Ch 17 European Renaissance and Reformation

1300-1600

Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

Sec 1

Middle Ages

• During the late Middle Ages, Europe suffered from both war and plague

• Those who survived started to question institutions of the Middle Ages such as the Church

Renaissance

• Renaissance- term that means rebirth and refers to a period from 1300-1600 in Europe that in characterized by an explosion of creativity in art and learning

• The people of Italy hoped to bring back the life and culture of Greece and Rome but created something new

Italy’s Advantages

• The Renaissance began in Northern Italy and gradually spread to the rest of Europe

• Italy had four advantages that made it the birthplace of the Renaissance: – thriving cities – a wealthy merchant class – the classical heritage of Greece and Rome– location in the Mediterranean

City States

• Overseas trade, spurred by the Crusades, had led to the growth of large city-states in northern Italy

• Northern Italy was urban while most of the rest of Europe remained rural

Merchants and the Medici

• Unlike nobles, merchants did not inherit social rank

• Success for merchants was based on individual merit, an important idea during the Renaissance

• The Medici family was one of the most powerful merchant families in all of Europe

Looking to Greece and Rome

• Greek and Roman culture was revived through the study of the ruins of Rome and manuscripts that were preserved in monasteries

• Christian scholars from fleeing the rule of the Muslim Turks in Constantinople brought Greek and Roman manuscripts with them

Location

• Italy’s location in the Mediterranean Sea led to contact with many other cultures such as the Hanseatic League, an alliance of trading cities in Northern Europe

• Renaissance ideas spread quickly through trade routes

Humanism

• Humanism- intellectual movement that focused on human potential and achievements

• As opposed to people of the Middle Ages, humanists are more concerned with the here and now than the afterlife

• The basic spirit of the Renaissance was secular- worldly rather than spiritual

Renaissance Man

• The ideal individual during the Renaissance strove to master almost every area of study

• A Renaissance Man should be able to dance, sing, play music, write poetry, be a skilled rider, wrestler, and swordsman

Renaissance Women

• Women during the Renaissance were better educated than women of the Middle Ages but still had little influence

Art

• Following the new emphasis on individuals, artists began to paint prominent citizens in a more realistic way

Leonardo da Vinci

• Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist

• His work is a huge influence art and science, and includes the Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/last-supper-theory.htm• Sistine Chapel• THE REAL SECRET OF LEONARDO - Y

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Michelangelo

• Michelangelo was another Renaissance man known for his art, poetry, and sculptures such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the statue of David

Raphael

Literature

• Authors such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccacco wrote for self-expression or to portray the individuality of their subjects

Machiavelli

• Machiavelli- influential Renaissance author of The Prince.

• The Prince was a political guidebook advising rulers how to keep their power

• Is it better to be feared or loved?• A wise ruler does whatever is necessary to

stay in power.• “the end justifies the means”

The Northern Renaissance

Sec 2

Northern Renaissance

• After the plague and the Hundred Years War ended populations began to grow in northern cities

• As wealth increased through trade in northern cities patronage of the arts increased

Northern Writers

• When the Italian humanist ideas reached the north, people used them to examine the traditional teachings of the Church

• Christian humanists focused on how to improve society and inspire people to live a Christian life

Thomas More

• In 1516, Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia

• The book is about an imaginary land where greed, corruption, and war have been weeded out.

Shakespeare

• The Renaissance spread to England in the mid-1500s.

• This time period became known as the Elizabethan Age

• The most famous writer of the Elizabethan Age was William Shakespeare

The Printing Press

• The Chinese invented block printing and movable print around the year 1000, but it was impractical because the Chinese language contained thousands of characters

• Around 1440, Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from Germany developed a printing press that incorporated a number of technologies in a new way

Effects of the Printing Press

• Gutenberg’s printing press made it possible to produce books quickly and cheaply

• Using the new process Gutenberg printed a complete Bible in 1455

• For the first time books were cheap enough so that many people could buy them

• The printing press took power away from the Church by putting the Bible in the hands of common people

Legacy of the Renaissance

• The European Renaissance was a period of great artistic and social change

• It marked a break with medieval period ideals focused around the Church.

