Group 6 Civilization Presentation Outline

Topic 6: The age of the Renaissance

Group 6 members

HA QUANG TAY LE KHAC HUNG (Leader)

DUONG KHANH VY PHAN HUY HOANG
NGUYEN HOANG AN NGUYEN MINH TRANG
 Table of Content
A. Precondition (Tây).......................................................................................3
B. Characteristics of society (Tây)......................................................................3
1. Economic recovery......................................................................................3
2. Social changes.............................................................................................4
C. History............................................................................................................5
1. Italian states in the Renaissance(Vy)..............................................................5
1.1. Five major states:.....................................................................................5
1.2. Independent cities:...................................................................................6
1.3. Warfare in Italy:.......................................................................................7
1.4. Diplomacy:.............................................................................................10
1.5. Machiavelli and the new State craft:......................................................10
2. European state in Renaissance (An).............................................................11
2.1. The growth of the French Monarchy.....................................................11
2.2. England: Civil War and a New Monarchy.............................................12
2.3. The Unification of Spain........................................................................13
2.4. The Holy Roma Empire: The success of the Habsburgs........................13
2.5. The struggle for Strong Monarchy in Eastern Europe...........................14
2.6. The Ottoman Turks and the End of the Byzantine Empire....................15
D. Religious characteristic.............................................................................15
1. Religion.....................................................................................................15
2. Protestant Reformation..............................................................................15
3. Counter-Reformation................................................................................18
4. The Church And The Renaissance............................................................18
E. Contribution..................................................................................................19
1. Intellectual and science (Hoàng)...............................................................19
1.1. Humanism and education:......................................................................19
1.2. Printing...................................................................................................20
1.3. Science...................................................................................................21
2. Artistic Renaissance (Trang).....................................................................26
2.1. Art:.........................................................................................................26

1
3.2. Music......................................................................................................38

2
 A. Precondition (Tây)

1. Renaissance means rebirth, and the Italian Renaissance is believed to exist

between 1350 and 1550. Renaissance is perceived with the rebirth of the Roman
civilization, a distinct period of European history that began in Italy before
spreading to the rest of Europe, and is considered by historians as the birth place of
the modern world.
2. The Renaissance marks the recovery of European society from the disastrous
events of the fourteenth century: Black Death, social and economic upheaval, and
political disorder. 
3. A high emphasis of individual capabilities became a characteristic of the Italian
Renaissance.
3.1. The achivements of the Italian renaissance, however, was the product of
primarily the wealthy upper classes, who constitutes only a small percentage
of the total population. Nevertheless, it indirectly has implications on the
urban cities, where intellectual achievements arose from and upon which the
Renaissance was based.

B. Characteristics of society (Tây)

1. Economic recovery

1.1. Hard hit by the Black Death, Italian merchants lost their dominant commercial
preeminance throughout the Mediterranean. The powerful Hanseatic league of
merchants rose to dominance, a commercial and military association formed by a
number of North German coastal towns in the thirteen centory, which by 1500 owned
more than 80 cities. For almost 200 years, the Hansa monopolized northern European
trade on timb, grains, metals, honey, and wines
1.2. Trade recovered dramatically from the unfortunate events in the fourteenth
century, with the Italians and the Venetians gradually regained and maintained their
preeminance in the period of commercial wealth.
1.3. The woolen industries of Flanders and Northern Italy, after a severe devastation
from the 14th century, begun to recover. This economic recovery was accompanied by
the emergence of new industries such as printing, mining, metallurgy, which
competed for econmic important in the 15th century. Luxurious goods were developed
in this period, called the luxury industries, especially silk, glassware, and metal items.

3
1.4. New technologies and machinery accommodated large scale production of
silver, copper, and iron, which gave rise to the development of firearms that replaced
the crude weapons used in prior centuries.
1.5. With the expansion of trade comes the growing scale of the banking industry.
The city of Florence in the 15th century saw the rise of the Medici family, which was
the greatest bank in all Europe, and which had interests in various other industries. 

2. Social changes

2.1. Renaissance society was divided into 3 estates: the First, the Second, and the
Third estate
2.2. The first estate consists of the Clergy who believed people’s lives should be
spiritially guided.
2.3. The second estate is the nobility who provided justice and security to society,
thus gained special privileges.
2.4. The third estate consisted of peasants and inhabitants of cities.
3. The family
3.1. Families in the Renaissance, first and foremost, meant the house of parents and
children, sometimes grandparents and servants (for wealthy families). Related families
with a common surname often lived close to each other and if big enough, might even
dominate an entire urban district. This family bond offered great protection and
security from imminent danger of the cruel world, which also pertained to that fact
that a crime by any one member would fall on the entire family clan. 
3.2. Due to the desires of growing family power, arranged marriages became a
common practice. Parents worked out a marriage deal for their sons and daughters
even as early as their age of two or three, which is legally enforced by a binding
contract. Dowry plays an important role in such contracts, which is money or some
kinds of assets from the bride dedicated to the husband upon marriage. How luxurious
such dowry is determined the advancement of the bride in social status; a large dowry
gets a daughter to marry a man of higher status, or else a smaller dowry if she marries
a man of lower status.
3.3. The husband, or the father, played an indispensable role in an Italian family,
the name of whom represents the family. He owned the rights of ownership claims to
all family assets, and whose authority over his children is absolute, which means
adulthood comes to a child only when he receives the consent of his father. 
3.4. In a typical family, women take charge of the household, a responsibility that
gave them autonomy in their lives. Women of higher classes, however, did not enjoy
4
such a freedom, whose “function” was to bear children and nothing else. Women in
the Renaissance saw pregnancy as a painful occasions, for not only was it painful, but
it could also be fatal because women mortality rates after childbirth was relatively
high at 10 percent. This is especially true to women in wealthy families, whose lives
were bounded to the nurturing of the families’ offspring. The high mortality rates of
deceased children was also a big concern, for as much as 50 percent of children born
in wealthy houses died before they reached the age of 20. Such mortality rates urged
many upper-class families to bear as many children as they could to ensure a surviving
male heir. 
3.5. Arranged marriages gave rise to prostitution, to which many sought to fill the
lack of emotional attachment when they were forced to marry. Age difference
between wives and husbands is also a contributing factor to extramarital relationships,
since the difference on average was 13 years. This is because while females had there
first marriage at the age of 16 to 18, males would not marry until their 30s or even 40s
for demographic reasons. Although prostitution was considered dirty, it was as much
an integral part of life as arranged marriages of wealthy upper-classes.

C. History

1. Italian states in the Renaissance(Vy)

1.1. Five major states:

At the time of the Renaissance Italy was governed by a number of powerful city-
states. These were some of the largest and richest cities in all of Europe. The five
important city-states are Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, and Rome.
1.1.1. Florence: Is where the Renaissance first began. It was ruled by the powerful
Medici Family who used their money to support artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo. One of the early architectural achievements of the Renaissance was the
massive dome on the Florence Cathedral. Florence was known for its textile
production as well as a banking center.
1.1.2. Milan: In the early 1400s Milan was still a Middle Ages city focused on war
and conquering Florence. However, the Sforza family took over in 1450. They
brought peace to the region and with peace came the new ideas and art of the
Renaissance. Milan was famous for its metalwork which included suits of armor.

5
1.1.3. Venice: The island city of Venice had become a powerful city-state through
trade with the Far East. It imported products such as spices and silk. However, when
the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, Venice's trade empire began to
shrink. Venice controlled the seas around the east coast of Italy and was famous for its
artistic glassware.
1.1.4. Naples: The city-state of Naples ruled much of southern Italy at the time of the
Renaissance. It was one of the last city-states to embrace the movement, but in 1443
Alfonso I conquered the city. He supported Renaissance artists, writers, and
philosophers. Naples also became known for its music and is where the mandolin was
invented. Naples was captured by Spain in 1504.
1.1.5. Rome: The pope ruled both the Catholic Church and the city-state of Rome.
Much of the city of Rome was re-built under the leadership of Nicholas V beginning
in 1447. Rome became a patron of the arts and supported the Renaissance through
commissions to artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo. Michelangelo worked as
architect on St. Peter's Basilica and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

