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AP EURO ch12

Terms in this set (149)

Renaissance
A french word meaning rebirth, used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the 14th to 16th C's.
patronage
Financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific styles
communes
sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles
popolo
disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power
what did the art and new thinkings of the Renaissance rest on?
economic and political development in the city-states of Northern Italy
economic growth
laid the basis for the Renaissance and merchants gained political power to match their economic power
what did the political leaders in Italian cities admire?
the traditions and power of ancient Rome - this esteem shaped their commissions in their patronage - economics, politics, culture all interconnected
Venice, Milan, Genoa in the middle of the 12th C
supported by a huge merchant marine
super rich from overseas trade
inventions and improvements in shipbuilding
ships able to sail all year long and carry more merchandise
where is Florence
on the fertile Arno river, on the main road northward from Rome - became a commercial hub
trades Florence was involved in
grain, cloth, wool, weapons, armor, spices, glass, and wine
Florentine banking
Florentine merchants loaned and invested money - acquired control of papal banking toward the end of the 13th C
also dominated the European banking on both sides of the Alps
where did the profits from loans, investments, and money exchnges go?
poured back into Florence and put into their urban industries
profits contributed to the cities economic vitality and allowed banking families to control the city's politics and culture
population of Florence by the early 14th C
approx. 80k
economic foundations very strong by the 1st quarter of the 14th C
severe crises could not destroy the city
1344: King Edward IIIof England repudiated his huge debts to Florentine bankers
many go into bankruptcy
then the black death struck -> 1/2 of pop dead
labor unrest

however, the basic Florentine economic structure remained stable and city grew again
Benedetto Dei
a Florentine merchant and historian who boasts about Florence in a letter to a friend in Venice
How did wealth affect people in Italian cities?
people could have greater material pleasures, more comfortable life, imported luxuries, leisure time to appreciate and patronize the arts
what did merchants and bankers commission?
public and private buildings from architects and hired sculptors, painters to decorate their homes and churches
how did life come to be viewed by the rich residents of Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Rome?
more as an opportunity to be enjoyed, not a painful pilgrimage to god
What did the merchant guilds that formed communes do?
1. built and maintained the wall
2. regulated trade
3. collected taxes
4. kept civil order
what did local nobles do?
moved into cities and married the daughters of rich commercial families to start their own businesses from the money they had gained from the dowries
powerful oligarchy
formed by the merger of the Italian nobility and commercial elite - ruled the city and surrounding countryside
citizenships in communes became exclusive
membership depended on a property qualification, years of residence within the city, social connections - only a tiny percentage of male pop. held these qualifications and could hold office
popolo angry about exclusion from power
disenfranchised, heavily taxed, popolo used armed forces to take over city gov'ts
republican governments
political power theoretically resides in the people and is exercised by chosen representatives
victories of popolo temporary
could not establish civil order
condotierri
Merchant oligarchies sometimes took their power back by hiring powerful military leaders

had their own armies
took over power in many cities after supplanting existing gov't
signori
where one man (condotierro, merchant, noble) ruled a city and handed down the rights to his son

not much difference between oligarchy and signori
courts
in the 15th and 16th C: many signori and powerful merchant oligarchs transformed their homes into courts - an opportunity to assert wealth and power

required all political business to be done here, occasions too
how Renaissance Italians felt about their city
passionately attached, politically loyal, felt centered on the city - dozens of small states, no unity
the five powers that dominated the Italian peninsula in the 15th C
Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Naples

competed among themselves for territory
major Italian powers controlled smaller city states
Siena, Mantua, Ferrara, Modena
what did the world of Italian politics resemble
a jungle where the powerful dominate the weak
Venice
enormous trade empire - international trade empire
republic in name, oligarch merchants ran the city
Sforza family
Milan was a republic in name
condotierri turned signori
ruled harshly
dominated Milan and several other smaller cities in the North from 1447 to 1535
Florence
form of gov't was Republican, with the authority vested in several councils, but actually ruled by the Medici
the Medici family
effectively ruled Florence for 3 centuries beginning in 1434
a banking family
Cosimo, son Piero, and grandson Lorenzo (Lorenzo the Magnificent) ruled from behind the scenes from 1434 to 1492
Medici out of power for a while after

1569 Florence became the hereditary Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Medici were the Grand Dukes until 1737

produced 3 popes (popes selected from powerful Italian families for their political skills, not piety)
Pope Alexander VI
a ruthless pope
aided politically and militarily by his illegitimate son Cesare Borgia

reasserted papal authority in the papal lands
King of Aragon
South of the Papal States and the kingdom of Naples were under his control
What did Italian city states anticipate?
future relations among competing European states after 1500

whenever one city gained predominant position other states combined to establish a balance of power - alliances
what formed with these alliances
Renaissance Italians developed modern diplomacy:
permanent embassies with resident ambassadors
political relations needed continual monitoring
one of the greatest political achievements of the Italian renaissance
Why were Venice, Florence, Milan and the Papacy a target for invasion
they were wealthy and divided

