THE RENAISSANCE [1]
209. MEANING OF THE RENAISSANCE
LATER PERIOD OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, covering the later period of the
Middle Ages, are commonly known as those of the Renaissance. This French
word means Rebirth or Revival. It is a convenient term for all the changes
in society, law, and government, in science, philosophy, and religion, in
literature and art which gradually transformed medieval civilization into
that of modern times.
LIMITS OF THE RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance, just because of its transitional character, cannot be
exactly dated. Some Renaissance movements started before 1300 A.D. For
instance, the study of Roman law, as a substitute for Germanic customs,
began toward the close of the eleventh century. The rise of European
cities, with all that they meant for industry and commerce, belonged to
about the same time. Other Renaissance movements, again, extended beyond
1500 A.D. Among these were the expansion of geographical knowledge,
resulting from the discovery of the New World, and the revolt against the
Papacy, known as the Protestant Reformation. The Middle Ages, in fact,
came to an end at different times in different fields of human activity.
ORIGINAL HOME OF THE RENAISSANCE
The name Renaissance applied, at first, only to the rebirth or revival of
men's interest in the literature and art of classical antiquity. Italy was
the original home of this Renaissance. There it first appeared, there it
found widest acceptance, and there it reached its highest development.
From Italy the Renaissance gradually spread beyond the Alps, until it had
made the round of western Europe.
ITALIAN CITIES OF THE RENAISSANCE
Italy, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, was a land particularly
favorable to the growth of learning and the arts. In northern Italy the
great cities of Milan, Pisa, Genoa, Florence, Venice, and many others had
early succeeded in throwing off their feudal burdens and had become
independent, self-governing communities. Democracy flourished in them, as
in the old Greek city-states. Noble birth counted for little; a man of
ability and ambition might rise to any place. The fierce party conflicts
within their walls stimulated mental activity and helped to make life
full, varied, and intense. Their widespread trade and thriving
manufactures made them prosperous. Wealth brought leisure, bred a taste
for luxury and the refinements of life, and gave means for the
gratification of that taste. People wanted to have about them beautiful
pictures, statuary, furniture, palaces, and churches; and they rewarded
richly the artists who could produce such things. It is not without
significance that the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance was
democratic, industrial, and wealthy Florence. [2]
INFLUENCE OF THE CLASSIC TRADITION
Italy enjoyed another advantage over the other European countries in its
nearness to Rome. Admiration for the ancient Roman civilization, as
expressed in literature, art, and law, was felt by all Italians. Wherever
they looked, they were reminded of the great past which once had been
theirs. Nor was the inheritance of Greece wholly lost. Greek traders and
the descendants of Greek colonists in Italy still used their ancient
language; all through the medieval centuries there were Italians who
studied Greek. The classic tradition thus survived in Italy and defied
oblivion.
BYZANTINE, ARABIC, AND NORMAN INFLUENCE
In the Middle Ages Italy formed a meeting place of several civilizations.
Byzantine influence was felt both in the north and in the south. The
conquest of Sicily by the Arabs made the Italians familiar with the
science, art, and poetry of this cultivated people. After the Normans had
established themselves in southern Italy and Sicily, they in turn
developed a brilliant civilization. [3] From all these sources flowed
streams of cultural influence which united in the Renaissance.
[Illustration: GHIBERTI'S BRONZE DOORS AT FLORENCE
The second or northern pair of bronze doors of the baptistery at Florence.
Completed by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1452 A.D. after twenty seven years of
labor The ten panels represent scenes from Old Testament history.
Michelangelo pronounced these magnificent creations worthy to be the gates
of paradise.]
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S, ROME
St Peter's, begun in 1506 A.D., was completed in 1667, according to the
designs of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and other celebrated
architects. It is the largest church in the world. The central aisle,
nave, and choir measure about 600 feet in length, the great dome, 140 feet
in diameter, rises to a height of more than 400 feet. A double colonnade
encircles the piazza in front of the church. The Vatican is seen to the
right of St Peter's.]
210. REVIVAL OF LEARNING IN ITALY
THE CLASSICS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
The literature of Greece and Rome did not entirely disappear in western
Europe after the Germanic invasions. The monastery and cathedral schools
of the Middle Ages had nourished devoted students of ancient books. The
Benedictine monks labored zealously in copying the works of pagan as well
as Christian authors. The rise of universities made it possible for the
student to pursue a fairly extended course in Latin literature at more
than one institution of learning. Greek literature, however, was little
known in the West. The poems of Homer were read only in a brief Latin
summary, and even Aristotle's writings were studied in Latin translations.
DANTE ALIGHIERI 1265-1321 A.D.
Reverence for the classics finds constant expression in the writings of
the Italian poet Dante. He was a native of Florence, but passed much of
his life in exile. Dante's most famous work, the _Divine Comedy_,
describes an imaginary visit to the other world. Vergil guides him through
the realms of Hell and Purgatory until he meets his lady Beatrice, the
personification of love and purity, who conducts him through Paradise. The
_Divine Comedy_ gives in artistic verse an epitome of all that medieval
men knew and hoped and felt: it is a mirror of the Middle Ages. At the
same time it drew much of its inspiration from Graeco-Roman sources.
Athens, for Dante, is the "hearth from which all knowledge glows"; Homer
is the "loftiest of poets", and Aristotle is the "master of those who
know." This feeling for classical antiquity entitles Dante to rank as a
prophet of the Renaissance.
