The Middle Ages With the fall of Rome in the late fifth century, Europe plunged into a great dark age of feudalism. The influences of Greek and Roman civilizations were buried. During the Middle Ages, the Christian church was the most powerful influence in Europe. Here of four examples of the church's power:
Lofty Cathedrals were built
Knights went on quests in the name of Christianity and for the glory of god
Plays were performed depicting the pleasures of Heaven and the horrors of Hell
People's lives were spent worrying about the afterlife which resulted in people entrusting their souls to the clergy
During this time, life was short, violent and lawless. Lord fought lord in never-ending raids for land and power. There was no common body of law; the lords, with their castles and lands, were the law. Peasants- for all practical purposes - were bound to the land. Most people loved lives without dignity, having no sense of being individuals, lived a dismal, hopeless, and undignified existence.

Growth of Towns and Trade

With the growth of towns, the invention of bullets and cannon, and the Black Death which swept Europe, nobles lost their power and feudal life soon died out. The Black death killed about one-third of Europe's population, resulting in the change in the social order. So many peasants died that the nobles feared their lands would go untilled. Consequently, the serf's became more valuable and were offered money for their services. The competitive process began, and serfs would seek out those nobles who paid the highest wages. In this way many serfs were able to buy their freedom and move to towns that were now growing at a phenomenal rate. Castle life began to decline. The lords also died of the plague and with no one to inherit and manage the manors they fell in disrepair, also driving the serfs to town. These towns became the new center of life. Craftsmen joined togther in guilds to protect their interests. As trade with the East and the rest of Europe increased, some merchants grew very rich. This marked the beginning of capitalism in the western world.
Trade expanded throughout Europe as well as with the Far East. Spices, jewels, dyes, wool, cotton, and silk, foodstuffs and a variety of crafted items became available and in great demand. Country peasants once tied to the land they didn't own eagerly began new lives and joined guilds which protected workers -- something with great appeal to any ex-serf. Guilds existed for every craft: bakers, goldsmiths, stone cutters; masons, butchers, et al. With the increase in trade over vast areas came a transformation from a barter economy to a money economy. Goldsmiths grew rich and became bankers. Banking and money became important . Goldsmiths took pride in minting coins as well as gold designs, meeting a growing demand for jewelry by the affluent. With such increasing wealth came leisure and a desire for the luxuries that great artists had to offer. Bankers and rich merchants, as well as wealthy church leaders, became great patrons of the arts and learning. The most famous of the new affluent class was the Florentine merchant family, the Medicis who began as wool merchants and became affluent bankers. They were the patrons of artists such as Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.

Change in Society
Towns became the center of trade and craftsmanship. Towns people looked to their king and the new governments for protection from other towns. The developing new social order needed law, order and peace to carry on their work successfully. The new values of merchantry and culture combined to provide new levels of society and a developing new social order. Great wealth eventually gave way to sumptuous laws; actual laws that limited the amount of cloth used in cloaks, the number of pearls that could be worn, and what could be served at a dinner party. This was to control the societal competition. Social mobility was being questioned.
 

Italy and Florence as the center The flowering of society was known as the Renaissance, which means "rebirth." From the 1490's onward Italy, beginning its High Renaissance, became an object of incessant attention, not only for traveling clerics and scholars, but also for the diplomats and courtiers of all European countries. Italian towns such as Venice, Genoa, Milan and Florence acted as gateways to and from the East for the new products and ideas. Consequently, they grew rich, along with their merchants, princes and the church, all of whom would come to patronize the arts. By the 15^th century, these cities had built territorial domains around themselves and had become the chief political units in Italy.

The Italian city of Florence was first in embracing humanism and the classicism of ancient Greece and Rome. By the 5th century, humanism had become a way of life for all levels of society. The Medici library was one of the richest in Europe, and the family's great patronage of the arts attracted apinters, sculptors, and architects. Intellectuals and scholars flocked to the city. They wrote letters and papers that were copied and sent all around Europe. The adademies flourished and the city developed a rputaztion that drew peiople from all walks of life to its gates. Today we accept Florence as "the cradle of the Renaissance."

Developments
Exploration and Discovery Driven by adventure and a great new appetite for the goods available in the East (not to mention the money that could be made from the sale of such goods), sailors began to discover vast new lands beyond the coasts of Europe and Africa. Although many feared the Green Sea of Darkness, navigators such as Christopher Columbus set out to prove the theories that the world was round and that the East could be reached by sailing west. Copernicus questioned that the earth was at the center of the universe. Instead, he proposed that the earth revolved around the sun. With the invention of the telescope, Galileo proved that Copernicus' theories were correct. Roger Bacon, in England, experimented with steam. Ultimately his theories would lead 20^th century inventors to produce the steamship, the automobile, and the airplane. And filled with new learning and discovers about the physical world, men such as Chaucer and Shakespeare began writing literature about what they observed of the inner world of men.

Reformation and change
Martin Luther questioned the authority and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, wich later led to the Protestant Reformation. And Henry VIII established the Church of England, which came to be known as the Anglican Church.

Philosophy and learning
After 1400 Italians began to argue that nature had equipped man for action and usefulness to his family and fellow man. Material possessions should not be viewed with suspicion; rather they would provide the means for virtuous deeds. Further, the new movement in humanistic literature- led by Petrarch- extolled the cultural ideals of the ancient Romans. Man's conduct, speech and writing were meant to genuinely express his own self, his moral and intellectual individuality.
New learning spread through Europe with the founding of many new universities. Values hearkened back to before the dismal life of the middle ages to the classical periods of the Greeks and Romans. Architecture reflected Greek design as well as the Roman arch and dome. Leaning became the order of the day in many parts of Europe. Libraries and bookshops abounded. Prince Henry of Portugal founded an academy for the training of navigators. Europeans also learned from the Arabic Muslim of the Middle East and North Africa, how to make paper from linen cloth. In Germany Gutenberg introduced moveable type and, as a result, the printed books paved the way for more widespread literacy. The Bible was translated into languages which made its reading and interpretation accessible to those other than the clergy. Such learning and discovery stimulated independent thought and the questioning of heretofore ultimate authorities --spiritual, political, scientific. Thus bringing us through the dynamic era of curiosity and change and elevating civilization to its former glory and path to progress.

Proceedures
customs
Renaissance chart
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