Chapter 8

Transition to the Modern

Age: Renaissance and
Reformation
■ Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance
■ The Renaissance Outlook
■ Renaissance Art
■ The Spread of the Renaissance
■ The Renaissance and the Modern Age
■ Background to the Reformation:
The Medieval Church in Crisis
■ The Lutheran Revolt
■ The Spread of the Reformation
■ The Catholic Response
■ The Reformation and the Modern Age

Focus Questions
1. What conditions gave rise to the Italian Renaissance?
2. What is the historical significance of Renaissance humanism?
3. How did Machiavelli’s political thought mark a break with the medieval
outlook?
4. What are the general features of Renaissance art?
5. Why is the Renaissance considered a departure from the Middle Ages and the
beginning of modernity?
6. How did Luther’s theology mark a break with the church? Why did many
Germans become followers of Luther?
7. How did the Reformation contribute to the shaping of the modern world?

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F rom the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century through

the Age of Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, the outlook

and institutions of the Middle Ages disintegrated and distinctly

modern forms emerged. The radical change in European civili-

zation affected every level of society. On the economic level,

commerce and industry expanded greatly, and capitalism largely

replaced medieval forms of economic organization. On the political

level, central government grew stronger at the expense of feudal-

ism. On the religious level, the rise of Protestantism fragmented

the unity of Christendom. On the social level, middle-class towns-

people, increasing in number and wealth, began to play a more

important role in economic and cultural life. On the cultural level,

the clergy lost its monopoly over learning, and the otherworldly

orientation of the Middle Ages gave way to a secular outlook in

literature and the arts. Theology, the queen of knowledge in the

Middle Ages, surrendered its crown to science, and reason, which

186 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

had been subordinate to revelation, asserted its ITALY: BIRTHPLACE

independence.
Many of these tendencies manifested themselves OF THE RENAISSANCE
dramatically during the Renaissance (1350–1600).
The word renaissance means “rebirth,” and it is The city-states of northern Italy that spawned the
used to refer to the attempt by artists and thinkers Renaissance were developed urban centers, where
to recover and apply the ancient learning and stan- people had the wealth, freedom, and inclination to
dards of Greece and Rome. During the Renais- cultivate the arts and to enjoy the fruits of worldly
sance, individuals showed an increasing concern life. In Italy, moreover, reminders of ancient Rome’s
for worldly life and self-consciously aspired to grandeur were visible everywhere: Roman roads,
shape their destinies, an attitude that is the key to monuments, and manuscripts intensified the Italians’
modernity. links to their Roman past. Northern Italian city-
To be sure, the Renaissance was not a complete states had developed into flourishing commercial
and abrupt break with the Middle Ages. Many and banking centers and had monopolized trade in
medieval ways and attitudes persisted. Neverthe- the Mediterranean during the twelfth and thirteenth
less, the view that the Renaissance represents the centuries. The predominance of business and com-
birth of modernity has much to recommend it. merce within these city-states meant that the feudal
Renaissance writers and artists themselves were nobility, which held the land beyond the city walls,
aware of their age’s novelty. They looked back on played a much less important part in government
the medieval centuries as a “Dark Age” that fol- than it did elsewhere in Europe. By the end of the
lowed the grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome, twelfth century, these city-states had adopted a fairly
and they believed that they were experiencing a uniform pattern of republican self-government, built
rebirth of cultural greatness. Renaissance artists around the office of a chief magistrate.
and writers were fascinated by the cultural forms This republicanism proved precarious, however.
of Greece and Rome; they sought to imitate classi- During the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries,
cal style and to capture the secular spirit of antiq- republican institutions in one city after another
uity. In the process, they broke with medieval toppled, giving way to rule by despots. The city-
artistic and literary forms. They valued the full de- states had come to rely on mercenary troops, whose
velopment of human talent and expressed a new leaders, the notorious condottieri—unschooled in
excitement about the possibilities of life in this and owing no loyalty to the republican tradition—
world. This outlook represents a break with the simply seized power during emergencies.
Middle Ages and the emergence of modernity. Florence, the leading city of the Renaissance,
The Renaissance, then, was an age of transition. held out against the trend toward despotism for a
It saw the rejection of certain elements of the me- long time. But by the mid-fifteenth century, even
dieval outlook, the revival of classical cultural forms, Florentine republicanism was giving way before the
and the emergence of distinctly modern attitudes. intrigues of a rich banking family, the Medici. They
This rebirth began in Italy during the fourteenth had installed themselves in power in the 1430s
century and gradually spread north and west to with the return of Cosimo de’ Medici from exile.
Germany, France, England, and Spain during the Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, com-
late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. pleted the destruction of the republican constitution
The Renaissance was one avenue to modernity; in 1480, when he managed to set up a government
another was the Reformation. By dividing Europe staffed by his supporters.
into Catholic and Protestant, the Reformation ended New ways of life developed within the Italian city-
medieval religious unity. It also accentuated the states. Prosperous businesspeople played a leading
importance of the individual person, a distinctive role in the political and cultural life of the city. With
feature of the modern outlook. It stressed individual the expansion of commerce and industry, the feudal
conscience rather than clerical authority, insisted values of birth, military prowess, and a fixed hierar-
on a personal relationship between each man or chy of lords and vassals decayed in favor of ambition
woman and God, and called attention to the indi- and individual achievement, whether at court, in the
vidual’s inner religious capacities. ❖ counting house, or inside the artist’s studio.
 Chronology 8.1 ❖ The Renaissance and
the Reformation
1304–1374 Petrarch, “father of humanism”
c. 1445 Johann Gutenberg invents movable metal type
1513 Machiavelli writes The Prince
1517 Martin Luther writes his Ninety-five Theses and the Reformation begins
1520 Pope Leo X excommunicates Luther
1524–1526 German peasants revolt
1529 English Parliament accepts Henry VIII’s Reformation
1534 Henry VIII is declared head of the Church of England; King Francis I of France
declares Protestants to be heretics; Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus;
Anabaptists, radical reformers, capture Münster in Westphalia
1535 Sir Thomas More, English humanist and author of Utopia, is executed for treason
1536–1564 Calvin leads the Reformation in Geneva
1545–1563 Council of Trent
1555 Peace of Augsburg

