Chapter 14 - The Renaissance and Reformation (1300-1600)

1. What was the Renaissance?

2. How was the Renaissance different from the earlier Middle Ages?

3. What is humanism?

4. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?

5. What are the chief characteristics of Renaissance art?

6. How did Renaissance artists feel about the earlier Gothic cathedrals? Why?

7. Who were the artistic giants of the Italian Renaissance?

8. Why was the Renaissance delayed in northern Europe?

9. Who were the artistic giants of the Northern Renaissance?

10. What issues did Erasmus raise in his writings?

11. What themes did Thomas More explore in Utopia?

12. Why is Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote, a representative work of the Renaissance?

13. What are the major political ideas presented by Nicolo Machiavelli in his classic work, The Prince?

14. How does Shakespeare’s plays reveal the work of a humanist?

15. How did the Renaissance spirit promote science?

16. What were three effect of the printing revolution in the 15th century?

17. How is the Renaissance a "bridge to modern times"?

18. Why is Martin Luther considered in some respects a "man of the Renaissance"?

19. What were the cause of the Protestant Reformation?

20. How did Luther's teachings fundamentally differ with the Roman Catholic Church?

21. Why did many people support Luther?

22. Why did Luther support the Holy Roman Emperor in his brutal suppression of the peasant uprising in
Germany which had been a consequence of Luther's teachings and ideas?

23. What part did John Calvin play in the Reformation?

24. How are the teachings of John Calvin different from those of Luther?

25. What steps did the Roman Catholic Church take to stop the spread of Protestantism?

26. Even though Luther and Calvin were considered radicals in their time, why do we think of them
today as very conservative thinkers?

27. How did the Protestant Ethic of hard work and an emphasis on saving money, not spending it;
producing goods rather than consuming goods, contribute to the development of capitalism?
(Max Weber's Theory - The Protestant Ethic and Spririt of Capitalism)