REN - Italian and Northern Renaissance (Lesson)
Italian and Northern Renaissance
The Classics Never Die
At the time the Renaissance, which means “rebirth” began in approximately 1450 CE, the continent of Europe was different than it is today. France and England had just finished the 100-year war and much of Europe was part of the Holy Roman Empire, including present day Germany. Italy, not yet unified, was a series of city-states under the control of different people.
The Italian Renaissance began on the Italian Peninsula. The Crusades, held during the Middle Ages, laid the groundwork for the Renaissance. As the Pope sent troops to "retake" the Holy Land they passed through the Italian city-states and launched their journeys out of Venice. Industry and trade grew as a result. Following the turmoil of the Medieval Period, the time of the Renaissance focused on the potential of man or the human experience. What does it mean to be human? Prior to the Renaissance, society was more concerned with religious subjects, but the Renaissance brought a new appreciation and a revival of classical works and was a new way to study and interpret the classics.
The Renaissance saw a revival of classical Greek and Roman culture that manifested itself in art, literature, and philosophy. Latin, discarded during the Middle Ages, was reclaimed as was Greek and eventually the ancient texts of the Greco-Roman philosophers. Crusaders who returned to Europe brought with them the ancient Greek and Roman texts, long thought lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. Instead the texts had been preserved and studied by Middle Eastern scholars, allowing them to be rediscovered by the Europeans. What resulted was a movement known as Humanism - a belief in individualism and focus on Virtù, the "quality" or "distinguishing attribute" of being man; a focus on human potential that eventually led to a revitalization of education as well as changes within art and politics.
Information below is adapted, in part, from the Giant EHAP Review Guide at HistoryTeacher.net
The Four Aspects of Humanism
Humanism was a new philosophy that came to define the Renaissance. Although it was an intellectual movement and didn't involve most outside of the upper class, it had a major impact on the age. The movement encouraged literacy along with writing and speaking skills and helped expand libraries beyond the monasteries.
Though many believe that humanism replaced religion in the Renaissance the two coexisted. Most humanists were religious, and the only difference between the beliefs of the Church and those of the humanists was that the humanists believed that this life was important and should be enjoyed while the Church did not. The Church felt that people should focus on awaiting the afterlife instead.
Humanism consists of four essential aspects, which are as follows:
The Humanists
Petrarch - the first humanist of the Renaissance. He greatly admired the Greeks and Romans and preferred them to his own contemporaries, whom he saw as barbaric. He felt that the only true examples of moral and proper behavior came from the Ancients, Cicero in particular. Though he was a lawyer and cleric by trade, he devoted himself to writing poetry, papers, and letters, which were often to the famous Greeks and Romans. He is considered the first to critically analyze ancient texts.
Guarino da Verona & Vittorino da Feltre - were educators who turned the ideals of the humanists into a practical curriculum. They founded a school in which students learned Latin, Greek, mathematics, music, philosophy, and social graces.
Lorenzo Valla - one of the great critics of the period, he is most famous for researching and unearthing the forgery of the Donation of Constantine. The Donation was supposedly an imperial decree that granted the Pope territorial rights over Rome and the Western Roman Empire. By using critical text analysis, Valla determined that the donation was a forgery. An expert in Latin, Valla also noted inconsistencies and errors within the translation of the Latin Vulgate. Though himself a devoted Catholic until his death, his works are often seen as helping give proof to those challenging the Church's authority.
Leonardo Bruni - a historian who wrote a history of Florence which is seen by many as the first modern history. He was a civic humanist who served in Florence and was the first to use the term "humanist."
Marsilio Ficino was a member of a new, later group of humanists called the Neoplatonists who believed in studying the grand ideas in the works of Plato and other philosophers as opposed to leading the "active life" that the civic humanists led. Ficino believed that Plato's ideas showed the dignity and immortality of the human soul.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola - another Neoplatonist who believed that he could reconcile all philosophies and show that a single truth lay behind them all. Mirandola was perhaps the most influential of the Neoplatonists.
Take a look at Mirandola’s belief in the unlimited potential of human beings. You can find the reading in your textbook or as an external document below.
Document Discussion
It's time to take a closer look at Pico della Mirandola's: Oration on the Dignity of Man. Access a copy from the link below and be sure to read it carefully. As you read consider the following:
- Why was it written?
- What can it tell us about the ideals behind Humanism? Neoplatonism?
- How does it fit in with the rebirth of learning we see in the Renaissance?
Access a copy of Oration on the Dignity of Man here. Links to an external site.
Humanism also impacted politics and supported a culture that produced secular, or non-religious, models for political and individual behavior.
Baldassare Castiglione - writer who is best known for his novel, The Courtier, which, by taking the form of a conversation between the sophisticated men and women of a court in Urbino, became a manual of proper behavior for gentlemen and ladies for centuries to come. It rejected what was perceived as crude behaviors and recommended instead that there were specific qualities a gentleman possessed. The concept of a "Renaissance Man," one who was skilled in many areas, was advocated within the work.
Niccolò Machiavelli - From 1508-1512, Niccolò Machiavelli was a Florentine statesman who promoted the civic virtue of joining the army. It was Machiavelli's belief that no army meant there would be no unity.
In 1512, the Medici came back to Florence. Machiavelli is arrested, tortured, and exiled by the incoming Medici regime. During his exile, he writes The Prince - a guide on how to rule. It is dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici in hopes of getting back into their good graces, instead it becomes THE political treatise of its time with its influence lasting centuries.
Some of Machiavelli's Political Advice:
- "The ends justify the means" - provided that the result is an honorable one or in the best interest of the nation, it doesn't matter what approach you take to get to it.
- "It is better to be feared than to be loved" - that if a leader must choose, he should choose for his people to fear him, for if they love him, they may take advantage of his kindness. A caveat - one must not instill such fear as leads to hate.
- At times rulers should behave like a lion and at other times like a fox.
In your notes, respond to the following question.
- What conditions existed in Italy that allowed the Renaissance to arise, flourish there, and then spread to the rest of Europe?
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