Renaissance Vs Middle Ages

The Renaissance From the 1300’s to the 1600’s, Europe was able to advance and develop as a continent after suffering through the middle ages. The Middle Ages lasted from the 5th to the 15th century, and is often referred to as the “Dark Ages” because of how it affected Europe. During the Middle Ages, Europeans weren’t able to prosper due to the fact that they were dealing with the Bubonic plague which happened to kill approximately 30 % of Europe’s population. The period that the Middle Ages led up to, was the Renaissance. The Renaissance truly changed the way that humans thought after the Middle Age, by introducing new beliefs and ideas that changed society. In addition, the Renaissance has also brought many influential inventions

With how the Middle Ages left Europe, it was not easy to transform it back into a thriving nation as it once had been. In order to survive through this time period, the Europeans came up with the system of Feudalism. Feudalism was a governmental system in which land was exchanged by the king in return for military service, this allowed the kings to keep control over the serfs and peasants. The system of Manorialism was intertwined with Feudalism, acting as the economic portion of the system. At this period of time, life for many revolved around serving the lord and his manor. Economic marketing was done at manors, meaning that barely any trade would occur within the economy, causing the economy to weaken. As time went on, situations in Europe grew worse. During the Middle Ages, religion became such an important thing to society that people started seeing at is something to live for. An invention that impacted religion was the printing press. The printing press was invented in the 15th century and quickly spread across Europe allowing people to obtain information and spread new ideas. The invention of the printing press eventually led to the Bible being written and able for others to read. By the

After suffering through the dark ages, Europeans decided they wanted to begin a new age of rebirth. During the Renaissance, literature, art, and humanistic study was truly brought back, allowing Europe to grow. The Renaissance was able to first take place in Italy because many of the ideas adapted were discovered through trade in Italy. Cities in Italy were strong trade centers due to the fact that they were positioned on the Mediterranean sea. Humanism was a movement of the Renaissance that related to a series of beliefs of human value. Art and literature were inspired because of the idea that life as a human being should be enjoyed rather than just tolerated. Instead of life being focused around god, humans actually began to become focused on the nature of themselves and the world around them. The idea of humanism went against everything that was taught in the Middle ages because of religion. The more prominent that humanism became in the Western society, the more it began to grow and eventually adapted the belief of secularism. Secularism was the belief that religion shouldn’t play a role in government and parts of society. Seeing as how the Renaissance was a place of rebirth, it's no wonder how new inventions and art pieces were established during this