The main theme of Little Flowers is the fact that all friars had to undergo poverty to become holy, however, they would have to spend some time in purgatory to pay for their already forgiven sins. Someone in the story, Pacifico, had a vision of brother Umile rising up into heaven without going through purgatory. One day, while people were moving Umile’s bones, Pacifico washed them in wine and kissed them. The people moving the bones thought he was just being weird, until he told them of his vision. They immediately understood. However, if you went through purgatory before you went to heaven, what hope was there for a regular person to go to heaven without going through an indefinite time in purgatory? My guess is no, not at all.
Month: August 2022
According to Wikipedia, “The First Italian War, sometimes referred to as the Italian War of 1494 or Charles VIII’s Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars.” The members of the Italian War were Charles VIII of France and Milanese aid against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and an alliance of Italian powers known as the League of Venice lead by Pope Alexander VI.
The war began when Charles VIII of France was encouraged to invade Italy while using the Angevin claim to the throne of Naples as a pretext. Charles VIII began conquering city after city leaving all of the other Italian states shocked at these attacks. Pope Alexander VI finally had enough of this and formed the League of Venice. Together, the League of Venice defeated France in the Battle of Fornovo and drew them back. Charles VIII retreated back to France and died before he could launch another attack on the Italian states.
The author of Little Flowers was, well, we are not sure who the author is, but many believe the author to be Father Ugolino da Santa Maria. Very little is known about this man. According to Wikipedia, “Most scholars are now agreed that Ugolino was the author of the Fioretti, or Little Flowers of St. Francis, in their original form. Ugolino was probably one of several collectors of traditions in the Marches. The Fioretti appears to have been written sometime between 1322 and 1328″ It is a florilegium separated into fifty-three small chapters. It was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It was composed (according to google, composed means “having one’s feelings and expression under control; calm”) by the end of the fourteenth century.
The author of these stories made it extremely clear that if we want to be holy, the right thing to do would would be to live in total poverty (according to google, poverty means “the state of being extremely poor”). He thought that living in poverty practiced great humility. He also believed that not living in poverty mad a person grow attached to this world, therefore, the people not living in poverty would grow attached to this world instead of growing attached to God, therefore, those people are not going to receive the gift of eternal life. St. Francis of Assisi took this very seriously.
He also makes it extremely clear that he who sins will be tortured in Hell according to their sins. St. Francis of Assisi thought that to avoid these punishments you need to inflict harsh punishments on yourself. Whenever he sinned, he inflicted harsh punishments on himself. For example, he wore very little clothing or very uncomfortable clothing, and he spent a long time out in the freezing snow, and he did so much more self-punishments or whatever there called. And he did all of these things ON PURPOSE! He just took the whole self-punishment thing way too far. However, he seemed to forget one single concept about God. Do you know what it is? If you guessed that God is a loving and forgiving God, then you are absolutely correct! St. Francis of Assisi forgot that he did not need to inflict self-punishments on himself because God sent his his Son, Jesus, to pay for your sins. All you have to do, is to believe that Jesus is your Savior and the only way to Heaven and follow him. St. Francis of Assisi just forgot that one characteristic of God. If he knew this, then he wouldn’t have inflicted self-punishments on himself. Many people of his time thought he was a very powerful and influential person and they thought that he was right to do what he did with all of the poverty and self-punishment stuff. Because of this, many people started to do what St. Francis of Assisi did. The people did the poverty and self punishment stuff because St. Francis of Assisi did and the people thought that St. Francis of Assisi was right to do it which means that the people thought that they were right to do it.
Through all of this, St. Francis of Assisi did these things because he believed in Heaven and he really wanted to go there. If I were listening to the story of the Little Flowers in 1300, then I would have thought that what St. Francis of Assisi did and said was true.
The three key artists of the High Renaissance are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
Leonardo Da Vinci: He was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance. He was also a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. His greatest masterpiece is the Mona Lisa.
Michelangelo: He was of the High Renaissance. He was also an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. His greatest masterpiece is The Statue of David.
Raphael: He was from the High Renaissance. He was an Italian painter and architect. His greatest masterpiece was The School of Athens.
The story of the Song of Roland goes like this:
The poem shows the story of Charlemagne attaining gifts from the Muslim King. This, of course, was intended as a trap. Roland sends Ganelon, his stepdad, to negotiate with the Muslims. Ganelon is outraged at this and swears to get revenge at Roland. So, instead of negotiating with the Muslims, Ganelon sides with them and betrays the French. After Ganelon returns to Charlemagne and fools him, roland volunteers to lead Charlemagne’s men into battle. One of these men lead into battle is Oliver, Roland’s best friend. When Oliver sees the Muslim army coming towards them, he tries to convince Roland that Ganelon betrayed them. Roland refuses to believe it, but by the end of the first battle, Roland agrees with Oliver that Ganelon is a traitor. Oliver begs Roland to blow his trumpet for reinforcements from Charlemagne. Three times Roland refuses. Oliver believes that it is dishonorable to be outnumbered and die when there is still a time to call for help. Roland does not believe that. In fact, he believes exactly the opposite. Oliver told him that victory should be their priority, not honor. When the second wave of Muslims came, Roland finally agrees to blow the trumpet. In the end, the two switch sides. Roland dies a martyr, and Oliver dies at the hand hand of a Muslim soldier. Charlemagne hears the trumpet’s call for help and drives of the enemy Muslims.
