Questions tagged [renaissance]
Cultural epoch in Europe, covering 15th and 16th centuries, between Medieval and Baroque.
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What's a good general history book on Italy, 1400-1600? [closed]
I'm an artist with an interest in artists of the Italian Renaissance. After reading several biographies it's clear that in order to really understand their lives I need to know more about their world....
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1answer
95 views
What is Renaissance Humanism? [closed]
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the concept of Renaissance humanism. I've been reading about it for some time and I've found definitions, or explanations, varying in focus from it being a ...
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1answer
121 views
What is the source of a half remembered art history quote possibly about Bruneleschi's Florence Cathedral?
I'm trying to track down an exact quote which I remember very vaguely, having read it over ten years ago in some art or art history book whose title I no longer recall. I think the quote is attributed ...
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1answer
150 views
When did the terms, 1-point, 2,-point, 3-point, etc... perspective come into use?
It is generally agreed upon that the architect Brunelleschi was the one that discovered the rules for perspective in the early 15th century. I have perused books like "On Painting" by Leon ...
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1answer
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To what extent was Niccolo Machiavelli's views representative of the views in Italy's renaissance?
In The Prince (c. 1513), Niccolo Machiavelli states:
Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is ...
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1answer
257 views
How did the bride's family benefit from providing a large dowry in Renaissance Italy? [closed]
[Please note, I do not personally in any way endorse the inequality of women. I seek to understand better the politics of marriage in Renaissance Europe]
UPDATE: Since this question was closed before ...
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1answer
198 views
What do subjects in Hellenistic and Renaissance art suggest about the average human physique throughout history?
I recently visited the vatican museums and saw Laocoön and His Sons (27 BC to 68 AD), and also have looked up David by Michelangelo and works by Leonardo Da Vinci.
In most male subjects during these ...
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0answers
40 views
How was "patronage" actually transferred in Medici Florence?
The Medicis commissioned art and patronized artists. By what mechanism was this achieved? Did someone literally just hand a bag of florins to an artist? I'm interested in the whole process, from ...
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1answer
328 views
When and how did classical mythology subjects start to appear in art in medieval/Renaissance Europe?
All early medieval Europe art objects I am aware of are either about the Christian subjects or about the history (chronicles etc.). Classical mythology was obviously known in Europe before, see e.g. ...
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398 views
What was Pope Innocent VIII's reaction to the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews in 1492?
What was the reaction of the Pope of the Catholic Church to the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews of Spain on March 31, 1492?
Did Pope Innocent VIII (d. July 25, 1492) condemn publicly Spain's decree? ...
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3answers
650 views
Were medieval and renaissance era jesters commonly disabled?
In Hilary Mantel's famous historical fiction Wolf Hall, she implies more than once that the court fools of figures in the era of Henry VIII often had some form of learning difficulty. Indeed in one ...
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164 views
What would a small-scale merchant in Renaissance Italy consider a necessity at home?
Presume we have a small-scale merchant in Renaissance Italy. By "small scale" I mean someone who has a shop and a house but isn't big enough to be a "rich merchant". I believe that something like ...
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1answer
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In what way were Renaissance battles like chess matches?
I have been reading Ross King's Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence. Although the book is well documented, it has an astonishing passage for which the author provides no ...
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Why did the Renaissance Italians paint (pagan) Greek myths? [duplicate]
The Italians were very religious Catholics but why did they paint/sculpt heroes from Greek mythology? Weren't the Greeks considered pagans?
In the examples below, some artists like Michelangelo were ...
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1answer
289 views
Did people during the Renaissance believe that the heart had two chambers?
Short question (adapted from @Oddthinking at Skeptics.SE):
How many chambers did the scientific population of the world (excluding Leonardo da Vinci), think the human heart had during the Renaissance?...
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2answers
416 views
What was the place of a catapult in a formation
My question is where would you usually keep a catapult on a battlefield. It feels as if you shouldn't keep it in the rear back of the army since it won't reach the target, and also you want to have as ...
