Download The Reaissance - West and the World History

Why Italy? Why Then?
Renaissance Defined

 Great intellectual and cultural movement interested
in classical culture that occurred in the 14th, 15th, and
16th centuries in Italy
 Transition from the middle ages to modern times
 Artists and thinkers blended what they received
with medieval traditions and then added new
knowledge
 By 1500 spread to much of Europe from Spain and
England to Hungary and Poland, missing Russia and
the Turkish Empire
Role of the Crusades in the
Rediscovery of Ancient Texts

 Was bloody and violent; had a significant impact on
western intellectual development
 Latin kingdoms were established in Eastern
Mediterranean – resulted in the discovery and
translation of classical works lost to western
scholarship; been undisturbed for nearly 2,000 years
Petrarch & the Birth of
Humanism

 1st poet of the
Renaissance, poems were
written in Latin but is
most renowned for his
poetry in Italian
 As a humanist and a
writer, he influenced the
spread of humanism
 Humanist ideas held that
the church should not
rule civic matters, but
should guide only
spiritual matters

 They returned to the works of ancient writers;
learned to read Greek and ancient Latin
 During the middle ages, scholars had been guided
by the teachings of the church and people had
concerned themselves with actions leading to
heavenly rewards
 The great works of the past inspired scientific
discoveries, inventions, and new artistic styles
Trade and the Rise of the
Italian Middle Class

 Geography gave Italy an advantage over northern
Europe – strategically located between the majority
of Europe and Byzantine Empire

 Potential for amassing wealth and breaking free
from the feudal system
 Italian cities had no choice but to participate in
international trade and the market economy and
integrate the activities of commerce into daily life
 As fortunes of merchants, bankers and trades people
improved, they began to have more than enough
money to meet their basic needs for food, clothing
and shelter

 Desire for larger luxurious homes, fine art,
extravagant clothing to show off their wealth
 Had time to spend on education and entertainment
 Education was essential for many middle-class
professionals
 Leisure time – men and women enjoyed such
pastimes as reading for pleasure, learning to play
musical instruments and studying a variety of topics
unrelated to their businesses
Italian City States

 In the 1400s Italy was made up of several city-states
 City state was an urban centre such as Milan nor Venice
or Florence (the most powerful – was the cultural and
economic centre of the Renaissance
 Many Italian coastal cities became centres for trade and
commerce
 Able to develop into sovereign territorial states because
Italy like Germany, possessed no powerful central
monarch such as those that emerged in France and
England – many were ruled by a single family

 The Medici Family rules
Florence and Europe’s
largest bank; Pope controls
city-states in central Italy
 The rulers of Italian citystates grew wealthy from
banking and trade – the
Medicis and other ruling
families hired artists to paint
their portraits and design
new public buildings
Civic Pride and Civic
Humanism

 Humanists regarded themselves as active citizens of
their city states and immersed themselves in the
material affairs of their urban settings
 An educated elite, they believed they had
responsibilities to their fellow citizens
 Spirit of civic humanism was one of the outstanding
characteristics of the Renaissance
 Contrary to the ‘natural law’ tradition, the laws are
‘man made’, not divinely ordained or ingrained in
nature
The Printing Press

 1450 Gutenberg’s printing press allows books to be
made quickly
 Improvements to the printing press helped the
Renaissance spread
 With books more widely available, scholars across
Europe learned of new ideas