Question

Discuss the Renaissance. Define the term. Why did it begin in Italy? Discuss the economics and family life of the time. What roles did the Black Death, the fall of Constantinople, and trade have in its rise?

Answer 1

In comparison to any other place in Europe, Italy in the 15th century was. It was divided into independent city-states with different forms of government each. Florence was an independent republic, from where the Italian Renaissance started. It was also a commercial and banking capital and the third largest city in Europe after London and Constantinople. Wealthy Florentines flattered their money and power by becoming patrons of artists and writers, or friends of them. In this way, the city became the European and Renaissance cultural centre.

Humanism encouraged people to be curious and to question the wisdom they received (especially that of the medieval Church). It also allowed individuals to use creativity and observation to address earthly issues. As a result, many philosophers of the Renaissance focused on trying to describe and understand the laws of nature and of the physical world. Renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, created detailed scientific "studies" of objects that range from flying machines to submarines.

The fall of Constantinople and the remaining Byzantine territories resulted in a flood of refugees fleeing to Europe and Western Europe in particular. Many settled in Italy, and many of the scholars found refuge in Italy in particular. These refugees included grammar workers, humanists, artists, authors, printers, lecturers, singers, astronomers, scribes in architecture, philosophers, scientists, politicians, and theologians. They carried with them manuscripts from Constantinople's ruined libraries and other Byzantine cities. The Italian humanist was concerned with the study of rhetoric before the 15th century.

With so much land readily available to survivors, there was more fluidity in the rigid hierarchical system that characterized pre-plague society. The Medici family, important patrons of Italian Renaissance culture, originated in the Tuscan countryside of Mugello, and moved to Florence shortly after the plague. Initially they developed their fortune in the trade of wool and then branched out to banking. As the family acquired wealth and power, artists like Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo were promoted— not to mention the output of four popes and two regent queens of France.