The Renaissance and Reformation Harris – Modern World History Unit 1

The Italian Renaissance The word “renaissance” means rebirth. This period lasted roughly from 1350-1550. Rebirth from what? – Before the period know as the Renaissance took place, we had the Middle Ages. This period was know by some as the dark ages. This comes for the theory that society actually went backwards in terms of its development. 3 reasons why the renaissance started in Italy: 1. Italy was an urban society. 2. They were the first recover from the plague and political instability that had marked the Middle Ages. 3. Focus on individual ability.

The Renaissance Man, is the an individual who has studied many different things in an attempt to develop his individual abilities. Leonardo da Vinci is an example of this.

Vitruvian Man

The Italian States During the Middle Ages, Italy failed to develop a centralized monarchy. This allowed individual City-States to remain independent. Milan – Milan is in Northwest Italy. Within the area controlled by this city state were the crossroads for many trade routes. Venice – Venice was the city-state that linked many Asian trade routes with Western Europe. The city-state was led by an elected official known as the Doge. However most power was held by powerful merchants. Florence – During this period a small but wealthy group of merchants took control of the Florentine government and led the city trough several wars. These wars allowed their territory to expand made Florence into a major city-state. During the 1430’s the Medici family took control and made the city the center of Italian culture.

Renaissance Italy

Renaissance Life Throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, most peasants were tied to their land. Rent for the land was made by working the land and providing food to actually land owner. During the Renaissance, the manorial system, as this was known, slowly came to an end. Peasants were no longer tied to the land and rent was paid using actually money. Families were very important during the Renaissance. To ensure socially standing, most marriages were arranged when the bride and groom were as young as 2 years old. Dowries were paid by the wife’s family to the husband. Men made all decisions for the family. Children were not adults until their father took them to court and had a judge formally free them.

Education During the Renaissance As the Italians recovered from the plague and political instability of the Middle Ages, they began to realize that they were living in the ruins of the Ancient Rome. Many of the things that the Romans had accomplished were far more advanced than what the Italians were capable of. Because of this, the Italians began to place a larger importance on education. One of the most important inventions during the renaissance was the printing press. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in about 1455, the printing press made it much cheaper and easier to make books. With this new invention, books were no longer items only for the wealthy. This meant that there was a reason now for more and more people to become educated.

Famous Renaissance Books The Prince by Machiavelli – This was the first modern book on politics. All previous works on politics had stressed ethics and morality. Machiavelli argued that a ruler must only focus on the country and that only he knows what the country needs. The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione – This was a book on how a noble should act. He stated that nobles should have grace and talent, that they should be able to defend the land, and that they should be well educated. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer – This book tells the individual stories of a group of religious pilgrims journeying to the tomb of Saint Thomas a Becket.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri – This was a collection of three epic poems: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Both this book and The Canterbury Tales were written in vernacular. This means they were written in the language of the region and not Latin.

Art During the Renaissance One of the key parts of the Renaissance is the development of new artistic techniques. Fresco painting was a style of painting done on wet fresh plaster. This technique gave the paintings texture and created a lifelike feel. Perspective is use of lines to and angles to create depth in a painting. Sculptors also studied the human body to create realistic sculptures. Art is what often started the Renaissance in other European countries.

Michelangelo – The Pieta

Raphael – The School of Athens

1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus Possibly, the image of two philosophers, who were typically shown in pairs during the Renaissance: Heraclitus, the "weeping" philosopher, and Democritus, the "laughing" philosopher. 3: unknown (believed to be Raphael)[14] 4: Boethius or Anaximander orEmpedocles 5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon 9: Raphael’s lover, Fornarina as a personification of Love 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? 11: Parmenides (Leonardo da Vinci) 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci) 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus(Donatello) 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Strabo or Zoroaster (Baldassare Castiglione) 20: Ptolemy R: Apelles(Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti)

Donatello

Botticelli – The Birth of Venus

Albrecht Durer – Adoration of the Magi

Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Humanism in the Renaissance During the Renaissance, scholars began to look back at the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The study of these works became known as Humanism. Humanist focused on 5 different subjects: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, philosophy, and history. Study was not strictly limited to these subjects, but they were the central focus. One Italian, more than any other helped develop these ideas. His name was Petrarch.