Art served as a focus of civic pride and patrio- scramble for honor and reputation. This pursuit
tism. Members of the urban upper class became fostered the desire to be memorialized in a paint-
patrons of the arts, providing funds to support ing, if not in a sculpture. Distinguished portrait
promising artists and writers. Just as they contended painters and sculptors were in great demand.
on the battlefield, rulers competed for art and artists The great artists emerged as famous men by
to bolster their prestige. The popes, too, heaped virtue of their exercise of brush and chisel. In the
wealth on artists to enhance their own flagging pres- Middle Ages, artists had been regarded as crafts-
tige. They became the most lavish patrons of all, as men who did lowly (manual) labor and who, as a
the works of Michelangelo and Raphael testify. result, were to be accorded little, if any, status. In-
Some women of wealthy and noble Italian fam- deed, for the most part they remained anonymous.
ilies were educated in classical languages and lit- But the unparalleled Renaissance demand for art
erature and served as patrons of the arts. Thus, brought artists public recognition.
Isabella d’Este, wife of the ruler of a small state in
northern Italy, knew Latin and Greek, collected
books, and displayed works of artists that she had THE RENAISSANCE OUTLOOK
commissioned.
The result of this new patronage by popes and Increasingly, a secular outlook came to dominate
patricians was an explosion of artistic creativity. Renaissance society. Intrigued by the active life of
The amount, and especially the nature, of this pa- the city and eager to enjoy the worldly pleasures
tronage also helped shape both art and the artist. that their money could obtain, wealthy merchants
Portraiture became a separate genre for the first and bankers moved away from the medieval pre-
time since antiquity and was developed much fur- occupation with salvation. Reviving the Greco-
ther than ever before. Patrician rivalry and insecu- Roman view that the complete individual is a
rity of status, fed by the Renaissance ethic of political animal who participates actively in civil
individual achievement and reward, produced a affairs, many Renaissance figures were critical of
187
188 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS BY RAPHAEL (1483–1520). The ancient Greek philoso-

phers, with Plato and Aristotle at the center, are depicted here, assembled in classi-
cal grandeur. Painted to decorate the Vatican, the papal palace in Rome, the picture
exudes the Renaissance reverence for classical antiquity and reflects the widely
held view that ancient philosophy represented a foreshadowing of Christianity
and was essentially in harmony with it. (Stanza della segnaturna, Vatican Palace,
Vatican State/Art Resource, N.Y.)