[Illustration: DANTE ALIGHIERI
From a fresco, somewhat restored, ascribed to the contemporary artist,
Giotto. In the National Museum, Florence.]
DANTE AND THE ITALIAN LEAGUE
Dante exerted a noteworthy influence on the Italian language. He wrote the
_Divine Comedy_, not in Latin, but in the vernacular Italian as spoken in
Florence. The popularity of this work helped to give currency to the
Florentine dialect, and in time it became the literary language of Italy.
Italian was the first of the Romance tongues to assume a national
character.
PETRARCH, 1304-1374 A.D.
Petrarch, a younger contemporary of Dante, and like him a native of
Florence, has been called the first modern scholar and man of letters. He
devoted himself with tireless energy to classical studies. Writing to a
friend, Petrarch declares that he has read Vergil, Horace, Livy, and
Cicero, "not once, but a thousand times, not cursorily but studiously and
intently, bringing to them the best powers of my mind. I tasted in the
morning and digested at night. I quaffed as a boy, to ruminate as an old
man. These works have become so familiar to me that they cling not to my
memory merely, but to the very marrow of my bones."
[Illustration: PETRARCH
From a miniature in the Laurentian Library, Florence]
PETRARCH AS A LATIN REVIVALIST
Petrarch himself composed many Latin works and did much to spread a
knowledge of Latin authors. He traveled widely in Italy, France, and other
countries, searching everywhere for ancient manuscripts. When he found in
one place two lost orations of Cicero and in another place a collection of
Cicero's letters, he was transported with delight. He kept copyists in his
house, at times as many as four, busily making transcripts of the
manuscripts that he had discovered or borrowed. Petrarch knew almost no
Greek. His copy of Homer, it is said, he often kissed, though he could not
read it.
BOCCACCIO, 1313-1375 A.D.
Petrarch's friend and disciple, Boccaccio, was the first to bring to Italy
manuscripts of the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. Having learned some Greek,
he wrote out a translation of those epic poems. But Boccaccio's fame to-
day rests on the _Decameron_. It is a collection of one hundred stories
written in Italian. They are supposed to be told by a merry company of men
and women, who, during a plague at Florence, have retired to a villa in
the country. The _Decameron_ is the first important work in Italian prose.
Many English writers, notably Chaucer in his _Canterbury Tales_ [4] have
gone to it for ideas and plots. The modern short story may be said to date
from Boccaccio.
STUDY OF GREEK IN ITALY
The renewed interest in Latin literature, due to Petrarch, Boccaccio, and
others, was followed in the fifteenth century by the revival of Greek
literature. In 1396 A.D. Chrysoloras, a scholar from Constantinople, began
to lecture on Greek in the university of Florence. He afterwards taught in
other Italian cities and further aided the growth of Hellenic studies by
preparing a Greek grammar--the first book of its kind. From this time, and
especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D., many learned
Greeks came to Italy, thus transplanting in the West the culture of the
East. "Greece had not perished, but had emigrated to Italy."
HUMANISM
To the scholars of the fifteenth century the classics opened up a new
world of thought and fancy. They were delighted by the fresh, original,
and human ideas which they discovered in the pages of Homer, Plato,
Cicero, Horace, and Tacitus. Their new enthusiasm for the classics came to
be known as humanism, [5] or culture. The Greek and Latin languages and
literatures were henceforth the "humanities," as distinguished from the
old scholastic philosophy and theology.
SPREAD OF HUMANISM IN ITALY
From Florence, as from a second Athens, humanism spread throughout Italy.
At Milan and Venice, at Rome and Naples, men fell to poring over the
classics. A special feature of the age was the recovery of ancient
manuscripts from monasteries and cathedrals, where they had often lain
neglected and blackened with the dust of ages. Nearly all the Latin works
now extant were brought to light by the middle of the fifteenth century.
But it was not enough to recover the manuscripts: they had to be safely
stored and made accessible to students. So libraries were established,
professorships of the ancient languages were endowed, and scholars were
given opportunities to pursue their researches. Even the popes shared in
this zeal for humanism. One of them founded the Vatican Library at Rome,
which has the most valuable collection of manuscripts in the world. At
Florence the wealthy family of the Medici vied with the popes in the
patronage of the new learning.
211. PAPER AND PRINTING
PRINTED BOOKS
The revival of learning was greatly hastened when printed books took the
place of manuscripts laboriously copied by hand. Printing is a complicated
process, and many centuries were required to bring it to perfection. Both
paper and movable type had to be invented.
INTRODUCTION OF PAPER
The Chinese at a remote period made paper from some fibrous material. The
Arabs seem to have been the first to make linen paper out of flax and
rags. The manufacture of paper in Europe was first established by the
Moors in Spain. The Arab occupation of Sicily introduced the art into
Italy. Paper found a ready sale in Europe, because papyrus and parchment,
which the ancients had used as writing materials, were both expensive and
heavy. Men now had a material moderate in price, durable, and one that
would easily receive the impression of movable type.
DEVELOPMENT OF MOVABLE TYPE
The first step in the development of printing was the use of engraved
blocks. Single letters, separate words, and sometimes entire pages of text
were cut in hard wood or copper. When inked and applied to writing
material, they left a clear impression. The second step was to cast the
letters in separate pieces of metal, all of the same height and thickness.
These could then be arranged in any desired way for printing.