The Reformation As humanism spread throughout Europe, it began to take on a different focus. In Northern Europe, humanist became interested in changing the church. Christian Humanists as they became known, believed that the classic works of the religion should be studied and that by doing this people would develop an inward spirituality. Despite the call for change, this group didn’t break away from the church when it failed to change

The Reformation At the time there were three things that were upsetting more and more people about the church. First, the popes were doing things that were not seen as very popely. Pope Julius II, the warrior pope, actually led troops in battle. Second, lower level church officials were uneducated in the teachings of the church. This meant they could not tell people how to reach salvation. Third, the sale of indulgencies.

Indulgence

Martin Luther Martin Luther was a monk who lectured on the bible at the University of Wittenberg, in Germany. At the time he had serious concerns about the teachings of the Church. The Church stated that salvation was reached through the performance of good works. Luther thought that it would be impossible for one to perform enough good works for this to happen. As he studied the bible he determined that faith alone could lead to salvation. The idea of faith leading to salvation was troublesome for the Church who had making lots of money from the sale of indulgencies. Most of Luther’s ideas were ignored.

Martin Luther On October 31, 1517, Luther had had enough of the Church’s practices. He wrote a list of 95 arguments against indulgencies and spread them throughout the area. The Church didn’t take him seriously. Pope Leo X called Luther a “drunken German who will amend his ways when he sobers up.”

Martin Luther By 1520, Martin Luther moved to make a more formal split from the church. He called on the German princes to overthrow the papacy and establish a reformed German Church. Luther furthered his attack on the Church by questioning the number of sacraments that the church had. He felt there should be only two, baptism and communion. Luther also encouraged the clergy to marry. In 1521, Luther was brought before the legislative assembly of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Charles V then attempt to get Luther to change his mind. Luther refused and the assembly issued the Edict of Worms. This edict led to the burning of Luther’s works and made him an outlaw within the empire.

Many German princes followed Luther’s call and took over catholic churches within their territory. Luther was protected so long as he stayed within the friendly kingdoms. This allowed him to develop a religious service to replace the catholic one. With this and his teachings a new religious doctrine was developing, this was known as Lutheranism. With this development, Lutheranism became the first religion during the reformation to officially split from the church.

John Calvin and Calvinism John Calvin was a French native who was forced to flee to Switzerland when he converted to Protestantism. He agreed with most of the teachings of Luther but thought that Luther didn’t believe enough in the power of God. Calvin thought that because God was all powerful, he had predetermined who was going to heaven and who was damned. These were known as the elect and the reprobate.

John Calvin and Calvinism In 1536, Calvin worked to establish Geneva, Switzerland as an model city for Calvinists. The Church worked with city officials to establish the Consistory, a group responsible for enforcing the moral life of the city. People were arrested and punished for crimes like: dancing, singing obscene songs, drunkenness, swearing, and playing cards.

Henry VIII and His Wives

Henry VIII and His Wives

Henry VIII and the Anglican Church In 1533, the English King, Henry VIII, wanted to leave his wife marry Anne Boleyn. When the pope decided not to annul the marriage, the King went to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop complied and ruled the marriage null and void. Three months later, Anne gave birth to girl who would go on to become Queen Elizabeth I. In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which gave the King control of the Church in England. This became known as the Church of England or the Anglican Church.

Reform of the Catholic Church By the mid 1500’s, protestant religions were spread throughout Europe and their numbers were growing rapidly. The Catholic Church was faced with the option of changing or facing the reality that they might lose their members.

Reform of the Catholic Church Ultimate the Catholic Reformation took place, which took significant steps in repairing the Church. There are three basic components to the reform. First, the Society of Jesus was formed, also know as the Jesuits. The Jesuits stressed education and obedience to the pope. Second, reform of the papacy. Pope Paul III in 1537 appointed a reform commission to identify the problems of the church. Third, the Council of Trent. The council clarified church doctrine and practice. It also forbade the selling of indulgences.