Beginning of the Renaissance



The Renaissance (1300-1600)

To understand the beginnings of the Renaissance, you must back up approximately eight hundred years, to the fall of the Roman Empire. For a thousand years, Rome ruled most of Europe, bringing advancements in technology, learning and government. Once Rome fell to invaders in 542 CE, Western Europe fell into a stagnant period known as the Middle Ages. Society regressed; people did not venture far from their tiny villages. Local lords ruled by force and intimidation. Learning took place only in religious houses, and generations grew up ignorant, illiterate, and superstitious of outsiders.

End of the Middle Ages

By the fourteenth Century, health epidemics, like the Black Death, wiped out at least one third of the European population. This caused a huge shortage of workers. Subsequently, wages rose along with the demand for laborers. Serfdom faded into history. Higher wages increased the standard of living for many peasants. This, in turn, contributed to the rise of wealthy merchants, such as the Medici family of Florence. These merchant families would provide the money, resources, and the incentive for the Renaissance.

Changes in Society during the Renaissance

Like any cultural movement, the social changes that took place during the Renaissance were slow, but steady. By the end of the Renaissance virtually every aspect of European society had undergone some type of transformation. Humanism, an intellectual movement, instilled an attitude of ‘Live for Today’ as opposed to the Middle Age belief that life was journey to suffer through, in order to achieve eternal salvation. Art, architecture, and literature all reflected the changing times. The printing press also revolutionized Renaissance society the same way television and the internet have influenced the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For the first time, books were cheap enough for the masses; learning and new ideas spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Adventurers like Christopher Columbus, disproved the age-old belief that the world was flat.

Other inventions that followed include the cast-iron pipe, portable clock, rifle barrel, shotgun, screwdriver and wrench. Additionally, many great thinkers of this era developed and introduced concepts that form the basis of modern scientific theory. For example, Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, astronomer, and philosopher, made significant improvements to the telescope, as well developed a variety of astronomical observations, the first law of motion, and the second law of motion.

In addition, Nicolaus Copernicus keenly observed that the sun appeared to be at rest in the center of the universe. His observations were later developed and published as "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" and commonly known as Copernican Theory. The book marks the beginning of the shift away from a geocentric (and anthropocentric) universe with the Earth at its center. Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day. He arrived at the correct order of the known planets and explained the precession of the equinoxes correctly by a slow change in the position of the Earth's rotational axis. He also gave a clear account of the cause of the seasons: that the Earth's axis is not perpendicular to the plane of its orbit.

The Renaissance period also ushered in a grand age of exploration. The trail-blazing expeditions of adventurers such as Ferdinand Magellan, Jacques Cartier and Sir Walter Raleigh paved the way for the historic journey of the Mayflower in 1620. Perhaps the most famous explorer of the period was Christopher Columbus, who embarked on his first sea voyage at the age of fourteen. Like most learned men of his time, Columbus knew that the world was round and theorized that a ship could eventually reach the Far East from the opposite direction. For an entire decade, Columbus approached Portuguese and Spanish monarchs for a grant to explore possible trade routes between Asia and Europe. After initially rejecting his proposal, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella acquiesced after the Moors had been successfully expelled from Spain in 1492. Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silks from the Far East; to spread Christianity; and to lead an expedition to China. On August 3, 1492, Columbus' fleet of three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, set sail from southern Spain. The historic journey allowed Columbus to become the first navigator to sail across the Atlantic Ocean and reach the Americas.

Religious Upheaval during the Renaissance

The Catholic Church, at its pinnacle of power in the Middle Ages, faced its greatest competition from protesters such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Within forty years of Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Protestantism would be a firmly entrenched theology, with many different branches established throughout Western Europe.

The three hundred years of change during the Renaissance helped lay the foundation for the modern world. It introduced the belief that the individual is just as important as the group, and that people should not be judged soley by their birthrights, but by their individual merit and accomplishments.

Renaissance Art- A Return to the Classics

Artists turned to the classics of Ancient Greece and Rome for inspirations. The great masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello and Michelangelo introduced perspective and focal points to paintings, adding a layer of realism unparallelled to that point. They explored the idea of human potential, instead of focusing only on religious themed subjects, as was common in the Middle Ages.

Painting, Sculpture and the Graphic Arts during the Renaissance

Sculpture was the first of the fine arts to display Renaissance traits. Donatello was one of the most notable sculptors of the early Renaissance. He returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like the unsupported nude. His second sculpture of David was the first free-standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire. About a century later, Michelangelo developed figures that were completely independent of any architectural structure surrounding them. His statue of David is also a nude study; Michelangelo's David however is moving in a more natural way.

