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The majority of this Review Lecture focuses on the Renaissance.
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However, in order to truly establish a solid understanding of the Renaissance,
we must first explore the time period that it comes out of, the Middle Ages.
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This will help to establish contrast between the two periods.
ren·ais·sance
[pr. ren-NAY-sahns]
Origin:
1830–40; < French, Middle French: rebirth
ri·nas·ci·men·to
[pr. ree-NAH-SEE-mehn-toh]
Origin:
< Italian: to be reborn
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Renaissance is the French word, pronounced La Ren-Nay-Sahnce
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which is derived from the Italian word, Rinascimento, prounounced Ree-NahsSee-Mehn-toh
ren·ais·sance
rebirth
ri·nas·ci·men·to
to be reborn
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Renaissance is the French word for “re-birth” prounounced La Ren-NaySahnce
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the Italian word, Rinascimento, prounounced Ree-Nahs-See-Mehn-toh, means
“to be re-born”.
ren·ais·sance
rebirth
Born out of what?
the Late Middle Ages
the Medieval Period
the Byzantine Era
the Black Death
These are
"The Dark Ages"
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I want to emphasize and elaborate on this CONCEPT of REBIRTH.
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Born out of what? From what is the Renaissance born?
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The time period directly preceding the Renaissance goes by many names.
(Click through) And despite all of the numerous important cultural advances
that have come down to us through the Middle Ages, this period is often
described as The Dark Ages.
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And perhaps, rightly so. Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe
came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the Great Famine of 1315–
1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before
the calamities. So, this period is noted for epidemic levels of death. But it is also
accurately describe as a dark period because of its quality of education (or lack thereof) and for the high levels of control by the Feudal Lords, and the Roman Catholic
Church.
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This was not a time of literacy, and certainly not individual freedom.
Out of the
darkness...
is
new life is born.
is born
new thinking.
new worldview.
... this is the
dawn of the
Early Modern
Era
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"And so... Out of this darkness, has come new light. Out of such death,
has been born new life. "
In direct contrast to "The Dark Ages," the Renaissance is a time of new life,
and new ideas, and new economic growth and wealth.
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The Renaissance is the period of European history beginning in the Late Middle Ages,
and spanning until The Age of Enlightenment.
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The Renaissance is a period of cultural movement, a shift in thinking, a revolution for
education, and for intellectual pursuits.
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The Renaissance was an explosion of science, math, art, music, and literature - all at
once and especially overlapping.
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The Renaissance was the dawn of (or birth of) what has become our Modern Era, the
Western World
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Ideas that began in Florence, Italy in the 1400s and spread throughout Europe during
the Renaissance have spread throughout the globe, influencing and shaping all
aspects of Modern Western Societies.
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Historians often argue this intellectual transformation was a bridge between the Middle
Ages and the Modern era.
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Okay, now the stage is set. Let's take a closer look at this "Dark" period.
But first...
the Middle Ages
th
isoverlapping in time
The Middle Ages
(~500 AD -1453 AD)
The Byzantine
Empire
The Renaissance
(~1350 - 1600)
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The Middle Ages is a very important time period in human history.
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The Middle Ages is often broken into three periods:
The Early Middle Ages from around 500 to about 1000 AD.
The High Middle Ages from the end of the first millennia of the common era to about
The Middle Ages is a term used to represent a vast time period that spans an entire
Millennium (that means 1000 years).
1300,
and the Late Middle Ages from about 1300 to about 1450 AD.
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The Latter part of the Middle Ages overlaps with the Renaissance period.
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The Byzantine Empire is the dominant ruling power through much of Europe during
the Middle Ages
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Roman Emperor Constantine I transferred the main capital of the Empire to
Constantinople in the East @ 330 AD causing a transition from the Roman Empire to
the Byzantine Empire, with the city of Constantinople as the head of the Empire, and
the richest city in all of Europe.
In fact, many historians argue that there is no such thing as a Late Middle Ages, and
that in European history there is rather a smooth transition from the High Middle Ages
into the Renaissance.
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Looking back, many Humanists, and historians have studied the Middle Ages
written about them as The Dark Ages because of the characteristic lack of
democratic education, low levels of literacy, as well as for it being a time of
ongoing battles, warfare and depopulation due to famines and plagues.
However, many greatly important inventions have come down to us through
history from the Middle Ages as well.
