When Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1445, he forever
changed the
lives of people in Europe and, eventually, all over the world.
Previously, bookmaking entailed copying all the words and illustrations
by hand. Often the copying
had been done onto parchment, animal skin that
had been scraped until it was clean, smooth, and thin.
The labor that went into creating them made each book very expensive.
Because Gutenberg's press could produce books quickly and with
relatively little
effort, bookmaking became much less expensive, allowing more people to
buy reading material.
The Demand for Books Grows
In the Middle Ages, books had been costly and education rare; only the
clergy had been regular readers and owners of books. Most books had been
written in Latin, considered the language of scholarship. In the
Renaissance, the educated middle classes, who
could now afford books, demanded works in their own languages.
Furthermore,
readers wanted a greater variety of books. Almanacs, travel books,
chivalry
romances, and poetry were all published at this time. Simultaneously, a
means
of printing music was also invented, making music available at a
reasonable cost.
As the demand for books grew, the book trade began to flourish
throughout
Europe, and industries related to it, such as papermaking, thrived as
well.
The result of all of this was a more literate populace and a stronger
economy.
Humanism Emerges
Books also helped to spread awareness of a new philosophy that emerged
when Renaissance scholars known as humanists returned to the works of
ancient writers. Previously, during the Middle Ages, scholars had been
guided by the teachings of the church,
and people had concerned themselves with actions leading to heavenly
rewards. The writings of ancient, pagan Greece and Rome, called the
"classics," had been greatly ignored. To study the classics, humanists
learned to read Greek and ancient
Latin, and they sought out manuscripts that had lain undisturbed for
nearly 2,000
years.
The humanists rediscovered writings on scientific matters, government,
rhetoric, philosophy, and art. They were influenced by the knowledge of
these ancient civilizations and by the emphasis placed on man, his intellect,
and his life on Earth.
The Impact of the Printing Press :
http://www.flowofhistory.com/category/export/html/40
The printing press had dramatic effects on European civilization. Its immediate effect was that it spread information
quickly and
accurately. This helped create a wider literate reading
public. However, its importance lay not just in how it spread
information and opinions, but also in what sorts of
information and opinions it was spreading. There were two main
directions printing took, both of which were probably totally unforeseen
by its creators.
First of all, more and more books of a secular nature were
printed, with especially profound results in science. Scientists
working on the same problem in different parts of Europe
especially benefited, since they could print the results of their
work and share it accurately with a large number of other scientists.
They in turn could take that accurate, not miscopied,
information, work with it and advance knowledge and understanding
further. Of course, they could accurately share their information with
many others and the process would continue. By
the 1600's, this process would lead to the Scientific Revolution of
the Enlightenment, which would radically alter how Europeans viewed the
world and universe.
The printing press also created its share of trouble as far as
some people were concerned. It took book copying out of the hands of
the Church and made it much harder for the Church to
control or censor what was being written. It was hard enough to
control what Wycliffe and Hus wrote with just a few hundred copies of
their works in circulation. Imagine the problems
the Church had when literally thousands of such works could be
produced at a fraction of the cost. Each new printing press was just
another hole in the dyke to be plugged up, and the Church
had only so many fingers with which to do the job. It is no
accident that the breakup of Europe's religious unity during the
Protestant Reformation corresponded with the spread of
printing. The difference between Martin Luther's successful
Reformation and the Hussites' much more limited success was that Luther
was armed with the printing press and knew how to use it
with devastating effect.
Some people go as far as to say that the printing press is the
most important invention between the invention of writing itself and the
computer. Although it is impossible to justify
that statement to everyone's satisfaction, one can safely say that
the printing press has been one of the most powerful inventions of the
modern era. It has advanced and spread knowledge
and molded public opinion in a way that nothing before the advent of
television and radio in the twentieth century could rival. If it were
not able to, then freedom of the press would not
be such a jealously guarded liberty as it is today.
New patterns of thought
Whether one sees the Renaissance as a period of originality or just drawing upon older cultures, it did generate four ideas that have been and still are central to Western Civilization: secularism, humanism, individualism, and skepticism.-
Secularism comes from the word secular, meaning of this
world. Medieval civilization had been largely concerned with religion
and the next world. The new economic and
political horizons and opportunities that were opening up for
Western Europe in the High and Late Middle Ages got people more
interested in this world. During the Renaissance people saw
this life as worth living for its own sake, not just as
preparation for the next world. The art in particular exhibited this
secular spirit, showing detailed and accurate scenery,
anatomy, and nature, whereas medieval artists generally ignored
such things since their paintings were for the glory of God. This is
not to say that Renaissance people had lost faith in
God. Religion was still the most popular theme for paintings.
But during the Renaissance people found other things worth living for
besides the afterlife.
-
Humanism goes along with secularism in that it makes
human beings, not God, the center of attention. The quotation at the
top of this reading certainly emphasizes this
point. So did Renaissance art, which portrayed the human body as a
thing of beauty in its own right, not like some medieval "comic strip"
character whose only reason to exist was for the
glory of God. Along those lines, Renaissance philosophers saw
humans as intelligent creatures capable of reason (and questioning
authority) rather than being mindless pawns helplessly
manipulated by God. Even the term for Renaissance philosophers,
"humanists", shows how the focus of peoples' attention had shifted from
Heaven and God to this world and human
beings. It also described the group of scholars who drew upon the
more secular Greek and Roman civilizations for inspiration.
-
Individualism takes humanism a step further by saying
that individual humans were capable of great accomplishments. The more
communal, group oriented society and mentality of the
Middle Ages was giving way to a belief in the individual and his
achievements. The importance of this was that it freed remarkable
individuals and geniuses, such as Leonardo da Vinci to
live up to their potential without being held back by a medieval
society that discouraged innovation.
