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Life and Death in the Later Middle Ages Famine and disease decimated the population of Europe. Between 447 and 1352, the Black Death killed between one-third
CHAPTER
The ltalian
Renaissance
and one-haH of Europe's population. Responses to the plague varied widely. social
disruption followed demographic collapse. peasants and townspeople fought to hold
onto gains made in the aftermath of the plague. Events in Europe and abroad contributed to a decline in Italian economic power. The Hanseatic League dominated
the Baltic trade. Towns employed new measures to address poverty and crime.
IF
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The spirit of the Later Middle Ages The papacy declined in the fourteenth century. During the Avignon papacy, French popes concentrated the financial and legal
power of the church in the papal ofiice. The Great schism resulted in a divided
christendom and weakened the papary. Belief in witchcraft was widespread in the
Middle Ages, but witchcraft trials were rare. Disgust with the formal institutions of
the church stimulated a turn to private devotion, mysticism, and sometimes heresy.
John wycliffe and Jan Hus led important challenges to the church. The persecution
of Jews and Muslims in Spain grew out of religious and political anxieties. William
of Ockham challenged the Aristotelian foundations of medieval scholarship. The
vernacular literatures of the later Middle Ages explored the place of the individual
within a complex society.
Society
Art
ldeals
Politics of the ltatian City-States
e Society
word
ii: _IT:::1I
ofa
and literary achievements that defined Renaissance style. The large ltalian city-states
developed stable and coherent forms of government and the warfare between them
gradually ended. In the final period, from r5oo to 1550, invasions from France and
Spain transformed Italian political life, and the ideas and techniques of Italian writers
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The Italian peninsula differed sharply from other areas of Europe in the extent to
which it was urban. By the late Middle Ages, nearly one in four Italians lived in a
town, in contrast to one in ten elsewhere. Not even the plague did much to change
this ratio. By r5oo, seven of the ten largest cities in the West were in Italy. Naples,
Venice, and Milan, each with a population of more than roo,ooo, led the rest. But it
was the numerous smaller towns, with populations nearer to t,ooo, that gave the
Italian peninsula its urban character. Cities dominated their regions economically,
politically, and culturally and served as convenient centers ofjudicial and ecclesiastical power. The diversified activities of their inhabitants created vast concentrations of wealth, and Italy was the banking capital of the world.
Although cities may have dominated Renaissance ltaly, by present standards
they were small in both area and population. A person could walk across fifteenthcentury Florence in less than half an hour. In :,427, its population was 37,ooo, only
half its pre-plague size.
Urban populations were organized far differently than rural ones. On the
farms the central distinctions involved ownership of land. Some farmers owned
their estates outright and left them intact to their heirs. Others were involved in a
sharecropping system by which absentee owners of land supplied working capital
in return for half of the farm's produce. A great gulf in wealth separated owners
from sharecroppers. Those who owned their land normally lived with surplus;
those who sharecropped always lived on the margin of subsistence.
In fie city, however, distinctions were based first on occupation, which largely
corresponded to social position and wealth. Cities began as markets, and the privilege
to participate in the market defined citizens. City govemments provided protection
for consumers and producers by creating monopolies through which standards for
craftsmanship were maintained and profits for craftsmen were guaranteed' These
monopolies were called guilds or companies. Each large city had its own hierarchy of
guilds. At the top were the important manufacturing groups-clothiers, metalworkers,
and the like. Just below them were bankers, merchants, and the administrators of civic
and Church holdings. At the bottom were grocers, masons, and other skilled workers.
