World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

January 17, 2012

Daily Write

• What is “modernity”?

Please do your best to answer this question in one (nice, juicy)

sentence.

Periods of Anglo-European History

• I am going to use the term “Anglo-European” to refer collectively to the countries of the present-day United Kingdom and Europe

• Other terms commonly used– Europe– Western Europe– The West

• No terminology is perfect

Periods of Anglo-European History

• Classical (before 500)• Medieval (500–1500)• Modern (after 1500)

Periods of Anglo-European History

• Classical antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE)

• Middle Ages (500–1400)• Renaissance (1300–1600)• Reformation (1500–1700)• Enlightenment (1700–1800)• Industrial Revolution (1800–1900)• Modernity (1900–?)• Postmodernity (?)

Periods of Anglo-European History

• Classical antiquity: 800 BCE–500 CE

• Pre-modernity: 500–1500• Early modernity: 1500–1800• Modernity: 1800–?• Late modernity: 1900–?• Postmodernity?

What difference, if any, does it make which

system we use to refer to the different periods?

The Renaissance

Some Social, Cultural, and Historical Background

The Renaissance begins in Florence, Italy…

• …with the work of three major writers– Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)– Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374)

• Known in English as Petrarch

– Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375)

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Rebirth of Classical Humanism

• Knowledge of Latin continued in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire

• European scholars, however, focused on the study of Greek and Arabic works of science, philosophy and mathematics (in Latin translations)

• 14th-century Italian scholars revived the study of Latin poetry, history, and oratory

Rediscovery of Ancient Greek

• While ancient Greek was studied in the Byzantine Empire, study of ancient Greek was very limited in Western Europe

• In 1396, Coluccio Salutati, the chancellor of the University of Florence, hired Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek

• Italian scholars became reacquainted with ancient Greek poetry, drama, history, oratory, and philosophy

The Literary Renaissance Spreads Beyond Italy

• In Spain, Miguel de Cervantes (1548–1616) wrote Don Quixote, considered the first Western novel

• French writers include François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553), Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522–1560), and Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

• English writers include William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599), Sir Thomas More (1478–1535), Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), and John Milton (1608–1674)

Christianity & Classical Humanism

• The Renaissance emerged in the context of Christianity, not in opposition to it

• Dante’s Divine Comedy, for example, seeks to reconcile Christian theology with classical humanism and philosophy– Dante casts the Roman poet Virgil as his guide

through hell, purgatory, and paradise– His allegorical descriptions of virtue and vice

employ figures from ancient Greek and Roman mythology and history as well as from the Bible and current politics

The Church Was a Major Force in European…

• Politics• Government• Criminal and civil law (canon and

secular)• Education• Inheritance• Marriage• Health, hospitals• Assistance to the poor (social safety net)

The Church Had a Playful Side

• Corpus Christi, a festival that reenacted the history of the world from Genesis to the Apocalypse

• Began in the 14th century• Hundreds of performers on floats like in

a modern Mardi Gras celebration, called waggons

• Each waggon was sponsored by a guild who wrote, designed, and acted in the plays (like modern Mardi Gras krewes)

Carnival

• Twelfth Night (January 5)– Lord of Misrule– World turned upside down

• Mardi Gras– From Epiphany (Jan 6) to Ash Wednesday (46 days

before Easter, early as 2/4, late as 3/10)– Masks, costumes, overturning social conventions,

dancing, sports competitions, parades

• Shrovetide or Shrove Tuesday– Masques and plays– Games and sport– Final celebrations before entering Lent

Erosion of Church Authority

• The Church struggled to offer meaningful support to its members during the Black Death (1348-1350)

• The Church lost respect, influence, and authority

• Some traditional social roles of the Church were taken over by secular groups

• Peasant uprisings occurred in parts of Europe– Northern France, 1358 (Jacquerie Rebellion)– Florence, Italy, 1378 (Ciompi Rebellion)– England, 1381 (Peasant’s Revolt)

The Western (Papal) Schism

• Split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417• The cardinals elected a new pope in 1378, but then

had “buyer’s remorse” and elected another pope• Both men claimed the right to hold the office• Conflict was more political than theological in

nature• Ended by the Council of Constance (1414–1418),

who fired the successors of both popes and started fresh with Pope Martin V

• The schism hurt the reputation of the papacy and diminished the respect and authority of the Church

Renaissance & Reformation

• Renaissance Catholic priests such such as Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536) and Martin Luther (1483–1546) proposed reform to the Church, often based on classical humanist principles

• The Ninety-Five Theses, published by Luther in 1517, condemned the corruption of the papacy and challenged the authority of the Pope, leading to the Protestant Reformation

• Northern Europe, with the exception of Ireland and parts of Britain, turned Protestant, while Southern Europe remained Roman Catholic

For the Following Two Weeks

• 1/19 Rabelais, Pantagruel, pp. 1-85

• 1/24 Rabelais, Pantagruel, pp. 85-164

• 1/26 Rabelais, Gargantua, pp. 195-285

• 1/31 Rabelais, Gargantua, pp. 285-379

Daily Write

• What point do you remember most clearly from today’s class or think was most important, and why?

World Literature IIRenaissance to the Present

Dr. Michael Broder

University of South Carolina

January 17, 2012