Middle Ages Key Ideas
● Black Plague ultimately triggered a chain of events that led to the
Renaissance and other events.
● The Pope felt that the people were starting to make new religious
ideas and that the church was losing power.
● The King wasn’t that strong back then but this changed after the
Black Plague.
● Feudalism started to disappear and modern Europe began.
● Kings and Church have conflict over who has the right to tax the
people, taxation means power.
● Feudalism control was starting to completely disappear.
● The dramatic change in religion, people start to split away and have
their own interpretation of the Bible.
● Fewer workers and less labor so the workers demand higher wages
and are no longer serfs.
● Serfs are wiped out and have higher standards of living.
● Less population to greater economic opportunity.
● Deaths of the Black Plague helped grow Europe into a stronger
society.
● Every category: Arts, Women, Religion, Culture, Economy, Society,
“weakened the established order of the middle ages” and changed.
● The war between the French and English developed the borders
between nations.
● Feudalistic society is changing towards the Renaissance.
● Renaissance is rebirth, a new society, a new way of life, new culture,
a new religion, new art, new economy.
● Machiavelli is the first Renaissance man and changes everything.
Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration
● Renaissance Key Ideas
● Renaissance means rebirth. A lot of beliefs came back from ancient
Greek and Roman times. Brings back culture from greek and roman.
● Renaissance was a direct improvement made from the middle ages,
a gradual process.
● More wealth = caring more about different things other than survival.
Start caring about art, sculpting, and other things.
,● Scholars have controversy over the term Renaissance because they
believed the advances in the middle ages transitioned and led to the
Renaissance.
● The key component that led to the Renaissance was wealth. People
were so wealthy they began to worry about other things and
individualism.
● The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy because of its wealth.
Banking made Florence so wealthy because it controlled the papal
banking system, which meant all money went through Florence.
● Florence was the richest city, which was the main reason the
Renaissance started there.
● Medici family became the papal bank because they had sponsored a
pirate to become Pope.
● The Italian city-states post-1300s had an oligarchy, which meant it
was ruled by a group of rich aristocratic and merchants.
● Balance of power diplomacy meant that the smaller city-states ally
together to take down to the powerful areas from becoming too
powerful.
● The Italian city-states diplomacy failed since they didn’t cooperate
with each other enough, which led to the French coming and wiping
them out.
● The modern power of diplomacy laid a foundation for modern-day
diplomacy.
● Individualism is being unique, fully developing, and being smart.
● Individualism transitioned into the culture and before began
separating it from the Church. People still believed in Christianity but
believed in individualism as something they control and not the
church.
● Secularism is the separation of church and state politics, before
people thought the church controlled the politics, but now they realize
they are two different things.
● Individualism means the best of yourself and not letting the church
control you.
● Secular learning of Latin classics, Roman, and Greeks believed in
Pagan; multiple gods and deities for each part of nature.
, ● Since Pagan is not Christianity, secularism has to happen for people
to study Pagan.
● Petrarch or Father of Humanismwanted to bring them back to the
high point in society like during the Romans and Greeks.
○ He promoted classicalism and classical literature
● Alberti promoted the idea of working hard and being able to be
anything you put your mind to.
● Cellini sculpted classics relating to Romans and Greek gods.
● Valla supported the secular spirit. Secular spirituality emphasizes the
personal growth and inner peace of the individual, rather than being
controlled by the church.
● Humanists wanted to learn about human nature and about the
societies back then during the Roman and Greek periods.
● Pagan belief created secularism because religion was different from
political beliefs
● Mirandola was a key figure that contradicted the church. He believed
everyone has the right to be who they want to be and that the church
cannot control them.
● Brunelleschi sparked the architecture revolution.
● The Pantheon provided great inspiration for Brunelleschi.
● For Cosimo, wealth could be transformed into prestige and wealth.
● The invention of perspective revolutionized art and how we see.
● Donatello's David was so revolutionary because it was the first time
since the Romans that anyone had tried to make a free-standing
bronze sculpture. It revolutionized architecture.
● The completion of the dome exemplifies the ideas of humanism and
individualism proving that anything is possible if you work hard.
● Mirandola’s beliefs affected Renaissance art because people began
focusing on the human body instead of the church and religion.
● The greatest thing man can do is to be an intellectual.
● Art becomes a symbol of wealth and power in society. Medici started
to spend wealth on art instead of military and weapons. They want to
be sophisticated and educated individuals. The status of artists is
elevated since money is spent on art. Artists start to make very
decent salaries. Consumerism/capitalism starts in this period, this
means the people control the money supply. Large business owners,
businessmen, and aristocrats start to control capitalism instead of the
royal family.
