Ap euro: unit 1 people to know

Petrarch (1304-1374)

one of the earliest Italian humanists who is often called the Father of Humanism due to his study of the works of Roman statesman Cicero and his use of Latin in his writings. 

Lorenzo Valla (1406-1457)

an Italian humanist who used philology to prove that the important Roman Catholic document, the Donation of Constantine, was a forgery. 

Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)

an Italian humanist who wrote The Book of the Courtier, which outlined how to act as a proper gentleman or lady, and remained influential for centuries.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

a diplomat and author for the republic of Florence, who is most famous for his book The Prince which stresses the need for an absolute ruler to use any means to achieve political unity and independence from foreign control 

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)

an architect during the Italian Renaissance who was commissioned to rebuild the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, which contained the largest dome built since classical Rome. 

Donatello (1386-1466)

one of the greatest sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, his sculptures were far more detailed and expressive than sculptures created by artists of the Middle Ages. One of his most famous sculptures is his bronze statue of David.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

an artist, engineer, architect, etc. of the Italian Renaissance. He is most famous for painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet who is most famous for his sculpture of David and his painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael (1483-1520)

an Italian painter who created many paintings of the Virgin Mary, but is most famous for his painting called School of Athens. 

Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)

an Italian Renaissance painter, author, and architect, whose book On Painting transformed visual arts in Italy because it explained how to make a two-dimensional image look three-dimensional

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

 German painter who was one of the most famous artists of the Northern Renaissance. He created paintings, prints and woodcuts, and exchanged paintings with Raphael. 

Jan van Eyck (1390-1411)

a Flemish painter in the early Northern Renaissance who excelled in oil paintings

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)

a Flemish painter of the Northern Renaissance who painted scenes from the Bible and scenes from the lives of peasants. 

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

a Dutch scholar who was the most famous Christian humanist during the Northern Renaissance. He produced a new Greek translation of the New Testament and criticized the Catholic Church in his most famous book In Praise of Folly.

Thomas More (1478-1535)

an English Christian humanist and advisor to King Henry VIII, he is most famous for his book Utopia and his defiance of the Oath of Supremacy led to his eventual execution

Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1393-1468)

a German printer who developed the printing press, which led to mechanized printing and the production of large quantities of books. 

Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516)

King of the Spanish region of Aragon, which was the main maritime power in the western Mediterranean, he married Isabella of Castille and is considered by many as the first King of Spain.

Isabella of Castille (1451-1504)

Queen of the Spanish region of Castille, which was a major power in the Iberian peninsula, she married Ferdinand of Aragon, which began the unification process of Spain. Together they completed the Reconquista and funded Columbus’s expeditions

Louis XI of France (1423-1483)

King of France who helped France recover from the damage of the Hundred Years War and succeeded in weakening the power of the aristocracy and thereby strengthening the power of the king.

Henry VII of England (1457-1509)

he was the first Tudor monarch of England through his family’s victory in the Wars of the Roses. He increased the power of the English monarch.

Jean Bodin (1530-1596)

a French political philosopher who formulated the idea of absolute sovereignty, and advocated for strong central control of a national monarchy. 

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505

also known as Ivan the Great, he was the Grand Prince of Moscow and laid the foundation for the modern Russian state.

Ivan IV of Russia (1530-1584)

also known as Ivan the Terrible, he was the first Russian ruler to take the title of Tsar, and started the transformation of Russia into an empire. 

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

an Italian explorer and devout Christian, he was the first European to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean and as a result inadvertently discovered the Americas for Europeans.

Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512)

an Italian explorer who traveled along the eastern coast of South America between 1499 and 1504. He was the first to refer to this area as the New World

Hernan Cortes (1485-1547)

a Spanish conquistador who landed in Mexico in 1519 and is responsible for conquering the Aztec Empire.

Bartolome de las Casas (1484-1566)

 a Spanish priest and a member of the religious order called the Dominicans, who spoke out against the encomienda system and other abuses of Spanish conquistadors.

Francisco Pizarro (1475-1541)

a Spanish conquistador who arrived on the western coast of South America in 1530 and is responsible for conquering the Inca Empire. 

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

a Portuguese explorer who sailed for Spain and whose crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe. He was killed in the Philippines during the journey. 

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)

Portuguese leader who sponsored Portuguese expeditions along the western coast of Africa throughout the 15th century. 

Bartolomeu Dias (1450-1524)

Portuguese explorer who became the first European in 1488 to sail around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa in 1488. 

Vasco da Gama (1460-1524)

a Portuguese explorer who became the first European in 1498 to round the Cape of Good Hope and sail across the Indian Ocean to the coast of India.

Pedro Alvares Cabral (1467-1520

 a Portuguese explorer who claimed Brazil as a colony for Portugal in 1500. 

The Medici Family

a wealthy Italian banking family and political dynasty in Florence during the Renaissance.

The Fugger Family

 a wealthy German banking family who controlled much of the European economy in the 16th century.