When Florence and Naples entered into an agreement to acquire Milanese territories, Milan called France for support
French King Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494
Friar Girolamo Savonarola
a Dominican Friar
preached to large crowds in Florence about how God would punish Italy for its moral vice and corrupt leadership

Florentines interpreted the French invasion as the fulfillment of this prophecy - expelled Medici dynasty

Savonarola became a political and religious leader
promised Florentines greater glory if they would reform their ways
What did Girolamo Savonarola do?
1. reorganized the government
2. convinced the government to pass laws against same-sex relations, adultery, and drunkenness
3. organized groups of young men to patrol the streets looking for immoral dress and behavior
4. held religious processions ("bonfires of the vanities)
Bonfire of the Vanities
huge fires on the main square of Florence in which fancy clothing, cosmetics, pagan books, musical instruments, paintings, and poetry that celebrated human beauty were burned
How Savonarola died
People tired of his moral denunciations
excommunicated by the pope, tortured, burned at the stake at the spot where he had overseen the bonfires - Medici return as rulers
French Invasion
brought a new period of Italian and European power politics

Italy became focus of international ambitions, battleground of foreign armies (Hapsburg-Valois wars with the Holy Roman Empire and France)
Charles V
led the sack of Rome in 1527 by the imperial forces - Italy suffered from this
when did Italy achieve unification
1870
new notions developed by Renaissance thinkers based on the classics
1. humans nature
2. new plans for education
3. new concepts of political rule
printing press
the moveable type
advent of this accelerated the spread of ideas throughout Europe
Giorgio Vasari
first to use the word Renaissance in print

major work: the lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

the last artist included in his book is himself
Francesco Petrarch
Florentine poet and scholar
1304-1374
-spent long hours searching for classical Latin manuscripts in monastery libraries and wandered around the Roman empire ruins
-obsessed with the classical past
-believed writers of his own day should follow these classical models
-wanted to ignore the 1000 years between his day and the days of Ancient Rome
humanism (studia humanitates)
1350: Petrarch proposed a new kind of education where young men would study the works of Ancient Roman authors and use the authors as models to learn how to write clearly, argue well, and speak persuasively

translated into liberal arts

a program designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature
humanists
advocates of humanism
Cicero
a Roman author and statesman (106-43 BCE)
His works drew out the brightest glory of Rome in the opinion of the humanists

lived in the turbulent era when Julius Caesar and others transformed the Roman Republic into an empire
Cicero supported the return to the Republican gov't in speeches, letters, and treatises
Humanists view of Caesar
They saw Caesars transformation of Rome as a betrayal of the great society and marked the period of decay - barbarian migrations increased
Leonardo Bruni
wrote a history of Florence in 1436
humanist historian and Florentine city official
linked the decline of the Latin language after CIcero's death to the decline of the Roman Republic

also believed that the time of decay had already begun by Cicero's time
First man to divide history into three eras
Leonardo Bruni
ancient, medieval, modern
Greek philosophy
in the 15th C, Florentine humanists became more interested in Greek philosophy

Plato
Marsilio Ficino
a scholar
began to lecture a group of Florence's cultural elite under the Medici's patronage
lectures became known as the Platonic Academy

believed Plato was a divinely inspired precursor to Christ
translated Plato's dialogues into Latin
tried to synthesize Platonic and Christian teachings
The Platonic ideas
the highest form of love was the spiritual desire for pure, perfect beauty uncorrupted by bodily desires

could be interpreted as Christian desire for the perfection of God

best way to learn about something is to think about its perfect or ideal form - Renaissance thinkers speculated perfect forms of many things
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Ficino's most gifted student

developed his ideas in a series of 900 theses,
Pope declared some of these ideas heretical and arrested Pico, freed by the influence of Lorenzo Medici

when Lorenzo died, Pico became a follower of Savonarola and renounced his ideas and writings

died of Arsenic poisoning (Medici?)
What did Ficino and Pico believe?
both classical and Christian texts taught that the universe was a hierarchy of beings from God down through spiritual beings to material beings, with humanity right in the middle

humanity is the crucial link that possesses both material and spiritual natures
Renaissance thinker's views of groups
Families, religious brotherhoods, neighborhoods, workers' organizations, etc had some meaning in peoples lives

