T HE R ENAISSANCE

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

Sistine Chapel (Ceiling)

David

Pieta

The School of Athens

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

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

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)

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