The Renaissance
“Renaissance” is a French word literally meaning “coming back to life.” The term has been associated with the historical period immediately following the Middle Ages, which for a long time was labelled as “the Dark Ages.” While common knowledge has now given back the Middle Ages their historical, cultural, and artistic importance, “Renaissance” is still the term we use for the time roughly between the 14th and the 17th Centuries A.D.
All throughout Europe, the Renaissance saw a major development in all the arts, but each country has its specific features and timelines. It was a time when some of the general attention had shifted from exclusively sacred subject matters to aspects of earthly life. For this reason, the Renaissance is also associated with Humanism. To be clear: while this shift in a way endows individuals with free will, the Renaissance does not, by all means, move towards an atheist society.
In the following chapters, we will be exploring what happened in Great Britain and continental Europe.
