Question #77438
1 Answer
See the second reference in particular for details that may be used.
Explanation:
The Renaissance was a time of great intellectual and economic change, but it was not a complete “rebirth”: It had its roots in the world of the Middle Ages.
Agricultural innovations such as the heavy plow and three-field crop rotation made farming more efficient and productive. This also started the end of the "feudal" style of economy and government.
The commercial economy developed, port cities in particular thrived. The printing press was invented.
http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages
It was also an age of new discoveries, both geographical (exploration of the New World) and intellectual. Both kinds of discovery resulted in changes of tremendous import for Western civilization.
In science, for example, Copernicus (1473-1543) attempted to prove that the sun rather than the earth was at the center of the planetary system, thus radically altering the cosmic world view that had dominated antiquity and the Middle Ages.
In religion, Martin Luther (1483-1546) challenged and ultimately caused the division of one of the major institutions that had united Europe throughout the Middle Ages--the Church.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/ren.html