During the Renaissance, painters began to enhance the realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective, thus representing three dimensions more authentically. Artists also began to use new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness, such as the tone contrast evident in many of Titian's portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci and Giorgione. The period also saw movement away from religious themes, which were omnipresent in medieval art. The human body and natural landscapes became the center of attention. Piero della Francesca is noted for painting from an aerial perspective. Masaccios figures have a plasticity unknown up to that point in time. Compared to the flatness of gothic painting, his pictures were revolutionary.

The most "refined" works were produced in what is called the Renaissance Classicism or High Renaissance. The most famous painters from this time period are Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Their images are among the most widely known works of art in the world. The Last Supper, the Scuola di Atena and the Holy Family all feature a perspective, lively and natural presentation of people and landscapes. Around the mid-16th century, Renaissance painting evolved into Mannerism, which depicts mostly landscapes and portraits with few religious themes. Figures become more elongated and their movements appear artificial. Additionally, the High Renaissance was epitomized by the exquisitely balanced frescoes of Raphael Santi and the expressive and colorful paintings of Tiziano Vecellio, better known as Titian.

Literature and Poetry during the Renaissance

In the early Renaissance, especially in Italy, much of the focus was on translating and studying classic works from Latin and Greek. Both the cultures were highly admired in the Renaissance, especially after the newly labeled Dark Ages. Renaissance authors were not content to rest on the laurels of ancient authors, however. Many authors attempted to integrate the methods and styles of the ancient greats into their own works. Among the most emulated Romans are Cicero, Horace, Sallust, and Virgil. Among the Greeks, Aristotle, Homer, Plato, and Socrates were also heavily emulated by Renaissance authors. The literature and poetry of the Renaissance was also largely influenced by the developing science and philosophy. Francesco Petrarch wrote poetry in Latin, notably the Punic War epic Africa, but is today remembered for his works in the Italian vernacular, especially the Canzoniere, a collection of love sonnets dedicated to his unrequited love Laura. He was the foremost writer of sonnets in Italian, and translations of his work into English by Thomas Wyatt established the sonnet form in England, where it was employed by William Shakespeare and countless other poets.

Petrarch's disciple, Giovanni Boccaccio’s major work was the Decameron, a collection of one hundred stories told by ten storytellers who have fled to the outskirts of Florence to escape the black plague over ten nights. The Decameron in particular and Boccaccio's work in general were a major source of inspiration and plots for many English authors in the Renaissance, including Shakespeare.

Aside from Christianity, classical antiquity, and scholarship, a fourth influence on Renaissance literature was politics. The political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli’s most famous work is The Prince, which has become so well-known in Western society that the term "Machiavellian" has come into use, referring to the self-serving attitude advocated by the book. However, most experts agree that Machiavelli himself did not fully embrace the tactics in his book, making "Machiavellian" a slightly inaccurate term. Regardless, along with many other Renaissance works, The Prince remains a relevant and influential work of literature today.

Additionally, many sixteenth-century authors such as Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare expressed spiritual conflict through their writing. Spenser's Faerie Queene, for example, depicts the struggle of a staunchly Protestant knight of Holiness against the forces of Roman Catholicism.

Music during the Renaissance

In Italy, in the 14th century, there was an explosion of musical activity that corresponded in scope and level of innovation to the activity in the other arts. Although musicologists typically group the music of the trecento with the late medieval period, it included features which align with the early Renaissance in important ways: an increasing emphasis on secular sources, styles and forms; a spreading of culture away from ecclesiastical institutions to the nobility, and even to the common people; and a quick development of entirely new techniques. The principal forms were the trecento madrigal, the caccia, and the ballata. Overall, the musical style of the period is sometimes labeled as the "Italian ars nova."

The predominant forms of church music during the period were the mass and the motet. By far the most famous composer of church music in 16th century Italy was Palestrina, the most prominent member of the Roman School, whose style of smooth, emotionally cool polyphony was to become the defining sound of the late 16th century. Few instruments were employed, as sacred music was generally written for an a cappella choir. Renaissance sacred music was an extension of the Gregorian Chant, a style of music that was also unaccompanied by instruments. The text of Renaissance music was also the same as that used in Gregorian Chant: the Roman liturgy, sung in Latin.

Other Italian composers of the late 16th century focused on composing the main secular form of the era, the madrigal, and for almost a hundred years these secular songs for multiple singers were distributed all over Europe. Composers of madrigals included Jacques Arcadelt, at the beginning of the age, Cipriano de Rore, in the middle of the century, and Luca Marenzio, Philippe de Monte, Carlo Gesualdo, and Claudio Monteverdi at the end of the era.

