The group told a story about a wise jewish man who had seen the corruption of Rome. He converted to Christianity, because he thought only a great Church could overcome the debauchery of Rome, and as the story goes, a second deceitful jew doesn’t convert since he wants to avoid confrontation. His neutrality got him in the emperor’s business, which led to his love for gold and debasement.

In another story, a German woman made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land but was assaulted in Cyprus on the way. She asked the King of Cyprus avenge her, but the king refused to do anything for her. This theme was meant to signify that the government and the clergy are not to be trusted and that neither support the people. Boccaccio had contempt for both institutions and wrote many stories about the moral deprivation in the church and state. 

Another tale told of a friar blackmailing a man, who was asked to pay him 100-fold of his income. However, the man rebuked him, saying that he would instead give the 100-fold to the poor. Again, Boccaccio attacks the church, making monks seem deceitful and stating that their charity was fake. 

One merchant lost his ship to thieves, explained another tale. Although the merchant had his vessel and cargo stolen, he was able to salvage a chest with jewels. A woman helped the merchant get home, but he eventually becomes a pirate in order to make up for his lost profit. 

Another story told of a boy who has 500 gold pieces stolen from him by a woman. To retrieve his gold back, the boy stole a ring off of a dead archbishop and sold it for 500 pieces of gold. In both tales, a person who is the victim of theft wrongly steals from another in response.

Boccaccio’s writing was a turning point from medieval to Renaissance literature and many hostile elements directed towards the Church and God. The Decameron was written in Italian and not Latin and so was not meant for elites. In the collection of works, the group ultimately comes to the conclusion that God has been de-throned and is thus powerless, that fortune has replaced God, and that Church hierarchy is tyrannical. Boccaccio thought that the Church lacked good judgement and its power had been undermined by the plague. 

During the High Renaissance (late 1400s – early 1500s) sculptors often modeled their work after ancient Roman and Greek sculptures. These sculptors influenced the Church, with Pope Julius II (r.1503-1513) treating his Roman statues as prized possessions and consequently the antiquity-inspired sculptures eventually became part of the Vatican museum. Famous artists such as Michalangelo often used ancient Roman and Greek works as an influence for their creations. 

Raphael (1483-1520) made numerous self-portraits as well as two paintings of Saint George. Famous works of his include The Entombment of Christ (1508) and The School of Athens, which took him two years to complete between 1509 and 1511. Raphael’s painting Transfiguration (1520) is one of his most complicated and realistic paintings. 

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was an architect, inventor, scientist, engineer, and painter, making him one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance and all of Western Civilization. One of his most famous paintings, The Last Supper, portrayed a simple yet beautiful portrait of Jesus and his disciples. 

Michelangelo (1474-1564) was a marble carver at heart, but he had innumerable other skills in the field of art. Pieta (1498-1499) was a sculpture made by Michelangelo depicting in great detail the Virgin Mary holding Jesus after His death of the Cross. In 1501, Michelangelo started his work on his 15-foot-tall Statue of David. He was also commissioned by Pope Julius II to build a tomb for him. Michelangelo made Julius’s tomb large and intricate, with three marble statues adorning it. After refusing multiple offers, Michelangelo agreed to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In the same cathedral he also painted a massive fresco of the Last Judgement on the altar wall.

One of the most sought after painters in Europe during the early 16th century was Titian (1485-1576), who made the painting David and Goliath, which was revolutionary because it made the viewer seem as if they were watching the fight from below. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) was a painter, woodcutter, and engraver. His art remained thoroughly medieval, so he is considered one of the great painters of the Renaissance. Durer’s famous works include The Knight, Death, and The Devil, as well as The Four Apostles. 

The Northern Renaissance (late 15th century – 16th century) was the time period when Renaissance ideas were imported from Italy north to France, Germany, and England. Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) was a key figure of this era in Germany, and he studied Greek and Hebrew. Erasmus (1466-1536) was from the Netherlands and was ordained a priest in 1492. One of the first clergy to promote Sola Scriptura, he heavily influenced Protestants such as Martin Luther. Erasmus condemned the Catholic Church and thought that Christianity needed to be simpler. 

