AP European History: Renaissance Notes (Palmer, McKay) II. The Upheaval in Christendom, 1300-1560 Transition from trad. -> modern form society = reexamine religious base Reject, reaffirm, or modernize Secularization ± process of developing variety of activities outside sphere of religion (Latin Christendom = first) 13th century Christian Europe -> disasters 1240 onwards: Mongols hold Russia for 200 yrs Ottoman Turks penetrate Byzantine Empire; take Constantinople Authority of papacy/RC papacy/RC church questioned Govt, law, philosophy, science, arts, material/econ activities pursued w/ less regard for Christ values Desire power, beauty, wealth, knowledge, ctrl of nature
5. Disasters of the Fourteenth Century The Black Death and Its Consequences 14th century ± ½ Euro population wiped out Local famines appear after 1300 Black Death first strikes in 1348; recurs @ irregular + unpredictable intervals; kills off young and old -> disrupts marriage & family life Famine -> victims more susceptible susceptible -> plague deaths contribute to famine Survivor advantages = higher wages (scarce labor) Upper classes attempt to ctrl wages & prices (English Statue of Laborers of 1351) Rebellions break out, sometimes even question class structure FR ± ³jacqueries´ (Jacques = nickname for peasant) EN ± Wat Tyler¶s rebellion When Adam delved and Eve span Who was then a gentleman? Econ / demographic forces cont. to assert selves; class of small peasant property owners emerges Disasters also affect kings Still have to maintain govt, increase incomes, debase currency -> inflation, introduce new taxes 1300: EN and FR kings tax clergy + increase demands on nobles and merchants Resist demands -> 14 th century = ³golden age´ of med. Parliaments 1337: Hundred Years¶ War began btwn EN and FR Battles take place in France (internally divided) FR suffers defeat until Joan of Arc EN results: Parliament widens powers (kings need money) Barons become more unruly; form private armies and fight w/ each other
1450: Jack Cade¶s rebellion calls for reform; until 1485 -> Wars of the Roses
Troubles of the Medieval Church 1300: Church of High Middle Ages at highest (weakened by successes) Danger of believing institution exists for benefit of those who conduct its affairs Papacy became corrupt, reform impossible 1290s: Edward I (EN) & Philip the Fair (FR) tax clergy Pope Boniface VIII prohibits taxation of clergy by civil ruler Issues Unam Sanctam; declares that outside of RC no salvation, and everyone subject to pope FR influence in College of Cardinals -> pope favorable to FR; moves to Avignon (FR) Begins ³Babylonian Captivity´ Dims prestige of papacy as universal institution (tools of FR) 1378: College of Cardinals elect 2 popes; ³Great Schism of the West´ FR + supporters recognize Avignon / EN + Germany recognize Rome ³annates´ = bishop/abbot transfers most of 1 st year¶s income of office Movt. of funds to papal court -> class of int¶l bankers rise and prospers Growing complaint @ extravagance & worldliness of papal rule Sense of religious insecurity ± two churches! Which holds salvation? Mass neurosis appears Perform Dance of Death in cemeteries Celebrate Black Mass (appease devil) Order of Flagellants Witchcraft delusion (reaches height 15 th, 16th centuries) 1 st became impt Disaffection w/ church spreads (kings and priests alike) William Langland ± Piers Plowman contrasts sufferings of poor w/ corruption up high EN = Lollards John Wyclif ± church can do w/o extravagance; organized church not necessary for salvation (just read Bible; Wyclif translated into English) John Hus (Bohemia) ± becomes nat¶l movt Church assembles Europe-wide council to press for reforms upon popes
The Conciliar Movement 1409: church council meets at Pisa (all parts of Latin West represented) Declares both reigning popes deposed, elects a 3 rd ; prior 2 don¶t resign -> three popes 1414: bigger council meets at Constance; three aims 1. End threefold schism (accomplished; elects Martin V) 2. Extirpate heresy Interrogate, condemn, & burn John Huss at stake 3. Reform the church from top to bottom (³in head and members´) Council of Constance also wanted to make councils part of church for all time in the future Regards pope as monarch -> council = representative body for all Christians Once elected, Martin V dissolves council & repudiates decrees Battle for jurisdiction = few reforms adopted/enforced; life of church corrupted by $ Knew high churchmen could be bribed
³simony´ = crime in canon law; to buy/sell a church office ³nepotism´ = to give good church positions to relatives/own children 1300: Boniface VIII encourages practice of ³indulgences´; spare some of purgatory Popes prevail over councils; conciliar movt weakened 1438: Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges -> papacy loses influence in FR Gallican (FR) church affirms supremacy of councils over popes Declares administrative independence from Holy See Suppress payment of annates to Rome Forbade papal intervention in the appointment of French prelates 1449: dissolution of Council of Basel -> end conciliar movt 1450: Jubilee held to celebrate papal triumph