monastic withdrawal and asceticism and of the Individualism was another hallmark of the Re-
scholastics’ purely contemplative life. To be sure, naissance. In contrast to medieval thinkers, who
the urban elite were neither nonbelievers nor emphasized the Christian belief in human weak-
atheists, but more and more, religion had to com- ness, sinfulness, and dependency, Renaissance fig-
pete with worldly concerns. Consequently, mem- ures revived the classical confidence in human
bers of the urban upper class paid religion less capacities and extolled the infinite possibilities of
heed, or at least did not allow it to interfere with individual life. The urban elite sought to assert
their quest for the full life. The challenge and their own personalities, demonstrate their unique
pleasure of living well in this world seemed more talents, and gain recognition for their accomplish-
exciting than the promise of heaven. This outlook ments. Traditional feudal values of birth and place
found concrete expression in Renaissance art and in a fixed hierarchy were superseded by the desire
literature. for individual achievement. Individual worth was
 The Renaissance Outlook ❖ 189

interpreted far more broadly than it had been by human nature. From the ancient classics, humanists
feudal lords, who had equated worth with military expected to learn much that could not be provided
prowess. Renaissance Italy produced a distinctive by medieval writings: for instance, how to live well
human type, the “universal man”: a many-sided per- in this world and how to perform one’s civic duties.
son, who not only showed mastery of the ancient For the humanists, the classics were a guide to the
classics, an appreciation of and even talent for the good life, the active life. To achieve self-cultivation,
visual arts, and a concern for the day-to-day affairs to write well, to speak well, and to live well, it was
of his city, but also aspired to mold his life into a necessary to know the classics. In contrast to scho-
work of art. Disdaining Christian humility, Renais- lastic philosophers, who used Greek philosophy
sance individuals took pride in their talents and to prove the truth of Christian doctrines, Italian
worldly accomplishments—“I can work miracles,” humanists used classical learning to nourish their
said the great Leonardo da Vinci. Renaissance ar- new interest in a worldly life. Whereas medieval
tists portrayed the individual character of human scholars were familiar with only some ancient Latin
beings, captured the rich diversity of human person- writers, Renaissance humanists restored to circula-
ality, produced the first portraits since Roman tion every Roman work that could be found. Simi-
times, and affixed their signatures to their works. larly, knowledge of Greek was very rare in Latin
Renaissance writers probed their own feelings and Christendom during the Middle Ages, but Renais-
manifested a self-awareness that characterizes the sance humanists increasingly cultivated the study of
modern outlook. This new outlook, however, ap- Greek in order to read Homer, Demosthenes, Plato,
plied almost exclusively to an elite—princes, cour- and other ancients in the original.
tiers, court ladies, wealthy urban families, and Although predominantly a secular movement,
exceptionally talented artists and writers. Italian humanism was not un-Christian. True, hu-
In later centuries, as the secular outlook gath- manists often treated moral problems in a purely
ered strength, it focused even more intently on the secular manner. Yet in dealing with religious and
individual. It led to the conviction that the indi- theological issues, they did not challenge Christian
vidual should be freed from domination by other- belief or question the validity of the Bible. They
worldly concerns, theological dogma, and did, however, attack scholastic philosophy for its
ecclesiastical authority and should concentrate on hairsplitting arguments and preoccupation with
the full development of human talents and on im- trivial matters. They stressed instead a purer form
proving the quality of earthly existence. of Christianity, based on the direct study of the
During the Renaissance, the secular spirit and Bible and the writings of the church fathers.
the concern with the individual found expression One of the early humanists, sometimes called the
in the intellectual movement called humanism and father of humanism, was Petrarch (1304–1374).
in a political theory that separated politics from Petrarch and his followers carried the recovery of the
Christian principles. classics further through their systematic attempt to
discover the classical roots of medieval Italian rheto-
ric. Petrarch’s own efforts to learn Greek were largely
Humanism unsuccessful, but he advanced humanist learning
by encouraging his students to master the ancient
Humanism, the most characteristic intellectual tongue. Petrarch was particularly drawn to Cicero,
movement of the Renaissance, was an educational the ancient Roman orator. Following Cicero’s ex-
and cultural program based on the study of an- ample, he maintained that education should consist
cient Greek and Roman literature. The humanist not only of learning and knowing things, but also of
attitude toward antiquity differed from that of me- learning how to communicate one’s knowledge and
dieval scholars, who had taken pains to fit classical how to use it for the public good. Therefore, the em-
learning into a Christian world-view. Renaissance phasis in education should be on rhetoric and moral
humanists did not subordinate the classics to the philosophy—wisdom combined with eloquence.
requirements of Christian doctrines. Rather, they This was the key to virtue in the ruler, the citizen,
valued ancient literature for its own sake—for its and the republic. Petrarch helped to make Cicero-
clear and graceful style and for its insights into nian values dominant among the humanists. His
190 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

