The Renaissance
Lesson 1
The Middle Ages
• Lasted about 1,000 years (about 500 c.e. to
about 1500 c.e.
• Middle Ages also refers to what happened in
Western Europe during this time period
The Middle Ages
• 4 key points about the Middle Ages
– Feudalism
– Manorialism
– The role of the church
– Lack of learning
Feudalism
• System of government during most of the
1,000 year period of the Middle Ages
• Nobles who were loyal to kings fought as
knights
• In exchange for their loyalty, they were given
pieces of land called fiefs to rule
Manorialism
• Most fiefs included several manors, or large farms
• Serfs, or poor peasants were bound to the manor
to work hard
• Most manors were self-sufficient
• This economic system of the Middle Ages
Role of the Church
• For nobles and peasants the church played an
important role
• Nearly every European was a member of the
Roman Catholic Church
• The Church was very powerful
– Great influence socially, finically, and even
militarily
Lack of Learning
• Very few people could read or write
• Life was hard
• Very few towns, travle between them were very
dangerous
• Epidemic (Black Death) killed countless numbers
of people
The Middle Ages
• Towards the end things began to change
• Trade began to increase, marketplaces and the
cities built around them began to grow
• More people living in towns put an end to
manorialism
– Feudalism began to decline
The Middle Ages
• Changes took place gradually
• 2 things marked the end of the Middle Ages
– Feudalism
– Manorialism
• Ended about 1500
Check for Understanding
Tell if each statement below is TRUE
– Feudalism was a characteristics of the Middle
Ages
– During the Middle Ages, most people were
well educated
– The Roman Catholic Church was very powerful
during the Middle Ages
– The economic system of the Middle Ages was
called manorialism
The End of the Middle Ages
• No exact date for the end of the Middle Ages
• 1492  Christopher Columbus sailed to the
“New World” of North America
• This marked the beginning of many changed in
European life
The End of the Middle Ages
• The year 1453
• Muslim Ottoman Empire conquered the
Christian Byzantine city of Constantinople
• Constantinople
– Great captial of the Byzantine Empire
The End of the Middle Ages
• 1455
• Johannes Gutenberg developed a new system
for printing
• Meant books could be printed quickly and
easily
The End of the Middle Ages
• None of the date actually mark the end of the
Middle Ages
• 1492, change in geography
• 1453, change in government
• 1455, change in learning
Check for Understanding
• In what year did Columbus sail to North America?
A. 1492
B. 1453
C. 1455
D. 1500
Check for Understanding
In what years was Constantinople
conquered by the Ottoman Empire?
A. 1492
B. 1453
C. 1455
D. 1500
Check for Understanding
In what year did Gutenberg finish
developing a new system of printing?
a.
b.
c.
d.
1492
1453
1455
1500
The Renaissance
• Lasted for about 300 years
– Began toward the end of the Middle Ages, around
1300 to about 1600
• Means to be “reborn”
• Was a great cultural movement, a great period
of European history, and a great period of
revival in learning
Check for Understanding
True or False
1. The word renaissance means “Middle Ages.”
2. The Renaissance took place between about
1300 and 1600.
3. The Renaissance was a great period of
European history and a period of revival in
learning.
Humanism
• Towards the end of the Middle Ages people
began to question the authority of the church
• Scholars and artists began to look at life in a
new way
– Instead of concentrating on the Church and
religion, they began to concentrate on people and
the world
Humanism
• Most learned people focused on theology
• During the Renaissance more people focused
on the study of humanity
• Humanism was the most important
development of the Renaissance
Check for Understanding
What is theology?
A.
B.
C.
D.
A religion
Another term for humanism
The study of God
A style of painting
Check for Understanding
What is humanism?
A.
B.
C.
D.
