Background for Renaissance

WHI Name: Background for Renaissance

By 1350, northern Italy had become Europe's most densely settled and influential region. Much of this success resulted from the opening of new trade routes. The Italian merchants responded by developing new products to trade, and effective methods of credit and banking. Over time, the Renaissance spread northward and westward across Western Europe.

1. What was the Renaissance?

Renaissance means "rebirth," and the period known as the renaissance was indeed marked by a rebirth and expansion of knowledge in every area of human activity- from painting and literature to exploration and science. The great thinkers of the time were well aware of the remarkable changes taking place. They described their era as a new beginning, a glorious revival of human creativity after the chaos and darkness of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance began around 1350 in the city-states of northern Italy and by 1550 had spread throughout Northern Europe.

At the center of this rebirth of culture was the rediscovery of the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and renewed interest in the philosophy of humanism. The Renaissance humanists celebrated the richness and beauty of the world itself and the central place of human beings in it. Impressed by the beauty and simplicity of Greek and Roman statues, architecture, and literature, humanists challenged people to rethink themselves and their place in the universe. Their views also challenged centuries of Church insistence on the pitfalls of earthly pleasures and the need to prepare oneself continually for life after death.

This doesn't mean that the humanists broke completely with the ideas and practices of medieval Christianity. Many humanists considered themselves strong Catholics. Nevertheless, the joyful spirit of humanism was dramatically different from the serious dedication to God of people in the Middle Ages.

2. Trade and the Rise of Italian City-States

The Renaissance would not have been possible without the growth of cities and the rise of rich patrons in the Italian city-states from the time of the Crusades to the middle of the 16th century. The northern Italian city-states (like Venice, Genoa, Florence and Milan) had provided many of the ships to send the Crusaders to Palestine, making them wealthy. Also, the Crusades stimulated a European demand for the luxury goods of Asia. In northern Italy, people moved from the farms to the cities to work in craft shops. These craft shops supplied goods for trade in Southwest Asian (Middle East) markets. Improved mining technology made more gold and silver available for coins and thus put more money into circulation. At the same time, trade became easier because Italian bankers created a system of letters of credit that could save traders from carrying a lot of cash with them (sort of like our checks today). The bankers combined this credit system with improved methods of keeping banking and trading records. These new practices brought bankers and merchants into conflict with the Church, which had forbidden usury (the practice of charging interest on loans). As a result, business became more secular, that is, separated from religion. After all, the merchants were getting rich, and the secular life offered many pleasures.

The wealthy merchants competed with one another in producing pleasure through the arts. They served as patrons, giving money to artists to create beautiful works of art that are admired to this day. They also supported humanists writers who gave voice to the Renaissance world view. Best known among the patrons was the Medici family of Florence, who got rich from banking and cloth manufacturing.

Markets and fairs were set up throughout Europe to sell imported and local goods. Local feudal lords gained from taxes on things sold. Money changers came to loan out money and make trade easier. Fairs usually had entertainment like clowns, musicians, and jugglers.

Many people began to produce things in their own homes in a system called the domestic system. Manufacturers would give raw materials (like cotton) to home workers, who would then produce the finished product.

An increase in urbanization (living in cities) went with the rise of manufacturing, banking, and investment in western Europe, especially in Italy and Flanders (modern day Belgium). There was also an increased desire for self-government. At first, towns were controlled by feudal lords who sometimes granted them a degree of self-rule in order to promote the towns' development.

Town merchants started organizations called guilds to control trade. the guilds made sure everyone used honest weights and measures and the same prices. Guild leaders were men but most guilds allowed women to be members. They also begin a practice of training young people in the craft called an apprenticeship. The townspeople created a new middle class called bourgeoisie in France, burgesses in England, and burghers in Germany. WHI Name: Background to the Renaissance

Questions to answer:

1. What does Renaissance mean? When and where does it start?

2. What is humanism?

3. How did the city-states of northern Italy get rich? What are three of the top cities?

4. What are some of the new economic changes (explain changes in banking, manufacturing and guilds).

5. What was the bourgeoisie?

6. What are patrons? Who were the most famous patrons?