Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Do you think Leonardo deserved the title "Genius"?


I think Leonardo da Vinci does deserve the title "genius". He invented many interesting things and he was able to decode a lot. Just the fact of him being able to write all his journals in code is enough to call him a genius. Leonardo da Vinci saw a lot of the greatest gifts. Giorgio Vasari said, "The greatest gifts are often seen, in the course of nature, rained by celestial influences on human creatures; and sometimes, in supernatural fashion, beauty, grace, and talent are united beyond measure in one single person, in a manner that to whatever such an one turns his attention, his every action is so divine, that, surpassing all other men, it makes itself clearly known as a thing bestowed by God (as it is), and not acquired by human art. This was seen by all mankind in Leonardo da Vinci.” (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html) Leonardo discovered and invented many things that can describe him as a genius. He was able to paint in such great perspective that the painting almost seemed real. One of his greatest paintings, and a great example of perspective, is the Mona Lisa. He had so much great perspective that the painting doesn’t even look like a painting. It looks just like a real person, like a photograph of someone almost. He was able to paint like this because he had a mathematical system for determining size in space. He also used many other elements, something that most painters aren’t capable of. These typees of things really make it so that Leonardo deserves the title of genius.

Works Cited
"Medieval Sourcebook: Giorgio Vasari: Life of Leonardo Da Vinci 1550." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 13 May 2010. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

How does Henry VIII maintain power while breaking away from the Catholic Church?


Henry VIII was the king of England. He wanted to have a son but his first wife gave birth to a daughter. He wanted a divorce from her, but in that time the Roman Catholic church believed in marriage for life. This meant that you could not get a divorce or else you would not go to heaven, it was against the church law. Henry VIII did not like this and he was trying to get the pope to let him get a divorce, but the pope would not let him. He went to the archbishop and he let him have a divorce. This led to Henry VIII breaking away from the catholic church and along with Henry VIII a lot of England broke away too. It made the English become mad about how much they had to pay the Catholic Church for things like marriage and baptism. Henry VIII kept his power by becoming head of the church in 1534. The country stayed catholic but the pope's power was ended.

source:
"The Reformation." History Learning Site. Web. 12 May 2010. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/reformation.htm

Elizabeth's Rise to Throne


Elizabeth was born on September 7, 1533 at Greenwich Palace. Her father was King Henry VIII, and her mother was Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her father was disappointed with her birth because he really wanted a son. That is why he kept marrying women to get a son. Elizabeth's life was filled with many step-mothers because her father, Henry, wanted a son. After her father died, her life became hard. Her brother became king, King Edward VI. She was involved in many peoples plots which made it very unsafe for her. When she was young she was given her own household with Mary, her cousin. Mary did not ever want to come second to Elizabeth so she did not always like Elizabeth very much. Elizabeth's childhood was very difficult. At one point she even go sexually abused. Then in 1588 Elizabeth was finally declared queen and she was a great queen. When she was queen people were interested in whether she would get married. She was asked about that and she replies"Yea, to satisfie you, I have already joyned my self in Marriage to an Husband, namely, the Kingdom of England." (http://englishhistory.net/tudor/eliz1-writings.html)

sources:
"Elizabeth I: Poetry." EnglishHistory.net. Web. 11 May 2010. http://englishhistory.net/tudor/eliz1-writings.html
"Elizabeth I." TudorHistory.org. Web. 12 May 2010. http://www.tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/