6. The Renaissance in Italy Decay of medieval certainties + new & constructive attitude towards world Rebirth b/c men took up and resumed civilization like Greco-Roman New historical sense -> conception of ³modern´ and ³ancient´ Middle Ages = basic institutions, languages/nationalities, law frameworks, govt, econ prod Italian influence in high culture (not many people) but extends over all literature (writing) and arts (products of human skill) New era in thought and feeling (Italy, Quattrocento)-> transform Europe + institutions Not theological/scientific, but moral & civic questions Pure secular attitude 1st appears ± life is not preparation for afterlife
The Italian Cities and the New Conception of Life Merchants get rich from trade (centered on Medt. Sea) -> lend $ to popes and princes -> become bankers and get richer, able to buy/patron the arts Towns = independent b/c no king to govern all Italy & popes absent @ Avignon/disputes Usually merchant oligarchies Milan ± local prince/despot Florence, Venice, Genoa = republics Florence like Athens Produced lots of talent in short period - Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli etc. Lost republican liberty + creative powers Medici family (Florence) ± begins with Giovanni (d. 1429) Son = Cosimo de¶ Medici (1389-1464) Cosimo¶s grandson = Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492), patron of the arts Hereditary grand dukes to Tuscany Furnished cardinals + 2 popes to church 2 Medici women = queens of France New conception in life rises in Italy ± sense of the vast range of human powers Previous = renunciation, poverty, contemplation Now = involvement, wealth, activity Old w/ new -> psychological stress + civil conflict Republic -> sense of public duty expressed
Virtu = quality of being a man; successful demonstration of human powers Cult of the great individual; emphasis on outstanding attainments Arts reflect this-worldliness too (new forms of painting, sculpture, and architecture) Architecture: adapt symmetrical arrangements, classical column, arch, dome More buildings of nonreligious character + grandeur town houses Gardens and terraces added Sculpture: independent & free-standing art Subjects = human beings, viewer can now walk around object (not in niche) Use of nude -> more like Greek conception of humanity than Christian Painting: invention of painting in oils opens up new pathways Still conservative, mostly religious themes ± conception + presentation = new Use perspective, chiaroscuro etc Idea = present familiar theme in an understandable setting Study human anatomy -> show people in distinctive and living attitudes More facial expression = individual personality Less symbolic and more a portrayal of concrete realities Take satisfaction in beauty, present world as desirable Florentines troubled by worldliness + paganism -> movt for religious reforms by Savonarola (tried and burned at stake in 1498) H umanism: The Birth of ³Literature´
Literary movt in Ren. It = humanism b/c interest in humane letters -> litterae humaniores Latter Mid. Ages writing = technical (theology, philosophy, law) and to convey information (histories, chronicles); composed hymns + legends written down Modern lit 1st appeared in 14th & 15th centuries in Italy Class of men who see writing as life¶s work Use writing to deal w/ general questions, examine own states of mind, resolve difficulties, achieve artistic effects, or to please & amuse readers Mostly written in Latin ± different from before in that usually not members of clergy Ancient writers = world w/o overarching framework of religious belief, style (sense of form, elegant), and written for practical ends Humanists make cult of antiquity b/c see kindred spirits, relevancy to own time Learn Greek & search for classical texts Most humanists wrote in Italian (mode of speech current in Florence) Ie. Dante ± the ³Divine Comedy´ Florentine = standard form of modern Italian 1st time Euro vernacular became standardized (FR & EN soon follow) Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)= 1st man of letters (Florentine exile + son of a merchant) Trained for law & ordained to clergy but critic of them, denounce for ³scholasticism´ Prey of contrary attitudes Wrote sonnets in Italian, epic in Latin, introspective study of self, many letters Literature became kind of calling & consideration of moral philosophy Boccaccio ± ³Decameron´ in Italian; series of tales designed to entertain & impart wisdom about human character and behavior Coluccio Salutati (humanist) became chancellor of F lorence in 1375
