The Humanists

The Renaissance

What was the Renaissance?• Began in Northern Italy• Italian Cities

• Urban Societies• Major Trading Centers

• Secular• Moved away from life in the church• Focuses more on material objects

and enjoying life

Was it a Renaissance?• First called the Renaissance by nineteenth-century Swiss

historian Jacob Burckhardt – his ideas went unchallenged until the late 20th century

• Some historians now question the significance and existence of the Renaissance– Social history: The Renaissance only occurred among the elite – it

did not affect the lives of ordinary people– Women’s history: The Renaissance was a time of declining

freedom for women– Progressive history: Some historians argue that the era

represented nothing more than a culmination of trends that had been unfolding throughout the medieval period

Changes in Society• 1300, Black Death, starvation,

warfare had overtaken Europe• Catastrophic events, enormous loss

of life may have led to changes of the 1300s

• Decrease in population led to:– Increase in food production– Decline in food prices– More money to spend– Specialization in products

Influence of the Crusades• Increased demand for Middle Eastern

products• Stimulated production of goods to trade in

Middle Eastern markets• Encouraged the use of credit and banking• Church rule against usury and the banks’

practice of charging interest helped to secularize northern Italy

• Letters of credit served to expand the supply of money and expedite trade.

• New accounting and bookkeeping practices (using Arabic numerals) were introduced

• Italy failed to become united during the Middle Ages.

• Many independent city-states emerged in northern and central Italy that played an important role in Italian politics and art

• Milan – one of the richest cities, controlled trade through the Alps

• Genoa – Important and wealthy trade port on the Mediterranean

• Venice – a centre of trade between the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe

• Florence – Controlled by the powerful banking family the Medici who became great patrons of the arts

Major Italian Cities

• All of these cities:– Had access to trade routes

connecting Europe with Middle Eastern markets

– Served as trading centres for the distribution of goods to northern Europe

– Were initially independent city-states governed as republics

Major Italian Cities

• Banking was a major source of power and income, and the Florentine gold coin, the florin was so reliable that it was the standard coinage in Europe

• Much of Florence's wealth was dependent on the manufacture and trade of cloth, primarily wool.

Economy

The Florin

Economic Recovery• After the upheavals of the Late Middle

Ages the European economy recovered rapidly

• The centre of this economic recovery was Northern Italy where industries flourished

• New developments in mining and printing were two such industries

• Banking became a powerful new source of revenue for those families that took risks

• The Medici family of Florence would become some of the wealthiest bankers and Florence benefited greatly

Renaissance Economics• Profit-making became more

important than church doctrine• To overcome guilt, profit-

makers indulge in philanthropy• Influence of guilds declining• High profits led to economic

diversification

• “Cottage Industry”• Art became the way to

advertise economic success

• Intensified commercial competition created need to be efficient

Renaissance Economics

• As the economy and society changed, new ideas began to appear

• This period of interest and developments in art, literature, science and learning is known as the Renaissance – French for “rebirth”

Renaissance Ideas

Inspiration from the Ancients• Venetian ships carried

goods for trade and Greek scholars seeking refuge

• Scholars brought ancient works thought to be lost

Renaissance Ideas

New World Ideas• Italians who could read

looked for more information

• Read Arabic translations of original texts

• Searched libraries, found lost texts

Renaissance Ideas

Different Viewpoints• As they read, they

began to think about philosophy, art, and science in different ways

• Began to believe in human capacity to create, achieve

Renaissance Ideas

Causes of the Renaissance• Increased trade with Asia and other regions as a result of

the Crusades• Growth of large, wealthy city-states in Italy• Renewed interest in classical learning of ancient Greece

and Rome• Rise of rich and powerful merchants, who became

patrons of the arts• Increased desire for scientific and technical knowledge• Desire to beautify cities

Objectives• During the Middle Ages:

– Find God– Prove pre-conceived

ideas• During the Renaissance

– Find Man– Promote learning

"The Renaissance gave birth to the modern era, in that it was in this era that human beings first began to think of themselves as individuals. In the early Middle Ages, people had been happy to see themselves simply as parts of a greater whole – for example, as members of a great family, trade guild, nation, or Church. This communal consciousness of the Middle Ages gradually gave way to the individual consciousness of the Renaissance."

– McGrath, Alister, In the Beginning, Anchor Books (2001), p.38.

Humanism• Pursuit of individualism

– Recognition that humans are created– Appreciation of art as a product of man

• Basic culture needed for all• Life could be enjoyable• Love of the classical past, i.e. Ancient

Greece and Rome

Early Humanists• Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino da Verona• Vittorino opened a school called La Giocosa (the House

of Joy)– Sons of nobility as well as poor boys selected for their ability could

study there– Studied classical writers as well as trained in physical activities

such as riding and fencing• Guarino believed students should enjoy learning

– Encouraged students to learn Ancient Greek and Latin– His goal was to produce scholars who would continue to learn

throughout their lives• Both Vittorino and Guarino did much to emphasize the

importance of the individual

Francesco Petrarch• 1304 to 1374• Trained as a lawyer• Fell in love with a married

woman who became the focus of his poetry

• Wrote 400 sonnets to her honour

Francesco Petrarch• Petrarch’s emphasis on

earthly physical love and living an active life – significant break with medieval ideas

• Questioned monastic life believing clergy would be more useful working in society

Baldesar Castiglione• 1478-1529• Wrote The Book of the

Courtier• Humanist Ideal

– Knowledgeable about warfare

– Refined– Cultured– Educated

Baldesar Castiglione• Our Courtier will be

considered excellent and in all things will have grace, especially in speaking, if he shuns affectation

– Castiglione

Literature• Literature flourished

during the Renaissance• This can be greatly

attributed to Johannes Gutenberg

• In 1455 Gutenberg printed the first book produced b using moveable type

• Dutch humanist – 1466-1536• Pushed for a Vernacular (common

language) form of the Bible• “I disagree very much with those who

are unwilling that Holy Scripture, translated into the vernacular, be read by the uneducated…As if the strength of the Christian religion consisted in the ignorance of it”

» The Praise of Folly• Used humor to show the immoral and

ignorant behaviour of people, including the clergy. He felt people would be open-minded and be kind to others

Erasmus

• The leading humanist of the age• Studied ancient languages

– Translated the New Testament• Criticized Martin Luther

– …Free Will and Hyperaspistes• In Praise of Folly

– His major work and most famous written work

– Written in classical style– Discoursed on the foolishness and

misguided pompousness of the world

Erasmus

“There are also those who think that there is nothing that they cannot obtain by relying on the magical prayers and charms thought up by some charlatan for the sake of his soul or for profit. Among the things they want are: wealth, honor, pleasure, plenty, perpetual good health, long life, a vigorous old age, and finally, a place next to Christ in heaven. However, they do not want that place until the last possible second; heavenly pleasures may come only when the pleasures of this life, hung onto with all possible tenacity, must finally depart. I can see some businessman, soldier, or judge taking one small coin from all his money and thinking that it will be proper expiation for all his perjury, lust, drunkenness, fighting, murder, fraud, lying and treachery. After doing this, he thinks he can start a new round of sinning with a new slate.”

— Erasmus in Praise of Folly

Sir Thomas More• 1478 to 1535• English Humanist• Wrote Utopia – a book about a

perfect society– Men and women would live in

harmony– No private property– No one is lazy, all people are

educated– The justice system is used to end

crime instead of executing criminals