followers set up schools to inculcate the new Cicero- ancient, medieval, and modern. The humanists’ view
nian educational ideal. also contained an element of today’s idea of prog-
Implicit in the humanist educational ideal was ress: they dared to think that they, “the moderns,”
a radical transformation of the Christian idea of might even surpass the ancient glories of Greece
human beings. According to the medieval (Augus- and Rome.
tinian) view, men and women, because of their sin- The humanist emphasis on historical scholar-
ful nature, were incapable of attaining excellence ship yielded a method of critical inquiry that could
through their own efforts. They were completely sub- help to undermine traditional loyalties and institu-
ject to divine will. In contrast, the humanists, recall- tions. Medieval thinkers generally did not relate a
ing the classical Greek concept of human beings, text to its times but accepted it uncritically as an
made the achievement of excellence through indi- authoritative work of wisdom. In contrast, Renais-
vidual striving the end not only of education, but sance humanists approached ancient civilization
of life itself. Moreover, because individuals were with a critical attitude; they studied texts in a his-
capable of this goal, it was their duty to pursue it torical context and examined them for authen-
as the end of life. The pursuit was not effortless; ticity and accuracy. The work of Lorenzo Valla
indeed, it took extraordinary energy and skill. (c. 1407–1457) provides the clearest example of
People, then, were deemed capable of excellence this trend. Educated as a classicist, Valla trained
in every sphere and duty-bound to make the effort. the guns of critical scholarship on the papacy in his
This emphasis on human creative powers was one most famous work Declamation Concerning the
of the most characteristic and influential doctrines False Decretals of Constantine. The papal claim to
of the Renaissance. A classic expression of it is temporal authority rested on a document that pur-
found in the Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) ported to verify the so-called Donation of Con-
by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). stantine, through which the Emperor Constantine,
Man, said Pico, has the freedom to shape his own when he moved the capital of the Roman Empire
life. Pico has God say to man: “We have made you to Constantinople in the fourth century, had given
a creature” such that “you may, as the free and the pope dominion over the entire Western Empire.
proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself But Valla proved that the document was based on
in the form you may prefer.”1 an eighth-century forgery because the language at
An attack on the medieval scholastics was also certain points was unknown in Constantine’s time
implicit in the humanist educational ideal. Human- and did not come into use until much later.
ists accused scholastics of corrupting the Latin style Also embedded in the humanist reevaluation of
of ancient Rome and of dealing with useless ques- individual potential was a new appreciation of the
tions. This humanist emphasis on the uses of knowl- moral significance of work. For the humanist, the
edge offered a stimulus to science and art. honor, fame, and even glory bestowed by one’s
So hostile were the humanists to things scholas- city or patron for meritorious deeds were the ulti-
tic and medieval that they reversed the prevailing mate rewards for effort. The humanist pursuit of
view of history. According to the Christian view, praise and reputation became something of a
history was a simple unfolding of God’s will and Renaissance cult.
providence. The humanists, however, stressed the
importance of human actions and human will in
history—the importance of people as active par- A Revolution in Political Thought
ticipants in the shaping of events. They character-
ized the epoch preceding their own as a period of By turning away from the religious orientation of
decline from classical heights—a dark age—and the Middle Ages and discussing the human condi-
saw their own time as a period of rebirth, repre- tion in secular terms, Renaissance humanists opened
senting the recovery of classical wisdom and up new possibilities for thinking about political and
ideals. Thus, the humanists invented the notion of moral problems. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469– 1527),
the Middle Ages as the period separating the ancient a keen observer of Italian politics, saw the Italian
world from their own. To the humanists, then, city-states, ruled by men whose authority rested
we owe the current periodization of history into solely on their cunning and effective use of force, as
 Renaissance Art ❖ 191

