Chapter 1 section 1

The Renaissance

Essential Questions 1. What changes in society and in

cities stimulated the beginning of the Renaissance?

2. What ideas formed the foundation for the Italian Renaissance?

3. What contributions did artists make to the Renaissance?

Vocabulary1. Urban Society- city-states center for

political, economic, & social life2. Secular- worldly view point3. Mercenaries- soldiers who sold

services to the highest bidder4. Dowry- sum of money given by the

wife’s family to the husband upon marriage

5. Doge- elected leader in Venice

Italian Renaissance:

CharacteristicsGreek and

Roman culture

Recovery from plague, political instability, decline of church power

Individual ability

Major City-StatesThree Estates

Milan

Venice

Florence

Clergy (pray)

Nobility 2-3%(Knights)Peasants 85-90%

City/State Leaders Economy

Milan

Venice

Florence

Francesco Sforza Rich

International power through trade

Medici family;Savonarola

Cloth

Italian States: WarsKing Charles VIII (France) 1494 took Naples in Southern Italy (riches)

Italians asked for help from the Spanish

French and Spanish war for 30 years

Sack of Rome in 1527= Spanish domination

Machiavelli - The Prince = how to acquire and keep power (abandon morality)

“the end justifies the means”

Castiglione- The Book of the Courtier: characteristics of a noble

Michelangelo Renaissance ManMichelangelo painted the Sistine

Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512

The Creation of Adam

St. Peter David

Why did the Renaissance occur and what forces drove the new way of thinking in Italy, and eventually the rest of Europe? 

1.Increased trade with Asia and other regions2.Growth of large, wealthy city-states in Italy3.Renewed interest in the classical learning of

ancient Greece and Rome4.Rise of rich and powerful merchants, who

became patrons of the arts5.Increased desire for scientific and technical

knowledge6.Desire to beautify cities