RENAISSANCE: A CHANGING SOCIETY

RENAISSANCE: A CHANGING SOCIETY

SOCIETY AND THE ARTS

The ARTS LITERATURE TOO!! REVIEW: - In the early Renaissance, writers focused on translating the works of Romans and Greeks and copying their styles. Painting Sculpture Architecture - At the same time, books or texts written in the VERNACULAR - language that people spoke ex. Italian, French, English - became more accessible. - Poetry was a way for writers to express their emotions. Humanism influenced this. People expressed their thoughts.

Exchange of Ideas

Science The Scientific Method - Attitudes toward science changed during the Renaissance - Thinkers expanded texts that they read - New emphasis Humanism placed on human beings and their experiences encouraged people to QUESTION AND EXPERIMENT - Scientific Method = the process of making observations, experimenting, and drawing conclusions based on evidence - This led to MANY discoveries - Most important advancements = astronomy, medicine, and math Astronomy - For 1000s of years (right until the Renaissance), people thought the SUN went around the EARTH - Ptolemy (Greek astronomer) introduced this theory - Europeans believed God has placed earth at the centre of the universe - New theories by Galileo and the astronomers threatened the worldview of their time and PERMANENTLY changed the way people looked at the universe

Astronomy Copernicus - Got ideas from ancient Greek astronomers whose ideas were not accepted in their day - Discovered Earth is a planet that moves around a stationary sun Kepler - Tried to combine Ptolemy s and Copernicus systems - spent 20 years using math to test and prove his ideas - Concluded that planets travelled in an elliptical (OVAL) orbit, not circular as Copernicus believed Galileo - Built telescopes and studied objects in the sky - Through observation confirmed Copernicus s idea of sun-centered universe. - Saw sun-spots, craters, and mountains on the moon - Stars of the Milky Way and Jupiter's moons

Science Medicine - Early Renaissance medicine example: In one pound of olive oil, cook ten green lizards, and filter them through linen; add one measure of marjoram and wormwood. - Doctors had little to no anatomical knowledge - Remedies based on astrology, blood-letting, and superstition were common - Medical knowledge GREW during the Renaissance - Mostly in anatomy and surgery - Doctors began to apply the scientific method to the human body Anatomy - Dissection was made legal for the purposes of study in many Italian cities - Andreas Vesalius (professor) dissected bodies in the lecture hall while his students watched - Wrote a book with detailed, accurate drawings of the human body

Mathematics

Mathematics - Early math discoveries were studied with new vigor during the Renaissance - Thinkers like Da Vinci believed that math was the basic tool for understanding the universe - Math proofs were an important part of the scientific method - Math was important to the ECONOMY as well (ex. Trade and business and the merchant class) - Renaissance thinkers built on early concepts (Zero use in early India; decimal system refined by Muslims) - Perspective is a mathematical theory applied to art/architecture - Perspective drawings showed how buildings would look when done, for example

Political and Religious Leadership

Political and Religious Leadership Born Into Leadership - Civic Humanism encouraged citizens to participate in the government of their state - Many cultured families received classical educations and growing up, would meet scholars and artists - Courts became centers for music, learning, and the visual arts - Ex. Isabella D Este and the Mantuas The Scientific Ruler - Florentine civil servant Machiavelli was observing people and governments - His observations led him to new ways of thinking about leadership and power - His book The Prince explained ways to best govern - His theories are still argued about today Ex. it is a good general rule about men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, fearful of danger, greedy

Changing Leadership in the Church

Changing Leadership in the Church Overview - During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Catholic Church was the most POWERFUL institution in Europe - Some considered the Church to be the natural leader in ALL aspects of society (ex. political and business) - Some priests and Church authorities took advantage of their positions of authority to gain power and money for themselves - Complaints became louder and louder over the decades of this corruption Savonarola - Girolamo Savonarola was a monk who belonged to the Dominican order - Dedicated his life to fighting against corruption - He accused the current pope of the time of corruption - He called to have a an establishment of a separate council to oppose the pope - He was excommunicated (officially excluded from the church) - Tried for heresy (BELIEF AGAINST THE CHURCH), found guilty, and executed

Changing Leadership in the Church Martin Luther - Savonarola s criticisms did not lead to change within the Church - 20 years later, Martin Luther (German monk) took more effective action - Influenced by humanist methods, he began to study the Bible - He believed the BIBLE, not Church, should be the true guide - Luther was upset by the wealth of the Church as well - Church made money by selling indulgences (certificated that reduced time people would be punished by their sins after they died). - He distracted his criticism of this - The Pope ordered an order banning Luther s writings - Luther burned this order publically - Luther was called before the emperor to give up his ideas - He did NOT cave in - Luther was excommunicated - He was declared an outlaw who could be killed - He went into hiding

Changing Leadership in the Church The Protestant Reformation - A new German following started because of Luther - A new church was started in northern Europe called Lutheran Church - Luther s ideas spread across Europe - Luther and his people were called PROTESTANTS - This movement became known as the Protestant Reformation - They protested against the Church s refusal to reform (hence the name) The Catholic Counter-Reformation - The Catholic Church lost authority and membership because of this - A series of meetings happened where the Church examined its policies Corruption of higher up clergy was cleaned up - Priests were better educated - This was called the Catholic Counter-Reformation - There were also new religious orders focused on converting people to Catholicism

