renaissance a new era was born out of the chaos of the crisis of the late middle ages – the...

RENAISSANCE A new era was born out of the chaos of the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages The Renaissance Made possible by the recovery of trade and commerce Happened in northern Italy first Intellectuals of the time saw it as a period of cultural rebirth Started around 1400

REBIRTH Thought Renaissance represented the revival of the wisdom and artistic achievements of ancient Rome Did not look to Middle Ages for inspiration Saw it as a 1000 year period of ignorance and superstition presided over by a Church which stifled artistic and intellectual activity Called this the Dark Ages

ANCIENT HERITAGE In their desire to find out as much as possible about golden age of ancient Rome, Renaissance intellectuals recovered much of our heritage of ancient literature, philosophy, and science Much of which had been moldering away in monastic libraries, unappreciated and unread

BIRTH OF HUMANISM Discovered that one of the main themes of this ancient body of work was human beings Their thoughts, aspirations, desires, governments, achievements Renaissance thinkers sought to duplicate this emphasis by questioning the medieval preoccupation with God Did not entirely reject religious themes but expanded their repertoire to include human beings New emphasis on human beings in art and philosophy was called Humanism

MACHIAVELLI Best known humanist was Niccolo Machiavelli Wrote The Prince Advice book for rulers Argued that moral and religious considerations of right and wrong had no place in politics Rulers had to do what was best for them and their state, regardless of the alleged morality of the act Obtained these ideas from his study of Roman history and his observations of the behavior of contemporary rules Brutally realistic but an excellent illustration of the new emphasis on human achievements, rather that on theology

RENAISSANCE ART Humanism had big impact on Renaissance art Architecture was derivative Just copied Roman ruins But few Roman paintings existed So artists drew their information from the philosophy of Roman art Devotion to life- likedness (realism) Wanted to portray on canvas what the eye actually saw

MORE ON ART Medieval artists had not been concerned with realism because their only goal was to glorify God and his Church Humanist artists wanted to do more than this and in their desire to portray human beings as realistically as possible, they developed new techniques: detailed preliminary sketches attention to shadow and light attention to pose, costume, and setting perspective anatomically accurate figure drawing

LEONARDO DA VINCI THE LAST SUPPER

LEONARDO DA VINCI MONA LISA

MICHELANGELO CEILING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL

MICHELANGELO PIETA/DAVID

RAPHAEL TITIAN RUBENS EL GRECO

SHAKESPEARE Vernacular literature flourished during the Renaissance Authors wrote in their spoken language rather than in Latin Led to development of new literary forms, new stylistic devices, and growth of truly national literatures Best known national writer was William Shakespeare of England Author of numerous sonnets and plays Such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummers Night Dream, etc.

RENAISSANCE MONARCHS Renaissance saw some of the most formidable rulers ever to sit on a throne in the West Goal was to increase their power and consolidate their realms Sacrificed all traditional concepts of morality on the altar of hard results Provided Machiavelli with his model for The Prince And they were very successful

FRANCE Louis XI and Francis I Created a centralized Kingdom of France By tapping wealth of towns and cities through taxation And then using this revenue to create mercenary armies which smashed the power of the French nobility

ENGLAND Henry Tudor emerged the victor from the War of the Roses and founded Tudor Dynasty His son, Henry VIII, destroyed the power of the Roman Catholic Church His grand-daughter, Elizabeth, broke the power of the English nobility Together, they defeated all institutions in England which might threaten the supreme position of the monarch

SPAIN Spain was created through the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon to Isabella of Castille Who then drove Moslems completely out of the peninsula During the reign of their grandson, Charles V, and great- grandson, Philip II, Spain became the most powerful state in Europe Thanks mainly to the creation of an empire in the New World And the gold and silver it produced

REFORMATION Over-lapped with the end of the Renaissance Great upheaval in the Christian Church Began in Germany and spread over the rest of Europe Produced powerful new religious ideas Created a number of new Christian denominations Sparked a great Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation Led to a wave of terrible religious wars Europes last great age of faith The last time Europeans were willing to die, and to kill, in large numbers for their religious beliefs

PROBLEMS IN THE CHURCH Some sort of reformation of religion would have taken place around this time even if Martin Luther had never lived Because Church was in deep need of reform Basic problem was that the Church, whose authority had been unquestioned for centuries, had become corrupt, distracted from its original mission, and influenced by humanistic ideas during the Renaissance

POPES Popes seemed more interested in supporting the arts, meddling in politics, and living luxurious lives than they were in religion Popes frequently came from wealthy and ambitious Italian families who used the position to further their dynastic goals Such as the Medicis and Borgias Worst of all was Borgia pope Alexander VI Had mistresses and an army of illegitimate children Some of whom he made cardinals while they were still teenagers Launched a series of military campaigns, plots, and even murders that shocked Europe

ABUSES Simony Auctioning off of Church positions to the highest bidder Pluralism Holding more than one Church office at the same time Clerical immorality Priests had girlfriends, wives, children Clerical ignorance Many priests were virtually illiterate All these abuses contrasted with the traditional image of what the Church was supposed to be

EARLY REFORMERS Corruption had sparked several religious revolts in the century before Luther Jan Hus in Bohemia John Wycliffe in England Both had preached against certain abuses within the Church Both attracted large numbers of followers Both paid for their defiance with their lives As did many of their followers Church clearly did not intend to reform itself

