Changes

The renaissance was an effort to imitate the lost world of ancient Greece and Rome. The Italian, artists, writers and thinkers who all participated in the Renaissance, sought to create works that were the equal of the ancients, whom they regarded as the pinnacle of civilization. The Renaissance unlike the Middle Ages, stressed the individual, reason, beauty, and secular values. This outlook became known as Humanism and has had a profound impact on European society. The Renaissance not only produced great works of art but also resulted in dramatic change in the views of Europeans and a decisive move away from the world of the Middle Ages. The origins of the Renaissance were in Italy and they were a result of the unique society and its recent history <ref> Burke, Peter. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 6.</ref> In the aftermath of the Black Death, the economy of Italy benefited greatly from trade and thus some areas became industrialized such as Florence. In this city, there was a large class of weavers who wove cloth for home consumption and export. The wealth of Italy increased because of trade but it also changed people’s outlook, who gradually adopted a more rational approach to the world. Italian society had evolved very differently from the rest of Europe. Northern Italy in particular, was much more urbanized than the rest of Europe. Many of the largest cities in Europe were located in Northern Europe such as Florence and Milan. Urban societies are widely believed to be more dynamic than agrarian societies. In towns and cities' people come together and converse and debate. Urban societies are also more open to new ideas as immigrants and traders settled in them. The plazas and taverns of Florence and other cities were often filled with people, many of them outsiders discussing new ideas and exchanging copies of manuscripts. This was a milieu that was beneficial to creative and intellectual endeavors <ref> Burkhardt, Jacob (1990) The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Hammondsworth, Penguin Classics, 1990), p. 78</ref>.

Because of the increasing urbanization of Italian society and the impact of the Black Death the feudal system collapsed <ref>Ruggiero, Guido. The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento (Cambridge University Press, 2015), p. 648 </ref>. This was a political-social and economic system that gave political and military power to the landed elite and which tied the majority of the population to this elite. Feudalism was a system that demanded obedience and deference and ordained that people should accept their position in society, without question. It endorsed a view of the world that was unchanging and fixed by the laws of Gods. Feudalism was never strong in Italy, even in the High Middle Ages, and after the 1350s it all but collapsed. The collapse of feudalism led to the release of social forces that led to the Renaissance <ref>Lopez, Robert Sabatino, The Three Ages of the Italian Renaissance Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1970., p. 89</ref>. People were now freer than ever before and they were prepared to question and doubt and develop new ideas about society and to create new means of expression and styles of art to represent them. The society of Italy in the period from 1350 to 1500 energized people and encouraged them to experiment with the arts, thought and modes of life <ref> Gilbert, Felix. History: Politics or Culture? Reflections on Ranke and Burckhardt. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990). p. 109.

==The New Elite==

The great artists and the thinkers of the Renaissance needed the patronage of great rulers and the wealthy. The unique political situation in Italy meant that the ruling class was distinct from the rest of Europe. They were to play a crucial role in the development of the Renaissance and the values that inspired it. Unlike elsewhere, they were not many hereditary rulers, many of the rulers were often self-made men. The ‘new rulers’ in Renaissance Italy usually acquired power through war, such as the Sforza’s in Milan or by manipulating the existing political system as the case of the De Medici in Florence<ref> Burckhardt, 1990, p. 78</ref>. They were often not legitimate rulers and they were keen to legitimize their role in the state. The lavish patronage that was available to Renaissance artists such as Donatello was part of an effort to legitimize the rule of those who had no substantial claims to political legitimacy. A Swiss Cultural historian in the nineteenth century argued that these new rulers saw the ‘state as a work of art’<ref> Burkhardt, 134</ref>. These new rulers could not rely on the traditional power structures to justify their rule or the old apparatus for their government. This meant that they often adapted and changed the system of governments in the city-states to maintain and perpetuate their rule. This meant that they sought other models of government and as a result, they came under the influence of the classical world. The new rulers employed learned men to help them in their government and for their bureaucracy. They regularly employed humanists and in this way humanism influenced the development of the state. The Humanists often used their classical learning to provide solutions to current problems. This did much to promote classical learning in this period, which was something that could have a practical value and not something merely academic. Through them, the ideas and the works of the classical world, that privileged reason and the individual became very influential and this did much to encourage a new world view among the educated and the literate<ref> Burckhardt, 1990, p. 156</ref>.

==Individualism==

Perhaps the greatest difference between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was the latter’s renewed interest in the individual. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, there was the example of the New Rulers, they had secured political control and often absolute power through their own initiative and depending only on their talent and will<ref>Burkhardt, 1990, p. 167</ref>. They were living proof that a person could use innate talents and their gifts could raise themselves from a lowly station and by sheer will power change their destiny. The individual was seen as something positive and that people could change their ordained status in society, in contrast to medieval thinking. The example of the New Rulers was one that was particularly influential at a time of increased social mobility. Because of the collapse of the feudal system in the aftermath of the Black Death, social mobility became more common. People born poor could rise and improve their lot, many humble traders became wealthy merchants<ref> Burckhardt, 1990, p. 156</ref>. The artists, scholars and writers of the time were imbued by this new emphasis on the individual and it was represented in the works. The new focus on the individual is evident in the work of artists as diverse as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. The status of the artist increased immeasurably at this time. The new value placed on the individual and their abilities meant that the role and place of the artist in society was changed. No longer are they seen as craftsmen who were often members of guilds, now they came to be regarded as talented and extraordinary individuals with a significant role in society. The modern conception of the artist owes much to the Renaissance view of the artists. The new status of the artists allowed them greater freedom of expression which allowed them to create so many timeless masterpieces<ref> Burke, p 214</ref>.