The Renaissance

Finally out of the dark ages and into the light again.  The Renaissance (14th to 17th centuries).   

The Renaissance worked its way from Italy to northern Europe, Spain, and to the southern France in record time but what was the Renaissance anyway?   First thing first, the word Renaissance is the French word for rebirth.  It is thought that the Renaissance was an attempt at recreation of classical models of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.

Mr. Gray History

In the beginning of the Renaissance, Italy became the center of world culture.  Italy also flourished economically and became a leading country for trade.  Italy was divided into independent states at the time with the city of Florence being the European banking center thanks to the Medici Family and their wealth.  I will talked more about them below.

The Renaissance was about knowledge and new ideas in many areas of life.  This was a time of curiosity and exploration.  Most scholars, up until now, had only been allowed to study the teachings of the church but people began to realize there was much more, much, much more.  Artist became obsessed with the human body once the Renaissance began.  They took their art into more of a scientific direction.  Scientists would dissect a body to help artists draw more accurate images of anatomy.  Remember, previously they were limited to religion as a subject matter so this is a completely different dynamic.  Giotto di Bondone was the first Renaissance painter.  He was from Florence, Italy and liked to paint people/objects in nature.  This was called realistic painting and so it began.  

We have studied the Renaissance several times during our 10 years of homeschooling but we learn a few new things each time.  This is probably our last time with a formal study of the Renaissance.

Here is a short list of a few of the key players of the Renaissance.  

The Medici Family.
Walkabout Florence website.

The Medici Family a.k.a. the Godfathers of the Renaissance.
*Giovanni de Medici (1360-1429) was the founder of the Medici Banks.  These banks made the family very wealthy.
*Cosimo de Medici (1389-1464) was the first leader of Florence, Italy.
*Lorenzo Di Medici (1449-1492) ruled Florence through the majority of the Italian Renaissance.  He was knows as Lorenzo the Magnificent.
*Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) married King Henry II of France in 1547.  She became the Queen of France but before all of that happened, Catherine was taken as a hostage  when she was 11 years old.  She convinced her kidnappers to let her go stating she wanted to be a nun.  It worked, they let her go but she never became a nun.
*Marie de Medici (1575-1642) married King Henry IV of France and became the Queen of France.

Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo created masterpiece after masterpiece.  

~Leonardo da Vinci was described as a "Renaissance Man."  His most famous paintings are the Last Supper and the "Mona Lisa."  Da Vinci was also one of the greatest inventors of all times as well.

~Michelangelo's most famous work, David, is over 17 feet tall.  Michelangelo's most famous painting is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

~Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Madonna.

Famous writers of the Renaissance include William Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri.  Hamlet is Shakespeare's most famous work.  Dante lived in Florence.  He is known for creating the greatest epic poem ever written in the Italian language, The Divine Comedy. (1300s)

Famous Renaissance explorers such as Vespucci, Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Ponce de Leon, Francis Drake,  Cabot, and De Soto embarked on many voyages.

Gutenberg press

The invention of the Gutenberg printing press (1450) by Johannes Gutenberg was created during the Renaissance.

The amazing accomplishments, inventions, art, music, scientific discoveries, and literature that emerged as a result of the Renaissance are too numerous to list.  I added a few links if you want to learn more.

Here are a few more random/interesting and somewhat gross facts we came up with.    

~Did you know that in those days, most people got married in June?  Why?  Because they took their yearly baths in May.  They believed that water weakened the body so they rarely bathed.  It is also said that the bride carries flowers to hide body odor.  

~An eclipse was considered bad luck.

~Plato's Academy was in Florence.

~Washing your face with urine was common place during those days.  Most people did this every day.  They are scared of water but wash their faces with urine, seems legit.

~Freckles were considered disgusting so to remedy this, they rubbed their freckles with sulfur.  Ouch! 

~Eagle poo was used to ease childbirth. 

~Toothache?  There were no dentists back then so if you had a toothache, you just pulled your own tooth.

~Everyone had a "poop and pee" pot under their beds.  The thought was that if you had to go to the bathroom at night this would be easier.  Some people would just dump the contents out of their windows the next morning and called it cleaned.  

And with that, The End! 

My other blog posts about the Renaissance are here, here, here, and here. 

You can find more Renaissance artists here.

The Renaissance: Was it a thing? By John Green via Khan Academy.
Short Renaissance trade video.

Renaissance Art History Channel.