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The elimination of at least half of all Europeans was a tragic event, but the Black Death brought about one of the greatest eras of all time the Renaissance. It was an improvement from the state of the Middle Ages which was often called the "Dark Ages" and it was by no means an over glorified period of time. The Renaissance, meaning 'rebirth' originated in Northern Italy and that's where the majority of the changes took place. There was a decline of the feudal system during this time and individualism began to thrive. With the mind developing, education became much more vital in society than it previously had been. The educated population that began to grow found new means of trade and expanded their territory. Careers such as banking and merchandizing became vital to improve the state of the economy. With the newfound wealth that was created by these occupations, many people invested into culture in a significant way. Numerous changes were made to Europe during the Renaissance. Not all the individuals benefited from these changes but over all the state of society became better off with their new mode of thought, especially compared to the previous state it was in during the Middle Ages. The beneficial changes that took place were exceptional and advantageous to help set up modern western civilisation.
After the devastation of the Black Death, Italy's ideal location along the Mediterranean Sea opened up opportunities for trade. As a result, Italy began to see an economic rise take place, which gradually spread all over Europe. Members of the middle class became capitalist entrepreneurs. Others became merchants who indirectly helped to boost the economy by learning the art of trade. Also banking became a popular profession for the educated. These people became to be known as the 'bourgeois'. It was only the wealth that inspired the business people to come forth and succeed as they did, but in doing so they indirectly helped the destruction of the feudal system because the individual in general played much more of a role in society. The riches they had acquired through their work led them to retain a more substantial portion of the wealth then the middle class previously had. The bourgeois also gained political strength due to their work as they were keeping the economy alive, so they should have had a say on how the country was operated. Throughout the Renaissance more and more members of the bourgeois began to emerge into society. As they did, the nobility resented them more as they became less important. It was a time when "a servant may easily become a king" (Aeneas Sylvius) if they had the ability to. Such opportunities mainly arose from the business world. The people who took the role in the careers of merchants had to be educated and that can be seen with only 1 percent of them being illiterate (Manchester, 6) because it became to be a very complex occupation. Many transactions took place in their daily routine. There was money owed to them, trade took place on a regular basis, money was owed to banks and yet they still had to take care of and keep their inventory intact. The role of the banker was mainly as a creditor to kings and merchants, as well as financing wars and exploration (Thompson, ed., 1). They also speculated on currency rates, which is another factor why trade expanded beyond their territory. A Franciscan monk named Fra Luca Pacioli came up with the idea of double entry bookkeeping, which helped the merchants to keep a much more efficient record of their finances (deSantis, web page). This set up the basics for a simple accounting system. It wasn't that the idea of accounting that was new, but before hand all transactions used to be kept track of in dairies and other little notebooks. Roman numerals were used, which made it much more complex. The new system allowed money to be allocated easily to people i.e. whoever owed or needed to collect money. However during the Renaissance, with the vast amount of trade that took place the continuous flow of money was non-stop, so a control over money had to take form. The banks helped to do this. This is how the Medici's created their abundance of wealth. Families came together throughout Italy lived close to each other each other so they were able to support one another for protection, increased security and so they could assist each other with business. Though the feudal system embarked on a severe dent in its structure, a lot of the wealth and power moved from the nobility to these economically strong families. The Medici's were by far the strongest of the families, which came together in Italy. Their influence they had in and outside of the business world was phenomenal. It was Giovanni di Bicci de Medici who was the first of the Medici's who entered the banking industry in a significant way, and his son Cosimo who took over the family business in 14 became the most powerful Medici (Mee, ). He had the wealth and more than enough power to be a king. The family contributed to the banking industry in a distinguishable way. The simple economy which in the Middle Ages was mainly agriculturally based and relied heavily upon the labour of the artisans and peasants had transformed into a much more developed system in the Renaissance which opened up new careers and opportunities for the average middle class. As more and more wealth came to Italy, merchants found more efficient ways to operate their activities and constructive ways to spend their money.
Once the accumulating profits started to come in to Italy through business and trade, Italy invested largely in to culture. Many people spent their wealth on the arts such as painting and sculpting. This is a time when the works of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo became very popular and expensive. The artists were educated through means of apprenticeships. They were no longer just mere common folk as they were in the Middle Ages but became to be appreciated for their talents. Their knowledge wasn't just limited to the painting, but many of these artists were, what became known as 'Renaissance Men', who sought to take interest in other subjects. They developed their artistic technique and it improved immensely to the paintings of the Middle Ages. The art of the Renaissance had a lot more dimension and depth than then. It wasn't just about pretty pictures but pictures were used to tell stories, spread ideas and solve solutions. Michelangelo was astounding when it came to art. He specialized and had a keen interest in sculpting. His David saw the beauty of the human form and how it was naturally. He thought, A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. He used his intellect to improve his technique. His knowledge in anatomy specifically the network of muscles helped him to perfect his paintings (Rizzatti, 1). In a matter of decades some pieces of artwork rose to the astonishing price of ,000 florins per painting and in which earlier years it would have gone for as little as 5 florins (Mee, 87). The art, which was mainly based upon religious themes, also had a significant influence on the literature that was around at the time. Once these patrons of the arts began to emerge, Italy was turned in to one of the most beautiful countries of its time and it still is today. The rest of Europe saw this beauty that flourished among Italy very positively and the same change took place in other countries.
