Download THE RENAISSANCE Essential Question

Read the statement below.
Explain if you agree or
disagree with the statement.
“It is more valuable to achieve
excellence in several areas than to
be the very best at a single activity.”
Essential Question:
What is the Renaissance and
what type of creativity and
reform came out of that era?
What is the Renaissance?
It was a rebirth of traditional learning
and a rediscovery of ancient Rome and
Greece. The Renaissance was a rebirth of
the human spirit, and creativity. While
taking the past as its model, the
Renaissance was one of the most creative
periods in human history.
It contained The development of new technologies–
including the printing press (1450), a new system of
astronomy and the discovery and exploration of new
continents–was accompanied by a blossoming of philosophy,
literature and especially art.
When did it occur?
It began in Northern Italy
about 1350 right after the
Black Death had ravaged the
country, killing from a third to
half the population.
(5 major characteristics of the Renaissance)
Humanism: The movement to
recover, interpret, and assimilate the
language, literature, learning and
values of ancient Greece and Rome.
Humanists would study ancient texts
in the original form, and evaluate
them through a combination of
reasoning, observation and
experimental evidence.
Humanists studied grammar, rhetoric (persuasive speaking or
writing), poetry, moral philosophy, and history. Today these
subjects are called the humanities.
*The style of painting, sculpture and
decorative arts identified with the
Renaissance emerged in Italy in the late
14th century. Renaissance art captured
the experience of the individual and the
beauty and mystery of the natural world.
*Renaissance artists painted a wide
variety of themes. Religious altarpieces
and murals (frescos) were very popular.
*Mythological and history paintings
were also very common.
*The willingness to question
previously held truths and
search for new answers resulted
in a period of major scientific
advancements.
*The Renaissance saw
significant changes in the way
the universe was viewed and the
methods sought to explain
natural wonders.
Although the papacy eventually
emerged supreme in church matters
it was dogged by continued
accusations of corruption, most
famously in the person of Pope
Alexander VI, who was accused
variously of nepotism and fathering
four illegitimate children while
being a Pope. He later married off
the children to gain more power.
Alexander VI,
a Borgia Pope infamous
for his corruption
Reform: to make changes in order to improve it.
Reformation: a 16th-century movement for the reform of
abuses in the Roman Catholic Church that ended in the
establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches
Indulgences: The sale of indulgences was a practice where the
church acknowledged a donation or other charitable work
with a piece of paper (an indulgence), that certified that your
soul would enter heaven more quickly by reducing your time
in purgatory.
Churchmen such as Erasmus and
Luther proposed reform to the Church.
It was Luther who in October 1517
published the 95 Theses, challenging
papal authority and criticizing its
corruption, and sales of indulgences.
The 95 Theses led to the Reformation, a break with the Roman
Catholic Church that previously claimed control in Western Europe.
Humanism and the Renaissance played a huge role in sparking the
Reformation, as well as in many other religious debates and conflicts.
By the 15th century, writers,
artists, and architects in Italy
were aware of the
transformations that were taking
place and were using ancient
Roman words and phrases to
describe their work.
They were aware that what they
were doing was different and
spectacular.
In the 15th century, the
Renaissance spread with great
speed from its birthplace in
Florence, first to the rest of
Italy, and soon to the rest of
Europe. The invention of
the printing press by German
printer Johannes
Gutenberg allowed the rapid
transmission of these new
ideas.