Renaissance Notes

MachiavelliNorthern Renaissance

More and Erasmus

The Renaissance was a time of renewal

*Renaissance means rebirth and Europe was recovering from the Dark ages and the

plague.

*People had lost their faith in the church and began to put more focus on human

beings.

How did the Crusades contribute to the Renaissance?

• *Increased demand for Middle Eastern products

• *Stimulated production of goods to trade in Middle Eastern markets

• *Encouraged the use of credit and banking

• Church rule against usury and the banks’ practice of charging interest helped to secularize northern Italy.

• Letters of credit served to expand the supply of money and expedite trade.

• New accounting and bookkeeping practices (use of Arabic numerals) were introduced.

Advantages

• Urban centers- Especially in Northern Italy thanks to the Crusades.

• Cities were more populated and therefore ideal places to spread culture and ideas

Advantages

• Wealthy merchants- Especially in Florence• Medici family- how did wealthy merchants

help spread culture?• Wealthy merchants were able to seize

control over the government• Cosimi de’ Medici won control of Florence’s

government

Advantages

• Location, Location, Location• Rebirth of Classical culture• Classical=Greco-Roman• Ruins of Rome surrounded the artists of

Renaissance Italy

Major Italian Cities

Italy failed to become united during the Middle

Ages.

Many independent city-states emerged in

northern and central Italy that played an important role in Italian politics and

art.

MilanMilan VeniceVenice

FlorenceFlorence

Tyrrhenian SeaTyrrhenian Sea

Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

Genoa

Milan*One of the richest,

it controls trade through the Alps and along the Po River

Milan

Venice*Sitting on the Adriatic, it attracts trade from all over the world. What

Venice

Florence*Controlled by the De Medici Family, who became great patrons of the arts.Also traded along the Arno River

Florence

Genoa*Had Access to Trade RoutesReceived money from Columbus

Genoa

Major Italian CitiesWHAT DID ALL THESE CITIES

HAVE IN COMMON THAT MADE THEM SO WEALTHY? MilanMilan VeniceVenice

FlorenceFlorence

Tyrrhenian SeaTyrrhenian Sea

Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

Genoa

All of these cities:

*Had access to trade routes connecting Europe with Middle

Eastern markets

• *Served as trading centers for the distribution of goods to northern

Europe

• *Were initially independent city-states governed as republics

Political Ideas

• *All the city-states were vying for more power and wealth - fear from Papal takeover

• This was difficult because all were wealthy for their own reasons

• *Rulers of these city-states looked for the secrets to success anywhere they could get it

• Who would they turn to?

14

Political Ideas of the Renaissance

Niccolò Machiavelli

The PrinceMachiavelli believed:

“One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit”

Machiavelli observed city-state rulers of his day and produced guidelines for the acquisition and maintenance of power by absolute rule.

He felt that a ruler should be willing to do anything to maintain control without worrying about conscience.

MachiavelliPhilosopher- 1469-1527Believed to be one of the founders of modern political scienceHe was considered a polymath- expertise spanned more than just politics*Machiavellian- use of cunning, deceitful tactics as a political strategy

• *Better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved• *Ruler should be quick and decisive in decision making

• Ruler keeps power by any means necessary• *The end justifies the means

• *Be good when possible, and evil when necessary

Machiavelli and the Prince

*Machiavelli’s Importance

• Machiavelli’s, The Prince, was borrowed and used throughout all of Europe to guide leaders.

• *Leaders from all countries used Machiavelli’s advice when governing their nations/empires

• Is evidence of Machiavellian ideas present in American culture today?

What made cultural diffusion possible?

• *Invention of moveable print- Gutenberg

• *Made the flow of ideas easier and faster

• How is that going to impact the spreading of cultures all around the world?

• People in northern Europe read about the Renaissance in Italy instead of just hearing about it

Northern Renaissance

• *Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.

• *Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity.

• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of books (Gutenberg Bible) helped circulate ideas.Northern renaissance influenced:

German Renaissance

Polish Renaissance

Netherland Renaissance

French Renaissance

English Renaissance

Importance of the Northern Renaissance

Why is the Northern Renaissance a great example of cultural diffusion?*Northern Renaissance showed the

spread of Renaissance ideas from Italy to Northern Europe*Claimed humanist ideas as a new

aspect of the Renaissance*Similar art work as compared to the

Italian Renaissance

Erasmus

*Dutch humanist

Desiderius Erasmus

*Pushed for a Vernacular form of the Bible

*Greatly believed in idea of free will

“I disagree very much with those who are unwilling that Holy Scripture, translated into the vernacular, be read by the uneducated . . . As if the strength of the Christian religion consisted in the ignorance of it”

*Famous Work: “The Praise of Folly”

Used humor to show the immoral and ignorant behavior of people, including the clergy. He felt people would be open minded and be kind to others.

Sir Thomas More

English Humanist

Counsel of Henry VIII

*Wrote: Utopia

*A book about a perfect society

*Always battled with his duty to the King and his humanist ideas