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What was the Renaissance
Overview
Renaissance
• French word for “rebirth” of classical ideas
(referring to the ancient Greeks and Romans)
• Middle Ages or the medieval period is NOT the
Renaissance.
Renaissance Overview
• Renaissance thinkers explored the human
experience in the here and now. They
emphasized individual achievement.
• The Renaissance ideal was the person with talent
in many fields.
• At the heart of the Italian renaissance was an
intellectual movement known as humanism.
• Humanism was based on the study of classical
culture and focused on worldly subjects rather
than on religious issues.
Humanism
• Humanism: Philosophy that emphasized classical
knowledge
• Human Feelings
• Unreligious or secular
• More classics (Greek and Romans)
• Anatomy in Art
• Need to ask questions-”What is Life?”
• Individual worth
• School: education
• More Art: sculpture, oil paintings, and architecture
Italy’s Advantages
• The years 1300 to 1600 saw a rebirth of learning
and culture in Europe called the Renaissance.
This rebirth spread north from Italy. It began
there for three reasons.
• First, Italy had several important cities. Cities
were places where people exchanged ideas.
• Second, these cities included a class of
merchants and bankers who were becoming
wealthy and powerful. This class strongly
believed in the idea of individual achievement.
Italy’s Advantages
• Third, Italian artists and scholars were inspired
by the ruined buildings and other reminders
of classical Rome.
• 1. What are three reasons why the
Renaissance began in Italy?
• It had several important cities; these cities
included a class of merchants and bankers;
and artists were inspired by the classical ruins
there.
Why did the Renaissance Begin in
Italy?
• Florence, Venice, and Genoa had access to
trade routes connecting Europe with Middle
Eastern markets
• Served as trading centers for the distribution
of goods to northern Europe
• Were initially independent city-states
governed as republics
Classical and Worldly Values
• In the Middle Ages, the emphasis had been
mostly on spiritual values. Renaissance
thinkers stressed secular ideas. These ideas
centered on the things of the world.
• One way that powerful or wealthy people
showed this interest in worldly things was by
paying artists, writers, and musicians to create
beautiful works of art. Wealthy people who
supported artists were known as patrons.
Classical and Worldly Values
• People tried to show that they could master
many fields of study or work. Someone who
succeeded in many fields was admired greatly.
The artist Leonardo da Vinci was an example of
this ideal.
• He was a painter, a scientist, and an inventor.
Men were expected to be charming, witty, welleducated, well mannered, athletic, and selfcontrolled. Women were expected to have
many accomplishments, too. But women were
not to show them in public.
The Renaissance Revolutionizes Art
• Renaissance artists sometimes used new
methods. Sculptors made figures more realistic
than those from the Middle Ages. Painters used
perspective to create the illusion that their
paintings were three-dimensional.
• Art in the Middle Ages was mostly religious.
Renaissance artists reproduced other views of
life. Michelangelo showed great skill as an
architect, a sculptor, and a painter.
Renaissance Revolutionizes Art
• How did the methods and subjects in art
change?
• Painting became more realistic as a result of
the use of perspective; its subject changed to
go beyond only the religious.
Renaissance Writers Change Literature
• Renaissance writers also achieved greatness.
Several wrote in the vernacular. This means
they wrote in their native languages. It was a
change from the Middle Ages, when most
writing was done in Latin.
• Writers also changed their subject matter.
They began to express their own thought and
feelings. Sometimes they gave a detailed look
at an individual.
Renaissance Writers
• Dante and others wrote poetry, letters, and
stories that were more realistic.
• Niccoló Machiavelli took a new approach to
understanding government. He focused on
telling rulers how to expand their power. He
believed rulers should do what was politically
effective, even it if was not morally right.
• Renaissance writers wrote about their own
thoughts and feelings; they also took a more
detailed look at the individual.
Three Geniuses of The Italian
Renaissance
Leonardo
Michelangelo
Masterpieces include
Mona Lisa and The
Last Supper
Talented sculptor,
engineer, painter,
architect, and poet
Studied botany,
anatomy, optics,
music architecture,
and engineering
Made sketches for
flying machines and
undersea boats
Sculpted the Pieta
and statue of David
Painted huge mural
to decorate the
ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel in Rome
Petrarch
Wrote sonnets in
Italian and Latin –
14-line poems
Renaissance Artists and Writers
Explored New Themes and Techniques
Writers
Wrote selfhelp books to
help
ambitious
men and
women rise in
the
Renaissance
world
Architects
Painters
Rejected Gothic
style Adopted
columns, domes,
and arches that
had been favored
by the Greeks
and Romans
Developed realistic
Style Learned rules
of perspective
Used shading to
make objects look
round and real
Studied human
anatomy
Used live models
Contributions of the Renaissance
• Accomplishments in the visual arts:
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci.
• Accomplishments in literature (sonnets, plays,
essays): Shakespeare
• Accomplishments in intellectual ideas
(humanism): Erasmus
Essential Understanding
• New intellectual and artistic ideas that
developed during the Renaissance marked the
beginning of the modern world.
The Northern Renaissance
• By 1450, the bubonic plague had ended in
northern Europe. Also, the Hundred Years’ War
between France and England was ending. This
allowed new ideas from Italy to spread to
northern Europe. They were quickly adopted.
