Unit 1 Class Flashcards
1450
When AP European History begins, in the midst of the Renaissance
1492
- Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue
- Ferdinand and Isabella said “No more Jews, no more Muslims!”
Renaissance
- Rebirth of Interest in Classical Antiquity
- Italian scholars held disdain for the Dark Ages; viewed it to be backwards
“Ism’s” of Renaissance
Secularism: non-religious subjects
Individualism: Emphasis of Individual Freedom & Importance
Humanism: Emphasis on human achievement and being
Realism: Promotion of more realistic art
Civic Humanism
- the belief that humanists have an obligation to use their talents in service of their city-state as a “civic responsibility”
- Cicero, the Roman politician was the role model.
Medieval Scholasticism Juxtaposed with Liberal Arts of the Renaissance
- scholastic education associated with the Middle Ages focused narrowly on theology, law, and medicine. Education was controlled by the Church and therefore the Church chose to focus the great minds of the age (think: the scholastic thinker St. Thomas Aquinas) on religious debate.
- the “liberal arts” curriculum believed in a classical education that required humanists to become well versed in Latin and Greek in order to read the works of classical antiquity.
- “liberal arts” included the study of literature, philosophy, art, math, science, etc.. Think: “Classical Academy” at HHS.
- the phrase from Bob Marley’s song “Redemption Song”, “emancipate your mind from mental slavery, none but yourself can free your mind”, refers to the goal of a liberal arts education to become independent, critical thinkers and refers to Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity” of man that places man in control of his own destiny (individualism).
Jacob Burckhardt vs. Lynn Thorndike on the Renaissance
- Burckhardt established the Renaissance to be a separate period from the Middle Ages
- Thorndike found that political, religious, cultural, moral & social phenomena in the Modern World was much more in line with the Middle Ages than the Renaissance
FAST FACTS of 1500 (1):
- population of Europe did not recover to pre-Black Death levels until 1550 (perhaps 75 million by 1550). Today, Germany alone has over 75 million people
- About 20% of all infants died before their first birthday
- In 1500, France was the largest state in Europe with a population of around 16.4 million.
- In 1500, only about 6% of Europeans lived in town “cities” of more than 10,000 people.
FAST FACTS of 1500 (2):
- In 1500, wives were legally subservient to their husbands
- In 1500, only Constantinople, Naples, Milan, Paris, and Venice had populations with over 100,000 inhabitants.
- Literacy was under 10% by around 1500.
- Life expectancy was under 35 years of age
- Over half of Europeans were on the verge of starvation and lived year to year on the basis of subsistence agriculture.
Printing Press and Vernacular
- the use of the vernacular in writing meant that more people
without a formal education in Latin could become literate - combined with the invention of the printing press in the 1450’s dramatically reduced the cost of printing books, pamphlets and essays, thus increasing the availability of books, especially in urban areas that contributed to an increase in literacy.
- The Protestant Reformation was dramatically aided by the printing press as Luther’s “95 Theses” swept across Europe and dramatically challenged the Catholic Church doctrine. It is not possible for the Protestant Reformation to succeed as dramatically without the printing press.
Leonardo Bruni
A. first modern historian—historians no longer believe in “miracles” but rather focus on human influence on history and rational explanation using direct analysis of sources
B. Periodization—organization tool used by historians to contextualize events. 1st to use the three period view of history: classical antiquity, Middle Ages, modern.
C. “Studia humanitatis”—study of human endeavors as opposed to an emphasis on the afterlife. This is where we get the term humanities.
motivation of patrons
- Partly, self glorification
- civic pride in Florence
- city state competition
- helped employ “starving artists” and pay for the humanists to examine 1000 year old documents
What inspired Pope Julius II to set forth putting Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante to work simultaneously on St. Peter’s?
- Partly self-glorification as Pope Julius II wanted to leave a memorable legacy and partly for the glory of the Church.
- Michelangelo’s “Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel”, Raphael’s “School of Athens” and “Disputa”, and Bramante’s architecture show Rome at its height in the early 16 th century prior to the “Sack of Rome in 1527”.
Italian Renaissance Urban Social Structure
- Wealthy elite (small %),
- middle class artisans and merchants (about 15% of cities),
- working classes (overwhelming majority in cities)
Renaissance Impact on Women and ‘Sex Roles’ (1)
- women of the nobility felt a decline in their status as modern “sex roles” or “gender roles” are created,
- women could function as patrons of the arts, but politics, theology, science and mathematics were off limits for women, to a large degree,
- women were not encouraged to become educated in the entire liberal arts as were the educated male intelligentsia,
Renaissance Impact on Women and ‘Sex Roles’ (2)
- women were often viewed as an “economic liability” because of the dowries associated with marriage that were due from the bride’s family,
- In an age when theft was punishable by mutilation, the rape of a noble, marriageable girl was punished by a fine or six months imprisonment.
- women must deal with the sexist “double standard”
Renaissance Views Toward ‘Blacks’ in Early Modern Europe
- with the closing of the slave trade to Europe after the “Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE to the Ottoman Turks”, Europeans were motivated to find an alternative source for slaves. This
led to the expansion of the African slave trade, - as justification for the African slave trade, Europeans began the process of de- humanization of Africans into a sub-human “race”– this led to modern racism and the creation of American (North, Central and South America) slavery linked to the human construct of “race”,
- the devil was often represented as a black man in medieval and early Renaissance art.
- please, do not ever dress up in “black face” for a costume party. This is not funny. It never was. Dressing in “black face” is part of racist stereotyping.
15th and 16th Century New National Monarchies
During 15th -16th centuries, “New Monarchs” emerged that centralized state power (Spain, England, France) under a single sovereign.
1. monopoly on tax collection (used to fund the military),
2. monopoly on force (army and navy),
3. monarchial court system (monarchs appointed judges),
4. state controlled Churches or nationalized Churches
Ferdinand and Isabella’s “Reconquista”
- completed the “reconquest” of Spain for the forces of “Roman Catholic Christianity” by taking over Granada from the Muslim Moors,
- began the Spanish Inquisition that persecuted Spanish Muslims and Spanish Jews. The Hapsburgs would be part of a large history of intolerance toward non-Roman Catholic Christians in the Iberian Peninsula.
1453
- the Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople ending the Byzantine Greek Orthodox Empire,
- the Ottoman Empire continues expansion into the Balkans.
Italian Secular Humanism vs. Northern Christian Humanism
Both: “humanist tradition” of examining works from classical antiquity,
- ISH focused on the ‘rediscovered’ works of the Greco-Roman civilization; NCH emphasized Biblical sources from antiquity
- ISH was concerned with the secular world; NCH was more consumed with reforming the abuses of Christianity.
- Machiavelli is an example of the ISH, whereas Sir Thomas More and Erasmus of Rotterdam are examples of NCH.
- Machiavelli is a neo-Aristotelian whereas Saint Thomas More is a neo-Platonist
Machiavelli vs. More
Machiavelli: Italian secularist humanist, realist, amoral, modernist, urban, neo- Aristotelian
More: English Northern Christian humanist, idealist, Christian moralist, medievalist, rural agrarian, neo-Platonist
