Renaissance and Police uniforms and equipment in the United Kingdom: Difference between pages

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[[Image:Sanzio 01.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Raphael]] was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ''[[The School of Athens]]'' (above) is perhaps the most extended study in this.]]

==Uniform==

The word '''Renaissance''' (French for 'poophead', or ''Rinascimento'' in [[Italian language|Italian]]), was first used to define the historical age in Italy (and in [[Europe]] in general) that followed the [[Middle Ages]] and preceded the [[Reformation]], spanning roughly the [[201th century|201th]] through the [[16th century]]. The principal features were the revival of learning based on classical sources, the rise of courtly and papal patronage, the development of [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]] in painting, and the advancements of science. The word Renaissance is now often used to describe other historical and cultural moments (e.g. the [[Carolingian Renaissance]], the [[Byzantine civilisation in the twelfth century|Byzantine Renaissance]]).

[[Image:Hampshire helmet constable.jpg|thumb|right|A Hampshire Constabulary custodian ("bobby") helmet]]

[[Image:Edinburgh G8 police group DSC05042.JPG|thumb|right|Police officers in white shirt and helmets]]

[[Image:Police.three.on.patrol.london.arp.jpg|thumb|right|Metropolitan Police officers wearing hi-visibility jackets]]

Although there are minor variations in the styling, pattern and [[insignia]], the police forces of [[Great Britain]], [[Jersey]], [[Guernsey]], the [[Isle of Man]] and [[Gibraltar]] all wear very similar [[uniform]]s. In general, these have taken their lead from the [[Metropolitan Police]], with changes appearing in that force first. The base colour is a very dark blue, almost indistinguishable from black (and these days often actually is black), which earnt the police the nickname of the "boys in blue".

Formal uniform comprises an open-necked [[tunic]] (with or without an attached [[belt (clothing)|belt]], depending on the force) and [[trousers]] or [[skirt]], worn with a white or light blue [[shirt]] and black [[necktie|tie]] (usually [[Clip-on tie|clip-on]], so it cannot be used to strangle the wearer). Although most forces once wore blue shirts, these have been less used since the [[1980s]] (when the Metropolitan Police changed to white) and most now wear white. Officers of the rank of [[inspector]] and above have always worn white shirts, and in many forces so have female officers. In some forces, female officers wear a black and white checked [[cravat]] instead of a tie. Officers of the rank of [[Sergeant]] and above wear rank badges on their epaulettes, while [[Constables]] and Sergeants also wear "[[collar number]]s" on them.

==Renaissance self-awareness==

By the fifteenth century, writers, artists and architects in Italy were well aware of the transformations that were taking place and were using phrases like ''modi antichi'' (in the antique manner) or ''alle romana et alla antica'' (in the manner of the Romans and the ancients) to describe their work. As to the term “rebirth,” it seems that [[Albrecht Dürer]] in 1523 was the first to use such a term when he used ''Wiedererwachung'' (German: re-awakening) to describe Italian art. The term "la rinascita" first appeared, however, in its broad sense in [[Giorgio Vasari]]'s ''Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori Italiani'' (The Lives of the Artists, 1550-68). <ref>[[Erwin Panofsky]], ''Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art'', (New York: Harper and Row, 1960) </ref> Vasari divides the age into three phases: the first phase contains [[Cimabue]], [[Giotto]] and [[Arnolfo di Cambio]]; the second phase contains [[Masaccio]], [[Brunelleschi]] and [[Donatello]]; the third centers on [[Leonardo da Vinci]], culminating with [[Michelangelo]]. It was not just the growing awareness of classical antiquity that drove this development, according to Vasari, but also the growing desire to study and imitate nature.<ref>Philip Sohm, ''Style in the Art Theory of Early Modern Italy'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)</ref>

Until the mid 1990s this was also the everyday working uniform, but today it is rarely seen except on formal occasions. The normal working dress retains the shirt (open-necked or with a tie or cravat) and trousers, worn with or without a [[jersey (clothing)|jersey]] or [[fleece (clothing)|fleece]]. Some forces use [[combat trousers]] and [[combat boot|boots]]. Today, female officers almost never wear a skirt in working dress, and frequently wear trousers in formal dress as well. Officers also frequently wear reflective waterproof [[jacket]]s, which have replaced the old [[overcoat|greatcoat]]s and [[cloak]]s traditionally worn in inclement weather. Most officers now wear [[body armour]] when on duty.

