Renaissance: Transition of the

Modern Age
The Birth Place of the Renaissance
was in the city-states of northern
Italy
• From 15th century through the Age of
Enlightment of the 18th century, the outlook &
institutions of the Middle Ages disintegrated,
and distinctly modern forms.
• Radical change in European civilization could
be seen in every level of society
• In the economic level, commerce & industry
expended greatly and Capitalism largely
replaced medieval forms of economic
organization
• On the political level, central government grew
stronger at the expense of feudalism
• On the religious level, the unity of Christendom
became fragmented by the rise of
Protestantism
• On the social level, the prosperous people in
both city and country were gaining in numbers
and strength and were preparing for political
and cultural leadership.
• On the cultural level, the clergy lost its
monopoly over learning , and the otherworldly
orientation of the Middle Ages gave way to a
secular outlook in literature & arts.
• Theology , the queen of knowledge in the
Middle Ages, surrendered its crown to science
• Reason, which in the Middle Ages had been
subordinated to revelation, asserted its
independence.
• The most characteristic intellectual movement
of the Renaissance was humanism, an
educational program based on the study of
ancient Greek and Roman literature
• The emphasis on human creative powers was
one of the most characteristic and influential
doctrines of the Renaissance
• Giovanni Picodella Mirandola, “Oration on the
Dignity of Man” (1463-1494), ‘Man has the
freedom to shape his own life’
• God, according to Pico,had said, “We have
made you a creature,” such that, “you may, as
free and proud shaper of your own being,
fashion yourself in the form you may prefer.”
• Another implication of man’s duty to realize
his potential: through his own exertions, man
can come to understand and control nature.
• The vision of the mastery of nature continued
to inspire experimentalists, like Francis Bacon,
and the natural philosophers, Robert Boyle
and Isaac Newton.
• Secularism
• Intrigued by the active life of the city and eager
to enjoy worldly pleasure that their money
could obtain, wealthy merchants and bankers
moved away from the medieval preoccupation
with salvation.
• They were neither non-believers non atheists,
but increasingly religion had to compete with
worldly concerns
• Consequently, urban upper class paid religion
less heed, or did not allow it to interfere with
their quest for the full life
• The challenge and pleasure of living well in
this world seemed more exciting than the
promise of heaven
• But, it was explicitly elitist. It applied only to
the few, entirely disregarding the masses;
• It valued what was distinctive and superior in
an individual, not what was common to all
men;
• It was concerned with the distinctions of the
few, not the needs or rights of the many
• Individualism
• Urban life released people of wealth and talent
from the old constraints of manor and church
• The urban elite sought to assert their own
personalities, to discover and express their own
peculiar feelings, to demonstrate their unique
talents, to win fame and glory, and to fulfill
their ambitions