1.2. Independent cities: 

1.2.1. The Italian city-states were a political phenomenon of small independent states
mostly in the central and northern Italian Peninsula between the 9th and the 15th
centuries.  After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, urban settlements in Italy
generally enjoyed a greater continuity than in the rest of western Europe. Many of
these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan, Umbrian and Roman towns which had
existed within the Roman Empire. The republican institutions of Rome had also
survived. Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land,
but by the 11th century, many cities, including Venice, Milan, Florence, Genoa, Pisa,
Lucca, Cremona, Siena, Città di Castello, Perugia, and many others, had become large
trading metropoles, able to obtain independence from their formal sovereigns. Among
the earliest city-states of Italy was the Duchy of Naples, Duchy of Amalfi, Gaeta and
Venice which, although nominally under Byzantine control, was effectively
independent.
1.2.2. Communes: The other first Italian city-states to appear in northern and central
Italy arose as a result of a struggle to gain greater autonomy when not independent
from the German Holy Roman Empire. The Lombard League was an alliance formed
around at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy including Milan,

6
Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua, Crema, Bergamo, Brescia, Bologna, Padua, Treviso,
Vicenza, Verona, Lodi, Reggio Emilia and Parma, though its membership changed
through time. Other city-states were associated to these "commune" cities, like Genoa,
Turin and, in central Italy, the city states of Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Ancona,
Città di Castello, Perugia, Assisi among others
1.2.3. Duchies: South of Rome and the Papal States were the duchies of Salerno,
Amalfi, Duchy of Naples and Duchy of Gaeta. Other independent cities were Bari and
Trani, which in 1130 were united in the newly created Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
1.2.4. Maritime republics: Amalfi, Gaeta and Venice in the 11th century were already
autonomous maritime republics. Around 1100, Genoa, Pisa and Ancona emerged as
independent maritime republics too: trade, shipbuilding and banking helped support
their powerful navies in the Mediterranean in those medieval centuries. For them –
nominally – the Holy Roman Emperor was sovereign.

1.3. Warfare in Italy:

1.3.1. The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as
the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a long series of wars fought between 1494 and 1559
in Italy during the Renaissance. The Italian peninsula, economically advanced but
politically divided among several states, became the main battleground for European
supremacy. The conflicts involved the major powers of Italy and Europe, in a series of
events that followed the end of the 40-year long Peace of Lodi agreed in 1454 with the
formation of the Italic League
1.3.2. The collapse of the alliance in the 1490s left Italy open to the ambitions of
Charles VIII of France, who invaded the Kingdom of Naples in 1494 on the ground of
a dynastic claim. The French were however forced to leave Naples after the Republic
of Venice formed an alliance with Maximilian I of Austria and Ferdinand V of Spain.
In 1499, Louis XII of France initiated a second campaign against Naples by first
taking control of the Duchy of Milan thanks to Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander
VI and condottiero for Louis XII, marking an open alliance between the Papacy and
France. The second war ended in 1503, when Ferdinand of Spain (already ruler of
Sicily and Sardinia) captured the Kingdom of Naples from Louis XII.
1.3.3. The new Pope, Julius II (1503-1513), reversed the policies of the Borgias and
exiled Cesare. With France taking over almost all of Northern Italy after defeating
Venice at the Battle of Agnadello, and Ferdinand of Aragon emerging as ruler of the
whole south, Julius II planned to “free Italy from the barbarians” and orchestrated the
recapture of the peninsula. After Spain recognized the Two Sicilies as a papal fief,
7
Julius II personally led his armed forces at the Siege of Mirandola, and subsequently
forced the French of Louis XII out of Italy in alliance with Switzerland and the Holy
Roman Empire. The sudden death of Julius II and the Battle of Marignano led to the
restoration of the status quo ante bellum in 1516: the treaties of Brussels and Noyon,
mediated by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Leo X, recognized French
control in the north (excluding the Venetian republic) and Spanish control in the
south.
1.3.4. War resumed in 1521 as Pope Leo X and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
(simultaneously ruler of Austria, the Spanish kingdoms, and the Low Countries)
expelled French forces from Milan. Francis I of France reacted by descending in Italy
and fighting Imperial forces at the Battle of Pavia (1525), where he was captured and
forced to give French territory to the Habsburg Netherlands of Charles V. Following
his liberation, Francis I initiated a new war in Italy during which mutinous Germanic
troops of Lutheran faith sacked Rome (1527) and expelled the Medici from Florence.
After ordering the retreat of Imperial troops from the Papal States, Charles V restored
the occupied French territory to Francis I on the condition that France abandoned
northern Italy ("Peace of the Ladies"). At the Congress of Bologna in 1530, Charles V
received the Imperial title of King of Italy by Pope Clement VII. In exchange, the
Pope obtained the restoration of the Medici family as the ruling dynasty of Florence.
1.3.5. Following Catholic victories in Vienna and Tunis against the Ottomans, a new
congress (1536) was held in Rome between Charles V and Pope Paul III to discuss the
hypothesis of an ecumenical council to deal with Protestantism. Despite fears of
conciliarism within the curia, Pope Paul III ultimately saw a council as an opportunity
to end the Catholic Imperial-French wars in Italy by uniting the anti-calvinist French
royalty with the Habsburgs against a common enemy. Indeed, the conflict had
resumed at the Lombard-Piedmontese border with the French occupation of the
Savoyard state soon after Charles V took the vacant Duchy of Milan. Therefore, Pope
Paul III favored the "Peace of Nice" between Francis I and the Emperor (1538) as well
as the subsequent "Peace of Crespy" (1544). The Council of Trent began in 1545, but
Lutheran princes refused to recognize it with the result of entering a war with the
Emperor (quickly lost) and allowing the Pope to dominate the council and initiate the
counter-reformation. Around 1547, papal and imperial factions clashed for political
supremacy and a series of conspiracies took place in several courts of Italy. The
assassination of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma and son of the Pope, led to the
suspension of the council until Pope Julius III reconvened it with the intention to
promote a reconciliation of the defeated Lutherans with Charles V.
8
1.3.6. In 1551, Henri II of France invaded Tuscany and supported Siena in a war
against Charles V, while the Duke of Florence supported the Emperor. In addition,
France captured the Three Bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire with the support of
Lutherans and formed an alliance with the Ottoman Empire (who had defeated
Charles V in Algiers and Budapest in the 1540s) in order to invade Corsica. Charles V
responded by forming an alliance with the Kingdom of England and by suspending
the reconciliation with the German Lutherans. Florence annexed Siena after a long
siege and the victory over the French-Sienese at the Battle of Scannagallo, and the
Genoese admiral Andrea Doria recaptured Corsica, but England lost the Pas-de-Calais
to France.
1.3.7. Charles V, facing the prospect of a long-lasting alliance between all of his
enemies, signed the Peace of Augsburg with the Protestant princes and abdicated by
dividing the Habsburg Empire between the Austrian Habsburgs of his brother
Ferdinand of Austria and the Spanish Habsburgs of his son Philip II of Spain. War
continued between the Habsburgs and France, with the latter being defeated by a
Spanish-Imperial army led by Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy (who regained its estates)
at the Battle of St. Quentin (1557). Nevertheless, the French recovered and the conflict
was prolonged until a compromise was reached at the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in
1559. The end of the wars allowed Pope Pius IV and Carlo Borromeo to resume the
Council of Trent and complete it in 1563, initiating the Catholic Reformation and
Baroque period of Italy.

1.4. Diplomacy:

1.4.1. Renaissance diplomacy developed between Italian city-states. Relationships

between these states were influenced by two key elements: no hegemonic power and a
strong interest in cooperating and solving problems through peaceful means. Like
Byzantine in the previous period, the Italian city-states preferred to use diplomacy as a
force in solving disputes among themselves. From Byzantine, the city-states – in
particular Venice – also borrowed some diplomatic techniques such as deception,
bribery, and espionage. These became the trademark of Renaissance diplomacy.
1.4.2. In the Renaissance era, the first full diplomatic system, consisting of permanent
diplomatic missions, diplomatic reporting, and diplomatic privileges, was established.
It is widely accepted in diplomatic history that the first permanent diplomatic mission
was established in 1455, representing the Duke of Milan in Genoa.
1.4.3. During this period of slow and undeveloped transportation and
communications, diplomats were among the few who had the privilege of travelling to
9
remote places in search of news. They played an important role in the transfer and
spread of knowledge and information.

1.5. Machiavelli and the new State craft:

1.5.1. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was the Renaissance leader on political

power and the statecraft. Most of his political interest came from the first hand
experience of the political problems in Italy and the rest mostly came from ancient
Roman politics. It was from these two sources that he wrote The Prince, and it was in
The Prince that wrote about the obtaining of and preserving of political prominence
and power. Until Machiavelli the general consensus was that a ruler obtained power
and maintained power by doing all things based off of good morals and ethics and for
the good of the people. This made sense because he would be able to keep the masses
happy and satisfied with their ruler. In fact the morals of a good ruler was usually
founded in Christianity. This, however, wasn't the way that Machiavelli operated. He
believed, and wrote in The Prince, that, assuming every ruler understood the basis of
human nature that is that humanity was self-centered, rulers were to first and foremost
preserve their own power, and were to base all of their decisions on achieving this
goal. In fact his, "perfect ruler," was a man named Cesare Borgia, a man who had no
limits when it came to achieving his goals. He was said to have been ruthless and self-
preserving. His ultimate goal was to create a state in Italy for himself and he went to
any means to do so. Because of The Prince that Machiavelli is pegged as one of the
first men in history to abandon all morals and ethics to maintain political power and
prominence.