secular state. He himself was aware that his study

of statecraft in the cold light of reason, free of reli-
gious and moral illusions, represented a new depar-
ture.
For Machiavelli, survival was the state’s over-
riding aim; it transcended any concern with moral
or religious values and the interests of individual
subjects. Removing questions of good and evil from
the political realm, Machiavelli maintained that
the prince may use any means to save the state
when its survival is at stake. Successful princes, he
contended, have always been indifferent to moral
and religious considerations—a lesson of history
that rulers ignore at their peril. Thus, if the situa-
tion warrants it, the prince can violate agreements
with other rulers, go back on his word with his
subjects, and resort to cruelty and terror.
Machiavelli broke with the distinguishing feature
of medieval thought: the division of the universe
into the higher world of the heavens and a lower
earthly realm. To this extent, he did for politics what
Galileo accomplished a century later for physics.
Medieval thinkers believed that rulers derived their
power from God and had a religious obligation
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI (1469–1527). Marchiavelli
to govern in accordance with God’s commands.
looked back to the ancient Roman republic for his
Rejecting completely this otherworldly, theocentric
ideals and spent his life serving the city-state of Flor-
orientation, Machiavelli ascribed no divine origin or
ence, but as the author of The Prince, his name
purpose to the state. He saw it as a natural entity;
became a byword for atheism and deceit. “Machiavel-
politics had nothing to do with God’s intent or
lian” is still used to describe an unscrupulous
with moral precepts originating in a higher world.
politician. (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy/Scala/Art
Machiavelli’s significance as a political thinker rests
Resource, N.Y.)
on the fact that he removed political thought from a
religious frame of reference and viewed the state
and political behavior in the detached and dispas-
a new phenomenon. He recognized that traditional sionate manner of a scientist. In secularizing and
political theory, concerned with ideal Christian rationalizing political philosophy, he initiated a
ends, could not adequately explain it. Italian princes trend of thought that we recognize as distinctly
made no effort to justify their policies on religious modern.
grounds; war was endemic, and powerful cities
took over weaker ones; diplomacy was riddled with
intrigue, betrayal, and bribery. In such a tooth-and- RENAISSANCE ART
claw world—where political survival depended on
alertness, cleverness, and strength—medieval theo- The essential meaning of the Renaissance is con-
rists, who expected the earthly realm to accord with veyed through its art, particularly architecture,
standards revealed by God, seemed utterly irrele- sculpture, and painting. Renaissance examples of
vant. Machiavelli simply wanted rulers to under- all three art forms reflect a style that stressed pro-
stand how to preserve and expand the state’s power. portion, balance, and harmony. These artistic val-
In his book The Prince, he expounded a new politi- ues were achieved through a new, revolutionary
cal theory—one that had no place for Christian mo- conceptualization of space and spatial relations.
rality but coincided with the emerging modern To a considerable extent, Renaissance art also
192 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

LEONARDO DA VINCI, THE PROPORTIONS OF MAN. Leonardo was fascinated by the

human body. In his notebook, his written observations are accompanied by this
marvelous drawing of the body, conceived and framed with realism and propor-
tion. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

reflects the values of Renaissance humanism: a re- less to the other world and more to this world,
turn to classical models in architecture, to the and people were treated as creatures who found
rendering of the nude figure, and to a heroic vision their spiritual destiny as they fulfilled their human
of human beings. one. Renaissance artists also developed a new con-
Medieval art served a religious function: the ception of visual space, which resulted in a natu-
world was a veil merely hinting at the other perfect ralistic, three-dimensional rendering of the real
and eternal world. Renaissance artists continued to world. It was a quantitative space in which the art-
utilize religious themes, but they shattered the dom- ist, employing reason and mathematics, portrayed
inance of religion over art by shifting attention the essential form of the object in perspective, as
from heaven to the natural world and to the human it would appear to the human eye. Thus, at its
being. Renaissance artists depicted the human qual- most distinctive, Renaissance art represents a con-
ities of men and women and celebrated the beauty scious revolt against the art of the Middle Ages.
and grace of the human form. The reference was This revolt produced revolutionary discoveries
 Renaissance Art ❖ 193