• Rulers and merchants used their money to
sponsor artists. But the northern Renaissance
had a difference. Educated people combined
classical learning with interest in religious ideas.
Northern Renaissance
• How was the northern Renaissance different
from the Renaissance in Italy?
• In northern Europe, Renaissance thinkers
combined classical learning with religious
thinking.
Northern Writers Try to Reform
Society; The Elizabethan Age
• Writers of the northern Renaissance
combined humanism with a deep Christian
faith.
• They urged reforms in the Church. They tried
to make people more devoted to God. They
also wanted society to be more fair.
• In England, Thomas More wrote a book about
Utopia, an imaginary ideal society where
greed, war, and conflict do not exist.
What did northern writers write?
• William Shakespeare is often called the
greatest playwright of all time.
• His plays showed a brilliant command of the
English language.
• They also show a deep understanding of
people and how they interact with one
another.
Machiavelli’s – The Prince
•
•
•
•
An early modern treatise on government
Supported absolute power of the ruler
Maintains that the end justifies the means
Advises that one should do good if possible,
but do evil when necessary
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas;
The Legacy of the Renaissance
• One reason that learning spread so rapidly
during the Renaissance was the invention of
movable type.
• The Chinese had invented the process of
carving characters onto wooden blocks. They
then arranged them in words, inked the
blocks, and pressed them against paper to
print pages.
Northern Renaissance
• Growing wealth in Northern Europe Supported
Renaissance ideas
• Thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity
• The movable type printing press and the
production and sale of books (Gutenberg Bible)
helped disseminate ideas.
• Northern Renaissance writers – Erasmus – The
Praise of Folly (1511) – Sir Thomas More –
Utopia (1516)
The Printing Revolution
• A printing revolution took place when: In 1456,
Johann Gutenberg printed the Bible using the first
printing press and printing inks.
• Impact:
• Printed books were cheaper and easier to
produce.
• With books more readily available, more people
learned to read. (vernacular)
• Readers gained access to a broad range of
knowledge and ideas.
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas
• Printing made it easier to make many copies
of a book. As a result, written works became
available far and wide.
• Books were printed in English, French,
Spanish, Italian, or German. More people
began to read. The Bible was a popular book.
• After reading the Bible, some people formed
new ideas about Christianity. These ideas
were different from the official teachings of
the Church.
Printing Spreads Renaissance Ideas
• The Renaissance prompted changes in both
art and society. Artists and writers portrayed
people in more realistic ways and celebrated
individual achievement.
• In a larger sense, the Renaissance opened up a
world of new ideas to people and led them to
examine and question things more closely.
The Legacy of the Renaissance
• What effects did the printing press have on
northern European life?
• People read more. They also began to read
the Bible on their own, which led to their
forming their own ideas about Christianity.
Conflicts that challenged the authority
of the Church in Rome
• Merchant wealth challenged the Church’s
view of usury
• German and English nobility disliked Italian
domination of the Church
• The Church’s great political power and wealth
caused conflict.
• Church corruption and the sale of indulgences
were widespread and caused conflict.
Martin Luther (the Lutheran tradition)
• Views: Salvation by faith alone, Bible as the
ultimate authority, all humans equal before
God
• Actions: 95 theses, birth of the Protestant
Church
• Criticized the selling of indulgences
John Calvin (the Calvinist tradition)
• Views: Predestination, faith revealed by living
a righteous life, work ethic
• Actions: Expansion of the Protestant
Movement
King Henry VIII
• Views: Dismissed the authority of the Pope in
Rome (was not given an annulment)
• Actions: Divorced ; broke with Rome; headed
the national church in England; appropriated
lands and wealth of the Roman Catholic
Church in England
Queen Elizabeth I
•
•
•
•
Anglican Church
Tolerance for dissenters
Expansion and colonialism
Victory over the Spanish Armada (1588)
Reformation in Germany
• Princes in Northern Germany converted to
Protestantism, ending the authority of the
Pope in their states.
• The Hapsburg family and the authority of the
Holy Roman Empire continued to support the
Roman Catholic Church
• Conflict between Protestants and Catholics
resulted in devastating wars (e.g., 30 yrs. War)
Reformation in France
• Catholic monarchy granted Protestant
Huguenots freedom of worship by the Edict
of Nantes (later revoked).
• Cardinal Richelieu changed the focus of the
Thirty Years’ War from a religious to a
political conflict.
Catholic Reformation
• Dissenters prior to Martin Luther: Jan Huss,
John Wycliffe
• Counter-Reformation:
– The Council of Trent reaffirmed most Church
doctrine and practices.
– The Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) was founded to
spread Catholic doctrine around the world.
– The Inquisition was used to reinforce Catholic
doctrine.
Changing cultural values, traditions,
and philosophies
• Growth of secularism
• Growth of individualism
• Eventual growth of religious tolerance
Role of the Printing Press
• Growth of literacy was stimulated by the
Gutenberg printing press.
• The Bible was printed in English, French, and
German.
• These factors had a important impact on
spreading the ideas of the Reformation and
the Renaissance.