Renaissance

The Renaissance, also known as "Il Rinascimento" (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. It marks the transitional period between the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Modern Age. The Renaissance is usually considered to have begun in the 14th century in Italy and the 16th century in northern Europe.

Northern Renaissance

:Main article: Northern Renaissance

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The Renaissance spread north out of Italy being adapted and modified as it moved. It first arrived in France, imported by King Francis I after his invasion of Italy. Francis imported Italian art and artists, including Leonardo Da Vinci and at great expense he built ornate palaces. Writers such as Rabelais also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance.

Related Topics:
France - Francis I - Leonardo Da Vinci - Rabelais

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From France the spirit of the age spread to the Low Countries and Germany, and finally to England, Scandinavia, and Central Europe by the late 16th century. In these areas the Renaissance became closely linked to the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation and the art and writing of the German Renaissance frequently reflected this dispute.

Related Topics:
Low Countries - Germany - Scandinavia - 16th century - Protestant Reformation

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While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy, there was a simultaneous spread southward of innovation, particularly in music. The music of the 15th century Burgundian School defined the beginning of the Renaissance in that art; and the polyphony of the Netherlanders, as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of what was the first true international style in music since the standardization of Gregorian Chant in the 9th century. The culmination of the Netherlandish school was in the music of the Italian composer, Palestrina. At the end of the 16th century Italy again became a center of musical innovation, with the development of the polychoral style of the Venetian School, which spread northward into Germany around 1600.

Related Topics:
Music - 15th century - Burgundian School - Polyphony - Netherlanders - Music - Gregorian Chant - 9th century - Composer - Palestrina - Venetian School - 1600

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In England, the Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the English Renaissance. It saw writers such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser, as well as great artists, architects (such as Inigo Jones) and composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and William Byrd.

Related Topics:
Elizabethan era - English Renaissance - William Shakespeare - Christopher Marlowe - John Milton - Edmund Spenser - Inigo Jones - Thomas Tallis - John Taverner - William Byrd

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In these northern nations the Renaissance would be built upon and supplanted by the thinkers of The Enlightenment in the seventeenth century.

Related Topics:
The Enlightenment - Seventeenth century

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