The Renaissance in Italy

1. Section 1 The Renaissance in Italy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vufba_ZcoR0

2. What were the ideals of the Renaissance, and how did Italian artists and writers reflect these ideals? A new age dawned in Western Europe, given expression by remarkable artists and thinkers. This age is called the Renaissance, meaning “rebirth.” It began in the 1300s and reached its peak around 1500. The Renaissance marked the transition from medieval times to the early modern world.

3. The Renaissance began in Italy in the 1300s. Renaissance thinkers: • sought to bring Europe out of disorder and disunity. • placed greater emphasis on individual achievement. • tried to understand the world with more accuracy. • revived interest in classical Greek and Roman learning. The Renaissance ideal was a person with interests and talents in many fields.

4. During the Renaissance there was a new spirit of adventure and curiosity. • Trade assumed greater importance than before. • Navigators sailed across the oceans. • Scientists viewed the universe in new ways. • Writers and artists experimented with new techniques.

5. Europe in 1500 Italy’s central location helped make it a center for the trade of goods and ideas.

6. The Italian city-states dominated trade and provided a link between Asia and Europe. Trade routes carried new ideas from Asia and from Muslim scholars who had preserved Greek and Latin learning. Banking, manufacturing, and a merchant network provided the wealth that fueled the Renaissance.

7. The heart of the Italian Renaissance was humanism. • Although most Renaissance humanists were devoutly religious, they focused on worldly issues rather than religion. • They believed education should stimulate creativity. • They emphasized study of the humanities, such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history. Humanists studied the works of Greece and Rome to learn about their own culture.

8. Italy’s city-states played an important role in the Renaissance. • These families brought trade and wealth, and provided leadership. • They were interested in art and emphasized personal achievement. • They were patrons of the arts and supported artists, writers, and scholars. Each city was dominated by a wealthy and powerful merchant family.

9. The Medici family of merchants and bankers controlled Florence after 1434. • Lorenzo de' Medici invited poets, philosophers, and artists to the city. • Florence became a leader, with numerous gifted artists, poets, architects, and scientists. Ordinary people began to appreciate art outside of the Church. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBlGkTTol9E&list=PLugdEmbrdWSxFoBV1VD--tnQkahT5qLbk&index=5

10. Niall Ferguson offers a comprehensive collection of anecdotes and observations about the development of finance. He begins with a brief discussion of pre-money societies. Then, he carries you through the birth of banking in Renaissance Italy, the 18th-century Mississippi and South Sea bubbles, the role of Nathan Mayer Rothschild in the Napoleonic Wars, and the 20th-century transition from the gold standard to free-market derivatives and currency trading. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/the-ascent-of-money-episode-1-from-bullion-to-bubbles/44/

11. Donatello created a life-size soldier on horseback, the first sculpture of this size since ancient times. • In The School of Athens, Raphael painted a gathering of Greek and Roman scholars that included the faces of Michelangelo, Leonardo, and himself. Artists continued to portray religious themes, but they did so against classic Greek and Roman backgrounds.

12. They returned from the stylized forms of the medieval period to the realism of classic Greece and Rome. They used new techniques to represent both humans and landscapes. Renaissance artists used new techniques, leading to greater realism.

13. Perspective allowed for more realistic art. Distant objects appeared smaller. One new technique was perspective, credited to Filippo Brunelleschi.

14. Artists also used new oil paints that reflected light, and used shading techniques to make objects look more real. • Objects were portrayed in a three-dimensional fashion. • Painters studied human anatomy and drew from observing models, resulting in more accuracy.

15. Leonardo da Vinci was an artist and inventor. He studied botany, optics, anatomy, architecture, and engineering. The mysterious smile of the woman in his painting Mona Lisa has intrigued viewers for centuries. His sketchbooks are full of ideas for inventions, such as flying machines and submarines.

16. Michelangelo Buonarroti was a sculptor, engineer, painter, architect, and poet. • He is best known for sculptures such as David and for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. • He also designed the dome for St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

17. Writers were also humanists. Some described how to succeed in the Renaissance world. • Men played music and knew literature and history but were not arrogant. • Women were kind, graceful, and lively, and possessed outward beauty. Baldassare Castiglione’sBook of the Courtier described the manners and behavior of the ideal aristocratic man and woman.

