World History
• Chapter 12
• Renaissance & Reformation
• 1300 - 1600

Section 1:
The Renaissance

Targets
• Explain why, between 1350 &
1550, Italian intellectuals believed they had entered a new age of human achievement
• Characterize city-states which were centers of political, economic & social life in Renaissance Italy.

I. The Italian Renaissance
• The word renaissance means rebirth (art and learning)
• Began in Northern Italy & spread to the rest of Europe

Characteristics of the Italian
Renaissance
• 1. Largely an urban society, a system in which cities are the center of political, economic & social life (pg. 375) had a
• 2. secular, worldly view (pg.
375)

Characteristics of the Italian
Renaissance
• 3. Age of recovery from disasters of the 14 th century
• 4. New view of human beings emerged
• 5. decline of church power

The Italian Renaissance
• “Men can do all things if they will”
• Well-rounded, universal person
• Leonardo da Vinci, was a painter, sculptor, architect, inventor & mathematician

II. The Italian States
• Organized in city-states
• Prospered from a flourishing trade, business, banking
• Trading ships
• Profited from the Crusades
• Milan, Venice & Florence

A. Milan
•
family established themselves as dukes of Milan
•
became the ruling duke in 1447
• mercenaries, soldiers who sold their services to the highest bidder (pg. 377)

B. Venice
• The Republic of Venice
• Had an elected leader called a

C. Florence
• Wealthy group of merchants established control of the
Florence government
•
&
, wealthy merchant family who controlled the government from behind the scenes

D. The Italian Wars
• 1494 the French king Charles
VIII occupied the kingdom of
Naples
• Italian states turned for help to the Spanish

D. The Italian Wars
• French & Spanish made Italy their battleground as they fought to dominate the country

The Italian Wars
• Spanish king Charles I allowed mercenaries to sack
Rome in 1527
• Spanish became a dominant force in Italy

III. Machiavelli & the New
Statecraft
• Niccolo
Machiavelli
•
• How to acquire
& keep political power

Machiavelli & the New Statecraft
• A prince’s attitude toward power must be based on an understanding of human nature
• Self-centered
• Political activity should not be restricted by moral principles

Machiavelli & the New Statecraft
• Must be will to let his conscience sleep
• Abandon morality as the basis for analyzing political activity

Niccolò Machiavelli 1513 actual or appearance of good qualities and the ability to do evil if necessary

IV. Renaissance Society
• Society divided into three estates or social classes
• Nobility, clergy & peasants
(townspeople)
• Nobility made up 2 to 3 percent of the population by 1500

A. The Nobility
• Ideals of the nobility expressed in
Baldassare Castiglione by
• Described the characteristics of a perfect Renaissance noble

Baldassare
Castiglione

Characteristics of a Renaissance noble
• 1. born, not made
• 2. had to develop two basic skills
• a. acquire military skills
• b. gain a classical education

Characteristics of a Renaissance noble
• 3. Needed to follow a certain standard of conduct

B. Peasants & Townspeople
• Peasants made 85 to 90% of the total European population
• Serfdom continued to decrease
• Townspeople made up the rest of the 3 rd estate
• Workers earned pitiful wages and lived miserable lives

C. Family & Marriage
• To maintain the family, parents carefully arranged marriages, often to strengthen business or family ties
• Dowry, a gift of money or property paid at the time of marriage, by the bride’s parents to her husband (pg.
381)

C. Family & Marriage
• The father gave his family name, managed all finances and made decisions that affected his children’s lives
• Father’s authority was absolute until he died

Section 2:
The Intellectual & Artistic
Renaissance

Daily Objectives
• Discuss humanism - the most important intellectual movement associated with the Renaissance.
• Identify the great artists & sculptors produced by the
Renaissance, such as Michelangelo,
Rafael & Leonardo da Vinci.

I. Italian Renaissance
Humanism
• A key intellectual movement of the Renaissance was humanism
• Humanism was based on the study of the classics, the literary works of ancient Greece
& Rome

I. Italian Renaissance
Humanism
• Studied grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy & history
• Today, these subjects are called the humanities

Italian Renaissance Humanism
• Petrarch, called the father of Italian Renaissance humanism

Vernacular Literature
• Italian: Dante
•
• Story of the soul’s journey to salvation

Vernacular Literature
• English: Chaucer
•
• Collection of stories told by a group of 29 pilgrims journeying to the tomb of Saint Thomas a
Becket at Canterbury

Vernacular Literature
• Important in making his dialect the chief ancestor of the modern English language

Vernacular Literature
• French: Christine de Pizan
•
• Written in defense of women

Education in the Renaissance
• The humanist movement had a profound effect on education
• They wrote books on education
& opened schools based on their ideas

Education in the Renaissance
• Liberal Studies: history, moral philosophy, eloquence (or rhetoric), letters (grammar & logic), poetry, mathematics, astronomy & music

Education in the Renaissance
• Humanist educators also stressed physical education
• Javelin throwing, archery, dancing, running, wrestling, hunting & swimming
• Education was practical preparation for life

Education in the Renaissance
• Females were largely absent from these schools

The Artistic Renaissance in
Italy
• Renaissance artists sought to imitate nature in their works
• Artists were developing a new world perspective
• Human beings became the focus of attention

New Techniques in Painting
• Fresco’s, painting done on fresh, wet plaster with water-based paints
• Masaccio

New Techniques in Painting
• His work had depth & came alive, used the laws of perspective, created the illusion of three dimensions, more realistic

New Techniques in Painting
• Two major developments:
• 1. Laws of perspective & the organization of outdoor space & light through geometry
• 2. Investigation of movement & human anatomy

Sculpture & Architecture
• Donatello, sculpture, copied the statues of the Greeks &
Romans
• Saint George

Sculpture & Architecture
• Filippo Brunelleschi, architect
• New architecture in Florence, the church of San Lorenzo

Masters of the High Renaissance
• The High Renaissance in Italy is associated with 3 artistic giants,
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, &
Michelangelo
• Leonardo mastered the art of realistic painting & even dissected human bodies

Leonardo da Vinci

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/l eonardo/lasts upp.jpg.html

Masters of the High Renaissance
• Raphael, painted numerous madonnas (paintings of the
Virgin Mary)
• Frescoe,

Masters of the High Renaissance
• Michelangelo, painter, sculptor
& architect
• Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in
Rome

This detail from the Sistine Chapel is titled The Creation of Adam.

The Northern Artistic Renaissance
• Northern Europe
• Northern artists painted illustrations for books & wooden panels for altarpieces
• Flanders became the most important northern school of art in the 15 th century

The Northern Artistic
Renaissance
• Flemish painter Jan van
Eyck
• Used oil paint, a wide variety of colors & created fine details
•

The Northern Artistic
Renaissance
• German artist, Albrecht
Durer
•

has dignity and worth seek fulfillment
Humanists believed that liberal studies enabled individuals to reach their full potential.
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