Renaissance

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Humanism

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A philosophy of the Renaissance that valued human thoughts and ideas. It pushed the study of classical writings and art.

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How did the Renaissance start?

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The Renaissance is generally considered to have started in Florence, Italy around the years 1350 to 1400. The start of the Renaissance also was the end of the Middle Ages.

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Florence

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One of the major city-states was Florence. The government that ran Florence was a republic, like ancient Rome. This meant that the citizens elected their own leaders.

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Francesco Petrarch

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is often called the "Father of Humanism". He was a scholar and a poet who lived in Florence in the 1300s. He studied poets and philosophers from Ancient Rome such as Cicero and Virgil. His ideas and poetry became an inspiration to many writers and poets throughout all of Europe as the Renaissance spread.

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Giotto di Bondone

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Giotto was a painter in Florence, Italy. He was the first painter to break away from the standard Byzantine style painting of the Middle Ages and try something new. He painted objects and people as they actually looked in nature. Previously, artists had all painted more abstract paintings that didn't look real at all. Giotto is said to have started the Renaissance in art with his new style of realistic painting.

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Dante Alighieri

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Another major contributor to the start of the Renaissance was Dante Alighieri. He lived in Florence and wrote the Devine Comedy in the early 1300s. This book is considered to be the greatest literary work ever written in the Italian language.

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Leonardo Da Vinci

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Occupation: Artist, Inventor, Scientist

Famous works: Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man

Style/Period: High Renaissance

Born: April 15, 1452 in Vinci, ItalyDied: May 2, 1519 in Amboise, Kingdom of France

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Galileo Galilei

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Occupation: Scientist, mathematician, and AstronomerBorn: February 15, 1564 in Pisa, ItalyDied: January 8, 1642 Tuscany, ItalyBest known for: Improving the telescope to be used to study the planets and stars.

This was a new concept to the people of his time and laid the foundation for the scientific method.

One of the traditional beliefs was that if you dropped two items of different weights, but the same size and shape, the heavier item would land first. Galileo tested this idea by going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

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Copernicus

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Copernicus was an astronomer who lived in the early 1500s. He came up with the idea that the Sun was the center of the universe. This was very different from the current belief that the Earth was the center. Galileo began to study Copernicus' work and felt that his observations of the planets supported the view that the Sun was the center. This view was highly controversial.

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Early Renaissance

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A period from 1400 to 1479 where artists tried to emulate the classical artists of Ancient Rome and Greece.

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High Renaissance

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A period from 1475 to 1525 where art became more realistic with a focus on perspective and space.

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Realism

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A style of art that involved techniques to make the art appear as realistic as possible.

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Renaissance man

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A man of many talents, interests, and abilities.

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King Henry VIII

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(1491-1547) - King Henry the VIII could have been considered the prototypical "Renaissance Man" at his prime. He was tall, good looking, and confident. He was educated and intelligent and could speak four languages. He was also athletic, a good horseman, a musician, composer, and a strong fighter. Henry the VIII is also known for having six different wives and for separating the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.

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Martin Luther

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(1483 - 1546) - Luther was a German theologian and priest. He objected to many of the practices of the Catholic Church such as paying to get into heaven and the authority of the Pope. He thought the Bible should be the final authority and that it should be available to everyone. Luther's ideas caused the Reformation and a new type of Christianity called Protestantism.

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Catherine de Medici

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(1519 - 1589) - Catherine was a member of the famed Medici family of Florence. As an 11 year old girl she was taken captive and held to try and stop her family from attacking. She convinced her captors that she wanted to become a nun and, as result, they didn't hurt her. A few years later she married the son of the King of France, Henry. Henry became king of France and Catherine a powerful queen. After Henry's death, her sons became kings of France and Poland and her daughter queen of Navarre.

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Erasmus

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(1466 - 1536) - Erasmus was a Dutch priest and scholar. He was considered the greatest humanist of the north and helped to spread humanism and the Renaissance movement to northern Europe. He is also famous for his book Praise of Folly.

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Paracelsus

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(1493 - 1541) - Paracelsus was a Swiss scientist and botanist who helped to make many advances in medicine. He studied current practices in medicine and found that most doctors actually made patient's conditions worse rather than healing them. His studies showed that certain chemicals and drugs could help patients to heal and get better. He also found that the environment and diet of person contributed to their health.

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Christopher Columbus

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(1451 - 1506) - Columbus was a Spanish explorer who went to the Americas when trying to find the East Indies or Asia. His discovery began an era of exploration and expansion of European powers throughout the Americas and the world.