Chapter 13- European Society in the Age of the Renaissance 1350-1500

I. Economic and Political Developments

A. Commercial Developments
1. Venice became very rich through overseas commerce.
2. Genoa and Milan were also involved in commerce with the Middle East and
northern Europe.
3. The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy
a. Florence grew enormously rich through commerce, even though there
were geographical constraints.
b. Florence merchants traveled via the seas in order to trade their products.
c. Florence merchants and bankers collected tithes (papal tax), which also
greatly contributed to Florences enormous wealth during the
Renaissance.
d. Banking families, such as the Medicis, controlled the politics and culture
of their city.
4. The economy of Florence was so strong that a severe crisis would not destroy
Florence.
B. Communes and Republics
1. Communes consisted of northern Italian states seeking political and economic
independence from nobles.
2. The merchant guilds that formed the Communes kept civil order, stabilized the
economy, and protected the citys borders.
3. An Oligarchy formed due to the northern Italian merger and because of the
commercial elite of northern Italy.
4. The common people in northern Italy, also known as the popolo, were heavily
taxed.
a. Due to the heavy taxation, the popolo used violence to take over the
government.
b. Republic-type governments were established in Bologna, Siena, Parma,
Florence, Genoa, and other cities in northern Italy.
5. Out of forty-thousand people, two hundred men held the power of
government, but in reality, the Medici family held the most power due to their
wealthy status in Florence.
C. The Balance of Power Among Italian City-States
1. Throughout the fifteenth century, Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States, and the
Kingdom of Naples dominated the Italian peninsula.
2. The constant competition for power prevented political centralization on the Italian
peninsula.
3. Towards the end of the Fifteenth century, Florence and Naples agreed to acquire
Milanese territories.

4. The Holy Roman Emperor, Spain, and France vied for dominance of the Italian
peninsula.
5. In 1527, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V conquered Rome.
II. Intellectual Change
A. Humanism
1. Humanism emphasizes human beings, their capabilities, interests, and
accomplishments.
2. Humanism was a popular practice during the Renaissance, unlike the Medieval
Times, where people looked at a groups achievements, contrary to individualism.
3. Some people during the Renaissance were interested in archaeology and the study
of Latin classics.
4. Latin classics were studied by humanists greatly because the classics revealed
information about human nature.
5. The attitude of individualism stressed uniqueness, genius, and personality.
B. Education
1. Education and moral behavior was heavily emphasized by humanists during the
Renaissance.
2. Humanists opened schools and academies throughout the Italian peninsula.
3. Humanists were hesitative in regards to education for women.
a. Humanists, especially Leonard Bruni, said, rhetoric in all its forms lies
absolutely outside the province of women and that the field of religion
and morals should be what women should focus on rather than a regular
education.
b. Women during this time were seen as housewives; care for the children,
care for the animals and crops, clean, and cook (this has been viewed of
women for centuries).
c. At this time, only wealthy women could receive formal education via a
private tutor.
C. Political Thought
1.
The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli (1513) addressed the subject of
political power; typically kings at the time.
2.
In The Prince, Machiavelli addresses that humans are selfish and self-centered,
which means that a political leader (king) has to be manipulative, and suit the needs of
his country and people.
3.
Machiavelli believes that a prince should combine the cunning of a fox with
the ferocity of a lion to achieve his goals.
D. Secular Spirit
1.
Secularism is the ideology focusing on the basic concern with the material
world rather than the spiritual world.

2.
People during the Renaissance began to see life more as an opportunity rather
than a live devoted to God.
3.
Humanist Lorenzo Valla argued that a pleasure of the senses was the highest
good.
4.
Giovanni Boccaccio wrote tales about a sensual, acquisitive, worldly society.
5.
Church leaders during the Renaissance beautified the city of Rome (ie. Built
St. Peters cathedral), patronized artists, and expended enthusiasm and huge sums of
money.
6.
Multiple people (including Machiavelli) questioned the basic teachings of the
Christian religion.
E. Christian Humanism
1. Christian humanists blended Italian ideas in the context of their own traditions.
2. An ethical way of life was what Christian humanists were interested in during
the Renaissance.
3. Englishman Thomas More (1478-1535) wrote Utopia (1516) which described a
congruous community somewhere off the mainland of the mainland of the New
World.
4. Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) of Rotterdam was the leading
Christian humanist of his time.
5. There were two fundamental themes that ran through Erasmuss work.
a. Education to Erasmus is the key to moral, intellectual improvement, and
the means to reform.
b. The core of education according to Erasmus was the study of the bible and
the classics.
c. The second fundamental theme was the loyalty to the philosophy of Christ.
F. The Printed Word
1. There was a huge impact on the spread of new ideas due to the invention of the
movable medal type (developed in Germany; mid-fifteenth century).
2. The development of primary schools, the opening of new universities, and urban
literacy expanded the market for printed materials (ie. The Bible, tales, stories)
3. By the middle of the fifteenth century, acquiring paper for books was not an
issue.
4. The movable type brought about radical changes within fifty years of the
publication of Gutenbergs Bible (1456).
5. Publishers printed books that suited everyones needs.
III. Art and the Artist
A. Art and Power
1. Groups such as guilds sponsored religious art during the early Renaissance.
a. In the later fifteenth century, oligarchs and individuals rather than guilds
and corporate groups, sponsored works of art (artistic patrons).
2. The patrons urban palaces were full of art and expensive furnishings.

B. Subject and Style

1. Human ideals, realistic style, classical themes, and individual portraits
characterized Renaissance art.
2. The subject matter of art in Italy became steadily more secular as the fifteenth
advanced.
3. Art produced throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tended to be a
lot more religious than the art produced in Italy.
4. Venice and Rome rose to artistic prestige throughout the sixteenth century.
C. Patronage and Creativity
1. Artists during the Renaissance did not produce art for the public. It was
mainly for the artistic patrons, which funded the artists work.
a. The right patrons (typically merchants and princes) rewarded artists very
well with money.
2. Some artists of the Renaissance boasted about their creativity.
3. Renaissance culture did not affect the lives of the poor or urban middle
class.
4. Women were discriminated in the field of art (ie. Women couldnt study the
male nude and learn the artistic technique of fresco).
IV. Social Hierarchies
A. Race
1. Renaissance ideas about race were closely linked with those about blood
and ethnicity.
2. The meaning of race originated in the eighteenth century by European
natural scientists.
3. Some people of the Renaissance were considered racist (interpreted by its
meaning in the present) by discriminating others based on ones skin color
(typically African-Americans).
4. Throughout the fifteenth century black slaves entered Europe.
a. A thousand of black slaves a year were sold throughout multiple
markets by Portuguese explorers.
b. African slaves didnt always have to work in harsh working conditions.
c. African slaves served many positions such as maids, dancers, actors,
servants, etc.
B. Class
1. The term class did not develop its current meaning until the nineteenth
century by social theorists.
2. Social status was determined by clothing, wealth, marriage, type of
dwelling, etc. (Sumptuary laws).
3. In the cities, social hierarchies were very complex.

C. Gender
1. Unlike the terms race (eighteenth century concept) and class (nineteenth
century concept, the term gender grew out of the womens movement in the
nineteenth/twentieth century.
2. People in the Renaissance conceptualized the term gender to categories of
nouns from European languages (unlike its modern conceptualization).
3. During the Renaissance, there was a huge debate in regards to the
status/position of women in society.
a. During the beginning of the sixteenth century, there was also a debate
about females becoming female rulers.
4. The ideas of men and women shaped the actions of Renaissancemonarchs.
V. Politics and the State of the Renaissance
A. France
1. France was left in ruins after the Hundred Years War until Charles VII (r.
1422-1461) revived the monarchy in France.
a. Charles VII organized an army, increased influence for middle-class
men, created taxes on the land and salt, and asserted his right to appoint
bishops (Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges).
2. Louis XI (r. 1461-1483), Charles VIIs son, used forced tax dollars from
artisans to build up his army.
3. Two further developments helped strengthen the French monarchy.
a. The marriage of Louis XII (r.1498-1515) and Anne of Brittany added the
western Brittany to the state.
b. The Concordat of Bologna (treaty) gave French monarchs control over
papal officials within the kingdom of France (also received the first-year
income of bishops and abbots.
B. England
1. English society during the fifteenth century suffered greatly from disorders
of the English state.
2. Edward IV (r.1461-1483) of England ended the War of the Roses between
York and Lancaster.
3. Henry VII (r. 1485-1509) ruled with his advisers, rather than Parliament.
4. The royal council of Henry VII handled any business for the king
(executive, legislative, judicial).
a. The royal council dealt with real/potential aristocratic threats through a
judicial offshoot (Court of Star Chamber)
5. The Tudor dynasty won the support of the upper middle-class.
6. Henry VII left the country at peace domestically and internationally after
his death.
C. Spain
1. Spain remained a mixture of independent kingdoms throughout until the
year 1700.

2. In 1700, the wedding of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon

occurred, which led to some centralization throughout Spain.
3. Ferdinand and Isabella both worked together to stop violence among
Spanish nobles, recruited middle-class advisers onto their royal council, and
secured the right to appoint bishops in Spain and its conquered territories.
4. In the fourteenth century, anti-Semitism was popular in Spain. Ferdinand
and Isabella in 1478 started the inquisition of Spain. Their goal was to
search/punish Jewish converts who secretly practiced their Jewish customs.
5. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all Jews from Spain.
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