Key Historical Factors Leading to the Renaissance

Growing exposure to classical texts - CULTURE

Classical and Arab sciences and philosophy introduced to Northern

Italian scholars thanks to the Crusades (1096 -1271) and increased
contact with the (Greek) Byzantine Empire.

a growing flow of Greek scholars and classical texts to Northern

Italy fleeing the expansion of the Ottoman Turkish influence,
culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Increasing translations of the classical texts into Latin and Italian

languages broadened their exposure

Classical sciences studied keenly, notably maths and philosophy

But later, increasingly Classical literature, poetry and architecture

which fed a new humanism movement
! A new movement of learning was inspired among the elite
that put humanity and learning itself at the centre

Increasing trade and economic growth - ECONOMICS

Crusades built growing trade links to the Arab Middle East

While doing much to weaken the Byzantine Empire - a

commercial rival to northern Italian sea-trading city-states

Luxury goods from the Levant (spices, dyes and silks)

wool, wheat and precious metals from north and west Europe

accompanied by population growth across Europe

Generated increased economic surpluses that allowed investment in

mining and agriculture, generating even more wealth
! Increased wealth and surplus money for the arts

Decline of the Churchs influence in the 1300s - RELIGION

trade disrupted by the Hundred Years War between France and Britain
with Northern Europe

and Ottoman Turk expansion in Anatolia

various contestants for the Papal throne, and growing awareness of

clerical corruption

A Little Ice Age saw agricultural output decline significantly

prompting repeated famine.

the Great Plague of 1348 and following outbreaks decimated a third

of Europes population including in northern Italy
! the Churchs influence declined given wars over who led it
and its inability to stem the Plague or economic decline
! prompting some self-reflection in society about humanity
and its potential, again fueling the humanism movement

A new merchant political class - POLITICS

The merchant class emerged dominant in these city states on the back
of increasing trade

while feudal landed nobility became relatively impoverished

the wealth of the city-states increased their independence from

surrounding kingdoms more closely allied to the traditional church

merchant class instituted laws that furthered their economic

dominance and anti-monarchy political ideas that furthered their
political power

even as they competed for power amongst themselves

! were open to the emerging cultural movement of
Humanism that emerged from exposure to Classical texts
! while still religious, were willing to challenge the influence
and ideology of the established Church and feudal
structures
! and had the money and intent to patronise the arts and
sciences to show off and increase their own power and
influence

Lorenzo_de'_Medici