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==The Renaissance==

The term means ‘re-birth’. 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 civilisation.<ref>Burke, Peter. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691162409/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0691162409&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=3e8ba646ddb55793983df78fb425f39e The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy]'' (Princeton University Press, 1999), p. 6.</ref> 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 Renaissance was in many ways to lay the groundwork for the rise of the modern world and especially ‘individualism and a secular outlook.’<ref>Burke, p.9.</ref> The Renaissance was able to occur because of the unique conditions that prevailed in Italy in the period from 1400 to 1500.

==Conclusion==

The Renaissance was one of the most important historical epochs, it produced a culture that created great works of art and provided the world, with the humanist view of life, which encouraged individualism and the use of reason. However, economic decline meant that there was less money for the arts and learning. The Spanish came to dominate the city-states and this meant that artists had less freedom of expression. Finally, the Counter-Reformation by enforcing Catholic Orthodoxy meant that artists, thinkers and writers were afraid to be as daring or original as they had been in the past.<ref>Mullet, p. 134.</ref> These factors led to the end of the Renaissance.

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*[[What was the influence of Emperor Frederick II on the Italian Renaissance?]]

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