These are my notes from the class “Modern History” taught by Dr. Feske. I audited this class, so I didn’t have to worry about studying from my notes, so I took them in a more narrative form than I would have otherwise. E.g. don’t bother trying to study from these – take your own notes. (This is pretty much just the first day of class anyway.)
Renaissance
Jakob Burckhardt was an historian of the 19th century who wrote a book in 1860 called the Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. His book interprets the renaissance as something entirely different from the time before, a complete break from the past (the medieval period). The Renaissance begins the modern age, according to Burckhardt.
Renaissance means “rebirth,” referring to the rebirth of the culture of the classical period. This implies that the human spirit was awakening from a long, dark, trancelike period – the middle ages. The Middle ages were considered culturally and politically stagnant by Burckhardt.
Is renaissance continuous with the period that came before it? Or is it so radically different as to be considered discontinuous? Burckhardt argues that it is discontinuous, while most modern historians disagree. Logically, the renaissance must have grown from the middle ages, just as any period of time is affected by the time before it. No age can be a complete break from the period that preceded it. Any age has roots in the time before.
It is still useful to think of the renaissance as something new. Changes occur in outlooks, institutions, and it creates a new style of European civilization. The Renaissance causes an awakening of interests that were strong in the classical period.
Discontinuities from the Middle Ages:
-Economically and Demographically
The birth of truly urban landscape since ancient Rome. If you have an urban society, you have an urban population, and therefore more bourgeoisies – people who live in a Bourg (city). This creates a large middle class with more influence and more money. They begin to exercise political power. The people of the middle class become the “movers and shakers” of society – this can be seen as a discontinuity.
-Politically
In the middle ages, feudal lords ruled, and lineage and heritage affected power. Increasingly in the renaissance, politics are moving towards a meritocracy, meaning that ambition and talent can earn you power and wealth.
-Religiously
Throughout the previous 1000 years or so, Christianity ruled with Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. Fragmentation comes during the reformation. The doctrines of the Catholic Church are protested, which leads to experimentation in many different areas. The source of religious fragmentation is the renaissance.
-Culturally and Intellectually
Society was previously theocentric – a society centered on religion (specifically, how an individual can achieve salvation). Reason is not considered very important. During the renaissance, reason replaces the theocentric ideas, completely changing the worldview.
-Educational Institutions
Theology is considered the queen of the sciences in the middle ages, but during the renaissance these ideas change and focus shifts to science, or as they would call it, “natural philosophy.”
The Renaissance begins in north and north-central Italy, which is not a coincidence. Northern Italy is different from the rest of Europe. It is at the crossroads of trading networks. Genoa and Venice start to gain wealth and power as trading nodes. What about the inner cities not involved in trading? They are involved in an indirect fashion; they become banking centers which fuel the trade. One such city was Florence, which becomes the main banking center in Europe. The most important banking family in Italy was the de Medici family, and they essentially run Italy for the next several hundred years. The papacy chooses de Medici to do its banking.
All of the cities in Italy at the time of the renaissance were city-states, similar to classical Greece. Alliances formed and shifted between all of the city-states to prevent any one city-state from controlling the others. This forms a balance of power system, lacking a hegemon (central power). In this situation, information is most important – who is allied with whom, what is the status of neighboring city-states, etc. This information is gathered through ambassadors, who send reports of their travels. This is a precursor of the modern diplomatic system.
Some city-states are ruled by Signori (lords), others are ruled by a merchant oligarchy. Some are republics, others have the appearance of democracy. In Venice, of about 9000, only 200 had political influence. Politics are not about inheriting power. Instead, there exists a Meritocracy – rule by those with talent.
Side note: The leader of Florence is called a Doge.
“The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn’t. So the Duke got the Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke! “
It should come as no surprise that these changes create a new image of man. In the middle ages, life on earth is about preparation for the afterlife. The renaissance views life on earth as more important, and more exciting. They aren’t as devoted to thinking about the next life. Increasingly, the idea of a contemplative and celibate life, like those of the monks, is becoming less attractive. It’s difficult for the Renaissance man to believe that reason can lead them astray and rely solely on faith. Therefore the conception of man flips from a frail, powerless figure that must rely on God to an image of a man who is potentially powerful, resourceful, and talented. This is related to the decline of the church after 1305.
Men of the renaissance are more interested in geniuses and heroes than the human in general. Humility is not a virtue, while assertiveness and ambition and self-absorption are common. Individualism plays a huge role in the psychology of the renaissance. One man that captures the idea that men can do whatever they want is Alberti. He is a sculptor, painter, philosopher, and architect. He said, “Men can do all things if they will.” This represents the complete change of intellectual outlook. When fortune presents itself, the Renaissance man seizes opportunity. They do not need outside help.
This preoccupation with the individual is present in all things that belong to the renaissance. It appears most distinctly in art, particularly painting and sculpture. Patrons hire artists to produce a work and provide a commission. Lorenzo de Medici’s family between 1435 and 1470 spend 662,000 florins. De Medici says, “I think the spending of this sum casts a brilliant light on our estate. And it seems to me that the money is well spent and I am pleased with this.”
One way that renaissance art is divided is by Proto-Renaissance, Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Late Renaissance.