18. Niccolò Machiavelli’sThePrince was a guide for rulers to gain and maintain power. • Rather than discuss high ideals, he stressed that the ends justify the means. • The term Machiavellian has come to refer to the use of deceit in politics. • Critics saw Machiavelli as cynical, but others said he was simply providing a realistic look at politics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgJyCCVUao

19. The Age of Humanism: Petrarch’s Role

20. Beginnings of Humanism • Early Humanism formed in a culture spiritually determined by mendicant friars (Dominicans and Franciscans) • Voluntary poverty was the center of true Christian conduct

21. In the fourteenth century, scholarship shifted from the hands of the Church to the hands of laymen such as lawyers and doctors. • These men revived the classical studies of Greece and Rome • Instead of focusing exclusively on God and religion, they were more interested in human aspects such as culture, society, and values.

22. Principles of Humanism • Salutati • Man is responsible for his good or bad deeds • God does not control a man’s will or morality • It is better to benefit others by living an active public life than to live as a monk, which does not benefit anyone other than the monk

23. Principles of Humanism • Bruni • Medieval values of piety, humility, and poverty not important • Attitudes about wealth, credit finances, and usury modified • Pagan elements introduced into Christian culture

24. Emphasized the dignity and worth of the individual • People are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness • Emphasized the value of the Greek and Latin classics for their own sake, rather than for their relevance to Christianity • Inspired by Plato (Aristotle inspired medieval scholarship) • Centered around education • Increased the sense of the dignity of man and emphasized what man can do for himself

25. Francesco Petrarch • Born in Arezzo in 1304 after his father was banished from Florence • Began to study law in 1316 because his father wanted him to • His father died in 1326 and Petrarch abandoned his legal studies; discovered Cicero, Vergil, and the Latin classics; began his exclusive devotion to literature

26. Great boldness Influenced solely by ancient philosophers Ignored his “true self” because of too many distractions (fame, success of Laura sonnets, title of Poet Laureate) Awareness of the insufficiency of his earlier way of life Need to identify more closely with contemporary ways of thinking introduced during the Christian Era Two Periods of Petrarch’s Life

27. Petrarch and Politics • He was not involved in politics • He was interested in individual affairs, not in political affairs • He viewed Italy as a centralized unity under Rome and, influenced by the history of classical times, had ideas of a republic or a universal empire • Petrarch believed that the Vita solitaria was the supreme standard for living • A truly wise man is focused on intellectual and spiritual matters, not distracting political problems

28. Petrarch and wealth • Petrarch hated wealth, power, and external honors • It was not the wealth itself that he hated, but the anxiety, toil, and trouble connected with it • He said he would rather live in bitter, abject poverty than be wealthy • At another time, however, he said that he would rather be wealthy because living in poverty is only bearable for those who do it in the name of Christ • One should not escape wealth, but one should not possess it “with an avaricious mind”

29. Petrarch’s Works • All of his works contain self-analysis, meditation, internal dilemmas, and crisis concerning moral and cultural values

30. Petrarch’s Contributions to Humanism • Recognition of the true features of classical Latin prose and poetry • Passion for collecting ancient manuscripts • Perception that the future of classical scholarship depended upon the recovery of Greek works • Support for Humanism among the rich and powerful • Reconciliation between pagan and Christian ways of thinking

31. Section 2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe

32. How did the Renaissance develop in northern Europe? As the Renaissance began to flower in Italy, northern Europe was still recovering from the ravages of the Black Death. But by the 1400s, the cities of the north began to enjoy economic growth and the wealth needed to develop their own Renaissance.

33. In 1455 Johann Gutenberg printed a complete edition of the Bible using a printing press with movable type. • Printed books were far easier to produce than hand-copied books. • More people had access to a broad range of learning. • By 1500, the number of books in Europe had risen from a few thousand to between 15 and 20 million. The printing revolution transformed Europe.

34. The Northern Renaissance began in the prosperous cities of Flanders. • Many painters focused on the common people, creating scenes of everyday life. • Many writers also focused on the common people. From Flanders, ideas spread to Spain, France, and England.

