Western Europe Made Lighter?

Yes, there were some regions which were relatively backward in the second half of the first millenium in Western Europe, but then again they had always been (Germany, northern France, southern England), and some regions which had been "dark" were now a beacon of culture (Ireland and Northumbria in Northern England for instance). I recommend you look up the Nortunbrian Renaissance of the 7th and 8th centuries, for example.

Also, let's not forget that the backwardness of Western Europe was for the most part due to Islam itself, which had cut off the traditonal trade routes linking it to the Mediterranean basin. The loss of foodstuffs coming from the conquered regions of Egypt and North Africa, as well as that of the papyrus source, led to an increasing process of ruralization and decentralization. Cities, the engines of economic growth and culture, could simply not subsist in a dramatically altered trade system, and in a situation where the prime medium of recording information (papyrus) was now gone.  

You seem to think that there is a distinct line to draw between the renaissance and the Middle Ages, kamikaze, but there is no such line:

Originally posted by Kamikaze 738 Originally posted by gcle2003 'Imperial Islam' wasn't even able to establish a single, central authority in the Islamic world (for longer than one generation). Same for Western Europe so would Islamic influence in Western Europe have any dramatic affect on the region? Originally posted by gcle2003 Christianity was the thing that was uniting the europeans However, it didnt stop all the fighting such as English and French Hundreds Years War did it?

Would Islam just speed Western Europe into the Renaissance 700 years eariler than what they could have done alone? What kind of impact will that have for medieval Europe?

 

 

I guess we should first define Renaissance. It literally means "rebirth". Rebirth of the greatness of the ancients, specifically Roman and Greek. It was humanism at its finest. This was the age of man and all his greatness. I believe the great Italian(for the most part) movement was fueled by these great men who felt it was their responsibility to regain their former greatness. So would Islam have brang on the Renaissance any earlier? I dont think it would have came at all under Islamic rule, not because Muslims wouldnt have been enlightened enough to have start such a movement but because they wouldnt have felt the burden the great men that came, and culture as a whole, into the Renaissance and the High-Renaissance had felt. It was this culture that needed this movement, to be short.

 

Plus, could a Palladio come out of any other culture?(he's on my top 5 list of peeps Id like to meet)