Western Europe Significance of Renaissance The word Renaissance, of Latin origin, means rebirth or revival. It signifies the sudden revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome. In the course of development, however, the Renaissance became more than a mere revival of classical learning. It included an impressive record of new achievements in art, literature, science, philosophy, education, religion, and politics.
Renaissance incorporated a number of ideas. Notable among them were humanism, scepticism, individualism, and secularism. A unique aspect of the Renaissance was the contribution made not by monks and nobles, but by laypersons. Causes of Renaissance (i) New experiences during the Crusades [religious wars aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule], the rise of independent trading cities like Venice, Florence, Genoa, Lisbon, Paris, London, Antwerp, Hamburg and Nuremberg, with many visiting travellers, and the establishment of universities at Paris (France), Oxford (England), and Bologno (Italy) provided the necessary preliminary conditions for the birth of renaissance.
(ii) Philosophical discussion, which had begun as early as the eleventh century, continued to produce great minds. The most prominent among them in the Modern World: The Age of Reason thirteenth century was Roger Bacon ( – ). An English philosopher who lived in Oxford, Bacon is considered father of modern e x p e r i m e n t a l science. He wanted human kind to be ruled not by dogma and authority but rather by reason.
(iii) In , a famous scholar of Constantinople, Manuel Chrysaloras, arrived in Venice on a mission from the Byzantine emperor to seek the help of the West in the war against the Turks. Chrysaloras was eventually persuaded to accept a professorship of Greek classics at the University of Florence. About the beginning of the fifteenth century several other Byzantine scholars migrated to Italy. The influence of these scholars inspired Italian scholars to make trips to Constantinople and other Byzantine cities in search of manuscripts.
Between and one Giovanni Aurispa brought back nearly manuscript books, including the