Download What was the Renaissance?

RENAISSANCE
800 A.D.
1095 A.D.
1233 A.D.
Feudalism
begins in
Europe
1346 A.D.
First
Crusade
Inquisition
1350 A.D.
Black
Death
arrives in
Europe
RENAISSANCE BEGINS
During the middle ages much of the great advancements made by
the Greeks and the Romans had been forgotten due to the decline
of living conditions in Western Europe. People went from living
comfortable lives with good jobs and educations, to living in very
poor conditions, where there was constant turmoil, war, poverty,
and hunger. This time period is known as the dark ages.
The dark ages lasted for hundreds of years, as many generations of
individuals lived and died in these terrible conditions. Then in the
middle A.D. 1300s things slowly began to improve. People began
again to discover the arts, and technologies of the Romans and
Greeks, making life a little easier. We call this period of time the
Renaissance. The Renaissance began around A.D. 1350 in Italy, and
continued until about A.D. 1600.
What was the Renaissance?
• Period following
the middle ages
(1350-1550)
• Means “Rebirth”
of classical Greek
and Roman art
and learning.
• Began in Italy
What was the Renaissance?
After years of
death and
destruction,
Europeans
began looking
to the past
when times
seemed better.
What is Humanism?
During the Renaissance, Europeans
began to focus on the individual.
Many thought that people could
help make the world better.
What is Secularism?
• Religion was still very important.
• But human success was also
important.
• People became more secular.
• Secular means they were more
interested in this world than religion
and getting to heaven.
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(CITY-STATES)
ITALIAN CITY-STATES
Why Italy?
1) Center of the old
Roman Empire
2) Italy’s city-states
became very wealthy
Ruins and art
surrounded the
Italians and reminded
them of their past
They could pay
painters, sculptors,
architects, and artists
to produce new works
3) City-states competed
with each other
Florence, Venice,
Genoa, Milan, and
Rome
Italian City-States
• During the Middle Ages, no ruler was able
to unite Italy into a single kingdom.
• Roman Catholic Church did not want a
powerful kingdom in Italy
• City-states fought each other
• City-states became very wealthy : which
helped keep them independent
• Made money through trade (geography)
Florence
FLORENCE
•
•
•
•
•
No city was more famous
At first grew wealthy from trade
Trade brings in different types of coins
Different types of coins : banks
Later Florence became wealthy through
BANKING
Venice
• the wealthiest city-state of all was Venice
• built on swampy islands in northern Italy
• today many streets are just canals
• grew wealthy through ship building
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•Polo (POH-loh)
•Medici (MEH-duh-chee)
•Machiavelli (Ma-kee-uh-VEH-lee)
MARCO POLO
He was a merchant from Venice who journeyed to China.
He was sent on business all over China and learned more about
Asia than any other European.
He published a book about his travels.
His stories got Europeans interested in China.
MEDICI FAMILY
•Goods from all around the world were pouring into Italy
• Merchants needed to know the value of foreign coins
• Bankers began exchanging and lending money
• The Medici family became Florence’s richest family and were
bankers
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
He was a diplomat in Florence who wrote a book called
The Prince.
He wrote that rulers should not worry about being good, but
should do anything to keep their power.
Machiavellian: being tricky and not thinking about being good.
Everyone realizes how praiseworthy it is for a prince to honor his
word and to be straightforward rather than crafty in his dealings;
“
nonetheless experience shows that princes who have achieved great
things have been those who have given their word lightly, who have
known how to trick men with their cunning, and who, in the end,
have overcome those abiding by honest principles . . . .
A prince, therefore, need not necessarily have all the good qualities I
mentioned above, but he should certainly appear to have them . . . .
He should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he
should know how to do evil, if that is necessary.”
--The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli, George Bull, trans., 1981
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HUMANISM
•Was a new way of understanding the world
•Humanist believed that humans and the individual were important,
they wanted to balance religion and reason
•Italians began to study ancient Greek and Roman works
•Francesco Petrarch: famous humanist poet and scholar who studied
ancient Roman writings
He told Europeans to look for Latin writings in monasteries
New libraries were built to hold these writings
Known as the Father of the Italian Renaissance
HOW DID HUMANISM AFFECT SOCIETY?
•Humanist scholars began to study many different topics.
• Increases knowledge for society
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Da Vinci (duh VIHN chee)
Alighieri (a luh GYEHR ee)
Michelangelo (My kuh LAN juh loh
LEONARDO da VINCI
Leonardo da Vinci was a famous Italian scientist, artist and
inventor.
He sketched inventions for early helicopters, gliders, and
tanks.
He also painted The Last Supper.
He is best known for his painting, The Mona Lisa.
WHEN I SAY DA
VINCI, YOU SAY
MONA LISA!
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri was a poet who wrote
The Divine Comedy. This long poem,
14,000 lines, tells of a journey from
hell to heaven. It was so widely read
because it was written in the
vernacular.
Dante’s Inferno
DANTE = DIVINE
COMEDY
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press which helped
spread humanist ideas faster.
The Gutenberg Bible was the first European book made on
the new press.
Printing Press
More Books
More People
Learned to Read
More Ideas
Spread Quickly
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI
He painted what the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He
sculpted the statue David as well as Moses.
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Shakespeare (SHAYK spihr)
Cervantes (suhr VAN teez)
Gutenberg (GOO tuhn BUHRG)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare was a great English writer who
wrote such tragedies as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Miguel Cervantes was a Spanish author who is widely
known for his novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha.
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Art and Frescos
How did medieval and Renaissance artists differ?
MEDIEVAL
• Not meant to look
realistic (birth of Jesus)
• More symbolic
RENAISSANCE
• Followed Greek and
Roman models
• Tried to show people as
they really were, realistic
• Tried to show emotion
• Three dimensional