RENAISSANCE
Middle Age Renaissance Modern Age
(500-1300) (1300-1500) (1500 – till)
Middle Age : Age of Disorder – The Rise of Feudalism
Feudal System: (Political scenario of the time period)
- Social system of rights and obligations based on land ownership patterns
- Noble’s power was based on the land he held, “in feud” or in return for certain services or payments to a
greater lord or the king.
- Feudalism grew because the central government was helpless to protect the people.
- Also known as Dark Age
- So called civilized Roman empire fell to the so called barbarians - north based Viking tribes and east based
German tribes.
- Land Tenure system – People had to pay for their protection, in form of land, since money was scarce to
them. Nobles acquired more lands and they began to grant land to tenants and feudalism further
decentralized through fiefs.
- Feudalism declined with the advent of nation states.
During Middle ages there were two institutions that controlled much of Europe:
1. Holy Roman Empire – Political life of people
2. Roman Catholic Church – Religious life of people
Roman empire – started to lose power by 1300s due to rise of individual European
nations
Fall of Catholic church evident as people started using their own languages instead
of Latin.
People felt freer to think in new ways
RENAISSANCE:
- It means “rebirth” in French
- It was more of a period of discovery in many forms – rebirth of thoughts by
scholars
IDEALS OF RENAISSANCE:
1. Humanism:
- Before: more thinking on God and Religion
- Now: scholars began thinking more about humanism; so scholars were also
known as ‘Humanists’
- Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, etc were the early ones
2. Printing Press: invented by Johannes Gutenberg – allowed people to make many
copies of works – spread the ideas of Renaissance all over Europe.
3. Religion: Humanism encouraged Europeans to question the role of Roman
Catholic Church.
16th century – Martin Luther – led the Protestant Reformation – led to the new
form of Christianity known as Protestantism by questioning the practices of
Catholic if it is in line with Bible.
4. Science: Through the spirit of inquiry and discovery.
Nicolaus Copernicus – Heliocentric model
Andreas Vesalius – Complete dissection of human body - anatomy
5. Arts: Mainly in Florence and other Italian cities.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, etc
Thoughtful more than just aesthetic
6. Exploration:
Colombus, Vasco da Gama, etc.
DECLINE OF RENAISSANCE:
- New ways of thinking
- Numerous wars and plagues
- Instability in the region
- Counter reformation
- By the 17th century, the Renaissance movement had died out, giving way to the Age of Enlightenment.
Age of Enlightenment – (17th & 18th
cen)
- Also known as Age of Reason
- An intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas
- 18th century: A century of philosophies
- Origin: due to the reaction by the conservatives on the Renaissance movement
DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT:
1. Religion:
- Church were against Enlightenment rationalism.
- Growth of Deism – natural, rational religious attitude
- Upsurgence of atheism : a world of atoms and empty space and nothing more
2. Society:
- Laws- earlier in favour of top few and against all masses; but modern laws were
made to be in favour of masses
- Creation of a society of states living in peace under the binding rules of natural
law.
- Existing social, economic and political abuses to be corrected
3. Politics:
- Advent of radical political theories based on the idea of natural rights
- Voltaire – principles of reason, liberty, justice and toleration
- John Locke’s Democracy: Social contract of government
- Montesquieu: Seperation of powers; Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
- Rousseau: argued for a society in which the separate wills of the individuals are combined to
govern as the ‘general will’ – public spirit seeking the common good of liberty and equality
4. Economics:
- Classical economists (Adam Smith) – individual freed from government interference would serve
their own economic interest and would serve the general good of society as well; founder of
capitalism
- Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations – fundamental principles of capitalism
*Humanism; Rationalism; Doctrine of Progress