Renaissance Flashcards
The Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg (1398 - 1468)
- Invented the Printing Press though stamp technology
- It made news, beliefs, poems, etc. accessible all over Europe
- This promoted patriotism, standardized national languages, etc.
Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469 - 1527)
- His writings reflected the unstable politics in his country (Italy)
- He became a prominent official in the government of a new Florentine republic (set up because French invasion of the region lead to expulsion of the ruling Medici family)
- When the Medici Family came back (OH SHIT!), they imprisoned Machiavelli, tortured and then exiled him
- This lead to him creating a political philosophy
- He was also super inspired by Cesaria Borgia, who was his only hope for revitalizing the spirit of independence that could lead to self governance
The Prince
Written by Machiavelli
- It was an endorsement of power for Lorenzo de Medici (they had beef)
- He emphasized that good intentions didn’t mean you’d have good policies — manipulation would often gain better results!
- Thus, a new renaissance ideal was born, promoting the arts of pleasing the powerful secular princes who were in position to employ clever men like Machiavelli
The Medici’s
Powerful banking family !
- In a time where the black death took a SHIT ton of Europe’s population down (50%), the sickness couldn’t be treated properly because no one had any money!
- They were pretty rich by the middle of the 15th century!
They were the first princely dynasty to win their status not through marriage, inheritance, etc. They won it by COMMERCE (damn money moguls).
However! Italy was super reliant on these families to guide their entire economy - they improved the arts, really helped the renaissance flourish.
Howeverrr 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,
BUT Lorenzo let the family business decline, and the Medici were forced to flee Florence two years after his death.
THATS THE REASON THEY LEFT
Petrarch
Who’s the father of humanism? (points thumbs at self) THIS GUY!!!
- April 6, 1341, the date on which Petrarch was crowned Poet Laureate in Rome as the true beginning of the Renaissance.
- To him, wisdom had been lost in wind of time, and so, the only way to regain it was by looking at the writings of the old (like Virgil and Cicero)
- Comfortable in the seclusion of pious monastery life, but he also loved to travel - “I love the world, but agh, what to do of my holy Christian live?”
- He advocated studying and learning, but “will all my worldly knowledge deny me salVATION!? WOE!”
- This was actually pretty common for Renaissance –> HUMANISM vs. THE CHURCH
Why was Italy even like, important?
Because of GEOGRAPHY! Wowza!
Being near the Mediterranean Sea allowed them to have:
- Potential for amassing wealth and breaking free from the feudal system
- Easy trade with other international systems (Byzantine empire, etc.)
- Because of this, Italy could imporve DRASTICALLY intellectually, economically, etc. (Cause you have trade and shit coming in and you GOTTA participate - AND you’re participating before the rest of Europe - you go boo boo)
- Most of this was happening in Northern Italy too = more sophisticated*
The Papacy (wtf is this?)
- Office or authority of the pope
- After the fifteenth century literally shat on Rome, the papacy returned to Rome under Pope Martin V.
- –> As Rome became wealthier and more powerful, corruption~ in the papacy grew especially with that bi*** Pope Sixtus IV in 1471 –> Nepotism
- But he also hired lots of Renaissance painters (MY HOME BOYS!)
- The papacy would rebuild the city, and the Papal States, centered in Rome, would assume a position of great importance in Italian affairs.
- The papal grip was tight, and the destiny of city and church remained inextricably intertwined.
More Important than the Papacy?
Daaaammn Italy, back at it again with the Medici’s!
- The connection established with Florence by appointing Cosimo de Medici Papal banker was extremely important.
- Florence benefited from its role in the handling of Roman gold, Rome benefited even more from the infusion of Florentine ideas, and eventually immigrants.
Leonard DaVinci (1452 - 1519)
- He personified the Renaissance Ideal
- A painter, architect, musician, mathmetician, engineer, and inventor
- Even if he was a slow painter, he tried to make it as natural as possible –> * NATURALIST
Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483 - 1520)
- Influenced by Leonardo
- -> More spiritual + philosophical approaches
- Famous painting: School of Athens! = Harmony and differences between Platonic and Aristotelian thought
(remember West in the World)
Michaelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564)
- Florence native like Leonardo
- -> Polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, poet
He was an IDEALIST
- Center of his work mirrored the center of the Renaissance and humanism (the male figure and how it embodied the masculine mind)
- Sistine chapel of the Vatican Palace (1508 - 1512) from the Gensis = wow super confirmative of the heroic qualities of human kind
but then…
THE LAST JUDGEMENT! = emphasized tension, guilt, distortion, fear and himself - skinned alive (metaphor for the challenged of working in the papal court?)
Donatello (1386 - 1466)
- First great master of the renaissance sculpture!
- Famous piece = David and Goliath (1st nude of the period oolala)
Erasmus (1469 - 1536)
- Christian Humanism*
- Committed to seeking ethical guidance from biblical and religious precepts, as well as Cicero and Virgil
- He embraced antiquity - but Christianians + early church were like NO NUDITY!
- This is where Erasmus is SUPER important
- He traveled a lot and became a citizen of “all of Europe”
- He thought, wrote, and didn’t bind himself to being a pastor or going to school
SO
He became the leader of the Humanist Coterie AND became like, literally a GREAT writer.
–> New Testament was top notch (he edited) and published in the Novum Instrumentum where the Erasmian edition was the basis for the majority of modern translations of New Testament in the 16–19th centuries.
