The Renaissance, a period of European history, refers to an ideological and cultural movement that arose in Italian cities at the end of the 13th century, and later spread to Western European countries. It was an ideological and cultural movement that prevailed in Europe in the 16th century, bringing about a period of science and The period of artistic revolution opened the prelude to modern European history and is considered the boundary between the medieval era and modern times. Marxist historians believe that it is the dividing line between the feudal era and the capitalist era. At the end of the Middle Ages, as the Ottomans continued to invade the Eastern Roman Empire, the people of Eastern Rome, while fleeing, brought a large number of ancient Greek and Roman cultural classics and art treasures to the commercially developed cities in Italy. Some advanced intellectuals among the emerging bourgeoisie relied on studying the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome to promote the humanistic spirit through literary and artistic creation. The Renaissance is one of the three major ideological emancipation movements in modern Western Europe (Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment).
Main influence on editors
Main role
1. The Renaissance was the first bourgeois ideological emancipation movement in history
2. It promoted the development of world culture, promoted the awakening of the people, and made necessary ideological and cultural preparations for the development of capitalism.
3. Made ideological mobilization and preparations for the bourgeois revolution.
Social Impact
Primitive accumulation of capital: As an ideological emancipation movement to promote the emerging bourgeois culture, the Renaissance movement laid the foundation for the early development of capitalism during its spread. The profound foundation also accumulated primitive wealth for the early bourgeoisie. The Renaissance movement first originated in Italy, and later spread from the Mediterranean coast to the Atlantic coast. Famous cities such as Rome, Florence, Venice, and the Netherlands appeared in a series of new cities. Capitalist industry and commerce began to thrive, and capital began to flow in. The influx into the pockets of the emerging bourgeoisie provided the necessary conditions for the simultaneous opening of new routes, the Reformation, and future bourgeois revolutions or reforms.
Exploration and discovery of human nature: The Renaissance movement slowly liberated people from the shackles of traditional feudal theology. People began to slowly explore the value of human beings under the cloak of religion. As a human being, this A new concrete existence, rather than a new era of personal and spiritual attachment to feudal lords and religious lords. The Renaissance movement fully affirmed the value of human beings, valued human nature, and became a powerful call for people to break through the layers of veils in the Middle Ages. The Renaissance movement had a great impact on the political, scientific, economic, philosophical, and theological worldviews of the time. It is a revolutionary storm in the ideological field of the emerging bourgeoisie, also known as the "era of giants."
Negative impact: The Renaissance movement over-emphasized the value of people during its spread, which led to the expansion of personal desires in the later stages of its spread.
Historical Impact
The Renaissance Essence: The original meaning of the word "Renaissance" refers to "the rebirth of Greek and Roman classical culture." However, the cultural revolution movement of the emerging bourgeoisie in Western European countries at that time included a series of major historical events, the main ones being: the rise of "humanism", the renewal of artistic styles, the emergence of utopian socialism, the beginning of the development of modern natural science, The application of printing and the dissemination of scientific and cultural knowledge, etc. This series of major events is not so much the "rebirth of classical culture" as the "beginning of modern culture"; not so much "revival" as "innovation". The "Renaissance" marked a great turning point in the history of human civilization. It was a new culture, a reflection of the new political and new economic requirements of society at that time, and an anti-feudal struggle of the emerging bourgeoisie in the ideological and cultural fields. To put it simply, the essence of the Renaissance is the ideological emancipation movement of the bourgeoisie. [10]
The core idea of ??the Renaissance is humanism. Humanism originated in Italy in the second half of the 14th century, and then spread throughout Western Europe. Humanists use "humanity" against "divinity" and "human rights" against "divine power." They put forward the slogan "I am a human being, and I have all the characteristics of a human being". They are very dissatisfied with the church's control of the spiritual world. They demand that people be the center instead of God. They praise human wisdom and strength, praise the perfection and sublimity of human nature, oppose the arbitrary rule of religion and the feudal hierarchy, and advocate individuality. Liberation, equality and freedom, advocating the development of human personality, demanding happiness in this world and joy in the world, and promoting scientific and cultural knowledge. Therefore, the concept of humanism focuses on "people", which is the expression of "people's" instincts and the driving force for "people" to pursue truth, goodness and beauty.
The historical role of the Renaissance: Engels once spoke highly of the progressive role of the "Renaissance" in history. He wrote: "This was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind has ever experienced, a period that required and produced giants - giants in power of thought, enthusiasm and character, in versatility and learning. era. "The giants refer to the three masters of the Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Dante
First of all, it is the discovery of man. In the Middle Ages, the ideal person should be inferior, passive, and inactive, and his significance in the world was not worthy of praise. The Renaissance discovered the greatness of people and people, affirmed the value and creativity of people, and proposed that in order for people to be liberated, their individuality should be free.
(1) Pay attention to the value of people, require the use of people's intelligence and creative potential, oppose a negative attitude towards life of inaction, and promote a positive spirit of risk-taking. (2) Pay attention to life in this world and despise illusory myths about the afterlife or heaven. Therefore, they pursue material happiness and sensual satisfaction and oppose religious asceticism. In literature and art, it is required to express human emotions and oppose hypocrisy and affectation. For example: Petrarch's "Songbook", Boccaccio's "Decameron". (3) Emphasize scientific experiments and oppose transcendentalism; emphasize the use of human reason and oppose blind obedience; require the development of individuality and oppose the confinement of human nature; require indulgence in moral concepts and oppose self-restraint; advocate "civic morality" and believe in career success and wealth It is a moral act. (4) Promote an optimistic attitude towards life. These unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the spirit of inquiry, and the optimistic and enterprising spirit of striving to create happiness in this world, liberated people from the shackles of medieval Christian theology. It was under the guidance of this spirit that the bourgeoisie created of the modern capitalist world.
