Chapter 14, Section 1

1. Chapter 14, Section 1 The Renaissance in Italy World History Connections to Today, Prentice Hall (2003)

2. The Middle Ages (500 – 1350) • Fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century. • Invasion of: • Magyars (Hungarians) • Northmen (Norse or Vikings) • Arabs • Mongols A History of Modern Europe From the Renaissance to the Present (1996)

3. The Middle Ages (500 – 1350)

4. The Middle Ages (500 – 1350) • Three Social Groups • Clergy • Nobles • Peasants

5. The Middle Ages (500 – 1350) • Nation-states did not exist • Economic, Political, and Judicial institutions were overwhelmingly local. • Town walls were used to protect communities.

6. Government of the Middle Ages: Feudalism • King • Autocratic Monarchy (Top of the food chain) • Nobles (A seat at the table) • Titles assigned by the King. • Peasants (The food) • 85% of the population in Europe. • Also called Serfs.

7. The Italian City-States • The Renaissance began in Italy, then spread north to the rest of Europe.

9. Why Italy? • The Renaissance was marked by a new interest in the culture of ancient Rome. Because Italy had been the center of the Roman empire, it was a logical place for this reawakening to begin. • In the north, city-states like Florence, Milan, Venice and Genoa grew into prosperous centers of trade and manufacturing.

10. Why Italy? • A wealthy and powerful merchant class in these city-states further promoted the cultural rebirth. These merchants exerted both political and economic leadership, and their attitudes and interests helped to shape the Italian Renaissance. They stressed education and individual achievement. They also spent lavishly to support the arts.

11. The Medici (Godfathers of the Renaissance) • In the 1400s, the Medici family of Florence organized a successful banking business. • The Medici were generous patrons of the arts. A patron is a financial supporter. Poets and philosophers frequently visited the Medici palace. Artists learned their craft by sketching ancient Roman statures displayed in the Medici gardens.

12. What was the Renaissance? • The Renaissance was a time of creativity and change in many areas- political, social, economic, and cultural. Perhaps most important, however, were the changes that took place in the way people viewed themselves and their world.

13. A New Worldview • Their era, they felt, was a time of rebirth after what they saw as the disorder and disunity of the medieval world. • Unlike medieval scholars, who were more likely to focus on life and death, Renaissance thinkers explored the richness and variety of human experience in the here and now.

14. A New Worldview • At the same time, there was a new emphasis on individual achievement. Indeed, the Renaissance ideal was the person with talent in many fields.

15. A Spirit of Adventure • The Renaissance supported a spirit of adventure and a wide-ranging curiosity that led people to explore new worlds. • The Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the Americas in 1492, represented that spirit.

16. Humanism • At the heart of the Italian Renaissance was an intellectual movement known as humanism. Based on the study of classical culture, humanism focused on worldly subjects rather than on the religious issues that had occupied medieval thinkers. • Humanists believed that education should stimulate the individual’s creative powers.

17. Humanism • They returned to the humanities, the subjects taught in ancient Greek and Roman schools. • The main areas of study were grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history, based on Greek and Roman texts. • Humanists did not accept the classical texts without question, however. Rather, they studied the ancient authorities in light of their own experiences.

18. A Golden Age in the Arts • Renaissance artists studied ancient Greek and Roman works and revived many classical forms. • The sculptor Donatello, for example, created a life-size statue of a soldier on horseback. It was the first such figure done since ancient times.

19. New Techniques • Renaissance artists learned the rules of perspective. By making distant objects smaller than those close to the viewer, artists could paint scenes that appeared three-dimensional.

20. Three Geniuses of Renaissance Art

21. Raphael

22. Leonardo da Vinci

23. Michelangelo

24. Three Geniuses of Renaissance Art • Leonardo da Vinci • Michelangelo • Raphael

25. Italian Renaissance Writers • A literature of “how-to” books sprang up to help ambitious men and women who wanted to rise in the Renaissance world.

26. Castiglione’s Ideal Courtier • The most widely read of these handbooks was The Book of the Courtier. Its author, Baldassare Castiglione, describes the manners, skills, learning, and virtues that a member of the court should have.

27. Castiglione’s Ideal Courtier • Castiglione’s ideal courtier was a well-educated, well-mannered aristocrat who mastered many fields, from poetry to music to sports.

28. Castiglione’s Ideal Courtier • Castiglione’s ideal differed for men and women.

29. Castiglione’s Ideal Courtier • The ideal man, he wrote, is athletic but not overactive. He is good at games, but not a gambler. He plays a musical instrument and knows literature and history but is not arrogant.

30. Castiglione’s Ideal Courtier • The Ideal woman offers a balance to men. She is graceful and kind, lively but reserved. She is beautiful, “for outer beauty,” wrote Castiglione, “is the true sign of inner goodness.”

31. How about now? “Every Magazine tells her she’s not good enough. The picture that she sees makes her cry.” -Jon McLaughlin Beautiful Disaster

32. Machiavelli’s Successful Prince • In The Prince, published in 1513, Machiavelli combined his personal experience of politics with his knowledge of the past to offer a guide to rulers on how to gain and maintain power.

33. Machiavelli’s Successful Prince • The Prince looked at real rulers, such as the Medicis, in an age of ruthless power politics. Machiavelli stressed that the end justifies the means. He urged rulers to use whatever methods were necessary to achieve their goals. On the issue of honesty in government, for example, he taught that getting results was more important than keeping promises.

34. Machiavelli’s Successful Prince • “How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his word and live with integrity rather than craftiness, everyone understands; yet…those princes have accomplished most who paid little heed to keeping their promises, but who knew how craftily to manipulate the minds of men.” -Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

35. Partner Question, Chapter 14, Section 1 • Describe two ways that today’s society still reflects beliefs that originated in the Renaissance. • Do you and your partner think a political leader today would be wise to follow the advice of Niccolo Machiavelli? Why or why not?

36. Chapter 14, Section 1 The Renaissance in Italy World History Connections to Today Prentice Hall 2003