Renaissance

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Cosimo de' Medici Girolamo Savonarola

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 * Italian Renaissance**- Began in the 14th century In Tuscany, and was centered in the cities of Florence and Siena. It means "rebirth" of the culture of classical antiquity. People were starting to bring back the ideals of ancient Greek and Latin times. Nobles were paying artists to create art that reflected ancient times. Many social changes were occurring. People were studying classics because they thought it provided skills for diplomats, lawyers etc. People who supported antiquity were called humanists. They believed that people who lived in the time of the classics (ancient rome) were the epitome of intelligence and that was the peak of humanity hence wanting to emulate it.


 * City-states- City states are what the Italians used as means of ruling grounds during the Renaissance period. They consisted of five main city states that were Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, and the kingdom of Naples. Each city is known for something specific, for example, Venice was known for its enormous trade empire and was Internationally known as a power. They had a sense of nationalism to them with competitions between the different city states as to which city state looked best.**


 * Milan,- Milan was one of the mercantile crossroads between the east and west. Also a very important trade state.**


 * Florence- Florence was known first for its wool then for its banking. The Medici family controled the city from behind the scenes. Although the city was technically a democracy of sorts, their power came from a vast patronage network.** **The church invested all its money in Florentine banks and thusly made the city flourish.**


 * Venice- Venice was known for its merchant marine and overseas trade since it was on the coast of Italy.**


 * Genoa-Also one of the mercantile crossroads between the east and west.**


 * Signori**- A city in which one man rules and passes down the right to rule to his son. some kept the institutions of communal government, but these had no actual power. In many cities these rulers transformed their household into courts. Example - Milan.


 * Oligarchies-** is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who pass their influence from one generation to the next.


 * Commenda system**- Contract between merchant and "merchant-adventurer" who agreed to take goods to distant locations and return with the proceeds (for 1/3 of profits)


 * Condotierri-** Powerful military leaders brought in by the oligarchies to establish order. These guys had their own mercenary armies and sometimes took over political power as well after they established order.


 * Republic of Florence- This republic/city state was well known for it's banking and commerce as well as the people that ruled the industry. Since the Medici family was the leading guild in this thriving industry, they were the signori of the city state. Florence was not in good grounds for trading, however, their banks made up for what their trade didn't have and they were one of the richest cities in the Italian city states lead by one of the most powerful families in 15th century Italy.**


 * Medici Family**- The Medici family first came to power in 1434 and was a very powerful banking family in Florence Italy. They ruled the commerce and banking industries of, for the most part, all of Europe and was the "ruler" of the Florence city state. They were first lead by Cosimo de' Medici as the first city state ruler and they incorporated a new banking system in Italy. They fell from power when the French invaded but rose back to power when they retook control of the throne. They burned all of their literature and culture in the town square of Florence as a symbol that God had corrupted them with too much power and they needed to start fresh.


 * Cosimo de’ Medici- He was the first of the Medici's to be in power in Florence Italy. He is also known as Cosimo the Elder and is also known for** **the family's support of the arts and humanities made Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance, a cultural flowering rivaled only by that of ancient Greece. He helped the Florence city be known by what is the Medici's.**
 * Lorenzo de’ Medici (the Magnificent)**- ruled Florence with his younger brother, Giuliano from 1469 to 1478.

was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now northern Italy. Created in 1395, when it included twenty-six towns and a wide rural area lying between the hills of Montferrat and the Venetian Lagoon, the Duchy was conquered by the Austrians during the 18th century War of the Spanish Succession, and in 1714 it was ceded to Austria by the Treaty of Baden. It remained an Austrian possession until 1796, when it was conquered by a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte.
 * Duchy of Milan**-
 * Sforza Family**- was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the dukedom and Duchy of Milan from the previously ruling Visconti family in the mid-15th century, and lost it to the Spanish Habsburgs about a century later


 * Republic of Venice**- An Italian city state originating from the city of Venice in the year 697. Despite its long history of war and conquest, the Republic's modern reputation is chiefly based on its status as an economic and trading power.


