Download The Renaissance

The Renaissance
The Re-Birth
The Renaissance
• What caused the Renaissance?
– The Crusades
– The Black Death
– New trade in Italy
The Renaissance
• The Crusades
– Interaction between
Muslims and Christians
during the four Crusades
for the 12th to 14th C.
– Cultural Diffusion
between both groups due
to warfare and trade
The Renaissance
• Crusades
– Muslims had held onto
Ancient Greek and
Roman texts
– Practiced Greek and
Roman ideas
– Muslims improved upon
these ideas and then
passed them back onto
the Europeans
Renaissance
• Crusades
– Europeans will also bring back new ideas in
manufacturing techniques
• Now they could create goods they normally had to buy
– New ideas in creating a world wide trade economy
• Credit, banking which will lead to the Commercial
Revolution
Renaissance
• The Black Death
– The plague will account
for the destruction of
almost 1/3 of Europe’s
population
– Disease is an equal
opportunity killer so it
killed off not only the
serfs but also the nobles
Renaissance
• Black Death
– Will last in Europe from
1347-1351
– While the plague caused a
demographic shift it also
caused a political and
economic shift
Renaissance
• The Black Death
– The plague will cause the
end of the Manor System
• A shortage of serfs to work
the land caused lords and
nobles to have to pay serfs
for production
• With the loss of lords there
was now free land for serfs
to claim and work for their
own profit
Renaissance
• Black Death
– End of the Feudal System
• With the Manor System
gone serfs were no longer
tied to the land and could
move to urban centers
• More free men and the
growth of urban centers
caused a rapid growth in
trade.
Renaissance
• New Trade
– Growth of cities coupled with
new manufacturing techniques
allowed for an increase of
trade.
– Italy was centrally located in
the Mediterranean Sea which
allowed for easy trade access
– The banking and business
classes will grow and there will
be more money and wealth in
society
Renaissance
• New Trade
– Allowed for opportunities of social mobility
– Increase of wealth in cities
– Growth of educational centers
• These universities would start to question traditional ideas
such as the church and the way in which people were
ruled
• Scholasticism
The Renaissance
• Classicism
– With the new influx of money into Europe, Europeans were
able to spend more time on leisure activities instead of
fighting for survival
– Europeans began to study the literature of the Greeks and
the Romans
– Europeans wanted to understand their cultural heritage and
started to explore more deeply the legacy of the Greeks and
Romans
• Remember the Europeans were only able to study Greek and Roman
culture because the writing had been saved by the Muslims and the
Jews
The Renaissance
• Secularism
– As you remember most works of art during the Middle Ages
centered around the church because the church was seen as
the center of the world
– During the Renaissance art , literature and philosophy began
to center around the natural world and not the world of the
church
– The Renaissance artist did not however turn their back on the
church, this would have been very dangerous seeing the
church still had a firm hold on the culture of Europe
The Renaissance
• Works of art
– Writings
– Paintings
– Sculpture
– All turned to natural ideas
• Renaissance scientist turned to
Greek and Roman texts to solve
the problems of the day
– However Christianity still
needed to be incorporated into
the solution otherwise it might
lead to hearsay and
excommunication or even
death at the hands of the
church
The Renaissance
• Humanism
– In the Middle Ages the idea of salvation and the
afterlife is what kept most Europeans going through
the hard times
– Personal life on earth was to be suffering while the
afterlife was to be in glorious Heaven
The Renaissance
• With the re-discovery of
the Greek and Roman
texts many Europeans
discovered that they
could attain happiness in
the worldly lifetime
The Renaissance
• The literature and the philosophy of ancient
writers spoke about personal accomplishments
• European began to focus on the here and now
not on the life after
• Hedonistic
– Focused on worldly pleasures
– Europeans did not become hedonistic-focus was still
on the church
The Renaissance Part II
Why Italy
• Italy had powerful city states such as
– Florence, Venice, Milan
