Assignment #1
 

Sources:
  • map:  "Renaissance Italy."
  • textbook:  pg. 130 - top of pg. 133.
  • reading:  "The Light Bulb Theory of History."
  • chart:  "The Renaissance 'SWISH.'"
  • film clip:  from the PBS series, "The Medici--Godfathers of the Renaissance."
    •
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. What were the political, economic, and social conditions that were present in Italy in the late 14c and early 15c that encouraged the beginning of the Renaissance?
  2. Why was Florence at the heart of the Italian Renaissance?
  3. What role did the Medici family play in Renaissance Florence?
  4. What were the characteristics of humanism?  How was it different from medieval scholasticism?
  5. What was the goal of a studia humanitatis education?
 

Terms:
 
  Assignment #2
 

Sources:
  • document packet:  "The Renaissance Spirit."
  • textbook:  pg. 134 - top of pg. 137.
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. Read the documents in the packet and answer the questions that accompany each.
  2. Why was Petrarch considered to be the "Father of Humanism?"
  3. Why was Boccaccio called the first great Italian prose writer?
 

Terms:
 
  Assignment #3
 

Sources:
  • reading:  "Nicollò Machiavelli & The Prince."
  • worksheet:  "How Machiavellian Are You?"
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. Why did Machiavelli write The Prince and address it to Lorenzo de Medici?
  2. Why does Machiavelli think that he is fit to offer advice to princes?
  3. How does Machiavelli view human nature?
  4. How does The Prince illustrate a humanistic outlook on politics?
  5. What does Machiavelli's work tell us about the political environment of late 15c and early 16c Italy?
  6. Why does Machiavelli think that a ruler must learn "not to be good?"
  7. What qualities should a prince "appear" to possess?
  8. What role does Lady Luck ["Fortuna"] play in the success of a ruler, according to Machiavelli?
  9. Do you agree with Machiavelli's view of the successful rule:  It is better to be feared, than to be loved? Explain your position.
  10. Why do you think that several modern-day politicians/rulers read Machiavelli and followed his advice?
 

Terms:
 
  Assignment #4
 

Sources:
  • reading #1:  excerpts from The Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari.
  • reading #2:  "Leonardo da Vinci"
  • PowerPoint:  "Italian Renaissance Art & Architecture."
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. How did Renaissance art differ from medieval art?
  2. What new artistic techniques were introduced by Renaissance artists?
  3. How did the art of the Renaissance reflect humanist values?
  4. Why could we say that da Vinci was the epitome [ultimate] of the l'uomo universale?
  5. Why do da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo were sometimes called the "Sacred Trinity" of Italian Renaissance art?
  6. Why were the patrons of Renaissance artists initially merchant-princes like the Medici, but later patrons would be found in the Vatican?
  7. What accounts for that change in patronage?
 

Terms:
 
  Assignment #5
 

Sources:
  • reading:  "The Northern Renaissance" by Charles C. Nauert.
  • PowerPoint:  "The Art of the Northern Renaissance."
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. Do the reading and answer these questions:
         * How was the Northern Renaissance experience different from the way the
           Renaissance evolved in Italy?
         * How does Charles Nauert explain this difference?
         * Why did northern humanists focus more on religious themes than
           Greco-Roman culture?
  2. From the PowerPoint you should be able to:
         * Identify the major artists, themes , and artistic techniques of the Northern
           Renaissance artist seen in the presentation.
         * Analyze how the themes of their works differ from the themes of Italian
           Renaissance artists already studied.
 

Terms:
 

  Assignment #6
 

Sources:
  • textbook:  pg. 142 - 143.
  • document packet:  "Northern Renaissance Writers."
 

Questions/
Activities:
 
  1. Why was Erasmus called the "Prince of Humanists."
  2. What does the word "utopia" mean?
  3. Read the documents in the packet and answer the questions that accompany each.
  4. How were the accomplishments of the Christian humanists different from their Italian counterparts?
  5. How did the works of Rabelais, Shakespeare, and Cervantes illustrate a break with medieval attitudes and values?
 

Terms:
 

 

                        

 

 
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