All of the following were invented during the Middle Ages:
Paper
The First Printing Press was invented in Asia ~ 1045 AD
The Magnetic Compass in 1182 AD
The Mechanical Clock ~ 1280
Eyeglasses in ~ 1286 AD
Wind Mills, the Water Mill & the First Sawmills (1328)
The Heavy Plough
The Spinning Wheel
Modern Glass Blowing
and let's not forget fermented liquor
The Byzantine
Empire
●
The Byzantine Empire is the dominant ruling power through much of Western Europe
during the Middle Ages
●
Roman Emperor Constantine I transferred the main capital of the Empire to
Constantinople in the East @ 330 AD causing a transition from the Roman Empire to
the Byzantine Empire, with the city of Constantinople as the head of the Empire, and
the richest city in all of Europe.
●
Constantinople (which means city of Constantine) became Europe's most important
centers of trade and export and remained Europe's wealthiest and most powerful city
for over a thousand years.
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Emperor Constantine was well known for being the first Roman Emperor to convert to
Christianity
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Christianity became the Empire's official state religion.
The importance of this will become more clear as we look at a map of Europe and the
Byzantine Empire during this time period
The Byzantine
Empire
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As we watch this animation, we will see the expansion and later contraction of the
Roman and Byzantine Empires throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.
●
Essentially, the spread of Byzantine Empire is very much about the spread and
domination of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the European continent through
the Middle Ages.
The Byzantine
Empire
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Geographically, Constantinople is perfectly placed to be a center of trade and export.
It is in the direct path between traditional trade routes between Europe and North
Africa to its west, and Islam and Asia to the east.
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In 1453, after centuries of continuous decline in Europe and North Africa, The
Byzantine Empire eventually collapses and the City of Constantinople is lost in battle,
falling to the Ottoman Turks.
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This brings an end to the Byzantine Empire and a final conclusion to the Roman
Empire.
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Towards the end of the Byzantine Empire, century old trade routes were no longer
considered safe
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Italian City states become more important as trade centers, and grew in size and
wealth.
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Lords and Kings were force to explore new trade routes
This, of course, leads to one of the most important events in human history
e and the spread of
moveable typ
ideas and
printing
nformation
i
aapnin
of
ce g
dv
theSah
cy
ist thought rise of litera
Humanth
n
e
and educatio
nt
testan
Prod
theM
r
e
o
the Age of
Reformation
covery and
s
i
D
y of
World
the discover
advances in Art
the Americas
Science and
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During the Renaissance period, many extremely important and shaping events
are happening simultaneously
These events are tightly linked and connected to each other,
and each has had a shaping effect on the modern Western world.
During the Renaissance, we saw the invention of moveable type and printing,
there were vast advances in Humanist thought
the Protestant Reformation
numerous important advances in Science, Mathematics, Art, Music, and
Literature
There is an unprecedented spread of ideas and information
a dramatic rise in literacy levels and the spread of democratic education
The Renaissance also coincides with the Age of Discovery; the Age of
Exploration.
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These trade routes between Europe, North Africa, Islam, and Asia enable not
only the transfer of goods and products, but also ideas.
One idea that had been developed in Asia in the Middle Ages found its way to
Mainz in Germany
The Chinese had developed a printing press that had allowed them to make
copies of drawings (etchings) as well as chinese logosyllabic characters.
Wood or clay tablets were created that could be covered with ink and have
paper pressed into them
1439
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In 1439, German goldsmith and inventor Johannes Gutenberg combines his
skill as a goldsmith with his knowledge of the Chinese press, and invents the
first printing press to work for Western languages
For the first time in human history, mass production of printed text enables
mass distribution of information, thought, and ideas
In 1455, Gutenberg publishes his 42-line bible, the world's first printed book.
His invention spread quickly, and by 1500, printers had sold 8 million books
across Europe
Knowledge had never spread this quickly before.
The printing press was the single most powerful invention of the Renaissance,
and perhaps of all history.
● “Books ar
e
a uniquely
portable
magic.”
― Stephen K
ing,
●The Printing Press.
Moveable Type. Sharing ideas to a mass audience for the first
time in all of human history.
●The importance of books. The scarcity of books. The scarcity of information.
●Information had value. It was sought after, valued, cherished.
●The magic of books. The wealth of knowledge. The ability to communicate deeply
detailed personal thoughts, ideas, experiences.... like stepping into someone elses
head... sharing thought.
●“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the
more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
●“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish
the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the
phone whenever you felt like it.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
●“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading
them.”
― Ray Bradbury
●“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
●― Joseph Brodsky
●
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing
●“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times? As if
something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts,
sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you
find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had
preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.”
●― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell
●“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds
world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite
you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
●“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called
"leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear
the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across
the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly
to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together
people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the
shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”
●― Carl Sagan
●
● “Books ar
e
a uniquely
portable
magic.”
― Stephen K
ing,
“A book is m
ad
an assemblag e from a tree. It is
e
parts (still of flat, flexible
called "lea
v
imprinted
with dark pi es")
gmented
squiggles.
On
you hear th e glance at it and
ev
person, perh oice of another
ap
thousands of s someone dead for
years. Acro
millennia,
ss the
the author
is
speaking, cl
early and si
inside you
lently,
r head, dir
ectly to
you. Writin
g is perhap
s th
greatest of
human inven e
binding to
tions,
gether peop
le,
citizens of
distant epoc
never knew
h
one another s, who
. Books
break the sh
ackles of ti
me ―
proof that
humans can
work
magic.”
- Carl Sagan
“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called
"leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear
the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across
the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly
to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together
people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the
shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.”
●― Carl Sagan
●
Humanism
Polymaths
Nicolaus
Copernicus
The Age of
Discovery
The Medici
Italian City
States
Protestant
Reformation
King Henry VII
Martin Luther
Sir Thomas More
Feudalism
The Black Death
hu·man·ism
[pr. HYOO-man-Iz-sem]
Noun:
1. An outlook or system of thought in which absolute prime
importance is given to the human/individual rather than to
divine or supernatural matters;
A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers
on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.
2. A Renaissance cultural movement that turned away from
Medieval scholasticism and revived interest in Greek and
Latin classical thought.
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Humanism: Definition: Sometimes when exploring a rather foreign or
complex concept, the best place to start is with a definition.
1. An outlook, or system of thought in which absolute prime importance is
given to the human/individual rather than to any divine or supernatural
matters; A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on
humans and their values, capacities, and worth.
2. A Renaissance cultural movement that turned away from Medieval
scholasticism and revived interest in Greek and Latin classical thought.
Humanism
In short, Humanism is a way of seeing the world,
and therefore a World view.
Humanists often found organized religion as an
obstructive force, and rejected religion in
favour of giving prime importance to the human.
Seen as a reaction against the Roman Catholic
church.
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To try to simplify this concept:
Humanism is a way of seeing the world, Humanism is a world view.
It is a world view by which the intent was to eliminate all obstructive forces that
stand in the way of placing man at the center of focus.
Humanists often found organized religion as such an obstructive force.
Renaissance Humanism has often been seen as a reaction against the
Roman Catholic Church.
Important Humanist Thinkers
Francesco Petrarch is considered
the 'Father of Humanism'.
(1304 - 1374)
●
Francesco Petrarch (1304 – 1374),was an Italian scholar and poet, and one of the
earliest humanists. Petrarca is often called the "Father of Humanism".
●
Petrarca's sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the
Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. He is also known for being the
first to develop the concept of the "Dark Ages".
Important Humanist Thinkers
Francesco Petrarch
Sir Thomas More (English)
Nicholaus Copernicus (Polish)
Michelangelo (Italian)
Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian)
Raphael Sanzio (Italian)
Cosimo de Medici (Italian)
Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch)
Fracois Rabelais (French)
William Shakespeare (English)
●
Francesco Petrarch (1304 – 1374),was an Italian scholar and poet, and one of the
earliest humanists. Petrarca is often called the "Father of Humanism".
●
Petrarca's sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the
Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. He is also known for being the
first to develop the concept of the "Dark Ages".
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Sir Thomas More (English)
Nicholas Copernicus (Polish)
Michelangelo (Italian)
Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian)
Raphael Sanzio (Italian)
Cosimo de Medici (1389-1464) (Italian)
Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466-1536) (Dutch)
François Rabelais (c.1494-1553) (French)
William Shakespeare (English)
Nicolaus Copernicus
Link
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Moving from one important Humanist thinker to another, Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish mathematician, and Humanist
Renaissance Polymath
Heliocentric view
Think of the shift in thinking that has happened here.
Not only have we proven his theory correct that the Earth is not the center of
the universe, we now know that the known universe if exponentially larger
than we could have even imagined in his life-time
The Age of
Discovery
The Medici
Italian City
States
Florence
Protestant
Reformation
King Henry VII
Martin
Luther
Sir Thomas
More
Feudalism
The Black Death
"Renaissance Men," the Polymaths
Polymath comes from the Greek word
polymathēs, "having learned much".
A person whose expertise spans a
significant number of different
subject areas. In less
formal terms, a polymath (or
polymathic person) may
simply be someone who is very
knowledgeable.