The Medici Family was a banking family in the Republic of Florence, Italy. Their bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century, and the Medici family gained political power in Florence as a result — though officially they remained citizens rather than monarchs. Their wealth and influence originally came from the textile (cloth) trade. Like other important families they dominated their city's government and were able to bring Florence under their family's power, which allowed for an environment where art and humanism could flourish. Beginning in 1434 with the rise to power of Cosimo de’ Medici (also called Cosimo the Elder), the family’s support of the arts and humanities made Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance, rivaled only by that of Ancient Greece.

The

Medici

Family

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His work consists of about 154 sonnets (poems) and 38 plays, including “Romeo & Juliet,” and “Hamlet.” His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century.

William

Shakespeare

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, geologist, botanist, and writer. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, represented the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as a Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity.” He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time. Leonardo was, and is, famous primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Leonardo is revered for his technological

imagination. He came up with the ideas for flying machines, a tank, and an adding machine. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even possible during his lifetime. He also made important discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, and optics.

Leonardo

Da Vinci

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the Renaissance. Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, and ever since then he has been held to be one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of his works in painting,

sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. His output in every field during his long life was exceptional; he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.

Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created one of the most influential works in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. At the age

of 74 he took over as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.

In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive.

Michelangelo

Buonarroti

The Pieta

Statue of David

From the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Johannes Gutenberg (1395 – 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution and laid the foundation for the spread of learning to the masses. Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period. In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society. The use of movable type was a huge improvement on the handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe. Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and later the world. His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high artistic and technical quality.

Johann

Guttenberg

Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death. He later took the throne of Ireland as well. Henry was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

Henry’s desire to provide England with a male heir – which stemmed partly from personal vanity and partly because he believed a daughter would be unable to continue the Tudor family line– led to the two things for which Henry is most remembered: his six marriages and the English Reformation. Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry's struggles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from the Pope’s authority and his becoming the Supreme Head of the Church of England. This was the English Reformation.

Besides ruling with considerable power, Henry also engaged himself as an author and composer. He became morbidly obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterized in his later life as an egotistical, harsh, and insecure king. He had two daughters, Queen Mary I and Elizabeth I. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

Henry VIII

Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603) was queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "Good Queen Bess,” Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

One of her first moves as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir so as to continue the Tudor line, however she never did.

As a leader, Elizabeth was good at compromising. She was cautious in foreign affairs, moving between the major powers of France and Spain. In the mid-1580s, war with Spain could no longer be avoided, and when Spain finally decided to attempt to conquer England in 1588, the failure of the Spanish Armada associated her with one of the greatest military victories in English history.

Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare, and for the seafaring skill of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. After the short reigns of Elizabeth's half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

Elizabeth I

Nicolas Copernicus (1473 – 1543) was a Polish Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center.

Copernicus wrote a book called De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). In the book, Copernicus explained that the Earth rotated along its axis and orbited the sun once per year. He correctly positioned all of the known planets at the time and explained why the seasons occurred. He also argued that the distance from the Earth to the sun is much less than the distance from the Earth to other stars. Copernicus died a year later, in 1543. His book is considered a major event in the history of science. It began the Copernican Revolution and contributed importantly to the Scientific Revolution.

Copernicus had a doctorate in law and, though without degrees, was a physician, Ancient Greek and Roman scholar, translator, diplomat, and economist.

Nicolas

Copernicus

Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642), often known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and astronomical observations that proved Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. Galileo has been called "the Father of Modern Science".

His contributions to astronomy include the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honor). Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments.

Galileo's support of the heliocentric theory was controversial within his lifetime, when most believed the Earth was the center of the universe. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was false and contrary to scripture. All books which supported the idea of heliocentric theory were banned and Galileo was forbidden to support the idea. Galileo later defended his views in a book called Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII. Galileo was put on trial by the Holy Office, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

Galileo

Galilei

Christopher Columbus (October 31, 1451-May 20, 1506) was an Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer. His voyages across the Atlantic led to general European awareness of the American continents and the Western Hemisphere. Although Columbus was Italian, he sailed under the Spanish flag for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Columbus made four voyages to the “New World.” Columbus intended to find a water route to the “Spice Islands” of Asia (modern day Indonesia). Spices were extremely valuable but the trade was dominated by the Arabs and Italians. The Spanish government wanted a part of the trade and Columbus believed he could help. Columbus severely underestimated the circumference of the Earth, however, and landed in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. Mistaking the lands he encountered for Asia, he referred to the inhabitants as “indios” (Spanish for Indians).

Columbus was not the first European to reach the Americans from Europe. At least one other group preceded him, the Norse, led by Leif Ericson. But it was Columbus who opened up the Americas to Europeans. Columbus’s greatest contribution, unintended, was the exchange of plants, animals and diseases between the “Old World” and the “New World.” Today we call this exchange the Columbian Exchange.

Christopher Columbus

This is a map of the four voyages of Columbus

Hernando Cortes (1485-December 2, 1485) was a Spanish conquistador (soldier and explorer) from western Spain. In 1504 Cortes sailed to Santo Domingo (in modern day Dominican Republic) and later went on to Cuba where he helped to conquer the island. He had heard rumors that Mexico contained great wealth. Cortes established a settlement there and made local allies.

