Ancient history

30. Beginning of the Renaissance era in Italy

The end of the Christian rule over the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire marks the end of the Middle Ages in the history of Europe and the end of the Dark Ages in Europe and the beginning of a new era of knowledge and consciousness. It was as if Europe had woken up from its slumber with a great stumbling block and geared up to save its existence and regain its lost glory.

This is called 'Renaissance' (Renaissance) i.e. 'Reincarnation of the Age of Art and Learning' also say. The love of beauty of the old Greeks reappears and the whole of Europe blossoms again like a beautiful flower with the support of sculpture and painting. One of the major reasons behind this was that when Kustantunia was falling, many scholars and sages fled to Western Europe and Italy with their respective treasures of books, paintings and sculptures to save them from being destroyed by the hands of Muslims.

These scholars, sculptors and painters enriched many countries of Europe including Italy and Rome with painting, sculpture and science. The ancestors of these people had fled from Rome to Constantinople with their books, paintings and sculptures over the past hundreds of years because the Catholic Church was bent on destroying these books, statues and images of ancient Roman religion and ancient Greek religion. The wheel of time had turned and returned to where it had left. Rome's sculptures, books and pictures were again returned to Rome.

'The Renaissance' first started in Italy. Florence led Italy in this matter. In the last one thousand years, the people of Italy had forgotten the great things of ancient Roman religion and Greek religion. He had some difficulty in understanding and accepting what was written in these books, but soon he embraced these books. He understood the importance of paintings and sculptures based on the old religion and declared them his pride.

In Pope's Rome, the old Roman religion had returned under the Pope's nose, but this time the Pope could do nothing. The era of the Inquisition was coming to an end, the old lost light had returned from the east, then to the west. Like the people of Italy, England and France also accepted 'Rinnaissance' with great joy.

Heart and mind conflict

The heart of the people still had faith in Christianity, but their mind also wanted to talk about something beyond that, that is, science. Although the Christian union had begun to loosen its hold on the minds of the Romans, their hearts still could not dare to think that the earth was round, or that the earth was not at the center of the universe, or that the sun was not revolving around the earth. or the stars are not fixed in their place.

He still had to believe the same things about astronomy which were written in his religious texts about one and a half thousand years ago. Even during this period, the Christian union could burn alive those who refused to accept what was written in the scriptures. Bruno and Galileo were yet to be punished for these crimes.

'Renaissance' can be interpreted in many ways. The 'Renaissance' was a 'rebellion' against the Roman Christian Union. The 'Renaissance' was the 'rebellion' of the kings of Europe against the Pope's claim in which the Pope was considered above all the kings of Europe. The 'Renaissance' was an 'attempt' to reform the Christian union from within.

Miracle of Books

The biggest role in 'Rinnaissance' was played by the invention of the printing press. Books were now being available to a large number of people and people started reading them and reaching the era of ideological revolution. Till now people had heard the Bible only in Latin language but could not understand it.

Whereas the printing press started making the Bible available in the local languages ​​of European countries. People could understand the original message of the Bible for themselves, they didn't have to rely on interpretations from the clergy.

Playful Florence painter and sculptor

There is an ancient city in northern Italy- Florence. It is also called the playful Florence. In the medieval period, it became the economic capital of Europe, where the big moneylenders of Europe used to gather. It was a small republic of rich and intelligentsia.

Since the republic of this city was run by the Seths, Jawaharlal Nehru, influenced by communist ideas, looked at this republic with disdain, but the reality is that it was one of the best republics in the world and it included the Seths as well. Intellectuals also had a full role.

This was the reason that the development of art and thinking in this city was more than in other countries of Italy. The two great poets of Italy, Dante (AD 1265-1321) and Petrarch (AD 1304-74) were born in this city.

Machiavelli

Niccol Machiavelli was born on 3 May 1469 in Florence. He was an official of the Republic of Florence, but his fame was as an Italian political philosopher, musician, poet and playwright. He was a prominent figure in Renaissance Italy.

Machiavelli's creation 'The Prince' Because of which it is accepted as the great book of practical politics. Machiavelli is considered one of the major founders of modern political science. Machiavelli was elected secretary of the Florida Chancellery after Girolamo Savonarola's exile and execution in AD 1498. Like Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli was also a leader of the Renaissance in Italy.

Machiavelli 'The Discourse' and 'The History' He also wrote books called, which were published in AD 1532, five years after his death. Although Machiavelli shared these books privately among his friends during his lifetime. His only work that appeared in his lifetime was 'The Art of War'. This composition was based on combat skills.

'Machiavelliism' is called. His ideas did an important job of awakening the people of Italy from political and religious slumber. She 'The Prince' It is written in- 'Religion is needed for the government, not so as to make the people virtuous, but to help them to govern and to suppress them. It may also be the duty of the ruler to support a religion which he considers false.'

Machiavelli wrote at one place - 'The king must know how to simultaneously play man and beast, lion and fox. He should neither keep his promise nor can he do it, when doing so would harm him….. I can boldly say that always being honest is very harmful, but on the contrary, pretending to be loyal, religious, kind and devout to God, is beneficial. There is nothing more profitable than the pomp of righteousness.'

