Chapter 12 Flashcards
What does Renaissance mean?
A French word-meaning rebirth
What is Patronage?
Financial support of a writers and artists by cities or individuals to create works for them
Where did the Renaissance begin?
The renaissance began in Northern Italy, supported by a huge merchant presence
What made Northern Italian cities such good trading centers?
These cities had advances in shipbuilding which allowed for faster travel and for their ships to sail year round
What was a commune?
Sworn associates of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economical independence from nobles
Who were the popolo?
Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power
How big was the population of Florence?
Florence had a population of 80k, double that of London
What was citizenship in communes based on?
- Property qualifications
- Years lived in the city
- Social connections, meaning
- Only a small percentage of the male population could become members of the commune
Besides Europe where did Florentine bankers dominate?
North African Cities
What occurred during the popolo uprisings of the 13th century?
The popolo took over and created republican governments with the people holding the power, these did not last long for they failed to establish order and merchant oligarchies took back power using condottieri
Who were the Condottieri?
Powerful military leaders who had their own mercenary armies
What type of government did many Italian cities become?
Signori
What does signori mean?
A government that is ruled by one man
What was a court?
Magnificent households and palaces where signori lived, conducted business and supported the arts
What did signori create in the center of their cities?
Courts
What hindered Italy from uniting into one unified country?
- Nationalism in individual city states
- When one city-state amassed a great sum of power, smaller ones around it would band together against it to balance out the power
What banking family ruled over Florence?
The Medici Banking Family
What did the Italians invent to have representatives of other city states in their city?
Embassies
Why did France invade Italy in 1494?
Florence and Naples went into agreement about acquiring Milan and Milan called upon France for backup, France invaded Italy under the command of King Charles VIII
Who was Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola and how was he significant?
- A friar who preached sermons in Florence to large crowds, he said that Italians would be punished by God for it’s corrupt leadership
- Citizens of Florence saw the French invasion as the friar’s prophecy being fulfilled so they kicked out the Medici Dynasty
- Savonarola took power, becoming the political and religious leader of a new Florentine republic
What did Friar Girolamo Savonarola do while in power?
- Reorganized the government
- He had new laws passed against same sex relations, adultery and drunkenness
- Ordered a group of young men to patrol the streets looking for immoral dress and behavior
- Held “bonfires of the vanity,” where luxuries were burned in the main square of Florence
What occurred during the downfall of Savonarola?
The Florence people wildly loved him until they got tired of his moral denunciations and the Pope excommunicated him and he was burned at the stake at the same spot the bonfires had been conducted, after this the Medici Family returned as the rulers
What were the The Habsburg-Valois Wars?
Battles between the Holy Roman Empire and France
What made Italy a target for foreign invaders until 1870?
It’s inability to unify
Who was the first person to use the word “renaissance,” in print?
Giorgio Vasari
What did the Italians develop through reading Roman and Greek classics?
New ideas about human nature, plans for education and new concepts for government, the printing press allowed for these ideas to be spread throughout Europe quickly
Who was Francesco Petrarch and what did he believe?
- Petrarch read Roman and Greek classics and came to the conclusions that since the fall of Rome, artists and writers had not reached such perfection
- Believed that he was witnessing a new era and that writers and artists would recapture the glory of the Roman Empire
What new ideas did Petrarch develop?
He developed new ideas about education and how young men should study the works of Roman artists
-This became known as the study of liberal arts and people who advocated for it became known as humanists and their program called humanism
What did Humanists think about Caesar and Rome?
Humanists saw Caesar’s transformation of Rome as a betrayal to great society that marked the beginning of decay in society
What was the Platonic Academy?
Though not an official school, these were lectures given to Florence’s elite based on Plato’s teachings
What was virtù?
The quality of being abled to shape the world according to one’s will, Renaissance men had virtù
Who was Leon Battista Alberti?
A renaissance man who wrote novels, played, legal treatises, a study of the family, the first scientific analysis on perspective, designed churches, palaces and fortifications that were effective against cannon, later in life he referred to himself in third person
What did Plato believe the best way to learn something is?
Plato believed that the best way to learn something was to think about in its perfect ideal form
What were humanist students taught?
Students were taught Latin Grammar and Rhetoric, Roman History and political philosophy and Greek and Greek literature
What was “The Courtier?”
- Written by Baldassare Castiglione
- Was a book that described the ideal gentleman who was a master of many subjects, he also described the perfect court lady
- The Courtier was translated into many European languages and was used to base social life
What was “The Prince?”
A book written by Machiavelli that used classical and contemporary rulers as examples for a guide to politics
Who were the Christian Humanists?
Humanists that believed the best of classical and spiritual culture (love, faith and hope) should be combined
What was “Utopia?”
A book written by Thomas More that describes the perfect society, all children receive a good education through the Greco-Roman classics, adults work and do art, poverty has been solved through government beneficiary, there is religious toleration and order and reason prevail
Who invented the printing press?
Johann Gutenberg
What book became the most popular in all of Europe after the invention of the printing press?
Guttenberg’s Bible
How did governments use the printing press?
Governments printed laws, declarations of war, battle accounts and propaganda but also attempted to censor authors who went against their authority
What did the invention of the printing press do for the lay people?
Stimulated the literacy of them them
Who was Lorenzo Ghiberti?
He was commissioned to create the bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery
Who was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in 1508?
Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo, he was told to work as fast as possible and was criticized and closely instructed by the pope
How did renaissance art differentiate from art of the middle ages?
Renaissance art style focused on human ideal rather than spiritual, using realism and perspective opposed to the old flatter style
Who was Christine de Pizan?
A writer who defended women and studied why they had a secondary status in society
