Great Ideas of the Renaissance

35 Pages·2010·5.707 MB·English

by  Trudee Romanek

Great Ideas of the
Renaissance
Trudee Romanek
Crabtree Publishing Company
www.crabtreebooks.com
Author:Trudee Romanek Photographs and reproductions:
Editor-in-Chief:Lionel Bender The Granger Collection, NYC/TopFoto: pages 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10,
Project coordinator:Kathy Middleton 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31.
Photo research:Susannah Jayes iStockphoto.com: pages 11, 19, 23, 25.
Design concept:Robert MacGregor Topfoto: pages 1, 15, 27; A©RIA Novosti: page 20; Alinari
Designer:Ben White Archives, Florence: pages 22, 24 (Reproduced with the
Production coordinator:Ken Wright permission of Ministero per i Beni e le Attivit Culturali),
Production:Kim Richardson 26; HIP/The Print Collector: page 8; Luisa Ricciarini:
Prepress technician: Ken Wright page 16.
Consultant:Lisa Mullins, Department of History and Photo on page 1:Painting of Luca Pacioli, attributed to
Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge Jacopo de’ Barbari, 1459. Pacioli is demonstrating a theo
rem by Euclid.
Cover photo: Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483-1520)
School of Athens, detail of left half showing Pythagoras This book was produced for Crabtree Publishing Company
(seated). Ca. 1510-1512. Fresco. by Bender Richardson White
Location :Stanza della Segnatura, Stanze di Raffaello,
Vatican Palace, Vatican State
Photo Credit : Scala / Art Resource, NY
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Romanek, Trudee Romanek, Trudee.
Great ideas of the Renaissance / Trudee Romanek. Great ideas of the Renaissance / Trudee Romanek.
(Renaissance world) Includes index. p. cm. -- (Renaissance world)
ISBN 978-0-7787-4596-9 (bound).--ISBN 978-0-7787-4616-4 Includes index.
(pbk.) ISBN 978-0-7787-4616-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-
7787-4596-9 (reinforced library binding : alk. paper)
1. Renaissance--Juvenile literature. 2. Europe-- 1. Renaissance--Juvenile literature. 2. Europe--Intellectual
Intellectual life--Juvenile literature. 3. Europe--Civilization--Juvenile lit-
life--Juvenile literature. 3. Europe--Civilization--Juvenile lit- erature. I. Title. II. Series.
erature.
I. Title. II. Series: Renaissance world (St. Catharines, Ont.) CB361.R645 2010 940.2'1--dc22
CB361.R64 2010 j940.2'1 C2009-902428-4 2009016727
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Contents
The Renaissance 4
Religion 6
People and Possibilities 8
Education 10
Medicine and Anatomy 12
Astronomy and Mathematics 14
Art 16
Literature and Drama 18
Music 20
Architecture 22
Society and Power 24
Commerce 26
Warfare 28
Everyday Life 30
Further Reading, Web Sites, Glossary, Index 32
3
The Renaissance
Paid to Think
The period in European history known as
the Renaissance, meaning “rebirth,” Italy was the birthplace of many of the great
is famous for its explosion of new ideas. artistic ideas of the Renaissance. This was
Many of these were ideas from past due, in part, to a change in how artists were
civilizations, revisited by great treated and paid. Through the 1300s, the
Renaissance thinkers and incorporated Catholic Church was the major patron
into their work in new ways. of artists. When it wanted a new work of
religious art for a church or chapel, it paid
Attitudes
an artist to create it.
During the Renaissance, which lasted from
the early 1300s until the mid 1600s, people’s In the 1400s, wealthy families, such as the
attitudes changed dramatically. Views on Medici family in Italy, began to support
religion, which had always dominated their artists themselves. They hired different
lives and thinking, were starting to change. painters, sculptors, and architects to create
Scholars who studied ancient writings from works of art and buildings for them. They
Rome and Greece believed that they could paid for everything the artist would need
become better people by learning. Instead of while he worked, for however long it would
simply memorizing the old texts, scholars take. This increase in available money gave
studied and questioned the information that artists more time and materials to
those texts held. experiment with new techniques, and
to be creative and generate new ideas.
A new interest in the human body led to
detailed studies of anatomy. The quest for
knowledge also led to the exploration of
Earth, and the invention of new tools that
could assist in examining objects near and
far. To scholars of the time, the world was
suddenly full of new places and ideas to
explore, discover, and develop.
Renaissance inventor Leonardo da Vinci made
sketches of dozens of new machines, including
this device to let people breathe under water.
4
Spreading the Word
Up until the mid 1400s, books were produced
by hand and copied in ink. Copying by hand
was a specialist skill, and those who had
trained to write in different styles were
known as scribes. Books were expensive
because of the materials used and the time it
took to copy one book , so very few people
owned them. Most books available were
religious texts. In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg
printed more than 100 copies of the Bible on
his printing press, the first one in Europe.
He went on to print many other books.
As printing became more common, it became
cheaper to produce books. More people could
afford to own them, and more of the new
ideas of the Renaissance were published and
shared throughout Europe and the world.
This is a page of Gutenburg’s printed Latin
Bible. Artists often added artwork to printed
books just as monks painted illuminations
into manuscripts that they had copied by hand.
