Renaissance Review

Afternoon review last Thursday featured ChromeBooks and lively Renaissance chat.  For many sessions students will brainstorm on google docs using ChromeBooks.  Check out the social/political and intellectual/cultural docs.   These are by no means exhaustive, so feel free to add key ideas or details.  I do edit them during review to correct misconceptions and/or add key details.

Renaissance Italay

We remembered that northern Italy, heartland of the Renaissance, was comprised of city-states in the fifteenth and subsequent centuries. The great powers of the day did fight over and in Italy, though.  The Habsburg-Valois Wars (Holy Roman Empire vs. France) were a prominent example during the Renaissance
Northern Italy was more commercial and more urban than most parts of Europe. The bourgeois and noble elites that dominated the city-states were patrons of many of Renaissance artists, although the church and landed nobility continued to fund arts. Patronage was also one way that women, especially noble women, influenced Renaissance art.  Isabelle d'Este, who became Marchesa (like a Duchess) of Mantua (near Venice) is a famous example. She commissioned, collected, and displayed paintings and sculptures by Leonardo da Vinci and other famous artists.  She ruled Mantua while her husband was away at war or a prisoner.  Since these things happened a lot, she exercised quite a bit of authority.

Sketch of Isabella d'Este by Leonardo da Vinci

  Isabella's father, a Duke, educated Isabella and her sisters, in the humanist manner.  Despite the prevalence of patriarchy, some elite women did become quite well educated.  Don't worry if you don't remember ever learning about Isabella d'Este, you will not need to recall her name for the AP Test.  Isabella's story does illustrate several of the key themes of the Renaissance.

Other key topics that we discussed included Northern Humanism and examples of Renaissance art, you should know a few, and literature.

There is often a FRQ on either the Renaissance or the Reformation.  Review rolls on this afternoon with a look at the Reformation.