How the Wealthy Medici Changed the World

clipped from www.livescience.com Like a medieval ATM, one family bankrolled the cultural movement that dragged Europe out of the Dark Ages and into modernity. With their love for art, science and culture, the Medici of Florence catalyzed the Renaissance that began in the 14th century, making household names of da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo in the process. The revival of learning, rationality and the arts patronized by the Medici in Italy spread throughout Europe, sped along by the invention of the printing press, and forever transformed the Western world. Big business meant extra dough for art Europe in the 14th century was a downtrodden place, ravaged by war and a plague that killed nearly half its people. Florence was hard hit by the Black Death, but those who survived tended to be rich as well as newly critical of absolute faith in religion. The conditions were ideal for a cultural transformation, according to historians.