Renaissance

The Renaissance

"rebirth"; following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome

Humanism

A Renaissance intellectual movement in which thinkers studied classical texts and focused on human potential and achievements

Leonardo da Vinci

A well known Italian Renaissance artist, architect, musician, mathemetician, engineer, and scientist. Known for the Mona Lisa.

Michelangelo

An Italian sculptor, painter, poet, engineer, and architect. Famous works include the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the sculpture of the biblical character David.

Raphael

Italian Renaissance painter; he painted frescos, his most famous being The School of Athens.

Baldassare Castiglione

An Italian author who wrote the book The Courtier in 1528. He described the ideal Renaissance man and woman.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Wrote The Prince which contained a secular method of ruling a country. "End justifies the means."

The Prince

A book about the imperfect conduct of humans and says how a ruler is able to keep power and manage to keep it disregarding enemies.

Gutenburg

Inventor of the printing press

Printing Press

A mechanical device for transferring text or graphics from a woodblock or type to paper using ink.

Erasmus

Dutch Humanist and friend of Sir Thomas More. Perhaps the most intellectual man in Europe and widely respected. Believed the problems in the Catholic Church could be fixed; did not suport the idea of a Reformation. Wrote Praise of Folly.

Sir Thomas More

Englishman, lawyer, politician, Chancellor for Henry VIII. Wrote Utopia which presented a revolutionary view of society, in which the problems of society were caused by greed. Executed by Henry VIII for not compromising his religious beliefs.

William Shakespeare

English poet and playwright considered one of the greatest writers of the English language; works include Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.

Hundred Years War

Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families.

Donatello

Sculptor. Probably exerted greatest influence of any Florentine artist before Michelangelo. His statues expressed an appreciation of the incredible variety of human nature.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

English Reformation

Result of the disagreement between Henry VIII and the Pope, created the Church of England or Anglican Church which was separate from the Catholic Church, still left little room for religious freedom.

Dante

Italian poet and Renaissance writer. His greatest work is The Divine Comedy.

Catherine of Aragon

1st wife of Henry VIII. Mother of Mary I. Henry's desire for a divorce from her precipitated England's break with Rome.

Martin Luther

95 Thesis, posted in 1517, led to religious reform in Germany, denied papal power and absolutist rule. Claimed there were only 2 sacraments: Baptism and Communion.

Mary I

This was the queen who reverted back to Catholicism in England for five years and during this reign, she executed many Protestants

Elizabeth I

(1533-1603) Queen of England and Ireland between 1558 and 1603. She was an absolute monarch and is considered to be one of the most successful rulers of all time.

John Calvin

religious reformer who believed in predestination and a strict sense of morality for society

Anglicanism (Church of England)

-Formed by Henry VIII in 1534 because he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn

Protestanism

The general name given to any of the Christian denominations that broke from the Catholic Church during the 16th century Reformation. (Lutherans, Anglicans (Episcopalians), Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and others.

Anne Boleyn

the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I

Printing Press

15th century invention which revolutionized the ability to print information which in turn affected the speed of the spread of information itself.

Petrarch

the father of Italian Renaissance humanism

95 Theses

It was nailed to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 and is widely seen as being the catalyst that started the Protestant Reformation. It contained Luther's list of accusations against the Roman Catholic Church.

Edward VI

(1547-1553) King Henry VIII's only son. Sickly, and became King at 9 years old. Since he wasn't capable of governing his country the Protestant church was soon brought in through his advisors Cromwell and Cranmer.