Italian
Renaissance
Politics
Kali Hoying and Katherine
Zimmerman
Background



Begin trading with Europe through the
Mediterranean
 Develops a merchant class
City-states gain power
 Five main city-states
 Naples & Sicily
 Milan
 Venice
 Papal States
 Florence
Avignon Papacy
 Popes move to France
City-State Information



Modern diplomatic system and balance-of-power
 Ambassadors and alliances
 Peace of Lodi
Armies composed mostly of mercenaries
 Condottieri = mercenary captains
Tendency towards despotism
 One-man rule
 Often hereditary
City-State Information



Princedoms: ruled by an individual with support of
his family
 Milan
Monarchies: larger, stronger, and more permanent
princedoms
 Naples and Papal States (though could be
considered a theocracy)
Republics: run by oligarchies, or balanced councils
of the people
 Venice and Florence
Map of Italian City-States
Humanism in Politics


Removed religion from politics
Promoted that the government be run by science
 Machiavelli
 “The ends justify the means”
Naples & Sicily






“Kingdom of the Two Sicilies”
 Only city-state in Italy with a king
Maintained feudalism for a time
Popes interfered with their affairs
 Vassal state of the papacy
Involvement of the house of Aragon placed Sicily
and Naples under separate rule
 Continued conflicts to attempt reunification
Alfonso of Aragon united them
 Also attempted to end status as a vassal state
Alfonso divided Naples and Sicily again upon his
death
 Major cause of French invasions into Italy
Milan




Visconti family led Milan
Gian Galeazzo
 Best chance for unification
 Daughter marries the brother of
French king
Francesco Sforza becomes ruler
 Not related to Visconti’s by blood
 Assisted by Florence in the takeover
 Peace of Lodi
Ludovico the Moor uses young duke as puppet
 Fails when duke marries the princess of the ruling
house of Naples
 Ends alliance between Florence, Naples, and Milan
 Convinces French to make claim to throne of
Naples
Venice




Retains republican form of government
 Merchant aristocracy
Council of Ten
 Designed to expel and extinguish all
conspiracies
Maintained independence until
Napoleon
Enemies with Milan
 Sided with Florence, who later
turned and sided with Milan
Venice

Held a large amount of
territory and flourished
 Currency was
recognized
throughout the
world
 Ruled Eastern trade
 Government was
stable

Begin to decline
 Conflict with
Ottoman Turks
 Portuguese take
over spice trade
 French, Dutch, and
English
enter Eastern trade
 Outbreak of the
plague
 Timber supplies are
exhausted
Papal States




Popes ruled the Papal States
 Tried to balance headed a city-state
and the church
 Secularized the papacy
In political unrest until Great Schism was resolved
 Popes returned to Rome and left France
Popes became increasingly nepotistic and
secular
 Tried to increase state power and interfered in
the diplomacy of other Italian city-states
Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia
 Alexander VI restored order to Rome
 His son Cesare uses papacy resources to
create his own territory
 Cesare tries to manipulate the election of his
father’s successor
Papal States



Julius II
 Adds Cesare’s territories into the
Papal States to increase temporal
power
 Known as “warrior” pope
Leo X
 Medici
 Extremely lavish and distrusted
 Did not concern himself with religious matters
Clement VII
 Medici
 Sides with France over Spain
 Rome is sacked by the Spanish
 Ends popes’ interests in diplomacy
Florence




Papacy aligns itself with Florence
 Secures bankers the business of
the papacy and merchants special
privileges
 Allowed them to take over the
government
Opposed the Visconti family in Milan
 Sided with Venetians against them
 Changed their opinion with Sforza was elected
Unofficially ruled by the Medici family
 Bankers and one of the ruling houses
Cosimo de’Medici begins this rule
 Maintains appearance of a republic
 Helped Sforza take over Milan to neutralize threat
 Created a hierarchical rule
Florence


