The Renaissance In The Renaissance

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The Renaissance is famous for the artwork created during this period, but a rise of the arts was only one of the factors that helped to make the Renaissance one of the most developed time periods to exist. Starting around 1450 in Florence Italy, it quickly spread throughout Europe. Cities grew larger and economic development increased rapidly. Document Four, by Benedetto Dei states, “We have around thirty thousand estates, owned by nobleman and merchants, citizens and craftsmen…” The document also discusses how many of each type of shop exist in Florence, and shows how advanced and successful the Renaissance has become. The Renaissance sparked new ideas and ways of thinking, through a revival of learning from the classical time periods. Many new ideas were created, but others were continued on from previous time periods since not everyone supported the Renaissance. The Renaissance showed great development in society because of new ideas as well as continuities from the Middle Ages.
The Renaissance encouraged intellectual development by studying and expanding upon ideas and thoughts from the Classical time period. One of the most important changes from the Middle Ages was the development of Humanism. Humanists studied classical Greek and Latin literature and learned about their ideas. They believed that they would understand human nature by studying these classical writers. Humanists also believed that man was very important and had an unlimited potential. Document Two talks about how men are given free will, and can decide what they want to do with their life rather than react to nature like lesser beings. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola says, “Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand ...

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...truts and frets his hour upon the stage…” This portrays humans as arrogant and afraid during their life, and then when they die, they signify nothing. Although the Renaissance continued some ideas from the Middle Ages, some people still did not agree with the changes that were occurring.
The Renaissance took place from around 1350 to 1600 in Italy and all over Europe. It helped to create new ideas of thought and learning. Humanism was one of the philosophies that developed and it focused on classical Greek and Latin teachings. Religious beliefs also continued on from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Many scholars approved and supported the new ideas, but others did not like the changes occurring. Whichever their beliefs, all of them agree that the Renaissance was an important period of time that generated new thoughts and ideas by studying the classical times.

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