Chapter 12 Recovery and Rebirth The Renaissance Timeline

Chapter 12 Recovery and Rebirth: The Renaissance

Timeline

Meaning and Characteristics of the Italian Renaissance = Rebirth Jacob Burkhardt Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) Urban Society Age of Recovery Rebirth of Greco-Roman culture Emphasis on individual ability

Beginning in Italy, the Renaissance (or “rebirth”) was an era that rediscovered the culture of ancient Greece and Rome. It was also a time of recovery from the fourteenth century. In comparison with medieval society, the Renaissance had a more secular and individualistic ethos, but might best been seen as evolutionary in its urban and commercial continuity from the High Middle Ages. In the North Sea, the Hanseatic League competed with merchants from the Mediterranean, where the Venetians had a commercial empire. In Florence, profits from the woolen industry were invested in banking.

The aristocracy remained the ruling class, its ideals explicated in Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier. Peasants were still the vast majority, but serfdom and manorialism were dying out. An important minority were the inhabitants of towns and cities, with merchants and bankers at the apex and the unskilled workers at the bottom. The father or husband as a dictator dominated the extended family, and marriages were arranged for social and economic advantage. Wives were much younger than their husbands, with their primary function being to bear children; the mortality rate in childbirth and for infants and young children remained high.

The Making of Renaissance Society Economic Recovery Italian cities lose economic supremacy Hanseatic League Manufacturing • Textiles, printing, mining and metallurgy Banking • Florence and the Medici

The Polish City of Gdansk An Important Member of the Hanseatic League

Social Changes in the Renaissance The Nobility Reconstruction of the aristocracy Aristocracy: 2 – 3 percent of the population Baldassare Castiglione (1478 – 1529) The Book of the Courtier (1528) Service to the prince

Peasants and Townspeople Peasants: 85 – 90 percent of population Decline of manorial system and serfdom Urban Society Patricians Petty burghers, shopkeepers, artisans, guildmasters, and guildsmen The poor and unemployed Slaves

Family and Marriage in Renaissance Italy Husbands and Wives Arranged Marriages Husband head of household Wife managed household Children Childbirth Sexual Norms

The Italian States in the Renaissance Five Major Powers Milan Venice Florence • The Medici The Papal States Kingdom of Naples Independent City-States Mantua Ferrara Urbino The Role of Women Warfare in Italy Struggle between France and Spain Invasion and division

Italy was dominated by five major states: the duchy of Milan, Florence, Venice, the Papal States, and the kingdom of Naples. There were also other city-states that were centers of culture and where women played vital roles. At the end of the fifteenth century, Spain and France invaded the divided peninsula. The exemplar of the new statecraft was Niccolo Machiavelli (d. 527), whose The Prince described the methods of gaining and holding political power: moral concerns are irrelevant, for the ends justify the means.

Map 12. 1: Renaissance Italy

The Birth of Modern Diplomacy Modern diplomacy a product of Renaissance Italy Changing concept of the ambassador Resident ambassadors Agents of the territorial state

Machiavelli and the New Statecraft Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) The Prince Acquisition, maintenance and expansion of political power Cesare Borgia

There was an increased emphasis upon the human. Among the influential humanists was Petrarch (d. 1374) in his advocacy of classical Latin writers. Civic humanism posited that the ideal citizen was not only an intellectual but also a patriot, actively serving the state, and humanist education was to produce individuals of virtue and wisdom. The printing press was perfected, multiplying the availability of books.

Italian Renaissance Humanism Classical Revival Petrarch (1304 – 1374) Humanism in Fifteenth-Century Italy Leonardo Bruni (1370 – 1444) • New Cicero Lorenzo Valla (1407 – 1457) Humanism and Philosophy Marsilio Ficino (1433 – 1499) • Translates Plato’s dialogues • Synthesis of Christianity and Platonism Renaissance Hermeticism Ficino, Corpus Hermeticum Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 – 1494), Oration on the Dignity of Man

Education, History, and the Impact of Printing Education in the Renaissance Liberal Studies: history, moral philosophy, eloquence (rhetoric), letters (grammar and logic), poetry, mathematics, astronomy and music Education of women Aim of education was to create a complete citizen Humanism and History Secularization Guicciardini (1483 – 1540), History of Italy, History of Florence The Impact of Printing Johannes Gutenberg • Movable type (1445 – 1450) • Gutenberg’s Bible (1455 or 1456) The spread of printing

