The Renaissance

What was the Renaissance?

What was the Renaissance, and where did it begin?

•Italy
•Italian Cities
•Urban Societies
•Major Trading Centers
•Secular
•Moved away from life in the church
•Focuses more on material objects and enjoying life
 The Renaissance was a time of renewal

Renaissance means rebirth and Europe was recovering

from the Dark ages and the plague.

People had lost their faith in the church and began to

put more focus on human beings.
 How did the Crusades contribute to the
Renaissance?

• Increased demand for Middle Eastern products

• Stimulated production of goods to trade in Middle Eastern markets
• Encouraged the use of credit and banking

• Church rule against usury and the banks’ practice of charging interest helped to secularize
northern Italy.
• Letters of credit served to expand the supply of money and expedite trade.
• New accounting and bookkeeping practices (use of Arabic numerals) were introduced.
 Italy failed to become united during the Ages.
Many independent city-states emerged in northern and central Italy
that played an important role in Italian politics and art.
Major Italian Cities
Milan
One of the richest cities, it controls trade through the Alps.
Milan Venice

Venice
Sitting on the Adriatic, it attracts trade from all over Genoa
the world.
Florence
Florence
Controlled by the De Medici Family, who became great patrons
of the arts.

Genoa
Had Access to Trade Routes

All of these cities:

Had access to trade routes connecting Europe with Middle Eastern
markets
• Served as trading centers for the distribution of goods to
northern Europe
• Were initially independent city-states governed as republics
 Social Renaissance

• Families are still patriarchal – father is still the head of the

family. Authority absolute.
• Trendy for wealthy to become patrons of several artists
• Revolutionized dating – families would commission paintings of
their children and “advertise” their children to suitors using
paintings.

Domenico Puligo – “Portrait of a

Lady
Political Ideas of the Renaissance
Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince
Machiavelli believed:
“One can make this generalization about men: they are
ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun
danger and are greedy for profit”
Machiavelli observed city-state rulers of his day and
produced guidelines for the acquisition and maintenance
of power by absolute rule.
He felt that a ruler should be willing to do anything to
maintain control without worrying about conscience.
 •Better for a ruler to be feared than to be loved
•Ruler should be quick and decisive in decision making
•Ruler keeps power by any means necessary
•The end justifies the means
•Be good when possible, and evil when necessary
The Renaissance produced new ideas that were reflected in the arts, philosophy, and
literature.
Patrons, wealthy from newly expanded trade, sponsored works which glorified
city-states in northern Italy. Education became increasingly secular.

Medieval art and literature focused on the Church

and salvation

Renaissance art and literature focused on

individuals and worldly matters, along with
Christianity.
 Renaissance Artists embraced some of the ideals of Greece and Rome in their art
They wanted their subjects to be realistic and focused on humanity and emotion
Many religions paintings due to commissions from the Catholic Church
New Techniques also emerged
Frescos: Painting done on wet plaster became popular because it gave depth to the paintings
Sculpture emphasized realism and the human form
Architecture reached new heights of design
Differed from Byzantine art – Byzantine art very flat and dull, Renaissance showed life
Born in 1475 in a small town near Florence, is considered to be
one of the most inspired men who ever lived
David

Michelangelo
created his
masterpiece David
in 1504.
Sistine Chapel
About a year after creating David,
Pope Julius II summoned Michelangelo
to Rome to work on his most famous
project, the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel.
 Creation of Eve Creation of Adam

Separation of Light and Darkness The Last Judgment

La Pieta 1499
Marble Sculpture
Moses
 1452-1519
Painter, Sculptor,
Architect, Engineer

Genius!
Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
Notebooks
Raphael
Painter
1483-1520
The School of Athens
Pythagoras

Plato and Aristotle

Socrates
 Raphael (back)→
Euclid

Zoroaster & Ptolemy

 Jan Van Eyck

Portrait of Giovanni
Arnolfini and his Wife
(1434)

Northern Renaissance
 Van Eyck
Portrait of Giovanni
Arnolfini and his
Wife (detail)
How did classical knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans foster
humanism in the Italian Renaissance?

Humanism
• Celebrated the individual
• Stimulated the study of Greek and Roman literature and culture
Being a man = excel at everything
• Was supported by wealthy patrons
Taught children how to be good leaders
 Northern Renaissance
• Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas.
• Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity.
• The movable type printing press and the production and sale of books
(Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate ideas.

