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The Black Plague is upon us. One third of the population of Europe is dying. Art and learning are on the top of nobody's priorities...
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The Renaissance has begun! The Black Plague is over and the thirst for art and learning is unquenchable. The word Renaissance is French for rebirth.
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Donatello was a great Florentine sculptor who preceded Michelangelo. He sculpted his own statue of David which was cast in bronze and it is his best known work. It was commissioned by Cosmo de Medici in 1430.
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The printing press was created in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. The printing press was helpful because now people didn't have to write their books by hand. This changed everything with respect to reproducing books. The bible was the most mass produced book.
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Lorenzo de Medici ruled over Florence with his brother, Giuliano. Giuliano was assassinated in 1478. He continued to lead Florence until 1492 when he died.
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Rafael was one of the great masters of the Italian Renaissance in painting. He, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were considered the trinity of Italian Renaissance painters. His most well known painting is The School of Athens.
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Sandro Botticelli was a Florentine. He was born in 1449 and died in 1510. In his lifetime, he created the Birth of Venus which is widely viewed as one of the most exquisite paintings in the world. It hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
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Everyone knows King Henry VII killed his wives, but why? Because the Catholic Church would not let him get a divorce. He solved the problem by splitting from the Roman Catholic Church, and crowning himself the head of the Church of England.
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In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa Italy In 1451, and died in 1506. He was looking for the East Indies, but found The Bahamas instead. Nonetheless he called the inhabitants "Indians."
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Da Vinci painted the Last Supper in 1459. It portrays Jesus and all of his disciples at a dinner in which he announces that one of them is going to betray him. The painting shows the reactions of all of the disciples.
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Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer for whom America was named. He landed in Brazil in 1499. During his journeys he is said to have discovered the Amazon River. He recognized that Brazil and the West Indies were not Asia but a New World.
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The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. It was painted in 1503 by da Vinci. In the painting you can not tell why she is smiling. She has an enigmatic smile. Also she has no eyebrows.
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The David was made by Michelangelo in 1504. It depicts David after he had slain Goliath. He is 5.17 meters tall and made completely out of marble. He stands in Florence.
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St Peter's Basilica is one of the greatest churches in the world. Catholics believe St Peter's is buried there. It is the centerpiece of the Vatican. It hold religious and architectural importance. St Peter's Basilica is "An ornament of the earth... the sublime of the beautiful" - Ralf Waldo Emerson.
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Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel in 1508 in the Vatican. He painted it by using scaffolding. He would lay on his back and paint. The many paintings describe the books in the Bible.
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Martin Luther was a German professor of theology. He disputed several Catholic teachings. In a bold move, he wrote 95 theses and nailed them on the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He was an important figure of the Protestant Reformation.
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The Reformation was a split from the Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. This effectively began the Protestant religion. Luther disagreed with the idea that the Pope could sell forgiveness. Luther was the first major figure in the Reformation, but he was followed by John Calvin and others.
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Erasmus was a great thinker who lived during the time of the Protestant Reformation. He ideas were thought to be the beginning of Humanism, the belief that knowledge encouraged morality and understanding between people. He did not embrace the Reformation, but wanted to change the Catholic Church from within.
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Humanism was an intellectual movement of the Renaissance that embraced the ability of humans to achieve greatness. Humanists studied literature, art, and ancient Greece and Rome. Humanism had a non religious view of life.
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Ferdinand Magellan was born in Portugal. Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the globe. In his adventures he found the Strait of Magellan which was under the south tip of Argentina.
