Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Renaissance - Essay Example The Renaissance is generally accepted to have begun in the fourteenth century in the small and prosperous states of Italy namely, Florence, Sienna and Venice (1). Some historians have questioned both the starting date and the starting place of the Renaissance, crediting the period under the Carolingian rulers Charlemagne and Louis the Pious starting from 800 AD. Such a contention comes from the perspective that if a reawakening in culture and intellectual from the dark period of European history is the criterion for the renaissance, the renaissance started in 800 AD, under the Carolingian rulers. Such a claim is associated with the achievements of the Carolingian rulers. These rulers brought peace and security throughout most of Western Europe, which was in turmoil since the demise of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, when Alaric sacked Rome in 401 AD. There was deliberate effort on the part of these rulers to bring back some of the lost cultural and economic greatness lost with the Roman Empire. Charlemagne utilized the assistance of the intellectual Alcuin to set up a school system. Working with Benedict of Aniane, Louis the Pious made Benedictine monasticism a force of progress and civilization in Western Europe. The consequence of this combine of political and intellectual power was rise in culture and learning not experienced since the Roman Empire. However, the counter argument is that these changes were essentially within the clergy and lacked a wide range of social movements as evinced by the renaissance that started in Italy. (2). There is also some support for the view of Charles Homer Haskins in his book The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century that Europe starting from in the eleventh century. This period saw a vibrant, expanding, and tolerant society that offers comparison to the renaissance in the fourteenth century in Italy. (2). However this contention is not accepted