TIMELINE
1348: the plague, or Black designer, and innovator 1534: Henry VIII declares
Death, arrives in Europe 1492: Christopher Columbus himself head of the Church of
1419: Brunelleschi designs the lands in the Americas England, breaking away from
Orphans Hospital in Florence, 1517: Martin Luther posts his the Catholic Church
the first example of 95 Theses on a church door in 1543: Copernicus publishes his
Renaissance architecture Germany, setting the theory arguing that the Sun,
1455: Gütenberg Bible, the first Protestant Reformation in rather than the Earth, is at the
printed book in Europe, is motion center of the universe
complete 1525: Soldiers in the battle of early 1590s: Shakespeare writes
1469: Leonardo da Vinci starts Pavia use recently invented his first plays, Henry VI, parts
to train as a sculptor, painter, handheld firearms 1, 2 and 3
5
Religion
By the early Renaissance, most of Europe Church, many people realized that a change
followed the Roman Catholic Church and of attitude was needed.
religion. Then people began to question
Two Critics
its methods and practices, and world
religion changed forever. Desiderius Erasmus, a Catholic scholar,
spent six years living in a Dutch monastery.
Corruption
What he saw there convinced him that the
By the early 1500s, the Catholic Church Church was not perfect. He wrote essays
seemed to be focused on making money and criticizing the wealthy and the religious, and
holding power rather than saving souls. theorizing on how education and religion
Priests sold “indulgences”—pieces of paper could be improved. Historians believe his
that forgave a sinner of his sins for a price. writings set the stage for change in religion.
Church leaders appointed their relatives as
influential cardinals. Others were bribed to Martin Luther was a German monk who
give a cardinalship. Even within the Catholic was not impressed with how the Church was
being run and the corruption among its
leaders in Rome. In 1517, determined to
improve the Catholic Church, he wrote the
95 Theses, a list of criticisms, and nailed it to
a church door. It questioned the Church’s
practice of selling indulgences instead of
urging people not to commit the sins in the
first place. The list was printed and spread
throughout Europe. Luther hoped it would
encourage change within the Church.
Instead, it inspired many to question
whether they should continue following
their beliefs.
This painting shows Pope Sixtus IV with the
three nephews he appointed as cardinals,
abusing his authority in a way that many other
Renaissance popes did as well.
6
Change
As a result of Luther’s criticisms, many Persecution
people broke away from the Catholic Church The Catholic Church was not happy to
in a movement known as the Protestant lose so many members. In 1544 it
formed the Roman Inquisition to put
Reformation. They formed groups such as the
Protestant followers on trial for heresy.
Lutherans, led by Martin Luther, and the
In spite of this, the Protestant faiths
Calvinists in Switzerland who followed
continued to gain followers. Wars broke
French lawyer Jean Calvin. Gradually, the
out in the struggle for religious
anti-Catholic movement and attitude spread.
freedom. Protestants burned Catholics
Henry VIII, the King of England, declared in at the stake. Catholics slaughtered
1534 that the Church of England, or the Protestant followers. Many lives were
Anglican Church, would no longer answer to lost on both sides in European
countries including France, Italy, Spain,
the Pope in Rome but be a totally separate
England, and Germany, all in the name
religion and Church.
of religion.
As the control of the Catholic Church
loosened, artists and thinkers had the chance Martin Luther listed his criticisms of the
to present images and thoughts the Church Catholic Church in a document called the
would not have encouraged or even allowed. 95 Theses. Though his goal was to reform
It was an ideal time for the hatching of new the Church, Luther’s writings inspired a
and great ideas. movement called Protestantism.
7
People and Possibilities
Petrarch, an Italian scholar of the 1300s, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus is often
was the first to recognize that during the called the “Prince of the Humanists.”
Middle Ages human learning had taken Erasmus strongly supported the humanist
a downward turn, away from the wisdom movement even while remaining a devout
of the ancient people. With his ideas, Catholic. He believed it was possible to strive
he sparked a new movement known for learning and encourage human abilities
as humanism. without losing sight of Christian goals.
Through his travels, he helped to spread
Humanism
humanism throughout England.
When the first scholars of Europe studied
the classical texts of the Roman and Greek Erasmus and other humanists urged the study
civilizations, they interpreted them according of the “human” arts—grammar, discussion,
to their own Christian view of the world. poetry, ethics, and history. He published books
Renaissance scholars and humanists instead criticizing society and the Church, but also
began to look at the texts on their own, and published translations of the Bible.
moved away from the earlier
focus on Christianity.
Humanists celebrated the great
things humans could do and had
done in past civilizations,
especially in literature and the
arts. There was a growing
awareness that a person could
change his or her nature and
place in society just by learning.
However, men continued to
hold the power. Women were
considered inferior to men
and did not have many rights
or privileges, including access
to most forms of training
and education.
8