Renaissance and Reformation Essay -- Changes, Influence, Origin

The European Renaissance was characterized by advancements and new developments in literature, science, religion, politics, and most importantly artwork. It proved to be a reappearance of learning based on classical sources. The renaissance was not as widespread as one would think. Essentially it is described as a time of cultural movements rather than technological advancements. Its time period ranged roughly from the 14th century to the 17th century. There is debate as to how far the movement stretched and exactly how many areas were influenced by the renaissance era. The European Renaissance is thought to have originated in Florence, Italy in the 14th century, and occurred after the Black Death. The Black Death was a disease which affected all of Europe. It caused about a third of the population of Europe to die out. The survivors were devastated at the loss of their loved ones, but they found that they were better off financially and socially, making their way up the social ladder. Specifically in Italy, there was greater social mobility. The upward mobility of individuals around this time allowed them to patronize early artists and rebuild libraries. Some areas were seeing more competitively between workers and their bosses, but the 'new' wealth was spent to display items to reinforce prestige. This allowed citizens to patronise the Renaissance artists. Merchants in regions like Italy saw increases in their wealth from trading, using the same trade routes in which the Black Death was spread. The trade income was further developing by Renaissance developments in commerce, causing the merchants to have more wealth to patronise with. The Renaissance brought on new conceptions of life and ... ...such as Italy and Germany. Italy and Germany's economy went bankrupt, causing an increase of famine and disease to spread throughout the populace. The main effect the Reformation had on Europe was the religious thinkings. The Churches now taught the importance of the individual conscience and gained new purity and strength through counter Reformation. The counter Reformation was created by the Catholic Churches as an answer to the Protestant Reformation. Both the Renaissance and the Reformation helped shape all countries today. The Renaissance helped people focus more about the individual person rather than the social class in which they were born. The Reformation was a building block to more forms of Christianity that are still taught today, such as Protestantism. If we had not had either of them, our religion, politic, and even our writing would be different.