Renaissance thinkers believed these groups were springboards for much greater accomplishments

man's divinely bestowed nature meant there were no limits to what he could accomplish
virtu
the quality of being able to shape the world according to one's own will

Bruni etc had written biographies and such describing people with virtu and how they had shaped history
Leon Battista Alberti
wrote novels, plays, legal treatises, a study of the family, first scientific analysis of perspective, designed churches, palaces, fortifications, codes and a machine that could decipher the code - much to be proud of

wrote an autobiography but referred to himself in the third person
Renaissance man
good at everything
utopia
a perfect society
first described by English humanist Thomas More
what would the study in the classics provide according to the humanists?
essential skills for future politicians, diplomats, lawyers, military leaders, businessmen, artists, and writers

provide broader and more practical type of training

humanists made treaties on the structures and goals of education
Early 15th C humanist schools
opened schools and academies in Italian cities and courts
pupils began with Latin grammar and rhetoric
studied Roman history and political philosophy
learned Greek to study Greek literature and philosophy

humanist education became the basis for intermediate and advanced education for well off urban boys and men

schools established in Florence, Venice, other Italian cities
by the 16th C: Germany, France and England
Humanists disagreed about education of women
for it: saw the value of exposing women to classical models of moral behavior and reasoning

also wondered if that was proper for women who were typically private and domestic

against: Alberti: women's role should be restricted to the orderliness of homes, food preparation, serving of meals, education of children, supervising servant

women's views: bolder in their claims about the value of the new learnings
a few women did become educated in the classics
The Courtier
written by Baldassare Castiglione (1528)
trained, disciplined, and fashioned a young man into a gentleman
educated man should have a broad background in many academic subjects, train physically and spiritually as well
man should be able to:
-write a sonnet
- wrestle
- sing a song while accompanying himself on an instrument
-ride expertly
- solve difficult math problems
- speak and write eloquently****

perfect court lady:
-well educated
-able to paint
-dance
-play a musical instrument
-be beautiful, delicate, affable, modest

16th and 17th C: translated into most European languages, widely read

influenced the social dynamics and patterns of conduct among the elite greatly
how to manual for people to improve themselves and rise into the social hierarchy
ideal courtiers
preferably serve an ideal ruler
how a ruler should be
biographies written by humanists described a rile as just, wise, pious, dignified, learned, brave, kind, distinguished
in return for painting flattering portraits of living rulers/ancestors
authors were offered positions at court or a good payment
some reason why it was so hard to find ideal rulers
Italian cities were divided into political factions, taken over by homegrown or regional despots, and attacked by foreign armies
forms of gov't some thought were better
republicanism (Bruni)
the model of Plato's philosopher king (Republic)
*enlightened individual might be best
civic humanism
a political position that believes educated men should be active in the political affairs of their city
Niccolo Machiavelli
the most famous civic humanist, the best-known political theorist of this era

after the ouster of the Medici with the French invasion of 1494 - secretary to one of the governing bodies in Florence
responsible for diplomatic missions and organizing a citizen army

Medici brought back into power - Machiavelli arrested, tortured, and imprisoned , released but with no gov't position

spent rest of his life writing - wrote the Prince
The Prince (1513)
uses examples of classical and contemporary rulers - the function of any ruler is to preserve order and security
weakness leads to disorder - civil war or conquest by an outsider
to preserve to state - ruler should do whatever means he needs - brutality, lying, manipulation
should not do anything to make the populace hate him
safer for a prince to be loved over feared, but should not be hated
should exhibit virtu

examples used
1. Cesare Borgia

first modern guide to politics
Cesare Borgia
the son of Rodrigo Borgia - Spanish nobleman who became Pope Alexander VI

primary example in The Prince
combined father's power and his own ruthlessness to build up his own state
hired Leonardo Da Vinci as a military engineer, new military, and equipment tactics, murdered his political enemies

his state fell apart after his father's death
Machiavelli said that was not weakness, but fate (fortuna)
Fortuna
means fate
portrayed as a goddess
"fortune is a woman, and if one wishes to keep her down, it is necessary to beat her and knock her down
machiavellian
cunning and ruthless
debate of proper relations between church and state
medieval political philosophers: gov'ts to be judged by moral principals established by god

