The Beginning of the Renaissance Era.

     The beginning of the Renaissance Era was different from other eras. It started out as a plague called the Black Death. It was from 1450-1600s and started in Italy. It was a rebirth in culture hence then name “Renaissance”. The Renaissance brought inventions, new forms of art and science, and a new way of life.

     The Black Death's medical name is the Bubonic Plague. It is mostly carried by rodents but the fleas that are on those rodents sometimes will transferto humans. It then regurgitates the rodents blood and puts it into the humans blood system and they become infected. It was said that it started in the Gobi Dessert in the 1320's and nobody knows why. 20 million people were killed by theBlack Death plague. That was about one third of the population in Europe during the Renaissance Era.  

Inventions

There were many inventions in the renaissance era such as clocks, eyeglasses, flushing toilet, gunpowder, telescope, microscope, printing press, submarine, and wallpaper.

       The first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300s. Galileo, an Italian scientist discovered the pendulum in 1581. The pendulum greatly improved the constant movement of the hands or bell of the clock. During the 1600s the metallic gear, or toothed wheel, and the use of the screw in assembling the clocks were first used. Another invention was the eyeglasses and spectacles. Galileo made the lenses for the eyeglasses but we are not sure who made the actual eyeglasses. In 1287 paintings first showed people wearing or holding eyeglasses. From these paintings people say we know that they were invented in Italy. In 1352 eyeglasses were only worn by the well-educated very rich nobleman or well read Italian clergy.       

Expression of Humanism

           During the Renaissance, people expressed their culture through art, politics, science, and literature. This was otherwise known as Expression of Humanism. Art was used to tell a story, for most people at this time were illiterate. Only great philosophers could read. During this time politicswere also important. Monarchies spread, and the goal of most leaders was to gain as much land as possible for their growing empires. The Renaissance was also a big time of invention, including the invention of the printing press. This encouraged authors to reflect on culture, and express Renaissance ideas. In the science area of the Renaissance, geography, architecture, and mathematics grew in their ideas and teaching. New inventions expanded cultural ideas, and religion also became a big part of people's lives.

The creation of Adam is one of Michelangelo's                                                                                                                                          greatest works. It is telling of how God reached out to Adam and gave him life.

Freedom and Religion

   After the Black Death, individual expression and freedom was encouraged. Freedom of opinion was given to everyone. Italy expanded culturally the most, because it possessed political freedom and acceptance of great ideas. The Catholic faith grew in size as believers influenced their country with art and culture, even though political leaders tried to discourage it. With newfound knowledge, mass was also sung in Latin almost everywhere. Churches were created everywhere for everyone. The Renaissance was a great period of religious exploration.

Catholic Mass 

During the renaissance Catholic churches were built everywhere, but was still practiced in Latin. The ordinary mass wasn’t completely composed as it is today, but was in the making. The Latin mass came around in the 15^th century before translations were available and people were illiterate anyway. The churches liked to use artwork because of this in paintings and statues to tell stories from the beginning of the Bible to the saints.  The church mainly focused on the artwork and cardinals, along with other people of the church, would commission great artists to depict these stories.