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THE CULTURALBACKGROUND

TO THEENGLISH AND

EUROPEAN

RENAISSANCES

Mª CARMEN VALERO SALES

Índice de contenido

INTRODUCTION: THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE (1300-1600)INTRODUCTION: THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE (1300-1600). .. .11

PAINTING IN RENAISSANCEPAINTING IN RENAISSANCE.................................................................................................... 33

 ARCHITECTURE IN RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN RENAISSANCE.................................................................................... 33

LITERATURE IN RENAISSANCELITERATURE IN RENAISSANCE............................................................................................55HUMANISMHUMANISM.................................................................................................................................................. 99

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SCIENCE IN RENAISSANCESCIENCE IN RENAISSANCE.................................................................................................... 1111

MUSIC IN RENAISSANCEMUSIC IN RENAISSANCE..........................................................................................................1111

DANCE IN RENAISSANCEDANCE IN RENAISSANCE........................................................................................................1313

WITCHES IN RENAISSANCEWITCHES IN RENAISSANCE.................................................................................................. 1515

BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 1717

ELECTRONICAL RESOURCESELECTRONICAL RESOURCES................................................................................................1717

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INTRODUCTION: THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE (1300-1600)

Renaissance was

a cultural

movement

beginning in Italy in the late Middle

Ages and later spreading to the rest of 

Europe, the term Renaissance means

“rebirth” although so many years later

received a more extended

significance: “revival of learning”,

used to denote the whole transition

from the Middle Ages to the modern

world.

 The

  The Renaissance was a period of 

European history, a period of new

inventions and beliefs started by so

many rich Italian cities because they

were very wealthy, many merchants

started to spend money on different

things, such as painting, learning, new

banking techniques, and new systems

of government. These things brought

with them Humanism that was

subjects concerned with humankind

and culture.

 The Renaissance brought a new form

of painting, art and sculpture and

embraced a series of religious,

economic and political changes which

ripple into areas of science, literature

and philosophy. It also witnessed the

discovery and exploration of new

continents, the substitution of the

Copernican for the Ptolemaic system

of astronomy, the decline of the feudal

system and the growth of commerce,

and the invention or application of 

such potentially powerful innovations

as paper, printing, the mariner's

compass, and gunpowder.

 The English Renaissance was a cultural

and artistic movement in England that

began from the early 16th century to

the early 17th century.

 The English period began far later than

the Italian and it differs from the

Italian Renaissance in several ways,

the dominant art forms of the

English Renaissance were literature 

and music, and the Visual arts were

much less significant than in theItalian Renaissance. Both

Renaissances were similar because

they shared a specific musical

aesthetic.

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PAINTING IN RENAISSANCE

 The early Renaissance painting was a bridge between the period of European

art history , the art of the Middle ages and the art of the Renaissance.

 The themes that were treated in this period were mainly religious but also

some purely figurative ones. Some more mundane themes were treated, but

they were often treated via a religious or mythological representations.

Painters used the technique of the perspective and Giotto di Bondone worked

on the painting as a window into space in order to give a more realistic

presentation of art. It was relevant the prominence of the use of airy, bright

colors and proper sizes; on the other hand, the human anatomy wasn’t soidealized as during the ancient times.

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ARCHITECTURE IN RENAISSANCE

In different regions of Europe there was a conscious revival and development

of certain elements of Classical Greek and Roman thought and material culture.

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In this period were emphasized styles as symmetry, proportion, geometry and

the regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of the

Ancient Rome.

 The earliest buildings were churches and the plans of these buildings have a

square and a symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually based

on a module which is often the width of an aisle.

Roman style columns and pilasters, arches, vaults, domes ceilings, doors,

windows and details were the basis of Renaissance architecture.

 The reign of Elizabeth I was the period in which architecture arrived in England

having first spread through the Low Countries where it acquired versions of the

Dutch gable and Flemish strapwork in geometric designs adorning the walls.

 The new style manifested itself in large square tall houses.

Inigo Jones studied architecture in Italy and was the first great exponent in

England. His works contain clean lines and symmetry were revolutionary in a

country still enamoured with million windows, crenelations and turrets, as the

Queen’s House at Greenwitch and the Banqueting House at Whitehall.

LITERATURE IN

RENAISSANCERenaissance literary movement produced Latin and vernacular poetry, history

and prose fiction inspired by classical models. The sonnet was a new form

spread by this movement.

In this period women began to write and male writers attacked them with

satires although many of them wrote defenses of women.