35. Northern Renaissance painters focused on realism in their art. • New oil paints were made using oils from linseed, walnuts, or poppies. • More realistic colors reflected light, adding depth and glow. • In the 1400s, the paintings of Van Eyck were filled with rich and realistic detail. • Pieter Bruegel used vibrant colors to portray scenes of peasant life.

36. Albrecht Dürerapplied Renaissance painting techniques to engraving. Peter Paul Rubens blended the realistic tradition of Flemish painters with classical themes. A humanist of the 1600s, Rubens used themes from classical history and mythology. Dürer is called “the Leonardo of the North” because of his varied interests and his role in spreading Renaissance ideas in the late 1400s.

37. Northern humanist scholars stressed education and classical learning. • They hoped to bring about religious and moral reform. • Some began writing in thevernacular,the everyday language of ordinary people. • This appealed to the new middle class that was arising in northern towns and cities.

38. The Dutch priest Desiderius Erasmus was one of the major religious scholars of the age. • Erasmus called for translation of the Bible into the vernacular. • He believed a person’s chief duties were to be open-minded and show good will to others. • He also sought reform in the Church. Born in 1466, Erasmus helped spread humanist ideas to a wider public.

39. Francois Rabelais was a French humanist who used comedy. Sir Thomas More was an English humanist who pushed for social reforms. In Utopia, he described an ideal society where all are educated and people live in harmony. The book gave us the word utopian. In Gargantua and Pantagruel, two giants on a comic adventure offer opinions on religion and education.

40. The towering figure of northern Renaissance literature was the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Between 1590 and 1613, he wrote 37 plays which are still performed today, including: • Romeo and Juliet • Hamlet • A Midsummer Night’s Dream • Merchant of Venice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCQ5T-idRas

41. Shakespeare explored Renaissance ideals such as the complexity of the individual. Well-known quotes from Shakespeare include “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” and “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” He used common language understood by all and added 1,700 words to the English language.

42. Section 3 The Protestant Reformation Begins

43. How did revolts against the Roman Catholic Church affect northern European society? In the 1500s, the Renaissance in northern Europe sparked a religious upheaval. Northern European calls for church reform eventually unleashed forces that would shatter Christian unity. This movement is known as the Protestant Reformation.

44. Humanist ideas for social reform grew in popularity. More people began to question the central force in their lives—the Church. The early 1500s were uncertain times in northern Europe. Disparities in wealth, a new market economy, and religious discontent all bred uncertainty. The printing press spread knowledge and new ideas quickly.

45. Increasingly, the church had become involved in worldly politics. • Popes competed with Italian princes for political power. • They fought wars to protect the Papal States. • They plotted against powerful monarchs who sought to control papal lands. • They lived in luxury, supported the arts, and hired artists to beautify churches.

46. To finance their lifestyles, church officials charged fees for services such as baptisms and marriages. • An indulgence lessened the time one spent in purgatory before going to heaven. • In the Middle Ages, they were often granted for doing good deeds. • Many Christians, including Erasmus, objected to their sale. Some clergy also sold indulgences. Only the rich could afford to buy them.

47. As early as the 1300s, John Wycliff had begun protests against the Church in England. Jan Hus led a similar protest against the Church in what is today the Czech Republic. He was executed for heresy in 1415. Christian humanists called for a less worldly church, one based more on Bible study.

48. Angered by the sale of indulgences, Luther drew up his 95 Theses and nailed them to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. • He argued that indulgences had no place in the Bible, and Christians could only be saved by faith. • Rather than recant, Luther rejected the authority of Rome. The German monk Martin Luther sparked a revolt in 1517.

49. But many agreed with Luther and became his followers. Overnight, copies of Luther’s 95 Theses spread and sparked debate across Europe. In 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. The Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, declared Luther an outlaw and ordered his books to be burned.

50. Luther’s teachings differed from those of the Roman Catholic Church. • He believed that all Christians had equal access to God and did not need a priest to intervene. • He wanted ordinary people to study the Bible. • He banned the granting of indulgences, prayers to saints, pilgrimages, and confession.