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The Dark Ages
Chapter 2
“Renaissance and Discovery”
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY
MR. RICK PURRINGTON
MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL
Europe 1500
I. What was the Renaissance?
A. “Re-birth”
1. new interest in the classics = politics, art,
literature, architecture
2. Jacob Burckhardt – Ren gave rise to “new
secular and scientific values” and the gradual
release of the “full, whole nature of man.”
2. increased wealth, education, population
II. The Evolution of the Renaissance
A. Italy– center of the Ren
1. 15th C economy in Italy = strong
a) “all roads lead to Rome”
b) Venice = sea commerce = wealth
c) Florence = wool trade, banking,
art, architecture, literature
d) Florentine banking families
- Medici - “God’s bankers” =
wealth and power
Cosimo
de’Medici
Florence, Italy
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore
B. The Printed Word
1. 1454 - Johann Gutenberg
a) first printing press – moveable type
b) books now mass-produced
c) Gutenberg Bible
2. Impact of the Printing Press
a) stimulated literacy
b) ideas and information spread
III. Early Exploration 1300’s
A. Marco Polo seeking trade routes
w/Mongol Empire in China and India
B. Mongol Empire declines, Islamic
Ottoman Empire grows
C. New routes, overseas trade is needed
D. Problems:
1. little sea travel technology
2. maps weren’t extensive
3. knowledge of open sea travel was
limited
IV.
Portugal Leads the Way EAST (end of 1400’s)
1. Port.’s geographic advantage
2. Prince Henry the Navigator
a) wanted trade w/India, Africa
3. Shipping Technology
a) compass, astrolabe
b) cannons on ships for protection
4. Explorers’ motivations:
a) God - Christianize Muslims “Crusading”
b) Gold - import gold from West Africa, spices
from India
c) Glory – the Renaissance humanism
5. 1497 - da Gama rounds Africa, enroute to India
http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/exploration.html
6. 1500 – Port. lands in Brazil
V. Spain Leads the Way WEST
A. Christopher Columbus - Talented Italian Seaman
1. Convinced that Asia could be reached
by sailing West
2. Portugal said no
3. Queen Isabella of Sp said yes
4.Discovered Caribbean isles, CentralAmerica
5. Called the people “Indians”
6. News of Columbus’ voyages spread
quickly throughout Eu
B. Impact of Columbus
1. Paved the way for: explorers –
Megellan, Vespucci, and Spanish
Conquistadors– Pizarro, Cortes
2. The Economy of Exploitation
a) The Columbian Exchange of:
- language, religion, foods, animals,
spices, slaves, disease
VI. Renaissance Thought
A. Humanism
1. Studia Humanitatis – study of liberal arts
or “humanities” - philosophy, politics,
rhetoric, history
2. humans are between “angels and
beasts.”
3. human potential for learning is limitless
4. the human body is divinely inspired)
5. Castiglione’s The Courtier
1) “The Renaissance Man” – has a
strong background in many
academic, physical, and spiritual
subjects
B. Civic Humanism and Political Philosophy
1) 1513 -- Machiavelli’s The Prince
a) most widely read Ren book
b) subject: how the ruler should
gain, maintain, and increase political
power
c) humans are selfish
d) “the ends justify the means”
e) must be “a fox and lion”
“For a man who, in all respects, will carry out only
his professions of good, will be apt to be ruined
amongst so many who are evil. A prince
therefore who desires to maintain himself must
learn to be not always good, but to be so or not
as necessity may require. It is much more safe
to be feared than loved.”
“View what IS not
what ought to be.”
The Prince, Machiavelli
VII. Renaissance Art and Sculpture
A. New features brought energy and life to art
1. Embraced natural world, human emotion
2. Works characterized by:
a) rational order
b) symmetry
c) proportionality
d) linear perspective (3-D look)
e) chiaroscuro – shading for naturalness
B. Artists
1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
a) The Renaissance ideal, Mona Lisa, The Last
Supper, Vitruvian Man
2. Raphael (1483–1520)
a) The School of Athens
3. Michelangelo (1475–1564)
a) David, The Pieta, The Sistine Chapel
10,000 sq. ft., 343 figures, 4 yrs to complete
VIII. The Renaissance in Northern Eu
A. Differences in the North
1. More religious, less secular
2. A combination of classic and religious virtues
3. Northern Humanists
a) 1516-Thomas More Utopia
1. describes the ideal society
2. learning, social equality, shared
profits, wars prevented w/gold
3. no greed, no corrupt institutions
b) 1504-Erasmus The Education of a Christian
Prince
1. study of Bible and classics can
bring positive change
2. the goal is to live like Jesus Christ
3. challenged the Church