The beginning of the Modern Period
A period of transition
The Italian Renaissance
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The Italian Renaissance (occurred first)
 Focused on the city-states of northern Italy
and Rome
The Italian Renaissance tended to be
more worldly with a great emphasis on
secular pursuits, the humanities, and the
arts
 Wealth and power
 Knowledge was the key
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The Northern Renaissance
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The Northern Renaissance occurred
later
 Involved the regions of Northern Europe
 England
 Spain
 France
 Germanic regions (Holy Roman Empire)
 The Netherlands
The Renaissance began a period of renewed interest
and engagement with “classical” (Ancient Greece and
Rome) learning, culture, literature, art, style, etc.
Major Renaissance Terms
(aka Themes of the Renaissance)
Humanism - Human potential and
progress, expansion of human knowledge.
Focus on human abilities, emotions,
achievements, etc.
 Secularism – Non-religious. Worldly.
Greater emphasis on non-religious values
and concerns.
 Naturalism-focus on the natural causes
and explanation of things in this world.
 Imitation – The Renaissance idolized the
things of the ancient world, specifically
anything Greek or Roman.
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The Birthplace of the
Renaissance
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The city-states of Northern Italy
Florence was the center of the Renaissance
Italy was politically fragmented and the citystates often fought for power and control
City-states came to be ruled by wealthy and
powerful business people (not necessarily
nobility)
 Signori- (despots) and oligarchies (group of
individuals) maintained order
Italy – home of the city-states that
started it all.
Major center of trade, banking, cloth production, and the
arts and home of the Medici Family
The Medici family of Florence
The most powerful family of the Italian
Renaissance
 Came to power through business
dealings and banking

 Bank of the Vatican and the papacy
 Spent tremendous amounts of money
supporting the arts and cultural development
(patrons)
 Medici power often involved corruption and
intrigue
The Medici Family
Major center of religion and culture and home of the Roman
Catholic Pope.
Medici Pope
Pope Leo X (1513-1521)
POPE NICHOLAS V (1447-1455)
POPE SIXTUS IV (1471-1484)
Often called the “Father” of
Renaissance humanism

The Italian poet,
Petrarch Canzoniere
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Petrarch meets
Laura
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
The Prince
Machiavelli was from Florence
 Well educated in the classics
 Career was in public service and he
eventually served as the ambassador to
France
 He retired to the country and wrote The
Prince

The Prince
Written in Italian (not Latin)
Observations and commentary on political rule and
power (Medicis)
 Addressed the issue of effective rule
 How to gain and maintain order and control
 Stressed the practical (pragmatic) over the ethical or
moral
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 More secular and humanistic
 DO whatever it takes whether it is right or wrong
Challenged the idea of a social order based on God’s
will
 Political science- Politics was to be governed by its
own laws
 “…it is safer to be feared than to be loved…”
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The Courtier by Castiglione
1528
Written in Italian
 Treatise on the training of gentleman
 Stressed the value of eyoung men in the
courtly ideal of a Renaissance ducation
and manners
 Influenced social mores and norms
during the period
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Architecture – Filippo Brunelleschi
Renaissance on left, Gothic on right
Left - Renaissance (St. Paul’s in England)
Right – Gothic (Ulm Cathedral in Germany)
Gothic
Renaissance Churches
A reflection of Renaissance ideals and values
Emphasis on the classical style and classical
themes
Humanistic - with an emphasis on the individual
Religious art remained very important
Characteristics of Renaissance
Art
Realism
Three-dimensional
Balanced and ordered
Portraits
Landscapes and attention to depictions of
nature
Classical style
Depiction of classical themes and stories
Da Vinci on the left, Middle Ages on the right
Da Vinci on the left, Middle Ages on the right
Late Medieval on right
Earlier (?) on left
Da Vinci - The Last Supper
Raphael’s School of Athens
ID
Individualism –Portraits
-portraits celebrated the unique qualities and personality of
the individual person (two examples by Leonardo da Vinci)
Secularism-non-religious
Renaissance art often depicted stories and scenes from classical literature
Religion remained a major focal point of
Renaissance art -The Sistine Chapel-Michelangelo
The immature little people version
Michelangelo’s Pieta (left)
and David (right)
Medicine, Anatomy, and the operations of the
human body.
Enter Vesalius
and
Da Vinci
Vesalius
Da Vinci
Vitruvian Man
Printing Press
1440 or so
 Moveable type printing
 Developed in Germany
 Associated with Gutenburg
 1456 the first Gutenburg Bible was
printed
 Printing press allowed for the spread of
knowledge and ideas throughout Europe
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Geocentrism (top) vs. Heliocentrism (bottom)
Google Doodle - Copernicus is 540
Tycho Brahe’s model of the
universe
Copernicus (1473-1543)
and Galileo (1564-1642)
http://www.gunn.co.nz/astrotour/?data=tours/retrograde.xml
Focus of the Northern
Renaissance
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The focus of the Renaissance in Northern
Europe was more religious
Many sought religious reform and a
return of the Church to its true mission and
spirituality
Many were highly critical of the
worldliness and corruption in the
Church and papacy
Northern Renaissance figures believed that
education and literacy were key to social
and religious reform
Advocated the translation of the
scriptures into the vernacular
languages
Desiderius Erasmus –scholar and
theologian

The Praise of Folly
 Criticism of the abuses
and worldliness of the
Church and papacy
Sir Thomas More
Lord Chancellor of England during the
reign of Henry VIII- highest political office in
England
 Lawyer and scholar
 Wrote Utopia – explored the idea of a
“perfect” society
 Eventually executed by Henry VIII for
refusing to agree to the king and
Parliament’s Act of Supremacy
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Cervantes
Don Quixote
William Shakespeare.
Romeo , Oh
Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo?
The Pope divides the world
between Spain and Portugal
Major Historical Events of the
Renaissance Period
 Age
of Exploration (Period of
European Expansion)
 Protestant Reformation and the
Religious Wars
 Scientific Revolution- Rise of
Modern Science
 The Rise of the Modern Nationstate
A new worldview was emerging
The medieval Christian worldview was giving way to a
more MODERN (secular and humanistic) view of the
world and humanity