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| 31770924 | Renaissance | The time in Italy from 1350-1550, literally "rebirth" in French. This time was age of rapid change, characterized by self-awareness and self-assertion. One new idea was humanism, which was started by Petrarch and focused on the accomplishments, abilities, and beauty of humans. The liberal arts - literature, philosophy, architecture, music, painting and sculpture - were given new life, while classics were uncovered and used as inspiration for new art. This age started with the population declining, classic text being rediscovered, and artistic experimentation. Finally, as Spain and France invaded Italy, the Italian Renaissance spread to the rest of Europe. | |
| 31770925 | importance of italian cities | Much more numerous and populated than cities in other countries, Italian urban centers allowed for more division of labor. As people became more specialized and common people traded in their daily lives, wages and productivity went up. The Italian cities were also hubs of cultural change during the Renaissance that eventually affected all of Europe. | |
| 31770926 | 5 powers of Italy | Papal states, Florence, duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples, Republic of Venice, | |
| 31770927 | guilds | A way to control craftsmanship and guarantee profits. These were arranged in a hierarchy, with the most necessary ones (clothiers, metalworkers) at the top, then bankers, merchants, clergy, and government people. Finally there were masons and grocers and some other skilled workers. These almost guaranteed a good life for all members, but most urban people were not in one. | |
| 31770928 | reasons population changed | Because of recurring waves of plague, the population declined drastically between 1350-1450. These waves were especially bad about every six years, and after a century of this, Florence had lost ¾ of its population. Because of all the death, the economy was rendered rather stagnant and until the late fifteenth century, when population began to rise again. | |
| 31770929 | Milk parent | Wealthy children would often live with a wet nurse and her family as infants. The wet nurse would breast-feed them, instead of their mother. The very wealthy could afford live-in wet nurses, and boys were priorities when it came to parental supervision of the nursing. | |
| 31770930 | Signori | The form of government in Italy in the 13th through 16th centuries, in which a lord ruled a lordship. This replaced republican and democratic government because it seemed simpler to have the power in the hands of one strong leader rather than many who fought amongst themselves. | |
| 31770931 | dowry | A payment to the man's family from the bride's family. Wealthy people may have viewed this as an investment, that would be regained through business and political advantages the match would give them. Young women with limited means worked as domestic servants so that their employers would pay their dowries. | |
| 31770932 | Florence | This was the dominant city in Tuscany, which had 2/3 of the area's wealth, yet less than ¼ of the population. It was the center of the Renaissance and its cultural development, with the Medici family serving as patrons for important artists and writers, such as Michelangelo. It was also the financial center of Italy, and main place where luxury goods were made. This city was also the center of cloth making, specifically wool manufacturing. | |
| 31770933 | Medici | The family members were wealthy politicians, businessmen, and patrons of the arts who influenced both individuals and the bigger picture, in Florence and all of Europe. Cosimo de Medici ruled Florence for five years after strategically getting himself elected, and used his grandson Lorenzo as a diplomat so that he was aquainted with other leaders of Europe. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, like other members of his family, and helped many artists such as Michelangelo. He also helped spread Florentine art and culture throughout Italy. Lorenzo used personal charisma and diplomatic prowess to end a war against Naples and the Papacy in 1479, but shortly after his death, wars tore apart Italy and lowered it from its status of the center of European civilization. | |
| 31770934 | patronage | This was when a wealthy person sponsored the arts. In Florence this was very important to the development of the Italian Renaissance and was made possible in part through the wealth of the sponsors such as the Medici family. | |
| 31770935 | Peace of Lodi (1454) | All 5 powers of Italy occurred to two balanced alliances: Florence and Milan, and Venice and Naples. These states and the papacy agreed on nonaggression, which lasted for 40 years. Still, the powers fought each other, swallowing up smaller territories to build empires and compete with one another. After 40 years, they resumed fighting as before. | |
| 31770936 | reasons for Italy's demise | Wars of Italy (1494-1529), the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Charles VIII of France, Papacy amassing many armies against Venice in 1509, and the sacking of Rome by German Mercenaries in 1527. | |