Lorenzo the Magnificent
 Grandson of Cosimo
 Pope excommunicates him and joins
Naples in declaring war on Florence
 Lorenzo goes to Naples without consultation
and worked out a peace settlement with the
king of Naples

Maintains alliance with Naples and Milan,
prevents foreign intervention, and stays in good
terms with the French
 Creates a Council of Seventy to run the
government and a committee of seventeen to
elect the priors
Banking business and trade suffer
 Lorenzo used public funds for private purposes
 Not allowed since he was a private citizen
Italian Decline



Fall of the Medici family
 Savonarola
Niccolò Machiavelli
 The Prince
Italian Wars cause Italy to lose its independence
 Ruled by Spain for almost two centuries
Niccolò Machiavelli
(1469-1527)




Worked for various governments
in Florence
 No political opinion
Distrusted and disliked
First political scientist
 Viewed politics in a strictly
scientific manner without
involving ethics
Assisted in the decline of Italian
city-states and the end of the
Italian Renaissance (involuntarily)
 The Prince
Francesco Guicciardini
(1483-1540)




Worked for the government in
Papal States
 Medici’s (papacy) senior
administrator
Sought reformation of republic
Political Scientist
 Discourse composed in
Logrogno, Ricordi
 Stressed that historical
situations were unique
 Considerations on
Machiavelli’s Discourses
Works not published during his
lifetime
Girolamo Savonarola
(1452-1498)




Gains fame in Florence through his
preaching
 “Wrath of God”
 Criticizes rulers, papacy, and
humanists
Becomes dictator of Florence and
establishes a theocracy
 Ends the rule of the Medici
 Develops enemies in the Medici
family and the papacy
Alliance with France
 Becomes their puppet
 Leads to Italian decline
Arrested, tortured, and burned at the
stake
Sources












GRENDLER, PAUL F.. "Renaissance." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World.
2004.Encyclopedia.com. 1 Sep. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. Florence: 1513. Web.
<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.asp>.
MCCUAIG, WILLIAM. "Guicciardini, Francesco (1483–1540)." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the
Early Modern World. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Sep. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Nelson, Lynn H.. "CHAPTER 3 THE ITALIAN CITY-STATES OF THE RENAISSANCE." Carrie - A Full-Text Electronic
Library. N.p., 30 Apr 2012. Web. 1 Sep 2012. <http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/03.html>.
Nelson, Lynn H.. "CHAPTER 4 THE INVASIONS OF ITALY 1494-1527 MACHIAVELLI AND GUICCIARDINI." Carrie
- A Full-Text Electronic Library. N.p., 30 Apr 2012. Web. 1 Sep 2012.
<http://http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/04.html>.
Watson-Novacek, Deborah. "Condottiere - Renaissance Mercenary Captains." BellaOnline The Voice of
Women. Minerva WebWorks LLC, 2012. Web. 31 Aug
2012. <http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art63087.asp>.
"Girolamo Savonarola." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Sep.
2012<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
"Italian Politics." . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sep 2012. <http://wwwstudent.unl.edu/cis/hist100w05/online_course/unit3/lsn09-tp02.html>.
“Italian Renaissance Art: Political Background: Machiavelli and Medici." Italian Renaissance Art: Political
Background: Machiavelli and Medici. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Aug. 2012.
<http://faculty.uml.edu/Culturalstudies/Italian_Renaissance/6.htm>.
"RENAISSANCE: HISTORICAL INFORMATION: The Renaissance." The Miniatures Pages. N.p., 24 May 1996.
Web. 31 Aug 2012. <http://theminiaturespage.com/ref/history/reninfo.html>.
"Social and Economic Changes During the Renaissance."All-About_Renaissance_Faires.com. N.p., n.d.
Web. 1 Sep 2012. <http://www.all-about-renaissancefaires.com/renaissance_info/economic_social_and_religious_change_in_the_renaissance.htm>.
The Historical, Political and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolò Machiavelli, trans. C. E. Detmold, 4 vol, Boston
1882. Extract from `Discourses' (I, 55). Web. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/machiavelli-disc155.asp>.
The
Renaissance:
Italian
Literature
By: Natalie Marshall
important literary
Renaissance
Humanism
movement in the Italian
 Most
Renaissance
 An intellectual movement
 Derived from the study of
classical literary works of
the Greeks and Romans
 People who studied
humanism were called
“humanists”





