humanism in renaissance period

Right—imagine you’ve just woken up in a Florentine palazzo, circa 1450. The air’s thick with woodsmoke, rosewater, and the faint aroma of *hubris*. Outside, a chap’s shouting about Plato in Latin; another’s sketching a nude chap with *far* too many perfect proportions. Someone’s just invented movable type (again), and the Church’s frown has gone from “mildly concerned” to “*where’s my Inquisition?*” So—what’s got everyone in such a fluster? Ah, love. It’s the humanism in renaissance period—not a religion, not a political party, but a *mood*. A mindset. A bloody good idea that whispered: *“What if… we mattered?”* Not just as sinners waitin’ for salvation, but as thinkers, artists, citizens—*humans*, gloriously, messily, brilliantly *human*.

Let’s be clear: the humanism in renaissance period didn’t spring from nowhere—like Athena from Zeus’s noggin. Nah. It was dug up. Literally. After the sack of Constantinople in 1453, Greek scholars legged it westward, clutchin’ manuscripts like they were gold bars (some *were* gold-leafed). Petrarch—*the* OG humanist—spent decades huntin’ Cicero’s letters in monastery dustbins. Found ‘em in Verona, 1345, and near fainted. *“Here was a man who loved virtue, not relics,”* he scribbled. The ancients weren’t just dead poets—they were *models*. Seneca on ethics, Virgil on civic duty, Aristotle on logic (once the Arabic translations were untangled). Humanists didn’t *reject* Christianity—they just asked, *“Must faith require ignorance?”* Cue raised eyebrows, ink-stained fingers, and the first real culture war since… well, ever.

Forget GCSEs. The real curriculum revolution was the studia humanitatis—grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and *moral philosophy*. No more *just* theology and logic. Schools like Guarino da Verona’s in Ferrara trained lads (and, quietly, a few lasses) to *speak well*, *write beautifully*, and *argue fairly*. One pupil wrote home: *“Master says a man who can’t compose a sonnet in Latin is no better than a turnip.”* Harsh—but effective. By 1500, over 50 humanist schools dotted Italy. And the payoff? Diplomats who could flatter a duke in three tenses, secretaries who drafted treaties with *alliteration*, and popes (looking at you, Leo X) who hosted poets like rockstars. The humanism in renaissance period turned education from rote memorisation into… *conversation*.

Enter Johannes Gutenberg—goldsmith, tinkerer, and accidental disruptor. His press (c. 1455) didn’t just print Bibles. It printed *Cicero*. *Ovid*. *Plutarch*. In *vernacular*, even. Suddenly, a Florentine shopkeeper could own *The Prince* for 2 florins (≈ £120 today)—cheaper than hiring a scribe for a week. Output exploded:

One Venetian printer moaned in 1492: *“Half my stock’s Greek editions—nobody reads ‘em… yet.”* He was wrong. The humanism in renaissance period went viral. Not on TikTok—on vellum.

Before? Saints floated on gold leaf, stiff as Sunday best. After? Chaps looked you *in the eye*. Botticelli’s *Primavera* wasn’t just myth—it was *metaphor*: beauty, intellect, harmony—human ideals in floral form. Leonardo’s *Vitruvian Man*? A doodle of divine proportion… drawn *from a real bloke in the studio*. Artists weren’t “craftsmen” anymore—they were *philosophers with brushes*. Vasari’s *Lives of the Artists* (1550) made them *celebrities*. And patrons? They didn’t just want Madonnas—they wanted *themselves* in the frame. Look at Ghirlandaio’s *Adoration of the Shepherds*: right there, in the back—*the Tornabuoni family*, smilin’, rich, *present*. That’s the humanism in renaissance period: not humility before God, but *dignity in the mirror*.

Here’s where it got spicy. Some humanists—like Lorenzo Valla—used *textual criticism* to prove the *Donation of Constantine* (the doc givin’ the Pope temporal power) was a *forgery*. Bold. Others, like Erasmus, wrote: *“Christ is my Plato.”* But—plot twist—he also said priests should *study Greek*, not just chant. Cue Cardinal Ximenes grumblin’: *“This humanist rot turns monks into orators and orators into heretics.”* Yet even the Church leaned in—Michelangelo’s *David* stood in Florence’s *town hall*, not a cathedral. The humanism in renaissance period didn’t kill faith. It just asked it to *make room*.

“Humanism was all blokes.” *Nah, mate.* Christine de Pizan (Paris, c. 1405) wrote *The Book of the City of Ladies*—a full-on feminist manifesto, built on humanist logic. In Ferrara, Isotta Nogarola mastered Latin *and* Greek, debated theology with bishops, and got called “a freak of nature” (she *wrote back*). Laura Cereta (Venice) penned letters on education: *“If nature denies women intellect, why do we learn faster than boys?”* They were outliers—yes. But the humanism in renaissance period gave them tools: literacy, logic, and the *nerve* to use ‘em.

Erasmus & the “Philosophia Christi”

Dutchman Desiderius Erasmus wasn’t out to break the Church—just *clean it*. His *Novum Instrumentum* (1516) was the first printed Greek New Testament—with annotations. He wanted priests who *understood* scripture, not just recited it. His motto? *“Ad fontes!”*—Back to the sources! That’s the humanism in renaissance period in a nutshell: *go find the original, then think for yourself*.

More, Tyndale, and the English Angle

Thomas More’s *Utopia* (1516) wasn’t fantasy—it was satire. A society where gold’s for chamber pots and war’s for idiots? *“Aye,”* he winked, *“if only…”* Meanwhile, William Tyndale smuggled his English Bible (1526) into England—printed in Antwerp, funded by cloth merchants. Price? 4 shillings (≈ £85 today). Risk? Death. Why? *“I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more scripture than the Pope.”* Now *that’s* humanist conviction.

Think about it:

• Universities still teach “liberal arts”—direct descendents of studia humanitatis.
• That “critical thinking” buzzword? Pure humanist DNA.
• Even your Instagram caption—*“Be your own muse”*—is just Petrarch with Wi-Fi.

Yes, it had flaws: elitist (Latin wasn’t exactly *accessible*), patriarchal (mostly), and occasionally *too* fond of Roman emperors. But the humanism in renaissance period planted a seed: *Human life has intrinsic value—not because God said so, but because we *experience*, *create*, and *choose*. And honestly? We’re still waterin’ that plant.

So—what’s the takeaway? Not togas. Not Latin exams. But *curiosity*. The humanism in renaissance period reminds us that progress isn’t just tech—it’s *attention*. Attention to history. To language. To the person opposite you. It’s why a 15th-c. Florentine would’ve *loved* a good podcast—same spirit, different wires. And if you’re feelin’ inspired to dig deeper into this grand rebirth of reason, why not wander back to the The Great War Archive, lose an afternoon in the History vaults, or ponder faith and forgiveness in Catholic Church and Indulgences: Historical Practice, Past Sins.

References

• https://www.history.ac.uk/research/themes/renaissance-humanism
• https://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/bodies/renaiss/renaissance.html
• https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/renaissance-humanism/
• https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/humr/hd_humr.htm