During the Middles Ages there was constant war and little progress politically, economically, culturally, or socially. However, after the three major crisis signaled the end of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the rebirth of classical arts, literature, and learning throughout Europe, began and created a prosperous time period for the 1300s - 1600s AD, which began in Italy. Although Italy was the first country to be hit by the bubonic plague and have 60% of its population die, Italy was also the starting country of the Renaissance for three main reasons, its large city-states, its wealthy merchant class, and its heritage to the Classical civilizations.
The first reason and the catalyst of the Renaissance is wealthy merchants that fueled the economy, adopted and proliferated the values of the Renaissance, and studied the Classical influence and heritage. For example, the merchants before the Renaissance often rose through social ranking through their own wit and merit, unlike people who had heritage,
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Once the merchants became powerful to govern a city-state, they often patronized artists and architects to attract more people to their city and overall have a better relationship with the citizens. This results in a symbiotic relationship, a relationship in which both elements benefit from being related to each other. Specifically, the city becoming more prosperous, urbanized, and developed whereas the merchants become more powerful, influential, and wealthy. In addition, the city-states that are influenced by merchants who have studied the Classical civilizations are cities that lead Europe through the Renaissance and often provided the standards for life and work. This advantage generally relates to city-states in Italy as Italy has the majority of the Classical
Italy’s strategic location between Eastern and Western Europe allowed it to establish a lucrative Eurasian trade. This allowed the ideals of the Renaissance to gradually spread to Rome and the rest of Europe. The Eurasian trade enabled families to acquire great wealth and this great wealth gave families the ability to become patrons of government, education, and the arts. Becoming a patron of government, education, and the
The Renaissance occurred in Europe between 1400 and 1600. This event began in Italy during the Medieval period and then expanded to the rest of Europe, marking the start of the Modern age. The Renaissance began in Florence Italy in the 14th century. It was a cultural movement that had an enormous impact in Europe during the early modern period. The Renaissance’s influenced politics, science, literature, art, philosophy, religion, music, and other aspects. Around the 13th century in Italy started the Renaissance’s art influence. Leonardo da Vinci, was known as the "Renaissance man," because of his art masterpieces and his studies in other fields during this time. Italy wasn’t a political concept in the
During the Post-Classical Era merchants played an incredible role in shaping the course of different
Now each city-state had a product that made them prosper. For Florence it was cloth, Milan arms, but Venice and Genoa became extremely rich of off trade. That would be why the wealthiest city-state was Venice. That is because they were excellent shipbuilders, sailors, and merchants. They figured out how to trade with the biggest economic power in the region, the Ottomans. They created most their profit from trading paper to the Ottomans. Another way they turned a profit was with the highly sought after Florentine textiles due to the textiles vibrant color that was dyed with alum. Now they could only get this chemical for the Ottomans until 1460. That was when the Pope's godson found alum in Italy and they started to mine the alum. The family in charge of the alum mining rights were the Medici.
While their increase on population was interrupted by the Black Death in 1348, they recovered and continued into a new chapter of Italian life in the 14th century. The late 14th and the 15th centuries were the beginning of the renaissance era. Italy is often considered the heart of the renaissance, with art flourishing and great writers and artists being produced. From Italy, their blooming of art caught the interest of ancient Greece and Rome. The renaissance era started a new chapter in Italy and was the cause of many great changes and innovations in Italy. While they were forced to change by multiple invasions, by the 14th century Italy began to make their own changes during the renaissance era, causing them to
The political stability and prosperity of the Renaissance Period created an atmosphere where people’s interests returned to the ancient teachings of Rome and Greece. This resulted in an increased interest in art, especially art that highlighted an individual’s experience. During this time there was little turmoil and the economy was flourishing, so people could live more extravagantly. The art of the Renaissance Period reflected this extravagance as well as the time period’s return to an interest in humanism. Humanism arose out of classical thinking in Rome and Greece and was based on the importance of the overall human experience.
