LESSON 5.2 How do we know about Renaissance Italy?
LEARNING INTENTION By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
• identify a range of sources from the Renaissance • describe their usefulness in understanding the period • define the period of history called ‘the Renaissance’.
Tune in Renaissance individuals were meticulous diary keepers. In addition to diaries, literate people from merchants to soap-makers kept scrapbooks ( zibaldoni ) in which they carefully recorded snippets of advice, excerpts of texts and news of the day. These books could take years to complete and were intended to be guides for younger generations. Italian writer Giovanni de’ Bardi wrote in the front of his book: ‘O you who read me, please don’t mislay me, for I am the guide and companion of he who copied me.’ 1. What kinds of information do you think historians might discover in these diaries? 2. How do you record your experiences? 3. How might the information you save about your life compare to the recorded experiences of people living during the Renaissance?
SOURCE1 Manuscript of soap-maker Antonio di Guido Berti which was written over a two-year period.
5.2.1 How do we know about the Renaissance era? The term Renaissance comes from the old French term renaistre , meaning ‘rebirth’, and was first used in 1860 by Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt to describe the renewed interest in the ideas of Ancient Greece and Rome during the fifteenth century in Italy.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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