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    The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End
    The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End
    The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End
    Ebook54 pages21 minutes

    The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End

    By Hourly History

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    About this ebook

    During the Middle Ages, the nations of Europe forged new identities that moved them away from the lost glory of the Roman Empire into their own ethnicity. The experience of maturation was often clumsy and out of step, an evolutionary process that saw the nation's developing at their own pace as they struggled to replace the protection of Rome with their own home-grown strength. What the nations, once they were ready to be described in that manner, did have was the Roman Catholic Church, which defined itself as the spiritual protector of Christian believers. But the dutiful Christians of the Middle Ages who sought orthodoxy and for the most part obeyed the papal rules underwent a change when the Middle Ages ended. The Renaissance, or rebirth, was a period of time when Europeans began to question what they had been told was sacrosanct. Through art, inventions, science, literature, and theology, the separate nations of the European continent sought answers that the Roman Catholic Church was unwilling, or perhaps unable, to offer. 

    Inside you will read about...
    ✓ The Rebirth of Europe
    ✓ The Italian Renaissance
    ✓ The French Renaissance
    ✓ The Spanish Renaissance
    ✓ The German Renaissance
    ✓ The Low Countries Renaissance
    ✓ The English Renaissance
    ✓ Here Be Dragons: Exploring the Unknown

    The Church that had become a powerful political entity was viewed with distrust and skepticism by many Christians; the spread of learning that accompanied the invention of Gutenberg's printing press meant that bold new ideas were traveling across the boundaries of Europe faster than the Church could silence them. Lascivious, power-brokering popes could not bring a halt to the challenges they encountered when a German priest rebelled against corrupt practices that masqueraded as ecclesiastical authority. As the walls came tumbling down, humanism burst forth, inspiring the art of Michelangelo, the science of Vesalius, the literature of Shakespeare and Cervantes. But with the loss of religious uniformity came terrible conflicts: France suffered the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre; Spain welcomed the Inquisition to purge heresy; the Low Countries were split between Catholic and Protestant. The Renaissance was a triumph of the human spirit and a confirmation of human ability, even as it affirmed the willingness of men and women to die for the right to think freely.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHourly History
    Release dateApr 22, 2016
    ISBN9781533788313
    The Renaissance: A History From Beginning to End
    Author

    Hourly History

    At Hourly History, we focus on publishing history books that are concise, straightforward and take no longer than one hour to read. Receive our new eBooks for free every Friday.

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      Book preview

      The Renaissance - Hourly History

      How Art, Science, Technology, and Religion Helped Europe Deliver a Rebirth of the Human Spirit

      The Middle Ages saw Europe forge a new identity as a collection of individual nations, no longer part of the fallen Roman Empire, that developed their own ethnic character.

      During the Middle Ages, the nations of Europe forged new identities that moved them away from the lost glory of the Roman Empire into their own ethnicity. The experience of maturation was often clumsy and out of step, an evolutionary process that saw the nation’s developing at their own pace as they struggled to replace the protection of Rome with their own home-grown strength. What the nations, once they were ready to be described in that manner, did have was the Roman Catholic Church, which defined itself as the spiritual protector of Christian believers. But the dutiful Christians of the Middle Ages who sought orthodoxy and for the most part obeyed the papal rules underwent a change when the Middle Ages ended. The Renaissance, or rebirth, was a period of time when Europeans began to question what they had been told was sacrosanct. Through art, inventions, science, literature, and theology, the separate nations of the European continent sought answers that the Roman Catholic Church was unwilling, or perhaps unable, to offer. The Church that had become a powerful political entity was viewed with distrust and skepticism by many Christians; the spread of learning that accompanied the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press meant that bold new ideas were traveling across the boundaries of Europe faster than the Church could silence them. Lascivious, power-brokering popes could not bring a halt to the challenges they encountered when a German priest rebelled against corrupt practices that masqueraded as ecclesiastical authority. As the walls came tumbling down, humanism burst forth, inspiring the art of Michelangelo, the science of Vesalius, the literature of Shakespeare and Cervantes. But with the loss of religious uniformity came terrible conflicts: France suffered the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre; Spain welcomed the Inquisition to purge heresy; the Low Countries were split between Catholic and Protestant. The Renaissance was a triumph of the human spirit and a confirmation of human ability, even as it affirmed the willingness of men and women to die for the right to think freely.

      Chapter One

      The Rebirth of Europe

      During the Middle Ages, unquestioning faith was the order of the day, and questions had little place in society. But those questions which had been dormant before the Renaissance suddenly burst forth to interpret a new lexicon of observations that would lead to answers based on fact rather than faith. The physical world excited brilliant minds who engaged in experimentation to answer the unsolved mysteries of nature. Leonardo da Vinci did not confine his abilities to his art brush: he studied the anatomy of the human body, not simply as an artist, but by dissecting cadavers, an act forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church. His creativity could not be contained by canvas, as he foretold the future

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