AP Euro Notes on Renaissance Essay Example For Students

AP Euro Notes on Renaissance Essay The balance of power among the Italian associates 1 . Italy had no political unity; it was divided into associates such as Milan, Venice, and Florence, the Papal States, and a kingdom of Naples in the south. 2. The political and economic competition among the associates prevented centralization of power. 3. Shifting alliances among the associates led to the creation of permanent ambassadors. 4. After 1494 a divided Italy became a European battleground. Intellectual hallmarks of the Renaissance A. Many, like the poet and humanist Patriarch, saw the fourteenth century as a new olden age and a revival of ancient Roman culture. B. Individualism 1 . Literature specifically concerned with the nature of individuality emerged. 2. Renaissance people believed in individual will and genius. C. Humanism 1 . Italians collected ancient manuscripts and monuments, and copied the ancient Roman lifestyle. 2. The study of the classics led to humanism, an emphasis on human beings. A. Humanists sought to understand human nature through a study of pagan and classical authors and Christian thought. B. The humanist writer Pico Della Miranda believed that there were no limits to what human beings could accomplish. . Ancient Latin style was considered superior to medieval Latin. D. Secular spirit 1 . Secularism means a concern with materialism rather than religion. 2. Unlike medieval people, Renaissance people were concerned with money and pleasure. A. In On Pleasure, Lorenz Villa defended the pleasure of the senses as the highest good. B. In the Dodecahedron, Vacation portrayed an acquisitive and worldly society. 3. The church did little to combat secularism; in fact, many popes were Renaissance patrons and participantsand the church even gave up its opposition to usury. Art and artists achievements, led by Florence and Rome. B. Art and power 1 . In the early Renaissance, powerful urban groups commissioned works of art, which remained overwhelmingly religious. 2. In the later fifteenth century, individuals and oligarchs began to sponsor works of art as a means of glorifications. 3. Wealthy people began to spend less on warfare and more on art and architecture. A. At first the bed chamber room was the most important, but later many other rooms were even more decorated. B. The homes private chapel was the most elaborate and expensive. 4. As the century advanced, art became more and more secular, and lassie subjects became popular. A. The style of art changed in the fifteenth century. B. The individual portrait emerged as a distinct genre. C. Painting and sculpture became more naturalistic and realistic, and the human body was glorified, as in the work of the sculptors Donated and Michelangelo. D. A new international style emphasized color, decorative detail, and curvilinear rhythms. E. In painting, the use of perspective was pioneered by Brucellosis and Della Francesca. C. The status of the artist 1 . The status of the artist improved during the Renaissance; most work was done by commission from a prince. . The creative genius of the artist was recognized and rewarded. 3. The Renaissance was largely an elitist movement; Renaissance culture did not directly affect the middle classes or the urban working class. 0 Social change of the Renaissance A. Education and political thought 1 . Humanists were interested in education, particularly the training of rulers, and moral behavior. A. Verger wrote a treatise on education that stressed the teaching of history, ethics, and rhetoric (public speaking). B. Castigations The Courtier, which was widely read, described the model Renaissance gentleman as a man of many Allens, including intellectual and artistic skills. C. Machiavellian The Prince described how to acquire, maintain, and increase political power. D. Machiavelli believed that the politician should manipulate people and use any means to gain power. E. Machiavelli did not advocate amoral behavior but believed that political action cannot be governed by moral considerations. B. The printed word 1. The invention in 1455 of movable type by Gutenberg, Fuss, and Such ¶offer made possible the printing of a wide variety of texts. . Printing transformed the lives of Europeans by making propaganda possible, encouraging a wider common identity, ND improving literacy. C. Clocks 1. By about 1320 some Europeans had learned how to quantify time by use of the mechanical clockmeaning bells. 2. Clocks were important for understanding and controlling urban-economic life. D. Women and work in R enaissance society 1 . Most women married, were responsible for domestic affairs, and frequently worked outside the home. 2. Women worked in ship building, textiles, agriculture, as well as midwives and servants. 3. Important Artists Renaissance, Mannerism, BaroqueCharles VII ushered in an age of recovery and ended civil war. A. He expelled the English, reorganized the royal council, strengthened royal finances, reformed the justice system, and remodeled the army. B. He made the church subject to the state. 2. Louis XSL expanded the French state and laid the foundations of later French absolutism. C. England also suffered from disorder. . Feudal lords controlled the royal council and Parliament in the fifteenth century. 2. Between 1455 and 1471, the houses of York and Lancaster fought a civil war called the Wars of the Roses that hurt trade, agriculture, and domestic industry. . Edward IV and his followers began to restore royal power, avoided expensive war, and reduced their reliance on Parliament for funds. 4. The English Parliament had become a power center for the aristocracy but was manipulated by Henry VII into becoming a tool of the king. 5. Henry VII used the royal council and the cour t of Star Chamber to check aristocratic power. 6. Henry VII and his successors won the support of the upper middle class promoting their interest in money, trade, and stability. D. Spain turned against its own cultural diversity 1 . The reconstitutes was the centurions attempt to unite Spain and expel Muslims and Jews. 2. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella was the last major step in the unification and Christianization of Spain. A. Under their reign, however, Spain remained a loose confederation of separate states. B. They used the harnessed, or local police forces, to administer royal Justice. 3. Ferdinand and Isabella restructured the royal council to curb aristocratic power. . The church was also used to strengthen royal authority. 5. Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconstitutes in 1492, but many Jews remained because they aided royal power. A. Jews were often financiers and professionals; many (called converses) had converted but were still disliked and distrusted. B. Needing a scapegoat during the Black Death, Spanish mobs killed many Jews. C. Ferdinand and Isabella revived the Inquisition and used its cruel methods to unify Spain and expel the Jews. 6. Spanish Christians rejected converses on the basis of raceout of fear of converses taking over public offices. Most Jews fled from Spain.