Essay plans for past papers the Renaissance

Question 1

‘The Catholic church helped rather than hindered the development of the Renaissance throughout the period c.1400 to c.16000.’ How far do you agree?

Answer 1

Catholic Church: not a monolithic institution.
Renaissance: What aspect of the Renaissance - classicism, lit & learning, visual arts, arch.
Help/hindered: depending on what you look at.
WHEN (throughout the period)? WHAT (aspect of Renaissance)? WHO (in charge of church)?

Supporting the hypothesis in the question

Architectural achievements sponsored by the Catholic church:
-Brunnelleschi’s Duomo.
-St Peter Bassilica in Rome.

Individual confraternities and religious orders - major patrons of the arts:
-Da Vinci
-Michaelangelo

Contribution that Clerics made to the Renaissance:
-E.g. Importance of Erasmus to Northern Renaissance.

Importance of Individual Popes:
-Nicholas V - prolific patron - founder of the Vatican Library.
-Pius II ‘humanist Pope’.

Patronage of church - Musicians including the Pallestrina and Monteverdi.

In Challenging the hypothesis in the question

Influence of anti-intellectual factions faction of the Church - hostile to developments of literature and learning as a distraction from piety. E.g. Savanarola ‘bonfires of the vanities’

Works of science, literature, and learning - produced in the Renaissance were banned by the church - e.g. works Gailieo.

Church opposed non-christian themes in work.

Church was hostile to theological work of Erasmus, particularly after the mergence of protestantism.

philology and criticism of the Bible and other canonical Christian texts - opposed by Church. E.g. Valla - denounced as a heretic - nearly burnt at stake.

Response of Church to Reformation brought end to many of the cultural developments of the Renaissance.