that served as the foundation of Western art up to By defining visual space and the relationship be-
the twentieth century. tween the object and the observer in mathematical
In art, as in literature, the Florentines played a terms, Renaissance art and artistic theory helped
leading role in this esthetic transformation. They, to pave the way for the development of the mod-
more than anyone else, were responsible for the way ern scientific approach to nature, which later
artists saw and drew for centuries and for the way found expression in the astronomy of Copernicus
most Western people still see or want to see. The and the physics of Galileo.
first major contributor to Renaissance painting Renaissance artists were dedicated to represent-
was the Florentine painter Giotto (c. 1276–1337). ing things as they are, or at least as they are seen to
Borrowing from Byzantine painting, he created fig- be. Part of the inspiration for this was also classi-
ures delineated by alterations in light and shade. cal. The ancient ideal of beauty was the beautiful
He also developed several techniques of perspec- nude. Renaissance admiration for ancient art meant
tive, representing three-dimensional figures and that for the first time since the fall of Rome, artists
objects on two-dimensional surfaces so that they studied anatomy; they learned to draw the human
appear to stand in space. Giotto’s figures look form by having models pose for them, a practice
remarkably alive. They are drawn and arranged in fundamental to artistic training to this day. Another
space to tell a story, and their expressions and the member of Brunelleschi’s circle, the Florentine
illusion of movement they convey heighten the dra- sculptor Donatello (1386–1466), also showed re-
matic effect. Giotto’s best works were frescoes, wall newed interest in the human form.
paintings painted while the plaster was still wet, or The great Renaissance artists included Leonardo
fresh. Lionized in his own day, Giotto had no da Vinci (1452–1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti
immediate successors, and his ideas were not taken (1475–1564), and Raphael Santi (1483–1520).
up and developed further for almost a century. All of them were closely associated with Florence.
By the early fifteenth century, the revival of clas- Leonardo was a scientist and engineer as well as a
sical learning had begun in earnest. In Florence, it great artist. He was an expert at fortifications and
had its artistic counterpart among a circle of archi- gunnery, an inventor, an anatomist, and a natural-
tects, painters, and sculptors who sought to revive ist. Bringing careful observation of nature to his
classical art. The leader of this group was an archi- paintings, he combined it with powerful psycho-
tect, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446). He de- logical insight to produce works of unsurpassed
signed churches reflecting classical models. To him genius, though few in number. Among his most
we also owe a scientific discovery of the first im- important paintings are The Last Supper and La
portance in the history of art: the rules of perspec- Gioconda, or the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is an
tive. Giotto had revived the ancient technique of example of an artistic invention of Leonardo’s—
foreshortening; Brunelleschi completed the discov- what the Italians call sfumato. Leonardo left the
ery by rendering perspective in mathematical terms. outlines of the face a little vague and shadowy;
His devotion to ancient models and his new tool this freed it of any wooden quality, which more
of mathematical perspective set the stage for the exact drawing would impart, and thus made it
further development of Renaissance painting. more lifelike and mysterious.
Brunelleschi’s young Florentine friend Masaccio Michelangelo’s creation of artistic harmony de-
(1401–1428) took up the challenge. Faithful to the rived from a mastery of anatomy and drawing. His
new rules of perspective, Masaccio was also con- model in painting came from sculpture: his paint-
cerned with painting statuesque figures and endow- ings are sculpted drawings. He was, of course, a
ing his paintings with a grandeur and simplicity sculptor of the highest genius whose approach to
whose inspiration was classical. Perspective came his art was poetic and visionary. Instead of trying
with all the force of religious revelation. to impose form on marble, he thought of sculpting
In his work On Painting, Leon Battista Alberti as releasing the form from the rock. Among his
(1404–1472), a humanist, scholar, and art theore- greatest sculptures are David, Moses, and The
tician, brought the Renaissance trend toward Dying Slave. Michelangelo was also an architect;
perspectival art to a summation by advancing the patronized by the pope, he designed the dome of
first mathematical theory of artistic perspective. the new Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. But perhaps
194 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

his most stupendous work was the ceiling of the

Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, commissioned by
Pope Julius II. In four years, working with little
assistance, Michelangelo covered the empty space
with the most monumental sculpted pictures ever
painted, pictures that summarize the Old Testa-
ment story. The Creation of Adam is the most
famous of these superlative frescoes.
Raphael, the last of these three artistic giants, is
especially famous for the sweetness of his Madon-
nas. But he was capable of painting other subjects
and conveying other moods, as his portrait of his
patron, Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals, reveals.

