1. T HE R ENAISSANCE

2. Economic Foundations ● The Crusades stimulated trade by introducing Europeans to many desirable products ● Trade promoted frequent contacts with the Byzantine and Muslim Empires ● Economic effects of the Crusades: ● Increased demand for Middle Eastern products ● Encouraged the use of credit and banking ● Stimulated production of European goods to trade in Middle Eastern markets

3. More on Economics ● New economic institutions developed ● Church rule against usury (charging interest on loans) and the banks’ practice of charging interest helped to secularize (separated from religion) 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 ● Europe shifted from an agrarian society to an urban society

4. The rise of Italian city-states ● Renaissance- renewal in the arts and learning ● Riches from European trade with the Middle East led to the rise of Italian city-states ● Wealthy merchants were active civic leaders and patrons w/ humanist views (i.e. Medici family of Florence) ● The governments were weak & were conquered by the Holy Roman Empire by 1559

5. Machiavelli’s The Prince ● Machiavelli observed city-state rulers of his day and produced guidelines for the acquisition and maintenance of power by absolute rule ● He wrote an early modern treatise on government centered around 3 basic ideas: ● Support of absolute power of the ruler ● Maintains that the end justifies the means ● Advises that one should do good if possible, but do evil when necessary

6. The top city-states ● Florence, Venice, and Genoa had access to trade routes connecting Europe with Middle Eastern markets ● They served as trading centers for the distribution of goods to northern Europe ● They were initially independent city-states governed as republics (no king, not unified)

7. The Arts ● 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

8. The famous people ● Leonardo da Vinci—painted Mona Lisa and The Last Supper ● Michelangelo—painted Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted David & Pieta ● Raphael—painted frescos (wall paintings) such as The School of Athens

9. Mona Lisa

10. The Last Supper

11. Sistine Chapel (Ceiling)

12. David

13. Pieta

14. The School of Athens

15. Humanism ● Key Individual—Petrarch (wrote Sonnets to Laura, humanist scholar) ● Celebrated the individual ● Stimulated the study of Greek and Roman literature and culture ● Was supported by wealthy patrons

16. The Renaissance spreads ● With the rise of trade, travel and literacy, the Italian Renaissance spread to northern Europe ● The art and literature changed as people of different cultures adopted Renaissance ideas ● Growing wealth in Northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas

17. The Northern Renaissance ● Northern Renaissance thinkers merged humanist ideas with Christianity ● The production and sale of books (Gutenberg Bible) helped disseminate (spread) ideas ● The movable type printing press made books cheaper ● Northern Renaissance writers ● Erasmus—The Praise of Folly (1511), pushed for the Bible in the vernacular ● Sir Thomas More—Utopia (1516), ideal society ● Northern Renaissance artists portrayed religious and secular subjects (Jan van Eyck- painted religious figures with common people)

18. The Renaissance Elsewhere ● Literature in Spain- Cervantes’ Don Quixote ● Called the Elizabethan Age in England (after Elizabeth I) ● Literature in England- Shakespeare