The Renaissance: rich city-states, new ideas and new ways of painting
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
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Looking back to ancient learning (cards A to D; summaries in our words). Card A, a history summary: in 1345 the poet Petrarch, who lived from 1304 to 1374, found a forgotten collection of letters by Cicero, a writer of ancient Rome, in the city of Verona. Card B: in 1397 a scholar named Manuel Chrysoloras began teaching Greek in Florence. Card C, a textbook summary: humanism, the study of ancient Greek and Roman writings, spread among scholars in the 1400s. The Renaissance, a word meaning "rebirth," was centered on Florence in the 1400s. Card D: Renaissance humanists called the centuries before their own the "Dark Ages." That was their own label. Many historians today avoid it, because those centuries had learning and art too.
Why might humanists call the earlier centuries "dark," Bo asks?
- To make their own age of ancient learning look new and bright by contrast
- Because the Romans had asked them to describe the centuries that way
- Because historians had proved that nothing was written in those centuries
- Because those centuries had no art or learning of any kind
Card A dates Petrarch's find to 1345 and card B dates Chrysoloras's teaching to 1397. How many years apart, Esme asks?
- 62 years
- 2,742 years, the two dates combined
- 42 years
- 52 years
Petrarch lived from 1304 to 1374. How old was he at the 1345 find, and how many years of his life were left, Jun asks?
- 70 years old; 29 years left
- 41 years old; 41 years left
- 29 years old; 41 years left
- 41 years old; 29 years left
A student says, "Card A proves the Renaissance began with Petrarch's find." Which reply is best, Kira asks?
- Proven: the find in 1345 came first, so everything else followed from it
- Not proven: card A shows one find, and humanism spread in the 1400s
- Proven: card C says Petrarch started the Renaissance in Florence
- Not proven: a discovery of old letters cannot matter to learning
Which chain fits cards A to C, Luz asks?
- Finds and teaching of ancient texts helped humanism spread
- Cicero's letters made the Renaissance happen with no other help
- Chrysoloras's lessons in 1397 caused Petrarch's find in 1345
- The Renaissance in Florence caused Petrarch's find in 1345
How might a humanist and a historian today each describe the centuries before 1345, Noah asks?
- The historian would call them dark; the humanist would praise them for their art
- Both would call them dark, since both study the same centuries and the same books
- Neither could describe them, since no writings survive from before 1345
- A humanist might call them dark; a historian would point to their learning
Card A is a modern summary. Which would best check the date 1345, Pia asks?
- A later textbook that repeats the same date
- Petrarch's own letters or notes from that time
- A film that retells his life with actors and invented scenes
- A map of Verona in the 1900s
Card B says Greek teaching began in Florence in 1397. What might change for scholars, Ren asks?
- Scholars would no longer need to study Cicero's letters
- Scholars in Florence could learn Greek
- Scholars would stop reading Latin writings from ancient Rome
- Scholars would move to Verona to teach Latin there
Cards A and B describe different finds and lessons. What do they share, Tala asks?
- Both took place in Florence in the same year
- Both describe the Dark Ages from the point of view of a historian today
- Both show people in Italy working with writings from ancient times
- Both were written by Cicero in ancient Rome
Suppose a new find shows a scholar teaching Greek in Venice in 1380. How does it affect card B, Zee asks?
- It would change nothing, since new finds cannot add to old cards
- It would make card B false, since Greek would no longer be new
- It would not falsify card B; it would show Greek study elsewhere
- It would show the Renaissance began in Venice