Chapter 1
Renaissance

FOCUS during the Renaissance

• Humanism

• Individualism

• Secularism

• Growth of towns and trade

• Growth of monarchies

FOCUS during the Medieval Period

• Feudal system

• Religion dominates (Catholic Church)

• Focus on survival

Renaissance

• Comes from the Latin word that means rebirth or revival

• a rebirth of Greek and Roman Culture that took place in Western Europe between 1300’s and 1600 CE It is used to describe a renewed interest in ideas from classical Greece and Rome

• This rebirth began in northern Italy and spread throughout Europe between the 1300’s and mid-1600’s

• During this time, people began to focus on refinement, personal achievement and learning

• Humanism and individualism were the main views held during the Renaissance

Modern Thinking from Renaissance

1. Individual worth (believed humans could improve themselves through study and reflection)

2. A strong commitment to public service (believed that the wealthy should give back to the people by donating money to construct public buildings as well as patronize artists by supporting them with money so that they can focus on their art and not worry about survival)

3. Encouraged the development of a variety of skills and talents (thought people should be well rounded in their knowledge)

Cause and Effect:

• Drastic drop in population (1/4 to 1/3 died due to famine and plague)

• This reduction in population allowed peasants to successfully demand better wages, lower rents and better working conditions…it also allowed some to leave the farm and move to towns

• In turn, feudalism was weakened and begins to falter

• New technology in weaponry meant knights were no longer needed and this furthered a decline in feudalism...

• Monarchies began to replace feudalism

• An increase in trade and commerce led to growth of towns and cities

Renaissance vocabulary

Humanism – scholars who studied ancient Greek and Roman texts and then tried to recreate the spirit of classical arts, literature, and philosophy.

Secular – non-religious.

Patricians -the social group that was a at the top of the social class system of Renaissance Italy.

Patrons - wealthy people who supported the arts by giving artists money so that the artist could focus on his/her art without having to worry about making a living.

Realism - a form of art that portrayed people and nature in a realistic manner, warts and all.

Ghetto - a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardship.
Mercenary - a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.

Important Reformation Figures

Marco Polo (Italian, born 1254)

• Was a Venetian merchant traveler

• Travels were recorded in II Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China

• Best known for The Travels of Marco Polo

Florence (Italian, Firenze)

• Is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence

Venice (Italian, Venezia)

• Is a city in northeast Italy on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges

• Located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Plave Rivers

Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy) Italian poet, born 1265

• Was also a prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker

• Best known for the epic poem Commedia, later named La divina commedia (Devine Comedy)

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca born 1304

• Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists

• Called the Father of Humanism

• Petrarch’s