Download World History - Lecture Notes - Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Renaissance
I.
Origins of the Renaissance
A.
Trade with Asia
1.
As more good became available prices went down and people could buy more
of the things they always wanted
a.
Trade increased and new products were made available
i.
They came from India, China and the East
2.
When the Mongols took over China they made the Silk Road safe again
a.
The Silk Road and traders were protected by soldiers
b.
One such trader was Marco Polo
i.
Marco Polo spent 20 years living and travelling in China
ii.
He was a government official of Kublai Khan
c.
Travelers discovered that China used paper money, and discovered coal
B.
Trade Cities in Italy
1.
Italian cities played two important roles in trade
a.
They were ports on the Mediterranean Sea
b.
They were also manufacturing centers
i.
Each city had their own specialty – glass, weapons, silk or wool
c.
Some merchant families became so wealthy that they made Italy the
center of culture
2.
Italy was made of different states that had different forms of government
a.
Venice was a republic
b.
The Papal States were ruled by the pope
3.
Most Italian cities were controlled by a single rich merchant family
a.
This type of government was called a signoria
i.
The signori of different stated competed against each other to
see whose city could become the richest and most famous
C.
Florence
1.
The greatest bankers in Florence were the Medici family
a.
Cosimo de’Medici ruled Florence
i.
He wanted Florence to be the most beautiful city in the world
a).
He hired artists and architects to decorate and re-design
Florence
ii.
He also valued education
a).
He built libraries and collected books
b.
Florence became the center of Italian art, literature and culture
2.
The love of art was a key feature of the Renaissance
a.
Renaissance – “rebirth”, the period that followed the Middle Ages
II.
The Italian Renaissance
A.
New Ways to See the World
1.
Humanism – the study of the humanities and a new way of thinking and learning
a.
Humanism was a break from religious centered learning
i.
The humanities included the study of history, literature, public
speaking and art
2.
Humanists were still religious but they were interested in other subjects as well
a.
Great respect was given to talented writers and artists and they won
great fame and honor
3.
D.
III.
The rediscovery of many long lost ancient writing created an increase in the
popularity of the humanities and ancient history
a.
Ancient Greek and Latin writings were read by scholars to rediscover
the glories of Greece and Rome and to renew classical culture
B.
Italian Writers
1.
Dante Alighieri had broken away from the tradition of writing in Latin
a.
He wrote in Italian so common people could read his writings
b.
The Divine Comedy is Dante’s account of the soul’s journey through the
afterlife
2.
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote a short book called The Prince
a.
It gave leaders advice on how they should rule
C.
Italian Art and Artists
1.
Artists showed people more realistically than medieval artists
a.
They studied the human body
b.
They also used perspective
i.
Perspective – a method of showing a 3D scene on a flat surface
so that it looks real
2.
Most artists tried to portray the value of individual human life
a.
They often painted scenes of Roman mythology
3.
Two artists stood above the rest
a.
Each was a Renaissance man, or someone who can do everything well
4.
Michelangelo designed buildings, wrote poetry, carved sculptures and painted
a.
His most famous work is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
5.
Leonardo da Vinci is considered the true genius of the Renaissance
a.
He was an expert painter, sculptor, architect, inventor and engineer
b.
He dissected corpses to study human anatomy
Science and Education
1.
Scholars built upon the information they studied in ancient math texts
a.
They created symbols we use today (square root, -, +)
2.
Architects built upon ancient texts as well
a.
They started building domes atop buildings
3.
They changed peoples’ beliefs about the sun, stars and the earth
a.
They made people realize that the earth moved around the sun
b.
They were able to calculated the size of the earth
c.
They made more accurate maps
4.
The new information spread across Europe
The Renaissance Beyond Italy
A.
Spread of New Ideas
1.
In the mid-1400s Johann Gutenberg developed a printing press that used
moveable type
a.
The first printed book was a bible printed in Latin in 1455
i.
Bibles were translated into common languages making more
available to read
a).
This caused more people to learn to read
b).
People wanted more education
2.
Students from around Europe studied at universities in Italy with humanist
teachers
a.
Students from northern Europe took Renaissance ideas back with them
B.
C.
The Northern Renaissance
1.
As humanism spread, scholars in northern Europe became more interested in
history
a.
The combination of humanist and religious ideas is called Christian
humanism
i.
Many scholars felt that the church had become corrupt
2.
Desiderius Erasmus wrote The Praise of Folly criticizing the corruption of the
clergy
a.
He wanted to get rid of rituals and replaced it with devotion to God
3.
Northern Renaissance art differed from Italian Renaissance art
a.
Paintings didn’t look like Greek gods, instead they are realistic with
physical flaws
i.
They painted objects so clearly that they looked real
ii.
Scenes depicted daily life
4.
Albrect Durer was a famous northern artist from Germany
a.
Jan van Eyck worked with oil paintings, a new invention
Literature Beyond Italy
1.
Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote
a.
He poked fun at romantic tales of the Middle Ages
b.
Like many writers Cervantes thought his own time was much better
than the Middle Ages
2.
William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest writer in the English
language
a.
Though he wrote poems he is famous for his plays
i.
He wrote more than 30 comedies, tragedies and histories