GUTENBERG
Movable type had been used for centuries by the Chinese, Japanese, and
Koreans in the East, and in Europe several printers have been credited
with their invention. A German, Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, set up the
first printing press with movable type about 1450 A.D., and from it issued
the first printed book. This was a Latin translation of the Bible.
[Illustration: AN EARLY PRINTING PRESS
Enlarged from the printer's mark of I. B. Ascensius. Used on the title
pages of books printed by him, 1507-1535 A.D.]
ALDUS AND CAXTON
The new art quickly spread throughout Christian Europe. It met an
especially warm welcome in Italy, where people felt so keen a desire for
reading and instruction. By the end of the fifteenth century Venice alone
had more than two hundred printing presses. Here Aldus Manutius maintained
a famous establishment for printing Greek and Latin classics. In 1476 A.D.
the English printer, William Caxton, set up his wooden presses within the
precincts of Westminster Abbey. To him we owe editions of Chaucer's poems,
Sir Thomas Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, [6] _Aesop's Fables_, and many other
works.
INCUNABULA
The books printed in the fifteenth century go by the name of _incunabula_.
[7] Of the seven or eight million volumes which appeared before 1500 A.D.,
about thirty thousand are believed to be still in existence. Many of these
earliest books were printed in heavy, "black letter" type, an imitation of
the characters used in monkish manuscripts. It is still retained for most
books printed in Germany. The clearer and neater "Roman" characters,
resembling the letters employed for ancient Roman inscriptions, came into
use in southern Europe and England. The Aldine press at Venice also
devised "italic" type, said to be modeled after Petrarch's handwriting, to
enable the publisher to crowd more words on a page.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PART OF CAXTON'S "AENEID" (REDUCED)
With the same passage in modern type: Thenne beganne agayne the bataylle
of the one parte/And of the other Eneas ascryed to theym and sayd. Lordes
why doo ye fyghte/ Ye knowe well that the couuenante ys deuysed and
made/That Turnus and I shall fyghte for you alle/]
IMPORTANCE OF PRINTING
The invention of printing has been called the greatest event in history.
The statement is hardly too strong. It is easy to see that printing
immensely increased the supply of books. A hardworking copyist might
produce, at the most, only a few volumes a year; a printing press could
strike them off by the thousands. Not only more books, but also more
accurate books, could be produced by printing. The old-time copyist,
however skilful, was sure to make mistakes, sometimes of a serious
character. No two copies of any manuscript were exactly alike. When,
however, an entire edition was printed from the same type, mistakes in the
different copies might be entirely eliminated. Furthermore, the invention
of printing destroyed the monopoly of learning possessed by the
universities and people of wealth. Books were now the possession of the
many, not the luxury of the few. Anyone who could read had opened to him
the gateway of knowledge; he became a citizen, henceforth, of the republic
of letters. Printing, which made possible popular education, public
libraries, and ultimately cheap newspapers, ranks with gunpowder [8] as an
emancipating force.
212. REVIVAL OF ART IN ITALY
ARCHITECTURE
Gothic architecture, with its pointed arches, flying buttresses, and
traceried windows, never struck deep roots in Italy. The architects of the
Renaissance went back to Greek temples and Roman domed buildings for their
models, just as the humanists went back to Greek and Latin literature.
Long rows of Ionic or Corinthian columns, spanned by round arches, became
again the prevailing architectural style. Perhaps the most important
accomplishment of Renaissance builders was the adoption of the dome,
instead of the vault, for the roofs of churches. The majestic cupola of
St. Peter's at Rome, [9] which is modeled after the Pantheon, [10] has
become the parent of many domed structures in the Old and New World. [11]
Architects, however, did not limit themselves to churches. The magnificent
palaces of Florence, as well as some of those in Venice, are among the
monuments of the Renaissance era. Henceforth architecture became more and
more a secular art.
SCULPTURE
The development of architecture naturally stimulated the other arts.
Italian sculptors began to copy the ancient bas-reliefs and statues
preserved in Rome and other cities. At this time glazed terra cotta came
to be used by sculptors. Another Renaissance art was the casting of bronze
doors, with panels which represented scenes from the Bible. The beautiful
doors of the baptistery of Florence were described as "worthy of being
placed at the entrance of Paradise."
MICHELANGELO, 1475-1564 A.D.
The greatest of Renaissance sculptors was Michelangelo. Though a
Florentine by birth, he lived in Rome and made that city a center of
Italian art. A colossal statue of David, who looks like a Greek athlete,
and another of Moses, seated and holding the table of the law, are among
his best-known works. Michelangelo also won fame in architecture and
painting. The dome of St. Peter's was finished after his designs. Having
been commissioned by one of the popes to decorate the ceiling of the
Sistine chapel [12] in the Vatican, he painted a series of scenes which
presented the Biblical story from the Creation to the Flood. These
frescoes are unequaled for sublimity and power. On the end wall of the
same chapel Michelangelo produced his fresco of the "Last Judgment," one
of the most famous paintings in the world.
