Renaissance Causes and Effects

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Causes

In the 1100s translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts reintroduced Classical wisdom and knowledge in Europe.

Humanism and the work of St. Francis of Assisi became important influences on secular scholars and artists.

Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

The printing press was invented in the mid-15th century.

Nicolaus CopernicusEngraving from Christoph Hartknoch's book *Alt- und neues Preussen* (1684; “Old and New Prussia”), depicting Nicolaus Copernicus as a saintly and humble figure. The astronomer is shown between a crucifix and a celestial globe, symbols of his vocation and work. The Latin text below the astronomer is an ode to Christ's suffering by Pope Pius II: “Not grace the equal of Paul's do I ask / Nor Peter's pardon seek, but what / To a thief you granted on the wood of the cross / This I do earnestly pray.”
Courtesy of the Joseph Regenstein Library, The University of Chicago

The Copernican revolution establishes that Earth and the other planets travel around the Sun. This was an important change in thinking. For hundreds of years, most scholars had mistakenly believed that Earth was stationary and at the center of the universe.

Wealthy merchants in Florence financed works of art and brought the medium of oil painting from northern Europe to Italy.

Two powerful popes, Julius II and Leo X, commissioned architecture and artworks for the Roman Catholic Church during the High Renaissance.

Effects

Greek and Roman texts fostered a more rational, scientific approach to theology, the natural world, and the arts. Human beings and nature became subjects worthy of study.

Artists adopted the rational elements of Classical learning, such as anatomy and aerial perspective and viewed the natural world as a path to the divine.

Many scholarsfled Constantinople after 1453, bringing Classical Greek and Roman books and manuscripts to Italy. The emphasis on rational thought and science provided a boost to humanism.

The printing press allowed Classical and Renaissance learning to spread quickly throughout Europe.

The Copernican revolution encouraged scientific inquiry.

Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci was a genius in several fields.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz

Merchant patronage of the arts helped create the High Renaissance, a unique flowering of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy and northern Europe.

Many masterworks of Renaissance church art, such as the ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, were created during the reign of Popes Julius II and Leo X.

The High Renaissance period came to an end in the 1520s. The clash between Christian theology and humanism resulted in a style known as Mannerism.

Renaissance Key Facts

Renaissance | Key Facts

Renaissance Timeline

Renaissance | Timeline