The Middle Ages and The Renaissance

1. The Middle Ages andThe Renaissance Western Europe ~500 (fall of Rome) - ~1500 ~1500 - ~1775 (Revolutions)

2. Period of Change → Renaissance • ~1300: clock towers constructed • 1348: Black Death weakens faith in God • 14th C Italian artists begin to paint using depth perception • 1453: Constantinople falls to Turks; Greek Christians take their knowledge to Europe. • 1455: Gutenberg prints first book, the Bible • 1492: Europe discovers the Americas • 1517: Martin Luther begins Protestant Reformation. Counter-Reformation begins. • ~1520: Copernicus discovers that the Earth rotates around the sun

3. Medieval Roman Catholicism with pockets of pagans that slowly succumb to Christianity with Muslims in Spain with Jews throughout Latin is language of diplomacy and all academic fields Renaissance Protestant Reformation more than one way to be a Christian all pagan (witchcraft; Muslim, Jewish) rites persecuted Latin slowly replaced by vernacular Greek gains status Western Europe: religion and language

4. Medieval Local rule, as in cities dukedoms tiny kingdoms Hierarchical social structure power of kings more ceremonial than actual nobility holds power Little mobility between places between social classes Renaissance Nation states formed from formerly independent locales divine right of kings empowers royals nobility loses power growing middle class of merchants, doctors, lawyers, clergy, etc. More mobility between places between social classes Western Europe: social organization

5. Medieval literary forms epic poetry ballads, poems, songs romances--courtly love tales frame tales religious drama saints’ lives More literate than ancient world Renaissance New literary forms sonnet letter secular drama political, reformatory. theological tracts nonfiction prose novel fictional prose More literate than medieval world Western Europe: literature

6. Did women have a Renaissance? • No, because . . . • Revival of Roman ideas includes Roman misogyny • Protestant Reformation • loss of convent as path to education & independence • only males allowed unmediated relationships to God • Loss of medieval piety and surety of salvation • decline of importance of Mary and female saints • new division into few “elect” and many “damned” & men decide that men more likely to be “elect” & women more likely to be “depraved human flesh”

7. No, because . . . • Social class slowly becomes a less important mark of status, and gender becomes a more important mark of status. • Medieval labor shortages led to good jobs for women, but shortages temporary. • Renaissance labor market much tighter • because subsequent plagues have lower death rates • because of increased migration from rural to urban areas • women get jobs as household servants, not as craftsmen or shopkeepers. • guild membership once open, now closed to women • Advent of syphilis in Europe ~ 1500: intensifies sexual double standard