RISE OF ITALIAN PAINTING
The early Italian painters contented themselves, at first, with imitating
Byzantine mosaics and enamels. [13] Their work exhibited little knowledge
of human anatomy: faces might be lifelike, but bodies were too slender and
out of proportion. The figures of men and women were posed in stiff and
conventional attitudes. The perspective also was false: objects which the
painter wished to represent in the background were as near as those which
he wished to represent in the foreground. In the fourteenth century,
however, Italian painting abandoned the Byzantine style; achieved beauty
of form, design, and color to an extent hitherto unknown; and became at
length the supreme art of the Renaissance.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ITALIAN PAINTING
Italian painting began in the service of the Church and always remained
religious in character. Artists usually chose subjects from the Bible or
the lives of the saints. They did not trouble themselves to secure
correctness of costume, but represented ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans
in the garb of Italian gentlemen. Many of their pictures were frescoes,
that is, the colors were mixed with water and applied to the plaster walls
of churches and palaces. After the process of mixing oils with the colors
was discovered, pictures on wood or canvas (easel paintings) became
common. Renaissance painters excelled in portraiture. They were less
successful with landscapes.
THE "OLD MASTERS"
Among the "old masters" of Italian painting four, besides Michelangelo,
stand out with special prominence. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 A.D.) was
architect, sculptor, musician, and engineer, as well as painter. His
finest work, the "Last Supper," a fresco painting at Milan, is much
damaged, but fortunately good copies of it exist. Paris has the best of
his easel pictures--the "Monna Lisa." Leonardo spent four years on it and
then declared that he could not finish it to his satisfaction. Leonardo's
contemporary, Raphael (1483-1520 A.D.), died before he was forty, but not
before he had produced the "Sistine Madonna," now at Dresden, the
"Transfiguration," in the Vatican Gallery at Rome, and many other famous
compositions. In Raphael Italian painting reached its zenith. All his
works are masterpieces. Another artist, the Venetian Titian (1477?-1576
A.D.), painted portraits unsurpassed for glowing color. His "Assumption of
the Virgin" ranks among the greatest pictures in the world. Lastly must be
noted the exquisite paintings of Correggio (1494-1534 A.D.), among them
the "Holy Night" and the "Marriage of St. Catherine."
[Illustration: ITALIAN PAINTINGS OF THE RENAISSANCE
ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN--TITIAN
SISTINE MADONNA--RAPHAEL
THE LAST SUPPER--LEONARDO DA VINCI
MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE--CORREGGIO
MONNA LISA GIOCONDA--LEONARDO DA VINCI]
[Illustration: FLEMISH, DUTCH AND SPANISH PAINTINGS OF THE RENAISSANCE
THE NIGHTWATCH--REMBRANDT
DESCENT FROM THE CROSS--RUBENS
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION--MURILLO]
MUSIC
Another modern art, that of music, arose in Italy during the Renaissance.
In the sixteenth century the three-stringed rebeck received a fourth
string and became the violin, the most expressive of all musical
instruments. A forerunner of the pianoforte also appeared in the
harpsichord. A papal organist and choir-master, Palestrina (1526-1594
A.D.), was the first of the great composers. He gave music its fitting
place in worship by composing melodious hymns and masses still sung in
Roman Catholic churches. The oratorio, a religious drama set to music but
without action, scenery, or costume, had its beginning at this time. The
opera, however, was little developed until the eighteenth century.
213. REVIVAL OF LEARNING AND ART BEYOND ITALY
SPREAD OF HUMANISM IN EUROPE
About the middle of the fifteenth century fire from the Italian altar was
carried across the Alps, and a revival of learning began in northern
lands. Italy had led the way by recovering the long-buried treasures of
the classics and by providing means for their study. Scholars in Germany,
France, and England, who now had the aid of the printing press, continued
the intellectual movement and gave it widespread currency.
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS 1466(?)-1536 A.D.
The foremost humanist of the age was Desiderius Erasmus. Though a native
of Rotterdam in Holland, he lived for a time in Germany, France, England,
and Italy, and died at Basel in Switzerland. His travels and extensive
correspondence brought him in contact with most of the leading scholars of
the day. Erasmus wrote in Latin many works which were read and enjoyed by
educated men. He might be called the first really popular author in
Europe. Like Petrarch, he did much to encourage the humanistic movement by
his precepts and his example. "When I have money," said this devotee of
the classics, "I will first buy Greek books and then clothes."
GREEK TESTAMENT OF ERASMUS
Erasmus performed his most important service as a Biblical critic. In 1516
A.D. he published the New Testament in the original Greek, with a Latin
translation and a dedication to the pope. Up to this time the only
accessible edition of the New Testament was the old Latin version known as
the Vulgate, which St. Jerome had made near the close of the fourth
century. By preparing a new and more accurate translation, Erasmus
revealed the fact that the Vulgate contained many errors. By printing the
Greek text, together with notes which helped to make the meaning clear,
Erasmus enabled scholars to discover for themselves just what the New
Testament writers had actually said. [14]
HUMANISM AND THE REFORMATION
Erasmus as a student of the New Testament carried humanism over into the
religious field. His friends and associates, especially in Germany,
continued his work. "We are all learning Greek now," said Luther, "in
order to understand the Bible." Humanism, by becoming the handmaid of
religion, thus passed insensibly into the Reformation.
[Illustration: DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (Louvre, Paris)
A portrait by the German artist, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543
A.D.). Probably an excellent likeness of Erasmus.]