 The first feminist pamphlet in England was written in 1589 under the name

 Jane Anger. Although the name may be a pseudonym, Anger was a common

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surname in parts of England, and there are records of women by that name

who lived around the time the pamphlet was published.

Literate women had the activity translating devotional literature into English to

make it more readily available for the improvement off the minds of other

English women.

 The printing press was invented in 1445 by Gutenberg, this gadget

changed the lives of people in Europe and all over the world.

In Renaissance, the educated middle classes, who could now afford books,

demanded works in their own languages. Furthermore, readers wanted a

greater variety of books. Almanacs, travel books, chivalry romances, and

poetry were all published at this time. Simultaneously, a means of printing

music was also invented, making music available at a reasonable cost. As the

demand for books grew, the book trade began to flourish throughout Europe,

and industries related to it, such as papermaking, thrived as well. The result of 

all of this was a more literate populace and a stronger economy.

HUMANISM

Humanism was the great intellectual movement of Renaissance. The humanists

believed that the Greek and Latin classics contained both all the lessons one

needed to lead a moral and effective life and the best models for a powerful

Latin style.

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Renaissance scholars were known as humanists and they returned to the works

of ancient writers books also helped to spread awareness of a new emerged

philosophy.

During the Middle Ages scholars had been guided by the teachings of the

church, and people had concerned themselves with actions leading to heavenly

rewards. The writings of ancient, pagan Greece and Rome, called the "classics,"

had been greatly ignored.

 The Humanist were influenced by the knowledge of these ancient civilizations

and by the emphasis placed on man, his intellect, and his life on Earth.

SCIENCE IN RENAISSANCE

Renaissance is usually seen as one of scientific backwardness. When

the Black Death came, it sealed a sudden end to the previous period of 

massive scientific change. The plague killed 25–50% of the people in Europe,

especially in the crowded conditions of the towns, where the heart of 

innovations lay. Recurrences of the plague and other disasters caused a

continuing decline of population for a century.

Alchemy, Astronomy and Geography were the most important developments of 

that period.

MUSIC IN RENAISSANCE

Music acquired Renaissance characteristics gradually. The Italian humanist

movement, rediscovering and reinterpreting the aesthetics of ancient Greece

and Rome, influenced the development of musical style during the period.

 To produce high-level music to entertain the rich and powerful there were

many schools of music that identified talent early on and proceeded to nurture

the craftsmanship until they were masters of their particular instrument and

style.

Music printing had a major effect on how music spread for not only did aprinted piece of music reach a larger audience then any manuscript ever could,

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it did it far cheaper as well. Also during this century a tradition of famous

makers began for many instruments. These makers were masters of their craft.

Some examples are Stradivarius for violins or Meuschel for trumpets.

Many instruments originated during the Renaissance; others were variations of 

instruments that had existed previously:

• Brass: - Slide trumpet

- Cornetto

-  Trumpet

- Sackbut

• Strings: - Viol

- Lyre

-

Violin- Irish Harp

- Hurdy gurdy

• Percussion: - Tambourine

-  Jew’s harp

• Woodwinds: - Shawm

- Reed pipe

- Hornpipe

- Bagpipe

- Panpipe

-  Transverse flute

- Recorder

DANCE IN RENAISSANCE

Renaissance dances belong to the broad group of historical dances.

 The first detailed dance manuals that survive today were written in 1450 and

1455 in Italy. These manuals, and later manuals from France, England, and

other European countries, give us a peek at what was a very important social

activity in the Renaissance.

  The dances were very varied: slow, stately dances to fast, lively dances

choreographed or improvised on the spot. Dances for couples or for many

people in a circle or line.

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WITCHES IN RENAISSANCE

In Elizabethan period in England many people believed in the occult, magic and

astrology and one of the most common fears of this time is the fear of witches.

An estimated account of women were burned alive for being perceived as

witches. This was the darker side of Renaissance. The practice of witchcraft

was seen to subvert the stablished order of religion and society and this was

not tolerated. Although witch hunting was a respetable, moral and highly

intellectual pursuit, not all of Shakespeare contemporaries agreed with witch

hunters as they thought that those persecuted and supposed witches were ill,

foolish, deluded or senil women.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Gran Historia Universal “El Renacimiento”.

• Apuntes de la asignatura Hª de la Música de 2º curso del

conservatorio superior de Música de Córdoba.

ELECTRONICAL RESOURCES

• http://www.uh.edu/~djudkins/life_in_renaissance_englan

d.htm