The Renaissance c.1350-1600

Started in the trade enriched and independent city-states of Italy. Was a time of revived intellectualism, literature, philosophy and artistic achievement.

-Spread westward and into northern Europe.

-Continued the road started in the middle ages that would lead to a modern Europe.

• The Renaissance started in Italy during the 14th century

  • There were conflicts between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire (13th/14th cen) which led to regional autonomy for the Italian city-states

  • Greek and Roman heritage helped with the development of the Italian renaissance

  • Crusades focused attention eastward (Greece and near east)

  • By the 14th cen. move towards secularization was predominant

• Literature and philosophy reflected the new secular trends

  • humanism stressed the importance of the individual

  • Machiavelli’s The Prince → “the ends justify the means” as a political philosophy

  • Influence of classical arts was strong, new emphasis placed on science

• The Renaissance spread throughout Europe

  • in northern Europe, teachings of Christianity were emphasized, less reliance on humanism

  • French, reflected a democratic realism

  • English, did not really flourish until the Elizabethan age

• General characteristics of the Renaissance

  • emphasis was on man rather than God

  • reawakening of rebirth of classical models

  • ideal of “universal man” was widely held

• Renaissance—Rebirth of classical Greek and Roman Culture

  • works of Greeks and Romans reconnected Europeans with their ancient heritage

  • Emphasis on humanism

    • progress through rational thought

    • universal nature of the human condition

  • Secularism

    • writings of the Greek and Roman philosophers and commentaries on their works

    • Free politics and governance from Church control

  • Realism and formalism

    • art that emphasized the lives of everyday people, realistic rather than idealized perceptions

    • architecture based on Greek and Roman forms