THE ARTISTIC REVIVAL IN EUROPE
Italian architects found a cordial reception in France, Spain, the
Netherlands, and other countries, where they introduced Renaissance styles
of building and ornamentation. The celebrated palace of the Louvre in
Paris, which is used to-day as an art gallery and museum, dates from the
sixteenth century. At this time the French nobles began to replace their
somber feudal dwellings by elegant country houses. Renaissance sculpture
also spread beyond Italy throughout Europe. Painters in northern countries
at first followed Italian models, but afterwards produced masterpieces of
their own. [15]
214. THE RENAISSANCE IN LITERATURE
HUMANISM AND THE VERNACULAR
The renewed interest in classical studies for a time retarded the
development of national languages and literatures in Europe. To the
humanists only Latin and Greek seemed worthy of notice. Petrarch, for
instance, composed in Italian beautiful sonnets which are still much
admired, but he himself expected to gain literary immortality through his
Latin works. Another Italian humanist went so far as to call Dante "a poet
for bakers and cobblers," and the _Divine Comedy_ was indeed translated
into Latin a few years after the author's death.
THE VERNACULAR REVIVAL
But a return to the vernacular was bound to come. The common people
understood little Latin, and Greek not at all. Yet they had learned to
read and they now had the printing press. Before long many books composed
in Italian, Spanish, French, English, and other national languages made
their appearance. This revival of the vernacular meant that henceforth
European literature would be more creative and original than was possible
when writers merely imitated or translated the classics. The models
provided by Greece and Rome still continued, however, to furnish
inspiration to men of letters.
MACHIAVELLI, 1469-1527 A.D.
The Florentine historian and diplomat, Machiavelli, by his book, _The
Prince_, did much to found the modern science of politics. Machiavelli, as
a patriotic Italian, felt infinite distress at the divided condition of
Italy, where numerous petty states were constantly at war. In _The Prince_
he tried to show how a strong, despotic ruler might set up a national
state in the peninsula. He thought that such a ruler ought not to be bound
by the ordinary rules of morality. He must often act "against faith,
against charity, against humanity, and against religion." The end would
justify the means. Success was everything; morality, nothing. This
dangerous doctrine has received the name of "Machiavellism"; it is not yet
dead in European statecraft.
CERVANTES, 1547-1616 A.D.
Spain during the sixteenth century gave to the world in Cervantes the only
Spanish writer who has achieved a great reputation outside his own
country. Cervantes's masterpiece, _Don Quixote_, seems to have been
intended as a burlesque upon the romances of chivalry once so popular in
Europe. The hero, Don Quixote, attended by his shrewd and faithful squire,
Sancho Panza, rides forth to perform deeds of knight-errantry, but meets,
instead, the most absurd adventures. The work is a vivid picture of
Spanish life. Nobles, priests, monks, traders, farmers, innkeepers,
muleteers, barbers, beggars--all these pass before our eyes as in a
panorama. _Don Quixote_ immediately became popular, and it is even more
read to-day than it was three centuries ago.
[Illustration: CERVANTES]
FROISSART, 1397(?)-1410 A.D.
The Flemish writer, Froissart, deserves notice as a historian and as one
of the founders of French prose. His _Chronicles_ present an account of
the fourteenth century, when the age of feudalism was fast drawing to an
end. He admired chivalry and painted it in glowing colors. He liked to
describe tournaments, battles, sieges, and feats of arms. Kings and
nobles, knights and squires, are the actors on his stage. Froissart
traveled in many countries and got much of his information at first hand
from those who had made history. Out of what he learned he composed a
picturesque and romantic story, which still captivates the imagination.
MONTAIGNE, 1533-1593 A.D.
A very different sort of writer was the Frenchman, Montaigne. He lives to-
day as the author of one hundred and seven essays, very delightful in
style and full of wit and wisdom. Montaigne really invented the essay, a
form of literature in which he has had many imitators.
CHAUCER, 1340(?)-1400 A.D.
Geoffrey Chaucer, who has been called the "morning star" of the English
Renaissance, was a story-teller in verse. His _Canterbury Tales_ are
supposed to be told by a company of pilgrims, as they journey from London
to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. [16] Chaucer describes
freshly and with unfailing good spirits the life of the middle and upper
classes. He does not reveal, any more than his contemporary Froissart, the
labor and sorrows of the down-trodden peasantry. But Chaucer was a true
poet, and his name stands high in England's long roll of men of letters.
SHAKESPEARE, 1564-1616 A.D.
This survey of the national authors of the Renaissance may fitly close
with William Shakespeare, whose genius transcended national boundaries and
made him a citizen of all the world. His life is known to us only in
barest outline. Born at Stratford-on-Avon, of humble parentage, he
attended the village grammar school, where he learned "small Latin and
less Greek", went to London as a youth, and became an actor and a
playwright. He prospered, made money both from his acting and the sale of
his plays, and at the age of forty-four retired to Stratford for the rest
of his life. Here he died eight years later, and here his grave may still
be seen in the village church. [17] During his residence in London he
wrote, in whole or in part, thirty-six or thirty-seven dramas, both
tragedies and comedies. They were not collected and published until
several years after his death. Shakespeare's plays were read and praised
by his contemporaries, but it has remained for modern men to see in him
one who ranks with Homer, Vergil, Dante, and Goethe among the great poets
of the world.
[Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
From the copper plate engraved by Martin Droeshout as frontispiece to the
First Folio edition of Shakespeare's works in 1623 A.D. In this engraving
the head is far too large for the body and the dress is out of
perspective. The only other authentic likeness of Shakespeare is the bust
over his grave in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford on Avon]
[Illustration: SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON
The house in which Shakespeare was born has been much altered in exterior
appearance since the poet's day. The timber framework, the floors, most of
the interior walls, and the cellars remain, however, substantially
unchanged. The illustration shows the appearance of the house before the
restoration made in 1857 A.D.]
