Renaissance

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A new birth; hence, the revival of anything which has long been in decay or desuetude. Specifically [capitalized], the movement of transition in Europe from the medieval to the modern world, and especially the time, spirit, and activity of the revival of classical arts and letters. The earliest traces and most characteristic development of this revival were in Italy, where Petrarch and the early humanists and artists of the fourteenth century may be regarded as its precursors. The movement was greatly stimulated by the influx of Byzantine scholars, who brought the literature of ancient Greece into Italy in the fifteenth century, especially after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. The Italian Renaissance was at its height at the end of the fifteenth and in the early sixteenth century, as seen in the lives and works of such men as Lorenzo dei Medici, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Machiavelli, Politian, Ariosto, Correggio, Titian, and Aldus Manutius. The Renaissance was aided everywhere by the spirit of discovery and exploration of the fifteenth century—the age which saw the invention of printing, the discovery of America, and the rounding of Africa. In Germany the Renaissance advanced about the same time with the Reformation (which commenced in 1517). In England the revival of learning was fostered by Erasmus, Colet, Grocyn, More, and their fellows, about 1500, and in France there was a brilliant artistic and literary development under Louis XII. (1498–1515) and Francis I. (1515–47). Also, in English form, renascence.
2. Of or pertaining to the Renaissance; in the style of the Renaissance.

Wiktionary

1. n. The 14th century revival of classical art, architecture, literature and learning that originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe over the following two centuries.
2. n. The period of this revival; the transition from medieval to modern times.
3. n. Any similar artistic or intellectual revival.
4. adj. Of, or relating to the Renaissance.
5. adj. Of, or relating to the style of art or architecture of the Renaissance.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The transitional movement in Europe, marked by the revival of classical learning and art in Italy in the 15th century, and the similar revival following in other countries.
2. n. The style of art which prevailed at this epoch.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the revival of learning and culture
2. n. the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries