Download Renaissance Europe

Renaissance
By:
Joseph Enge
Revisions
Mike Harvie
I. The Renaissance was the period that followed (brought
Europe out of) the Middle Ages. It was a time of renewed
interest in things of this world.



A.
B.
C.
Human beings and their conditions
Education, art, literature, and science
Approximately 1300- 1600
Timeline
Renaissance Timeline
II.
The Renaissance started in Italy where wealth from
trade supported art learning.

A.
Here also modern capitalism was born.
Private individuals or companies, not the
government, owned businesses. The main goal is
profit.

B.
Republican government arose in most cities.
Citizens participated.
"The Renaissance gave birth to the modern
era, in that it was in this era that human beings
first began to think of themselves as
individuals. In the early Middle Ages, people
had been happy to see themselves simply as
parts of a greater whole – for example, as
members of a great family, trade guild, nation,
or Church. This communal consciousness of
the Middle Ages gradually gave way to the
individual consciousness of the Renaissance."
–
McGrath, Alister, In the Beginning, Anchor Books (2001), p.38.
Humanism
 Pursuit


of individualism
Recognition that humans are
creative
Appreciation of art as a product of
man
 Basic
culture needed for all
 Life could be enjoyable
 Love of the classical past
"When a mural or altarpiece came to be
judged not for its pious effulgence and
fitness for the spot in need of decoration, but
instead for what we now call its aesthetic
merit, art for art's sake was just below the
horizon. Aesthetic appreciation is something
more than spontaneous liking; a good eye
for accurate representation is not enough;
one must be able to judge and talk about
style, technique, and originality."
– Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence, Perennial, 2000, p70.
Causes of the Renaissance

Lessening of feudalism




Church disrespected
Nobility in chaos
Growth of Middle Class through trade
Fall of Constantinople

Greek scholars fled to Italy
Education
 Nostalgia among the Italians to recapture
the glory of the Roman empire

Italian Background

Major city centers





Venice: Republic ruled
by oligarchy, Byzantine
origins
Milan: Visconti and
Sforza families
Florence (Tuscany):
Republic ruled by the
Medici
Papal States: Ruled by
the Pope
Kingdom of Naples:
King of Aragon
Italian Background
 Florence




Medici's—family of physicians
Money in banking
Financed wool trade
Became defacto rulers of
Florence
Italian Background

Cosimo de Medici


Piero de Medici


Advanced arts and education
Continued father’s artistic support
Lorenzo de Medici




Poet
Friend of Michelangelo
Rebuilt University of Pisa
Continued to invite scholars to
Florence
III. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), in The
Prince (1513) said, basically, one must do
whatever one must do to get and stay in power.
If it works, it is the "right" thing to do. Forget
ideals; lie, cheat, even murder if you must. A
stable state is needed.
IV. Humanism, a system of thought and action concerned
with human interests and values, was the dominant
movement of the Renaissance.

A.
Human beings have dignity and intelligence.

B.
They (we) can change the world and make it
a better place for all.
V. The ideal so-called Renaissance man was successful in
business, well-mannered, educated, athletic, and brave.

A.
The goal of education became making people
well-rounded.

B.
Religion remained important, but the authority
and some practices of the church began to be
questioned.
Architecture
Romanesque
Basilica
Gothic
Dome Comparison
Il Duomo
St. Peter’s
St. Paul’s
US capital
Gutenberg Bible
American Rhetoric: Movie
Speech from Luther Luther Defends Himself at
the Imperial Diet of Worms

C. The Gutenberg Bible, named for the craftsman and
inventor of printing by use of moveable type, Johannes
Gutenberg, was completed in 1455 at Mainz, Germany.
The three-volume Latin text arguably represents the
greatest single innovation in the history of
communication technology, as well as a style of printing
that existed almost unaltered until the twentieth century.
Gutenberg’s invention and the dispersion of relatively
cheap printed materials ultimately stimulated enormous
change—social, political, economic, and religious. Some
forty perfect vellum copies of Gutenberg’s masterpiece
of technological advancement still exist in the world.
Comparative
VI.
Some brilliant people lived during this
time.
Leonardo da Vinci
A. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) painted (Mona Lisa),
studied geology, chemistry and anatomy, designed
buildings, canals and weapons, and sketched engines
Timeline
and flying machines.
B. Michelangelo Buonaroti (1475-1564) painted (the
Sistine Chapel ceiling), sculptured (David), designed
buildings, and wrote poetry.
C. Desiderius Erasmus (1469?-1536), a priest who wrote
books, The Praise of Folly 1509, condemned ignorance
and superstition. He believed education could lead to
more perfect societies.
“There are also those who think that there is
nothing that they cannot obtain by relying on the
magical prayers and charms thought up by some
charlatan for the sake of his soul or for profit.
Among the things they want are: wealth, honor,
pleasure, plenty, perpetual good health, long life, a
vigorous old age, and finally, a place next to Christ
in heaven. However, they do not want that place
until the last possible second; heavenly pleasures
may come only when the pleasures of this life,
hung onto with all possible tenacity, must finally
depart. I can see some businessman, soldier, or
judge taking one small coin from all his money and
thinking that it will be proper expiation for all his
perjury, lust, drunkenness, fighting, murder, fraud,
lying and treachery. After doing this, he thinks he
can start a new round of sinning with a new slate.”
— Erasmus in Praise of Folly
D. Raphael (1483-1520)
E. Titian (1485-1576)
More art can be viewed at the Louvre Museum Official
Website
William Shakespeare
at eNotes
F. William Shakespeare wrote plays showing humans as
in God's image, but part of this world as well.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet
“To be or not to be….”
British Monarchs of the Period

Last of the Plantagenet Dynasty
War of the Roses 1455-1485
 House of Lancaster
 House of York
 House of Tudor

Official British Royal Family Web site
Family Tree
The Tudors
Edward III (1312-1377)
Plantagenet
Richard II (1367-1400)
Plantagenet
Henry IV (1367-1413)
Lancaster
Henry V (1387-1422)
Lancaster
Henry VI (1421-1471)
Lancaster
Edward IV (1442-1483)
York
Edward V (1470-1483)
York
Richard III (1452-1485)
York
Henry VII (1457-1509)
Tudor
Henry VIII (1491-1547)
Tudor
Catherine of Aragon
Anne of Cleves
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr
Edward VI (1537-1553)
Tudor
Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554)
9-day reign
Mary I (1516-1558)
Tudor
Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
Tudor
Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Francis Drake
Defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588