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CHAPTER TWELVE
TRADITION AND CHANGE IN EUROPEAN CULTURE, 1300-1500
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The fourteenth century began with a new concern among wealthy lay people for education that would provide success
and moral guidance in urban business and professional life. The movement of humanism, identified with Petrarch and
Boccaccio, stressed the use of classical works from the ancient world, which offered models of behavior for the
conscientious scholar. In Florence, a group of humanist educators re-engaged ancient texts and languages, urged active
participation in civic life, and self-consciously embraced republican government. Their movement spread even to
princely courts throughout northern Italy and eventually Europe. The elites of the continent developed common
languages and cultural references based on the classics, as well as a new code of gentlemanly behavior summarized in
Castiglione’s The Courtier. Another group of Florentine scholars revitalized a Neoplatonic view of the universe,
including a conception of humanity as innately impelled toward beauty and goodness. Throughout Europe humanists
worked to improve texts, standardize language use, revitalize historical investigation, and spread the new knowledge.
The new perspectives were equally apparent in art, sculpture, and architecture. Again a series of distinguished
Florentines led the way, creating the first domed structures since ancient times, the art of perspective in drawing, and
new images of the human form. The chapter also discusses the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
Michelangelo, and points out contrasting tendencies in the Venetian school of art. The emergence of the artist as a
“man of genius” - potentially equal in status to courtiers and minor aristocrats - was another innovation of the
Renaissance in Italy.
Both the atmosphere and the achievements of the northern part of Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
were very different from those of the south. The non-urban knightly class was much stronger in the north. While
tenacious, after 1300 its chivalric culture was showing signs of decline. The popular classes and elites shared an
obsessive interest in death, deviltry, and decay. The historian Froissart exalted the reckless combat of the Hundred
Years’ War. In other ways there were new signs of vitality. Poets like William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer
rendered vivid depictions of common life, while artists centered in the Low Countries painted nature with an eye for
detailed realism unmatched in Italy.
Enormous ferment occurred in the religious life of the north as well. People of all ranks and degrees of education
demonstrated dissatisfaction with the authoritarianism and corruption of the papacy and the regular church
hierarchy. A group of Scholastics led by William of Ockham elaborated the approach of nominalism, arguing that
any knowledge of higher forms or realities was impossible for man’s limited capacities. Marsilius of Padua
challenged the church’s right to power over property, since only the sovereign state had the means to enforce law.
Others questioned the Aristotelian views of underlying the Christian worldview.
The Church itself underwent a significant transformation in this period, provoked in part by the views of scholars
such as Marsilius. The papacy was exiled to Avignon, where it faced a fiscal crisis. The solutions to that crisis as
well as the difficulties in resolving the exile of the papacy spawned new responses to piety and also led to a revival
of the papacy through the conciliarists and other reformers. Among common people, a yearning for inner assurances
of God’s compassion was demonstrated by the wide popularity of mystics and of communal movements
emphasizing simpler lives and quiet piety. With the followers of John Wycliffe and John Hus this concern for
individual grace and questioning of the church’s legitimacy spilled over into heresy that attacked both the material
and spiritual foundations of church control.
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS
1.
2.
Compare and contrast the ideas of the Italian humanists with those of the nominalists.
Investigate the life and writings of Isabella d’Este. How representative were her experiences of women
during the Italian Renaissance?
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Assign students the task of researching the lives of several important Renaissance artists. Consider how
changes in patronage influenced the careers of those artists.
Compare and contrast the virtues associated with civic humanism with those of the chivalric nobility of
northern Europe.
Investigate the trade in relics during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. What kinds of objects were
valued? Why?
Assign passages of The Canterbury Tales. What kinds of historical details about common life can students
glean from this text?
Trace the development and resolution of the Great Schism. Why was the conflict so difficult to resolve?
Research the lives of Catherine of Siena and Margery Kempe. Why did this women attain popularity? In
what ways did they pose a threat to the established church?
Compare and contrast the views of Wycliffe and Hus. Why were their views considered heretical?
Prepare a visual presentation comparing the art of the Italian Renaissance with the art of northern Europe in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
SUPPLEMENTARY FILMS
Florence: Cradle of the Renaissance. 30 min. Color. 1992. VIEW. Tour and analysis of the ideals and visions of the
Renaissance through the artworks of Florence.
Renaissance. 60 min. Color. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. A look at the change from Gothic art to the
more classical forms of the Renaissance.
The Spirit of the Renaissance. 31 min. Color. 1970. Encyclopedia Britannica
Educational. Examination of the
intellectual and artistic climate of Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Civilization: The Hero as Artist. 52 min. Color. 1970. Time-Life Films. Kenneth Clark on the High Renaissance.
Epitome of the Italian Renaissance: The Gonzagas of Mantua. 40 min. Color. Films for the Humanities. Life and
patronage in the court of Mantua.
From Every Shires Ende: The World of Chaucer’s Pilgrims. 38 min. Color. International Film Bureau. Recreates the
pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.
I, Leonardo da Vinci. 52 min. Color. 1965. McGraw-Hill. Uses his journals and writings.