• Many of these city states had become rich off trade and
their commercial economics
– They generated a excess of wealth to support a cultural
revival
• There was a new rich class of citizens who were also
educated
– To show off their wealth and education they sponsored artist
and writers
Why Italy
• The Medici Family of
Florence
– Became the patrons of
Michelangelo and
Brunelleschi
– Many family members
became Pope
– Made their money in
trade and banking
Major Figures and Trends
• Key figures
– Writers
• Petrarch 1304-1374
• Giovanni Boccaccio 1313-1375
– Painters
•
•
•
•
•
Giotto 1267-1337
Filippo Brunelleschi 1377-1446
Raphael 1483-1520
Titan 1477-1576
Michelangelo 1472-1564
– Political philosophers
• Niccolo Machiavelli 1469-1527
– Scientist
• Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
• Raphael’s Transfiguration
Trends
• Writing
• Painting
– Addressed;
• Worldly concerns
• Political issues
• Human emotions
– Love
– Lust
– Sex
• Earthly subjects
– Many times writers would be in
direct conflict with the church
– Many of their works were
banned by the church
– Depicted the human figure as
realistic as possible
– Careful use of light and
shadow made figures appear
full and real
– Many artist in an attempt to
understand the human form
participated in autopsies
– Artist used linear perspective
• Nearby objects were drawn
big while objects farther away
were drawn smaller
• Gave the painting a 3D feel
Middle Ages Art
v.
Renaissance
• Middle Ages
– Entirely religious
– Existed only in cathedrals
– Flat, and stiff
• 1 or 2 D
– Was not worldly
• Renaissance
– Was religious and secular
– Commissioned by both
religious and secular
leaders
– Was shown in public
buildings and private
homes
– Realistic, softer and more
human
Spread of the Artist Movement
• The Catholic Church
understood the new
importance in art and
commissioned artist like
Michelangelo to paint the
Sistine Chapel and
architects to build
churches in the style of
Greek and Roman
architecture
Spread of the Artist Movement
• The movement spread
north and west
– Artist centers developed
in the Dutch areas of
Flanders
• Van Eyck
• Albrecht Durer
– The styles were very
realistic but remained
religiously centered
• Jan van Eyck’s The
Arnolfini Marriage
Gutenberg’s Moveable Type
• While China had developed
moveable type in about 800, it
wasn’t until the mid 1400’s when
Europeans developed the skill
• Gutenberg’s printing press allowed
books to be created at a faster pace
• More books also meant that more
people could afford to buy them
• Books could now be written in the
country’s native language and not
Latin-more people understood
what they were reading
Gutenberg’s Moveable Type
• Papermaking which had been one of the crafts
learned from the Muslims during the Crusades
became a growing industry
– By the way the Muslims learned papermaking from
the Chinese
– More books meant that society as whole was
becoming literate
– More education increased the desire for more books
Political Thought
• One of the biggest books to
come out of the Renaissance
period was The Prince
• The how to book for want a
be rulers
Political Thought
• The book stated that rulers needed to be separated
from the church
• Rulers should act on their own self interest
• The ruler was the state not the people
• Qualifications for rulers were
–
–
–
–
Ruthless
Selfish
Scheming
Manipulative
• Machiavellian
Political Thought
• Just remember Machiavelli gets a bad name
because people always associate him with the
bad side of rulers
• Machiavelli did state that once a ruler was
established that they needed to care for and
protect their citizens and that citizens would
learn to love the ruler and that this love needed
to be returned to the people
Political Thought
• Erasmus
– Wrote In the Praise of Folly
– Wrote about foolish political
moves
• Sir Thomas More
– Wrote Utopia
• The ideal society in which all
people shared the wealth
• Unlike Machiavelli Erasmus
and More were Christian
Humanist-believed that
leaders needed to ascribe to
moral guidelines in the
pursuit of their personal
goals
Shakespeare
• The most famous writer of
his time
• The writing primarily focused
on humanism
– Character strengths and flaws
– Comedy and tragedy
– Illustrated the ideals of the
time, politics, mythology and
classical civilizations
– Julius Caesar
– The Merchant of Venice
– Othello