"Renaissance,"
French for "rebirth," perfectly describes the intellectual
and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth
through the sixteenth centuries.
During
the era known by this name, Europe emerged from the economic
stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial
growth. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the Renaissance
was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political
thought turned in new directions.
In
the feudal structure of the Middle Ages, the nobles who lived
in the country provided the king with protection in exchange
for land. Peasants worked the land for the nobles, for which
they received protection and their own small parcels of land.
These rural peasants worked from sunup to sundown, but even
the nobles had few creature comforts. In feudal cities, where
there was a small middle-class population, life was a little
easier and individuals had the freedom to pursue whatever
trade or industry they liked. In the late Middle Ages, when
the threat of invasion from barbarians had lessened, people
left the country for towns and cities so they could engage
in more profitable pursuits.
The
Plague Begins
 Life
in the city was soon to change drastically. During the late
Middle Ages and early Renaissance (1350-1450) the bubonic
plague, also called the "Black Death," devastated
one half of the population of Europe. The plague, which was
almost always fatal, spread most rapidly in cities, where
people were in close contact with each other. The only way
to avoid the disease was to leave the city for the country.
This solution was, unfortunately, available only to those
wealthy enough to make the trip.
The
Plague's Effect on the Economy
The population decrease caused by the plague led to an economic
depression. Merchants and tradespeople had fewer people to
whom they could sell their wares. Products therefore accumulated,
and the merchants and traders suffered a loss in income. Economic
hardship spread throughout the community as those who dealt
with the merchants--bankers, suppliers, and shippers--also
lost revenue.
As
incidence of the plague decreased in the late fifteenth century,
populations swelled, creating a new demand for goods and services.
A new middle class began to emerge as bankers, merchants,
and tradespeople once again had a market for their goods and
services.
The
New Middle Class
 As
the fortunes of merchants, bankers, and tradespeople improved,
they had more than enough money to meet their basic needs
for food, clothing, and shelter. They began to desire larger,
more luxurious homes, fine art for these residences, sumptuous
clothing to show off their wealth in public, and exotic delicacies
to eat. These desires of the middle class stimulated the economy.
From The Western Tradition series.
The middle-class population also had leisure time to spend
on education and entertainment. In fact, education was essential
for many middle-class professions. Bankers and accountants
needed to understand arithmetic. Those trading with other
countries needed a knowledge of foreign currencies and languages.
Reading was essential for anyone who needed to understand
a contract. In their leisure time, middle-class men and women
enjoyed such pastimes as reading for pleasure, learning to
play musical instruments, and studying a variety of topics
unrelated to their businesses.
The Resurgence
of the City
Many Italian
coastal cities became centers for trade and commerce, and
for the wealth and education that ensued. One of the cities
that exemplified these new trends was Florence. Unlike several
other important cities of Italy that had noble families as
their most prominent citizens (Mantua and Ferrara, for example),
the leading citizens of Florence, the Medici family, made
their wealth as business people. In all respects the Medicis
had the appearance of nobility. They lived in beautiful homes,
employed great artists, and engaged in intellectual pursuits
for both business and pleasure.
Tools
developed in the Middle Ages for exploration continued to
be used during the Renaissance. One of these was the astrolabe,
a portable device used by sailors to help them find their
way. By measuring the distance of the sun and stars above
the horizon, the astrolabe helped determine latitude, an important
tool in navigation. Another tool, the magnetic compass, which
had been invented in the twelfth century, was improved upon
during the Renaissance.
Maps,
too, became more reliable as Portuguese map makers, called
cartographers, incorporated information provided by travelers
and explorers into their work. Shipbuilding also improved
during the Renaissance, as large ships called galleons became
common. These ships were powered by sail rather than by men
using oars.
The Beginning
of Trade
Although
navigation was still an imprecise science, sailors were able
to go farther than they had before. This was important because
as the economy of the Renaissance continued to improve, there
were ever-increasing demands for imported goods and new places
to export local products.
(For
traders, sailing proved to be a better option than traveling
by land, as the network of roads that crisscrossed Europe
was poor, and the few good roads that did exist were frequented
by thieves.)
The Renaissance
sailor first took to the seas to supply Europeans with the
many Asian spices they demanded. Peppercorns, nutmeg, mace,
and cinnamon all came from lands to the east. Also from the
East came precious gems and fine silk, a fabric especially
sought after for women's clothing. These trading voyages were
often paid for by investors.
Renaissance
Explorers
Some men
were drawn to the seas out of a curiosity to discover more
about the world. One such man was Prince Henry of Portugal,
known as Prince Henry the Navigator. With the help of mathematicians,
astronomers, cartographers, and other navigators, Prince Henry
sent expeditions to explore the west coast of Africa. These
explorations led to trade for gold and ivory and, soon after,
slaves. Later, Portuguese sailors discovered the route around
the southern tip of Africa that would take them to India entirely
by sea.
Architecture
In constructing
churches, Renaissance architects no longer used the shape
of a cross as a basis for their structures. Instead, they
based them on the circle. Believing that ancient mathematicians
equated circles with geometric perfection, architects used
the circle to represent the perfection of God.
From The Western Tradition series.
In constructing their homes, wealthy people of the Renaissance
often adopted a Roman style, building the four sides of their
homes around a courtyard. Simple, symmetrical decorations--imitations
of classical ones--were applied to the façades of buildings,
and some structures also featured columns reminiscent of ancient
temples.
Painting
Paintings
of the Renaissance demonstrate the application of humanistic
ideals learned from the ancients. In works from the Middle
Ages, saints and Biblical figures are arranged in unnatural,
geometric groups, and backgrounds are nothing more than washes
of gold. The Renaissance painter depicted the human figure
as realistically as possible, often with backgrounds of the
natural world. Science had taught the artist how to show linear
perspective--that is, how to represent objects in relative
sizes so that smaller objects appear to be farther from the
viewer than larger objects. Careful use of light and shadow
(called "chiaroscuro") made figures appear full
and real. Renaissance painters not only portrayed objects
with more realism than earlier artists did, they often filled
their canvases with more objects, all carefully and accurately
depicted.
Music
Since
the Middle Ages, music theorists had been studying proportions,
a subject that the Greek mathematician Pythagoras had written
about when discussing music. The theorists explained how to
make different pitches (sounds) on stringed instruments by
lengthening or shortening the strings by different proportions.
For example, if a musician were to divide a string in half
(the proportion of 2:1), he would create a new tone that is
an octave above the original tone. Renaissance musicians carried
on this idea in their own music.
Renaissance
composers also incorporated the classics into their craft.
By studying Greek drama, they discovered the art of making
their music reflect the lyrics in their songs--making music
sound happy for words of joy and sorrowful for words of grief.
When they learned that ancient Greek drama (which featured
music) brought the audience to tears with its sad music, Renaissance
composers tried to re-create that theatrical experience. They
didn't succeed, but their efforts resulted in the birth of
opera.
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