Renaissance
What is the Renaissance?
*1300-1600
*began in Italy
*focused on classical cultures of Greece and Rome
Why Italy?
*wealthy merchant class
*classical heritage of Greece and Rome
*Ruled by the Medici Family (Florence)
-expanded learning, art, and architecture
How did the plague contribute to the start of the Renaissance?
Humanism
*studied classical texts
*movement to secular society
*increased understanding of the world
*popularized study of classical subjects (humanities)
What is one key word to help you remember humanism?
Renaissance Man
-create art
-know classics
-witty and charming
-dance
-sing
-play music
-write poetry
-wrestle
-swordsman
Northern Renaissance
*began in Flanders (present day France and the Netherlands)
*especially focused on realism
*spread as a result of Italian writers and artists fleeing from war & students from Italy travelling back home
*used humanist ideas to examine and reform society (Christian humanism)
-critical of the failure of the Christian Church to inspire people to live a Christian life
How did the ideas from the Italian Renaissance spread northward?
Printing Press
*Johann Gutenberg
*Gutenberg Bible was the 1st full-sized book printed