quattrocento
Italian term for fifteenth century; a period in which people built upon the framework left by the Middle Ages and extended into other fields of thought and expression
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect, focused on anatomy
Castiglione
Wrote 'Book of the Courtier', a popular book on etiquette
Medici Family
Ruled over Florence for many years
Virtú
The quality of being a man; successful demonstration of human powers; shaping one's own destiny; someone who knew what he was doing
Michelangelo
Florentine sculptor and painter and architect, focused on religious imagery
Condottiene
leader in a band of mercenaries
Lorenzo Valla
Founder of textual criticisms, discovered that the donation of Constantine was fake
Petrarch
Father of Humanism; criticized law and religion for their scholasticism; writings convey contradictory attitudes of the Renaissance
Pico della Mirandola
Claimed he could summarize all of human knowledge in 900 thesis's
Christine de Pizan
One of the few female poets of her time; brought humanism to France
Machiavelli
Wanted Italians to fight for what they wanted in the government