Northern Renaissance writers

• Erasmus—The Praise of Folly (1511)
• Sir Thomas More—Utopia (1516)
Northern Renaissance artists portrayed religious and secular subjects.
 Literature flourished during the Renaissance
This can be greatly attributed to Johannes Gutenberg
In 1455 Gutenberg printed the first book produced by using
moveable type.

The Bible
Erasmus Dutch humanist
Desiderius Erasmus
Pushed for a Vernacular form of the Bible
“I disagree very much with those who are unwilling
that Holy Scripture, translated into the vernacular,
be read by the uneducated . . . As if the strength
of the Christian religion consisted in the ignorance
of it”
The Praise of Folly
Used humor to show the immoral and ignorant
behavior of people, including the clergy. He felt
people would be open minded and be kind to others.
Sir Thomas More
English Humanist
Wrote: Utopia
A book about a perfect society
Believed men and women live in harmony. No
private property, no one is lazy, all people
are educated and the justice system is used
to end crime instead of executing criminals.
Baldassare Castiglione

• Wrote Book of the Courtier

• Considered Renaissance dialogue
• Used humor, drama, and engaging
Renaissance ideas around Europe
• Describe the ideal “Renaissance M
The Protestant
Reformation
(1450-1650)
 What you should know by the End

Causes of the
Reformation and link Narrative of Luther’s
Key Beliefs of
to Late Medieval and Protest and then
Lutheranism
Renaissance (Italian Rebellion
and Northern)

How the Reformation Key ideologies of

How the Church
Spread and different strains of
responded
Fragmented Protestantism
I. Convergence of Unique
Circumstances: Causes of
Reformation
 Some keys to the Medieval Worldview

1. Medieval Christianity 2. Church preached ideas related 3. Catholic Church primary

tended to frown upon to the “Great Chain of Being”: educational institution. Tells
merchants, trade, commerce. everyone has a God-given place people what to believe and
Professions seen as in creation; not man's place to do. Bible is not translated
inherently corrupt and question God's natural order. into vernacular languages
materialistic. Ex. “Eye of a Experimentation wrong. Natural (i.e. English, French,
Needle” passage. Fair price world not particularly important; German, etc.) Priests role to
regulations. Ban on usury afterlife and spiritual realm should interpret scripture for the
(i.e. charging interest) be man's main concern on earth. people and help them know
how to be Godly.
A. Corruption

• Clergy, especially at the higher

ranking levels, often about power,
wealth, and politics; routinely
violated vows of chastity, poverty, etc.
(ex. Borgia Popes)
• Absenteeism of church leaders
• Wealth of the Church increasingly
being used for purposes of
aggrandizement
• Sale of relics and indulgences
increasingly seen as corrupt / a sham.
As you watch the clip, try to notice examples of “corruption” that
might frustrate a person like Luther.
 B. Cultural + Social
• Weariness with “authority” of the Church and the
constraints it enforced culturally, artistically,
intellectually, etc. (i.e. Skepticism)
• Better educated, urban populace was more critical
of the Church than rural peasantry; could read the
Bible for themselves; tired of the Medieval view
towards merchants and commercial livelihoods.
• Renaissance monarchs were growing impatient
with the power of the Church; growing spirit of
nationalism causes some to view Church as a
foreign influence (e.g. Investiture Controversy)
John Wycliffe:
Advocated translating Bible into
vernacular so more people could read it
themselves.
C. Technological: Printing Press

• Movable type was invented in

1450 by Johann Gutenberg
• Manufacture of paper becomes
easier and cheaper
• Helped spread ideas before
Catholics could squash them
• Intensified intellectual criticism of
the Church
• Protestant ideals appealed to the
urban and the literate
D. Political: Nature of the Holy Roman Empire

• Decentralized politics
• Pope successfully challenged the
monarch here
• New HRE, Charles V, is young,
politically insecure and
attempting to govern a huge
realm during the critical years of
Luther’s protest
• Charles V faced outside attacks
from France and the Turks
• Circumstances favor Luther
E. Spiritual
• New Testament had started to be re-translated from original
Greek and Latin. Also, began to be translated into the
vernacular. Things had been lost in translation over the
centuries.
• Church seemed overly focused on rituals, doctrine, and
“formula” of religion; lost its emotional appeal; people
wanted a more personal spirituality and relationship with
God (relates to Individualism)
• Likewise, others wanted to intellectually comprehend the
religion based on scripture rather than just be told what to
think. They wanted to source Christianity more in scripture.
• Dutch Christian humanist Erasmus inadvertently undermines
the Church from within by making a withering critique.
• In Praise of Folly (1510)
• Call for a return to the simplicity and piety of the early
Church; Jesus preaches to the meek, the “salt of the earth”
and so the Church should better reflect this.
II. Luther + Lutheranism
Background

