was a time for a re-awakening of educated thinking, great artistic endeavors, and an

empowering factor of humanism to use free will to govern one's future rather than

allowing the church to dictate the correct path in life.

The city of Florence became the center for much of this activity, where artists and

scholars were sponsored royally by like-minded families of great wealth and social

power. More emphasis was put onto education as a means of freedom from ignorance

instead of a reason to serve God. There was a shift in power from the church to a general

secularization in all areas of life, with the main focus being on the enhancement in the

studies of the arts. The arts were looked at in a new way, using humanism as the new

religion and the new way to achieve the greatest possible virtue.

The actual term Renaissance means "re-birth", which is essentially what was taking place

overall, in Florence and other Italian states.

"For Burckhardt this period consisted, broadly speaking, of the 15th century

in Italy, a time and place in which "medieval" man became "modern" man."

With enormous financial sponsorship behind them, artists were able to concentrate soley

more educated in subject matter that had been too long denied.

As much of the educational aspect centered in Florence, so did the growing desire for

Some common words found in the essay are:
Italian Renaissance, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Florence Using, Greek Roman, Rice Jr, Renaissance Florence, European History, Italian Burckhardt, italian renaissance, own destiny, florence growing, subject matter, factor humanism, beginning renaissance, encyclopaedia britannica, britannica 2000, achieve virtue, teachings church, encyclopaedia britannica 2000,
Approximate Word count = 1094
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)