Renaissance Europe

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Renaissance Europe

• 1400-1500

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The Renaissance represents a period of
transition from the Middle Ages to
modernity. The Renaissance itself was not a
single movement, but a flowing together of many
distinct currents in art, learning, and
exploration. Christian piety remained strong, but
man again became the measure of all things.
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HumanismMan, the Measure of All Things

• Renaissance thinkers, scholars, and artists were
  called humanists for their interest in human
  nature and human value.
• Through the study of ancient Greek and Roman
  literature and art, they were trying to discover
  the secret of the good (virtuous) life.
• The Humanists laid the foundations of Western
  education for centuries to come by stressing
• Personal judgment
• Value of the individual
• Human free will
• Superiority of the cultivated person over
  unfinished nature
• The individuals duty to society

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• Spreading Knowledge The Revolution in Printing
• Johann Gutenberg (c. 1400-1470)
• Invention of printing with movable metal type, c.
  1445
• Gave rise to publishing industry
• Increasing literacy
• Vernacular texts and the development of national
  literatures

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• Scholars
• Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)
  Florence
• Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)
• Man free to shape own life and master nature
• Niccoló Macchiavelli (1469-1527) Florence
• Statesman and political theorist
• The Prince (1513)
• Describes politics not as it should be but as it
  is, a struggle for power
• The actions of a prince should be governed solely
  by necessity any means to an end is justifiable
• Ordinary people need strong rulers
• Detached politics from religion and moral
  philosophy

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Artists

• Renaissance art stressed proportion, balance,
  harmony. Focused increasingly on the natural
  world as it was rather than the eternal,
  spiritual world as it supposedly was.

Leonardo Da Vinci, La Gioconda (Mona Lisa)
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Filippo Brunelleschi (1377- 1446) Florentine
architect Inspired by classical styles of
Ancient Rome
Pazzi Chapel, Florence
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Donatello (1386-1466) Florentine sculptor Drew
on Greco-Roman Heritage David was the first
life- sized nude of the Renaissance
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Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) Flemish
painter Realistic and precise style Developed
oil painting
The Arnolfini Marriage
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Sandro Botticelli (c. 1444-1510) Florentine
artist Concern with recreating an ancient
myth Sensuous rather than spiritual beauty
The Birth of Venus
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• Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
• The ultimate Renaissance man
• Scientist, engineer, artist, architect, inventor,
  etc.
• Exemplified the Renaissance spirit
• New way of looking at nature and the individual
• Visual art as a way to arrive at natures truths
• Helped lay foundations for modern science

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The Last Supper
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Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Florentine
sculptor, painter, and architect
David
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The Creation of Man, Sistine Chapel, Rome
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Michelangelos dome over St. Peters Basilica
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Raphael Santi (1483-1520) From Rome studied In
Florence under both Michelangelo and Leonardo da
Vinci
The Alba Madonna
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Renaissance States and Politics

• Italy
• City-States
• Venice maritime republic with extensive empire
  and large merchant fleet
• Florence
• Republic and birthplace of the Renaissance
• The Medici wealthy banking family that ended
  republican rule during the 15th century
• Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492)
• Most significant of all Renaissance princes
• Greatest art patron of all time
• Milan duchy ruled by the Visconti and later by
  the Sforza families
• Naples kingdom dominated by feudal barons
• The Papal States
• Treaty of Lodi, 1454 ended period of internal
  warfare between city-states

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• Burgundy and France
• Burgundy created through the use of diplomacy and
  military might by the Burgundian dukes state
  collapsed after 1477 (no male heir to carry on
  dynasty and defeat by France and Holy Roman
  Empire)
• France slowly consolidating territories (e.g.
  Burgundy, Anjou) and expanding after Hundred
  Years War

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• England
• Wars of the Roses (1460-1485) civil wars between
  the Lancastrians and Yorkists
• Revival under Tudor dynasty beginning in 1485
• Spain
• Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of
  Castile, 1469
• Concluded the reconquista in 1492
• Jews driven out in large numbers or forced to
  convert to Christianity

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• Central and Eastern Europe
• Weak states in Hungary, Bohemia, and
  Poland-Lithuania
• Ottoman Empire
• Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1451-1481)
• Continued expansion into Europe
• Conquest of Constantinople in 1453
• Muscovy
• Emerged from Mongol control
• Tsar Ivan III (r. 1462-1505)
• Rulers had absolute rights over all lands and
  people

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European Expansion

• Major Factors
• Material Advantages
• Population growth and increasing prosperity
• Strong economic foundation in terms of
  agricultural production and industrial capacity
• Desire for wealth and conquest on part of
  aristocrats, merchants, shippers
• Technological improvements
• Gunpowder and firearms
• Sailing ships

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• Government sponsorship
• Increasingly centralized, monarchical states
  willing to sponsor voyages for trading and
  exploration
• New sources of gold and silver
• New routes to bring spices from the Far East
• The Missionary Impulse
• Continuation of the crusading ideal to spread
  Christianity
• The Reconquista in Spain defeat of last Muslim
  stronghold in Spain (Granada) completed by 1492
  under Ferdinand and Isabella
• Expansion into Africa, Asia, and the Americas the
  result of a combination of piety, greed, and
  curiosity

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New Worlds
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• The Portuguese Empire
• Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
• Patron of new naval technology and of exploration
• Established a school and observatory for
  geographers and navigators, which became a base
  for sea exploration
• His sea captains explored the West African coast,
  establishing a profitable trade in gold and
  slaves
• Also hoped to extend Christianity into Africa at
  expense of Islam

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• Bartholomeu Dias
• Discovered route around Cape
• of Good Hope, 1487
• Vasco da Gama
• First European to sail around
• Africa to India, 1497-1499
• Portugal able to break
• commercial monopoly on
• Eastern goods held by Genoa
• and Venice
• Portuguese trading posts
• colonies on African
• coasts, India, East Indies,
• and Brazil

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• The Spanish Empire
• Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
• Proposal to reach India by sailing west gained
  support of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella
• Set sail in August 1492 and reached San Salvador
  in the Bahamas in October
• Three subsequent voyages, during which he
  explored other islands, attempted to establish
  colonies, and sighted the coast of South America

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• Conquistadors
• Hernando Cortés
• Conquered Aztec Empire in Mexico, 1519-1521
• Appointed governor and captain-general of New
  Spain, 1522
• Francisco Pizarro
• Conquered Inca Empire in Peru
• Both were hidalgos members of the landed gentry
  and veteran crusaders

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• Significance of Overseas Expansion
• Development of European empires in Africa, India,
  East Indies, North South America
• Colonies provided raw materials, gold silver,
  plus markets for manufactured goods

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