The great civilization in Mexico was the Aztecs, led by Montezuma II. It is thought that Cortes’ arrival in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan coincided with an Aztec prophecy about a white-skinned god arriving from the east, which would explain why Montezuma II welcomed Cortes and gave him lavish gifts. However, relations quickly deteriorated and, fearing that he would be attacked, Cortes took Montezuma hostage, demanding a huge ransom from his people.

In April 1520, the Aztecs began to revolt Cortes wanted Montezuma II to help put down the revolt but the Aztec leader was struck by a stone and died. The Spanish were then driven out of the city, incurring heavy losses.

In 1521 Cortes returned to Tenochtitlan, which fell after a three-month siege. A new settlement, Mexico City, was built on the ruins and settled with Spanish colonists, becoming the center of Spanish America. Cortes secured control over Mexico, inflicting great cruelty on the indigenous population. Western diseases such as smallpox also causes huge fatalities. Cortes went on to discover and name California.

Hernando Cortes

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was born in northern Portugal. He later obtained Spanish nationality so King Charles I would sponsor a voyage to the “Spice Islands” in Asia (modern day Indonesia). Spices were very valuable because they were used to preserve meat, flavor food and perfume people and houses.

In 1519 Magellan began an expedition to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The body of water at the bottom tip of South America was named the Strait of Magellan. He and his crew were also the first Europeans to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific and to cross the entire Pacific Ocean. The expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe (complete a full circle around the earth), but Magellan was killed in the Philippine Islands before they reached home. The expedition began with 237 men and only 18 completed the circumnavigation of the globe.

Ferdinand Magellan

Vasco da Gama (1460-1542) was a Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from Portugal to the East, around Africa, to India. Da Gama was born to a noble family and is father was also an explorer. King Manuel I of Portugal sponsored his exploration to reach India, for trading reasons. Many people of the time believed it was impossible to reach India by water only.

Da Gama left Portugal on July 8, 1487, and made many stops in Africa and had many problems with Muslim traders who did not want anyone to interfere with their profitable trade routes. Da Gama reached Calicut, India on May 20, 1498. Da Gama returned to Portugal on August 29, 1498 and was welcomed as a hero.

Da Gama was sent by King Manuel I to India again and this time da Gama took 20 armed ships in order to show Portuguese power. Along the way da Gama killed hundreds of Muslims, often brutally, in order to demonstrate his power.

Vasco da Gama

This is the route that Vasco da Gama took to India.

Queen Isabella I (April 22, 1451-November 26, 1504) was the Queen of Castille and Leon (regions in Spain). Isabella married Ferdinand of Aragon, another region of Spain. Their marriage brought about stability and became the basis for the unification of Spain. Together, they succeeded in liberating Spain from the control of the African Moors who had conquered Spain in the 700s.

Isabella is widely known for her support of Christopher Columbus. She had actually rejected Columbus’s plan three times before she agreed after one year of Columbus’s pleading. Columbus set sail in August 1492 bound for the East Indies of Southeast Asia. He returned after landing in the Americas, which he named the West Indies. He brought gold and Native Americans, although his

voyage was supposed to bring back spices.

After Columbus’s voyage Spain entered a golden age of exploration and colonization. The Portuguese did not recognize Spain’s claim to South America. King John II of Portugal threatened to send an army to claim the land for Portugal. The dispute was settled in 1494 with the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the world outside of Europe between Spain and Portugal. This is why today Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish.

Queen Isabella I

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German priest and a professor of theology, which is the study of religion. In 1517, he was a priest in Wittenberg, Germany. He noticed that a lot of his parishioners (the people in his church) were not coming to him for confession, which is something they are supposed to do when they sin. He found out that the Pope was allowing people to buy indulgences, or pardons for their sins, with money. He also noted that the church was very corrupt. For example, many priests did not even know how to read. Some priests had wives and children, even though a priest is never supposed to marry. Luther decided to write down all the things he thought the church was doing wrong and post it to the door of his church. He called these his “95 Theses.” The Pope, Leo X, became angry that Martin Luther had posted his 95 Theses, and told Luther to take them back. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, told Luther the same thing. Charles V brought Martin Luther before a council, called a Diet, in the city of Worms (called the Diet of Worms). Luther told the council that he could never take back what he said because he could prove that everything he said was in the Bible. Pope Leo X and Charles V had Martin Luther excommunicated (kicked out of the church) and made him a criminal. He escaped, went in to hiding, where he worked on writing a Bible in German.

Martin

Luther

Pope Leo X (1475-1521) was an Italian Pope. He was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy, in 1475. His father was Lorenzo De Medici, the famous patron of Renaissance artists. The Medici family was very rich and powerful, and when Leo became Pope he became most powerful man in the Catholic Church. When he became Pope, St. Peter’s Basilica (a famous church in Rome) needed to be reconstructed. It would be very expensive to rebuild it, so he came up with a new way for the church to make money. He would allow priests to take money from people who sinned instead of having those people do penance. This was called buying indulgences. He would also allow people to give money instead of prayers to get loved ones out of Purgatory (the waiting place between Heaven and Hell). He would also allow people to pay for sins they might commit in the future. Suddenly a priest from Germany named Martin Luther said all these things (and a lot more) that Pope Leo X was doing was corrupt. Martin Luther made a huge list of things wrong with the church, which the Pope felt was heresy (against church teachings). Pope Leo told Martin Luther to take it back, but he wouldn’t. Pope Leo X had Luther excommunicated (kicked out of the church) for spreading all these ideas against the church.

Pope

Leo X