RENAISSANCE

Feudalism begins in Europe

800 A.D.

1095 A.D.

First Crusade

Inquisition

Black Death arrives in Europe

1233 A.D.

1346 A.D.

RENAISSANCE BEGINS

1350 A.D.

During the middle ages much of the great advancements made by the Greeks and the Romans had been forgotten due to the decline of living conditions in Western Europe. People went from living comfortable lives with good jobs and educations, to living in very poor conditions, where there was constant turmoil, war, poverty, and hunger. This time period is known as the dark ages.

The dark ages lasted for hundreds of years, as many generations of individuals lived and died in these terrible conditions. Then in the middle A.D. 1300s things slowly began to improve. People began again to discover the arts, and technologies of the Romans and Greeks, making life a little easier. We call this period of time the Renaissance. The Renaissance began around A.D. 1350 in Italy, and continued until about A.D. 1600.

What was the Renaissance?

• Period following the middle ages (1350-1550)

• Means “Rebirth” of classical Greek and Roman art and learning.

• Began in Italy

What was the Renaissance?

After years of death and

destruction, Europeans

began looking to the past when times

seemed better.

What is Humanism?

During the Renaissance, Europeans began to focus on the individual.Many thought that people could

help make the world better.

What is Secularism?

• Religion was still very important.• But human success was also important.• People became more secular.• Secular means they were more interested in this world than religion and getting to heaven.

PAGE 2(CITY-STATES)

ITALIAN CITY-STATES

Why Italy?

1) Center of the old Roman Empire

2) Italy’s city-states became very wealthy

3) City-states competed with each other

Ruins and art surrounded the

Italians and reminded them of their past

They could pay painters, sculptors,

architects, and artists to produce new works

Florence, Venice, Genoa, Milan, and

Rome

Italian City-States

• During the Middle Ages, no ruler was able to unite Italy into a single kingdom.• Roman Catholic Church did not want a

powerful kingdom in Italy• City-states fought each other• City-states became very wealthy : which

helped keep them independent• Made money through trade (geography)

FLORENCE

• No city was more famous• At first grew wealthy from trade• Trade brings in different types of coins• Different types of coins : banks• Later Florence became wealthy through

BANKING

Florence

• the wealthiest city-state of all was Venice• built on swampy islands in northern Italy• today many streets are just canals • grew wealthy through ship building

Venice

PAGE 3•Polo (POH-loh)

•Medici (MEH-duh-chee)

•Machiavelli (Ma-kee-uh-VEH-lee)

MARCO POLOHe was a merchant from Venice who journeyed to China.He was sent on business all over China and learned more about Asia than any other European.He published a book about his travels.

His stories got Europeans interested in China.

MEDICI FAMILY•Goods from all around the world were pouring into Italy• Merchants needed to know the value of foreign coins• Bankers began exchanging and lending money• The Medici family became Florence’s richest family and were bankers

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIHe was a diplomat in Florence who wrote a book called

The Prince.He wrote that rulers should not worry about being good, but

should do anything to keep their power.Machiavellian: being tricky and not thinking about being good.

“Everyone realizes how praiseworthy it is for a prince to honor his word and to be straightforward rather than crafty in his dealings;

nonetheless experience shows that princes who have achieved great things have been those who have given their word lightly, who have known how to trick men with their cunning, and who, in the end, have overcome those abiding by honest principles . . . .

A prince, therefore, need not necessarily have all the good qualities I mentioned above, but he should certainly appear to have them . . . . He should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he should know how to do evil, if that is necessary.”

--The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli, George Bull, trans., 1981

PAGE 4

HUMANISM•Was a new way of understanding the world•Humanist believed that humans and the individual were important,

they wanted to balance religion and reason•Italians began to study ancient Greek and Roman works•Francesco Petrarch: famous humanist poet and scholar who studied

ancient Roman writingsHe told Europeans to look for Latin writings in monasteriesNew libraries were built to hold these writingsKnown as the Father of the Italian Renaissance

HOW DID HUMANISM AFFECT SOCIETY?

•Humanist scholars began to study many different topics.• Increases knowledge for society

PAGE 5Da Vinci (duh VIHN chee)

Alighieri (a luh GYEHR ee)

Michelangelo (My kuh LAN juh loh

LEONARDO da VINCI

Leonardo da Vinci was a famous Italian scientist, artist and inventor.

He sketched inventions for early helicopters, gliders, and tanks.

He also painted The Last Supper.

He is best known for his painting, The Mona Lisa.

WHEN I SAY DA VINCI, YOU SAY

MONA LISA!

Dante AlighieriDante Alighieri was a poet who wrote The Divine Comedy. This long poem, 14,000 lines, tells of a journey from hell to heaven. It was so widely read because it was written in the vernacular.

Dante’s Inferno

DANTE = DIVINE COMEDY

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press which helped spread humanist ideas faster.The Gutenberg Bible was the first European book made on the new press.

Johannes Gutenberg

Printing Press

More Books

More People Learned to Read

More Ideas Spread Quickly

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI

He painted what the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He sculpted the statue David as well as Moses.

PAGE 6Shakespeare (SHAYK spihr)

Cervantes (suhr VAN teez)

Gutenberg (GOO tuhn BUHRG)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare was a great English writer who wrote such tragedies as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

Miguel Cervantes was a Spanish author who is widely known for his novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

PAGE 7Art and Frescos

How did medieval and Renaissance artists differ?

MEDIEVAL RENAISSANCE

• Not meant to look realistic (birth of Jesus)• More symbolic

• Followed Greek and Roman models• Tried to show people as they really were, realistic• Tried to show emotion• Three dimensional