Week 15 Overview and Assignment

The Final Examination remains viewable/accessible. It will remain open until its deadline. Please read this assignment, worth a large part of your final grade, carefully. If you have questions about it after reading it carefully, post your question in the Q&A forum.

The Examination can be accessed by clicking here. A link to it can also be found to it on the Home Page under the Essential Links.

 

Welcome to History 1: 

Crisis and Renaissance
(Chapter 13)

in The Making of the West

Leonardo DaVinci's Notebook:
Man -- "the Taker" -- as the Measure of All Things?

 

 

The Chapter Objectives

After reading and studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Explain the impact of the plagues and wars of this period on the lives of ordinary people.
2. Analyze the relationship between the crises of the period and the cultural outflowing of the Renaissance.
3. Identify the important features of the Renaissance and explain their significance.
4. Contrast the different forms of government found in the period, and explain the strengths and weaknesses of each.

 

Self-test yourself by answering these questions. They are not to be handed in however.

Please read your textbook this week so that you are able to answer these key questions. If you can't answer them after "finishing" the chapter, you have a critical piece of information about your reading comprehension level. Re-read often or read more slowly, actively. (To learn how to improve your reading comprehension, please go to the About Discussions module on the Modules Page and click on the section "How to Read a History Textbook Chapter." Then apply what you've learned.) 

 

Crisis and Renaissance

This chapter has a bit of everything, starting with the Black Death and the Hundred Years War -- two tragedies that depopulated the continent and led many to believe that a curse lay on the land. What had Europe done to incur such disasters.

Then, when it seemed the night was darkest, there was dawn. The cultural movement of the Renaissance emphasized the achievements of individuals, often at the expense of the majority of people. The artists, writers, and scholars of this rebirth looked to the Greek and Roman classics for inspiration, but at the same time, expressed an interest in the world around them.

The Renaissance first emerged in the Italian city-states, the product of political turmoil and opportunities for individuals. As it spread northward, it was transformed by monarchies seeking to bolster their authority in the wake of the breakdown of the old feudal order.

The greatest achievements of the Renaissance were in the fields of art, literature, and architecture, but the movement influenced politics as well. Rulers developed new military and diplomatic strategies, but often neglected the poor.

This era constituted a break with the Middle Ages, and Europe stood on the threshold of the modern period.

Some Misconceptions About the History We'll Be Exploring

1. The Hundred Years’ War

We should not think of the Hundred Years’ War as a period of constant fighting. Hostilities never actually entirely ceased, and there were long periods of inaction in which England and France concentrated on domestic problems or other foreign issues. Another common misapprehension is that French victory followed immediately as a result of Joan of Arc’s career. Although the tide had turned in favor of France, there were still decades to go before the end of the war.

2. Popes and “Anti-Popes”

The final settlement of the Great Schism affirmed the validity of the Roman line of popes. That's to say that the Avignon popes during the schism and the pope of the Council of Pisa are not considered popes, but “anti-popes,” and are not included in papal numbering. Pope Francis would agree. (g)

Read

For this Week, carefully read in our textbook all of Chapter 13. It's a big chapter packed with essential information about a period that saw Europe creep out from the Middle Ages into the Modern. Step lively!

Discuss

Go to the Discussion Forum for this week and contribute to this week's Discussion topics.

Test Yourself

Please take the Chapter Quiz for this week. 

 

The Final Examination

The Final Examination remains viewable/accessible. It will remain open until its deadline. Please read this assignment, worth a large part of your final grade, carefully. If you have questions about it after reading it carefully, post your question in the Q&A forum.

The Examination can be accessed by clicking here. A link to it can also be found to it on the Home Page under the Essential Links.