Renaissance and Reformation

Renaissance and Reformation Overview

• The European Renaissance (1300-1600) initiated new ideas about culture and art through rediscovery of ancient manuscripts and trade with the East.
• The term "Renaissance" means rebirth.
• The Reformation was sparked by Martin Luther to reform the Catholic Church practices.
• The printing press invention enabled books and pamphlets to be made faster and cheaper and helped spread new ideas.

Beginning of the Italian Renaissance

• The Renaissance began in the 1300s, in Italian city-states like Florence, Milan, and Mantua.
• The bubonic plague struck in the 1300s, killing up to 60% of the population and leading to economic changes like higher wages for laborers.
• A wealthy merchant class developed in Italian city-states, allowing citizens to be intensely involved in political life.
• Successful merchants believed they deserved power and wealth because of their merit.
• From the late 1200s Florence had a Republican government, replaced by the rule of the Medici family.

Medici Family

• The Medici family bank had branches throughout Italy and in Europe.
• Cosimo de Medici, the wealthiest European of his time, took control of Florence's government in 1434, influencing the ruling council through loans without seeking official position.
• Lorenzo de Medici became the ruler of Florence in 1469 and was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Renaissance Art and Ideals

• Renaissance scholars wanted to return to the learning of the Greeks and Romans, finding inspiration in Rome ruins.
• Latin manuscripts preserved in monasteries were studied.
• Scholars from Constantinople escaping the Turks brought Greek manuscripts to Rome in 1453.
• Classics led to humanism, which is the focus on human potential and achievements.
• Humanists studied classical texts to understand ancient Greek values and influenced artists and architects to carry on classical traditions and popularized subjects such as history, literature, and philosophy.
• Renaissance Italy was materialistic, but most people remained devout Catholics.
• Church leaders became worldly and spent lots of money on themselves and the arts.
• Church leaders and wealthy families beautified Rome and other cities by becoming patrons of the arts.
• Renaissance writers thought that all educated people were expected to create art and the ideal man strived to master every area of study.
• Someone who excelled in many fields was praised as a "universal man" or "Renaissance man".

Renaissance People

• Baldassare Castiglione wrote in "The Courtier" (1528) how to become a Renaissance man , charming, witty, and well-educated, and skilled.
• Upper-class women should know the classics and be charming but were not expected to seek fame, and they were expected to inspire art but not expected be artists.
• Renaissance women were educated but had little political influence, but Isabella d'Este exercised power due to her family ties.
• Renaissance artists used religious and Greek/Roman subjects to convey a spiritual ideal in a realistic style using perspective techniques.

Renaissance Artists

• Michelangelo Buonarroti used a realistic style when showing the human body.
• Donatello created the first European sculpture of a large, free-standing nude since ancient times with his statue of David.
• Leonardo da Vinci was considered a true "Renaissance man", working as a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist, and painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
• Raphael Sanzio was known for gentle and calm expressions while using perspective and filled Pope Julius II's library with paintings such as School of Athens.
• Sofonisba Anguissola was the first woman to gain an international reputation for for portraits such as those of King Philip II of Spain.
• Artemisia Gentileschi painted strong, heroic women.

Renaissance Writers and Authors

• Renaissance writers followed Dante by writing in the vernacular.
• They wrote for self-expression or to portray individuality.
• Francesco Petrarch was the father of humanism and wrote many famous sonnets, including ones about Laura.
• Giovanni Boccaccio was known for "The Decameron".
• Niccolò Machiavelli wrote "The Prince".
• Women wrote about personal subjects such as what Vittoria Colonna did in her poems.
• The book of the Courtier was published by helping from Castiglione.

The Northern Renaissance influence

• Renaissance ideas spread to Northern Europe and northern artists adapted and the thinkers innovated Renaissance ideals.

Northern Renaissance Artist in Germany

• Albrecht Dürer traveled to Italy to study in 1494 and made woodcuts and engravings that portrayed religious subjects, classical myth, and realistic landscapes.
• Hans Holbein specialized in painting portraits that were photographic in detail and he emigrated to England to paint portraits of King Henry VIII.

Northern Renaissance Artist in Flanders

• The support of wealthy merchant families in Flanders helped make Flanders the artistic center of northern Europe and Jan van Eyck used new oil paints.
• Pieter Bruegel captured wedding, dances, and harvest scenes.
• Jan Van Eyck used oil paints and his paintings displayed realistic detail.

Religious and Social Reform in Northern Europe

• Italian humanist ideas reached the north and people used them to look at the Church teachings.
• Northern humanists wanted reform and focused on education of women and founded schools for boys/girls.
• Desiderius Erasmus wrote "The Praise of Folly", which was a satire on aspects of society and believed all people should study the Bible.
• Thomas More wrote "utopia" about an imaginary land free of greed.
• Christine de Pizan wrote against men not wanting their daughters educated, and wanted normal education for several centuries.

