Renaissance Flashcards
New Monarchs
The term applied to Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who strengthened their monarchical authority often by Machiavellian means.
Condottiere
A mercenary soldier of a political ruler.
Humanism
Humanism was the philosophical backbone of the Renaissance, emphasizing the potential for individual achievement and stipulating that humans were rational beings capable of truth and goodness. In keeping with the principles of humanism, Renaissance scholars celebrated the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans for their own sake, rather than for their relevance to Church doctrine.
Feudalism
A combined economic and social system that defined the Middle Ages. Under feudalism, societal classes were hierarchically divided based on their position in the prevailing agrarian economy. The system produced a large number of scattered, self-sufficient feudal units throughout Europe, made up of a lord and his subservient vassals. These feudal lords constantly battled during the early middle ages, their armies of peasants facing off to win land for their lords.
Neoplatism
Neoplatonism sought to reconcile humanism with Christianity, to blend the teachings of Plato and other ancient philosophers with the teachings of the Church. Neoplatonism flourished throughout Italy as the primary philosophy by which artists rationalized their more secular works.
The Prince
Written by Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince was a guidebook for the ruler Machiavelli hoped would eventually unite Italy to drive out foreign threats. The Prince argues that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved, and has served as a handbook by European leaders for centuries since its publishing in 1513.
Boccaccio
One of the first writers of the early Renaissance, Giovanni Boccaccio, a Florentine, is most noted for writing the Decameron, a series of 100 stories set in Florence during the Black Death that struck the city in 1348. Boccaccio explores, in these stories, the traditions and viewpoints of various social classes, greatly based on actual observation and study.
Charles V
Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor during the early sixteenth century, was, by genetic good fortune, heir to Spain, Burgundy, the Netherlands, Austria, and Naples, as well as being claimant to Milan by imperial right. His forces harassed the Italian city-states for years, finally gaining dominance over much of Italy in the settlement of Bologna, in 1530.
Leonardo Di Vinci
Perhaps the greatest single figure of the Renaissance, Leonardo excelled in painting, sculpting, engineering, biology, and many other fields. He traveled around Italy, and eventually France as well, making observations on nature and seeking commissions. Many of his contributions were ideas for inventions which were not built until long after his death. His most famous completed work, the Mona Lisa, is the most famous portrait ever painted.
Donatello
The greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance, Donatello was born Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi. Donatello studied under both Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, and went on to create several masterpieces for Cosimo de Medici in Florence. His most important work is the David, which depicts the Hebrew king in the classical style of a Greek god. David was the first freestanding nude figure sculpted since the Roman era. Donatello went on to create the first bronze statue of the Renaissance, showing an incredibly realistic soldier on horseback.
Johann Gutenberg
Gutenberg is credited with inventing the printing press in Germany in 1454, and printing the first book, the Gutenberg Bible, ushering in the age of the printed book, during which books became cheaper and more accessible to the general public
Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli may be the most famed writer of the Renaissance. His most well known work, The Prince is a political handbook arguing that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved.
Cosmo de Medici
In 1434, Cosimo de Medici consolidated the power of Florence in his and his family’s hands, beginning the reign of the Medici that would last in Florence until the end of the Renaissance. Cosimo built up strong connections throughout Italy and Europe in his capacity as a banker, and applied the wealth of Florence in patronage of artistic and intellectual endeavors.
Lorenzo de Medici
Lorenzo de Medici, known as ‘Il Magnifico,’ was Cosimo’s grandson. Lorenzo lived more elegantly than had Cosimo, and enjoyed the spotlight of power immensely. Under his control, the Florentine economy expanded significantly and the lower class enjoyed a greater level of comfort and protection than it had before. During the period of Lorenzo’s rule, from 1469 to 1492, Florence became undeniably the most important city-state in Italy and the most beautiful city in all of Europe.
Michelangelo
Michaelangelo was one of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance. At a young age his talent was spotted by Lorenzo de Medici and he was brought up in the Medici palace. He went on to create some of the most famous works of the Renaissance, carving the Pieta and painting the walls and ceilings of the Sistine Chapel.
Francesco Petrarch
Francesco Petrarch is often referred to as the founder of humanism. As one of the first humanist writers he explored modern life through the lens of the ancient Romans and Greeks, influencing with his works the later renaissance writers and the spirit of the times.
Pope Alexander VI
Rodrigo Borgia, who took the name Alexander VI upon rising to the papacy in 1492 and ruled until 1503, was a corrupt pope bent on the advancement of his family through the political ranks of Italy. While pope he turned many away from the church with his actions, and his reign is considered by some to be the darkest era of the Papacy.
Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) ascended to the papal throne in 1523, following Pope Leo X. He arose during troubled times and proved a moral man but a poor administrator, and his lack of political skill eventually led to the sack of Rome.
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II (1503-1513) ascended to the papal throne in 1503, and presided over the beginning of Rome’s Golden Age. He ended the long string of highly corrupt pontiffs and began the massive project of rebuilding St. Peter’s basilica.
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X (1513-1521) was the son of Lorenzo de Medici. A truly enlightened leader and patron of the arts, he followed the reign of Julius II, ascending to the throne in 1513. Pope Leo X continued the work begun during Julius II’s pontificate, rebuilding all of Rome, and most specifically, St. Peter’s basilica. His one grave error was to authorize the sale of indulgences to finance this project, an action which prompted the beginning of the Reformation movement.
Raphael
Hailed as the greatest painter of the Renaissance, Raphael, born Rafaello Sanzi, worked in Rome under papal commissions from Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X, decorating much of the Vatican. The most widely known of the series of murals and frescoes he painted is the School of Athens, which depicts an imaginary assembly of famous philosophers. He was considered so important by his contemporaries that when he died at the premature age of 37 he was buried in the Pantheon.
Savonarola
Savonarola attracted a following starting in 1491, when he began preaching against the worldliness and paganism of the Renaissance. He led the ousting of the Medici from Florence in 1494, and assumed power, drafting a new draconian constitution, and attempting to revive the medieval spirit. He ordered burned many books and paintings he considered immoral. In 1495, Savonarola called for the deposal of Pope Alexander VI, was declared a heretic, and burned at the stake.
Golden Age
The Golden Age refers to the period from 1503, when Pope Julius II ascended to the papal throne, to the sack of Rome in 1527, during which both the Papacy and the city of Rome prospered greatly. Pope Julius II and his successor, Pope Leo X, renewed faith in the morality of the Papacy and oversaw the most successful period of the rebuilding of Rome, during which artists flocked to the city in hope of a papal commission.
Sack of Rome
Because of Pope Clement VII’s inept negotiating, the angry imperial army surrounded Rome on May 5, 1527 demanding that the Pope pay a ransom. When he refused, and called the citizens of Rome to arms, the army besieged the city. By one o’clock p.m. on May 6, the mercenary soldiers had taken the city. The sack of Rome led to the subjugation of all of Italy to Imperial-Spanish control, and the end of the Renaissance.
Art Style
- Emulation of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
- Good use of depth in paintings.
- Linear (further away = smaller)and atmospheric (further away = hazier)perspective.
- Paintings began to have more detailed backgrounds.
- Not necessarily religious, more focus on earthly themes and humans.
- More realistic, geometrically precise and mathematically accurate.
- Subjects showing signs of more emotion.
- Contraposto posture, in which the subject is shifting his or her balance.
Lorenzo Valla
(1407-1457) A humanist who used historical criticism to discredit an eighth-century document giving the papacy jurisdiction over Western lands.
