Download • The Renaissance was an intellectual movement that began in Italy

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The Renaissance was an intellectual movement that began in Italy in the 14th century
o two key hallmarks of the Renaissance were:
 an extreme hostility to the culture of the Middle Ages
 a fascination with the ancient world
 The Renaissance was the first, for example, to use the term "Dark Ages" to
describe the period after the fall of Rome.
o Their love affair with the ancients led to an increasing literacy in Latin and Greek--the
term "Renaissance" is this sense refers to the rebirth of the classic Greek and Roman
ways
o The main emphasis of the Renaissance centered around the individual and the potential of
human nature
o At first, it was restricted to a relatively small group of educated, self-conscious elites, but
especially in the north, it spread out to embrace other social classes which deeply affected
the history of Europe
o In short, most historians mark the Italian Renaissance as the beginning of the modern
world
Why did it begin in Italy?
o The northern Italian cities had led the way in the economic revival of the 12th and 13th
centuries--art flourishes in a society with money
 Florence, especially, at the end of the 13th century became the bankers to the
pope, taking a sizable cut out of church transactions for its services.
 The Italian middle classes wanted to show off their pride in their city states
 Italy had never been completely feudalized either; cities had always survived
there and the tradition of lay education remained strong.
o Moreover, Italian society of the 14th century was primarily urban
 Nobles here lived in cities, a stone's throw from one another, so ideas could
spread more rapidly here than in the isolated manors of northern Europe
o Finally, Italian artists considered themselves the natural heirs to Roman art because they
were surrounded with the remaining monuments
o In the Renaissance, Italy would enjoy the prestige that France had had in the Gothic
period.
The ideals of the Renaissance centered on individualism, the hallmark of the period
o for example, Renaissance writers invented the autobiography, a form which presumes the
reader is not only interested in your particular life, but in how you tell it
o They were proud of their abilities and scorned the Christian humility that the Middle
Ages prized
o When the public thought Donatello had sculpted the Pietá, Michelangelo crept into St.
Peters at night and carved his name, Michelangelo Buonarotti, across the Virgin's dress,
so everyone would know he was the artist
The revival of antiquity led to a copying of the lives of the ancients, including an archaeological
zeal in finding old manuscripts and uncovering Roman statues
The Renaissance was secular in orientation, concentrating its attention on the here and now unlike
the medieval concern for the world to come
o This secularism resulted in extravagant dress as well as greater refinements in manners,
as well as an increase in personal hygiene
o The contempt for the world theme of medieval religious literature disappeared; instead of
the great cathedrals, one sees the private palaces of insecure, social climbing princes
o There was, however, little concern for ordinary men
 This was no Age of the Common Man, but was instead confined to a cultured
elite
o The Italian Renaissance thinkers remained good Christians
 They were aware of the abuses of the church, but found them a subject of mirth
rather than a clarion call for reform
o The Renaissance indulged in a consumerism some of the age's admirers have refused to
recognize
 The elites were very concerned with acquiring and then displaying their wealth
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The Virgin Mary was often painted surrounded by desirable worldy objects,
reminding the viewer than sanctity would bring one wealth
 And paintings became more numerous because they were cheaper to produce
than labor-intensive mosaics; the gold leaf that had adorned paintings of the
Middle Ages disappeared so that the cost of the painting decreased, thus
allowing more people to display more art, thus increasing their social status
The Renaissance was also the first period to embrace quantification
o For the first time, clocks helped quantify time with hours of the same length
 The medieval belief in the timelessness of the world disappeared to be replaced
by the Renaissance's obsession with time and numbers
 The new vogue for clocks on the village church helped to educate even peasants
about new ideas of time and orderliness
o Renaissance thinkers saw numbers as neutral things, rather than imbued with special
characteristics and religious meaning
 Medieval scholars, for example, saw 6 as a perfect number because it was
created by adding the numbers of the Trinity; Renaissance people saw 6 as
simply a number like any other
o One of the earliest examples of this rage for quantification was music that was now
divided into equal measures; music could be "seen."
 the musical staff was Europe's first graph
Humanism
o The Renaissance ideas all came together in a new philosophy known as humanism
 This involved the study of the classics to create a new definition of what made
man truly human
 To quote Erasmus, "Men are made, not born."
