Chapter 12Renaissance & Reformation

The Italian Renaissance

• Renaissance," French for "rebirth," perfectly describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries.

The Italian Renaissance con’t

• During the era , Europe emerged from the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions.

Renaissance Facts• Marks the beginning of what historians term “modern history”

• Made possible by recovery of trade and commerce after the chaos of Late Middle Ages

• Began roughly around 1400 AD, first in northern Italy and then gradually throughout the rest of Western Europe

• Means “rebirth”

• Revival of wisdom and achievements of ancient Rome

• Saw Middle Ages as a bleak period of ignorance and superstition, presided over by a Church which stifled creativity and freedom of expression – “Dark Ages”

• Looked to Ancient World for inspiration

• Focused on Humanism – emphasis in art and philosophy on man and his aspirations, thoughts, desires, and achievements

The Spread of Knowledge• When Johannes

Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1445, he forever changed the lives of people in Europe and, eventually, all over the world. Previously, bookmaking entailed copying all the words and illustrations by hand.

• Often the copying had been done onto parchment, animal skin that had been scraped until it was clean, smooth, and thin.

• The labor that went into creating them made each book very expensive.

The Spread of Knowledge

• Because Gutenberg's press could produce books quickly and with relatively little effort, bookmaking became much less expensive, allowing more people to buy reading material.

• intellectual life soon was no longer the exclusive domain of church and court, and literacy became a necessity of urban existence.

• The printing press stoked intellectual fires at the end of the Middle Ages, helping usher in an era of enlightenment.

Printing Press

The Spread of Knowledge• This great cultural rebirth was inspired

by widespread access to and appreciation for classical art and literature, and these translated into a renewed passion for artistic expression.

• As the demand for books grew, the book trade began to flourish throughout Europe, and industries related to it, such as papermaking, thrived as well. The result of all of this was a more literate populace and a stronger economy.

• Without the development of the printing press, the Renaissance may never have happened.

Humanism Emerges

• Books also helped to spread awareness of a new philosophy: Humanism. Renaissance scholars known as humanists returned to the works of ancient writers.

• Previously, during the Middle Ages, scholars had been guided by the teachings of the church, and people had concerned themselves with actions leading to heavenly rewards.

• The writings of ancient, pagan Greece and Rome, called the "classics," had been greatly ignored.

Humanism Emerges• To study the classics,

humanists learned to read Greek and ancient Latin, and they sought out manuscripts that had lain undisturbed for nearly 2,000 years.

• The humanists rediscovered writings on scientific matters, government, rhetoric, philosophy, and art : The Humanities.

• They were influenced by the knowledge of these ancient civilizations and by the emphasis placed on man, his intellect, and his life on Earth.

HUMANISM• Niccolo Machiavelli

• Fused knowledge of ancient Rome with his practical experience as diplomat from Florence

• Wrote The Prince –advice book for rulers

• Moral and religious considerations of “right” and “wrong” had no place in politics

• All that counted was whether an action benefited a ruler and his state

• Ends justified the means

• Brutally realistic but good example of humanistic emphasis on man

The Prince

RENAISSANCE ART

• Derivative in some ways (architects merely copied Roman styles)

• Truly original in painting.

• Why? Desire to be realistic, to recreate on canvas what the eye actually saw

Renaissance Art• Developed new techniques to

accomplish this– Preliminary sketches

– Attention to shadow and light

– Attention to pose, costume, and setting

– Perspective

– Anatomically accurate figure drawing

– Fresco: painting on wet plaster to give painting depth and dimension.

• Michelangelo (orange)• Raphael (red)

• Donatello (purple)• Leonardo (blue)

Renaissance Artists

Michelangelo

• Painter, Sculptor, and Architect

– Sistine Chapel– David– Moses– Creation of Adam

Sistine Chapel David

Moses Creation of Adam

Donatello

• Artist and Sculptor– St. Mark

Leonardo Da Vinci

• Realistic Painter, master of the human body– Last Supper– Mona Lisa– Sketches (Anatomy)

Raphael • Painter: Known for

Frescos– School of Athens– Women with a Veil

School of Athens

AR

IST

OT

LE

PLA

TO

PYTHAGORASS

OC

RO

TE

S

RA

PH

AE

L

PTO

LMEY

RENAISSANCE WRITERS• Vernacular literature (writing in a spoken

language instead of Latin)

– New literary forms– New stylistic devices– Growth of national literatures

• William Shakespeare– Greatest national writer– Author of sonnets– Author of numerous plays

• Midsummer’s Night Dream• Hamlet• Romeo and Juliet• MacBeth

The Protestant Reformation

• The name given to the religious reform movement, begun by Martin Luther, that divided the western Church into Catholic and Protestant groups.

– Produced powerful new religious ideas

– Created a number of new Christian denominations (Protestants)

– Sparked Catholic Counter-Reformation

– Unleashed wave of terrible religious wars

PROBLEMS WITH THE CHURCH

– Had become corrupt, distracted from original mission and influenced by humanistic ideas

– Popes more concerned with art, literature, politics, and luxury more than religion

– Alexander VI –pope with illegitimate children, mistresses. Engaged in military campaigns and murders.

ABUSES

– Simony (selling church offices)

– Pluralism (holding more than one church office at a time)

– Clerical immorality

– Clerical ignorance

Erasmus

• This reform would occur through developing inner piety, or religious feeling, based on studying the works of Christianity.

• He developed what he called “the philosophy of Christ,” meant to show people how to live good lives on a daily basis rather than how to achieve salvation.

• He stressed inward piety, not external observance of rules and rituals.

•The best known Christian humanist was Desiderius Erasmus.

• To reform the Church, Erasmus wanted to:

• spread the philosophy of Christ

• educate people about Christianity

• and criticize the abuses of the Church.

• In his 1509 book The Praise of Folly, he especially criticized the monks.

• Erasmus did not want to break away from the Church, as later reformers would He simply wanted to “reform” it.

• Yet people of his day said, “Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.”

Erasmus

MARTIN LUTHER • 1483-1546 Born into middle-class

family

• Supposed to go to law school but defied father and went to seminary to become monk

• Suffered from intense personal religious crisis

– Personal salvation

– Church taught that faith in Jesus plus good works earned salvation

– Luther performed good works but did not feel he was saved

Martin Luther

• Martin Luther was a monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg, where he lectured on the Bible.

• Through his study of the Bible, Luther came to reject the Catholic teaching that both faith and good works were necessary for salvation.

• He believed human deeds were powerless to affect God and that salvation was through faith alone.

• God grants salvation to the faithful because he is merciful.

MARTIN LUTHER• Bothered by sale of indulgences

– Permission not to do penance for forgiveness of sins

– Pieces of paper sold by Church

– People believed they could buy their way into Heaven

• Hit on new doctrine of salvation while preparing a lecture on epistles of St. Paul

– A person is saved by faith in Jesus alone

LUTHER GOES PUBLIC• Posted “95 Theses” on door of

local cathedral to start debate on issue of indulgences

• Church won’t debate and forces Luther to take increasingly extreme positions– Pope had no power over

Christians– He was a fraud

• Excommunicated in 1520

• For all Protestants, the Bible, not the Church, became the only source of religious truth.

• Edict of Worms Declared him an outlaw of the Empire

As the Reformation spreads

• Different forms of Protestantism emerged in Europe as the Reformation spread.

JOHN CALVIN: Calvinism• French

• Controlled Swiss city of Geneva

• Doctrine– Stressed overwhelming power of God and insignificance

of man– Predestination

• God is all-knowing• He therefore knows everything we will do in our life

before we do it• Knew from the beginning of time whether an individual

would be saved or not• No human being deserves salvation• God, for unknown reasons, has decided it save some.

They will be notified.• People must behave in certain way to show gratitude

for salvation

CALVINISTS

MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CALVIN AND LUTHER WAS PREDESTINATION

• Calvin believed that God had determined in advance those that would go to Heaven.

• Followers– Puritans in England– Presbyterians in

Scotland

Reformation in England

• Mostly between Henry VIII and the Church of England

• Motivated by personal and political reasons– Wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon and

marry Anne Boleyn– Pope refused

• Pulled England out of Catholic Church in 1534 and created Church of England

• Kept most traditional Catholic practices and doctrines– Only difference was that Church answered to

king, not pope– Opened way for gradual “Protestantization” of

England

COUNTER-REFORMATION• Organized by Pope Paul III• Established new missionary and teaching orders

– Society of Jesus (Jesuits)– Founded by Ignatius Loyola– Improve educational and spiritual care of lay

people

• Council of Trent – 1545-1563– Ended simony and pluralism– Ended sale of indulgences– Established severe punishments for

immorality and corruption– Established new seminaries– Reaffirmed traditional Catholic views on

theological points challenged by Protestants• set stage for Age of Religious Wars