Outline 1

Ranvir Salaria
European History
Red 1
September 17 2021
Chapter #1, pgs. 37 – 43

Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

I. Italy’s Advantages
A. City States
1. The growth of large city-states in Northern Italy had been spurred
by the high amount of overseas trade which occurred post-Crusades.
Thus, northern Italy was largely urban, while the rest of Europe was
still mostly rural.
2. Since cities are often places where people share ideas, they were an
ideal breeding ground for an intellectual revolution, i.e., the
Renaissance
B. Merchants and the Medici
1. A wealthy merchant class developed in each Italian city-state. Due to
the small size of these city-states, a high percentage of the citizens
could be actively involved in political life.
2. During this period, merchants dominated politics. Unlike the nobles,
they did not inherit social rank. Instead, they had to use their own
wits in order to succeed. As a result, many successful merchants
believed that they deserved power and wealth because of their
individual merit.
3. The main merchant family was a powerful banking family in
Florence named the Medici. Cosimo de Medici was the wealthiest
man in Europe. By giving loans to the ruling council of Florence, he
coerced them into putting him in power.
C. Looking to Greece and Rome
1. Renaissance scholars looked down on the art and literature of the
Middle Ages. Instead, they wanted to return to the learnings of the
Greeks and Romans.
 2. They did this by studying the ruins of Ancient Rome around them
and by studying ancient manuscripts that had been preserved in
monasteries.

II. Classical and Worldly Values

A. Classics lead to Humanism
1. The studies of classical texts led to humanism, an intellectual
movement that focused on human potential and achievements.
2. Humanists studied these classical texts to understand ancient Greek
values.
B. Worldly Pleasures
1. In Renaissance Italy, the wealthy enjoyed material luxuries, good
music and fine foods.
C. Patrons of the Arts
1. Church leaders during the Renaissance beautified Rome and other
cities by spending huge amounts of money for art. They became
patrons of the arts by financially supporting artists.
2. Renaissance merchants and wealthy families were also patrons of
the arts.
D. The Renaissance Man
1. Renaissance writers said that every man should be able to create art
if he was educated.
2. He should be charming, witty, and well educated in the classics.
E. The Renaissance Woman
1. Women were also supposed to know the classics and be charming.
Yet they were expected to inspire art but rarely to create it.
2. Even though upper-class Renaissance women were better educated
than medieval women, they still had little influence in politics.

III. The Renaissance Revolutionizes Art

A. Realistic Painting and Sculpture
1. Artists such as Michelangelo Buonarotti used a realistic style when
depicting the human body.
2. Donatello also made sculpture more realistic by carving natural
postures and expressions that reveal personality. He revived a
classical form in his statue of David who, according to the Bible,
became a great king.
 B. Leonardo, Renaissance Man
1. Leonardo da Vinci was a true “Renaissance man” as he was a painter,
sculptor, inventor and scientist all at one.
2. Among his many masterpieces, Leonardo painted one of the best-
known portraits in the world, the Mona Lisa. The woman in the
portrait seems extremely realistic, to the point that it seems a real
woman is staring back at you.
C. Raphael Advances Realism
1. Raphael learned from studying the works of Michelangelo and
Leonardo. He was famous for his use of perspective.
2. His greatest achievement was filling the walls of Pope Julius II’s
library with paintings. One of these, School of Athens, conveys the
influence of the classics on the Renaissance.
D. Anguissola and Gentileschi
1. Renaissance society generally restricted women’s roles. However, a
few Italian women became notable painters.
2. Two accomplished female artists during the Renaissance were
Anguissola, who was the first female artist to gain an international
reputation and the other was Gentileschi who painted pictures
mostly of strong, heroic women.

IV. Renaissance Writes Change Literature

A. Petrarch and Boccaccio
1. Petrarch was one of the earliest and most influential humanists.
Some have called him the father of Renaissance humanism. He was
also a great poet. Petrarch wrote in both Italian and Latin. He most
famously wrote sonnets in Italian and letters to many important
friends in Latin.
2. Boccaccio is most famous for the Decameron, a series of realistic,
sometimes off-colour stories.
B. Machiavelli Advises Rulers
1. “The Prince” (1513) by Niccolo Machiavelli was by far his most
famous work in which he examines the imperfect nature of living of
human beings. It does so by taking the form of a political guidebook.
2. Machiavelli examines how a ruler can gain power and keep it in spite
of his enemies. In answering this question, he began with the idea
that most people are selfish, fickle, and corrupt.
 3. In this book, Machiavelli was not concerned with what was morally
right, but with what was politically effective.
C. Vittoria Colonna
1. The female writers who gained fame during the Renaissance usually
wrote about personal subjects, not politics. Yet, some of them had
great influence.
2. One such writer was Vittoria Colonna, who exchanged sonnets with
Michelangelo and helped Castiglione publish “The Courtier”. Her own
poems expressed personal emotions.