- Amanda Roraback
Renaissance
TIMELINE
1308 - Dante wrote "Divine Comedy"
1347 - Bubonic Plague
1378 - Ciompi Revolt in Florence
1405 - Christine de Pisan wrote The City of Ladies
1440 - Lorenzo Valla proved Donation of Constantine was a forgery
1440 - Gutenberg invented printing press
1453 - Fall of Constantinople
1469 - Lorenzo de Medici became head of Florence
1485 - Henry VII (first Tudor) became king of England
1486 - Botticelli finished Birth of Venus
1492 - Columbus first sailed to America
1494 - French King, Charles VIII invaded Italy
1494-1498 - Savonarola was de facto ruler of Florence
1495 - Leonardo da Vinci painted Last Supper
1498 - Vasco da Gama (Portugal) arrived in India
1501 - Michelangelo began David
1503 - Leonardo began Mona Lisa
1508 - Michelangelo began painting ceiling of Sistine Chapel
1509 - Henry VIII became king of England
1509 - Erasmus wrote Praise of Folly
1511 - Raphael painted School of Athens
1513 - First version of Machiavelli's Prince distributed
1516 - Thomas More published Utopia
1517 - Luther posted 95 Theses
1519 - Ferdinand Magellan began voyage around the world
1527-1600 - Mannerism
1527 - Rome sacked by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
1528 - Castiglione wrote The Courtier
1534 - Henry VIII created Anglican Church - Thomas More executed by Henry VIII
1558 - Elizabeth I became queen of England
1588 - Spanish Armada
1599 - Shakespeare built Globe Theater
1610 - Galileo discovered moons of Jupiter
1618-1648 - Thirty Years War
BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE
GREECE
Greek philosophy, science, art
Socrates
Argued with Sophists
Socratic method
Plato (427-347 BC)
Socrates student
Plato's Cave
Deductive reasoning
Believed humans should use powers of reason to conceive of things beyond our senses (like beauty or truth)
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Epistemology - study of knowledge
Inductive reasoning
Tutor to Alexander the Great
"All men, by nature, desire to know" - valued human reason
Believed that natural laws of life could be discoverable by rational man
When man becomes self-aware, he becomes aware of nature as well
Science
Pythagoras, Euclid, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy
Humanism
Celebration of human being
Protagoras (490-420 BC)- "Man is the measure of all things"
Art
Glorification of human body (see also Olympics)
Ex. Discus thrower
Crusades (1095-1291)
Pope Urban II, Council of Clermont
Called on Christians to liberate the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslim "infidels" in 1095
4th Crusade - crusaders turned on Constantinople (capital of Byzantine Empire) which never fully recovered
Route of crusaders through Italy (especially Venice) brought prosperity
MIDDLE AGES
Began after invasions by Germanic tribes
Rome fell to Odoacer (Odovacer) in 476 CE
Phases
Early Middle Ages - ca. 500-1000 (Dark Ages)
High Middle Ages - ca. 1000-1300
Late Middle Ages - ca. 1300-1500
Term "Dark Ages" coined by Petrarch
City life withered
Manorialism
People confined to villages ruled by lords, protected by knights, worked by serfs
Education declined
Replaced by superstition
Monks took responsibility for education
Technology in disrepair
No one knew how to maintain Roman technology
Aqueducts etc. broke down
Trade collapsed
Threat of Vikings, Magyars and Muslims made travel difficult
Feudalism
Lords (former Roman aristocrats) ruled the communities from manors
Knights got fiefs (land grants) from Lords in exchange for military service
They eventually became social elite passing land to their descendants
Serfs were peasants who worked the fields in exchange for military protection
Religion
Great fear of purgatory and hell
Reinforced by writers like Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) who wrote Divine Comedy
Dante led by Roman poet Virgil (who represented human reason)
Traveled through Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory)
Beatrice (represented divine knowledge) led Virgil to Paradiso (Heaven)
Superstition
Believed Bubonic Plague (Black Death 1346-1353) was a curse from God
Caused 25 million deaths in Europe
Feared hell and the afterlife
Feared natural world (cats, omens, witches etc.)
