Renaissance time line https://www.thoughtco.com/renaissance-timeline-4158077

The “high” Middle Ages and dawn of the Renaissance birthed a new day as the winds of change came to the European continent. Feudalism as an ordering of society was aging and weakening. Nationalism was taking root and strengthening. New educational opportunity opened with the newly established European universities as centers of training and humanistic scholarship. New avenues of thinking and advances in learning came with the growth of scholasticism, and the recovery of Greek and Roman classical learning through dialogue with Muslim scholars. Developments in mathematics and science enabled new technologies and scientific discovery. This included innovations such as the printing press (Gutenberg, 1440), making the written word much easier to create and access. The Bible was quickly disseminated in numerous vernacular languages in addition to Latin. Science was aided by new instruments such as the telescope, which brought paradigm-shifting discoveries in the heavens.

As increase in trade and commerce eventually lead to improvements in the standard of living and a more optimistic view of human prospects. This new day meant growth and advancement for elites as well as commoners in multiple and significant ways from how one traveled to what food was on one’s dinner plate.

Europe began to experience the cultural rebirth now referred to as the Renaissance, which began around the 13th century. Renaissance writers and artists rediscovered and took inspiration from classical (i.e., ancient) Greek and Roman cultures. A new spirit of humanism emerged that stressed the beauty and intrinsic worth of human life, in contrast to the restrictions of medieval Christianity.

This new celebration of human life and potential was powerfully reflected even in the religious art of the day in which the baby Jesus appeared increasingly vital, well fed, and happy and the biblical figures that Michelangelo painted onto the ceiling of Sistine chapel were muscle bound and physically vigorous, depicting complex human emotions and attitudes.

Looking ahead, the humanistic spirit and economic and cultural growth that emerged during the Renaissance was carried forward in the history of the West into Reformation, the Age of Exploration, and finally the rise of democracy and the Industrial Revolution. These movements gave rise to the uniquely Wester notion of progress—the sense of forward historical motion with cumulative economic and cultural change. In turn, this belief in the progressive development of society became a key element in the Western view of human nature and its progress through the processes of human development.

M4 – Discussion 1: The Inquisition and You

What are your thoughts about the punishments for being different and having different views? With your contemporary identity, do you think you would have been accused of heresy, and possibly burned at the stake or been killed through some other means?

M4 – Discussion 2: Famous People of the Renaissance: Who Do You Want to Know Better?

In this discourse, you have the opportunity to select one Renaissance star and get to know him (they are all male) better. Share your findings with the class.

M4 – Written Assignment: The Character of Shakespeare’s Richard III

In this written assignment, you will consider the individuality of one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters: Richard III.