Essay #1. For all practical purposes, the Renaissance Early Modern Period is distinguished from other periods in European history almost entirely in intellectual or cultural terms. As far as larger historical patterns are concerned, the period is more or less considered as playing out what had been set up in the later Middle Ages. The Italian Renaissance was seen as a "prototype of the modern world" and changed the way people looked at themselves as individuals instead of just masses. It also changed people's way of life, in more people during this time realizing that new scientific values were replacing traditional religious beliefs, which is an important aspect of the Renaissance, as it shaped the world of today and of tomorrow.
             The real importance of the Renaissance was that it was the beginning of a transition that led medieval times into a more intellectual and modern society, one of the many influential factors of our society being the way it is today. Helping us to gain interest into ourselves, and the human body, has led to discovery of the way the body functions, which in turn helps to develop more advanced medicine and surgery. Other advances of this period included political writings and developed geniuses such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. These men and works helped society to grasp a sense of culture and sense of thought. Renaissance Europe also advanced by growing national consciousness and political centralization. The Course Theme related to this movement is number 5 because of the cultural changes that result when people began to merge into a thought of the individual, and helped the society to develop further intellectually as a new secular and statistic approach to thinking emerged.
             Prior to the Italian Renaissance, Medieval Europe was dominated by religion, and in particular the church. Renaissance Europe was characterized by an urban economy based on organized commerce and capitalism, a gro...