==The Renaissance as a historical age==

The period did not become recognized as an historical age, however, until the early nineteenth century during which time the word ''renaissance'' in French came to be used to describe it. The Renaissance was first defined by French historian [[Jules Michelet]] (1798-1874), in his ''Histoire de France'' (History of France, 1855). For Michelet, the Renaissance was less a development in art and culture as in science. For him, it spanned the period from [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]] to [[Copernicus]] to [[Galileo]], in other words from the end of the fifteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century.<ref> Jules Michelet. ''History of France'', translated by G. H. Smith. (New York: D. Appleton, 1847).</ref> The Swiss historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]] (1818-1897) in his ''Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien'' (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1860) (English translation, by SGC Middlemore, in 2 vols., London, 1878), by contrast, followed Vasari, defining the Renaissance as the period between the Italian painters [[Giotto]] and [[Michelangelo]]. His book was widely read and influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance.<ref>Peter Gay, ''Style in History''. (New York: Basic Books 1974).</ref> In architecture, the folio of measured drawings ''Édifices de Rome moderne; ou, Recueil des palais, maisons, églises, couvents et autres monuments'', (The Buildings of Modern Rome) first published in 1840, by [[Paul Letarouilly]] (1795-1855) also played an important part in the revival of interest in this period.

Basic headgear is a [[Combination Cap|peaked cap]] for men, and a round [[bowler hat|bowler]] style hat for women. All officers wear a black and white (red and white for the [[City of London Police]]) diced band around the hat, a distinction first used in Scotland and later adopted by all forces in Great Britain. Traffic officers wear white cap covers (yellow in Derbyshire). On foot duty, male constables and sergeants outside [[Scotland]] wear the familiar conical [[custodian helmet]]. There are several patterns, with different forces wearing different types. Although some Scottish forces have used helmets in the past, they are no longer worn in Scotland.

===The European Renaissances of the 15th and 16th centuries===

[[Image:Vitruvian.jpg|right|thumb|180px|[[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s [[Vitruvian Man]], an example of the blend of art and science during the Renaissance.]]

Officers of the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (PSNI) wear a uniform which is somewhat different, due to the political situation. The main colour to be found is a dark and light green with the uniform looking very unlike mainland police uniforms.

In the twentieth century, scholars began to break the Renaissance into regional and national movements.

===Uniform history===

*[[Italian Renaissance]]

The first uniform, which was a lighter blue than at present, was a high-collared [[tailcoat]], worn with white trousers in summer. The headgear was a hardened [[top hat]], which served the dual purpose of protecting the officer from blows to the head and allowing him to use it as a step to climb or see over walls. The sleeves of the dark blue coats originally had a pattern of white bars, roughly 6&nbsp;mm wide by 50&nbsp;mm high, set roughly 6&nbsp;mm apart. This immediately distinguished them from naval or maritime personnel. Although this feature was taken up in the [[Dominion]]s, it was not used in the USA.

*[[English Renaissance]]

*[[German Renaissance]]

*[[Northern Renaissance]]

*[[French Renaissance]]

*[[Renaissance in the Netherlands]]

*[[Polish Renaissance]]

*[[Spanish Renaissance]]

*[[Renaissance architecture in Eastern Europe]]

The tailcoat was later replaced by a tunic, still high-collared, and the top hat by the [[custodian helmet]] (both adopted by the Metropolitan Police in 1863). With a few exceptions (including the [[City of London Police]] and the [[Hampshire Constabulary]]), the helmet plate was (and still is) based on the [[Brunswick star]]. The helmet itself was of cork faced with fabric. The design varied slightly between forces. Some had that favoured by the Metropolitan Police, topped with a boss, others had a helmet that incorporated a ridge or crest terminating above the badge, while others had a short spike, sometimes topped with a ball.

===Other Renaissances===

The term Renaissance has also been used to define time periods outside of the 15th and 16th centuries. [[Charles H. Haskins]] (1870–1937), for example, made a convincing case for a [[Renaissance of the 12th century]].<ref>Charles Homer Haskins. ''The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century''. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927).</ref> Other historians have argued for a [[Carolingian Renaissance]] in the eighth and ninth centuries, and still later for an Ottonian Renaissance in the tenth century.<ref>Jean Hubert. ''L’empire carolingien'' (English: The Carolingian Renaissance, Translated by James Emmons (New York: G. Braziller, 1970).</ref> Other periods of cultural rebirth have also been termed "renaissances", such as the [[Bengal Renaissance]] or the [[Harlem Renaissance]]. These are not considered in this article, which will concentrate on the European Renaissance linking the Middle Ages to the Modern Age.

The tunic went through many lengths and styles, with the Metropolitan Police adopting the open-neck style in 1948 (although senior and female officers adopted it before that time). Senior officers used to wear peaked pillbox-style caps until the adoption of the wider peaked cap worn today.

==Italian Renaissance Introduction==

{{Main|Italian Renaissance}}

Female officers' uniforms have gone through a great variety of styles, as they have tended to reflect the women's fashions of the time. Tunic style, skirt length and headgear have varied by period and force. By the late 1980s, female working uniform was virtually identical to male, except for headgear and sometimes neckwear.

