1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,840 The Renaissance. We're talking about a period of European history mainly taking place in 2 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:20,720 Italy from the 14th to the 16th century, bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and modern 3 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:26,640 day civilization. The word Renaissance means rebirth, in this case the rebirth of the classical 4 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:32,200 Greek and Roman arts and philosophy following the Middle Ages, an era often branded as a 5 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:38,360 time of war, cultural decline, and pandemics such as the Black Death. Humanism was really 6 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:43,240 at the heart of the Renaissance, a philosophy inspired by classical Greek and Roman texts 7 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:48,840 celebrating human creativity, individual achievement in different fields, and promoting the idea 8 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:54,440 that man was the center of his own universe, not God. This new mindset contrasted with 9 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,920 medieval philosophy which centered on the divine and on following the rules set forth 10 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:04,520 by the Catholic Church as God's plan. The Renaissance started in Florence, Italy, which 11 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:09,360 became very wealthy thanks to trade with the Ottoman Empire, the biggest economic power 12 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:14,760 in the region. Theories accounting for the origins of the Renaissance include the reintroduction 13 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:20,440 of classical texts to Italy through the immigration of scholars following the fall of Constantinople, 14 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,240 and through returning crusaders who had encountered advanced Muslim civilizations that had kept 15 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:30,680 copies and translations. Also, members of the powerful and wealthy Medici family of 16 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,600 Florence were famous backers of the movement and supported public art for recognition, 17 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,760 for the love of beauty, and also to legitimize their wealth. The movement later expanded 18 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:46,280 to other Italian city-states such as Venice, Milan, Rome, and then throughout Western and 19 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:51,320 Northern Europe by scholars such as Dutch philosopher Erasmus. 20 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:56,200 Thanks to the development of printing by Gothenburg and Europe, little-known texts from early 21 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:01,560 humanist authors such as Petrarch were distributed to the masses as literature rose as an important 22 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:07,960 aspect of everyday life. Dante's Divine Comedy, Machiavelli's Prince, and Shakespeare's 23 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,960 Hamlet were some of the most notable pieces of literature of the Renaissance. 24 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,280 Perhaps the most prominent feature of the Renaissance was the furthering of the arts. 25 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:23,120 The apex of artistic talent came later during the High Renaissance in the form of Leonardo 26 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:29,200 da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo who were supported by the Medici family. Their paintings 27 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:34,480 and sculptures featured anatomically accurate human bodies in complex poses, dramatic and 28 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:39,800 emotional compositions, naturalistic depictions of space, and intellectually sophisticated 29 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:45,360 subject matter. Notable examples include the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Statue 30 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:50,560 of David, The Birth of Venus, and The Creation of Adam. 31 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,920 The most prevalent societal change during the Renaissance was the fall of feudalism 32 00:02:54,920 --> 00:03:00,000 and the rise of a capitalist market economy. Increased trade and the labor shortage caused 33 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,600 by the Black Death gave rise to something of a middle class as workers started demanding 34 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,280 wages and better living conditions. 35 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,920 The development of a middle class and the rise of humanism encouraged Europeans to question 36 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:16,920 the role of the Catholic Church and caused its influence to wane. In such context, a 37 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:21,560 German monk named Martin Luther challenged many of the practices of the Church like nepotism 38 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:27,120 and the selling of indulgences, and led the Protestant Reformation, a revolutionary movement 39 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,300 that caused a split in the Catholic Church. 40 00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:34,960 To break Ottoman dominance over access to India and the Far East, Europeans were eager 41 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:40,560 to explore new trade routes for gold and spices. In the age of exploration, Columbus 42 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:46,560 discovered the Americas in 1492 and Magellan became the first person to successfully circumnavigate 43 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,840 the globe in the early 1500s. 44 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,280 Placing the sun at the center of the solar system rather than the Earth was a major breakthrough 45 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,200 in the history of science by Polish astronomer Copernicus, though his book was banned by 46 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:04,460 the Catholic Church. Galileo Galilei later also found evidence for a heliocentric solar 47 00:04:04,460 --> 00:04:09,020 system in addition to improving the telescope and conducting experiments that paved the 48 00:04:09,020 --> 00:04:12,460 way for Newton's discoveries about gravity. 49 00:04:12,460 --> 00:04:17,460 By the early 17th century, the Renaissance movement had died out for different reasons, 50 00:04:17,460 --> 00:04:22,700 including the invasion of Italian territories by neighboring powers and the Catholic Church's 51 00:04:22,700 --> 00:04:27,500 censorship of artists and writers in response to the Protestant Reformation, as well as 52 00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:31,540 the establishment of the Inquisition which made any views that challenged the Church 53 00:04:31,660 --> 00:04:35,420 an act of heresy punishable by death. 54 00:04:35,420 --> 00:04:40,220 Many historians prefer to think of the Renaissance as an arts and cultural movement rather than 55 00:04:40,220 --> 00:04:44,580 a historical period that is distinct from the Middle Ages since there are no clear dividing 56 00:04:44,580 --> 00:04:48,980 lines between the two periods. Also, most historians claim the Renaissance was only 57 00:04:48,980 --> 00:04:54,140 experienced by the very rich whereas for the vast majority of Europeans who were peasants, 58 00:04:54,140 --> 00:04:58,820 it was not really a thing. The reason we study the Renaissance so much is not because it 59 00:04:58,820 --> 00:05:04,380 was so central to the 15th century but because it matters to us now, because of the legacy 60 00:05:04,380 --> 00:05:10,020 of humanism and individualism that strongly influenced the Euro-American world ever since.