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1answer
104 views
How did public debt financing through annuities work in the States General of the Netherlands?
We're going through some readings regarding how the formation of modern states was structured through the many wars throughout Europe across the centuries, and one of the points that concerns me - ...
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1answer
1k views
Rose tattoo used to mark convicts condemned to death?
I recall from my university history courses a factoid about rose tattoos being used to mark convicts condemned to death in Europe during the Renaissance period (in case of escape), and was wondering ...
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What is the source for this Leonardo Da Vinci quote?
"Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world."
Where exactly does this Leonardo Da Vinci quote come from? Was it part of a larger paragraph - if so ...
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3answers
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Did any Moors accompany Hernando de Soto in his exploration of Mississippi?
I was reading about Hernando de Soto and saw William Powell's painting (Relevant bit cropped and added below):
The odd thing (Marked with a red arrow) is the man who looks Moorish and is dressed in ...
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1answer
393 views
Prior to 1790, before dentist chairs, did dentists put the patient's head between their knees?
I read here (and similarly in a book of facts from the TV series QI), that in the 1700s, the dentist would have held your head between his knees as he operated.
I have read that before dentist chairs,...
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242 views
Was ambition considered a character flaw in medieval times or Renaissance?
In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar", ambition is an undesirable trait:
"The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault".
Was ambition widely considered ...
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1answer
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Hiring professionals to transcribe historical documents
I'm sorry if this question sounds strange but I'm not sure where else in the world to post it.
I have an eighteenth-century will that I'd like to be able to read, but I have very little practice in ...
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1answer
253 views
Why was Polish king Sigismund II Augustus' coronation held when his father Sigismund I was still alive?
Sigismund II Augustus was born in 1520 and crowned at age 10 in 1530, while his father Sigismund I the Old was still alive.
Could someone explain me the reason for this coronation?
Sigismund II August ...
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2answers
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Why was William Tyndale burnt at the stake?
I read here that the main reason Tyndale was executed by the church was because he translated the Greek bible into English.
Somewhere else I read that this is not true. Tyndale was charged with ...
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1answer
910 views
In a challenge to duel, what happened if a thrown gauntlet (and later, glove) was refused?
What would become of a gauntlet or glove after a denied duel? I'm not finding any hints on Google.
Would the challenger abandon it after throwing it to their challengee's feet, as a matter of honor? ...
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563 views
Why was the new world named America?
Christopher Columbus is widely credited with discovering the new world in 1492 as the leader of an expedition which included 3 ships financed by the kingdom of Spain. Columbus was a seasoned sailor, ...
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1answer
380 views
Why was Columbus not aware of the existence of America?
Vikings had discovered the American continent centuries before 1492, the year of Columbus' trip. How did the information about the huge discovery got lost? It would not have seemed surprising to me if ...
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1answer
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What language was spoken between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I
As the title states: What language was spoken between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I. of Habsburg?
I could think of three possibilities: Latin, French and German, but am leaning towards German.
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How did the Medici originally get into finance?
I'm trying to find out how the Medici family rose to power. Most sites simply say, "Banking and finance." I'm trying to figure out a bit more specific. How did Cosimo de Medici originally get into ...
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9answers
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Were there ever any libraries in medieval villages?
I know that in towns and cities there might be libraries built, but is it possible or likely that peasants can have access to it as well? I've heard that every village has an least a monastery or ...
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What was the contemporary reaction to Dante's Divine Comedy?
Dante's Divine Comedy is one of the great classics of world literature: a poem about Dante's journey through the three afterlives of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. During the course of these adventures ...
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1answer
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Were "hitmen" a real historical occupation?
The trained killer-for-hire is a fairly standard trope in all kinds of media about courtly intrigue. That way, the king's life can be in danger basically all the time. But did these people actually ...
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2answers
527 views
What was the state of the art of salt production before the invention of graduation towers?