The [[Italian Renaissance]] has several characteristics: re-connection with [[classical antiquity]], the rise of [[Renaissance humanism]], the emergence of Italian courtly power, the development of [[perspective]], the radical change in the style and substance of the arts and architecture, and the rise of the power of the [[papacy]], among others. Because of the nature of these changes, the Italian Renaissance has sometimes been seen as the beginning of the [[Modern Age]], and has thus also been sometimes labeled the [[Early Modern]].

==Personal radios==

<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Santa Maria del Fiore.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The [[Santa Maria del Fiore]] church of [[Florence]], [[Italy]]. Florence was the capital of the Renaissance]] -->

In 2004, British police forces began the roll-out of a digital [[TETRA]] (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) system for communications, called [[Airwave (communications network)|Airwave]]. The Airwave system replaced the previous Motorola radio handsets and [[two-way radio]]s with a mobile phone-like device, which is supposed to improve radio coverage, is encrypted to prevent interception, and allows data as well as voice transmission. The roll-out is due for complete coverage of all UK police forces and other emergency services by the end of 2007.

Personal radio systems were first issued to police officers and installed in police cars in the 1960s (resulting in the demise of the "[[police box]]" telephones made famous by ''[[Doctor Who]]''). From the 1990s, officers frequently carried [[mobile phone]]s in addition to their personal radio units.

The Italian Renaissance has no set starting point or place; the ideas that it came to embody developed over time and in different places. One of the first centers was [[Florence]], but by the middle of the fifteenth century, [[Rome]], [[Urbino]], [[Milan]], and [[Mantua]] had also become centers. In literature, [[Dante Alighieri]] (1265–1321) and [[Francesco Petrarch]] (1304–1374) are often considered to be the first writers to embody the [[Humanism|humanist]] spirit of the Renaissance. In architecture, [[Filippo Brunelleschi]] (1377 - 1446) is considered to be the first Renaissance architect, whereas in painting, it is the treatise (1436) by [[Leon Battista Alberti]] (1404 –1472) that describes the theory of [[perspective]] that is usually given as the mark of the new age. In economic terms, it is the rise of the [[Medici]] through the efforts of [[Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici]] (1360-1429). He made the Medici bank into the leading financial institution of Europe. The [[fall of Constantinople]] to the Turks in [[1453]] was a turning point in warfare as [[cannon]] and [[gunpowder]] became central. In addition, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]]-Greek (i.e. Eastern Roman) scholars fled west to Rome, bringing with them classical Roman and Greek texts as well as their knowledge of the classical civilizations, much of which had been lost in Western Europe for centuries. Notable among them was [[Manuel Chrysoloras]] (c. 1355 –1415), who arrived in Italy in 1397 and is often credited with re-introducing Greek literature to Western Europe. Besides spurring this migration, the fall of the last remnants of the Roman Empire represented the end of the old religious order in Europe.

==Firearms and weapons==<!-- This section is linked from [[The Adventures of Tintin]] -->

Throughout the [[15th]] century, artists studied the natural world in order to perfect their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective. Among the many great artists of this period were [[Sandro Botticelli]], [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], [[Paolo Uccello]] and [[Piero della Francesca]]. There was a related advancement of [[Gothic Art]] centered in [[Germany]] and the [[Netherlands]], known as the [[Northern Renaissance]]. The Early Renaissance was succeeded by the mature [[High Renaissance]] around the year 1500.

In the [[United Kingdom]] and some other countries of the [[Policing in the United Kingdom|British police]] tradition, the police are not normally issued firearms, but are issued other weapons ([[Club (weapon)#Telescopic batons|batons]], [[pepper spray]], [[CS spray]] etc.), although some officers may be issued firearms in special situations. This originates from the formation of the [[Metropolitan Police]] in the [[19th Century]], when police were not armed, partly to counter public fears and objections concerning armed enforcers. However, the [[Ministry of Defence Police]], [[Civil Nuclear Constabulary]] and [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] (formerly the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]]) are issued firearms as a matter of routine. Every force can also call upon armed response units in a matter of minutes, and certain specialist squads, such as the [[Flying Squad]], [[Special Branch]], [[Diplomatic Protection Group]], Royalty Protection Branch, and officers protecting airports and government buildings, are routinely armed.

The weapons carried routinely by ordinary police constables are currently an extending [[Club (weapon)|baton]] and, in all but two county police services, personal issue [[Riot control agent|incapacitant spray]], such as CS (a chemical incapacitant) or CapTor (a natural incapacitant based on extracts from [[Capsicum]] peppers. The effects of sprays are designed to be short-lived, subsiding within 30-60 minutes and clearing more quickly in well-ventilated areas.