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French Literature. According to Wikipedia, “The Song of Roland is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, during the reign of Charlemagne.” According to Cornell College, “Olivier: Roland’s best friend, comrade, and the brother of Aude. He is also referred to as Oliver.” This poem has been twisted from the real historical event of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 into a poem that was romanticized to fit what can be bluntly described as Christian propaganda. The real Battle of Roncevaux Pass was an invasion of Spain by the ruler Charlemagne to help one set of Muslims defeat another set of Muslims. In this battle he attacked a Basque Christian city. In this battle he retreated and his rearguard was ambushed and defeated by the Basques. Europeans liked listening to this poem, despite the fact that there were several changes and was not historically accurate.
This poem was meant as a recitation (according to google, this word means “the action of repeating something aloud from memory”), so it may have been difficult for them to spot some of the discrepancies (according to google, discrepancies means “a lack of compatibility or similarity between two or more facts”), however, there are so many discrepancies that people are likely to spot a few of them. One of them is the numbering of the troops. At the beginning of the poem, Charlemagne’s army had 140,000 troops. Then he fought the Muslims, won, and lost 20,000 troops. Later, Charlemagne numbers his troops and counts 335,000 troops. This is all very inconsistent.
In this essay, I will tell you about three extremely famous early Renaissance artists and one of their masterpieces.
First, theirs’s Leonardo Da Vinci. He lived from 1452-1519, and he was from Italy. One of his most famous paintings (and I think that you know this one), is the Mona Lisa from 1517.
Second is Tintoretto. He lived from 1518-1594, and he was from Italy. His masterpiece is titled The Last Supper depicting Jesus having the Last Supper with his disciples.
Third is Raphael. He lived from 1483-1520, and he was from Italy. His masterpiece is titled The School of Athens from 1511.
The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French Literature. According to Wikipedia, “The Song of Roland is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, during the reign of Charlemagne.” According to Cornell College, “Olivier: Roland’s best friend, comrade, and the brother of Aude. He is also referred to as Oliver.” This poem has been twisted from the real historical event of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 into a poem that was romanticized to fit what can be bluntly described as Christian propaganda. The real Battle of Roncevaux Pass was an invasion of Spain by the ruler Charlemagne to help one set of Muslims defeat another set of Muslims. In this battle he attacked a Basque Christian city. In this battle he retreated and his rearguard was ambushed and defeated by the Basques. Europeans liked listening to this poem, despite the fact that there were several changes and was not historically accurate.
The poem shows the story of Charlemagne attaining gifts from the Muslim King. This, of course, was intended as a trap. Roland sends Ganelon, his stepdad, to negotiate with the Muslims. Ganelon is outraged at this and swears to get revenge at Roland. So, instead of negotiating with the Muslims, Ganelon sides with them and betrays the French. After Ganelon returns to Charlemagne and fools him, roland volunteers to lead Charlemagne’s men into battle. One of these men lead into battle is Oliver, Roland’s best friend. When Oliver sees the Muslim army coming towards them, he tries to convince Roland that Ganelon betrayed them. Roland refuses to believe it, but by the end of the first battle, Roland agrees with Oliver that Ganelon is a traitor. Oliver begs Roland to blow his trumpet for reinforcements from Charlemagne. Three times Roland refuses. Oliver believes that it is dishonorable to be outnumbered and die when there is still a time to call for help. Roland does not believe that. In fact, he believes exactly the opposite. Oliver told him that victory should be their priority, not honor. When the second wave of Muslims came, Roland finally agrees to blow the trumpet. In the end, the two switch sides. Roland dies a martyr, and Oliver dies at the hand hand of a Muslim soldier. Charlemagne hears the trumpet’s call for help and drives away the enemy Muslims.
Describe the differences between Oliver’s view of military goals vs. Roland’s. Oliver was considered the wise one because of his suggestion to call for aid, and Roland was considered valiant because of his courage and determination to end the enemy without backup. However, both of them show marvelous courage. Roland wanted to stay and fight and probably die with honor, however, Oliver wanted to call for backup, telling Roland that their priority should be victory, not honor. The end of the poem was not that one was right and the other was wrong. Rather they each wanted to serve their country and do what’s best for it and died doing it.
The Renaissance (meaning rebirth) was a time of economic rebirth after the Middle Ages. The Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of art, literature, and classical philosophy. In this essay, I will tell you about five main key ideas of the Renaissance.
Classicism. During the Renaissance, there was a sudden interest for classical works. It also translated heavily into Renaissance architecture. They used symmetry, proportion, and geometry because they believed that it was beautiful to have in a public sphere.
Humanism. The study of Humanism was very common then. Humanism put humans at the center of his own universe.
Individualism. This is an idea that the individual is capable of many great things and should aspire to be well-rounded and skillful in many disciplines.
Secularism. This was an idea that you should make your life on Earth as comfortable and special as you possibly can.
Scepticism. This encouraged Renaissance thinkers to ask questions, ponder, consider, and experiment.
In what ways does Petrarch embody the spirit of the Renaissance? Petrarch is considered the father of humanism. According to Lumen, “Petrarch’s rediscovery of Cicero’s letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance. Petrarch is often considered the founder of Humanism. Petrarch’s sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry.”