Misc. (more Renaissance)

Question 1

According to Burke, what broad structural changes in Italian society were becoming evident in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? (6)

Answer 1

1- from 1400 to the late 1500s, it’s easy to observe that the Renaissance as we know it started as a small group of Florentines, which spread to the rest of Tuscany and from Tuscany to the rest of Italy
2- the printing press helped spread the ideals of the movement more quickly than had ever been possible before
3- the growth of public interest in the new ideals was itself a force for change
4- also due to the spread of the new ideals was the diminution of regional diversities
5- individual style in art and literature
6- slow secularization of the arts

Question 2

Reasons for social structural change (5)

Answer 2

1- gradual rise in the social status of the artist
2- changes in patronage
3- artistic individualism became profitable
4- shift in balance of power between artist and patron
5- commercialization and refeudalization (Burke, 252)

Question 3

How did capitalism begin in Italy and why was Italy the leader in this period of economic change? (2)

Answer 3

1- partly geographical: the peninsula’s position between easter Mediterranean trade and western Europe
2- partly political: Italy’s fragmentation after the collapse of Rome; free from the interference of the pope or emperor, adhering often only to the broad and shifting allegiances of Guelf or Ghibelline, individual cities evaded the restrictive trade practice that hampered northern European commerce

Question 4

Ordinances of Justice (4)

Answer 4

1- 1293
2- gave the republic the basic shape it was to have until its extinction over two hundred years later
3- the control of the government by the seven guilds was strengthened by the addition of 14 new guilds, the arti minori
4- great towers attached to the fortress-houses of the grandi and magnati had to be pulled down to a certain height

Question 5

magnati (2)

Answer 5

1- largely rural Tuscan nobility, a feudal class of land magnates
2- descended from the knights of the Middle Ages who had fought tin the continuous warfare between pope and emperor and between states

Question 6

grandi (1)

Answer 6

wealthy, ancient, urban families, usually enriched originally by trade

Question 7

transformation of the city of Rome after the return of the papacy in 1420 (7)

Answer 7

UNDER MARTIN V
1- at first it was in ruins, the papal states in total disarray
2- curia reconstructed, artists hired to decorate the derelict churches and palaces
3- appointed good men as cardinals
UNDER EUGENIUS IV
4- Council of Florence: the Byzantine emperor and co. traveled to Italy where they first met the pope in Ferrara and then in 1439 in Florence
5- the schism between Latin and Orthodox Churches was temporarily healed
6- Cosimo de’Medici provided the Greeks with hospitality and Florence was filled with Greek scholars, reinforcing the growing interest in Neoplatonism among the intellectual elite
7- Eugenius IV patronized Greek scholars, consciously bringing the Renaissance from Florence to Rome in the 1440s

Question 8

Threats to Genoa and Pisa (2)

Answer 8

Genoa - Venice

Pisa - Florence

Question 9

Venice (7)

Answer 9

1- constitutionally a republic
2- DOGE –> the feared Council of Ten –> collegio of elected officials of at least 150 who ran various government departments –> the senate (legislative body) –> The Great Council
3- often in conflict with Milan and Rome (once the papacy tried to expand)
4- lasted for over 1000 years
5- adapted its maritime empire sufficiently to continue to be the most prosperous trading city in Italy
6- almost of equal importance to Florence and Rome as an artistic centre during the sixteenth century (earlier they were more concerned with trade, with exceptions like Bembo)
7 - Bellini (15th c.) and Titian (16th c.) were their most celebrated artists

Question 10

Naples (6)

Answer 10

1- largest state, feudal kingdom, largely agricultural in nature
2- ruled by a succession of Alfonsos and Ferdinandos (house of Aragon) and hence firmly in the Spanish sphere of influence
3- powerful barons challenged the authority of monarchs
4- warfare came mainly as a result of rival claims to the throne (French vs. Spanish)
5- French finally fought their way down to the kingdom in 1495, but the Aragonese dynasty was back on the throne the following year
6- Did not contribute much to the Italian Renaissance

Question 11

Papal States (2)

Answer 11

1- states nominally under rule of Rome but including some cities north of Florence, such as Forli, Ravenna, and Bologna asserted their independence when given an opportunity and periodically had to be reconquered (as by Cesare Borgia under Alexander VI)
2- three duchies, Modena, Mantua, and Ferrara, provided a buffer zone between Florence and the northern Papal States, the Republic of Venice in the northeast, and the Duchy of Milan in the northwest

Question 12

Milan (4)

Answer 12

1- leading threat to Florence
2- ruled by the Visconti dynasty until the Sforzas took over in the mid-fifteenth century
3- aimed at hegemonic sway over smaller duchies but was vulnerable to French invasion and conflicts with Venice
4- had two legitimate claims to significant participation in the cultural life of Renaissance Italy: the brief time of Ludovico’s wife, Beatrice d’este at the Milanese court; the second was Leonardo’s time there: 1483-1500 then 1505-1513.