The Renaissance was a time of change. It began in Italy during the 14th century, and spread throughout the North. People all over Europe were affected, for the better and for the worse. Some people finally had a chance to
The renaissance is defined as the “rebirth” of civilization in Europe from the 14th to 17th centuries (General Characteristics of the Renaissance). A renewed interest of classical world spread from its beginning in Italy, north to Germany and
The Renaissance was huge turning point that impacted society since it changed the daily and social life of many people. During the 14th century, Italy became a place that is very powerful with business and had strong political powers because it was a huge trading center. This started an time where Italy and some of Europe became prosperous in economics which is called as The Renaissance. There was many causes to the Renaissance but the one cause is the influence from Greeks and Romans since Ancient Greece studied history and are famous historians, it influenced people to do the same. Another important cause is that people embrace the idea of human and life is more important than religion. This also led to people shifting their focus from religious belief to secular ideas. People also really wanted to accomplish their own achievements with their own power. Lastly, a disease known as The Black Death is also a cause since it ended the system of feudalism and allowed people to find new ways to climb up the social class especially in places where social mobility much greater than other places. As a result, people's life became more and more prosperous . People who had shifted their focus to non-religious ideas accomplishes many things and some who became artists were also very successful. The city Florence that is in Italy was a place where art florised. Many important figures and wealthy families acquired their status and their famed recognition, would patronize arts by paying an artist to create an impressive work of art. This was to mainly to show off their limitless amount of wealthy. This led to an increase in trade which also meant that many cities grew in size and can provide more jobs to people. Wealth became a symbol for power, wealth and prestige. In the Renaissance, people became more richer, prosperous and intelligent because they change
The Renaissance period began in Italy around 1300 and spread throughout Europe during the 1400 and 1500’s. This period signified the beginning path to incredible change in customs, ways of life and institutions that had existed in Europe for almost a thousand years. Many of the new ideas of this period still influence our lives today.
Florence is arguably the starting place of the renaissance. With many different artists there, the Medici Family in control and a very strong trading system, it was a very powerful city-state during the renaissance. During this time, the feudal system was no more. The people in
The Renaissance was a rebirth of Europe during the 1400s. It was a time period that came after the Middle Ages, and people started thinking differently than how they were thinking during the Middle Ages. The Bubonic Plague made many people question their lives and also the churches and their religions which were a big part of life during the Middle Ages. Instead, during the Renaissance many ideas were taken from the ancient Greeks and Romans, the laws on paintings became much more relaxed leading too many artists creating detailed paintings, the printing press was created which made the creation of books faster and increased quantity, and people became more educated in history, reading and writing. Many of these changes such as education greatly
The Renaissance was a rebirth of the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome that began in the City States of Italy during the 14th century. The cultural resurgence began a new style of living in Europe after the horrors of the black death, and is seen as the beginning of the culture of the modern world. As Wassace K. Ferguson put in his book The Renaissance, the Italian artists grew tired of the darkness of Medieval Times and began to turn to the brighter times found in the classical ages (Doc 7). The Renaissance served as the evolutionary bridge between the Middle Ages and the 17th century through art, education, and religion by bringing a rebirth of the ancient Greek and Roman classics that would later define the world’s culture, while continuing the underlying beliefs of Medieval Times.
The Renaissance was a time of “rebirth” and a transition from the medieval time to the Early Modern World. It emphasized human beings, their achievements, interests, and capabilities. This time period was a “gateway” to the modern world and was essential for the improvement of human life. At the time there were two main Renaissances, the Northern, and the Italian.
The renaissance was a time of great and immeasurable change within all aspects of European life; so much so that it could be seen as beginnings of our modern western society. Leading this revitalization in culture and society in Europe’s historical development were to the two of the most dominant states of renaissance Italy, Florence and Venice. These small city-states were the powerhouses of the time and assisted speeding up the renaissance and helped spur revolutionary developments along the way being the main hubs of influence in the Italian peninsula during the late 13th and early 16th century. Florence could be characterized as a financial centre, with their banking system considered extraordinarily ahead of time; in addition being the main producers of fine elevated their chances to conduct successful trading ventures. Venice was considered one of the largest centers of trade being a coastal city of the shores of the Adriatic Sea, which allowed for prosperous trade with what was then considered the Eastern world; the city was also well known for their quality in ship building as well which likely contributed to them being a large naval power in the region. Now due to fact that both city-states were two different sovereign parts of Italy meant having two different approaches and views on or about a multitude of ideas. To understand the impact of Florence and Venice, the two very influential and affluent republics in renaissance Italy, it is crucial to analyze their over