2. European state in Renaissance (An)

The countries which built up Renaissance Europe were divided into multiple city-
states, but til the end of the Renaissance era (15th century), attempts were made to re-
centralize the monarchical power. “Renaissance states” or “New monarchies” are the
terms that historians use to label those countries in this era. Western Europe countries
such as France, England, and Spain were successfully to re-establish the centralized
government and gained back their authority and power, but in the Eastern Europe,
countries here seemed to weak and unable to re-gain the authority and form a stable
monarchical governments.   

2.1. The growth of the French Monarchy

10
2.1.1. After Hundred Years’ War, the France was left in destruction, devastation,
famine, and broken economies. Thus, the nobility found its hard to impose the power
and authority in the kings. However, under the hard circumstance, the French realized
their common enemy. That national feeling toward a common enemy made the kings
have an opportunity to re-establish a new monarchical government. And their new
king, Charles VII (1422-1461), had provided the needed policies to bring back the
glory. The Estates-General, the legislative and consultant assembly of the different
classes of French subjects, was consented to grant the Charles VII the right to
establish a royal army of calvary and archers, and the right to levy the taille, a tax
exacted from the common people of France, without the approval from Estates-
General. The less power that the Parliamentary held, the more power that king Charles
VII had in his hand. Thus, he succeeded in setting up a common enemy and drove
French straight upward. 
2.1.2. After king Charles VII (1422-1461), king Louis XI (1461-1483) concentrated
on building up the wealth of the nation. He was known as the Spider because of his
willy and devious way. He made taille as a constant tax imposed by the authority, so
the regular income as secured by this policy. Thus, he was able to continue the
unification of the state. However, he was not so successful in control the French
nobilities, whose power and independences could pose a threat on his unification road.
Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1467-1477), was a significant example. Charles
attempted to create a state between France and Germany, but he was soon stopped and
taken down by king Louis XI in a fight in Swiss. Louis added the possession of
Charles into his own land. After three years, the provinces of Anjou, Maine, Bar and
Provence were bought under the royal control. From there, king Louis created a strong
foundation for future development of French monarchy. 

2.2. England: Civil War and a New Monarchy

2.2.1. The Hundred Years’ War did not only affect France but also England. The cost
of it are the wealth of nation and the lose of manpower to re-build the English
economy. Moreover, the circumstances also led to a civil war within England. This
war was known as the “Wars of the Roses” because Shakespeare later wrote a fiction
in which white rose symbolized the house of Yorkists, and red rose symbolized the
house of Lancasters. This war was ended by Henry Tudor after he took down the final
king of the house of Yorkists, Richard III (1483-1485) at Bosworth Field and establish
the new Tudor dynasty. 

11
2.2.2. Henry Tudor, king Henry VII (1485-1509), was not only famous for ending the
Wars of the Roses. He was also famous for stopping the internal break-down of
England and reforming the strong monarchical governments. He first move was to
abolish the “livery and maintenance” practice to prevent civil wars and private
conflicts. The practice was to allow wealthy aristocrats to maintain their private
armies of soldiers dedicated to serve their lords. Besides, to prevent irresponsible
activity, Henry VII established the Court of Star Chamber, where juries were replaced
by tortures. The king Henry VII was also good at getting substantial income from
traditional financial resources of the English monarch. He also was actively avoided
wars whenever possible. In this way, he was able to avoid losing money and resources
into nothing, so he did not have to call the Parliament on any regular basis to give him
funds. Thus, Henry gained lots of favor and supports for his monarchy. By the end of
his reign, a monarchical government had been stabilized, and well-respected in the
eyes of the people. 

2.3. The Unification of Spain   

2.3.1. At the beginning of Renaissance era, Spain had been divided into 5
independent territories. They are independent state of Portugal, the northern state of
Navarre, the southern Muslim state of Granada, the large central state of Castile, and
the eastern state of Aragon. 
2.3.2. The big movement was the marriage of Isabella of Castile (1474-1504) and
Ferdinand of Aragon (1479-1516) in 1469. Together, they strengthened the power of
the states, especially Castile, by stripping the aristocrats of royal council and refill by
middle-class lawyers. Ferdinand and Isabella re-organized the military forces of
Spain. A strong infantry force as the heart of Spain was built up and became the
strongest in Europe in the 16th century. 
2.3.3. Ferdinand and Isabella also realize the power and importance of the Catholic
Church. They secured the right to pick the important figures in the clergy, which gave
them the power to control the Church, so the clergy became the tools for the extension
of royal power. The zeal exhibited in Cardinal Ximenes’s reform program was also
proof of religious uniformity of Ferdinand and Isabella. During 14th century, many
Spanish Jews convert to Christianity due to the increasing prosecution. Many convert
Jews were important figures in Spanish society, but Ferdinand and Isabella forced the
Church to introduce the Inquisition because of some rumors that they were secretly
come back to Jews. The Inquisition with cruel practices forced the Jews to fled Spain;
and, 150000 Jews fled Spain. Muslims were also persecuted against the two, and their
12
state of Granada was taken down by Ferdinand and Isabella, so the Muslims were
encouraged to convert into Christianity. Thus, ending the presence of Muslim in
Spain. 
2.3.4. To be Spanish was to be Catholic, a policy of uniformity enacted by the
Inquisition, and it did succeed and made Spain become a pillar of the Catholic Church
during the Renaissance era in 16th century.

2.4. The Holy Roma Empire: The success of the Habsburgs

2.4.1. The Holy Roma Empire war majorly ruled by the house of Habsburgs. Unlike
France, England, Spain who managed to build up a strong monarchical governments,
Holy Roma Empire only succeeded in enhance the Empire’s strength. The success of
Habsburgs was not from wars, which they usually avoided whenever possible, but
from smart marriage. 
2.4.2. The old Habsburgs once said “Leave the waging of wars to others! You, happy
Austria, marry for the realms which Mars awards to others, Venus transfers to you”.
The marriage of his son, Maximilian to Mary, daughter of duke Charles the Bold of
Burgundy, Emperor Frederick III gained a lot of land around France, including east-
central France, Luxembourg, and a large part of Low Countries. By acquiring this
land, Habsburgs gained power by instilling the fear the France that the Habsburgs had
surrounded them. 
2.4.3. Despite that successful marriage, nothing more was made. Later, Maximilian I
had his son, Philip of Burgundy marry Joan, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Philip and Joan had a son, Charles who later became the rightful heir to all three
bloodlines: the Habsburg, the Burgundian, and the Spanish.

2.5. The struggle for Strong Monarchy in Eastern Europe

2.5.1. The countries in Eastern Europe were divided into many states. And many of
them have troubles in re-centralize the power due to multiple wars, noble competition,
ethnic group, different religions and the necessity to control islands. 
2.5.2. Through their control of the Sejm and the establishment of the right to elect the
kings, Polish kings found it unable to build up a strong monarchical government. 
2.5.3. Bohemia was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, but the Germans and the close
ethnic groups which are closed to the Poles and Slovaks encourage the Czechs of
Bohemia to ally with the north-eastern Slavic people to fire a war. The Hussite wars
was the reasons of separation and civil wars. Due to lack of monarchy power, the
Bohemian gain their authority and wealth through the crown and church. 
13
2.5.4. The Hungary, under the rule of king Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), was able
to establish a rightful monarchical government. The king broke the power from the
lords and formed a well-organized bureaucracy. He introduced the new humanism
culture, bring the Italian scholars to make his court become one of the most brilliant
outside Italy. However, after his death, the monarchical government fell quickly, and
Hungary returned to weak again.
2.5.5. In Russia, the prices of Moscow increased their wealth and expended their
possession by using the relationship to Mongol khans, who were currently reigned the
country. Under the rule of Ivan III (1462-1505), a new Russian state was established.
Ivan III took the chanced when there were dissensions among the Mongols to take
down them and set Russian free from Mongol.