Besides the outstanding achievements of Leonardo, one sees individualism expressed in a wide variety of ways during the Renaissance. Artists started signing their paintings, thus showing individualistic pride in their work. Also, the more communal guild system was being replaced by the more individualistic system of capitalism, which encouraged private enterprise.
-
Skepticism, which promoted curiosity and the questioning
of authority, was largely an outgrowth of the other three Renaissance
ideas. The secular spirit of the age naturally put
Renaissance humanists at odds with the Church and its purely
religious values and explanations of the universe. Humanism and
individualism, with their belief in the ability of human
reason, raised challenges to the Church's authority and theories,
which in turn led to such things as the Protestant Reformation, the Age
of Exploration and the Scientific Revolution, all of
which would radically alter how Western Europe views the world and
universe. These four new ideas of secularism, humanism, individualism,
and skepticism led to innovations in a variety of
fields during the Renaissance, the most prominent being literature
and learning, art, science, the Age of Exploration, and the Protestant
Reformation.
Literature and learning
Throughout, the Middle Ages were
centered on the Church. Consequently, most books were of a religious
nature. There were Greek and Roman texts
stashed away in the monasteries, but few people paid much attention to
them. All that changed during the Renaissance. For one thing,
increased wealth and the invention of the printing
press created a broader public that could afford an education and
printed books. Most of these newly educated people were from the noble
and middle classes. Therefore, they wanted a
more practical and secular education and books to prepare them for the
real world of business and politics.
In response to this, new schools were set up to give the sons of
nobles and wealthy merchants an education with a broader and more
secular curriculum than the Church provided: philosophy,
literature, mathematics, history, and politics. Naturally much of the
basis for this new curriculum was Greek and Roman culture. Classical
authors such as Demosthenes and Cicero were
used to teach students how to think, write, and speak clearly. Greek
and Roman history were used to teach object lessons in politics. This
curriculum provided the skills and knowledge
seen as essential for an educated man back then, and served as the
basis for school curriculums well into the twentieth century. Only in
recent decades has a more technical education largely
replaced the curriculum established for us in the Renaissance.
Along the same lines, a more secular literature largely replaced
the predominantly religious literature of the Middle Ages. History, as a
study of the past (Greek and Roman past in
particular) in order to learn lessons for the future, was emerging.
So was another emerging new discipline deeply rooted in history:
political science. The father of this discipline was
Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). His treatise on governing techniques,
The Prince, urges the prince to carry on with whatever
ruthless means were at his disposal. This serves as a stark contrast to
St. Augustine's concept of the "just war."
Another book of a secular nature was Castiglione's
The Courtier, which spelled out the ideal education and
qualities of a nobleman attending a prince's court. Unlike the usually
illiterate and rough mannered medieval noble,
Castiglione's courtier should be versed in manners (such as not
cleaning one's teeth in public with one's finger). This ideal of the
well-rounded "Renaissance Man" hearkens back to the Greek
ideal of a well-rounded man and has continued to this day.
Art
Art is the one field most people associate with the
Renaissance since it saw the most radical innovations and breaks with
the Middle Ages. Medieval art was religious in tone and
for the glory of God. As a result, artists neglected mundane details,
thus making the art flat and lifeless. Faces and bodies were cartoon
like, having no individual features or
anything approaching anatomical detail. Other details such as
background, perspective, proportion, and individuality were all
virtually unknown.
Renaissance art contrasted sharply with medieval art in all these
respects. More paintings were on secular themes, especially portraits.
And even the religious paintings paid a great
deal of attention to glorifying the human form and accomplishments.
Starting with Giotto in the early 1300's, Renaissance artists
increasingly perfected and used such things as background,
perspective, proportion, and individuality. In fact, Leonardo's
detail was so good that botanists today can identify the kinds of plants
he put into his paintings.
Although painting was especially prominent during the Renaissance,
other art forms also flourished. For example, architecture broke
somewhat with the medieval Gothic style during the
Renaissance. However, it was less innovative and relied more heavily
on classical forms, in particular columns, arches, and domes as well as
building on a massive scale. Possibly the
supreme example of this is the dome of St. Peter's in Rome which was
designed by Michelangelo and towers 435 feet from the floor. Music in
the Renaissance saw developments that would later
blossom into classical music. Instruments were improved and the whole
family of violins was developed. Counterpoint (the blending of two
melodies) and polyphony (interweaving several
melodic lines) also emerged during this period.
Science
Science saw little advancement, but it was also important for
future developments. In particular, classical authorities were
discovered who contradicted Aristotle, whose works
were accepted by the Church almost as gospel. Finding conflicting
authorities forced Renaissance humanists to ask questions that would
lead to developing new theories, which in turn would
lead to the birth of modern science in the 1600's and 1700's.
The Age of Exploration
The Age of Exploration also showed Renaissance ideas at work. It was secular in its interest in the world. It certainly displayed skepticism by challenging accepted ideas about the world. And the fact that it pitted individual captains against the forces of nature shows it was both humanistic and individualistic.
The Protestant Reformation
The protestant reformation was one other result of the
Italian Renaissance. The spirit of skepticism challenged the authority
of the Church, thus opening the way for much more
serious challenge later posed by the Protestants. The Protestant
Reformation, in turn, would pave the way for new patterns of thought in
social, political, economic, and scientific matters.
The Italian Renaissance is generally seen as lasting until about
1500, when Italy's political disunity attracted a devastating round of
wars and invasions that ended its most innovative cultural
period. However, in the process, the invaders took the ideas of the
Italian Renaissance back to Northern Europe and sparked what is known as
the Northern Renaissance.
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