Download QUIZ pp. 315-319

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The Italian Renaissance
1. individualism
2. secularism
Italy in the 14th and 15 centuries is the cultural
leader of Europe
Renaissance Italy was a product of
1. wealthy society
2. urban society
3. lay society
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Intellectual/literary movement
Based on the study of classical literary works
of ancient Greece and Rome
Humanists studies the LIBERAL ARTS
grammar
rhetoric
poetry
moral philosophy/ethics
history
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Petrarch = the father of humanism
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Consider the middle ages a dark age
Interest in classical antiquity
Search for forgotten or lost latin manuscripts and
works of antiquity
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“civic humanism”
Cicero as a model
Growing interest in classical Greek civilization
LORENZO VALLA
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Interest in the works of
Plato
Christianity + Platonism =
NEOPLATONISM
Hermeticism
PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA –
1. one of the great
humanists
2. author of – Oration
on the Dignity of Man
3. unlimited human
potential
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Humanist idea – education can change people
“liberal studies” = the liberal arts
Humanist schools geared to elites
Practical preparation for life -> produce
complete citizens -> participate in civic life
Humanist schools = classics + Christianity =
model for elite schooling up to the 20th century
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Humanist began to see history as divided into
1. ancient world = classical world = antiquity
2. the Middle Ages = the dark ages
3. their time = a time of rebirth
Secularizing the writing of history -> relying on
documents and evidence, removing religious
explanations and miracles
Causation in history -> not God, human forces
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Printing was invented in the time of the Renaissance
Transformed the intellectual life and thought
JOHANNES GUTENBERG = the movable type
printing press 1445-1450
Gutenberg bibles
Printing spread rapidly across Europe
1. by 1500 – 1000 printers
2. 40,000 titles
3. half were religious, half secular
4. big business
5. encouraged spread of knowledge
6. created a lay reading public