Which situation contributed most to the beginning of the Renaissance?
A) Strong rulers censored new ideas.
B) Europe became increasingly isolated from other regions.
C) The emphasis on religious uniformity increased.
D) A wealthy class that supported the arts emerged.
E) Europe began to discover the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
D) A wealthy class that supported the arts emerged.
In the fifteenth century, a wealthy class of merchants and bankers, such as the Medici family who had
amassed large fortunes in Florence, became the major sponsors of Renaissance artists. Art was used as a way
to glorify the success of the sponsors and their families. Strong Renaissance rulers were more concerned with
developing countries into nations than with censoring new ideas. The Catholic Church, however, was more
concerned with censorship, such as with Galileo and Copernicus. Religious uniformity declined in the
Renaissance. Writers such as Erasmus criticized some of the abuses of the Church. These criticisms gave rise
to the Protestant Reformation, which destroyed the religious unity of Europe. Humanism rejected the
Scholastic philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas and focused on the writings of the Greeks and Romans.
Europe became less isolated as it increased trade with Asia and explored new lands in the Americas.
