Transcript Intellectual Renaissance

The Renaissance: Overview and Intellectualism
Florence, Italy
Review: Meaning and Characteristics of
the Italian Renaissance
Renaissance = Rebirth
Jacob Burkhardt, Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860)
“Birthplace of the modern world”
• Rebirth of Greco-Roman culture
• Perfecting the individual
(or idealizing humanity)
• Secularism
Urban Society
Age of Recovery
Black Death, Political Disorder, Economic Recession
Review: Social Changes in the
Renaissance
The Nobility
Aristocracy: 2 – 3 percent of the population
Baldassare Castiglione (1478 – 1529)
The Book of the Courtier (1528)
• Service to the prince
• Ideal of the well developed person
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Good character
Grace
Classical education
Draw and paint
Play a musical instrument
Review: Peasants and
Townspeople
Peasants
Peasants: 85 – 90 percent of population
Decline of manorial system and serfdom
Urban Society
Patricians
Petty burghers, shopkeepers, artisans, guildmasters, and
guildsmen
The Poor and Unemployed
Slaves
Family and Marriage in
Renaissance Italy
Arranged Marriages
Father-husband head of family
Wife managed household
Childbirth
Mothers 10% death rate
Sexual Norms
Extramarital relationships
• arranged marriage and age gap between husband and wife
Prostitution
• a “necessary evil” and regulated by the government
Italian States in the
Renaissance
Italian States in the Renaissance
Five Major Powers
Milan
Venice
Florence
• The Medici
The Papal States
Kingdom of Naples
Independent City-States
• Mantua
•The Role of Women
•Isabella d’Este- ruled Mantua
• Made Mantua a center for art and learning in the
Renaissance
• Amassed one of the finest libraries in Italy
Italian Wars
The Battle of Pavia, unknown Flemish artist, 16th century
France and Spain fight over the
Italian peninsula
Powerful monarchies in France (Valois
Dynasty) vs. Spain & Holy Roman Empire
(Habsburg Dynasty)
Italy a battle ground for power struggle
between the two states
Attracted to wealth in Italy
Lack of unity among Italian states made
invasions possible
Modern diplomatic system- Began the use of ambassadors
CHRONOLOGY: The Italian States in the Renaissance
Florence
Cosimo de’ Medici
Lorenzo de’ Medici
1434-1464
1469-1492
Beginning of the Italian wars
- French and Spanish invasion of Italy
1494
Sack of Rome by Spanish & H.R.E.
1527
Habsburg victory in Italian wars
- Spain becomes the premier European power
1559
Challenge Question #1
What made France and Spain want to
invade Italy and what made their invasions
possible?
Challenge Question #2
What was the major result of the Italian
Wars?
The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
The Intellectual Renaissance in Italy
Two characteristics of Italian Renaissance
Individualism- interest in the unique traits of each
person
Secularism- an emphasis on material and worldly things
as opposed to religious things
Italian Renaissance Humanism
Humanism based on Greco-Roman literature
Studied the humanities subjects- grammar, rhetoric,
poetry, history, ethics
Petrarch (1304 – 1374)- father of Humanism
• Characterization of Middle Ages as “darkness”
• Interest in secular classics to remedy this period of darkness
 Ransacked monastic libraries in search of forgotten Latin manuscripts
Humanism in Civics
Civic Humanism – Florence
• Leonardo Bruni (1370 – 1444)
 New Cicero- fusion of the intellectual and political action
 Duty of the intellectual to live an active life for one’s state
 Humanists served as chancellors, councilors, and advisors
Bust of Cicero,
Roman philosopher
and politician
Challenge Question #3
Q: Describe a civic humanist
A: Someone who is involved in both
intellectual and political pursuits
Humanism and Philosophy
Neoplatonism
Marsilio Ficino (1433 – 1499) – Sponsored by Cosimo Medici
• Translated Plato’s dialogues
• Neoplatonism- synthesis of Christianity and the new awareness of the
writings of Plato.
• Hierarchy of substances: physical matter (plants)  Humans  God
• Humans were the link between the physical world (body) and spiritual world (soul)
Hermeticism
Intellectual movement of the 15th century that taught divinity is
embodied in all aspects of nature.
• Ficino translated a Greek manuscript Corpus Hermeticum at the request of
Cosimo Medici
 Hermetic manuscripts stressed occult sciences (astrology, alchemy, magic)
 Pantheism- seeing divinity in all aspects of nature.
Hermetic Revival of the Renaissance
• Renaissance
intellectuals believed human beings were created as divine
beings that freely chose to enter nature.
• Humans could rediscover their divinity through a purification of the soul
and become sages or magi.
Challenge Question #4
Q: How do Hermeticism and Neoplatonism
emphasize the Renaissance ideal of
perfecting the individual (idealizing
humanity)?
A: Close link between Humans and divinity
Neoplatonism- Humans link between God and
physical World
Hermeticism- believe humans are divine