Donatello's Rebirth

The word "renaissance" is literally translated to "rebirth". It was the rebirth of many things, and in many ways. It began in Northern Italy in about 1350, after the Black Death killed about one third of the population; so the renaissance could even be considered the rebirth of the nation. It was mainly however, the rebirth of art, literature, education, and even religion. Donatello earned a reputation for himself for creating "larger-than-life" sculptures with many different techniques that he developed and then introduced to the renaissance era. He was also very well known for flawlessly depicting human emotions such as suffering, joy, and sorrow in his drawings, which he would later turn into sculptures. Giotto de Bondone was another famous

Many people began to convert from the Catholic way of life to a religion called Protestantism, which is still a form of Christianity, just not the same as Catholicism. Protestantism was founded by Martin Luther (the father of the Protestant reformation). He posted his ninety-five these on the door of the castle church, provoking debate among the church members. He was not trying to depart from the church when he did this, but merely "reform" or modify it. The pope was not pleased with Luther because he viewed Luther 's action as rebellious, and the pope could also have lost his job if the whole city converted to Protestantism. The pope told Luther that he had sixty days to take back forty-one sentences from his writings (of these included his ninety-five theses), or he would be excommunicated from the church. Instead, Luther wrote even more books, and even some about the pope himself., which of course sped up his excommunication, but at the same time it kick-started the beginning of the Protestant Church. John Calvin had about as much to do with the Protestant reformation as Martin Luther. Luther and his followers created one, more formal church, whereas Calvin 's followers created several, not as formal churches, throughout Europe. Luther 's influence remained mostly in Western Europe, while Calvin 's influence remained primarily in German lands. Calvin and Luther shared many