Time period in European history in which there was a “rebirth” of ancient Greek and Roman ideas. After the Middle Ages, there was a resurgence of intellectualism, art, literature, architecture, etc. Many thinkers emphasized the importance of the individual.

A. Italy-the Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of the world. 1. Leonardo da Vinci-“The Renaissance Man”-painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, mathematician, etc. 2. Niccolo Machiavelli-Wrote The Prince, which encouraged leaders to think about practicality rather than morality in politics. These ideas have influenced leaders around the world.

B. Social Classes-Renaissance society was strictly divided: Nobility-Aristocrats who owned most of the land and held political power as advisors to the king. Peasants and Townsfolk-The large majority of people ran businesses, traded, or worked for very low wages with no power to change society.

Lorenzo the Magnificent Cosimo de Medici

Florence Under the Medici Medici Chapel Medici Chapel The Medici Palace

David by Donatello 1430 First free-form bronze since Roman times! The Liberation of Sculpture

1. Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, Artist Sculptor Architect Scientist Engineer Inventor

Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci 1492 The L’uomo universale

Mona Lisa OR da Vinci??

Refractory Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie Milan

Man Can Fly?

2. Michelangelo Buonorrati 1475 – 1564 He represented the body in three dimensions of sculpture.

 15c 16c  What a difference a century makes!

David Michelangelo Buonarotti 1504 Marble

The Pieta Michelangelo Buonarroti 1499 marble The Popes as Patrons of the Arts

The Sistine Chapel Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Sistine Chapel Details The Creation of the Heavens

3. Raffaello Sanzio ( ) Self-Portrait, 1506 Portrait of the Artist with a Friend, 1518

The School of Athens – Raphael, Raphael Da Vinci Michelangelo

The Liberation of St. Peter by Raphael, 1514

 Religious reform movement that divides the European Church into Catholic and Protestant groups.  A. Christian Humanism-This group believed in reason and inner religious piety. Erasmus promoted the “philosophy of Christ” which stressed inward religious feeling and living good daily lives.

 B. Reasons for Religious Reform-Corruption was out of control within the Catholic Church leadership. A series of popes and bishops more concerned with politics, wealth and war than they were the religious well being of the church.  Indulgences-The practice of allowing people to buy their way into heaven with money or sacred relics. Meant that the rich were more likely to get salvation.

 C. Martin Luther- monk and professor in Germany who questioned the church’s practices and believed in salvation through faith in God. 

 1. The 95 Theses-Oct. 31, 1517-Luther printed and posted a list of complaints about the Catholic Church.  2. Edict of Worms-Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and made an outlaw in Germany. Pope Leo X still saw Luther as little threat to the church.  3. German rulers who supported Luther began to take control of Catholic Churches in their area. They changed services and focused on reading the Bible rather than ceremonies.

 All over Europe, different leaders challenged the ideas of the Catholic Church, creating new forms of faith throughout the continent.

 A. Calvinism-John Calvin, born in France, fled to Switzerland.  His beliefs were very close to Martin Luther’s, but he also believed in predestination-the idea that God had already chosen who would be saved and who would not. Calvin reformed the city of Geneva and it became the center of the latter part of the Reformation.

 B. The Anglican Church- King Henry VIII wanted to wife so that he could try to have a son with another woman, Ann Boleyn.  The Catholic Church refused and Henry created the Church of England, with the King in control.  After Henry’s death, the Anglican Church began to move away from its Catholic roots towards Protestantism.  “Bloody Mary” became queen in 1535 and tried to restore Catholicism, killing many Protestants as heretics. She was successful in unifying the people of England against her and making the country fully Protestant.

 C. Anabaptists-Believed in complete separation of church and state. They believed that anyone of the community could be the church leader and that adult believers should be baptized rather than infants.

 A. Johan Gutenberg-German who invented metal movable type for the printing press. The first book printed on the Gutenberg press was the Bible. The invention encouraged people to read more and interpret religious texts themselves.

 B. Galileo-Built a telescope that could track the movements of the planets and stars.  He wrote the Starry Messenger, contradicting the Church’s theory that the earth was at the center of the universe. He was put on trial and jailed by the Church for the rest of his life.

 C. Sir Thomas More-British author who wrote Utopia, about a perfect society in which goods are created and shared among the entire population.  His ideas were used to create Socialist communities. He was beheaded for not supporting Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic Church.

 D. The Inquisition-The Roman Catholic Church established a court to try those who opposed the doctrines and teachings of the Church. It killed and imprisoned many individuals all over Europe.