The Renaissance

THE RENAISSANCE
The Modern World; contrast with the Later Middle Ages
Renaissance: mainly in Italy (1300-1600)
Origins of Renaissance: Jacob Burckhardt – claimed period in distinct contrast to Middle Ages
Northern Italian cities developed international trade: Genoa, Venice, Milan
popolo (middle class) took power in 13th century; republican gov’t short-lived
signori (despots) or oligarchies (rule of merchant aristocracies) by 1300
commenda: Contract between merchant and “merchant-adventurer” who agreed to
take goods to distant locations and return with the proceeds (for 1/3 of profits)
Politics among the Italian City-States
o Major city-states and figures
Republic of Florence (Included Republic of Genoa) – Medici family
Cosimo De’Medici (1389-1464): allied with other powerful families of
Florence and became unofficial ruler of the republic
Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492): lavish patron of the arts
Duchy of Milan -- Sforza family (Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), great art patron)
Rome, the Papal States – papacy (“Renaissance popes”)
Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Venice, Venetian Republic
Isabella d’Este (1474-1539): most famous Renaissance female ruler (ruled Mantua)
condottieri: leaders of private armies hired by cities for military purposes
Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) – theocracy in Florence 1494-98; (predicted French
invasion due to paganism and moral decay of Italian city-states); burned at the stake
Charles VIII (1483-1498), French invasions of Italy; Italy became battleground for
international ambitions
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) -- The Prince (1513) – Cesare Borgia
Charles V, sack of Rome in 1527: symbolizes end of Renaissance in Italy

èHumanism -- Revival of antiquity (Greece and Rome) in literature
Petrarch—“Dark Ages” metaphor; “father of humanism” and 1st modern writer, literature no
longer subordinate to religion
Boccacio – Decameron: aimed to impart wisdom of human character and behavior.
Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) Oration on the Dignity of Man; Platonic academy
Education: (emphasis on Latin and Greek)
Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) – The Book of the Courtier
Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) – wrote history of Florence; division of historical periods;
narrative form; civic humanist; first to use term “humanism”
Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457)—On the False Donation of Constantine (1444); study of Latin
Individualism/ secularism: “man is the measure of all things”
virtú: the quality of being a great man in whatever noble pursuit
Printing press: Johann Gutenberg – spread of humanistic literature to rest of Europe.

Renaissance Art
Florence the leader in Renaissance art esp. in quattrocento (1400s_
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) – contemporary Renaissance art historian.
Giotto (1266-1336) – considered 1st Renaissance artist, use of chiaroscuro
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) – architect of cathedrals (il duomo in Florence)
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), architect of cathedrals.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) -- sculptor: bronze doors for Florentine baptistry
Donatello (1386-1466 – sculptor: David (young)
Masaccio (1401-1428) painter: real, nude human figures
Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) – Portrait of a Condottiere
Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510) – painter: Birth of Venus
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1574) – goldsmith and sculptor
“High Renaissance” centered in Rome (1500-1527) – cinquecento (1500s)
Most worldly of Renaissance popes – Alexander VI (1492-1503); Julius II (1503-
1513); and Leo X (1513-1521)
Characteristics: classical balance, harmony, restraint
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – Last Supper, Mona Lisa; “Renaissance Man”
Raphael Santi (1483-1520) – School of Athens
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), “universal man”; Sistine Chapel; David;
pieta: Mary holding limp body of Christ considered most perfect marble sculpture
Titian
Society
Women: Christine de Pisan (1363?-1434?): The City of Ladies; The Book of Three Virtues
Perhaps Europe’s first feminist
Blacks: exotic and highly prized

Northern Renaissance
è Christian Humanism: emphasis on early church writings for answers to improve society
Desiderius Erasmus (Erasmus of Rotterdam) (1466-1536) – In Praise of Folly
most famous intellectual of his times
criticized the church: “Erasmus lay the egg that Luther hatched”
Thomas More (1478-1536) – Utopia – creates ideal society on an island; but to
achieve harmony and order people have to sacrifice individual rights
Jacques Lefevre d’Etables (1454-1536): leading French humanist; produced 5
versions of the Psalms that challenged a single authoritative Bible.
Francesco Ximenes de Cisneros (1436-1517): reformed Spanish clergy and church,
Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition
Northern Renaissance Art
Low Countries produced especially important artists
Jan Van Eyck – Flemish painter, detailed realistic works
Peter Brueghel the Elder (1520-1569)—focused on lives of ordinary people
Bosch –master of symbolism and fantasy; religious and folk legends as themes
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) German – foremost northern Renaissance artist.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543): Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas More
Writers
Francois Rabelais’ (1494-1553) Gargantua and Pantagruel
Montaigne (1533-1592) – developed essay form; modern skepticism
Germany
Regiomontanus; Nicholas of Cusa: mathematics
Copernicus : heliocentric theory
Cartography: Behaim and Schoner
Fugger family in Germany (esp. Jacob Fugger (1459-1525): international banking,
patronized the arts
Myscticism: Meister Eckhart, Thomas á Kempis, Gerard Groote: belief in personal
relationship with God
Include other Germans listed above
England:
Elizabethan Period
William Shakespeare
Jacobean Period (James I)
Authorized Bible, 1604
John Milton
Spain: Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote
Domenikos El Greco (1541-1614): painter: mannerism

è “New” Monarchs: consolidated power and created Europe’s first modern nation-states
French recovery after 100 Years’ War: Valios line of monarchs
Louis XI “Spider King” (1461-83): large royal army, taxes, power over clergy
Francis I (1515-1547): Condordat of Bologna, taille
England: after 100 Years’ War
War of the Roses – victorious House of Lancaster = rise of Tudor dynasty:
Henry VII (1489-1509): Star Chamber (nobles tried w/o jury; often tortured)
Henry VIII (1509-1547): English reformation
Spain
Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon (1478-1516) & Isabella of Castile (1474-1504):
1492: unified Spain; Reconquista—removed last of Moors; expulsion of
Jews
hermandades: alliance of cities to oppose nobles
Spanish Inquisition: monarchy enforced authority of the national church
Habsburg Empire: (Holy Roman Empire)
Maximilian I (1493-1519): gained much territory with marriage to Mary of Burgundy
Charles V: most powerful ruler in Europe (1st Holy Roman Emperor)
ruled Spanish and Austrian Hapsburg branches, sacked Rome in 1527
sought to prevent spread of Protestant Reformation in Germany

Life in the 16th and 17th centuries
Compare to life during the Later Middle Ages
Hierarchy:
Countryside: manorial lords, peasants, landless workers
Cities: merchants (bourgeoisie), artisans, laborers
education or wealth became means of moving up social ladder (for the fortunate few)
Demography: population growth leveled by 1650; cities saw larger increase than countryside
Family: nuclear family; patriarchal; avg. lifespans – men = 27, women = 25!; divorce rare
Witch Hunts: as many as 100,000 executed between 1500-1700; mostly elderly women
Food and Diet: commoners relied on bread (& beer); upper-classes enjoyed meats, cheese,
sweets; English ate the best; famines were reality in many parts
Slavery:
introduced by Portuguese
blacks seen as exotic, highly prized in certain areas
“American form” of slavery existed in Mediterranean sugar plantations