By: Kade Aspel
What was the Renaissance? | When and where did the Renaissance begin?
Influences of the Renaissance | Art and Architecture | Music | Literature | Math and Science
How the Renaissance affects us. | Works Cited
The Renaissance was a time of rebirth. In fact, the word renaissance means rebirth. It was a time when Greek and Roman ideas became popular again. In this time, the printing press was invented, trade routes between Europe and Asia began, and the world experienced economic, intellectual, and cultural advances. Also the emphasis of people as individuals was taken into account.
When and where did the Renaissance begin?
The Renaissance occurred around 1200 A.D. - 1600 A.D. It began in a town called Florence in Italy and soon spread to most of Europe. The Renaissance had many geniuses of all time and was a time of true discovery.
Writers: They influenced people to study Greek and Roman ideas in their literature
Scientists: Brought back many of the inventions of the Greeks and Romans, also used old G+R texts to make new inventions. Explorers: Found lost G+R ideas and texts that were thought to be lost forever.
Leonardo Da Vinci: April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519
Leonardo is considered the greatest genius who ever lived. He was a painter, sculptor, inventor, engineer, scientist, mathematician, anatomist, musician, architect and writer! I think it would take me a few lifetimes to do all that. Through all of this, he is most famous for his paintings. Some of his best paintings were the Last Supper and Mona Lisa. I feel his most important work was his inventions. In many journals, he drew out blueprints for his many inventions. An example of one is a flying machine shaped like a bird. It was extremely big! This is just a guess but, I think it was about 20- 40 feet wide. I picked Leonardo because he is amazing! To do all that in 1 life time is amazing!
Heinrich Isaac: 1450 - March 26, 1517
Heinrich Isaac was born in Germany. When he was about 35 he went to Florence where he played the Organ. There he played for Lorenzo de' Medici. Later on, The Medici's were banished and Heinrich looked for help elsewhere. By 1497 Heinrich was in the employ of Emperor Maximilian I. He traveled throughout most of Germany and influenced composers in the region. After that he returned to Florence in 1514 and died 3 years later. When he was alive he composed a wide variety of music, including masses, motets, German and Italian songs and instrumental music. One of his most regarded works was Choralis Constantinus. To be honest, I just randomly picked him from a list of musicians of the Renaissance.
William Shakespeare: April 23, 1564 - April, 1616
William was born in England and is considered the greatest English writer of all time! He wrote about 40 plays, 150 sonnets, and a variety of poems. Unlike Leonardo, he was only a writer, but a brilliant one at that. Shakespeare's work is so famous that is was translated into every major language and is still played through out the world today! If his birth date is correct, William sadly died on his birthday at the age of 52. I really believe the saying, "The good die young" is very true because of it occurring very often. It may not occur every time, but is still very common. Some of Shakespeare's greatest plays are "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet". I picked him because he is someone I really look forward to learning about and some day, I will see one of his plays or read one of his books.
Nicolaus Copernicus: February 19, 1473 - May 24, 1543
Nicolaus, like many, was a man of many professions. He was a Mathematician, jurist, physician, classical scholar, Catholic cleric, governor, administrator, diplomat, economist, and most of all a astronomer. His greatest discovery, I believe, is that the Sun is the center of the universe not the Earth. His theories consisted of heliocentric ideas as appose to many other's theories of geocentric ideas. Copernicus' discovery that the Sun is the center of the Universe is considered the greatest discovery of the western hemisphere. His book of theories and ideas was called, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. Copernicus was often afraid that he would be rejected in many ways by the public if he published his book, but he finally did. Legend has it, he was given the first copy of his book right before he died. I chose Nicolaus because he discovered the Earth revolved around the Sun!
How the Renaissance affects us.
Now, if there never was a Renaissance life would be very different. Some events that occurred in the Renaissance that effect us today are mainly all the great poetry, paintings, and plays that were written. Also, Leonardo's dozens of inventions are really commonly used today. A discovery that became very popular in the Renaissance was Paper and moveable type. A very important decision was that people started to have universities that were not taught by a priest or other holy figure. Most importantly, universities started to focus on other important subjects like math, science, and history instead of just religion.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare."http://en.wikipedia.org.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci."http://en.wikipedia.org.
Burstein, Stanley. World History Medieval to Early Modern Times. student. Orlando: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 2006.