• Luther’s early life quite harsh

• Luther’s sense of
unworthiness and his fear of
God
• Luther’s understanding of
“passive righteousness”. It’s
in your faith not your actions.
• Luther’s confrontation with
the Church some say a
rebellion against
father/authority.
• Eventually marries an ex-nun,
Katherine von Bora, and
fathers six children.
 A. Germany (Northern)
• Luther troubled by the sale of indulgences, a grant by the Pope of
remission of the temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins
after absolution
• Dominican friar Tetzel was selling indulgences in Wittenberg in
1517
• Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the castle church in
Wittenberg on October 31, 1517
• Luther slowly but surely is drawn into a heated debate
• Pope pays little attention to Luther at first
DISPUTATION OF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY
OF INDULGENCES OCTOBER 31, 1517

– “Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions
will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin
Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at
that place. Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and debate
orally with us, may do so by letter. In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
– 21. Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's
indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;
– 35. They preach no Christian doctrine who teach that contrition is not necessary in those
who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.
– 36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even
without letters of pardon.
– 37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and
the Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.
– 43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does
a better work than buying pardons;
– 44. Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes better; but by pardons man
does not grow better, only more free from penalty.
– 82. To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of
the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for
the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would
be most just; the latter is most trivial."

– 86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of
the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with
the money of poor believers?"
A. Germany (Northern)
• Diet of Worms 1521 refuses
to recant and is
excommunicated.
• Luther attacks the Pope and
his bull of excommunication
• Luther goes into hiding in
1521; protected by
Frederick of Saxony
• HRE (Germany) explodes
into 30 year war.
• The Peace of Augsburg in
1555 allows German princes
to decide Christian sect in
their territory
Luther’s Teachings

1. “Sola Fidei” (Salvation by Faith

Alone)

2. “Sola Scriptura” (Authority of the

Scriptures Alone)

3. The Priesthood of All Believers

(Denies authority of the Pope;
denies special spiritual status of
clergy; denies apostolic
succession)

4. All vocations can be pleasing to

God
III. The Spread of Protestantism
A. England: Secular more than Religious “Protestantism”

• Notion of the Renaissance

Prince
• Recent War of the Roses
created a sense of political
instability for the Tudor
dynasty thus creating a
sense of desperation
around getting a male heir
to the Tudors
• Henry VIII’s marriage to
Catherine of Aragon
• Henry seeks an annulment
• Henry creates the Church
of England and establishes
his own supremacy over it
• A “political reformation”
only at first
• The six wives of Henry VIII
--Anne Boleyn
--Jane Seymour
• The brief reign of Edward VI
• The rule of “Bloody” Mary
• Queen Elizabeth I and the
“Via Media” = middle way
and avoid full on religious
civil war.
• The attack of the Spanish
Armada in 1588
-- “The Protestant Wind”
-- Guy Fawkes
B. France

