1. Discuss Jacob Burkhardt’s interpretation of the Renaissance. What criticisms have been leveled against it? How would you define the term Renaissance in the context of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy?
2. How would you define Renaissance humanism? In what ways was the Renaissance a break with the Middle Ages and in what way did it owe its existence to medieval civilization?
3. Who were some of the famous literary and artistic figures of the Italian Renaissance? What did they have in common that might be described as “the spirit of the Renaissance?
4. Why did the French invade Italy in 1494? How did this trigger Italy’s political decline? How do the actions of Pope Julius II and the ideas of Niccolo Machiavelli signify a new era in Italian civilization?
5. A common assumption is that creative work proceeds best in periods of calm and peace. Given the combination of political instability and cultural productivity in Renaissance Italy, do you think this assumption is valid?
6. How did the Renaissance in the north differ from the Italian Renaissance? In what ways was Erasmus the embodiment of the northern Renaissance?
7. What factors led to the voyages of discovery? How did the Spanish establish their empire in the Americas? Why was the conquest so violent? What was the experience of native peoples during and after the conquest?
2. How would you define Renaissance humanism? In what ways was the Renaissance a break with the Middle Ages and in what way did it owe its existence to medieval civilization?
3. Who were some of the famous literary and artistic figures of the Italian Renaissance? What did they have in common that might be described as “the spirit of the Renaissance?
4. Why did the French invade Italy in 1494? How did this trigger Italy’s political decline? How do the actions of Pope Julius II and the ideas of Niccolo Machiavelli signify a new era in Italian civilization?
5. A common assumption is that creative work proceeds best in periods of calm and peace. Given the combination of political instability and cultural productivity in Renaissance Italy, do you think this assumption is valid?
6. How did the Renaissance in the north differ from the Italian Renaissance? In what ways was Erasmus the embodiment of the northern Renaissance?
7. What factors led to the voyages of discovery? How did the Spanish establish their empire in the Americas? Why was the conquest so violent? What was the experience of native peoples during and after the conquest?