Social-Renaissance

• The Plague/Black Death/Bubonic Plague


  A deadly disease that spread across Europe in the 14th century
• Arrival of the plague

  1. Ship from Italy arrived in Messina

  2. Dockworkers surprised by sick sailors

  3. Many people on ship dead or dying

  4. Symptoms included black/purplish blotches and swellings

  5. Dying coughing, moaning, vomiting blood
• Anyone near the sick fell ill as well
• At most half of Europe died from the Black Death
• Medieval Country Life


  • Peasants lived in rural villages in a manor
  • Assigned strips of land to farm
  • Worked together to harvest each other's land
  • Had to turn over some production to the noble/lord
  • Ordered to do work for the noble
  • Uneducated, manor was the limit of their life experience
  • Some were Freemen, most were Serfs who couldn't leave without permission
• Town Life


  • Most towns were farm communities near monasteries, palaces, and castles
  • Crowded, dirty, and rat filled places
  • Offered freedom and opportunity
  • Runaway Serfs could gain freedom after staying a year and a day
  • Talented peasants could work in their talent, unskilled could learn trades
  • Peasants worked as servants or labourers for the wealthy merchant class
  • Guilds controlled prices, set standards, and decided who could join
• Women's Roles


  • In rural areas worked in fields, wove cloth, cooked, preserved food
  • In towns could work alongside husbands or sell goods
  • Could inherit property and guild memberships
  • Could become masters of crafts in textile industries and brewing
  • Merchant's daughters could go to school
  • Noble women had the fewest rights, had arranged marriages
• Population in the rural areas of Canada's prairie provinces decreased as many people moved to big cities
• People find it hard to live in rural areas in developing countries due to war, drought, and being driven from their land
• The feudal system worked for many centuries but eventually began to disappear
• The Peasants' Revolts


  1. England and France broke into the Hundred Years War in 1337

  2. Peasants upset by high rents and taxes to finance the war

  3. Revolts in England and France put down by authorities

  4. Peasants banded together and killed nobles, burned manor houses
• The Black Death


  • Millions died, creating a severe labour shortage, many estates bankrupt
  • Nobles could hold onto manors and sell/rent land to Serfs
  • Serfs had obligations released from lords
  • Peasants had more options, some stayed, some headed to towns
• Time and Money

  • People's activities used to be based on sun, seasons, not exact time
  • Mechanical clocks developed in early 1300s to tell time for merchants, business people
• Wealth in Society


  • Society became less rigid, people could move up socially
  • Power and position of merchants, middle class based on money not land
  • People focused on enjoying material possessions, not just displaying wealth
  • Wealthy wore extravagant clothing, had large homes, used luxury goods to show status
  • Desire for luxury goods led to expansion of international trade
  • Sumptuary laws prevented poor from buying/wearing rich clothing
• Religion


  • Black Death made people question faith in God
  • Religion was central to people's lives, they hoped for a better afterlife
  • Church hierarchy included Pope, archbishops, bishops, priests, parishioners
• Cathedrals


  • Showed the wealth of the church
  • Over 1500 built in France 900-1000 AD
  • Bishops and citizens proud of construction
  • Competitions between cities to build most beautiful
  • Involved hundreds of skilled craftsmen
• Monastic Life/Convent


  • Monasteries for men (monks), convents for women (nuns)
  • Lived lives studying texts, praying, working, caring for sick/poor, teaching children
• Learning and the Church

  • Most lower class were illiterate, monks/nuns educated
  • Monasteries became leading centres of education
  • Universities taught grammar, geometry, astronomy, music, religion, law, medicine
  • Women not permitted to attend university until late 1800s
  • Other religions in Europe were Islam and Judaism
• Changing Attitudes Towards Religion

  • Black Death made people question faith in God
  • Criticism of church's wealth and land ownership, tithes
  • Worldly pleasures became more important, society less rigidly organised
• Renaissance


  Historical period of 1350-1750, known for great artistry and scientific developments, started in Italy
• Renaissance People


  • Martin Luther - German religious reformer
  • Nicholas Copernicus - Polish astronomer, father of modern astronomy
  • Leonardo da Vinci - architect, inventor, painter, genius
  • Vasco da Gama - Portuguese explorer, started Age of Exploration
  • Christine de Pisan - French poet, philosopher, advocated for women's rights
  • Francois the First - supported Renaissance architecture
• The Rise of International Trade

  • Silk Road trade route across Asia with intercultural contact
  • Crusades increased trade, Europeans gained ideas from Muslim societies
• Moving Goods and Resources

  • Goods and resources moved by ships, boats, beasts of burden
  • Trade routes along networks of lakes, rivers, seas, some in North America
  • Genoese, Dutch, Venetian ships traded the most
• Italian City States


  • Italy was a collection of politically independent city states
  • Most successful were Florence, Venice, Genoa
  • Advantages included geography near water, mild climate, autonomous leadership, social organization
• lk road days. Resources were exchanged for other resources. Ie. Minerals, timber, fish, fur, grain, cloth, wine, olive oil. Genoese, Dutch, and Venetian ships traded the most. TRade routes usually were along networks of lakes, rivers, and seas- some were in North America.
• City state


  A city that is politically independent from one another
• Hinterland


  The rural area surrounding a city state
• Successful city states around 1350-1500

  • Florence
  • Venice
  • Genoa
• Reasons why city states were successful

  • Geography: close to a body of water
  • Climate: milder than rest of Europe, longer growing season
  • Leadership: each had own government and army, controlled own affairs
  • Social Organization: hierarchy more fluid, easier to move between stations
• Competition between city states

  Can bring out the best but also cause conflict
• Rivalry between Venice and Genoa


  • Competed for control of Mediterranean trade
  • Venice defeated Genoa in 1380
• Merchants


  Made money by purchasing goods and selling them for a higher price in different places
• During the Middle Ages the Church thought the act of usury was sinful. But in the renaissance the Church changed its attitude and began to charge interest to encourage international trade.
• Banking


  Became very prevalent and influential in Italy, with the Medici family as one of the main families
• Humanism


  A renaissance cultural movement which turned away from mediaeval scholasticism and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman thought
• Humanist beliefs


  • Stress the potential value and goodness of human beings
  • Emphasise common human needs
  • Seek solely rational ways of solving problems
• Humanist ideas mostly spread through wealthy people as they were the only ones who were literate
• Rules of Behavior


  • Ten Commandments (Christian)
  • Code of Long Life and Wisdom (First Nations of Canada)
• Humanist Beliefs


  • You should pray for a sound mind and a sound body
  • To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days
  • The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead
• Examples of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations still found today

  • Aqueducts
  • Poetry and literature - Drama, Law, Democracy
  • Philosophy - Aristotle, Plato
  • Architecture