Question 13

Duchy of Mantua and Isabella d’Este (3)

Answer 13

1- important for the arts–Renaissance came in 1490 as a result of the marriage of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga
2- there, Isabelle d’Este created a brilliant court and a magnificent library, and was patron to numerous artists including Mategna, Michelangelo, Bellini
3- she was a brilliant diplomat –> saved from the Borgias, the French, and Emperor Charles V

Question 14

Ferrara (3)

Answer 14

1- Beatrice and Isabella grew up here
2- cultural centre of the Italian Renaissance
3- boasted a brilliant court under Dukes Ercole and Alfonso, the latter marrying Alexander VI’s daughter, Lucrezia

Question 15

Urbino (2)

Answer 15

1- ruled by the Montefeltro family, who mainly made a living as condottieri (professional soldiers for hire)
2- the Urbino courtly society was immortalized by their loyal servant Baldassare Castiglione, the Neoplatonic philosopher and writer, in his famous Book of the Courtier

Question 16

Battle of Meloria (2)

Answer 16

1- in 1284, Pisa and Genoa faced off again, and the Genoese destroyed the Pisans
2- the Pisans were unable to recover because of Florence

Question 17

Pisa sold to Florence (3)

Answer 17

1- Giangaleazzo Visconti purchased Pisa in 1400 and set himself up as signore
2- Giangaleazzo died in 1402 and sold the state to Florence
3- they lost their freedom but gained the security that came with Florence’s trade

Question 18

War of Chioggia (3)

Answer 18

1- 1380-1381 between Genoa and Venice
2- the Venetians destroyed the Genoese conclusively
3- Genoa’s trade was weakened and Venice came out on top as the dominant economic and naval power in Europe

Question 19

Post-1381 Genoa (3)

Answer 19

1- after the victory of Genoa over Venice in 1298, the state became weak and divided
2- even more so after the 1381 battle of Chioggia
3- instability of rulers for the next 150 years

Question 20

cittadini originari (1)

Answer 20

1- “original citizens”: the privileged of the non-noble classes in Venice

Question 21

Giangaleazzo Visconti (4)

Answer 21

1- talented and restlessly ambitious ruler of Visconti states
2- established a great library, cultivated the Church, lived a rather pious life
3- in 1385 he had his rotten, hated uncle Bernabò and his two sons imprisoned where they died–he then took the throne of Milan and all their territories
4- died in 1402, just as he was about to crush Florence and unite all of norther Italy

Question 22

Francesco Sforza and his becoming Duke of Milan (4)

Answer 22

1- as a trusted friend of Filippo Maria, the last of the Visconti dynasty, he was given Bianca (the duke’s daughter) and a couple states
2- after Filippo Maria’s death, the French, the emperor, and the king of Aragon all claimed Milan, so the people asked for Sforza’s help
3- he helped; but without consulting him, the republic dismissed his army, enraging Sforza and causing him to lay siege to the city
4- starved into submission, the council that he called agreed to grant him the ducal title
5- he brought prosperity to Milan, patronizing education, humanism, and painting

Question 23

Lodovico il Moro (3)

Answer 23

1- a great patron of art and beauty: artists, architects, and painters entered the city to beautify its churches and palaces
2- established a good administration, experimental farms, expanded the silk industry
3- led by Lodovico and Beatrice, the court of Milan became the centre of Italy for several years

Question 24

Two main aspects of the Renaissance movement (2)

Answer 24

1- intellectual developments in literature, philosophy, historiography, political thought and education broadly associated with humanism
2- the artistic advances in painting, sculpture, architecture, and, to a lesser extent, music

Question 25

Key points for Petrarch (4)

Answer 25

1- hostility towards medieval scholasticism, desire to fuse Augustinian Christianity with a revival of the thought and literature of Rome and Greece
2- helped create the Renaissance sense of individuality, self-exploration, and self-image
3- transitional figure, as Bartlett emphasizes
4- first representative of early humanism

Question 26

Later humanists (3)

Answer 26

1- scholars who applied their learning and their skill in writing to serving the governments of city states or the papacy, thereby creating a form of ‘civic humanism’ that was much less individualistic and more applied than Petrarch’s
2- they also developed humanism as a theory and practice of education, teaching individuals and small groups of pupils and influenced the curricula of some Italian universities
3- humanism as an educational philosophy laid stress on reading the classics to rediscover the greatest achievements of the human mind but also to find the best models for writing briefs and making speeches (rhetoric)

Question 27

PS - My Secret Book (5)

Answer 27

1- written sometime between 1347 and 1353
2- examines his faith with the help of St. Augustine
3- probably meant for self-examination rather than publication
4- deals with the internal struggle of his desire to be more pious to please God (he’s guilt-tripped by Augustine for not being more aware of his mortality and the afterlife), and his lack of piety is his source of unhappiness
5- Augustine explains his love for worldly things is what binds him in adamantine chains

