Who were some of the specific people in the Renaissance who wrote about their period being different from the Middle Ages?
Upvote:2
Francesco Petrarca (or Petrarch, anglicized) is often cited as a, if not the, key figure in noticing the difference between the periods of the middle ages and the renaissance (or, rather, the 'gap' between the classical and contemporary times that were the '"middle" ages').
Peter Raedts in his book "The Discovery of the Middle Ages - History of an Illusion" 1 mentions how Petrarca in 1341 was laureled poet in the Roman Capitol by Orso of Anguillara. During his acceptance speech, Petrarca, fully aware of the 1200 year break between this and the last time the ceremony was held - then in honour of Publius Papinius Statius - emphasized the extraordinary nature of this event.
1: http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/book/855/the-discovery-of-the-middle-agesLooking at his own time and the direct past, Petrarca saw a deep dark abyss, stretching out across more than a thousand years, a desperate time which had only brought forth 'chatter artists'.
["Kijkend naar zijn eigen tijd en naar het directe verleden zag Petrarca een diepe, donkere afgrond die zich uitstrekte over meer dan duizend jaar, een hopeloze tijd die alleen maar ‘kwebbelkunstenaars’ had voortgebracht."]
Upvote:7
This could be answered by looking at how and when the term "Middle Ages" was coined. This starts obviously in Trecento Italy, with a new wave of vernacular literature that will later cause the whole, varied, artistic movement of the Renaissance (Quattrocento, Cinquecento).
As said, Petrarch is the key, early figure, but he's not the only one. Coluccio Salutati is the important figure in promoting reading ancient texts, which is a key component of the Renaissance.
Also, Flavio Biondo is the relevant historian to be mentioned here (Petrach was a poet, writer). All these people were living and working in Tuscany cities at the time.
See this table below that shows when and how the term "middle ages" was coined. The last column is an interpretation of wheter the term could be considered equivalent to our current, modern, use of "Middle Ages", in the context.
Cronología de las expresiones de «Edad Media» (ss. XIV – XVI) Author: Eduard Baura
More post
- 📝 How could the USS Maine explosion have been investigated?
- 📝 Is it true that Adolf Hitler foresaw a surrender on the Western front in the last week of April 1945?
- 📝 Why was Prince Philip given these specific titles before marrying Princess Elizabeth?
- 📝 When did worshipping of ancient Greek gods come to an end?
- 📝 Why couldn't bastards inherit titles?
- 📝 Did average church-goers understand mass in Latin?
- 📝 Was the Kerensky Offensive doomed from the start?
- 📝 Which European country sent the most slaves to the Americas?
- 📝 Looking for good documentation about daily life under Stalinist USSR
- 📝 Why did Shirer omit information from The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich?
- 📝 Where was the Church of SS John and Phocas in Constantinople?
- 📝 Perception of the state by an average person in pre-modern times
- 📝 How did the Swedish soldiers pray during the Thirty Years' War?
- 📝 How did the development in education impact the curiosity and creativity in German society pre and post WWI?
- 📝 Technology and status symbols that predate language
- 📝 When did humans understand the science of hail?
- 📝 Did De Gaulle really say "I am France" (Je suis la France)?
- 📝 Are the war plans published in "Dropshot: The American Plan for World War III against Russia in 1957" genuine?
- 📝 What did people of the middle ages call their periods?
- 📝 Has mercantilism ever been successful?
- 📝 How is it possible to be ambushed twice at the same place?
- 📝 How much of a role did Sakamoto Ryoma play in overthrowing the Shogunate?
- 📝 Can anyone identify this sword?
- 📝 Why did Germany not join the United Nations until 1973?
- 📝 What was the first health insurance company in America?
- 📝 Was there a town called Munich in Jackson County, Tennessee?
- 📝 Did the Roman government attempt to hide the collapse of the empire?
- 📝 Typology and the cause of difference between European medieval kingship?
- 📝 Did Pele spark a 48-hour ceasefire during the Nigerian Civil War?
- 📝 What was the name of the region, Somalia, British Somalia or British Somaliland?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who were some of the specific people in the Renaissance who wrote about their period being different from the Middle Ages?
- 📝 What were the thoughts of the Celts, Romans and other ancient European people about the standing stones which survive from prehistoric times?
- 📝 Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
- 📝 Who were the first people to get divorced in Western* Christendom?
- 📝 Were people buried in the 19th century with a cloth around their head if so why?
- 📝 Did the people who initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade think they were doing something new?
- 📝 How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
- 📝 Who were Alexander's historians that wrote about Indian social conditions?
- 📝 Who was the first Renaissance cartographer to include rich content in their maps that went beyond spatial points, borders, and location names?
- 📝 During the Soviet era, were people charged with crimes able to hire lawyers of their own?
- 📝 Did the people who jumped from the World Trade Center during 9/11 lose their life insurance policy due to committing suicide?
- 📝 Were there any generals in history who were willing to risk "half their army" in order win the war quickly?
- 📝 Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 Why were Albanians the only nation in the Balkans who converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation?
- 📝 What do the modern Japanese people think about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 What disruptions were brought about by Islam that the Arabians saw so many victories?
- 📝 Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
- 📝 Who were the Huns and/or Xiongnu?
- 📝 What evidence is there of the vision aids people used before the invention of eyeglasses in about 1286?
- 📝 How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
- 📝 Who were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Western Europe?
- 📝 Is black American history only about segregation, slavery, and the 3 people you get taught about in school?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 Why did some people need to pay a bond in the 1700s in order to get married?
- 📝 Why did the German air force lose experienced pilots faster than the Allies, even though they were defending their home airspace?
- 📝 Why were people from the Asian Steppes able to militarily dominate Europeans on a repeated basis?