European Society in the Age of the Renaissance (1350-1550) Flashcards
Giorgio Vasari
1511-1574, art historian, first to use the word renaissance for art by artists such as Michelangelo. “The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects”
renaissance
french word meaning ‘rebirth,’ used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the 14th to 16th century; a movement not a time period
patronage
financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific style
communes
sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles
popolo
disenfranchised common people in italian cities who resented their exclusion from power
Venice, Genoa, Milan, Florence, (Rome)
powerful merchant cities, who came into prosperity by overseas trade. florence was the area were the renaissance begun
Florentine merchants
they loaned and invested money and even gained control of the papal banking in the 13th century. they also started banking in Northern Africa and across Alps in Europe.
14th century crisis in Florence
1344 king Edward III of England repudiated his loans to the Florentine bankers which led many of them to bankruptcy; Black Death killed half of its population not soon after
Merchant guilds
built and maintained city walls, regulated trade, collected taxes, and kept civil order
citizenship in Northern Italian cities
merchants made it dependent on a property qualification, years of residence and social connections
condottieri
military leader who were brought into cities by the merchants to establish order
signori
government by one-man rule in italian cities such as Milan; also refers to these rulers
courts
magnificent households and palaces were signori and other rulers lived, conducted business, and supported the arts
15th century dominant powers
city states of Venice (also ranked as an international power), Milan, Florence, Papal states, Naples.
Sforza family
signori who ruled in Milan and several smaller cities from 1447-1535
Medici family
banking family who ran the city of Florence from 1434 for three centuries; produced three popes
Cosimo, Piero, Lorenzo
part of the Medici family, not public officials
permanent embassies
invented by the Italians when they formed alliances between city states; resident ambassadors were placed into cities were political relations and commercial ties needed constant monitoring
Girolomao Savonarola
1452-1498; Dominician friar, before the French invasion preached God’s punishment for moral vice and corrupt leadership. appointed as the new leader after the Medicis were expelled. he reformed the government; passed laws against same-sex relations, adultery, drunkenness, organized groups of young men to patrol the streets. after some times he got removed and Medicis returned
Habsburg-Valois wars
Italy had become the focus of international ambitions and battleground for foreign armies, particularly for those of the Holy Roman Empire and France
Francesco Petrarch
1304-1374, Florentine poet and scholar, he spent looking through Latin material from the classical period, went around the Roman ruins. he came to believe that the period between Roman Empire and his own age was a ‘dark age’ and people whould strive for the perfections of the classical period. proposed a new kind of education in 1350: studia humanitates (liberal studies/arts)
humanism
a program of study designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature
virtu
the quality of being able to shape the world according to one’s own will
Cicero
106-43 BC, Roman author and statesman who’s works were seen as the glory of Roman Empire by the humanists
Leonardo Bruni
1374-1444, humanist historian and Florentine city official, wrote the history of Florence in 1436. first to divide history into three eras: ancient, medieval and modern
Marsilo Ficino
1433-1499, scholar who started to lecture to an informal group of Florence’s cultural elite. his lectures became know as the Platonic Academy
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
1463-1494, Ficino’s most gifted student; developed his ideas in a series of 900 theses.
Leon Battista Alberti
1404-1472, wrote novels, plays, legal treatises, study of the family, first scientific analysis of perspective, designed churches, palaces and fortifications, invented codes, and a machine that could cipher and decipher them
Thomas More
English humanist, who described the perfect society (Utopia). “Utopia” (1516)
humanist schools
started to open in Italy at the beginning of the 15th century and in Northern Europe in the early 16th century. women were not allowed in those schools but a few still got the education and wrote about their ideas.
Baldassare Castiglione
wrote a book on education “The Courtier” (1528), this set out the education for a perfect gentleman and a perfect lady
civic humanism
educated men should be active in the political affairs of their city
Niccolo Machiavelli
1469-1527, the most famous and best-known political theorist of this era. “The Prince” (1513) uses examples of classical and contemporary rulers to argue that the function of a ruler is to preserve order and security by using whatever means necessary without making people turn against him
Leonardo Da Vinci
1452-1519, considered a genius, he was an engineer, painter, inventor. most famous portrait is Mona Lisa
Christian humanists
northern humanists who interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity and humanism in terms of their own religious traditions. classical and christian best elements should be combined
Desiderius Erasmus
1466-1536, Dutch humanist from Rotterdam. published his won works but translated many. “The education of a christian prince” (1504), “the praise of folly” (1509), new Latin translation of the New Testament (1516)
printing press
developed in Germany in the 1440s. Most known in inventing it was Johann Gutenberg. this technology bridged the gap between written and oral cultures
Filippo Brunelleschi
1377-1446, designed buildings that were inspired by the classical past, commissioned to build the dome of the Florentine Cathedral
Lorenzo Ghiberti
designed the bronze doors in the adjacent Baptistery
Michelangelo
Florentine, painted the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in 1508-1512, he also created the David (1501-1504), Pieta, Moses, redesigned the plaza and surrounding places in Rome, the dome of Saint Peter’s
Giotto
Florentine painter who led the way in the use of realism
Pierro della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna
1420-1492 and 1430/’31-1506, pioneered perspective
Donatello
1386-1466, sculptor revived the classical figure
Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck
1399/1400-1464 and 1366-1441, Flemish painters considered equivalents of the Italian masters and were highly regarded. The latter was the first to successfully use oil based paints
Albrecht Dürer
1471-1528, from Germany Nuremberg and studied with Italians. produced woodcuts, engravings in great detail
Raphael Sanzio
1483-1520, Florentine who did the frescos in papal apartments, painted hundreds of portraits and devotional images, oversaw large workshops, wrote treatises on his philosophy of art
Titian
1490-1576, Venetian, produced portraits, religious subjects, mythological scenes, developed techniques of painting in oil, one of the creators of ‘mannerism’
first artistic academy
founded in Florence in 1563
debate about women
debate among writers and thinkers in the Renaissance about women’s qualities and proper role in society
New Christians
a term for Jews and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula who accepted Christianity, in many cases they included Christians whose families had converted centuries earlier