2.6. The Ottoman Turks and the End of the Byzantine Empire

2.6.1. In 1345, the Ottoman bypassed Constantinople and moved into the Balkans.
The Ottoman under the command of Sultan Murad, moved through Bulgaria, and into
the lands of the Serb, who provided a strong center of opposition under King Lazar. 
2.6.2. In 1389, the battle Kosovo happened, Ottoman forces defeat the Serbs, both
King Lazar and Sultan Murad lost their lives there.  
2.6.3. In 1453, the Ottomans completed the demise of Byzantine Empire. Sultan
Mehmet II surround Constantinople with 80000 rangers against 7000 defenders. The
Ottoman used canon to break the wall down. The Byzantine Emperor died in the final
battle. After conquering Constantinople, the Ottoman Turks tried to complete their
conquest of the Balkans. 
2.6.4. In 1476, the Ottomans succeeded in taking the Romanian territory of
Wallachia, but then, they faced the resistance of the Hungarians, which prevented
them from engaging the Danube valley. 
2.6.5. In 1480, the Ottoman added Bosnia, Albania, and the rest of Serbia to their
Empire in the Balkans. 
2.6.6. Because of internal problems, the Ottoman could not produce any other attacks
on Europe til the end 15th century. However, at the dawn of the 16th century, the
Ottoman came back, and challenged Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, and Pola

D. Religious characteristic

1. Religion

14
1.1. The main religion of Renaissance Europe was Christianity and the main
church was the Catholic Church. However, there were new ideas during this
time including a new Christian church called Protestantism and a new
philosophy called Humanism. Humanism was important to the Renaissance
because it placed values on human accomplishments and the study of nature.

2. Protestant Reformation

2.1. The Reformation is the process of changing a religious, political, or

societal institution for the better. Protestant Reformation occurred during
Renaissance times. It was a split in the Catholic Church where a new type of
Christianity called Protestantism was born.
2.2. The late Middle Ages was a period of political intrigue surrounding the
papacy, culminating in the Western Schism.
2.3. The Great Schism was the event that split the main faction of Christianity
into two divisions, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. Today, they remain
the two largest denominations of Christianity, happened on July 16, 1054. The
major effect of the Great Schism was the division between what is now the
Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The theological thoughts of
the East were different from those of the West. The Eastern theology was based
in Greek philosophy, while the Western theology had its roots on Roman Law.
2.4. Although the papacy eventually emerged supreme in ecclesiastical
matters by the Fifth Council of the Lateran (1511), it was dogged by continued
accusations of corruption (dishonestly using your position or power to get an
advantage, especially for money), most famously in the person of Pope
Alexander VI, who was accused variously of simony, nepotism, and fathering
four children.

Alexander VI(1431-1503), whose real name was Rodrigo Borgia, was a so-called bad Italian
Pope in the Renaissance. He was famous for being a corrupt, worldly, and ambitious pope,
whose neglect of the spiritual inheritance of the church, however, contributed to the
development of the Protestant Reformation.
In Renaissance, sexual relationships were generally undertaken therefore outside the bond of
matrimony and each sexual act thus committed is considered a mortal sin by the Roman
Catholic Church. However, Pope Alexander VI was sexually active with a number of

15
mistresses, and he was a father of many children. Four of them were: Juan, Cesare, Jofré,
and Lucrezia.
Although he enjoyed many successes, Pope Alexander VI is most well-known for the rumors
of corruption and Nepotism that plagued his papacy. Nepotism (the practice among those
with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.)He
used his position as the supreme leader of the Catholic Church to ensure that his children
would be well provided for.
However, despites corruption, Alexander VI contributed a lot for the Art of Renaissance. It
was he who erected a centre for the University of Rome, restored the Castel Sant’Angelo,
built the monumental mansion of the Apostolic Chancery, embellished the Vatican palaces,
and persuaded Michelangelo to draw plans for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica.

2.5. In October 1517 Luther published the Ninety-five Theses, challenging

papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption, particularly with regard
to instances of sold indulgences.
2.6. Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) - Luther was a German theologian and
priest. He objected to many of the practices of the Catholic Church such as
paying to get into heaven and the authority of the Pope. He thought the Bible
should be the final authority and that it should be available to everyone. Luther's
ideas caused the Reformation and a new type of Christianity called
Protestantism.
2.7. Pope Paul III came to the papal throne (1534–1549) after the sack of
Rome in 1527, with uncertainties prevalent in the Catholic Church following the
Protestant Reformation.
2.8. Sadly, arguments over the Reformation finally led to a series of wars.
Some rulers were converted to Protestantism while others still supported the
Catholic Church. The Thirty Years War (1648) was fought in Germany, Martin
Luther's home, and involved nearly every country in Europe. The war was
devastating with estimates of between 25% and 40% of the German population
being killed.
2.9. In October 1517 Luther published the Ninety-five Theses, challenging
papal authority and criticizing its perceived corruption, particularly with regard
to instances of sold indulgences.
2.10. Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) - Luther was a German theologian and
priest. He objected to many of the practices of the Catholic Church such as
16
paying to get into heaven and the authority of the Pope. He thought the Bible
should be the final authority and that it should be available to everyone. Luther's
ideas caused the Reformation and a new type of Christianity called
Protestantism.
2.11. Pope Paul III came to the papal throne (1534–1549) after the sack of
Rome in 1527, with uncertainties prevalent in the Catholic Church following the
Protestant Reformation.
2.12. Sadly, arguments over the Reformation finally led to a series of wars.
Some rulers were converted to Protestantism while others still supported the
Catholic Church. The Thirty Years War (1648) was fought in Germany, Martin
Luther's home, and involved nearly every country in Europe. The war was
devastating with estimates of between 25% and 40% of the German population
being killed.

3. Counter-Reformation

3.1. The Counter-Reformation, also called the Catholic Reformation or the

Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to
the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563)
and ending at the close of the Thirty Years’ War
3.2. The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of four
major elements—ecclesiastical or structural reconfigurations, new religious
orders, spiritual movements, and political reform.
3.3. One primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to
reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic, and
also try to reconvert areas, such as Sweden and England, that were at one time
Catholic but had been Protestantized during the Reformation.

4. The Church And The Renaissance

4.1. The city of Rome, the papacy, and the Papal States were all affected by
the Renaissance.
4.2. The church pardoned and even sponsored such artists as Michelangelo,
Brunelleschi, Bramante, Raphael, Fra Angelico, Donatello, and da Vinci.

17
4.3. In the revival of neo-Platonism and other ancient philosophies,
Renaissance Humanists did not reject Christianity; quite to the contrary, many
of the Renaissance’s greatest works were devoted to it, and the church
patronized many works of Renaissance art.
4.4. The pope became one of Italy’s most important secular rulers, and
pontiffs such as Julius II often waged campaigns to protect and expand their
temporal domains.
4.5. Furthermore, the popes, in a spirit of refined competition with other
Italian lords, spent lavishly both on private luxuries and public works, repairing
or building churches, bridges, and a magnificent system of aqueducts in Rome
that still function today.
4.6. From 1505 to 1626, St. Peter’s Basilica, perhaps the most recognized
Christian church, was built on the site of the old Constantinian basilica in
Rome.

E. Contribution

1. Intellectual and science (Hoàng)

1.1. Humanism and education:

1.1.1. The intellectual basis of the Renaissance was its version of humanism, derived
from the concept of Roman Humanitas and the rediscovery of classical Greek
philosophy, such as of Protagoras, who said that “ Man is the measure of all things”.
This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science and literature.
1.1.2. The Renaissance, or rebirth of learning, began in Europe in the 14th century
and reached its height in the 15th century. Scholars became more interested in the
humanist features—that is, the secular or worldly rather than the religious aspects—of
the Greek and Latin classics. Humanist educators found their models of literary style
in the classics. The Renaissance was a particularly powerful force in Italy, most
notably in art, literature, and architecture. In literature, the works of such Italian
writers as Dante Aleghieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio became especially
important.
1.1.3. Humanist educators designed teaching methods to prepare well-rounded,
liberally educated persons. Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus was particularly
influential. Erasmus believed that understanding and conversing about the meaning of

18
literature was more important than memorizing it, as had been required at many of the
medieval religious schools. He advised teachers to study such fields as archaeology,
astronomy, mythology, history, and Scripture.
1.1.4. In some ways, Renaissance humanism was not a philosophy but a method of
learning . In contrast to the medieval scholastic mode, which focused on resolving
contradictions between authors, Resaissnance humanists would study ancient texts in
the original and appraise them through a combination of reasoning and empirical
evidence. Humanist education was based on the programme of 'Studia Humanitatis',
the study of five humanities: poetry, grammar, history, moral philosophy and rhetoric.
Humanist scholars shaped the intellectual landscape throughout the early modern
period. Political philosophers such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas More revived
the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers and applied them in critiques of contemporary
government. Pico della Mirandola wrote the "manifesto" of the Renaissance, the
Oration on the Dignity of Man, a vibrant defence of thinking. Matteo Palmieri (1406–
1475), another humanist, is most known for his work Della vita civile ("On Civic
Life"; printed 1528), which advocated civic humanism, and for his influence in
refining the Tuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin.
1.1.5. Pico della Mirandola, weiter of the famous “ the oration on the dignity of man”
1.1.6. The humanists believed that it is important to transcend to the afterlife with a
perfect mind and body, which could be attained with education. The purpose of
humanism was to create a universal man whose person combined intellectual and
physical excellence and who was capable of functioning honorably in virtually any
situation.