Roughly speaking, all of those within the guild structure, from bottom to top, lived
comfortably. Yet the majority of urban inhabitants were not members of guilds. Many
managed to eke out a living as wage laborers; many more were simply destitute. As a
group, these poor people constituted as much as half of the entire population. Most
depended on civic and private charity for their very survival.
of
:iiT**"
do yousuppose the aa.air..r."..,
"';.tr*:i1ruff;:$"iff:i;.:',n'#til:ff
,..,.,
^r"::::r:3,,Lly
:T:I1]..::::.1":u,op.rwr,,t*,,ilffi;:b*ffi.f;
:[Hili.i,lii.,
f;H?J*f
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ternatio nat
ankins and
long_
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isr;";" ".;;;;:l;*li,f
:r:.::".# ffi:,"j:;
producers: Between
7o and 9o percent or iurop"t population
was involved in
subsistence agriculture. Even
in it"ty, rt i.i.ontained
of urban areas in the wo1ld,.1eri.ril;;;;;oiri.,"t"a. the greatest concentration
The manufacture of crothing was the onry other significant
economic
Most of what was produced
local consumption rather th."
".,*rrr.
marketprace. Even in good
rimes,
:"
*t
;;;;
only the very wealthy could afford a live-in wet nurse, which would increase the
child's chances of survival. Again, daughters were more likely to be sent far from
home and least likdly to have their nursing supervised.
During the period between weaning and apprenticeship, Renaissance children
lived with their f?milies. sons could expect to be apprenticed to a trade, probably
, between the ages,gf ro and r3. Most, of course, leamed the crafts of their fathers,
ibut not necessarily in their father's shop. Sons inherited
the family business and its
most important possessions-tools of the trade or beasts of labor for the farm.
with food,
more than 8o percent of the population lived at subsistence level
the market
clothing, and shelter their only expenses. Therefore, when we discuss
of the Renaissance,
".orro*y
rather than the manY'
.llll"
"r.
population
The defining characteristic of the early Renaissance economy was
low for more than a cenchange. Recurring waves of plague kept population levels
growth. The geneconomic
depressed
*ry. ifri, dr"*Jc reduction in population
toward the end
increase
population
.r.i ..orro*y did not revive until the sustained
supply
of the fifteenth century. Until then, in both agriculture and manufacturing,
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outstripped demand.
on the farms, surviving farmers occupied the best land and enlarged their
who surholdings. In the shops, finished products outnumbered the consumers
commodities'
basic
vived the epidemics. Overproduction meant lower prices for
At the lowest levels of
and the decline in populati'on meant higher wages for labor'
to create a surplus
society, survivors found it easier to earn their living and even
improved'
masses
than had their parents. For a time the Iot of the
agriculture
But for investors, such economic conditions meant that neither
consumption
nor cloth making was particularly attractive. In such circumstances,
shortage
perceived
the
merely
not
it
was
but
was more attractive than investment,
conspicuous
in
increase
on
the
of profitable investment opporfunities that brought
cre:
during the iifteenth century. In the psychological atmosphere
consumption
prop.rry normally
lo, tir.r.
lives governed by
nenaissance children who survived infancy found their
andbygender'Inparentage,thegreatdividewasbetweenthosewholivedwith
plrr,
*i
those
ofthesecondcategory.Aboutthechildrenofthepoorweknowverylittle,
.t
women married in late adolescence, usually around the age of zo. Among the
; marriages were perceived as familial alliances and business transactions
than love matches. The dowry was an investment on which fathers expected
and while the bride might have some choice, it was severely rimited.
was not a central feature in matchmaking. Husbands were, on the
years
older than their wives and likely to leave them widows.
, ten
Men married later-near the age of z5 on the farms, nearer 3o in the cities
of the cost of setting up in trade or on the land. Late marriage meant
under the watchful eye of father or master, an extended period
adolescence and adulthood. Many men, even with families, never sucin setting up separately from their fathers or older brothers.
came of age at 30 but were thought to be old by 5o. Thus for men, marand parenthood took place in middle age rather than in youth. valued all
ives more highly than their sisters, male heads of households were the
of all power in their domiciles, in their shops, and in the state. They were
rsible for overseeing every aspect of the upbringing of their children. But
ves were essential partners who governed domestic life. women labored
at the hearth, but in the fields and shops as well. Their economic contri'to the well-being of the family was critical, both in the dowry they brought
and in the labor they contributed to the household. If their wives
with young children remarried quickly.
most cases, death came suddenly. Epidemic diseases, of which plague was
:virulent, struck with fearful regularity. They struck harder at the youngand adolescents, who were the majonty of the population-and hardest in
months, when other viruses and bacteria weakened the population,
Starvation was rare, less because offood shortage than because the serious\ undernourished were more likely to succumb to disease than to famine. In urban areas,
the government would intervene to provide grain from public storehouses at times
of extreme shortage; in the countryside, large landholders commonly exercised the
same function.
