Renaissance Lecture

History M01B – Krister Swanson – Moorpark College

Art & Philosophy in the MA

• Gothic art and architecture: very ornate, idealized, almost always religious, mystical & supernatural
• Scholasticism emphasizes established truths & dialectical reasoning (prove truth by countering argument against truth – if truth remains contradicted then there must be a new synthesis – new truth)

Renaissance Humanism

• Based on the development of vernacular literature – writing for laity, not clergy
• Life in all facets (love, greed, salvation, war) – not just religious argument
• Petrarch considered “father of humanism” – ditch Church Latin for classical Latin
• Elegance & style over painful logic & deduction of scholasticism

More Humanism

• Most humanists tried to reconcile the important Christian truths with ancient teachings
• Mechanical printing made new editions of classic texts widely available
• new printing brought about a communications revolution similar to the rise of the internet
• Writers no longer dependent on heavy patronage for publication

Formation of Nation States

• New Monarchs (royal authority & national purpose) king and town
• Power to tax (lower classes), enforce laws and make wars lies w/ central power, new nat’l civil servants
• Standing armies expensive to king, poor bear brunt of taxation (w/ no rep), monarchs borrow from rich
• Monarchs don’t call assemblies (source of noble power)

France:

• England & Burgundy out of picture
• Charles VII (land & salt taxes, new army) sets stage for Louis XI (economy, diplomatic corps, bur.)
• successors launch bad Foreign policy (invasions of Italy, Haps-Val Wars), so France slips - but is territorially solid & controls church

Spain:

• Ferdinand(Aragon)& Isabelle(Castille) marry Ô joint kingdoms with common foreign policy
• secure borders (Catholicize with reconquista) & venture abroad militarily
• Inquisition to convert Spain (Moors, Jews) to RC
• build alliances through marriage, Cathy + Henry VIII, grandson becomes Charles V, all anti-France
• Patronize exploration & discovery

England:

• Henry VI (L-1422) seizes throne, disruption reigns
• 1455-1471: War of Roses (York vs. Lancaster)
• Edward IV (Y-1461) knocks Henry off, starts rebuilding monarchy
• Richard III (Y-1483) - nephew killer, unpopular - leads to support for...
• Henry VII (L 1485-1509) who starts Tudor dynasty & sets stage for “Elizabethan” England
• Tudor policy favors MC and ensures their support
• Henry VII also secures England internationally by marriage & by crushing revolt in Ireland

Italian Politics during the Ren.

• Ciompi Revolt (1378)- Italian Jacquerie
• Despotism, Podestas & Mercenary armies keep peace & economies functioning
• Treaty of Lodi keeps C-Ss unified, cooperate vs. invasion, until...

Corrupt Popes & French Visitors

• Charles VIII (Fr.) invades Italy (Flor., Pap. Nap.), invited by il Moro (8/14/95), gets comfy
• Ferdinand fears F & I alliance, forms League of Venice w/Milan, HRE & Pap. & pushes Chuck out
• Pope Alexander VI wants Fr. back in Ô annuls Louis XII’s marriage & abandons L of V, so...

• Louis XII invades Italy (1499), Pope reunites Romagna (Papal States) makes son Duke
• Julius II follows Alex (1503), unifies Papal States (non-Borgia), forms 2^nd L of V with everyone, kicks Fr. out
• 1515 Francis I invades, wins Conc. of Bol. (French control own church, stay RC), leads to Haps-Val Wars

Life in the Holy Roman Empire

• controlled by princes until Hapsburgs
• Maxmillian I Ü Phillip I (marries Ferd’s daughter)Ü Charles V rules both Sp. and Aust. sides of empire
• Charles V begins to attack Francis I (Haps-Valois Wars, 1521-1559)
• Henry VIII(Eng.)helps Haps,Francis hangs on

More Life in the HRE

• Wars end when France gives up claims to Italy & gets to maintain territory
• 1556- Charles V abdicates, Spanish side to son (Phillip II), Austria & title to bro Ferdinand I

Renaissance Art Overview

• urban
• subs one authority for other, Church not only patron
• Talented artists become highly valued (need to communicate)
• prosperity of trade, power of the individual, return to classic subject matter (neoplatonism) in addition to religion

Early Renaissance (1400s)

• Massaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi
• humanist thought Ô idealized forms
• linear perspective (orthogonals), separation of planes & correct proportion are big

High Renaissance (1495-1520)

• DaVinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael
• new rules from early + personal style
• emotional response to secular material
• chiaroscuro enhances natural feel

Late Renaissance

• sack of Rome, no patronage
• Mannerism- extremely personal style, value on technique, refinement, and effect - emphasis on grace

Architecture

• classical forms (domes, columns, ornament-ation) applied to new buildings
• supports hidden (no buttresses)

Renaissance “Princes”

• any gender, any title
• courtiers= all cronies & power brokers, hangers-on, etc.
• possible to make career as a public servant, administrators make will of “prince” the reality

Machiavelli (1469-1527)

• turmoil forms his thought, It. political unity is a goal worth any means
• Virtu (from Rome)- ability to act decisively & heroically
• critical of inner feuding, only strongman can solve
• fan of Borgias, hoped a Medici would unite Italy
• big on Pope-Ruler combo