• King Francis I was initially

sympathetic to Luther as
long as his ideas stayed in
Germany
• Protestantism made illegal
in France in 1534
• Persecution of the
Huguenots
• St. Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre
• King Henry and the Edict of
Nantes (1598)
C. Other Parts of Western Europe
• No Protestant inroads into
Spain or Italy
• Protestantism succeeded
only where it was urban and
supported initially by the
nobility
• After 1540, no new
Protestant territories
outside of the Netherlands
• Most powerful European
nations were Catholic
• Protestants were feuding
with each other
IV. Other Forms of Protestantism
besides Lutheranism
 John Calvin
• Grew up in eastern France
near Germany
• Protestant ideas trickled
into France
• Better educated in
humanism and the classics
than Luther
• Very direct man, reserved in
his emotions and spirituality
• Institutes of the Christian
Religion, 1536 and 1559
Geneva (French-speaking)
• John Calvin’s leadership in
Geneva from 1541-1564
• Geneva became the model
Protestant training center
• Stress on order and rigorous
adherence to God’s law
• A “Quasi-theocracy”
• Very austere religion
practiced in Geneva
• Self-discipline and the
“Protestant Work Ethic”
 Calvin’s Teachings
• Salvation by faith as starting point
• Calvin emphasized God’s power and knowledge
• Led to the conclusion that our salvation is achieved
totally by God
• God knows if we will be saved, but we do not =
Predestination
• Therefore, we must live our lives as strictly and faithfully
as possible
“Although we are born in such a condition that it is not in our power to
do anything that might be acceptable to God, neither is it within our
ability to please, nevertheless, we do not cease to owe him that very
thing which we cannot pay; for since we are the creatures of God, we
are bound to serve his honour and glory, and to regulate our conduct
according to his commandments. Nor may we offer the excuse that we
lack the ability, and that we are not able to pay, just as if we were
bankrupt debtors. For the guilt is ours and from our sin, which holds us
in bondage, so that we neither will nor are able to do good. Then, since
God is the just avenger of crimes, we must recognize that we are
exposed to the curse and that we deserve the judgment of eternal
death; since there is not one of us who either wills or is able to do those
things for which he is responsible.”

—Calvin, The Institutes, Ch. 1

 Geneva

• Switzerland already knew reform from Zwingli

Calvin’s Community
• Calvin saw himself as responsible for
fostering communities of people ready
to be saved
• He found in Geneva an opportunity to
craft a community based on his
teachings; though kicked out once, he
came back with great success
• Calvin was not very well-liked in
Geneva, but he was feared and
respected enough to mostly get his way
 Geneva Under Calvin, 1541-1564
• The Consistory, a group of twelve town elders, ran the town’s
religious life
• Town council’s power was not as great as the Consistory’s—this
caused tension at times
• Citizens were expected to go to church meetings, prayer, and Bible
studies regularly
• “Vices” were outlawed or severely restricted
• “Papist” tendencies and breaches of Calvinist orthodoxy were
punished severely
 Calvinism’s Success
• Calvinism succeeded in spite of its
theology
• Many did not understand or were
not convinced by predestination
• However, the disciplined and
ordered life of Calvinist communities
appealed to many
• Calvinism also empowered middle
class lay people, making it appealing
to many in Northern Europe
• Calvin on just war
Anabaptists (problem with a label)
• Desire to return to the
primitive, first-century
Church
• High standard of morality
valued and pursued
• Bitterly persecuted by
both Catholics and other
Protestants
• Ardent missionaries who
were harassed for their
zeal
Anabaptist’s Teaching (Generally)
• Free will—all can be saved
• Adult, “believer” baptism
• Social and economic equality
• Pacifism
• Separation of Church and State
• Unity of the “visible” and
“invisible” Church
• Stressed role of the Holy Spirit in
the life of the believer— “inner
light”
• Simplicity of life and
millenarianism—living in the last
days
V. The Counter-Reformation:
The Catholic Response
Ingredients
• Reformation shaped the form
and rapidity of the Catholic
response
• Council of Trent (1545-1563)
• The Society of Jesus
(“Jesuits”)—1534
--Ignatius Loyola
• The Inquisition
• Renewed religious
emotionalism
--Baroque Art
• Religious warfare and a new
Bible
 The Jesuits
• Ignatius Loyola—born in northern Spain in
1491
• New kind of order
– No community prayer; not monk-like
at all
– Apostolic—out working, on mission
– Strict, efficient governing structure
– Initially supposed to be very small
– Caught like wildfire (1000 by 1556,
5000 by 1560s)
• Formed for direct ministry to the poor
and neglected
• Better education, formation
• “Reformed Priests”
• Soon pulled into missions and schools
Council of Trent
 Council of Trent, 1545-1564
• Aimed at eradication of heresy
and reform of the Church
• Clarified Catholic doctrines
attacked by Protestants
• Aimed to reform the bishops,
pastors, and religious
orders—addressing many of
the old forms of corruption and
abuse
• Sought to make Church
pastoral again
Inquisition
VII. Reformation Impact / Effects
Effects Cont.
• Germany was politically weakened and
fragmented
• Christian Church was splintered in the
West
• 100 Years of Religious Warfare
• Right of Rebellion introduced by both
Jesuits and Calvinists
• Pope’s power increased
• Furthered societal individualism and
secularism
• Growing doubt and religious skepticism
Effects Cont.
• Eventually, political stability valued over
religious truth (separation of Church and
State idea) seen in Edict of Nantes 1598
(gave Huguenots rights) and Peace of
Westphalia 1648 (ended 30 Years War and
gave each state/kingdom in HRE
sovereignty over its own religion + enforced
tolerance)
• Calvinism boosted the commercial
revolution
• Witch craze swept Europe in the 1600’s
– Between 1561-1670, 3000 people in
Germany, 9000 people in Switzerland
and 1000 people in England were
executed as witches
The Scientific Revolution
 DISCOVERIES & ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Scientific Revolution began in

