Recovery and Rebirth:

1
Chapter 12 Recovery and Rebirth The Age of the
Renaissance
2

• 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

3

• 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

4

• 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

5
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

6

• 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

7

• Federigo da Montefeltro, 1444-1482 Urbino
• Isabella dEste (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

8

• The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
• 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

9

• 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

10

• 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

11

• 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

12

• 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

13

• 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

14

• 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)

15
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

16

• The European State in the Renaissance
• 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

17
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

18

• 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

19

• 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

20
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

21

• 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

22

• 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)

23

• 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