Bruni succeeds Salutati ± wrote a history of Florence = new achievement in historical writing Saw past as clearly past, diff from but relevant to present Intro new division of historical periods Use history for practical polit. Purpose ± took on utility Heightens sentiment of group identity Need for authentic sources Lorenzo Valla = one of founders of textual criticism Analyzed Donation of Constantine (on which papacy base temporal claims) -> can¶t have been written in Constantine¶s time -> is a forgery! Pico della Mirandola look for truth not revealed in Christian Scriptures, receptive to anything written by men anywhere S chooling and Manners
Med. Universities = prof training in theology, medicine, and law Secondary education (preparation of young men) owed to Renaissance Grouping age groups/levels of accomplishment into separate classes + rooms Promote students periodically Latin studied still; give skill in use of language + rhetoric (art of using language to influence others) Also learn Greek to read ancient writings Meant to have moral impact, produce balanced personality, form character Trained for civilized deportment -> Italians of Renaissance teach polite habits Castiglione -> ³Book of the Courtier´
Politics and the Italian Renaissance Produced no institution/great idea to hold society together Greatest of Europe¶s institutions (RC church) fell into neglect under Renaissance popes No effectual political institutions Medici (Florence), Sforza (Milan), Oligarchies (Venice and Genoa) Niccolo Machiavelli ± ³The Prince´ (1513) = most lasting work of Renaissance Admired Ferdinand of Aragon, Louis XI, Henry VII b/c successful builders of states First purely secular treatise on politics Freed politics from theology and moral philosophy Effective rulers/govt act only in own political interest New Monarchies strong b/c have spontaneous loyalty from own peoples Italy divided = open to other people to conquer; city-states too small to compete FR and SP fight over Italy 1527: SP and German mercenaries sack Rome -> Renaissance faded away
7. The Renaissance outside Italy Developments north of Alps = outgrowth of what had gone before (less conscious of sudden break) Some painting better than Italy; writers favor neoclassical Latin More a blend of the old and new + religious element stronger
Religious S cholarship and S cience ³pagan´ humanism of Italy vs. Christian humanism of north Christian humanists study Hebrew + Greek texts of Bible / Latin & Greek to read Church Fathers -> deepen understanding of Christianity & restore moral vitality Medieval intellectual interests persist (continuing foundation of universities) Concentrated on theology/medicine/law = don¶t encourage experimental science or literary studies. Universities founded in SP, FR, Scot, Scandinavia, Germany Flemish masters, S. Germany -> Durer + Holbeins Shared Latin culture of Europe (often Latinized German names) Regiomontanus (Johann Muller) = mathematical conception of the universe (1436-1476) Nicholas of Cusa = churchman whose mystical philosophy entered into dvlpmnt of math/science Copernicus (Niklas Koppernigk) = heliocentric theory; Polish (1473-1543) Best cartographers = Germans (Belhaim and Schoner) Paracelsus (Hohenheim) = revolutionized medicine @ University of Basel Wild prophecies = mixture of scientist & charlatan; science not yet clearly separate from occult (also ctrl over natural forces) Dr. Faustus = learned German of the 1 st part of 16th century Rumored to have sold his soul to devil for knowledge and power Dramatized in EN by Christopher Marlowe (1593), later by Goethe in poetry, Gounod in opera Symbol of inordinate striving for modern man Oswald Spengler ± ³Decline of the West´ (1918) -> ³Faustian´ Idea of human powers to understand & control physical nature (north) + humanistic idea of the infinite richness of human personality (Italy) = new Renaissance spirit Emphasize the emancipation of humanity¶s limitless potentialities
Mysticism and Lay Religion North = genuine religious impulse (+ religious humanistic scholarship) remained alive Italy -> religion passed into aesthetic; God glorified by works of art North -> more mystical & somberly moral tone Mystics: Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) , Thomas a Kempis (d. 1471) -> ³Imitation of Christ´ Mysticism ± belief/experience that individual soul could in perfect solitude commune directly w/ God Don¶t need reason/words/community/sacraments/church Accept church + its pattern of salvation, but offer deeper religion in which no church All social institutions transcended by individual soul (Martin Luther draws on this) Religion felt deeply outside of clergy; hard core religious people remain laymen Past ± church needed reform, find reformers in own ranks -> reform & renew w/o revolution 15th + 16th centuries = line drawn
