how did the renaissance differ significantly from the Middle Ages?

Question

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Answer 1

1. A break from the Feudal system.
Geography, more than anything else, gave Italy an advantage over northern Europe in regard to potential for amassing wealth and breaking free from the feudal system. Jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, and strategically located between the majority of Europe and the Byzantine Empire, Italian cities had almost no choice but to participate in international trade and the market economy, and to integrate the activities of commerce into daily life. In this way, Italy became exposed to the large-scale flow of both goods and ideas much earlier than most other regions in Europe. Thus, during the later years of the Middle Ages, northern Italy flourished economically and intellectually. Further, because Italy's maintained its market economy while the rest of Europe developed a self- contained barter economy of feudal territories spawned by agrarian life, feudalism did not take hold in northern Italy as it did elsewhere in Europe. In both society and mind, it can be argued, northern Italy was more sophisticated and freer than the rest of Europe.

3.Expansion of the power of the guilds and merchant patrons.

Florence as a center for the European wool trade, the political power of the city rested primarily in the hands of the wealthy merchants who dominated the industry. These merchants built enormous gilded mansions in the city, villas in the country, and contributed to the construction of grand cathedrals, spawning the physical rebirth of the city. A spirit of competition developed between the rich merchants, who often competed with each other to see who could commission the grandest buildings and the finest works of art. Competition augmented the fervor with which the city entered into the Renaissance
2.The Birth of Humanism
The beginning of the Renaissance in the mid-fourteenth century was marked by a turn from medieval life and values dominated by the Church toward the philosophical principles of humanism. The Italian people, especially the educated middle class, became interested in individual achievement and emphasized life in this world, as opposed to preparation for life in the next world, which was stressed by religion. They believed strongly in the potential for individual accomplishment in the arts, literature, politics, and personal life. Individuals began to be encouraged to excel in a wide range of fields and showcase their talents. Renaissance thinkers decried medieval life as primitive and backwards, and looked further back in history, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, for inspiration.

See The Medici

4. Discovery of Linear perspective.

5. Change of the artists' social status.

6.The growth of literature.
Just as art and architecture flourished in the Renaissance, so too did literature. Ands similarly, just as art and architecture benefited from new techniques, literature experienced a massive boon from technology. In 1454, Johann Gutenberg published the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed by a machine using moveable type. The moveable-type printing press vastly changed the nature of book publishing, simultaneously increasing printing volume and decreasing prices. The process of printing spread throughout Europe, and was used extensively in Italy, where the humanist writers of the Renaissance had long sought a way to more easily express their ideas to the public. During the Renaissance, writers produced a greater volume of work than ever before, and with the lower prices and increased numbers of texts, these works reached an audience of unprecedented size. Literature became a part of the lives of the larger public, not just the few elite able to afford books, as had been the case before the advent of the printing press.

Artistic differences

Despite the similarities to medieval art surrounding subject matter, there can be no doubt that that Renaissance artists broke the static mold of medieval art. First of all, though the themes of the Middle Ages remained fairly constant, the style of the Renaissance was unique in its combination of modern and ancient influences. However, what is most remarkable about the art of the Renaissance is the constant evolution of techniques and materials, each generation of artists building upon the accomplishments of the last. While technique, style, and materials stayed relatively constant throughout much of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance was a period of much more rapid change and development. Giotto was the first Renaissance artist to dabble in the techniques of perspective in search of the realism sought by the artists of the Renaissance. His techniques changed the face of art significantly, but no sooner had they been studied and absorbed by the artistic community than Masaccio and others built upon and improved the techniques. Similarly, Ghiberti and Brunelleschi pushed each other through competition to new artistic heights. Donatello studied under each of the older masters and incorporated the developments they contributed to the art form with his own talents and ideas, producing the most admired works of the era. This rapid evolution and the continuing advance of artistic techniques and talent was one of the primary characteristics of the Renaissance.

Answer 2

Middle Ages And Renaissance

Answer 3

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how did the renaissance differ significantly from the Middle Ages?
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Answer 4

well the renaisance was a rebirth, return to the classical ideas of humanism which just focused on human achievement. The economic system turned more of capitalism and investment. While on the other hand the middle ages were a focus on the church and the economic system of feaudalism.

Answer 5

There really is no significant difference. Moxt of what scholars consider renaissance achievements were being created in 13th century. Many people saw feudalism as a curious relic as early as the 14th century. The chief difference was in the humanist movement which emphasized greco-roman authors to a degree unheard of in Medieval univerities and cathedral schools, which did use many roman texts in their education process.

Rarely is a definitive split functional in the real world, some claim the rennaissance lasted from 1400 to 1600, while some would argue 1450 to 1527. The only real difference between the two ages was the emergence of the humanist movement, and subsequent alterations in literature and political communications. (Feudalism lasted well into the 16th century, and in Russia until the early 20th.)