THE SPREAD OF
THE RENAISSANCE

Aided by the invention of printing, the Renaissance

spread to Germany, France, England, and Spain in
the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In its mi-
gration northward, Renaissance culture adapted
itself to conditions different from those in Italy—
particularly the strength of lay piety. For example,
the Brethren of the Common Life was a lay move-
ment emphasizing education and practical piety. GIOVANNI ARNOLFINI AND HIS BRIDE BY JAN VAN EYCK
Intensely Christian and at the same time anticleri- (C. 1390–1441). The painting uses the new technique
cal, the people in such lay movements found in Re- of perspective and draws a careful, and idealized,
naissance culture tools for sharpening their wits portrait of a prosperous married couple in their bed-
against the clergy—not to undermine the faith, but room. It depicts a world that values privacy, sober
rather to restore it to its apostolic purity. prosperity, and intimacy of a certain kind: he stares out
Thus, northern humanists, like those in Italy, at us, while she looks deferentially at him. (Reproduced
were profoundly devoted to ancient learning. But by courtesy of the Trustees, The National Gallery,
nothing in northern humanism compares with the London)
non-Christian trend of the Italian Renaissance.
The northerners were chiefly interested in the ques-
tion of what constituted original Christianity. They and language to satirize and vilify medieval scho-
sought a model in the light of which they might lastic Christianity and to build a purer, more Scrip-
reform the corrupted church of their own time. tural Christianity. The discovery of accurate biblical
Humanism outside Italy was less concerned texts, it was hoped, would lead to a great religious
with the revival of classical values than with the awakening. Protestant reformers, including Martin
reform of Christianity and society through a pro- Luther, relied on humanist scholarship.
gram of Christian humanism. The Christian hu-
manists cultivated the new arts of rhetoric and
history, as well as the classical languages—Latin, Erasmian Humanism
Greek, and Hebrew. But the ultimate purpose of
these pursuits was more religious than it had been To Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) belongs the credit for
in Italy, where secular interests predominated. making Renaissance humanism an international
Northern humanists used humanist scholarship movement. He was educated in the Netherlands by
 The Spread of the Renaissance ❖ 195

the Brethren of the Common Life, which was one narrow-minded clergy, who deprived them of life’s
of the most advanced religious movements of the joys, people could, by virtue of their native good-
age, combining mystical piety with rigorous hu- ness, build a paradise on earth and disregard the
manist pedagogy. Erasmus traveled throughout one dreamed up by theologians. In Gargantua and
Europe as a humanist educator and biblical Pantagruel, Rabelais imagined a monastery where
scholar. Like other Christian humanists, he trusted men and women spend their lives “not in laws, stat-
the power of words and used his pen to attack utes, or rules, but according to their own free will
scholastic theology and clerical abuses and pro- and pleasure.” They slept and ate when they desired
mote his philosophy of Christ. His weapon was and learned to “read, write, sing, play upon several
satire, and his Praise of Folly and Colloquies won musical instruments, and speak five or six . . . lan-
him a reputation for acid wit vented at the expense guages and compose in them all very quaintly.”
of conventional religion. They observed only one rule: “do what thou wilt.”2
True religion, Erasmus argued, does not depend The most influential humanist of the early Eng-
on dogma, ritual, or clerical power. Rather, it is lish Renaissance was Sir Thomas More (1478–
revealed clearly and simply in the Bible and there- 1535), who studied at Oxford. His impact came
fore is directly accessible to all people, from the from both his writing and his career. Trained as a
wise and great to the poor and humble. Erasmian lawyer, he was a successful civil servant and mem-
humanism stressed toleration, kindness, and respect ber of Parliament. His most famous book is Utopia,
for human rationality. the first major utopian treatise to be written in the
This clear but quiet voice was drowned out by West since Plato’s Republic and one of the most
the storms of the Reformation, and the Erasmian original works of the entire Renaissance. Many
emphasis on the individual’s natural capacities suc- humanists had attacked private wealth as the prin-
cumbed to a renewed emphasis on human sinful- cipal source of pride, greed, and human cruelty.
ness and dogmatic theology. Erasmus was caught However, only More carried this insight to its
in the middle and condemned on all sides; for ultimate conclusion: in Utopia, he called for the
him, the Reformation was both a personal and a elimination of private property. He had too keen a
historical tragedy. He had worked for peace and sense of human weakness to think that people
unity, only to experience a spectacle of war and could become perfect, but he used Utopia to call
fragmentation. Erasmian humanism, however, sur- attention to contemporary abuses and to suggest
vived these horrors as an ideal, and during the next radical reforms.
two centuries, whenever thinkers sought toleration More succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as lord chan-
and rational religion, they looked back to Erasmus cellor under Henry VIII. But when the king broke
for inspiration. with the Roman Catholic church, More resigned,
unable to reconcile his conscience with the king’s
rejection of papal supremacy. Three years later, in
French and English Humanism July 1535, More was executed for treason because
he refused to swear an oath acknowledging the
François Rabelais (c. 1494–c. 1553), a former monk, king’s ecclesiastical supremacy.
exemplified the humanist spirit in France. In re- William Shakespeare (1564–1616), widely
sponse to religious dogmatism, he asserted the es- considered the greatest playwright the world has
sential goodness of the individual and the right to ever produced, gave expression to conventional
enjoy the world rather than being bound by the fear Renaissance values: honor, heroism, and the strug-
of a punishing God. His folk-epic Gargantua and gle against fate and fortune. But there is nothing
Pantagruel celebrates earthly life and earthly enjoy- conventional about Shakespeare’s treatment of char-
ments, expresses an appreciation for secular learn- acters possessing these virtues. His greatest plays, the
ing and a confidence in human nature, and attacks tragedies (King Lear, Julius Caesar, and others),
monastic orders and clerical education for stifling explore a common theme: men, even heroic men,
the human spirit. despite virtue, are able to overcome their human
According to Rabelais, once freed from dog- weaknesses only with the greatest difficulty, if at all.
matic theology, with its irrelevant concerns, and What fascinated Shakespeare was the contradiction
196 ❖ 8 Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

