Renaissance

• Renaissance


  Rebirth, beginning of modern European history
• Renaissance


  • Occurred first in Italy c. 1300 and lasted until 1527
  • Spread to northern Europe around 1450
  • In England, the Renaissance did not begin until the 16th century and lasted until the early 17th century
• Origins of the concept of a "Renaissance"


  19th-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt claimed the Renaissance period stood in distinct contrast to the Middle Ages
• Renaissance culture applied almost exclusively to the upper classes
• Upper classes


  • Had the luxury of time to spend learning the classics
• The peasantry was largely illiterate and Renaissance ideas had little impact on common people
• The working classes and small merchants were far too preoccupied with the concerns of daily life
• Italian city-states


  • Developed international trade
  • Signori (despots) or oligarchies (rule of merchant aristocracies) controlled much of Italy by 1300
  • Italy became more urban: it had more towns and cities with significant populations than anywhere else in Europe at this time
• Balance-of-power pattern


  Weaker states would ally with other states to prevent a single state from dominating the peninsula
• Political disunity of the Italian city-states led to their downfall in late-15th and early16th centuries when French and Spanish armies invaded Italy
• Republic of Florence


  • At the center of the Renaissance during the 14th and 15th centuries
  • Dominated by the Medici family
  • Cosimo de' Medici was the most powerful of the Medici rulers
  • Lorenzo de' Medici (the "Magnificent") was a significant patron of the arts
• Duchy of Milan


  • Ruled by the Sforza family after 1450
  • Major enemy of Venice and Florence
  • The Peace of Lodi (1454) created a 40-year period of relative peace in northern Italy
• Rome, the Papal States


  • Popes served both as religious and political leaders; they controlled much of central Italy
• Venice, Venetian Republic


  • The longest lasting of the Italian states
  • The greatest maritime power in Italy and one of the world's great naval and trading powers during the 14th and 15th centuries
• Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies


  • The only Italian city-state to officially have a "king"
  • Controlled by France between 1266-1435
  • Controlled by Spain after 1435
• French invasions of Italy

  1. Began in 1494 ("First Italian War")

  2. When Florence attempted to appease France during its invasion in 1494, it led to the overthrow of the Medici family

  3. Italy became a battleground in a series of power struggles between Spain and France

  4. Sack of Rome in 1527 by the armies of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V symbolized the end of the Renaissance in Italy
• Humanism


  • Revival of antiquity (Greece and Rome) in philosophy, literature and art
  • Strong belief in individualism and the great potential of human beings
  • Secularism: interest in things that are not religious
• Humanism in Italy


  • Focused on non-Christian subject matter in literature, art and politics
  • Shifted the focus of education toward classical texts and away from theology
• Humanist focus


  • Studying ancient languages, especially Latin and Greek
  • Rejecting Aristotelian views and medieval scholasticism in favor of Roman and Greek authors, and early Christian writers
• Civic Humanism


  Held that education should prepare leaders who would be active in civic affairs
• Petrarch


  • Considered the "father of humanism"
  • Claimed the Middle Ages were the "Dark Ages"
  • Used critical textual analysis to ancient texts
  • Wrote his famous poetry in the Italian vernacular
• Leonardo Bruni


  • First to use the term "humanism"
  • Among the most important of the civic humanists
  • Served as a chancellor in Florence
• Petrarch (1304-1374) is often considered the "father of humanism"
• Petrarch


  • He is often considered the first modern writer
  • In his writings, literature was no longer subordinate to religion
  • He claimed that the Middle Ages were the "Dark Ages"
  • He was perhaps the first to use critical textual analysis to ancient texts
  • He was especially influenced by Cicero
• Petrarch wrote his famous poetry in the Italian vernacular, as did Dante earlier in his Divine Comedy
• Most texts in this era were written in Latin
• Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444)


  • He was the first to use the term "humanism"
  • He was among the most important of the civic humanists and served as a chancellor in Florence
• Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457)


  • He was the foremost expert on the Latin language
  • He exposed the Donation of Constantine as an 8th century fraud, using textual criticism
  • He also pointed out errors in the Latin Vulgate (the authorized version of the Bible for the Catholic Church) Was Rational
• Valla's work gave challengers of Church authority ammunition, even though he remained a devoted Catholic and even served as a secretary under Pope Nicholas V
• Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499)


  • He was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the 15th century
  • He founded the Platonic Academy at the behest of Cosimo de' Medici in the 1460s
  • He translated Plato's works into Latin, giving modern Europeans access to these works for the first time
• Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)


  • He was a member of the Platonic Academy
  • His "Oration on the Dignity of Man" (1486) was perhaps the most famous Renaissance work on the nature of humankind
  • He argued that humans were created by God and therefore given tremendous potential for greatness, and even union with God, if they desired it
  • However, humans could, through neglect, also choose a negative course, thus having free will to be great or to fail
• Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), The Prince (1513)


  • It was the quintessential political treatise of the 16th century
  • His views were decidedly secular and his emphasis on individualism reflected humanist philosophy
  • He studied classical history thoroughly in order to get a more realistic portrait of politics
  • He observed the political leadership of Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) who had ambitions of uniting Italy under his control
  • He stated that politically, "the ends justifies the means"
  • For rulers, "It was better to be feared than to be loved"
  • Rulers had to be practical and cunning, in addition to being aggressive and ruthless
  • At times rulers should behave like a lion (aggressive and powerful) and at other times like a fox (cunning and practical)
• Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) - The Book of the Courtier (1528)


  • It was perhaps the most important work on Renaissance social etiquette
  • He specified qualities necessary to be a true gentleman including physical and intellectual abilities and leading an active life
  • He rejected crude contemporary social habits
  • He described the ideal of a "Renaissance man" who was well-versed in the Greek and Roman classics, an accomplished warrior, could play music, dance, and had a modest but confident personal demeanor
  • This contrasted with the medieval view of being a master in only one area
  • Virtú: It was the quality of being a great man in whatever noble pursuit
• Johann Gutenberg (c. 1400-1468) and the printing press


  • It became one of the most important inventions in human history
  • Gutenberg's development of movable type made possible the spread of humanistic literature to the rest of Europe with astonishing speed
  • No longer would copies of works need to be done individually by hand
  • In 1457-58, he published the first printed Bible in the city of Mainz, Germany
  • Gutenberg's invention facilitated the phenomenal spread of the Reformations
  • The printing press encouraged the growth of vernacular literature that led eventually to the development of national culture
• In addition to religious art, artists emphasized individuals and everyday life, subjects that were now deemed appropriate by elites who commissioned these works
• Florence was the leader in Renaissance art in the 1400s-Quattrocento, with massive patronage for the arts coming from wealthy merchant-families (such as the Medicis) who commissioned countless works from the great artists
• Patronage also came from local churches who increasingly saw Renaissance art as a means of glorifying God
• With the decline of Florence in the late-15th century, Renaissance dominance shifted to Rome
• Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503) was the most notorious of the Renaissance popes and spent huge sums on art patronage
• Notable works commissioned by the Church in this period include Michelangelo's dome atop St. Peter's Cathedral, his paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the sculpture Pietà that is located within the cathedral; Raphael's The School of Athens; and Bramante's Tempietto and floor plan for a newly rebuilt St. Peter's cathedral