Art
Artist was humble servant honoring God
Hierarchical sealing (figures were sized in proportion to spiritual significance
Purpose was to tell a story and educate public about Bible
Not realistic
Architecture
Romanesque (ca. 800-1200)
Name: based on Roman architectural elements
When Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne was crowned in 800 CE he began building churches in the Roman style
Known in Britain as "Norman" because they were instigated by William the Conqueror who invaded Britain 1066 from Normandy
Result of monasticism which doubled as defensive structures
Features
Stone barrel vaults
Rounded Roman arches
Thick walls, massive, small windows
Horizontal
Dark and gloomy
Plain exterior
Examples: St. Sernin Basilica, Toulouse, France
Gothic (12th -16th centuries)
Name: From Goths (Visigoths, Ostrogoths) who eventually converted to Christianity
First one developed by Abbot Suger at Saint Denis in 1100s
Features
Exterior flying buttresses
Large stain-glass windows
Groin vaulted
Pointed arches
Ribbed stone vaults
Vertical, soaring
Exterior was ornate with a lot of delicate sculptures
Tall, light-filled
Examples: Church of Saint-Denis near Paris and Chartres Cathedral
FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE (1453)
Ottomans under Mehmet (Mehmed) II defeated Constantinople
Ended the Byzantine Empire
Greek scholars from Byzantine Empire fled to Western Europe
Brought Greek ideas and art
Some Greek and Roman texts had been translated and preserved by Muslims
ITALIAN CITY-STATES
FLORENCE (northwest Italy)
Ciompi Revolt 1378
The people (popolo) staged a violent revolt against the government
Government (Republic/Oligarchy)
Independent republic ruled by a small oligarchy
Ruled unofficially by Medici family
Cosimo de Medici (1389-1464)
Piero de Medici (1416-1469)
Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492)
Interrupted by Savonarola (1452-1498)
Franciscan friar
Puritanical rule, "bonfire of the vanities"
Excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI in 1497
Same year, Florence in war with Pisa - failed
New cases of the plague blamed on Savonarola
Burned at stake at the Piazza della Signoria in 1498
After Savonarola, Florence was under Piero Soderini
Democracy
Elected ruler for life
1512 War of the League of Cambrai
Cardinal Giovanni de Medici captured Florence with help from Papal troops
Medici rule restored in Florence
Pope Julius II died 1513
Giovanni was elected new pope taking name Leo X (1513-1521)
Giovanni appointed his brother, Giuliano de Medici to rule in his place
Giuliano ruled until his death 1516
Succeeded by Lorenzo II, Duke of Urbino
Father of Catherine de Medici (married Henry II of France)
1533 End of the Republic
Alessandro de' Medici created Duke of Florence by his uncle Pope Clement VII
His successor became Grand Duke of Tuscany
Medici ruled as grand dukes until 1737
Economics
Major center of handicrafts, textiles and banking
KINGDOM OF NAPLES
Charles of Anjou of France controlled the kingdom 1266
Charles was invited by pope
Charles moved capital from Palermo, Sicily, to Naples
Harsh rule led to Sicilian Vespers 1282
Resulted in separation of Sicily from mainland
Spanish house of Aragon took control of Sicily
Robert, king of Naples (1309-1343)
Dynastic disputes within Angevin house mid 14th -15th .
1442 Naples fell to ruler of Sicily, Alfonso V of Aragon
Became "king of the Two Sicilies" (Sicily and Naples)
Title kept by his son (Ferdinand I) and grandson (Ferdinand II)
1495 Kingdom of Naples held by Charles VIII (France)
PAPAL STATES
Governed by the Pope
Church had tremendous wealth because it owned land and collected tithes from all Catholics
VENICE (northeast Italy)
Government (Oligarchy)
Great Council elected doge (duke), the chief executive of Venice for life.
Doge was figurehead ruler under control of oligarchy (Council of Ten)
Ruled by sons of wealthy merchants - names in Golden Book.
Economics
At northern end of Adriatic = prosperity from trade
Had monopoly of spices and luxury goods from East
DUCHY OF MILAN (northern Italy)
Visconti family
Lords of Milan from 1277-1447
After the Florence Ciompi Revolt (1378)
Milan was ruled by a tyrant (signor), Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Golden Ambrosian Republic (1447-1450)
After Filippo Maria Visconti died with no male heirs.
Caused succession battle
Sforza
1450 Milan dominated by family of a mercenary (condottiero) named Sforza
Francesco Sforza became duke in 1450, then despotic ruler
Ludovico Sforza (il Moro) ruled as duke 1480-1494
Dark-skinned (Moor), ruthless prince
Second son of Francesco Sforza
Patron of Leonardo da Vinci
Became part of Spanish empire 1535
Political decline early 16th c.
Economics
Center of overland trade between Italy's seaports
Produced silk and armor
HUMANISM
TERM
Term came from Leonardo Bruni, Italian Humanist and Chancellor of Florence
Considered first modern historian (wrote History of Florentine people)
DEFINITION
Rejected medieval scholarship ("scholasticism")
Scholasticism = based on Aristotelian logic + writings of early Church fathers
To reconcile Christian theology with classical philosophy
Turned to the classical world (ancient Greece and Rome) for inspiration
Human experience
Celebration of life and experience of being human
As opposed to fear of God and fixation on afterlife.
Focus on worldly knowledge (as opposed to transcendental spirituality)
Didn't reject Christianity, but shifted to intellectual approach
Emphasis on free will and human reason ("liberal" arts)
Liberal Arts
Subjects studied by free men - not slaves
Subjects that impart a general knowledge and develop rational thought
As opposed to vocational subjects that required specialization.
