New Ideas & Literature

1. New Ideas & Literature Chapter 7, Section #2

2. Renaissance Humanism • Humanists studied the Greeks and Romans, which greatly affected the way they thought. p.395

3. Humanism • The belief that the individual and human society are important. • Emphasized a balance between faith and reason • Encouraged people to be active and achieve great things.

4. Greeks & Romans Rediscovered • Rediscovered the works of Ancient Greece and Rome while on the Crusades. • Many ancient works preserved and studied by the Arabs. • And when the Turks took Constantinople, many Byzantine scholars moved to Venice or Florence.

5. Francesco Petrarch • Francesco Petrarch, poet and scholar • Studied Roman writers (Cicero) and wrote biographies on famous Romans. • Called for a search of all monasteries for manuscripts in Latin • Considered the “Father of Italian Renaissance Humanism.”

6. The Effects of Humanism • Studying made people more interested in everything about the world. • If humans are important, then anything humans do, or have done, is important too. • Interests include: Biology, Anatomy and Medicine, Astronomy, and especially Mathematics!

7. Leonardo da Vinci • Great scientist, artist, and engineer.

8. Leonardo’s Notebooks • Source of most of what we know. • Much of it was written in “code” where he wrote backwards (can read it in a mirror). • Had sketches of gliders, helicopters, a parachute, military tanks / weapons.

9. Cartography • Renewed interest in the world creates an interest in maps. • Europeans study ancient cartographers such as Ptolemy. • Europeans explore the world.

10. Changes in Literature • During the Renaissance, people began to write poetry, plays, and novels in their own language, and the development of the printing press helped spread their works. p.397

11. vernacular • The common language spoken in a region (German, Italian, French, etc.) • More people read authors who wrote in the vernacular.

12. The Printing Press • Invented by Johannes Gutenberg • Metal moveable type • Cheap paper was also available

13. Dante Alighieri • The Divine Comedy • Written in vernacular (Italian) • Tells the story of a journey from hell (the Inferno), to purgatory, to heaven (Paradise)

14. Roman Catholics believed Purgatory was an intermediate state after death for purification where the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven.

16. Geoffrey Chaucer He wrote The Canterbury Talesin Middle English. It is the story of 29 pilgrims on their way to Canterbury who tell 20 different stories, some in verse, some in prose. It describes the levels (classes) in English society.

17. The Canterbury Tales “For ther he was nat lyk a cloysterer      With a thredbare cope, as is a povre scoler,      But he was lyk a maister or a pope.      Of double worstede was his semycope,      That rounded as a belle out of the presse” -The Friar’s tale

18. Miguel de Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes • Spanish author • Don Quixote (1604) • Looks at the difference between how the world could be, and the way it actually is.

19. Don Quixote • Story of an old man who thinks he is a knight. • Goes on a mission to save a fair maiden. • Sancho Panza is his friend / sidekick / page.

20. William Shakespeare • English poet and playwright • Best known for his plays • Complete Works Henry V St. Crispin’s Day Speech, Battle of Agincourt