Here's a thought-provoking essay. Some friends, like the late Prof George Coelho, saw the potential of Internet-basec ommunications leading to a new Renaissance of sorts take place in Goa and among the worldwide Goan diaspora. But is this possible? Thanks to Bala PIllai in Australia for sending it over. FN
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: How Do Golden Ages Arise? Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2002 11:22:34 +0530 From: "Bala Pillai" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Renaissance Movement http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/GeneralFiles/Renaissa nceMovement.html Good morrow and welcome. My name is Giovanni Renaissanci, here to share with you answers to some of the possible questions that you may have about our period in history, the Renaissance. Specifically, I am most versed about the Italian Renaissance, so that is what my focus will be. You have heard that the term 'renaissance' means 'rebirth'. But what has allowed such an incredible 'rebirth' . . . of the arts, science, and thinking? There are an intricate set of factors to consider. Prior to this time period, my countrymen's situation looked pretty grim: "years of famine, plague, and warfare" had taken their toll - especially in Florence, the city that many consider to be the "heart of the Renaissance" because of its strong tradition of democracy, albeit that women had no vote, that slavery was legal as long as a slave was not a Christian, and that the vast working force of day laborers had no say in the government"; only 'card-carrying" guild members and those with money were in a political position to vote. Of significance is the fact that "a century earlier, in 1293, the citizens had adopted new laws in Florence that took power from the old nobility and placed it firmly in the hands of the rising middle class" - note that I said "rising middle class" - something unheard of up until that time. That's the first key that opened the way for the Renaissance to emerge, one to keep in mind as I tell you more. Now let's add in the second factor: humanism. "The humanists were the intellectual engine that drove the Renaissance. They created books by discovering and translating old manuscripts [from Greek and Roman times] and writing new works based on classical ideals" from the Greeks in particular. But just to be academic was not the key. The humanists' influence ( some of the most influential being Petrarch - the father of humanism, Salutati, Bruni, Pico della Mirandola - who "tried to synthesize the great philosophies of many classic traditions into one, and Bracciolini) touched those who were to become key players in policy and patronage (Lodovico Gonzaga, Frederigo da Montefeltro, Lorenzo Valla, Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici) in the city-states that were to carry the Renaissance to fruition. Florence, Venice, Rome, Naples, and Milan have become the influential city-states. Add to all of this the fact that Lorenzo Valla, schooled in the humanities in Latin and Greek, was able to translate and later prove false the document, the Donation of Constantine, that alleged to have passed down the control of the Western Roman Empire to the papacy, removing any legal claim the popes had to political power. Imagine the political doors this has opened! The humanists "have served and will continue to do so as secretaries and counselors to popes and kings, democrats and tyrants. They educate the children of the great families, producing generations of leaders raised in the humanist tradition. Most importantly, they eloquently express the basic philosophy of the times - a philosophy of human potential and realistic observation that will lead to the beauty of Renaissance art, the beginnings of modern science, and indeed the beginnings of modern life." Studia humanitatis, a philosophy more than an academic movement, emphasizes that the student be schooled in the "five major disciplines: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy". In our 15th century, Bruni has given humanism a "deeper meaning, saying that the humanities 'are so called because they bring our humanity to completeness . . . [through] a liberal arts [course of study] that owes its name to the fact that it liberates man and makes him master of himself in a free world of free spirits'". Quite heady thinking, wouldn't you agree? Think about the far-reaching consequences of all of this in art, music, politics, science, etc. The third key to the Renaissance movement is what we all know makes the world go 'round: money. "It took more than a revival of antiquity to make the Italian Renaissance . . . first of all it took money - smelly bourgeois money: [in other words] the profits of skillful managers and underpaid labor; of hazardous voyages to the East, and laborious crossings of the Alps to buy goods cheap and sell them dear; of careful calculations, investments, and loans; of interest and dividends accumulated until enough surplus could be spared from the pleasures of the flesh, from the purchase of senates, signories, and mistresses, to pay a Michelangelo or a Titan to transmute wealth into beauty, and perfume a fortune with the breath of art. Money is the root of all civilization. The funds of merchants, bankers, and the Church have paid for the manuscripts that have revived antiquity" . . . antiquities from Greek and Roman cultures that have become the basis of our study of the arts, science, and thinking. But it is not merely the revived and rediscovered manuscripts from antiquity that have freed the minds and senses of those of us living in Renaissance; "it is the secularism that came from the rise of the middle classes; the growth of universities, knowledge, and philosophy; the realistic sharpening .. . . and broadening of minds through the study of law, and the broadening of minds by a wider acquaintance with the world". We Italians have chanced to doubt the teachings of the Church and see the clergy as mere mortals like ourselves. As educated Italians, we have "shaken ourselves loose from intellectual and ethical restraints"; our senses are free to delight in all representations of beauty in woman, man, and art. If you travel to the end of the Renaissance, you will discover that "ironically, these very same forces that have breathed life into this incredible period of history ultimately will lay the groundwork for its demise through moral chaos, disintegrative individualism, and national slavery". References: Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization: the Renaissance. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981. Osman, Karen. The Italian Renaissance. San Diego, California: Lucent Books, Inc., 1995. Walker, Paul Robert. The Italian Renaissance. New York, New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1995. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? 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