China in the 14th and 16th centuries was in the midst of the great unification of the Ming Dynasty, and we moved our sights to the West to see what was happening in Europe. Europe, especially Italy, is engaged in a European intellectual and cultural movement that reflects the demands of the emerging bourgeoisie, known as the Renaissance.
At that time, the European people believed that literature and art had been highly prosperous in the classical era of Greece and Rome, but it decayed and disappeared during the "dark ages" in the Middle Ages, and it was not until the 14th century that it was "reborn" and "revived", so it was called the "Renaissance".
Renaissance painting
Why the Renaissance happened in Italy
Why did the Renaissance take place in Europe, first in Italy? It was based on prosperous industry and lucrative trade between Western Europe and the wealthy Byzantine and Islamic empires, for which the Italians were the middlemen and prospered.
The same is true in other Italian cities such as Florence, Genoa, Pisa and Rome. The economic boom created a large and emerging middle class of workers, merchants, craftsmen and artists.
At that time, the church strictly controlled people's thoughts, arousing the discontent of the bourgeoisie and the common people.
In Italy, where the city was economically prosperous in the 14th century, there was the first revolt against Catholic culture. At that time, the citizens and secular intellectuals of Italy, on the one hand, were extremely disgusted with the theocracy of Catholicism and its hypocritical asceticism, and on the other hand, because there was no mature cultural system to replace Catholic culture, they expressed their cultural claims by reviving ancient Greek and Roman culture. Therefore, the Renaissance emphasized the aspect of the new culture that took the classics as a teacher, and not simply the classical revival, but in fact the bourgeois anti-feudal new cultural movement.
The newly established boarding schools of the Renaissance produced no longer priests, but the children of merchants. The curriculum arranged by the school emphasizes the study of classical literature and physical exercise, and the purpose is to educate students to live healthily and happily and be qualified citizens.
The decline of the Renaissance
1. War factor
The French invasion of 1494 triggered wars involving European powers in the decades that followed, and caused severe damage to the Italian peninsula.
2. Economic factors
The landing of Vasco da Gama on the Indian port of Calicut, May 20, 1498, dealt an economic blow to Italy, ending the profitable monopoly of Italians as intermediaries in Western European and Eastern trade. Big businessmen lost huge incomes and less and less money for artists and writers.
3. The decline of industry
For centuries, Italy has exported industrial products, especially textiles, to Northern Europe and the Near East, and has generated significant revenues from banking services and maritime transportation. However, by the late 16th century, the British, French and Dutch were also involved in the industry, surpassing the Italians in production and trade.
Hindered by industry restrictions, high taxes and high wage costs, Italians failed to adapt to the international situation and produce better textiles or other foreign trade goods, and without overseas colonies, products could not be exported, and the country's industry naturally declined.
To sum up, Italy, once a developed part of medieval Europe, has become an underdeveloped region. Without the support of the economic base, the Renaissance inevitably declined.