Post 6: Overview of the first half of the quarter (The Eighth?)

Coming in to the History 004B I was definitely excited to learn, yet I had my mind set on certain things. When I thought of the renaissance and the early modern era only specific examples came to mind: The Scientific Revolution, the heretical accusations thrown at these scientists, and the great art that the renaissance was famous for. Because of this, I was somewhat surprised when the class began with a look at the black plague and seemed to focus much on the the changes in religion that were happening during this period. While I had recognized that religion was no doubt an important aspect of the Renaissance I had greatly underestimated its influence over the people of the period. Religion wasn't something that people focused on once every Sunday. It was deeply ingrained in their daily lives and was the reason for all natural phenomenon and coincidences. As a result, the power of the church was immense and the pope was arguably the most powerful person on the entire planet. The scope of his rule had no geographical boundaries like the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, but applied to every human being who believed in God above and a Hell below. It was this power, but more specifically the grasp for this kind of power, that led to the Renaissance. Money that came from victims of the plague was funneled into universities where priests began to learn and those with money could send their children for education. While the Medici began to rise as a powerful family in Florence, they recognized that the power of the pope was inbounded, and sponsored a young priest who would later become a pope himself. Through the powerful relationships formed by the Medici and the vast amounts of wealth they acquired, the medici sponsored a multitude of famous artists throughout florence and become one of the most respected families in Italy. Their family was made the official bankers of the Papacy, and their wealth acted as a catalyst for artistic, scientific, and literary innovation and learning. A new obsession with the classics of greek and rome called humanism shaped these new artworks and ideas as people began to build upon the knowledge of the "old masters." The great sums accumulated by this papacy led to a life of luxury and ease for the clergy, but created a feeling of injustice among the peasantry. Those who belonged to the hard working underclass felt cheated as the clergy was exempt form taxation and lived a life of luxury from the taxes that were collected from laborers. A man named Martin Luther ended up putting and end to this through a new form of christianity called Lutheranism which built upon the objections made by Erasmus to schism the church. This is pretty much what the entire first eighth was about, though without any of the details. At this point I have a greater respect for the power of religion upon societies and the consequences that can come form social polarization to the extremes.