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Recovery and Rebirth:
The Age of the Renaissance
Meaning and Characteristics of the Italian Renaissance
It’s a rebirth!!
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Jacob Burckhardt
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Renaissance = Rebirth
Urban Society – an ELITE
movement!
Age of Recovery – post-plague,
advances in textiles, metallurgy,
Hanseatic League
Rebirth of Greco-Roman culture
– reconcile Christian and Pagan
worlds
Emphasis on individual ability –
L’uomo universale and virtu
Secularism – live for HERE and
NOW, not the afterlife
Renaissance Family
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Patriarchal family
Marriage for POSITION, not
LOVE
Men were typically older,
established
Women married in teens –
provide dowry
Childbirth dangerous
Courtesans not uncommon
e.g. Veronica Franco of Venice
Gave rise to courtly love since
marriage didn’t satisfy these
yearnings
Social Changes in the
Renaissance
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The Nobility
of the Aristocracy – money talks!
 Aristocracy: 2 – 3 percent of the population
 Reconstruction
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Peasants
85 – 90 percent of population
 Decline of manorial system and serfdom
 Peasants:
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Urban Society
 Petty
burghers, shopkeepers, artisans,
guildmasters, and guildsmen
 The Poor and Unemployed
 Slaves
French Renaissance Castle of Chenonceaux
Italian States in the Renaissance
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Five Major Powers
 Milan – Visconti, Sforza
 Venice – Great Council
Don’t mess.
 Florence - The Medici
 The Papal States
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The Role of Women
 Isabella
d’Este – “First Lady” of
the Renaissance
 Catherine de Medici - France
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Isabella d’Este: First Lady
of the Renaissance
France and Spain fight over
the peninsula
Modern diplomatic system –
Peace of Lodi solves
interstate rivalry for 40 years
Florence, Italy
Florence, Italy: 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
©2003 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Renaissance Italy: The Rival States
Machiavelli and the New Statecraft
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Italy failed to develop an effective central
political system
Fragmented states had to hire mercenaries
commanded by condottieri who had no
loyalty to anything but money
Italy became increasingly vulnerable to
larger, consolidated states
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
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The Prince
Acquisition, maintenance and expansion of
political power – do what you need to, morality
aside
“like a lion” and “like a fox” – Henry VII of England,
Louis XI of France?
Rome sacked by Spanish, German, Italian
mercenaries in 1527 ending Renaissance
glory
The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
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Italian Renaissance Humanism
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Humanism based on Greco-Roman literature
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Leonardo Bruni
Petrarch (1304 – 1374) – Middle Ages were a
“dark time” – reject scholasticism in favor of
virtuous living
Civic Humanism
 Florence was the birthplace
 Leonardo Bruni (1370 – 1444) “New
Cicero” – be a statesman AND an
intellectual!
 Venue for utilizing humanist education is
POLITICS!
 Virtu was the successful PUBLIC
demonstration of human powers
 Be well-rounded – L’uomo universale like
Leonardo
The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
So this
pope
walks into
a bar…
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Renaissance Literature
 Interest
in litterae humaniores or humane
letters rather than technical writing of law,
theology, philosophy
 Vernacular Literature takes off due to
efforts of “Tuscan Triumverate”
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Poggio Bracciolini
Dante – Divine Comedy, Beatrice
Petrarch – sonnets, letters to antiquity, Cicero,
sonnets to Laura
Boccaccio – Decameron, letters to Fiammetta
 Growth of writing
 Leonardo Bruni – writes history of Florence,
historical periodization, uses term “humanism”
 Secularization of history
 Lorenzo Valla – Donation of Constantine
 Poggio Bracciolini’s “joke book”
The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
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Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
(1463 – 1494)
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Oration on the Dignity of Man – men can
choose their own path – they are not like
beasts!
