Renaissance

Two events seem to have sparked the Renaissance--the Crusades and the Reconquista. In both cases, ideas and books, often the long-forgotten works of ancient scholars, were brought to light which caused a sudden intellectual conflagration in Europe. In particular, the Reconquista in Andalusia turned up literally thousands of texts of the ancients, some in Greek or Latin, most in Arabic, which lead to new developments in optics, architecture, engineering, mathematics, accounting, the plastic arts, astronomy--the list of major headings could fill this page.

Christianity dominated the life of Europe for about a thousand years. The social order was entrenched, and everyones place in that world was divinely ordered. It was a stable system, but change was very slow and individualism was discouraged. For a thousand years the church decided what people would think, and feudal lords sat atop the social hierarchy. Almost without exception, peoples eyes were turned to God, to a redress of wrongs and rewards for faith after death. This was a largely an agricultural time with a barter economy. Trade existed, but the real center of life was within the fief. To call the period the "Dark Ages" isn't quite right, but it certainly wasn't dynamic.

What upset the stasis of Medieval life? During the late medieval period population was growing, and a number of changes were in the air. New ideas were beginning to form, but they never really took off.

Then a ship arrived in Sicily from the eastern mediterranean. The ship carried refugees from an advancing and militant Islam. Below the decks the ship also carried rats infested with plague carrying lice. The Black Death had arrived in Europe, and for several hundred years afterward the Plague would decimate Europe's population. First, in Italy and then along the various trade routes into northern Europe. The Black Death probably was actually several related diseases, but it had a very high mortality rate. In some communities upwards of 30-40% of the people died.

When people die, they leave behind their worldly wealth and so some Europeans found themselves with much more disposable income than prior to the Plague.

Since life was precarious, many chose to focus their attention on the present rather than some life in heaven. Spend it now for wine, women and song, for tomorrow ye may die.

Many saw the Plague as God's punishment and believed that the world was coming to an end. Some became even more religious, but many more came to question a religion that had failed them.

Peasants who survived suddenly found that their labor was a valuable commodity, and feudal ties were loosened. Towns and cities began to grow as wealth from the countryside sought markets to purchase "luxury" items, and artisans turned their efforts to meet the neuvo-riche. Secular life was becoming a real alternative to the stagnation of the previous thousand years.

This is the time that the printing press came on the scene, and literacy soared. Ideas could now be communicated to large audiences at great distances. One idea gave rise to another, and the pace of invention and change began to increase.

The impact of ideas and luxury items brought back from the Cursades certainly whetted the European appetites. Ancient literature and science was rediscovered, or at any rate revalued. Texts long hidden in monasteries were suddenly in demand. At the court of Fredrick Barbarosa in Sicily foriegn scholars, both Jewish and Islamic formed one of the first "think tanks", and earned Freddy the hatred of the Pope.

Ultimately a number of factors worked together to change forever the face of Europe. The Rennaisance in turn gave birth to Reformation, Counter-Reformation and hundreds of years of bloody religious war.

In the 17th century we see the modern beginnings of the Scientific Method.

The cost of guns was so great that kings came to dominate the local aristocaracy, and often declared themselves independant of the Church.

Out of the chaos came a middle-class, money economy that valued political and economic stability, and peace. By the end of the 18th century nationalism was well established in Britain and France.

History is a gas.

Set, the problem with this argument is that such works were readily available in Europe from the 12th century onwards. The military campaigns, and religious persecutions that occurred as aspects of reconquista were more likely to result in this imformation's supression and destruction than their popularization.

By the by, Hobit, there is also a climatalogical case to be made, as well. From the end of the 12th century onward, Europe began to get colder, and many adaptations to changing conditions were needed as the years progressed. Kennedy's thesis is that the geography of Europe made for political and military division, and commercial communication--a river can be a barrier to an army, while it is a highway for trade. On that basis, he contends that because the same problems would require solution in many places, many solutions would be forthcoming, and commerce would disseminate them fairly rapidly. I perhaps do not make his case fully or well, but the idea is intriguing.

With the climate getting colder and requiring significant change in building, textile production, food production, and the possibility of this thesis of Kennedy's considered--it would not be unreasonable to suggest that wide-spread change became inevitable, and the isolation/communication dichotomy of many small European communities assured a great diversity.