Unit 1: Chap.13 Renaissance
Renaissance: cultural achievements of the 14th through 16th centuries that rested on the
economic & political developments of earlier centuries
I.
Economic Growth in northern Italian cities
► Venice, Genoa, and Milan: all profited from overseas trade with Middle East and
northern Europe
● advancements in shipbuilding allowed ships to sail year round, increased the
volume of goods transported, and accelerated the speed of travel
● enormous profits form increased trade were continually reinvested to earn more,
becoming the wealthiest states of Europe
► Florence: location of the first artistic and literary manifestations of the Italian
Renaissance
● Florentine merchants acquired control of papal banking allowing them to dominate
European banking
● banking profits were invested in the urban industries of Florence
» wool industry: resulted in financial expansion and population increase of
Florence
II.
Communes & Republics
► Communes : sworn associations of free men seeking complete political and economic
independence from local lords
●Merchant Guilds – led communes by building city walls regulating trade, raising
taxes, keeping civil order
● Urban Nobility – noble families attracted by wealth and opportunity in the city
married into wealthy urban merchant families
» Gained control of communes restricting citizenship and rights of the urban
underclass
► Popolo: disenfranchised, heavily taxed portion of the population who led armed
rebellions to take over city governments establishing republican governments
● repeated the same abuses of power as the noble communes, and failed to
maintain civil order
► Signori & Oligarchies: despots and merchant aristocracies took control of northern Italian
cities in the wake of failed popolos
» 15th century political power, and elite culture was centered in the princely
courts of despots and oligarchs
○ used to display and assert wealth through patronage of the arts
III.
Political Systems & Diplomatic Relations b/w City-States
► Disunited Italian peninsula: political loyalty towards their individual city-states prevented
the development of a unified Italian state.
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● 15th century: 5 major powers of Italy
»northern city-states claimed to be republics but ruled as monarchs
i. Venice > sophisticated constitution but ruled by oligarchy
ii. Florence > governed by councils of state but real power in the hands of
patrician elitist
○ Medici family: Cosimo (1434-1464) Lorenzo (1469-1494)
iii. Milan > republic dominated by the despots of the Sforza family
iv. Papal States > Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) aided by his son Cesare
Borgia, asserted papal authority by military force over papal lands
v. Kingdom of Naples > southern Italy & Sicily ruled by the monarch of
Aragon, Spain
● The major powers controlled the smaller states and competed for territory
► Balance of Power in the Italian Peninsula
● Independent city-states joined forces to prevent any one state from gaining a
predominant position.
» Alliances & Embassies: establishing the modern system of diplomacy,
Italian city-states initiated permanent embassies by placing resident
ambassadors in capitals where political relations & commercial ties needed
continual monitoring
► Foreign Invasion
● Imperialistic ambitions & the inability to form a common alliance against potential
foreign enemies opened Italy for invasion.
» Girolamo Savonarola (Dominican friar) – delivered sermons in Florence
attacking the moral vice, paganism, and undemocratic rule by the Medici
and Papacy. He warned the people of the impending threat of foreign
invasion.
● Habsburg-Valois Wars: fought between the monarchs of France and the Holy
Roman Empire on Italian soil following the invasion of Italy by King Charles VIII of
France in 1494.
● By the 16th century: Political & social life in Italy was completely
disrupted due to foreign wars. Failure of the city-states to form a federal system,
or to establish a common foreign policy resulted in the continual occupation and
subjugation of foreign powers until its unification in 1870.
IV.
Intellectual Hallmarks of the Renaissance
► 14th & 15th century Italians characterized the Renaissance as a new golden age of
intellectual achievement or rebirth of classical civilization.
● Francisco Petrarch (1304-1347): known as the father of modern humanism –
Petrarch viewed the period b/w the 4th century and the 14th century as the “Dark
Ages”
» He spoke contemptuously of his medieval predecessors and
identified w/ the thinkers & artist of the Greco-Roman period
Unit 1: Chap.13 Renaissance
Themes of the Renaissance
► Individualism: stressed personality, uniqueness, genius, and the full development of
ones capabilities – quest for glory
● Middle Ages: Christian humility discouraged self-absorption
● Renaissance Intellectuals: developed a new sense of historical distance from
earlier periods
» witnessed the emergence of many distinctive personalities
who gloried in their uniqueness, aware of their singularity,