All things have a divine component
Humanism and Philosophy
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Plato displaces Aristotle – universe is
hierarchical placing man between God and
nature (Neoplatonism)
Marsilio Ficino (1433 – 1499)
 Translates Plato’s dialogues
 Synthesis of Christianity and antiquity
Renaissance Hermeticism (magic) – humans
could possess divinity through KNOWLEDGE
and become magi or sages
Renaissance Education
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Education was the key to changing human
nature
Medieval universities trained theologians,
lawyers, doctors
Renaissance education gave rise to
secondary education – prep for LIVING
Vittorino da Feltre “Liberal Studies” for the
“free man” including history, philosophy,
poetry, math, grammar, astronomy, music
Create people who would be fit to lead and
live in society
Mostly for boys though some elite girls went
Renaissance Education
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Manners also emphasized
 Castiglione’s
NO MORE PUBLIC
FLATULENCE!
Book of the
Courtier (1528)
 Be more refined! No more
belching, public flatulence,
spitting
 Be well-dressed, wellspoken, athletic, artistic,
musical
 Conduct self with grace at
court
Northern Renaissance
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Dude. Cool.
Less sudden than in Italy, but did
occur in North
 Northern
artists in many cases
surpassed Italians
 Northern writers also revived
classical Latin, though emphasis
was more religious
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The Impact of Printing
 Johannes
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Uh Oh…
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Gutenberg
Movable type (1445 – 1450)
Gutenberg’s Bible (1455 or 1456)
Spread of Printing – Venice,
Mainz
 More laypeople reading, learning,
questioning – key for Reformation
 The
Northern Renaissance
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Dr. Faustus makes a deal
with Satan…
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Erasmus of Rotterdam Praise of
Folly
Thomas More’s Utopia
No new universities in Italy
during Renaissance, but 14 new
ones established in German
states alone – including one at
Wittenberg…
Dr. Faustus – subject of
Marlowe’s and Goethe’s
writings…worth selling soul to
devil for knowledge!
The Artistic Renaissance
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Early Renaissance
 Masaccio (1401 – 1428)
 Movement and Anatomical
Structure
Donato di Donatello (1386 – 1466)
 David
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – 1446)
 Church of San Lorenzo
 Duomo
 Perspective
Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
 Last Supper
 Mona Lisa – portraiture?
Raphael (1483 – 1520)
 School of Athens
Michelangelo (1475 – 1564)
 The Sistine Chapel
The Northern Artistic Renaissance
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Jan van Eyck (c. 1380 – 1441)
 Giovanni
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Arnolfini and His Bride
Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)
 Adoration
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of the Magi
Music in the Renaissance
 Guillaume
Dufay
The European State in the Renaissance
I’m
Crafty.
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The Renaissance State in Western
Europe
 France
 Charles VII – royal army, ability to tax sans
parliamentary consent (taille, gabelle) and
independence of French Church vie Pragmatic
Sanction of Bourges
Noble
 Louis XI the Spider King (1461 – 1483) – breaks up
smacknoble factions, including Charles the Bold of
down!
Burgundy, supports silk industry
 England
 War of the Roses - Henry VII Tudor (1485 – 1509)
 Marries Elizabeth of York
 Taxed wealthy nobles (barons) to raise army
 Court of Star Chamber – befriends lesser nobility
 No wars
 No livery and maintenance
 Commercial treaties
The European State in the Renaissance
I love
my job.
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Spain
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Unification of Castile and Aragón
1469
Promoted exploration
New roads and bridges – protective
tariffs
Establish Cortes
Establishment of professional royal
army
Religious uniformity – Cardinal
Francisco Jimenez/Ximines de
Cisneros
The Inquisition - Torquemada
Conquest of Granada
Expulsion of the Jews, Muslims
The Lion Court (harem) in the Alhambra
Granada, Spain (Christians claim from Muslims, 1492)
Europe in the Renaissance
Central, Eastern, and Ottoman Empires
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Central Europe:
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Habsburg Dynasty – in place from 1438 tp 1806
 Territory gained through MARRIAGE more
than WAR
 Charles V – Controls HUGE part of Europe
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Charles V.
Apparently dogs
have been
sniffing crotch
since the 16th
century…
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Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia from Grandpa
Maximilian
Burgundian lands from Grandma Mary, married to
Max
Aragon and Naples from Grandpa Ferdinand
Castile and the Spain’s conquests from grandma
Isabella
Diverse lands were difficult to consolidate – local
German princes maintained control, opening door
for religious dissent and Reformation; only Spain
was a uniform Catholic state
Central, Eastern, and Ottoman Empires
I advanced
all the way
to Vienna!
