The Upheaval in Christendom

(1300 - 1560)

Renaissance Unit

1. What does the term “Renaissance” mean?

2. How was the Renaissance manifested in politics, government, and social organization?

3. Did the Renaissance involve shifts in religious attitudes?

Important Questions

Diminishing Power of the Church

• Activities outside the sphere of religion.

• That which does not pertain to religion.

Secularization

Secularism in Italy

Id ea ls o f R en a issan ce Ita ly

C ivic A w aren ess in d ivid u a lism V irtu e

Leonardo Bruni

“The whole glory of man

lies in activity.”

The Rise of the Peasants

Political Impact

Renaissance in Italy

Italian Social Structure

• Popolo grasso

• Mediocri

• Popolo minuto,

Italian Cities

Intellectual Humanism

–Humanism was to be intellectually liberating.

–Medieval Christian humility discouraged self-absorption

–Literature of individuality emerged

Renaissance Humanism

Seven Liberal Arts of Antiquity

The Birth of Humanist Literature

Printing

Political Humanism

Religious Humanism

• Did not break completely from religion.

• Italian Humanists became known as pagan humanists, while Northern Humanists became known as Christian Humanists.

Erasmus

Institutional Change

• Forever changed.• Papal authority challenged.• Christian values and virtues

lost their potency.• Individual rulers and

merchants influenced society.

• The wealthy merchant families and oligarchies ruled.

Political Units / City-States

• Cradle of the Italian Renaissance.

Case Study: Florence

• “Eroded the power of the nobility by expanding the ranks and influence of townsmen”

Merchant Capitalism