ch 3 and 4

• The Renaissance started 

  in the wealthy Italian city-states. Through intercultural contact, traders on the Silk Road brought back scrolls from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Together with the knowledge gained from the Muslim World on the Silk Road, they began to apply these ideas to Europe.
• Humanist ideas spread mainly among the new wealthy middle class
• Francesco Petrarch came across some of these ancient Greek and Roman scrolls and loved the ideas within them.  He thought these times were far superior to the Medieval 

  world – which he called a dark age in 

  Europe’s past. 

  He came up with the term Renaissance, meaning “rebirth” of the ideas and values of these ancient times. Europeans liked these ideas and they began to spread.
• Key Humanist beliefs:

  • the dignity and potential of the individual
  • That  people could shape their lives through their own efforts and talents
  • Human beings could use the power of reason to think and find the truth

      for themselves

  • It is important for a person to have an open, curious and questioning 

      mind 

  • People can achieve great things through learning
  • Individuals should be skilled in many different areas – mind, body and 

      spirit
• • Civic Humanism was the idea that public service was the duty of everyone
  • Strong Leadership came to be very important in the Renaissance.
  • Strong leaders would bring peace and stability that would allow business and the arts to prosper 
  • Civic humanism also encouraged citizens to participate in government (the beginnings of democracy)
• Humanists also placed emphasis on education. They 

  believed it was important to train young people’s 

  characters and bodies as well as their minds. This approach 

  to education was called educating the whole child. 

  Humanists also encouraged a curious, questioning attitude 

  in their students.
• patrons - people who paid artists to produce works
• Renaissance artists used to the following components in their works:

  • Elements of the natural world  - Realistic details
  • Light and shadow                      - three dimensional perspective
  • Texture and pattern                   - Elegance
• • Humanism encouraged people to question and experiment, and to have open and curious minds. This led to advances in science. 
  • The process of making observations, experimenting, and drawing conclusions based on evidence is known as the scientific method. The use of the scientific method led to discoveries in many areas of science during the Renaissance. 
  • The most important advances were in astronomy, medicine and mathematics
• During the Renaissance, medical knowledge 

  grew, particularly in anatomy and surgery. 

  Scientists and doctors began to apply 

  the scientific method to make new discoveries 

  about the human body and how it worked

  During the Renaissance, dissection 

  was also made legal for the purposes of 

  study.
• Galileo and other astronomers of the Renaissance permanently changed people’s worldview and the way they looked at the universe
• Gutenberg  developed a printing press that allowed books to be produced quickly and cheaply.

  Using this new  technology, printers could produce thousands of books in the time it had once taken to make a single copy.

  This new technology also allowed books to be  printed on paper, which was much less expensive than parchment
• Instead of printing books only in Latin more books and especially translations of the bible were printed in a variety of languages

  Now that books were cheaper and more accessible, middle class people began to read, discuss and eventually write about the exciting ideas of their time
• Europeans liked these ancient ideas and began to apply them to Europe. This was the birth of humanisim.
• Humanists believed that public service was the duty of everyone.  This belief contributes to what is called civic humanism.
• Humanists influenced the Renaissance in the emphasis they placed on education.  Many humanists were teachers who ran their own schools.  They believed it was important to train  peoples’ minds and bodies as well as their characters.
• Isabella D’este was a great leader and was known as a Renaissance Lady. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote the novel “The Prince” as a guidebook for leaders and how to keep their power: “The end justifies the means”. Savonarala was the unofficial religious leader of Florence and was very critical of the Pope for abusing his power and suggested the people make the Bonfire of the Vanities.
• Petrarch and the other scholars thought that in 

  order to be a truly cultured  person, you must read good 

  books and look at great works of art
• economy

  the wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services.