Rise of The Renaissance Essay

Rise of the Renaissance

            Before the time of the Renaissance, Medieval Europe was beset with ailments and corruption that quickly swept the country into a time of depression, suffering, and famine. Fortunately, these few centuries of hardship were gone as quickly as they came, making way for the Renaissance to take its place. Although this time of renewed interest in classical ideas was caused by many combined reasons, the largest three were the Hundred Year’s war, Black Plague, and the Great Schism. These events not only wrecked havoc on late Medieval Europe, but also led to the decline of feudalism and the rise of the Renaissance.

            The first major event in Europe’s late medieval period was the Hundred Year’s war. The war was between England and France and despite the title, lasted 116 years. The war was started when two leaders, King Edward the III of England and Phillip II of France claimed their rights to the French throne. This became complicated due to intermarrying between the families and they each believed they were the rightful heirs to France. The political imbalance of the war added to the sufferings of Medieval Europe’s people. War ravaged the country, and the worst of it landed on the peasantry. Although, the Hundred Year’s war did create strong nationalist sentiments within the country of Europe as the people helped to win the war for their own side. This led to the decline of feudalism, as the common people looked more towards their king and country for leadership, rather than their local lord. Economically, the Hundred Year’s war brought the lower class people of Europe out of the dark ages. Kings began to hire their troops for the war. Not only as added reinforcements, but also because of the lack of loyalty soldiers under their feudal lord had shown time and time again, which weakened the military on both sides. Farmers and unemployed people stepped into the roles of a soldier for their country, which if they survived, they were well paid for. Farmers could return from war back to their farms, just in time for the harvest. They soon had extra money in their pockets and could spend it on luxuries, more crops, and learning a trade. Some of the lower classes of the feudal pyramid rose up to what we know as the middle class as they accumulated wealth. Farmers had their sons learn a trade, such as a carpenter, so they could make and sell goods in the cities. From this point on cities and towns grew extremely fast, recovering the damage of the plague. Socially, the people of the expanding towns began to trade and interact amongst themselves, increasing growth and wealth even more. All these factors added to the end of feudalism, and the beginning of the Renaissance.

            Next, the Black Plague was a terrible affliction that has been estimated to have wiped out almost half of Europe’s population. Starting in lower Mongolia in 1347, the plague took a terrible toll on the invading Mongols. The rats were an unwelcome guest to the Mongols, having conquered parts of India and China, the raiders were now moving west. They besieged the city of Caffa on the Mediterranean where the Black Plague killed more Mongols than the defenders possibly could. Eventually not being able to hold up the siege, the Mongols retreated from the city, but only after catapulting their dead, disease infected comrades into the city. Many historians know this as the first case of germ warfare ever used in history. The plague that was catapulted into the city infected the survivors, many of them traders who led to this disease being spread all across Europe. Their ships and carts took the rats to all corners of the continent, spreading death at frightening speeds. In about five years, all cities had been infected and widespread death occurred in all of Europe. For example, the city of Paris alone lost more than half its population to the Black Plague. Consequently, people from all over Europe were leaving towns and escaping to the countryside where it was significantly less crowded. Economically, the plague had benefits for the poor farmers of the time. The lords of the time found they were losing workers, and the ones who survived demanded higher wages. The farmers also had to diversify their crops, as the other countries of the world did not want the wheat and the other plague infested plants of Europe. Socially, the common people were constantly in fear of death and dying. Despite this, they relentlessly attended church and prayed to God to cure them of this illness. On the other hand, ignorance led to violence as the people of Europe saw friends and family die to something that they could not control. They started to blame Jews, claiming that they poisoned the wells. This rage did not stop until the plague did, eventually dying down after there was less population to infect. Yet the Black Plague still left it’s dark mark in the history of Europe, but opened a path to the upcoming Renaissance.

            Finally, the Great Schism was one of the factors that greatly contributed to the birth of the Renaissance. The conflict first started as Emperor Leo III and Pope Gregory III began to quarrel as to who was to control parts of the Eastern Roman Empire. As the Pope was stationed in the west, in the city of Avignon, his church had slightly different ways of life than those in the east. The Byzantine Empire complained that the west focused too much on icons, and not on the figures themselves while worshipping. For example, the west believed in praying to a statue or a painting of Christian saints or the like, while the East believed this was a form of idolatry. Socially, they remained divided, usually having the Emperor leading the east side of the church. They spoke two different languages, dressed differently, and acted differently. The East spoke Greek while the west spoke Latin. This conflict was heightened by the political conflict called The Crusades, when the Pope agreed to help the Emperor defend his lands from the invading Muslims. What Emperor Leo did not know was that the Pope intended to give his knights some of the Eastern Roman Emperor’s land for their service in the crusade. Completely furious, Leo excommunicated the Pope. In response to his actions, Pope Gregory excommunicated the Emperor in a similar fashion. Now to a common peasant living in the Eastern Empire, their two greatest leaders had both denied each other a right to heaven. Loyalty was split all throughout the empire, and eventually Emperor Leo broke away and created his own branch of Christianity. Called the Greek Orthodox Church, they practiced the same things before the Schism, but at this point they were officially divided from the Western Empire. The rise of the Renaissance was pushed hard by this event because of the huge split of loyalties of this time, as before they answered only to the Pope. But in the time before the Renaissance, and with the people of Europe going to church more often, they noticed a large increase of corruption within the church. They priests were constantly going against the laws of Christianity by gambling and the like. The church itself was spending millions on the design and decoration of the chapels and other religious houses, as the people were dying of famine and disease on the outside. The Church gradually lost its power over the people of Medieval Europe, and with their loss came the introduction of values and freethinking.

            The Renaissance took so much from the European country to develop into what it was: A great time of rebirth and revival. Before this time all conflicts, including the Hundred Years war, ravaged the people of Europe and caused widespread death and destruction. Yet it also paid for jobs and created new innovations in warfare. The Black Plague wiped out two thirds of Europe’s population, but it also gave farmers more money for their crops and eventually created a “Middle class”. And finally, the Great Schism allowed for new religions and sects of Christianity to erupt. These times were extremely difficult, but all the same necessary for the Renaissance to be created and envelop the people in Europe with an enlightening new style of life.