Document Analysis: the Renaissance

Document Analysis: The Renaissance

Historical Context

During the late Middle Ages, Europe suffered from both war and plague. Those who survived wanted to celebrate life and the human spirit. They began to question institutions of the Middle Ages, which had been unable to prevent war or to relieve suffering brought by the plague. Some people question the Church, which taught Christians to endure suffering while they awaited their rewards in heaven. In northern Italy, writers and artists began to express this new spirit and to experiment with different styles. These men and women would greatly change how Europeans saw themselves and their world.

Task: Read each of the following documents and take notes on how each one relates to the following question: Discuss and analyze how the ideas expressed in the documents show the key ideas of the Renaissance and how these ideas were a departure from the Middle Ages.

Document One: Baldassare Castiglione The Courtier (Primary Source)

Let the men we are seeking be very bold stern and always among the first, where the enemy are to be seen; and in every other place, gentle, modest, reserved, above all things avoiding ostentation (showiness) and that impudent (bold) self-praise by which men ever excite hatred and disgust in all who hear them…I would have him more than passably accomplished in letters, at least in those studies that are called the humanities, and conversant not only with the Latin language but for Greek, for the sake of the many different things that have been admirable written therein. Let him be well versed in the poets, and not less in the orators and historians, and also proficient in writing, prose and verse.

Document Two: Excerpt from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, 1603 (Primary Source)

What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god, the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.

Document Three: Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405 (Primary Source)

I am amazed by the opinion of some men who claim that they do not want their daughters, wives, or kinswomen to be educated because of their morals would be ruined as a result…Here you can clearly see that not all opinion of men are based on reason and that these men are wrong.

Document Four: Jacob BurckhardtThe Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1878 (Secondary Source)

In the Middle Ages both sides of human consciousness lay dreaming orhalf awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession…Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race , people, party, family or corporation-only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air…man became a spiritual individual, and recognized himself as such. In the same way the Greek had once distinguished himself from the barbarians… When this impulse to the highest individual development was combined with a powerful and varied nature…Than arose the “all sided man”…in Italy at the time of the Renaissance we find artists who in every branch created new and perfect works, and who also made the greatest impression as men.

Document Five: Petrarch Epistolaemetricae 1360’s

Living, I despise what melancholy fatehas brought us wretches in these evil years. Long before my birth time smiled and may again,for once there was, and yet will be, more joyful days."But in this middle age time's dregssweep around us, and we beneath a heavyburden of vice. Genius, virtue, glory nowhave gone, leaving chance and sloth to rule.Shameful vision this! We must awake or die!"

Document Six: A.J. Froude, Erasmus, Life and Letters1894(Secondary Source)Erasmus was a Renaissance Humanist

The world is waking out of a long deep sleep. The old ignorance is still defended. Time was when learning was only found in religious orders. The religious order nowadays care only for money and sensuality while learning has passed to secular prices and peers and courtiers. Shame on all of us!The tables of priest and divines run with wine and echo with drunken noise and jest, while in prices’ halls in heard only the grave and modest conversation on points of morals or knowledge…

Document Seven: Michelangelo’s David 1401-1405

Document Eight: Ballini, Portrait of a Young Man, late 15c (LEFT); Raphael, Portrait of a Young Man With An Apple, 1503-1504 (RIGHT).

Document Nine: Source: Self Portrait of a Universal Man, Alberti

"His genius was so versatile that you might almost judge all the fine arts to be his... He played ball, hurled the javelin, ran, leaped, wrestled, and above all delighted in the steep ascent of mountains... He learned music without teachers and his compositions were approved by learned musicians... When he had begun to mature in years, neglecting everything else, he devoted himself entirely to the study of letters, and spent some years of labor on canon and civil law... At the age of twenty-four he turned to physics and the mathematical arts... Thus showing by example that men can do anything with themselves if they will..."

Document 10 Source: Celestial Models of heliocentric theory, Nicholas Copernicus (1514)

Document Activities

Extended Document Analysis: Select TWO of the above documents and answer the following questions. (Your answers do not need to be in complete sentences)

Document # ______

How do the ideas expressed in the documents represent the ideals of the age of the Renaissance and Renaissance Humanism?

H - Historical Context: Who is the author of this document? When was this document written? What were the circumstances of this time and place? How might this document compare or contrast to earlier eras (i.e. the Middle Ages)?

I - Intended Audience: Who did the author had in mind when he/she created the document?

P - Purpose: Why was this document created? What type of document is it?

P - Point of View: From what angle is the author considering things? What does the document show is about the opinion and feelings of the author or other individuals of the time

O - Outside Information: Explain to the Reader one piece of outside information that is NOT contained in the document (but is connected to the document) and why it is important to that time period.

Document # ______

H - Historical Context: Who is the author of this document? When was this document written? What were the circumstances of this time and place? How might this document compare or contrast to earlier eras?

I - Intended Audience: Who did the author had in mind when he/she created the document?

P - Purpose: Why was this document created? What type of document is it?

P - Point of View: From what angle is the author considering things? What does the document show is about the opinion and feelings of the author or other individuals of the time

O - Outside Information: Explain to the Reader one piece of outside information that is NOT contained in the document (but is connected to the document) and why it is important to that time period.

Summative Question: Using the information gained from the homework reading and your understanding of these documents, be prepared to discuss the following question in class.

How and in what ways were the ideals of Renaissance Humanism a representation of the “Re-birth” of Europe?