Welcome to the Renaissance
10 'Fun' Facts about the Renaissance
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To prove a person's innocence, they may had to endure a Trial by Ordeal. These trials would involve the prosecuted to have to perform some dangerous act to prove their innocence such as: swallowing poison (yum!), carrying a red-hot piece of iron over a certain distance. (fun!)
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The fancy decorations on those Dark Ages books are called 'illumination'. Fancy.
The Black Death killed a thir of European population. (cough)
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Broccacio, and Italian writer, wrote: "[the victims of the plague] ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise." This demonstrates the large amount of death caused by the plague.
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European explorers explored for wealth, power, prestige, trading, building European empires and spreading Christianity. (Adventure time!)
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There was a large amount of European explorers from the Renaissance era. (Europe musn't have been that interesting, I suppose.)
These explorers were mainly from Spain, Portugal, England and France.
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During the Black Plague, demand for items decreased as people died and were unable to work for money, resulting in an economic depression (sad face)
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However, after the Plague, populations increased, resulting in a new demand for goods. (happy face)
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A new middle class emerged of bankers, merchants and tradespeople.
Why, hello! Welcome to the Renaissance page. Here are all of my tasks relating to the Renaissance.
Renaissance Summary
While the Black Death killed millions, it left gold, buildings etc. intact. This allowed for the rebuilding of society. Due to the abundance of resources, knights were better paid, and fewer were paid by lords. They became soldiers of the state. As a result of the abundant resources and fewer people to share them with, the people began to relax and treat themselves to luxuries. Trade routes with East Asia opened, and interest in East Asia expanded.
Feudal System Summary
Based on the ownership of land. The classes resulted in how much land the people owned. There were four main classes: Royalty, lords, knights and serfs. Lords owned land called manors. Each manor had farming land and at least one village along with all the serfs in it to work the farm. Lords were granted manors by the King in order to express his gratitude for the lord's help.
10 Feudal System Facts
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The Feudal System was: "the social system that developed in Europe in the 8th century; vassals were protected by lords who they had to serve in war"
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The term 'feudal system' was not used until 1776
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There are two main theories of how the Feudal System started: It started in the Dark Ages, where people were so desperate for protection they would pay for it It started with weak kings, who sold gold and land for support and loyalty
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There were: 1 king, 180 barons (lords), 3000-5000 knights, 1.5-2 million peasants
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The king owned everything
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The king would grant land to the barons for providing him knights and money
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The barons would give some land and money to the knights for fighting
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The knights would give strips of land to the peasants to work on Peasants had to work the land, and were not free
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The majority of the population gave resources to the king to control the violent society
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The word 'chivalry' comes from the French word 'cheval', meaning 'horse'
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Chivalry provided things like honour, courage, and protecting the weak
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However, this did not prevent the barons from rebelling against the king or torturing peasants.
Was the Renaissance Real?
The video was about the Renaissance, and whether or not it was real. The Renaissance is supposed to be the rebirth of European culture (Greek and Roman) such as writing, art and architecture. The Renaissance is associated with the 15th and 16th century.
Italy was the centre of the Renaissance because it was rich, due to how the Italian city-states were mini-powerhouses, each producing a certain resource. The large amount of money meant that it could support scholars, artists, etc.
Venice became rich off trade with the Islamic empires, in particular the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire bought textiles that were usually made in Florence. The textiles were dyed with a chemical called alum, which mainly existed in Anatolia, which was in the Ottoman empire. As a result, the Florencians had to buy the alum off the Ottoman's in order to create the brightly coloured textiles.
However, in 1460, a man named Giovanni da Castro discovered alum in Tolfa, Italy. He wrote to his godfather, the Pope:
"Today, I bring you great victory over the Turk. Every year they wring from the Christians 300,000 ducats for the alum with which we dye wool various colours… But I have found seven mountains so rich in this material, that they could supply seven worlds. If you will give orders to engage workmen, build furnaces and smelt the ore, you will provide all Europe with alum and the Turk will lose all his profits. Instead, they will accrue to you…"
The Pope agreed and granted the mining rights to the Florentian Medici family. However, the mines did not provide victory over the Turks or cause them to lose their profits because the Muslim world was the source of many Greek and Roman writings, which were heavily studied in the Renaissance time period.
However, John Green believes that the Renaissance did not even exist due to several reasons. It was a very long period of time, not defined like the Battle of Hastings or the French Revolution. For example, in the French Revolution, people were aware that they were living through history; the defeat of the tyrannical burocrats. But in the Renaissance, most people in Europe were unaware about the Renaissance; they continued to live their lives normally. The art and learning that defines the Renaissance only affected a minority of the population: the rich. A vast majority of the European population still lived on the farms as peasants. So, at the time, the Renaissance was unimportant to the vast majority of the Europeans, and only suggested to be important to us because the story makes sense. The Renaissance spanned hundreds of years; the new 'enlightenment' was most likely just human evolution.