Changing Cultural Traditions In Europe 1300-1800

Renaissance was mostly in the context of Italy. Renaissance means rebirth or the changes in the culture of the country. This was termed by Europeans which termed this culture with humanism. Europeans believed that emphasis should be given on architecture, literature and painting describing how the humanist culture has been spread in the Italian town.

Explanation: This culture marks the beginning of a new phase by ending the Dark Phase of Italian towns. It depicted that "Human" is capable enough to take his /her own decisions in life. It also described that this man is a modern man with new thoughts and ideas.

(a) modern to medieval

The introduction of the concept of humanism greatly affected the Renaissance. The Humanistic influence shaped Renaissance art, writing, education and thinkers, its ideas were spread among all aspects of life.

(b) Renaissance literature started with a renewed interest in the classical Greek and Roman learning. The invention of the printing press and the weakening of the Catholic Church's influence on the daily lives of the people, among other things, enabled Renaissance writers to express their beliefs in new ways.

(c) religion to realism

A rising interest inperspective and space gave the art even more realism. Great artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rafael flourished during this period.

(d) People considered it proper to pursue pleasure, seek wealth and comfort and also act in self interest. This was in contrast to teachings of religions that one should not act in self interest and forsake comfort and wealth.

(e) Men from aristocratic families dominated public life and were the decision-makers in their families. They educated their sons to take their place in family businesses or in public life, at times sending their younger sons to join the Church. A few women were intellectually very creative and sensitive about the importance of humanist education.

Printing of the Bible influenced the ideas about God and the Church in many ways. The texts written in earlier times had a very few written copies. The Bible printed in the year 1445 was easy to understand and was very affordable. Because of its affordability, more people could buy it. This encouraged people to read more.

Explanation: Reading promoted the new ideas and philosophies about God and the Church. A printed book was easily bought by the people. As a result, opinions and information spread more rapidly and quickly than before. The readings depicted the reality and the messages given in the Bible. Printing thus helped in creating more and more awareness.

Medieval and Modern Italian towns were very different and quite opposite from each other. The reasons are as follows:

1) In medieval, the art of the town was influenced by a religious spirit and encouraged art by the Church in the feudal times. Whereas, in modern times art was more natural and realistic.

2) Medieval art was based on religious themes and had no reality. They were more fictional.

3) Also, women in medieval times were restricted in terms of freedom. But in modern times, women had freedom and the will to express themselves freely. They were allowed to express their opinions and views without any hesitation.

Explanation: Earlier names of the cities in the medieval towns were:

A. Villes dear Bourgeoise

B. Consular

C. Communes proper

The three categories were prevalent in the ancient but in the modern Italian towns, there was no such division.

The era of the earlier was called the Era of the Classicism. It was expressed in forms of literature, arts, music and architecture during the period of the Renaissance.

Explanation: The main motive of this revivalism was human beings. Humans were given the status and dignity of a man as a man. They were not considered as a man in the hinderance rather a man of achievement. All manuscripts were translated into the language understood by common people. Italian inspire of literature found inspiration in the old art and sculpture. All this provided additional support for the students to gain more depth and knowledge of the Roman and Greek culture in the past.

Italians were the first to experience the ideas of humanism because:

1) In the 13th and 14th centuries, education was spread in Italy.

2) Roman and Greek scholars composed a number of classical books.

3) Various universities and education institutions were developed to spread education.

Explanation: First subject to be taught was Humanism. It was made compulsory in the Italian Schools, Colleges and Universities to make people aware of various human views and ideas.

Various features of the humanist thought are:-

1) It was a restoration of the civilisation from the Dark Age after the fall of the Roman Empire.

2) Firstly, Humanism stressed the human skills individually. The person with many skills and interests was called as Renaissance.

3) Secondly, Humanist thought had a different idea of history. According to this thought, humanism could only revive the long past and the true civilisation.

Explanation: This new Age would end the period of Supremacy of the Church. The basis of humanism was of the beliefs of Christianity. These thoughts also revived the Greek architecture literature.

The given graph describes the rise in the production of books from 1450-1800. According to the given Graph, the printing of books has increased rapidly from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. The Difference is huge. Also, comparing sixteenth and the seventeenth century there is a frequent rise. But the major amount of copies has been printed the most in the eighteenth century.

Explanation: This huge increase is because of the huge demand for printed books in the eighteenth century. This also shows that more and more people became aware of the reading concept. Also; they started reading and got influenced by it. Thus, printed books had a major role to play in the eighteenth century.

Yes the above statement is definitely true that printed books continue to dominate our lives. They play an important role and have a huge impact. Many people mostly students who cannot have and avail the facility of internet connection require the help of printed books to study and complete their research work. Availing internet facilities and having a computer or a laptop is a costly affair as compared to the printed books. Many regions of the world still have no access to digitalization because of which printed books have become a great source of knowledge for them.

Explanation: Rural areas and the people living in such areas find it difficult to accommodate themselves with the fast-changing technology. As a result, printed books are still dominating people’s lives.

The world appeared different from the 17th Century Europeans because of the various discoveries taking place. This era was in the transition from the old to the modern era. During the 1600s Galileo and Newton founded modern Science and began Modern Philosophy.

Explanation: In these times various strong centralised European states entered into competition with the other countries for weak h and power. To gain superiority over others. Europeans invested in military and technology to have an upper edge.

The two outstanding features of Renaissance architecture are as follows:-

1) They tend to describe classicism. The buildings had both interior and exterior built with classical motifs.

2) They also intrude mainly with the physical depths with classical veneer having minimally two-dimensional appearances. The mastery of the illusionist painting techniques had linear perspective, foreshortening and later quadrature depths in the picture.

Explanation: Features from Classical Architecture: Renaissance architects were majorly inspired by Greek and Roman architecture. Because of this, features like columns and arches were very universal. Their designs were very simple and they tend to eliminate extraordinary designs that were illogical. Logic, Simplicity and Symmetry were the main aspects of their architecture.