1. Clergy as est. interest (inert, set in ways, living well off church) 2. Groups of people outside clergy ± religious lay persons, religiously inclined humanists and writers, impatient and headstrong rulers (more influential & critical of churchly abuses) Lay religion active in Netherlands; Gerard Groote ± sermons on spiritual regeneration 1374 ± founded religious sisterhood + establishments for religiously minded men, called the Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life (receive papal approval) Lived communally (not monks and nuns) and helped the poor/taught Brothers = 1 st to be organized in separate classes (Sisters similar, less elaborate) Emphasis on Christian ideal of character and conduct etc. = Modern Devotion E rasmus of Rotterdam
Most notable figure of entire humanist movement, 1466-1536 Wrote in ³purified´ & intricate Latin style Saw Middle Ages as benighted, ridiculed scholastic philosophers, studied ancient classical writers Almost wholly unpolitical in outlook ± rarely thought in terms of worldly power Keenly aware of need of reform of clergy, but put faith in education, enlightened discussion, & gradual moral improvement No burning crusade ± counseled against all violence or fanaticism Made new Greek and Latin editions of New Testament (hoped that w/ better understanding of Christ¶s teaching people would turn from evil ways) Praise of Folly ± satirized worldly pretensions and ambitions; especially those of clergy H andbook of a Christian Knight ± showed how man could take part in worldly affairs while remaining a devout Christian Erasmian virtues = mildness, reasonableness, tolerance, restraint, scholarly understanding, love of peace etc. Achieved international eminence Lectured @ Cambridge, edited books for Basel, named councilor by king of Spain, called to Paris by king of France, assisted by Pope Leo X when in trouble Theologians found fault w/ Erasmus¶ ideas but officials of church admired him Only attacked abuses in the church (ignorance/sloth of clergy, moral/financial corruption) ± never questioned the essence and principle of the RC church
8. The New Monarchies Outside Italy -> kings build up institutions of modern states; states determine course of religious revolution Country turns Protestant/remain Catholic/divide into religious communities depend upon political considerations War + civil war + class war + feudal rebellion + bandits make central govts weak Rulers try to impose civil peace = New Monarchs b/c resume labors of kings in High Mid. Ages Laid foundations for nat¶l (territorial) states Offer institution of monarchy as guarantee of law and order Proclaimed hereditary monarchy = legit form of public power
Enlist support of mid-class people in towns; townspeople willing to let parliaments go b/c parment proved to often 1. be strongholds of barons or 2. accentuate class conflict $ from taxes -> king can organize armies to ctrl nobles Pike and longbow good b/c stand against horses and don¶t need knights; just hire foot soldiers Organize monarchy -> king needs to break down feudal, inherited, customary, or ³common´ law in which rights of the feudal classes entrenched New Monarchs use Roman law; call selves ³sovereign´ King incorporates will + welfare of people in own purpose S alus populi suprema lex ± the welfare of the people is the highest law King can make law & enact by own authority Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem - what pleases the prince has the force of law
The New Monarchy in E ngland, France, and S pain EN New Monarchy = Tudors (1485-1603) w/ Henry VII; ended Wars of the Roses Passed laws against ³livery and maintenance´ ± no more private armies Royal council = new court to deal w/ property disputes & infractions of public peace Star Chamber rep authority of king + council; no jury Popular @ 1st b/c preserve order & render justice (later = symbol of despotism) National feeling EN around house of Tudor FR New Monarchy = Valois w/ Louis XI Royal domain expands from Paris @ nucleus through inheritance, marriage, war, conquest Louis XI round out FR borders Internal = build royal army, suppress brigands, subdue rebellious nobles More power than EN Tudors to tax w/o parliamentary consent; Estates General only met once (requested king to govern w/o them in future) Enlarge powers of clergy Gallican church mostly independent (Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges) 1516: Concordat of Bologna (Francis I + Leo X) rescind Prag Sanction -> pope receives annates but king appointed bishops & abbots Aft. 1516 -> kings of FR ctrl own nat¶l clergy = not tempted to turn Protestant SP kingdoms combine -> Aragon and Castile Joined 1469: marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile (only personal) No common political, judicial, or administrative institutions No SP nat¶l feeling; only sense of belonging to SP Catholic church Good condition; Cardinal Ximenes rid SP church abuses and inertia before 1500 Unification takes place around church; rulers insist on religious conformity Inquisition (church court) = common institution Spanish-ness = Catholic-ness Nat¶l/religious excitement aft. conquer Granada (1492) -> expel Jews & Moors In history of many European peoples when get national consciousness -> view Jews as ³outsiders´ Everyone in SP supposed to be Christian, but can¶t take for granted b/c many SP families originally Jewish/Muslim -> fear of false Christians Moriscos (Moorish) / Marranos (Jewish); if suspected -> Inquisition
