The Renaissance, which began in Italy in 1300s, was one of the
largest periods of growth and development in Western Europe. The
increase in trade caused a abundance in wealth that resulted in the
focusing of the arts. Such things as literature, paintings, sculptures
and many more works are known to have blossomed from the period known
as the Renaissance. Many other important occurrences , such as the
Reformation and split of the Roman Catholic Church caused by the
opposing views of Martin Luther and more of a focus on humankind
called humanism, also the eight crusades to retake Jerusalem from the
Muslims, played key rolls in the period of the Renaissance.
The Crusades which took place before the period of the
Renaissance are a major factor in the coming about or “birth” of the
Renaissance. The eight Crusades were the efforts to take back
Jerusalem from the Muslims. These Crusades introduced to Western
Europe the new tastes of art, fine quisines and new types of cloth,
including silk.. With this the need for trade with the Far East
increased drastically. This increase in trade caused an abundance of
wealth in Western Europe which intern brought new products and goods
to Western Europe.
In the year 1305 the Roman Catholic Church was relocated from
Rome to France. With this the power of the papal states was divided
among the region’s leading families. Starting near the year 1300 the
demand for reform began to grow at a rapid pace. By the 1600’s close
to half of the practicing Catholics in western Europe had left the
Church to join one of the new reformer religious groups. This reform
brought about new ways of thought and new attitudes towards religion
and the human race. The young German scholar realized that the way to
salvation was “justification by faith.” Martin Luther’s beliefs were
deemed to be heretic in nature and he was hidden away by a German
prince.
The word Renaissance means a “rebirth”. This is exactly what
happened after the Crusades and split of the Roman Catholic church. A
rebirth of ideas was their outcome. The most drastic change took place
in art. New perspectives were created by such people as Giotto,
Tommaso Masaccio, and Filippo Brunelleschi. With these new
perspectives came a new age of art within the Renaissance. Many new
painters learned about using shades of light and dark to create the
illusion of depth, along with new techniques to make paintings more
realistic.
The Renaissance was truly the “rebirth” of lost ideas along with
the birth of new ideas. The Split of the Church and the eight Crusades
to recapture Jerusalem are two of the many reasons for the “birth” of
the Renaissance, yet both are important to the birth of the
Renaissance. Without the Crusades, which brought back lost works from
the Roman Empire and opened trade with the far east, and the split of
the Roman Catholic Church, which brought about the reformation of the
church, there wouldnt have been enough of a basis for the Renaissance
to occur.
