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History 324

History 324. The Renaissance in Italy 1250–1520. Italy. Commune Contado Guelf Ghibelline Aristocratic commune Concio/Arengo Consorteria. Jakob Burckhard, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) Civic Humanism. Important Terms. San Gemignano. San Gemignano.

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History 324

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  1. History 324 The Renaissance in Italy 1250–1520

  2. Italy

  3. Commune Contado Guelf Ghibelline Aristocratic commune Concio/Arengo Consorteria Jakob Burckhard, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) Civic Humanism Important Terms

  4. San Gemignano

  5. San Gemignano

  6. Aristocratic Commune • Knights move into the cities for economic and political advantage • Their agents emerge as leading merchants • Knights build fortified towers • They gradually displace the bishops as political authority (12th & 13th centuries) • Use conflict between pope & emperor (Guelf v. Ghibelline) • Knights join together as a commune, bound by oath, form concio (assembly), elect Consul

  7. Political Development • Rival families (noble and common) form alliances (consorteria) to protect interests • Usually formed of two or more families • Lived in fortified buildings: “Tower Societies” • Rivalries often led to violence and vendetta • Concio looks to outsiders to bring order • Podestá assumes absolute authority, usually for short period, then left

  8. Social Classes • Aristocrats: 10% • Popolo Grasso: major guild members, some nobles, 30% • Popolo Minuto: minor guild members (60%) • Soto posti: non-citizens (apprentices, day laborers, servants, those w/o property) • Fluid bottom: immigrants from the contado, drifters, thieves, protitutes

  9. Popular Government • Emergence of the Popular Commune gradual • Restrictions on nobility who lose tax exemption • Towers torn down to reduce noble influence • Private retinues (bodyguards) and prisons abolished • New official: the Captain of the People • Equivalent to the Podestá, but answers to new popular body, the Council of Elders (Concio Anziani)

  10. Political Identity • Use of political propaganda to assert authority of the popular commune • Construction of Palazzi Publico (higher than aristocratic towers) • Horse races (the Pallio), public plays, religious/secular processions (Corpus Christi) • The Nine in Siena

  11. Politics in Art Siena in the 13th Century

  12. Politics in Art

  13. Black Death 1348-1361 • Consequences • Towns depopulated (up to 70% decline) • Workers organize for better conditions and pay • Seek political representation • Owners seek to restrict these demands • Statue of Labourers in England, 1351 • Harsh treatment of rebellions

  14. Early Capitalism in Italy • Reliance on unskilled labor (sotto posti) who made up to half of populo minuto • No political or economic rights • Key features of early capitalism • Separation between owners and workers • Lack of centralized production • Lack of permanence or continuity of production

  15. Woolen Trade • Complex: many steps • Competitive and lucrative, high demand • Dominated by a few families in each city • Prone to revolt by workers, e.g. the Ciompi in 1378

  16. Ciompi Revolt, 1378 • Condition of sotto posti • No political rights, forbidden to form guilds • Urban revolts common • Marxist historians see emergence of proletariat • Others see complex economic and social change • Result: magnates unite against common people • Ciompi • Led by Micheli de Lando, gonfalionieri, or flag-bearer of the lower guilds

  17. Demands • Est. of new guilds for dyers, shirtmakers and woolen workers (Ciompi) • Debt relief and abolition of guild courts • Tax reform: end exemptions and impose income tax • Over threw government, but then suppressed by united magnates • Many killed or exiled • Replaced by foreign workers

  18. Renaissance Family • Best source=Catasto (1427) detailed tax survey compiled in Florence • Term for extended families varies by area: • Florence = consorteria • Genoa = albergo • Venice = fraterna • Breakdown of consorteria into nuclear families • Change in family dynamics • Building of palazzi, variations in wealth • Change in marriage patterns • Pre-plague, men marry at 35-40 years, women c. 18 • Post-plague, c. 29, women at 15-16 • By 1460, men back to 35-40

  19. Rise of Venice

  20. Rise of Venice • 451: Foundation • 697: Doge • 1172: Great Council • 1297: Closing of the Great Council; Senata • 1405: Creation of Venetian contado

  21. Cathedral of San Marco

  22. Venetian Government • Doge • Ducal Council • Senate (300 men) • Grand Council • Council of 10, Dieci • General Assembly /Arengo (abolished 1453) Bridge of Sighs Doge Leonardo Loredan

