The Renaissance

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

1. Origins and causes of the Italian Renaissance. The Renaissance unfolded in Italy's city-states from roughly 1350 to 1600 as a rebirth of classical antiquity.
2. Florence: cradle of the Renaissance and Medici patronage. Florence's guild wealth and Medici patronage from 1434 turned the city into the Renaissance's cultural capital.
3. Renaissance humanism and the recovery of classical texts. Humanists such as Petrarch, Valla, and Pico della Mirandola revived classical texts and reshaped European thought.
4. The printing press and the spread of knowledge. Gutenberg's movable type and Aldo Manuzio's Aldine Press spread classical and religious texts across Europe.
5. The Quattrocento: the early artistic Renaissance. Quattrocento Florence pioneered linear perspective, giving birth to Renaissance painting and sculpture.
6. The Cinquecento: the High Renaissance and papal Rome. Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael defined the High Renaissance, centered on Florence and papal Rome.
7. Beyond Italy: the Northern Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Counter-Reformation. The Renaissance spread north as the Reformation and Counter-Reformation reshaped European religious art.
8. Mannerism, women, and the historiographical legacy of the Renaissance. Mannerism bridged Renaissance and Baroque, while historians still debate the period's scope and novelty.