Renaissance

Renaissance Begins

Dec 1, 1350

[Renaissance](www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REN/BACK.HTM)The word Renaissance means re-birth. Approximately 1350 A.D., Italy experienced a rebirth of the Ancient Greek and Roman teachings. Although this rebirth began in Italy, it soon spread throughout Europe. This rebirth was characterized by secular urbanism, recovery from the disasters of the Middle Ages, and a new view of humans, referred to as humanism.

Gutenberg's Printing Press

Dec 1, 1455

Printing PressDuring the Renaissance, Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press. Gutenberg used a process called movable type to produce the first machine produced bible in the world. By 1500, over 1,000 printers and almost 40,000 titles had been published. The printing press encouraged scholarly research, increased the publics desire to gain knowledge, and helped to fuel the ideas of the Reformation.

Michelangelo completes the Sistine Chapel murals

Dec 1, 1512

MichelangeloMichelangelo was already considered one of the greatest artists in the world when the pope asked him to decorate the ceiling of the Vatican's main cathedral, the Sistine Chapel. The artwork took months to complete, but these paintings are considered to be his masterpiece.

Protestant Reformation

Dec 1, 1517

Martin LutherDuring the High Middle Ages, the power of the Roman Catholic Church declined as a result of corruption and greed. Indulgences, the Great Schism, the Lay investigure Controversy, and the public execution of those who questioned the Church's leadership were just a few of the controversies that drove people to join a new movement of religious piety. Eventually a German monk named Martin Luther would begin the Protestant Reformation when he published the 95 Thesis .