RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION
I.
The Renaissance
A. The Italian Renaissance
1. renaissance means rebirth—A number people who lived in Italy between 1350 and
1550 believed they had witnessed a rebirth of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds.
2. characteristics of the Italian Renaissance
a. Italy was an urban society; also with a secular, or worldly, viewpoint
b. an age of recovery from the disasters of the 14th century such as the plague,
political instability, and a decline of Church power
c. A high regard for human worth and a realization of what individuals could
achieve created a new social ideal. The well-rounded, universal person
was capable of achievements in many areas of life.
B. The Italian States
1. The lack of a strong centralized government in Italy made it possible for a number of
city-states in northern and central Italy to remain independent.
2. The Italian city-states prospered from a flourishing trade that had expanded in
the Middle Ages.
3. Milan and Lombardy (the surrounding area)
a. Sforza family
b. rich from trade
c. mercenaries—soldiers who sold their services to the highest bidder
4. Venice
a. really merchant-aristocrats ran the city
b. officially a republic with an elected leader
5. Florence and Tuscany (surrounding area)
a. de Medici ran the government from behind the scenes
b. Savonarola, a Dominican monk, led discontented people to take over
Florence for a while. He accused the Medici of excessive high living in
economic times.
c. Savonarola also attacked the corruption of the Church. The pope managed
to get Savonarola executed for heresy. The Medici family returned to power.
6. The Italian Wars
a. France and Spain fought in Italy for 30 years
b. The Spanish army, with many mercenaries, sacked Rome in 1527 and left
the Spanish a dominant force in Italy.
C. Machiavelli and the New Statecraft
1. Machiavelli wrote The Prince, one of the most influential works on political power
in the Western world.
a. Machiavelli rejected the idea that ruler ought to behave based on Christian
principles.
b. A prince should act in behalf of the state, and therefore, must let his
conscience sleep.
2. Renaissance Society
a. The Nobility
--nobles, or aristocrats, held important political posts and served as advisors
to the kings
--characteristics of the perfect noble whose aim it was to serve his prince
in an effective and honest way
-born, not made; expected to have character, grace, and talent
-a warrior, but also gain a classical education and enrich his life with
the arts
II.
-not hide their achievements, but to show them with grace
b. Peasants and Townspeople
--serfdom dying out
--patricians—wealth from trade industry and banking—dominated
Their communities economically, socially, and politically
--burghers—shopkeepers, artisans, guild masters, and guild members
--workers—earned pitiful wages; unemployed
c. Family and Marriage
--parents arranged marriages often to strengthen business or family ties
--dowry—a sum of money given by the wife’s family to the husband
upon marriage
--father-husband dominated the Italian family—managed finances,
determined his children’s lives—adulthood came to children when
their fathers went before a judge and formally freed them—varied from
early teens to late twenties
The Intellectual and Artistic Renaissance
A. Italian Renaissance Humanism
1. Secularism and an emphasis on the individual characterized the Renaissance.
2. Humanism was based on the study of the classics, the literary works of
ancient Greece and Rome.
3. Petrarch, who has often been called the father of Italian Renaissance humanism,
searched for forgotten Latin manuscripts and began the humanist emphasis on
using pure classical Latin rather than medieval Latin.
B. Vernacular Literature
1. Some writers wrote in the vernacular, that is, the language spoken in their own
regions, such as Italian, French, or German.
a. Dante wrote the “Divine Comedy” in Italian.
b. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales” in English.
c. Christine de Pizan wrote “The Book of the City of Ladies” in French.
C. Education in the Renaissance
1. Renaissance humanists believed that education could dramatically change human
beings.
a. Study the liberal arts: history, moral philosophers, eloquence (rhetoric),
letters (grammar and logic), poetry, mathematics, astronomy, and music.
b. Following the Greek ideal of a sound mind in a sound body, humanists
also stressed physical education.
2. Humanists educators thought that a humanist education was a practical
preparation for life.
a. aimed to create complete citizens
b. females largely absent
D. The Artistic Renaissance
1. Renaissance artists sought to imitate nature in their works.
2. New Techniques in painting
a. fresco
b. mastered the laws of perspective—technical
c. investigation of movement and human anatomy
3. Sculpture and Architecture
a. Donatello copied statues of the Greeks and Romans—statue of St. George,
a realistic free-standing figure
b. Brunelleschi—inspired by the buildings of classical Rome to create a new
architecture in Florence—Church of San Lorenzo does not overwhelm the
worshiper, as Gothic cathedrals might. Instead the Church provides
comfort as a space to fit human, not divine, feelings.
4. Masters of the High Renaissance
a. Leonardo da Vinci mastered the art of realistic painting and even
dissected human bodies to better see how nature worked.
b. Raphael—painted madonnas (paintings of the Virgin Mary) trying to
achieve an ideal of beauty far surpassing human standards—also known
for his frescoes in the Vatican Palace—painted with balance, harmony,
and order—the underlying principles of the art of the classical world
of Greece and Rome
c. Michaelangelo –painter, sculptor, and architect—Sistine Chapel
E. The Northern Artistic Renaissance
1. northern artists painted illustrations for books and wooden panels for alterpieces,
rather than frescoes on large walls
2. Jan van Eyck was among the first painters to use oils; did not use perspective;
created fine details in his painting
3. Albrecht Durer studied painting in Italy—still created minute details but tried to
fit those details more harmoniously