Transcript The Renaissance Notes

The Renaissance
1485-1660
Essential Questions
• What questions interested the humanist thinkers?
• What social and economic developments during the Renaissance
fostered a growing interest in reading and learning?
• What forces led people to challenge the power of the Roman Catholic
Church in England and on the Continent?
Rediscovering Ancient Greece and Rome
• Renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth.”
• Renewed interest in classical learning—the writings of ancient
Greece and Rome
• Very few could read; those who could studied texts explaining Church
doctrine
• People learned to read Greek once again
Rediscovering Ancient Greece and Rome
• There was a renewal of curiosity and creativity
• New “daring” thoughts began to emerge
• It all began in Italy; wealth had been generated from banking and
trade with the East
• Almost everyone was Roman Catholic-church was still rich and
politically active (in ways we would object to today)
• Many of the popes were patrons of the arts, architects, and scholars
• It takes money to fund science, art, and literature
Humanism
• “Knowledge is power.”
• Francis Bacon (1597)
• Humanists asked three basic questions:
• What is a good life?
• What is a human being?
• How does one live a good life?
• Humanist thinkers found no conflicts between the Church’s teachings
and the ideas of ancient Roman moralist thinkers
Humanism
• Humanist thinkers, instead, tried to fuse the two sources of wisdom
(secular and ecclesiastical)
• Humanists wanted to strengthen Christianity, not diminish it
• These Humanist thinkers then began to teach others
Humanism
• Humanism is the belief in, and celebration of, the potential and
abilities of man, without dependence on divine intervention to solve
our problems.
• Humanists stressed history, literature, philosophy, and other liberal
arts.
Humanists
• Erasmus-Dutch monk; Sir Thomas More-British lawyer
• Friends; loved the church, but were upset by the church’s current
practices
• More wrote Utopia
• No place
• Ideal society; we read Utopian/dystopian novels to this day
• 1984, A Brave New World, The Hunger Games, etc…
More’s Utopia
• Literally translates to “no place” because no society could exist like
this
• In Utopia, More wrote that everyone was rational, and if anyone
challenged the government (which rarely happened) they were
labeled irrational.
• An “ideal communist state”—every example of actual communist
states have been violent, bloody, and totalitarian.
Printing
• The printing press transformed the way information was received
• Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) invented the first movable type
printing press
• First printed book was an immense Latin Bible
• By the year 1500, 40,000 titles had been printed
The Reformation
 1530s- an open break with the Catholic Church could no longer be
avoided
 The strong national identity so many British people felt had them
angry with the popes—far off individuals asking taking money from
them
 German religious influences were entering Britain
 Martin Luther-a new kind of Christianity based on a personal
understanding of the Bible
 The church needed reform; More and Erasmus were leading the
charge in Britain to put an end to the loose-living of priests and
monks
Henry VIII
• Reigned from 1509-1547
• Son of King Henry VII, the first king of the Tudor dynasty
• Given the title “Defender of the Faith” early in his career by the Pope
• Later dissolved the monasteries in Britain
• Later in life he becomes a rather cruel, hypocritical man
• Died without knowing that his child (Elizabeth, an ignored daughter)
would be one of the most influential British leaders
Henry VIII
• Accomplishments:
• Expanded British navy
• Established Church of England in 1534
• Decreased power of nobles in England and strengthened power of
Parliament and the monarchy
• True Renaissance man-wrote poetry, athlete, humanist learning
Henry VIII
• The conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the king came to a
head with Henry VIII
• Wanted to rid himself of his aging wife, Catherine of Aragon
• Too old to give him his heir
• The pope was controlled by Catherine’s nephew and would not grant the
divorce; so Henry split with the Roman Catholic Church and made himself
head of the Church of England
Henry VIII’s Wives
• Divorced
• Beheaded
• Died
• Divorced
• Beheaded
• Survived
Henry VIII’s Wives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Catherine of Aragon, mother of Queen Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary)
Anne Boleyn (Mother of Queen Elizabeth)
Jane Seymour (Mother of Edward I)
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr
Henry’s Wives
• Catherine of Aragon:
• Henry married Catherine for money and power as her parents were King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain-he may have loved her initially
• Anne Boleyn
• Married her for love and lust; she was pregnant; rumors circulated that she
was unfaithful, so she was beheaded by a swordsman
• Jane Seymour
• Was already planning her wedding to Henry when Anne Boleyn was about to
start her trial. She gave birth to Edward and died 12 days later. Henry was
buried beside Jane.
Henry’s Wives
• Anne of Cleves
• Henry married her to gain power in Protestant Germany. He felt she
was so ugly when he met her, he promptly divorced her. She agreed
and was granted homes and an allowance.
• Catherine Howard
• Executed for adultery…she was guilty of adultery
• Catherine Parr
• Forced into a marriage; became guardian to Elizabeth; outlived Henry
and married Thomas Seymour; Elizabeth lived with them, but had to
leave because Thomas Seymour was inappropriate with the young
princess; Catherine died 7 days after childbirth (a girl named Mary)
The Protestant Reformation
• Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, remained loyal to the
pope and did not recognize Henry as head of the Church of England.
• Henry had him beheaded; he wanted supreme power.
• Some people (Puritans, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc.) believed that
the new protestant church wasn’t reformed enough
• They wanted to get rid of bishops, prayer books, etc.
• Contended that religion was solely between an individual and God.
The Boy King and Bloody Mary
• Edward, the son of Henry and Jane Seymour, became king
• Very sickly
• Relatives wielded the actual power
• Reigned from 1547-1553; died of tuberculosis
• Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry, became queen
• Reigned from 1553-1558
• Devout Catholic; reinstate bishops and the pope’s power, hunted down
protestants
• If she had lived longer, she would have undone all of Henry’s
accomplishments
Bloody Mary
• Burned three hundred people at the stake, executed many
• Married King Phillip of Spain, a country Britain was hating
• Died of fever, childless—Elizabeth took throne
Queen Elizabeth
• brilliant and successful monarch (reigned from 1558-1603)
• Restored law and order; reestablished the Church of England;
rejected pope’s authority; excommunicated
• Virgin Queen; never married; refused Phillip
• She outlived many assassination attempts put in place by Mary,
Queen of Scots—her cousin
• Mary was a Catholic and heir to the throne after Elizabeth; Elizabeth
put her under house arrest and watched her closely; eventually
sending her to the chopping block
The Spanish Armada Sinks
• Phillip used Mary’s execution to invade England
• Assembled Spanish Armada
• England’s smaller, more easily navigable ships, defeated the Armada
James I
• Dull compared to Elizabeth; Scottish cousin; son of Mary, Queen of
Scots
• Sponsored new translation of the Bible
• Admirable in many ways
• Patronized Shakespeare (meaning he supported him)
The End of The Renaissance
• James died; his son, Charles I, was autocratic and destructive
• Puritan dictator Oliver Cromwell came into power
• Towards the end of the Renaissance, great thinkers began to become
more and more worldly—they began to challenge long-standing
religious beliefs
Macbeth
• Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577) told
of a Scottish King, Macbeth
• King James claimed to be the direct descendant of Banquo; he was
also obsessed with witches
• Macbeth’s curse: every theater that puts it on seems to fail, actors
and actresses have died before putting it on
• Wyrd: fate (weird sisters-witches)