THE

RENAISSANCE
Samara Bhatnagar, Pragyapramita,
Lalrinsangi, Pavneet Kaur

Xl B
 Table of contents
01 02 03

Acknowledgements
Project overview NCERT based info

04 05 06
Summary and
Extra info Bibliography
conclusions
 Project Overview
The main aim of this presentation is to show the various factors that led to the rise
of humanism, the views of the humanists, and how it affected the religious
teachings, the architecture, and various sections of society. More importance was
given to other fields of study like poetry, moral philosophy, etc and people started
to develop a sense of history. Artists and writers were patronized by the rich and
aristocrats, and Florence, Venice, and Rome became the centres of art and
learning. Religion also became an individual’s choice, and more scientific
discoveries were being made by scientists that proved the teaching of the church
to be completely false.
 Time Period
14th Century - 17th Century

Sources of
information
Documents, printed books,
paintings, sculptors,
buildings,textiles
What led to the rise of city-
states in Italy?
After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was no unified government, and the
Pope in Rome, who was sovereign in his state, was not a strong political figure
in the state
While Eastern Europe was being reshaped by feudal bonds and unified under
the Latin Church, and Eastern Europe under the Byzantine Empire, and Islam
was creating a common civilisation further west, Italy was weak and
fragmented. These developments helped in the revival of Italian culture.
With the expansion of trade between the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic
countries, the ports on the Italian coast revived.
Universities and
Humanism
The earliest universities in Europe were set up in Italian
towns
The universities of Padua and Bologna had been
centres of legal studies from the 11th C
Commerce being the chief activity in the city, there
was an increasing demand for lawyers and notaries to
write and interpret rules and written agreement
Law was therefore a popular subject of study
But there was a shift in emphasis, it was studied in the
context of earlier Roman culture
Important
Figures
Francesco Petrarch
Father of Humanism

He stressed the importance of close reading of ancient

authors as antiquity was a distinctive civilisation that
could be best understood through the actual words of
the ancient Greeks and Romans
Medici Family
Godfathers of Humanism

The Medici family, also known as the House of Medici,

first attained wealth and political power in Florence,
Italy, in the 13th century through its success in commerce
and banking. Beginning in 1434 with the rise to power of
Cosimo de Medici (or Cosimo the Elder), the family’s
patronage of the arts and humanities made Florence
into the cradle of the Renaissance, Europe’s scientific,
artistic and cultural rebirth.
 HUMANISM
A term used by historians in the 19th C to label the
culture that developed during the Renaissance, which
emphasized the importance of skills and interests
developed by individuals through discussions and
debates, and not only the religious teachings of the
church
Humanists: Masters who taught grammar,
rhetoric,poetry,history and moral philosophy
Revolutionary ideas like humanism attracted attention in many other universities, particularly in
the university in Petrarch's home-town Florence
In the 15th C, Florence became known because of Dante Alighieri, a layman who wrote on
religious themes
And Giotto, an artist who painted lifelike portraits, very different from the still figures done by
earlier artists
From then on, it developed as the most exciting intellectual city in Italy and as a centre of
artistic creativity
RENAISSANCE MAN: A person with many interests and skills
 GIOTTO DI BONDONE
Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle
Ages
The great Florentine painter Cimabue discovered Giotto drawing
pictures of his sheep on a rock. They were so lifelike that Cimabue
approached Giotto and asked if he could take him on as an
apprentice.
He achieved great fame in his lifetime, and he is considered the
father of European painting for introducing new ideals of naturalism
and humanity, three-dimensional space, and three-dimensional form
 DANTE ALIGHIERI
Dante is known for establishing the use of the
vernacular in literature at a time when most poetry
was written in Latin, which was accessible only to
educated readers. His use of the Florentine
dialect for works such as The New Life (1295) and
Divine Comedy helped establish the modern-day
standardized Italian language. By writing his poem
in the Italian vernacular rather than in Latin, Dante
influenced the course of literary development,
making Italian the literary language in Western
Europe for several centuries.
 The Humanist
View of History
They thought that they were restoring ‘true
civilisation’ after centuries of darkness
They believed that ‘ a dark age’ had set in after the
collapse of the Roman Empire
Scholars assumed that a ‘new age’ had begun in
Europe from the 14th C
The term ‘Middle Ages/Medieval Period’ was used
for the millennium
They used the word ‘modern’ for the period from the
15th C
Role of women
Though women were inferior to men, women in different
classes had different roles. Low class women were
expected to be housewives and take care of everything to
do with the house. The expectation of working class
women was a little bit different. These women were
expected to work for their husbands and help them run
their business. They would work along side with their
husbands and then go home and take care of the house
hold. Upper class women may have had servants and
workers working for them but the women were still
expected to take care of the house hold. Women could not
work by themselves. Neither could they live alone if they
were not married. If a women was single, she was made to
move in with one of her male relatives or join a convent
and become a nun. There was no other option at this time
for women.
The Exceptions
Christine de Pizan

Catherine de' Medici The usual course of action for women at

the time would be to re-marry (or join a
convent) but instead Christine chose
what was typically a masculine path –
she took up writing in order to support
her family. She began by writing poems
Catherine de’Medici was the queen
written to the memory of her husband,
consort of Henry II of France (who
which proved successful. She won the
reigned from 1547-59) and the regent of
respect of aristocrats who later became
her France (1650-74) on behalf of her
her patrons, and who provided a steady
young son. The mother of three kings of
income that allowed her to support her
France (Francis II, Charles IX and Henry
children.
III), she is one of the most formidable
personalities of this time and is thought
ot have been heavily involved in the the
famous Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s
Day in 1572.
 Timeline

5th-9th C 9th-11thC 11th-14thC 15th C

onwards
The Dark The Early The Late
The Modern
Ages Middle Middle
Ages
Ages Ages
 Debates
within
Christianity
FIFTEENTH AND EARLY
SIXTEENTH CENTURIES
In the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,
many scholars in universities in north Europe
were attracted to humanist ideas

Unlike professional scholars in Italy, humanism attracted

many members of the Church. They were against
unnecessary rituals and called the Christians to practice
religion in the way laid down in the ancient texts of their
religion.

Some humanists felt that the Church

had become an institution of greed.
 The Humanist Movement in Italy

Some Christian humanists, such as Thomas More (1478-1535) in England

and Erasmus (1466-1536) in Holland, believed that the Church had
devolved into a greedy institution that extorted money from ordinary
people at will.

One of the favourite methods of the clergy was to sell ‘indulgences’,

documents that apparently freed the buyer from the burden of the sins
he had committed.

Christians came to realise from printed translations of the Bible in local

languages that their religion did not permit such practices.

Peasants began to rebel against the taxes imposed by the Church in

every part of Europe.
 Martin Luther (1483-1546)

He was German monk who launched a campaign

against the Catholic Church in 1517. He argued that
there was no need of priests to establish a contact
with God. This movement was called the Protestant
Movement. It led to the churches in Germany and
Switzerland breaking their connection with the Pope
and the Catholic Church. Martin Luther had greater
popular appeal in towns, while the Catholic Church
managed to retain influence in rural areas.
 Copernican Revolution
The turning point in European science came with the work of Only more than half a century later the ideas were accepted
Copernicus (1473-1543) (a contemporary of Martin Luther) The difference between ‘heaven’ and earth was bridged
Christians believed that the earth was a sinful place and the through the writings of astronomers like Johannes Kepler
heavy burden of sin made it immobile. The earth stood at the (1571-1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
centre of the universe around which moved the celestial planets. The theory of the earth as part of a sun-centred system was
Copernicus asserted that the planets, including the Earth, rotate made popular by Kepler’s Cosmographical Mystery, which
around the sun demonstrated that the planets move around the sun not in
A devout Christian, Copernicus was afraid of the possible circles but in ellipses
reaction to his theory by traditionalist clergymen Galileo confirmed the notion of the dynamic world in his
For this reason, he did not want his manuscript, De work The Motion
Revolutionibus (The Rotation) to be printed. This revolution in science reached its climax with Isaac
On his deathbed, he gave it to his follower, Joachim Rheticus Newton’s theory of gravitation.
 Reading the universe

