Chapter 13 - European Society in the Age of the Renaissance
What did Edward IV and his followers do?
Began to restore royal power, avoided expensive war, and reduced their reliance on Parliament for funds
Individualism
Belief in and focus on individual will and genius
Who led France's recovery after the Hundred Years' War?
Charles VII
War of the Roses
Civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster
Homosexual practice during the Renaissance
Common, occurred particularly based on relationship between men and boys.
What was the goal of Christian humanists?
Create a more perfect world by combining the best elements of classical and Christian cultures
Who best represented Christian humanism?
Erasmus; emphasis on education as the key to a moral and intellectual improvement and inner Christianity.
After 1494, Italy = _________________
European battleground
What was Louis XI's significance to France?
Expanded the French state and laid the foundations of later French absolutism
What did Charles VII do to help France recover from the Hundred Years' War?
Expelled the English, reorganized the royal council, strengthened royal finances, reformed the justice system, remodeled the army, and made church subject to the state
Who did Ferdinand and Isabella use to enforce royal justice?
Hermandades - local police forces
Central Italy consisted mainly of _________________.
the Papal States
Southern Italy consisted mainly of ___________________.
the kingdom of Naples
Which was considered superior: ancient Latin style or medieval Latin?
Ancient Latin style
Examples of city-states in Northern Italy
Milan, Venice, and Florence
What was Europe's attitude towards blacks?
Ambivalent - blackness symbolized both evil and humility
When was the quattrocento?
1400s
Who was Petrarch?
14th century poet and humanist; first "Renaissance man"
When was the cinquecento?
1500s
When did black slaved begin to be brought into Europe in large numbers?
15th century
When did the process of order through centralization of power begin?
15th century
Renaissance
A French word meaning "rebirth," first used by art historian Giorgio Vasari to refer to the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity
New Christians
A fourteenth-century term for Jews and Muslims who accepted Christianity; in many cases they included Christians whose families had converted centuries earlier
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
What positions did black slaves and freemen fill?
A variety - laborers, musicians, dancers, etc.
Debate about women
Debate among writers and thinkers in the Renaissance about women's qualities and proper role in society
Popolo
Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power
What was the significance of Venice's improvement to shipbuilding?
Enhanced trade
Patronage
Financial supporters of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific styles
Where did the first artistic and literary flowerings of the Renaissance appear?
Florence
Who dominated European banking?
Florentine mercantile families
Why were clocks important?
For understanding and controlling urban-economic life
Rabelais
French humanist who wrote very secular stories and believed that institutions molded individuals and that education was the key to moral life.
What were the adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel spoofs on?
French social life
What is the significance of the Florentine wool industry?
Fueled population increase and financial expansion
What did the church do in response to secularism?
Gave up - did little to combat it
Significance of Donatello and Michelangelo
Glorified human body through art (sculptors)
Signori
Government by one-man rule in Italian cities such as Milan
What did Machiavelli's The Prince describe?
How to acquire, maintain, and increase political power - by any means
Significance of the War of Roses
Hurt trade, agriculture, and domestic industry
How did the status of the artist change during the Renaissance?
Improved, most work done by commission of princes. Creativity was rewarded.
Where did women work outside the home?
In ship building, textiles, agriculture, as well as midwives and servants
Who commissioned later 15th century art and why?
Individuals and oligarchs as means for self-glorification
How did the status of upper class women change during the Renaissance?
It declined
What were conversos?
Jews converted to Christianity
When did the Renaissance begin in Northern Italy?
Last quarter of the 15th century
Who were three rulers who exemplified Machiavelli's The Prince?
Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
Courts
Magnificent households and palaces where signori and other rulers lived, conducted business, and supported the arts
What was the significance of the invention of printing?
Making propaganda possible, encouraged a wider common identity, and improved literacy
What role did some black African rulers play in black enslavement?
Many adopted European lifestyles and sold their black people into slavery
What formed the urban nobility (class)?
Marriage of nobles who settled within cities and members of urban mercantile class.
Secularism
Materialism over religion - concern with money and pleasure
Who were the first to witness the emerging of a "new golden era"
Men of letters
Who invented the first movable type?
Mid-1400s; Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoffer
How did art change throughout the Renaissance?
More realistic, extremely less realistic, more color, more for elite, more secular and focused of classical topics
How did Northern Italian art differ from Southern Italian art?
