I. The New Learning

1			What are the main characteristics of Italian Humanism? How do these compare with earlier medieval Scholasticism? Why were Italian humanists so interested in Classical civilization?

II. Art and Artists in the Italian Renaissance

2			In what ways did art change in the Renaissance?
3			In what ways did the role of the artist and the prestige attached to art change? Why was this so important?
4			Compare Italian and northern art.

III. The Culture of the North

5			What social and historical factors help explain the differences between the culture of the north and the culture of Italy?
6			Is it fair to argue that the culture of the north was one of pessimism and decay, a holdover from the Middle Ages? Why?

IV. Scholastic Philosophy, Religious Thought, and Piety

7			Compare the analytical religious thought of nominalists, such as William of Ockham, with the synthetic Scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas.
8			In what ways were foundations for later scientific developments created in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

V. The State of Christendom

9			Explain how the Avignon exile, the Great Schism, and the conciliar movement contributed to the weakening of the Church and, especially, papal authority. How did the papacy's secular concerns contribute to this?
10			Was mystical piety a rejection of the teachings of the medieval Church?
11			Why do you think that in both philosophy and religion movements that identified themselves as "modern" appeared during this period? What was going on in European civilization that made this distinction meaningful at this point in history?