1. RENAISSANCE A REBIRTH OF LEARNING IN EUROPE

2. The word renaissance is a French word which means rebirth

3. During the Dark Ages, there was no time for interest in art and literature. People were too busy trying to stay alive

4. During the Middle Ages, most art, drama, and serious writing was about religion.

5. The Renaissance brought a rebirth of interest in art, learning, and exploration of all sorts.

6. The Renaissance is considered to have started in Italy. The dates in England are 1485-1660

7. One of the starting points for the Renaissance was the rediscovery of ancient Greek literature that had been lost for centuries.

8. A way of thinking called humanism was also part of the Renaissance.

9. Humanism emphasized the to make peoples lives better on earth, instead of just telling them things would be better in heaven.

10. Humanists also tried to reconcile classical literature and the Bible

11. Two famous humanists were Sir Thomas More and Erasmus.

12. Sir Thomas More

13. Erasmus

14. More was eventually beheaded for opposing King Henry VIII

15. The biggest change for art and drama was that the subject no longer had to be religion.

16. Artists now tried to make humans looked realistic.

17. One example is Michelangelo

18. Many of his sculptures are amazingly realistic

19. Michelangelo’s Moses

20. He is probably best known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

22. Another famous Italian artist is Leonardo da Vinci

23. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

24. The Renaissance would not have happened if not for one invention in the middle of the 1400’s. What do you think it was?

25. Yes, of course. I am talking about the printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg.

26. Suddenly, people could afford books, and literacy rates increased.

27. The King James translation of the Bible into English was authorized in 1611, and of course printed on the new printing press.

28. Many important discoveries were also made in science during the Renaissance

29. For example, in 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published the theory that the earth went around the sun, instead of the other way around.

30. Copernicus

31. In 1609, Galileo became the first astronomer to study the heavens with a telescope.

32. Galileo

33. In England, politics and religion were mixed together in a crazy kind of stew.

34. The biggest player in this story is King Henry VIII

35. King Henry VIII

36. More than anything else, Henry wanted a son, to be the heir to the throne

37. His first wife was named Catherine of Aragon.

38. Her parents were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

39. Catherine of Aragon

40. Catherine only had one child survive to adulthood, a daughter named Mary Tudor.

41. Mary Tudor

42. Henry obviously needed a new wife, but the Catholic Church did not permit divorce.

43. Henry decided to try to get an annulment, but for this he needed the permission of the Pope.

44. Do you know what the difference is between a divorce and an annulment?

45. A divorce ends an existing marriage

46. An annulment states that no legitimate marriage ever existed

47. Henry claimed his marriage was not legal because Catherine had been previously married to his brother Arthur.

49. The Pope denied Henry’s request.

50. Henry finally broke England away from the Catholic Church

51. He made himself head of the Church of England, and granted himself a divorce

52. What did he need now?

53. That right! A new wife! And he already had one picked out!

54. His 2 nd wife was named Anne Boleyn

55. Anne Boleyn

56. Anne’s happiness did not last long, because she had a daughter and miscarried a son.

57. The daughter’s name was Elizabeth

58. Henry decided to get rid of Anne by accusing her of a terrible crime

59. He accused her of having an affair with her brother George

60. He had George tortured until he confessed, the used this evidence against Anne

61. Anne was beheaded in the Tower of London

62. Once again, Henry needed a new wife

63. Henry’s 3 rd wife was named Jane Seymour

64. Jane Seymour

65. She gave birth to a son named Edward, but died shortly of complications from childbirth

66. Henry’s 4 th wife was a German woman named Anne of Cleaves

67. Anne of Cleves

68. He divorced her because he found her unattractive

69. Henry’s 5 th wife was named Catherine Howard

70. Katherine Howard

71. She was caught in an affair with a man named Thomas Culpepper, and was beheaded.

72. Henry sixth and last wife was named Catherine Parr

73. Catherine Parr

74. She outlived him.

75. After Henry’s death, his son Edward became king, but died soon after.

76. Edward VI

77. After Edward’s death, his sister Mary became Queen.

78. Her attempt to return England to the Catholic Church earned her the nickname Bloody Mary.

79. After Mary’s death, her sister Elizabeth became Queen.

80. She also had a nickname, which was The Virgin Queen, because she never married.

87. Elizabeth ruled for forty-four years.

88. She was an extremely intelligent and strong-willed person.

89. She even had her own cousin, Mary Stuart, beheaded for trying to overthrow her.

90. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

91. During Elizabeth’s reign, England also began to replace Spain as the most powerful nation in the world

92. The key event in this process was the English navy’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

94. When Elizabeth died in 1603, she was followed by her cousin, who became King James I

95. James I

96. An important religious movement also began at this time, called the Protestant Reformation

97. Christian denominations other than the Catholic Church began to develop.

98. One of the most important people in this movement was a German monk named Martin Luther.

100. In 1517, Luther nailed 95 theses, or statements against the Catholic Church, to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany

101. Luther was soon excommunicated by the Pope

102. He wasn’t arrested because he was protected by powerful local rulers in Germany

103. His ideas led to the development of the Lutheran Church

104. The Puritans were also an important group of early Protestants

108. The Puritans wanted to “purify” religion of anything that resembled the Catholic Church

109. Eventually, the Puritans gained control of Parliament in England

110. A Civil War began between Parliament and King Charles I

111. Parliament and the Puritans won, and Charles I was beheaded

112. A Puritan leader named Oliver Cromwell became ruler of England

114. Bonus The most important Jewish character in Renaissance literature is named Shylock

115. He appears in TheMerchant of Venice, by Shakespeare