More religious with less focus of classical themes
What were the roles of most women?
Most married and were responsible for domestic affairs, and frequently worked outside the home.
How did black slavery in Europe compare to black slavery in America?
Much less harsh
Which cities were communes?
Northern Italian cities
Who led the Renaissance revival, specifically?
Northern Italian cities, esp. Venice, Genoa, and Milan.
Christian humanists
Northern humanists who interpreted Italian ideas and attitudes toward classical antiquity about humanism in terms of their own religious traditions
Why did Spanish Christians reject conversos?
On the basis of race- and out of fear of conversos taking over public offices
Why were nobles attracted to communes?
Opportunities
Significance of Brunelleschi and della Francesca
Pioneered use of perspective in painting
What prevented centralization of Italy?
Political and economic competition between the city-states.
What were the roles of Jews in post-reconquista Spain?
Professionals, scape-goats for the Black Death, reason to revive the Inquisition
How did Henry VIII and his successors win the support of the middle class?
Promoting their interest in money, trade, and stability
What did Ferdinand and Isabella use along with the royal council to strengthen royal power?
The church
How the homes of wealthy change throughout the Renaissance?
Rooms other than the bed chambers became the focus - houses became elaborate with occasional private chapel.
What occurred as a result of the failure republican governments established by the popolo?
Rule of signori or oligarchs
What led to the creation of permanent ambassadors?
Shifting alliances among the city-states.
What was the major characteristic of the Northern Italian Renaissance?
Social reform based on Christian ideals
From what did the homosexual activity of the Renaissance derive?
Social-community needs of men
How did the spendings of wealthy change throughout the Renaissance?
Spent less on warfare, and more on art and architecture
How to sex crimes change during the Renaissance?
Still went unpunished, but fewer cases occurred
What became the new focus/theme of monarchs during the 15th century?
Strong sense of royal authority and national purpose
Communes
Sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles.
Which group was commonly enslaved in eastern Europe?
The Slavic - Germans and others enslaved and/or sold Polish and Bohemian people.
What specific genre of art developed?
The individual portrait
What did the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella represent?
The last major step in the unification and Christianization of Spain
Which class did the popolo consist of?
The middle class
What did The Courtier describe?
The model Renaissance gentleman as a man of many talents, including intellectual and artistic skills. Written by Castiglione.
Virtu
The quality of being able to shape the world according to one's will
What was the result of attempts at centralization?
The rise of many powerful and ruthless rulers interested in the centralization of power and the elimination of disorder and violence.
What did Ferdinand and Isabella recreate to curb aristocratic power?
The royal council
What did Vergerio's treatise stress?
The teaching of history, ethics, and rhetoric (public speaking)
What did Lefèvre and humanists like him believe in?
The use of the Bible among common people
What caused the formation of the popolo?
Their exclusion from power
What was a major factor of Florence's population increase and financial expansion
Their wool industry
What was the major belief of Pico della Mirandola?
There were no limits to what humans could accomplish.
Why did many Jews remain in Spain after the reconquista?
They aided royal power
What were women expected to use their education for?
To run a household
Focus of humanists pertaining to education
Training rulers and moral behavior
How many phases did the Renaissance consist of, and when were they?
Two; 1050-1300 and 1300-1600
What was the goal of the centuries long reconquista?
Unite Spain and expel Muslims and Jews
Who commissioned early Renaissance art?
Urban groups.
Examples of Northern Italian artists
Van Eyck - painter, and Bosch, who used religion and folk legends as themes
Which city is associated with a huge merchant marine?
Venice
Which cities acted as the crossroads between northern Europe and the East?
Venice, Genoa, and Milan
Who did the Renaissance affect?
Very small group of elite, did not affect middle class or the urban working class
What were blacks a sign of in the Renaissance?
Wealth
How did Henry VIII change the role of Parliament?
Went from central power of aristocracy to a tool of the king
Utopia
Written by Thomas More; believed society, not people, needed improving.
Boccaccio
Wrote Decameron which portrayed an acquisitive and worldly society.
Lorenzo Valla
Wrote On Pleasure to defend pleasure of the senses as the highest good.
Were Africans considered biracial?
Yes
What did Henry VIII create to check the power of the aristocracy?
court of Star Chamber
