Download Renaissance and Discovery

CHAPTER 10
Renaissance and Discovery
Big Questions:
• What were the characteristics of the politics, culture, and
art of the Italian Renaissance?
• What was the political struggle within Italy and how was it
affected by foreign intervention?
• Who were the powerful new monarchies of northern
Europe?
• What was the thought and culture of the northern
Renaissance? How was it different than the Italian
Renaissance?
Renaissance: Overview
• Renaissance = “rebirth”; transition
from medieval to modern times
Medieval Europe
(pre 12th c.)
fragmented, feudal
society
agricultural economy
church-dominated
thought, culture
Renaissance Europe
(post-14th c.)
political centralization,
national feelings
urban, commercialcapitalist economy
growing lay/secular
control of thought &
culture
The Italian Renaissance: Why Italy?
Focus Question
What were the economic, cultural, and
political factors that contributed to the rise
of the Renaissance in Italy?
Italian City States
Italian peninsula:
Center of trade from
Constantinople and
the Middle East
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApY3LYWuhOw
Italian City States
Florence
Genoa
Milan
Naples
Papal States
Venice
These trade-rich cities evolved into powerful, independent
city-states that controlled the countryside around them
Social Classes
• Clergy (1%)
• Nobles (2-3%)
 “New Blood”
 Castiglione on how to be a
noble (or courtier)
• Peasants and Townspeople (96-97%)
 Decline of Serfdom
 Townspeople = merchants, artisans as
well as poor urban workers
Politics of the Italian City-States
• City states = fundamental political
unit of Italian peninsula
• Italian peninsula was most
urbanized part of Western world
• Many were despotisms run by a
single family or oligarchies
• Despots had a need to prove
themselves, thus they collected
and patronized art to show wealth
Ludovico Sforza (Milan)
Economy of the Italian City-States
• Trade Cities
• Centers of banking
• Specialization
Florence = textiles
Venice & Genoa = shipbuilding, insurance
• Merchant capitalism led to the rise of
townspeople in wealth & power
Renaissance Patrons
• Wealthy families sought to make a name
for themselves or their city by
commissioning works of art
• Key to social status
The Medici family
were key patrons in
Florence.
• The Church commissioned art, as well
Palazzo Medici
Florence
• “Birthplace” of the Renaissance?
“Model” Renaissance city?
• Booming textile trade
• Guilds = groups of skilled craftsmen and
businessmen who controlled trade & had
political influence
• Bankers & political powerhouse – the
Medici family basically funded the
Renaissance in Florence
Florence: The Duomo
The Florence Cathedral dome was completed by
Brunelleschi in 1436 and restored Florentine
pride. The interior dome fresco was painted by
Giogio Vasari, most famous for his widely read
book, The Lives of the Artists, which provided
biographies of many of the Renaissance masters
Focus Question
What were the economic, cultural, and
political factors that contributed to the rise
of the Renaissance in Italy?
http://www.history.com/topics/italian-renaissance/videos
The Renaissance: Humanism
Focus Question
What were the characteristics of the politics,
culture, and art of the Italian Renaissance?
Humanism
• Studia humanitatis: liberal arts study
(grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history,
politics, philosophy)—to celebrate the
dignity of humankind & prepare for life
of virtuous action
• Studied the Classics – original
Greek and Latin manuscripts
Early Humanist Scholars
• Petrarch, Dante & Boccaccio
 Petrarch = “Father of Humanism,” referred to
Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages” because he
thought they were ignorant of the Classics
 Dante = Divine Comedy written in Italian
 Boccaccio = Decameron, collection of stories
about people who escaped the Plague, a social
commentary
• Foundations of
vernacular literature
Vernacular
Revival of Greek Studies
• Florentine “Academy”—not a formal school, but
gathering of influential Florentine humanists
devoted to reviving works of Plato & the
Neoplatonists of 3rd century
• Platonism – invisible world vs. visible world, soul
vs. body in man (the soul/mind is eternal)
• Humanist critical scholarship: Lorenzo Valla
exposes Donation of Constantine as forgery
The Point: don’t just “accept” things as truth,
look at the world critically
The “Renaissance Man”
• Someone who was wellrounded
• Knew many languages,
artistic, athletic, intelligent
• Da Vinci = painter, sculptor,
scientist, architect, military
engineer, inventor,
philosopher
Da Vinci, aka
Renaissance Man
Renaissance Women
• Isabelle d’Este – “First Lady of the
Renaissance,” related to nearly every
Italian ruler by birth or marriage.
- Patron of the arts, extremely welleducated, fashionista
• Christine de Pizan – prominent
author, single (widowed) mother
Renaissance Politics: Machiavelli
• Concluded only a strongman could impose order
on a divided & selfish people (Italians)
• Admirer of Roman rulers & citizens
• Virtù: ability to act heroically & decisively for the
good of one’s country
• The Prince (1513): recommends
temporary use of fraud &
brutality to achieve Italian unity;
hoped for strong ruler from
the
Medici family
Renaissance Politics: Machiavelli
• Background: “Peace of Lodi” (or Treaty of Lodi) est.
an alliance system of Italian City States
 Milan Florence Naples VS Venice & Papal States
• Series of French and Spanish invasions and wars
caused this system to backfire/crumble
 Triggered by duke of Milan inviting French King to
get involved in politics of Italy
The Prince was a reflection on political
power in the midst of all this MESS,
and a handbook on how to attain and
expand power through ironclad rule
Renaissance View on Education
•
Education was the key to changing human nature
•
Medieval universities trained theologians,
lawyers, doctors
•
Renaissance education gave rise to secondary
education – prep for LIVING
 Created people who would be fit to lead and
live in society
•
Mostly for boys, though some elite girls went
Renaissance Art
• Embraced the natural world & human emotion
• Works characterized by rational order,
symmetry, proportionality; addition of linear
perspective (3-D look)
• Notable Artists
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) “Renaissance
Man,” Mona Lisa
 Raphael (1483–1520) Large Vatican fresco:
The School of Athens
 Michelangelo (1475–1564) 18-foot sculpture
of David, Sistine Chapel ceiling
Renaissance Art
Renaissance Art
Renaissance Art
Focus Question
What were the characteristics of the politics,
culture, and art of the Italian Renaissance?
Extra Resources
• http://www.historytoday.com/jon-cook/why-renaissance-why-florence
• http://apeuro4idiots.wordpress.com/renaissance/