unafraid to be different, confident in their ability to achieve
great things
► Humanism: emphasized human beings, their achievements, interest, capabilities
● Italian humanist studied the Latin classics to learn what they could
reveal about human nature.
» unlike the scholars of the middle ages – Italian humanist
were skeptical of the authority of pagan and classical
authors, aware that classical writers often disagreed among
themselves
○ Lorenzo Valla – On the False Donation of Constantine
(1444) > demonstrated that a 8th cent. document claiming
to give the papacy jurisdiction over vast territories in
western Europe, was actually a forgery
* Impact: weakened papal claims to temporal authority!
► Secularism: a basic concern w/ the material world instead of w/ the eternal world of
spirit
● economic changes and rising prosperity beginning in the 13th century stimulated a
fundamental change in social & intellectual attitudes and values
» greater material wealth allowed for greater material pleasures, a
comfortable life, and leisure time to appreciate and patronize the arts
○ Giovanni Boccacio (1313-1375): The Decameron > portrayed an
acquisitive, sensual, worldly society, without the contempt the existed in
medieval literature
● Leaders of the Church embraced the secular spirit of the Renaissance patronizing
the arts to beautify the property of the church and their personal households.
V.
Art & the Artist
► Artistic masterpieces in sculpture, painting, and architecture of the Quattro cento (1440’s)
& cinquecento (1500’s)
» In all arts, the city of Florence led the way
● Early Renaissance: Art manifested corporate power (Guilds and religious
confederations) commissioned works of art for the city of Florence
» Ghiberti’s bronze doors of the Baptistry & Michelangelo’s statue of David
» art themes > overwhelmingly religious – used to educate, spread a
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particular doctrine, act as a profession of faith, or recall sinners to a moral
way of living
● Late 15th century: Individuals and Oligarchs sponsored works of
art more than corporate groups
» supported arts as a means of glorifying themselves & their family
○ family chapel, frescoes, religious panels, tombs
» art themes > subject matter became increasingly secular
○ classical themes (lives of loves of gods & goddesses)
○ self portraits, or scenes depicting themselves and family members to
immortalize themselves and display their great wealth & power
► Styles of Renaissance Art
● Giotto (1276-1337): led the way in the use of realism where his portraits mirrored
reality in their treatment of the human body & face
● Donatello (1386-1466): sculptor who expressed a variety of human nature & revived
the classical figure (balance and self awareness)
● Masaccio (1401-1428): father of modern painting – inspired a new style
characterized by great realism, narrative power, and effective use of light and dark
● Brunelleschi & Francesca: both pioneered the use of perspective in painting
» The linear representation of distance and space on a flat surface
● International Style: created by the commissioning of artist all over Europe from
different countries.
» use of rich color, decorative detail, curvilinear rhythms, and swaying forms
● Status of Artist: determined by support of powerful patrons
» artist only did commissioned work – unsolicited work for the general public
would lower the status of an artist
► The culture of the Renaissance was that of a small mercantile elite and did NOT directly
affect the broad middle classes and urban proletariat.
VI.
Social Change of the Renaissance Era
► Education & Political Thought
● Humanist were preoccupied with education & moral behavior, with the goal of
educating and training to be rulers.
» Baldassare Castiglione: The Courtier (1528)
○ a treaties that sought to train, discipline, and fashion the young man into
the courtly ideal, the gentleman
» Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince (1513)
○ a treaties on political power and how the ruler should gain, maintain, and
increase it.
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 “the prince should combine the cunning of a fox w/ the ferocity of a lion to
achieve his goals”
 “is it better for a ruler to be loved or feared” answer: both – but it is safer
to be feared than loved
 “the prince should be concerned not with the way things ought to be, but
with the way things actually are”
 “the sole test of a good government is whether it is effective, whether the
ruler increases his power”
► Women
● The status of upper-class women declined during the Renaissance
» a woman’s type of work, access to property, and political
power declined from that of the feudal age
» upper-class women received an education for the purpose
bringing culture to their home and children
» women were viewed as property of their husband
● Ordinary women received little or no education, but continued to
play a significant role in the work place and in the home
● Rape was not considered a particularly serious crime against either
the victim or society

