Heidi Wyman

Revolution

10/15/07

To have revolution you must have all of the aspects of p.e.r.s.i.a. (politics, economics, religion, society, intellect and aesthetics). Though a revolution must have all of the aspects one can be more causative. In the Renaissance revolution, religion was the main cause. During the Renaissance revolution the main cause religion affected all of the other aspects of p.e.r.s.i.a.

The main cause of the renaissance revolution is religion. The biggest issue was the corruption in the church. This causes people to fight and want chance in the church. First, the church made laws against usury. However the popes and the hierarchy of the church condoned or took part in the usury. For example, Parks describes instances where the popes, bishops and cardinals would not only condone usury but commit usury themselves. Parks stated, "when a bishop, or a cardinal, or the pope himself had money to put in a bank and wanted to pay investor rather than borrower, he was egger to get something in return." (p.23) and "There were those priests who denounced sin and screamed foul and promised damnation. And there were those who studied canon law to find the loopholes in it." (p.23). This condoning and use of usury by the hierarchy of the church created frustration within the followers of the church. This led to a division in the church and revolution. This corruption in the church led Martin Luther to address the corruption of the church thought writing down all the aspects of the church which he and others felt were corrupt. One example of an aspect that Luther thought was corrupt was the use of money and building for the church as a way of getting into heaven. The corruption of the church led to major frustration from the followers leading to reformation.

The religious preferences of the people had an effect on the society. When people had “unum sanctrum”, one church, there was one society and no separation. The church did not like people to challenge them as Martin Luther did in fear of separation. Luther’s actions led to the reformation of the church, splitting it into more the one religion and a split society. Secondly, some in society questioned the morality of buying privileges such as legitimacy for your child from the church. Parks shows that Cosmo had an illegitimate son and used his influences to have him in the church and later on the Bishop of Prato. This was another area of frustration to the followers of the church. This increased the desire for church reformation, hence leading to the Renaissance revolution.

The church had a huge influence on the economy of Florence. The church collected tithes from all over Italy. “The church demanded its tributes from all over Christendom” (p20), they believed that if you didn’t pay you would go to hell. This cause a major amount of the money to go to the church verses the government/ general economy. The government wanted to collect more taxes and have so mot the income that went to the church again feeding into the revolution. Secondly, the church believed that all being children of God the people should want to help each other therefore not charging each other interest. “Give, without hoping for gain”. (p.11). Business people and bankers were aggravated because this was stopping the earning of money. They had to work around church rules and attempt to elect popes that would ignore usury. All of these issues feed into the revolutionary movement.

The intellect of the people was affected by the spread of knowledge through religion. Luther spread his knowledge of corruption by posting 95 theses. These theses were then taken down and copied by a member of the printing press and then distributed. This spread the knowledge of the corruption in the church, therefore causing the splitting of the church. The intellect of the people was also affected by the translation of the Bible. The Bible was translated from Greek to Latin and then into German by Luther. The translation of the bible provided knowledge of religion for more people. These actions affected the intellect of church followers changing their views and adding to the move for revolution.

The church’s law of no usury effected politics. Business men and government leaders worked to make sure there was a pope who condoned usury. Parks shows this with the government in Florence banding any type of practice close to usury. They then worked to get Cosmo into political power so he could revoke the law against usury. If the political power had the support of the church they would have more power. The church has a lot of power and at this time they were not in complete agreement with they political leaders causing more desire for change.

As you can see, Religion is the strongest cause of the renaissance revolution. In and of itself religion is a strong motivation for reformation. It also ties into all of the other areas of p.e.r.s.i.a. causing more motivation for change.