The Last Blog

         Just finished the Western Civ. exam. It was not very difficult at all, I can't remember anything I could have gotten wrong, but the main issue with the exam was that you changed one of the essay questions. On the study guide, the question about Rome was different. "What brought about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and are there parallels with life in twenty-first century America?" This was not much of a problem because the one I wrote on the exam ended up being better than my outline, but I could not include some great points that would have been good to include. I was going to mention that America has weak neighbors which is why there are no border threats. I was also going to mention that America had Geographic luck for things such as farmland and forests. I was most likely a honest mistake so don't worry about it. It has been a great year in this class and it was one of my favorite classes. Have a great summer.

No Blog Today

No blog today. There is a German exam tomorrow and a English project due tomorrow. Also need to start studying for the Renaissance test.

This will be the worst part.

The Elizabethan Era and the Reformation

• The Elizabethan Era
• the renaissance spread to England in the mid 1500s, the Elizabethan Era
• Elizabeth reigned from 1558-1603
• Elizabeth spoke in French Italian Latin Greek
• Wrote poetry and Music
• Supported English art and Literature
• William Shakespeare
• the most famouse writer of the Elizabethan age
• born in 1564 in stratford-upon-Avon, 90 miles northwest of London
• Writing plays and poems in London by 1592
• wrote tragedies such as Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet
• Wrote comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew
• Gutenberg
• Around 1440, Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from Mainz, Germany, developed a printing press.
• the bible was the first book printed
• Luther and the Reformation
• The church was weakened because
• Socially: the Renaissance emphasis on the secular and the individual challenged the church's authority
• The printing press helped spread these ideas
• Politically: Some rulers (especially the Germans) began to challenge the church’s political power
• economically: northern merchants resented paying church taxes to Rome
• What's wrong with the church?
• Corrupt leadership
• Renaissance-era popes spent extravagantly on personal pleasure
• Pope Alexander VI admitted that he fathered several children
• Many priests and monks were poorly educated
• Some priests broke there vows got married, and had children
• Some priests drank to access, many gambled
• Indulgences
• The selling of indulgences
• “Releases a sinner from performing the penalty a priest imposed for sins”
• Johann Tetzel was a monk who sold indulgences to help rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral
• A monk named Martin Luther objected to this practice 
• Martin Luther
• born in Germany 1483
• Studied in the Trivium (AP classes)-grammar, logic, and rhetoric
• Attends university of Erfurt (called it beerhouse and whorehouse)
• After getting his degree he enrolls in law school(Fathers wish)
• people die from the plague (they must have been sinful according to the church)
• Martin is on his way home and he almost gets struck by lightning
• He cries to St. Anne, and vows he will become a Monk
• Two weeks later, he drops out of school
• 1504- Joins Augustinian monastery (closed cloister)
• 1507- ordained a priest
• 1508- teaches theology at University of Wittenburg
• 1508- gets Bachelors degree; 1509- gets second degree
• 1512- becomes a doctor of theology
• Martin gets mad at the church
• Thought Tetzel was Deceiving
• He came up with 95 objectives, nailed them to the door of Wittenburg on Halloween
• the official title: "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences"
• Known as the 95 thesis
• The “95 Theses” document was copied and taken to a printer
• Within two weeks, it was all over Germany; within two months, all over Europe
• Example - Thesis 86: “Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?”
• He also objected to Tetzler saying:
•  “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory into heaven springs.”

Section 2 Textbook

• The Northern Renaissance
• By the late 1400s, renaissance spread to northern Europe especially England, France, Germany, and Flanders (France = Netherlands)
• The North
• The population of northern Europe began to grow again after years of war and plague
• After the 100 year war ended in 1453, cities grew rapidly
• MErchants became wealthy enough to sponsor artists
• England and France were united under a stronger monarch
• Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to retire in France
• Fontainbleah (Incorrect spelling) became a renaissance art showcase
• Artists were especially interested in realism
• in 1494, a french king claimed the throne of Naples and Artists fled to Northern europe
• German painters
• Albrocht Durer
• traveled to italy to study in 1496
• paintings portrayed religious subjects
• realistic landscapes
• Produced woodcuts and engravings.
• Hans Holben
• Specialized in painting portraits that are photographic in detail
• emigrated to England where he painted King Henry VII
• Flemish Painters
• Flanders became the artistic center for northern Europe
• Jan van Eyck
• First great Flemish painter
• used oil based paints
• painter still use his techniques
• layered paint to add a variety of subtle colored
• unusually realistic facial expressions
• Influenced later artists
• Peter Breugel the Elder
• When Flemish paintings reached its peak in 1550
• captured scenes of everyday peasant life
• realistic emotions
• Northern writers try to reform society
• Christian Humanism
• main goal was to reform society
• education was important
• educated women and founded the first boy and girl schools
• Desiderius Erasmus of Holland
• Wrote the Praise of Folly
• poked fun at greedy merchants, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and pompous priests
• Believed in Christianity of the Heart, not rules
• in order to improve society, people should study the bible
• Thomas More of England
• Wrote the book "Utopia"
• Utopia means "no place"
• a imaginary land where greed, corruption, and war are gone
• no use for money
• More wrote in Latin
• His works were translated in French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian
• Women's Reforms
• Majority of Europeans could not read or write
• Christine de Pizan
• The first women to earn a living as a writer
• wrote in French
• She wrote short stories, biographies, military techniques, and novels.
• Wrote the book "The city of Ladies"

Sect. 1 Textbook continued

*I am aware that most of the Italian names and words are most likely spelled wrong.

