Renaissance Art

The Renaissance saw a rise in individuality and humanism. People began to do things because they enjoyed them rather than for God's glory. Part of the cause of this was an interest in Greek and Roman writings. The humanists aspired for universal knowledge through the Classical writings, as well to a universal truth and faith. (Wandel 77). One of the main ideas of humanist philosophy was that humanity was unique, the link between the mortal world and the spiritual one. This concept became the core of Renaissance style (Wandel 77).

The term Renaissance, adopted from the French equivalent of the Italian word rinascita, meaning literally "rebirth," describes the radical comprehensive changes that took place in European culture during the 15th and 16th centuries, bringing about that demise of the Middle Ages embodying for the first time the values of the modern world.

Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Sumoni, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western Art. Michelangelo drew and helped paint the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. He drew everything in the chapel by himself and then he had professional painters come in and paint it, but he also helped with the painting. Michelangelo was apart of the High Renaissance period.

Michelangelo's drawings and paintings of the Sistine Chapel.

Renaissance artists studied perspective. or the differences in the way things look when they are close to something or far away. Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in the village of Vinci. His name means Leonardo of Vinci. Leonardo began his career working for a master painter in Florence. By 1478, Leonardo left his master and set up his own workshop. People have been trying to guess the secret behind the smile of his Mona Lisa, ever since he painted it around 1505. His Last Supper shows clearly the different feelings of Jesus and his followers.

Leonardo's fame grew, but not just for his painting. Leonardo was truly a "Renaissance Man," skilled in many fields. He was a scientist and an inventor as well as an artist. He made notes and drawings of everything he saw. Leonardo invented clever machines, and even designed imitation wings that he hoped would let a person fly like a bird.

The Mona Lisa that was one of Leonardo's paintings.

The Last Supper that Leonardo did.

Renaissance scholars studied the ancient Latin and Greek texts, scouring the monastic libraries of Europe for works of antiquity that had become obscure, in their quest for improving and perfecting their worldly knowledge. This was in complete contrast to the transcendental spirituality that medieval Christianity stressed. However, that does not mean that they rejected Christianity. On the contrary, much of the greatest works of the Renaissance period was devoted to it, with the Church patronizing a lot of the works of Renaissance art. However, there were subtle changes in the manner in which the intellectuals began to approach religion, which affected the cultural life of the society, which in turn influenced the artists of that period and hence was reflected in their art.

The Remaining Crusades after the fourth

After the fourth crusade there were many other crusades. The fifth crusade was from 1218 to 1221. The leaders were Pelagius, cardinal legate and John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem. Pope Innocent III called another crusade in 1213. Most of the Christian leaders were busy fighting eachother, and his request fell in deaf ears; the Christians didn't want another defeat. So, he found another way to launch a crusade, by appealing to the regular Christian citizens who were idle. In return he offered indulgence for every Christian who joined the fifth crusade. The crusaders left for Acre in 1217 and joined leaders John of Brienne, and Pelagius.

After some success in the Holy Lands, a large army from Germany and Holland prepared to reach the Holy land and re-capture Jerusalem. In June 1218, the crusaders attacked Damietta, an important Egyptian settlement. The Sultan Al-Adil was unprepared, but the city resisted the crusaders. It took the crusaders several months and thousands of lives to enter Damietta, but once they did looted it for several days finding enough loot to inspire them to attack Cairo next, their only obstacle to a powerless Egypt and an open road to Jerusalem. The fifth Crusade was the last crusade organized by the church where different nations fought jointly to recover the Holy Land. The sixth Crusade was the next attempt to fight the Muslims.

The sixth crusade started in 1249. It was led by the western emperor, Fredrick II of Germany. He had promised to continue on with the sixth crusade even though he was excommunicated (kicking out of the church). Frederick, after much procrastination. set off to the Holy Land with a formable army in 1228. There was really no fighting involved for the Syrians would not support a ruler at odds with the Pope and Frederick was too smart to fight when he could get what he wanted by diplomacy. There was tranquillity in the Holy Land for 15 years, and the peace raised the Latin's of Palestine to a prosperous condition. The results of the crusades were lost through the quarrel between the pope and the emperor.

The seventh crusade was from 1248 to 1254. It resulted when the Egyptians Mamelukes routed a local Christian army in 1244. It was led by Louis IX of France (Saint Louis), this also attacked Egypt, but failed amid great suffering.

The eighth Crusade was in 1270. Louis's second attempt to invade Muslim Africa, which ended in failure when he died. The ninth Crusade was from 1271 to 1272. It never actually reached the Holy Land, despite being led by Prince edward of England.

The most curious crusades were those preached against several enemies of the papacy, most notably against Fredrick II Von Hohenstaufen. In the 14th century, the French popes in Avignon raised several crusading armies to campaign Italy against those who supported German, rather than papal rule. Through this time the French popes had taken refuge in Avignon, the political situation in the Italian Papal states being to hostile to allow the popes and their servants to live in Rome.

Scenes from the seventh crusade.

Map of the Fifth crusade.

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The First Crusade

The first crusade played a very important part in Medieval England. The first Crusade was an attempt to re-capture Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslims in 1076, any Christian who wanted to pay a pilgrimage to the city faced a very hard time. Muslim soldiers made life very difficult for Christians and trying to get to Jerusalem was filled with danger for a Christian. This greatly angered all Christians.

Those who volunteered to go to fight the Muslims cut out red crosses and sewed them on their tunics. The french word "croix" means cross and the word changed to "croisades" or crusades. The fight against the Muslims became a Holy War. Many people did volunteer to fight in the First Crusade. There were true Christians who wanted to reclaim Jerusalem for their belief and get the Muslims out of the city. There were those who knew they had committed sin and that by going on the Crusade tehy might be forgiven by God. They had also been told by the pope that if they were killed, they would automatically got to heaven as they were fighting for God.

The first crusade had a very difficult journey getting to the Middle East. They could not use the mediterrean sea as the Crusaders did not control the ports on the coast of the Middle East. Therefore, they had to cross land. They travelled from France through Italy, then Eastern Europe and then through what is now Turkey. The covered hundreds of miles, through scorching heat and and also deep snow in the moutain passes. The Crusaders ran out of fresh water and according to a survivor of the Fisrt Crusade who wrote about his experiences after his return, some were reduced to drinking their own urine, drinking animal blood or water that had been in the sewage. Food was brought to them but it was very expensive.

After the success of the Crusaders, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was created and its first king was Godfrey of Bouillon who was elected by other crusaders. He died in 1100 and was succeeded by his brother Baldwin of Boulogne.

The capture of Jerusalem did not end the Crusades as the Crusaders wanted to get rid of the Muslims from the whole region and not just Jerusalem. The desire led to the other Crusades.