Renaissance Pre-U Paper 2b Early Modern European History Notes (Written by a D1 Student)
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Course
Paper 2b Early Modern European History
Institution
CIE
In need of some help to smash your Pre-U exam on the Italian Renaissance? Then look no further!
Written by a D1 student who later obtained a first in History from Oxford, these detailed notes can help you save time and obtain a better mark.
The 28 pages of word-processed notes cover the follo...
- The concept; de nitions, chronology; why Italy
- Origins of and explanations for the cultural owering of the period; classical model
- Literature; painting, sculpture and architecture; representative writers, artists and
architects; examples of work
- The role of the city state
- Patronage lay and ecclesiastical; the Papac
Question
1) How are the artistic and cultural achievements of the city states of fteenth-century Italy
best explained? (2010
2) Is ‘renaissance’ the most appropriate term for the artistic and cultural developments in
Italy in this period? (2012
3) How great was the contribution of both clerical and lay patrons to the development of
the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance? (2013
4) What best explains the cultural owering in Italy in this period? (2014
5) ‘Without patronage there would have been no Italian Renaissance.’ Discuss. (2015
6) What best explains why Italy underwent a cultural renaissance in the fteenth century?
(2016
What was the Renaissance
- The term “Renaissance” was not used by contemporaries, but applied by art critics in the
eighteenth century to the classicising style of the fteenth and sixteenth centuries.
- A blossoming of European art and scholarship between the early 14th and 16th centuries
- Started when some Italians began to cultivate the study of classical authors and to
invoke explicitly pagan (non mainstream religious beliefs) classical ideals
- “Re-birth” of lost tradition (classical antiquity)
- The Renaissance had its roots in the humanism which rediscovered the ancient past.
Superiority of the classical antique. Latin and ancient Greek texts were studied (the
latter by 1500). These provided the blueprints for Renaissance artists to imitate
- In medieval times, the past was studied in a religious context. In the Renaissance,
people looked for classical inspiration (wholly distinct from Christianity) to improve
their own lives in the present, not just to nd religious signi cance. The ecclesiastical
monopoly on culture broke up
- Art is no longer con ned to the service of God. It has more genres
- Concept of Uomo Universale - expanded mankind’s view of human excellence
- Mankind was becoming more important and realised it had a great deal more
potential to ful l than the Church had previously taught (Humanism).
- Classical civilisation represented an ideal – prosperous, well-governed republics
where art ourished
- Some historians stress that the Renaissance was greatly in uenced by the medieval
world, Flanders, Paris and Byzantium. However, whilst true, one should not
underestimate the creative strength and originality in 15th century Italy. While art and
sculpture had had precursors (e.g. Giotto), it was the scale of achievement that was
new - very many genii spread over only a century and a half
- The achievement in four or ve generations was so great that its tradition of creative
imagination survived and Italian art continued to inspire Europe for the next four
hundred years
What was humanism
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, Humanists operated mainly between 1350 and 1530
- Philosophy about perfect human values and ideals
- Man could better himself through the unlimited potential he was given by God
- Shown in the visual arts
Renaissance thinkers sought to reformulate the ancient tradition
Renaissance humanists studied the thoughts of the ancients. This, combined with linguistic skills,
enabled them to reformulate the insights of Christian scholars and to give a new account of the
nature of humans, society, the arts and science
A knowledge of the ancient classics, art, literature, music and conversational skills became the
hallmark of a gentleman (“l’uomo universale”), whatever their class.
During the Middle Ages, everyone accepted the superiority of the religious life. Previously, curiosity
had to nd satisfaction in the Bible. During the Renaissance, it became easier for men to try to
understand the world in its own terms, not God’s. This quest for truth can be seen in Machiavelli’s
writings and the High Renaissance, which sought to depict humans and nature as realistically as
possible
Latin text
Most of the Roman works known to the modern world were already in circulation during the Middle
Ages. Therefore, the “discovery” of already known texts (by reading and commenting on them with
a new critical spirit) was more important than the physical discovery of lost texts.
