Renaissance and Discovery

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Renaissance and Discovery

• Mrs. Tucker
• Victor Valley High School

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Renaissance 1375 - 1527

• a transition between the medieval and modern
  worlds
• a time of unprecedented cultural creativity.
• Italian city-states, with their extensive trade
  networks and their competition with one another,
  were great incubators for artistic expression,
  political innovation, and humanistic studies.
• the important elements of humanism included
  studies of Classical languages and arts, and
  moral preparation of the individual for a life of
  virtuous action.
• Authors and artists such as Petrarch, Dante,
  Boccaccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
  Michelangelo, exemplify the values of Renaissance
  humanism.

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Italys Political Decline

• In the late 15th century, the balance of power
  between Italian city-states that had been
  enforced through the Treaty of Lodi started to
  unravel.
• In 1495, at the invitation of the Milanese leader
  Ludovico il Moro, French king Charles VIII
  invaded Italy and conquered Florence.
• This invasion triggered several rounds of
  diplomacy, alliance-making, and strategic
  marriages between popes, leaders of Italian
  city-states, French kings, and the rulers of
  Aragon and Brittany, among others.
• After a quarter-century and various military
  conflicts, the end result was political
  fragmentation and military weakness in Italy.
• In 1513, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, in
  which he argued that only a strong and cunning
  dictator could unify Italy.

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Revivial

• Sovereign monarchies, in which kings and their
  appointed agents usually townspeople, not
  nobility control national policies on taxation,
  warfare, and law enforcement, emerged in France,
  Spain, and England in the late 15th century.
• In France, Charles VII and, later, Louis XI were
  able to capitalize on the French victories over
  England and Burgundy, to expand French territory,
  build trade and industry, and suspend the Estates
  General.
• In Spain, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of
  Aragon married in 1469, and they proceeded to
  impose state control on religion, arrange
  marriages for their children that would shape
  future European history, and sponsor global
  exploration.
• In England, Henry VII founded the Tudor dynasty
  and instituted the Court of Star Chamber, which
  allowed him to govern independently of
  Parliament.
• In Northern Europe, the Holy Roman Empire
  (Germany) was the main example of a country that
  did not develop a strong centralized monarchy in
  this period.

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Northern Renaissance

• The Renaissance spread from Italy to Northern
  Europe through traders and merchants, students,
  religious practitioners, and others.
• Humanism in the North, however, was more
  interested in religious reforms and in spreading
  its message to a broad audience than Italian
  humanism had been.
• Gutenberg's invention of the moveable-type
  printing press facilitated the wide dissemination
  of texts.
• Erasmus exemplified Northern humanists' interest
  in reform of the Catholic Church.
• In Germany, England, and France, humanism laid
  the groundwork for the Reformation, but in Spain,
  humanism, like most other aspects of culture, was
  controlled by Ferdinand and Isabella, and
  therefore did not challenge the Church.

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Voyages

• In the 15th century, Europeans began to expand
  which eventually led to European control over
  huge regions of the globe.
• Searching for gold, spices, and later, slaves,
  the Portuguese, Spanish, and others established
  maritime trade routes to the coasts of Africa,
  India, and the Americas.
• Spain established an empire in what became Latin
  America, introducing Catholicism, new forms of
  social, political, and economic organization
  including labor servitude and diseases to which
  the indigenous peoples had no resistance.
• Mexico lost approximately 92 of its population
  within a generation after the Spanish conquest.
• Spain's empire brought new ideas to Europe, and
  led to inflation.

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Summary

• Recognizable modern nations with centralized
  governments began to form in western Europe
  during this period.
• Europe's classical heritage was (re-)
  "discovered" by intellectuals and artists, first
  and most dramatically in the Italian Renaissance,
  and later in northern Europe.
• New lands, peoples, and products were also
  "discovered" by Europeans, particularly the
  Spanish and Portuguese the resulting exchanges
  of ideas, goods, and living things (humans,
  plants, germs) forever altered lives around the
  world.

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Essay Question Due Tuesday, 9/20

• Analyze the influence of humanism on the visual
  arts in the Italian Renaissance. Use at least
  THREE specific works to support your analysis.

• Write an essay that
• Has a relevant thesis.
• Addresses all parts of the question.
• Supports thesis with specific evidence.
• Is well organized.