The Renaissance: Dawn of a New Age

For centuries, most Europeans lived much as their ancestors had. Then, around 1450, artists began painting more realistic people, scholars rediscovered the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome, and explorers sailed into unknown waters. Europe was entering a new age called the Renaissance, a French word meaning “rebirth.”

From Land to Money

For centuries, most Europeans lived in small farming villages where wealth and power came from owning land. A noble’s status was measured by the amount of land he controlled and the number of people who worked it. Most people rarely traveled far from home, and few opportunities existed to become wealthy outside the feudal system.

Hundreds of years before the Renaissance, improvements in farming slowly allowed Europe to produce more food. As towns grew and trade increased, people began using money more often instead of trading labor for protection. After the Black Death killed millions of Europeans, the feudal system weakened and more people sought opportunities beyond the manor. As trade expanded, wealth increasingly flowed into towns and cities, creating a powerful merchant class whose influence would eventually rival that of the nobility.

Genoa and Venice

By 1450, the wealthy seaport cities of Genoa and Venice benefited from trade linking Europe and the Middle East. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, much of the learning of ancient Greece had faded in Western Europe. In the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain, Muslim scholars in cities such as Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba preserved and expanded the writings of the ancient Greeks in great libraries. Through trade with Arab merchants, Italians rediscovered many ideas from the ancient world. These “new” ideas from the distant past became the foundation of the Renaissance.

New Ways of Thinking

The rediscovery of ancient Greek learning encouraged many Europeans to value evidence and reason. Scholars later known as humanists believed in the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments. Christianity remained central to life in Europe during the Renaissance, but scholars also became more interested in secular, or non-religious, ideas. Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled ideas to spread quickly across Europe.

The Patrons

While some scholars considered secular ideas, banking, manufacturing, and trade made many Italian merchant families wealthy, particularly in Florence and Milan. These families used their money to build massive cathedrals and support art that made faith more vivid and alive to ordinary people. With the support of these patrons, artists began experimenting with new techniques that made paintings, sculptures, and buildings appear more realistic and lifelike.

The Fall of Constantinople

During the Middle Ages, Constantinople was a center of learning and the Christian faith. After the fall of Rome, Emperor Constantine moved the Roman capital east to the city that became known as Constantinople. The later Roman Empire, also called the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Turks converted many Christian churches into Islamic mosques, causing many Greek-speaking Christian scholars to flee to Italy with ancient Greek texts.

A New Age of Ideas

The Renaissance began in Italy, but its new ideas about art, learning, and human potential radiated across Europe. Renaissance artists in northern Europe blended Renaissance ideas with their own local traditions. In England, the Renaissance inspired great literature and drama, including William Shakespeare’s plays. European explorers traveled farther from home during the Renaissance. In 1492, a Spanish fleet led by Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas.

The Renaissance helped Europe move from a medieval world focused mainly on tradition toward a world increasingly shaped by curiosity, observation, creativity, exploration, and individual achievement. The Renaissance was a rebirth of ancient learning, but it also helped lay the foundation for the modern world.