Download Notes: Italian Renaissance and Humanism

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 French for “rebirth”
 From re (again) and nascere (to be born)
 High Renaissance 1450-1527
 Art flourished most during this
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period
Renaissance transition from Medieval
to Modern Europe
Awakening of human spirit- feelings
and thoughts
Not religious or scientific but rather
moral and personal
Growing lay and secular control of
thought and culture, including
religion
 Five major city-states
evolved:
 Milan
 The republics of
Florence and Venice
 The Papal States
 Kingdom of Naples
 Renaissance society took shape within the
merchant cities of late medieval Italy
 During the 13th and 14th centuries, trade-rich
cities became powerful city-states,
dominating the political and economic life of
the surrounding countryside
 By 15th century, great Italian cities were the
bankers of much of Europe
 A unique urban rich emerged in Italy
comprised of the local nobility and new rich
 Florence was an example of social division and anarchy
 Four social groups of Florence
 Grandi – the old rich, or nobles, and wealthy merchants who traditionally had
ruled the city
 Popolo grosso (“Fat people”)- the newly rich merchant class, capitalists, and
bankers, who began to challenge the old rich for political power
 Middle burgher ranks of guild masters, shop owners, and professionals, the
smaller business people- tended to side with the new rich
 Popolo Minuto (“little people”)- the lower economic classes
 Paupers – in 1457, 1/3 of the population of Florence – no wealth at all
 Florentine banker and statesman, Cosimo
de’ Medici takes control in 1434
 Family was wealthy from banking and the
manufacture and commerce of textiles
 Cosimo banished prominent members of
the most powerful rival clans
 Florentine nobles generally accepted
Medici rule because stability contributed
to prosperity
 Cosimo’s grandson- Lorenzo the
Magnificent- ruled Florence in a
totalitarian fashion during the last
quarter of the 15th century
 Oligarchies hired strongmen or despots
known as Podesta to maintain law and
order
 Condottieri- military brokers who sent
mercenary armies who were hired by
the despots of the different city-states
The Values:
Humanism
Individualism
Secularism
 Humanism
 “the study of humanity”
 Scholars debate on meaning of humanism
 Humanism is the birth of modernity, driven by an anti-Christian
philosophy that stressed the dignity of humankind, individual, and
secularism
 Humanists as the champions of Catholic Christianity, opposing the
pagan teachings of Aristotle
 Humanism is a form of historic scholarship adopted to promote a sense
of civic responsibility and political liberty
 Some historians believe that humanism was not a philosophy or value
system, but an educational program built on rhetoric and scholarship
Humanism emphasized:
a) human beings
b) human achievements
c) human capabilities
 From studia humanitatis
 Coined by Cicero- to describe the education of a cultivated
human being
 Cicero considered this important for anyone who considered
himself civilized
 Humanists turned their backs on medieval scholasticism—
they believed it was irrelevant
 Proclaimed the writers of antiquity to be heroes worthy of
emulation
 Humanism stood as an alternative approach to knowledge
and culture
 Teach the “art of living”
 Believed the period between themselves and classical
civilization was a “dark middle age”
 First humanists were orators and poets,
wrote literature in classical languages
and vernacular, taught rhetoric and
grammar at universities, and worked at
princely courts as secretaries,
speechwriters, and diplomats
 Early humanists Petrarch- father of humanism
 Dante Alighieri
 Boccaccio
 Celebrated ancient Rome in his Letters to the Ancient Dead
 Wrote letters to Cicero, Livy, Vergil, and Horace
 Most famous contemporary work- collection of love sonnets
to Laura a married woman he admired
 Classical and Christian values coexist uneasily in his work
 However he was far more secular than his counterpart–
Dante (Divine Comedy)
 Boccaccio was his student and friend and also a pioneer of
humanist studies
 Humanists were innovative educators
 Kept constantly looking for new sources of information
 In this search they assembled magnificent manuscript collections,
treating them as potent medicines for the ills of society, capable
of enlightening the minds of anyone who read them
 Goal:
 Wisdom eloquently spoken, both knowledge of the good and
the ability to move others to desire it
 Learning is not supposed to be abstract or unpracticed
 Learning ennobled people
 Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of Courtier
 Illustrates that the rediscovered knowledge
of the past was a model and challenge for
the present
 Wrote a practical guide for nobility
 The successful courtier is one who knows
how to integrate knowledge of ancient
languages and history with athletic, military,
and musical skills, while at the same time
practicing good manners and exhibiting a
high moral character
 Privileged, educated, noblewomen
also promoted new education and
culture
 Christine de Pisan – Italian born,
astrologer of French king Charles V
 Became an expert in classical,
French, and Italian languages
 The Treasure of the City of Ladies –
chronical of accomplishments of
great women
 Renaissance scholars embraced the Greek scholar Plato
 Platonism appealed to Renaissance scholars due to its flattering view of
human nature
 Pico’s Oration on the Dignity of Man is influenced by Platonism
 Perhaps the most famous Renaissance statement on the nature of
humankind
 Depicts human beings as the only creatures capable of controlling their
own destiny- capable of rising to the level of angels but also just as
quickly wallowing with pigs
 Idea that education should promote
individual virtue and public service
 Idea of being well-rounded
 Best examples in Florence- three
humanists served as chancellors of
the city
 Leonardo Bruni- an intellectual
and statesman