Discuss the factors that contributed to the birth of the renaissance Essay

Discuss the factors that contributed to the birth of the renaissance in italy - Essay Example Additionally, the renaissance was a period when people rediscovered learning by changing their attitudes about themselves and their surroundings, and it was an exciting time of new inventions, and great discoveries, magnificent buildings, and beautiful art (Yeland). Renaissance goes forth from Italy because many of the forces that were slowly but radically transforming the medieval thinking into modern thinking were more active than in other places in the world; this paper will dwell on exploring factors that contributed to the birth of renaissance in Italy. One of the factors that largely contributed to the birth of renaissance in Italy was Italy’s geographical location (â€Å"The Italian Renaissance†), which strategically placed the country in contact with the Byzantines and Arabs who had long preserved classical knowledge and culture, thus, putting it in a better position to absorb the Greek and Roman heritage. In that case, Geography gave Italy an advantage over Nor thern Europe because it enabled the country to amass wealth and build capacity to break off from the feudal system because, stretching into the Mediterranean sea and strategically situated at the heart of Europe and the Byzantine empire, Italian cities took part in international trade and market economy. In this regard, Italy came in contact not only with the massive flow goods, but to also with the extensive flow of ideas much earlier than other places in the world, thus, flourishing both economically and intellectually. A second causal factor attributable to renaissance was the new secular hunger for discovering texts, which had long been ignored that arose in Italy in the 14th century; secular readers developed an appetite for seeking out, reading and spreading old works, majorly classical writings, on a large scale, thus, new libraries sprung to facilitate access to books. Many significant writings of the classical works found their way back into Europe both by merchants who exp loited the new interest in older texts and by the incoming scholars who had been invited to teach in Italy. The fall of Constantinople was also a reason that saw the influx of many Greek scholars with their precious manuscripts into Italy, which inevitably led to the pervasive dissemination of the Greek classical texts all over Europe thus sparking off the renaissance subsequently. The birth of the printing press also sparked the Italian renaissance because it made it possible for the almost forgotten old classical texts to be mass produced, thus reaching large audiences at the same time, allowing renaissance to develop in return. Additionally, the political context in Italy, which was characterized by the need for display and administration, can be attributable to the onset of renaissance because the massive changes in styles of art including the outlook of artists required support of the wealthy patrons (Wilde). Artists were keen to explore their renaissance ideas were well suppor ted to produce masterpieces by the new rulers of the Italian cities who sought to assert themselves through conspicuous display with ostentation, including all forms of art and creativity. Nevertheless, development of humanism, a new form of thinking and