Machiavelli: gov'ts should be judged by how well they provided security, order, and safety
spread of humanism to other countries
last quarter of the 15th C: students from the Low Countries, France, Germany, and England went to Italy, absorbed the new learning, and brought it back to their own countries
Christian humanists
shared the ideas of Ficino and Pico
saw humanist learnings as a way to bring about reform to the church and deepen people's spiritual lives

thought the best elements of classical and Christian cultures should be combined
Thomas More
English humanist
began life as a lawyer
studied the classics
entered government service

famous for his controversial dialogue: Utopia (1516)
invented the word from the Greeks words for nowhere
dialogue describes a community on an island somewhere beyond Europe where all the children get a good education, (in Greco-Roman classics)
adults divided day between manual labor, business pursuit, or intellectual activities

problems such as poverty and hunger has been solved by a beneficient government

Utopian institutions = perfect: no disagreement
Desiderius Erasmus
Dutch humanist of Rotterdam
fame from scholarly editions and translations and popular works

The Education of a Christian Prince (1504) book combining idealistic and practical suggestions for the formations of a ruler's character through Bible and classical studying

The Praise of Folly (1509) satire making fun of political, social, and religious institutions, and a Latin translation of the New Testament alongside the original Greek text
Fundamental themes of Erasmus's work
1. editions in the Bible and the classics is the means to reform, the key to moral and intellectual improvement
2. the renewal should be based on "the philosophy of Christ" - an emphasis on inner spirituality and personal morality over Scholastic theology and outward observances
important roots of the Protestant reformation
Erasmus's ideas and Christian humanism
Erasmus denied this and never became a follower of Luther
impact of teaching due to printing press
14th C Petrarch and 16th C Erasmus had similar ideas but their impact was different due to the invention of the printing press

Petrarch ideas spread slowly through hand print
Erasmus ideas spread quickly through print
Printing with movable metal type
developed in Germany in the 1440s from a combo of existing technologies
Johann Gutenberg
recognized that the metal stamps used to mark signs on jewelry could be covered with ink and used to mark symbols onto a surface - wood block stamps (originate in China and Korea)

made metal stamps called type for every letter of the alphabet
ready availability of paper
also helped make the printing revolution possible

produced using techniques from China
brought into Europe from Muslim Spain
expanding market for reading materials
1. increase in urban literacy
2. development of primary schools
3. opening of more universities
estimation of books printed by the printing press
within half a century of the publication of Gutenberg's bible in 1456, somewhere between 8 and 20 million books were printed in Europe

figure much larger than all of the books produced in Western history up to that point
movable type transformed the public and private lives of the Europeans by the dawn of the 16th C
1. print shops became gathering places for people interested in new ideas
2. printers trained through apprenticeships but had connections to the world of politics, art, and scholarship unlike blacksmiths and butchers
3. printing have hundreds or thousands identical books - books more easily discussed
4. created an invisible public - allowed silent individuals to join causes and groups separated by geography - compete with an transcend older localized loyalties
threats of printing
governments and churches both used but also grew worried of printing

printed laws, declarations of war, battle accounts, and propaganda
also attempted to censor books and authors whos ideas they thought challenged their authority

tried to make lists of prohibited books or authors, confiscated books, arrested printers, and booksellers, and destroyed the presses of disobedient printers
none of this was effective - books printed secretly with fake info and smuggled through Europe
printing stimulated the literacy of laypeople
eventually had a deep effect on their private lives
what was printed
earliest books and pamphlets were religious but printers started printing anything that would sell

printed professional references for lawyers, doctors, students
printed historical romances, biographies, and how-to manuals
illustrations increased book sales
single page broadsides and pamphlets allowed public events to be experienced by stay-at-home readers
books and other printed materials were read aloud to illiterate listeners
print bridged the gap between the written and oral cultures
Northern Italian city that led in success of the arts
Florence
other important cities for art
Rome, Venice

northern Europe also important
how did wealthy urban groups often flaunt their wealth?
commissioning works of art
Filippo Brunelleschi
Florentine cloth merchants had him build the big dome on the top of Florence's cathedral
Lorenzo Ghiberti
designed bronze doors for the adjacent baptistry to the cathedral

the baptistry is a building where baptisms are performed
works of art of patronage
represented merchants' dominant influence of the community
who commissioned art more in the late 15th C?
wealthy individual and rulers over corporate groups
types of patrons
patrician merchants. bankers, popes, and princes
how much did the Medici family spend on artistic and architectural commissions by 1470?
hundreds of thousands of gold florins
patrons varied in involvement as work progressed
some just ordered a specific subject or scene

others oversaw the work very closely suggesting themes and styles and demanding changes
Pope Julius II and Michelangelo
Pope commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in 1508
demanded artist work fast
visited frequently
suggested and criticized
Michelangelo complained but power did not match the Pope's
kept working
chapel finished in 1512
art revealed changing patterns of consumption among the wealthy elite
Middle Ages --> men spent money on military gear society organized for war

