Changes in Cultural Traditions

1. Which elements of Greek and Roman culture were revived in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries?
 The religious, artistic and literary elements of Greek and roman culture were revived in 14th
and 15th centuries.

2. Compare details of Italian architecture of this period with Islamic architecture.

 Comparison is given below:
(i) Both styles took care of decoration.
(ii) Beautiful buildings were constructed under the patronage of both styles.
(iii) Arch and pillars were the key features of both the styles.
(iv) Under the patronage of Italian architecture style beautiful catherdrals and monasteries were
constructed while large and magnificent mosques were constructed under the Islamic style of
architecture.
3. Why were Italian towns the first to experience the ideas of humanism?
 The towns of Italy were the first to experience the ideas of humanism because of the following
reasons:
(i) Education spread in Italy by 13th and 14th centuries.
(ii) A number of classical books were composed by roman and Greek scholars.
(iii) Universities were first of all developed here to spread education.
(iv) Humanism as a subject was first taught in Italian schools, colleges and universities. Italian people
were made aware of humanist views and ideas.
4. What was the function of medieval monasteries?
 Venice was free from the influence of the church and feudal lords. Here i.e, in Venice, bankers
and rich merchants played a significant role in governing the city while there was absolute
monarchy in France. The common people were deprived of rights.
5. Imagine and describe a day in the life of a craftsman in a medieval French town.
 Main features of humanist thought are given below:
(i) Ideal life for human beings.
(ii) Encouraging dignity of human beings.
(iii) Proclamation of freedom of the individual.
(iv) Stress on physical pleasure or material pleasure for human.
(v) The humanist thought laid stress on freedom of human life from control of religion.
6. Compare the conditions of life for a French serf and a Roman slave.
 In cities and towns many artists , scholars and writers were patronized by aristocrates.
(ii) Towns become the centre of art and learning activities.
(iii) Towns begin to enjoy the status of autonomy from the kings.
(iv) Urban culture developed with the beginning of cities.
(v) Towns and cities begin to flourish on European landscape.
7.Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
 Leonardo da Vinci was a true genius who graced this world with his presence from April 15,
1452 to May 2, 1519.
 During his childhood, he received informal education in mathematics, geometry and Latin.
 During the years 1482 until about 1499, Leonardo was able to make a living for his artistic skills
while in Milan.
 It was there that he was able to prove his superb talent as a painter, as he was commissioned
to complete two significant paintings. These artworks included The Virgin of the Rocks, which
he painted for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. Another painting that he made
was The Last Supper.
  Leonardo was best known for his painting of The Mona Lisa. The painting's focal point was the
Mona Lisa's rather elusive smile, as well as the mysterious quality of the woman as depicted in
her eyes and corners of the mouth.
 Aside from being a great painter, Leonardo was also a gifted draftsman. These sketches
includingThe Virgin of the Rocks, The Last Supper and The Adoration of the Magi. His earlist
drawing, Landscape Drawing for Santa Maria Della Neve, dated back to August 5, 1473,
featured in detail the farmlands, Montelupo Castle and the mountains around it.
 Leonardo's drawing of The Vitruvian Man is one of the most popular world icons. There have
been countless attempts over the years to understand the composition of Leonardo's
illustration of Vitruvius' principles.
 Besides he was also the first person to draw the sketch of an aeroplane.

8.Who was Michael Angelo?

 Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a sculptor, painter and architect widely considered to be one of
the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance period—and arguably of all time.
 His work demonstrated a blend of psychological insight, physical realism and intensity never
before seen.
 His contemporaries recognized his extraordinary talent, and Michelangelo received
commissions from some of the wealthiest and powerful men of his day, including popes and
others affiliated with the Catholic Church.
 His resulting work, most notably his Pietà and David sculptures and Sistine Chapel ceiling
paintings, the Last Judgement has been carefully tended and preserved, ensuring that future
generations would be able to view and appreciate Michelangelo’s genius.
9. Who was Martin Luther? Discuss his achievements.
 Born in Germany in 1483, Martin Luther became one of the most influential figures in Christian
history when he began the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
 He called into question some of the basic tenets of Roman Catholicism, and his followers soon
split from the Roman Catholic Church to begin the Protestant tradition.
 Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Saxony, in modern southeast
Germany.
 In 1501, Martin Luther entered the University of Erfurt, where he received a Master of Arts
degree (in grammar, logic, rhetoric and metaphysics).
 Luther was driven by fears of hell and God’s wrath, and felt that life in a monastery would help
him find salvation.
 In 1517, Pope Leo X announced a new round of indulgences to help build St. Peter’s Basilica.
On October 31, 1517, an angry Martin Luther nailed a sheet of paper with 95 theses on the
university’s chapel door.
 Though he intended these to be discussion points, the Ninety-Five Theses laid out a
devastating critique of the indulgences as corrupting people’s faith. Luther also sent a copy to
Archbishop Albert Albrecht of Mainz, calling on him to end the sale of indulgences.
 Aided by the printing press, copies of the Ninety-Five Theses spread throughout Germany
within two weeks and throughout Europe within two months.
 Martin Luther was ordered to recant his Ninety-Five Theses by the authority of the pope.
Luther said he would not recant unless scripture proved him wrong.
 He went further, stating that he didn’t consider the papacy had the authority to interpret
scripture.
 The meeting ended in a shouting match and initiated his ultimate excommunication from the
Church.
 Throughout 1519, Martin Luther continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg.
  In June and July of that year he publicly declared that the Bible did not give the pope the
exclusive right to interpret scripture, which was a direct attack on the authority of the papacy.
 Finally, in 1520, the pope had had enough and on June 15 issued an ultimatum threatening
Luther with excommunication. On December 10, 1520, Luther publicly burned the letter.
 He gained many followers and got support from German princes. When a peasant revolt began
in 1524, Luther denounced the peasants and sided with the rulers, whom he depended on to
keep his church growing. Thousands of peasants were killed, but Luther’s church grew over the
years.
 As a result a new sect emerged within Christianity called as PROTESTANTISM.
10. Discuss the contribution of Galileo.
 Galileo contributed to the Renaissance by helping to create a new way of thinking. In this new
way of thinking, people did not simply trust in what they had been told by religious authorities
or by ancient thinkers like Aristotle.
 Instead, they required scientific proof of things if they were to believe them.
 Galileo helped bring this sort of idea about by doing many experiments and observations to
determine how things really worked. For example, he did his famous experiment to prove that
objects of different weights fell at the same rate.
 Galileo also created the first telescope that could be used for astronomy. Using the telescope,
he took observations that he could use, for example, to prove that the planets were moving
around the Sun and not around the Earth.
11. What do you mean by Humanism? Discuss some of its features.
 Humanism is complex but enlightening. It was first employed (as humanismus) by 19th-century
German scholars to designate the Renaissance emphasis on classical studies in education.
 The word humanism derives from the studia humanitatis, a course of classical studies that, in
the early 15th century, consisted of grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy.
 Humanitas meant the development of human virtue, in all its forms, to its fullest extent. The
term thus implied not only such qualities as are associated with the modern word humanity—
understanding, benevolence, compassion, mercy—but also such more aggressive
characteristics as fortitude, judgment, prudence, eloquence, and even love of honour.
 Humanism freely applied to a variety of beliefs, methods, and philosophies that place central
emphasis on the human realm.
 Humanism, then, may be accurately defined as that Renaissance movement that had as its
central focus the ideal of humanitas.
 The humanist thinkers considered human being is next to God and angel. They stressed that
men has a superior brain and can t5hink what is right and what is wrong.
 Early humanists returned to the classics less with nostalgia or awe than with a sense of deep
familiarity, an impression of having been brought newly into contact with expressions of an
intrinsic and permanent human reality.
 They shared in large part a realism that rejected traditional assumptions and aimed instead at
the objective analysis of perceived experience. To humanism is owed the rise of modern social
science.
 The emphasis on virtuous action as the goal of learning was a founding principle of humanism .
 The most famous Humanist thinkers were Petrarch, Boccacio, Mechiavelli ,Dante, Erasmus and
many others.