After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe entered the Middle Ages, which lasted for nearly a thousand years. During this time, the ideas of the Greeks and Romans were mainly lost or destroyed in conflicts and the Plagues, and people were almost exclusively ruled by monarchies, the nobility, and the church. As the Middle Ages went on, people slowly began to rediscover some of that lost knowledge with the help of Islamic scholars in the Middle East, who had preserved the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans in libraries. By re-translating the works of people like Plato, Aristotle, and others, Europe began to change. Everything from the idea of religion and government, down to art and science were questioned, and this sparked a Renaissance, or "rebirth," of the classical ideas discussed earlier this unit. People still placed emphasis on the importance of the church and the path to heaven, but began giving more attention to the plight of individual people and their lives here on Earth, due to these old ideas becoming popular again.
Of course, this did not happen overnight. It developed over hundreds of years during the Middle Ages. It is likely that you have heard of the Renaissance and Reformation (roughly 1300-1600 C.E) at some point before, but it is necessary to understand those two events, in order to comprehend how Europe progressed into the time period known as the Enlightenment, which we will discuss next unit. The PowerPoint below will begin the process necessary to making these connections back to the Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians, and forward to the upcoming Enlightenment, which will see a large shift away from religion, and more toward science.
Of course, this did not happen overnight. It developed over hundreds of years during the Middle Ages. It is likely that you have heard of the Renaissance and Reformation (roughly 1300-1600 C.E) at some point before, but it is necessary to understand those two events, in order to comprehend how Europe progressed into the time period known as the Enlightenment, which we will discuss next unit. The PowerPoint below will begin the process necessary to making these connections back to the Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians, and forward to the upcoming Enlightenment, which will see a large shift away from religion, and more toward science.