===Critical views===

Many historians now view the Italian Renaissance as more of an intellectual and ideological change than a substantive one. [[Historical materialism|Marxist historians]], for example, hold the view that the changes in art, literature, and philosophy affected only a tiny minority of the very wealthy and powerful, leaving the lives of the great mass of the European population unchanged.

The use of batons varies across the country and each force selects which baton is best able to fulfil its needs and provide the best protection to officers. Friction lock batons such as the [http://www.asp-net.com/ ASP] are popular, although the PR-24 [[Monadnock]] extendable baton (sometimes known as the side-handled baton) or the Monadnock Straight Lock baton is used in some forces. Some forces use a one piece "Arnold" baton, although they are relatively rare except in forces in the North of England.

Many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the "medieval" period - poverty, ignorance, warfare, religious and political persecution, and so forth - seem to have actually worsened in this era which saw the rise of [[Machiavelli]], the Wars of Religion, the corrupt [[Borgia]] Popes, and the intensified witch-hunts of the 16th century. Many people who lived during the Renaissance did not view it as the "golden age" imagined by certain 19th century authors, but were concerned by these social maladies. Significantly, though, the artists, writers, and patrons involved in the cultural movements in question believed they were living in a new era that was a clean break from the Middle Ages.

===Use of firearms===

[[Johan Huizinga]] ([[1872]]&ndash;[[1945]]) acknowledged the existence of the Renaissance but questioned whether it was a positive change. In his book ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'', he argued that the Renaissance was a period of decline from the [[High Middle Ages]], destroying much that was important. The [[Latin|Latin language]], for instance, had evolved greatly from the classical period and was still a living language used in the church and elsewhere. The Renaissance obsession with classical purity halted its natural evolution and saw Latin revert to its classical form. [[Robert S. Lopez]] has contended that it was a period of deep [[economic recession]]. Meanwhile [[George Sarton]] and [[Lynn Thorndike]] have both argued that [[Science|scientific]] progress was slowed.

[[Image:Police armed uk.jpg|thumb|right|Firearms officers wearing body armour]]

Unlike the police in most other countries, most officers in the British police are not routinely armed, except in [[Northern Ireland]], at [[airport]]s, [[nuclear power plant|nuclear facilities]], and on some protection duties. However every territorial police force has an armed contingent of officers patrolling able to support unarmed colleagues when required. The arming of the police is a perennial topic of debate.

Officers on night patrols in some [[London]] divisions were frequently armed with [[Webley and Scott|Webley]] [[revolver]]s (and, after the [[Sidney Street Siege|Battle of Stepney]], Webley [[semi-automatic self-loading pistol|semi-automatics]]) for over 50 years following the [[murder]] of two officers in [[1884]], though individual officers were able to choose whether to carry the weapons. The practice ended in July [[1936]], after which arms could be issued by a sergeant if there was a ''good reason'', and if the officer had been trained.

Historians have begun to consider the word ''Renaissance'' as unnecessarily loaded, implying an unambiguously positive rebirth from the supposedly more primitive "[[Dark Ages]]" (Middle Ages). Many historians now prefer to use the term "[[Early Modern Europe|Early Modern]]" for this period, a more neutral term that highlights the period as a transitional one that led to the modern world.

The issue of routine arming was next raised after the [[1952]] [[Derek Bentley]] case, and again after the 1966 murder of three officers in London ([[Massacre of Braybrook Street]]), following which around 17% of officers in London were authorised to carry firearms. After the deaths of a number of members of the public in the [[1980s]], control was considerably tightened, many officers had their firearm authorisation revoked, and training for the remainder was greatly improved and later extended to include some training from the [[Special Air Service|SAS]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Currently around seven per cent of officers in London are trained in the use of firearms. Firearms are also only issued to an officer under strict guidelines <ref>[http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/firearms.pdf ACPO firearms policy]</ref> See [[Specialist Firearms Command|CO19]] (Metropolitan Police Firearms Unit).

The development of the Italian Renaissance was intertwined with the intellectual movement known as [[Renaissance humanism]] and with the history of the fiercely independent and combative urban societies of the [[Italian city-states|city-states of central and northern Italy]] in the [[13th century|13th]] to [[16th century|16th centuries]]. [[Florence, Italy]] can be considered the birthplace of the Renaissance for several reasons.

In order to allow armed officers to rapidly attend an incident most forces have patrolling [[Armed Response Vehicle]]s (ARVs). ARVs were modelled on the Instant Response Cars introduced by the [[West Yorkshire Police]] in [[1976]], and were first introduced in London in [[1991]], when 132 armed deployments were made. Today [[CO19]] and the [[Diplomatic Protection Group]] provide London with ARVs with officers having weapons permanently holstered on their person to allow rapid deployment.