1.2. Printing

1.2.1. Since the invention of the press western culture lost its medieval characteristics
and became distinctively modern. It was a shift from the hand written book to the
printed one. The name most associated with the press is Johannes Gutenberg (1397-
1468) a German goldsmith whose great invention was not exactly the printing press,
but the creation of movable, variable-width, metal type.
1.2.2. Eisenstein (1979) argues the persistence of the notion that printing came as ‘by-
product of the Renaissance spirit.’ What was the spirit? In fact the first attempt to use
the benefits of the printing press as new medium to arouse widespread mass support
was not in connection with Italian humanism but with a late medieval crusade, which
was the war against the Turks.

19
1.2.3. It is difficult to establish the impact of the printing press in its first century
especially on a very conservative and religious society. The scribal culture revered the
ancients because they were closer to uncorrupted knowledge, which was not yet
corrupted through the process of scribal transmission (Dewar, 2000). It had to pass a
full century before the outlines of a new world began to emerge.
1.2.4. Eisenstein (1979) argues that by 1500 various printed materials were already
being registered. But, the number of books produced was not much different from the
number produced by scribes.
1.2.5. The impact of print on education may have been hidden or delayed since it
could have no effect on unlettered folk; it affected only a very small literate elite 
recording more sermons, orations, adages and poems in order to serve the needs of
preachers and teachers pursuing traditional Christian ends.
1.2.6. By the time a new  approach in education had emerged it was called “New
Learning” . It  sought to learn from classic texts that the medieval texts did not
address, but without challenging the Christian belief.

1.3. Science

1.3.1. Alchemy
1.3.1.1. Alchemy is the study of the transmutation of materials through
complicated processes. It is sometimes described as an early form of chemistry. One
of the main aims of alchemists was to find a method of creating gold from other
substances. A common belief of alchemists was that there is an essential substance
from which all other substances formed and that if you could reduce a substance to
this original material, you could then construct it into another substance, like lead to
gold. Medieval alchemists worked with two main elements or "principles," sulfur and
mercury.
1.3.1.2. Paracelsus was an alchemist and physician of the Renaissance. The
Paracelsians added a third principle, salt, to make a trinity of alchemical elements.

1.3.2. Astronomy
1.3.2.1. Pages from 1550 Annotazione on Sacrobosco's De sphaera mundi,
showing the Ptolemaic system
1.3.2.2. The astronomy of the late Middle Ages was based on the geocentric
model described by Claudius Ptolemy in antiquity. Probably very few practicing
astronomers or astrologers read Ptolemy's "Almagest," which had been translated into
Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. Instead, they relied on introductions
20
to the Ptolemaic system, such as the "De sphaera mundi" of Johannes de Sacrobosco
and the genre of textbooks known as "Theorica planetarum." For the task of predicting
planetary motions, they turned to the Alfonsine tables, a set of astronomical tables
based on the "Almagest" models, but incorporating some later modifications, mainly
the trepidation model attributed to Thabit ibn Qurra. Contrary to popular belief,
astronomers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance did not resort to "epicycles on
epicycles" to correct the original Ptolemaic models—until one comes to Copernicus
himself.
1.3.2.3. Sometime around 1450, mathematician Georg Purbach (1423–1461)
began a series of lectures on astronomy at the University of Vienna. Regiomontanus
(1436–1476), who was then one of his students, collected his notes on the lecture and
later published them as "Theoricae novae planetarum" in the 1470s. This "New
"Theorica" replaced the older "theorica" as the textbook of advanced astronomy.
Purbach also began to prepare a summary and commentary on the "Almagest." He
died after completing only six books, however, and Regiomontanus continued the
task, consulting a Greek manuscript brought from Constantinople by Cardinal
Bessarion. When it was published in 1496, the "Epitome of the Almagest" made the
highest levels of Ptolemaic astronomy widely accessible to many European
astronomers for the first time.

1.3.2.4. Nicolaus Copernicus

1.3.2.5. The last major event in Renaissance astronomy is the work of Nicolaus
Copernicus (1473–1543). He was among the first generation of astronomers to be
trained with the "Theoricae novae" and the "Epitome." Shortly before 1514, he began
to revive Aristarchus 's idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He spent the rest
of his life attempting a mathematical proof of heliocentrism. When "De revolutionibus
orbium coelestium" was finally published in 1543, Copernicus was on his deathbed. A
comparison of his work with the "Almagest" shows that Copernicus was, in many
ways, a Renaissance scientist rather than a revolutionary, because he followed
Ptolemy's methods and even his order of presentation. In astronomy, the Renaissance
of science can be said to have ended with the works of Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)
and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642).

1.3.2.6. Galileo Galilei contribution

1.3.2.7. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), is an astronomy, physics, mathematics and
Italian philosophy, who played an important role in the scientific revolution. During
21
the time of Galileo, there weren't really "scientists" as we know them today. People
studied the works of the classical philosophers and thinkers such as Aristotle. They
didn't run experiments or test out the ideas. They just believed them to be true.
Galileo, however, had different ideas. He wanted to test the principals and see if he
could observe them in the real world. This was a new concept to the people of his time
and laid the foundation for the Scientific Method.

1.3.2.8. Discovery the 4 moons of Jupiter

1.3.2.9. Four spacecraft (Pioneer 10 & 11, then Voyager 1 & 2) had previously
flown by the Jupiter system, but the Galileo mission was the first to enter orbit around
the planet. Like the famed astronomer for which it was named, Galileo would study
the King of Planets over an extended period, in finer detail than was ever possible
before. To accomplish this, the Galileo orbiter carried 10 science instruments, along
with a descent probe that it released directly into Jupiter’s atmosphere.
1.3.2.10. On 7 January 1610, Galileo observed with his telescope what he
described at the time as "three fixed stars, totally invisible by their smallness", all
close to Jupiter, and lying on a straight line through it. The planet Jupiter was
accompanied by four tiny satellites which moved around it. These are now known as
the Galilean moons: Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. Again, this showed that not
everything in the heavens revolved around the Earth. Galileo orbited Jupiter for
almost eight years, and made close passes by all its major moons. Its camera and nine
other instruments sent back reports that allowed scientists to determine, among other
things, that Jupiter’s icy moon Europa in astronomy: a planet with smaller planets
orbiting it probably has a subsurface ocean with more water than the total amount
found on Earth. They discovered that the volcanoes of the moon Io repeatedly and
rapidly resurface the little world. They found that the giant moon Ganymede possesses
its own magnetic field. Galileo even carried a small probe that it deployed and sent
deep into the atmosphere of Jupiter, taking readings for almost an hour before the
probe was crushed by overwhelming pressure. Finally, Galileo's observations of the
satellites of Jupiter caused a revolution did not conform to the principles of
Aristotelian cosmology, which held that all heavenly bodies should circle the Earth.
1.3.2.11. Galilei’ Controversial view following Copernicus Theory:
1.3.2.12. Galileo astronomer Galilei was the first to discover that the Earth is not
the center of the solar system, by observing the positions of stars. He introduced
Copernican Heliocentrism and firmly defended his invention against the opposition of
the Church at the time.
22
1.3.2.13. The opinion of the Church at that time thought that the Earth was the
center of the universe and all the arguments against that were considered heresy. On
June 22, 1633, Galileo was brought before a heretic court for trial.
1.3.2.14. The ruling of the Inquisition is in three main parts:
1.3.2.15. - Galileo was determined to be "very skeptical about heresy", clearly
believing in the idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe, that the Earth is not
the center of the universe, that a person can believe in and defending an opinion that
considers it right after it has been declared contrary to the Bible. He was asked to
"give up, curse and loath" these ideas.
1.3.2.16. - He was ordered to imprison; This ruling was later changed to house
arrest.
1.3.2.17. - His Dialogue is banned; and in an act not published at the hearing, the
publication of all his works was prohibited, including works he may write in the
future.
1.3.2.18. Before the heretic court, he swore, "I, Galileo ... swear I've been and will
believe in what is taught and preached by the church, with the help of God." I will
completely eliminate my misconception that the Sun is the center of the world and
every planet orbiting around, and that the Earth is not the center of the world. "
1.3.2.19. All his subsequent studies and books were also banned from circulation.
It was not until 1718, 76 years after his death, that the ban on reprinting Galileo's
works of the Inquisition was lifted.
1.3.2.20. In 1939, in his first address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope
Pius XII described Galileo as one of the "boldest heroes in the history of science ...
fearless before obstacles and dangers in doing the work, nor blindly obey the great
men of the past "