According to Wikipedia,
A graduation tower (occasionally referred to as a thorn house) is a structure used in the production of salt which removes water from a saline solution by evaporation, ...
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1answer
857 views
What language is the inscription in Masaccio's Holy Trinity
Masaccio, the Italian Renaissance master, has a painting called the Holy Trinity. In the bottom part of the painting, is a cadaver tomb, with an inscription. I have been able to find plenty of ...
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156 views
How much of a symbiotic relationship was there between the Renaissance and the Printing Press?
Both the Renaissance and the Printing Press are dated to be around the 14th century. While the first Printing Press was in 1436 (Johannes Gutenberg), the Renaissance is also supposed to start around a ...
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2answers
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Why didn't the Roman maniple make a comeback in the Renaissance?
In the late Medieval/Renaissance period, the concept of the Greek phalanx reappeared in the shape of the pike square.
But, while the maniple system was by no means a straight counter of the phalanx, ...
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1answer
959 views
Please help find these paintings
I've read in a book written about 80 years ago descriptions of 3 paintings,
the paintings were seen about 130 years ago.
These are the descriptions (translated to English):
Painting #1
Painting of ...
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1answer
405 views
Was the term 'renaissance' used during said period?
Just as the title suggests, was the term for the renaissance years coined and used during those years, or is it a modern word used retrospectively?
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1answer
560 views
Why did Galileo decide to flame Fr. Grassi over the latter's theory of comets, making sure to lose the Jesuits’ support?
Grassi's Disputatio was a rather tame work, which presented his theory of circularly orbiting comets in a non-definitive fashion. It should have pleased Galileo, given his prejudice in strictly ...
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Why didn't early modern Christians object to pagan symbolism in art?
I've been to a couple European museums recently, and a question that has been nagging at me is how a society composed of devout Christians could have been so okay with the introduction of pagan gods ...
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What happened to all the scholars and scientists of Western Rome during the barbarian invasions?
We know that the dawn of the age of Renaissance and the dusk of the Middle Ages were accelerated by the fall of Byzantine Empire and the transfer of a big chunk of "Ancient Knowledge" from Greece to ...
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1answer
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Did Magellan's log show a lost day?
My question embraces history, cosmology and astronomy, I hope this is an appropriate forum to ask it, if not I apologise and hope to be re-directed.
I have read, but lost the reference, that when the ...
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1answer
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Did any of these artists ever meet?
Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael) and Donato Bardi (Donatello) are some of the most prominent and influential artists of the Renaissance period. Three of the four (...
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1answer
882 views
What made Cicero so fascinating to Petrarch?
Petrarch was apparently fascinated throughout his whole life by Cicero, in a way that his contemporaries apparently weren't. He even wrote letters to Cicero. But these letters don't mean much to me, ...
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Why did classical works re-emerge during the Renaissance?
I recently read the Annals by Tacitus. Although I am definitely pleased with it, I feel like the best parts are missing. It got me thinking about the history of books in general.
I read on another ...
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What were the traveling practices of merchants, roughly between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?
How did salespersons of the aforementioned period(s), whether affluent merchants or peddlers, tend to travel? I'm familiar with caravansaries/caravanserais, but how did this concept translate to ...
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1answer
882 views
Why are most late medieval fencing manuals German?
Not only is the German school dominating modern European martial arts, but almost everyone who talks about late medieval fencing refers to German fencing manuals as the primary source.
Why are German ...
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3answers
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Colonies in Machiavelli's age
In Chapter 3 of the Prince Machiavelli offers this advice to the prince who would hold a newly acquired territory:
[T]o send colonies to one or two places, which may be as keys to that
state, for ...
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3answers
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Where was the cultural inheritance of the Greco/Roman world/antiquity preserved?
In school and later in media (this is northern Europe) I was/am always told that it was the Arabs/Muslim world that preserved the science, technology, literature, art, culture etc from the Greek and ...
