The Renaissance

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The Renaissance
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Background of the Era

• 1. Renaissance--a rebirth of European economic
  and cultural activity that originated in the
  Italian states around 1350, spread to northern
  Europe and lasted until around 1550.
• Main Characteristics
• 1. Urban and upper class--Hence, it began in the
  well-funded Italian city-states
• 2. Secular--interested in worldly pleasures (art,
  architecture, food, etc.)
• 3. Age of recovery--return to Greco-Roman
  culture.

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• 4. Emphasis on the individual--glorified the
  capabilities of man
• 5. Humanism--a program of study that includes
  rhetoric, philosophy, literature, history! and
  classical languages (Latin and Greek). Today we
  call these the humanities.

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Background of Periods of the Renaissance

• 1. Early Renaissance (1400-1500)--Florence as
  epicenter
• 2. High Renaissance (1500-1530)--
• Rome as epicenter
• 3. Late Renaissance (1530ish- late 1500s)
• 4. Northern Renaissance (1400s and 1500s)

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Why in Italy First?

• 1. Trade routes benefited Italy by the end of
  the 14th century. (Benefited by the decline of
  Hanseatic League)
• 2. New Industries (wool, metals, glassware).
• 3. Italians let their money work for
  them--bankers such as the House of Medici in
  Florence.

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Social Changes

• 1.Nobility-- Shift from military service to
  education to maintain their dominance
• 2. Baldassare Castigliones The Book of the
  Courtier (1528) establishes the description of
  the true Renaissance Man.--- Homo universalis

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Third Estate

1. Rural--peasants
2. Urban--Patricians--
3. Shopkeepers, burghers, artisans--those who
   produced things
4. Working poor--propertyless
5. Slaves

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Italian States in the Renaissance

• Milan--Visconti and Sforza
• Florence--Medicis
• Papal States
• Kingdom of Naples-Spain
• City States
• Urbino--Federigo de Montefeltro
• Ferrara--dEstes
• Mantua--Gonzagas

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Warfare

• Balance of Power Milan, Florence, and Naples vs.
  Venice and the Papal states Peace of Lodi 1454
• Spain vs. France in Naples (1494-1559)

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Intellectual Developments

• Humanism and secularism dramatically altered
  views of philosophy and education.

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Petrarch (1304-74)

• Concerned with secular and ancient texts.
• Held Cicero as his model for prose and Virgil for
  poetry.
• Called the Middle Ages the Dark Ages

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Civic Humanism

• Leonardo Bruni embraced this idea in The New
  Cicero.
• Develop yourself, but also serve your society, as
  Cicero did.

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Lorenzo Valla and Latin

• Focused on the pure Latin of the Romans in the
  Elegance of the Latin Language.
• Proved the Donation of Constantine to be a fraud.

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Philosophy--Neoplatonism

• Synthesis of Platonism and Christianity, by
  Marsilio Ficino.
• Man has unlimited potential.
• Pico Della Mirandola and Oration on the Dignity
  of Man

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EducationLiberal Studies

• Pietro Paul Vergerio and Vittorino de Feltre
• Vergerio
• Concerning Character by Vergerio stressed the
  importance of a rounded education

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History

• Leonardo Brunis History of the Florentine People
• And Francesco Guicciardinis History of Italy and
  History of Florence
• Both secular historical studies