The Renaissance

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The Renaissance

• Overview

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The Renaissance

• Renaissance rebirth (in French)
• Northern Italy after the Plague (1350)
• What was reborn?
• Renewed interest in classical learning and the
  legacy of ancient Greece and Rome
• Deliberate rejection of advances made during the
  Middle Ages
• Rebirth of spirit and creativity

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Philosophy

• Humanism
• Individuals should find the truth, dont wait for
  it to be handed to you
• Humans have a spark
• Many ways to
  discover an answer
• Rarely just one answer

• Scholasticism
• Emphasis on dialectical reasoning
• Read a source, examine related documents
• Primary purpose is to find an answer to a
  question through a logical process
• Emphasis is on finding the one correct answer

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Economics

• Manorialism
• System of dependence between manor lords and
  those who work the land
• Barter Society
• Goods and services are exchanged. No money is
  exchanged.

• Merchant Princes
• Extremely wealthy
• De Medici powerful banking family from Florence
• Wealth political power
• Money, power create greed and abuse of power
• Money Economy
• Commercial Revolution
• 1520-1650
• Networks of international trade (including the
  New World)
• Winners Portugal, Spain, England, France

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Politics

• City-states in Northern Italy
• No strong monarchies
• Good wealthy patrons, interested in civic
  improvement
• Bad Greed, jealousy amongst wealthy families
• Emergence of Nation-States in Northern Europe
• State political entity
• Nation cultural or ethnic entity
• United by common language, culture, and values

• Feudalism
• Reciprocal obligations between the three major
  groups of Medieval society

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The Arts

• Stylized, religious themes
• Art is created to inform, teach
• Stiff, less
  realistic

• Harmony, balance, proportion
• Modeled after Classic Greece and Rome
• Less emphasis
• on strictly religious
• themes
• Influenced by Humanism
• Art is created to delight and please the viewer

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Renaissance Sculpture
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Renaissance Paintings
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School of Athens
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Birth of Venus -- Botticelli
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Architecture
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Religion

• Man centered
• Individual interpretation of scriptures
• Disillusionment
• Corruption
• Great Schism (Avignon)
• Groundwork laid for Protestant Reformation
• Reform the Catholic Church
• Martin Luther, 1517

• God Centered
• Domination of Catholic Church
• People are told what to think about scriptures
• Church is seen as the most reliable source of
  information
• Clergy are revered, trusted

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Society

• Feudalism
• System of protection, strict hierarchy
• Chivalry
• Code of Knighthood
• Emphasizes virtues such as honor, bravery,
  loyalty, humility, and sacrifice

• Individualism
• Humans possess the ability to think and discover

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Why Italy

• Latin roots, heritage never completely abandoned
• Latin language of law and business
• Plentiful ruins, reminders of the past
• Universities
• France and England 100 Years War
• Spain fighting the Muslims
• Feudalism had never been strong in Italy

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Why Italy?

• Italian cities -- renewed interest in trade
• City States Firenze, Pisa, Venezia
• Wealth trade and banking
• Rise of merchant families support of the arts
• Strong and numerous elite urban societies

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Fall of Constantinople -- 1453

• Byzantine Emperor outnumbered 7000 troops vs.
  200,000 Turkish troops
• Greek scholars move to Italy
• Brought knowledge of Hebrew
• Comparison between biblical translations began
  comparisons in other areas politics, history,
  philosophy

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Why Florence?

• Athens of the Renaissance
• Many artists and writers were from Florence
• 1425 population 60,000
• Self-governed, independent city-state
• Strong sense of responsibility to state
• Strong economy,
• strong government
• -- Banking is important
• industry (no port, like
  Venice and Genoa)
• -- Gold coin (the Florin)
• common
• currency

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Role of Other Cities

• Venice
• End of Silk Road
• Outfitted Crusaders
• Doges opulence, power

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Important PeopleofThe Renaissance
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Petrarch

• 1300s
• Italian poet, writer
• Wrote in the vernacular
• To be able to say how much you love is to love
  but little
• Father of Humanism

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Pico della Mirandola

• Oration on the Dignity of Man
• Human quest for knowledge
• Man is better than animal
• ability to think elevated place in the great
  chain of being

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Great Chain of Being
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Borgia Family

• Alexander VI nephew of a Pope
• Cesare Borgia commander of papal armies, model
  prince
• Lucretia Borgia pathetic pawn

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Drink, drink from the golden cup . . .
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Savonarola

• Being Christian being good and virtuous. Avoid
  excess.
• Goal correct the Pope and all abuse
• Preached that the end of the world was coming
  (1500)
• Bonfire of the Vanities
• Excommunicated, burned as a heretic (1498)

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De Medici Family

• Cosimo
• Founder of dynasty
• Merchant, Banker
• Lorenzo (The Magnificent)
• politician, patron
• Life golden age of renaissance
• Ruled Florence indirectly

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Procession of the Magi
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Adoration of the Magi Botticelli, 1475
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Catherine de Medici

• Great grand-daughter of Lorenzo
• Wife of Henry II of France
• Regent for 2 sons, mother of 3 kings of France
• Political upheaval
• Machiavellian

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