The Renaissance 2

The term renaissance literally means “rebirth,” and in fact this was a rebirth, a rebirth of civilization. For hundreds of years Europe had been in a state of decay, dominated by an all-powerful Roman Catholic Church, individuality, intellectualism, and free thought had been suppressed. War, diminishing resources and the dreaded plague had taken their toll upon the populations of Europe. It was not until an economic boom and a recovery in population in Italy, that …

…The time leading up to renaissance period, Italy was the financial, military, and spiritual leader of Europe. It was inevitable then, that the renaissance would start there, ushering Europe out of the middle ages and into a new period of growth and dominance. Bibliography The Western Experience, (McGraw-Hill College.,1999) pp. 392-413; 379-84 Jacob Burkhardt, “The culture of the Renaissance in Italy” (1878) extract De Lamar Jenson, Renaissance Europe: Age of Recovery and ResoulutionI (Lexington, Mass., 1992) Introduction