The Renaissance Flashcards
Where in Italy did the Renaissance begin?
Florence
When did the Renaissance begin?
Late 15th century
When did the Renaissance last till?
18th century
What challenged the power of the Catholic Church?
The Reformation
What does ‘Renaissance’ literally mean?
Rebirth
What were challenged?
Old ideas
Why did the theories proposed by Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna become popular again?
Wealthy businessmen paid scholars to investigate, restore and fix the bad translations of the Ancient Greeks and Romans that had been published in the Middle Ages
Why did people search for the most accurate, original versions of old texts and experiment with new ideas?
The Renaissance inspired them and made them critical of the many versions of old texts
What did educated people not want to accept?
What the church had said
What things did people want to be educated in to improve quality of life?
Art, music, science and literature
What was humanism?
An increased focus on the importance of human factors rather than supernatural
What led to some people questioning the church?
A focus on direct observation and experiments to explain things rather than simply blaming the supernatural
Why did surgeons not know much about the cures for diseases? What did this mean treatments were initially like?
They still knew little about the causes of diseases
Treatments initially like those in medieval times
Why were books very rare and expensive before the Renaissance?
They were handwritten
What did people begin to see the importance of?
Dissection and anatomy
What were the biggest killers?
Fever, consumption, teeth, gripping in the guts and convulsions
Who was a key illustrator of the anatomy?
Leonardo da Vinci
What did Leonardo da Vinci design?
An automaton that could sit up, walk and turn its head
What was Leonardo da Vinci the first to suggest about human anatomy?
Human being are only complex machines and our insides are like cogs and pistons made of muscle and flesh
What allowed ideas to spread a lot faster across Renaissance Europe?
The printing press
Why did the printing press spread ideas quicker?
They could print books quickly
Who built the printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg
When did Johannes Gutenberg start to build the printing press?
1436
In 1480, how many printers were there in Europe?
110
By 1600, how many cities had printing presses?
151
By 1600, how many book copies had been made by Western Europe printing presses?
20 million
What did publishing lots of copies of a theory allow people to do?
Understand it and work out whether it is right or wrong
Who could use books for reference more often?
Medical students
Who was the first person to introduce a printing press into England?
William Caxton
When did William Caxton introduce the printing press to England?
1476
Who was the first English retailer of printed books?
William Caxton
Why did people begin to see the importance of dissection and anatomy?
Rediscovery of Galen, Hippocrates and Avicenna