PERSONALITY IN RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Renaissance poets and prose writers revealed themselves in their books. In
the same way the sculptors and painters of the Renaissance worked out
their own ideas and emotions in their masterpieces. This personal note
affords a sharp contrast to the anonymity of the Middle Ages. We do not
know the authors of the _Song of Roland_, the _Nibelungenlied_, and
_Reynard the Fox_, any more than we know the builders of the Gothic
cathedrals. Medieval literature subordinated the individual; that of the
Renaissance expressed the sense of individuality and man's interest in
himself. It was truly "humanistic."
215. THE RENAISSANCE IN EDUCATION
HUMANISM AND EDUCATION
The universities of the Middle Ages emphasized scholastic philosophy,
though in some institutions law and medicine also received much attention.
Greek, of course, was not taught, the vernacular languages of Europe were
not studied, and neither science nor history enjoyed the esteem of the
learned. The Renaissance brought about a partial change in this
curriculum. The classical languages and literatures, after some
opposition, gained an entrance into university courses and displaced
scholastic philosophy as the chief subject of instruction. From the
universities the study of the "humanities" descended to the lower schools,
where they still hold a leading place.
VITTORINO DA FELTRE, 1378-1446 A.D.
An Italian humanist, Vittorino da Feltre, was the pioneer of Renaissance
education. In his private school at Mantua, the "House of Delight," as it
was called, Vittorino aimed to develop at the same time the body, mind,
and character of his pupils, so as to fit them to "serve God in Church and
State." Accordingly, he gave much attention to religious instruction and
also set a high value on athletics. The sixty or seventy young men under
his care were taught to hunt and fish, to run and jump, to wrestle and
fence, to walk gracefully, and above all things to be temperate. For
intellectual training he depended on the Latin classics as the best means
of introducing students to the literature, art, and philosophy of ancient
times. Vittorino's name is not widely known to-day; he left no writings,
preferring, as he said, to live in the lives of his pupils; but there is
scarcely a modern teacher who does not consciously or unconsciously follow
his methods. More than anyone else, he is responsible for the educational
system which has prevailed in Europe almost to the present day.
A "CLASSICAL EDUCATION"
It cannot be said that the influence of humanism on education was wholly
good. Henceforth the Greek and Latin languages and literatures became the
chief instruments of culture. Educators neglected the great world of
nature and of human life which lay outside the writings of the ancients.
This "bookishness" formed a real defect of Renaissance systems of
training.
COMENIUS, 1592-1671 A.D.
A Moravian bishop named Comenius, who gave his long life almost wholly to
teaching, stands for a reaction against humanistic education. He proposed
that the vernacular tongues, as well as the classics, should be made
subjects of study. For this purpose he prepared a reading book, which was
translated into a dozen European languages, and even into Arabic, Persian,
and Turkish. Comenius also believed that the curriculum should include the
study of geography, world history, and government, and the practice of the
manual arts. He was one of the first to advocate the teaching of science.
Perhaps his most notable idea was that of a national system of education,
reaching from primary grades to the university. "Not only," he writes,
"are the children of the rich and noble to be drawn to school, but all
alike, rich and poor, boys and girls, in great towns and small, down to
the country villages." The influence of this Slavic teacher is more and
more felt in modern systems of education.
216. THE SCIENTIFIC RENAISSANCE
HUMANISM AND SCIENCE
The Middle Ages were not by any means ignorant of science, [18] but its
study naturally received a great impetus when the Renaissance brought
before educated men all that the Greeks and Romans had done in
mathematics, physics, astronomy, medicine, and other subjects. The
invention of printing also fostered the scientific revival by making it
easy to spread knowledge abroad in every land. The pioneers of Renaissance
science were Italians, but students in France, England, Germany, and other
countries soon took up the work of enlightenment.
COPERNICUS 1473-1543 A.D.
The names of some Renaissance scientists stand as landmarks in the history
of thought. The first place must be given to Copernicus, the founder of
modern astronomy. He was a Pole, but lived many years in Italy. Patient
study and calculation led him to the conclusion that the earth turns upon
its own axis, and, together with the planets, revolves around the sun. The
book in which he announced this conclusion did not appear until the very
end of his life. A copy of it reached him on his deathbed.
THE COPERNICAN THEORY
Medieval astronomers had generally accepted the Ptolemaic system. [19]
Some students before Copernicus had indeed suggested that the earth and
planets might rotate about a central sun, but he first gave reasons for
such a belief. The new theory met much opposition, not only in the
universities, which clung to the time-honored Ptolemaic system, but also
among theologians, who thought that it contradicted many statements in the
Bible. Moreover, people could not easily reconcile themselves to the idea
that the earth, instead of being the center of the universe, is only one
member of the solar system, that it is, in fact, only a mere speck of
cosmic dust.
GALILEO, 1564-1642 A.D.
An Italian scientist, Galileo, made one of the first telescopes--it was
about as powerful as an opera glass--and turned it on the heavenly bodies
with wonderful results. He found the sun moving unmistakably on its axis,
Venus showing phases according to her position in relation to the sun,
Jupiter accompanied by revolving moons, or satellites, and the Milky Way
composed of a multitude of separate stars. Galileo rightly believed that
these discoveries confirmed the theory of Copernicus.
