It is generally agreed among scholars that the Renaissance emerged in Italy although the wave of "new learning" and humanism in thought and ideas was certainly not limited to Italy (Huizinga, 1996). Italy is generally regarded as the primary locus of the complex movement that stirred in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and then reached a climax in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Italy, spreading with different manifestations throughout Europe (Gardner, 1982).
The Renaissance emerged in Italy as a direct consequence of a number of unique political, social, and economic conditions. For example, St. Francis and the Franciscan movement was unique to Italy and turned the tide of thought from the Medieval point of view that focused a future life to a realization of the value of man in his actual present (Gardner, 1982). The Italians of this era were experiencing new freedom in terms of the pursuit of learning and the development of new economic systems. Wealthy families such as the Medici in Florence became key actors in political and economic life and also patrons of the arts and leaders in the Roman Catholic Church (Hale, 1993). Hale (1993) states that at this time, Italy was very much in a state of turmoil due to the almost constant internecine conflicts between various noble families and cities. Similarly, the discovery of new means of warfare, of modern science, of "lost" Greek texts in philosophy and astronomy, and the development of a new approach to commerce all coalesced in Italy during this era (Rice & Grafton, 1994).
Florence was the heart of the Renaissance and was a thriving commercial center whose bankers and textile producers were known throughout Europe (Gardner, 1982). This was an age of turmoil but it was also an age in which democratic tendencies led toward an equalization of classes. The advent of inexpensive printed books made education more widely available. In addition, the newly ...