The Renaissance in Italy

• The Renaissance started in Italy then spread to the rest of Europe.
• Renaissance means rebirth, which alludes to a new awareness of classical Greek and Roman spirit that laid dormant throughout the Middle Ages.
• The Renaissance entailed learning, exploration, expansion, and social change.

Beginning of the Renaissance

• Trade increased at the end of the Middle Ages
• Cities grew and prospered as a result.
• Wealthy families could engage in education and leisure activities.
• The Renaissance lasted longer in northern Italy than anywhere else before spreading to Northern Europe.

Italian City-States

• Italy divided into city-states: Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, and Genoa.
• Venice was the wealthiest city-state, possessing a fleet of over 3,000 merchant ships.
• Bankers and merchants grew rich enough to support the arts.
• Philosophers and artists were brought to work in the city-states and were sponsored.
• The Medici family of Florence were bankers who ruled for over 300 years.
• The Medici family brought many ancient treasures from Greece and Rome and displayed them around their palaces and grounds.
• Venice was ruled by an elected doge, or duke, chosen by the Great Council of about 200 wealthy bankers and merchants.
• Venice had the most efficient government in Italy and was the most politically stable of the five states because it controlled Mediterranean commerce.
• Venice had a state fleet of more than 3,000 ships and a huge arsenal that produced ship parts, cannons, and other related products.
• Milan sold textiles and armor, was a commercially important trade center and an agriculturally self-sufficient producer of food.
• Milan was ruled under a dictatorship before eventually becoming a republic.
• The Sforza family took control and accomplished many things for Milan.
• Milan was conquered by Spain in the early sixteenth century.

England and France

• England owned much of French territory thanks to William of Normandy's victory in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings.
• France resented England's presence and England wanted to retain control over its French holdings, beginning centuries of war.
• Philip VI of France and Edward III of England began a war that continued until 1453, also known as the Hundred Years' War.
• The first three periods of war between England and France favored England.
• France almost abandoned the war when Charles V came to the French throne, stopped corruption, built a new army, and formed an alliance against England with Spain.
• A truce lasted until 1415.
• Joan of Arc inspired the French and led them to victory when war broke out again.
• Charles VII was crowned at Rheims, then Joan was later captured by the English and burned at the stake.
• By the mid-fifteenth century, France had recaptured all of its lands, taken over Burgundy, centralized its government and became a strong nation.

Economic Changes

• The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, reduced the population of Europe by about one-third.
• The plague led to pillaging and looting in France.
• The deaths of workers caused a labor shortage.
• Workers demanded higher wages for the extra work they were required to do.
• Many employers refused to meet these demands, and several revolts by the peasants took place.

Citizens Rights

• England was advanced in building a strong nation by the fourteenth century.
• Citizens had more rights in England.
• By the mid-fourteenth century, groups of knights and burgesses began discussions on common problems or to write petitions to submit to the king's council.
• From this consultation grew the House of Commons, which controlled taxation, limiting the king's powers.
• The House of Commons acquired the right to impeach royal ministers on charges of misconduct.
• The House of Lords decided the innocence or guilt of the accused.
• The Magna Carta had limited the king's power since 1215.
• England was far from a democracy, but foundations for a parliamentary form of government had been laid.
• Edward III unified England to fight the Hundred Years' War with France in the mid-fourteenth century.
• Parliament grew in importance during Edward's reign and became the chief source for raising money.
• The War of the Roses between the Lancasters and the Yorks followed Edward's death because of a succession question.
• The Tudor kings in England emerged from the War of the Roses.
• The Tudors worked with Parliament but manipulated it into doing what they wanted.
• The Tudors brought a strong centralized government to England.

The Moors

• The Muslim Caliphate declined, while the Catholic Christian states of the Iberian Peninsula had emerged by the end of the tenth century.
• These states grew in importance during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
• The Christians drove out many of the Moors, Muslims of Arab and Berber ancestry from northwestern Africa, who had occupied the southern areas of Spain.
• Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish monarchs, were very firm in their Catholic belief and insisted that all Muslims and Jews either leave or convert to Catholicism.
• Spain also financed the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World in 1492.