RENAISSANCE IN EUROPE in a Synoptic Way

The term "Renaissance" denotes a new age in the history of Western Civilization at the end of the middle ages, though its literal meaning is "rebirth " or "revival" of learning or of the arts.

The Renaissance was thus a great movement of roughly 300 years in European History.

CAUSES-

1.Influence of the philosophers and thinkers such as Roger bacon etc 

2.Scientific developments, especially the invention of the printing press.

3.Rise of towns and the middle class due to commercial revolution

4.Patronage by wealthy and influential people like Kings, Popes, Nobel etc.

ORIGIN-

It began in Italy to a Variety of Reasons-

1. Italy being the center of the ancient roman civilization.

2. East-West trade and rise of a large middle class with a secular attitude towards life.

3.Patronage of Italian princes and the Popes.

But soon it spread to other European countries such as England, France, Germany etc.

COURSE-

I-Renaissance in Literature 

1. Unlike the medieval literature which was dominated by religion  and was  written in Latin, the Renaissance literature was about man and everything  connected with man (Humanism) and it was written in the languages of the people (Vernaculars)

2.Rise and growth of new languages and their literature like Italian( Machiavelli), English(Ben Jonson, Shakespeare), German(Martin Luther), French (Rebellious and Montague).

II-Renaissance in Arts

1.Painting: It was less influenced by classical works than were architecture and sculpture , because paintings of ancient Greece and Rome were scare, and the Renaissance painters had an opportunity to be original.
2.Sculpture: In technique the Renaissance sculpture could rely more closely on classical traditions than could the painter, because sculpture was more highly developed in classical time and the work was in a better state in preservation.Though study of human body by the sculptors.
3.Architecture: Clear trend towards classicism, seen in the adoption of the arch, the dome and the columns; An emphasis upon the design and ornamentation that is not found either in the classical style or the Gothic style.
4.Music: It was more free from classical influence than any other art of the Renaissance period.Though still dominated by religion, several fundamental change were made in it.

III-Renaissance in Science
Foundation of the scientific method by Francis Bacon and Descartes. Astronomers like Copernicus(Polish),Chemist like Harvey ,Mathematicians like Ferrari, Physicists like Gilbert etc.

CONSEQUENCES- 

1. End the age of blind faith and advent of the age of reason and scientific outlook.
2.Development of Humanism.
3.Growth of arts,literature and science.
4.Development of Trade and Commerce.
5.Reformation and the decline of the power of the church.