KEPLER, 1571-1630 A.D.
Another man of genius, the German Kepler, worked out the mathematical laws
which govern the movements of the planets. He made it clear that the
planets revolve around sun in elliptical instead of circular orbits.
Kepler's investigations afterwards led to the discovery of the principle
of gravitation.
VESALIUS, 1514-1564 A.D., AND HARVEY, 1578-1657 A.D.
Two other scientists did epochal work in a field far removed from
astronomy. Vesalius, a Fleming, who studied in Italian medical schools,
gave to the world the first careful description of the human body based on
actual dissection. He was thus the founder of human anatomy. Harvey, an
Englishman, after observing living animals, announced the discovery of the
circulation of the blood. He thereby founded human physiology.
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Vesalius, Harvey, and their fellow workers
built up the scientific method. In the Middle Ages students had mostly
been satisfied to accept what Aristotle and other philosophers had said,
without trying to prove their statements. [20] Kepler, for instance, was
the first to disprove the Aristotelian idea that, as all perfect motion is
circular, therefore the heavenly bodies must move in circular orbits.
Similarly, the world had to wait many centuries before Harvey showed
Aristotle's error in supposing that the blood arose in the liver, went
thence to the heart, and by the veins was conducted over the body. The new
scientific method rested on observation and experiment. Students learned
at length to take nothing for granted, to set aside all authority, and to
go straight to nature for their facts. As Lord Bacon, [21] one of
Shakespeare's contemporaries and a severe critic of the old scholasticism,
declared, "All depends on keeping the eye steadily fixed upon the facts of
nature, and so receiving their images simply as they are, for God forbid
that we should give out a dream of our own imagination for a pattern of
the world." Modern science, to which we owe so much, is a product of the
Renaissance.
217. THE ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE
AN ECONOMIC CHANGE
Thus far the Renaissance has been studied as an intellectual and artistic
movement, which did much to liberate the human mind and brought the Middle
Ages to an end in literature, in art, and in science. It is necessary,
however, to consider the Renaissance era from another point of view.
During this time an economic change of vast significance was taking place
in rural life all over western Europe. We refer to the decline and
ultimate extinction of medieval serfdom.
DECLINE OF SERFDOM
Serfdom imposed a burden only less heavy than the slavery which it had
displaced. The serf, as has been shown, [22] might not leave the manor in
which he was born, he might not sell his holdings of land, and, finally,
he had to give up a large part of his time to work without pay for the
lord of the manor. This system of forced labor was at once unprofitable to
the lord and irksome to his serfs. After the revival of trade and industry
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had brought more money into
circulation, [23] the lord discovered how much better it was to hire men
to work for him, as he needed them, instead of depending on serfs who
shirked their tasks as far as possible. The latter, in turn, were glad to
pay the lord a fixed sum for the use of land, since now they could devote
themselves entirely to its cultivation. Both parties gained by an
arrangement which converted the manorial lord into a landlord and the serf
into a free tenant-farmer paying rent.
THE "BLACK DEATH"
The emancipation of the peasantry was hastened, strangely enough, as the
result of perhaps the most terrible calamity that has ever afflicted
mankind. About the middle of the fourteenth century a pestilence of
Asiatic origin, now known to have been the bubonic plague, reached the
West. [24] The "Black Death" so called because among its symptoms were
dark patches all over the body, moved steadily across Europe. The way for
its ravages had been prepared by the unhealthful conditions of ventilation
and drainage in towns and cities. After attacking Greece, Sicily, Italy,
Spain, France, and Germany, the plague entered England in 1349 A.D. and
within less than two years swept away probably half the population of that
country. The mortality elsewhere was enormous, one estimate setting it as
high as twenty-five millions for all Europe.
EFFECTS OF THE "BLACK DEATH"
The pestilence in England, as in other countries, caused a great scarcity
of labor. For want of hands to bring in the harvest, crops rotted on the
ground, while sheep and cattle, with no one to care for them, strayed
through the deserted fields. The free peasants who survived demanded and
received higher wages. Even the serfs, whose labor was now more valued,
found themselves in a better position. The lord of a manor, in order to
keep his laborers, would often allow them to substitute money payments for
personal services. When the serfs got no concessions, they frequently took
to flight and hired themselves to the highest bidder.
FIRST STATUTE OF LABORERS, 1351 A.D.
The governing classes of England, who at this time were mainly landowners,
believed that the workers were taking an unfair advantage of the
situation. So in 1351 A.D. Parliament passed a law fixing the maximum wage
in different occupations and punishing with imprisonment those who refused
to accept work when it was offered to them. The fact that Parliament had
to reenact this law thirteen times within the next century shows that it
did not succeed in preventing a general rise of wages. It only exasperated
the working classes.
THE PEASANTS' REBELLION, 1381 A.D.
A few years after the first Statute of Laborers the restlessness and
discontent among the masses led to a serious outbreak. It was one of the
few attempts at violent revolution which the English working people have
made. One of the inspirers of the rebellion was a wandering priest named
John Ball. He went about preaching that all goods should be held in common
and the distinction between lords and serfs wiped away. "When Adam delved
and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" asked John Ball. Uprisings
occurred in nearly every part of England, but the one in Kent had most
importance. The rioters marched on London and presented their demands to
the youthful king, Richard II. He promised to abolish serfdom and to give
them a free pardon. As soon, however, as Richard had gathered an army, he
put down the revolt by force and hanged John Ball and about a hundred of
his followers.
