Historical background of renaissance period?
The Renaissance
Historical Background. The Renaissance, or the Revival of
Learning, which is
another English term for it, was the period when European
culture was at its
height, a period unsurpassed by any other before or after it.
The coming of this
great and glorious epoch, which lasted from the 14th century
till the 17th, was
caused by complex economic and social conditions.
At that time the feudal system was being shattered by the
bourgeoisie, which
was getting stronger and stronger. The old social order didn't
answer the demands
of the new class that was rapidly gaining strength. The
boundaries of different
duchies and counties hindered the development of trade. It was
more profitable for
merchants to be united under a single ruler. In opposition to
feudal discord
(['disko:d] - разногласие, раздор) , absolute monarchy came into
being, and
feudal domains, once almost independent, came under one-man
power. This led to
the forming of nations in the true sense of the word, and, as a
natural consequence,
to the creation of national languages. The first stage in the
appearance of the
bourgeoisie on the historical arena is called the period of the
primary accumulation
of capital.
New social and economic conditions called for a new ideology,
because the
Catholic dogmas (вероучение; символ веры, догма) did not
correspond to the
new trend of life. For that reason in many European countries
different varieties of
the Protestant religion sprang up and national Churches were
established. Contrary
to medieval concepts, according to which man was but an
insignificant grain of
sand whose every move was ordered by the will of God, the new
ideology
proclaimed the value of human individuality, the value of
individual initiative and
enterprise, the value of man as such, whatever his birth and
social standing. Instead
of the blind faith ordered by the Catholic religion, great
importance was assigned
to intellect, to experience, to scientific experiment. This new
outlook was called
Humanism. It could not accept the old theological views, and
took the art and
science of ancient Greece and Rome for its basis, hence the term
"the Revival of
Learning". When in 1453 the Turks captured Constantinople and
the Empire of Byzantium ceased to exist, a number of Byzantine
scholars fled to Europe and
began teaching the Greek language and literature, which up to
that time was
unknown there. The time demanded positive, rational knowledge,
and the demand
was supplied in astronomy, by Copernicus; in medicine by
Vesalius and Servetus;
in phylosophy by More, Montaigne [mon'tein] and Francis
['fra:nsis] Bacon; in
philology by Desiderius Erasmus [i'ræzmεs] of Rotterdam - to
name but a few.
Great geographical discoveries were made by Columbus, Vasco da
Gama,
Fernando Magellan and many others. Leonardo da Vinci put forth a
new theory
and practice of art.
In Italy, France and Germany a new literature arose, the first
modern literature;
shortly afterwards came the classical epochs of English and
Spanish literature.
"It was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so
far experienced, a
time which called for giants and produced giants - giants in
powder and thought,
passion and character, in universality (широта, всеобщность) and
learning.
An example of a typical man of the Renaissance period was the
famous
Englishman, Sir Walter Raleigh.
Sir Walter Raleigh ['ro:li] (1552?-1618).
Statesman (политик), courtier (придворный), soldier, sailor,
explorer, pirate,
colonizer, historian, philosopher, poet, Walter Raleigh was born
in Devonshire and
entered military service when a very young man. His brave deeds
earned him great
fame, and Queen Elizabeth I raised him in her favour and made
him a knight. At
that time England was at war with Spain, the most powerful
defender of Catholic
reaction in Europe. Sir Walter fought the Spaniards at sea. He
founded the colony
of Virginia in North America, where, unlike his successors, he
tried to establish
friendly relations with the Indians. It was he who brought
potatoes and tobacco to
Europe.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth, King James I made peace with
Spain, and in
order to please the former enemies of England, he imprisoned Sir
Walter. Raleigh
was accused of plotting (строить заговор) against the king and
sentenced to death.
He spent thirteen years in the Tower of London, expecting
execution every day.
While in prison he planned to write a "History of the World",
but only one volume
of this vast project was completed. Besides that he wrote works
on geography and
on ship-building and some beautiful poems. In 1616 Raleigh was
allowed to lead
an expedition to South America to bring back gold and jewels.
The expedition was
a failure; on the way back Raleigh fought a sea-battle against
some Spaniards and
returned to face the protest of Spain, as a result of which he
was rearrested and
beheaded by King James's orders.
Raleigh was much interested in science and literature. He
organized an "academy",
a circle in which atheistic views were discussed. Its members
included Sir Walters
friends: Thomas Harriot ['hæriet] (1560 - 1621), the most
distinguished English
mathematician and astronomer before Newton; Christopher Marlowe
['ma:lou], the
greatest English dramatist before Shakespeare; Edmund Spenser,
the foremost
(выдающийся) poet of the time (whom Raleigh helped to attain
fame), and Ben
Jonson, the most influential playwright and poet of his period
for several years was
the tutor of Raleigh's son). Sir Walter Raleigh was an
outstanding poet himself.
Much of his poetry is lost, and we know only about thirty poems
written by him.
They are full of profound wisdom, written with great elegance
and simplicity of
style, and are remarkably expressive. His best poem is "The
Lie", or "The Soul's
Errand" (поручение, задание), said to have been composed in
prison; in it he
denounced (осуждать) the cruelty, hypocrisy and social
inequality of his time.
Even if he had written nothing else, this poem alone would be
sufficient for us to
consider him a major poet.
Some of his poems and his prose work "The Discovery of the
Empire of
Guiana" [gi'a:nε] (1596) have been translated into Russian.