SP became rigid & orthodox, safest to do lots of external devotions
The H oly Roman E mpire and the H absburg S upremacy Holy Roman Empire = three kinds of states 1 Princely (duchies, margraviates) ± hereditary dynastic monarchies (Saxony etc) 2 Ecclesiastical (bishoprics, abbacies) ± bishop/abbot conducted govt 3 Imperial free cities ± not lot of area, but dominated commercial & financial life *4th = thousands of imperial knights (noblemen w/ manors) that don¶t recognize anyone but emperor States prevent emperor from trespassing on local liberties; emperorship = elective office Aft. 1356: right of electing emperor = seven electors (4 princely lords + 3 churchly lords) Count Palatine, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg, King of Bohemia Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne 1452: Archduke of Austria = emperor, a Habsburg Habsburgs keep getting re-elected by balancing & bribing polit forces in Germany from 1452 ± 1806 (one exception) Principles of New Monarchy successful in hereditary princely states Process = quell feudal subordinates (nobles), increase revenues (tax), enforce local peace (build an army), ignore parliament Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurttemberg begin to look like modern states Habsburgs try to introduce centralizing principles in entire Empire Maximilian I (1493-1529) ± Empire divided into administrative ³circles´, Imperial Chamber & Council created -> fail b/c obstacle of states¶rights Married heiress of dukes of Burgundy -> son Philip, marries Joanna (heiress to Ferdinand & Isabella) -> son Charles Charles¶ inheritance = Austria (Maximilian), Netherlands + Free County (Mary of Burgundy), Castile + SP America (Isabella), Aragon + Medt. And Italian possessions (Ferdinand) Elected HR Emperor -> symbolic head of all Germany Charles V = most powerful ruler of his day More fortunes for Habsburgs.. Turks push through Hungary and menace Central Europe Hungary wants allies -> elect Charles V¶s brother Ferdinand as king Habsburgs now in central Europe, Netherlands, SP, Mediterranean, south Italy, America Contemporaries say Europe threatened w/ ³universal monarchy´ Religious revolution + emergence of Protestantism why? 1. Decline of church 2. Growth of secular and humanistic feeling 3. Spread of lay religion outside official clergy 4. Rise of monarchs who wished to control everything in kingdoms (including church) 5. Resistance of feudal elements to monarchs 6. Tired popes + fear of church councils 7. Atomistic division of Germany, Turkish peril, zeal of Spain, preeminence of Charles V 8. Fears (esp. FR) of absorption/suffocation by Habsburgs
Ch. 13 European Society in the Age of the Renaissance I.
II.
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The evolution of the Italian Renaissance A. Beginnings 1. The Renaissance was a period of commercial, financial, political, and cultural achievement in two phases, from 1050 to 1300 and from 1300 to about 1600. 2. The northern Italian cities led the commercial revival, especially Venice, Genoa, and Milan. a. Venice had a huge merchant marine; improvements in shipbuilding enhanced trade. b. These cities became the crossroads between northern Europe and the East. 3. The first artistic and literary flowerings of the Renaissance appeared in Florence. a. Florentine mercantile families dominated European banking. b. The wool industry was the major factor in the city's financial expansion and population increase. B. Communes and republics 1. Northern Italian cities were communes--associations of free men seeking independence from the local lords. a. The nobles, attracted by the opportunities in the cities, often settled there and married members of the mercantile class, forming an urban nobility. b. The popolo, or middle class, was excluded from power. c. Popololed republican governments failed, which led to the rule of despots (signori ) or oligarchies. d. In the fifteenth century, the princely courts of the rulers were centers of wealth and art. C. The balance of power among the Italian citystates 1. Italy had no political unity; it was divided into citystates such as Milan, Venice, and Florence, the Papal States, and a kingdom of Naples in the south. 2. The political and economic competition among the citystates prevented centralization of power. 3. Shifting alliances among the citystates led to the creation of permanent ambassadors. 4. After 1494 a divided Italy became a European battleground. Intellectual hallmarks of the Renaissance A. Many, like the poet and humanist Petrarch, saw the fourteenth century as a new golden age and a revival of ancient Roman culture. B. Individualism 1. Literature specifically concerned with the nature of individuality emerged. 