Renaissance
& Reformation

The Renaissance was essentially an urban phenomenon and began in northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages because cities such as Florence were less affected by the economic ravages of the 14th century. The emphasis of the Italian or Southern Renaissance was on a return to the past, evidence of which was all around. It manifested itself chiefly in sculpture, architecture, painting and writing.

As the Renaissance spread to the rest of Europe, however, subtle changes occurred. The emphasis moved to scientific intellectualism and religious humanism. The Northern Renaissance was therefore dominated by the universities where the development of science was most pronounced.

The renewal was also very largely centred on religion, which explains why the Reformation would take root in the north rather than in Italy.

THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

The word Renaissance means "rebirth", specifically a rebirth of ancient classical art, a revival of the Greco-Roman culture. The "rebirth" suited the Italians because all around them were reminders of their Roman heritage: monuments, statues and literature from the heyday of the Roman Empire.

They therefore abandoned the architectural and intellectual styles of the Middle Ages and returned for inspiration to their own indigenous art and thought. In that way they saw the period which separated them from their ancient Roman heritage as a "Dark" or "Middle Age". It was they, therefore, who coined the term "Middle Ages".

The Italian Renaissance concerned itself primarily with art, architecture, literature and manners - what they called "high culture" which was restricted to the wealthy sector of the population and was therefore a form of elitism. It was never more than a minority movement of artists and scholars whose views were circulated by means of the latest invention: the printing press.

The Renaissance started in northern Italy because the city-states which had developed there during the Middle Ages were already well established and wealthy, and could afford to lavish money on art, literature and the general well-being of an affluent bourgeoisie.

Germany, on the other hand, had been badly hit by the economic catastrophe of the 14th century and would therefore take longer to be influenced by the new ideas.

The Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism of the late 14th century further aided the Italians because they were able to throw off the shackles of religion and luxuriate in the wealth which commerce had brought, with its accompanying attitudes of hedonism. They were able to turn away from the traditional values of humility, poverty, abstinence and self-denial, to honour the more worldly forms of life.

The Italian Renaissance gave birth to what is known as "humanism", i.e. a stress on the human person rather than on religion, man being the measure of all things. It revered the intelligent, noble and talented man, although it tended to ignore the status of women who were regarded as somewhat inferior to men.

Young men were trained in civilized manners for everyday social living. Personal styles of the upper classes were studied. Up till then, people behaved as their fancy took them: spitting and belching in public, blowing their noses anywhere and shouting abuse at one another (like modern sportsmen). Now the people were taught how to behave, and books of etiquette began to appear.

Many of the Italian writers returned to classical Latin as opposed to the kitchen Latin of the Church and the universities. There were others, however, who chose to write in the vernacular of their particular area. Of prime importance were those works written in Florence (e.g. Dante), so that the vernacular of Florence became the foundation of modern Italian.

The most famous literary piece on Renaissance politics came from the pen of Niccolo Machiavelli. His work, The Prince, was a handbook on statecraft in which the author tended to admire the idea that the end justifies the means. He postulated that successful rulers would keep promises or break them at will, as opposed to such earlier writers as Thomas Aquinas who spoke of God's will, and of divine and natural law.

THE NORTHERN RENAISSANCE

The Northern Renaissance tended to be a blend of the old with the new. The religious element remained much stronger and there was a concentration of academic institutions, with 14 new universities springing up in Germany between 1386 and 1506. (There were no new universities in Italy during that period.)

The emphasis in Germany was on scientific intellectualism although the Renaissance in England and France concentrated on humanistic literature.

Although the Northern Humanists were likewise inspired by the return to the classical tradition, with its concentration on the reading of Latin and Greek, there was nevertheless a distinct difference of emphasis in their work.

They tended to be more austere and used their classical knowledge for a deeper examination of religion and a greater understanding of the Bible. In short, Northern Humanism tended to be more practical and less artistic, more religious and less worldly.

The Renaissance in England was largely limited to humanistic literature, with little work done by way of painting, sculpture or architecture.

The beginnings of the literary renaissance were already seen during the High Middle Ages, with the vernacular writings of Chaucer (Canterbury Tales) who set the precedent for the future development of the English language in much the same way that Dante's Florenzian dialect became the foundation for modern Italian.

The period after Chaucer, however, did not favour artistic sentiment because England went to war against France (100 Years War).