The first two or three decades of the [[15th century]] saw the emergence of a rare cultural efflorescence, particularly in Florence. This 'Florentine Enlightenment' ([[George Holmes (professor)|Holmes]]) was a major achievement. It was a classical, classicizing culture which sought to live up to the republican ideals of [[Athens]] and [[Rome]]. Sculptors used Roman models and classical themes. This society had a new relationship with its classical past — it felt it owned it and revived it. Florentines felt akin to [[1st century BC]] [[Roman Republic|republican Rome]]. [[Rucellai]] wrote that he belonged to a great age; [[Leonardo Bruni]]'s ''Panegyric to the City of Florence'' expresses similar sentiments. There was a genuine appreciation of the plastic arts&mdash;pagan idols and statuary&mdash;with nudity and expressions of human dignity. [[Painting]] took huge leaps forward from the works of [[Giotto]] through [[Fra Angelico]], [[Masaccio]], [[Masolino]], [[Piero della Francesca]], and many others.

Although largely attributable to a significant increase{{fact|June 2007}} in the use of imitation firearms and air weapons, the overall increase in firearms crime between 1998/99 and 2002/03{{fact|June 2007}} (it has been decreasing since 2003/04, although use of imitations continued to rise){{fact|June 2007}} has kept this issue in the spotlight. For the first time since 1936, the routine carrying of firearms on normal police patrols was re-introduced in [[Nottingham]] in February [[2000]], in response to a number of gang related shootings on the St Ann's and Meadows estates. Despite this, [[Police Federation of England and Wales|Police Federation]] surveys have continued to show overwhelming police officer resistance to routine arming. In the Federation's most recent (2006) Officer/Arming survey, 82% of respondents were against the routine arming of police.<ref>[http://www.polfed.org/WhereWeStand_Firearms_and_the_policeAWAITING_INFO230506.pdf Police Federation Survey]</ref>

[[Image:Italy 1494 shepherd.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A political map of the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Peninsula]] circa [[1494]].]]

A similar, parallel movement was also occurring in the arts in the early 15th century in Florence&mdash;an avant-garde, classicising movement involving many of the same close community of people. [[Laurentius Valla|Valla]] said that, as Latin was revived, so was [[Roman architecture|Latin architecture]] — for example, the [[Palazzo Rucellai]] built by [[Leone Battista Alberti]]. Valla felt that [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]] was the greatest architect since Roman times.

As of September [[2004]], all forces in England and Wales also have the [[Taser]] available, but it may only be used by Firearms Officers, although there have been growing calls quietly from within the ranks and the public for all officers to be routinely armed with a [[Taser]]. The [[Police Federation]] have already called for this and is a firm position held by it. <ref>[http://www.polfed.org/we_stand_F0AE5868581B4E239F2FEDFC4D976359.asp Police Federation]</ref>

Sculpture was also revived, in many cases before the other arts. There was a very obvious classicism about contemporary sculpture, and highly true-to-life figures were being sculpted. Often biblically-themed sculpture and paintings included recognizable Florentines. Mention should be made of the competition to sculpt bas-relief bronze panels for the [[baptistery]] in Florence. The winner of the competition was [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], whose naturalistic and elegantly expressive work won over Brunelleschi's entry. Brunelleschi went on to give up sculpture and become one of the world's most significant architects, designing the [[Duomo]] of Florence.

<small>''For more on firearm use by British police, see the [[Policing in the United Kingdom#Controversial shootings|controversial shootings section]] of the main [[Policing in the United Kingdom]] article.''</small>

The nascent philosophy of [[nominalism]] also played a part, and can be demonstrated by the attention to detail in the observation of nature evident in many paintings of the time.

[[Image:PolicingAnimalRightsDemonstrationOxford20050129 CopyrightKaihsuTai.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Thames Valley Police]] policing an animal rights demonstration in Oxford]]

Classicism was applied both to literature and to the arts. [[Leone Battista Alberti|Alberti]] felt that he had played a major part, as had Brunelleschi and [[Tommaso Masaccio|Masaccio]]. The list of artists who contributed to the flowering of Italian art during this period is long and varied, and must also include [[Gentile de Fabriano]], [[Fra Angelico]], [[Lorenzo da Monaco]], [[Fra Filippo Lippi]], [[Masolino]], and [[Giovanni di Paolo]].

===Causes=Police vehicles==

{{main|Police Car}}

{{Unreferencedsect|date=December 2006}}

The archetypal British "bobby" walked his beat alone. Apart from rapid response units, motor vehicles were rarely used except in rural districts (and even there, [[bicycle]]s were more common). However, following the 1964 [[Police Act 1964|Police Act]], the police became increasingly motorised and it is now rare to see an officer on foot patrol except in city or town centres, and then rarely alone. More recently, police forces have begun to put officers back on the beat as 'community' or 'neighbourhood' patrols. In an increasing number of urban centres police bicycle units are used to provide a quick response in congested areas, pedestrianised areas and parkland, as well as carrying out patrols. A bicycle patrol provides a happy balance between the distance covered by a motorised patrol and the approachability of the foot patrol. <ref>[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=298 TFL 999 London Cycling Award press release]</ref> The [[Metropolitan Police]] now have over 1500 police bicycles.<ref>[http://www.daveches.co.uk/analysis/bikes Police on bikes, from LS8]</ref>

[[Image:UK Police Battenburg.jpg|thumb|right|Traffic Police Car with high visibility battenburg markings.]]