Cicero had the greatest impact on the humanists (partly as he was a guide to rhetorical style) and
became the benchmark for style until by the end of the fteenth century the highly-imitative
Ciceronian style aroused much resistance
Before the humanists, knowledge of the classical world was scanty as many works were read
without context. However, the early humanists read works thoroughly, making notes on names and
places, allowing them to build up a new and more complete image of Rome
Greek text
Manuel Chrysoloras stayed in Florence between 1397 and 1400 while seeking help from Italy to
defend his native Byzantium from the Turks. He taught the humanists Greek and in 1415 prepared
a Greek grammar book to teach Greek to Latin-speakers (although it was only printed in 1480)
Greek literacy opened up a whole new area of humanist study, especially as the Greek written
tradition was much greater and covered areas in which Latin literature was weak (e.g. philosophy,
maths and science)
By the early 1400s there was a whole generation of Italian-born Hellenists who were able to teach
Greek to their compatriots
The greatness of ma
The Renaissance was “the discovery of the world and of man” (Burckhardt). However,
individualism is a modern construct and assumes that the individual is paramount and the source
of all values. Renaissance humanists saw the human being as existing within a providential
universe and achieving his full perfection in af rming its moral and intellectual order. This was an
essentially Christian view
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, Giannozzo Manetti’s “On the Dignity and Excellence of Man” (1453) argued (with justi cation from
Cicero and St. Augustine) that the human soul and body were excellent. This contrasted with Pope
Inncoent III’s “De contemptu mundi”, which pointed to the frailty of the human existence, a view
that tied in with medieval Christianity’s aim to encourage people to contemplate the afterlife rather
than worldly objects
Manetti emphasises humans’ ability as gifted creators capable of a great destiny. This uplifting
vision was grounded in Christianity but enriched by ancient philosophical and literary traditions that
humanists had re-discovered
The new discoveries that were taking place (e.g. New World) con rmed their belief that their age
was new. Such convictions bred a sense of liberation and encouraged a belief in the unique quality
of personal destiny. Alberti: “Men are themselves the source of their own fortune and misfortune”.
This attitude was deeply bound up with the growing capitalism of society, in which the merchant
sought to pro t by gambling on his own ingenuity
Aretino: “I do not need to copy Petrarch or Boccaccio. My own genius is enough…” Aretino wrote
his comedy “La Cortigiana”, with complete disrespect for the models of Terence and Plautus
The medieval ideal of man had been a hermit, whose contact with God brought salvation to others.
The humanist ideal was a man of affairs, who combined intellectual and practical insights and
could therefore change his community for the better with his knowledge of deep matters. Action
was more important than thought
Civic humanis
Coluccio Saluti, in 1398, argued that “if you provide for and serve and strive for your family… and
your state… you cannot fail to raise your heart to heavenly things and please God.
Humanists accepted that one could lead a virtuous life in the world (as opposed to previously when
monasteries were the only way)
A sense of sin clung to usury and banking and they felt the need to return part of their pro ts to
bene t Florence. Cosimo patronised the monastery of San Marco, his parish church of San
Lorenzo and Donatello. Lorenzo patronised philosophers but nonetheless spent lavishly on art
In 1402, Giangaleazzo Visconti encircled Florence. Humanists in Florence supported the
resistance (e.g. the Florentine Chancellor Coluccio Salutati emphasised that what made Florence
great was its freedom and political liberty). In June 1402 these principles seemed to be vindicated
by the fact that Giangaleazzo himself caught the plague and died, saving Florence
Hans Baron has shown that the Florentines saw their survival as a triumph of civic virtue - the
triumph of republicans over tyrants. They felt that the ancient Roman virtues, as expressed by
Cicero, had been reborn in Florence. This gave particular impetus to the Renaissance in Florence
Printin
Scholars prepared texts for printing by correcting words that had been mistakenly altered in the
process of transcription by scribes, suggesting how fragmentary statements could have been
completed
The close textual examination of texts also raised signi cant intellectual issues. For example,
Ermolao Barbaro the Younger sought to nd Pliny’s intention in writing his encyclopaedias,
something of great importance in factual books
Aldo Manuzi
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