• The belief in the dignity of the individual played a key role in the gradual rise of democratic ideas

• The printing press may be the most important invention in history

Changes in the Arts

• Art drew on the style of classical Greece and Rome

• Paintings and sculptures portrayed individuals and nature in more realistic ways

• Art was secular as well as religious• Writers began to use vernacular language• The arts praised individual achievement

Changes in Society

• Printing made information available and inexpensive enough for society at large

• Greater availability of books prompted an increased desire for learning and a rise in literacy

• Published accounts of new discoveries, maps, and charts led to discoveries in a variety of fields

More Changes

• Published legal proceedings made the laws clear so that people were more likely to understand their rights

• Christian humanists changed the views about how life should be lived

• People began to question political structures and religious practices.

Luther Leads the Reformation

Sec 3

Weakening Church

• The Roman Catholic Church dominated life in the Middle Ages but it began to draw more and more criticism after the Crusades and plague

Reformation

• Reformation- movement for religious reform that led to the split of the Roman Catholic Church and the creation of Protestantism

Social Causes

• The Renaissance values of humanism and secularism led people to question the Church

• The printing press put the Bible in the hands of regular people and helped to spread ideas critical of the Church

Political Causes

• Powerful monarchs challenged the church as the supreme power in Europe

• Many leaders viewed the pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority

Economic Causes

• European princes and kings were jealous of the Church’s wealth

• Merchants and others resented having to pay taxes to the Church

Religious Causes

• Some Church leaders had become worldly and corrupt

• Many people found Church practices such as the sale of indulgences unacceptable

Luther Challenges the Church

• Martin Luther- monk and teacher from the German state of Saxony who led the Protestant Reformation

• In 1517, Luther took a public stand against a friar name Johann Tetzel

• In order to raise money to rebuild St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, Tetzel began to sell indulgences, pardons that released sinners from having to perform penalties

95 Theses

• 95 Theses- formal statements attacking Church practices and the sale of indulgences

• Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Church in Wittenberg and invited scholars to debate him

• His statement was copied and taken to a printer and Luther was soon known throughout Germany

• The posting of the 95 Theses began the Reformation

Luther’s Teachings

• People could win salvation only by faith in God’s forgiveness. The Church taught that faith and good works were necessary.

• All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. The pope and Church traditions were false authorities.

• All people with faith were equal. People do not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.

Response to Luther• In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther• Edict of Worms was issued by Holy Roman

Emperor Charles V declaring Luther and outlaw and a heretic

• Luther and his followers became a separate religious group called the Lutherans

• Peasants in Germany revolted • The term Protestant came to be applied to

Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches

Henry VIII

• When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509 he was a devout Catholic

• Henry needed to have a son to be heir to his throne

• Convinced that his 42 year old wife Catherine would have no more children Henry asked the pope for an annulment.

England Becomes Protestant

• After the Pope refused the annulment Henry called the Parliament and asked it to end the pope’s power in England

• Henry got his divorce and married Anne Boleyn

• After Henry’s death his daughter, Elizabeth I set up the Church of England or Anglican Church

The Reformation Continues

Sec 4

John Calvin• In 1535, John Calvin, published Institutes

of the Christian Religion to express his ideas about God, salvation, and human nature

• Calvin wrote that men and women are sinful by nature and that God chooses very few people to be saved.

• Predestination- belief that God has known from the beginning of time who will be saved

Calvinism

• Calvinism- religion based on the ideas of John Calvin

• Calvin believed that the ideal government was a theocracy, government controlled by religious leaders

• Followers of Calvinism were extremely strict.

Catholic Reformation

• Catholic Reformation- reform movement by the Catholic church in order to keep followers loyal, also known as the Counter Reformation

• The goals of the Catholic Reformation were to found schools in Europe, convert non-Christians, and stop the spread of Protestantism

Legacy of the Reformation

• Protestant churches flourished and new denominations developed

• The Roman Catholic Church unified due to its own reforms

• Both placed a new emphasis on education• Monarchs and states gained power as

church power declined• The questioning of beliefs and authority led

to the Enlightenment