Download The Renaissance: At some point during the early 1300s, an

The Renaissance:
 At some point during the early 1300s, an important cultural and intellectual
revival began in parts of southern Europe, especially the city-states of the
Italian peninsula.
 Over time, this revival became known as the Renaissance, or “rebirth”.
 One of the hallmarks of Renaissance culture (as distinct from medieval
culture) was classicism: a greater understanding of and admiration for the
literature and learning of the Greek and Roman eras.
 Renaissance thought also differed from that of the medieval era in its secular
nature.
 Whereas most of the medieval art, literature, and philosophy was oriented
towards religious concerns, Renaissance thought and culture placed a greater
emphasis on the natural world. The authors, thinkers, and artists of the
Renaissance, though, did not ignore religion: Even if they wanted to, doing so
would have been dangerous, thanks to the Catholic Church’s influence over
culture.
 Still, many of their writings, paintings, and artworks were worldly in nature.
 And when Renaissance scientists and thinkers attempted to solve problems,
they were just as likely to seek natural causes or turn to the learning of the
Greeks and Romans as they were to turn to Christianity to explain the world
around them.
 Renaissance thinkers probed more deeply into Latin sources, and thanks
largely to translations provided by Jews and Arabs (who were more fluent in
the Greek language), the learning of the Greeks.
 A final feature of Renaissance culture was humanism, a concept pioneered by
the Greeks and Romans, and one that went hand-in-hand with the classical
revival and the secular nature of Renaissance thought.
 Humanism is the conviction that to be human is, in and of itself, worthwhile
– that to be alive as a human being is something to celebrate and in which to
rejoice: This attitude ran counter to the prevailing Church-dominated
medieval view that to be human was to be tainted with sin, and, therefore,
that the worldly life was less important than the heavenly afterlife.
 The Renaissance began in the Italian city states due to the urban
sophistication of the Italian city-states, the strength of the Italian cities’
commercial economies, and wealthy patrons willing to sponsor artists and
writers (the most famous example is the Medici family of Florence); also
Italy’s position as a naval and economic crossroads in the Mediterranean
caused it to come into contact with new ideas and advanced knowledge from
the outside world more quickly than the rest of Europe.
 The following were important writers of the Italian Renaissance: Petrarch
and Giovanni Boccaccio.
 The following were important artists of the Italian Renaissance: Giotto,
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.
 Filippo Brunelleschi was an important architect of the Italian Renaissance.

In keeping with its humanistic and secular nature, Renaissance poetry and
literature addressed worldly concerns, political issues, human emotions
(especially love), and earthy subjects (including sex).
 In many cases, Renaissance authors found themselves at odds with Catholic
authorities, and many of their works were banned by the Church.
 The painters of the Renaissance achieved a level of realism in their work that
was astonishing, compared to the art of the medieval era.
 As in architecture, this was due partly to an increased familiarity with
mathematics; this enabled painters to work out the laws of perspective
necessary to depict a three-dimensional subject on a two-dimensional surface
convincingly.
 By the 1400s, the Italian Renaissance was exerting its influence on the rest of
Europe.
 Travelers, especially northern students attending Italian universities, carried
with them tales of and techniques drawn from the art and literature of the
south.
 The invention of the movable-type printing press in the 1430s dramatically
increased the speed and scope by which information could be produced and
transmitted throughout Europe.
 The printing press deserves much of the credit for spreading the ideals of the
Renaissance far beyond Italy.
 By the late 1400s, it was possible to speak of a “Northern Renaissance.”
 This Northern Renaissance had a profound impact on the rest of Europe,
especially with regard to the vast religious controversies of the 1500s that led
to the Protestant Reformation.
The Delhi Sultanate:
 In 1022, Muslim armies, led by Afghan warlords, seized and annexed the
Indian province of Punjab: This began the conquest of northern India by the
Muslims, a process that would continue for the next two hundred years.
 By 1206, the Muslims had captured the important city of Delhi, and most of
northern India was in their hands.
 Muslims generals established the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1520s), ruled at first
by Muhammad Ghuri (assassinated in 1206) and later by the sultan Iltutmish
(1211-1236).
 Technically, the Delhi Sultanate was part of the Abbasid Caliphate; but this
subordination lasted only until the caliphate’s destruction in 1258.
 The major effect of the Muslim invasions and the establishment of the Delhi
Sultanate was to introduce a new religion – Islam – into India.
 Islam did not displace earlier faiths such as Hinduism and Buddhism, but
joined them as one of the country’s most important religions (one interesting
development is that, in India, Muslim women tended to enjoy more property
rights than Hindu women, especially those of low caste; it was also possible
for Muslim women in India to divorce and remarry after their husbands
died).
 In general, the Hindu and Muslim populations did not tend to mix.
Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.
J. M. Synge. 1871–1909
76. A Translation from Petrarch
(He is Jealous of the Heavens and the Earth)
WHAT a grudge I am bearing the earth that has its arms about her, and is holding
that face away from me, where I was finding peace from great sadness.
What a grudge I am bearing the Heavens that are after taking her, and shutting her
in with greediness, the Heavens that do push their bolt against so many.
What a grudge I am bearing the blessed saints that have got her sweet company, that
I am always seeking; and what a grudge I am bearing against Death, that is standing
in her two eyes, and will not call me with a word.