreased extremely. A lot of people died of the Black Death. At the beginning of that time, people thought the Black Death is God’s punishment for living life in sin. People went to Church and hope the forgiveness of God. However, the wide spread of the Black Death didn’t stop. The dead body forced the people started finding the other new way. Instead of believing in God, people started to think about science. The scientists did the research and treated the Black Death by more scientific way. People started thinking about the man himself and explored natural environment by more scientific method. The new ways of thinking influenced the development of Humanism in art during the Renaissance. The Renaissance artworks are about the re-discovery of ancient Greek and Roman artworks and their way of life. Humanists rejected the religion concept and not believe in the supernaturalism. They tried to discover the natural creatures and destiny of man. Artists learned the human beauty from the ancient Greek and Roman artworks and architectures. They began to find out more ideas about the human experience, personal independence and social community. They brought the Humanism ideas into their artworks.

Before the early thirteen hundreds, there was a time called the Midieval era, where life was devoted and owned by the church. People were lied to by the thought of paying and working to go to heaven. When the thirteen hundreds came, alongwith it cam the renaissance that lasted until the late sixteen hundreds. The renaissance had a very important movement that changed all of Europe. Many new cultures and ways of life had changed because of this era, and one of the bigger ones is called Humanism. Humanism caused a very large impact on a person’s thoughts, actions, and art.

By the 1500's, Europe had more than 200 printing presses. They were in cities around a bunch of different countries in Europe. There were two main groups affected by the printing press, the Age of Exploration and the Protestants. It started back in 1471, when there were only around 15 printing presses. In about a 30 year time span the number of printing presses rose to well over 200 printing presses.

People began to value the church and religion a lot less and started to emphasize on the values of people and the world. With people enjoying life rather than treating it as a sufferance people started to explore the Classical World, which had a significant influence on the way people thought about the world and humans. Giannozzo Manetti says that “the world in indeed created by god, but humankind has changed and improved it”, which is saying that the world was created by god but without us humans, it wouldn’t be the same nor as pleasant (1396-1459). Source B says “people began to think more about themselves and their place in the world” and that “they became less interested in thinking about god and the church”, which is implying that the new philosophy of humanism was more about what people could achieve and the world around them rather than religious beliefs and the church. Humanism was a new way of thinking that was influenced by the Ancient Rome and Greek civilization.

If you look at different time periods throughout history from a historian's point of view, the Middle Ages is a era widely accepted to be a period of ignorance where little to no advancement took place. Superstition replaced philosophical thinking, and religion overpowered everything else. The Renaissance however, was the polar opposite. It was a rebirth of European civilization and often characterized by the escalation of interest in classical learning and values. During the Renaissance ground breaking invention or application of influential innovations took place with paper, printing, the mariner's compass, and gunpowder.

Because of the printing press, many books were made. Due to the abundance of books, people began learning how to read. Gutenberg’s invention did not only increase the amount of books in the Renaissance, it improved literature. It was a major catalyst for later scientific catalyst revolution. Gutenberg used his intelligence to create the printing press, and thanks to him, reading was spread across the world.

There has been many changes during the middle ages to now of days in the twentieth century. Even humanism has affected us today through many obstacles every now and then. It is the belief that people can achieve happiness and live good without religion in their life. It helps in many ways one is Education that includes students. Another way is poetry or music how it has changed over the years. Their are other reasons, but many movies replaced to better ones throughout.

The Renaissance was a time of rebirth and progress in Europe. It started in Italy around the thirteenth century and spread continuously toward the north and west of Europe for the following two centuries It was a period of tremendous development in learning and culture.

Johannes Gutenburg was a German inventor that was born in Mainz, Germany in 1395. Although there were multiple innovations that deeply impacted multiple things that are still in use today, one of the most important ones was the printing press. Gutenburg's invention was one of the critical factors in the Renaissance. The printing press was proposed to the West in the Holy Roman Empire around 1440. It not only had a huge influence on the way citizens spent their daily lives, but also helped broaden additional information, inspired more people to be educated and it helped spread the sprouting of religion.

Max Verrelli Johanne Gutenberg And The Printing Press The invention of one man changed the early world and the modern world forever. Johanne Gutenberg, a famous German inventor, is recognized globally for his invention, the printing press, the machine that made books go from a luxury only the rich could afford to a product that common people could have in their houses (Bellis). Gutenberg’s printing press changed the world by making it easier to produce books, Increasing literacy rates in Europe, and bring down the high prices of books in Europe.

Humanism was a big role in the beginning of renaissance. Humanism was taught to students to educate each on good practices. This education method was urged by Italian fathers seeking for their sons to be prepared for a genuinely good future in life. Humanism education was a method that taught and prepared the students by teaching them how to act out and do more honorable than wrongs and the differences in decisions of wrong. Humanism taught the “absolute right from wrong,” as my class lecture put it. Humanism was taught in medieval universities, to enrich the students with the skills they needed to have in order to handle the future. These skills of good and right choices of life prepared the students to become society leaders. Civic humanism

Humanism was an intellectual movement that had spread during the renaissance. Humanism had a great impact on the way people thought as well as education especially when it came to writing , it change the society and became a way of life. Because of the renaissance there was a great flux in the numbers of schools and universities and the number of students willing to attend them, the universities and schools permitted young adults and adults to increase their knowledge in many areas such as; philosophy, theology, history and much later on anatomy. The schools not only taught lessons but also invited discussion in class, permitting the students to argument with each other and their professors challenging and accepting each man’s theories and

For centuries, people looked to religion for the answers to their greatest questions. The Church had a firm grip of how people viewed the world. God's will was to be followed without question and any attempt to explain a phenomenon without God's involvement was heresy. When the Renaissance began to spread across Europe, the qualities of humanism became more prominent. Scientific and rational analysis was becoming of great interest compared to supernatural explanations. Renaissance world-view can be characterized by a growing humanistic orientation that can be demonstrated by analyzing cultural artifacts from the era.

The individual’s role in society dramatically changed following the introduction of humanism. The idea that was depicted is still heavily important today and still holds strong within society. Humanism brought forward the thought that everyone is important and the concept of individuality. Humanism created the notion that instead of being part of a whole, everyone is unique. Before this introduction, most just thought about their actions and what consequences it had in the afterlife; Whether that be going to heaven or hell. Following the emergence of humanism, people started to think more about the present, encouraging education in humanity, the study of literature and enhancement of art – all this expanded an individual’s outlook on life and in turn allowed for the development of personal success.