• Cosimo de Medici died in 1464 and his family continued to control Florence
• Lerenzo de Medici came to power in 1469
• Lorenzo the Magnificent
• Ways in which people were inspired by Rome and Greece
• The ruins of Rome surrounded their civilization
• Studied ancient Latin Manuscripts
• Christians fled to Rome with Greek Manuscripts
• Humanists studied classical texts to understand Greek Values
• Humanists popularized History, literature, and philosophy
• Church leaders, merchants, and wealthy families were patrons
• Baldassore Castiglone wrote the Courtier that taught how to become a renaissance man
• The Courtier taught that a young man should be
• charming
• witty
• well educated in the classics
• dance
• sing
• play music
• write poetry
• rider
• wrestler
• swordsman
• upper class women according to The Courtier
• know the classics
• charming
• inspired art
• Donnatello carved natural postures and expression aut of marble
• Leonardo da Vinci
• painter
• sculptor
• scientist
• incorporated his findings in art
• painted the Mona Lisa
• painted The Last Supper
• wrote mirrored
• 17 of his painting remained
• Rapheal Sanzio
• Famous for his use of Perspective
• filled the walls of pope Julius II's with paintings
• painted The School of Athens
• Painted artist such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, and himself
• Sodinisha Anguissola was the first woman artist and painted her sisters and king Phillip II of Spain
• Francisco Petrarch was the most influential Humanist
• He wrote 14 poems about Laura in Latin and Italian
• Giovanni Boccaccio wrote the Decmeradon
•  Realistic, off colored stories
• told by a group of young people as the plague swept through Florence
• Both tragic and Comic means of life

More Renaissance

• Isabella d'Este continued
• a fashionista, designed her own perfume
• patron of da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bellini, Correggio, and many others
• "Nativity," by Antonio da Corregio
• 1529-1530
• 101 by 74 in
• Uses Jesus as light source, he is the center of attention on the painting
• Humanism
• A deep interest in what people have already achieved, as well as what they are capable of achieving in the future
• Humanism resembles the Greek idea of arete
• secular values were concerned with here and now
• Classical Greek and Roman writings were important
• Christian values were still important but separate from secular values
• Renaissance Man & Woman
• Someone who could muster many fields of work
• Perfect Renaissance Man: Leonardo da Vinci
• Perfect Renaissance Woman- Isabella d'Este
• Art
• Sculptors
• made realistic figures called pieta
• The Pieta was carved in marble by Michelangelo from 1498-1499
• currently in St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City
• depicts Mary holding the dead body of Jesus
• Painters
• used perspective by adding shadow and depth to paintings
• Sometimes used Frescoes
• A technique of mural painting where pant is painted on freshly lane plaster
• The pigment merges with the plaster so the painting becomes part of the wall.
• Literature
• wrote in Vernacular- their native language
• Previously, most scholarly writing was Latin or Greece
• now, literature was to the masses
• Wrote to express thoughts and feelings
• examples
• Shakespeare wrote in English
• Dante Alighieri wrote about Hell in Italian. Wrote "The Divine Comedy"
• the theme of Machiavelli’s The Prince was that the aims of princes—such as glory and survival—can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends

Renaissance Continued

• After the plague people wanted to celebrate human life and spirit
• people started to question the church
• Italy's Advantages
• There was and explosion in art from 1300-1600, the renaissance
• They wanted to bring back the life and culture of classical Greek and Rome
• Innovative strides in art and literature
• Italy's 3 Advantages
• Thriving cities
• wealthy merchant class
• classical heritage from Greece and Rome
• City states were spurred by the crusades and oversea travel
• Northern Italy was Urban, the rest of Europe was Rural.
• People exchange Ideas in cities
• The bubonic plague struck in 1300, killing 60% of the population
• Merchants dominated politics, but could not inherit social Rank
• Since 1200, Florence has a Republican Government
• Florence came under the rule of wealthy Bankers called Medici
• Casino de Medici won control of the government in 1434
• He was dictator of Florence for 30 years

PowerPoint

• Northern Italy is the Birthplace of the Renaissance
• Renaissance= Rebirth
• cities were the center of the action
• Milan and Florence had wealthy merchants and Bankers
• Artists in these cities were inspired by the classical art of Greece and Rome
• Milan and Florence are important
• Merchants and Medici
• Merchants dominated political life
• the Medici were powerful banking families
• they paid artists, writers, and musicians
• they were patrons
• Isabella d'Este
• Educated, brilliant
• A gifted singer, lute player, innovative dancer
• Wealthy powerful parents
• she was a Patron, sponsoring painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, architects.