With so many changes and developments taking place, the importance of education was seen. People realised how vital it was to educate themselves, and find out more about the past so they were able to make themselves a better future. A group of people known as humanists attempted to revive the antiquity and classical thought of ancient Rome, as this was a time where Italy's status on a global scale was very high. As a result, they saw the need to seek knowledge to develop their mind, which would allow them to evaluate themselves and the society around them. They were very linguistic, interested in the ancient languages such as Greek and Latin. As well as the Humanists, the Renaissance Men were key figures in the education reform. They were also deeply involved with seeking knowledge and were always striving to learn something new. In a sense, these men were extreme humanists. Leonardo da Vinci, as well as being one of the elite artists of his time, his passion for creativity made him one of the most developed intellectuals that the modern world has ever seen. He was educated in such subjects as engineering, anatomy and mechanics. He was such as a man as to say When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes (Leonardo da Vinci), which meant he put knowledge before his life. These types of men might have been uncommon, but they did exist and were still eager to learn. They didn't really look at the Church or play a role in the Reformation unlike the humanists did. However, they did agree on one thing, which was the importance of education. So when Johann Genfleisch zum Gutenberg invented the moveable metal type printing press during the 1440's these people were able to gain knowledge much more easily than before. Previously books had been handwritten and it could take as long as a year to just to produce a single book. But with this invention two pressmen could manage to produce 50 sheets of literature within an hour (Clement, web site). When this came about education and literacy became more encouraged and important to the rest of Europe. Also now the humanists were able to translate, reproduce and pass on the ideas of other scholars through literature. It made the revival of classical thought easier and it made many more people become interested in reviving antiquity. The books were no longer just about religion and weren't just controlled by the Church and literature solely available to the monks. Now ordinary people could contribute to the literature that they read. Topics such as romance were for the women, business for the merchants and bankers, science and mathematics for the scholar. Also it enabled the Humanists to translate other people's works and spread their ideas across to other Humanists. With so many books available, more libraries were constructed for these purposes. Though it was rare for a library to hold more than 00 books, they still existed (Manchester, 5). The printing press allowed the sale of books to be relatively inexpensive so that the average workers were able to afford them. Previously books cost much more due to the high production cost and were fairly uncommon being only available to people with wealth to lavish on such luxuries. But by 1501 there was more than a 1,000 printing shops in Europe and over 100 of these belonged to Italy so virtually everybody had the access to books (Mee, 8).
Custom Essays on Was the Renaissance over glorified?
The Renaissance set the standard for modern western civilization. It was a vast improvement from the Middle Ages. Education was left to the people of the Church then but the Renaissance brought it out to whoever wished to acquire it. This more literate population led to a stronger economy. These people helped to improve art, business, science and other subjects. Art along with literature became the biggest movements within Europe. The paintings still flourish among our society today and are seen as the pinnacle of art. Though every good thing was rare and only came in moderation, the Renaissance was only a start of thing of what was to come. Many other changes took place in the16th Century which were much more advanced and they used many of the ideas of the Renaissance Men and scholars. As you can see, the Renaissance was to great extent a major turning point in history from the Middle Ages in just about every element of society. The Renaissance has truly become the original roots of Western culture. Calder, Ritchie. Leonardo & the Age of the Eye. London William Heinemann Ltd., 170.
Clement, Richard W. Medieval and Renaissance Book Production - Printed Books. http//orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/books/medbook.html
Cronin, Vincent. The Flowering of the Renaissance. London Collins Clear, 16.
Dannenfeldt, Karl H., ed. The Renaissance Medieval or Modern? Lexington D.C. Heath
and Company, 15.
Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire. The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance Portrait of an Age. Toronto Little, Brown and Company, 1.
Mee, Charles L. Daily Life in the Renaissance. New York American Heritage Publishing Co., 175.
Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopaedia. Renaissance Art and Architecture. 00. http//encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refarticle.aspx?refid=7615545
Rizzatti, Maria L. The Life, Times and Art of Michelangelo. Verona Crescent Books, 166.
Santis, James de. Origin of accounting and bookkeeping. http//users.rowan.edu/~fran41/account/account.htm
Thompson, Stephen P., ed. The Renaissance. San Diego Greenhaven Press, Inc., 000.
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