It is easily understood that Machiavelli was blazing fire on his books and exposing the pretense of kings to the public. This was the reason that he did not get his books printed during his lifetime. That's why he could not see the effect of these books with his own eyes, but he knew what would be the condition of the kings of Europe when these books were printed and reached in the hands of the people! He died on 21 June 1527 at the age of only 58.

Medieval Trio

In the fifteenth century AD, three great painters were born, namely Leonardo da Vinci (E.1452-1519), Michelangelo (E.1475-1564) and Raffiello Sangio (E.1483-1530). These three are also called the 'Trio of the Middle Ages'. Apart from being a painter, he was also a sculptor, architecture, poet and philosopher.

All three were born in the era after the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and were present in the period when the Eastern Roman Empire's poets, writers, intellectuals, sculptors and painters were trying to protect their respective arts from the Muslims. for Rome and other cities of Italy.

For this reason, these three painters of Florence saw the world through the eyes of ancient Roman and ancient Greek knowledge and not with the eyes of the Christian union, and regardless of the Christian union, gave birth to the 'Rinnason' and through their art the whole of Europe did this. The atmosphere was created that the Christian Union could not resist them much.

Inspired by these, painters, sculptors, musicians and poets began to be born in the street. There was no dearth of fans of the art of these artists either. That's why Florence is called 'playful Florence' Said to be called.

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo was the eldest of the three and was the most wonderful of all. Apart from being a painter and sculptor, he was also a great engineer. It is believed that he laid the foundation of modern science. He was always doing something or the other. He said- 'The kind nature tries to make you learn something or the other everywhere in the world.

At the age of thirty he started studying Latin language and mathematics. He was the first to discover that blood keeps on moving around the body all the time. He was fascinated by the structure of the human body. He said- 'People of bad habits and narrow thoughts are not worthy of beautiful tools like human body and complex tools of bone and leather. All they need is a bag to fill the food and then take it out, because they are nothing but the esophagus.'

Leonardo was a vegetarian and loved animals and birds. He used to buy caged birds in the market and set them free at the same time. Leonardo made drawings of airplanes and did many experiments in the direction of flying airplanes. These experiments were successful to a great extent, but after his death there was no man who would carry forward his experiments. Otherwise humans would have got the airplane to fly only in the fifteenth century.

It is also popular in Europe about Leonardo that he had contact with some alien creatures living in the mountains of Italy who showed him various types of machines by taking him to their mysterious caves. Leonardo has depicted these machines in his paintings, but scientific or official acceptance of these things has not been done.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was a wonderful sculptor. He used to make huge sculptures out of solid marble. He was also an architect of his era. He prepared the present map of St. Peter's Church in Rome. He lived to about 90 years of age and was still working at St. Peter's Church on the day of his death. He was deeply saddened to see the bad condition of humanity and tried to find something by peeping under the surfaces of things. He was always thinking and always planning wonderful things. He once said- 'Man draws with his mind, not with his hands.'

Raffiello Sangio

Raffiello was a painter. He only got a brief life span of 37 years. It was during this period that he made such a large number of paintings that it is surprising to see them. The theme and style of these paintings were very revolutionary. It is also surprising to see that many of his paintings are made on the walls of the rooms of the palace of Vatican City.

From the presence of these paintings in these palaces, it can be said that Pope Julius (II), the contemporary of these three painters, had no problem with these ideological revolutionaries. The Pope wanted art to flourish and people to think freely. However, subsequent popes did not think like him. The most important of Raffiello's paintings is the School of Athens, found in the Stanza della Segnatura church in the Vatican.

This picture caused a great revolution in Rome. In this picture people are shown reading books, discussing and sitting in solitude and contemplating in a school in Athens. These three (study, deliberation and solitude contemplation) were the main tools of the Renaissance.

Did the republican system give rise to the Renaissance?

It was a surprise that in the era when Christianity dominated the whole of Europe and even thinking against Christianity was forbidden, Florence led Italy in the matter of 'Rinnason'. This power was probably given to Florence by the Republic.

Once again that saying was proving true that Monarchy follows 'Dharma' as its shield and religion flourishes under its guise, whereas Republic does not care that much about 'Dharma'. Would have been Neither did Florence, nor religion, nor the Pope. The great museums of Rome, the British Museum and the hundreds of museums of Europe, which are filled with infinite stores of sculptures, pictures and books, most of them are the result of that great era.

Even today the streets of Rome and Florence are lined with these sculptures, and the beautiful streets of these cities and the far and wide silent streets of the streets of the painters can be seen engrossed in painting. कहीं किसी झील के शांत किनारे पर या किसी व्यस्त बाजार की गली में या किसी नुक्कड़ पर कहीं कोई लड़की किसी छतरी के नीचे वायलिन या गिटार बजाती हुई दिख जाती है।

यह सब देखकर दर्शक आज भी स्वयं को ‘रिनेसाँ’ के युग में चले जाने का अनुभव करने लगते हैं। इन चित्रकारों एवं मूर्तिकारों को देखकर लगता है कि ये कभी नहीं चाहते कि रिनेसाँ-युग को भूतकाल की बात माना जाए।