 This was far cry from the medieval assumption that man was born with a soul
that distinguished him from the animals
 Now, to be truly human, one would need to become truly educated
o Humanists differed from those who had studied the ancient works before; they did not
feel inferior to the ancients, but rather saw themselves as equals
 Humanists stressed the dignity of man, the best of God's creatures below the
angels
 Moreover, they did not interpret these ancient texts for their Christian meaning,
but instead tried to see them on their own terms
 Aristotle, humanists would argue, was not a proto-Christian, having lived
centuries before Christ, but rather a Greek who would have to be understood in
terms of his own culture
o In a profound way, the humanists and the Renaissance invented history. Humanists were
excited by the purity of ancient Latin, scorning the barbaric Latin of the medieval church
 Their insistence on going back to the original texts helped them to expose errors
in translation, not just of Aristotle and Cicero, but more importantly of the Latin
Vulgate Bible then in use in the Catholic Church
Renaissance art
o One place that clearly demonstrates the ideas of humanism is Renaissance art
 Most art was now bought by patrons who were not churchmen, but rather
important secular people like bankers
 This freed art from service to religion, permitting themes and treatments that
would have been off limits in a church
 The emphasis on individualism led to the development of the individual portrait,
where the sitter was presented warts and all, not idealized but realistically
 Even the human body was presented in a more scientific and natural
manner
 One thinks of Michelangelo dissecting bodies to discover how muscles
were connected so he could draw everything exactly (dissection was
very much against church doctrines and law at the time.)
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Perhaps most important, artists were now regarded as intellectual geniuses, not
simply craftsmen
 Some became quite wealthy; Michelangelo was paid 3000 ducats to
decorate the Sistine Chapel when a man could live like a prince on 300
a year
 He even refused payment for working on St. Peters Basilica because he
was already so rich
o New technological advances made much of Renaissance art possible
 Oil painting allowed richer, deeper colors, and required much less speed to
produce than frescoes which had to be painted while the plaster was still wet
 Oil paintings could be done in the north where wetter, colder climates caused
frescoes to pop off the wall, something which bedeviled Leonardo da Vinci's
Last Supper painted in wet Milan rather than drier Rome
 Brunelleschi's Dome of the Cathedral Santa Maria del Flore in Florence as an
engineering marvel
o Renaissance artists were interested in making money and changed their style and
production techniques to maximize their profit
 Albrecht Durer, for example, refused to do more oil paintings because they were
so time consuming, and he concentrated instead on wood block prints that were
quick and more profitable
 More painters entered the middle classes as a result of their improved fortunes
 Patron consumerism was reflected in the popularity of tapestries
 Such works ostentatiously displayed the owner's wealth and erudition, and
moreover the tapestries could easily by moved if the owner changed residences
in a way a fresco could not
Niccolo Machiavelli
o the key political thinker of the Renaissance
o The Prince
 written as a how-to manual for his Florentine patrons
 Machiavelli focuses on the individual qualities needed to rule
 The Prince is filled with harsh advice--murder, intrigue, betrayal--basically
describing what it takes to gain power and stay in power
 there are no notions of rulership by "divine right" in Machiavelli's writing,
simply a naked truth about what it took to be a ruler in those times
The Renaissance may have begun in Italy, but as it spread north, it changed in ways that would
have a profound impact on the development of Protestantism
As many historians have noted, once you had the Renaissance with its ideals of individualism,
historical precision, and understanding people in the context of their original cultures, the
Protestant reformation was inevitable.
II. Northern Renaissance
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The Renaissance spread north about 1500
o Students from the North carried the ideals of the Italian Renaissance back with them
o Spanish and French armies invading Italy were exposed to new theories before returning
home
o More important was printing with moveable type, invented in the mid-15th century,
which made printing easier and cheaper; this helped spread books and knowledge of
Renaissance ideals as well
But soon differences developed between the northern and southern Renaissance
o In the north, the prime patrons were kings of the new nation states, not the wealthy
burghers of Italy adding prestige to their cities
o The northern Renaissance had a more Christian, religious aspect than did the more
Greco-Roman, pagan aspect of Italian Renaissance
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The north had always stressed theology in its universities, while Italy had
trained lawyers and administrators in its schools
 In the north, they edited the commentaries of St. Paul, in the south, Plato; both
were Greek writers, but one was a father of the Christian church and the other a
pagan philosopher
Northern humanists tended to be of a more varied social background as well, unlike the
elites of Italy
 Perhaps because of this, northern Renaissance thinkers were more willing to
write for a lay audience, not just the educated intelligentsia
Erasmus
o An example of the northern Renaissance is Erasmus, a Christian humanist who sought to
blend the humanities with the Christian tradition
 To the stoical patience, calmness and broadmindedness of the classical period,
Erasmus sought to add the Christian virtues like love, faith, and hope
 He faced up to the serious ills of his time, becoming a reformer, especially of
religion
 His ideas are characterized by a tolerant view of man
 He was horrified by the intolerance of Luther, for example
