The Renaissance and Reformation (1300–1650) Chapter 14

What was the Renaissance and Where did it Begin?

•Sparked by a renewed interest in the culture of ancient Rome, the Renaissance began in Italy in the 1300s, then spread north to the rest of Europe. Why Italy? Because Italy had been the center of the Roman empire. Many visible reminders of Roman grandeur.

•Italian City-States survived the Middle Ages

•Urban Societies (Florence, Milan, Venice)

•Major Trading Centers (Venice, Naples, Genoa)

•Wealthy and powerful merchant class emerged in those cities. Their political and economic leadership shaped the cultural revival of the Italian Renaissance.

How did the Crusades contribute to the Renaissance?

• Increased demand for Middle Eastern products

• Stimulated production of goods to trade in Middle Eastern markets

• Encouraged the use of credit and banking

• Church rule against usury and the banks’ practice of charging interest helped to secularize northern Italy.

• Letters of credit served to expand the supply of money and expedite trade.

• New accounting and bookkeeping practices (use of Arabic numerals) were introduced.

Major Italian CitiesItaly failed to become united during the Middle Ages. Many independent city-states emerged in northern and central Italy that played an important role in Italian politics and art.

MilanMilan VeniceVenice

FlorenceFlorence

Milan: One of the richest cities, it controls trade through the Alps.Venice: Sitting on the Adriatic, it attracts trade from all over the world.

Genoa

Genoa: Had Access to Trade Routes

* Each city had access to trade routes connecting Europe with Middle Eastern markets

• Served as trading centers for the distribution of goods to northern Europe

• Were initially independent city-states governed as republics

And then there was Florence….

• Florence, more than any other city, came to symbolize the brilliance of the Italian Renaissance.

• Like Athens, it produced an impressive array of brilliant poets, artists, architects, scholars, and scientists in a short span of time.

The Medici Family

• In the 1400s, the Medici family organized a successful banking business there. They expanded into manufacturing, mining, and other ventures.

• Medici ranked among the wealthiest merchant and banking families in Europe. Their wealth translated into cultural and political power.

• Cosimo de’Medici gained control of the Florentine government in 1434, and the family continued as uncrowned rulers of the city for years to come.

• Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo was a clever politician, and a generous patron of the arts.

The Cultural Rebirth of Europe

• Renaissance means rebirth: Europe was recovering from the Dark ages and the plague.

• Many people had lost their faith in the Church and began to put more focus on human beings.

• Secular focus. Moved away from life in the church and focused more on enjoying life.

• Stressed education and individual achievement. Major support of the arts.

• Spirit of adventure and exploration. The Italian navigator Christopher Columbus embodied that spirit.

Humanism• An intellectual movement based on the study of

Greek and Roman literature and culture. • Focused on worldly subjects rather than on

religious issues. • Believed that education could stimulate creative

powers. Returned course of study to the humanities, the subjects taught in ancient Greek and Roman schools. Grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history.

Francesco Petrarch

• Petrarch, 1304-1374, was an early Renaissance humanist.

• Assembled Greek and Roman writings in monastery & church libraries. Revived Homer & Virgil.

• Wrote Sonnets to Laura, a collection of love poems in the vernacular

The Renaissance produced new ideas that were reflected in the arts, philosophy, and literature.

Patrons, wealthy from newly expanded trade, sponsored works which glorified city-states in northern Italy.

Education became increasingly secular.

Medieval art and literature focused on the Church and salvation

Renaissance art and literature focused on individuals and worldly matters, along with Christianity.

Renaissance artists embraced ideals of Greece and Rome in their art

They wanted their subjects to be realistic and focused on humanity and emotion. New techniques also emerged including perspective which made paintings appear more 3-dimensional. Used shading to make objects look more round and real. Artists studied from live models as well.

Frescos: Painting done on wet plaster became popular because it gave depth to the paintings

Sculpture emphasized realism and the human form

Architecture reached new heights of design. Adopted columns, arches, and domes favored by Greeks and Romans.

“The Renaissance Man”:

Dissected human corpses to learn how bones and muscles work.

Though he considered himself an artist his talents extended beyond that to botany, anatomy, optics, music, architecture, and engineering.

Made sketches for flying machines and undersea boats centuries before the first airplane or submarine was actually built.

Notebooks

The Last Supper

Mona Lisa

• Like Leonardo, Michelangelo was a multi-faceted genius. Sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, and poet.

• One of his greatest projects was painting the huge mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

• Took 4 years to paint. Lay on his back on a wooden platform suspended inches from the chapel ceiling.

