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Ways of thinking changed a lot between 1350 and 1550. They called this time The Renaissance. The word Renaissance comes from the French word rebirth. During this time people showed great interest in art.
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Humanism started in Italy and then spread across Western Europe. A lot of the humanists were churchmen. Humanism spread to Venice in the early to late 1400. It started when Martin Luther posted his 95 These on the door of the church in Wittenberg and people started to lose faith in the catholic church. It is basically a belief in humans rather than religion. In 1417 Poggio Bracciolini discovered the manuscript of Lucretius, De rerum natura. It had been lost for centuries.
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The Cathedral was so large that they could not use the traditional method to build the dome. The architect Brunelleschi invented a system of gears, pulleys, screws, and driveshafts which used the power of oxen! It took 198 years to complete!
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The printing press was created by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440. Johannes Gutenberg was a German blacksmith. The printing press is regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium. The printing press played a big role in the Renaissance, not to mention how much it changed communication!
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Lorenzo de Medici was born in 1449. He was the ruler of Florence. His family controlled Florence through most of the Renaissance. His family played a big part in the promotion of the arts. Lorenzo de Medici saved his city from hunger in 1472. When they had a bad harvest he imported large amounts of grain.
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The Birth of Venus was painted by Sandro Botticelli. It was completed in 1485. Botticelli started this painting in 1482, it took him 3 years to complete! Botticelli's painting shocked the people of the 15th century because of his nude perspective of the goddess Venus.
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During the Renaissance people had a lot of interest in exploring the world. Christopher Columbus was looking for a water route to the East Indies. Instead he found the Americas. There he found gold, silver, corn, tomatoes, tobacco, and chocolate.
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The Last Supper is a mural painting that was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. It took him 3 years to finish it (1495-1498). This is a painting of the last supper with Jesus and his disciples. De Vinci is a very famous artist. You might know one of his other works, The Mona Lisa.
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Leonardo da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa from 1503 to 1516. This painting is currently on display in The Louvre. The Mona Lisa is known for her mysterious smile. It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It was stolen once but eventually returned. There are many copies.
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St. Peter's Basilica was started in 1506. Many famous renaissance architects were involved including Rafael and Michelangelo. It took many years to complete and the plans were changed many times.
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Michelangelo was not just a painter but also a sculptor. He began painting the chapel in 1508 and finished in 1512. His work in the chapel has a very biblical theme. It includes scenes such as The Book of Genesis and Ancestors of Christ.
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Henry the VIII was born in 1491 and died in 1547. He was king almost all his life (1509 until death). Henry was only 18 when he was coronated. He was married six times and cheated on a lot of his wives. He is known for separating the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. He is also known for his changes to the English Constitution.
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Da Vinci was not just a painter! He was also an inventor. He had ideas for flying machines that were similar to gliders and helicopters. He also had ideas for a calculator, boats, and war machines. He is the author of "Codex Leicester" which was bought by Bill Gates for $30,000,000. It was a book about fossils, water movement, and the moon.
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The Reformation started in 1517 and ended in 1648. It was an event that split up the Catholic Europe. In northern and central Europe reformers such as Martin Luther questioned the Pope's authority. The Reformation set into place beliefs that would forever change the continent.
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Filippo Brunelleschi was an Italian designer. He is famous for two panel paintings. In 1517 he discovered linear perspective.
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On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany and nailed his 95 Theses to the door. This event began the Protestant Reformation.
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Raphael was an Italian architect and painter. His mother died when he was 8 and his father died when he was 11. He died at the young age of 37, but that didn't stop him from leaving behind some great works of art. Some of his works are Wedding of the Virgin and Deposition of Christ.
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Ivan IV Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow. He was born in 1530 and was prince from 1533 until 1547. That means he was prince when he was three years old! When he was crowned the first tsar of Russia he controlled the largest nation on Earth. As he got older he started executing thousands of people, and even his own son. That's why he was called Ivan the Terrible.
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The Prince is a 16th century political discourse written by Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat. The printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli died.
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Erasmus was a Dutch renaissance humanist. He was also a catholic priest and a teacher. He was a classical scholar. That is a type of humanist. Some of his works are: On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, and Handbook of a Christian Knight. When he died they put a bronze statue of him in his hometown.
