Study Materials – by Paul Brians
Lecture 39: The Italian Renaissance: Humanism
Note: This study guide is presented here as a historical document only. Paul Brians is retired and his courses are no longer offered by WSU.
(Duiker 346-355; Brians: 261-265, 271-272)
Questions about Duiker: *What two regions contributed most to world trade and civilization in the period just before the Renaissance in the late 14th century? *Who were the Medici? What were the major concerns of Machiavelli in The Prince? *What are the main characteristics of Italian Renaissance Humanism? What were the main results of the spread of printing in Europe?
Question about Pico Della Mirandola: *According to Pico, what qualities make man great?
Question about Petrarch: *What qualities does Petrarch ascribe to Laura? Who is more vividly depicted in this poem, the lover or his beloved?
Question about Machiavelli: *What good qualities does Machiavelli say a prince should seem to have?
Lecture topics:
- Background
- Humanism
- Petrarch
- Boccaccio
- Pico Della Mirandola
- Machiavelli
- Technological innovations
Supplementary materials:
- Annenberg/CPB Renaissdance Project
- Joan of Arc
- The Black Death
- Classical and Christian Antisemitism
- Selections from the correspondence of Petrarch
- Machiavelli: The Prince
- Decameron Web
- Gutenberg Bible
- Humanism and the Scientific Revolution
- Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the Saxon State Library
- The Galileo Project