European history overview and key developments

Europen History

What of the Italian Renaissance has remained a part of the modern world, as it differs from the medieval world prior to the Renaissance?

The Italian Renaissance, in the larger frame of the European Renaissance represents the foundation upon which modern culture was built. The period where the Italian Renaissance flourished is set between the fourteenth and the sixteenth century. While some consider it a complete breakthrough the dark thick wall of the middle Ages on all aspects of culture and civilization, by reviving the Roman and Greek classics, others are more moderate and present it as a continuation of what already started during the Middle Ages. The reviving of the classic texts of Greek and Roman philosophers and the rediscovery of classic art was inviting the Italian renaissance artists and scientists to make new discoveries. Their creativity was stimulated by the classic inheritance and the phenomena was similar to a revolution in art and science. New techniques of painting, architecture and sculpture accompanied by the study of the human body gave birth to masterpieces of art coming from the hands of genius artists and creators, complete humanists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Bernini, Borromini, Botticelli, Brunelleschi, Raphael, Caravaggio and these are only a few of all those who contributed to the creation of the heritage the modern civilization has from the Italian Renaissance. All this creativity effervescence was supported by the wealth of those who were gaining a fortune from manufacturing, trade and banking and who enforced the position of the city states like Venice, Florence and the Papal states. Thus, a new class was emerging and gradually replacing the old noble class in importance: that of the bankers and those who were the first capitalists. Humanists who brought to light and introduced in the field of education an entirely new perspective of humanity, posing the dignity of the human being above anything else left their mark upon the educational model for the following centuries.

Question 2: Whay did the Lutheran and Calvinist religious reformations succeed (as least in part), when earlier attempts to change the direction of the Roman Church (such as the rebellion of the Hussites in the early 15th century) failed?

The way for Martin Luther was paved by the influence of the Italian Renaissance on the North European culture and, especially by two names: Erasmus and Thomas More. They saw the need for a reform inside the Catholic Church and even though they worked and even gave their life for their convictions, like the Thomas More, they intended to start a reform inside the Church and not created the opportunities for a separation and the birth of a new one. Luther's efforts to reform the Catholic Church were not coming from a vacuum of such attempts. During the high Middle Ages there were several such actions, but the times were not ripe yet. The Renaissance brought the ferment needed for such actions to became successful: a change in the relationship between the man and God. So far, one needed to buy indulgences to save one's soul. The fear of eternal punishment around which the entire philosophy of the Christian Church revolved during the Middle Ages was more powerful than anything else. The Italian Renaissance came with a new idea and invited people to put the man at the middle of everything, teaching them about the dignity of the human condition. The scientific discoveries made the spread of the new ideas possible at a rate never before seen. Like the masters of the Italian Renaissance who wanted to return to the roots represented by the teachings of the classic tests and arts, Luther intended to regain the original values of Christianity for the Catholic Church, but accomplished more than he ever intended: he made the separation possible. Luther's vision about the subject of faith and about repentance that was completely against the philosophy of temporal punishment and the indulgences sold by the Catholic Church was destined to srart a strong opposition from the part of the Church. The conflict evolved and his works burnt in Rome, following the Pope's orders gave him the opportunity to extend his efforts of reformation over the entire Northern Europe. His excommunication in 1521 led to the birth of a new church and the separation finally took place.

Calvin, unlike Luther the monk, was a lawyer who came to Geneva to help in the reformation process. At first, his attempts failed, but after being forced to leave the city, he returned and his new philosophical views about the reformed church were accepted by Geneva that became the center of Protestantism in Europe.

Question 3: Was the religiously-framed warfare of the 16th and early 17th centuries avoidable, given the realities of that place and time?

After the first period of the separation between the Catholic and the Protestant Churches that took place peacefully, there came a period of ruthless fights between the two. The fight for supremacy between the two churches was translated into the fight for power between dynasties. France was the first to witness real civil wars between the subjects of the two churches, fighting to overthrow each other at the throne. The adherents of the new Protestant Church, the Huguenots in France, were a minority in number, but they held very important positions in matters of the state. The bloody night of St. Bartholomew is left in history as one of the most absurd and cruel mass slaughter started on religious grounds. In fact, religion was just a pretext beneath the real cause of the conflict between the most powerful dynasties in France, under the reign of Catherine de Medicis: the struggle for power. The fight became fierce and the combatants on both sides were regarding each other as deadly enemies. The conflict between the representatives of the two churches involved the other European countries as well. The Catholic Spain, under the rule of Philippe II intervened in favor of the Catholic side in the intention to destroy the Protestants. The political wars and the losses of thousands of lives would only end when Henry de Navarre would become king of France and officially renounce his Protestant faith in favor of the Catholic one, by the end of the sixteenth Century.

Further conflicts due to the church separation were those between countries ruled by kings completely dedicated to one religion like Spain that wanted to reinforce their supremacy over others, like the Netherlands that became Protestant in their majority. The fight for power all over Europe inclined the balance to one side or another, depending on the efficacy of the respective rulers, their alliances and on how fortunate their choices were. The separation of the Churches was destined to bring along those numerous conflicts that followed the next century in Europe as the times were of fierce fights over power.