Italy

Question 1

What are the people like in Italy?

Answer 1

More urban than most Europeans, but still not super wealthy people
Craftsmen and craftswomen (middle class people)

Question 2

What does Venice do in terms of trade?

Answer 2

Taxes/shipping fees let the little guys make money, too; they don’t have to give money to a king, because they don’t have a king
Laws benefit the small investor and not just the rich

Question 3

What sorts of things were imported to Italy? What do these imports cause?

Answer 3

Black pepper was most popular spice (it wasn’t one that grew in Europe)
Silk, pepper & spices, dye stuffs (worth a lot of money)
A monster spending spree results in the economy that pushes forward the Renaissance

Question 4

Sicily

Answer 4

Belonged to Ferdinand of Aragon (Spain)
Used by everyone; in the middle of the Mediterranean
History of food relies on Sicily

Question 5

Naples

Answer 5

Independent kingdom

Goes to Spain in 1504

Question 6

Rome used to be a capital of a great empire? When the Early Renaissance begins, what has it become? Who lives here?

Answer 6

Failed city
Much smaller
Neglected (violence, rats, crumbling infrastructure)
Pope lives here; Papal States are a buffer zone that they own (also farmland)

Question 7

What are the two ruling families of Milan?

Answer 7

Sforza and Visconti

Question 8

Who is Ludorico Sforza?

Answer 8

Duke of Milan

Asked Leonardo da Vinci to make statues of his dad out of bronze

Question 9

Florence

Answer 9

Arts center
Key state for selling finished fabrics
Made money off of their wool textiles

Question 10

Who is the dominant family of Florence?

Answer 10

De Medici family

Weavers, and then presidents of the wool guild

Question 11

What is a guild? What does it lead to?

Answer 11

Regulation group, apprenticeship, labor union

Leads to extremely high quality products and protection for employees/their families

Question 12

Who is Lorenzo the Magnificent? What does he do in 1469?

Answer 12

Not royal, just really rich
Decides to take the form of a Republic and make it work for him
Committee of 70
City council (he’s the head)

Question 13

Genoa

Answer 13

Naval power

Columbus is from here

Question 14

What is the Peace of Lodi?

Answer 14

1454
“I think we’ve done enough killing, maybe we should stop”
Treaty signed in Lodi; 40 years of peace afterwards

In these 40 years, all the best art comes out because more money is put into art rather than war

Question 15

What happens in 1494 to break the Peace of Lodi?

Answer 15

Milan is scared of being outnumbered and conquered
Sforza invites France to help invade Naples and Florence
France destroys Naples, Florence, AND Milan (on the way back)
Italy will not unify again for 400 years

Ludorico asks Max of Habsburg (of Austria) to help
De Medicis flee for their lives

Question 16

Who is Savonarola? Where does he rule, and for how long?

Answer 16

Dominican Friar (1494-98)
Rules Florence for 4 years
Later denounced/executed for disobeying his Bishop

Question 17

What is the Bonfires of the Vanities?

Answer 17

Savonarola
“Why are we suffering? Because power and money create corruption.”
People burnt cards, feathers, mirrors, makeup, etc.

Question 18

Who is Machiavelli?

Answer 18

From Florence
Loves his republic, saw it invaded by the French, saw it taken over by Savonarola, understandably upset
Wrote “The Prince” in 1513

Question 19

Florentine Italian becomes the dominant and preferred dialect in Italy. Who shapes this language?

Answer 19

Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo