1. History 10: How to Think About History
Unit 5: Renaissance and Reformation

2. Events are the products of other events
Causation
Events are the products of other events
For centuries people believed the Catholic Church needed to reform
Martin Luther was influenced by Erasmus and reform- minded individuals before him
Luther’s 95 Theses set off a series of events that led to the break-up of the western Church into Protestant and Catholic denominations

3. Change is ongoing and ever present
The introduction of the printing press encouraged the rapid spread of ideas, e.g. Church reform, new conceptions of art and identity, etc.
New ideas led to the creation of a new zeitgeist where the medieval world was replaced by a more modern one

4. Continuity connects different historical periods and developments
Italian city-states preserved Rome’s republican values as feudalism never really took hold
Political and economic conditions in northern Italy provided fertile ground for the Renaissance
The attitudes/interests of the wealthy middle-class helped shape the Renaissance, e.g. their concern for education and individual achievement helped the arts flourish

5. Perspectives & Biases
History is not a science but a perspective or story
Medieval historians divided history into an age of darkness/error (ancient world) and an age of light/truth (present)
Between the two ages stood the Cross of Christ
The humanists were the first do divide history into three periods, e.g. ancient, medieval, and early modern
Humanists looked at the ancient world as a period of light, the time from Rome’s fall (5th century) to the 14th as the “dark ages”, and the present time as an age of light after the darkness, awakening after sleep, rebirth after death