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The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth"; Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere "be born") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the term.

As a cultural movement, it encompassed a resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform. Traditionally, this intellectual transformation has resulted in the Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".

There is a general, but not unchallenged, consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, Tuscany in the 14th century. Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its dominant family, the Medici; and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

The Renaissance has a long and complex historiography, and there has been much debate among historians as to the usefulness of Renaissance as a term and as a historical delineation. Some have called into question whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and nostalgia for the classical age, while others have instead focused on the continuity between the two eras. Indeed, some have called for an end to the use of the term, which they see as a product of presentism – the use of history to validate and glorify modern ideals. The word Renaissance has also been used to describe other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century.

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List of Renaissance topics
List of Renaissance figures
List of Renaissance structures
Continuity thesis
Gilded woodcarving
Scientific Revolution
Medical Renaissance

References

Brotton, Jerry, The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction ISBN 0-19-280163-5
Burckhardt, Jacob (1878), The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X
Burke, P, The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries ISBN 0-631-19845-8
The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902)
Cronin, Vincent (1967), The Florentine Renaissance, ISBN 0-00-211262-0; (1969), The Flowering of the Renaissance, ISBN 0-7126-9884-1; (1992), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-00-215411-0
Ergang, Robert (1967), The Renaissance, ISBN 0-442-02319-7
Ferguson, Wallace K. (1962), Europe in Transition, 1300–1500, ISBN 0-04-940008-8
Haskins, Charles Homer (1927), The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, ISBN 0-674-76075-1
Huizinga, Johan (1924), The Waning of the Middle Ages, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-013702-5
Jensen, De Lamar (1992), Renaissance Europe, ISBN 0-395-88947-2
Lopez, Robert S. (1952), Hard Times and Investment in Culture
Strathern, Paul (2003), The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, ISBN 1-844-13098-3
Stephens, John, The Italian Renaissance: The Origins of Intellectual and Artistic Change before the Renaissance ISBN 0-582-49337-4
Thorndike, Lynn (1943) 'Renaissance or Prenaissance?' in "Some Remarks on the Question of the Originality of the Renaissance", Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 4, No. 1, Jan. 1943 (Subscription required for JSTOR link.)
Weiss, Roberto (1969) The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity, ISBN 1-597-40150-1
Werkmeister, William H. (1959). Facets of the Renaissance. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press.

Notes

^ Renaissance, Online Etymology Dictionary
^ BBC Science & Nature, Leonardo da Vinci (Retrieved on May 12, 2007)
^ BBC History, Michelangelo (Retrieved on May 12, 2007)
^ Burke, P., The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries (Blackwell, Oxford 1998)
^ ^a ^b ^c Strathern, Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (2003)
^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.
^ ^a ^b Har, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World, Scarecrow Press Incorporate, 1999, ISBN0810837242
^ ^a ^b Norwich, John Julius, A Short History of Byzantium, 1997, Knopf, ISBN0679450882
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Brotton, J., The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction, OUP, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Huizanga, Johan, The Waning of the Middle Ages (1919, trans. 1924)
^ ^a ^b ^c Starn, Randolph. "Renaissance Redux" The American Historical Review Vol.103 No.1 p.124 (Subscription required for JSTOR link)
^ The Idea of the Renaissance, Richard Hooker, Washington State University Website (Retrieved on May 2)
^ ^a ^b Perry, M. Humanities in the Western Tradition, Ch. 13
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Open University, Looking at the Renaissance: Religious Context in the Renaissance (Retrieved on May 10, 2007)
^ Open University, Looking at the Renaissance: Urban economy and government (Retrieved May 15, 2007)
^ Stark, Rodney, The Victory of Reason, Random House, NY: 2005
^ See below, under "Sources".
^ Walker, Paul Robert, The Feud that sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World, (New York, Perennial-Harper Collins, 2003)
^ Bibbs, Hugh. The Islamic Foundation of the Renaissance, (Northwest and Pacific, 1999) (Retrieved on 10-05-2007)
^ The Islamic World to 1600, University of Calgary Website (Retrieved on May 10, 2007)
^ History of Medieval Mathematics University of South Australia Website (Retrieved on May 10, 2007)
^ History of the Renaissance, HistoryWorld (Retrieved on May 10, 2007)
^ Kirshner, Julius, Family and Marriage: A socio-legal perspective, Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 1300–1550, ed. John M. Najemy (Oxford University Press, 2004) p.89 (Retrieved on 10-05-2007)
^ Burckhardt, Jacob, The Revival of Antiquity', The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (trans. by S.G.C. Middlemore, 1878)
^ Skinner, Quentin, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol I: The Renaissance; vol II