Download For Blog 1st Renaissance Lesson - Ms. Cannistraci presents the

Ms. Cannistraci
Name:_______________________________ Date:_____
Important Medieval Trade Routes
How does this map illustrate the important role Italy played in Medieval
Trade?
How does trade lead to cultural diffusion?
Ms. Cannistraci
Name:_______________________________ Date:_____
Refer to the map and the reading on the Renaissance and answer the following
questions.
How does this map show some reasons why the Renaissance began in Italy?
How would you define humanism?
How would you define the Renaissance?
THE RENAISANCE
After feudalism declined, a period of history known as the Renaissance began.
The emphasis changed from a religious to a more secular (non-religious) view
towards life as exemplified by humanism in music, art, literature and science.
People began to take action and interact and change the world rather than wait
for God to intervene.
Humanism is all human can achieve, do, create, love, build, solve. Human
glorifies the individual and sees the body as beautiful. Humanists believe to err
(make a mistake) is human and to forgive is divine (Godly). One cannot achieve
and grow if they live in fear of making a mistake.
The Renaissance themes where revived from classical Greece and Rome. The
word Renaissance means rebirth, it truly was a rebirth of the culture of ancient
Greece and Rome. It truly was a blessing that the culture of Greece and Rome
was preserved by the Muslim Empire and the Byzantine Empire and then the
Ottoman Empire. The Renaissance was a period of trade and intellectual curiosity
unparalleled in Europe, especially for those who lived in larger cities and towns.
Many signs appeared, and feeling was expressed that indicated a growing worldly
viewpoint (one focused on the now rather than the afterlife in heaven). Values
were shifting away from tradition, isolation, and religion to secular (non-religious)
ideas, humanism, and international trade and adventure. Educated upper-class
citizens of the great cities and towns of northern Italy were in the forefront of
diffusing ideas which stressed openness to change and the absorption of
knowledge of other cultures. This was a period when values shifted away from
the church and towards individual achievement.
During the Renaissance, sculptors and painters did not sell their works in galleries;
they worked for wealthy patrons who supported them within their households.
Secular and religious leaders sought to beautify their surroundings through the
work of the talented people of their day. The patrons commissioned (ordered art)
and bought beautiful pieces from the artists. From Italy, the customs of
patronage spread through other parts of Europe.
An important theme of the Renaissance was humanism, an emphasis on the study
of man and earthly concerns, as opposed to the medieval concern with the
heavenly world.
Ms. Cannistraci Name:________________________________ Date:________
Document 1:
GENOA IN 1432
The following selection is an excerpt translated from a letter written in 1432 by a
visitor to Genoa
Would you were with me! You would see a city which has no equal
anywhere on earth. It lies upon a hill over which rude mountains tower, while the
lower city is washed by the waves of the sea. The harbor is bow-shaped so that
storms cannot do the ships any harm. And what a coming and going there is! You
may see daily people of the most different sort with unimaginable rough manners
and customs and traders with every conceivable ware. Right at the shore arise
the most magnificent palaces, heaven-scaling, built of marble, decorated with
columns and often too with sculptures. Under them runs an arcade for the length
of a thousand steps where every conceivable object is for sale. The rest of the
city winds upward along the side of the hill. In this section the houses are so large
and distinguished that a king or a prince might be they are, do not seem to me to
be worthy of such a city. However, they are not without splendor and boast some
handsome tombs.
Now as to the life and customs of the population, the men are substantial,
well grown, and impressive, carry themselves proudly and are in fact proud. They
are a gifted folk, not likely to be found inferior to any other people in the quality
of their mind. Strenuous labors they bear easily. Their deeds of bravery at sea
are incredible. The advantages that come with profits and riches offer
compensation and hardships.
They dress nobly and elegantly. They are not afflicted with thirst for
education, though they learn languages as they need them. For other elements of
the liberal arts they have little use, except as a possible relief from business. The
women of this city enjoy great freedom; indeed it would not be an exaggeration
to designate Genoa as the paradise of women. Their dresses are luxurious,
loaded with gold and silver trimmings and with jewels. On their fingers sparkle
emeralds and diamonds supplied by India and Persia. They bother neither about
the household nor about needle and dishes, for every house enjoys abundant
service.
From Edwin Fenton, ed., The Shaping of Western Society (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974), pp.65-68.
Turn page over to complete assignment
How does life in Genoa compare with life in Europe during the Middle Ages
compare? Cite textual evidence to support your claim.
Can you infer from the text that Genoa was the center of international trade?
Cite evidence to support your claim.
