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Segment Four The Renaissance Renaissance Overview • 1485-1660 (Counting the English Renaissance) • Period of intellectual, scientific, and artistic growth • Means “rebirth” in French • Return to Greek/Roman ideals • Renewed emphasis on studying human beings and human accomplishments Background Information • Roman Empire: Jesus? Or Zeus? • Began to distance themselves from old gods, old • • • ways, old texts This practice spread to all of Rome’s “children” countries, to all of Europe Throughout the Middle Ages, many studied Latin (to study Church texts) but all the old stories and theories had been forgotten Aristotle’s Poetics, Homer’s Iliad, Odyssey Renaissance Timeline (1300-1500) • Increased trade with Asia/Middle East creates a • • • • surplus of money in the Mediterranean Region Extra money=need to decorate your oceanfront villa with pretty things Artistic movement begins in the Kingdom of Florence (now part of Italy) 1414—A series of religious scandals culminate in the Western Schism: three men simultaneously claimed to be Pope 1492—One of the many people looking for more trade routes and more money, Columbus, “discovers” North America Renaissance Timeline (1500-1550) • • • • • • • • 1503—Leonardo da Vinci paints Mona Lisa 1513—Machiavelli writes The Prince 1516—Thomas More publishes Utopia 1517—Protestant Reformation begins: Martin Luther nails to a church door 95 ways he believes the Church needs to be fixed 1521—Magellan circumnavigates the globe 1533—Henry VIII Declares himself head of the Church of England 1534-1541—Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel 1543—Copernicus publishes theory that planets orbit the sun 1550-1600 • 1557—Tottel’s Miscellany helps to popularize • • • • • sonnets in England 1558—Elizabeth I becomes Queen and so begins “Elizabethan Era,” or “English Renaissance” 1564—William Shakespeare born 1588—Christopher Marlowe writes Dr. Faustus 1590—Edmund Spenser writes The Faerie Queen 1599—Globe Theatre built in London 1600-1660 • 1606—Shakespeare has published Macbeth, • • • King Lear, and his sonnets 1609—Galileo is first to study the stars with a telescope 1611—King James Bible published, changing the English language forever 1658—John Milton begins Paradise Lost 16421660—Puritans close all the theatres in London 5 Useful Lenses Through Which To View Renaissance Art • Classical—Art sought to associate itself with • • • • texts from classical antiquity, i.e. Sophocles Political—Art reflects the shifting political arena of Renaissance Europe Humanism—Art reflects increasing belief in human intelligence and achievements Imitation—Art did not endeavor to create something new, but to imitate predecessors Reformation—Art reflects the growing religious movement known as the Reformation Classical • Greece and Rome invented, philosophized, and wrote • • • • • • about all sorts of cool things we’d forgotten During the Renaissance, scholars searched for ancient texts, dusted them off, and started rediscovering ideas that had been lost for centuries Rome and Greece were “in” Therefore, allusions to Roman/Greek mythology abound in Renaissance literature Allusion—an indirect reference to something else Like an inside joke, allusions indicate that you are knowledgeable about something, that you’re “in the know,” an educated and cultured individual “Venus smiles not in a house of tears” —Shakespeare Political • In the Middle Ages, most believed in the Great Chain • • • • • • of Being The hierarchy of God > King > Noble > Peasant was changing A new group, the “merchant class,” was on the rise The emergence of a new class of rich (and therefore powerful) people who weren’t nobles or churchmen challenged traditional power structures Like all art, Renaissance art reflects the world around it Several famous examples of satire emerge in this period such as Erasmus’s The Praise of Folly Satire—Humorous works that point out human flaws/shortcomings/errors through exaggeration Humanism • The idea of a being a Renaissance Man, someone who • • • • • • excelled in multiple activities, stems from humanist ideals “What does it mean to be an ideal human?” “How do I lead a good life?” Humanists sought to answer these questions by looking to Greek and Roman texts Before humanism, people believed the Bible was the sole source of answers to the above questions Humanists believed the Bible was a source of answers, but believed other important answers lay in human history (i.e. Greek texts) Sought to create harmony between the Bible and classical texts Imitation • Generally speaking, artistic communities today • • • put an emphasis on originality, avoiding clichés In Renaissance Literature, the goal was not usually to create something completely new, but to imitate the classics (in a new way) Sometimes, this involved updating classic ideas to suit the Christian ideals of the time period Of Shakespeare’s 36 plays, only The Tempest is not an imitation of an older tale or historical event Reformation • The Catholic Church was the most powerful organization • • • • • in the world By 1517, much corruption had developed There was still good: St. Francis of Assisi disliked the materialism he saw around him, and gave up his own wealth But many people were churchmen for the wrong reasons: to sell indulgences: “Hey! Slip me twenty bucks and God will forgive your sins!” Martin Luther made a list of things he disagreed with, like indulgences, and called them his Ninety-Five Theses Because there was no such thing as the internet, he did what anyone would do to spread information quickly: nailed them to a church door Reformation • Luther and other Protestants wanted to take power out • • • • of the hands of the Church officials, encouraging people to interpret the Bible themselves This was quickly becoming possible because a new technology, the printing press, was allowing more people to own Bibles in their own language Helped legitimize vernacular languages (like English and Italian) Protestants realized, however, that understanding the Bible in its original context was important to truly understanding it Encouraged many to learn Greek, helping to fuel the growing fascination with Greece