Proto-Renaissance or Pre-Renaissance:
-Also known as the Early Renaissance
-Romanesque Italian art, Gothic Italian art

Black Death/Bubonic Plague:
-Around 1348, the plague killed many people
-Upset trade, culture and daily life

Boccaccio
-Italian writer
-Wrote Decameron that took place during the Bubonic Plague

Decameron
-A group of young men and women flee Florence to avoid the plague. During the ten days, they amused themselves by telling stories. Each of the ten people told a story on each of the ten days.
-Decameron often called “Human Comedy” to contrast it with the lofty moral tone of Dante’s epic work.

Description of the plague exodus (pg 414)
-Terrible plague year of 1348
-Destruction of the minds of the populations and the structures of society

Great Schism
-Philip the Fair of France imprisoned and abused Pope Boniface VIII at the papal palace of Anagni. The Pope died as a result
-1309, the papacy, under severe pressure from the French, had been removed to Avignon in southern France.
-The Great Schism weaken the papacy

Babylonish Captivity (pg 189)
-Jewish (Old Testiment)
-Temple sacked, people carried off

Classical Allusion to Babylonian Captivity
-Daniel and the Lion
-Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

Avignon:
-City in which the papacy moved to during the Great Schism
-Located in France

100 Year's War
-Between France and England
-Famous battles: Poitiers, Crecy, Agincourt
-The famous battles seem romantic and distant but brought misery to France

Petrarch (1304-1374)
-Born in Arezzo, south of Florence (Italy)
-Studied law in France for a year
-Made his home at Avignon (and later nearby at Vaucluse)
-Very curious. Loved searching out and copying ancient manuscripts
-Wrote volumes of poetry and prose

Sonnet
-Subset genre of poetry

Geoffrey Chaucer
-Entered royal service in his early life. Became squire to King Edward III
-Undertook various diplomatic tasks for the king
-During Italian journeys, Chaucer came in contact with the writings Dante, Petrarch, and Boccacio
-Wrote The Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales
- About a group of thirty on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
-Only 33 of the 30 tell their tales. None tells two as they never reached Canterbury
-Was never finished because he died

Canterbury Cathedral - St. Thomas A Becket
-St. Thomas A Becket was engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers (Knights) of the king in Canterbury Cathedral
-Soon after Henry II was excommunicated by the Pope

Prologue (pg 416-419; through Oxford Scholar line pg 315)
-Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
-Careful descriptions of various individuals in medieval society who make up the group
-The Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale is interesting for its lengthy discussion about the place of women in medieval society

Christine De Pisan
-Accompanied her father Thomas de Pizzano to the French court of Charles V
-Received thorough education from Charles V
-Entered a famous literary debate about the Romance of the Rose
-Jean de Meung wrote an addition which was violently critical of women
-Christine attacked with A Letter to the God of Love

The Book of the City of Ladies
-Final book in the debate
-Indebted in its structure to Augustine’s The City of God
-Contained stories of famous women (clarae mulieres)
-Demonstrated that the all the women possessed virtues precisely

Giorgio Vasari Vasari's Lives of the Artist
-Earliest account of the rebirth of Italian art in the Renaissance
-Pays tribue to Giotto’s work and gives him credit for setting painting again in the right path

Cimabue
- Teacher of Giotto, painter of Madonna Enthroned and Cruicifixion

Duccio
- Brought emotional expression into paint, painted Madonna Enthroned, The Annunciation of the death of the Virgin

Giotto
- Allowed naturalism and emotional power into paintings, also painted