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“An Age of Anxiety”
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Merchant Class Culture
The late medieval period was a time of cultural turmoil
and transition.
Three of the causes of cultural and intellectual change at
this time:
The establishment of the merchant class.
The plague and its effects.
Turmoil and upheaval in the institutional Church.
These factors contributed to a hard questioning, and
rethinking, of the moral and philosophical assumptions
of the medieval era.
The result was a new intellectual and cultural movement
based on this re-evaluation: The Renaissance.
The Plague, again.
Not only the concept of trade, but also the reality of living
together in linked communities and city neighborhoods,
shaped the values and views of the new class.
The plague, and its emotional and cultural effects, also
served as a ground for re-evaluating many medieval
assumptions.
The indiscriminate devastation of the plague led many to
question the neatly-packed, logical explanations of human
life and divine justice which were common in the medieval
period.
When the wicked prosper and the righteous die, is God not
just, or is He not all-powerful?
This new uncertainty combined with a wave of corruption
and political unrest in the institution of the Church to
seriously shake the confidence of western Europeans in
their religion, at least as they had come to understand it.
Turmoil in the Church, part 1.
Turmoil in the Church, part 2.
The spread of the new class led to a rise of an urban
culture which was, in many ways, at odds with the
medieval agrarian culture.
The merchant class culture was marked by:
Belief in the potential of the individual and “personal merit.”
A concern for expressing the new power of wealth in material ways
(including patronage of arts and education).
A practical bent.
A willingness to question and reject old categories, particularly if
they clashed with merchant class values and common wisdom
(example: “usury.”)
The “Babylonian Captivity,” covering the years
1309-1376 saw the move of the seat of Church
power from Rome to Avignon on the (then) border
of France.
It was widely known that the French King, Philip,
had arranged this in order to control the Church.
It was also widely known that the seven popes who
held office in Avignon were thoroughly corrupt.
Can men who are so un-Christian in their lives
truly be the representatives of Christ on Earth?
In 1377 the papacy came back to Rome.
Pope Urban VI (1378-89) was unanimously elected and had the
overwhelming support of the people. He immediately set about
reforming the Church.
“Zeal without tact” -- Urban VI quickly angered bishops and
priests, as well as many of the very cardinals who had elected
him, by attacking and condemning them personally.
The cardinals met secretly and set up a rival pope at the old seat
of power in Avignon (Clement VII -- the ‘antipope’ -- 1378-94).
This led to the “Great Schism” in which all the nobility and
emerging nations of Europe were divided based upon which pope
they followed. The Schism lasted until the Council of Constance
ended it by electing Martin V in 1417.
Turmoil in the Church, part 3:
The Fallout.
Confidence in the Church was thoroughly shaken through the course of
the Avignon papacy and the Great Schism.
Many priests and bishops questioned whether the Church hadn’t been off
course for quite some time.
There was a common cry for church-wide councils (as in the first centuries
of Christianity) which would sort-out the problems and corruption.
The demand for reform could be quite radical -- as in the case of Wycliffe
and Hus who insisted that the Church must be rebuilt from the basic
Christian doctrines up.
Eventually the Council of Constance (1414-18) established some order
through a series of compromises (which included burning Jan Hus as a
heretic.)
Confidence in the earthly institution of the Church never completely
recovered, however, and the demand for reform remained as a steady
undercurrent among all classes.
As we look back at it, the Renaissance
encompassed a great many changes,
including:
S The recovery of Classical texts and learning.
S Voyages of exploration and discovery.
S A synthesis of European and non-European
!
ideas.
S Increased Literacy and the Printing Press.
S A significant socio-economic shift.
S New directions in art, architecture,
“science,” etc.
A note on the “Secular”
• From saecula -- meaning “of this age”
• (as opposed to the age to come, the
Kingdom of Heaven.)
• Implied a focus on earthly life, the “here
and now.”
• Not opposed to, or even necessarily apart
from, the Christian Religion (which has
concerns in “this age” as well).
The Renaissance: A New Demand for Old
Answers
Beginning in Italy among the Merchant class, a new conviction developed
that Europe was entering a time of “renovation” (rinascita) or
“rebirth” (renaissance).
What was being “reborn,” was the civilization of classical antiquity
(Greece and Rome), which was regarded as the previous pinnacle of
human culture.
Many aspects of the classical world were attractive to those living in the
‘age of anxiety’ at the close of the middle ages:
The classical world was urban, and had promoted an alternative form
of government for the “city-state” -- the Republic.
The classical world had high standards for art and literature which
could enhance life this side of heaven.
The classical world was the era in which Christianity was founded.
The past, then, held the answers to the troubles of the Renaissance
present.
The key was reading and recovering the books and writings from this
purer and better past.
