Renaissance: Rebirth and Renewal

• Renaissance means rebirth and renewal, marking a period of significant creativity and change across economic, political, social and cultural areas.
• Growth of cities and trade increased people's wealth and access to new ideas, especially from the Eastern Mediterranean during the Renaissance.
• Crusaders brought ideas from the Greeks & Romans back from their wars in the Middle East, along with materials sent west from Christian monasteries due to the Muslim empires advance.
• Ancient Greek teachings significantly influenced medicine, law, mathematics, and philosophy, impacting Western Europe after 1,000 years.

Humanism

• Intellectual movement at the heart of the Renaissance, focused on education and the classics, known as humanities (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history).
• Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), a humanist, poet, and scholar from Florence, assembled a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts, preserving classic works for future generations.

Vernacular

• Everyday languages of ordinary people.
• Writers began using vernacular languages like Italian, Spanish, French, German, and English in their works, instead of Latin.
• Italy's history and geography helped start the Renaissance because of Rome's architectural marvels, Italian ports' proximity to Middle East trade, and independent city-states.

City States

• A city and its surrounding lands & villages.
• Politically independent, not part of larger empires.
• Merchants gained power and influence.
• Florence in Tuscany was central to the Italian Renaissance.

Banking

• Banks loan money & charge interest.
• Banks invest deposits to make profits, enabling capitalism.

The Medici family

• A merchant family who became bankers and expanded into manufacturing and mining, becoming "uncrowned rulers" of Florence in 1434.
• Giovanni de’ Medici was the first patron of the arts in Florence, supporting artists like Brunelleschi.
• Cosimo de’ Medici patronized Donatello, Filippo Lippi, and Brunelleschi.
• Lorenzo de’ Medici supported Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

Perspective

• Artistic technique creating a three-dimensional effect in drawings and paintings.
• Brunelleschi was the first artist to use perspective and designed Il Duomo, the dome on the Cathedral of Florence.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

• Italian artist with interests including botany, anatomy, optics, music, architecture, and engineering.
• Sketched flying machines and undersea boats, resembling later inventions.
• Famous for paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)

• Italian painter, sculptor, engineer, architect, and poet.
• His marble statue, David, was influenced by ancient Greek traditions.
• Painted biblical murals on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and designed the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Raphael (1483–1520)

• Renaissance painter who blended Christian and classical styles.
• Known for paintings like the Madonna and School of Athens, featuring great thinkers and artists.

Machiavelli (1469–1527)

• A political philosopher, statesman, and writer from Florence.
• Best known for The Prince, a guide for rulers on gaining and keeping power, advocating that the ends justify the means.
• "Machiavellian" describes deceitful politics.

Flanders

• Region including parts of northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, a key industrial and financial center in northern Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
• The Black Death caused deaths and economic damage in Europe, killing ⅓ of the population before the Renaissance.

Jan van Eyck

• Flemish artist known for detailed portrayals of townspeople and religious scenes.
• Developed new techniques for using oil paint.

Pieter Bruegel

• Flemish painter known as "Peasant Bruegel," portrayed lively scenes of peasant life using vibrant colors and influenced paintings of ordinary people's lives.

Albrecht Durer (1471–1528)

• German painter, draftsman, and writer who studied Italian masters and spread Renaissance ideas to northern Europe.
• Known for religious-themed works like The Apocalypse and Adam and Eve.

Engraving

• Art form where artists etch a design on a metal plate with acid to make multiple prints.

Erasmus (c.1466–1536)

• Dutch priest, writer, and scholar promoting humanism.
• Wrote texts, produced a new Greek edition of the Bible, and called for vernacular translations to spread learning.

Sir Thomas More (1478–1535)

• Lawyer, scholar, writer, and member of British Parliament who wrote Utopia, describing an ideal society.
• "Utopian" means idealistic or visionary.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

• English poet and playwright during Queen Elizabeth I's reign.
• Wrote 37 plays between 1590 and 1613, using a humanist approach in his characters.

Johannes Gutenberg (c.1400–1468)

• German goldsmith, printer, and publisher who invented a printing press with moveable type.
• Printed the first complete edition of the Christian Bible, derived from Chinese block printing.

Printing Press

• Enabled mass production of books which were cheaper than hand-copied works, leading to more people learning to read and write.
• The printing press increased knowledge in areas such as medicine, law, astronomy, mining, and geography.
• Increased literacy and access to information allowed Christians to read the Bible, accelerating the spread of religious reform ideas.

The Imperial Papacy

• Popes competed with secular rulers, governing the Papal States with an army.
• The Church had influence and controlled land in every kingdom.
• Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici)
• The first Medici Pope known for corruption, indulgences, simony, and nepotism.
• His opposition to Martin Luther failed, leading to the Protestant Reformation.

Indulgences

• A person could purchase a pardon for sins, including for deceased loved ones, with prices varying based on market demand.

Simony

• Sale of Church jobs, sometimes to secular rulers, raising questions about the legitimacy of Church leadership.

Nepotism

• Church offices and business given to relatives of powerful officials.
• Early reformers were motivated by church corruption, desired improvements in church organization, Bible translations, new ideas about sacraments and salvation, and rejection of worldliness.

Erasmus (Dutch)

• Dutch humanist scholar known for essays criticizing the worldliness of the Church.
• He also made new and updated translations of the Bible in Greek and Latin - without Church approval.

Jan Hus (Czech)

• Called for Bible translations and encouraged personal Bible reading and also criticized church practices.
• Tried & executed as a heretic.

John Wycliffe (English)

• Attacked corruption in the Church and questioned some Church doctrines.
• Translated the Bible into English - without Church approval.

