The Renaissance: Was it a Thing? - Crash Course World History #22

In which John Green teaches you about the European Renaissance. European learning changed the world in the 15th and 16th centuries, but was it a cultural revolution, or an evolution? We'd argue that any cultural shift that occurs over a couple of hundred years isn't too overwhelming to the people who live through it. In retrospect though, the cultural bloom in Europe during this time was pretty impressive. In addition to investigating what caused the Renaissance and who benefitted from the changes that occurred, John will tell you just how the Ninja Turtles got mixed up in all this.

Chapters:
Introduction: The Renaissance 00:00
Themes in Renaissance Art 1:07
Humanist Scholars of the Renaissance Era 1:48
When was the Renaissance? 2:52
Why the Renaissance Happened in Italy 3:23
Florentine Textiles 5:08
How Islamic Scholars Helped Create the European Renaissance 6:30
An Open Letter to Copernicus 7:17
Why the Renaissance Didn't Happen 8:12
Credits 10:56

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[Yam-jtvw]

Social studies teacher: we're studying the Renaissance because it was an important era and
Also social studies teacher: sends us this video

[victoriah]

I would say that the creation of the printing press was a huge part of the Renaissance and really made it a 'thing'. This allowed the dissemination of ideas directly to the general population, something unheard of in the medieval period, and paved the way for radical religious reform and the growth of Protestantism.

[georgekirk]

I've been learning from this guy for years and I just found out my mom teaches his daughter

[alaqmarchawalwala]

anyone scrolling through the comments just to see what type of comments would be on a history video?

[assooya]

"Mario, Luigi come outside. The Renaissance is here!" 😂😂💔

[emoore]

"I want to be a professor of the Dark Arts!" Alright, Quirrel...

[yinghaoyu]

The day he posted the video is just few day after i came to US. I didn't understand a word back then, and now i'm using it to study for exam. Thanks John!

[sagesheahan]

In other words. The Renaissance is an era? Not an event.

[IAmFitEnough]

My teacher had never heard about John Green before. A few days ago we started on Renaissance, and so I gave her this link, and she was really impressed. May God bless your soul, John.

[charx]

The Dark Arts are a dangerous profession

[orake]

How anyone can dislike a Crash Course video is beyond me. You guys do an amazing job at breaking down the most complex topics to easy to understand, relatable concepts. Thank you!

[emilyconcannon]

I want to play “some Venetian guys international trade agreement “. Lol

[schappiness]

I don't think many commentators here grasped John Green's rhetorical statement. I don't think he literally meant the Renaissance did not happen, but used the statement to "emphasize" his point that the idea of the Renaissance as a clearly designated period and a landmark turning point as we usually teach in school is misleading. It is also true that our Western history (art history together, my field) hasn't yet fully incorporated broader cultural interactions in its granting of credits. His lecture is entertaining while has some depth to it. good combination.

[IqnisX]

Your point about our projection of a false narrative upon history is EXTREMELY accurate.

However, defining the Renaissance as "not a thing" because of the fact that it seems to be a series of many, interdependent "things" that happened over centuries and therefore built up as a "sequence", making the Renaissance "not a thing", is debatable.

When you see into any event of history, into any "thing" (a war, for example), it often becomes evident that the "thing" is not actually just one single sequence, but is in fact a series of many interdependent elements, all happening on a microscopic scale.

The difference with the Renaissance is that it is a "thing" that happened with interdependent elements happening on a MACROSCOPIC scale.

So the Renaissance is not one flowing event in history, as it was previously perceived to be. But it is an event, like events such as war, that happened as a result of elements happening on a microscopic scale to create something that we can observe on a macroscopic scale.

[langfordjeremy]

Hey there CC! I just wanted to tell you guys the gratitude I feel towards you guys is tremendous. This world history is helping me discover a passion I never knew I had and preparing me for a exciting trip to Europe. so thanks

[TheFireflyGrave]

'So was the renaissance a thing?  Not really, it was a lot of mutually interdependent things that occurred over centuries.'

Couldn't the same be said for any era?

[akap]

I came for Machiavelli. I realized he wasn't in the video.

The search continues!

[Lonewolf-dyyb]

I argue that the renaissance was a thing, if it wasn't, there wouldn't be a video about it

[semregob]

I want to thank CrashCourse for giving Muslim scholars their due credit that they deserve and are often overlooked, it's really weird at this point to see western media not so hostile to Islam and Muslims.
thanks John Green, Stan, and the wonderful team.
from Sudan.

[adityasundar]

Europeans: Earth is not the center of the universe
Indians: Such slow learners