B: Changes in Thinking
This section of the DBQ covers a range of time periods and has the common theme that “thinking” is changing from how art is created, information is spread, religion is challenged and there are other ideas about who has power and why. Europe changes as a result of new religions, governments, and the desire to explore new lands, previous theories and even themselves.
Enrichment
Research an artist (musician, writer, painter, etc) from the Renaissance. How did their contribution change the time period? *See the list below*
Compare one of the topics to something you learned about with the Middle Ages to determine one thing that is similar and one thing that is different.
Choose an explorer and determine how their "achievement" changed the world (both where the explorer came from and where he went)
Choose a religion from the Reformation and explain its impact.
Renaissance Geniuses
Some of the most famous and groundbreaking Renaissance intellectuals, artists, scientists and writers include the likes of:
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400): English poet and author of “The Canterbury Tales.”
Giotto (1266-1337): Italian painter and architect whose more realistic depictions of human emotions influenced generations of artists. Best known for his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.
Dante (1265–1321): Italian philosopher, poet, writer and political thinker who authored “The Divine Comedy.”
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527): Italian diplomat and philosopher famous for writing “The Prince” and “The Discourses on Livy.”
Titian (1488–1576): Italian painter celebrated for his portraits of Pope Paul III and Charles I and his later religious and mythical paintings like “Venus and Adonis” and "Metamorphoses."
William Tyndale (1494–1536): English biblical translator, humanist and scholar burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English.
William Byrd (1539/40–1623): English composer known for his development of the English madrigal and his religious organ music.
John Milton (1608–1674): English poet and historian who wrote the epic poem “Paradise Lost.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616): England’s “national poet” and the most famous playwright of all time, celebrated for his sonnets and plays like “Romeo and Juliet."
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Italian painter, architect, inventor and “Renaissance man” responsible for painting “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.
Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536): Scholar from Holland who defined the humanist movement in Northern Europe. Translator of the New Testament into Greek.
Rene Descartes (1596–1650): French philosopher and mathematician regarded as the father of modern philosophy. Famous for stating, “I think; therefore I am.”
Galileo (1564-1642): Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer whose pioneering work with telescopes enabled him to describes the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. Placed under house arrest for his views of a heliocentric universe.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543): Mathematician and astronomer who made first modern scientific argument for the concept of a heliocentric solar system.
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): English philosopher and author of “Leviathan.”
Donatello (1386–1466): Italian sculptor celebrated for lifelike sculptures like “David,” commissioned by the Medici family.
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510): Italian painter of “Birth of Venus.”
Raphael (1483–1520): Italian painter who learned from da Vinci and Michelangelo. Best known for his paintings of the Madonna and “The School of Athens.”
Michelangelo (1475–1564): Italian sculptor, painter and architect who carved “David” and painted The Sistine Chapel in Rome.