the middle decades of the 16th
century and continued through
the early part of the 18th
century. It involved gradual
developments in astronomy,
physics, chemistry, and biology.

83
 ASTRONOMY: A NEW
MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE

• The major change in astronomy was that

people accepted the theory proposed by
Nicolaus Copernicus’ (1473-1543) that
the sun rather than the earth was the
center of the universe.

84
 PHYSICS: LAWS OF MOTION
AND GRAVITATION

• The most important

contributions in physics were
the theory of inertia,
proposed by Galileo
(1564-1642), and the force of
gravity, discovered by Sir Isaac
Newton (1642-1727).

85
CHEMISTRY: THE DISCOVERY OF ELEMENTS OF NATURE

• The Englishman Robert Boyle

(1627-1691) made chemistry
respectable by his discovery
that the arrangement of atoms
determines the characteristics
of matter. Previously, it had
been associated with alchemy.

86
 BIOLOGY: THE
CIRCULATION OF BLOOD

• In biology, William
Harvey (1578-1657)
accurately
demonstrated how
blood circulates
through the human
body.

87
 88
VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 500 YEARS AGO
Aristotle’s View of the Universe: 55 crystalline spheres, celestial objects attached to spheres,
spheres rotated at different velocities, the Earth was at the center. 89
 Three Guiding Principles

Earth is at Celestial
the center objects are
of the made from
Universe perfect
material and
cannot
All motion change their
in the properties
heavens is (e.g., their
uniform brightness).
circular
motion

ARISTOTLE’S PRIME MOVER 90

 REASSURANCE
Divine power would
COMFORT
triumph over
Individual could
corruption and
locate God. Soul’s
decay of earthly
destination would
things and lift the
be above or below.
soul to an afterlife in
heaven

STABILITY
Earth was
at center.
Mankind
important in
God’s plan
MEDIEVAL REPRESENTATION OF PTOLEMAIC UNIVERSE 91
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) proved the Copernican theory with his telescope, challenged
Aristotle's universe and its theological-philosophical worldview, and laid the foundations for
dynamics (how objects move on the earth) and gravity. 92
Galileo's challenge of the
Church's authority got him
into deep trouble with the
Inquisition. Late in his life, he
was forced to recant his
Copernican views publicly.

94
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Newton
demonstrated that the motion of objects
on the Earth could be described by three
new Laws of Motion and the Universal
Law of Gravitation.

95
 EFFECTS OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

• Skepticism and Independent Reasoning: For example, Descartes reached the extreme of skepticism by doubting his own
existence. Then, he realized that his own act of thinking proved his own existence (I think, therefore, I am.)
• Challenges to Religion: The idea that the universe worked like a machine according to natural laws and without the intervention of
God challenged established religious ideas. This position was adopted by the Deists in the 18th century.
• Decline in Belief in Magic, Demons, and Witchcraft: By the 18th century, the educated classes denied the existence of demons
and the power of witchcraft. The skeptical views of the educated classes were not shared by the common people for whom
religion remained important. The result was a divide between learned and popular culture.
• Questions about Humanity's Role in the Universe: By making humans the inhabitants of a tiny planet circling the sun, the
Copernican Universe reduced the importance of humanity. It led people to begin to question the place of humanity in creation.
• Gave Humanity Control of Nature: Some philosophers argued that by gaining knowledge of the laws of nature, people could
control nature. Through science and technology, they could improve human life. This belief in progress became an integral part of
Western culture.
• Challenges to Established Views of Women: The new scientific ideas challenged the ancient and medieval beliefs about the
physical and mental inferiority of women by concluding that both men and women made equal contribution to reproduction.
Nevertheless, traditional notions about women continued to dominate

96