2. Renaissance people believed in individual will and genius. C. Humanism 1. Italians collected ancient manuscripts and monuments, and copied the ancient Roman lifestyle. 2. The study of the classics led to humanism, an emphasis on human beings. a. Humanists sought to understand human nature through a study of pagan and classical authors and Christian thought. b. The humanist writer Pico della Mirandola believed that there were no limits to what human beings could accomplish. 3. Ancient Latin style was considered superior to medieval Latin. D. Secular spirit 1. Secularism means a concern with materialism rather than religion. 2. Unlike medieval people, Renaissance people were concerned with money and pleasure. a. In On Pleasure, Lorenzo Valla defended the pleasure of the senses as the highest good. b. In the Decameron, Boccaccio portrayed an acquisitive and worldly society. 3. The church did little to combat secularism; in fact, many popes were Renaissance patrons and participants--and the church even gave up its opposition to usury. Art and the artist A. The quattrocento (1400s) and the cinquecento (1500s) saw dazzling artistic achievements, led by Florence and Rome. B. Art and power 1. In the early Renaissance, powerful urban groups commissioned works of art, which remained overwhelmingly religious.
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In the later fifteenth century, individuals and oligarchs began to sponsor works of art as a means of selfglorification. 3. Wealthy people began to spend less on warfare and more on art and architecture. a. At first the bed chamber room was the most important, but later many other rooms were even more decorated. b. The home's private chapel was the most elaborate and expensive. 4. As the century advanced, art became more and more secular, and classical subjects became popular. a. The style of art changed in the fifteenth century. b. The individual portrait emerged as a distinct genre. c. Painting and sculpture became more naturalistic and realistic, and the human body was glorified, as in the work of the sculptors Donatello and Michelangelo. d. A new "international style" emphasized color, decorative detail, and curvilinear rhythms. e. In painting, the use of perspective was pioneered by Brunelleschi and della Francesca. C. The status of the artist 1. The status of the artist improved during the Renaissance; most work was done by commission from a prince. 2. The creative genius of the artist was recognized and rewarded. 3. The Renaissance was largely an elitist movement; Renaissance culture did not directly affect the middle classes or the urban working class. Social change during the Renaissance A. Education and political thought 1. Humanists were interested in education, particularly the training of rulers, and moral behavior. a. Vergerio wrote a treatise on education that stressed the teaching of history, ethics, and rhetoric (public speaking). b. Castiglione's The Courtier, which was widely read, described the model Renaissance gentleman as a man of many talents, including intellectual and artistic skills. c. Machiavelli's The Prince described how to acquire, maintain, and increase political power. d. Machiavelli believed that the politician should manipulate people and use any means to gain power. e. Machiavelli did not advocate amoral behavior but believed that political action cannot be governed by moral considerations. B. The printed word 1. The invention in 1455 of movable type by Gutenberg, Fust, and Schöffer made possible the printing of a wide variety of texts. 2. Printing transformed the lives of Europeans by making propaganda possible, encouraging a wider common identity, and improving literacy. C. Clocks 1. By about 1320 some Europeans had learned how to quantify time by use of the mechanical "clock"--meaning "bells." 2. Clocks were important for understanding and controlling urban-economic life. D. Women and work in Renaissance society 1. Most women married, were responsible for domestic affairs, and frequently worked outside the home. 2. Women worked in ship building, textiles, agriculture, as well as midwives and servants. 3. Compared to women in the previous age, the status of upperclass women declined during the Renaissance. 4. . The Renaissance did not include women in the general improvement of educational opportunities. Women were expected to use their education solely to run a household. E. Culture and sexuality 1. With respect to sex and love, a double standard was applied as sex for women was restricted to marriage, while men could pursue sex outside of marriage. 2. The rape of women by upperclass men was frequent and not considered a serious offense. 3. Sex crimes occurred and were punished, but women appear to be victims in fewer cases than earlier. 4. Homosexual practice appears to have been common, particularly based on relationship between men and boys.
