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Evaluate the significance of one intellectual movement in the period 1400-1700The period 1400-1700 was one of significant change in intellectual movements; the Renaissance is one such movement. The Renaissance was a rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman knowledge that paved the way for an era of inventions, art works, architecture, and development. It was a turning point in the history of man’s intelligence.The fall of Constantinople in 1453 sparked the reinjection of classical knowledge into Western society. The Christian professors of Constantinople fled back to Italy and took with them thousands of ancient books containing ideas that had been long censored by the Church. The Renaissance marked an incredibly significant change in thought which lasted until the late 16th Century. The Renaissance enabled men such as Leonardo da Vinci to take centre stage. Da Vinci embodied the model humanist by engaging in a broad array of experimentation that contributed to the brief period of the High Renaissance, which was exemplified by dignified, stable, and often majestic art that Tansey and Kleiner suggest “unifie[d] and balance[d] the conflicting experiences of an entire culture”. His works in art, anatomy and invention contributed to an intellectual revolution that support centuries of developments in these disciplines. Another example of a Renaissance polymath was Nicolaus Copernicaus. His theories on the heliocentric solar system were revolutionary and his publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium just before his death in 1543 was a major contributor to this intellectual movement. Publication of these developments would not have been possible without there existing a culture for innovation as existed in Renaissance era Europe.However, 19th century Swiss philosopher Jacob Burckhardt was, perhaps, the first scholar to raise the question of whether a clear divide between the Middle Ages and a so-called Renaissance could really be identified. The Renaissance could be considered a gradual change in thought, the importance of which only really coming to fruition with the succeeding movements of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that actuated revolutions in understandings and practice rather than oversaw centuries of slow change.Furthermore, it should be considered that the reinjection of knowledge following the fall of Constantinople was an inevitable rediscovery of existing knowledge. Whilst this was significant to a certain extent, it should not be considered great progress. Furthermore, this progress would not have been so widespread without the support of technological developments such as Gutenberg’s 1440 printing press that enabled the quick spread of ideas throughout Europe. In conclusion, the Renaissance was a significant intellectual movement because it witnessed the development of great art, literature, and invention. However, it was only part of a longer chain of intellectualism and was enabled by the technological development of the age limiting its significance when viewed in isolation. ................
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