The Italian Renaissance
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| humanists/ˈhjuːmənɪsts/ | In Renaissance history, scholars and thinkers who studied classical texts and emphasised human capacities, education and achievement. |
| philological/ˌfɪləˈlɒdʒɪkl/ | Relating to the study of language and the historical interpretation of written texts. |
| secularism/ˈsekjʊlərɪzəm/ | An approach that gives worldly concerns a place independent of religious authority. |
| individualism/ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒuːəlɪzəm/ | Emphasis on the worth, agency or interests of the individual. |
| civic humanist/ˈsɪvɪk ˈhjuːmənɪst/ | Associated with Renaissance humanist ideas that emphasised active citizenship and participation in public life. |
| geometric perspective/ˌdʒiːəʊˈmetrɪk pəˈspektɪv/ | A method of creating an illusion of depth using the geometric relationships of lines, objects and a viewpoint. |
Reading old texts in a new way
- Italian Renaissance humanists 人文主义者, including Petrarch, promoted a revival in classical literature and created new philological 语文学 approaches to ancient texts.
- Philology is the study of a text's language and history — dating it, comparing manuscripts, catching later additions.
- That method is the Renaissance's most durable invention, because it can be turned on any text, including sacred ones.
Philology is the study of...
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
It can be turned on any text, including sacred ones.
Secularism 世俗主义 and individualism 个人主义
- Some Renaissance humanists furthered the values of secularism and individualism.
- Some is the CED's qualifier — humanism was not uniformly secular, and many humanists were devout.
- Secularism here means treating worldly life as a proper subject, not rejecting religion.
Select both institutions the CED says the humanist revival challenged.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Whoever controls the curriculum controls who is qualified to speak.
Printing spread the challenge
- Humanist revival of Greek and Roman texts, spread by the printing press, challenged the institutional power of universities and the Catholic Church.
- This shifted education away from a primary focus on theological writings toward classical texts and new methods of scientific inquiry.
- So the challenge is institutional as well as intellectual: whoever controls the curriculum controls who is qualified to speak.
Method, political programme, or patronage?
Sort each element of the Italian Renaissance.
All Renaissance humanists were secular.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The CED writes some, and Christian humanism is the same method applied to reform.
Humanism was not uniformly secular. The CED writes that some Renaissance humanists furthered secularism and individualism — many were devout, and Christian humanism in 1.3 is the same method applied to religious reform.
____ humanism holds that an educated person owes active service to their city.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Italy's independent city-states were where it could be practised.
Civic humanism
- Admiration for Greek and Roman political institutions supported a revival of civic humanist 公民人文主义 culture in the Italian city-states and produced secular models for individual and political behaviour.
- Civic humanism holds that an educated person owes active service to their city, not withdrawal from it.
- So the classical revival had a political programme, and Italy's independent city-states were where it could be practised.
The CED gives which motive for artistic commissions?
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The motive comes before the style in the CED's sentence.
Art as prestige
- In the Italian Renaissance, rulers and popes concerned with enhancing their prestige commissioned paintings and architectural works based on classical styles, the developing "naturalism" in the artistic world, and often the newly invented technique of geometric perspective 几何透视.
- The CED gives the motive before the style: prestige is why the money was spent.
- Geometric perspective is a mathematical technique, which is why art belongs beside the new methods of inquiry rather than apart from them.
Philology dates a document by its Latin: certain words did not exist when the text claims to have been written. The method was developed to edit classical poetry, and it can be pointed at any document at all — which is why a technique for reading Cicero eventually mattered to the Church.
Italian humanists, including Petrarch, revived classical literature and created new philological approaches; some furthered secularism and individualism. The printing press spread the revival, which challenged the institutional power of universities and the Catholic Church and shifted education toward classical texts and new methods of scientific inquiry. Civic humanism produced secular political models, and rulers and popes commissioned art to enhance prestige.