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Some of this sexual activity seems to have evolved out of social-community needs of men. The frequency of anti-sodomy laws in the fifteenth century suggests that homosexuality was widespread, difficult to outlaw, and important in shaping masculine gender identity. F. Blacks and ethnicity in Renaissance society 1. Enslavement of Slavic peoples in eastern Europe was common--as Germans and others enslaved and/or sold Polish and Bohemian people. 2. Italians brought many white slaves to Europe by way of the Mediterranean. 3. Beginning in the fifteenth century, black slaves were brought into Europe in large numbers. 4. Black slavery in Europe appears to have been less harsh than that in America. 5. Some black rulers in Africa adopted a European lifestyle and participated in selling their black people into European slavery. 6. Africans, in fact, were of different ethnic groups and thus biracial. 7. Blacks as slaves and freemen filled a variety of positions, from laborers to dancers and actors and musicians. 8. The European attitude toward blacks was ambivalent--blackness symbolized both evil and humility. 9. In the Renaissance, blacks were displayed as signs of wealth. The Renaissance in the north began in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. A. It was more Christian than the Renaissance in Italy, and it stressed social reform based on Christian ideals. B. Christian humanists sought to create a more perfect world by combining the best elements of classical and Christian cultures. 1. Humanists like Lefèvre believed in the use of the Bible by common people. 2. Thomas More, the author of U topia, believed that society, not people, needed improving. a. More was a Christian lawyer and minister of King Henry VIII. b. His U topia was a socialistic society based on common ownership and social equality. 3. The Dutch monk Erasmus best represents Christian humanism in his emphasis on education as the key to a moral and intellectual improvement and inner Christianity. C. The stories of the French humanist Rabelais were distinctly secular but still had a serious purpose. 1. Like More, Rabelais believed that institutions molded individuals and that education was the key to moral life. 2. His books on the adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel were spoofs on French social life. D. Northern art and architecture were more religious than in Italy and less influenced by classical themes and motifs. 1. Van Eyck painted realistic works with attention to human personality. 2. Bosch used religion and folk legends as themes. 3. The city halls of northern Europe were grand architectural monuments. Politics and the state in the Renaissance (ca. 1450-1521) A. Fifteenthcentury rulers began the process of order through centralization of power. 1. The result was the rise of many powerful and ruthless rulers interested in the centralization of power and the elimination of disorder and violence. 2. Many of them, such as Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, seemed to be acting according to Machiavelli's principles. 3. These monarchs invested kingship with a strong sense of royal authority and national purpose. 4. The ideas of the new monarchs were not entirely original--some of them had their roots in the Middle Ages.5. The ideas of the new monarchs were not entirely original--some of them had their roots in the Middle Ages. B. France after the Hundred Years' War 1. Charles VII ushered in an age of recovery and ended civil war. a. He expelled the English, reorganized the royal council, strengthened royal finances, reformed the justice system, and remodeled the army. b. He made the church subject to the state. 2. Louis XI expanded the French state and laid the foundations of later French absolutism. C. England also suffered from disorder. 1. Feudal lords controlled the royal council and Parliament in the fifteenth century. 2. Between 1455 and 1471, the houses of York and Lancaster fought a civil war called the Wars of the Roses that hurt trade, agriculture, and domestic industry. 3. Edward IV and his followers began to restore royal power, avoided expensive war, and reduced their reliance on Parliament for funds.
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The English Parliament had become a power center for the aristocracy but was manipulated by Henry VII into becoming a tool of the king. 5. Henry VII used the royal council and the court of Star Chamber to check aristocratic power. 6. Henry VII and his successors won the support of the upper middle class promoting their interest in money, trade, and stability. Spain turned against its own cultural diversity 1. The reconquista was the centurieslong attempt to unite Spain and expel Muslims and Jews. 2. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella was the last major step in the unification and Christianization of Spain. a. Under their reign, however, Spain remained a loose confederation of separate states. b. They used the hermandades, or local police forces, to administer royal justice. 3. Ferdinand and Isabella restructured the royal council to curb aristocratic power. 4. The church was also used to strengthen royal authority. 5. Ferdinand and Isabella completed the reconquista in 1492, but many Jews remained because they aided royal power. a. Jews were often financiers and professionals; many (called conversos) had converted but were still disliked and distrusted. b. Needing a scapegoat during the Black Death, Spanish mobs killed many Jews. c. Ferdinand and Isabella revived the Inquisition and used its cruel methods to unify Spain and expel the Jews. 6. Spanish Christians rejected conversos on the basis of race--out of fear of conversos taking over public offices. Most Jews fled from Spain.