Italian nobles settled in towns and adjusted to Urban culture
hired mercenaries over knights
expenditures of military gear declined for nobles
grand urban palace
represented greatest outlay of cash
not castles
wealthy people lived in great luxury
Strozzi Banking family of Florence
by late 16th C --> spent more on household goods over clothes and food and jewelry, but spent lots on that too
private chapel
after the palace, a private chapel inside of it symbolized the biggest expenditure for the wealthy of the 16th C

chapel served as the center of the household's religious life and remembrance of dead
Annunciation of the Virgin and the Nativity
religious topics from the middle ages that remained popular in the Renaissance
portraits
a patron would have himself and/or his family in the painting --> more popular in the 15thC
popular artistic genres
portrait
classical themes and motifs
lives and loves of the pagan gods and goddesses increased as subjects for paintings and sculptures
facial features modeled on living people
individual portrait
emerged as a distinct artistic genre
showed human ideals, in a more realistic style in the Renaissance
Giotto
Florentine painter
led the way in the use of realism
treatment of human body and face was less rigid and formal and stiff
Piero della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna
invented perspective
perspective
the linear representation of distance and space on a surface which enhanced the realism of paintings and differentiated them from the flatter and more stylized images of medieval art
Donatello
revived the classical figure with balance and self awareness
Filippo Brunelleschi
looked to the classical past for inspiration
designed a hospital for orphans, plans for the building carefully thought out
art in Northern Europe
more religious than Italian art

Rogier van der Weyden
Jan Van Eyck
considered artistic equals of the painters in Italy and admired

Albrecht Durer
Jan Van Eyck
one of the earliest artists to use oil based paints successfully
religious scenes and portraits show good realism and attention to human personality
Albrecht Durer
from Nuremburg (Germany)
studied with artists in Italy
produced woodcuts, engravings, etchings that rendered human form with good detail
designed mechanical devices to help with art
early of 16th C where did the new art center shift
from Florence to Rome
wealthy popes and cardinals wanted visual expression of the church and families power and piety
Michelangelo
went to Rome from Florence in 1500
the Pieta, Moses, the redesigning of the plaza and surrounding palaces on the Capitoline hill, dome for Saint Peters and ceiling of the Sistine chapel
Raphael Sanzio
Florentine
commissioned for frescoes in papal apartments
painted hindreds of portraits and devotional images
most sought after artist in Europe
oversaw large workshop with helpers
importance of imitating natire and orderly sequence of design and proportion
Titan
a Venician
16th C
produced portraits, religious subjects, mythological scenes, developed tehcniqus of painting in oil w/put drawing first
mannerism
where artists distorted figures, exaggerated musculature, heightened color to express emotion and drama more
The Last Judgement
used mannerism
by Michelangelo
in the Sistine Chapel
The Renaissance Artist
rare men of genius
gained great public acclaim
historians view the Renaissance as the beginning of the concept of the artist as having a special talent
medieval conception of talent
recognized no particular value in artist originality
Renaissance and humanist thinking
that a work of art was the deliberate creation of a unique personality
genius
had a gift, ordinary laws should not inhibit
Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci
notion of genius should not be overemphasized
most artists, even the greats, still followed guidelines (Raphael)
artist had more freedom when well known though
genius still expected to be trained in artistic techniques
artists known for their large, well run, prolific workshops
Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian
teaching a beginner artist
spent years copying drawings and paintings, learning how to prepare paint, etc
by the 16th C, reading books about design and composition
formal artistic academies
informal evening groups of young artists meeting to get extra practice turned into academies in the later 16th C
first artistic academy
began in 1563 in Florence by Vasari
under patronage of the Medici
notions of artistic genius was gendered
most famous and most prolific artists of the Renaissance were men
women art was not regarded as major art --> textiles, needlework, painting on porcelain
minor and decorative arts

it still influences how museums organize collections of Renaissance art
embroidery
changed in the Renaissance and became more naturalistic, visually complex, and more classical
embroiderers not trained to be thought of as a genius, rarely included name in the work
other Female artists
no architects
one known female sculptor
several women painted
majority of female painters were daughters of painters or of minor noblemen with ties to artistic circles
after married --> stopped art
not allowed to study the male nude or learn the technique of fresco as it is a public affair
not aloowerd to join a group of males for informal practice --> no women in the art academies
where did most scholars and artists come from
families with at least some money
Leonardo and Michelangelo came from artisanal backgrounds
ideas of highly educated humanists did not influence the lives of most people in cities or villages
for the rural people and less well off town residents, work and play continued as much as they had in the middle ages
religious festivals, family celebrations --> main amusement
learning from one's parent, not formal schools
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