AP EUROPEAN HISTORY

WORLD HISTORY NOTES 27
THE RENAISSANCE

- New way of life emerging from Dark Ages in Europe
- Began in 14th century and lasted until the 16th
- mostly in Italy
- called the #“Renaissance#”
- French for re-birth
-circa 1350 in northern Italian city/states
- had been profiting from their central location
- trade routes between Europe and Middle East
- by 1300's had become richest cities in Europe
- Italian bankers & merchants had enough wealth to do what they wanted
- buy libraries and fine art
- admired and encouraged art, literature and scholarship
- surrounded by Greek/Roman reminders
- amphitheaters, monuments, sculpture
- caused them to take an interest in classical culture and thought
- in Italy, most famous patrons (supporters) of the arts were Medici family
- they were bankers
- had banks in cities all over Europe
- became active in politics of Florence in 1400's
- controlled that city for next 300 years
- best known was Lorenzo de Medici
- called Lorenzo the Magnificent
- was scholar, poet, architect
- had huge collection of classical manuscripts
- let other thinkers use it
- expanded university of Florence
- hired painters, architects, sculptors to create art for his palace
- also for Florence
- many still survive to this day
- today Florence is one of most beautiful cities in world
- Patrons took interest in ancient Romans
- paid to restore old monuments, works of art
- searched monastaries for classical manuscripts
- often in poor condition or entirely forgotten
- Popes, princes, merchants collected them
- stored them in great libraries
- studied by scholars from around the world
- All this scholarship developed interest in study of the humanities
- study of humankind and culture
- as opposed to study of science
- included Latin, Greek language
- also literature, composition, history, philosophy
- sometimes music, math
- people who read/wrote about these subjects were called humanists
- Enthusiasm for this new knowledge spread to upper classes
- people began to imitate customs and ways of life of past
- some tried to trace their ancestry to ancient Rome
- One early humanist in Renaissance was Francesco Petrarch
- believed Roman times were grander than his own
- studied Roman culture, literature
- encouraged others to do same
- collected ancient manuscripts
- many of which had been long forgotten
- wrote in Latin the ideas of Roman writers
- also wrote hundreds of love poems in Italian
- often worked all night at his desk
- was once told to relax a bit
- said #“nothing weighs less than a pen, and nothing gives more pleasure”
- July 19, 1374, found dead at his desk, his head on an open book
- his pen had fallen from his hand
- thinkers in middle ages were called Scholastics
- used ideas from ancients to support/clarify churches position
- believed this life was preparation for afterlife
- Renaissance humanists tried to understand the entire civilization of
Ancient world
- believed life on earth should be lived to fullest
- Humanists believed in the intense appreciation of the individual
- what makes people stand out from others
- what makes us ambitious for fame and success
- like Greeks, believed mankind could achieve great things
- this attitude encouraged curiosity and adventure
- Upper class benefited from this new spirit
- and had the money and leisure to develop their talents
- ideal Renaissance person
- educated, witty, charming, artistically creative
- effective at public speaking, elegant writing
- men expected to practice swordsmanship, military skills
- both sexes developed their athletic ability
- like Greek/Romans, upper class valued public service
- praised those useful to society
- humanities education was good preparation for successful life
- knowledge valuable for future social and public leaders
- Political Climate in Renaissance Italy
- There was intense rivalry
- Pope, Holy Roman Emperor, and rulers of France/Spain
- all hungered for power
- turned to guidebooks on how to succeed in politics
- Most famous handbook was called The Prince written in 1513
- by Niccolo Machiavelli of Florence
- student of politics and diplomat
- drew on Roman history to set up guidelines for rulers of his time
- The Prince taught a ruler must do whatever necessary to gain power
- they can lie, break treaties, and kill if necessary
- actions must be judged by results
- this book has been debated ever since
- women in the Renaissance
- Men held center stage in business and politics
- women expected to make use of their education and talents at home
- wealthy women studied poetry, languages, and music
- in order to entertain and be a credit to husband
- one of most known women was Isabella d’Este
- art patron, patron of learning, and skilled diplomat
- few women had as much power as she did
- most had less chance to shape political and economic life
- Renaissance technology
- most exciting development was printing press
- invented in Europe around 1450
- usually credited to Johann Gutenberg
- first printed Bible
- by 1500 hundreds of printers in nearly every European country
- invention of moveable type had three main effects
- bookmaking now cheaper
- now almost anyone could afford books
- as a result, literacy spread
- bookmaking became faster
- more books could be published
- earliest books had religious subjects
- but new reading public wanted other kinds of books
- many of the books were written in the vernacular
- language of the common people as opposed to Latin
- scholars had better access to each other’s works
- and great books of ancient and mediaeval worlds
- this brought important advances in knowledge
-Northern Renaissance
- printing helped spread spirit and ideas of renaissance
- from Italy to FR, ENG, GER, and the Netherlands
- while sharing admiration for classics and the individual
- northerners also deeply concerned with religious questions
- Desiderius Erasmus
- most influential humanist of northern Renaissance
- trained as Catholic priest
- studied both humanities and Christian teachings
- said church had become greedy and corrupt
- called for return of simple faith of early Christianity
- wrote In Praise of Folly (1509)
- criticized scholars, scientists, philosophers and clergy
- too narrow minded
- book had wide influence
- he also wrote New Testament in Latin
- was admired for its style and scholarship
- new printing press spread his books all over Europe
- one of first whose writings read by thousands
- Sir Thomas More
- another important scholar of the Northern Renaissance
- an English statesman and close friend of Erasmus
- was devout Catholic and student of dogma AND humanities
- wrote Utopia (Greek for nowhere) in 1516
- described an ideal peaceful society
- also criticized politics, society and religion of the time.