HUMANISTS
Petrarch (1304-1374)
Considered "father of humanism"
First to coin term "Dark Ages" - a culture in decline
Distinguished between primary and secondary sources
One of first to study literary classics in their original form (not commentaries)
Especially the works of Cicero (106-43 BCE)
Roman statesmen who wrote about collapse of Rome
Goal of humanists was to write in the Ciceronian style
Inspired "civic humanists" - using classical education for public good.
Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444)
First modern historian
Said history was "a subject which must not be neglected by one who aspires to true civilization"
Study of past can help us understand the present and predict the future
Wrote biography of Cicero
And History of the Florentine People
Said Italy was going through a new age, a Renaissance (Rebirth)
Also created educational program for women (without rhetoric)
Lorenzo Valla (1406-1457)
Italian Humanist
Critical textual analysis (language can tell a story on its own)
Donation of Constantine (1440)
Document about Emperor Constantine (272-337 CE) donating control of western half of his empire to the papacy
Valla said it was not authentic because word "fief" was used - a term that was not in use until 8th c. CE
Valla examined the Vulgate Bible - standard Latin Bible of the Middle Ages
Determined that author Jerome mistranslated passages from Greek
Pico de Mirandola
Wrote "Oration on the Dignity of Man" (1486)
ART, ARCHITECTURE and LITERATURE
ART

Art style
Patrons wanted naturalistic style
New techniques - no more hierarchical scaling
Used oil painting (instead of frescoes on wet plaster or tempera on wood)
Some employed chiaroscuro - contrast between light and dark.
Used single-point perspective
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
From Vinci
Painted
Mona Lisa
Last Supper
Vitruvian Man
Raphael (1483-1520)
From Urbino
Painted "The School of Athens"
At Vatican
Shows Plato, Aristotle and a number of other Greek and Roman philosophers
Single-point perspective
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
From Florence
Sculpted David
Commissioned by Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
ARCHITECTURE
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
Designed the dome of the Florence Cathedral (feat of engineering)
LITERATURE
Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
Wrote The Courtier (1528)
Described the ideal man of the age ("Renaissance Man") who knew several languages and skilled in the arts.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Was Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence 1498-1512
When Medici were not in power
When the Medici, with the help of papal troops, defeated the government, Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured for "conspiring against the Medici"
Wrote "The Prince" in 1513 while in exile (published 1532)
Dedicated to Giuliano de Medici - then Lorenzo II after Giuliani died in 1516
In an attempt to regain his status.
Christine de Pizan (Pisan) (1364-1430)
Daughter of physician to French King Charles V
Wrote "The City of Ladies" (1405) to counter notion that women were intellectually inferior to men
Said women have to carve out their own space or move to a "City of the Ladies" to allow their abilities to flourish.
Inspiration for Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" (1929)
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE (Late 15th c.)
REGIONS
North of the Alps
DIFFERED FROM ITALY
Focused more on religion than Italian Renaissance
Looking for ways to deepen their Christian beliefs and understanding
Christian Humanist (e.g. Erasmus)
Criticized Catholic Church - but didn't want to abandon it like Martin Luther
NORTHERN HUMANISTS
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)
Northern Humanism
Wrote "In Praise of Folly" using satire to criticize problems of the church.
In "Handbook of the Christian Knight" he emphasized inner faith rather than outward worship like sacraments.
Latin translation of New Testament
Textual analysis of Acts of the Apostles.
At first impressed with Martin Luther but then disagreed because Erasmus wanted to reform the Church, not abandon it.
Sir Thomas More
From England
Wrote Utopia (1516) (which means "nowhere")
Depicted a future that minimized social and political injustice by having property in common.
In 1534, More refused to take an oath recognizing Henry VIII as the head of the Anglican Church - he was executed.
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE ART
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
German painter and printmaker
Engravings
Altarpieces, portraits
Like Saint Jerome in his Study (1514)
Woodcuts
Like Apocalypse series (1498) - more gothic
NORTHERN RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Geoffrey Chaucer
Wrote Canterbury Tales based on The Decameron by Boccaccio
RELIGION
POPES
After Great Schism
Pope Martin V (r. 1417-1431) (papacy back to Rome)
Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1431-1447)
Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455)
Pope Callixtus III (1455-1458)
Pope Pius II (1458-1464)
Pope Paul II (1464-1471)
Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484)
Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492)
Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503)
Pope Pius III (1439-1503)
Pope Julius II (1503-1513) ("Warrior Pope," built St. Peter's Basilica)
Pope Leo X (1513-1521) (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, fought War of Urbino to protect nephew Lorenzo II, Indulgences criticized by Martin Luther)
Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523)
Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) (Giulio di Guliano de' Medici)
Pope Paul III (1534-1549)
Pope Julius III (1550-1555)
Pope Marcellus II (1501-1555)
Pope Paul IV (1555-1555)
Pope Pius IV (1559-1565)