The Renaissance, A Reawakening

During the 1300's, life in Europe had been affected by wars, peasant revolts, and the Black Death. Remember the Black Death? 1 out of every 3 Europeans died from this horrible disease brought to Europe from Asia on flea-ridden rats. Yuck! The old order was dying, and people were seeking something new. In medieval times, the Church had dominated the arts, education, and learning. People had accepted what they were told without asking questions. Then, in the 1300s, Italian scholars began to take an interest in the writing of the ancient Greeks and Romans – ideas that arrived in Europe from Byzantium and the Arab world. This interest grew when, in 1397, Manuel Chrysoloras, a scholar from Constantinople, became the first professor of Greek at the University of Florence in northern Italy. Scholars (people who like to study) became fascinated by the questions that ancient philosophers dealt with. From these studies grew a belief system called humanism. Suddenly people, not God, were considered responsible for choosing the course of their lives. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire and Muslim Spain in the 1400s, many scholars moved to Italy and northwestern Europe, taking many old manuscripts and ideas with them.

The Renaissance affected art and science, architecture and sculpture. Ideas became more realistic, more human, and less dominated by religion. Paintings and statues were more lifelike, music explored new feelings, and books asked real-life questions. Rich families such as the Medicis and the Borgias in Italy and the burghers of Holland became patrons of the arts and sciences. Printed books helped spread new ideas. The Renaissance reached its peak in the 1500s, mainly in cities such as Venice, Florence, Antwerp, and Haarlem. People looked closely at the world, made detailed scientific observations, collected exotic objects, and considered new ideas.

Some people studied plants and animals. Others investigated astronomy and geology. Sometimes their findings brought them into conflict with the Church. When Nicolaus Copernicus realized that the Earth moved around the sun, he dared not publish his views until he was actually on his deathbed. He feared the reaction of the Church, which continued to insist that the Earth stood at the center of the universe.

What?!?!?!  The sun does NOT revolve around the Earth, Nicolaus! Are you kidding me?

This new spirit of inquiry and interest in humanity eventually led some people to question the authority of the Church. Thinkers such as Jan Hus in Bohemia and John Wycliffe in England began to question the Church openly. People's own opinions became more important – rulers and the Church could no longer do just as they pleased.

John Wycliffe, a brazen spokesman for reform of the Catholic church. He was at the forefront of the reawakening of European civilzation, and one of the very early leaders of the Reformation.  Wycliffe wanted the Bible translated into English!

Demand for change led to advances in science and art, and even caused some people to set sail for unexplored lands. New universities encouraged new ideas. Money and trade also became significant. Foods and products such as coffee, sugar, tobacco, potatoes, pineapples, porcelain, and cotton were imported to Europe from Africa, America, India, and China.

No longer bound to the land by feudalism, people began to move around. Many of them went to cities to seek their fortune. Northwestern Europe grew in importance, and power shifted slowly from the nobles and clerics to the bankers and politicians. These changes marked the beginning of a modern world that was to develop rapidly over the next 400 years.

**Excerpt from The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Houghton Mifflin 2004, p. 202-203

Our studies this semester put us right in the middle of this big change, this great awakening. Europeans had been in a deep, dark sleep for centuries, but now was the time to wake up! Yes, the Black Death was a horrible tragedy and it forever changed the world. You can definitely say it was bad, but then again, it was a good thing as well. Because this is when the rebirth of humanity began. And one thing is for sure, people who have power and are sitting at the top looking down on everyone DO NOT like change. You just wait and see what kind of change was coming.

But change was inevitable, and just like it says in the introduction, one thing that was huge in promoting change started with a man from Mainz, Germany, named Johannes Gutenberg. He invented a way to print books quickly and cheaply. Before Gutenberg, books were written out by hand. It was so expensive, that only the very rich, like kings, could actually afford to own a book. But it all changed by the end of the 1400s. Ideas began to spread quickly around Europe because books became available for common people. Johannes Gutenberg's invention was called moveable type, kind of like Scrabble letters put together, but really small. And if people could spread ideas and communicate with one another, they would start to figure things out and demand change. And they did. They would be able to advance new ideas that would make life better for everyone.

Yes, the medieval times of the past were quickly fading. And one of the reluctant leaders of this change was a bigger-than-life figure in the annals of history. His name was Henry VIII, King of England.