European wars of religion Essay

The 14th century was an era of great crisis for Europe; disorder in the Catholic Church rattled people’s faith in authorities and religion. In this dark period, Europeans desired a new start, or in other words a cultural rebirth. This cultural rebirth was named † The Renaissance† which gives meaning in French â€Å"rebirth† The people who gave this name also thought there was a clear distinction between Dark Ages and their century. They coined the terms â€Å"modern† and â€Å"ancient† and saw Middle Ages as a long break from enlightenment. In addition to that, according to the City University of New York at Brooklyn, â€Å"immense hunger for learning about classical antiquity was reborn† after the Middle Ages.* During the Middle Ages, there was a mentality that individuals should devote their lives to the church above everything. In that time education was exclusively based on religion. Many scholars were fixated on the idea that faith was more important than mind and reasoning. This situation changed when Renaissance thinkers split from medieval tradition and emphasized individual experience and materialistic approach to life instead of religious duties. This philosophy emerged due to Italians exploration and revision of the ancient Roman and Greek texts and scriptures partly because they were surrounded by the remnants of Roman Empire and they have noticed the disastrous place Western culture has landed on. They greatly expanded the ancient works and innovated new ideas. Intellectual people such as writers, sculptors, architects were valued in the society, unlike Middle Age times. There was now a new worldview called humanism which valued human beings and brought attention to the human ma gnificence in both physical and mental areas. Humanism also brought increased enthusiasm in exploring things and quest of knowledge. Renaissance intellectuals at the time were in awe of these fresh ideas. Almost every institution saw great changes and secular arrangements. Education saw improvements. Pupils were now separated by their age and skills. Art now was interested in human proportions and realistic aspects. There was still some religious paintings but Renaissance artist mostly drew from and inspired by real life. With printing press’s invention by Johannes Gutenberg allowed for far-reaching access to important secular books and literature and most importantly Bible. It became normal for common people to read and think in their own language. This meant vernacular-meaning their mother tongue- literature aided with the spread of humanistic ideas beyond intellectuals of the time. Writers like Petrarch and Dante wrote in Italian and believed everyone should be able to read in their languages. Scientists also began to value observation over religious teachings and viewed everything with skepticism. They examined their theories by evidence. Even sometimes some scientists like Galileo Galilei gathered enough courage to speak out against the Church. But Renaissance didn’t exclusively mean separation from religion altogether, rather abandoning old Middle Age values and bringing new insights to the human perception of life, art, and everything. Rhetoric was born as a consequence of this. Renaissance was possible thanks to the recovery of Roman and Greek literature by scholars of that time. Latin was also used that time but it was more academic and monkish. Upon revisiting Latin texts in a more secular view people began to shift their consciousness and appreciate ancient culture. They thought they were alike in a worldly sense. They believed they had the same delicacy over important matters and they both believed in the humanities power to tackle everything. Then they started to study Greek which inspired Romans. The Greek manuscripts were present in Italy because during the fall of Constantinople many Christian scholars fled to Rome. They brought tales of Homer and many other important books. This spur philosophical inquiries. These maniscruptures made people start thinking about virtues of the human soul. They were also interested in the usage of language its effects itself. Historian Bruni once said â€Å"knowledge alone is not enough, we must add the power of exp ression to make effectual use of what we know† implying rhetoric. Ancient writings had the other function too. They offered practical teachings about life. They consisted of not theological but moral grounds with given answers secular in nature. This was at its most basic, a belief in the identity of the human spirit under its all epiphanies. They found that in classical texts there existed an ideal of human life, both moral and intellectual, by which they can profit now. During the Renaissance period, people’s views on mankind changed drastically. Before this era scholars were generally speaking with a single voice praising a similar human type which was frail, poor, withdrawn from life, quiet and needy. With Renaissance, the focus on God and religion as the main character shifted to human himself. During this era, art showed people as god-like creatures who were in their perfect shape. This made people feel graceful and beautiful in a sense that made them proud of themselves. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa was done to portray the human beauty and inner mystery in realistic ways. There was also inclination for wealth accumulation and striving for better living conditions. Involvement with everyday life and taking care of themselves was becoming the norm. Public duties for common men were often overlooked and praising of extraordinary men with dreamable qualities was taking place. The goal was the manifestation of hu mans unique powers and showing their ability to steer their circumstances using willpower. Their destiny was not up to some higher being rather people with their own being paving their way to achieving the maximum of everything they get their hands on. Individuality was welcomed and people realized they were different on the inside than everyone else and made sense of themselves in the universe and complicated social structures. This obsession with humans can be even seen in almost every art branch of the time. Instead of focusing on traditional illustrations of religious symbols, artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo painted the human frame in every depth possible. With the help of anatomy, they tried to illustrate perfect detail, scale, and dimension. Also to improve upon their realistic values they relied heavily on depth and texture.* Space in their paintings was used to indicate a moving and vivid world with real human beings living ground. They used earthly, meaning tangible, objects to portray a realistic background. While earlier paintings had been 2d objects against white backgrounds and combined many scenes in one painting, Renaissance paintings focused on one particular scene or moment in time in a 3d realistic view like some scenery was localized and frozen in particular time and place. This enabled viewer to enter that artwork. Painters of the Renaissance researched perspective and cre ating the illusion of a three-dimensional area. Art was objectified so every human looking at it can perceive some unchangeable truths about it. It was solidified for the sake of realistic proportions. Artworks represented human as not symbolic or imitation of one another but with their distinct personalities. Architecture and design of most of the constructions had symmetry and ratio to it now. Buildings were built in regarding their luxury and accessibility to aid human use and show off human greatness. Sculptures were made in 3d scale so humans could see it from every direction* Donatello, for example, carved his statues that were meant to stand alone, and be viewed from every angle.* And David created his most well-known sculpture that has the form of the idealistic human body that draws the focus on the individual. In conclusion with Renaissance, Europe, in general, saw a revival of thought, reshaping and secularising every human activity with the wisdom of ancient civilizations and put everything in a realistic, rationalistic foundation. It established human as the center of the universe and found its wonders in this creature. It would change the course of the world for generations to come.