The Spread of Ideas

The Spread of Ideas Gathering Great Minds - Wealthy merchant patrons played a role in the exchange of ideas - Ex. the Medici family in Italy - Developed the Platonic Academy where humanist thinkers gathered to discuss Greek ideas - They also founded a great library Universities - Many early humanists taught at Italian universities The Printing Press - Most people at the beginning of the Renaissance were ILLITERATE - Only the most educated could read or write - This meant you needed to know Latin or Greek - Most books at the time were written in these languages - You would never be able to afford a book if you were not wealthy - Students travelled to attend and then went back and spread their ideas

The Spread of Ideas The Printing Press - In 1450, everything changed - German named Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press that allowed books to be produced quickly and cheaply - Printers could now produce 1000s of books in the time it had once taken to make a single copy - They were printed on paper, which was cheaper than parchment - MORE ACCESS - In the Vernacular

The Spread of Ideas Spread of Knowledge - By 1500, more than 6 million books in print in Europe - Books allowed exchange of ideas and knowledge never known before - Middle-class people could now have access - Thinkers could make money off their books, and could spread ideas even more by travelling to different cities and universities Printing Press TODAY - The printing press continues to play a significant role in the way our MODERN society records and spreads information!

Age of Exploration

Age of Exploration Trade Desire to Explore - The new way of thinking in Europe sparked a desire to EXPLORE! These people had enough confidence in their dreams and abilities to take on the challenge of a dangerous task - Trade continued to grow across Europe - More demand for luxury goods - Commerce and manufacturing spread - The economic worldview of the time encouraged growth and EXPANSION - Europeans resented the high prices that were paying getting goods traded all the way from the east (GROWING PRICE with the more hands it touches) - Problems: high prices and security of trade routes - A sea route to the East was believed to be the solution

Age of Exploration Gold - There was not enough physical money to go around in Europe (gold) - It depended on TRADE (goods and resources for money) - Euro mines were running out of gold and silver - They needed new sources of precious metals so their economy could continue to grow Christianity - Religion was very powerful during Renaissance - Spreading Christianity became very important during this time of Exploration - Monarchs sponsored their voyages and all believed they were following Jesus wishes - Missionaries went with Explorers on their trips

Age of Exploration Means to Explore - Despite growing knowledge, Europeans knowledge of the lands beyond Europe was limited - Improvement of navigational equipment and creation of maps based on info brought back from Explorers was important - Math tables helped sailors determine latitude (distance N or S of the equator) - Instruments included Compass, Astrolabe, Cross-staff, and Back-staff European Expansion - EXPANSIONISM means attitude or actions of a state or country whose goal is to increase power and territory - CIRCUMNAVIGATE means sail all around the world - Europe had the MOTIVATION and the MEANS to voyage

Age of Exploration Going East - Portugal was first Euro country to be involved in organized exploration - Prince Henry sent expeditions year after year, going farther south - Became involved in slave trade in Africa - Brought African slaves to work on sugar plantations - Portuguese fleets made yearly trips to the Indian Ocean - Portugal became, for a time in the 1500s, the most powerful trading country in Europe Going West - Chris Columbus of Spain was convinced a shorter route to Asia lay to the west across the Atlantic Ocean - He landed in the Caribbean looking for gold and spices - He was convinced he had reached Asia - The Spanish continued to look for a route to Asia this way - Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain to the Philippines - He was killed, but his ship, under new command, was the first recorded voyage to circumnavigate the world

Brave New World

Brave New World European Imperialism - Portugal and Spain were in competition to expand their power and territory, as well as France and Britain - IMPERIALISM means the extension of power over a territory and its resources and people. - European Imperialism was more than expanding empire i it was ALL power over territory, resources, and people. - Territories in Central and South America claimed by Columbus/Spain became New Spain - Indigenous people were not considered and were enslaved - forced to work in terrible conditions.- many worked to death The Terrible Cost - Spain = WEALTH from their conquests - The Inca and Aztec civilizations and their empires in what is now Central and South America were DESTROYED by Spain - The Indigenous peoples paid a terrible cost - By 1600, less than ONE TENTH of the original population of the Americas remained - Perhaps 90 MILLION Indigenous people died - Most died from smallpox, measles, influenza, plague, yellow fever, malaria, etc brought by Europeans. They had no immunity/resistance to them

Brave New World For Queen and Country European Worldview and Identity - During the Renaissance, humanists opened people s eyes to the possibilities of human achievement - Not only did Europeans develop a great appetite for knowledge, they also hungered for riches and were eager to explore the world to find them - The heroes of the Renaissance were artistic geniuses and daring explorers - Queen Elizabeth I was a true Renaissance monarch - She was well-educated; she read LAtin and Greek and was a patron of the arts - Under her reign, England defeated Spain, the most powerful Euro country of the time - She contributed to England s transformation into a prosperous trading country and a world power

Brave New World Making Contact - Europeans were fascinated by reports of Indigenous peoples that filtered back to Europe - The printing invention made illustrated books about the Indigenous to eager readers in Europe - Many of their communities operated on principles of equality and sharing - This challenged some people s thinking about European society - What really made someone s life happy? This is what philosophers were thinking about. Expansionism and Imperialism - Europe saw themselves as SUPERIOR to the peoples of the Americas - They thought that they needed the resources the Americas had to support the European economy and to fuel the establishment of colonies - They saw competition for land and resources as necessary for their survival and supremacy - This attitude led them to disregard the rights of Indigenous and First Nations peoples to their traditional lands - The Renaissance and Age of Exploration were the first steps on the road to a GLOBAL VILLAGE, which we have today

Brave New World Crash Course: Imperialism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aljaltumrgo And that is a WRAP on everything you need to know about the EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE!

Crash Course: Renaissance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vufba_zcor0