 * Papal States**- The Papal States were made up of areas under direct sovereign rule of the church, and at its height it covered most of the modern Italian regions of Romagna, Marche , Umbria and Lazio.


 * Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies**- Was the largest of the Italian states before Italian unification in 1861.


 * Girolamo Savonarola**- A dominican friar who interpreted the French invasion as the fulfillment of a prophecy. He liked to deliver these really fiery sermons saying that god was gonna punish Italy for its moral vice and corrupt leadership. He became the political and religious leader after the Medici got chased out by the French, but people go tired of his so they tortured him and then burned him.


 * Machiavelli, The Prince**- Niccolo Machiavelli's first finished book. It used the examples of classical and contemporary rulers to argue that the function of a ruler is to preserve order and security, and says that weakness would only lead to disorder, ending in civil war or conquest by an outsider. This is often seen as the first modern guide to politics. uhm.. Machivaelli's the prince is one of the greatest if not the greatest, in a way, instructional handbook on how rulers must act. It oulines the basic ideas of how it is better for a ruler to be **feared** rather than loved, and its **significance** is many rulers use it as an example that they justify/ base their actions on. It also focuses on the idea that bloodshed and violence is **ok,** as long as the **end result** is better than the **beginning.** We can see rulers using machiavelli's principles even up until modern times = hitler and Kim jong II


 * Individualism** - Artists began to sign their own names on paintings and sculptures. People began to take credit for things they created instead of saying God made the object through the person. Also it is a larger stress on the importance of personality, genius, uniqueness, and the ability of a person being able to achieve their **fullest** development on their abilities. This art form included more of a focus on people's faces and individual features.


 * Secularism** - The idea that everything should not be revolved around the church and religion. It begins when we see a larger stress for the **material world** opposed to the **spiritual world**. People wanted to show off and flaunt their achievements and possessions during "**this life**" opposed to only worrying about their "**after life**"
 * Secularism also signalled** for a greater demand for artwork to be made. Traditionally, artwork was primarily religious and depicted scenes from the bible to help the illiterate understand the scenes visualy. **Now,** artwork is becoming personal, and depicts scenes such as the earth, portraits, and sculptures.
 * So why does the church not stop the popular secular movement?? --** because many of the church leaders support the secular movement because they exploit wealth from the church. not ALL clergy were secular, a lot of cardinals and leaders were still religious


 * Sack of Rome, 1527** - Military event by the troops of Charles V they mutinied after not being paid and marched onto Rome and Captured Clement VII, this made Clement give up his worldly and political possessions of the bishopric of Utrecht to the Hapsburg this also marked the end to the Roman Renaissance damaged the Popes prestige and let Charles V focus on the Reformation in Germany


 * Charles V** - Ruler of Holy Roman Empire from 1519-1556, First person to rule all of spain Castile, Leon and Aragon) simultaneously and became first King of Spain in 1516.Heavily opposed the Protestant Reformation, pushed for the convocation of the Council of Trent. Charles provided 5 ships to Ferdinand Magellan


 * Petrarch**- Francesco Petrarch was a Florentine poet and scholar. Petrarch believed that the recovery of classical texts would bring about a new golden age of intellectual achievement. He proposed a new kind of education to help writers and artists recapture the glory of the Roman republic. Most importantly, he is known as the **Father of Humanism.**

Researching more, **valla discovers that the** Donation of Constantine **was made up = undermines the political authority of church** and **means the church has NO AUTHORITY to rule the papal states**
 * Lorenzo Valla**- Italian Humanist who was the one to discover that the Donation of Constantine, which is a document in which Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope .....
 * Valla **was the foremost expert on Latin, and since there is now this big movement on** antiquity**, Valla begans to research church doctrines and readings and found some** mistakes. **The first findings are that the modern translations of church readings were different than original latin version. So valla fixes these mistakes as well as informs people, and this** hurts the reputation of the church **(people began to think, well maybe we have been following wrong information all along. If some parts are wrong, how do we not know the whole thing isn't wrong).**