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Although life may have been difficult during the Renaissance, itwas not unfrlfilling.
Despite constant toil and frequent hardship, people ofthe Renaissance had reason to
believe that their lives were better than those of their ancestors and that their children's lives would be better still, On the most basic level, health improved and, for
those who survived plague, life expectancy increased owing to t}e relative surplus of
grain throughout the fifteenth century and the wider variety of foods consumed.
This diversification of diet resulted from improvements in transportation and communication, which brought more goods and services to a growing number of towns
in the chain that linked the regional centers to the rural countryside.
The towns and cities also introduced a new sense of social and political cohesiveness. The city was something to which people belonged. In urban areas, they
could join social groups of their own choosing and develop networks of support
that were not possible in rural environments. Blood relations remained the primary
social group. Kin were the most likely source of aid in times of need, and charity
began at home. Kin groups extended well beyond the immediate family, with both
cousins and in-Iaws laying claim to the privileges of blood. The urban family could
also depend on the connections of neighborhood. In some Italian cities, wealth or
occupation determined housing patterns. In others, like Florence, rich and poor
lived side by side and identified themselves with their small administrative unit and
with their local church. Thus they could participate in relationships with others both
above and below them in social scale. From their superiors they gained connection$
that helped their families; from their inferiors they gained devoted clients.
As in the Middle Ages, the Church remained the spatial, spiritual, and
center of people's lives. Though Renaissance society became more worldly in
look, this worldliness took place within the context of an absorbing devotional
The Church provided explanations for both the mysterious and the mundane.
clergy performed the rituals of baptism, marriage, and burial that measured the
sage of life. Religious symbols also adorned the flags of militia troops, the
of guilds, and the regalia of the city itself, The Church preserved holy relics
were venerated for their powel to protect the city or to endow it with particular
and resources, Through its holy days, as much as through its rituals, the
helped to channel leisure activities into community celebrations'
A growing sense of civic pride and individual accomplishment were
apprentiieships
in
in
of
rerigion,
inJtitutions.
"Renaissance Art
.y.v."e.,
i:*:3:lll.T:",led
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a Painter
An Architect, a Sculptor, and
SbW
ThecenturythatculminatedinMichelangelo'sextraordinaryachievementsbegan
one. another's develmasters who deeply influenced
with the work of three n"r."i*.
and Masaccio (raor-i428)' In
(13s0-a6o)
were the
discipline was aichitecture' Buildings
"nirri.*"fa make' and the technical knowledge neces-
do#n"rri
i"u"'t*ffitit""t
saryfortheirsuccessfulconst't'ctionwasimmense'Byr4oo'theGothicstyleofbuild-
inghaddominatedwestemEuropeforovertwocenturies.Itscharacteristicpointed
building by removing the
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heavy walls
.,'u"g',
arches, vaulted
'"1;;*
ti support great structures'
that were formerly thought necessary
Gothic
constructionpermittedgreaterheight,acharacteristicthatwasespecia$desirablein
toward the heavens'
cathedrals, which stretched
It was BruneUt"t'i
*t'o
decisively challenged
*iose
architec-
of
E
ftullts .Gothic
of classical structures' Basing his
ture by recombining
and spheres as
Brunelleschi reintroduced planes
designs on geometri.;ndi;;,
begun
*"rr was the dome on the cathedral in Florence, artist
dominant motifs. His gi."*,
Renaissance
.r.ait"a wrth having been the first
in r4zo. Brunru.r.t i ir'g-";;"r.uy
put to
*"dt t"e of perspective' though it was immediately
to have understood
and painting'
more dramatic effect in sculpture
*"Ut"t*n
of
In sculpture, the survival Roman
oi't""i'"t a't' Donatello translated
influence
the direct
""i
*i
**lltlili'r;ll.lLl,"t* ";;
these classical styles
;;
ffiffirJJ#.,'rli,.i'u.*anded
;aturalistic
T:t:::"TyrT:*:l
for*r.