Michelangelo: The Last Giant. 68 min. Color. 1967. McGraw-Hill. Art in the context of Renaissance politics.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
The page numbers listed below indicate the correct answers and their locations in the text.
1.
The chief concern of humanist education was to
a. train people in Scholastic thought
b. educate teachers and theologians
c. teach people a trade
d. help people to live moral lives (p.402)
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2.
Which of the following was not characteristic of Renaissance humanism?
a. liberal education
b. the use of classical languages and authors to train students in eloquence
c. the belief that education and study could improve human beings
d. a rejection of the importance of religion in daily life (p.402)
3.
In his search for a model of virtuous behavior, Petrarch turned to
a. the world around him
b. the Church fathers
c. Roman writers
d. all of the above
e. b and c (p.403)
4.
Civic humanism emphasized
a. ordinary characters
b. a rejection of the Greek language
c. participation in public affairs (p.404)
d. monarchical government
5.
Vittorino’s conception of a humanist education included
a. Latin and Greek
b. mathematics
c. physical activities
d. courteous manners
e. all of the above (p. 405)
6.
The Florentine Neoplatonists
a. believed that Platonic thought contradicted Christian thought
b. believed that Platonic philosophy and Christian belief were reconcilable parts of a single truth (p.407)
c. were encouraged to continue their studies by the papacy
d. emphasized the equality of all beings in God’s universe
7.
The Italian humanists used historical evidence to
a. provide moral examples (p.407)
b. dismiss Greek culture as irrelevant to modern life
c. demonstrate God’s providence
d. to impose a completely secular world view
8.
Masaccio, Donatello, and Brunelleschi, Florentines of the early Renaissance,
a. rejected works of the ancient world as models for the new art
b. were unable to master the sculpting and engineering techniques of the Romans
c. avoided depicting the naked human form
d. stressed balance and harmony in design and the importance of the individual human figure (pp.408-410)
9.
Which is incorrectly matched?
a. Raphael: constructed dome on Florence’s cathedral (p.412)
b. Michelangelo: sculpted David for the city of Florence
c. Leonardo: engineer as well as painter
d. Titian: preeminent portrait painter of Europe
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10.
Which of the following is most accurate concerning the culture of northern Europe during the late
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
a. merchants were the greatest art patrons of the era
b. the church had lost its role in stimulating great art
c. princely courts dominated culture during this period (p.418)
d. literate laymen had no real influence on cultural life
11.
Vasari attempted to explain why
a. artists should remain part of guilds
b. artists deserved special treatment and often experienced good fortune (p.417)
c. only painters deserved special treatment
d. artists should not be accepted into the uppermost levels of society
12.
According to the text, which statement helps explain the fascination in northern Europe during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with death, decay, and witchcraft?
a. the failure of the Church to provide consolation (p.420)
b. the fact that mortality rates from the plague were much higher in northern than in southern Europe
c. the concern of urban elites with lower class discontent
d. none of the above
13.
The chronicles of Jean Froissart
a. provide an accurate and detailed description of the life of the peasantry in France during the fifteenth
century
b. contain a series of lengthy descriptions of the major cities of France and England
c. deal mainly with chivalric society (p.421)
d. ignore the military history of the period
14.
Which was not an art form in which northern Europeans excelled in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
a. woodcut engravings
b. marble sculpture (pp.421-423)
c. polyphonic music
d. oil painting
15.
The philosophers known as nominalists
a. believed that only a “nominal” number of individuals could ever attain true enlightenment
b. asserted that universal natures were discoverable through human reason
c. denied the existence of universal natures and ideal forms (p.423)
d. believed that physical reality was only a reflection of the true reality of ideal forms
16.
Which of the following is not true of Marsilius of Padua?
a. he advocated lay sovereignty within the church
b. he asserted that only coercive power gives meaning to law
c. he claimed that the church is entirely subject to the sovereign will of the state
d. he defended papal authority against the rising power of laymen (p.424)
e. he claimed that church laws are not binding because they are not supported by any coercive power
17.
The devotio moderna was similar to Italian humanism in that it
a. drew its chief inspiration from the works of antiquity
b. reacted against the pomp and splendor of papal and other ecclesiastical courts
c. addressed its message to lay people in order to help them lead a higher moral life (p.429)
d. all of the above
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18.
Albrecht Dürer
a. refused to depict biblical themes
b. joined the court of the Holy Roman empire
c. attempted to distance himself from his craftsman origins
d. maintained his links to his craftsman origins (p.422)
19.
In the fourteenth century the English heretic John Wycliffe taught that
a. only those who embraced monastic vows lived according to God’s will
b. God’s will is revealed by the Scripture and the words of church leaders
c. priests who stand in God’s grace are necessary to perform sacraments like communion
d. popes and bishops did not necessarily have God’s grace and could be defied by princes (p.431)
20.
Which of the following scholars argued that the simplest explanation for any phenomenon is always the
best?
a. Thomas Aquinas
b. William of Ockham (p.423)
c. Chaucer
d. Marsilius
21.
The papacy attempted to overcome its fiscal crisis by
a. collecting a tax for appointments to ecclesiastical offices
b. selling dispensations
c. sold future appointments
d. all of the above (p.425)
e. none of the above
22.
