2011 Rens Roll Call!

[Russ]

True, you'd be doing Humanism and city states right now yeah? I have a ridiculous amount of Ren notes, lemme see if I can find them

Sigh, memories, I wish I hadn't given up on classics/renaissance after year 12

[Menang]

Yup, I've only had two classes so far, so we've mainly been doing the city states and the geography of Italy.
We had the best first lesson ever - our teacher brought in colour pencils so we could colour in the different city-states.

[Russ]

I remember doing that as well. Let me know if you want any notes later in the year, I have a heck of a lot of Ren stuff (typically)

[Menang]

Thanks! I'll definitely ask if I want anything.

[LeahT]

It's really interesting, but there's a lot of work to it. Does anyone know much about the city of Ferrara? I want to do part of my assignment on it, but there's really limited information on it (Geography I know, and the basics of its ruling class, but I need to know about it's economy). Anyone got any helpful hints/sites or anything?

[Menang]

Wow, Ferrara? We haven't done much yet, and my personal reading so far has focused more of Florence, so I can't say.
Russ?

[LeahT]

It's a small kind of independant city-state within the Papal States. I only chose it for part of the assignment because I didn't wanna pick a state we go into a lot of detail about soon. Turns out it's harder than I thought, but I found the info I needed, so don't worry now =D

[Russ]

I'm late but the only two things I know that will be much use are the Council of Ferrara/Florence and the fact that it was instrumental to the Venice/Papacy war and the Tiepoline Conspiracy in 1310

[LeahT]

Thanks, I did make those points in the assignment actually. I'm at least glad to hear I was on the right track xD

Also, a general question; what text book are you guys using? Did you have any other reccomended study guides or texts? I'm trying to get a wide range of sources so that I can examine different view points etc.

[Menang]

Thanks, I did make those points in the assignment actually. I'm at least glad to hear I was on the right track xD

Also, a general question; what text book are you guys using? Did you have any other reccomended study guides or texts? I'm trying to get a wide range of sources so that I can examine different view points etc.

We use Robert Hole's Renaissance Italy as our main overview book.

My teacher photocopies a lot of extra reading for different point of views. I've never been a believer in buying extra study guides, but my school library has a ton of extra books on the Renaissance in Italy which has so far proved helpful. Currently I'm reading Christopher Hibbert's The Rise and Fall of the house of Medici which is actually really readable and informative. (Incidentally, Hibbert is also a historian of the French Revolution for all the Revs kids interested).

I also bought Patricia Brown's Art and Life in Renaissance Venice, which was on the school booklist, but we haven't looked at that yet.

[LeahT]

That's great, actually. We're using Robert Hole's text as well, and I bought The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici the other day on a whim, so I'm glad to hear it's worthwhile. We get a whole heap of hand outs as well, and our library is pretty good, but I'm always keeping an eye out for more options, so let me know if you find any really helpful ones, and how Art and Life In Renaissance Venice goes for you, if you don't mind

[Menang]

That's great, actually. We're using Robert Hole's text as well, and I bought The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici the other day on a whim, so I'm glad to hear it's worthwhile. We get a whole heap of hand outs as well, and our library is pretty good, but I'm always keeping an eye out for more options, so let me know if you find any really helpful ones, and how Art and Life In Renaissance Venice goes for you, if you don't mind

Oh wow, that's awesome - we're reading similar books!

I'll let you know about Art & Life when we start it in class. We won't start it for a while, though.

[ProtonStar]

I'm just wondering if Renaissance Italy is a more difficult subject than Revolutions? I always assumed Revolutions was harder but I noticed Renaissance Italy gets marked up a lot more. Or is that just because the ordinary school is less likely to offer it?
My school is pretty average, and it offers Revolutions and not Renaissance Italy.

[LeahT]

I'm just wondering if Renaissance Italy is a more difficult subject than Revolutions? I always assumed Revolutions was harder but I noticed Renaissance Italy gets marked up a lot more. Or is that just because the ordinary school is less likely to offer it?
My school is pretty average, and it offers Revolutions and not Renaissance Italy.

Renaissance Italy is considered to be the most difficult of the histories (hence it being marked up most). However, difficutly depends mostly upon the person. Obviously some people would find Renaissance easier than Revolutions - maybe they like it better, or find the concepts easier to grasp than those of Revolutions. I don't know if that helped, but I'm not sure that there is a 100% correct answer to that question sorry.

[LeahT]

On a side note, I find it amusing that all three of us are interested in Arts/Law at Monash xD