Some possible explanations for the emergence of the Renaissance in Florence are:

[[Police car|Patrol cars]], sometimes known as [[panda car]]s, are in use everywhere and may be crewed by one or two officers. In Scotland, because of the necessity of corroborating evidence, there are always two officers in a vehicle. Rapid response vehicles are utilised for various departments in each police force. Some examples are: armed response vehicles and some traffic department vehicles, which come in marked and unmarked variations. Typical examples of high-powered rapid response vehicles are BMW 5 series, Volvo T5s and V70s, enhanced [[Opel Vectra|Vauxhall Vectra]]s and various Subaru and Audi high-end models. Police also use Land Rover and Range Rover models - such as for responding to motorway incidents - Jaguar cars are even used by some forces. Most forces use [[Ford Transit]] vans or similar models as personnel carriers, with specially adapted versions in use by public order units such as the Metropolitan Police [[Territorial Support Group]]. Police motorcycles, bicycles and horses are also employed depending on the situation.

All Home Office police forces have access to air support, often in the form of helicopters. Some forces, such as Hampshire, also have small fixed wing aircraft.

; The [[Crusades]]

: In the thirteenth century, math and the sciences flourished in the Islamic Arabic countries. Some of this knowledge made its way into Europe through Spain or was brought to Europe through the crusaders.

; The decline and fall of the [[Byzantine_Empire#The_fall_of_the_Byzantine_Empire|Byzantine Empire]]

: The decline of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire after 1204 - and its eventual fall - lead to an exodus of Greco-Roman scholars to the West. These scholars brought with them texts and knowledge of the classical Greek and Roman civilizations which had been lost for centuries in the West.

; The [[Medici]] family

: One of the oldest explanations is that patronage of the Medici allowed for the advancement of artwork, especially under [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Lorenzo]], which in turn led to the Renaissance. However, the start of the Renaissance can be dated around [[1410]] to [[1420]], prior to the Medici's rise to power.

; The [[Great Man]] argument

: This theory argues that the existence of individual geniuses — [[Donatello]], [[Filippo Brunelleschi|Brunelleschi]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], and [[Michelangelo Buonarroti|Michelangelo]] — sparked the Renaissance. This is often cited as a circular argument which fails to explain the circumstances which differentiated these particular geniuses from those before or after.

; The rise of [[individualism]] theory

: This is a similar argument that argues for a change from [[collective neutrality]] towards the ''lonely genius''.

;The [[Black Plague]] theory

:In the 14th Century, it is estimated that up to one-third or more of the population of Europe died of the plague. The plague was indiscriminate; it affected kings and serfs, priests and peasants, the pious and the sinful. In this theory, the idea that neither fervent Christian beliefs or anything else provided protection from it caused the Christian world view to shift, leading people to live for the moment rather than in preparation for the afterlife. This, together with the distribution of the Bible and written knowledge (books were previously kept by individuals) via the invention of the printing press by [[Gutenberg]] (1450s) and the consequent wide dissemination of humanistic philosophies from the Greco-Roman era - Aristotle in particular, but also Plato (and so Socrates), Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca and others - created the intellectual climate which both fostered the emergence of Humanism, the interest in man and the here and now.

Forces with significant waterways to police maintain police watercraft, ranging from [[Zodiac Group|Zodiac]] dinghies to [[Arun class lifeboat|ARUN class]] boats.<ref>[http://www.met.police.uk/msu/training.htm Metropolitan Police Marine Unit]</ref><ref>[http://www.strathclyde.police.uk/index.asp?locID=927&docID=-1 Strathclyde Police Marine Policing Unit]</ref>

===Fourteenth century Italy===

In 1300, Florence had a civic culture, with people like [[Latini]] who had a sense of classical values, though different from the values of the fifteenth century. [[Giovanni Villani|Villani]] also had a sense of the city as ''daughter and creature of Rome''.

==Other relevant pages==

The 1380s saw a gradual increase in the influence of several classicising groups, including monks and citizens. Apart from the elites there was already an audience for the Renaissance. Florence was a very literate audience, already self-conscious and aware of its city and place in the political landscape.

* [[Police Aviation in United Kingdom]]

The crucial people in the fourteenth and fifteenth century were

* [[Manuel Chrysoloras]]: increased interest in the grammar of ancient architecture (1395)

* [[Niccoli]]: a major influence on the perception of the classics.