%umanis&
An Intellectual movement beginning in the fourteenth
century “which had as its aim a new evaluation of man,
of his place in nature and in history, and of the
disciplines which concern him.” -- Nicola Abbagnano,
renaissance historian.
In other words: What does it mean to be human?
In relation to God?
What is good about being human?
Of what is mankind capable?
What is the place of mankind in the world?
Humanists were marked by a renewed belief in human
excellence and potential.
Recovering the Classical world:
Petrarch: “An age of darkness began
when the name of Christ was celebrated in
Rome.”
The result (ultimately) was the
suppression of Pagan literature and
culture.
What was really suppressed, according to
the humanists, was the record of human
excellence and achievement.
Now it was time to restore what was good
from the classsical world -- the knowledge
and the culture -- and move it forward
again.
How did renaissance humanists
view history?
Beginning of a Three part Narrative of Civilization
(following Petrarch’s imagery of light and darkness):
Ancient
(Light)
Culminated
In Greece
And Rome
Medieval
(Barbarian
Darkness)
Renaissance
(Light)
Recovery of
Human achievement,
i.e. “civilization”
Scholasticism vs. Humanism
Academic system of the first
“Universities.”
Clerical: Established by and
for the Church.
Knowledge was packaged in,
and expanded according to, the
rigid forms of Aristotelian
logic.
The Goal was always to reach
the highest possible truth (all
knowledge should lead to an
understanding of God which
transcends this life and this
world.)
Proposed a new academic system,
the “studia humanitatis.”
Learning was for the laity as well -merchant patrons benefited from it.
Objected to the rigid logic of the
scholastics, which artificially
constrained theology.
The goal of learning was not only to
understand God, but also to
facilitate life in this world.
The Authority of Classical Texts:
The new “age of light” depended, more than anything,
upon the new reading, and the recovery of, ancient texts.
Recovered from where?
Christian East
Islam
Barbarians had reduced the West to subsistence living,
while the East prospered.
Classical authorities were read differently than in the
medieval period:
Not just a support for the faith.
Texts were valuable for their worldly insights.
Why “Italy?”
Geographic ties to Classical world.
City states ruled (increasingly) by
Merchant Class.
Merchants sought education for
more effective rulership and better
living standards.
Merchants “patronized” scholars
and artists to accomplish this.
City-states required different
government than kingdoms
(another link to the classical world).
Humanism included a new emphasis
on:
Human excellence and potential -- “the dignity of man”
The individual
The “here and now” (saecula) -- the goodness and possibilities of this
world and this age.
Nature.
Politics and the art of governing.
Practical knowledge -- the need for knowledge to move beyond
abstractions.
Art, literature, architecture, music -- for the sake of beauty, not strictly
to serve the Faith.
The significance of language as a distinctive element of human identity.
The Value of non-Christian sources.
Studia Humanitatis
A “Curriculum Revision” of the medieval form of learning.
Medieval Universities taught:
Trivium: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic
Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music.
To this basic framework Humanists added special emphases on:
Grammar (the building blocks of language)
Rhetoric (how to use language practically and skillfully)
Poetry (the most sublime use of language, for conveying the
highest truths)
History (the story of mankind, no longer “sacred history” only)
Moral Philosophy (how mankind should act in the world)
Studia Humanitatis (cont.)
Began among independent scholars, in courts of
merchants and nobility, not in the universities.
Seen as a threat by those at the university.
Gradually infiltrated the universities (e.g.
Wittenberg)
Today it still shapes our university systems (we
call the same program “Liberal Arts.”)
Active vs. Contemplative Humanism
Active: in the world and society -- marked
by a greater focus on politics and practical
questions.
Contemplative: marked by a greater concern
for literature and theory or philosophy.
Not found in pure forms, but rather a
spectrum. Humanists tended to be a mixture.
(a few more)
Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457): textual criticism,
ecclesiastical history, especially Canon Law. (More
contemplative.)
Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527): pro-tyrant
political philosopher, but himself a comed
republican. (More active.)
Marsiglio Ficino (1433-99): Prisca Theologia,
natural philosophy, Neo-Platonism.
Civic Humanism
Civitas -- City.
Focused on constructing a good society/citizen
based on lessons from the past.
Favored the “republican” model of government.
(Most Renaissance republics were very short lived,
spiraling into self-destruction and tyranny)
Humanist learning and standards, however,
informed both the republicans and the tyrants.
Examples:
Contemplative: Petrarch (1304-74), the “father of the Renaissance”
known for:
History (promoted the idea of human progress)
Poetry
Moral philosophy
Also self-reflective writing (part of the emphasis on the
individual)
Active: Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444) used the studia humanitatis as
a basis for an active life of civic service:
Chancellor of Florence
Advocate of a Republic free from strong Church domination.
