Grade 8 · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 10
Where the Renaissance Began
Italian city-states, wealth, patrons and humanism
What your child practises
Why Italian city-states such as Florence became centres of wealth and learning, what patrons and humanists did, and how the Renaissance worldview differed from the Middle Ages.
Alberta Curriculum learning outcome: 8.2 · the origins of the Renaissance in Italy and the ideas of humanism and individualism
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which kind of rich merchant or banker family paid for art in Florence?
- the Tokugawa
- the Inuit
- the Mexica
- the Medici
Show answer
the Medici
Hint: Patrons gave artists the money and time to work.
Question 2
What is humanism?
- a law about trade
- a form of farming
- a way of thinking that values human learning and achievement
- a belief that learning is useless
Show answer
a way of thinking that values human learning and achievement
Hint: Humanists studied literature, history and the arts.
Question 3
What did humanists think was a good way to educate people?
- Only farming
- Only fighting
- Only music
- Study of history, writing, speaking and the arts
Show answer
Study of history, writing, speaking and the arts
Hint: Humanist schools used ancient writers.
Question 4
Which Florentine family was a famous patron of artists?
- the Tudors
- the Medici
- the Tokugawa
- the Habsburgs
Show answer
the Medici
Hint: The Medici were bankers who spent money on art, buildings and learning.
Question 5
What is a city-state?
- a town with no leader
- a kind of boat
- a type of farm
- a city that governs itself and the land around it
Show answer
a city that governs itself and the land around it
Hint: Many Italian cities were independent.
Question 6
Which Italian poet and scholar is often called an early humanist?
- Petrarch
- Moctezuma
- Cortés
- Gutenberg
Show answer
Petrarch
Hint: Petrarch collected and studied ancient texts.