The Renaissance

1350-1600

The School of Athens- Raphael

Emerging from the Middle AgesThe period preceding the Renaissance is known as the Middle Ages. This time period was one in which the Roman Catholic Church weighed heavily in the daily lives of individuals. The Church largely controlled education and heavily policed the conduct of individuals. Fear of eternal damnation for committing sins and public executions kept the people in line.

Illustration of Hugh the younger Despenser’s execution from a manuscript of Froissart, circa 1365.

Hugh was judged a traitor in England and sentenced to public execution by hanging and drawing and quartering. He was hanged from a gallows, but cut down before he could choke to death and tied to a ladder, in full view of the crowd. A man climbed up beside him, and sliced off his private parts. These were then burnt before him, still alive and conscious. Subsequently, the executioner plunged his knife into his abdomen, and cut out his entrails and heart, which were likewise burnt before the crowd. Finally, he was beheaded, and his body cut into four pieces, and his head was mounted on the gates of London.

Poor Hugh

Medieval language:

Rule of thumb: one could not hit one’s wife with a stick thicker than a thumb.

Bathing was considered an occasion of sin, so not much of it took place. To hide body odor, brides carried a bouquet of flowers. Hence, the custom exists today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of using the nice clean water, then sons, daughters, wife, and finally the baby used the same water. By then the water was so dirty, one could actually lose someone in it. Therefore, the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, the roof became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip off the roof. Today we have the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

For serfs, warmth was afforded in their huts by bringing animals in on cold nights and huddling next to them. Hence, on a very cold night, it could be a “three dog night.”

For upper class people, in the bedroom, bugs and other droppings could mess up a nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait to see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

In reburying people, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and there was a realization that people had been buried alive. So Medieval people would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer.“

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

Sometimes Medieval serfs or peasants could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

The RenaissanceThe period of the Renaissance is viewed as a ‘re-birth’ in the minds of the great thinkers that fueled the transformation of society. A great shift occurred emphasizing the secular over the sacred and a focus on the worldly life replaced the medieval fascination with the spiritual world. The medieval period was largely rejected in place of a rekindled study of ancient Greek and Latin classics.

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy

The birth of the Renaissance

Italian city-states

•Shift away from castles in the countryside

•New republics where power rested in the hands of merchants and artisans

Humanism•Inspired by the classics

•Stressed living in this world, human dignity, and being a responsible citizen.

•Did not abandon Christianity- God created humans with the ability to shape their own lives.

•Questioned human nature

•Glorified the accomplishments of manPico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man.

Sir Thomas More,Utopia

The ‘Renaissance Man’The ideal of the period was the individual who excelled in all matters, who strove beyond the ordinary in learning, craftsmanship, and civic life.

Leonardo da Vinci

•Painter

•Author

•Mathematician

•Scientist

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, Galleria dell' Accademia, Venice (1485-90)

•Attempt to depict the perfectly proportioned man.

Niccolò Machiavelli

•Historian

•Political Scientist

•Philosopher

•Poet and Playwright

Renaissance Art•Breaks away from the medieval belief in religion and church authority.

•Themes are religious but expression is based upon interpretations of humanity

•Art and architecture emphasized proportion, order, harmony, symmetry and ideal themes

•Artists are well compensated and their work is valued as having the potential to change worldview

•Desire to depict the beauty of nature and a revived interest in the human form.

•Painters developed techniques, studying light, shadow and human anatomy.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Man

Donatello- Bronze Statue of David

•Symbolic of the victory of justice over might

Michelangelo- Statue of David marble

•Symbolized the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine republic.

•Originally erected in the public square of the palazzo

•The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome

Michelangelo- The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel 1508-1512

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

Detailed background over Mona Lisa’s shoulder

Detailed view of Mona Lisa’s hands. Note the lack of a wedding ring- likely to enforce her virtuous nature.

The Northern Renaissance- Christian Humanism•Were grounded in Religious themes.

•Attempted to apply logic and reasoning to sacred texts of the Catholic Church.

•Challenged institutions and dogmatic teachings.

•Remained loyal to the Catholic Church and often called for a return to early Christian ways.

Thomas More (1478-1535)

•Challenged King Henry VIII who claimed to be the Supreme head of the Church of England. A move the King orchestrated in order to marry Anne Boleyn.

•Published Utopia in 1516- a fictional description of an island that does not exist, yet it is an imaginary perfect place. (Utopia translates to ‘no place’)

•Attacked the notion of private property and condemned the ‘enclosure movement’ occurring in England.

•He is beheaded by order of Henry VIII for treason

Erasmus (1466-1536)

•“The Prince of Humanists”

•Dutch scholar that emphasized education and the study of the classics and the Bible

•Wrote Praise of Folly, which satirized the flaws of the Church and society.

•Despite criticisms of the Church he did not side with the Reformers- his work did influence this movement though.

•asserted that all humans possessed free will, and that the doctrine of predestination was not in accord with the teachings contained in the Bible. He argued against the belief that God's foreknowledge of events was the cause of events, and held that the doctrines of repentance, baptism and conversion depended on the existence of free will

•"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king"