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The Renaissance
1485- 1660
What was the Renaissance?
• Period following the
middle ages (1066-1485)
• “Rebirth” of classical
Greece and Rome
• Began in Italy
• Moved to Northern
Europe
Objectives
• During the Middle
Ages
– Find God
– Prove pre-conceived
ideas
• During the
Renaissance
– Find man
– Promote learning
"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
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 (specifically, a revitalized interest in Greek
and Roman civilization).
• Wanted to discover new answers to the questions, “What is a human
being,” “What is a good life?” and “How do I lead a good life?”
• Sought to harmonize two great sources of wisdom: the Bible and the
classics.
• Found that life is about attaining virtue, not success, money, or fame,
because virtue is the best possible possession and the only source of
true happiness.
Causes of the Renaissance
• Lessening of feudalism (Black Plague)
• Church
– was disrespected and questioned since no amount of
indulgences, confessions, or church- going could
protect them from the plague. Started to focus on
living life rather than reaching the afterlife.
– Corruption in Church
• Education
• Nostalgia among the Italians to recapture the
glory of the Roman empire.
Renaissance Man
• Broad knowledge about many things in different
fields
• Deep knowledge of skill in one area
• Able to link areas and create new knowledge
– Petrarch (new form of sonnet, concluded that the
height of human accomplishment occurred in the
Roman Empire), Erasmus, etc.
Italian Background
• Renaissance had its
origins in Italy
– Writings of Petrarch and
Boccaccio (Decamaron)
– Visual arts- Da Vinci,
Michelangelo (greatest
sculptor of the 16th
century), Donatello, etc.
– Architecture of Brunelleschi
(Duomo)
City of Florence was the focal
point of intellectual trends
and artistic
accomplishments.
Italian Background
• Florence
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Medici's—family of physicians
Money in banking
Financed wool trade
Became defacto rulers of Florence
Financed many artists including Michelangelo
The Reformation: Breaking
with the Church
• Although the exact nature varied from country to
country, they all rejected the authority of the pope and
the Italian churchmen.
• By the 1530s, an open break with the RCC could no
longer be avoided in England.
• Causes: strong feelings of patriotism, resentment about
the financial burdens imposed by the Vatican, new
religious ideas came from Germany (Martin Luther).
• Luther (1483-1546) founded a new kind of Christianity
based on personal understanding of the Bible, not the
pope’s.
King vs. Pope
• Came to a climax when Henry
VIII (reigned from 1509-1547)
wanted to divorce Catherine of
Aragon,his wife of 24 yrs.,
because she did not give him a
male heir (had one daughter, 5
miscarriages) and he was in
love with Anne Boleyn (will
have 6 wives in total:
• “divorced, beheaded, died,
divorced,beheaded, survived.”
• Pope Clement VII could not
annul the marriage (esp. since
the pope was controlled by the
emperor of Spain).
• Upon receiving his refusal,
Henry appointed new
archbishop of Canterbury, who
annulled the marriage. In
1534,Henry declared himself
the head of the English
Church, officially breaking his
ties with Rome.
• Closed all monasteries and
RCC churches and sold all land
and rich buildings belonging to
the church.
Tudor Queens
•
Bloody Mary (reigned 1547-1553)
– Henry VIII’s heir
– Devout Catholic, strong-willed
woman who was determined to
avenge the wrong-doings done to
her mother.
– Murdered many Protestants and
restored Pope’s power
– Lost favor after burning 300 of
her subjects at the stake and
married Philip I,King of Spain
(she was 37 and he was 26).
– Died of a fever.
•
Elizabeth: Virgin Queen (reigned
1558- 1603)
– Most brilliant and successful
monarch in history.
– Restored ordered and the Church
of England (pope
excommunicated her ).
– Resisted marriage all her life and
played one suitor off another.
Gained favor from Spain by
pretending that she might marry
her widowed brother-in-law.
– Survived many plots against her
life (cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots,
who she wound up beheading).
– Towards the end of her life, she
was a symbol of peace,security,
and strength and an inspiration to
many authors.
James VI
• Elizabeth was succeeded
by her second cousin,
James VI of Scotland (son
of cousin, Mary). He
patronized the arts
(Shakespeare), sponsored
a new translation of the
Bible and was an
admirable and benevolent
ruler; however, he did not
have strong relationships
with his subjects.
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• Born in Stratford-on-Avon,
“Bard of Avon”
• Much controversy over his
religious affiliation, sexual
orientation, and sources for
collaboration.
• Married Anne Hathaway, had
3 children
• Moved to London
• The Chamberlain's MenShakespeare’s first acting
company with which he
traveled and performed.
Shakespeare
• Wrote 37 plays
between 1588 and
1613
– About 1.5 per year
• Directed and starred
in the plays
• Wrote 154 sonnets
Globe Playhouse, London
Shakespeare’s Major Plays
1588-93 - The Comedy of Errors
1588-92 - Henry VI (three parts)
1592-93 - Richard III
1592-94 - Titus Andronicus
1593-94 - The Taming of the Shrew
1593-94 - The Two Gentlemen of
Verona
1593-94 - "The Rape of Lucrece"
1593-1600 - "Sonnets"
1588-95 - Love's Labor's Lost
1594-96 - Romeo and Juliet
1595 - Richard II
1594-96 - A Midsummer Night's
Dream
1590-97 - King John
1592 - "Venus and Adonis"
1596-97 - The Merchant of Venice
1597 - Henry IV (Part I)
1597-98 - Henry IV (Part II)
1598-1600 - Much Ado About
Nothing
1598-99 - Henry V
1599 - Julius Caesar
1599-1600 - As You Like It
1600-02 - Twelfth Night
1600-O1 - Hamlet
1597-1601 - The Merry Wives of
Windsor
1600-O1 - "The Phoenix and the
Turtle"
1601-02 - Troilus and Cressida
1602-04 - All's Well That Ends Well
1603-04 - Othello
1604 - Measure for Measure
1604-09 - Timon of Athens
1605-06 - King Lear
1605-06 - Macbeth
1606-07 - Antony and Cleopatra
1607-09 - Coriolanus
1608-09 - Pericles
1609-1O - Cymbeline
161O-1I - The Winter's Tale
161I - The Tempest
1612-13 - Henry VIII
1613 - The Two Noble Kinsmen
New Words
• Solidified the English language
– Dante did the same for Italian
– Luther and Goethe did the same for German
• Used nouns as verbs
• Over 2000 new words
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critical, aggravate, assassination
monumental, castigate, countless
Obscene, forefathers, frugal, hurry
Majestic, homicide, summit, reliance
• Coined Phrases