Editing Renaissance (section)

=== Italian Renaissance ===
The beginnings of the period—the early Renaissance of the 15th century and the Italian [[Italian Renaissance painting#Proto-Renaissance painting|Proto-Renaissance]] from around 1250 or 1300—overlap considerably with the [[Late Middle Ages]], conventionally dated to {{circa|1350–1500}}, and the Middle Ages themselves were a long period filled with gradual changes, like the modern age; as a transitional period between both, the Renaissance has close similarities to both, especially the late and early sub-periods of either.

The Renaissance began in [[Republic of Florence|Florence]], one of the many states of [[Italy in the Middle Ages|Italy]].<ref>Burke, P., ''The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries'' 1998</ref> The Italian Renaissance concluded in 1527 when [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Charles V]] launched an [[Sack of Rome (1527)|assault on Rome]] during  the [[war of the League of Cognac]]. Nevertheless, its impact endured in the art of renowned Italian painters like [[Tintoretto]], [[Sofonisba Anguissola]], and [[Paolo Veronese]], who continued their work during the mid-to-late 16th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Renaissance: At a Glance {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Renaissance-At-a-Glance-2235613 |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> 

Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors, including Florence's social and civic peculiarities at the time: its political structure, the patronage of its dominant family, the [[House of Medici|Medici]],<ref name="strathern">Strathern, Paul ''The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance'' (2003)</ref> and the migration of [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|Greek scholars]] and their texts to Italy following the [[fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="Britannica1">''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Renaissance", 2008, O.Ed.</ref><ref>Harris, Michael H. ''History of Libraries in the Western World'', Scarecrow Press Incorporate, 1999, p. 69, {{ISBN|0810837242}}</ref><ref name="Norwich">Norwich, John Julius, ''A Short History of Byzantium'', 1997, Knopf, {{ISBN|0679450882}}</ref> Other major centers were [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]], [[Papal States|Rome]] during the [[Renaissance Papacy]], and [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]]. From Italy, the Renaissance spread throughout Europe and also to American, African and Asian territories ruled by the European colonial powers of the time or where Christian missionaries were active.

The Renaissance has a long and complex [[historiography]], and in line with general skepticism of discrete periodizations, there has been much debate among historians reacting to the 19th-century glorification of the "Renaissance" and individual cultural heroes as "Renaissance men", questioning the usefulness of ''Renaissance'' as a term and as a historical delineation.<ref name = "brotton"/>

Some observers have questioned whether the Renaissance was a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and [[nostalgia]] for [[classical antiquity]],<ref name="huizinga">[[Johan Huizinga|Huizanga, Johan]], ''[[The Waning of the Middle Ages]]'' (1919, trans. 1924)</ref> while social and economic historians, especially of the ''[[longue durée]]'', have instead focused on [[Continuity thesis|the continuity]] between the two eras,<ref name="starn">{{cite journal|author=Starn, Randolph|jstor=2650779|title= Renaissance Redux|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=103|issue=1 |year=1998|pages=122–124|doi=10.2307/2650779|issn=0002-8762 }}</ref> which are linked, as [[Panofsky]] observed, "by a thousand ties".<ref>Panofsky 1969:6.</ref>{{efn|

Some scholars have called for an end to the use of the term, which they see as a product of [[Presentism (literary and historical analysis)|presentism]] – the use of [[history]] to validate and glorify modern ideals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trinkaus |first1=Charles |last2=Rabil |first2=Albert |last3=Purnell |first3=Frederick |title=Renaissance Ideas and the Idea of the Renaissance |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1990 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=667–684 |doi=10.2307/2709652 |jstor=2709652 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2709652 |issn=0022-5037}}</ref>  }}

The word has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the [[Carolingian Renaissance]] (8th and 9th centuries), [[Ottonian Renaissance]] (10th and 11th century), and the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]].<ref name=mur />