The 100 Years War was followed by the War of the Roses which made life and property insecure and militated against creative expression. It was only when peace was restored under the reign of Henry VII, and commerce and industry again began to flourish, that wealth and leisure afforded the opportunity for men to pursue intellectual studies. As a result, the Elizabethan period really signifies the height of the Renaissance in England.

INVENTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS

An analysis of the Renaissance would not be complete without a discussion of the invention of the printing press, for without such an instrument the development of writing would have been of little significance. Indeed, during the early Renaissance years, learning was confined to a few thinkers but as the improved art of printing led to the distribution of books among both laity and clergy, so the new ideas began to take hold.

Before the invention of moveable type, books were printed by two methods, namely through labourious copying of manuscripts by hand or by using wooden blocks to print. Hand-copying was restrictive not so much because it was time-consuming (large numbers of scholars could indeed reproduce books fairly rapidly) but because parchment or vellum was used and that proved expensive.

During the 14th century block printing was introduced from China, where a picture or text could be cut into wood and then impressed onto papyrus or paper by means of ink rolled onto the block. The technique was limited, however, because changes in the text could only be made by carving new blocks.

Moveable print was introduced into Europe, again from China, during the mid-15th century, probably by Lourens Coster and capitalised upon by Johann Gutenberg, and it revolutionised book production. It met a universal need and the concept spread rapidly.

By the end of the 15th century almost every large German city had its own printing press, producing books mostly of a theological character. From there it spread to Italy, France and England.

It is estimated that by 1500 no fewer than 10 000 separate editions had already been printed and this certainly became a potent factor in the progress of civilization. It also took northern Europe a step beyond the Renaissance and into the Reformation.

THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY

The Renaissance was definitely a first step towards a revolution in religion, a period known as the Reformation. There is no doubt that the political circumstances at the beginning of the 16th Century had much to do with the fact that the Reformation succeeded at all and also that it failed to succeed in some places. Although it is true that the Catholic Church was in desperate need of reform, it was not entirely necessary for the reform to cause a split in the Church.

The split in Germany was possibly due largely to the political situation where the various princes had been fighting the Emperor for many centuries. Once Luther had made his break, however, and when it was seen that he was to succeed unharmed, other reformers such as Zwingli and Calvin climbed onto the bandwagon and so caused a splintering even of the Protestant movement.

Yet the reformists did not have a smooth passage. As a result of their actions, there was civil war in Germany, repression in Switzerland, social turmoil in France, persecution in England and the Inquisition in Spain and Italy.

The 16th Century proved therefore to be a blood-thirsty period and the reform of Christianity was accompanied by anything but brotherly love and a spirit of forgiveness. It was nevertheless one of the great revolutions of the western world and its implications must be compared to those other great calamities such as the French Revolution.

The story of Luther's reformation is well known and can, no doubt, be narrated by most school pupils. On 31 August 1517 Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor of Scripture at the University of Wittenberg, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church.

He was simply following the standard academic practice amongst professors of the time when they wished to debate an academic question. Luther was therefore merely challenging other theologians to defend the Catholic Church's teaching on a number of matters, especially the question of indulgences but soon he found himself brought before a tribunal of the Church to justify his own position. He was eventually excommunicated and so the Reformation was born.

That's all very easy but a number of important questions present themselves and they need answering if we are in any way to understand the Reformation and the breakup of the unity of the Christian Church. First, why did Luther challenge the Catholic Church as he did?

Second, why did he go so far as to break with the Church? Did he actually intend to bring about a religious revolution and effectively destroy the power of the Catholic Church? Why did he succeed when greater men before him, men such as John Huss and John Wycliffe, had failed?

Why did the Reformation then suddenly splinter off into so many pressure groups which were prepared to kill each other, all in the name of religion? Why did the Reformation only succeed in Germany and northern Europe but failed (initially) to take root in England, France, Spain and Italy?

Finally, why was the Catholic Church and its ally, the Holy Roman Empire, unable to hold back the floodwater of the Reformation?

To answer these questions, one has to spend some time in analysing the political, social and economic conditions of the time. Indeed, it would seem that the so-called reformers were simply men of their time, aided by the political, social and economic circumstances in which they found themselves. Had they stood up at any other time, it is probable that they would either not have attempted a revolution at all or would have failed to bring one about.