WORLD HISTORY NOTES 28
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE & ART

- As mentioned before, Renaissance spirit renewed interest in Greek/Roman
- began a creative period in literature and art
- Literature
- Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra of Spain
- his life filled with adventure
- soldier against Turks
- imprisoned by pirates in N. Africa
- tax collector for Spain
- helped him write Don Quixote (1605)
- mocked old ways of knights of middle ages
- story of kind old man who read too much about this
- eventually loses his sense of reality
- wants to be a knight, too
- tilts at windmills thinking them giants
- fights a flock of sheep he thinks are soldiers
- Francois Rabelais of France
- was a monk, scholar and physician
- also studied plants and archeological sites
- encouraged Renaissance idea of living life to the fullest
- #“Let nothing in the world be unknown to you”
- took 20 years to write his famous 5 vol. book
- Gargantua and Pantagruel
- made fun of those who did not believe in humanism
- combined humor, imagination, and adventure
- with scholarship
- William Shakespeare of England
- actor, poet, playwright, but he was NOT a classical scholar
- but shared interest w/humanists in ancient times
- Julius Caesar
- Antony and Cleopatra
- other stories revolve around Renaissance Italy
- also mediaeval England, Scotland, Denmark
- admired humanist ideals
- Hamlet’s “What a piece of work is man…”
- his characters were real people with real problems
- complex and believable
- few writers have explored human behavior, feelings
with such insight.
- Renaissance Art
- again, a reach back to Greek/Roman times for themes/ideas
- ancient works of art modeled for paintings of various subjects
- Greek mythology
- Roman history
- incidents from the Bible, church history
- also painted scenes from Renaissance life
- politicians, patrons, and ordinary people
- Middle ages artists used their work to serve the church, religious feelings
- people were stiff, faces had little individuality
- Renaissance art, like the Greeks, showed uniqueness of the human face
- tried to show individual’s character and personality in lifelike way
- artists saw nature as standard for balance and proportion
- mediaeval painters had people bigger than buildings
- Renaissance artists showed people, trees, buildings, etc. properly
- another step toward realism was perspective
-impression of depth and distance on a flat surface
- Giotto used this first in 1300
- seemed weird to medieval eyes
- he was ignored until the Renaissance
- in 1400's, Filippo Brunelleschi used math laws in planning a painting
- showed perspective more accurately
- new materials were being used
- mediaeval painters used a kind of paint called tempera
- tried so quickly artists could not change or correct the painting
- oil painting was first developed by Jan van Eyck, Flemish painter
- could work more slowly, create new colors, more lifelike
- use of oil spread quickly all over Europe
- Italian Renaissance artists soon used perspective and oil
- produced many of the masterpieces we see today
- often paintings were anachronistic
-Three geniuses of Renaissance Art
- Raphael
- combined religion w/Renaissance spirit
- became famous for his Madonnas (pictures of Mary)
- instead of mediaeval angelic otherworldly Mary
- painted human, loving mother
- he was also a master of design
- used perspective to create a sense of space and balance
- Michelangelo
- painter, poet, architect
- but considered himself a sculptor above all
- called it #“the first of the arts#”
- #“…each act, each limb, each bone is given life and,
lo, man’s body is raised breathing, alive, in wax
or clay, or stone.#”
- went to academy of sculpture in Florence at 14 y/o
- at 23 sculpted the Pieta in marble
- Mary holding Jesus after the crucifixion
- 1508 Pope Julius II, a patron of arts, called him to Vatican
- to decorate ceiling of Sistine Chapel with frescoes
- watercolor on fresh plaster
- to show Biblical events from creation to Noah’s flood
- he worked on it 4 years at nine cents an hour
- painted on his back
- paint dripped into his eyes
- at night, worked by candlelight
- chapel made his reputation as Rome’s greatest artist
- Leonardo da Vinci
- considered a genius
- painter, inventor, scientist
- had all the properties of Renaissance man
- curiosity, energy
- only a few of his paintings are still around
- The Last Supper
- The Mona Lisa (La Giaconda)
- proof of his genius lies in his notebooks
- to learn about the human body, he dissected corpses
- made careful drawings of bones, muscles, etc.
- he observed natural objects and drew them in detail
- bird’s wings
- vein of a leaf
- leg of a horse
- he tried to find general rules from information learned
- this method began the modern study of science
- his inventions were way ahead of their time
- flying machines
- submarines
- parachutes
- machine guns
- Artists of the northern Renaissance
- did not share the Italian interest in classical things
- rather emphasized precise, realistic detail
- and use of light and shadow
- many used religious themes and symbols
- other showed life in towns and the country
- Northern Renaissance art was centered in the Netherlands
- especially area of Flanders
- remember it was the Flemish van Eyck who used oil first
- Pieter Brueghel the Elder
- painted realistic scenes
- often with humourous touches
- painted farmers and townspeople at work and play
- Rembrandt van Rijn
- Dutch art was at its height around 1600's
- he painted nearly 100 self portraits
- was expert in the use of light and shadow
- Albrecht Durer
- leading German artist
- artist, woodcuts, engravings
- he was court painter to Holy Roman Emperor from 1512-1528
- Hans Holbein the Younger
- most famous German painter of his time
- his portraits showed personality of his subjects
- also detail in the clothing and surrounding objects
- his two most famous paintings
- portrait of Erasmus
- portrait of Sir Thomas More
- during religious wars in Germany he moved to England
- became court painter to King Henry VIII in 1536