The Renaissance: Roots of Modernity

1. The Renaissance:Roots of Modernity Italian City State, Art and Humanism

2. Renaissance: General Characteristics • French; “rebirth”, or reawakening. Specifically… • …Signals European interest in the “classical” past. • Occurred mainly in Italy (late 13th C to early 17thC) • An Urban movement; rural peasants hardly felt its effects • Most events and changes were limited to the rich, elite of society.

3. Renaissance: Roots of Modernity? • As of yet, we are not clear what modernity is, substantially, though we have some clues. • We know , as a whole, it signals a departure from the past • The past we are concerned with is Medieval institutions and ideas • So, our job is to investigate: • The specific developments of the City-State, Renaissance Art andHumanism…. • And assess whether, and to what degree, these signal a departure from the medieval past…

4. Italian City State • Eve of the Renaissance, European continent dominated by Feudalism as the primary socio-political and economic form • Expressed in 2 forms: • (1) Kingdoms (comprised of manors, based on the fief), and • (2) Empire (France and England in the 14th and 15th C)

5. Feudal chains, were "loosening" in Italian city-states. Textbook tells us these city states were a 'bridge'—to what? How would this lead to a weakening of feudal structure in the Italian city states?

6. SECULAR KING NOBLES KNIGHTS MERCHANTS PROFESSIONALS CRAFTSMEN PEASANTS freemen serfs RELIGIOUS POPE CARDINALS BISHOPS ABBOTS PRIESTS MONKS SUMMONERS FRIARS PARDONERS NUNS PEASANTS lay brothers and sisters serfs Feudal Social Classes,Changes and Challenges Unlike the Barons, Merchant $$ derived autonomously. Increasing control of city states by Merchant rulers, leads to new political role: diplomacy Merchant rulers also challenged Papal supremacy, by taking religious matters into their own hands: particularly religious architecture and sculpture

7. Lorenzo de Medici of Florence Cossimo de Medici of Florence

8. Tomb of Lorenzo de Medici Plazzo Vecchio, Florence Medici court architecture, showcasing family line

9. KING NOBLES KNIGHTS MERCHANTS PROFESSIONALS CRAFTSMEN PEASANTS freemen serfs Economy, urban not rural (so, not agriculturally based) Money flowing into city Competition between city states, propels the Merchant rulers to become patron of arts and crafts, to beautify city $$ Flowed, too, to Craftsmen. Encouraged their crafts, and creativity City also promised some freedom for serfs who moved to cities Wages to earn $$, to free them from servitude For families moving to city-states, nuclear families, not communal Increasingly, individualism emphasized Increasingly, the notion of freedom from constraints… For Women, greater control within their families But diminished economic role (not earning) Sociological & Economic impact of the city state -The net effect of the growing autonomy, leads to a dramatic shift in popular symbolism -The ideal figure of the past—The Chivalric Knight (cowboy!)—is replaced by…. -The “Renaissance Man” -Universal Man, beyond his specificity -Crystallized in Castiglione’s, The Courtier -Espoused values: to be knowledgeable about the world, to cultivate refined taste, knowledge about arts

10. To the Sources • Mirandola • What specific values of humanism does he espouse, and what challenges does he present to the old Medieval Order? • Use resource on MySite: How to read Primary sources