“Northern” vs. “Southern” humanism:
Humanism began in Italy, but it spread
outward.
There were significant differences between
Italy and other European nations
(politically, culturally, historically)
This meant that humanism took on
different emphases in the different
countries in which it appeared.
Northern:
Greater emphasis on religion.
Less concern for Civic emphases.
Supported monarchy rather than Republic.
Example: Erasmus (1466-1536)
Renaissance Art:
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The Key Question:
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How are the values of the merchant class
and renaissance humanism reflected in
Renaissance art?
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The shift to a secular focus.
The new focus on the individual.
The concern for the recovery of
!
classical greatness.
The concern for “real world”
!
knowledge.
From Pico’s Oration:
• Read Paragraphs 1-10 (ending with “…inferior to
them in nothing.”
• Consider:
• What does it mean to be human for Pico?
• How does Pico demonstrate that he is a humanist?
• How does Pico’s view of human identity differ
from that of Dante?
• What type of sources does Pico use to support his
points? (and how does he use them?)
Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture went through a
“Renaissance,” as did learning.
Renaissance art reflected many of the same cultural trends
as humanism.
Art was produced for patrons, not (usually) the general
public.
! Therefore it reflected the interests and objectives of the
patron, in addition to the perspective of the artist.
Themes were still usually religious, but with distinctive
differences from medieval religious art.
Like Humanism, Renaissance art had the city of Florence as
its “epicenter.”
Like Humanism, its influence spread outward from the
Italian city-states.
In Machiavelli:
•
•
•
•
•
Read:
The Dedication, and chapters:
1; 3; 8; 9; 16; and 17.
Consider:
Machiavelli’s view of human nature -- how is it unlike
Pico’s?
• How does Machiavelli wield historical examples to make
his points?
• How does he treat the Christian values of compassion,
charity, and putting others first?
Aquinas’ Hierarchies
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
God
• (1463-1494)
• At the age of 23 (1486) began a project to “defend 900
theses” (“900 conclusions in every kind of science”) on
religion, logic, natural philosophy, magic, ethics, etc.
• What you read is the very beginning of this project,
which is designed as a challenge to his fellow
Renaissance humanists to get with the program.
• 13 of Pico’s theses were declared “heretical” by the
pope, and in 1488 he fled to France.
• Died on a pilgrimage at the age of 31, with his project
uncompleted.
Ranks of Angels
“Intelligences”
Man
Animal Life
Physical
orders
Nicolo Machiavelli: The Man
Who Knew Too Much
The divine Hybrid,
The best of both
Worlds.
Man
“Intelligences”
Ranks of Angels
Animal Life
Physical
orders
Lesser
Life
forms
Inanimate Creatures
Pico’s Hierarchies
God
Plant Life,
including fish,
sometimes
Plant Life, including fish
Lesser Life Forms
Inanimate Creatures
• (1469-1427)
• Son of a lawyer in Florence.
• Father did not always fare well under
the Medici.
• (The Medici had risen from popolo to
power under the rules of the Republic,
but, once there, had established
themselves as the de facto princes of
Florence.)
• Machiavelli had not had access to the
education of the young elite scholars
such as Pico, who prospered under the
reign of Lorenzo “the Magnificent.”
.
Machiavelli, Continued:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Medici rule fell when the French King, Charles VIII took Florence by force.
What succeeded the first years of the Medici tyrants was a restoration of the
Republic under the reformist religious influence of Girolamo Savonarola.
Savonarola’s influence lasted four years, until, his austere religious convictions
having run afoul of the merchant rulers, he was executed as a heretic.
What came after was a reorganized republic, in which the young Nicolo
Machiavelli rose to significant power. (He became a major player throughout
Italy.)
In 1512 Pope Julius II formed the “Holy League Against France,” a military
alliance which drove the French out of Italy.
One condition of the Pope’s actions was his demand that the Medici must be
restored as rulers of Florence.
As a result, Machiavelli (and many others) lost their positions. Machiavelli
was also accused of a plot against the Medici, imprisoned, and tortured.
After this he retired to a country house to devote himself to scholarship.
Wrote The Prince there.
He remained a committed proponent of the idea of the Republic, even when
courting the Medici, but he believed that political realities were far from
anyone’s ideal. (This is one of the key features of the Prince.)
In Machiavelli:
•
•
•
•
•
Read:
The Dedication, and chapters:
1; 3; 8; 9; 16; and 17.
Consider:
Machiavelli’s view of human nature -- how is it unlike
Pico’s?
• How does Machiavelli wield historical examples to make
his points?
• How does he treat the Christian values of compassion,
charity, and putting others first?