Italy was also a center of innovation in instrumental music. By the early 16th century, keyboard improvisation came to be greatly valued, and numerous composers of virtuoso keyboard music appeared. Many familiar instruments were invented and perfected in late Renaissance Italy, such as the violin, the earliest forms of which came into use in the 1550s. By the late 16th century, Italy was the musical center of Europe. Almost all of the innovations which were to define the transition to the Baroque period originated in northern Italy in the last few decades of the century.

Life During The Renaissance

Daily life during the European Renaissance reflected the great changes in politics, learning, religion and art.

It was a time of huge social, economic and intellectual growth in Europe. All of these changes are reflected to some degree through the social customs of the time. Historical costumes, daily life, and even the foods people ate, were a reflection of the changing times.

Courtship in The Renaissance

Renaissance courtship, betrothal and weddings were unique during the European Renaissance. The main of goal of a Renaissance marriage was to produce children.

The very rich (nobles and royalty) generally married to better their families social standing, and increase the family’s coffers. Everyone else, from merchants to peasants, usually married for love, or at least compatibility.

Renaissance Weddings

Many weddings, except for those of strict protestant sects, held a wedding processional through the streets. Sometimes the bride walked; other times she was carried by horseback. The bride always wore a beautiful dress, perhaps of velvet or brocade. Sometimes the dress would be borrowed or rented. The dress was most likely not white (That color came in vogue with Queen Victoria in the 1800s).

Renaissance Marriage

To the marriage, the bride brought a dowry and a bridal trousseau. Her dowry depended on the financial status of her family. If she came from a wealthy family a bride’s dowry might be an estate, and perhaps some jewels. A merchant or farmers daughter may have some gold coin, clothing, household goods, and perhaps livestock. The very poor did not usually have dowries.

A bridal trousseau consisted of various household goods, such as pewter plates, candlesticks, and linen. It may also contain the bride’s clothing. The groom brought to the marriage counter-trousseau and perhaps jewels, depending on his wealth.

Once a woman was married, her husband became her legal guardian. Her husband legally owned all the property she brought to the marriage, including her wedding finery. If the marriage was annulled, then the bridal dowry was returned. The husband kept everything else.

Family Roles during the Renaissance

A typical Renaissance family consisted of parents and their children. It is traditionally assumed that people of the Renaissance married early. This is because nobility did indeed marry early. However, most common folks married in their mid twenties. Since the average life expectancy was 40, few people made it to grandparent status.

Renaissance women, as expected, stayed home to care for the children and the home. The men in the family worked out of the house, tending the fields or in merchant shops. Older children, both boys and girls, often worked alongside their fathers, to help contribute to the family funds.

Childhood during the Renaissance

Children during the Renaissance were thought to be miniature adults, and therefore, as soon as they were out of nappies they would be dressed like adults, and spoken to as adults. Despite this grown-up treatment, children still had childhood toys and games to keep them occupied until they were deemed old enough to work, at around age seven or eight.

Toddlers were often confined to a wooden walker, to prevent them from wandering off, or tied to something with a long rope. This was important because a typical Renaissance house was full of burning fires, pots of boiling liquid.

Boys stayed home with their mother until about the age of seven. Then they may go to a private school, or be tutored, if the family could afford it. If they came from a poor family boys would be sent to work as a servant in a wealthy household. At age fourteen boys could enter into an apprenticeship.

Girls stayed home with their mothers, learning the necessary skills to run a household. If their family was poor, than the girls may be put to work as domestic servants in wealthy households. A female was considered a “girl” until she married. If a woman never married, she was never considered fully grown. Wealthier girls received a limited education, focusing on history, Latin, and geography, and the skills needed to be a good wife. Few women received an education equal to that of males.

Renaissance Housing

Houses were small, some with no more than two rooms with low ceilings. It would not be considered unusual for a family of four to share a single bed. Fireplaces were used for cooking, causing the tiny house to quickly fill with smoke. In the hot summer months, houses in southern Europe would be unbearably hot, causing women to set up their looms outdoors, and serve family meals outdoors.

Household possessions were simple, to say the least. A typical Renaissance family owned two outfits and one pair of shoes per person, some kitchen utensils, the aforementioned bed, a chamber pot, a table and bench, a chest, and a few tools.

Table Manners during the Renaissance

By today’s standards, Renaissance table manners were somewhat…lacking, to say the least. As in Medieval times, diners shared communal dishes, digging in (literally) with their hands. There were no serving utensils, and no silverware. What we think of as “fine manners” (eating with a fork, no burping at the table) did not become fashionable until the 1600s. Those who did exert some type of dining etiquette could expect to be labeled a pretentious snob.

