The Renaissance Timeline
Europe suffered from both war and plague in the late Middle Ages. Those strong enough to survive wanted to honour the life and the human spirit. They began questioning the Middle Ages' institutions, which had failed to prevent war or relieve plague-related suffering. Some questioned the Church's teachings, which taught Christians to suffer while waiting for their rewards in heaven.
Writers and artists in northern Italy began to express this new mood and experiment with various styles. These men and women would significantly impact how Europeans viewed themselves and their environment.
Let us better understand the renaissance and reformation of Europe and other details associated with it.
Overview of Renaissance and Reformation
It is given below:
Cultural and Intellectual developments in Europe
Without considering the profound cultural and intellectual changes that began in the Italian city-states before 1450 the renaissance timeline, any study of Europe's transition between 1450 and 1750 (renaissance timeline) would be incomplete. Several city-states, including Venice, Genoa, and Florence, had become affluent due to the Crusades' trade. Wealthy families like the Medici in Florence became patrons of the arts, encouraging and supporting artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
The Catholic Popes were among the most passionate supporters of Renaissance art and sculpture, commissioning work for the Vatican and St. Peter's church in Rome. Reading, writing, architecture, and philosophy all saw a resurgence during this period. The Italian Renaissance would not have been possible without the patrons' riches. Still, it was certainly helped by contact with more advanced civilisations in the Middle East and South East Asia.
The Renaissance, or "rebirth," was marked by an attempt to revive the values of the Mediterranean civilisations of Greece and Rome. Although most major Renaissance individuals did not actively defy the church, they focused more on non-religious aspects of life.
Scientific Revolution
The revival of Greek and Roman influences sparked developments in mathematics and science. The mathematical traditions that ruled the concept of the universe were based on Greek mathematics, which was maintained and built upon by Muslim scholars such as Nasir al-Din in the 13th century. The Catholic Church endorsed Ptolemy, a Greek philosopher and astronomer who developed a geocentric theory in which all planets, the moon, and the sun revolved around the earth.
Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish monk and mathematician, used al-Din calculations to conclude that the geocentric theory was incorrect. Instead, his statistics revealed that the earth and all other planets revolved around the sun, a finding he remained quiet about for fear of church retaliation. It was not until after his death in 1543 that his heliocentric thesis was published.
The Italian Galileo Galilei, who enhanced and improved Copernicus' theory, was the scientist who got into the most trouble over the heliocentric theory. Other scientists, like Johannes Kepler, had proven that planets moved in elliptical orbits, which Galileo confirmed. Perhaps most famously, he built a telescope that allowed him to directly observe the phenomena, recording details of celestial bodies that the ancients could never have known about.
Galileo's views were published in 1610 in The Starry Messenger, a controversial book that other scientists and church officials criticised severely. Galileo made the mistake of humiliating those who disagreed with him, and as a result, he was arrested and tried, eventually recanting his theory publicly to save his own life.
The Protestant Reformation
In mediaeval Europe, the Catholic Church was a powerful societal force. Not only had religion controlled people's lives, but the church had also shaped many other parts of society, including as politics, art, and science. In practically every measure, the church lost significant power between 1450 and 1750. Not only were scientists and literary writers beginning to challenge the church, but the Pope's political position was being undermined as government centralisation gave kings more power.
The Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, a German clergyman who believed the church was fundamentally damaged, weakened the church's religious authority beginning in the early 16th century. By the early 1500s, the Catholic Church had accumulated considerable wealth. Popes were frequently born from Italian merchant families, and their riches were bolstered by the numerous lands claimed by church officials across Europe.
Their property ownership gave them immense political power, which many rulers despised. All of these trends troubled Martin Luther, a priest and professor at the University of Wittenberg, especially when he compared the situation to the modest beginnings of Christianity and his interpretation of Jesus' teachings. Tetzel, a priest, fueled his doubts.
Luther emphasised the importance of faith, which he saw as ties that bind Christians and God. According to his writings, his most important revelation was that faith and actions could not be separated. True believers are driven to conduct good works because the two are closely linked. He believed accepting indulgences from the church opposed this fundamental building block of authentic Christianity. Indulgences were payments made to the church in exchange for eternal salvation or life in heaven after death.
The Early European Enlightenment
During the 17th century, a movement known as the Enlightenment began to apply the Scientific Revolution to social and political sectors of life. Enlightenment philosophers believed that the same human reason that established scientific rules could also discover social and political laws. The Reformation, which had challenged and revised accepted religious doctrine, and contact with political and social philosophies from other parts of the world also influenced the movement.
The English Civil War affected political thought in England. The king was decapitated, and political power was transferred to Parliament, prompting John Locke, an English political philosopher, to reconsider the nature of government. He maintained in his famous Second Treatise of Civil Government that rulers get their right to rule from the consent of the governed, not from the sky. His philosophy created the rule of law rather than the monarch's whims, which was not new.
Did You Know?
The Renaissance spread north from Italy, inspiring new art styles in the Netherlands and Germany and literary geniuses like William Shakespeare in England by the 16th century. The European Renaissance was significant not only for its art and literature but also because it inspired people to think in new ways, a quality that Europeans would need as they ventured into science and technology and eventually across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Conclusion
This is detailed information on the renaissance timeline, including the renaissance and reformation of Europe.
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FAQs on Renaissance and Reformation
1. Give the importance of the printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg, a printer from Mainz, Germany, significantly contributed to Protestantism's rapid spread. He died in 1468, many years before the Reformation began, yet Luther's teaching would never have gotten out if he hadn't built a workable printing press around 1450. He used moveable type to print his famous Gutenberg Bible in 1454, and the book inspired early Renaissance writers like Erasmus to adopt the technology to publish their own works.
2. Discuss the developments after Luther’s posting?
The developments following Luther's publication of the 95 Theses demonstrate how quickly Europe changed. The church excommunicated Luther, but with the help of many German lords, he hid from them for the rest of his life. His thoughts were well-received in Germany, where Protestantism emerged as the protest movement became known.
Other Protestant sects sprang up in France and found new life in Geneva, Switzerland, where John Calvin founded Calvinism, a new branch of Protestantism. One of Calvin's supporters, John Knox, took Calvinism to Scotland, and from there, it expanded to England.
3. Why is it called Renaissance?
European societies underwent huge changes in the 15th century, and so did art. In the 14th century, Italian artists began to revive the heritage of Greek and Roman Antiquity. This is why this period is called the “Renaissance”, a word that comes from the Italian Rinascita, which was first used in the 14th century