Renaissance Humanism
Studied the liberal arts which they
derived from the writings of the
ancient Greeks and Romans
The subjects that were studied are
called “humanities”
Worth and dignity of a person was
emphasized
Shift from theology and logic to
human studies
Some form of syncretism was
present- would mix present society
ideals with the works and thoughts of
the ancient Roman and Greek world

Italian
Humanism
Connected to Florentine spirit
“Civic Humanism”






and pride
Rejected family
Promoted intellectuals
Looked to the Roman Cicero as
a model
Believed it was the responsibility
of an intellectual to be
productive for their state
One can only mature if they
participate in the activities and
life of the state
 “Civic



Italian Humanism
Humanism”
Reflected the values and ethics of urban society
during the Italian Renaissance
Studies of humanities should be put into practice
Humanists often served as chancellors, councilors,
and advisors to the state
 Very
interested in classical Greek civilization
Humanist
Interest
in
the
Greeks
 Humanists researched and read the works of Plato
 Humanists
also followed Greek poets, dramatists,
historians, and orators
 Read the works of Thucydides, Euripides, and
Sophocles
 Humanists pursued the works of the classical Greeks
while people of the middle ages ignored the
Greeks
Humanism on Education




Profound impact on education
Believed humans could be greatly benefitted
by education
Books were written on education
Schools were established



Most famous being one founded by Vittorino de
Feltre at Mantua in 1423
Educational system was based off of the ideas
of Cicero and Quintilian
Liberal studies
 “Father

Francesco Petrarch
of Humanism”
Brought popularity to renaissance
humanism
 His
father wanted him to
become a lawyer, but he
pursued a career in literature
instead
 Not modest at all
 1st person to describe the Middle
Ages as a period of darkness
 Searched monastic libraries in
Europe for Latin manuscripts
 Placed
Francesco Petrarch
great emphasis
on classical Latin
 Emphasis on Latin
caused humanists to use
Cicero and Virgil as
models
 “Christ is my God;
Cicero is the prince of
the language” –
Petrarch
The Ascent of Mount Ventoux




Written by Petrarch
It is an allegory of the struggle of his soul to
reach a higher spiritual state
“nothing is admirable besides the soul;
compared to its greatness nothing is great”
Look inward and forget worldly objects

“And men go to admire the high mountains, the
vast floods of the sea, the huge streams of the
rivers, the circumference of the ocean, and the
revolution of the stars- and desert themselves.”


Leonardo Bruni
He was a chancellor of Florence
He wrote the New Cicero





A biography on Cicero
Talked about the mixture of political
action and literary creation in the
life of Cicero
To mature intellectually and morally
one most participate in the state
Gained a through knowledge of
the Greeks- one of the first Italian
humanist to do this
Also wrote the History of the
Florentine People






Lorenzo Valla
1407-1457
Raised in Rome
Knew both Latin and Greek
Eventually became a papal
secretary
Used knowledge of the
classical languages to criticize
ideas, theories, beliefs, and
practices of modern times
He was highly controversial