Ms. Cannistraci Name:________________________________ Date:________
Document 2:
Renaissance Florence
“Despite all its perils, Florence triumphed. The prime source of its strength
and wealth lay in its arti. The guild drew together its merchants and skilled
craftsmen. One of the earliest to be organized was the arte di Calimala,,, It was a
company of merchants who traded with England, Flanders and France, bringing
undressed cloth to Florence, where they reworked into fine materials and dyed in
the splendid, vivid colors that the Renaissance painters have made so memorable;
the blues and crimsons and reds in which they dressed their saints and
Madonna’s. They exported the finished goods throughout Europe, and the stamp
of the guild became a guarantee of worth and workmanship…The Calimala
became a model for other great guilds that began to dominate Florentine
economic and political life in the late twelfth and early thirteenth
centuries...There were seven of them: the wool merchants, the silk weavers, the
bankers, the notaries, the druggists and the furriers. These seven included the
entire great merchants of Florence who formed the heart of economic life.”
From: J.H. Plumb The Italian Renaissance, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987, p.p. 54-56.
Can you infer from the text that Florence was the center of international
trade? Cite evidence to support your claim.
How would international trade impact Italy politically, economically and/or
socially?
Turn page over to complete assignment
How did life in Renaissance Italy differ from life during the Middle Ages?
Ms. Cannistraci Name:________________________________ Date:________
Document 3:
The Art of Daily Living
“In Renaissance Europe private individuals could afford lavish residences,
and the increasing prevalence of law and order meant that a home no longer
needed to be a fortress. Elaborate villas dotted the Italian countryside, in the
cities the characteristic structure was the palazzo, an imposing townhouse
combining business and residential apartments. Many examples survive
throughout Italy.
Indoors, Renaissance buildings reflected the improving standard of life
among the affluent. Smaller rooms were easier to heat than the vast drafty halls
of the Middle Ages, and items of furniture began to multiply beyond the medieval
complement of built-in beds, cupboards and tables. Although chairs were still
largely reserved for the master of the house and important guests, benches or
stools were becoming more common. Chests were often elaborately painted and
carved. New articles of furniture served more specialized purpose: the bookcase
to house the new printed books, the writing desk, and the jewel cabinet, a
miniature chest on high legs often encrusted with ivory or inlaid work.
The popularity or brooches, pendants, and other forms or jewelry with
intricate gold settings attested both to wealth and to the taste of the upper-class
Renaissance men and women. Silversmiths made elaborate etched helmets,
shields, and suits of armor, better suited for show than for military use. Fine glass
was highly esteemed, particularly the elaborate and delicate work that was made
in Venice. Both the less affluent and the rich had embroidered households linens
and brass pewter utensils.”
From: Robin W. Winks, A History of Civilization, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 1996, pp. 232-23
Cite textual evidence that depicts Italy during the Renaissance had a strong
economy?
Turn page over to complete assignment
Would you argue that Italy was experiencing a “Golden Age” during the
Renaissance? Cite textual evidence to support your claim.
How did life in Renaissance Italy differ from life during the Middle Ages?
Ms. Cannistraci Name:________________________________ Date:________
Document 4:
Secularism
Secularism is the basic concern with the material world instead of with
eternal, [religious], and spiritual matters. A secular way of thinking tends to find
the ultimate explanation of everything and the final end of human beings within
the limits of what the senses can discover. Medieval business people ruthlessly
pursued profits while medieval monks fought fiercely over poverty. But medieval
society was religious, not secular, the dominant ideals focused on the
otherworldly, on life after death. Renaissance people often held strong and deep
spiritual beliefs. But Renaissance society was secular; attention is concentrated
on the here and now, often on the acquisition of material things…
The economic changes and rising prosperity of Italian cities in the
Thirteenth Century worked a fundamental change in social and intellectual
attitudes and values. Worries about shifting rates of interest, shipping routes,
personnel costs, and employee relations did not leave time for thought about
penance, [heaven, and hell] and purgatory. Wealth made possible greater
material pleasures, a more comfortable life, and the leisure time to appreciate
and patronize the arts. Money could buy many sensual gratifications, and the
rich, social-climbing bankers and merchants of the Italian cities came to see life
more as an opportunity to be enjoyed than as a painful pilgrimage [journey] to
the City of God…
Renaissance writers justified the accumulation and enjoyment of wealth
with reference to ancient authors, and church leaders did little to combat the new
secular spirit…Renaissance popes beautified the city of Rome, patronized artist
and men of letters, and expended enormous enthusiasm and huge sums of
money.”
From: John P. McKay, Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler. A History of World Societies. Forth Edition
Create a definition of secularism.
Turn page over to complete assignment
What can you infer about the impact secularism will have on the power of the
Roman Catholic Church?
How did life in Renaissance Italy differ from life during the Middle Ages?