The Council of Pisa
a. caused the Great Schism
b. sought to increase the power of the Italians within the Church
c. attempted to resolve the Great Schism (p.426)
d. excommunicated the followers of the Avignon pope
23.
The increase in lay piety reflected
a. the growing distrust of humanism
b. the search for reassurance on the heels of an age of disasters (p.428)
c. the Church’s attempt to regain control in the aftermath of the Great Schism
d. rebuilding of Rome
24.
Jan Hus
a. led the Lollards against the Church
b. led an army against the king of Bohemia
c. led a crusade against the Utraquist Church
d. was condemned and executed for his beliefs (p.431)
ESSAY QUESTIONS
25.
26.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, cultural expression in northern and southern Europe developed in
very different ways. Describe some of those differences, and explain them.
How do you account for the fact that people in northern Europe seemed to be more concerned about daily
devotion and the state of their relationship to God than those in the south? What were the political,
intellectual, and artistic concerns of the Italian Renaissance?
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27.
28.
29.
30.
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33.
34.
It took decades for the princes of northern Europe to appreciate the intellectual and artistic movements
associated with Renaissance Italy. Once they did, they found many aspects of these movements attractive
and useful. What features of humanism and Renaissance culture in general would have benefited princes
trying to enhance their power and legitimacy?
Why was the glorification of chivalry in northern Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
unrealistic and escapist?
Discuss the ways in which dissatisfaction with the character, practices, and beliefs of the Roman Catholic
church was expressed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Some critics had declared that the Renaissance was merely a movement of the male urban political elite.
Do you agree or disagree with this claim? Use specific examples to bolster your position.
Why did Renaissance humanists reject the spirituality of the Middle Ages even though faith and spirituality
remained important within Renaissance humanism?
What is the relationship between Renaissance humanism and Scholasticism?
What led to the Great Schism? Why did it prove so difficult to resolve?
How did the artists of the Italian Renaissance incorporate the new intellectual and cultural trends of their
time into their art?
CRITICAL THINKING
Evaluating Evidence
35.
Consider the works of art depicted in Chapter 12. How did artistic styles reflect changing political,
religious, social, and intellectual concerns during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
36.
Using Map 12.1, how did the founding of new universities especially during the in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries reflect political and economic trends?
37.
Consider Map 12.2. How did the innovations of Renaissance art spread?
38.
How does Masaccio’s painting on page 409 demonstrate the shared concerns of art and humanism during
the fifteenth century?
39.
Consider the painting on page 412. Mona Lisa's smile has perplexed critics, historians, and even casual
observers for years. What do you think she is smiling at? How does the painting reveal Leonardo’s
experimental tendencies?
40.
What was the symbolic significance of the placement of Lorenzo and Cosimo de Medici within the painting
by Gozzoli on page 419?
41.
How does Albrecht Dürer's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on page 422 echo religious sentiments
of northern Europe at the close of the fifteenth century?
42.
What does Map 12.3 demonstrate about political alliances during the Great Schism?
Critical Analysis
Petrarch on Ancient Rome
43.
How does this passage reveal the aspirations of the Renaissance?
44.
What was happening in ancient Rome during the time of “Scipio, Brutus, Cato, and many others”? Does
Petrarch romanticize this period of Roman society?
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Isabella D'Este's Quest for Art
45.
What do these extracts indicate about Isabella d’Este’s responsibilities in the household of her husband?
Would you consider her a traditional wife? Why or why not?
46.
Discuss the motives for having a painting by Bellini or da Vinci hung in your house during the
Renaissance. Have these motive changed today regarding the works of these artists?
Hus at Constance
47.
Why do you think that Hus does not address the political nature of the Council of Constance in this letter?
48.
Hus complains that the Church had “neither heard nor seen [his books].” What was the purpose of the
Council of Constance? Given that purpose, do you think that familiarity with the Hus’s books would have
made a difference?
49.
Judging from Hus's tone in the letter, do you think his demeanor affected the outcome of his trial?
IDENTIFICATIONS
50. humanism
73. Petrarch
51. Boccaccio
74. The Decameron
52. civic humanism
75. Coluccio Salutati
53. Vittorino da Feltre
76. Casa Giocosa
54. The Courtier
77. Baldassare Castiglione
55. Marsilio Ficino
78. Pico
56. Neoplatonism
79. Masaccio
57. Giotto
80. Donatello
58. Brunelleschi
81. Leonardo
59. Raphael
82. Michelangelo
60. Titian
83. patron
61. Vasari
84. Isabelle d’Este
62. danse macabre
85. relics
63. Froissart
86. Chaucer
64. The Canterbury Tales
87. Jan Van Eyck
65. Dürer
88. Ockham’s razor
66. Nominalists
89. Marsilius of Padua
67. Great Schism
90. Conciliar Movement
68. Council of Pisa
91. lay mysticism
69. Catherine of Siena
92. Brethren of the Common Life
70. Thomas à Kempis
93. devotio moderna
71. John Wycliffe
94. Lollards
72. Jan Hus
95. Hussites
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