Pope Martin V (r. 1417-1431) restored order in Rome after the papacy had returned there and safeguarded the city for pilgrims and merchants. Order had been lost during the Avignon Papacy when individual cities had usurped papal privileges and refused to give them up even after facing excommunication. Instead of using religious power, Pope Martin V and other popes after him used political and military power to restore order instead of religious power after this. 

Pope Nicholas V (r.1447-1455) used alliances with the Italian city-states of Venice, Milan, and Florence to ensure direct Papal rule of Italy. Nicholas also invited scholars from across Europe to Rome to make sure the city became the center of literature and arts on the continent. Under the reigns of Calixtus III (r.1455-1458) and Pious II (r.1458-1464) most of the Papacy’s time was spent handling the growing threat of Ottoman muslims in Eastern Europe. 

Instead of dealing with the Ottomans like previous popes, Paul II (r.1464-1471) concerned himself with the growth of humanism while Sixtus IV (r.1471-1484) elected his relatives to influential positions thus scandalizing the Vatican. Pope Sixtus’ lackluster reign caused humanists (who had been dismissed by Paul II) to come back into positions in the Church. Popes Innocent VIII (r.1484-1492) and Alexander VI (r.1492-1503) both had love affairs during their rule and had children while in the Vatican, causing even more scandal. 

Julius II (1503-1513) restored order to the Catholic Church by dismantling strongmen who had taken power and returned papal control over Italian city states. Leo X (r.1513-1521) tried to institute much-needed reforms, but was not a formidable enough leader to enforce them. 

By the 15th century, many scholars in Western Europe adopted humanism, the belief that humans and earthly inventions are better than Christianity, the Church, or religion in general. Civic humanism is when these scholars put their worldviews at the service of the state government causing many influential people in Europe to become humanist. Consequently, they started to claim that the Catholic Church should not have as much influence on government. 

One of these humanists was Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) who wrote “The Prince” (1513), which contrasts medieval works with politics, and ancient and contemporary sources on morals. Machiavelli stated that the government should do whatever it needs to maintain itself and be prepared to act immorally if necessary. In fact, he wrote that in order to maintain its power, the state must “act treacherously, ruthlessly, and inhumanely.” Because he saw Christian governments as being bound to morality, Machiavelli wanted to bring back ancient forms of government like the Roman form.

In the early 15th century, the Florence Cathedral commissioned bronze doors to be made for the baptistery and had a competition between seven artists to make them. Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) won and we still have his submission today. Ghiberti crafted 28 panels for this church that were so grand even fellow painter and sculptor Michelangelo described them as “so fine that they would grace the entrance of paradise.” Ghiberti’s assistant, Donatello (1386-1466) made use of his time working for the great artist and created the Statue of David (1440). 

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), considered the first great architect of the Renaissance, completed the dome of the Cathedral in Florence, while Michelangelo planned the dome of Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City. Another influential architect, Leon Battista Albert (1404-1472) made a guild of other young builders to help him with his work. Cimabue (1240-1302) is famous for the mosaic of Saint John, and although he still used made elements from the Eastern Byzantine style of religious architecture, his works were considered a step forward towards portraying emotion and realism.

Cimabue influenced medieval painter Giotto (1276-1337) who made his figures realistically and portrayed more feeling. This can be seen especially in his painting “The Kiss of Judas.” During the 13th and 14th centuries perspective and foreshadowing started to develop more and more. 

Masaccio (1401-1428) pioneered the use of light and shade to provide detail, and influenced later painters in the next century even though he died at a young age. Paolo Uccelo (1397-1475) put exceptional emphasis on perspective in his work “The Hunt By Night” and Fra Angelico (1387-1455) is known as the last medieval painter before most artists switched to Renaissance style. 

Starting in the 14th Century, Catholic painters in Western Europe used more detail and portrayed emotion and perspective in religious paintings, whereas in Eastern Orthodox churches they continued to use the traditional Byzantine style, which still persists today in Russian and Greek churches.