(MAR) Renaissance Historical Events Lesson

Renaissance Historical Events Lesson

The Renaissance or "rebirth" was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from 1450-1600, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Though availability of paper and the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe. The dominant intellectual movement was called humanism, which focused on human life and its accomplishments. As a cultural movement, it encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and Greek literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.

In politics the Renaissance contributed to the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation. Historians often argue this intellectual transformation was a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

 

 

There is a consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, Italy, in the 14th century. Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, including a variety of factors:

• the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time
• Florence's political structure
• the patronage of its dominant family, the Medici
• the migration of Greek scholars and Turks to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks 

 

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