AP European History: Renaissance

Petrarch

Discovered Cicero’s letters in the 1340s

Petrarch

Considered the father of the Renaissance

Renaissance starting year

1350

Renaissance starting location

Florence

Causes of the Renaissance

Fertile soil along the Arno, north of Rome, merchant wealth

Communes

North Italian cities trying to break free from noble rule, based in guilds and merchantry

Popolo

The common people of Italy- excluded from most political goings-on

Oligarchy

The form of government formed from the joining of nobles and wealthy merchants in Italy

Condottieri

Military force hired by merchants and oligarchs

Signori

The person in charge, or the government that had one noble, oligarch, merchant, or condottiero in charge

Courts

The social and political circle, or sometimes the physical houses, of the wealthy higher class

5 Powers on the Italian Peninsula

Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, Kingdom of Naples

Power Balance

What was achieved by the city-states of Italy, where if one gained in some aspect, the others would gang up to keep it in check

The Medicis

Banking family who ruled Florence 1434-1737

Girolamo Savonarola

The Dominican friar who preached the punishment Italy would face because of “moral vice and corrupt leadership”

Humanism

Focused on human potential, living life to its fullest, and the classic Greek and Roman works

Secularism

Focused on having a good worldly life and not worrying so much of the afterlife

Individualism

Focused on identity beyond beliefs, nationality, etc- a more unique persona

Pico Della Mirandola

Believed in a hierarchy of beings, wrote 900 theses and Oration on the Dignity of Man

Castiglione

Wrote The Courtier

The Courtier

A guide written by Baldassare Castiglione in 1528 on the proper court characteristics of a man (mostly just be well rounded)

Niccolo Machiavelli

Wrote The Prince, Discourses on Livy

Virtu

To have drive, talent, influence

Fortuna

situations out of human control (luck, fate)

Machiavellian Characteristics

Scheming, cunning, crafty, ruthless

When The Prince was written

1513

When The Prince was published

1532

Leonardo Bruni

Believed that history was three eras and the Renaissance was a new era

Christian Humanism

Focused on merging Christian teachings and Classical teachings, centered around northern and central Europe

Thomas More

Wrote Utopia about the ideal Christian Humanist society

Erasmus

Wrote The Praise of Folly, The Education of the Christian Prince, believed the papacy was too high class and that everyone should read the Bible

1440s

When the printing press with movable type was invented

Gutenberg’s Bible

One of the first and most widespread publications using the printing press, published 1456

Giorgio Vasari

Coined the term “Renaissance Man” and “Renaissance”

High Renaissance Artists

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian

Patronage

The system by which upper class people (merchants, the church, etc) requested and funded artworks

Italian Art Characteristics

Balance, Perspective, Individualism, Classical Inspiration

Jan van Eyck

Northern Renaissance painter who often painted religious and mythic scenes

Mannerism

Late Renaissance art style that featured exaggerated features and dramatics

El Greco

Late Renaissance artist who was Greek and Spanish, used mannerism

Race

In the Renaissance, used for religion, nationality, and ethnicity interchangeably

Slaves

Mainly traded through the Portuguese, seen as an exotic sign of wealth

Querelle Des Femmes

The debate over the female nature: competent? evil? untrustworthy?

Masculine

What strong female leaders were seen as

New Monarchs

A new generation of rulers in Spain, France, and England who focused on uniting their kingdoms

New Monarchs Tactics

Curbing nobles and aristocracy by choosing commoners for council, controlling religion and currency, and using military force to end violence

Charles VII

French New Monarch

Concordat of Bologna

A treaty between the French king Francis I and Pope Leo X that gave the pope the first year of wages for new abbots and bishops and France the ability to choose abbots and bishops

1516

When the Concordat of Bologna was signed

Henry VII

English New Monarch

Court of Star Chamber

A judicial establishment utilized by the ‘new’ English monarchy to handle the aristocracy- known for secrecy, torture, etc

Ferdinand and Isabella

Spanish New Monarchs

New Christians/Conversos

Spanish Jews or Muslims who were forced to convert to Christianity- often suspected of deceit

The Spanish Inquisition

The hunt for people who were thought to be faking Christianity

Class

Based off title and wealth