Renaissance & Discovery

1. Chapter 10 Renaissance & Discovery

2. The Renaissance “rebirth”; transition from medieval to modern times • Medieval Europe (pre-12th c.) • fragmented, feudal society • agricultural economy • church-dominated thought & culture • Renaissance Europe (post-14th c.) • political centralization & national feelings • urban, commercial-capitalist economy • growing lay/secular control of thought & culture

3. Renaissance (1300–1600) • Revival of the ancient classics • Values • Humanism • Individualism • Secularism (not necessarily anti-religious) • Vehicles • Commerce • Invention • Why Italy? • Gateway between East and West > Trade & Wealth

4. The Italian City-State • Like tiny countries > Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, Papal States • Left to develop by endemic warfare between popes & Holy Roman emperors • Characterized by intense social strife & competition for political power • Social classes: old rich, new rich, small business owners, poor • Poor people revolt > Ciompi Revolt • Cosimo de’ Medici—Florentine banker & statesman > Medici family > most powerful • City-states ruled through despotism? • Govt. where ruler exercises absolute power • Used mercenaries to achieve success • Goal > maintain law and order • Art & culture flourished nonetheless, because of the profusion of wealth • Florence > cultural center of Renaissance > financial center for the arts

5. Humanism • The scholarly study of Greek & Latin classics and the ancient Church Fathers, in hopes of reviving worthy ancient values • Advocated studia humanitatis: liberal arts study (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, politics, philosophy)—to celebrate the dignity of humankind & prepare for life of virtuous action • Italian humanists searched out manuscript collections, making volumes of Greek & Latin learning available to scholars • Civic humanists • Govt. workers in Italian city-states • Basically, humanists want to add to the greater good of humanity

6. Famous Humanists • Francesco Petrarch “Father of Humanism” • Modeled the study of the classics • Mocks Medieval Christian values • Letters to the Ancient Dead & love sonnets to Laura • Dante Alighieri • Divine Comedy • Souls journey to God • Formed cornerstone of Italian literature • Giovanni Boccaccio (boh-kah-chee-oh) • Decameron • Focuses on human ability • Collector of classics • Lorenzo Valla • Catholic • Influenced Protestant reformers • Donation of Constantine • Challenged the authority of the papacy • Father of modern criticism

7. Renaissance Art • Embraced natural world & human emotion • Medieval art more abstract & almost always religious • Works characterized by rational order, symmetry, proportionality • Linear Perspective • Depth (3D Look) & Realism • Chiaroscuro • Treatment of light and shade • Intense contrast • Sfumato • Allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another • Creating a soft look (Mona Lisa) • Classical Themes • Greek, Roman, and Biblical figures are commonly incorporated • Key Point • Humanism a major influence on Renaissance art

8. Famous Italian Renaissance Artists • Donatello (1386-1466): Florentine sculptor influenced other Italian artists of Renaissance; David & St. Mark (famous sculptures) • Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): lived Renaissance ideal of the universal person: painter, advisor to kings, engineer, physiologist, botanist, etc.; Mona Lisa (most famous painting in the world) • Raphael (1483–1520): large Vatican fresco: The School of Athens • Michelangelo (1475–1564): 18-foot sculpture of David; Sistine Chapel frescoes—10,000 sq. ft., 343 figures, 4 years to complete

9. Mannerism (Renaissance Art) • New style develops during High Renaissance • Mannerism > makes room for the strange and abnormal > freer reign to the individual to paint > dramatic surreal depictions • Artists > El Greco & Tintoretto

10. Raphael School of Athens

11. Da Vinci The Last Supper

12. Michelangelo Sistine Chapel Paintings

13. Da Vinci Mona Lisa

14. Michelangelo Pieta

15. Michelangelo Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

16. Da Vinci’s Notebook

17. Slavery in the Renaissance • Slavery flourishes during the Renaissance as much as Art & Culture • Slavery increases • Black Death (1348-1350) causes a demand • Household/Domestic slavery popular • Plantations in the New World & in the Mediterranean Sea • Slavery existed a long time in Europe even back to the Ancient Greeks • Europeans see themselves as liberating slaves from their captors