THE JACQUERIE, 1358 A.D.
The rebellion in England may be compared with the far more terrible
Jacquerie [25] in France, a few years earlier. The French peasants, who
suffered from feudal oppression and the effects of the Hundred Years' War,
raged through the land, burning the castles and murdering their feudal
lords. The movement had scarcely any reasonable purpose; it was an
outburst of blind passion. The nobles avenged themselves by slaughtering
the peasants in great numbers.
[Illustration: RICHARD II
After an engraving based on the original in Westminster Abbey. Probably
the oldest authentic portrait in England.]
EXTINCTION OF SERFDOM
Though these first great struggles of labor against capital were failures,
the emancipation of the peasantry went steadily on throughout the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. By 1500 A.D. serfdom had virtually
disappeared in Italy, in most parts of France, and in England. Some less-
favored countries retained serfdom much longer. Prussian, Austrian, and
Russian serfs did not receive their freedom until the nineteenth century.
CONDITION OF THE PEASANTRY
The extinction of serfdom was, of course, a forward step in human freedom,
but the lot of the English and Continental peasantry long remained
wretched. The poem of _Piers Plowman_, written in the time of Chaucer,
shows the misery of the age and reveals a very different picture than that
of the gay, holiday-making, merry England seen in the _Canterbury Tales_.
One hundred and fifty years later, the English humanist, Sir Thomas More,
a friend of Erasmus, published his _Utopia_ as a protest against social
abuses. _Utopia_, or "Nowhere," is an imaginary country whose inhabitants
choose their own rulers, hold all property in common, and work only nine
hours a day. In Utopia a public system of education prevails, cruel
punishments are unknown, and every one enjoys complete freedom to worship
God. This remarkable book, though it pictures an ideal commonwealth,
really anticipates many social reforms of the present time.
STUDIES
1. Prepare a chronological chart showing the leading men of letters,
artists, scientists, and educators mentioned in this chapter.
2. For what were the following persons noted: Chrysoloras; Vittorino da
Feltre; Gutenberg; Boccaccio; Machiavelli; Harvey; and Galileo?
3. How did the words "machiavellism" and "utopian" get their present
meanings?
4. Distinguish and define the three terms, "Renaissance," "Revival of
Learning," and "Humanism."
5. "Next to the discovery of the New World, the recovery of the ancient
world is the second landmark that divides us from the Middle Ages and
marks the transition to modern life." Comment on this statement.
6. Why did the Renaissance begin as "an Italian event"?
7. "City-states have always proved favorable to culture." Illustrate this
remark.
8. Why was the revival of Greek more important in the history of
civilization than the revival of Latin?
9. Show that printing was an "emancipating force."
10. With what paintings by the "old masters" are you familiar?
11. How does the opera differ from the oratorio?
12. Why has Froissart been styled the "French Herodotus"?
13. How many of Shakespeare's plays can you name? How many have you read?
14. Can you mention any of Shakespeare's plays which are founded on
Italian stories or whose scenes are laid in Italy?
15. Why did the classical scholar come to be regarded as the only educated
man?
16. In what respects is the American system of education a realization of
the ideals of Comenius?
17. Did the medieval interest in astrology retard or further astronomical
research?
18. How did the discoveries of Galileo and Kepler confirm the Copernican
theory?
19. What is meant by the "emancipation of the peasantry"?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter xix, "A
Scholar of the Renaissance"; chapter xx, "Renaissance Artists."
[2] See page 545.
[3] See page 413.
[4] See page 604.
[5] Latin _humanitas,_ from _homo_, "man."
[6] See page 560.
[7] A Latin word meaning "cradle" or "birthplace," and so the beginning of
anything.
[8] See page 574.
[9] See the plate facing page 591.
[10] See the illustration, page 202.
[11] For instance, the Invalides in Paris, St. Paul's in London, and the
Capitol at Washington.
[12] In this chapel the election of a new pope takes place.
[13] See page 336.
[14] The so-called _Complutensian Polyglott_, issued at Alcalá in Spain by
Cardinal Jimenes, did even more for the advance of Biblical scholarship.
This was the first printed text of the Greek New Testament, but it was not
actually published till 1522 A.D., six years after the appearance of the
edition by Erasmus.
[15] A list of the great European painters would include at least the
following names: Durer (1471-1582 A.D.) and Hans Holbein the Younger
(1497-1543 A.D.) in Germany; Rubens (1577-1640 A.D.) and Van Dyck (1599-
1641 A.D.) in Flanders; Rembrandt (1606-1669 A.D.) in Holland; Claude
Lorraine (1600-1682 A.D.) in France; and Velásquez (1599-1660 A.D.) and
Murillo (1617-1682 A.D.) in Spain.
[16] See the illustration, page 442.
[17] The three-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death was
appropriately observed in 1916 A.D. throughout the world.
[18] See page 572.
[19] See page 133.
[20] See page 571.
[21] Not to be confused with his countryman, Roger Bacon, who lived in the
thirteenth century. See page 573.
[22] See page 436.
[23] See page 541.
[24] A similar plague devastated the Roman world during the reign of
Justinian.
[25] From _Jacques_, a common French name for a peasant.