● Black Plague ultimately triggered a chain of events that led to the
Renaissance and other events.
● The Pope felt that the people were starting to make new religious
ideas and that the church was losing power.
● The King wasn’t that strong back then but this changed after the
Black Plague.
● Feudalism started to disappear and modern Europe began.
● Kings and Church have conflict over who has the right to tax the
people, taxation means power.
● Feudalism control was starting to completely disappear.
● The dramatic change in religion, people start to split away and have
their own interpretation of the Bible.
● Fewer workers and less labor so the workers demand higher wages
and are no longer serfs.
● Serfs are wiped out and have higher standards of living.
● Less population to greater economic opportunity.
● Deaths of the Black Plague helped grow Europe into a stronger
society.
● Every category: Arts, Women, Religion, Culture, Economy, Society,
“weakened the established order of the middle ages” and changed.
● The war between the French and English developed the borders
between nations.
● Feudalistic society is changing towards the Renaissance.
● Renaissance is rebirth, a new society, a new way of life, new culture,
a new religion, new art, new economy.
● Machiavelli is the first Renaissance man and changes everything.
Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration
● Renaissance Key Ideas
● Renaissance means rebirth. A lot of beliefs came back from ancient
Greek and Roman times. Brings back culture from greek and roman.
● Renaissance was a direct improvement made from the middle ages,
a gradual process.
● More wealth = caring more about different things other than survival.
Start caring about art, sculpting, and other things.
,● Scholars have controversy over the term Renaissance because they
believed the advances in the middle ages transitioned and led to the
Renaissance.
● The key component that led to the Renaissance was wealth. People
were so wealthy they began to worry about other things and
individualism.
● The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy because of its wealth.
Banking made Florence so wealthy because it controlled the papal
banking system, which meant all money went through Florence.
● Florence was the richest city, which was the main reason the
Renaissance started there.
● Medici family became the papal bank because they had sponsored a
pirate to become Pope.
● The Italian city-states post-1300s had an oligarchy, which meant it
was ruled by a group of rich aristocratic and merchants.
● Balance of power diplomacy meant that the smaller city-states ally
together to take down to the powerful areas from becoming too
powerful.
● The Italian city-states diplomacy failed since they didn’t cooperate
with each other enough, which led to the French coming and wiping
them out.
● The modern power of diplomacy laid a foundation for modern-day
diplomacy.
● Individualism is being unique, fully developing, and being smart.
● Individualism transitioned into the culture and before began
separating it from the Church. People still believed in Christianity but
believed in individualism as something they control and not the
church.
● Secularism is the separation of church and state politics, before
people thought the church controlled the politics, but now they realize
they are two different things.
● Individualism means the best of yourself and not letting the church
control you.
● Secular learning of Latin classics, Roman, and Greeks believed in
Pagan; multiple gods and deities for each part of nature.
, ● Since Pagan is not Christianity, secularism has to happen for people
to study Pagan.
● Petrarch or Father of Humanismwanted to bring them back to the
high point in society like during the Romans and Greeks.
○ He promoted classicalism and classical literature
● Alberti promoted the idea of working hard and being able to be
anything you put your mind to.
● Cellini sculpted classics relating to Romans and Greek gods.
● Valla supported the secular spirit. Secular spirituality emphasizes the
personal growth and inner peace of the individual, rather than being
controlled by the church.
● Humanists wanted to learn about human nature and about the
societies back then during the Roman and Greek periods.
● Pagan belief created secularism because religion was different from
political beliefs
● Mirandola was a key figure that contradicted the church. He believed
everyone has the right to be who they want to be and that the church
cannot control them.
● Brunelleschi sparked the architecture revolution.
● The Pantheon provided great inspiration for Brunelleschi.
● For Cosimo, wealth could be transformed into prestige and wealth.
● The invention of perspective revolutionized art and how we see.
● Donatello's David was so revolutionary because it was the first time
since the Romans that anyone had tried to make a free-standing
bronze sculpture. It revolutionized architecture.
● The completion of the dome exemplifies the ideas of humanism and
individualism proving that anything is possible if you work hard.
● Mirandola’s beliefs affected Renaissance art because people began
focusing on the human body instead of the church and religion.
● The greatest thing man can do is to be an intellectual.
● Art becomes a symbol of wealth and power in society. Medici started
to spend wealth on art instead of military and weapons. They want to
be sophisticated and educated individuals. The status of artists is
elevated since money is spent on art. Artists start to make very
decent salaries. Consumerism/capitalism starts in this period, this
means the people control the money supply. Large business owners,
businessmen, and aristocrats start to control capitalism instead of the
royal family.