Martin Luther (German) (1483 - 1546)

• German monk and theologian who started the Protestant Reformation.
• Witnessed Church corruption under Pope Leo X during a pilgrimage to Rome.

95 Theses

• Luther's 95 specific accusations of corruption.
• Led to his excommunication and the rise of Lutheranism.

Charles V (1500 - 1558)

• Holy Roman Emperor who rejected Luther's doctrines but failed to stop the Protestant movement.

Diet of Worms

• Luther faced trial and conviction for heresy but was protected by Frederick the Wise of Saxony.

Luther's Ideas

• Rejected five of the seven sacraments.
• Banned indulgences, confession, pilgrimages, and prayers to saints.
• He simplified the elaborate ritual of the mass and instead emphasized the sermon.
• Clergy permitted to marry.

Peasant Revolt (Germany - 1524)

• Peasants demanded an end to serfdom.
• Luther denounced the violent revolt.
• Nobles suppressed the rebellion, killing around 100,000 people.

Peace of Augsburg (1555)

• Allowed each prince to decide whether Catholicism or Lutheranism would be followed in his lands.
• Most northern German states chose Lutheranism, while southern states remained Catholic.

John Calvin (1509 - 1564)

• French theologian influenced by the humanist philosophy of Erasmus, became involved with the Protestant movement.
• Set up a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland, and wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion.
• Calvin's interpretation of Christian doctrine is called Calvinism.

Predestination

• Calvinist belief that God long ago determined who would gain salvation

Geneva

• Swiss city-state that became a Calvinist theocracy in the 1500s.

Theocracy

• Government run by religious leaders

Spread of Calvinism

• By the late 1500s, Calvinism had taken root in Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland.
• Set off bloody wars of religion across Europe.

Sects

• subgroups of a major religious group

Anabaptists

• Believed only adults should be baptized.
• Supported religious toleration and separation of church and state.
• Baptists, Mennonites, and Amish trace their origins to Anabaptists.

Henry VIII of England

• Henry’s desire for a male heir was the catalyst for his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church and the formation of the Church of England.
• Broke with the Church when the Pope refused to grant an annulment or divorce.

Church of England

• Henry closed convents and monasteries, seizing their lands and wealth.

Book of Common Prayer

• Imposed a moderate form of Protestant service but preserved many Catholic doctrines.

Elizabethan Settlement

• Policy of religious compromise enforced by Queen Elizabeth I, acceptable to moderate Catholics and Protestants.
• English replaced Latin in Anglican services.
• Much of the Catholic ritual was kept.
• The Church of England also kept the old hierarchy of bishops and archbishops
• The monarch, not the pope, was the head of the Anglican Church.

Council of Trent

• Catholic leaders met to respond to Protestant challenges and direct the Catholic Church's future.

Inquisition

• Church court that used secret testimony, torture, and execution.
• Prepared the Index of Forbidden Books, including works by Luther and Calvin.

Jesuits

• Theologian Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus.
• Jesuits became advisers to Catholic rulers, set up schools teaching humanist and Catholic beliefs, and spread their faith to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Teresa of Avila

• She gained renown as the author of several books on spiritual matters.
• Key influence during the Catholic Reformation.
• She dedicated most of her life to the reform of the Carmelite order, founding many convents throughout Spain.

Witch Hunts

• Tens of thousands died as accused witches.
• People linked magic and heresy at the time.

Persecutions of Jews

• Luther called for expelling Jews and burning synagogues.
• After 1550, many Jews migrated to Poland-Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire.
• Dutch Calvinists tolerated Jews and took in families who were driven out of Portugal and Spain.

Ghetto

• Separate section of a city where members of a minority group are forced to live
• Venice and other Italian cities set up walled ghettos in which Jews were forced to live

Scientific Revolution

• Inquiry led to advances in observation, questioning, and experimentation.

Ptolemy / Geocentric View

• Earth: Center of the universe.
• Sun and Planets - Orbit the Earth.
• Stars & Constellations: Tiny points in a celestial sphere that the Earth resides within. - the universe as a contained space with the Earth at the center.

Heliocentric

• Belief that the sun is the center of the universe.
• A new idea for European Christians during the Scientific Revolution.

Nicolaus Copernicus

• Polish astronomer who said that the sun is the center of the universe, contradicting the belief that Earth was the center.

Tycho Brahe

• Danish astronomer who made accurate measurements and locations of the stars.
• His observation that a new star appeared in a constellation challenged the belief that the stars were fixed and unchanging.

Johannes Kepler

• German astronomer whose discoveries expanded on Copernicus’s heliocentric universe.
• Kepler’s research showed that the planets move in a particular orbit around the sun.
• He correctly described how vision occurs and how a telescope uses light.

Galileo Galilei

• Italian astronomer whose telescope discoveries supported Copernicus’s heliocentric theories.

Scientific method

• process used to confirm findings and to prove or disprove a hypothesis

Francis Bacon

• English philosopher who promoted rational thought.

René Descartes

• French philosopher who promoted science based on observation and experiments.

Hypothesis

• Unproven theory accepted to explain facts or investigate further.

Andreas Vesalius

• Published On the Structure of the Human Body, with accurate and detailed studies of human anatomy, which corrected many ancient beliefs.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

• Inventor of the single lens microscope.
• The first to see & study microorganisms such as bacteria.
• Known as the founder of microbiology.

Chemistry

• Developed from alchemy using scientific principles.

Robert Boyle

• English-Irish philosopher who focused on chemistry, physics, and natural history.
• Work with pressurized air led to Boyle’s Law.

Isaac Newton

• English mathematician and physicist whose laws of motion form modern physics principles and led to the universal law of gravity.

Calculus & Gravity

• Calculus is a branch of mathematics developed by Isaac Newton.
• Gravity is the force that pulls objects to Earth's center.