The Renaissance

Image on left - Image of Lorenzo de Medici, a great patron of the arts in Florence in the 1400s, and Michaelangelo's initial patron who introduced Michaelangelo to the Humanists and intellectuals of the day who met at Lorenzo's palace. The Medicis had made their fortune through banking.

Image on right - Staircase designed by Michaelangelo, who was a true renaissance man, excelling in painting, sculpture and architecture. He even designed a library!
" Giulio de' Medici, who had by this time become Pope Clement VII, commissioned the creation of a great library to house the vast Medici collection of books. The design, particularly that of the library's vestibule, is one of Michelangelo's greatest architectural achievements. Its main feature is the spectacular staircase, the idea for which came to Michelangelo in a dream, whose three flights of steps seem almost alive as they cascade downward to fill the vestibule space." a quote from
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/michelangelo-buildings6.htm

Going back in time a bit here, Cassiadorus, and St Benedict both of the C6th, were largely responsible for saving the writings of ancient Greece and Rome, the Benedictine monks copying these classics as well as the work of St Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, and other early church fathers.

The Carolingian (Frankish) Empire (C8th) had a great interest in the preservation of the classics as well.In Byzantium the Greek and Roman classics were preserved, as they were in the middle east and Moorish Spain.

As city-states developed, national identity and languages were respected, hence work was beginning to be translated into vernacular languages. The merchant and tradesman classes began to get prosperous and have more influence, the feudal system gave way to a more modern type of state with commerce as its base. International trading began to influence social concepts.

The rise of university towns from 1200AD saw secular clerics producing books for the students. The effects of the new universities were cumulative and ultimately led to the renaissance. There was an interest in secular subjects as well as theological, and the studying of the ancient texts of Greece and Rome.

Bookmaking and bookselling from 1400AD especially in Venice, Florence, Paris and Frankfurt became a commercial enterprise. Woodblock books were already being printed.
Add to this mix the genious of Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type, and the ability to create the adjustable metal moulds that could cast different sized types accurately and in large numbers. The stage was set for the dramatic changes that swept over Europe at that time. A pre-renaissance had started in the early C14th but the plague which spread across Europe in about 1350’s, stalled this process.

Architecture was being influenced by ancient Greek and Roman styles and proportions, art was becoming more realistic. Michaelangelo and Da Vinci were working in Florence in the late -1400’s- early 1500’s. It was the fall of Constantinople,1453, that was the spark that propelled Europe into the Renaissance. While the Greek scholars poured in to Venice and other Mediterranean countries, bringing their scholarly manuscripts with them, the printing boom was about to hit Italy. The printing of these classics by Italian printers made the information widely available.

The free thinking of this time lead to the flowering of art, architecture and philosophy of the Renaissance, which coincided exactly with the flourishing of the printing press in Italy. By 1500 the Greek and Roman classics were being printed and widely read. New ideas were being brought into the consciousness of Europeans whose philosophy up ‘til now had been dominated by Catholic Christian ideas.

In the 1400s, the humanist movement emerged based on the classical teachings of the inherent goodness of mankind, the respect for nature and scientific enquiry, and more enlightened ideas of man’s place within the world of nature. The Humanists were not enamored of the Reformist movement which placed even more restrictions on people, holding on to the idea that we are sinners whose life is basicly for repentance. The Humanists rejected this negative view of humanity and praised the natural world and man’s place in it.

The printing of books, spreading like wildfire across Europe, brought a huge wave of new ideas and ways of perceiving the world. Secular books and art flourished. Without the printing press, the Renaissance could have affected Europe much less. It was this availability of knowledge to everyone which spurred the rapid changes.

Research process
I have found that by going to "Google images" I can be led, through clicking on the images, to interesting websites I may not have otherwise found. This is an intriguing route.
Once again Britannica proved indispensable and reliable.