Early Renaissance Table Manners

Through the 1400s, food was served in a long trencher. Wealthy households would have some type of metal trencher, perhaps silver or pewter. Middle class homes would have a metal or wooden trencher. The very poor may have substituted a hollowed out loaf of bread in place of wooden trencher. People would eat from these trenchers, scooping out food with their fingers, and using bits of bread to sop up juices and broth.

However, the Renaissance was not entirely without table manners. There were a few rules of etiquette that were expected of diners, dating back to medieval times including:

• No spitting across the table.

• No dipping meat directly into the salt dish.

• No picking ones teeth with a finger or knife.

Later Renaissance Table Manners

It was not until the mid 1500s that individual plates and forks were introduced to diners. Henceforth, the common trencher, a staple at European tables for nearly a thousand years, slowly disappeared (though it was probably for the better). People still ate in their kitchens, if they were a peasant or merchant. The wealthy took their meals in the main hall of their estates

Renaissance Dining Schedule

Despite popular myth, during the Middle Ages it was common for most people to eat three or four (sometimes five) meals a day. Breakfast would be served around nine in the morning, followed by dinner (what we think of as lunch) at either noon or one o’clock in the afternoon, and finally supper at nightfall. During that late 1500s, the very wealthy began eating their supper much later, in order to accommodate nightly entertainment. By the 1800s, almost all the social elite of Western Europe were eating dinner at 11 o’clock at night, following an evening at the theatre!

During this same time, service ala Francaise –The French Style of Dining- became fashionable. (What aspect of the French doesn’t become fashionable at one time or another?) This new dining concept included the idea of specific courses. A typical Renaissance dining schedule would go as follows:

• First Course- Soup and appetizers, usually doused in some tangy sauce modern day gourmets would find repulsive.

• Second Course- Roasted meat- a large bird decked out in its original feathers- accompanied by salads and other side dishes.

• Third Course- Fruit- It isn’t called dessert until later on, as that term was deemed vulgar (but apparently putting a dead peacock or swan on display during dinner wasn’t).

Popular Foods during the Renaissance

Early Renaissance foods were largely left over from the Middle Ages, until the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Soon new foods began trickling into Renaissance kitchens, beginning with the nobility and eventually finding its way into the homes of merchants, farmers and peasant. Certain crops, like the potato and corn, revolutionized European farming. Other foods, such as the tomato, were viewed with suspicion, even fear, and were not eaten on a regular basis for another two centuries!

Feasts were always popular during special occasions, such as weddings, or around the holidays or saints days. Large game birds such as peacocks, swans and cranes were often displayed with their feathers, as one of several meat dishes. Smaller game birds, such as pheasant and heron were common menu fare as well. It was a popular custom to serve pork alongside fried chestnuts.

Root vegetables, such as carrots, caraway and parsnips were always popular, not mention easy to grow and store. Asparagus was the vegetable du jour, and only the finest tables could afford to serve it. Salad greens, such as endive, chicory, lettuce and watercress were also very popular Renaissance foods.

Fruit was always a popular Renaissance food, though many physicians warned of eating it raw. They claimed raw fruit was poisonous. During the Renaissance, fruit was served as a last course; they referred to the last course simple as the “fruit course.” Common fruit dishes included marmalades, compotes, or raw salads.

New Foods From The Americas during the Renaissance

Once regular trade began out of the Americas, new foods became a popular commodity. While some foods caught on right away, others took several decades, even centuries to gain popularity. Most foods took at least some time to be adopted by Europeans. One exception was the turkey. Cortez discovered the American turkey in Mexico sometime in the 1520s. Turkey, also known as “Indian Chicken” caught on swiftly with Europeans. Besides being delicious, turkey made a fantastic centerpiece for banquets, when dressed in all its feathers and plumes. In fact, at a banquet hosted by Catherine de Medici in 1549, the menu listed “seventy Indian Chickens” as part of one course.

Other foods that traveled from the Americas to Europe include corn (known as maize), string beans, tomatoes, red peppers, potatoes and lima beans. In addition, the most important commodities of global trade, coffee, chocolate, and tea all came from South America. Sugar was in use in Europe during the Renaissance, but it was prohibitively expensive. The new crops of sugarcane in the Americas made sugar affordable for more household by the end of the seventeenth century.

