Feudal Society In The Renaissance

During the early 14th century, Western Europe had continued to live on feudal lands two centuries after the era of the Crusades. Feudal land was acres of land controlled by a large owner- the lord. These lords granted land and protection from outside invaders to the civilians that choose to live on their feudal lands. In return, citizens had to give portions of their work to the lord (Class Notes Dec. 4, 2017). Every feudal land had their own market, blacksmith, and more importantly, a Church. The priest of the Church is able to live for free. The priest was usually the only one that was literate or had an education in the entirety of the land. The need to go to school wasn’t stressed, since the lifestyle of many Western Europeans was to live

Families like the Medici were a well known family. The Medicini originated from Florence, Italy and were a powerful banking family (Ellis 337). They had profited, and had made a fair amount of money. Many other families were similar to the Medici, and the middle and wealthy class flourished in lively cities. Money translated into cultural and political power (Ellis 337). With the help of the increasing wealthy class, money had been abundant to spend. The wealthy and powerful merchant class promoted cultural rebirth, and their interests helped shape the Italian Renaissance (Ellis 336). Merchants and the rich were patrons and had donated to artists, which had given artists enough funds to create art. Renaissance artists portrayed religious figures including Jesus and Mary and often set figures up with Roman and Greek backgrounds (Ellis 338). Not only had money changed Renaissance art, it had also how the merchant class was viewed. The merchant class overthrew the wealthy class, by exerting political and economical leaders (Ellis 337). They stressed education and lavishly supported the

In the city-state of Geneva, Switzerland, the largely protestant town adopted theocracy. Theocracy was a government run by church leaders (Ellis 350). Calvin’s followers saw themselves as being the “chosen people”, in which they were to build a truly christian society (Ellis 350). The idea of Theocracy had originated from Geneva, but by the late 1500s, the system and Calvin 's followers spread to Germany, France, the Netherlands, as well as England (Ellis 350). England however, was facing hardships with religion. King Henry VIII firmly was against the protestant Church, but he had wanted a divorce with Catherine of Aragon (Ellis 252). However, the Catholic Church did not allow for a divorce, and instead, gave an option to kill her instead. Furious that the Church, he took the English Churches from the Pope’s power and made himself the supreme leader of the church (Ellis 252). After King Henry VIII’s death, the protestant religion surfaced in England and only had gained traction in 1558 when Elizabeth was appointed the Queen of England. As Queen, she slowly enforced reforms which had become a compromise between the Catholic and the Protestants. During her long reign, she had restored unity to