The Renaissance began in Italy about 1350 and covered Europe after 1450 and ended around 1620. It was a historical era, attaching great importance to learning, politics, literature, art, religion, social life, and music.
During the period of the 14th and 15th century, many Italian intellectuals used the term rinascità which means rebirth or renaissance, due to the fact that in their term learning, literature, and the arts were sort of reborn after the Middle Ages. The painter Giotto and the humanist Francesco Petrarch were among these intellectuals.
The defining movement of this era was the Humanism.
Three forms of government can be found during the Renaissance, being princedoms, monarchies and oligarchies, also called republics. Due to the immense amount of art produced in the Renaissance, art is the best-know aspect of the Renaissance. However, during the Renaissance, a hierarchical order could still be found, determining a child’s place in society by their parent’s social position.
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