the renaissance
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The Renaissance. Big Literature figures. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) The Prince. Machiavelli was from Florence Well educated in the classics Career was in public service and he eventually served as the ambassador to France Favored republican rule over despotism - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
BIG LITERATURE FIGURES
The Renaissance
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)The Prince
Machiavelli was from FlorenceWell educated in the classicsCareer was in public service and he
eventually served as the ambassador to France
Favored republican rule over despotismMachiavelli was tortured and imprisoned
for a time when Medici rule was reinstated after a conflict with a Spanish mercenary army
He retired to the country and wrote The Prince
The Prince
Written in Italian (not Latin)Observations and commentary on political rule and
power (Medicis)Addressed the issue of effective rule
How to gain and maintain order and controlStressed the practical (pragmatic) over the ethical
or moral More secular and humanistic
Challenged the idea of a social order based on God’s will
Political science- Politics was to be governed by its own laws
“…it is safer to be feared than to be loved…”
The Courtier by Castiglione 1528
Written in ItalianTreatise on the training of young men in the
courtly ideal of a Renaissance gentlemanStressed the value of education and mannersInfluenced social mores and norms during the
period
Desiderius Erasmus –scholar and theologian
The Praise of Folly Criticism of the abuses
and worldliness of the Church and papacy
Dutch Renaissance humanist
Sir Thomas More
Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII- highest political office in England
Lawyer and scholarWrote Utopia – explored the idea of a
“perfect” societyEventually executed by Henry VIII for
refusing to agree to the king and Parliament’s Act of Supremacy
Utopia
Martin Luther
Associated with the Protestant Reformation
Critical of Church corruption and abuses
Sought reform Wrote the first
translation of the Bible in German
95 theses