The French word renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’, and was first seen in English in the 1830s. The first quote of Renaissance in English:
“A
style possessing many points of rude resemblance with the more elegant
and refined character of the art of the renaissance in Italy.” -W Dyce and C H Wilson’s Letter to Lord Meadowbank (1837)The
Renaissance is seen as a period of rebirth from the dark ages of Europe
to the more enlightened and progressive ages of Europe.The
century before the Renaissance was particularly dark with the Hundred
Years war (1337 – 1453) devastating much of Europe, the failed Crusades
and also the Black Death (1346 – 53) killing – 25 million (33%) of
population.However, some academic scholars feel the term
Renaissance is too vague and the “Renaissance years” were not
particularly enlightened. Some scholars feel that the Renaissance was
more accurately part of a ‘Longue duree’ of European historyThe
Renaissance period still saw real problems, such as religious wars,
political corruption, inequality, witch-hunts and corrput Borgia Popes.
Most people who lived through the Renaissance didn’t view it as a
‘Golden Era’!The Renaissance was a period of ground-breaking
explorations, with the discovery of new lands outside Europe by famous
explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Vespucci.The Renaissance was also a period of scientific discovery. Galileo Galilei and René Descartes (1596–1650) promoted a new view of astrology and mathematics, which challenged old Aristotelian ideas.N.Copernicus
began the process of changing the whole view of the world. He argued
the sun was centre of the galaxy rather than the earth. This
heliocentric view of the world was controversial because it challenged
the existing teaching of the church. But, during the Renaissance, this
heliocentric view gradually came to be accepted.