In Italy the growth of wealthy trading cities and new ways of thinking helped lead to a rebirth of the arts and learning. This era became known as the Renaissance.

The Renaissance was a time of great cultural change. The Renaissance ended the Middle or Medieval Ages. It brought a new interest in the classics: the art and literature of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. It was called a rebirth because many believed it was bringing back a life of great culture and thinking like the ancient Greek and Roman cultures.

Petrarch was an Italian thinker who urged a return to Ancient Greek and Roman classics. Born Francesco Petrarca on July 20, 1304, in Arezzo, Tuscany. He was a devoted classical scholar who is considered the "Father of Humanism," a philosophy that helped spark the Renaissance. Petrarch's writing includes well-known odes to Laura, his idealized love. His writing was also used to shape the modern Italian language. He died at age 69 on July 18 or 19, 1374, in Arquà, Carrara. Known in English as Petrarch, Francesco Petrarca was born at dawn on July 20, 1304, in the city of Arezzo, in central Italy, just south of Florence. The son of Ser Petracco, a merchant and notary public, Petrarch studied law with his brother in Montpellier, France, in 1316, and later in Bologna, Italy. His primary interest, however, was Latin literature and writing. After the death of his father in 1326, Petrarch abandoned law altogether, later asserting, "I couldn't face making a merchandise of my mind." Instead, he served in various clerical positions, which granted him adequate time for his writing and literary studies. In 1327, in Avignon, Petrarch allegedly encountered Laura de Noves, a woman he fixated on for the rest of his life. From 1327 to 1368, Petrarch wrote 366 poems as part of a sequence, centered on the theme of his love for Laura. The sequence—collected in a canzoniere or song-book, usually called Rime Sparse, or Scattered Rhymes in English—includes 317 sonnets, a form based on rules established by the 13th-century Italian poet Guittone of Arezzo. The earliest major practitioner of the sonnet, Petrarch is credited with the development and popularization of the Italian sonnet, thus called the Petrarchan sonnet. In 1333, Petrarch connected with fellow Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio, with whom he engaged in regular correspondence, including an exchange of their writing. After his first visit to Rome in 1337, Petrarch began composing Africa, an epic poem concerning the Second Punic War, which he dedicated to Robert of Naples, king of Sicily, though it was not published until three decades after Petrarch's death. He was renowned as a poet and scholar and, on April 8, 1341 (Easter Sunday), he travelled to Rome to accept the crown as poet laureate. During the ceremony, which had not been performed since ancient times, Petrarch delivered his "Coronation Oration," considered the first manifesto of the Renaissance, in which he recalled: "there was a time, there was an age, that was happier for poets, an age when they were held in the highest honor, first in Greece and then in Italy, and especially when Caesar Augustus held imperial sway, under whom there flourished excellent poets: Virgil, Varius, Ovid, Horace, and many others." A celebrity throughout Europe, Petrarch travelled widely for pleasure, and is sometimes called "the first tourist." Known for his work reviving interest in classical literature, Petrarch is considered the "father of Humanism," an attitude associated with the flourishing of the Renaissance. Petrarch's considerable influence in England, and therefore in English, began with Chaucer, who incorporated elements and translations of Petrarch's work into his own. Petrarch's influence in English lasted at least through the 19th century and can be found in the work of many famous English poets, such as Sir Thomas Wyatt and Percy Bysshe Shelley. About Petrarch's legacy, the poet J. D. McClatchy has said, "True love—or rather, the truest—is always obsessive and unrequited. No one has better dramatized how it scorches the heart and fires the imagination than Petrarch did, centuries ago. He dipped his pen in tears and wrote the poems that have shaped our sense of love—its extremes of longing and loss—ever since." Petrarch died on July 19, 1374 - See more at: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1180#sthash.PVyUVn6Y.dpuf Humanities Interest in ancient Greek, Roman culture Characteristics of good education Scholastic education gave way to classics: rhetoric, grammar, poetry, history, Latin, Greek Subjects came to be known as humanities, movement they inspired known as humanism Humanists emphasized individual accomplishment

The Rise of City-States Urban areas specialized, particularly in Italy Italy divided into several large city-states in north, various kingdoms, Papal States south Catholic Church, nobles, merchants, artisans dominated society in city-states Many sought to display new wealth with knowledge of arts The Rise of City-States

The Italian city of Florence , Italy is known as the center of the Renaissance. One of the most influential patrons of the arts in Florence was the d’Medici Family Florence, to south, famous for banking, cloth. Monarchs appealed to Florentine bankers for money to fund wars. Merchants refined raw wool into fine cloth Wealthy families in Italy who supported the arts were known as patrons.

One of the Renaissance’s most important painters was Leonardo da Vinci His most famous paintings was “The Mona Lisa.”

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Buonarroti Raphael (1483-1520) Focused on paintings School of Athens Sofonisba Anguissola (1530-1625) Artist's sisters playing chess

Excommunicated Martin Luther lived in the city of Wittenberg, Germany. 95 Theses Posted on the church door Argued no basis in the Bible Priests had no authority to release souls Luther was accused of heresy for trying to make changes in the practice of the Catholic religion. The Protestant religious movement was known as the Reformation.

Johann Gutenberg invented a new way of printing books. Gutenberg invented the printing press which used metal letters used to replace wood blocks for printing called a movable type.

Henry VII was a Tudor King, who started his own Protestant Church in order to divorce his wife.

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Queen Elizabeth I was England’s Tudor Queen during England’s Golden Age.

William Shakespeare was England’s most famous playwright. In England, the city of London was the center of the Renaissance. William Shakespeare was England’s most famous playwright. Machiavelli’s “The Prince” Miguel de Cervantes “Don Quixote”

In 1545 the Roman Catholic church group met to discuss church reform at the Council of Trent. the council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1545 and 1563 at Trent in S Tyrol. Reacting against the Protestants, it reaffirmed traditional Catholic beliefs and formulated the ideals of the Counter-Reformation.

PERSPECTIVE

NO PERSPECTIVE