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Chapter 12
Recovery and Rebirth:
The Age of the Renaissance
 Meaning and Characteristics of the Italian Renaissance,
c.1350-c.1550
 Urban society
 Recovery from the fourteenth century
 Rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity
 Emphasis on individual ability
 Making of Renaissance Society
 Economic Recovery
 Italian cities lose commercial preeminence due to the
Plague
 Hanseatic League
 Textile industry rivaled by printing, mining, and metallurgy
 Banking
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Social Changes in the Renaissance
 Nobility
 2 to 3 percent of the population
 Military and political posts
 Education
 Courtly Society in Italy
 Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
 The Book of the Courtier
 Service to the prince
 The Third Estate of Peasants and Townspeople
 Decline of manorialism and continuing erosion of
serfdom
 Peasants as hired workers
Urban society
 Patricians
 Petty burghers, shopkeepers, artisans, artisans,
gulidmasters, guild members
 Slavery in the Renaissance
 Agricultural slavery declines, replaced by serfdom by
9th century
 Skilled workers in Italy
 Household workers
 Obtained from the eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea
region, Africa, and Spain
 Declines in Italy by end of 15th century
 Portuguese imported 140,000 from Africa between
1444 and 1505
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Renaissance Italy
1. Italy was dominated by the Duchy of Milan, the Republics of Venice and Florence, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples.
2. Due to the transfer of the papacy to Avignon (1309-1377), control over the Papal States was nominal. Used to their advantage, several
territories and cities achieved independence from papal authority.
3. The Italian cities, especially Genoa, Venice and Pisa, enjoyed considerable economic success after the Crusades. The trade of Venice
extended to England and the Netherlands where it competed with the Hanseatic League. Venice lost its advantage in northern Europe when all of
Italy was hard hit by the plague.
4. After the plague, the shortage of workers led the Italians to introduce slavery on a large scale. Cities such as Florence and Venice became major
slave importers, with Venice controlling the trade. By the end of the fifteenth century, however, slavery was in decline.
5. Florence was a center of wool production. The Medici family expanded from cloth production into commerce and banking. Soon the family
became the greatest banking house in Europe with numerous branches throughout the continent.
6. Florence was governed by a merchant oligarchy that maintained the appearance of a republic. In 1434 the oligarchy was taken over by Cosimo
de' Medici who continued the facade of a republic. Likewise, Venice was a republic in name but run by an oligarchy of merchant-aristocrats. The
Sforza family ruled the Republic of Milan.
7. Humanism was best received in Florence where it came to be tied to Florentine civic spirit and pride. Spreading beyond Florence, it reflected
the values of an urban society, especially concern over government. A humanist school focusing on the liberal arts was established at Mantua, in
the duchy of Modena, in 1423.
8. The expansion of Venice at the end of the fourteenth century was an effort to protect its food supply and overland trade routes. This scared Milan
and Florence who feared Venetian growth was a sign of the future. Such fears ultimately led the Italian states to agree to the Peace of Lodi in 1454
which sought to maintain a balance of power.
9. The beginning of the end for the Italian Renaissance came in 1494 when Milan invited the French to intervene in the problems it was having with
Naples (under Spanish control since the middle of the century). Naples was occupied and the other city states turned to Spain for help. For the
next three decades Italy was a battleground for the two powers. Eventually Spain emerged victorious.
Questions:
1. Why was the Renaissance centered in Italy?
2. What caused the decay of the Renaissance?
3. Why did the arts and education flourish during the Renaissance?
Renaissance Italy
The Family in Renaissance Italy
 Extended
 Marriages
 Father-husband center of the family
 Role of the wife
 Primary role to bear children
 The Italian States in the Renaissance
 Five powerful city-states: Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples,
Papa States
 Republic of Florence
 de’ Medici family
 Kingdom of Naples – most of southern Italy
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Federigo da Montefeltro, 1444-1482 – Urbino
Isabella d’Este (1474-1539) – Mantua
Peace of Lodi, 1454
Italian troubles with Spain and France
Birth of Modern Diplomacy
 Ambassadors
 Machiavelli and the New Statecraft
 Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
 The Prince
 Political power to restore and maintain order
 Humanity is self-centered
 Ends justifies the means
 The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
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Italian Renaissance Humanism
 Liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy,
and history)
 Petrarch (1304-1374)
 Rejected scholastic philosophy
 Emphasize classics
 Humanism in Italy
 Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444)
 Civic humanism
 Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457)
 Literary criticism of ancient texts
Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459)
 Criticism of the church
Humanism and Philosophy
 Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499)
 Florentine Platonic Academy
 Synthesis of Christianity and Platonism
 Hermeticism
 Occult sciences
 Theological and philosophical beliefs and speculation
 Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)
 Common nuggets of universal truth
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Education in the Renaissance
 Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446)
 Humanist education
 Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1370-1444)
 Liberal arts education
 Women
 “Renaissance man”
Humanism and History
 Secularism of history
 Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540)
 Modern analytical historiography
Impact of Printing
 Johannes Gutenberg
 Movable metal type, 1445-1450
 Bible, 1455 or 1456
 Development of scholarly research
 Lay reading public
 The Artistic Renaissance
 Early Renaissance
 Masaccio (1401-1428)
 Frescos
 Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
 Laws of perspective
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 Antonio Pollaiuolo (c. 1432-1498)
 Movement and anatomical structure
 Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
 Greek and Roman mythology
 Donato di Donatello (1386-1466)
 David
 Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
 Architecture
 Piero della Francesca (c. 1410-1492)
 Portraits
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The High Renaissance
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
 Realism and idealism
 Raphael (1483-1520)
 Ideal of beauty
 Michelangel0 (1475-1564)
 Divine beauty
 Donato Bramante (1444-1514)
 Architecture
Artist and Social Status
 Artist as hero
 Financial gains
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Northern Artistic Renaissance
 Jan van Eyck (1390?-1441)
 Oil paint and varied range of colors
 Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
 Perspective and proportion
Music in the Renaissance
 Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474)
 Change in the composition of the mass
 Madrigal (poem set to music)
Europe in the Renaissance
1. The Renaissance marked a political evolution for Europe as monarchs aggressively rebuilt their governments and acquired territories. In France,
Louis XI (1461-1483) stopped the duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, from creating a "middle kingdom" between France and Germany. When
Charles was killed in 1477 while at war with the Swiss, Louis added most of the duchy to France. Three years later Anjou, Bar, Maine, and
Provence were added to France.
