HIS109Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Platonism In The Renaissance, Lorenzo Valla, Leonardo Bruni
Document Summary
Francesco petrarca (1304-1374) who discovered cicero"s letters long after they were written: petrarca believed the time b/w the ancients and middle ages separated him from communion with the classics. Tried to bridge this gab: italian poet, latin stylist & advocate for resurrection of past, values him & his contemporaries began to adopt gave rise to intellectual & artistic movement. Movement critical of present & admiring of the past. Sig. changes in education & outlook that transformed the culture of italy (& rest of. Europe: changes were fueled by warfare, political comp. , & commercial expansion of this area. New approaches to edu. , scholarship, civic engagement, history, lit. and art. Word renaissance is taken literally = cultural accomplishments of antiquity had ceased to be appreciated & imitated & therefore, needed to be reborn . No single set of ideals for renaissance as they kept reshaping based on political, economic and social relations: renaissance didn"t reject christianity of the middle ages.