| 31770937 | reasons for health improvement | There was more grain and a greater variety of food. Even those living hand-to-mouth had new foods like dairy and meat in their diet, while the wealthy enjoyed an abundance of diverse produce. This was caused by improvements in transportation and communication, so that people were less isolated and towns, cities, and farms were all more connected. | |
| 31770938 | Savonarola | This man was the leader of Florence after the Medici were overthrown in 1494, as well as a Christian preacher and reformer. He was up against tyrants and corrupt clergy, specifically the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI. He was eventually martyred for his ideas. | |
| 31770939 | League of Cambrai | When Fredinand II of Aragon, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I, Pope Julius II, and Louis XII formed an alliance that they said was against the Turks but actually attacked Venice. Their goal was to divide its land possessions among themselves, including the territories of Mantua and Ferrara. The alliance was unsuccessful, however, because all parties were working for their individual, instead of collective, success. In the end, the city of Venice survived, though its terra firma was divided among its opponents. | |
| 31770940 | Petrarch | (1304-1374) A humanist poet and scholar who was one of the first people to distinguish the Renaissance from the Dark Ages (which he hated). Interestingly, he wrote letters both to those who had already died and to "posterity". | |
| 31770941 | humanism | The belief in studying and valuing humans, that led to a focus on science, old writing, and various aspects of classic culture and other human achievements as opposed to the Bible and solely religious art. It celebrated worldly achievement, but was not an anti-Christian movement. | |
| 31770942 | Philology | The art of language, or study of words and their origins and meanings, which was a main focus of humanists, or a"humanity". Lorenzo Valla used this to prove that the Donation of Constantine was, in fact, a much more recent forgery and a papal lie. | |
| 31770943 | rhetoric | The art of expression, which was a "humanity", or a focus of humanist teachings. This had less to do with logical and historical aspects of words than philology, and more to do with using them to express oneself. | |
| 31770944 | secularism | This was a movement away from religion that was furthered by humanists. It began in the Renaissance and put emphasis on worldly accomplishments and possibilities, taking some focus away from the Bible and the Catholic Church. | |
| 31770945 | high renaissance | The time between 1400 and 1500 when the Renaissance was at its peak. This was when cultural values were formed, artistic and literary achievements occurred, and Renaissance style was largely defined. | |
| 31770946 | Brunelleschi | An architect who boldly combined classical and Gothic architecture. He used geometry as the basis for his designs, focusing on spheres and planes. He built the dome on the cathedral in Florence, starting in 1420. He also is given credit for being the first to understand and use perspective, although it was immediately used more clearly in sculpture and painting. | |
| 31770947 | Ghiberti | The Italian sculptor and goldsmith who was best known for the doors to the baptistery of Florence's cathedral, and another set of doors which was called "The Gates to Paradise". He also wrote one of the earliest autobiographies by an artist, which is crucial to those studying the art and culture of the time (1378-1455). | |
| 31770948 | Michealangelo | Avoided an apprenticeship by working for Lorenzo d'Medici and avoided being forced to copy a master for years. In Rome in 1496, he made the Pietá, which was never outdone by his later works and was one of the greatest sculptures of the Renaissance. In Florence, by age 26, he was well-known and thus was commissioned to sculpt his David, which united Renaissance and Classical styles. He then went on to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, against his wishes, and finally built Saint Paul's Cathedral over the base of St. Paul's grave, which was one of the most "harmonious" - and large- domes in architecture. | |
| 31770949 | Giotto | The son of a farmer, this Florentine painter and sculptor was one of the earliest Renaissance artists. His subjects were religious, but he made them life-life, unlike medieval art. He was well-known and honored during his lifetime, and there were many stories about his skill as an artist(1267-1337). | |
| 31770950 | Donatello | This sculptor created sculptures that were a naturalistic variation on classical sculpture. He also brought back free-standing statues, which required greater anatomical detail and accuracy. His pieces are easily characterized by long, flowing robes. | |