1.3.3. Medicine
1.3.3.1. Main article: Medical Renaissance
1.3.3.2. With the Renaissance came an increase in experimental investigation,
principally in the field of dissection and body examination, thus advancing our
knowledge of human anatomy.[1] The development of modern neurology began in the
16th century with Andreas Vesalius, who described the anatomy of the brain and other
organs; he had little knowledge of the brain's function, thinking that it resided mainly
in the ventricles. Understanding of medical sciences and diagnosis improved, but with
little direct benefit to health care. Few effective drugs existed, beyond opium and
quinine. William Harvey provided a refined and complete description of the
23
circulatory system. The most useful tomes in medicine used both by students and
expert physicians, were "materiae medicae" and "pharmacopeiae."
1.3.4. Geography and the New World
1.3.4.1. In the history of geography, the key classical text was the Geographia of
Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century). It was translated into Latin in the 15th century by
Jacopo d'Angelo. It was widely read in the manuscript and went through many print
editions after it was first printed in 1475. Regiomontanus worked on preparing an
edition for print before his death; his manuscripts were consulted by later
mathematicians in Nuremberg.
1.3.4.2. The information provided by Ptolemy, as well as Pliny the Elder and
other classical sources, was soon seen to be in contradiction to the lands explored in
the Age of Discovery. The discoveries revealed shortcomings in classical knowledge;
they also opened European imagination to new possibilities. Thomas More's Utopia
was inspired partly by the discovery of the New World.

1.3.4.3. Leonardo da Vinci Invention

Leonardo da Vinci Invention (1452 – 1519) was one of the great men of the
Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci captured the scientific foundations of Renaissance art
— perspective, light, proportions, and anatomy — and extended them into every
aspect of the investigation of nature. He regarded art as the ultimate form of visual
knowledge, founded on an understanding of how nature works. In all his activities, he
sought a core of mathematical rules that governed the operation of all things in nature.
The rules dictated how humans should explore nature in art, science, and technology.
Every machine can be regarded as a new kind of 'body', taking its cue from nature but
not directly imitating it. All of his inventions were based on an understanding of the
science of nature.
* Invention:
In terms of technology, da Vinci's vision embraced the potential of civil and military
engineering on colossal scales and involved complex levels of automation. The
designs for the grandest machines were consciously visionary and lived on paper as a
form of 'visual boasting' directed at patrons rather than aspiring to be actual
constructions.
The inventions that Leonardo da Vinci put into practice were his expensive and
massive mechanisms for the theatre, which involved such things as mountains that
opened up. His most important intellectual contribution to engineering was that he
was the first to insist that mechanical devices should be designed in keeping with the
24
mathematical laws of nature. He was also the first to invent separate components or
'elements of machines', which could be deployed in various devices.
 Helical aerial screw (the helicopter): The 'helical aerial screw', conceived by
Leonardo in 1493, consisted of a spinning linen screw designed to compress air to
induce flight: a mechanism similar to that employed in contemporary helicopters.
Leonardo’s design is widely credited as the vertical flight machine.
 Revolving bridge: Leonardo’s revolving bridge was not just an engineering
marvel and an innovation in warfare, but also a rare early example of flat-pack design.
Designed in the 1480s for Duke Sforza, the bridge allowed troops to cross rivers
quickly, and could easily be packed up and transported for reuse elsewhere. In
technical terms, the bridge was envisioned to a have a counterweight tank that would
make the structure balanced on both sides. As for its ease of transportation, the design
was contrived to have wheels and a rope-and-pulley system for effective deployment
in a brief span of time.

2. Artistic Renaissance (Trang)

2.1. Art:

2.1.1. Origins of Renaissance Art

2.1.1.1. The origins of Renaissance art can be traced to Italy in the late 13th
and early 14th centuries. During this so-called “proto-Renaissance” period
(1280-1400), Italian scholars and artists saw themselves as reawakening to the
ideals and achievements of classical Roman culture. Writers such as Petrarch
(1304-1374) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) looked back to ancient
Greece and Rome and sought to revive the languages, values and intellectual
traditions of those cultures after the long period of stagnation that had followed
the fall of the Roman Empire in the sixth century.
2.1.2. Early Renaissance
2.1.2.1. During the Early Renaissance, artists began to reject the Byzantine
style of religious painting and strove to create realism in their depiction of the
human form and space. This aim toward realism began with Cimabue and
Giotto, and reached its peak in the art of the “Perfect” artists, such as Andrea
Mantegna and Paolo Uccello, who created works that employed one point

25
perspective and played with perspective for their educated, art knowledgeable
viewer.
2.1.2.2. Birth of Venus: Botticelli’s Birth of Venus was among the most
important works of the early Renaissance.
2.1.2.3. During the Early Renaissance we also see important developments
in subject matter, in addition to style. While religion was an important element
in the daily life of people living during the Renaissance, and remained a driving
factor behind artistic production, we also see a new avenue open to panting—
mythological subject matter. Many scholars point to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
as the very first panel painting of a mythological scene. While the tradition itself
likely arose from cassone painting, which typically featured scenes from
mythology and romantic texts, the development of mythological panel painting
would open a world for artistic patronage, production, and themes.
2.1.3. High Renaissance
2.1.3.1. The period known as the High Renaissance represents the
culmination of the goals of the Early Renaissance, namely the realistic
representation of figures in space rendered with credible motion and in an
appropriately decorous style. The most well known artists from this phase are
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, and Michelangelo. Their paintings and
frescoes are among the most widely known works of art in the world. Da
Vinci’s Last Supper, Raphael’s The School of Athens and Michelangelo’s
Sistine Chapel Ceiling paintings are the masterpieces of this period and embody
the elements of the High Renaissance.
2.1.3.2. Marriage of the Virgin, by Raphael: The painting depicts a
marriage ceremony between Mary and Joseph.

2.1.4. Leonardo da Vinci

2.1.4.1. While Leonardo da Vinci is admired as a scientist, an academic,
and an inventor, he is most famous for his achievements as the painter of
several Renaissance masterpieces.
2.1.4.2. While Leonardo da Vinci is greatly admired as a scientist, an
academic, and an inventor, he is most famous for his achievements as the
painter of several Renaissance masterpieces. His paintings were groundbreaking

26
for a variety of reasons and his works have been imitated by students and
discussed at great length by connoisseurs and critics.
2.1.4.3. Among the qualities that make da Vinci’s work unique are the
innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed
knowledge of anatomy, his use of the human form in figurative composition,
and his use of sfumato. All of these qualities are present in his most celebrated
works, the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.
2.1.4.4. The Virgin of the Rocks, Leonardo da Vinci, 1483–1486: This
painting shows the Madonna and Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist
and an angel, in a rocky setting.
2.1.4.5. The Last Supper: Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, although much
deteriorated, demonstrates the painter’s mastery of the human form in figurative
composition.
2.1.4.6. Mona Lisa: In the Mona Lisa, da Vinci incorporates his sfumato
technique to create a shadowy quality.
2.1.4.7. Contribution of Leonardo da Vinci
1. Artwork
Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, is the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
This painting is painted as oil on wood. The original painting size is 77 x 53 cm
(30 x 20 7/8 in) and is owned by by the Government of France and is on the
wall in the Louvre in Paris, France.

his figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in
a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of Leonardo's
sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic
expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal
fame.

The Mona Lisa's famous smile represents the sitter in the same way that the
juniper branches represent Ginevra Benci and the ermine represents Cecilia
Gallerani in their portraits, in Washington and Krakow respectively. It is a

27
visual representation of the idea of happiness suggested by the word "gioconda"
in Italian. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of the
portrait: it is this notion which makes the work such an ideal. The nature of the
landscape also plays a role. The middle distance, on the same level as the sitter's
chest, is in warm colors. Men live in this space: there is a winding road and a
bridge. This space represents the transition between the space of the sitter and
the far distance, where the landscape becomes a wild and uninhabited space of
rocks and water which stretches to the horizon, which Leonardo has cleverly
drawn at the level of the sitter's eyes.
In the Renaissance which brought together all human activities, art meant
science, art meant truth to life: Leonardo da Vinci was a great figure because he
embodied the epic endeavour of Italian art to conquer universal values: he who
combined within himself the fluctuating sensitivity of the artist and the deep
wisdom of the scientist, he, the poet and the master.

