The Renaissance         

                                                                  

   Introduction

                   The period between tenth and fifteenth centuries is known as Medieval Age or Middle Age. It was also called as Dark Age, because people were ready to follow the teaching, the superstition and the customs of the past without asking questions.

 Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Roman Empire was captured by Turks in 1453. Fearing ill treatment, Greek scholars fled from Constantinople and settled in Italy, Germany, France and other European countries. They started teaching of Latin and Greek classics to people where they settled. This was the origin of Renaissance.

    Renaissance literally means "rebirth". During this period they developed the spirit of inquiry, spirit of freedom of thought and action. The word renaissance suggests different things to different people. Hence Walter Pater rightly called renaissance as “a complex and many sided movement”.

Renaissance in literature

    Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, the three great Italian writers created a passion for learning Latin . Machiavelli was another great Italian writer. In France, the effect of renaissance was seen in the works of Ronsard, Rabelais and Montaigne. In Spain, the Renaissance spirit  manifested itself in Cervantes’s "Don Quixote". In England, the renaissance was heralded by Geoffery Chaucer and Selling who had conducts with Italy. A good start was given by three Oxford friends, Thomas Linacre, William Grocyn and Hugh Latimer. They studied in Italy and lectured on Greeks at Oxford university. John Colet founded St.Paul’s Grammar school, the first grammar school in England completely devoted to the study of classical literature.

              The period of the  renaissance was also an age of translation. Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Demosthenes and Plutarch were all translated into English. Sir Thomas more was the greatest of  the Oxford scholars. His most famous book "Utopia" was originally written in Latin in 1516 and translated into English in 1551.Erasmus, a Dutchman who settled in England was the last European write, who write in Latin. Other memorable names of Renaissance period are Spenser, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Bacon and Christopher Marlowe.

Renaissance and science:

     John Gutenberg of Germany invented printing press in 1454. After this the first Latin Bible was printed in Italy in 1455. William Caxton of England established the first printing press in 1476.Another invention of a great importance was the "Mariners compass". After the compass came into use, the exploration of distant seas became possible. Columbus discovered America in 1492. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Western Coast of India through Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Copernicus disproved the Ptolemaic theory that the earth was the center of the universe. Kepler proved that the earth and the other planets rotated round the Sun in elliptical and not in circular paths. Galileo invented a telescope in 1609.

Renaissance and arts:

             Micheal Angelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci were all rounders, painter, poets and sculptors. Michael Angelo's famous works are the statues of David and Moses. Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Fresco of “the Last Supper" on the walls of the Maria Dell Grazie in Milan. Rapheal's Madonna picture is famous to this day. Architecture like other branches of learning underwent a classical revival which spread over the whole of Europe. St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the greatest example of the new style.

Conclusion:

           Thus the Renaissance brought about many remarkable changes in all walks of life.