I think it's safe to say that Middle Ages were stagnant IN SOME WAYS, if we compare them to any other period of recorded history. It's not like the period 900-1000 compares to 1900-2000. Isn't that where the term Renaissance comes from?
That's not exactly what I was taught. According to dictionary.com, near the bottom of the page on "renaissance" that comes up when you search there, in the section credited as being from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, � 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc., renaissance is:
A new birth, or revival. Specifically: (a) The transitional movement in Europe, marked by the
revival of classical learning and art in Italy in the 15th century, ...
I was taught the Renaissance was a period of time in which the ideas of the ancient Greeks were revived in Italy and and throughout Europe. Now here's the part where I'm relying on hazy memory from a high school class more years ago than I care to mention...
I don't know if this is in any way a mainstream idea, but I was taught that the renaissance was in part an outgrowth of Christian Aristoteleanism, which was developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. A quick web search brings up:
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/3n.htm
For Aquinas, theology is a science in which careful application of reason will yield the
demonstrative certainty of theoretical knowledge. Of course it is possible to accept
religious teachings from revealed sources by faith alone, and Aquinas granted that this
always remains the most widely accessible route to Christian orthodoxy. But for those
whose capacity to reason is well-developed, it is always better to establish the most
fundamental principles on the use of reason. Even though simple faith is enough to
satisfy most people, for example, Aquinas believed it possible, appropriate, and
desirable to demonstrate the existence of god by rational means.
Bringing the concept of "careful application of reason" into the medieval church by way of basically translating the concepts of the ancient Greeks into Christian terms helped set the stage for the renaissance, and much of the rest of the renaissance followed the pattern of taking the lead of the ancient Greeks, at least according to that one particular high-school teacher of mine. Again I don't know whether this idea is mainstream or not.
However, there is a very good example of this rennaisance borrowing from the ancient Greeks, and that is the birth of opera. There was a group of scholars in Florence in the middle to late 1500's (working from memory here...) called the Camerata, who met to discuss the writings of the ancient Greeks. (Side note -- one member of the Camerata was Vincenzo Galilei, a composer of music and father of Galileo Galilei.) This group made an attempt to recreate "authentic" ancient Greek drama, which as they understood it was a combination of theater, music, and poetry, and the result was the first few operas. For a somewhat more detailed version of how this came about, see:
http://www.ptloma.edu/music/MUH/genres/opera/birthofopera.htm
or
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q1B525E05
and
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/threetenors/history.html
or
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V2E521E05
Excerpt from the latter link:
[Opera] was born in the twilight of an age that set out to capture the cultural sensibilities of
ancient Greece, one of the most glorious hours of humankind. With Greek ideals bursting
forth in sculpture, painting, philosophy, and ethics, it was natural that music would be
affected. Yet, ironically, those men who "invented" opera were not interested in recreating
Greek music as such, but in recapturing the tragic drama of classical antiquity. This, they failed
to do. Instead, unwittingly, they accomplished a great deal more: they created a musical form
that has continued to fascinate the world for more than 400 years.
Reggie Bautista
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