rw hecause;il
because
greater attention to hurnan anatomv
was viewed
fi"*
Gattamelata
square
Pac
(r445-r4t):T:1-:i:::::1T:Tff:
l,.T:IJffiiil'ffi;;;;;;s"r*;gi'use'o*inearperspectiveisarso
in
of the miracles of Saint Anthony !
"::l :l1tt::^:T;lItJ:
il:'::url#il;;;;;i*t:1o:1""1:1'::,T:i::::'ff
il':to
of linear perspective
io,ltnY:i:se
toa
tight
of
sketched
shading
ilffiil;
'h"
'i'"ao*""J
flat surface has three dimensions'
Renaissance StYle
By the middle of the
fifteento::,:::Ij ;::t:j,",".ti'ffJil:T;
:ffi.Iff ;;;;'*i','.::
;;.;;j.ct
::'ji*
T:l i
the most
J,il"
remained
"
crated
consecrated
. r-r-^*+1. :i """_,:,-.:::;
iru.r,i
erti conse
t,1*. AIb
^6nrrr...
until the eighteentl t"ity-:^^r
+'am with aahun
the classical dictum that a building, like a body, shourd have an even
of supports and, like a head, an odd number of openings. This furthered
geometric calculations in scale and design,
No sculptor challenged the preeminence of Donatello for another
5o years, but
ainting there were many contenders for the garlands worn by Masaccio. The
Piero della Francesca (ca. r4zo-r492), who broke new ground in his conthe visual unity of his paintings. Another challenger was sandro Botticelli
5ro), whose classical themes, sensitive portraits, and bright colors set him
the line of Florentine painters with whom he studied.
concern with beauty and personality is also seen in the paintings of
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among others'
Florentine churches, copying the works of Masaccio'
of Lorenzo de Medici' He
household
in
the
place
a
In r49o, ivtichelangJlo gii"ta
forhimself"ndp,o.u,edanotherforaFrenchcardinal,whichbecamethePieti. to
by the time Michelangelo returned
The pietti created a sensation in Rome, and
acknowledged as one ofthe great
Florence in r5or, at the age ofz6, he was already
sculptors of his day. He
i"s
blockofmarblethathadbeenquarriednearlyahalf-centu'y.b{o':.andhad
He worked continuously for three 1
defeated the talents of a series of carvers.
the union between classical
on his Dauid (r5or-r5o4), a piece that completed
Renaissance stYles'
ilG;#langelo
always believed
himserto
r5o8,
t"p-t l't1Y: u
of the
and commissioned him to decorate the ceiling :^L^l^4
Michelanl
papal residence'
chapel that had been built next to the new
- -- ^-r^-r^l -.marirra hrrrnrn creation and those
*o*.
il;ili"
.ur.*onii
il;;;"rrt,
tt.t
ro."shadowed the
i,;;;;; il
?o,
Mic}relangeloaiteredtheseplansinanefforttobringmorelightintothechurch
however'
majestic iacade outside' His main contribution'
provide
"-*or.
its
concrete
of old and
Michelangelo
LJ
enaissance ldeals
isance thought went hand in glove with Renaissance
art. Scholars and philoso-
; other things, Greek poetry history the worts of Homer and plato, and
for the collecand collation of these texts was one of the most important contributions
of the
ilssance intellectuals who came to be known as humanists.
Although humanism
by no means antireligious, it was thoroughly secular
in outlook.