Secondly, the Renaissance broke the dominance of religious mysticism, effectively promoted and influenced the religious reform movement, and provided important assistance to this movement. The Renaissance advocated attaching importance to temporal life and opposed authority, arousing suspicion and antipathy toward the Catholic Church and theology among contemporary people. Humanists in the Renaissance satirized and exposed the corruption and ugliness of the Catholic Church through literature, art and other forms.
Thirdly, the Renaissance broke the unity of scholastic philosophy with theology as its core, clearing the way for future ideological emancipation and progress, and enabled the rise of various secular philosophies. Among them was British empiric materialism (Bacon). It also promoted the development of political theory. Machiavelli laid the foundation for the later Enlightenment. A large number of thinkers such as Hobbes and Locke developed "natural rights", "social contract", "popular sovereignty" and the "three powers". Separation" and other theories.
Fourth, feudal privileges were denied. In the Middle Ages, feudal privileges were taken for granted and the concept of family status was deeply rooted. The Renaissance made these things lose their former weight in the scale of measuring people. Human nobility is given new connotation. Petrarch said: "The true nobility is not born, but made for oneself." In the social life of Italy at that time, talent, means and money replaced family origin and became the ladder for people of any origin to climb to the top of society.
Fifth, get rid of superstition and emancipate the mind. The Renaissance restored the values ??of reason, dignity, and reflection. Although the Renaissance made little achievements in philosophy, it destroyed the rigid scholastic philosophy system, advocated scientific methods and scientific experiments, proposed that "knowledge is power", and created a new trend of exploring people and the real world. People firmly believe in their own eyes and their own minds, and believe that experiment and experience are reliable sources of knowledge. This realistic attitude, way of thinking and scientific methods laid a solid foundation for the great development of natural science from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Sixth, the Renaissance created a large number of charming and exquisite works of art and literary masterpieces, which have become priceless treasures in the treasure house of human art. In the Middle Ages, biblical legends flooded the art world, suffocating the life of art. The Renaissance not only turned the Virgin into a human woman (Raphael) and turned the image into a celebration of the human body, but also began to directly describe daily life and real people. Science such as anatomy and perspective were also combined with art for the first time. This is the beginning of modern realist art in Western Europe.
This extensive and long-lasting ideological and cultural movement broke through the shackles of feudal autocracy and religious and theological ideas on people in the ideological field, liberated people's minds, and promoted the prosperity of European cultural and ideological fields. It laid the ideological and cultural foundation for the emergence of European capitalist society.
Important Contribution Editor
Many achievements in the Middle Ages contributed to this era that symbolized rebirth. One of them was a renewed interest in learning. Oxford University's first college was founded in 1264. By 1400, there were more than fifty universities in Europe. Ancient texts originally preserved by the Arabs were translated into Latin, and through these ancient texts a culture of education and debate was fostered. Europeans came into contact with the Arabs in the Holy Land, Sicily, and Spain, and through this contact they rediscovered many treasures, such as the works of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, which remained European until the 19th century. Standard mathematics textbook. The Arabs also spread a new number system, the idea of ??the decimal point, and the idea of ??zero, all of which were developed in India. Around 1450, the spread of knowledge accelerated with the invention of the printing press.
The second important contribution is the improvement of living standards, especially in Italy's large commercial cities. The Crusades opened European eyes to the riches of the East, especially silks, spices, and cotton. Merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and other cities competed to gain access to trade between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. After these merchants accumulated excess wealth from their commercial activities, they began to beautify their hometowns and cities with art. Sculpture, painting, architecture, music, poetry, and literature found new expressions of interesting themes that transcended the religious themes that had dominated since medieval times. They generally depict daily life, chivalry stories and adventure plots, and European culture becomes more humane and less religious.
Leonardo da Vinci’s human body proportions, the combination of art and science
The development of technology has also been updated, and more effective goods and services have emerged. Manufacturing, farming, trade, and navigation techniques all improved and developed, greatly surpassing the achievements of ancient times. The desire for profit encourages creativity and exploration. As the declining nobility disappeared, middle-class merchants and craftsmen began to strive for political power equal to their economic power.
By the 1500s, European countries were leading the world in many important technologies. European exploration of the world, the search for trade routes, the Protestant Reformation and the constant political competition in Europe itself gave the region a pivotal position over the centuries.
It is generally believed that the Renaissance originated in Italy in the 14th century (the word Renaissance is derived from the Italian word Rinascimento, meaning rebirth or revival). From the late 15th century, it spread to Western European countries and reached its peak in the 16th century. . In 1550, Vasari officially used it as the name of the new culture in his "Biographies of Celebrities in the Art Garden". This word was translated into Renaissance in French and became common in European countries after the 17th century. In the 19th century, Western historians further regarded it as the general term for Western European culture from the 14th to 16th centuries. Western historians once considered it to be the revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture and art.
The proliferation of material comfort and luxury has a series of negative effects.