1. The Renaissance Big Literature figures

2. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)The Prince Machiavelli was from Florence Well educated in the classics Career was in public service and he eventually served as the ambassador to France Favored republican rule over despotism Machiavelli was tortured and imprisoned for a time when Medici rule was reinstated after a conflict with a Spanish mercenary army He retired to the country and wrote The Prince

3. The Prince • Written in Italian (not Latin) • Observations and commentary on political rule and power (Medicis) • Addressed the issue of effective rule • How to gain and maintain order and control • Stressed the practical (pragmatic) over the ethical or moral • More secular and humanistic • Challenged the idea of a social order based on God’s will • Political science- Politics was to be governed by its own laws • “…it is safer to be feared than to be loved…”

5. The Courtier by Castiglione 1528 Written in Italian Treatise on the training of young men in the courtly ideal of a Renaissance gentleman Stressed the value of education and manners Influenced social mores and norms during the period

7. Desiderius Erasmus –scholar and theologian • The Praise of Folly • Criticism of the abuses and worldliness of the Church and papacy • Dutch Renaissance humanist

8. Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII- highest political office in England Lawyer and scholar Wrote Utopia – explored the idea of a “perfect” society Eventually executed by Henry VIII for refusing to agree to the king and Parliament’s Act of Supremacy

10. Utopia

11. Martin Luther Associated with the Protestant Reformation Critical of Church corruption and abuses Sought reform Wrote the first translation of the Bible in German 95 theses