Transcript File - Miss Rotella`s Class

+
Chapter 1 Renaissance
Europe
Origins of a Western Worldview
+
What is a Renaissance?

Renaissance means “rebirth”
+
Florence, Italy. The
birthplace of the Italian
Renaissance.
+
What we will learn

How can changing societal structures affect a society’s
worldview?

How do beliefs, values and society impact change in Medieval
Europe?

What is the Renaissance?

How are people’s attitudes and values shaped by the way a
society is organized?

What are the main features of the worldview that emerged
during the Renaissance?

Values, society and beliefs
+
Think for a second…

What would happen if half of Canada’s population suddenly
died of a disease. How would think affect our society?

Think individually, then discuss with the people around you.
+
A Changing Society

Focus Question: How are people’s attitudes and values
shaped by the way that a society is organized?
+
Times of Change

Middle Ages: European society was organized in a system
called feudalism.

Feudalism was a hierarchy: people were ranked above one
another based on their importance.

The level you were born into- expected to stay in that level
for entire life.

Feudalism was based on land, loyalty, and duty.
+
Times of Change

Nobles or knights swore oaths of allegiance to the king

In exchange for fighting for the king, they received rights to
land called manors

The Church owned land, and became very important to
medieval people in practical and spiritual aspects of their
lives
+
Medieval Country Life

Most people were peasants

Lived in rural villages on a manor and assigned land to
harvest

In exchange for use of land, peasants gave a some of what
they produced to the “lord of the manor” (noble)

Peasants were illiterate (couldn’t read or write) and
uneducated
+
Medieval Country Life

Some peasants were freemen who rented land from the lord
or worked for pay

Most peasants were serfs; they weren’t allowed to leave the
manor without the lord’s permission
+
Town Life

Most medieval towns were farm communities, built around a
monastery

Peasants worked based on their abilities, learned trades, or
worked for wealthy merchants as servants/laborers

Production of goods and trade in towns was organized by
cooperative organizations called guilds (know this term!)
+
Guilds

Guilds controlled prices of goods, set standards of quality, and
decided who would be admitted to the craft as a trainee or
apprentice.

Took care of members and their families (illness or injury)

Children would live and work at the home of a master and learn
a trade.

After years of training, they would take a test, become a
journeyman and become a member of the guild

In today’s society, what would we call a guild? Do we have
something similar?
+
Quick worldview review…

Worldview is NOT a perspective, it is more than personal
preference/opinion

It is the basis for how we act, the choices we make as citizens
in a local, global community. It is not just how we see the
world

SO… based on that… How do peoples positions on society
influence their worldview?
+
Let’s review…

What is feudalism? What was it based on?

What is a guild?
+
Challenges to the Feudal System

Feudal system in existence for hundreds of years

There were some factors that caused feudalism to break
down:
the Peasants Revolt
The Black Death
+
Peasants’ Revolts

The Hundred Years War, began in 1337 between England and
France

Fighting destroyed countryside

Peasants revolted due to high rents and taxes needed to pay
for the war

Authorities tried to put down peasants

Killed nobles, burned manors
+
The Black Death

1346-1350: millions of Europeans died

Began in Gobi Desert (between China and Mongolia)

Spread along trade routes

Forms of the plague were spread through fleas and rats, as
well as airborne droplets
+
The Black Death

Severe labor shortages on manors, and many feudal
states went bankrupt

Land on manors that survived were rented out or sold to
serfs, serfs were released from lords

Peasants had more options
+
Time and Money

Money and time became more important to people

On manors, people didn’t need to know exact time

Shopkeepers, merchants, business people needed to know
times

Mechanical clocks developed
+
Wealth in Society

Towns were growing; society less rigid.

People could gain wealth and skills, and move from one
social level to another Could this happen before?

New social structure emerged

Power and position was now based on money instead of land

Sumptuary laws were introduced
+
Feudal System/New System

Let’s look at the new social structure, after society was
changed drastically
+
+
Top Level:
Aristocracy
Middle Level: Middle
Class
Bottom Level: Lower
Class
High Church officials
Merchants and
businesses
Peasants
Rulers or lords
Craftspeople
Rural laborers
Old noble families
Shopkeepers
Urban laborers
Wealthy merchants
Bankers
Servants
Priests
The unemployed
+
Let’s talk about worldviews

What is worldview?

