Announcements

18 April 2008

• Note unusual schedule for next 3

classes….
– No class Mon or Fri next week.
– Mon, Apr. 28 = discussion of primary sources

• Midterms should be available next Wed….

 A New Beginning:
The Renaissance & Early Modern Europe
 Early Modern Europe
• Italian Renaissance (1350-1500)
• Northern Renaissance (1500-1600)
• Protestant & Catholic Reformations (1517-
1600)
• Age of Exploration (1492-1550)
• Scientific Revolution (1550-1650)

• Why is it “early modern”? (PERSIA)

– What separates “modern” society from medieval?
 “Renaissance” today
• Discuss for one minute what this term
means to you today…

• Discuss for one minute what you think this

term refers to in a historical sense….
 “Renaissance” in History
• What: “rebirth” (from Vasari) of Greek & Roman ideas.
• When/Where: In 15th century Italy (1400-1499), later to
Northern Europe; usually in urban areas.
• Who: Wealthy, urban elites most influenced and
involved.
• Did women and peasants have a “Renaissance”?
• Why: see next slide…

• Areas affected: Art, education, politics, music, gender

issues, diplomacy, military affairs, etc.
• Other examples of Renaissance (Carolingian, 12th-
century, Harlem…)
 Renaissance vs. Medieval
• Individual • Corporate/group
• Secular (Protestant) • Religious (Catholic)
• Realist • Idealized
• Active • Contemplative (monks)
• Classical • Christian
• Change • Continuity
• State • Church
• Public • Private
• international • local
The Renaissance Today
Renaissance Today

Renaissance Man, 52,

5’10” ISO S/DWPF….
 Why does the Renaissance begin
in Italy?
• Proximity to Classical
World
• Urbanization
• Increased wealth
• Crisis of authority
• Competition
• Patronage &
extraordinary
artists/intellectuals/wri
ters
Florence in the 15th century
 Humanism
• the most easily defined element of
Renaissance thought
• emphasis on secular, rather than
religious, values
• sought to improve man and mankind
through the study and investigation of
human society
– especially the societies of the ancient world
 Man and God
• Medieval conception of man
– made of “dirt” (Bible, Aristotle)
– higher than the beasts (but not much)
• Renaissance conception of man
– formed “in God’s image”
– lower than the angels

The relative place of man in the celestial

hierarchy did not change, but the
perception of the potential of man did
Michelangelo, The creation of man, from the Sistine
Chapel, 1508-1512
 Humanism
• Optimism in man’s potential
• “Man is the measure of all things…” (Protagoras)
• “What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How
infinite in faculties!” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)

• Humanists can be found in

• education (Guarino)
• literature (Petrarch),
• politics (Bruni),
• art (Brunelleschi),
• Religion (Valla)
• Etc, etc.
 Humanism & Literature
• Francesco Petrarch (1304-
1374)
• Father of Humanism
• Italian poet, author
• Loved Classical world,
despised “Dark Ages” & papal
corruption
• His solution:
• Reconstruct G-R world
• Study/imitate G-R world
• Reform own society
• Wrote biographies, love
poems, letters to friends,
scholarly annotations, etc.
• See Noble, p. 396-97
 Civic Humanism
• Applying
study/imitation of
Classical world to
contemporary politics
• Promote virtues, liberty
• Praises republics
• Senator Byrd (W.V.)
• Active vs.
contemplative life
• Ex: Coluccio Salutati,
Machiavelli (see Noble, 402-03)
 Humanism & Education
• Study of Latin grammar,
Roman history, Roman
literature, Classical
values
• Rhetoric and oratory are
important for public life
• Analogy of a honeybee
and nectar
• Guarino of Verona (1374-
1460), maestro
• (see Noble, 398)
 Humanism & Religion
• Ad fontes
• Humanist libraries
• Lorenzo Valla (Noble, p. 401)
– Donation of
Constantine
– Annotations on N.T.
• Neo-Platonism
• Christian Humanism
in N. Europe (next
week)
Humanism and Medicine
 Title page of
Vesalius, De
fabrica, 1543
Close up
of
dissection
 Humanism (review)
emphasis on secular, rather than
religious, values
• sought to improve man and mankind
through the study and investigation of
human society
– especially the societies of the Classical
world
Michelangelo, David, 1501-4

Medieval
Madonna, ca.
1250 (Norway)
 Question for next Wed.
• How are these changes of the
Renaissance (humanism, secularism)
reflected/illustrated in fifteenth and
sixteenth century art?

• Hint: read Noble, ch. 12, pp. 403-410

 Announcements
16 November 2007

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Exams