Resources
Claybourne, A 2008, The Renaissance, Time Travel Guides, White-Thomson, Lewes, East Sussex.
Renaissance and Humanists, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, viewed 5 May 10

The Reformation

Check out this website for Martin Luther's actual 95 Theses

The Catholic church at first loved the printing presses. Gutenberg's Bible was part of a movement to standardize the writings, prayer books, etc. so that all of 'Christendom' was on the same page, so as to speak. The church had ’indulgences’ printed by the new moveable type printers, and this meant they could print lots of them. People bought ‘indulgences’ as a way of buying themselves or a loved one (even if they were already dead) out of purgatory and a ticket straight to heaven.

Eventually a young monk named Martin Luther, in the early 16^th century, questioned the ethics of money being able to buy off any ‘bad karma’ you had created. The change in society was that now people were actually reading the Bible, unlike 50 years ago, when not even all priests or monks or nuns were familiar with the contents of the whole Bible. It was written in Latin and there were limited copies available to those who could read Latin well enough to understand it all. Society at large was starting to understand Christianity in a new light. It became known that you were responsible for your own actions. This caused a lot of debate on whether we had free will or whether our actions were pre-destined.

Luther visited Rome and discovered the place seething with debauchery, packed with prostitutes servicing priests and monks, and a pope who believed in taking advantage of his position with an opulent and debauched lifestyle. Luther was horrified at what he saw, and from then on did not respect the authority of the pope. His reform proposals, which legend has it he pinned on the church wall, were sent by him to the pope, but leaked (to the press, the printing press that is), and everyone started to question the buying of indulgences at that point. This was bad for the church which was relying on these resources to pay for war against the Turks in Cyprus, and to build St. Peters Cathedral in Rome.

Luther’s ideas spread like wildfire, due in great part to the printing presses. Although initially horrified that his reform petition to the pope had become public knowledge, he stood up to a council of the Pope’s representatives, reiterating his beliefs, and, on the way home from that event, was fortuitously kidnapped by friends before his enemies could do him in, and hidden in a castle for a few years. Sequestered as he was in the castle, he set to work translating the Bible into German, which was subsequently printed.

This vernacular Bible brought knowledge to regular people, many of whom were the growing merchant and trading class who were becoming more literate, informed, and a growing political force. Luther kept printing documents for his whole life. The Reformation was in full swing. Much of northern Europe became disenchanted with and broke away from the Catholic Church. The Lutherans, as they were called, were still quite conservative. Many more protestant churches emerged which began to fight about beliefs among themselves.

The Catholic Church launched the Counter Reformation, cleaning up their church of the gross corruption, with a pious pope who behaved like a true Christian, living simply and giving to the poor. Also they standardized and printed the prayer books so that it was consistent across Europe. At about this time the Jesuit monastics started opening schools, and as they educated the children of the rich and powerful, their influence stemmed the protestant tide, which stopped expanding.

The Bible had been translated into English quite early, in the 14^th century, but the printing of the Bible into English in the 1520’s by William Tyndale opened the door to discussion of Christianity’s beliefs. Tyndale had to smuggle the books into England after they were printed in Germany, and the more the Church of England railed against these printed English Bibles, the more sought after they became! They were a hot item on the black market! The Bibles were burned, but more arrived to take their place.

A new dawn had emerged all across Europe, where the questioning of ideas gave rise to a fertile intellectual life.

The saddest part about the reformation I found was the wholesale destruction of church art and sculpture as the ‘puritans’ destroyed the symbols of idolatry in the Catholic churches. One can understand the anger of Catholics in the light of this uncivilized behaviour. I haven't mentioned the Inquisitions which, incidentally, were begun in Spain to persecute the Jews and Moslems, many of whom migrated back to the Middle East, bringing European ideas and culture with them, including the printing press. There was a lot of fighting, killing, and burning of heretics during this turbulent time.

The reformation

Resources

Gibb, C 1986, Spotlight on The Reformation, Spotlight on history series, Wayland, Hove, England.

The Reformation, Enclyclopedia Britannica Online, viewed 20 April 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi5qR7tflG0