19. The French Invasions (1494–1527) • Italy > fragmented > always cooperated during time of invasion > this would change at times • Milan and Naples fighting late 1400s • Despot Ludovico il Moro of Milan invited French to aid him • Fatal mistake • French always had dynastic claims in Italy • Once French are in, they don’t want to leave without gaining territorial rights • Spain gets involved & forms an alliance with Italian city-states > League of Venice • Famous figures • French King Charles VIII – successor Louis XII • Pope Alexander VI • Pope Julius II (warrior pope) • Conclusion > France invaded three times • Leads to future wars between France & Spain • Idea of Italian nationalism • OMG it spreads humanism to the north • Italian political decline

20. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) • Convinced by chaos of foreign invasions that Italian political unity & independence were ends justifying any means • Concluded only a strongman could impose order on a divided & selfish people (Italians) • Admirer of Roman rulers & citizens • Believer in virtu • Ability to act decisively and heroically for the good of the country • The Prince (1513) • Recommends temporary use of fraud & brutality to achieve Italian unity • Hoped for strong ruler from the Medici family

21. Revival of Monarchy • After 1450, divided feudal monarchies  unified national monarchies • Rise of Nationalism • Rise of towns, alliance of growing business classes with kings—broke bonds of feudal society • Representative assemblies form • Example > English Parliament • The sovereign state: • Powers of taxation, war making, law enforcement no longer reside with semiautonomous vassals, but with monarch & royal agents • Law created order • Large standing armies > power • Taxation > created source of income > need for? • Examples > tax on food & clothes, direct tax What is a monarchy?

22. Revival of Monarchy (cont.) • Shift > Feudal Monarchy to National Monarchy • France • Collapse of English Empire in France after Hundred Years’ War, 1453 • Ruled by Bourbon dynasty (Louis XI > ) • Builds strong army during Hundred Years’ War • Strong economy • Powerful nobility weakens King • Efficient govt. but bad foreign policy (lots of wars) • Spain • 1469 marriage of Isabella of Castile & Ferdinand of Aragon • Together secured borders, ventured abroad militarily, Christianized Spain • Brought Spanish church under state control, ended toleration of Jews & Muslims • Sponsored Christopher Columbus, leading to Spanish Empire in Mexico & Peru • Helped make Spain the dominant European power in 16th Century

23. Revival of Monarchy (cont.) • England • Turmoil of Wars of the Roses, 1455–1485 (Lancaster vs. York) > Civil War • 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field seats Henry VII, first Tudor monarch • Tudor dynasty will dominate throughout the 16th century • Used English law for monarch’s benefit • Holy Roman Empire • Germany & Italy exceptions to 15th-c. centralizing trend • The many (princes) fought off the one (emperor) • Divided into some 300 autonomous entities • Princes did not want national unity • 7 man electoral college of the major territories to elect the emperor • Basically, princes shared executive power with the emperor (Maximilien I) • Emperor a member of Habsburg family dynasty • Disunity leads to religious dissent & conflict

24. The Northern Renaissance • Northern humanists • Developed own distinctive culture • More diverse social backgrounds • More interested than Italians in? • Religious reform & educating laity • Social reform based on Christian principles • Printing press with movable type: Johann Gutenberg, Mainz, mid-15th c. • Precursors: rise of schools & literacy (demand for books); invention of cheap paper • By 1500, printing presses running in more than 200 cities in Europe • People could popularize their viewpoints freely & widely? • Humanist ideas spread (made them famous) • Rulers in church & state now had to deal with more educated, critical public • Powerful tool of religious/political propaganda for Rulers • Works being printed in the vernacular • More people learning to read & write in their language • Result????????? • Divide between educated and non-educated starts to break down

