Review of the history leading to
The Enlightenment
SENIOR SEMINAR
MRS. CIVITELLA
AND
MRS. VERGULDI-SCOTT
Timeline
 475-500 A.D. Fall of Rome
 500-1300 A.D. Early Middle Ages
 1050-1450 A.D. High Middle Ages
 1300-1650 A.D. The Renaissance
 1517-1600 A.D. Protestant Reformation
 1543-1687 A. D. Scientific Revolution
 1660s- 1800 A.D. Enlightenment
The Renaissance 1300-1650 A.D.
What was it?
 The word means “rebirth”
 A time when western Europeans experienced a
profound cultural awakening.
 It was a bridge between the Middle Ages and the
beginning of modern times.
 Caused educated Europeans to develop new attitudes
about themselves and the world around them.
History of the Renaissance
 In the 11th century, scholars began bringing
manuscripts of Roman law to Italy from
Constantinople
Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Physical reminders of the Roman Empire (architecture,
coins, statues)
Italian cities prospered during the High Middle Ages as
trading cities (began with the Crusades)
A wealthy merchant class stressed the cultural rebirth
of Ancient Rome (education, the arts, individual
achievements)
Italian scholars stressed the study of the humanities
(grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, the arts)
Renaissance scholars who studied the humanities were
called humanists
Differences between
Renaissance and Middle Ages
Middle Ages
 God centered
 What is important is
the next life
 Feudal system
 Knowledge is already
known and recorded by
the Church
 Catholic church is
always right
Renaissance
 Human centered
 The individual is
important, this life should
be lived to the fullest
 Social status based on
talent and merit
 Much knowledge yet to be
discovered, man needed to
use reason to gain
knowledge
 Church may not always be
right
Three geniuses of Renaissance Art
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452-1519)
2. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (14751564)
3. Raphael Sanzio da Urbino (1483-1520)
1.
1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
a)
b)
Called the “Renaissance Man”
Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist,
mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist,
cartographer, botanist and writer
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Mona Lisa
Women dressed in
Florentine fashion
da Vinci utilized the
sfumato technique where
the definition of form in a
painting is without an
abrupt outline. He blended
one tone into another
The Mona Lisa’s expression
is the cause of much
controversy. She is both
alluring and aloof.
It is said that da Vinci
captured the mysteriousness
of women in this painting
1503-1505
f. Oil on wood
Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper
1495-1498
Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy
Michelangelo
 Italian painter, sculptor, poet, architect , and
engineer
Pieta by Michelangelo 1499
Michelangelo Buonarroti
David, 1501-1504
Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
Michelangelo, The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome ,Italy, 150
Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo
Michelangelo’s Moses, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Italy 1513-1515
Last Judgment
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Fresco on the altar wall
of the Sistine Chapel,
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1534-1541
Raphael Sanzio- Italian painter who studied the works of da Vinci and Michelangelo
He used bright colors for his traditional religious images
The School of Athens by Raphael 1509
Congregation of great philosophers and scientists of the ancient world
In Saint Peter’s Basilica
Madonna dell seggiola by Raphael 1513-1514
Other Italian Humanists
A. Francesco Petrarch
1)
2)
Established a library of ancient Greek and
Roman manuscripts
“The librarian of the Renaissance”
B. Baldassare Castiglione
1)
2)
3)
Book of the Courtier
a courtier is a refined, well-educated
aristocrat
Provided a handbook for behavior for this
class of people
C. Niccolo Machiavelli
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Wrote The Prince
Considered the handbook for politicians
Studied Roman history and diplomacy
Was a diplomat for the Medici
Provided a theory of how to attain and keep power
“the end always justifies the means”
A “prince” must be shrewed and immoral to keep
power
The term “Machiavellian” now means
characterized by subtle or unscrupulous deception
or dishonesty
Three Renaissance Authors
A. Francois Rabelais- French doctor who wrote
Gargantua and Pantagruel story of a father and
son and the study of war, travel, philosophy and
politics
B. Miguel de Cervantes- Spanish writer
1)
2)
Wrote Don Quixote which mocked the medieval ideas of
warfare
Called for reform of medieval ideas
C. William Shakespeare
English playwright wrote 37 plays that made fun of or
pointed out the corruption in society
1)
2)
3)
He had to study history, sociology, and politics in order to
write his plays
Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Richard III, and Romeo
and Juliet
Patronized by Queen Elizabeth I
The Printing Revolution
A. 1456, Johann Gutenberg of Germany printed the
first complete addition of the Bible using movable
metal type on a new machine called the printing
press
B. Printed books were cheaper and easier to produce
than hand-copied books
C. Increased literacy throughout Europe
D. Significantly increased education throughout the
continent
Natural Law and the Scientific Revolution
 During the Scientific Revolution, scientists began to
look at how living things interacted with nature to
find solutions to questions about the world
 Isaac Newton used natural law to discover the law
of gravity
 natural law- laws found in nature
 Scientists used the scientific method to answer
questions about the physical world
The Scientific Method
New approach to science
 Like art and religion, the
Renaissance inspired
scientists not to rely on
the past or the teachings
in the Bible
 The new scientific
method depended on
observation and
experimentation
Introduction to the Age of Reason
reason- to use one’s intellect to come to a logical
conclusion
natural law- laws found in nature
philosophers- intellectual theorists, thinkers
In the late 1600s and early 1700s,
philosophers reexamined society to try to
find the natural laws that governed human
nature
human nature- how people behave in nature
Age of Reason or Enlightenment
 Philosophers believed that they could uncover these
laws of human nature
 This era is referred to as both the Age of
Reason and The Enlightenment
 enlighten- to give information to
 Political philosophers believed that they
could find the laws of nature that governed
human nature and determine the best types
of government to create a peaceful society
Hobbes and Locke
 Two English philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and
John Locke, had a significant impact on the new
area of political philosophy
 Both men saw the violence of the English Civil War
 They had opposing views about human nature
Mercantilism
Mercantilism- economic theory stating that there is a
fixed amount of wealth in the world and that in order
to receive a larger share, one country has to take
some wealth away from another country
Mercantilism led to a colonization race by
European countries around the world
2. Europeans sought out colonies that could provide
them with either
1.
a)
b)
Gold and silver
Raw materials (i.e. British colonies in N. America)
Mercantilism
Exports >
Imports
The British victory in the Spanish Armada of 1588 marked the
beginning of the end of Spanish dominance in colonizing the New
World and issued in the era of British naval dominance in the North
Atlantic.
Britain was now united behind a popular queen and perched for
exploration and settlement of the New World.
It was significant that the Charter for the Virginia Company to settle
Jamestown guaranteed settlers the same rights of Englishmen in
England. These rights were extended to all settlers of British colonies.
New Colonial Rivals
Adam Smith- Wealth of Nations
 Described how the economy worked based on supply and





demand
Supplies will rise to reach demand because suppliers can
make money
Profit motivates production
Living in a time of mercantilism, Smith advocated for
free markets called laissez faire
Laissez faire means to leave alone, no government
regulation of business
Countries would gain more wealth in a free market,
capitalist, society than in a mercantilist economy
The Big Idea!
 The Enlightenment would be just theory in Europe at
first
 The American Revolution would allow the U.S. to be
the first country in the world to attempt
enlightenment theory
 Giving people the power to govern themselves in a
free market economy would be called the “American
Experiment”
 Most of the world did not think that we would
survive