In the minds of sceptics and non-believers, God began to be

The work of some thinkers showed that knowledge, as replaced by Nature as the source of creation.
distinct from belief, was based on observation and Even those who retained their faith in God started talking about
experiments a distant God who does not directly regulate the act of living in
Once these scientists had shown the way, experiments and the material world
investigations into what came to be called physics, Such ideas were popularised through scientific societies that
chemistry and biology expanded rapidly established a new scientific culture in the public domain.
Historians were to label this new approach to the The Paris Academy, established in 1670 and the Royal Society in
knowledge of man and nature the Scientific Revolution. London for the promotion of natural knowledge, formed in 1662,
held lectures and conducted experiments for public viewing.
 Was there a
European
‘Renaissance’ in the
Fourteenth Century?
Recent writers, like Peter Burke of England, have suggested that Burckhardt was
exaggerating the sharp difference between this period and the one that preceded it,
by using the term ‘Renaissance’, which implies that the Greek and Roman
civilisations were reborn at this time, and that scholars and artists of this period
substituted the pre-Christian worldview for the Christian one.
Scholars in earlier centuries had been familiar with Greek and Roman cultures, and
religion continued to be a very important part of people’s lives.
To contrast the Renaissance as a period of dynamism and artistic creativity, and the
Middle Ages as a period of gloom and lack of development is an over-simplification
Many elements associated with the Renaissance in Italy can be traced back to the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It has been suggested by some historians that in
the ninth century in France, there had been similar literary and artistic blossoming.
 The cultural changes in Europe at this time were not shaped only by the
‘classical’ civilisation of Rome and Greece. The archaeological and literary
recovery of Roman culture did create a great admiration of that civilisation. But
technologies and skills in Asia had moved far ahead of what the Greeks and
Romans had known
The expansion of Islam and the Mongol conquests had linked Asia and North
Africa with Europe, not politically but in terms of trade and of learning skills.
The Europeans learned not just from the Greeks and Romans, but from India,
from Arabia, from Iran, from Central Asia and China. These debts were not
acknowledged for a long time because when the history of this period started to
be written, historians saw it from a Europe-centred viewpoint.
An important change that did happen in this period was that gradually the
‘private’ and the ‘public’ spheres of life began to become separate: the ‘public’
sphere meant the area of government and of formal religion; the ‘private’ sphere
included the family and personal religion
Another development was that the different regions of Europe started to have
their separate sense of identity, based on language.
 The renaissance was
caused by...

Conclusions Translations of ancient texts revived Classical wisdom in Europe in the 1100s. Humanism and St.
Francis of Assisi influenced scholars and artists. Constantinople fell in 1453. The printing press
emerged in the mid-15th century. Nicolaus Copernicus sparked a revolution by asserting that
planets orbit the Sun. Florence's wealthy merchants supported art and introduced oil painting.
Popes Julius II and Leo X commissioned notable works for the Catholic Church during the High
Renaissance.

Significance of the
renaissance
The Renaissance (15th-17th centuries) marked Europe's shift from medieval ideas to the modern era. It revived
Classical learning, challenged old beliefs, and spurred economic growth, trade, and new ideas. Italy, a wealthy
trading hub, led this movement, fostering education, arts, and scientific advancements. The printing press
revolutionized information sharing. In Italy, universities like Padua emphasized anatomy studies for artists and
doctors to create realistic human figures in art, reflecting Greek and Roman influences.

Affect on present day

The Renaissance, a period of cultural revival, impacted the modern world significantly. It
sparked a renewed appreciation for fine arts and scientific advancements, preserving and
expanding cultural experiences. It emphasized the use of vernacular languages in various fields
like arts, governance, law, and religion. Inspired by Ancient Greek and Roman cultures, the
Renaissance thrived. The influential Medici family notably supported and promoted the arts,
leaving a lasting legacy in this transformative era.
Conclusions
Key concepts

Rebirth of classicism, humanism, rationalism, expansion of the university

system, individualism,

Significance of the
renaissance
The Renaissance (15th-17th centuries) marked Europe's shift from
medieval ideas to the modern era. It revived Classical learning,
challenged old beliefs, and spurred economic growth, trade, and new
ideas. Italy, a wealthy trading hub, led this movement, fostering
education, arts, and scientific advancements. The printing press
revolutionized information sharing. In Italy, universities like Padua
emphasized anatomy studies for artists and doctors to create realistic
human figures in art, reflecting Greek and Roman influences.
 Bibliography
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revolution/
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THANK
YOU!