2. By 1438 the position of Holy Roman Emperor was held by the Habsburg family which possessed the lands along the Danube, collectively called
Austria. Maximilien I (1493-1519) of the Habsburgs married Mary of Burgundy in 1477 thereby bringing to Austria parts of Bohemia and Hungary,
lands in east central France (Franche-Comte and Luxembourg), and a large part of the Low Countries (see Acetate 45, Map 13.1).
3. A monarchical union was created in Spain when Ferdinand of Aragon (1479-1516) and Isabella of Castile (1479-1505) were married in 1469.
Their aggressiveness was responsible for the expulsion of the Muslims from Granada and the conquest of Navarre (see Acetate 43, Map 12.3)).
Moreover, the marriage of their daughter Joanna to Philip of Burgundy made it possible for their son Charles to inherit a unified Spain, its New
World possessions, the Italian possessions of Sicily, Sardinia, and Kingdom of Naples. In addition, Charles would gain from his grandfather,
Maximilien I of Austria, southern Germany and Austria and from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, the Low Countries and Franche-Comte.
4. Louis XI of France (1461-83) was consumed by a feud with the dukes of Burgundy who had established the wealthiest principality of Europe.
When Duke Charles II was killed in the battle of Nancy in 1477, he left no heirs. In 1482 Louis successfully pressed his claim to Burgundy,
Picardy, and the Boulonnais. These gains in addition to the acquisition of Anjou and the French segment of Bar in 1480, Maine, the kingdom of
Provence, and Brittany gave France borders similar to those of today.
4. In eastern Europe, consolidation of territory was complicated by the struggles between monarchs and the nobility. In Russia, however, a new
state was born by 1480 as a result of Ivan III (1462-1505) taking advantage of the dissension among the Mongols. This was followed by annexation
of the lands of Lithuania-Poland and the territories around Kiev and Smolensk.
5. The crusading Teutonic Knights operating in the eastern Baltic sought both lands and conversions to Christianity (see Acetates 37 and 46).
6. The Union of Kalmar united Denmark and Norway under the king of Denmark in 1397. The union lasted until 1520.
7. In 1453 the Byzantine Empire disappeared as Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. The Turks pressed west into the Balkans and up the
Danube valley to Vienna where they were defeated in 1529 (see Acetate 44, Map 12.4).
Questions:
1. How was Europe reshaped in the period of the Renaissance?
2. In what manner were these states "new monarchies"?
Europe in the Renaissance
 The European State in the Renaissance
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The “New Monarchies”
 Concentration of authority
 Suppression of the nobility
 Control of the church
 Loyalty of the People
Growth of the French Monarchy
 Charles VII, 1422-1461
 Taille (annual direct tax)
 Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, 1438
 Louis XI, 1461-1483
 Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, 1467-1477
 Commerce
The Iberian Peninsula
1. The primary step in achieving unification of the Iberian kingdoms came with the marriage of Isabella of Castile (1474-1504) and Ferdinand of
Aragon (1479-1516) in 1469. Spain was united under a single monarch when Charles I, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, succeeded to
the throne in 1516. In addition to Spain, Charles also gained the Spanish New World, and the Spanish possessions in Italy (Sicily, Sardinia, and
the Kingdom of Naples). From his grandfather, Maximilien of Austria, Charles acquired Austria, Tyrol, Milan, and territories in sourthern Germany.
Charles' grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, left him the Low Countries and Franche-Comte (see Acetate 45, Map 13.1).
