Renaissance

Period: 1400 - 1600 [1494 (French invasion of Italy) - 1610 (death of Henry IV)]
Core idea: rediscovery of humanity

• Renaissance architecture

Ideas

• Humanism and revival of Classical antiquity
• Classical scholarship and philology (study of ancient texts)

Key Figures

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Michelangelo
• Erasmus
• Petrarca
• Boccaccio
• Macchiavelli
• Michel de Montaigne
• Catherine de Medici married to Henry II

Historical background

The French invasion of Italy marked the beginning of a new phase of European politics, during which the Valois kings of France and the Habsburgs of Germany fought each other, with the Italian states as their reluctant pawns