Renaissance and Reformation in Europe 1300-1600

World History

Unit 4

Europe during the Renaissance

Time of Change

By 1350, new attitudes and interests sprang up.

Old ideas of humility, poverty, and asceticism were drying up.

New desires for pleasure, status, and large fortunes were the desire of this era.

National monarchies had replaced the old feudal ways.

What was the Renaissance? Renaissance, French word for "rebirth"

What was reborn?

A desire to imitate the classical world of Greece & Rome.

A time of creativity and change, spirit of adventure.

Christian teachings could

no longer answer all their

questions.

A time of intellectual and

economic changes that

occurred in Europe.

What were the causes of the Renaissance?

1. Lessening of Feudalism. 2. Rise of National Monarchies. 3. Rise of the Middle Class.4. Rise in universities.5. Birth of the printing press.6. Writing in the common

language of the people.

Renaissance Arts

Emphasized individual talent in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music.

Architecture returned to the domes and columns of ancient Greece and Rome.

Painters and sculptors turned to new techniques.

Why Did the Renaissance Begin in Italy?

Center of the Roman civilization.

Remains of Roman architectural and artistic fields.

Different families controlled the large and wealth city-states of Florence, Milan, and Venice.

Small independent states, centers of trade and manufacturing.

A wealthy merchant class stressed education and individual achievement.

Spent lavishly on the arts.

Impact of Books

1. Ideas and discoveries of the Renaissance traveled around the world.

2. Printed books were cheaper and easier to produce.

3. Books were more readily available, more people learned to read.

4. Readers gained access to a

broad range of knowledge

and ideas.

Causes of the Reformation

1. Church corruption.

2. Questioning the papal authority.

3. Development of personal devotions.

4. Church’s political influence and wealth.

5. Indulgences.

6. German and English nobility disliked Italy’s dominance of the church.

7. Merchants wealth.

8. Printing Press.

Influence of the Printing Press

Immediate Results

Germany

North converted to Protestantism,

Hapsburg family remained Catholic.

War between Protestants and Catholics resulted in devastating loss (Thirty Years’ War).

France

Edict of Nantes granted freedom of worship to Protestants.

Thirty Years’ War changed from religious to political.

England

Bloodshed ended and united the British Isles under the Anglican Church.

Rise of Reformation contributed to the growth of capitalism.

Long Terms Results

Changing cultural values and traditions.

Growth of

secularism.

individualism.

religious tolerance.

Reformed Europe in the late 1600s

• In the 1500s and 1600s

the Scientific Revolutionchanged the way

Europeans looked at the

world.

• People began to make

conclusions based on

experimentation and

observation, instead of merely accepting

traditional ideas.

The Scientific Revolution

• Until the mid 1500’s, European scholars accepted and believed

the teachings of Ptolemy, an

ancient Greek astronomer.

• Ptolemy taught that the Earth

was the center of the universe.

Ptolemy

(87-140 A.D.)

Before the Scientific Revolution…

• It was not until some startling

discoveries caused Europeans to

change the way they viewed

the physical world.

•People felt this was common

sense, and the geocentric

theory was supported by the Church.

• In 1543 Copernicus published

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.

Nicolaus Copernicus

• Copernicus was a Polish

astronomer who studied in Italy.

• In his book, Copernicus made

two conclusions:

1. The universe is heliocentric,

or sun-centered.

2. The Earth is merely one of

several planets revolving

around the sun.

The Copernican Heliocentric Model

Galileo Galilei

• Galileo Galilei was an Italian

astronomer who built uponthe scientific foundations laid

by Copernicus and Kepler.

• He also observed four moons rotating

around Jupiter – exactly the way

Copernicus said the Earth rotatedaround the sun.

• Galileo assembled the first telescope which allowed him to see mountains on

the moon and fiery spots on the sun.

• Galileo also discovered that objects

fall at the same speed regardless of

weight.

Galileo Galilei• Galileo’s discoveries caused an uproar. Other scholars

came against him because like

Copernicus, Galileo was

contradicting Ptolemy.

• The Church came against Galileo

because it claimed that the Earth was

fixed and unmoving.

• When threatened with death before

the Inquisition in 1633, Galileo

recanted his beliefs, even though he knew the Earth moved.

• Galileo was put under house arrest,

and was not allowed to publish his ideas.

Francis Bacon• Francis Bacon was an Englishphilosopher who wrote

Advancement of Learning.

The Scientific Method

• Bacon popularized the

scientific method and used it

with philosophy and knowledge.

• Bacon argued that truth

could not be known at the

beginning of a question, but

only at the end after a long

process of investigation.

The Scientific Method

René Descartes• Descartes was a French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher.

• Descartes emphasized human

reasoning as the best road to understanding.

• Like Bacon, Descartes also

believed that truth was only found after a long process of studying

and investigation.

“I think, therefore I am”

1. State the problem

2. Collect information

3. Form a hypothesis

4. Test the hypothesis

5. Record & analyze data

6. State a conclusion

7. Repeat steps 1 – 6

The Scientific Method

• The scientific method set Europe on the road to

rapid technological progress.

• Scientists soon discovered that the movements of

bodies in nature closely followed what could be

predicted by mathematics.

Newton • Sir Isaac Newton was an English

scholar who built upon the work of Copernicus and Galileo.

The Scientific Method

• He used math to prove the

existence of gravity - a force that kept planets in their orbits around

the sun, and also caused objects

to fall towards the earth.

• Newton was the most influentialscientist of the Scientific Revolution.