Humanities Unit 4 Module 1

14th-century Italians characterized the Renaissance as a return to the sources of knowledge and standards of beauty that had created the great civilizations of classical Greece and Rome (800 BCE-400 AD).

Petrarch was an Italian writer who studied the classics and wrote poetry. He was an early proponent of Renaissance ideas.

Petrarch lamented that he could serve as a model of virtuous behavior like many people in the 14th century who despaired about what was going on during that time (aftereffects of the plague). As a result, he studied a lot so that he could find models of virtuous behavior to bring chaos to his life.

Through his studies, Petrarch came to revere figures from Antiquity who seemed to understand proper values and follow them regardless of worldly distractions such as Livy the historian.

Petrarch's reverence of figures from Antiquity set the precedent for later Renaissance thinkers, who would follow Petrarch's example and see in ancient Greece and ancient Rome the models to shape a new world.

The Renaissance wasn't a complete shift from medieval knowledge and standards to those of classical Greece and Rome, as some of the qualities that we identify with the Renaissance had existed in some form throughout the Middle Ages.

Two things stayed consistent: Medieval scholars never lost touch with the texts and the Gothic cathedrals/illustrated manuscripts of the Middle Ages remained undoubtedly beautiful.

Yes, the term "Renaissance" is controversial because it isn't a complete shift from values of the Middle Ages to values of Antiquity. As a result, some historians consider it to be a part of a succession of renaissances throughout western Europe (and not its own era) while others consider it to be its own thing.

In its simplest sense, the Renaissance was an age of accelerated change that began in Italy and that spread new ideas more rapidly than ever before.

The ideas of the Renaissance were perpetuated by medieval urban dwellers, who proposed questions about medieval values of hierarchy, community, and reliance on authority. They then replaced the old medieval values with a focus on ambitious individualism and realism.

Some questioners of medieval values no longer used the classical texts of Antiquity to reinforce the status quo because they had become common in the medieval universities (they were individualistic, they wanted to be quirky).

Instead of the classical texts of Antiquity, questioners of medieval values began studying to transform themselves.

Many historians define the Renaissance as a unique state of mind or set of ideas about everything from art to politics. Having first sprouted in Italy in the 14th century, these ideas slowly spread north as the prevailing medieval culture was rocked by the disasters of the 14th century.

Because the Italians of the Renaissance themselves believed the heart of their rebirth was a recovery of the spirit of classical Greece and Rome, the ancient ruins in their area (Italy and nearby, Greece) provided a continuing stimulus for the incorporation of classical values into society (and the questions against values of the Middle Ages).

The ruins of ancient Greece and Rome were an ever-present reminder of an age that they believed was dramatically different from their own - an age they sought to recapture.

The new appreciation of classical authors caused a resurgence of interest in the Greek classics that had been neglected in the West for so long.

When Constantinople fell to the Turks in the 15th century, many eastern scholars there fled to Italy and brought their language skills and Greek manuscripts to them. As a result, new translations of some of the greatest Greek works became fully integrated into Western culture (since that time was around the time that the interest in the Greek classics had surged).

The tumultuous politics of the Italian city-states played a role in the growth of the new ideas in the Renaissance because incessant warfare among the states opened the door for skilled, innovative leaders to come forward. These leaders, in turn, surrounded themselves with talented courtiers who broke from tradition to forward their own careers (pleasing their princes).

The Black Death played a role in the growth of new ideas in the Renaissance because the plague's drastic reduction of the population caused huge economic changes. Prices plummeted and wages rose, so those who had survived the plague were well placed to prosper, and many grew wealthy.

Italy was a peninsula in the Mediterranean. Thus, this allowed easy access for Italians to send their merchants out and into the peninsula to bring back goods that included silk, jewelry, glass, and spices.

Italy's ideal placement for trade caused the accumulation of capital among individuals, families, and institutions.

The newly rich individuals, families, and institutions used their money to support the arts.

As a result of the financial support of the arts, the Renaissance became one long shopping spree that supported the talented artists whose vision helped define this controversial era.

The Renaissance was the bridge between the Middle Ages and modernity (helped Western civilization move from the former to the latter).

At its core, the Renaissance emphasized and celebrated humans and their achievements. It thus received an advocacy of individualism that the West had not seen since the time of the ancients.

Pico was famous for saying that people could determine their own destiny. This set the precedent for other Renaissance thinkers to start believing in the human ability to choose right and wrong, and to act on these choices.

During the Renaissance, Europeans favored a biblical verse from Genesis that described humans as being created in God's "image and likeness".

People in the Renaissance prided themselves on their accurate view of the world, which is a form of realism. It appears vividly in the art of the period.

The emergence of activism was another prevailing theme in the Renaissance. According to Renaissance thinkers such as Petrarch, being wise was not enough; one had to exert one's will actively in the world to make a difference.

The spirit of the Renaissance is considered to be secular because it did not take place in the churches, monasteries, or universities that were dominated by religious thought.

No, Renaissance thinkers were not anti-religious. It was just that while most believed deeply in God and many worked in the church, their vocation was to apply the new spirit of the Renaissance to this world (the worldly one), not the next (Heaven).

The key to the transformation that marked the Renaissance was education.