8 - 02 - 2010

In the next paragraphs I will talk about different causes of the Renaissance and why
they led to the Renaissance. I will focus on how art, literature and culture changed.

Renaissance means rebirth. It is called rebirth because it was the time when the
middle ages had ended and the civilization was evolving. The Renaissance covers the
period from 1400 to 1700 AD. During the Renaissance people had thought about
Rome as good and the dark ages as bad. It was a time
where people focused mainly on Roman and Greeks classical works, art, sculpture,
literature etc.

T
he Black Death had a huge effect on the Kingdom of Europe and led to
incredible changes. It also caused the Manor system to break down because the
people were being killed by the black death. This breaking down of the Manor
system led to the growth of towns which caused the citizens to share ideas in groups.
The sharing of ideas made new times for culture. The dark ages (middle ages) had
ended.
People had made better chimneys this led to better quality glass so better eye glasses
which led to more philosophers because they could read with better eye sight, another
thing that people had created better spinning wheels and buttons which led to make
nicer materials and clothing. There were also better wheel barrows and this helped so
that the work would be quicker than it had been before. The Gutenberg press was the
first major printing and press of Europe, because of the press they could make a lot of
books, especially the bible that could have been printed many times this was
important because if the bible was written so while people read it they would get
different opinions and instead if it would have been only read people wouldn’t
understand the meaning. This printing affected the church’s power because the
people could read it for themselves so they couldn’t command while reading to the
people because now the people would read it to themselves. One example of these
was Girolamo Savonarola. Girolamo Savonarola was a monk
who preached sermons in which he criticized Lorenzo. Girolamo Savonarola was
popular among some of the poorer people. He was able to have these ideas because
he had read the bible for himself and would say to the poorer people that there
should be fairer taxes and better treatment for the poor. He challenged the ideas of
the Pope and so people flocked to hear him criticize the behavior of the Pope and of
the Medici. Girolamo Savonarola died burned to death. Also philosophy of
all kind was increasing: there more ideas for example: Niccolo Machiavelli.

Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence the 3 May 1469 and died the 21 June 1527.
He was an italian writer and philosopher. Nicolò Machiavelli wrote “ The Prince ” which
was a book about how he imagined to rule and stay in power as a prince. This book
was important because it made people change opinion about him and about politics
and influenced scholars and princes.

Another great influence in culture was Leonardo Da Vinci. He made four rules for
Genius: firstly that everything is connected, secondly that you should notice the art in
science, thirdly you should notice the science in art and lastly that perseverance is
important. He was a great scientist.
Science didn’t begin during the renaissance, the Greeks and Romans were very
interested in it. Leonardo Da Vinci and others like him made science progress because
he was curious person, people wanted to experiment and see for themselves. Science
was a cause of the Renaissance because people were interested in learning more and
spreading their knowledge.

In the 15th century (during the Renaissance) political changes took place, because
countries had had damaging civil wars. Some rulers and nobles were becoming rich
and powerful enough to become patrons. Dukes, kings, patrons . . . could afford to
pay artists, craftsmen . . . to work for them this meant that artist could experiment
with new styles and art progressed. For example the great artist Michelangelo had the
patron Lorenzo De Medici (the magnificent).

Ambassadors travelled all over Europe to get new ideas and they took them back to
their own countries. For example the oil painter Jan van Eyck have visited Italy and
may have taken important ideas back to Holland with him.

During the Renaissance there was more international trade this brought wealth money
and new ideas to cities like Florence and Venice. Bankers, industrials and merchants
were some of the people who became patrons of the art. Holland was one of the most
important centers for oil painting the technique reached Venice much quicker because
there were better trade routes with Holland. The technique reached Italy with the
traders. Trade also helped to bring advances in technology from as far away as the
Islamic world and China.

Latin continued to be the language used by the church during the Renaissance as it
was in the Middle Ages; it was also the language used by most of the scholars who
were trying to have international audience. University lectures were given in Latin.
Then in the 15th and 16th centuries the importance of other languages were discovered
. Writers like Machiavelli wrote in Italian as well as Latin. This helped the work of
writers to reach more people.

The power of the Pope and of the Roman Catholic church was very great during
Renaissance, it was an important patron for the population. Artist and craftsmen
improved their skills while working on religious buildings. Many Renaissance paintings
were religious. However in some ways the church had lost some of its power because
people were able to read and make decisions for themselves. Not all of the paintings
were religious any more.

In the paragraphs above I’ve written about the causes of the renaissance: the
philosophers, the evolution of technology and culture and changes in politics, travels,
trade routes, Latin and church.