Renaissance in England

• The Renaissance spread to England and was called The Elizabethan Age' because of Queen Elizabeth.
• Queen Elizabeth wrote poetry, and did much to support English art and literature.
• William Shakespeare was a famous writer of the Elizabethan Age and used themes of classic literature and revealed men/women souls through scenes of conflict.

Renaissance Printing Press influence

• Block printing was a method the Chinese invented in which a printer carved on a wooden block, but they found movable type impractical.
• Johann Gutenberg (Mainz, Germany) invented the printing press around 1440 which produced books fast and cheaply.
• In 1455, Gutenberg printed the Gutenberg Bible, the first full-sized book printed with movable type.
• In 1452, Gutenberg's printing press combined known technology with ideas of molding movable type and this changed the world.

Renaissance Societal impact

• Renaissance was societal and artistic but also marked a medieval period break that people focused on individual and had democratic ideals.
• There was secular art
• People used vernacular language to express thoughts
• Arts praised individuals
• It made more information inexpensive so society had changed for a better literacy rate and the maps created led men to find discoveries.
• There were religious structure challenges

The Renaissance

• The vast majority of Europeans lived in rural areas.The capital and port cities had a remarkable expansion.
• London was the largest city in 1600 and there was urban life developed there.

City Life in Renaissance

• There wasn't a lot of jobs so newcomers struggled with finding jobs and shelter. Some turned to crime or became beggars but you had to get marked so people knew they're sick or disabled. At performance, they throw garbage at the faces they don't like.
• The wealthy ate fish, several meats, bread. The poor was simple
• There were spices in their food. They also walked.

Reformation Beginnings

• By the Tenth century in Western Europe, and Northern, Roman rules occurred. However it wasn't approved in its entirety because people felt the pursuit of worldly things was too immense. The criticisms rose up by people and the criticism would cause rebellion
• Several forces would weaken these churches and there would be an emphasis on the individual which causes questioning and rulers would start challenging the political strength. All of these taxes on the Church would cause Germany to start having reform

Problems with Catholicism

• Church leadrs got critics and they think of them as corrupt
• They used funds on what they had with Pope Alexander fathering kids
• The lower clergy was terrible and monks were doing wrong

Reformation Causes

• Church was too interested in worldly matters.
• Critics thought the Church had corrupt leaders and popes who patronized the arts, spending too much on personal pleasure.

Reformation People and Ideas

• Martin Luthers parent's wanted him to be a lawyer but he became a monk and believed in God.
• In 1517, Luther took a public stand and wrote 95 Theses against Johann Tetzel, who was raising money for the church.
• He would post these papers around his castle and someone copied them to printers.
• Protestantism spread over Germany. The Protestant reformation involved what churches needed and that didn't take authority from the Pope.
• One of Martin Luthers idea would be how the church can have salvation and that was faith and how church teachings should be Bible based.
• Luther was banished due to not following the rules
• He wanted good works and he translated the language
• Peasants later revolted but Martin did no favor this

Protestant Viewpoints and Division

• Protestants thought church and state should separate so it was a revolution
• There was war with the Catholics. And the Catholics stayed very well determined.

English Reformation

• Catholic had issues with authority and Martin caused some issues due to marriage reason with divorce.

Reformation of Henry

• He wanted male sons
• English passed to end pope power and people recognize him.

Anglican Church

• Anglic was in charge and people decide to accept or moderate both accepts
• After Henry, there becomes turmoil once son Edward is weak and Mary too.

Protestantism in England

• Elizabeth was determined and turned to Protestanism
• It was to settle the church and to please Catholics and Protestants Elizabeth would often take moderate courses of action.

Protestantism Divides

• In Switzerland people would go with Zwingili who was against the church practices..
• Because of all this Calvin would make Calvinism a Protestant base
• He thought all people were sinful.He made his thoughts about salvation and the Calvinism made him great
• John Knov then also adopted the idea of Calvin. He makes presbyterion

Protestant Belief Systems

• Protestants say what religious truth is so Christian truths come back
• Baptist will tell only those who they think old can be converted.

Reformation People

• People followed Lither or King
• Now he had children with Katherin.
• Catholic could only make so much reforms.

Explore the European Renaissance (1300-1600), a period of cultural and artistic rebirth fueled by the rediscovery of ancient texts and Eastern trade. Learn about the Italian Renaissance's origins in city-states like Florence and Milan, shaped by economic shifts after the bubonic plague. Discover how the Reformation, sparked by Martin Luther, aimed to reform Catholic Church practices.