Humanists celebrated worldly achievements. pico della
Mirandola's oration on
)ignity of Man (as6) is the best known of a multitude
of Renaissance writings
ced by the discovery ofthe works ofplato. pico believed
that people could
their existence on earth because God had endowed humans
witi, trre capacdetermine their own fate. This emphasis on human potential
found expresr':the celebration of human achievement.
humanists studied and taught the humanities, the skills of
disciplines
philology, the art of language, and rhetoric, the art
of expression. Though
mostly lay people, humanists applied their learning to
both religious aid
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Thecreationo{AdamandEVe,adetailfromMichelangelo,sfrescoesonthoceilingoftheSistinechapel.l
SistinefrescoeshadbecomeobscuredbydirtandlayersoJVarnishandglueappliedatvarioustimesover
original colors'
yoars. ln the 1980s, they were cleaned to reveal their
studying texts'
Humanists also introduced historical methods in
*l:tt,:f
principles for determining which of manY manuscript
,11
corrupted by their
was the oldest, the most accurate, and the least
new
emphasis on the humanistic disciplines fostered
humanist
I
h
dominated
oomlnalcu
They believed that thb
grammar, rhetoric, moral philosoihy, and history'
its own sake' This gave a]
these "liberal arts" should bt ""i"'t"ken for
that appeared
boost to the ideal of the perfectibility of the individual
other aspects of Renaissance culture'
Science
the Renaissance looked back to the classical world and ahead to the
would come from the adaptation of ancient wisdom, so Renaissance
was focused in two directions. The first was text-based hnowledge
works mainly from classical Greece; the second was experiachieved through observation
sciences were given new life by the recovery of the writings of
Galen, Medicine became a subject for learned inquiry and the
w
wd
]"-ryT:'^T::*::
:T"{::;il;"*il;;; ;ffi;;"
o--^L ^*o*iexperiment: T h:T* u:::'-t:lt-l*:3*",:to
red
and
;i""*v
AilH;;
ffiilTffir"r.J*"*tedge
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in the
engineering were actually
'made
Most of the important advaices in
of
theory
a
da vinci a=ttempted to apply
service of military ventures. Leonardo
of
and he made drawings for the creation
mechanics to Renaissance warfare'
he was
flying machines such as airplanes. But
war machines such ., orrr., and
their
on
princes
modef' oi machines' in advising
expert in building *;t*;
conhis
All
in the art of gunnery'
fortifications, and suggesting improvements
tributionsweremadebyexperimentationratherthanthroughtext-based
built workshops to construct models
learning. Wherever it *t"t' ieo"ardo
results of his trials. This spirit of experimenand kept careful ,rot"toot , of the
in
of a recognizably scientific method
tation would ,rrti*rt.ivi."Jto tt. birth
the next century.
drafting bytptt::,-f1t".t]r;':i::|;:i
1
At the same time that Castiglione was
:;'*;;;"h;;;';\i(i6s-r527)waslavingrherounallllijl::
mo
work has been more important or
sixteenth-century ruler' No Renaissance
ment.It attemPts,"
aia itre n ii"
t e mp o rary events to
;iil.#;;'il;i;;
the prince
ii'.tl
11
ro:::y
'*n
might even control fortune. itself'
apprication' Machiave[i
Yn:t
T*,ti:':J:lt:^t"T:
;lirtJ:.T;:;ilffi;;es
able to separate aU
,r"J;ffiil;;;is
"it"iifit
texts'
to ancient
were advanced through attention
while the rife
and
experiences of Renaissance craftsmen
engineering developeJ through the
stabilpractical problems of proportion,
artists who were attempting to solve
domes that they built'
in trre uuitdi-ngs, bridges, and ,ritim"tely
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the city-states and their
Five Powers
ough there were dozens of Italian city-states,
by the early fifteenth century five
emerged to dominate the politics of the peninsura.
In the south was the king_
of Naples, the only city-state governed fy a hereditary
the
economic downturn of the rate fourteenth century.
