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Renaissance and Humanism

Renaissance and Humanism. Renaissance and Humanism. 1. Italian city-states 2. Ancient culture 3. Early modern state. Renaissance and Humanism. 1. Italian city-states

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Renaissance and Humanism

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  1. Renaissance and Humanism

  2. Renaissance and Humanism • 1. Italian city-states • 2. Ancient culture • 3. Early modern state

  3. Renaissance and Humanism • 1. Italian city-states • 11th-12th centuries 100 Italian towns practice communal form of government and debate republicanism (developing self-government • 14th century princes take over after economic collapse (Black Death); but Florence and Venice survive free and produce the Renaissance • Not democracies, not egalitarian, but cultures with environments of competition and freedom that allow creativity, discussion, and debate • Patricians control property, but patronize scholars and artists

  4. Renaissance and Humanism • 1. Italian city-states • Florence and the Medici: Medicean age 1434-1494; the Medici meddle in political affairs from behind the scenes • Venice: a true republic from 1297-1797, though only 2500 out of 150000 could vote or hold office • Renaissance spreads to Italian principalities • Upper class citizens regularly read, collected art, and patronized artists, scholars, and architects • The ideal citizen was encouraged to hold public office, pay taxes honestly, and patronize the arts • The ideal courtier (at the court of the prince) performed services for the prince, requiring cultivation in many skills: horsemanship, swordplay, athletics, drawing, dancing, music, conversation, foreign language, classical education, all for diplomacy and peace of the state

  5. Renaissance and Humanism • 1. Italian city-states • Papal princes • After Great Schism, the popes having lost moral authority had to force European princes into submission • Julius ii (1503-1513) put on armor and led his troops into battle • Alexander vi (1492-1503) fathered four children by his favorite mistress • Patrons of the arts during Renaissance; Cf. Leo x (1513-1521) and the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica

  6. Renaissance and Humanism • 2. Ancient culture • Greece and Rome provide models for Renaissance Italy in art, politics, philosophy, etc. • Artists foster rebirth; imitation, collection rampant • Scholars reexamine ancient culture: humanists (textual criticism, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, ethics: a basis of modern Humanities curriculum)

  7. Renaissance and Humanism • 2. Ancient culture • Humanists • Petrarch (1304-1374) develops textual criticism (called philology) • Humanists sought to resurrect Ancient Latin; shaped culture through comparison with the ancients’ perspective • Donation of Constantine (Valla’s philological proof) • The “Renaissance” Man: a master of many topics • Education aimed at intellectual breadth (cf. gen ed requirements at university today)

  8. Renaissance and Humanism • 2. Ancient culture • Scientific innovation • Ancient authorities provide little basis for understanding modern experience in regard to science (what the ancients called natural philosophy), but texts are debated • Astronomy (Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543): Ptolemaic system (2nd c.) challenged and refuted textually; not until Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) are Copernicus’ discoveries confirmed by observation • Anatomy (Vesalius 1514-1564, Fallopio 1523-1562): encourage students to do practical observation • Beginning of optics through artistic perspective • Printing press (1450’s) leads to easier exchange of ideas • Da Vinci (1452-1519): amazing inventions, but unpublished

  9. Renaissance and Humanism • 2. Ancient culture • The Arts • Imitation of the ancients is key • Focus on natural and idealized representations in painting and sculpture • Perfection of linear perspective: depiction of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface • Influence of the patron displayed in arts • da Vinci, Michelangelo, all artists worked for patrons • Renaissance spreads through art experienced by visitors to (and invaders of) Italy

  10. Renaissance and Humanism • 3. Early modern state • Italian Wars start in 1494: the now strong monarchies of France, Spain, Holy Roman Empire (German states) attempt to take control of peninsula • Italy falls, Rome sacked (1527), Spain ends up in most control by 1530 • Resulting relations between states lead historical and political questions about how states exist and must be ruled (e.g. NiccoloMacchiavelli 1469-1527)

  11. Renaissance and Humanism • 3. Early modern state • The State System that comes out of the Renaissance: • A system of interrelated changes • Governments establish standing armies • Governments modernize armies or face defeat (e.g. infantry, gunpowder) • Need for revenue leads to growing taxation and attendant bureaucracy • Need for inclusive taxation leads to elimination of tax exemption and local government • Need for strong central government requires submission of aristocracy and church (which is most effective in France, England, and Spain; not as effective in Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary) • Need for governmental autonomy requires diplomatic presence abroad, leading to ambassadorial representation at foreign courts

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