Ryan Fabriziani's Western Civilization Blog: Textbook Notes

Northern Renaissance Begins

Artistic Ideas Spread

In 1494 a French king claimed the throne of Naples in southern Italy and attacked northern Italy
Artist fled north and brought with them culture of Renaissance
Artist from up north studying in Italy took their knowledge to their homelands

German Painters

Albrecht Durer did this
Carved and painted religious objects and landscapes
Realism
Hans Holbein the Young did this with portraits and painted pictures of the English Royal Family

Flemish Painters

The support of wealthy merchant family in Flanders made it the artistic center of Northern Europe
Famous Flander Renaissance painter Jan Van Eyck oil painted on pre mature newly painted walls
By using this, he could create a variety of subtle colors in colors
Oil painting became popular in Italy
In 1550, Flamish painting reached its peak when Pieter Bruegel the Elder created realistic paintings of everyday peasant life

Northern Writers Try to Reform Society

Italian Humanist wanted to reform society to its former glory
the northern Humanist were critical of the failure of the Catholic Church and wanted to convert people to Christianity
The focus of Christian Humanism was to reform society and education
Women were able to learn and they founded boys and girls schools

Christian Humanist

Desiderius Erasmus of Holland and Thomas More of England, close friends and Christian Humanist
Erasmus in 1509 wrote, The Praise of the Folly
book poked greedy merchant, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and pompous priests
He believed in Christianity of heart, not ceremonies or rituals
He thought people had to read bible to reform society
More wrote, Utopia
About imaginary land where greed, corruption and war are no more
In the book, money was of little use
His work was translated into many languages as it was very popular

Women's Reforms

Women did not read or write
Christine de Pizan was one of the first educated women and earned a living as a writer
Wrote in french, short stories, book, novels, biographies, manuals on military technique
The Book of the City Ladies
wrote of objections men had of educated women
one of the first of writers to questions differences of sexes
Her goals of equality did not happen for a long time

The Elizabethan Age

William Shakespeare

Regarded as greatest playwright of all time
Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon
In 1592 he was in England writing poems and plays and soon would be performing in Globe Theatre
Revered classics and drew on them for inspiration and plot
Works display a masterful command of the English language
Revealed souls of Men and Women in scenes of dramatic conflict
Plays examine human flaws
Macbeth
Hamlet
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
King Lear

The Legacy of the Renaissance

Changes in Arts

Changes in Society

Printing made information more available and inexpensive
More books caused more desire to learn
Published accounts of new discoveries, maps, and charts led to further discoveries in a variety of fields
Published legal proceedings made people understand their rights more
Christian Humanists' attempts to reform society changed views about howl life should be lived
People began to question political structures and religious practices

1. a. Thomas More wrote a book called Utopia, which was about an imaginary land where many of the negative aspects of life were no more

b. William Shakespeare was a famous playwright who lived during the Elizabethan Era

c. Johann Gutenburg created the printing press, which made it easier and less expensive to distribute information

3. Durer's work proved that Italian Renaissance culture had a great influence on Northern European society

4. Printing made information more available and inexpensive

5. The printing press made it easy to spread information and religious pieces at an inexpensive rate

Ryan Fabriziani's Western Civilization Blog