Question 28

PS - Letters in Defence of Liberal Studies (5)

Answer 28

1- a letter by Coluccio Salutati to three different pious Christians who are suspicious of ancient pagan literature: Giuliano Zonarini in 1378 and 1379 and to Brother John of San Miniato, 1406
2- Zonarini is alleged to have called Virgil’s writing vain, and that it is forbidden in Canon Law to concern oneself with books of that sort
3- Salutati writes in defence of Virgil, saying he admires “the majesty of his language, the appropriateness of his words, the harmony of his verses, the smoothness of his speech, etc.”
4- says no one is foolish enough to believe the fables, and that heathens are no more
5- argues that some parts can be greatly applied to Christian theology

Question 29

Reasons for Petrarch’s hate of scholasticism (3)

Answer 29

1- it was ugly and unaesthetic
2- he so no value in esoteric arguments about minute points of faith
3- he was most concerned with man’s humanity, who he was and what he was born for

Question 30

Reasons for Petrarch’s early humanism being distinct from later humanism (3)

Answer 30

1- his intellectual principles were not as developed: his literary interests were only in Latin because he never learned Greek
2- he lacked any sense of civic involvement
3- he in no way institutionalized his humanistic interests; he chose to lead a singular life

Question 31

Petrarch’s connection with ancient texts and his discovery about humanist education (4)

Answer 31

1- speech functions as the index of the soul, and dignity of speech is dignity of the soul
2- human experience in this world could be extended by a thorough knowledge of, or at least a familiarity with, the great masters of antiquity; these ancient masters had more to impart than good style–they had knowledge of life and of human nature and represented the highest products of the mind and spirit
3- the works of classical antiquity have great value to humanity in themselves because of both their style and their content
4- not pursued by him, but a byproduct: good letters, good style, and good speech are social virtues

Question 32

The birth of scholarship (2)

Answer 32

1- humanists desired to read what they found (ancient manuscripts) in their original form
2- they invented the sciences of philology (languages), textual editing, archaeology, numismatics (coins), and comparative stylistics

Question 33

Elements of Renaissance thought and culture seen as essential to an understanding of humanism (4)

Answer 33

1- the recovery, study, transmission, and interpretation of heritage and classical antiquity
2- humanism is characterized by a transformation in the style and content of literature to reflect ancient models and principles
3- humanism implies an emphasis on moral philosophy (ethics) at the expense of theology and scholastic reasoning
4- it promotes naturalism in art, in that what was portrayed reflected what the eye sees, with correct anatomy, accurate perspective, and true representation of the real world

Question 34

ars dictaminis (4)

Answer 34

1- scholasticism never did monopolize in the Italian educational system
2- humanism developed from the profession of the lay rhetorician, that is, a practitioner of the ars dictaminis
3- the movement was secular in nature
4- it was practical, a functional program that applied particular skills to the immediate needs of a secular society

Question 35

PS - The Book of the Courtier (5)

Answer 35

1- Baldassare Castiglione began the book in 1508 and didn’t publish it until 1528
2- divided into four sections or “books”
3- each book records the dialogues of among the members of Guidobaldo’s court over the course of four consecutive evenings
4- the discussion is ruled by the duchess, Elisabetta but is given over to the Neapolitan noblewoman, Emilia Pia
5- it records a world ruled by women where important discussions take place in the duchess’s rooms as they talk through the night, only retiring to bed at first light

Question 36

Renaissance Neoplatonism (2)

Answer 36

1- based not only on the writing of Plato, but also on the writings of his followers, such as Plotinus and Clement of Alexandria
2- was the ideology of an extremely highly cultivated and educated but politically powerless aristocracy whose responsibility was to further polish itself and provide for its own development: a world of talk and little action

Question 37

PS - Oration on the Dignity of Man (4)

Answer 37

1- written by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in 1486
2- he re-evaluates humanism and humans in general
3- talks about the dignity of man and how man differs from other creatures: free will
4- human creative power: man is great and can reach excellence through his own effort

Question 38

French invasions (3)

Answer 38

1- Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494
2- Louis XII invaded in 1499 and captured Milan
3- France recaptured Milan in 1524

Question 39

PS - The Prince (3)

Answer 39

1- written by Machiavelli in the early 16th century
2- a series of reflections on the career of the man with whom he had been most impressed while serving as a Florentine diplomat, namely Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI
3- an attempt to codify Cesare Borgia’s ruthless and able methods into something approaching a systematic political theory

Question 40

PS - History of Italy (3)

Answer 40

1- written by Francesco Guicciardini
2- a detailed account of politics in the Italian Peninsula towards the end of his life (1540)
3- primary sources

Question 41

Burke’s five main systems of patronage (5)

Answer 41

1- household
2- measure-to-measure
3- market
4- academy
5- subvention

Question 42

Burke’s three motives for patronage (3)

Answer 42

1- piety
2- prestige
3- pleasure