The Renaissance: main concepts.

The Renaissance is a cultural movement that developed firstly in Italy and then spread in northern Europe between the fourteenth and the seventeenth century. "Renaissance" means "rebirth" and this revival concerns the study of classical literature: Greek and Latin. It was an age of new discoveries, both geographical (New World) and intellectuals, because of the will and the thinkers of the time had to detach themselves from the religious worldview developed in the Middle Ages, period considered as a transitional stage between two main ages: antiquity and the Renaissance itself. The study of the period can be divided into five themes related to each other: the great chain of being, its political implications, humanism, the concept of imitation and the Protestant Reformation.

The great chain of being is the most important link between Renaissance and classicism. This doctrine concerns the place that things and living beings hold in a divinely planned hierarchical order: everything in the universe has its designated place. The position of an object depends on the proportion that spirit and matter have within it. At the apex of this pyramidal structure is located God (pure spirit), followed by angels, men, animals, plants and inanimate objects last (pure matter). The man is a microcosm and has the possibility of raising his position to that of angel as to lower it to that of animals.

The philosophical view of the world proposed by the great chain of being is reflected in the policy: the king was seen as the earthly incarnation of God (in England the king was also the exponent of the Anglican Church), so any popular revolt was seen as a sin against God. The hierarchical view also led to the creation of a stable form of government: monarchy in England and France, oligarchy in Italy.

Inside the Renaissance cultural movement appeared the ideological trend of humanism. The humanist ideal is in stark contrast with the vision of the world developed in the Middle Ages; indeed it gives importance to life on earth rather than to spiritual salvation, religious vision of life which conditioned humans in any decision. The Renaissance man is a acculturated person who intervenes in political life of the state and which recognizes the greatest virtue in the social nature of humanity.

Imitation is a component of humanism: a literary doctrine that reflects on the expression of core values ​​in the classical literature. The principle of imitation looks at the classical texts as a model and for this reason are rediscovered the genres of epic, satire, comedy and tragedy.

The division by the vision of the world developed in the Middle Ages takes place through the Protestant Reformation, which was implemented by Martin Luther in response to the corruption of the Catholic Church. According to Protestantism, the only means that man has to get closer to salvation is not confession or action, but the free and direct dialogue with God.