2. A key in the Spanish Reconquest against the Muslims was the recapture of the old Christian city of Toledo. Soon after, several Christian
kingdoms emerged: Leon in the northeast, the nothern mountain state of Navarre, Portugal in the west, Castile in the center, Aragon in the
northeast, and Catalonia in the extreme east. Aragon and Catalonia united in 1140.
3. By the middle of the fifteenth century there were four kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Granada.
Castile dominated nearby Portugal and Muslim Granada while Aragon prevailed over French-leaning Navarre. While Portugal managed to
retain its independence until 1580, Navarre (1512) and Granada (1492) were absorbed into Castile.
4. Aragon, which carried on extensive trade in the Mediterranean, naturally looked eastward in its affairs. This brought it into a rivalry with the
French in Italy. In 1494 Ferdinand intervened in Italy after the French became active in the squabbles of the Italian states. This involvement
resulted in the Spanish crown eventually gaining the Kingdom of Naples.
5. Castile, with its bleak lands, had little advantage except wool production. The wool made the economies of Castile and the Low Countries
mutually dependant. This played a significant role in turning Castile's interests westward to the Atlantic.
6. The political unification of Spain was augmented by the religious unification completed in January 1492 when the last bastion of the Muslims,
Granada, fell to the Christians.
Questions:
1. How was Spain brought under a single political ruler?
2. What would be the implications for Europe when Charles gained all of his inheritances?
The Iberian Peninsula
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England: Civil War and a New Monarchy
 War of the Roses, 1450s-1485
 Henry VII, 1485-1509, Tudors
 Abolished “livery and maintenance”
 Court of Star Chamber
 Income
 Commerce
Unification of Spain
 Isabella of Castile, 1474-1504
 Ferdinand of Aragon, 1479-1516
 Cortes
 Hermandades
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 Corregidores
 The Church
 Jews and Muslims
 Inquisition
 Granada, 1492
 Expulsion of Jews and Muslims
The Holy Roman Empire: the Habsburgs
 Frederick III, 1440-1493
 Maximilian I, 1493-1519
Southeastern Europe
1. By 1300 virtually all of the lands of the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia had fallen under the control of gbazi (Muslim warriors pledged to the
advancement of Islam) principalities.
2. The Ottoman Turks had their origins in the northwestern corner of Asia Minor (Anatolia)at the city of Bursa near Constantinople. From here, in
the fourteenth century, they began to expand into Asia Minor. The Ottomans eventually crossed the Dardanelles in 1356 under the leadership of
Orhan and began attacking the Balkans where they defeated the Serbs at Kossovo in 1389. This victory was followed by the defeat of the
Europeans at Nicopolis in 1396, a battle that lasted only three hours. These successes opened the Balkans to Turkish immigration. By 1400 the
Ottomans had located their capital, Ederine (northeast of Constantinople), in the Balkans. The Turks now encircled Constantinople.
3. Chronic warfare followed the successes of the Turks. The most significant challenge to the Turks came from the Hungarians under Janos
Hunyadi, the voivod of Transylvania. Meeting the Turks at Varna in 1444 and again on the plain of Kossovo in 1448, Hunyadi's forces were
defeated giving the Turks control of virtually everything south of the Danube River.
4. The conquests of the Ottomans were stalled by the Mongol invasion in the early fifteenth century. In 1402 the forces of Tamerlane (1336?1405) crushed the Turks at Ankara. After Tamerlane withdrew, order was restored and the Ottoman conquests were renewed.
5. In 1453, after seven weeks of siege, Constantinople fell to Sultan Muhammad II (1451-1481).
5. The wars in the Balkans (see Acetate 54, Map 15.5) not only brought new territories but led the Ottomans to push into the Danube valley all the
way to Vienna which was put under siege in 1529. The siege was lifted due to an outpouring of European volunteers who saw Vienna as the last
defense against Muslim advances into Europe. This marked the furthest westward penetration of the Turks.
Questions:
1. What would draw the Turks west across the Dardanelles?
2. What successes and failures did the Turks have in extending their empire?
Southeastern Europe
Struggle for a Strong Monarchy in Eastern Europe
 Poland
 Hungary
 Russia
 Ottoman Turks and the End of Byzantium
 Spread of the Seljuk Turks, 13th century
 Constantinople falls, 1453
 The Church in the Renaissance
 Problems of Heresy and Reform
 John Wyclif (c. 1328-1384)
 No basis of papal claims for temporal authority
 Lollards
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 John Hus (1374-1415)
 Calls for end of worldliness and corruption of the
clergy
 Council of Constance, 1414-1418
 Sacrosancta (council received authority from God)
 Frequens (regular holding of councils)
 Pope Pius II – Execrabilis (condemned appeals to a
council over the head of the pope is heretical)
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The Renaissance Papacy
 Pope Julius II, 1503-1513
 Warrior pope
 Basilica of Saint Peter
 Pope Sixtus, 1474-1484
 Nepotism
 Pope Alexander VI, 1492-1503
 Debauchery and sensuality
 Pope Leo X, 1513-1521
 Patron of the arts