Holla!
The Struggle for Strong Monarchy in Eastern
Europe
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I unified
Russia!
Poland and Hungary tried to establish centralized
state but ultimately failed to consolidate power
Russia, under Ivan III, gives the boot to the
Mongols and establishes the capital at Moscow
(Muscovite state)
The Ottoman Turks and the end of the
Byzantine Empire
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Byzantine Empire had been buffer between
advancing Turks and Europe
Turks spread into Byzantine territory
Constantinople falls to the Turks (1453)
Under Sulieman the Magnificent, Turks advance
all the way to Vienna, but Charles V rallies
Christian troops vs. “infidels” to push them back
east to Hungary
Renaissance Church: Heresy and Reform
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Disco
inferno!
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William Langland’s Piers
Plowman condemns Church
corruption
John Wyclif and the Lollards
agree – Church is out of control!
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Translated Bible into English
 Declared a heretic at Council of Constance
 Body exhumed and burned
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Burn
baby
burn!
John Hus (1374 – 1415) and the
Hussites
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Urged the elimination of worldliness and
corruption of the clergy
Burned at the stake (1415) after
condemnation at Council of Constance
Renaissance Church: Conciliar Movement
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Instigated by Western Schism, conflict
between spiritual and temporal authority
New belief that the Church’s power was
derived from the community – community
should have a say
Popes didn’t want council – much like Kings
didn’t want parliament to meet and limit power
Failure to end Schism and Avignon papacy
made council necessary – Pisa 1409
After Pisa makes matters worse, Constance
(1414-8) solves schism
Final council – Basel (1449) Martin V reasserts
papal authority, thus ending conciliar
movement
Renaissance Church: Papal Empowerment
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With the conciliar movement over after Basel,
Popes may do what they pleased!
Political trends of the Renaissance influenced
their behavior
 Bribery
– holding more than 1 office
 Absenteeism – being away from post
 Simony – buying/selling church offices
 Fornication/abandonment of celibacy – Pope Greg
VII had made celibacy the law in 1073
 Nepotism – passing church office to one’s children
(?!)
 Selling indulgences – pay out of purgatory, build
the Pope a nice crib!
 Pluralism
Renaissance Church: Renaissance Papacy
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I’m the
warrior
pope.
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Julius II (1503 – 1513)
 “Warrior
Pope” went on military
campaign to maintain control of
papal states!
 Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel
ceiling
Patrons of Culture
 Julius
II (see above)
 Leo X (1513 – 1521) son of Lorenzo
De Medici, made a cardinal at age
13 and pope at 38; great patron of
Raphael
Renaissance Church: Resistance
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Lay Piety and Mysticism
 Extravagance
of papacy, conflict between Church
and state, and failure to stop Black Death created
a unique situation
 People were obsessed with their salvation as war,
plague, and famine killed millions
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Salvation through “good deeds”
Growing importance of purgatory, established in 1254
“12-step method” for salvation? Too mechanical!
 Growth of mysticism
 People longed for spirituality
 Meister Eckhart – oneness w/God
 Johannes Tauler – oneness w/God by expressing love of
God in everyday activities
 Gerard Groote – Imitate Christ! Live a life of piety!
 William of Occam’s concept of nominalism –
spiritual truth through FAITH, not REASON
Discussion Questions
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What social changes did the Renaissance bring
about?
How did Machiavelli deal with the issue of political
power?
How did the printing press change European society?
What technical achievements did Renaissance artists
make? Why were they significant?
What was the relation between art and politics in
Renaissance Italy?
How did the popes handle the growing problems that
were emerging in the Church in the Fifteenth and
early Sixteenth Century?
Web Links
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Renaissance Secrets
Explore Leonardo’s Studio
Leonardo da Vinci on the BBC
Vatican Exhibit – Rome Reborn
Renaissance – Focus on Florence
The Uffizi Gallery – Florence
Vatican Museums – The Sistine Chapel
Gutenberg.de
The War of the Roses
The Ottoman Website