Art in the Early Renaissance Masaccio (1401 – 1428) Perspective and Organization Movement and Anatomical Structure Paolo Uccelo (1397 – 1475) The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian Sandro Botticelli (1445 – 1510) Primavera Donato di Donatello (1386 – 1466) David Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – 1446) The Cathedral of Florernce Church of San Lorenzo

In art, the aim was to imitate nature by the use of realistic perspective. Masaccio (d. 1428), Donatello (d. 1466) and Michelangelo (d. 1564) made Florence a locus of the arts. The High Renaissance of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1519) and Raphael (d. 1520) combined natural realism with Platonic idealism. The artisan might become a great artist, and thus transform his social and economic status.

Masaccio, Tribute Money

The Artistic High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) Last Supper Raphael (1483 – 1520) School of Athens Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) The Sistine Chapel

Raphael, School of Athens

The Artist and Social Status Early Renaissance Artists as craftsmen High Renaissance Artists as heroes

The Northern Artistic Renaissance Jan van Eyck (c. 1380 – 1441) Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) Adoration of the Magi

Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride

Music in the Renaissance Burgundy Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400 – 1474) The Renaissance Madrigal

The European State in the Renaissance The Renaissance State in Western Europe France • Louis XI the Spider King (1461 – 1483) England • War of the Roses • Henry VII Tudor (1485 – 1509) Spain • • • Unification of Castile and Aragón Establishment of professional royal army Religious uniformity The Inquisition Conquest of Granada Expulsion of the Jews

Map 12. 2: Europe in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century

Map 12. 3: The Iberian Peninsula

It was the era of the “new monarchies. ” In France, Louis XI (d. 1483), the Spider, established a centralized state. England’s Henry VII (d. 1509) limited the private armies of the aristocracy, raised taxes, and left a more powerful monarchy. In Spain, Isabella (d. 1504) and Ferdinand (d. 1516) created a professional army and enforced religious uniformity by the conversion and expulsion of Jews and Moslems.

Central, Eastern, and Ottoman Empires Central Europe: The Holy Roman Empire Habsburg Dynasty Maximilian I (1493 – 1519) The Struggle for Strong Monarchy in Eastern Europe Poland Hungary Russia The Ottoman Turks and the End of the Byzantine Empire Seljuk Turks spread into Byzantine territory Constantinople falls to the Turks (1453)

The Holy Roman Empire remained weak, but the Habsburg emperors created a strong state of their own through numerous marriages. The were no “new monarchies” in eastern Europe, but Russia’s Ivan III (d. 1505) ended Mongol control. Lastly, in 1453 the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople.

Map 12. 4: The Ottoman Empire and Southeastern Europe

The Church in the Renaissance The Problems of Heresy and Reform John Wycliff (c. 1328 – 1384) and Lollardy John Hus (1374 – 1415) • Urged the elimination of worldliness and corruption of the clergy • Burned at the stake (1415) Church Councils The Papacy The Renaissance Papacy Julius II (1503 – 1513) • “Warrior Pope” Nepotism Patrons of Culture • Leo X (1513 – 1521)

The church was besieged by problems. John Wyclif (d. 1384) and John Hus (d. 1415) condemned the papacy for corruption, its temporal concerns, and demanded the Bible in the vernacular. The popes reflected their era, and their secular involvements overshadowed their spiritual responsibilities. Some preferred war and politics to prayer and piety, and others ignored their vows of celibacy, ambitiously advancing their families over the needs of the faithful. Most were great patrons of the arts, but religious concerns ranked behind the pleasures of this life.

Discussion Questions Does the Renaissance represent a sharp break from the Middle Ages or a continuation of the Medieval Period? What social changes did the Renaissance bring about? How did Machiavelli deal with the issue of political power? How did the printing press change European society? What technical achievements did Renaissance artists make? Why were they significant? What was the relation between art and politics in Renaissance Italy? How did the popes handle the growing problems that were emerging in the Church in the Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Century?

Web Links Renaissance Secrets Explore Leonardo’s Studio Leonardo da Vinci on the BBC Vatican Exhibit – Rome Reborn Renaissance – Focus on Florence The Uffizi Gallery – Florence Vatican Museums – The Sistine Chapel Gutenberg. de The War of the Roses The Ottoman Website