Post on 28-Dec-2015
transcript
Why Italy
Italy had been center of Roman Empire
Cities survived the Middle Ages
Wealthy & powerful merchant class--Medicis
What was the Renaissance?
Political, social, economic, & cultural changes
Change in the way people viewed themselves
Ideal: person of talents in many fieldsAdventure & curiosityHumanism: focus on worldly subjects
rather than religionHumanities: grammar, rhetoric, poetry,
history
Writers
Rise in “how-to” books
Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier; manners, skills, learning, & virtues court members should have; man is athletic but not overactive, woman is a balance to men, graceful & kind, lively but reserved; “She is beautiful, for outer beauty is the true sign of inner goodness.”
Machiavelli’s The Prince; a guide to rulers on how to gain & maintain power
The end justifies the means!
Use whatever methods necessary to achieve their goals
Getting results are more important than keeping promises
Machiavellian—use of deceit in politics
Writers
Northern Renaissance
Began later in North due to the effects of the
Black DeathBegan in Flanders
Dürer brought techniques home; known as “German Leonardo”
Thinkers & Writers
Erasmus: Greek edition of the New Testament, translated Bible into vernacular, The Praise of Folly
Thomas More: social reform, Utopia, none are idle, all are educated, justice is used to end crime, not eliminate the criminal
Utopian—ideal society
Cervantes: Don Quixote; mocks romantic notions of chivalry
Shakespeare: wrote 37 plays; Richard III, Romeo & Juliet, MacBeth, Hamlet
First appearance of 1700 new words, including: bedroom, lonely, generous, gloomy, heartsick, hurry, & sneak
Thinkers & Writers