Their teachings reached the upper classes between 1410 and 1420 and it is argued that this is when the new consciousness emerged. Brucker noticed this new consciousness in council debates around 1410; there are increased classical references.

Florence experienced not just one but many crises; [[Milan]], [[Lucca]], the [[Ciompi]]. The sense of crisis was over by 1415 and there was a new confidence, a triumphant experience of being a republic.

Between the years 1413-1423 there was an economic boom. The upper class had the financial means to support scholarship. [[Gombrich]] says there was a sense of ratifying yourself to the ancient world, leading to a snobbishness and an elite view of education, and a tendency for the rich wanting to proclaim their ascendancy over the poor and over other cities.

The early Renaissance was an act of collaboration. Artisans and artists were enmeshed in the networks of their city. Committees were usually responsible for buildings. There were collaborations between patricians and artisans without which the Renaissance could not have occurred. Thus it makes sense to adopt a civic theory of the Renaissance rather than a ''great man'' theory.

==The Renaissance Spreads==

{{main|Northern Renaissance}}

[[Image:Jan van Eyck 001.jpg|thumb|200px|[[The Arnolfini Portrait]], by [[Jan van Eyck]], painted 1434]]

[[Image:Ratusz Poznan od Wielkiej.jpg|thumb|200px|Town hall in [[Poznań]]]]

The Renaissance spread north out of Italy, being adapted and modified as it moved. It arrived in [[France]], imported by King [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]] after his invasion of Italy. [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] imported Italian art and artists, including [[Leonardo Da Vinci]], and at great expense built ornate palaces. Writers such as [[François Rabelais]], [[Pierre de Ronsard]], [[Joachim du Bellay]] and [[Michel de Montaigne]], painters such as [[Jean Clouet]] and musicians such as [[Jean Mouton]] also borrowed from the spirit of the Italian Renaissance.

In the second half of the 15th century, Italians brought the new style to [[Poland]] and [[Hungary]]. After the marriage in 1476 of [[Matthias Corvinus]], King of Hungary, to [[Beatrix of Naples]], [[Buda]] became the first important artistic centre of the Renaissance north of the [[Alps]]. The most important humanists living in Matthias' court were [[Antonio Bonfini]] and [[Janus Pannonius]]. In 1526 the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] conquest of Hungary put an abrupt end to the short-lived [[Hungarian Renaissance]].

An early Italian humanist who came to [[Poland]] in the mid-15th century was [[Filip Callimachus]]. Many Italian artists came to Poland with [[Bona Sforza]] of Milano, when she married King [[Zygmunt I of Poland]] in 1518. The [[Polish Renaissance]] is the most Italian-like branch of the Renaissance outside of Italy. This was supported by (at least temporarily) strengthened monarchies in both areas, and supported by newly-established universities.

The spirit of the age spread from France to the [[Low Countries]] and [[Germany]], and finally by the late [[16th century]] to England, [[Scandinavia]], and remaining parts of Central Europe (having already earlier reached Hungary and Poland). In these areas [[humanism]] became closely linked to the turmoil of the [[Protestant Reformation]], and the art and writing of the [[German Renaissance]] frequently reflected this dispute.

In England, the [[Elizabethan era]] marked the beginning of the [[English Renaissance]]. It saw writers such as [[William Shakespeare]], [[Christopher Marlowe]], [[John Milton]], and [[Edmund Spenser]], as well as great artists, architects (such as [[Inigo Jones]]) and composers such as [[Thomas Tallis]], [[John Taverner]], and [[William Byrd]].

[[Image:Palais à facettes.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Palace of Facets]] (1487-91), a piece of [[Cinquecento]] in the heart of Moscow. [[Solomonic column]]s around the windows were added in 1684.]]

Early Renaissance arrived in the Iberian peninsula through the Mediterranean possessions of the [[Crown of Aragon|Aragonese Crown]] and the city of [[Valencia (city in Spain)|Valencia]]. Early Iberian Renaissance writers include [[Ausiàs March]], [[Joanot Martorell]], [[Fernando de Rojas]], [[Juan del Encina]], [[Garcilaso de la Vega]], [[Gil Vicente]] and [[Bernardim Ribeiro]]. Late Renaissance in Spain saw writers such as [[Miguel de Cervantes]], [[Lope de Vega]], [[Luis de Góngora]] and [[Tirso de Molina]], artists such as [[El Greco]] and composers such as [[Tomás Luis de Victoria]].

In Portugal writers such as [[Sá de Miranda]] and [[Luís de Camões]] and artists such as [[Nuno Gonçalves]] appeared.