  23. Consolidation of the state Signoria (lordship) Vicariate Papal or imperial vicar Condottieri Contract soldier Romagna Ezzelino da Romano, lord of Verona, 1st despot Despotism: illegitimate one-man rule Regimes Milan: Giangaeazzo Visconti Verona: della Scala Padua: Carrara Ferrara: d’Este Mantua: Gonzaga Despotism

  24. Rise of Milan • Visconti of Milan • Ghebelline family • Matteo Visconti becomes Captain of the People • Purchase title of imperial vicar • Rule through small councils

  25. The Visconti in Milan • Visconti in Milan • Uniform legal system throughout contado • Removed local law codes • Appointed local officers • Fiscal policy • Supports education • Standing army • Used ambassadors Visconti gonfalone

  26. Rise of the Medici in Florence • Albizzi Regime • Rivals of the Medici • Controlled the populo minuto under the Priorate • Introduce Catasto in 1427 to raise taxes (estimo) • Manipulate crowds to achieve political ends • Cosimo de Medici takes power in 1434

  27. The Medici • Cosimo de Medici controls government indirectly • Financial resources • Has political network • Amici • Party • Balia (emergency committees) • Scala (staircase) • Peace of Lodi (1451) • Florence and Milan against Venice

  28. The World of Humanism • Three major states in Italy by the early 15th century • Milan • Florence • Venice • Triple Alliance of Florence, Milan, and Naples, c. 1480

  29. Lorenzo de Medici (1449-92) • Ruled Florence from 1469 to 1492 • Creates Council of Seventy to control city • Eight of War • Twelve of Finance • Conflicts with Pope Sixtus IV • Pazzi Conspiracy (1478) • Rules as tyrant, but loved

  30. Emergence of Humanism • Dante • Not a Humanist, a medieval personality • Influential writer • On Monarchy • Theory of the Two Ends • The Banquet • The “Will to be Virtuous” • The New Life (La Vita Nuovo) Beatrice as an ideal • Comedy • New vision of afterlife • Use of Italian rather than Latin Dante Aligheiri (1265-1321)

  31. Petrarch • Father of Humanism • Vita activa • Valued the Ancient world for itself, as a model • Wrote mostly in Latin • Classics a guide to ethics • “ It is better to will the good, than to know the truth” • His book, De Viri Illustribus used biography of ancients—a secular hagiography • Supported (briefly) Cola di Rienzo, the Roman popular leader (Tribune of the People_ • Studia Humanitatis: rhetoric, grammar, poetry • Textual criticism influenced Valla Francisco Petrarch (1304-1374)

  32. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) • Petrarch’s student • Learned Greek • Wrote Decameron in Italian • On Noble Women • De mulieribus claris • Importance of education to chose good over evil

  33. Civic Humanists • Coluccio Salutati (1330-1406) • Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) • Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459) • Lorenzo Valla (1405-1457) Coluccio Salutati

  34. Moral Philosophy • Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) • Learned Greek from Chrysolorus • Platonic Academy in Florency (founded by Cosimo de Medici) • Tried to synthesize philosophy & religion • Giovanni Pico de Mirandola (1463-1494) • Polyglot: Greek, Latin, & Hebrew • Undertook a synthesis of all religions • Rejected authority of Christianity • Mysticism & magic made human knowledge greater

  35. The Papacy in Avignon • In 1305, Clement V declines to return to Rome • Papal court remains at Avignon until 1378

  36. Avignon Papacy • Seven popes are French • Clement V (d. 1314) • John XXII (d. 1334) • Benedict XII (d. 1342) • Clement VI (d. 1352) • Innocent VI (d. 1362) • Urban V (d. 1370) • Gregory XI (d. 1378) • Historically seen as corrupt, but? • Gradual decline of Church

  37. Decline of Papacy (1300-1510) • Secular claims to authority • Aristotle’s political theory (ascending power) • Dante’s De Monarchia (1313) • Marsiglio of Padua, Defensor Pacis (1324) • Golden Bull (1356) ends papal choice of emperor • Conciliar theory: Church ruled by “head and members” • Great Schism (1378-1415) • Papal control of Church • Fiscal and legal innovations

  38. Renaissance Papacy • Temporal rulers first, spiritual rulers second • Pius II (1458-1464) • Diplomat & scholar • Calixtus III (1455-1458) Alonso Borgia • Alexander VI (1492-1503) Rodrigo Borgia • Julius II (1503-1510) Giovanni della Rovere • Art patrons • Goal: to make church independent of secular states Sixtus IV (1471-1484)

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