Renaissance - People
Aim: Who were the major participants in the arts, literature, philosophy, and the sciences during the Renaissance?
Do Now: Renaissance People Worksheet
Short List of Important Renaissance Figures (People)
- Balboa - crossed the Isthmus of Panama and claimed the Pacific for Spain.
- Botticelli - Painted Birth of Venus and other scenes from classical mythology also noted for his Madonnas
- Brueghel - Painted lively scenes of village life
- Boyle - founder of Modern Chemistry
- Cabral - Claimed Brazil for Portugal
- Calvin and Calvinism - broke away from the Catholic church, defined his new religion, emphasized predestination. Created a new church in Switzerland
- Cartier, Jacques - His voyage up the St. Lawrence seaway gave the French claim to eastern Canada
- Catherine of Aragon - Beloved Queen of England and patron of education
- Catherine the Great - Romanov ruler of Russia who continued Peter the Great's policies of expansion and resolved the Polish question. expanded the boundaries of Russia and benefited from the partition of Poland
- Charles V - A Hapsburg who was both King of France and Spain
- Christopher Columbus - Medieval explorer
- Copernicus - (Polish scientist) Heliocentric theory (sun is the center of the universe)
- Cortes - Defeated the Aztec ruler Montezuma
- Descartes - Described a new method of inquiry in which all thought would follow the orderly progression of scientific reasoning
- Erasmus - Dutch humanist
- Eleanor of Aquitaine - Queen of France and England, Crusader and patron of the arts
- Ferdinand - led the Spanish Inquisition
- Frederick I (Barbarossa) - "first king of Prussia" as granted by the Holy Roman Emperor
- Frederick II (the Great) - expanded Prussian territory and made Prussia a first-class power in Europe
- Galileo - Used the telescope to prove that the earth revolved around the sun and rotated on its axis
- Gutenberg - Invented the moveable type printing press which allowed for the Bible to be printed in the vernacular
- Henry VIII - King who got his own way and at the same time established the Anglican Church
- Hans Holbein - the Elder and the Younger...noted artists of the Renaissance
- Isabella I - ruler of Castile who manipulated her marriage to Ferdinand and created a new country called Spain
- Kepler - astronomer who discovered that the orbits of the planets were ellipses
- Louis XIV - King of France who declared himself divine monarch
- Luther, Martin and Lutheranism - Protested against the Catholic church's use of indulgences and the corruption of the church; challenged the church by posting 95 thesis on the church door
- Machiavelli - Wrote the book "The Prince" which emphasized control of the people by a ruler to establish a society where people would be best served by the ruler.
- Magellan - First to circumnavigate the globe
- Philip II - centralized Spanish government
- Pizarro - Spanish Conqueror the Incas
- Ponce de Leon - Spanish explorer of Florida
- Prince Henry (of Portugal) - Established a school for navigators
- Raphael - Artist noted for his Madonnas
- Richeleiu - Louis XIII's chief minister who strengthened the power of the king by appointing special officials that undermined the power of the nobles local power. He also weakened the power of the Hapsburgs throughout Europe, and the Huguenots (French protestants).
- Sir Thomas More - Wrote "Utopia" which described both social problems and possible solutions
- Titian - His works noted for very rich colors
- Vasco da Gama - Sailed around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa and brought back spices and jewels from India.
- Vesalius - conducted investigations to see how the human body was constructed
For a more detailed and complete list use Wikipedia's Renaissance Figures Complete Listing
Classwork & Homework
Lesson PowerPoint: Important People of the Renaissance
Lesson Activity: Renaissance Literature - The Courtier
Renaissance - Da Vinci - Notebooks
Homework: assignments