In what ways was the Renaissance a significant break from the Middle Ages? Was the Renaissance a truly dramatic change, or were there significant continuities between the two periods (or both)?

Dear Nicole Nig,

A huge question...plus the difficulty of reconstructing history accurately...

1. In case this might be for your homework, what I did was to locate an article for you from the New World Encyclopedia that does a fair job of examining the contingencies... http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Renaissance
2. However, just for your own interest, I myself do believe the Italian Renaissance was truly a breakout time...and I think that because of Stendhal syndrome. Even today, when people go to Florence and immerse themselves in all that beautiful Renaissance art and science, some of them will have a little nervous breakdown. The example I picked for you is Botticelli's BIRTH OF VENUS, love born from the exquisite, iridescent seashell of the human heart. Most non-Christian art was destroyed...but take Da Vinci ADORATION OF THE MAGI, the baby Christ, the birth of love into the humble manger of the heart...all your repressions get burst loose when you are faced with so much of your own beauty all at once, and you go nuts for a little while.

Fortunately, you can just see a therapist for a few days and your nervous breakdown rights itself...but the fact that even today this happens so often,   I think it indicates something very special going on at that time in European history.