Renaissance Period or Pre-Reformation, Counter-Reformation and Inquisition Period
Some readers of this thread may be authorities in this field; while most goanetters could have cared less about European history - until now. Hence it is important to know and appreciate some basic facts; which knowledgeable persons may find redundant. My apologies. As mentioned in the prior post, the period of the Reformation-Counter Reformation and Inquisition (Early Modern History 1500 AD-1800 AD) was immediately preceded by the period of the Renaissance (1300 AD - 1500 AD); which is part of the Middle-Ages. While to historians these are two separate periods, in the life of the people of the time (including start of Portuguese colonization, Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier) there was a continuum from one period to the next. While the change in historical periods caused significant shifts in philosophy, theology, economics and social structure, which were starting to take roots in some sections of society, these changes only spread to the majority populace decades later and in some cases not at all. Paraphrased from "Western Civilizations" a 1000-page textbook on European all-encompassing history. In a number of ways the Renaissance and Reformation were closely related. Both were products of the powerful current individualism, which gained momentum in the 14th and 15th centuries. Each had a similar background of economic causes in the growth of trade and in the rise of an urban society. Both partook of the character of a return to original sources: in the one case, to the literary and artistic achievements of the Greeks and Romans; in the other, to the scriptures and the doctrines of the Church fathers. But in spite of these important similarities, it is misleading to think of the Reformation as merely the religious aspect of the Renaissance. The guiding principles of the two movements had comparatively little in common. The essence of the Renaissance was devotion to the human and the natural; with religion related to a relatively subordinate place. The spirit of the (Protestant) Reformation was characterized by other worldliness and contempt of the things of this life as inferior to the spiritual. In the mind of the Renaissance humanist, man's nature was generally considered good. In the view of the Reformers, it was unspeakably corrupt and depraved. Renaissance leaders believed in urbanity and tolerance. The followers of Luther and Calvin emphasized faith and conformity. While both the Renaissance and Reformation aimed at a recovery of the past, they were really oriented in different directions. The past the Renaissance humanist strove to revive was Greek and Roman antiquity, though a few were concerned with the original gospels as sources of an unspoiled religion. The (Protestant) Reformers, by contrast, were interested chiefly in a return to the teachings of St. Paul and St. Augustin. It goes without saying that the Renaissance, being an aristocratic movement, had less influence on the common man than did the Reformation. To be continued Regards, GL