Unit 13: The Renaissance (or should that be plural?).
readings:
Hunt, The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, ch. 14 (pp. 505-544).
QUIZ on Key Terms in Hunt, p. 544.
Questions on Hunt
Ch. 14 (pp. 505-544)
1. What was "Humanism"? Were Humanists hostile to Christianity? And why was the invention of the printing press important to the spread of Humanist ideas?
2. In what sense/ways was the work of Leonardi da Vinci an excellent example of the "Renaissance" in the arts in the 1400s? How had the "business" of art changed and how did the subjects and approach of artists change? (Was all this related somehow to Humanism? Explain!)
3. What aspects of life in Florence demonstrate the growing disparities between social classes during the Renaissance, and in what ways did the Renaissance state become involved in the details of people's private lives?
4. How did thinking about the nature and uses of political power change during the Renaissance?
5. OK--this question is hard! Think about all of the sections on politics and the state during the Renaissance (pp. 521-531, on the Republics and principalities of Italy, the monarchies in Burgundy, England, Spain, France, Poland-Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire). What common pattern can we find to described what happened in all of these places? Use Florence, England, and France for specific examples that demonstrate this pattern?
6. What European countries were most active in maritime exploration and expansion, and what were their motivations?
BIG QUESTION: Think about the entire chapter. Is there a common thread, something that ties together the goals of the humanists, the goals of Renaissance artists, the "new" approach to politics, and European exploration and conquests in the Americas, Asia, and Africa? Explain.