Renaissance, Byzantine Empire

• Renaissance period:

  • Art in the Renaissance helps understand concepts in other disciplines like science and math
• Plague in the Middle Ages:

  • Depopulation reduced the workforce, improving the lives of serfs
  • Survivors could negotiate for pay and better treatment
  • Uprisings against efforts to return serfs to previous conditions
• Renaissance artists:

  • Subjects and techniques used in paintings
  • Style used by artists like Michelangelo
  • Leonardo da Vinci as a true Renaissance man
  • Raphael known for perspective
• Humanism in the Renaissance:

  • Focus on human potential and achievements
  • Artists and scientists contributing to society
  • Popularization of humanities subjects like history, literature, and philosophy
• Worldly pleasures in the Renaissance:

  • Humanists suggested enjoying life without offending God
  • Basic spirit of Renaissance society was secular and concerned with the present
  • Church leaders also became more worldly
• In 330 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine shifted the center of power from the western half of the Roman Empire to the Eastern half
• Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium to be the new capital of the empire, naming it Constantinople
• The Byzantine Empire flourished for another 1,000 years after the fall of the western Roman Empire
• Constantinople was located on the Bosporus Strait between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea
• Constantinople was the most important city for trade for hundreds of years
• At its height, the Byzantine Empire stretched across parts of Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa
• Justinian, who ruled from 527 to 565 A.D., reconquered land in the western Roman Empire and expanded the Byzantine Empire to control North Africa, Italy, and the southern Iberian peninsula
• Justinian's Code was a collection and organization of all the laws of ancient Rome, which had a great impact on the formation of strong government in Western Europe
• Justinian rebuilt Constantinople and his most famous building was the church of Hagia Sophia, which was later converted to a mosque and is now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey
• The Great Schism led to the split between eastern and western Christianity, resulting in the Eastern, or Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church
• The Byzantine Empire preserved Greek and Roman civilization during the Middle Ages, blending Christian religious beliefs with Greek science, philosophy, arts, and literature
• Byzantine civilization influenced the development of religion and culture in Russia, leading to the adoption of eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Cyrillic alphabet, and onion-shaped domes in architecture
• Genghis Khan united the Mongols in the early 1200s and took control of Russian towns, ruling with absolute power for 150 years
• Ivan III, known as Ivan the Great, brought most of northern Russia under his control and adopted many Byzantine practices, including the title of Tsar
• Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, limited the power of the boyars, tied serfs to the land, and used extreme measures to root out disloyalty, earning him the nickname "Ivan the Terrible"