Do we all make the same decisions and act the same way?
What influences those things?
+
Geography

How does geography play a role in people’s worldview?
+
Time

How does time play a role in society?
+
Society

Are there different society’s in the world? How do roles in
society influence people’s worldview?
+
Values

How do people act towards one another? What influences
them?
+
Beliefs

How do beliefs about life and death influence peoples
actions?
+
Economy

Who decides important decisions about resources and
products?
+
Knowledge

How do people develop knowledge? What kind of thinking is
accepted, and how do we access knowledge? How is it
valued?
+
Feudalism

What is feudalism?

How did the organization of social structure influence
peoples role in society? Who made that decision?

How did peoples position in society influence their actions,
decisions, and ways of life?
+
Town/Country Life

What was it like living in the country? Who lived there? What
was the way of life?

What was it like living in the town? What was the way of life?
+
Monastic Life

How did living around a monastery influence peoples ways
of life?

How did this impact their worldview?
+
Role of Women
Rural Women:

Had lots of children

Worked in the field

Made clothes, cooked meals

Preserved food for family
+
Role of Women
Town Women:

Married guild members

Worked with husbands/sold goods

Inherited property/guild membership when husbands died

Become masters of crafts
+
Role of Women

Wealthy merchant families: women had more opportunity

Daughters sent to school

But noble women had little rights

Made few choices on their own, arranged marriages
+
How does religion influence
worldview?

Do you think in some societies religion has more of an
influence than others?
+
What we will learn

What role did religion play in shaping peoples worldview?

What role did religion play in peoples lives, and how did it
influence their worldview?
+
A Religious Society

Thought by some that the Black Plague was punishment from
God

Religion was central in peoples lives

Worldview in Western Europe was shaped by the Christian
Church.
+
A Religious Society

Believed Church would help them reach heaven

Life was difficult; filled with disease, famine, war, etc.

Church would help people get to heaven

People wanted a better life after death
+
Spirituality

First Nations and Inuit peoples: spirituality is very important
for traditional peoples

Many believe everything has a sacred spirit and the Creator
is everywhere

Have ceremonies to offer thanks to natural spirits
+
Christian Church

Church was a hierarchy

Each level had responsibilities/duties to provide to the
groups above and below them

Parishioners obey the rules of the church, respect the priest’s
authority and pay him a tithe

People gained a sense of community belonging to a church
+

Think of different ways you might finish this sentence:
In Canada today _______ is a central part of people’s daily
lives.
What do your answers suggest about worldviews in our
society?
+
Hierarchies Today

What are some positive and negative affects hierarchies can
have one people?
+
The Monastic Life

Very religious people would join a religious order and
devote life to God

Men became monks, women became nuns

They helped grow and prepare food, taught children, cared
for the sick and poor and fed the hungry
+
Learning and the Church

Monks and nuns were well educated

Some monasteries became centers for learning in medieval
times

Religious scholars copied Christian religious
texts/manuscripts from ancient times

Universities developed around religious schools; grammar,
geometry, astronomy and music were taught
+
Medieval Muslims and Jews

Other major religions were Islam and Judaism

Muslims conquered most of Spain and Portugal
Libraries and universities were built

Jewish people lived in Christian and Islamic towns
In Western Europe Jews weren’t allowed in most professions,
so they studied academics
+
Changing Attitudes

The plague caused questioning faith; peoples prayers, visits,
and other attempts to please God didn’t work

Felt God abandoned them, became more critical of the
Church

The Church received money from rent, tithes, and from
wealthy church members

Some said members of the clergy were more interested in
luxury than spiritual values
+
A New Age

We have seen how European society has shifted from
Medieval hierarchy to becoming less rigidly organized, more
populous towns, and merchant classes

New creative thinking emerged in art and science that aided
in the shift out of the Medieval world.
+
Renaissance Personalities

Christine de Pisan

Martin Luther

Vasco da Gama

Nicolaus Copernicus

Francis 1

Leonardo da Vinci

Remember these people as we move throughout the unit!