Download World History Chapter 13 Section 1

World History Chapter 13 Section 1-2 Study Guide
1. Explain why the word Renaissance means “rebirth.”
People felt their era was a time of rebirth after what they saw as disorder and disunity of
the medieval world.
2. What transition did the Renaissance mark?
The Renaissance marked the transition from medieval times to the early modern world.
3. The Renaissance was a time of creativity and great change in what areas?
The Renaissance was a time of creativity and great change in many areas—political, social,
economic and cultural.
4. During the Renaissance, creative thinking and new technology allowed people to do
what?
Let people understand and describe their world more accurately.
5. List the 4 things that describe people of this time period.
Had a reawakened interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome
They had new attitudes toward culture and learning
They focused on the richness and variety of human experience in the here and now.
Society placed a new emphasis on individual achievement.
6. Describe the ideal Renaissance person.
A person with talents in many fields.
7. Describe what humanists studied.
Studied the classical culture of Greece and Rome, but used that study to increase their
understanding of their own times.
8. What did humanists believe about education?
They believed education should stimulate the individual’s creative powers
9. List the humanities.
Subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry and history.
10. Briefly describe Francesco Petrarch and why he was important.
Francesco was an early Renaissance humanist, poet and scholar in the 1300s. He assembled
a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts in monasteries and churches. His efforts enable
the works of greats like Homer and Virgil.
11. List the 2 reasons the Renaissance began in Italy.
The Renaissance began in Italy because of its history and geography as well as its city-states.
12. List the 3 reasons why Italy’s history and geography caused the Renaissance to begin
there.
Renaissance thinkers were interested in ancient Rome. Italy had been the center of the
Roman Empire
Italy’s location on the Mediterranean Sea encouraged trade with the Muslim world
Trade routes also carried new ideas that were important in shaping the Renaissance
13. Why was the Medici family important to the Renaissance movement in Italy?
The Medici family’s great wealth and influence transformed Florence. It came to symbolize
the energy and brilliance of the Italian Renaissance.
14. The Renaissance attained its most glorious expression in what 3 areas?
Paintings, sculpture and architecture.
15. Why did Renaissance art portray religious themes and well-known figures of the day?
Give an example.
Because it reflected the humanist interest in individual achievement. For example,
Donatello created a life-sized statue of a soldier on horseback.
16. How did the rules of perspective allow Renaissance artists to create realistic art?
By making distant objects smaller than those close to the viewer, artists could paint scenes
that appeared three-dimensional.
17. Why was Renaissance architecture was like a “Social art”?
Because it blended beauty with utility and improvement of society.
18. How did Renaissance architects feel about Gothic style architecture?
Architects rejected the Gothic style as “disorderly”.
19. Who was Filippo Brunelleschi?
He created a majestic dome for the cathedral in Florence, which he modeled after the
Pantheon in Rome.
20. FULLY describe Leonardo da Vinci.
 When was he born? When did he die?
 In what ways did he “practice” his interests?
 What were his most famous works (name and describe)?
 How was he multi-talented?
- Lived from 1452-1519
- He dissected corpses to learn about muscles and bones and he made sketches of
nature and of models in his studio.
- The Mona Lisa, which is a portrait of a woman with a mysterious smile.
- The Last Supper, shows Jesus and his apostles on the night before the crucifixion.
- His talents and accomplishments ranged over many areas including botany,
anatomy, optics, music, architecture and engineering.
21. Why was Michelangelo known as the “melancholy genius”?
Because his work reflects many life-long spiritual and artistic struggle.
22. List AND describe Michelangelo’s 4 greatest works.
- David which he sculpted out of a block of marble left over from another sculpture. It
expressed the power and strength of Florence.
- The Pieta captures the sorrow of Mary as she cradles her dead son Jesus on her
knees.
- The dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
- The murals on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. These murals depict the
biblical history of the world from the Creation to the Flood.
23. Michelangelo’s David was commissioned to express what?
The power and strength of Florence.
24. Briefly describe Raphael. What is he best known for?
He was widely admired both for his artistic talent and his sweet and gracious nature. He
developed his own style of painting that blended Christian and classical styles.
He is best known for his portrayals of the Madonna, the mother of Jesus.
25. What does the Book of the Courtier describe?
It describes the manners, skills, learning and virtues that a member of the court should
have.
26. Who wrote the Book of the Courtier?
Baldassare Castiglione
27. Describe Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince.
This book looked at real rulers in an age of ruthless power politics. Machiavelli stressed that
the end justifies the means.
He urged rulers to use whatever methods were necessary to achieve their goals.
28. What did Johann Gutenberg invent? How did it revolutionize Europe?
The printing press. They were now able to make books much faster than by hand like they
had been in the past.
29. Describe the great change the printing press brought to Europe.
With books more readily available, more people learned to read. Readers gained access to a
broad range of knowledge.
30. Describe Flanders.
Flanders, a region that included parts of present-day northern France, Belgium and the
Netherlands.
31. Describe what Jan Van Eyck portrayed in his paintings.
His portrayals of townspeople as well as religious scenes had rich, realistic details.
32. Describe what Pieter Bruegel portrayed in his paintings. (Look at #33 before you
answer!)
Used vibrant colors to portray lively scenes of peasant life. He also addressed religious and
classical themes, but set them against a background of common people.
33. Why was Pieter Bruegel nicknamed “Peasant Bruegel”?
Because he used common people as the background in most of his paintings.
34. Describe what Peter Paul Rubens portrayed in his paintings.
Many of his enormous paintings portray a wide knowledge of mythology, the Bible and
classical history.
35. Why was Albrecht Durer called the “Leonardo of the North”?
Because of his wide range of interests.
36. Describe Albrecht Durer’s important innovation.
Durer’s important innovation was to apply the painting techniques he had learned in Italy to
engraving, which is when an artist etches a design on a metal plate with acid. The artist then
uses the plate to make prints.
37. Describe what Durer’s engravings portrayed.
Many of his engravings portrayed religious upheaval.
38. What was the most powerful theme of the Renaissance?
Religious upheaval.
39. Why did humanist scholars stress education and classical learning?
They hoped to bring about religious and moral reform.
40. Name the 3 things Desiderius Erasmus did to make him one of the most important
scholars of the Northern Renaissance?
He wrote texts on a number of subjects and used his knowledge of classical languages to
produce a new Greek edition of the Bible.
He called for a translation of the Bible into the vernacular.
As a priest, he was disturbed by corruption in the Church and called for reform.
41. What did Utopia describe?
An ideal society in which men and women live in peace and harmony.
42. Who wrote Utopia?
Sir Thomas More
43. Describe what the word Utopian has come to describe.
Any ideal society often with the implication that such a society is ultimately impractical.
44. Who was Francois Rabelais?
A French humanist who wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel.
45. Describe Gargantua and Pantagruel. Be specific!
On the surface, the novel is a comic tale of travel and war. But Rabelais uses his characters
to offer opinions on religion, education and other serious subjects.
46. FULLY describe William Shakespeare.
 At what time period did he work?
 Describe his genius.
 Include 3 important things about him.
- Between 1590 and 1613, he wrote 37 plays that are still performed around the
world.
- Shakespeare’s genius was in expressing universal themes in everyday, realistic
settings.
- His work explores Renaissance ideals such as the complexity of individuals and the
importance of the classics.
- At the same time, his characters speak in a language that common people can
understand and appreciate.
- His love of words also vastly enriched the English language. More than 1,700 words
appeared for the first time in his works!