A religion
An artistic or scholary focus on humanity
The study of God
A style of painting
Check for Understanding
What was the most important development of
the Renaissance?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Humanism
Theology
Art
Feudalism
PEOPLE TO KNOW
The Medicis
• The most famous ruling family of the Italian
Renaissance
• Prominent in late 1300s
• Ruled city of Florence for almost 400
continuous years
The Medicis
• Extremely wealthy and powerful
• Supported great Renaissance thinkers and
artist
– Michelangelo
Giovanni de’ Medici
• 1st great Medici (1360-1429)
• Made money from banking and trade
Cosimo de’ Medici
• Giovanni’s son (1389-1464)
• Controlled the government of Florence
• Even today he is called “the father of his country”
• Gave great amounts of money to support the arts
and was a strong ruler in Italy
Lorenzo the Magnificant
• Most famous Medici (1449-1492)
• Poet, politician
• Under Lorenzo, Florence became the most
powerful city-state in all of Italy
The Medicis
• 2 Medicis women became queens of France
• 2 other men became popes
• Most remembered for their support of the artists,
writers, and others who promoted humanism
• Most important ruling family of the Italian
Renaissance
Check for Understanding
Match the term with the description below
a. Giovanni de’ Medici
b. Cosimo de’ Medici
c. Lorenzo the Magnificent
1. The most famous Medici
2. The first powerful and wealthy Medici
3. Also called “the father of his country”
Petrarch (1304-1374)
• great humanists writer of Italian Renaissance
• Rediscovered the works of the great Romans,
Cicero and Livy
– Their documents had been hidden away in
monastery libraries
• Tried to copy the style of the ancient writings
he discovered
Petrarch (1304-1374)
• Most famous writings are love poems written
as sonnets
– Book of Songs
• Speak of human love and love for God
• Inspired writers such as Shakespeare
Sonnet 12 [Alas, so all things now do hold their
peace]
Alas, so all things now do hold their peace,
Heaven and earth disturbèd in no thing;
The beasts, the air, the birds their song do cease;
The nightes car the stars about doth bring.
Calm is the sea, the waves work less and less.
So am not I, whom love, alas, doth wring,
Bringing before my face the great increase
Of my desires, whereat I weep and sing
In joy and woe, as in a doubtful ease.
For my sweet thoughts sometime do pleasure bring,
But by and by the cause of my disease
Gives me a pang that inwardly doth sting,
When that I think what grief it is again
To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.
Giovanni Boccaccio
• Humanists writer
• Wrote in prose
– Ordinary language people use when speaking and
writing, as opposed to poetry
• Most famous work The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
• Decameron means “10”
• The Decameron is a collection of 100 stories
told by characters over a period of 10 days
• Give insight into life during this time
– Express many ideas about love, conflict, and
human personalities
In the summer of 1348, with the plague ravaging Florence, ten young men and women
take refuge in the countryside, where they entertain themselves with tales of love,
death, and corruption, featuring a host of characters, from lascivious clergymen and mad
kings to devious lovers and false miracle-makers. Named after the Greek for “ten days,”
Boccaccio’s book of stories draws on ancient mythology, contemporary history, and
everyday life, and has influenced the work of myriad writers who came after him.
Check for Understanding
Match the term and description below
a. “the first humanists”
b. Boccaccio
c. Petrarch
1. Author of the Book of Songs
2. Author of The Decameron
3. A term used to describe Petrarch & Boccaccio
Gitto
• About (1267-1337)
• First humanists painter in Florence
• First to paint nature as it really appeared
– Painted real, flesh-and-blood human beings
– Figures showed genuine emotion
Donatello
• 1386-1466
• Sculptor
– Portrayed the human body realistically
Raphael
• 14-83 – 1520
• 1508, pope summoned him to paint for him
• The School of Athens
– Marks him as a humanists artists for realistically
portraying the figures in the painting
Michelangelo (1475 to 1564)
• Greatest artists of the Renaissance
• Accomplished painter, architect, poet
• Works of art are very large in size
• Best known for the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel and the David
Leonardo da Vinci
• Name means “genius”
• The Last Supper & Mona Lisa
• Work influenced art, study of anatomy,
warfare, botany, geology, and engineering
• Sketched his ideas in his famous notebooks