Who among the following is called the father of humanism?
- A.Dante Alighieri
- B.Petrarch
- C.Boccaccio
- D.Niccolo Machiavelli
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Petrarch. Francesco Petrarch, an Italian poet and scholar of the fourteenth century, collected and studied classical Latin manuscripts and placed human life, reason and the individual at the centre of learning, which is why he is remembered as the father of humanism. Option A, Dante Alighieri, is an earlier figure who wrote the Divine Comedy in the Italian vernacular and is treated as a forerunner of the movement rather than its founder. Option C, Boccaccio, wrote the Decameron, a collection of worldly tales that shows the humanist spirit, but he was Petrarch younger contemporary and follower. Option D, Niccolo Machiavelli, belongs to the next phase; his book the Prince applied the new realism to politics and statecraft. Remember the chain in order: Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli.
Read the full article: Renaissance, Reformation and Geographical Discoveries
Practice Questions
View allThe fall of Constantinople, which sent Greek scholars westwards into Italy and helped begin the Renaissance, took place in which year?
- A.1453
- B.1492
- C.1498
- D.1517
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Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Roman or Byzantine empire, was captured by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed the Second in 1453.
Read the full explanation →The book The Prince, which treats politics as a craft separate from morality, was written by whom?
- A.Thomas More
- B.Erasmus
- C.Niccolo Machiavelli
- D.Martin Luther
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Machiavelli, a Florentine diplomat, wrote the Prince as advice to a ruler on how to win and keep power, judging actions by their results rather than by religious morality, and the word Machiavellian comes from this book.
Read the full explanation →Printing with movable metal type was introduced in Europe by
- A.Johannes Gutenberg
- B.William Caxton
- C.Leonardo da Vinci
- D.Nicolaus Copernicus
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Gutenberg of Mainz in Germany built the first European printing press with movable metal type about the middle of the fifteenth century and printed the Bible that carries his name.
Read the full explanation →The Ninety Five Theses, which began the Reformation, were published in 1517 against which practice of the Church?
- A.The celibacy of priests
- B.The sale of indulgences
- C.The use of Latin in prayer
- D.The worship of images
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An indulgence was a pardon for sin sold for money, and the campaign to sell indulgences in Germany to pay for building work at Rome was the immediate provocation for Martin Luther, who nailed or posted his Ninety Five Theses at Wittenberg on 31 October 1517 arguing that no payment…
Read the full explanation →Match the reformer with his work and choose the correct pair.
- A.John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
- B.Martin Luther: Utopia
- C.Ulrich Zwingli: In Praise of Folly
- D.Ignatius Loyola: The Prince
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Calvin set out his theology, including the doctrine of predestination, in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536 and built a reformed church order at Geneva that spread to Scotland, the Netherlands and France.
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