 Erasmus was interested in developing ethical purity of religion which the
Italians by and large were not, and he showed great faith in education to prepare
people for a pious life
 He was impressed with the purity and simplicity of the early Christians, as
opposed to the formalism and complexities of the Renaissance church
Art of the Northern Renaissance
o Northern Renaissance painting reflected these differences in ideas of the Italian and
Northern Renaissances
 It is characterized by a deep religious feeling and spiritualism frequently missing
in the south
 When Hans Memling did a portrait, the sitter was almost always in an attitude of
prayer, rather than dressed in Sunday best facing the artist
 Even the architecture of the north remained Gothic, a truly "Christian
architecture," they believed, as opposed to the pagan Roman building of the
south
 Towns halls remained mini-cathedrals. The frescoes of Italy were rarely seen in
the north, and instead they experimented with oil painting and the meticulous
care of miniatures
o Durer and Brueghel
 The two most famous of these northern painters may be Albrecht Dürer and
Peter Brueghel
 Durer
 Dürer got the idea of perspective, the new use of color and modeling
from Italy, but his themes tend to be religious
 Primarily an engraver, Dürer remained concerned with outline and
extraordinary attention to detail
 Many of his drawings could easily be turned into wood block suitable
for printing in books
 Brueghel
 Brueghel shows the religious aspect of the north as well in his
Slaughter of the Innocents
 Most artists approached this subject by painting a mythical scene of
people dressed in vaguely Roman costumes, but Brueghel painted it as
a Flemish village being attacked by Spanish soldiers
 Flanders were being occupied by the Spanish and the Flemish people
resented it greatly
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One sees here the close alliance of religion and politics so typical of the
north as well as the idea that religion was not far away and irrelevant
but contemporary and vital
As historians have argued, the Reformation had to begin in the north
III. Social Life in Renaissance Europe
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Marriage and family
o Marriage for Catholics was dominated by economic factors, not love or physical
attraction
 Men needed to have sufficient land before marrying, meaning they usually had
to wait until the father died or yielded up the land
 That meant people continued to marry late, and this in turn affected the
number of children a couple had
 Divorce according to the Catholic church simply did not exist except for nonconsummation of the marriage
 But while divorce was impossible, marriage was easy
 All it took was an oral promise between the two partners
 The church preferred to have these vows solemnized in the church, but
it was not technically necessary
 To be sure, difficulties arose when one party claimed such a promise
had taken place in secret when the other one denied it
 Grievances resulting from these misunderstandings kept ecclesiastic
(church) courts busy for years
o Protestants changed the concept of marriage, praising it as a noble estate rather than a
third best alternative to celibacy
 They used the cloister as a symbol of what they saw as the church's antifeminism
 Protestants argued that putting women in a home would liberate them from the
sexual repression, cultural deprivation and male clerical rule which
characterized the nunnery
 Because of their more favorable view of marriage, Protestants made it easier,
reducing the number of impediments prescribed by the Catholic church
 So successful was this that the Catholic quickly followed suit
 Protestants rejected the idea of marriage as a sacrament, and so they permitted
divorce
 It certainly wasn't easy, however
 Protestants argued in favor of the sexual and spiritual equality of the
spouses, and so passed tough laws against wife beating
 Many women joined the Protestant faiths hoping to escape violent
husbands, and in fact much modern research has demonstrated the
critical role of women in allowing the new faith to spread
 Protestants practiced contraception as well with the aid of botanicals high in
estrogen
 Pennyroyal, Queen Anne's lace and myrtle, for example, were used, but
one needed to know how to harvest and prepare them
 Without such knowledge, these botanicals became highly poisonous
 Most had as much as a 70% effectiveness rate in preventing or
terminating pregnancies
o Size of families
 Renaissance women bore more babies than women do nowadays, delivering a
child on average once every 24-30 months
 Ten percent of women died in childbirth, a rate 20 to 24 times higher than in the
19th century
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City born babies died twice as fast as country born ones, even though the city
baby might be sent to the country within days of its birth
Since daughters in a family dived the family wealth when they received a dowry
to marry, "superfluous" daughters were sent to convents which required a dowry
but a much smaller one
 In 16th century, half of women from elite families ended up in convents
Witchcraft
o The witchcraft craze of the early Renaissance pitted women against one another and
against the state
o From about 1450 to 1625, 200,000 people were killed as witches, 85% of them women
o Women's subculture of the Middle Ages which had brought forth the chivalric movement
now dissolved under the pressure of the witch hunts; inquisitors pursued women who
knew one another, making it dangerous for a woman to have many female friends
o For women, the individualism of the Renaissance was based on fear of one another
Food and Eating
o Food was a basic concern of all periods
 Most food to be preserved over the long winter was either salted or dried, a
process based on the Egyptian process of embalming
 Especially popular was preserved herring, a trade dominated by the Hanseatic
League and the source of its wealth
 People depended on preserved foods for winter and spring, before crops began
producing fresh food again
 Bringing back this salted food was back-breaking work, since the food would