The Last Supper

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began what would become one of history's most
influential works of art - The Last Supper

The Last Supper is Leonardo's visual interpretation of an event chronicled in all

four of the Gospels (books in the Christian New Testament). The evening
before Christ was betrayed by one of his disciples, he gathered them together to
eat, tell them he knew what was coming and wash their feet (a gesture
symbolizing that all were equal under the eyes of the Lord). As they ate and
drank together, Christ gave the disciples explicit instructions on how to eat and
drink in the future, in remembrance of him. It was the first celebration of the
Eucharist, a ritual still performed.

Specifically, The Last Supper depicts the next few seconds in this story after
Christ dropped the bomb shell that one disciple would betray him before
sunrise, and all twelve have reacted to the news with different degrees of horror,
anger and shock.

28
Leonardo hadn't worked on such a large painting and had no experience in the
standard mural medium of fresco. The painting was made using experimental
pigments directly on the dry plaster wall and unlike frescos, where the pigments
are mixed with the wet plaster, it has not stood the test of time well. Even before
it was finished there were problems with the paint flaking from the wall and
Leonardo had to repair it. Over the years it has crumbled, been vandalized
bombed and restored. Today we are probably looking at very little of the
original.

3. Music
Viola organista

Leonardo da Vinci invented this musical instrument, the viola organista,in the
1480s. However he never built it. For 500 years almost 200 attempts were made
to bring this project to life, moreover none of them fully succeeded. Until now.
In 2012, after 4-years-long work, Sławomir Zubrzycki, Polish pianist and
constructor, built the first concert Viola Organista and started a new chapter of
its history.
The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It
uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to how a violin produces
sounds), with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard (similar to an
organ). Leonardo's design has intrigued instrument makers for more than 400
years, but though similar instruments have been built, no extant instrument
constructed directly from Leonardo's incomplete designs is known. Sometimes
it is mistakenly referred to as the harpsichord viola, which is a different
instrument.

3.1.1. Michelangelo
3.1.1.1. Michelangelo was a 16th century Florentine artist renowned for his
masterpieces in sculpture, painting, and architectural design.
3.1.1.2. Michelangelo was a 16th century Florentine artist renowned for his
masterpieces in sculpture, painting, and architectural design. His most well

29
known works are the David, the Last Judgment, and the Basilica of Saint Peter’s
in the Vatican.
3.1.1.3. Painting: The Last Judgement
3.1.1.4. The Last Judgement: The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar
wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VII.
Michelangelo worked on the project from 1534–1541.
3.1.1.5. St. Peter’s Basillica: Michelangelo designed the dome of St. Peter’s
Basilica on or before 1564, although it was unfinished when he died.
3.1.1.6. Sculpture: David
3.1.1.7. The David by Michelangelo, 1504: Michelangelo’s David stands in
contrapposto pose.
3.1.1.8. Michelangelo Contribution
 Architecture: David
In 1504, Michelangelo was commissioned to create a colossal marble statue
portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom. The subsequent
masterpiece, David, established the artist’s prominence as a sculptor of
extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination. David was
created out of a single marble block, and stands larger than life, as it was
originally intended to adorn the Florence Cathedral. The work differs from
previous representations in that the Biblical hero is not depicted with the head
of the slain Goliath, as he is in Donatello’s and Verrocchio’s statues; both had
represented the hero standing victorious over the head of Goliath. No earlier
Florentine artist had omitted the giant altogether. Instead of appearing
victorious over a foe, David’s face looks tense and ready for combat. The
tendons in his neck stand out tautly, his brow is furrowed, and his eyes seem to
focus intently on something in the distance. Veins bulge out of his lowered right
hand, but his body is in a relaxed contrapposto pose, and he carries his sling
casually thrown over his left shoulder. In the Renaissance, contrapposto poses
were thought of as a distinctive feature of antique sculpture.
3.1.1.9. The sculpture was intended to be placed on the exterior of the
Duomo, and has become one of the most recognized works of Renaissance
sculpture.

30
  Art The Last Judgement
The composition contained over 300 figures, and had at its center nine episodes
from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God’s Creation of the
Earth, God’s Creation of Humankind, and their fall from God’s grace, and
lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. Twelve
men and women who prophesied the coming of Jesus are painted on the
pendentives supporting the ceiling. Among the most famous paintings on the
ceiling are The Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the
Great Flood, the Prophet Isaiah and the Cumaean Sibyl. The ancestors of Christ
are painted around the windows.
The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was
commissioned by Pope Clement VII, and Michelangelo labored on the project
from 1536–1541. The work is located on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel,
which is not a traditional placement for the subject. Typically, last judgement
scenes were placed on the exit wall of churches as a way to remind the viewer
of eternal punishments as they left worship. The Last Judgment is a depiction of
the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity
rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by
the Saints. In contrast to the earlier figures Michelangelo painted on the ceiling,
the figures in The Last Judgement are heavily muscled and are in much more
artificial poses, demonstrating how this work is in the Mannerist style.
 The Creation of Adam
The Creation of Adam (Italian: Creazione di Adamo) is a fresco painting by
Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling,
painted c. 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book
of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man. The fresco is part of
a complex iconographic scheme and is chronologically the fourth in the series
of panels depicting episodes from Genesis.
The image of the near-touching hands of God and Adam has become iconic of
humanity. The painting has been reproduced in countless imitations and
parodies. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam is one of the most replicated
religious paintings of all time.

31
3.1.2. Literature
3.1.2.1. The earliest Renaissance literature appeared in 14th century Italy;
Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli are notable examples of Italian Renaissance
writers. From Italy the influence of the Renaissance spread at different rates to
other countries, and continued to spread throughout Europe through the 17th
century. The English Renaissance and the Renaissance in Scotland date from
the late 15th century to the early 17th century. In northern Europe the scholarly
writings of Erasmus, the plays of Shakespeare, the poems of Edmund Spenser,
and the writings of Sir Philip Sidney may be considered Renaissance in
character.
3.1.2.2. The literature of the Renaissance was written within the general
movement of the Renaissance that arose in 13th century Italy and continued
until the 16th century while being diffused into the western world. It is
characterized by the adoption of a Humanist philosophy and the recovery of the
classical literature of Antiquity and benefited from the spread of printing in the
latter part of the 15th century. For the writers of the Renaissance, Greco-Roman
inspiration was shown both in the themes of their writing and in the literary
forms they used. The world was considered from an anthropocentric
perspective. Platonic ideas were revived and put to the service of Christianity.
The search for pleasures of the senses and a critical and rational spirit
completed the ideological panorama of the period. New literary genres such as
the essay and new metrical forms such as the sonnet and Spenserian stanza
made their appearance.
3.1.2.3. The creation of the printing press (using movable type) by
Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s encouraged authors to write in their local
vernacular rather than in Greek or Latin classical languages, widening the
reading audience and promoting the spread of Renaissance ideas.
3.1.2.4. The impact of the Renaissance varied across the continent;
countries that were predominantly Catholic or predominantly Protestant
experienced the Renaissance differently. Areas where the Orthodox Church was
culturally dominant, as well as those areas of Europe under Islamic rule, were
more or less outside its influence. The period focused on self-actualization and
one’s ability to accept what is going on in one’s life.