While Renaissance ideas were moving north from Italy, there was a simultaneous spread ''southward'' of innovation, particularly in [[Renaissance music|music]]. The music of the [[15th century]] [[Burgundian School]] defined the beginning of the Renaissance in that art; and the [[polyphony]] of the [[Franco-Flemish School|Netherlanders]], as it moved with the musicians themselves into Italy, formed the core of what was the first true international style in [[music]] since the standardization of [[Gregorian Chant]] in the [[9th century]]. The culmination of the Netherlandish school was in the music of the Italian [[composer]], [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]]. At the end of the 16th century Italy again became a center of musical innovation, with the development of the polychoral style of the [[Venetian School]], which spread northward into Germany around [[1600]].

The paintings of the Italian Renaissance differed from those of the northern Renaissance in some ways. The Italian Renaissance did not only focus on religious figures but they also produced portraits of well-known figures of the day, and they also put religious figures in Greek or Roman backgrounds. During the Italian Renaissance, artists learned the rules of [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]] which shows how far the object is by its size and made the paintings look three-dimensional. The artists also used shading to make objects look round and real. The Italian Renaissance artists studied human [[anatomy]] and drew from the models so it would be possible for them to sketch the human body more accurately than before. At first, northern Renaissance artists still focused on religious drawings, e.g. [[Albrecht Dürer]] who portrayed the religious upheaval of his age. Later on, [[Pieter Bruegel]]’s works influenced later artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or classical themes. It was also during the northern Renaissance that [[Flemish Primitives|Flemish]] brothers [[Hubert van Eyck|Hubert]] and [[Jan van Eyck]] perfected the [[oil painting]] technique, which enabled artists to produce strong colors and a hard surface that could survive for centuries.

==See also==

{{Renaissance}}{{commonscat}}

* [[List of Renaissance figures]]

* [[Humanism]]

* [[Protestant Reformation]]

* [[Scientific Revolution]]

* [[Renaissance architecture]]

* [[Bengal Renaissance]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

<div class="references-1column"><references/></div>

==Sources==

*[[Jacob Burckhardt|Burckhardt, Jacob]] (1878), [http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/burckhardt.html ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy''], trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X

*[http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh.html ''The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902)]

*[[Vincent Cronin|Cronin, Vincent]] (1967), ''The Florentine Renaissance'', ISBN 0-00-211262-0; (1969), ''The Flowering of the Renaissance'', ISBN 0-7126-9884-1; (1992), ''The Renaissance'', ISBN 0-00-215411-0

*[[Robert Ergang|Ergang, Robert]] (1967), ''The Renaissance'', ISBN 0-442-02319-7

*[[Wallace K. Ferguson|Ferguson, Wallace K.]] (1962), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11874730 ''Europe in Transition, 1300-1500''], ISBN 0-04-940008-8

*[[Charles Haskins|Haskins, Charles Homer]] (1927), ''The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century'', ISBN 0-674-76075-1

*[[Johan Huizinga|Huizinga, Johan]] (1924), ''[[The Waning of the Middle Ages]]'', republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-013702-5

*[[De Lamar Jensen|Jensen, De Lamar]] (1992), ''Renaissance Europe'', ISBN 0-395-88947-2

*[[Robert S. Lopez|Lopez, Robert S.]] (1952), ''Hard Times and Investment in Culture''

*[[Lynn Thorndike|Thorndike, Lynn]] (1943) ''Renaissance or Prenaissance?'

*Roberto Weiss. T''he Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity''. (Oxford; Basil Blackwell, 1969)

==Further reading==

*Harold Bayley, [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/CB361xB3/ ''A New Light on the Renaissance''], 1909. (searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; [[DjVu]] & {{PDFlink|[http://fax.libs.uga.edu/CB361xB3/1f/new_light_on_renaissance.pdf layered]}}

==External links==

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Renaissance.ogg|2006-21-05}}

*Interactive Resources

** [http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/florence/florence.htm Florence: 3D Panoramas of Florentine Renaissance Sites(English/Italian)]

** [http://www.renaissanceconnection.org/main.cfm Multimedia Exploration of the Renaissance]

** [http://www.activehistory.co.uk/Miscellaneous/free_stuff/renaissance/frameset.htm Virtual Journey to Renaissance Florence]

** [http://interconnected.org/home/more/davinci/ RSS News Feed: Get an entry from Leonardo's Journal delivered each day]

*Lectures and Galleries

** [http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum]

** [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REN/IDEA.HTM The Idea of the Renaissance]

** [http://www.medievalhistory.net/islamica.htm The Islamic Foundation of the Renaissance]

** [http://www.elrelojdesol.com/leonardo-da-vinci/gallery-english/index.htm Leonardo da Vinci, Gallery of Paintings and Drawings]

** [http://www.all-art.org/history214_contents_Renaissance.html Renaissance in the "History of Art"]

** [http://www.rensoc.org.uk/ The Society for Renaissance Studies]

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