Nominally, Frorence
rblic, but during the fifteenth century it
was ruled in effect uy it, prio.ifrt
the Medici.
to*,
securing a landed empire than in dominating a seaborne one. The republic was ruled
by a hereditary elite, headed by an elected doge, who was the chief magistrate of
Venice, and a variety of small elected councils.
The political history of the Italian peninsula during the late fourteenth and
early fifteenth centuries is one of unrelieved turmoil. wherever we look, the governments of the city-states were threatened by foreign invaders, internal conspiracies, or popular revolts. In the r37os, the Genoese and venetians fought their fourth
war in little more than a century this one so bitter that the Genoese risked much of
their fleet in an unsuccessful effort to conquer Venice itself. Florence and Milan
were constantly at war with each other. Nor were foreign threats the only dangers.
In Milan, three visconti brothers inherited power. Two murdered the third, and
then the son of one murdered the other to reunite the inheritance. The Venetians
'executed one of their military leaders,
who was plotting treachery. one or another
ine family usually faced exile when governments there changed hands.
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revolts channeled social and economic discontent against the ruling elites
Rome, Milan, and Florence. The revolt of the "ciompi" (the wooden shoes) in
nce in 1378 was an attempt by poorly paid wool workers to reform the city's
cc
ive guild system and give guild protection to the wage laborers rower down
=
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social scale.
By the middle of the fifteenth century however, two trends were apparent
this political chaos. The first was the consolidation of strong centralized govwithin the large city-states. These took different forms but yielded a simresult: internal political stability. The return of the popes to Rome after the
Schism restored the pope to the head of his temporal estates and began a
period of papal dominance over Rome and its satellite territories. In Milan,
t--
ended a half century of civil war. In both Florence and Venice, the grip of
litical elite over high offices was tightened by placing greater power in small
iory councils and, in Florence, by the ascent to power of the Medici famiry. In
this process is known as the rise of signorial rule.
rise of the signories made possible the second development of this peestablishment of a balance of power within the peninsula. sforza's con-
TTALY 1494
at the end of the {ifteenth century'
Notice how Italy was organized into city-states
r.:T _*:rt .yscePtibleto foreign'
which were the largest city-statesi which city-states
for trade? When the wars of Italy begai
invasionl Which states rti ,rt. i"t, positioning
wi}
in r4e4 (discussed later i" tttit trt"ptir), France-sided
lvli?n ",9i:Y
combatants, what do you think
the
of
poritiors
papal
.
tt
on
n.r.J
States.
and the
invasionl which city-states could the
have been the likeliest route for thi French
):llit'it"*X
.
avoid fighting?
Florence and Milan and the other between venice and Naples. These states,
the papacy, pledged mutual nonaggression, a policy that lasted for
40 years.
Peace
of Lodi did not bring peace. It only halted the long period in
major city-states struggled against one another. Under cover of the
the large states continued the process of swallowing up their smaller
and creating quasi-ernpires. Civilian populations were oyerrun, local
were exiled or exterminated, tribute money was taken, and taxes were
levied. Each of the five states either increased its mainland territories or
strengthened its hold on them. Venice and Flor'ence especially prospered.
,)
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and the new manufactured goods-glass, silk, jewelry and cottons*that came
onto the market in the late Middle Ages.
pouring
But the heart of Venetian success lay in the way in which it organized its trade
and its govemment. The key to Venetian trade was its privileged position with the
Byzantine Empire. venice had exchanged with the Byzantines military support for tax
with the
concessions that gave Venetian traders a competitive edge in the spice trade
it'
to
accommodate
built
East. The spice trade was so lucrative that special ships were
navy in
These galleys were constructed at public expense and doubled as the Venetian
the spice
tirnes of war. By controlling these ships, the govemment strictly regulated
in other
did
they
it,
as
to
dominate
trade. Rather than allow the wealthiest merchants
them
at aucin
cities, Venice specified the number of annual voyages and sold shares
gain
tion based on a fixed price. This practice allowed big and small merchants to
from the trade and encouraged all merchants to find other trading outlets.
