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Slide Notes
While we think of the Renaissance as an artistic period it has it's origins in the monasteries and academies. Individuals within these institutions became interested in classical texts and throughout the plague and resulting chaos had grown frustrated with studies that emphasized the individual's inherent sinfulness and undeserving nature. Humanism is not the rejection of the spiritual or religious but rather a renewed focus on the inherent dignity of the individual and one's ability to improve oneself and society.
AP European Renaissance and Humanism
Published on Nov 18, 2015
AP European Renaissance Humanism
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Italian Renaissance
Humanism
While we think of the Renaissance as an artistic period it has it's origins in the monasteries and academies. Individuals within these institutions became interested in classical texts and throughout the plague and resulting chaos had grown frustrated with studies that emphasized the individual's inherent sinfulness and undeserving nature. Humanism is not the rejection of the spiritual or religious but rather a renewed focus on the inherent dignity of the individual and one's ability to improve oneself and society.
Photo by fpra
Origin: Italian City States
High Renaissance: 1450-1527
During the Renaissance the country that we know as Italy today did not exist under a centralized government and bureaucracy. Instead, the peninsula was made up of independent city-states with some functioning as republics, some as oligarchies, and others as essentially dictatorships. Many of these states were made wealthy by trade coming from the Silk Road across the Mediterranean or by money flowing into the Catholic Church from all over the Roman Empire which stretched into Continental Europe. This concentration of wealth created one of the most important drivers of the Renaissance, the patron. These were individuals or institutions who, wishing to display their power and wealth commissioned academies in their name or great works of art. One important transition during this period was the growth of a new merchant and banking class with families like the Medici who were not noble of birth but were nonetheless able to amass an incredible fortune and control Florence and seat many of their family members as Popes and even as Regent Queens of France. Two important transitions in Italian society are happening during the Renaissance: (1) the ease with which culture could embrace both the secular and the religious and (2) the increased upward social mobility in what was previously a strict hierarchical society.
Why Italy?
- Commerce
- Urban
- Concentration of Wealth
- Created an environment for patronage
Trading Ports and the Merchant Class
Milan and Venice and the Popolo Grasso
The Money Changer and His Wife by Marinus van Reymerswaele illustrates some important values of the Renaissance. Even though it comes from the Netherlands during the Northern Renaissance, it illustrates the growing wealth and influence of the middle class as well as the tendency, within the middle class, for gender roles to be somewhat more equal. This new merchant and banking class in Italy was called the popolo grasso, or the fat people. This was a metaphor for the abundance of resources possessed by the merchant class. This new class enabled the Renaissance because with it came leisure and money to spend during that leisure time
French for Rebirth
Rebirth of What?
Renaissance means rebirth. And as the following slides and documents demonstrate, this was a rebirth of classical Greek and Latin studies, philosophy, art and architecture. It was a move away from the utilitarian nature of medieval modes of thought and schooling and an embrace of individualism and expression of beauty.
Photo by archer10 (Dennis)
Values of Humanism
- Individualism
- Classical Studies
- Secularism
- The inherent dignity and beauty of human beings
- Civic Virtue or Civic Humanism
And so we come to the central values of Humanism and the Renaissance discussed at length in this presentation and in the document set. Of the four values listed here Civic Humanism has received the least amount of attention but is an extremely important idea from the time period. Civic Humanism during the Renaissance came to mean that individuals were oriented toward the greater good of the republic and its people, participated actively and positively as citizens, and valued education, equality before the law, peace and justice.
Key Concept
- Italian Renaissance humanists promoted a revival in classical literature and created new philological approaches to ancient texts. Some Renaissance humanists furthered the values of secularism and individualism.
Classical Studies
Petrarch: Father of Humanism
See Renaissance document set - Petrarch and Bruni
Photo by martin_kalfatovic
Key Concept
- Humanist revival of Greek and Roman texts, spread by the printing press, challenged the institutional power of universities and the Roman Catholic Church and shifted the focus of education away from theology toward the study of classical texts.
Secularism
Focused on the worldly but not anti-religious
The Renaissance was not anti-religious. In fact the Catholic Church and even the papacy itself was often the largest patron of humanist scholars and Renaissance artists. Secularism in this context created a more modern approach to religious matters. It sought to synthesize or synchronize Christian values and societal practices and structures. So we see a renewed focus on the values of citizenship and good governance and a focus on the human's unique ability in God's creation to improve oneself. For an artistic example, look at the Raphael's work for the room where the Pope signs important documents. The School of Athens is a painting of the most revered scholars from ancient Greece placed within Roman architecture. The subject matter is entirely secular yet its placement in this holy room where the Pope's signature is considered God's decree shows the extent to which the Renaissance blended the two worlds.
Photo by profzucker
Individualism
Pico della Mirandola: Human Dignity
See Renaissance document set - Mirandola
Photo by lisby1
Secularism and Individualism
- Challenged institutions of Church and University
- Shifted focus away from theology to classical texts
- Civic humanism produced secular models of political behavior
- BUT did NOT reject religious belief
Civic Humanism
How to be a good member of society
Key Concept
- Admiration for Greek and Roman political institutions supported a revival of civic humanist culture in the Italian city-states and produced secular models for individual and political behavior.
Civic Humanism
- Secular models of political behavior
- Machiavelli - The Prince
- Castiglione - The Courtier
- Contributing to public life, the welfare and prestige of the city-state
Printing Press
Spread Renaissance ideas and vernacular
Combined with new secular models for individual and political behavior, the printing press and the ease with which new ideas could be disseminated increased the pressure of the challenges on established Universities and the Catholic Church.
Northern Renaissance
Decline of the Italian City-States
A number of factors led to the decline and end of the Italian Renaissance. Within the Italian peninsula rivalries between city-states, particularly Milan and Venice led to war, foreign invasion and a transition from republican government to dictatorship or oligarchy. These more repressive governments were often controlled or backed by the condotierri. Developments outside the Italian peninsula also contributed to the decline of it's power. Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and renamed to Istanbul. This led European powers to seek new trade routes using the Atlantic Ocean and those closest to the Atlantic seaboard would be the new era's most influential powers. The commercial and cultural center of Europe would move north throughout the 1500s and away from the Italian city-states.
Question for Understanding
- How did the revival of classical texts contribute to the Renaissance?
- Can you identify three different ways?