Crop food, such as potatoes and corn changed the way people farmed in the late Renaissance. Corn, also called Spanish millet, was easily adaptable to various European climates. Potatoes, though brought to Europe in 1500s, did not become the staple crop of Ireland until well into the 1600s.

Fashions and Accessories during the Renaissance

The Sixteenth Century (1500s) was a time of great change for women’s Renaissance fashion. While Renaissance fashion trends varied in different countries (just like today’s fashion trends) there are some commonalities between all areas of Western Europe. Renaissance women's clothing is defined by regions and time periods. The historical costumes of Western Europe during the Renaissance are beautiful and richly detailed. Fashion accessories of the Sixteenth Century were almost as important as the clothing itself. Hoods, ruffs, wigs and cosmetics all came onto the scene during the 1500s.

Early Sixteenth Century Fashion

Early Sixteenth Century women’s fashions were very similar to that of medieval dress. The styling of a typical outfit of an early Renaissance woman consisted of a kirtle and gown with a cone shaped skirt and long train. Bodices had square necklines, decorated with edgings of fine laces and jewels. Sleeves were very wide, often edged in fur. Waistlines dipped slightly, and overskirts were split to show the decorative kirtle underneath. A kirtle is a simple a frock with a tight fitting bodice and sleeves and full skirt, similar to a petticoat. A typical noblewoman’s gown was made from finely woven wool or linen. The very wealthy may have some garments made of silk and velvet, though sumptuary laws prohibited lower classes from wearing such fine fabrics.

Beneath her gown, along with a kirtle, a renaissance woman would wear a linen chemise. This may seem like many layers of clothing, but remember, central heating is several centuries away, and even the finest castles and manor houses were drafty. Around 1525, Renaissance women began wearing a kirtle in its own right. When worn without a gown it would be paired with a decorated girdle. Unlike the latex undergarment of today, a Renaissance girdle was similar to a belt, worn about the waist and adorned with tassels or gold chains and precious stones. A lady could hang a pompadour or her keys from her girdle for safe keeping.

Mid-Sixteenth Century Fashion

As the Spanish House of Hapsburg grew in power, Spanish fashions became popular all across Western Europe, beginning in the 1550s. Spanish fashions look cumbersome on women, to say the least. The clothing was mounted on intricate cages of wire, whalebone and cloth, called farthingales, and Renaissance women were trapped inside. At this time, renaissance women discarded their chemises, and the bodice and skirt became separate pieces, rather than one garment. Skirts were often parted or gathered up at the sides to show off elaborately decorated underskirts. Trains became less fashionable and sleeves became tight fitting from the wrist to the elbow, with large poofed shoulders, slashed to show colorful insets. This style is sometimes referred to as Leg of Mutton Sleeve. It was popular in both men and women’s fashion.

It took hours, literally, to get dressed, for so elaborate was the clothing. The predominant color of the day was black. This is not to say that clothing of the day was simple. Quite the contrary. Black velvets, brocades and silks made a perfect backdrop for the elaborate jeweled decorations that bedecked the clothing of the upper class. Women’s dresses were encrusted with pearls, rubies, diamonds, and any other precious stones that made their way across the Atlantic to Western Europe, like a beautiful suit of armor.

Late Sixteenth Century Fashion

The ruff grew in popularity and size since the mid 1500s.With the discovery of starch by a Dutch woman, ruffs could be made to stand up several inches high. By the late 1500s large standing ruffs, called cartwheel ruffs, became popular and needed to be wired for support. Spanish fashions gave way to French dominance (again). Elizabeth I preferred the French farthingale above the Spanish Farthingale. (Her skirt looks like it is falling over a wheel.) Other trademarks of late sixteenth century fashions were plunging necklines, and deep, v-shaped waists, sometimes called wasp waists. Hems no longer brushed the floor, but hovered at the ankle, showing off pretty slippers and shoes bedecked with jewels and embroidery.

Sports, Games, and Leisure during the Renaissance

Jousting was a competition between two knights on horse-back, wherein each knight tried to knock the other off his mount. Jousting was at the peak of its popularity in the 14th to 16th centuries. The knights were often each equipped with three weapons; a lance, a one handed sword, and a rondel. When one knight knocked the other off of his mount, he was declared the winner of the round. If both knights were knocked off their mounts at the same time, it was considered a tie; they would then engage in sword combat, and the last standing was victorious. The knights usually jousted in a best out of three situation. Considerable honour and fortune could be gained by jousting. In its earliest form, jousting, or the tournai, was a simulated battle for training purposes. Victors in these battles usually gained the armor of their opponents, with a value equivalent to the price of a house these days. Many knights made their fortune in these events, many lost theirs as well.

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