uke its trade, venetian government was also designed to disperse Power.
republic inthe
Although itwas known as the Most Serene Republic,Venice was not a
govemment by a restricted
sense that we use the wordl it was rather an oligarchy-a
mernbership had been
whose
council
Great
group. Political power was vested in a
Great Council, which
of
the
ii*.i at tt . end of the thirteenth*century. From the body
chosen the Senate,
numbered about z,5oo at the end of the fifteenth century was
a one-year term' It was
a council about one-tenth the size, whose members sewed
the doge, who
from the Senate that the true officers of government were selected:
administered'
who
small councils,
was chosen for life, and members of a number of
power'
vent any individual from gaining too much
Withitsmercantilefamiuesfirrrrlyincontrolofgovernmentandtrade,
pottt
i"
"llowed
i *:,*:1T::T1'
began a
in a dramatic reversal of its centuries-old policy, it
reasons t::
of conquest in lta\ itself. There were several
"::t"^11:
power that tt oY
Venetian navy was no longer the unsurpassed
\ad.
OttomanTurirs in the East
drained ,.rouitt', and the revival of the
lr*.J*.r*ard.
Genoa had
**
b::i'
this debt, and the republic was continually devising new methods for
i'and staving off crises of repayment
ed a city whose prosperity was based on manufacturing, Florence
had a
drawnfromtheupPelranlaofFlorentinesocietyguidedthecitythroughthewarsof
leaders of its greatest familiesthe early fourt..ntl, ..rrtury. But soon afterward, the
Florentine politics into factions'
the Albizzi, the Pazzi, arrd the Medici-again divided
STheabilityoftheMedicitosecureacentury-longdynastyinagovernment
surrounding the his-
Z
U
H
=
Z.
4
:r
fu
ffi
mysteries
that did not have a head of state is just one of the
one of the richest
(1389-1454)was
Medici
de
remarkable family. cosimo
i"ry
a brief exile. His
"iirrir
:.434
after
vr
city
*.r, ir, christendom when he returned to the
to gain a conable
were
i""ai"g position in government rested on supporters who
banishing his
tro[in! irrfl,-,"rr." on tfre Signoria. Cosimo built his party carefu]ly,
he employed, and even
Albizzi enemies, recruiting iollow.r, among the craftsmen
Most important' emereligibility'
paying delinquent taxes to maintain his voters'
of citizens qualified to vote for
sencv powers were invoked to reduce the number
the majority were Medici backers'
it.
"* Si*rrori" until
;t";;;,, gr.rrdroo, Lorenzo Q44g-t4gz),held strong humanist
values instilled
inhimbyhismother,LucreziaTornabuoni,whoorganizedhiseducation.He
broughttvti.h.l"rrguloandotherleadingartiststohisgarden;hebroughtPico
dellaMirandolaandotherleadinghumaniststohistable.Lorenzo'sPlwer11
diplomatic abilities were the key to
based on his personality and reputation. His
and the pap
Almost immeiiately after Lorenzo came to power' Naples
survival.
began a war with Florence,
*'$:[Ti[1;"1'3;;:T:iff itrHff
There
is some doubt whether
bestowed
ffilfj:?H.tlffi
ubil; ;;,*d;i:
hr;;;;rrd
be remembered by the
titre ,,the
"''i'; ;;;Fiil##ill,f
:ffi :#;T:Hil:;;Tij*
.h;;;;",
Lorenzo
Jtr ill,ii
came at the
;n*X#
of Frorentine repubricanism,
irre_
;ad;;;
into
region.
