Renaissance: The Transformation of the West

How did the Renaissance - as it occurred in Italy and in other parts of Europe - pioneer a new way of thinking about history itself? Who, exactly, was the typical "Renaissance Man"? Get answers to these and other questions about the Renaissance's powerful fusion of classical and medieval worldviews.

Here, consider how the key contexts and values of the European Renaissance set the stage for a new era of questions. The two chief examples you'll use to chart the origins of the European Renaissance are the Black Death and the letters of Petrarch.

Discover why the Renaissance first bloomed in, of all places, Italy. First, look at the politics and economics of medieval Italian states. Then, explore how the legacies of antiquity gained traction throughout the peninsula. Finally, consider the influence of trade revivals, a dynamic social order, and the profits from holy wars.

Focus on one of the most-challenging foundational concepts of the Renaissance: humanism. Professor McNabb outlines how and why education underwent its extreme makeover, explores the fields that dominated this new way of learning, and introduces you to humanist schools and schoolmasters.

Florence, defined by hierarchy and inequality, has become synonymous with the Italian Renaissance. How did this happen? Here, you will explore the complex political journey of this "most noble" of cities from model republic to six decades of domination by the iconic Medici family, and back again.

Dive into the byzantine history and legacy of Venice during the period of the Renaissance, when the city managed to prosper even without that most valuable of commodities: land. Learn how Venice was shaped by its merchant elite, how it joined the ranks of Italian city-states, and how Venice experienced humanism.

Investigate how the new learning in Rome challenged the wisdom of centuries of spiritual authority as the capital of Christianity. While exploring Rome's papal history, encounter the noble family who considered it their birthright to wield control over the city: the infamous Borgias (including Cesare and Pope Alexander VI).

In this lecture, turn to the other great power players in Renaissance Italy, including the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and the duchy of Milan. Then, examine the eclipse of the age of the republics by the age of the tyrants: elite families who used cunning to obtain - and maintain - positions of authority.

Renaissance Man can perhaps best be understood as an educational and political ideal, someone as schooled in warfare as he was in classical antiquity. Here, meet three men whose lives and works exemplify different iterations of the Renaissance Man in action: Niccolò Machiavelli, Baldassare Castiglione, and Leon Battista Alberti.

Step inside 15th- and 16th-century Italian courts to investigate how a number of smart, powerful, and cunning women helped steer the course of the Renaissance. Among the women you'll meet are Isabella d'Este, noted for her trendsetting sense of style and substance, and the Italian poet, Veronica Franco.

Using the careers and works of artists like Masaccio, Giotto, and Botticelli, discover how early Renaissance painting innovated and celebrated the experience of being human. In addition, you'll examine the business side of art, including matters of patronage that were central to artists during the Italian Renaissance.

Turn now to the High Italian Renaissance era of painting, credited with a veritable artistic revolution in the art form. During this time, artists like Leonardo and Michelangelo were celebrities who rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful. Not to be overlooked: the role of women painters, including Artemisia Gentileschi.

Learn how Renaissance architects and city planners - including Donato Bramante, Sebastian Serlio, and Andrea Palladio - imbued sculpture and architecture with tremendous ideological and practical power. Then, discover how Renaissance musicians helped move music out of the religious sphere and into the princely courts.

In this lecture, examine the lives and careers of a trio of fascinating Renaissance authors who used their words to help write the Renaissance into the pages of history. Professor McNabb covers the merchant, Francesco Datini; the artist-biographer, Giorgio Vasari; and the Florentine historian, Francesco Guicciardini.

Venture to the other side of the Alps for a closer look at what's known as the "Northern Renaissance." You'll chart the political evolution of the region from barbarism to feudalism to feudal monarchy, explore why feudal monarchies trended toward weakness, and get a brief overview of power struggles among northern kings.

Turn the lens on the monarchical rivalries of the Northern Renaissance, which changed the course of Western politics as much as the rivalries in Italy. Focus on the rule of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, the rise of the Tudors in England, and the waxing power of France.

Consider the development of humanist thought in the north, which commingled with the idea of a Christian rebirth and a reordering of society's morals that planted the seeds for the Reformation. Among the inquisitive and critical Christian humanists you'll encounter are Erasmus and Thomas More.

Using works by Matthias Grünewald, Jan van Eyck, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Hans Holbein the Younger, and others, explore how northern artists breathed artistic life into themes of faith, duty, and fidelity. Then, visit the court of the dukes of Burgundy for a look at the music of Guillaume Dufay.

Meet the Northern Renaissance authors and playwrights who offered entertainments and edification in the page and on the stage - authors who would become some of the greatest writers in Western history. These geniuses include François Rabelais; Miguel de Cervantes; William Langland; Geoffrey Chaucer; and, of course, William Shakespeare.

Examine the "woman question": the contemporary debate about Renaissance women's abilities and deficiencies. The question, as you'll learn, was really about access to education. Along the way, you'll consider whether we can say women had a renaissance of their own - and why that issue still matters today.

In the first of several sketches on the conditions of Renaissance life, explore the geographical setting where the vast majority of the European population lived at the time: the countryside. You'll look at festivals and feast days, types of settlements, the competition for land, and the peasant rebellions that followed.

How exactly do we define "urban" during the Renaissance? How did three, early modern institutions - craft guilds, confraternities, and public drinking establishments - help to define the urban experience? Find out in Professor McNabb's fascinating lecture on the urban experiences of rich and poor alike.

Continue exploring daily life during the Renaissance by turning to issues of personal crisis - and their consequences. In studying crime, deviance, and Renaissance attitudes toward honor and shame, you'll discover how early modern communities and authorities sought to order the world and project their morality.

Marriage during the Renaissance was a major component of the "good life" during the period. It was also a complicated affair shaped by the intersection of private desires with more practical considerations. Delve into the ways Renaissance societies constructed marriage, and how marriage customs differed depending on geographic location.

What was domestic life like during the Renaissance? Get a feel for it with this lecture that highlights several topics related to home and hearth. These topics include: food culture (with a focus on baking), the practicalities of dress, the details about childrearing, and the role of servants and retainers.