He said that the Donation of
Constantine (a document that
justified the papacy's claim to
temporal rule) as forgery, or
fake.
•
Lorenzo Valla
Wrote, The Elegances
of the Latin Language
•
•
•
Wanted to restore
Latin to how it was
prior to medieval
times
Advocated proper
use of classical Latin
Only acceptable
form of Latin was that
between the last
century of the Roman
Republic and the 1st
century of the empire
Renaissance Hermecticism
 Cosimo
de’ Medici asked Marsilio Ficino
to translate a Greek work, Corpus
Hermeticum, into Latin
 The writings spoke of how everything was
of divine nature- heavenly bodies and
earthly objects
 “God as a whole is in all things” –
Giordano Bruno
 Wrote
one of the most
Giovanni
Pico
della
Mirandola
famous pieces of writings to
come out of the
Renaissance
 He wrote, The Oration on
the Dignity of Man
 He researched the works of
many philosophers to come
up with the story
 Very interested in Hermetic
philosophy
The Oration of the Dignity of
Man




Written as a preface to Mirandola’s 900 theses
In it Mirandola wrote that humans have
unlimited potential
“To him it is granted to have whatever he
chooses, to be whatever he wills.” –Mirandola
“You, constrained by no limits, in accordance
with your own free will, in whose hand We
have placed you, shall ordain for yourself the
limits of your nature.” -Mirandola
Humanism’s Impact on History




Humanists strongly impacted the recording of
history
Influenced by classical Roman and Greek
historians, and not by those of the Middle Ages
Began to think in passages of time- chronologized
the past into the ancient world, the dark ages,
and then their own age
Started to secularize history


Focused more on political forces or individuals
Medieval historical literature emphasized God
intervention in human affairs while the Humanists
emphasized human motives






Francesco Guiccidardini
Historian during the Renaissance
To Renaissance scholars he was
the greatest historian
Wrote the History of Italy and the
History of Florence
Recordings of history were meant
to teach lessons, but lessons were
not always in plain view
He was experienced in
government and diplomatic
affairs which enabled him to
analyze political situations
Used personal examples and
documentary sources for his works
Bibliography






Petrarch. "The Ascent of Mount Ventoux." Francesco Petrarch. Peter Sadlon, 1999.
Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
<http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/read_letters.html?s=pet17.html>.
"The Renaissance Humanists." The Renaissance Humanists. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept.
2012. <http://www.roebuckclasses.com/ideas/humanist.htm>.
Sadlon, Peter. "Francesco Petrarch - Father of Humanism." Francesco Petrarch Father of Humanism. N.p., 1999. Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
<http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/petrarch.html>.
Nauta, Lodi. "Lorenzo Valla." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford
University, 19 May 2009. Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lorenzo-valla/>.
Nelson, Lynn H. "ITALIAN HUMANISM." ITALIAN HUMANISM. European University
Institute, May 1993. Web. 04 Sept. 2012.
<http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/05.html>.
Mirandola, Pico Della. "Oration on the Dignity of Man." Preface. Western Civilization.
Fifth ed. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2003. 317. Print.
Women
Painting
The Italian Renaissance
Painting
Italian Renaissance
 Began

in mid 14th century
Due to the growth of city-states.
Various City-States
 Florence

Center of the Renaissance
 Rome
 Venice

Longest lasting
 Naples


King
Sicily
Middle Ages
 Artists
were members of religious houses
 No sculptures

Idolatry
 One
Dimensional
General Information
 Art


Realism
Linear Perspective






Depth
Frescoes
Landscapes
Mythology
The Madonna
¾ portraits
Why & How?
 The
revival of classical, Romanesque
architecture inspired classicism in
painting.

Vitruvius
 Math=Art!
 New


artistic techniques/ideas
Open Mindedness
Humanism
Inspiration and $$$
 The

Medici Bank
Cosimo
 Vitruvius

1st Century Writer “On Architecture”
 The

Bellini Family
Venice
 The
Catholic Church
 Various Rich People
A few people to know…
 Leonardo

THE MAN
Da Vinci
 Michelangelo

and Raphael
The OTHER Men
 Donatello
 Titian
 Giotto
 Masaccio
 Bruneleschi
Leonardo
da
Vinci
(1452-1519)
 Emphasis on
humans, nature,
and landscapes.
 Focused on the
math involved in
painting/drawing.
 Inventor
 Mona Lisa, The Last
Supper, The
Vitruvian Man





Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Focus on architecture
 Designed the Medici
Chapel
Large role in the “High
Renaissance”
Also a poet
“The flesh now earth, and
here my bones, Bereft of
handsome eyes, and
jaunty air, Still loyal are to
him I joyed in bed, Whom I
embrace, in whom my soul
now lives.”
David, The Creation of
Adam, Sistine Chapel
Ceiling
Raphael (1483-1520)
 Simplicity
and human grandeur.
 Known outside of Rome for his printmaking
 School of Athens
Sources



Medici. "Medici Archive: Document Details." Medici
Archive: Document Details. Medici Family, 2005. Web. 04
Sept. 2012.
<http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid
=722>.
Medici. "Medici Archive: Document Details." Medici
Archive: Document Details. Medici Family, 2005. Web. 04
Sept. 2012.
<http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid
=10687>.
Ferguson, John. "Middle Ages Art." Middle Ages Art. Middle
Ages, 2009. Web. 04 Sept. 2012. <http://www.middleages.org.uk/middle-ages-art.htm>.
Italian
Renaissance
Architecture
How it relates to the time
period:

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the
period between the early 15th and early 17th
centuries in different regions of Europe


demonstrating a conscious revival and
development of certain elements of ancient
Greek and Roman thought and material culture.
Stylistically, Renaissance architecture
followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded
by Baroque architecture.


Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as
one of its innovators,
the Renaissance style quickly spread to other
Italian cities
Italian
Architecture:
Style of architecture, reflecting
the rebirth of Classical culture,
that originated in Florence in
the early 15th century and
spread throughout Europe,
replacing the medieval Gothic
style.
Middle Ages
Architecture:
Medieval Architecture
featured different styles
which were called
Romanesque, the French
Style, Perpendicular style
both more commonly as
Gothic architecture.
How it relates to the region:
 In
Italy people are coming out of the Dark
Ages &they want a whole new way of
doing “life”
 Italians were moving away from the
Gothic style or architecture that they
have known for so long
 Italy displays “Renaissance Architecture”
very well throughout the region
Evidence:
Sistine Chapel:
Outside & Inside
People:



Filippo Brunelleschi
 Trained as a goldsmith in his native city of Florence, Brunelleschi
soon turned his interests to architecture, traveling to Rome to study
ancient buildings. Among his greatest accomplishments is the
engineering of the dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del
Fiore, also known as the Duomo). He was also the first since
antiquity to use the classical orders Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian in a
consistent and appropriate manner.
Leon Battista Alberti
 Worked as an architect from the 1450s onward, principally in
Florence, Rimini, and Mantua. As a trained humanist and true
Renaissance man, Alberti was as accomplished as an architect as
he was a humanist, musician, and art theorist. Alberti‘s treatises on
architecture De re Aedificatoria
Andrea Palladio
 Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) was the chief architect of the
Venetian Republic, writing an influential treatise, I quattro libri
dell'architettura. Due to the new demand for villas in the sixteenth
century, Palladio specialized in domestic architecture, although he
also designed two beautiful and impressive churches in Venice,
San Giorgio Maggiore (1565) and Il Redentore (1576). Palladio's
villas are often centrally planned, drawing on Roman models of
country villas.
Sources:

Primary:



"The Civilization of the Renaissance
In Italy." About.com Medieval History. N.p., n.d.
Web. 02 Sept. 2012.
<http://historymedren.about.com/od/burckhardt/
a/cri_main.htm>.
"Top Sources." Eastbury Manor House. N.p., n.d.
Web. 02 Sept. 2012. <http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117579>.
Secondary:

"Architecture of Italy - Great Buildings
Online." Architecture of Italy - Great Buildings
Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.greatbuildings.com/places/italy.html
>.