MARTIN LUTHER Born into a middle-class family in the Germany state of Saxony in 1483 Father wanted him to become a lawyer but he entered a seminary instead and became a monk He defied his fathers wishes because he was seeking an answer to an intense personal religious crisis Obsessed by the issue of personal salvation

PERSONAL SALVATION Church at the time taught that faith in Jesus as savior and the performance of good works gained a person salvation Luther performed an excess of good works but did not feel satisfied Did not feel as though he had been saved

SALE OF INDULGENCES Luther became Professor of Theology at University of Wittenberg Became increasingly critical of the practice of the sale of indulgences Indulgences were papal pardons which excused a person from doing penance for sins Church sold them to raise revenue People were allowed to believed that they could literally buy their way into heaven if they bought enough indulgences

A NEW IDEA Luther hit on a new doctrine of salvation in early 1500s While preparing a lecture on the epistles of St. Paul That people are saved through faith in Jesus alone Not by faith and good works This belief became the cornerstone of Protestantism

95 THESES Luther now became convinced that sale of indulgences was completely wrong If a person was saved by faith alone, then the purchase of pieces of paper had nothing to do with salvation and actually jeopardized a persons salvation He therefore nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg cathedral 95 reasons why sale of indulgences was wrong Hoped to start debate on issue that would lead to the abolition of the practice

HERE I STAND Church refused to debate him Forced Luther into more radical positions Even went as far as to claim that pope had no power over him That he was a fraud Church excommunicated Luther Publicly burnt letter that informed him of his excommunication Charles V orders Luther to recant his views or be declared an outlaw of the empire At Diet of Worms Luther refuses, saying Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise

POPULARITY OF LUTHERANISM Luther was never harmed Attracted many supporters to his banner Ordinary people attracted by his religious message Also many German rulers Saw it as chance to grab up wealth of Catholic Church within their borders Also a chance to assert their independence from the centralizing ambitions of Charles V Religious concerns mixed with political and economic ones to produce a large, sympathetic, and often influential audience for Luther

SUCCESS Lutheranism spread like wildfire through northern Germany and Scandinavia And this success inspired others Although often with different motivations

BIRTH OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Henry VII pulled England out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 Motivated mainly by political and personal reasons Set up an independent Church of England, presided over by him Church of England at first retained most traditional Catholic practices and doctrines Only really different about it was that answered to the king, not the pope But the break with Rome did open the door for the eventual protestantization of England

JOHN CALVIN French Originally trained as a lawyer Invited by Swiss city of Geneva to reform the Church there Ended up becoming religious dictator of the city Set up theocracy Where government is subordinated to the enforcement of religious principles Would become his power base from which to spread his religious message

CALVINISM I Calvin stressed overwhelming power of God compared to complete insignificance of human beings Also promoted concept of predestination The idea that all people are destined for either Heaven or Hell from birth An arbitrary decision made by God that cannot be changed All human beings are hopelessly sinful and deserve to be damned But God, for unknown reasons, has decided to save some He would reveal this decision to them sometime in their lives

CALVINISM II In preparation for this revelation, all people had to live their lives in a perfect fashion to show their gratitude for this gift for which they are unworthy Avoid such evil behavior as singing, dancing, drinking to excess, gambling, attending plays, wearing fancy clothes All Calvinists believed that they had (or would) receive divine notification of their salvation and were characterized by moral narrow-mindedness and intolerance who did believe and act like they did

GROWTH OF PROTESTANTISM Calvins message was harsh but found a large and receptive audience Gave rise to such Calvinist groups as: Puritans (England) Huguenots (France) Presbyterians (Scotland) Dutch Reformed Church (Netherlands) The spread of Calvinism, combined with the establishment of Lutheranism in northern Europe and the formation of the Church of England, made it seem as though all Europe might break away from the Roman Catholic Church

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION Roman Catholic Church belatedly launched a massive drive to reform itself Counter-Reformation Started in 1534 by Pope Paul III Took steps to halt the Protestant threat from spreading any farther and to end the various abuses that had ignited the Reformation in the first place

NEW ORDERS Church established new missionary and teaching orders to improve the educational and spiritual care of ordinary lay people The best known of these was the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) Founded by Ignatius Loyola in the 1530s Former Spanish mercenary

COUNCIL OF TRENT Paul III convened a general church council in 1545 to clean up abuses and clarify Catholic doctrine The Council of Trent Ended simony, pluralism, and sale of indulgences Established severe punishments for immorality and corruption Founded new seminaries to improve education of the clergy But it also reaffirmed traditional views on theological points the Protestants had challenged Ended any hope for reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants

AGE OF RELIGIOUS WARS Time when Catholics and Protestants slaughtered, tortured, and mutilated each other by the tens of thousands and plunged large parts of Europe in chaos All in the name of God Included such conflicts as: The Revolt of the Netherlands Wars of Religion (France) Anglo-Spanish naval war Thirty Years War (Germany)

UGLY VIOLENCE Acts of individual and mob violence marked all these conflicts Protestants vandalized Catholic churches and Catholics burned down Protestant churches Both sides ambushed each other when they came out of church They attacked each other in the streets and even in homes Often vandalized each others graves and mutilated corpses A horrible time, only made worse because all these atrocities were committed in the name of Christianity

FADING NIGHTMARE Incessant violence eventually dampened peoples religious zeal and Catholics and Protestants settled into an uneasy truce Mid-1600s Europeans then turned to more productive activities State-building, science, the arts, and philosophy

renaissance a new era was born out of the chaos of the crisis of the late middle ages – the...

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