David

Michelangelo created

his masterpiece David in

1504.

Sistine ChapelAbout a year after

creating David, Pope Julius II summoned

Michelangelo to Rome to work on his most famous project, the ceiling of the Sistine

Chapel.

Creation of Eve Creation of Adam

Separation of Light and Darkness

The Last Judgment

La Pieta 1499Marble Sculpture

Moses

Raphael

• Raphael studied the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo.

• His paintings blended Christian and classical styles.

• Most famous work was The School of Athens. Embodied Renaissance revival of classical learning.

The School of Athens

Pythagoras

Socrates

Plato and Aristotle

Euclid

Zoroaster & Ptolemy

Raphael (back)

Renaissance Writers: Castiglione

• Began the trend of “how-to” books that became popular in Renaissance Italy.

• His handbook, The Book of the Courtier, describes the manners, skills, learning, and virtues that a member of the court should have.

• Ideal courtier was well-educated, well-mannered aristocrat who mastered many fields from poetry to music to sports.

• Ideal woman was kind, lively, and reserved. Believed outer beauty was “the true sign of inner goodness.”

Political Ideas of the Renaissance

Niccolò Machiavelli

The Prince, 1513“One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit”

As a Florentine diplomat, Machiavelli observed city-state rulers of his day and produced guidelines for the acquisition and maintenance of power by absolute rule.

He felt that a ruler should be willing to do anything to maintain control without worrying about conscience.

• Better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved• Ruler should be quick and decisive in decision making• Ruler keeps power by any means necessary. The end justifies

the means• Be good when possible, and evil when necessary• Machiavelli saw himself as an enemy of oppression and

corruption, but critics claimed that he was inspired by the devil. The term “Machiavellian” refers to the use of deceit in politics.

• Later students of government, however, argued that he provided a realistic look at politics. His work continues to spark debate.

The Renaissance Moves North

• Flanders • (Northern France,

Belgium, & Netherlands)

Jan Van Eyck

Portrait of Giovanni

Arnolfini and his Wife (1434)

Northern Renaissance

Van Eyck

Portrait of Giovanni

Arnolfini and his Wife (detail)

Northern Renaissance

• Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.

• Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity.

• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of books

(Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate ideas.

Northern Renaissance writers

• Erasmus—The Praise of Folly (1511)

• Sir Thomas More—Utopia (1516)

Northern Renaissance artists portrayed religious and secular subjects.

Northern Renaissance writers/humanists

• Like Italian humanists, northern European humanists embraced education & classical learning along with religious themes.

• They believed that the revival of ancient learning should be used to bring about religious and moral reform.

• Erasmus (1511). Inspired by a visit to Rome, he helped spread the Renaissance to northern Europe.

• Sir Thomas More—(1516)

Literature flourished during the RenaissanceThis can be greatly attributed to Johannes

GutenbergIn 1455 Gutenberg printed the first book

produced by using moveable type.

The Bible

Erasmus Dutch humanist

Desiderius Erasmus

Pushed for a Vernacular form of the Bible

“I disagree very much with those who are unwilling that Holy Scripture, translated into the vernacular, be read by the uneducated . . . As if the strength of the Christian religion consisted in the ignorance of it”

The Praise of Folly

Used humor to show the immoral and ignorant behavior of people, including the clergy. He felt people would be open minded and be kind to others.

Sir Thomas MoreEnglish Humanist

Wrote: Utopia

A book about a perfect society

Believed men and women live in harmony. No private

property, no one is lazy, all people are educated and the justice system is used to end crime instead of executing

criminals.

Shakespeare

• Most celebrated Renaissance writer. • Between 1590-1613, he wrote 37 plays that are

still performed globally. • Wrote comedies such as Twelfth Night, history

plays such as Richard III, tragedies such as Rome & Juliet.

• His body of work enriched the English language and the way words were written and spoken. Coined more than 1,700 words such as bedroom, lonely, generous, gloomy, heartsick, hurry, and sneak.

The Gutenberg Press

• Literature flourished during the Northern Renaissance primarily due to the invention of the Gutenberg Press.

• In 1456, a German named Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book produced by using moveable type. The Bible.

Printing Revolution

• The Gutenberg printing press made mass production of books possible.

• Widespread availability of books transformed Europe. Cheaper & easier production than hand-copied books.

• More books= more readers= more learning. Revolutionized learning & dissemination of ideas.

BibliographyImages from:

Corbis.com

Web Gallary of Artwww.wga.hu

Ellis, E.G., & Esler. (2005). A. World History: Connections to Today.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.