r,,-^*^
__
jl:
all others.The ducatand theflorin,
ffH
ililr;;;; "ffi."#ffi:r:iil
llns' were universally accepted
;',:f
tilT*;{::",:T,:!:.'i,T:,';:::.TJlT*"ffi'*,:::;,:ilH;
-'s, such
as M'anese arti uery, Fror."itllJo,'
r age
rge when every petty
Dettv prince
nrin^o minted his
-;-*^-r r-,^
own-rh"""ffiJJilH::t
ilJi.T
j:rl'*,guic*vspreadacrosstheArps,
;'il:r:1.'*';',:r#*:;:i1
bvthe recent invention
"rp'r",r.g r*';ffi;;JI":T:: ;:ffi"t',tl:
isance standards of artistic
achievement were known
ffi
*"dd;il
everyth:1.il"11**
""d
weu. rhe compass and the
,frT:i#:#:lllT:3:.1
n
projection maps, doubte
."r,T1;""idffi;,
"l"o
profoundly influenced what
"i.lilfi:il:l.,il:
could b. ;";;;;.
and M'ritary unrest' But
both taxati
a war that was costly to the Florentines-in
andlostterritory.Int4Tg,LorenzotraveledtoNaplesandpersonallyconvincedt
it
was not
in
of
such
ji::.:iTiporiti.it,,*olandmlitaryimpe_
ano milltary impecombined
;ilJ"TTi,lt*:T:":
with the rise of the ottoman;;;; '""'"'r
J:ffi :J.il';
t;;;;;;ffi:ffi1?l;
.*p..t"d til
1ilffi
[ltT;,Y:"1'*:,::*:1'h.;!;;-;;ffi
to enlarge their mainland
empires.
begin a peninsurawide
;::T:,:::T1,ry.11"
gemony and took the stepS
"th.;;"
that urtimatery
ensured the contest. Eacri
dream of recapturing the glory
that was *"*.. ,""g years
of siege and
had militarized
the Italian city_states.
Successive popes pleaded in vain for holy wars to halt the advance of the
Ottoman Turks. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was an event of epochal proportions for Europeans; many believed that it foreshadowed the end of the world. Yet
it was Italians rather than Ottomans who plunged the peninsula into the wals from
which it never recovered.
The Wars of Italy $4g4-t5zg) began when Naples, Florence, and the Papal states
united against Milan. At fust tlis alliance seemed little more than another shift in the
balance of power. But rather than call on Venice to redress the situation, the Milanese
leader, Ludovico Sforza, sought help from the French. An army of French cava\ and
Swiss mercenaries, Ied by Charles VIII of France (1483-1498), invaded the peninsula in
Milanese support, the French swept all before them. Florence was forced to
494.With
surrender Pisa, a humiliation that led to the overthrow of the Medici and the establishment of French sovereignty. The Papal States were next to be occupied, and wifiin
a year Charles had conquered Naples without engaging the Italians in a single significant battle. Unfortunately, the Milanese were not the only ones who could play at
the game of foreign alliances. The Venetians and the pope united and called on the
services of King Ferdinand of fuagon and the Holy Roman Emperor. Italy was now a
battleground in what became a total European war for dynastic suPremacy. The citystates used their foreign allies to settle old scores and to extend their own mainland
empires, At the tum of the century Naples was dismembered. In r5o9, the Pope conspired to organize the most powerf.rl combination of forces yet known againstVenice.
All of the mainland possessions of the Most Serene Republic were lost, but by a com-
bination of good fortune and skilled diplomacy, Venice itself survived. Florence was
less fortunate, becoming a pawn first of the French and then of the Spanish. The final
blow to Italian hegemony was the sack of Rome kr $27 by German mercenaries'
SUMMARY
Renaissance Society ltaly was far more urban than
other parts of Europe. urban
populations were organized by occupation, which largely
corresponded to social
position and wealth. city governments reflected the centrality
oi commerce and
trade to city life. Economic conditions promoted the production
and consumption
of luxury items. Renaissance children who survived infancy
found their lives governed by parentage and by gender. Most city dwellers
lived at subsistence. For
many people, life improved in the aftermath of the plague.
Towns and cities introduced a new sense of social and poritical cohesiveness.
The church remained the
spatial, spiritual, and social center of people,s lives.
Renaissance
Art
friiitrffi
##ilH##
Milan,
Florentine