ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Historical Dictionaries : Renaissance </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2005-2007 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb/tlren.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb.html"> <img src = "../banhistdic.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on June 5th 2005, last revised on August 31st 2007 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Historical Dictionaries : Renaissance </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/nhb/hdren.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "academialaurenziana"><B>Academia Laurenziana</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> When Lorenzo il Magnifico gained control of Florence in 1473, the existing college (Studium Generale) was relocated to Pisa; Lorenzo established the Medicean Academy, the center of early Renaissance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "banking"><B>Banking</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Christianity, Judaism and Islam, in the High Midle Ages, regarded taking interest from fellow believers a crime - usury. However, Jews could collect interest for loans extended to christians, and therefore became the bankers of kings in medieval Europe. In the early stage of the crusades, the Jews of Europe suffered badly from pogromes; the Knights Templar developed a system of money transfer by promissory notes, but then the Knights Templar were arrested early in the 14th century, treated as heretics, their property confiscated. It was wealthy merchant families in Italy which ventured out into the banking business, and developing it. Bank derives from 'Banco', account from 'Acconto' etc.; in the 14th century the church had lost influence and could no longer enforce the rule that christians could not take interest from fellow christians. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Black Death </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdlma.html#blackdeath">Late Middle Ages</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "bookprinting"><B>Book Printing</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> first emerged in China; single letter type book printing technique in Korea (Buddhist monasteries). It is believed that Europe later independently developed the book printing technique. At first, wooden blocks containing the (inverted) text of an entire page were cut, a technique which made book printing very timeconsuming and costly. C. 1455, Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz (re-) invented the single-letter printing technique, which resulted in a great many more books being printed, as investment in time and money was drastically reduced. As Gutenberg accepted apprentices who then went on to open their own printing shops, the technique quickly spread over Europe </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "constantiniandonation"><B>Constantinian Donation</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The papal administration justified the existence of the Papal State with a document allegedly issued by Roman Emperor Constantine, the so-called Constantinian Donation. Renaissance scholar Lorenzo Valla proved the document to having been falsified; the donation was of the 8th century, probably to be attribruted to Frankish King Pepin, father of Charlemagne. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "darkages"><B>Dark Ages</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> A term phrased by Enlightenment scholrs for the era between Hellenism and their own days. The Dark Ages were characterized by the dominating position in society of the Catholic Church, pun intended. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "dignita"><B>Dignita</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Giovanni Pico della Mirandola held the "Oration on the Dignity of Man", a text defining the philosophy of Renaissance. Unlike the church which valued the bodily life on earth as without value and only the soul being of importance, Renaissance scholars interpreted Genesis - God modelling man after his own image - as evidence that life on earth had a value of its own, hence dignity and virtue were fundamental. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "florence"><B>Florence</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> in Italian : Firenze, city located on the banks of the Arno river in Tuscany. In the 14th century a growing center of international trade. Here, wealthy merchants, most of all the Medici family, invested in the arts and sciences. Florence was the capital of the early and high Renaissance; only toward the end of the 15th century did Rome assum the position of the center of Italian Renaissance. Florence was the capital of the Republic of Florence; late in the 15th century and early in the 16th century it was contested between the Medici family (which asserted control in 1473, was expelled in 1494, returned to power in 1512 (with an armed force) , were expelled again in 1527 and returned again (with an armed force) in 1530. In 1537 Florence was converted into a Duchy, in 1569 renamed Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Click <A HREF = "../../region/italy/xtuscany.html">here</A> for more information </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Gothic Style</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a pejorative expression phrased by Renaissance art historians to describe a style of architecture popular in Europe in c.1150 to 1450. Modern art historians have suggested to replace the term by "Franco-Norman Style", but the term Gothic style is still widely used. Renaissance art historian G. Vasari, by associating it with the Ostrogoths (who conquered Italy in the late 5th century and ruled it until the mid 6th century), intended to brand the 'Gothic Style' as primitive. The style is characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, flying buttresses. Example Cathedral in Chartres. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "humanism"><B>Humanism</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a philosophy centering on the human being. Widely associated with the Renaissance; succeeded Scholasticism. Pico della Mirandola defined the motto of Renaissance and Humanism; Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam is regarded the greatest Humanist philosopher </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Italian Renaissance</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> as opposed to the Northern Renaissance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "linguistics"><B>Linguistics</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> science of languages; Renaissance scholar Lorenzo Valla is counted among the fathers of a science which was developed in the early 19th century. term describing the era between Hellenism and Renaissance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "middleages"><B>Middle Ages</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Coined by Renaissance scholars, intended to criticize the time in which the Catholic Church exerted dominant influence over society and culture. The term has been used ever since. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "northernrenaissance"><B>Northern Renaissance</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The Renaissance outside of Italy (in the Empire, Spain, France, England etc.). Brussels (Burgundy) was the center of the Northern Renaissance. Some textbooks argue that the Northern Renaissance, compared to Italian R., was less critical of the church. The term 'Northern Renaissance' is problematic for a number of reasons - Spain is not located to the north of Italy, and the term combines artists/scholars from distinct, different regions. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "nudity"><B>Nudity</B></A> (in the Arts) </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Christian medieval art avoided nudity as well as photographic-precise depiction of human features. Renaissance artists reintroduced nudity, for they regarded the human body, modelled after the features of God himself (Genesis) the most perfect body, and because they admired the perfection of Greek art. This attitude caused an intensified interest in human anatomy (autopsies). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "perspective"><B>Perspective</B></A> (in the Arts) </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> known to Greek artists, neglected by medieval artists, reintroduced by Renaissance artists (painters, sculptors). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "renaissance"><B>Renaissance</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> French translation of Italian "Rinascimento", literally rebirth (of Classical Civilization). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Rinascimento</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Italian for Renaisance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Romanesque Style</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Architectural Style, 11th to 12th century. Characteristic feature : Round Arches. Art historian Vasari associated the style with Roman civilization. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "luomonuovo"><B>l'Uomo Nuovo</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Italian for "the new man", motto of the Renaissance phrased by Pico della Mirandola. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "utopia"><B>Utopia</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> title of a book written by Thomas More, one-time Lord Chancellor of England, in which he describes a society seen as perfect (thus implicitly deeming English society of his time as imperfect). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "vernacular"><B>Vernacular</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> the spoken language; Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch wrote in Italian, Chaucer in English etc </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "virtu"><B>Virtu</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> A value, together with dignita, associated with the human being by Pico della Mirandola. (virtue). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> PRINTED REFERENCE : <BR> David Rundle, The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, Bolder CO : Westview 1999, KMLA Lib. Call Sign <B>R 940.23 R941t</B> <BR> </font></TD> </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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