Difference Between Medieval And Renaissance

The first people to differentiate between the medieval period and the renaissance were those living during the latter. Renaissance writers saw themselves as set apart from the more recent past, and believed they had more in common with the distant classical period. They viewed themselves as on the cusp of a bright new era, a “rebirth” of classical innovation and knowledge. Later historians would also mark this time as something new and shiny, standing out from the dreary middle ages. French historian Jules Michelet saw the renaissance as a beacon of democracy and liberty, Jacob Burckhardt applauded the rediscovery of the classics, and Walter Pater saw in this period “a spirit of rebellion and revolt against the moral and religious ideas of

This makes sense, seeing as there is a giant leap from monarchies to democracies, oligarchies being an intermediary stage. Florence was for a brief moment ruled by the lesser of society, which is more in line with Michelet’s view. The Ciompi Rebellion was made up of unskilled workers who wanted more say in the government, they managed to overthrow the government for little over two months before the oligarchy was restored. The renaissance saw the takeover of the communes, and one by one they fell into one man rule. Ironically, it seems the republic city-states thrived more in the medieval period versus the renaissance, which is known for

Republics did exist during the renaissance, but these were only made possible by the events of the middle ages. The glory of the republics were actually short lived. In fighting and factionalism left the republics weak and open to usurpers. Even Florence fell into one-man rule. The renaissance actually saw the fall of most the Italian republics. With the new emphasis on ad fontes and preserving the classical works as they were, versus the interaction with them that the Middle Ages had, this movement eventually led to the death of the Latin language. Dante, who is part of the medieval period, very openly criticized the church, he even placed three popes in hell. Kaborycha says that this was possible because although the pope obviously would not like this, he could not do anything about it. It was not until later that the church gained its “vast spy network” to control Italians. The irony being that scholars view the renaissance as so drastically different from the medieval in terms of the grip religion had on the people. There were of course some new ideas and innovations that came out of the renaissance, but it is clear that it is not as radically different to the medieval period as even the renaissance people would have one believe. But rather, the renaissance should be classified as the culmination of all the work done in the Middle Ages in its