Proto – Giotto deviates from flatness and uniformity
Early – Donatello, mainly a sculptor, begins to add interesting things like optical illusions. Begins to look more natural. Mosaccio is a painter who does fresco. Fresco is a painting that is part of the wall rather than on a wall. Brunelleschi is a famous architect. Ghiberti made friezes for cathedral doors.
High – Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo.
Late – Titian
Primarily this art is centered in Florence, until the high renaissance, where it moves to Rome. Later Venice gets in the mix, too. Suddenly, names of artists are becoming known, no longer nameless like in the middle ages.
The most important theory developed in the renaissance theory comes in Linear Perspective, which focuses everything into a vanishing point. This all based on mathematics. All of these people understand “sophisticated” math. Paulo Uccello likes to show off (painter) and does a triptych (three part painting) of the Battle of San Romano. In the painting there are lots of lances. The painting is in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. (Just like Medusa!). Linear perspective allows for realism. These look more realistic because they are usually set in a specific place. You don’t see this so much with middle ages paintings, they are more fantastical. Observation of anatomy also makes these look more realistic. These painters have a better understanding of the human body. They present human bodies that look the way they’re supposed to look. Renaissance painters become fascinated with nudes, because of their interest in individualism and the human body. In the renaissance painters are interested in conveying this individualism. If that means putting in blemishes, they do it. Portraiture is born, to capture the individuality of the person in front of you. The artist would represent faithfully what an individual looks like.
Art is becoming more secularized, like the rest of society. Still, most artistic works are religious.
Gear shift.
Humanism – comes from the word Humanitas, used by Cicero. It is a literary type of culture necessary for anyone to be educated. Humanism equates to the need to be educated. If you’re looking for the best examples of humans of the past, go to Rome or classical Greece.
Scholastics of the middle ages read classical texts only to make them fit into Christian theology, according to renaissance authors. Middle age thinkers didn’t understand the ancient world at all, they approach it in a faulty manner. The renaissance scholars must learn the languages of the ancients to read their works. They spend a lot of time studying ancient languages.
As the classical languages (e.g. vulgar latin) are criticized, the vernacular of different areas become more prominent.
They decide that the medieval view of history is wrong. The Middle Ages view man as a passive player in a game of destiny. Renaissance man sees man as an active player in the drama that men create for themselves. Lorenzo Valla is a renaissance humanist looks at the Donation of Constantine. This document claimed Constantine gave political control of the west roman empire to the church. It was discovered in 700s. Lorenzo Valla discovers that it’s fake. The Latin matches that of 700AD, decides that the church forged the document.
Secularization of Politics. Politics separate from church. This takes place in an entirely theistic society, though, remember! It’s a slight de-emphasis of religion.
Gutenberg’s movable type printing press. Paper developed in the mid 1200s. Suddenly books and pamphlets and ideas can move across borders much faster than they could have. These ideas move into different environments from Italy. North of alps. The places it moves to are much more pious. (lay piety). Outside of Italy, these renaissance humanist ideas are called “New Learning”. These ideas are sometimes used to criticize the church. The pious laity are looking for apostolic purity or original Christianity. They believe it has been corrupted. Their idea is not to undermine the faith, but to purify the faith. They are interested in using classical ideas to reform their world. They believe that if you combine Christian virtues with classic values you will improve the world. This is sometimes referred to as the Christianized renaissance. They are also interested in classical languages. Koine Greek was spoken by those in the time of Jesus. Also interested in classical Latin for religious reasons. They want to construct an accurate bible by going back to original languages. They argue that the Vulgate bible skews the original meanings.
One of the most important northern renaissance humans is Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus is a Dutchman born sometime in the 1460s, leading figure of the northern European humanist movement. He believes there are many problems in the world and the answer is education. He is a rationalist – if only man can use his reasoning capacity, you can reform society. Not surprisingly, he wants to discover a pure Christianity. He believes that Christianity has been corrupted by the church in that it has too much emphasis upon rituals. He is an anti-clericalist. The church worries about too much of the external, the church of old focused on the internal. He invests most of his time in translating the bible accurately. A master of several types of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, he publishes a new translation of the New Testament, but it’s in Greek. Not many at the time read Greek, but it’s still an important step. He dies in 1536, but never breaks from the church.
One of his protégés is Sir Thomas More. They exchange dozens of letters on different topics. He is an original thinker in his own right. In 1516, the year Erasmus publishes his new translation, he is an ambassador to the duke of Flanders. He writes a book called Utopia. Originally, topia means place, with prefix u meaning, no-place. E.g., this is a fantasy land. Eugenics – good genes. Could have been Eutopia – good place. Likely, though, no-place, a perfect world that exists only in the imagination. All of the children get a public education. Combines classical studies and Christian studies. All adults are laborers and intellectuals. In this society there is communism. Everyone lives a perfect rational existence. Their environment is perfect, so they are perfect. There’s a problem with this because More is a catholic. Born with original sin, cannot be perfected, this book is out of step with catholic tradition. More is executed for treason by the king of England. More refuses to accept Henry VIII’s annulment. By not embracing this change, king thinks he’s undermining the power of the king.
A good example of how this plays out over the centuries is Shakespeare’s plays – human beings matter.
Renaissance men don’t see themselves as reverting back to classical society, they just use the ideas of the classicists to progress society.