Castiglione, Book of the Courtier**-A treatise that sought to train, discipline, and fashion the young man into the ideal gentleman. This gentleman would be able to ride, write, wrestle, sing, and above all speak eloquently. It also included a discussion about the court lady, and was translated into every european language and became a how to manual for people seeking to improve themselves.**

Johann Gutenberg, printing press**- German inventor who developed the stamp for the printing press. It made the process of printing novels much quicker since you could rearrange the stamps for every page and used over and over. This invention really helped to spread around books and make them cheaper. This in turn helped up the literacy rates in urban areas, develop more primary schools and also opening up universities.**

Pope Alexander VI**- This pope was the most ruthless pope yet because he used military control to regain authority in the papal lands when they were needed. His son, Cesare Borgia, aided him tremendously in order to gain authority both politically and militarily.**

Brunelleschi, Il Duomo**-** is the main church of Florence, Italy. The //Duomo//, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. Ghibertu **- Italian sculptor who made the bronze doors to the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral. Michelangelo named these doors the "Gates of Paradise".**

Donatello, David **- A sculpture of the same David that Michelangelo created but Donatello made his with bronze. It was the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. The sculpture is nude besides the top hat he has on and boots.**

Botticelli, Birth of Venus **-** is a 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore

“High Renaissance"**- A short period of exceptional artistic production in the Italian states.** Leonardo da Vinci **- A artist in italy who also did sculptures, engineering, adn designing. He was hired by Duke Sforza of Milan, then later by the pope and the french king. The patrons who supported him wished that he would have accompanies his interests with more perspiration.**

Raphael, School of Athens **- This was a very famous painting. It showed many of the new elements such as 3D art and adding dark and light colors for depth. Raphael also painted his face on one of the people in the picture. He also painted many other artist's faces in the picture. This was a new art technique.**

Michelangelo **- A Florentine who worked on commissions from patrons. Officials of the city contracted Michelangelo to produce a statue of the Old Testament hero David to be displayed on the city's main square. The statue came to symbolize the republic of Florence standing up to its larger and more powerful enemies. Later on in Michelangelo's life he was commissioned by the pope to paint a scene of the Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. The David captures ideals of human perfection and the Last Judgment conveys terror and divine power.**

David**, Sculpture created by Michelangelo, marble statue representing the hero David from the Bible. Thought to be about what david would look like before his famous battle because David's face looks tense, his neck stands tautly and his brow is furrowed**

ceiling of the Sistine Chaple**- The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo and was funded by Pope Alexander VI in order to restore Rome to its "original glory". It took Michelangelo approximately 4 years to finish and had major setbacks during the painting of it. Pope Alexander wanted the ceiling to be finished earlier and spurred him on to finish it as quickly as he could. Do not rush perfection.**

Pieta Mannerism **- This was an art that rebelled against the perfection of the High Renaissance art. It used unnatural colors and had elongated exaggerated shapes.**

El Greco **-** was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" (//The Greek//) was a nickname, a reference to his national Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters. El Greco's dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but found appreciation in the 20th century

Northern Renaissance**- The northern Renaissance was located primarily in the areas of England and Northern Germany. They had the same ideals of that of Italian Renaissance; however, they looked to more Christian cultures to reform their way of living. All of the ideas of calmness, stoical patience, and broad-mindedness should be joined in human conduct with the Christian virtues of love, faith and hope. Thomas More was a English Northern Humanistic thinker that wrote //Utopia// a book that incorporates the ideal world where everything is balanced perfectly to the point where ever person is completely perfect.**

Christian Humanism **- People called Christian humanists interpreted Italian ideas about classical antiquity and humanism in terms of their own religious traditions. In other words, they used antiquity to try and explain the churches teachings, and its roots -- to understand their religion better.**

Erasmus, In Praise of Folly **- Erasmus believed that education is the** key to reform**. He also believes christianity is an inner attitude of the hear or spirit, and it is not just based on antiquity. To share his views, Erasmus writes** Praise of Folly**, which is a satire and he critiques many segments of the Catholic church. His main argument is that people arent living by the early documents of the church. He tries to explain the idea that they aren't living by scripture, and they are merely attempting to look pious, and ignore the meanings behind their actions.