between the Renaissance image of nobility, which is explained without reference to a higher supernat-
often the self-image of Shakespeare’s heroes, and ural realm of meaning and authority. This is clearly
humans’ capacity for evil and self-destruction. The seen in Machiavelli’s analysis of politics. Renaissance
plays are thus intensely human, but so much so that humanism exuded a deep confidence in the capac-
humanism fades into the background; art tran- ities of able people, instructed in the wisdom of the
scends doctrine to represent life itself. ancients, to understand and change the world.
This new confidence was closely related to an-
other distinctive feature of the Renaissance: the cult
THE RENAISSANCE AND THE of the individual. Both prince and painter were mo-
tivated in part by the desire to display their talents
MODERN AGE and to satisfy their ambitions. This individual striv-
ing was rewarded and encouraged by the larger
The Renaissance, then, marks the birth of moder- society of rich patrons and calculating princes,
nity—in art, in the idea of the individual’s role in which valued ability. Gone was the medieval Chris-
history and nature, and in society, politics, war, and tian emphasis on the virtue of self-denial and the sin
diplomacy. Central to this birth was a bold new of pride. Instead, the Renaissance placed the highest
view of human nature that departed from the me- value on self-expression and self-fulfillment—on
dieval view: individuals in all endeavors are not con- the realization of individual potential, especially
strained by a destiny imposed by God from the of the gifted few. The Renaissance fostered an
outside but are free to make their own destiny, guided atmosphere in which talent, even genius, was
only by the example of the past, the force of pres- allowed to flourish.
ent circumstances, and the drives of their own in- To be sure, the Renaissance image of the indi-
ner nature. Set free from theology, individuals were vidual and the world, bold and novel, was the ex-
seen as the products, and in turn the shapers, of clusive prerogative of a small, well-educated urban
history; their future would be the work of their elite and did not reach down to include the masses.
own free will. Nevertheless, the Renaissance set an example of
Within the Italian city-states where the Renais- what people might achieve in art and architecture,
sance was born, rich merchants were at least as taste and refinement, education and urban culture.
important as the church hierarchy and the old In many fields, the Renaissance set the cultural
nobility. Commercial wealth and a new politics standards of the modern age.
produced a new culture that relied heavily on an-
cient Greece and Rome. This return to antiquity
also entailed a rejection of the Middle Ages as
dark, barbarous, and rude. The humanists clearly BACKGROUND TO THE
preferred the secular learning of ancient Greece REFORMATION: THE MEDIEVAL
and Rome to the clerical learning of the more re-
cent past. The reason for this was obvious: the an- CHURCH IN CRISIS
cients had the same worldly concerns as the
humanists; the scholastics did not. The Renaissance had revitalized European intel-
The revival of antiquity by the humanists did not lectual life and in the process discarded the medi-
mean, however, that they identified completely with eval preoccupation with theology. Similarly, the
it. The revival itself was done too self-consciously Reformation marked the beginning of a new reli-
for that. In the very act of looking back, the human- gious outlook. The Protestant Reformation, how-
ists differentiated themselves from the past and ever, did not originate in the elite circles of
recognized that they were different. They were in humanistic scholars. Rather, it was sparked by
this sense the first modern historians, because they Martin Luther (1483– 1546), an obscure German
could study and appreciate the past for its own sake monk and brilliant theologian. Luther started a
and, to some degree, on its own terms. rebellion against the church’s authority that in less
In the works of Renaissance artists and think- than one decade shattered the religious unity of
ers, the world was, to a large extent, depicted and Christendom. Begun in 1517, the Reformation