Some women made up a small minority of humanists who acquired great
learning & fame:
 Christine de Pisan (pg. 410-411)
 Sofonisba Anguissola (1530-1625) – paintings
 Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) – paintings
- Judith Slaying Holofernes (pg. 434)
 Isabella Andreini (1562-1604) – actress
 Laura Cereta (1469-1499) – humanist
- educated in philosophy, theology, and mathematics
- married at 15 – widowed at 18 (spent rest of her life in study)
- “empty women, who strive for no good but exist to adorn
themselves …These women of majestic pride, fantastic
coiffures, outlandish ornament, and necks bound with gold or
pearls bear glittering symbols of their captivity to men.”
- to Laura, women’s inferiority was derived not from the divine
order of things but from women themselves “for knowledge
is not given as a gift, but through study…The free mind, not
afraid of labor, presses on to attain the good.”
► Technology
● The printing press: Johann Gutenberg (1455) – experimenting in Mainz,
developed movable type in a machine called the printing press
» transformed both private and public lives of Europeans, allowing silent
individuals to join causes and peoples separated by geography to form
common identities
○ Gutenberg’s Bible (1456)
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● The Mechanical Clock: The ability to quantify or measure time with a mechanical
clock was first introduced in Europe during the 10th century
» By the 14th & 15th century clocks became a major feature of urban life. The
buying and selling of goods required a more precise measurement of the
day’s hours.
○ the clock gave Europeans a technological advantage over other
peoples
► Women & Work
 Domestic work as well as outside the household
 Venetian sail makers
 Florentine textile industry
 Midwives, maids, cooks, laundresses, household servants
 General male perception: women should be homemakers
VII.
The Renaissance in the North
► The Renaissance of northern Italy spread into northern Europe via students who traveled
to study in Italy during the 15th century.
● The “new learning” of the Renaissance made its way into the cultures of France,
the Low Countries, Germany, and England
► Northern Humanist: interpreted Italian ideas about & attitudes toward classical antiquity,
individualism, and humanism in terms of their own traditions
● The northern Renaissance had a distinctly religious character where humanist
stressed biblical and early Christian themes
» focus:
 broad social reform based on Christian ideals
 development of an ethical way of life to be achieved by combining
the best elements of classical and Christian cultures
 stressed the use of reason, rather than acceptance of dogma, as a
foundation for an ethical way of life
 having faith in the human intellect to bring about moral and
institutional reform
 although human nature had been corrupted by sin, it was
fundamentally good and capable of improvement through
education, which would lead to piety and an ethical way of life
● Thomas More (1478-1535): Utopia (1516) – a book with a revolutionary view of
society which describes an ideal socialistic community located on a fictional island
» More blames the problems with society on greed and the obsession with
private property. Therefore societies flawed institutions were responsible
for corruption and war.
» according to More, the key to improvement and reform of the individual was
reform of the social institutions that molded the individual.
● Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536):
» Two themes of his work:
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1. education is the means to reform, the key to moral & intellectual
improvement
2. “The philosophy of Christ” Christianity is an inner attitude of the
heart or spirit. Christianity is Christ – his life and what he said & did,
not what theologians have written
 Works:
1) The Education of a Christian Prince (1504)
- combined idealistic & practical suggestions for the formation of a
ruler’s character through the careful study of Plutarch, Aristotle,
Cicero, and Plato
2) The Praise of Folly (1509)
- satire of worldly wisdom & a plea for the simple spontaneous
Christian faith of children.
3) Greek New Testament (1516)
● Francis Rabelais (1490?-1553): Gargantua & Pantagruel
» Comedy that uses satire to discuss the disorders of contemporary religious
and secular life
 Rabelais believed that institutions molded individuals and that education
was the key to a moral and healthy life
► Northern Art
 Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1464)
work titles: Deposition (pg. 440 in text)
● Jan van Eyck (1366-1441) work titles: Ghent Alterpiece,
portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride
» One of the first to use oil paints successfully
○ great realism in his paintings along with attention to human
personality
VIII.
● Jerome Bosch (1450?-1516) work: Death and the Miser
» used religious themes in combination w/ grotesque fantasies, colorful
imagery, and peasant folk legends
New Monarchs (Politics & the State in the Renaissance 1450-1521)
► Monarchs who invested kingship with a strong sense of royal authority and national
purpose, stressing that the monarchy was the one institution that linked all classes and
peoples within definite territorial boundaries.
 emphasized royal majesty & royal sovereignty, and insisted on the respect and loyalty of
all subjects
► France
 Charles VII (r. 1422-1461) – ended the Hundred Years’ War in 1453 &
consolidated the authority of the French crown
 reorganized the royal council (increased influence of middle-class men)
 strengthened royal finances through taxes: gabelle (on salt) &
taille (land tax)
 established the first permanent royal army
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 published the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438) – asserting the
superiority of a general council over the papacy, giving the French crown
major control over the appointment of bishops, and depriving the pope of
French ecclesiastical revenue