| 31770951 | da Vinci | He was a true Renaissance man, who was gifted in math, painting, drawing, philosophy, physics and inventing, and had a had a great impact both in his lifetime and posthumously. He also studied botany, astrology, and human anatomy, among other subjects. He also painted the best-known picture in the Western world, the Mona Lisa/ La Gioconda. | |
| 31770952 | linear perspective | An artistic principle developed in the Renaissance that allowed a painter to create a greater illusion that before. The principle is based on all horizontal lines going towards one or two points on the horizon or at eye level, while vertical lines remain vertical. This was based on the new idea of having a certain perspective with which one should view a painting. | |
| 31770953 | The Courtier | A book by Castiglione, about the perfect elite person. He said that a coutier was born, and should be "endowed by nature... with talent and beauty of person and feature." This book detailed proper etiquette and education, but said that the most important thing about a gentleman was sprezzatura, or natural ease and superiority. | |
| 31770954 | The Prince | Written by Machiavelli in 1513, this book was a handbook for a successful ruler, who wanted to establish a secure and lasting government. Machiavelli wrote that a ruler could control "fortune itself" and must either "pamper or crush" his subjects. This book is completely secular and eliminates ethics because "the end justifies the means." | |
| 31770955 | moveable type | This was used for printing, and meant that individual letters and words could be moved around to create a page of type. It was an invention of the Renaissance (gold-smiths and paper-makers working together) and helped the spread of humanism over the Alps as it meant that printing was much easier, cheaper, and more efficient. It also led to the famous printing of vernacular Bibles in 1450 by Gutenberg. | |
| 31770956 | utopia | - A perfect world, or paradise. Sir Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia (1516) , which was a social criticism on England spurred by the encountering of new cultures in the New World. The idea was explored that communal living and equality, without greed for gold and silver or personal gain, would bring universal happiness. | |
| 31770957 | Desiderus Erasmus | A Dutch humanist who had personal experience in a monastery and disliked the church. He criticized the Church in 1519 with a book called Colloquia, which prepared people for Luther's ideas. But when the Lutheran reformation came, he was hated by both factions: the Catholics accused him of bringing on this troublesome change, and the Lutherans called him a coward for disliking the Church but not acting as boldly as they did. | |
| 31770958 | new monarchs | Isabella and Ferdinand, in Spain Louis the XI in France, and Henry VII (Tudor) in England | |
| 31770959 | taille | Literally, "tax." In France, this was the royal tax on commodities, which nobility and clergy were exempt from. Revenue from this tax remained constant, while royal spending rose 60% between 1600 and 1620. Thus the crown began selling offices and taxing their holders. This actually was good for the system, because a son would know that he would someday have his father's position, and would be trained for it. Also, this taxing and selling of offices was the only way the royalty could tax the wealthy. | |
| 31770960 | Concordat of Bologna (1516) | A document in France that gave the king (King Francis I, at the time) the right to tax the clergy. He also had the right to appoint the clergy in France to their positions. The Pope would not interfere in this, and in return, the French king said the French clergy should pay annates to Rome and the Pope was not subject to decisions made by a council (stood up for the Pope against Conciliarism). | |
| 31771425 | War of the Roses | 1455-1485; A war between the York family and Lancaster family of England for the crown. This struggle was ended when Henry Tudor, who was on the Lancaster side, won. He became Henry VII, the first Tudor king. | |
| 31771426 | Reconquista | This was the recapture and re-Christianization of the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, which involved pushing the Moors out of southern Spain (Granada) as well as the Jews out of Spain. This ended in 1492, leaving the Iberian peninsula in several kingdoms, including Portugal, Aragon, and Castile. | |
| 31771427 | reasons for spanish anti-semitism | Jews lived in Spain only under royal protection, and many Christians were suspicious of them. The precarious situation of Jewish communities in Spain deteriorated as the economy declined, political unrest grew, Christian triumphalism and the reconquest continued. Friars in Aragon inflamed the public and caused violent attacks on Jews in 1391, and Jews were forced to leave or convert (many weren't given either opportunity, but were killed chaotic riots). | |
| 31771428 | Spanish Inquisition | A terrifying period of interrogation regarding heresy, in which many people were tortured, convicted and killed. This was spurred by fear of witches, heretics, Jews, and Muslims and was a byproduct of the reconquista. |
