The later Middle Ages was a period of great intellectual and artistic achievement marked by what is often called the Renaissance. What was the Renaissance, and what were some of its most important and lasting cultural and artistic achievements?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
Students should recognize that the Renaissance was not a break with the medieval world but a culmination of centuries of cultural and intellectual enrichment. As the Latin cities grew, the pace of intellectual life quickened. Students should remark that the Byzantine and Muslim worlds were responsible for transmitting new knowledge to Europe through the preservation of Greek and Roman texts of antiquity and the knowledge they had developed themselves. The works of Plato and Aristotle as well as Arabic works were influential. In addition, the growth of European universities, which may have been modeled on the Muslim madrasa, became institutions of advanced teaching and research. Students should note the period's major intellectual developments, such as Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and the paintings of Jan van Eyck, Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Giotto. The financial support of wealthy merchants like the Medicis was instrumental in the cultivation of these artists. These achievements exemplify the intellectual growth of the time and have had a lasting influence on Western culture as well as the rest of the world.