32
3.1.2.5. Dante Alighieri
3.1.2.5.1. A generation before Petrarch and Boccaccio, Dante Alighieri set
the stage for Renaissance literature. His Divine Comedy, originally called
Comedìa and later christened Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the
greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of
world literature.
3.1.2.5.2. At some point during his exile he conceived of the Divine Comedy,
but the date is uncertain. The work is much more assured and on a larger scale
than anything he had produced in Florence; it is likely he would have
undertaken such a work only after he realized his political ambitions, which had
been central to him up to his banishment, had been halted for some time,
possibly forever. Mixing religion and private concerns in his writings, he
invoked the worst anger of God against his city and suggested several particular
targets that were also his personal enemies.
3.1.2.6. Leonardo Bruni
3.1.2.6.1. Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370–March 9, 1444) was an Italian Humanist,
historian, and statesman, often recognized as the most important Humanist
historian of the early Renaissance. He has been called the first modern historian.
He was the earliest person to write using the three-period view of history:
Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern. The dates Bruni used to define the
periods are not exactly what modern historians use today, but he laid the
conceptual groundwork for a tripartite division of history.
3.1.2.6.2. Bruni’s most notable work is Historiarum Florentini populi libri
XII (History of the Florentine People, 12 Books), which has been called the first
modern history book. While it probably was not Bruni’s intention to secularize
history, the three period view of history is unquestionably secular, and for that
Bruni has been called the first modern historian. The foundation of Bruni’s
conception can be found with Petrarch, who distinguished the classical period
from later cultural decline, or tenebrae (literally “darkness”). Bruni argued that
Italy had revived in recent centuries and could therefore be described as
entering a new age.
3.1.2.7. Christine de Pizan

33
3.1.2.7.1. Christine de Pizan was an Italian-French late medieval author who
wrote about the positive contributions of women to European history and court
life.Her work is characterized by a prominent and positive depiction of women
who encouraged ethical and judicious conduct in courtly life.Much of the
impetus for her writing came from her need to earn a living to support her
mother, a niece, and her two surviving children after being widowed at the age
of 25.Christine’s participation in a literary debate about Jean de Meun’s
Romance of the Rose allowed her to move beyond the courtly circles, and
ultimately to establish her status as a writer concerned with the position of
women in society.

3.1.2.8. William Shakespeare

3.1.2.8.1. Because the Renaissance reached England later than other parts of
Europe, the hold of medieval beliefs was strong in Shakespeare’s day,
especially in the less urban Stratford-upon-Avon of his youth. When he moved
to London in the 1580s, he moved from a more medieval life to a Renaissance
one, and this duality is present in his writing. He certainly incorporated
Renaissance ideals: from his own astonishing linguistic invention to the number
of plays inspired by ancient Greek and Roman history and literature,
Shakespeare is a product of a time looking both ahead and behind.
3.1.2.8.2. Sources from the classical era and the Middle Ages: Antony and
Cleopatra (source: Folger Library) and a scene from King Lear (source: Folger
Library)
3.1.2.8.3. But Shakespeare’s writing is also firmly rooted in the Middle Ages,
particularly its theatrical traditions. His work is unbound to the strict classical
guidelines of time and space that Renaissance writers prized; instead,
Shakespeare’s plays might span continents and decades within the two-hours
traffic of a single work. He mingles tragedy and comedy, and high- and low-
brow characters, in ways the medieval cycle plays often did. And he was just as
inspired by Middle Age figures and stories as he was by classical ones: Hamlet,
King Lear, and many of the history plays are directly drawn from Middle Age
sources, and Chaucer, the great medieval poet, influenced several of
Shakespeare’s works.

34
3.1.2.8.4. Despite straddling both ages, Shakespeare’s writing itself is
perhaps his greatest embodiment of Renaissance ideals. In a period deeply
interested in forward progress, using the classics as a guide, he was endlessly
inventive, surprising, and revealing of humanity’s deeper truths in ways that
only a Renaissance poet could be. But where other Renaissance adherents
dismissed the Middle Ages, Shakespeare was rooted in them, using his and his
nation’s recent past to launch them both into what was to come.

3.1.2.8.5. Shakespeare's contribution

Poem: Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety
of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost
always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a
quarto in 1609. However, there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare
wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's
Lost. There is a partial sonnet found in the play Edward III.
Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered a continuation of the sonnet tradition that
swept through the Renaissance from Petrarch in 14th-century Italy and was
finally introduced in 16th-century England by Thomas Wyatt and was given its
rhyming meter and division into quatrains by Henry Howard. With few
exceptions, Shakespeare’s sonnets observe the stylistic form of the English
sonnet—the rhyme scheme, the 14 lines, and the meter. But Shakespeare’s
sonnets introduce such significant departures of content that they seem to be
rebelling against well-worn 200-year-old traditions.[2]
Instead of expressing worshipful love for an almost goddess-like yet
unobtainable female love-object, as Petrarch, Dante, and Philip Sidney had
done, Shakespeare introduces a young man. He also introduces the Dark Lady,
who is no goddess. Shakespeare explores themes such as lust, homoeroticism,
misogyny, infidelity, and acrimony in ways that may challenge, but which also
open new terrain for the sonnet form.
The sonnets are almost all constructed of three quatrains (four-line stanzas)
followed by a final couplet. The sonnets are composed in iambic pentameter,
the meter used in Shakespeare's plays.

35
Play: Romeo and Juliet
This play is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about
two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding
families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and
along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the
title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to
antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as The
Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in
prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed
heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting
characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have been written
between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in
1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality, however, and later
editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare's original.
Shakespeare's use of his poetic dramatic structure (especially effects such as
switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, his expansion of
minor characters, and his use of sub-plots to embellish the story) has been
praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill.

3.2. Music

3.2.1.1. Renaissance music is music written in Europe during the

Renaissance. Consensus among music historians–with notable dissent–has been
to start the era around 1400, with the end of the medieval era, and to close it
around 1600, with the beginning of the baroque period, therefore commencing
the musical Renaissance about a hundred years after the beginning of the
Renaissance as understood in other disciplines. As in the other arts, the music of
the period was significantly influenced by the developments which define the
early modern period: the rise of humanistic thought; the recovery of the literary
and artistic heritage of ancient Greece and Rome; increased innovation and
discovery; the growth of commercial enterprise; the rise of a bourgeois class;

36
and the Protestant Reformation. From this changing society emerged a common,
unifying musical language, in particular the polyphonic style of the Franco-
Flemish school.
3.2.1.2. The invention of the Gutenberg press made distribution of music
and musical theory possible on a wide scale. Demand for music as
entertainment and as an activity for educated amateurs increased with the
emergence of a bourgeois class.
3.2.1.3. Music, increasingly freed from medieval constraints, in range,
rhythm, harmony, form, and notation, became a vehicle for new personal
expression. Composers found ways to make music expressive of the texts they
were setting. Secular music absorbed techniques from sacred music, and vice
versa. Popular secular forms such as the chanson and madrigal spread
throughout Europe. Courts employed virtuoso performers, both singers and
instrumentalists.
3.2.1.4. One of the most pronounced features of early Renaissance
European art music was the increasing reliance on the interval of the third (in
the Middle Ages, thirds had been considered dissonances). Polyphony became
increasingly elaborate throughout the fourteenth century, with highly
independent voices: the beginning of the fifteenth century showed
simplification, with the voices often striving for smoothness. This was possible
because of a greatly increased vocal range in music–in the Middle Ages, the
narrow range made necessary frequent crossing of parts, thus requiring a greater
contrast between them.
3.2.1.5. The modal (as opposed to tonal) characteristics of Renaissance
music began to break down towards the end of the period with the increased use
of root motions of fifths. This later developed into one of the defining
characteristics of tonality.
3.2.1.6. The main characteristics of Renaissance music are the following:
 Music based on modes
 Richer texture in four or more parts
 Blending rather than contrasting strands in the musical texture
 Harmony with a greater concern with the flow and progression of chords

37
 Polyphony is one of the notable changes that mark the Renaissance from
the Middle Ages musically. Its use encouraged the use of larger ensembles and
demanded sets of instruments that would blend together across the whole vocal
range.
3.2.1.7. Principal liturgical forms which endured throughout the entire
Renaissance period were masses and motets, with some other developments
towards the end, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular
forms (such as the madrigal) for their own designs.
3.2.1.8. Common sacred genres were the mass, the motet, the madrigale
spirituale, and the laude.
3.2.1.9. During the period, secular music had an increasing distribution,
with a wide variety of forms, but one must be cautious about assuming an
explosion in variety: since printing made music more widely available, much
more has survived from this era than from the preceding medieval era, and
probably a rich store of popular music of the late Middle Ages is irretrievably
lost.
3.2.1.10. Secular music was music that was independent of churches. The
main types were the German Lied, Italian frottola, the French chanson, the
Italian madrigal, and the Spanish villancico. Other secular vocal genres included
the caccia, rondeau, virelai, bergerette, ballade, musique mesurée, canzonetta,
villanella, villotta, and the lute song. Mixed forms such as the motet-chanson
and the secular motet also appeared.
3.2.1.11. Purely instrumental music included consort music for recorder or
viol and other instruments, and dances for various ensembles. Common
instrumental genres were the toccata, prelude, ricercar, and canzona. Dances
played by Instrumental ensembles included the basse danse, tourdion, saltarello,
pavane, galliard, allemande, courante, bransle, canarie, and lavolta. Music of
many genres could be arranged for a solo instrument such as the lute, vihuela,
harp, or keyboard. Such arrangements were called intabulations.
3.2.1.12. Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of
opera such as monody, the madrigal comedy, and the intermedio are seen.

38