Renaissance

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Dante: A Renaissance writer who described his visions of hell / purgatory / heaven in a book called “ The Divine Comedy”

Machiavelli: a famous writer and political philosopher who gave advice to leaders of his time in Italy. His most famous book is “ The Prince”

Lorenzo Medici: political ruler of Florence, a banker, a military genius, and a rich textile merchant. A perfect “Renaissance man”. The Medici family made their fortune in wool textiles and banking, and ruled Florence for 3 centuries.

Brunelleschi: Most famous for designing the huge domed Florence cathedral.

Leonardo da Vinci: a Renaissance inventor,artist, and an expert on human anatomy. Most famous for his paintings of Mona Lisa and Last Supper.

Michelangelo: the most famous sculptor of Renaissance times, he was famous for his sculptures of David and The Pieta, as well as his paintings of the Last Judgment and The Creation of Adam, in the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael: painter in the Vatican, Rome, most famous for “ The School of Athens”.

Died at age 27, produced over 100 paintings, the most beloved painter of his time.

Julius II: pope of Rome who hired Michangelo and Raphael to decorate the Vatican with their masterpieces.

Titian: famous artist of Venice who painted portraits of rich Venetians.

Durer: the most famous German painter of the Renaissance.

Castiglione: a Renaissance writer who wrote “ The Courtier”. This book described the necessary qualities of a true renaissance man.

Savonarola: a monk in Florence who started “ The Bonfire of Vanities”, as a protest against human greed and the corruption of the Catholic Church.

burned at the stake by the Borgia pope, Alexander the 6th.

Copernicus: a Polish astronomer who first stated that the Sun is the center of the Solar System.

Galileo: a physics and math expert, and an astronomer who invented the telescope and proved Copernican theories to be correct. He was condemned by the Catholic Church for his theories.

Gutenburg: a German inventor who invented the printing press, important for the following reasons:

Led to the spread of new ideas and inventions, throughout Europe.

Improved education and literacy of the common people.

Led to the availability of more books, which

created a need for libraries and universities.

St,. Thomas More- author of Utopia. The founder of the humanist movement of education in England.

As Chancellor of England, Thomas was beheaded for refusing to permit King Henry the 8th to divorce his wife. Henry went on to start his own church, the Anglican religion, which started the Reformation in England. This made England the enemy of all Catholic countries in Europe.

William Shakespeare: English playwright who wrote famous plays, poetry, and built the Globe Theatre in London. The most widely published author in the English- speaking world, famous for such plays as Hamlet, Othello, And Romeo and Juliet.