25. Northern Renaissance Cont. • Again, more concerned with religion than Italians were • Linked Humanism more with Christianity • Classical ideas + Christian values = Virtuous Conduct • Civic Humanism > Make society better > social reform • Famous Northern Humanists • William Shakespeare > known for romance and comedy • Humanism, Appreciation for classical culture, and Importance of individual • Sir Thomas More > Utopia > Perfect society?? • Critique of society • Erasmus > Most famous (he gets a entire slide next) • Geoffrey Chaucer > Canterbury Tales • First significant work written in the English vernacular • Education more of a central focus • Separate education from Catholic doctrine • More Secular topics • Northern Renaissance Artists • Albrecht Durer > visits Italy > spreads techniques to North • Jan Van Eyck > Flemish artist > perfected painting with oils

26. Erasmus • Most famous northern humanist • Educational and religious reformer • Wanted reform in the Catholic Church • Aspired to unite classical ideals of humanity and civic virtue with the Christian ideals of love and piety • Reform society with bible and study of classics • Major works • The Praise of Folly > satire > shot at the immorality and hypocrisy of church leaders (Pope Julius II) • Adages > collection of ancient & contemporary proverbs • Philosophia Christi > states his own beliefs • Edited the works of Church Fathers and produced Greek edition of the New Testament • Church not happy • Erasmus works make Index of Forbidden Books • Basically believed dogma overshadowed Christian piety practice

27. Exploration & Empire, East & West • Portuguese: exploration of African coast, leading to sea-route around Africa to Asian spice markets; African slave trade • Bartholomew Dias: rounded Cape of Good Hope • Vasco de Gama: reached India • Columbus, 1492: thought Cuba was Japan & South America was China • Amerigo Vespucci, 1497: explored South American coastline • Ferdinand Magellan (d. 1521), 1519–1522: first circumnavigation • Consequences of discovery • Lasting imprint of Roman Catholicism • Biological impact of exchanging plant & animal species, diseases, etc. • Native American devastation • Economic dependency • Hierarchical social structure

29. Spanish Empire in the New World • Two Examples of Spanish conquest • Aztecs of Mexico – group of Native Americans who ruled all of central Mexico conquered by Hernan Cortesfrom Spain • Incas of Peru – large Native American empire in Western South America conquered by Francisco Pizarro who executes their leader Atahualpa Significance • One of the most dramatic and brutal events in modern history • Showed European superiority as far as weapons • Spread of European diseases to the natives • Whole civilizations destroyed • Marked a new transformation of South America into Latin America

30. The Church in Spanish America • The conquerors wanted to convert the captured native people to Christianity and to accept European culture • Some religious leaders felt the natives were being treated poorly such as Bartolome de Las Casas • “Black Legend” emerges from his writings • All Spanish treatment of natives is inhumane • Some of it is exaggerated > Some is true • Despite the opposition the Roman Catholic Church becomes one of the most powerful conservative forces in Latin America • In the end colonial church prospers by receiving land in the new world

31. Latin America Exploitation • Mining – the Spanish conquistadores or conquerors mined gold and silver with forced labor • Agriculture – on haciendas, large land estates owned by the peninsulares (people born in Spain) and creoles (people of Spanish descent born in America) used forced labor for mining, farming and ranching • Plantations in the West Indies used slaves to get sugar • Economic activity in government offices, the legal profession, and shipping • Labor servitude in order of appearance • Encomienda – a formal grant of the right to the labor of a specific number of Indians • Repartimiento – required adult male Indians to devote a certain number of days of labor annually to Spanish economic enterprises • Debt peonage – Indian laborers required to purchase goods from the landowner to who they were forever indebted • Slavery

33. Renaissance (Big Picture) • Emphasis on the importance of the individual would later become part of the foundation that would drive the development of democratic governments and capitalist economic systems in Europe & North America • Increased skepticism about the ancients • Why? Think of geography • At first condemned for the treatments of the native populations, Columbus and other explorers are hailed 300 years later for opening up the world to new civilizations • Exploration showed dark side of Western Civ. • Influx of spices and precious metals increases inflation in Europe • Inflation > economic problem • New wealth however increased the expansion of printing, shipping, mining, textile, and weapons industries • Foundations for modern states are set • Rebirth of intellectual and artistic activity • Still use artistic techniques today