Friday, May 7, 2010

Exploration is a Good Thing


Exploration can be interpreted in many different ways. For one person exploration can be finding out new things about the whole world and being able to come up with new things. To another person it could mean exploring through little places and finding little things. Like, for example, exploring your house. The dictionary defines it as “an act or instance of exploring or investigating; examination; the investigation of unknown regions.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/exploration) Exploration is what has founded all the continents and places people live today. It has also helped people learn about many things that have happened in the past and help teach people new things so that they can thrive in the future. Exploration is a good thing because it has given people new things to have and places to be.
The Renaissance period had a lot exploration to it. Europeans traveled to many different places and set up trade routes. This brought new homes and new things to everyone. There were three reasons why there was not much exploration before the Renaissance period. “First, mariners lacked maps and charts of foreign waters and possessed little useful knowledge of winds and currents. Second, mariners did not have much experience sailing out of sight of land, and their navigational tools and methods were primitive. Third, few ships were well equipped for long ocean voyages or unfavorable winds.”(http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/rens_02/rens_02_00165.html) The Renaissance brought more technology and maps so that exploration would be possible. The Renaissance was huge because so many things happened because of exploration. Without all this exploration people probably would not be here today. If there was no exploration at all ever, people would all be packed in one place and they would have a very limited amount of things. Life would not be diverse at all.
Everyone knows of the famous rhyme, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Columbus was an Italian navigator who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and found North America. There was one man before him, Leif Ericson, who also found North America. But Columbus had more widespread contact between the Europeans and America. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus) Christopher Columbus kept a journal of his voyages. He left Europe on August 3, 1492. In his journal he says, “Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock, and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset, sixty miles or fifteen leagues south, afterwards southwest and south by west, which is the direction of the Canaries.” (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/Columbus1.html) This was a great voyage of exploration. Christopher was exploring because he wanted to find new routes to the Far East. All of this exploring led to him finding North America. This proves that exploration is definitely a good thing because if he did not go exploring they would of never found North America. If they did not find North America then nobody would be living on that continent and people would not have the resources that come from North America. People would also not have any information and tools that the Indians in North America had.
Overall, exploration is a very good thing. It brought people a lot of technology and useful sources during the Renaissance. And, one of the biggest benefits of exploration, it was the reason that Christopher Columbus came and found North America. Without exploration, the world would not have much and there would not have been many new discovered places. There would also be not many resources and technology because nobody would be exploring new ways to get things done.

sources:
"Christopher Columbus." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 May 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus
"Exploration | Define Exploration at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 10 May 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/exploration
"Exploration." Novelguide: Free Study Guides, Free Book Summaries, Free Book Notes, & More. Web. 10 May 2010. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/rens_02/rens_02_00165.html
"Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 10 May 2010. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/Columbus1.html

Thursday, May 6, 2010

How is the art of the Northern Renaissance different from the art of the the Italian Renaissance?



There were many differences between the art of the Northern Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance. The Northern Renaissance had more religious scenes in their art while the Italian Renaissance depicted classic mythology. The Northern Renaissance paid more attention to detail in the art unlike the Italian Renaissance where they tried to be more symmetrical. Northern Renaissance used oil on panel and the Italian Renaissance fresco, tempera, and oil. Both Renaissances had great art even thought they were very different.

source:
"Italian vs. Northern Renaissance Art (Answer Key)." Daphne - A Palomar College Web Server. Web. 08 May 2010. http://daphne.palomar.edu/mhudelson/StudyGuides/ItalvsNorthRen_WA.html

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

How is the art of the Renaissance different from the art of the Middle Ages?


Renaissance art was very different from art in the middle ages. One major difference is that Renaissance art looked much more life like than middle age art. Renaissance art had much more depth in them. They had more depth because when the Renaissance started artists would look at the way things look when they are close or far away. The Renaissance art brought deeper art with more detail and it was overall happier art which brought people more joy.

source:
"Renaissance Art." Browse the World at Mrdowling.com. Web. 06 May 2010. http://www.mrdowling.com/704-art.html

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Should We Try To Contact Other Life?


No, we should not try and contact other life. Right now were are doing fine without knowing about other life on different planets. Of course it would be very interesting and beneficial in some way to know about other life other than on Earth, but the risks are much too high. We don't know what kind of technology the other aliens could have and maybe they do have the technology to blow up our world in one click. So if we go out looking for them it might give them more chance of finding us. And if we make them mad they could possibly kill us all. There is also the chance that they would come to Earth and take a lot of our important resources which could have a deadly effect on us. Overall we should just mind our own business and only worry about Earth.