Topics 12-14: How can the Reformation and the Age of Discovery be seen as extensions of the Renaissance?
By lydiasch
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The Renaissance, meaning “rebirth,” was a period of innovation in culture, art, and learning starting in Italy and then spreading to various other parts of Europe.
The Renaissance never truly ended because its innovations and advances had spread across much of Europe, and even though Italy itself lost its prominence, the patterns that began in Italy continued elsewhere. That was true not only of art, but of education, architecture, scholarship, and commercial practices. -
Of the various ideas of the Renaissance, the most important was humanism. Humanism was the ancient intellectual thought that accentuated beauty and the centrality of humankind in the universe. They sought to celebrate the beauty of the human body in their art, of the human mind and human achievements in their scholarship, and of human society in the elegance of their architectural design. This ideology supported the Reformation to come.
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The Age of Discovery was a period in European history in which several vast overseas explorations took place. Explorers discovered more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and brought that knowledge back to Europe. The Renaissance correlated with this time of exploration, motivating many voyages to previously unknown lands.
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Erasmus was a scholarly priest who benefited from both the traditional scholastic education of the late-medieval church and the new humanistic style that emerged from the Renaissance. He undertook the study and re-translation of the New Testament, for which he was criticized by some of his superiors within the Church because he was not officially authorized to carry out his studies and translations. These corrections were not just a question of grammatical issues but of meaning.
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Henry VIII received a special exception from the papacy to marry his brother’s widow, which was banned in the Old Testament of the Bible. When his wife was not able to give him a son, Henry petitioned the pope for a divorce. The pope refused, and in defiance, he continued with the divorce. After his second wife failed, he had her beheaded. He issued the "Acts of Supremacy and Succession," effectively separating England from the Catholic Church and founding the Church of England.
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The most important voyages of discovery of the early modern period were undertaken by agents of the Spanish monarchy, starting with that of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Columbus departed in August of 1492 with three small boats and 90 men. They arrived in the Bahamas in October. His voyage was the outcome of new possibilities being explored in the wake of the Renaissance. -
The Reformation was a religious revolution that took place in the Western church. Its most significant leaders were Martin Luther and John Calvin. The Reformation achieved major political, economic, and social effects. It became the basis for the founding of Protestantism, now one of the three major branches of Christianity. The Renaissance inspired a new wave of thinking that challenged the Catholic Church's ideas and indulgences.
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Martin Luther was a German monk who developed the idea that salvation did not come from works, but from the grace of God. This idea, which was salvation through faith alone, was a prominent break from Catholic belief. Luther responded to the Church's many indulgences by posting a list of ninety-five attacks against those indulgences to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. These “95 Theses” are considered by historians to be the first official act of the Protestant Reformation. -
The most important new religious order, by far, was the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. The Jesuits were founded by Ignatius of Loyola who served as a Catholic counterpart to Luther or Calvin's Protestant ideas. As a former soldier, he founded the Jesuits to be “faithful soldiers of the pope," and to fight Protestantism and heresy. The Jesuits are an example of trying to counteract Renaissance ideas such as the Reformation.
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The Thirty Years’ War was a series of wars fought by various nations for reasons including religious, successional, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Caused by the Reformation which was a direct result of the Renaissance.