have to be soaked in many changes of water, all of which would have to be
drawn from a well
 Usually, people cooked something along with the food, like beans, to absorb the
salt they could not get out by rinsing
 The food thus presented was salty and bland, and so it was served with spicy
sauces into which the meat or fish, cut into small pieces, was dunked
o Spices
 The yellow sauce, made of ginger and saffron, and the green sauce, made of
ginger, cardamom, cloves and green herbs, were as common as mustard and
ketchup on a modern American table
 Pepper became so valuable it was used as part of a dowry
 Europeans, chronically short of hard currency, sometimes used spices to pay
their debts
 These spices were not always used to cover up the taste of spoiled meat,
however; spices were abandoned long before reliable refrigeration came into use
that actually retarded spoilage
 In fact, these spices were a matter of acquired taste
 Spices were also associated with Paradise; Europeans believed that
Eden was a real place that simply had to be discovered
 The mania for spices thus helps explain the drive to get to the Spice Islands and
India by sea
 In the beginning, the rich and the poor ate the same food, only the rich ate more
of it
 But in the Renaissance, the upper and middle class diet began to change
 They abandoned spices as old-fashioned and began to present foods in
simple sauces that allowed the natural flavor to be revealed
 The Italians were the first to emerge from world of medieval spices and
cooking
 The new Italian cooking techniques were transferred to France when
Catherine de Medici arrived from Florence to marry Henry II, carrying
with her a battery of Italian chefs
 Many of these new cooking ideas were written down in cookery books
that were among the earliest printed materials
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Table Manners
 Table manners were poor by modern standards
 People used their fingers to eat, rather than forks that could become dangerous
weapons in the hands of easily excitable individualists
 Indeed, as late as 1897, British sailors were forbidden to use forks because it
was said to do so would damage their manliness
 People were always scratching because of fleas and lice, and courtesy books
recommended openly washing your hands before choosing your meat so
everyone would know your hands were clean
Changes in Warfare and the Printing Press
o Social life in the Renaissance was affected by two major changes that helped create the
devastating loss of life associated with the wars of religion
o These two developments were changes in warfare and the development of printing with
movable type
o Changes in Warfare
 The changes in warfare created the huge population losses we associate with
Renaissance war and the need for substantial tax increases to provide for the
large armies
 Gunpowder was increasingly used with the result that killing now took place at a
great distance and indiscriminately
 The cannons required mass armies unlike the ragtag bands of feudalism
 Each marching square surrounding the cannon batteries contained 3000
men
 Thus, Spain by the mid-16th century had an army of 40,000
 Gustavus Adolphus, the king of Sweden, developed the salvo in which
he fired all his cannons at once instead of in sequence
 The Swedes lost continuity of fire but produced a fearsome blast which
could shatter an enemy's ranks
 By the mid-17th century when Gustavus Adolphus ruled, the Swedish
army was 175,000, and Louis XIV of France toward the end of the
century considered 400,000 a necessity
 Such large armies meant the use of conscription because volunteers were so
unreliable, and armies also had to stay encamped year round, instead of just in
the summer, since collecting so many men and then dispersing them a few
months later was too difficult to do
 Such large armies would also have to paid year round, meaning a huge
rise in taxes, primarily on the poor who paid most of the taxes and were
most of the recruits
 Nonetheless, the new armies created some social mobility, especially
for artillery officers who needed expertise
 Armies in some cases became too expensive to actually risk in battle!
 When Sulieman attacked Vienna, for example, he was so deeply in debt
he dared not use his army and instead paraded them around the walls of
the city in a magnificent show of his power, hoping the city would
surrender based only on his displayed might
 As the armies became more professionalized, a large bureaucracy was created to
mobilize a country for war, a development that spurred absolutism
o The Printing Press
 Printing also helped spread the Protestant Reformation's ideas and thus helped
cause religious divisions which encouraged bloody, Renaissance warfare
 Printing with moveable type replaced block printing from China
 Paper had not been a problem since the mid-1400s, but wooden blocks
had to be individually carved and frequently became saturated with ink
making the image blurred
 Using individual metal letters allowed many copies to be made from
the same setting without smudging
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The Italians abandoned the Gothic script first used by Gutenberg for the
Carolingian minuscule, which they insisted on calling Roman style, since they
would not admit the medieval period could have invented anything worth having
Books, like Renaissance paintings, became a marketable commodity
 While books became cheaper to produce using the printing press, they
were more lavishly bound to serve as examples of the owner's erudition
and wealth
Quantification also increased with the printing press; now uniform page
numbers allowed two readers to compare exactly the same passage with ease
Medieval scribes would have been unable to reproduce the complex illustration
of machines or maps of the New World which the Renaissance needed to difuse
such knowledge quickly and accurately
Printing in a profound way made the Reformation possible, because while
challenges to church abuses had popped up before, they had almost always been
local phenomena
 Luther, by printing his sermons and treatises and spreading them
quickly throughout large populations made it impossible for the church
to contain his influence in any one area