Transcript Renaissance and Discovery - Spring

Renaissance and Discovery
Chapter 10
Renaissance
 Means “rebirth” (of Greek ideas, culture, etc.)
 Where?
Italy: city-states
 When?
1330-1530
 Characteristics?
 Secular
 Humanism
 Did not ignore religion
 Classical ideas (New philosophical approaches to ancient
texts)
 Classical Architecture & Arts
 Beauty of nature valued
 Dignity and potential of man valued
 Idea of individual
Origins
Begins in the Italian City -States
 Italy’s geographic location
 (Point of exchange East/West)
 Thriving Economy (Wealthy Merchant Families)
 Patrons – Arts – Princes, Popes, and some women
 Banking and finance come to the fore in Italy (Usury)
 Growth of urban financial centers
 Capitalism usurping Feudalism
 Rich families benefited from recession in Europe
 Printing Press widely used in Italy for secular works
 (See later slide)
 Hegemony of the Papacy waning
 Northern Europe consolidating under strong
Monarchies
Origins
Major States
Milan, Venice, Florence, Genoa, Naples,
Papal States
(Think North as opposed to South)
City is the center with control of
surrounding lands
Oligarchies, despots & republics
Attributes
 Individualism
 Portraiture & biography
 Secularism
 Literacy, wealth, knowledge
 From Scholasticism to Humanism
 Begins with notaries
 What makes a “good” citizen? What makes a “good” life?
 Petrarch as first major thinker looking closely again at the
classics
 Humanism= rhetoric, Latin, history, grammar, poetry and
moral philosophy
 Humanism is not a new philosophy replacing Christianity
Secularism
 SECULARISM
 Belonging to this world, life in the present.
 HUMANISM
 Man rather than God is the chief center of interest (from ancient
Greeks)
 Christian Humanists – Combining Christian and Classical
 Human body a thing of beauty (painted & sculpted it that way)
 Human mind capable of discovering truth by reason and
reaching unlimited levels of achievement
 In groups and communities, how do men live? How do they
govern themselves? Why is there a mixture of good and
evil?
New Virtues
 Castiglione, in The Courtier, best describes the new
virtues of the “universal man”
 Men: Well educated, charming polite, witty, dance, write
poetry, sing & play music, physically strong and
graceful, a skilled rider, wrestler & swordsman
 Women: Know the classics, write well, paint, make
music, dance and be charming (not expected to seek
fame as men did)
New Politics
 Machiavelli as originator of new (real) diplomacy &
ruling (New concept of the state)
 Republican Ideals (Classical)
 Machiavelli the Florentine, diplomat and advisor until
removed from office.
 Advice: Better to be feared than loved (but never
hated). A good prince is crafty & shrewd....in politics the
ends justify the means
New Politics
 Divided Feudal Monarchies
Monarchies
 Sovereign states grew with wealth
 National armies
 Levy Taxes
Unified National
France
 French nation building
 Hundred Years War
 Defeat of Charles the Bold
 Burgundy
 Died in battle at Nancy
 Louis XI
Spain
 Isabella and Ferdinand
 Unified Spain
 Secured borders
 Military ventures abroad
 Exploration
 Christianized Spain
 Reconquista – Inquisition
England
 Civil war following Hundred Years War
 War of the Roses
 Lancaster/York Houses Red/White Roses
 Tudor Dynasty
 Henry VII
Holy Roman Empire
 No political centralization or unity in Central Europe
 Emperor Charles IV
 Golden Bull
 Electoral College – Administrative Body
 Unity did not fully exist
 Religious dissent and conflict
Northern Renaissance
 Northern Humanists
 Religious Reform
 Educational Reform
 Laity is important
 Printing Press
 Erasmus
 Catholic Reform
 Imitation of Christ
Northern Renaissance
 Printing Press
 Johann Gutenberg
 Cheaper Books
 Rapid production
 Spread of Ideas
 Humanism, Religion, Reform
 Instant Authority
 “Fixity” of ideas
Social Changes
 Very little changed for the majority of the population
 Culture
 Gender, racial(nation), social hierarchies
 However, ideas slowly seeped into the populace (Printing
Press, cultural changes)
Masculinity
Names to know
 Lorenzo Valla
 Petrarch
 Baldassare Castiglione
 Boccaccio
 Jacob Burckhardt
 Cosimo de’ Medici
 Niccolo Machiavelli
 Johann Gutenberg
 Thomas More
Exploration

Why?

Need to find alternate trade routes
 Around Muslim controlled areas

Who?

Portuguese led the way
 Henry the Navigator

Spain

What?

Gold, Glory, God
 Resources, Slaves, Christianity, , Conquest, Pride, Curiosity….

Expeditions around Africa

New World discovery
 Columbus (Ferd and Isa)
Exploitation
 Columbian Exchange
 New goods introduced
 Treaty of Tordesillas
 Land
 Conquistadores
 Pizarro, Cortes (Spain)
 Gold!
 De Las Casas
 Black Legend
 Viceroys
 Encomienda System
Racial Beliefs