Louis XI “Spider King” (r. 1461-1483) – son of Charles VII
-
Faced with feudal disorder (opposition of the aristocracy to a centralized state)
 Louis promoted new industries (silk weaving) & welcomed foreign
craftsmen as well as entered into commercial treaties with England,
Portugal, & the Hanseatic League – to raise revenue through royal taxes
 Used his improved army to stop aristocratic brigandage & to cut into
urban independence.

Louis XII (r. 1498-1515) – marriage to Anne of Brittany added the duchy of
Brittany to the monarchs state.

Francis I & Pope Leo X – Concordat of Bologna, rescinded the Pragmatic
Sanction of Bourges returning papal authority over the church in France, but
allowed for the Monarchs appointment of French bishops & abbots effectively
giving French kings control of appointments & policies of the church in France.
► England
- Monarchy vs. Parliament (House of Lords & House of Commons)
 Monarchs were dependent on Parliament for revenue
 Edward IV & Tudor monarchs avoided this relationship by following a
-
policy of diplomacy with foreign states rather than costly wars.
thereby undercutting the source of aristocratic influence

Edward IV (r. 1461-1483) – defeated the Lancastrian forces in the War of the
Roses (York – white Rose / Lancaster – Red Rose) winning control of the crown

Richard III (r. 1483-1485) Welsh house of Tudor – brother of Edward IV

Henry VII (r. 1485-1509)
- Royal Council: became the center of royal authority to govern at the
national level
 very few great lords were allowed to serve as advisors to the king
 majority of the 12-15 members of the council were of the middle
class (lesser landowners who had primarily studied law)
- court of Star Chamber: royal court who applied principles of Roman law
(accused not entitled to see evidence against them, trials held in secret, torture
was commonly used, juries were not called)
 primarily used to reduce aristocratic opposition to the monarchy
 held executive, legislative, and judicial power under the monarchy
-
justices of the peace: unpaid local officials (influential landowners in the
shires who handled all the work of local government)
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 took the place of a standing army or professional service bureaucracy
which the Tudor’s did not have & could not afford
 they apprehended & punished criminals, enforced parliamentary statues,
fixed wages & prices, maintained weights and measures
-
Tudor monarchs were successful because they were supported by the
upper middle-class who wanted to maintain peace in the wake of years of
anarchy.
-
Henry VII rebuilt the monarchy by:
 encouraging the cloth industry & building up the English merchant marine
thereby increasing government revenue through the taxation of the wool
industry.
 crushing the invasion from Ireland & securing peace with Scotland
through the marriage of his daughter Margaret to the Scottish king
► Spain
 Reconquista – the wars of northern Christian kingdoms in Spain to recapture
control of the Iberian peninsula from the Muslims (Moores)
- military & religious objective was to expel the Muslims & Jews and gain
political control of the south.

1469 – Marriage of Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon: constituted a
dynastic union of two royal houses, not a political union of two states.
- Spain existed as a loose confederation of separate kingdoms until 1700

Ferdinand & Isabella (r. 1474-1516)
- Hermandades: “brotherhoods” popular groups in towns given authority to
act as local police forces and as judicial tribunes.
 Used by Ferdinand & Isabella to curb rebellions and warring aristocracy
- To curb aristocratic powers – Ferdinand & Isabella restructured the royal
council to exclude Aristocrats & powerful landowners – reducing the
influence of the nobility on state policy
 the council held full executive, judicial, and legislative powers under
the monarchy & supervised local authorities
 members of the council were of middle-class background and were
trained in Roman Law – which exalted the power of the Crown as
the embodiment of the state.
-
Establishment of a national church through a diplomatic alliance made b/w
the Spanish pope Alexander VI & the Spanish monarchy creating the
“Catholic Kings of Spain”
 allowed the monarch to raise revenues from ecclesiastical estates
to create an army capable of continuing the reconquista
- which concluded in 1492 with the conquest of Granada
 anti-Semitism: Jewish persecutions due to economic dislocation,
anti-Jewish preaching, and the plague (14th- 15th cen.)
- New Christians – converses & Maranos: Jews & Moores who
converted to Christianity under duress.
- Inquisition – used by Ferdinand to punish converts who
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secretly continued to practice their religion (mostly used as a
way to deflect popular demands on the state to persecute
converses)
- Absolute religious orthodoxy and purity of blood served as the
theoretical foundation of the Spanish national state.
○ following the fall of Granada – Ferdinand & Isabella
issued an edict expelling Jews from Spain (approx.
150,000 of 200,000 fled)