Renaissance Economy
• IT as center for revival of trade
• Emergence of a wealthy merchant class
o Dominated bookkeeping, opening markets, monopolies on trade goods (wool)
o Soon dominated econ/pol life of entire city-state
o Had to compete w/ Hanseatic League (GR/Baltic region)
o Ex. Medici (Florence) = largest banking house of Europe
• IT economically fueled the Renaissance
Renaissance Society
• 1st 2nd 3rd Estates
• 2nd Estate – nobles expected to be well educated, interest in arts, embrace civic virtue
o Law of primogeniture (eldest son inherits the property)
o Castiglione, Book of the Courtier (expectations for nobles)
• 3rd Estate = 90% of population; farmers hit hard by Plague)
• WOMEN
o NO pol/econ rights; lower status than men
o Expected to bear children/manage the house (assist husbands in shops/fields)
o Diff. from MA’s when women could work in shops or even serve as guild masters
o Marriages often arranged (business deals/increase status, wealth of family)
Renaissance Politics
• 2 forms of governance: national monarchies or city-states
• Italian city-states: Florence, Naples, Milan, Venice, Papal States
o Peace of Lodi (1454- balance of power among the 5)
o Acted as RIVALS; can’t coop means can’t unite
• Disunity made them susceptible to attack from foreign invaders
o 1527: Sack of Rome (Spain)
• Practice of resident ambassadors originated in Ren. IT
Renaissance ART
• A cultural “rebirth” stimulated by the patronage of wealthy families/kings/popes and the new found
interest in the classics
• Religious themes remained (ex. Sistine Chapel) but experimented with classical/secular themes (ex.
Birth of Venus)
• Celebrated the individual, worth of the human/individual (David); portraits popularized (Mona Lisa);
perspective (School of Athens); application of math/science (Vitruvian Man) & architecture
(Tempietto & St. Peter’s Basilica – Bramante)
• Primary goal of art= realistic portrayal of their subjects
• Popularity of art (among the elite) led to increasing social status of the artist
• Northern Renaissance
o More literary than artistic; more socially diverse; more centered on religion than in IT
o Van Eyck (Arnolfini Portrait); Durer (Self Portrait); Brueghel (“painter of the peasants”)
Humanism
• Intellectual movement of the Ren. (aided in the improvement of society/societal reforms)

Exception to this
was Italy and the
Holy Roman Empire!
• FOCUS: Education, study of classics, individualism/secularism, civic virtue, humanities
(grammar/rhetoric, poetry, ethics, history)
• FATHER = Petrarch
• Elite movement, but spread education to lay population for first time/growth of humanist
schools/tutors
o Ex. Cosimo d’Medici funded the Florentine Platonic Academy
• Printing press led to increased demand for printed material (both secular & religious)
• Created an educated population that questioned the status quo, challenged traditional authorities &
thirsted for new ideas!
• Christian Humanism= better society through religious reforms (Thomas More – Utopia; Erasmus-
Praise of Folly)
“New Monarchs”
• Decline of feudalism (growing towns allied with kings)
• Raised professional armies, consolidated power away from nobles,
collected taxes (despite noble privilege, decided laws, declared war,
minimized rep. bodies
• England
o Henry VII won in War of the Roses and began the Tudor
dynasty (1485)
• France
o Louis XI – defeat of England in 100 Years’ War
• Spain
o Unified by the marriage of Ferdinand (Aragon) and Isabelle (Castile)
o SP Army strongest in Europe
o Used the SP Inquisition to drive out heretics (Jews/Muslims/Disobedient Christians)
Why?
• Church Criticisms
o Secularized papacy & Church administration (clerical privileges)
o Abuses of the RCC (selling of offices...leads to pluralism and absenteeism)
o Laymen feel a spiritual void & salvation crisis
o Challenge to papal authority by new emerging powerful monarchs
• Inspired by Christian humanists – wanted return to simple piety! (Eras laid egg that Luth hatched)
Lutheranism (Germany) . . . 1st official split from the RCC
• Started the Protestant Reformation in 1517 (w/ 95 Theses); enraged by the selling of indulgences
• Beliefs
o (1)SALVATION IS EARNED BY FAITH IN GOD ALONE; (2)2 legitimate sacraments (3)rejects
transubstantiation; (4) Christians can interpret the Bible for themselves; (5)Church traditions
are NOT the basis of religious belief; promoted the vernacular (so translated the Bible into
German and English)
• Called before the Diet of Worms (1521 w/ HRE Charles V)
o Exiled when he refused to recant the 95 Theses
• Lutheranism grew in success when he pressures GR princes to break away (played into their dislike
of papal authority over their realms)
Calvinism (Switzerland) . . . Dominated 1550-1600
• Read reformed works; lived in FR where Huguenots faced persecution from the crown

• Beliefs
o (1) predestination; (2) promoted good work ethic; (3) some separation b/t church and state
• Replaced Lutheranism as most common form of Protestantism and his ideas influenced those in
England, Scotland & Netherlands.
English Reformation
• Henry VIII split from RCC for dynastic reasons (not theological differences)
o Pope denied his divorce to Queen Catherine, so he renounced England from the RCC \
• created the Church of England (Anglican Church) and declared himself the head (Act of Supremacy)
o Parliament also passed the Act of Succession to guarantee all of his children could be
legitimate heirs to the throne (Edward, Mary & Elizabeth all go on to become English
monarch)
• Queen Elizabeth 1 (Renaissance/overseas exploration/GB grew into a world power/defeat of SP
Armada/bridging of gaps b/t Protestants and Catholics)
Counter-Reformation
• Response to the Protestants and meant to reinvigorate the RCC
• Council of Trent
o reaffirmed ALL Catholic religious beliefs/practices (did NOT give in to Prot. Demands)
o DOES attempt to improve upon the moral conduct of the clergy; banned false indulgences
• Society of Jesus
o Founded by Loyola; promoted obedience to the Church through doctrinal edu. & missionary
work
• Inquisition
o Organization (legal system) used to try and remove heretics (such as those who wrote or
read from the Index of Forbidden Books)
Wars of Religion
• German Peasant’s Revolt
o Luther ultimately did not support the peasants – can’t lose support of princes
• Schmalkaldic Wars
o Catholic vs. Protestants in GR – Charles V too preoccupied to intervene
o Peace of Augsburg 1555 – princes can determine official religion of their realm
• St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572)
o 1000s French Huguenots murdered by Catholics (likely planned by Queen Catherine
d’Medici)
o Brought ultimate death of Henry of Navare (Henry III)
o Henry IV passes the Edict of Nantes (1598) granting religious freedom to Huguenots; later
revoked by Louis XIV
• OBVIOUSLY THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR.