APEC Chapter 12

Chapter 12 covers the Renaissance, a revival of Greco-Roman ideas. The Hansa rose and fell, and commercial power of Italy grew. Italy was dominated by five states struggling with each other. New intellectual and art movements caused the blooming of famous works. Political changes drastically changed Europe.

The Renaissance followed the Middle Ages. French for "rebirth", the term was popularized by Burckhardt's Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Mostly a product of the elite, the artistic and intellectual movements had a new regard for human worth. Cities became important cultural hubs.

Economic recovery
Commerce via boating flourished during this time. The Hanseatic League was a commercial and military association of towns along the North Sea and Baltic Sea and had a hub at Bruges. However, with the silting of the bay at Bruges, the league declined. This caused the rise of other maritime powers such as Venice and Florence.

Florence, often considered the center of the Renaissance, experienced a revival of industries, notably the wool industry. A prominent banking family, the Medicis, sponsored art projects and provided money for many industries and even the papacy.

Social changes
The population consisted of three estates.

First estate
The first estate consisted of the clergy.

Nobility
The nobility constituted the second estate and about 2-3% of the population in Europe. Castiglione stated in his Book of the Courtier that nobles had fundamental endowments such as grace and character, but had to be educated and show good conduct.

Peasants and townspeople
The third estate was varied and constituted most of Europeans. In cities, patricians were at the top; these were successful entrepreneurs. Merchants and artisans were also town dwellers and were relatively wealthy, but cities also included paupers. The feudal system fell apart after the Middle Ages, so many former serfs were now free and worked their own small lots.

Slavery
Slaves were mostly used for skilled workers. They were imported from foreign regions, although slavery's popularity declined for humanitarian reasons.

Family
Arranged marriages were often strategic and were common. Important considerations included social status and dowry, paid to the groom which showed social status movement. The father was the center of the family, and the mother managed the family. Her important duty was to bear children, although many died in childbirth. Prostitution was common in this era.

Italy
During the Renaissance, Italy consisted of five major states; these were Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, and the Papal States. Milan was ruled by the Visconti and Sforza families and was very centralized. Venice was ruled by an oligarchy, and was expansive. Florence was ruled by a merchant oligarchy and later taken over by the Medicis. Naples was a backwards monarchy. The Papal States was ruled by the pope.

During the Great Schism, the papacy lost control of its territory, so cities like Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino became more independent. Federigo da Montefeltro, a benevolent despot from Urbino, was a patron of Renaissance arts. These cities also involved a greater role for women, including Isabella d'Este of Mantua.

Warfare
A balance of power was required to create peace in Italy. The states constantly warred, so the Peace of Lodi was created in 1454. Later, France and Spain warred for control of Italy. Although all the people spoke Italian, they had no sense of unity.

Modern diplomacy and Machiavellian statecraft
In the middle ages, an ambassador was a servant of all Christendom. Now, a diplomat served only his own country. Machiavelli wrote The Prince, which essentially stated that a ruler should be feared rather than loved.

Intellectual Renaissance
New movements included individualism, secularism, and humanism.

Humanists studied Greco-Roman ideas, the central "revival" of the Renaissance. Its father is said to be Petrarch. Bruni believed humanists should influence government, and Valla encouraged Latin.

Neoplatonism was a renewed interest in Plato's philosophy. Translation of his works was done by Ficino, who sought to merge Plato's ideas with Christianity. This gave rise to Hermeticism, which taught that humans were evil but could become good again.

Humanists supported education, which included many subjects. It was typically only for the upper class males, although females were sometimes educated too.

History was influenced by this movement, as history became secular. It was not considered to be anti-Christian, though.

The printing press, invented by Gutenberg, allowed books to be spread more quickly.

Artistic Renaissance
This began with Giotto and Masaccio, the artist of The Annunciation. In the early Renaissance, artists tried to accurately portray human anatomy and the world via perspective. Lorenzo the Magnificent formed a circle of artists which included Botticelli, the artist of Primavera and The Birth of Venus. Donatello was the sculptor David, and Brunelleschi is remembered for his Church of San Lorenzo.

The High Renaissance encouraged individuality. It included da Vinci, the artist of the Last Supper, Raphael, the artist of the School of Athens, and Michelangelo, who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

During this time, artists had increased social status. In the middle ages, they were in guilds which depended on patrons, but now they were more highly regarded.

Northern Renaissance
Like Gothic cathedrals, Northern Renaissance works had a lot of detail. Jan van Eyck, the artist of Giovanni Arnofini and His Bride, was known for using oil paints. Dürer created Adoration of the Magi and was largely influenced by the Italians.

Music
Pufay used secular tunes to replace the chants in the Mass. The madrigal was a poem set to music and increased in popularity.

Western monarchies
France was ruined by the Hundred Years' War, but recovered slowly. Well known rulers included Charles VII, who established a royal army, and Louis XI, known as the Spider.

England involved itself in a civil war, the War of the Roses, between the Lancasters and Yorks. Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field, establishing the new Tudor dynasty. Its prosperous regime included lower taxes.

When Ferdinand and Isabella married, a large portion of Spain was unified. Spain took over the clergy in its country, and expelled Jews and Muslims in the Inquisition.

The Holy Roman Empire was dominated by the Habsburg dynasty, who excelled in strategic marriages. Maximilian I centralized the empire and married Mary, granting him the Low Countries. Later, his son Philip married Joanna of Castile and their son Charles V was heir to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Spanish throne.

Eastern Europe
In eastern Europe, Poland lacked a strong central authority, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire but was a different ethnic group, and Hungary included some humanist movements. The principality of Moscow grew and Ivan III overthrew Mongol power in Russia.

The Ottoman Empire grew in the Balkans and eventually toppled Constantinople in 1453. Tension grew between it at Christendom.

Church
Many were accused of heresy, including those who spoke out against the Church. Wyclif encouraged the printing of the Bible in the vernacular, and his followers were Lollards. Hussites, following John Hus, were angry when their leader was burned at the stake for attacking corruption in the Church. A general loss of moral prestige of the Church occurred when the popes fought with councils. Popes also were military and political leaders, and as they could not establish dynasties, nepotism, the helping of family members with political power, was common.