Hi everyone,
So, I read and reviewed five volumes that I found to be representative of the recent scholarship on Renaissance Imperial power structures in Italy, the works span a range of imperial topics from Italian Cardinals and the Papacy, to the absolutist rulers of Italian cities like Milan and Florence. The works themselves are of course: Jane Black’s Absolutism in Renaissance Milan: A Plenitude of Power under the Visconti and the Sforza 1329-1535, Charles Stinger’s The Renaissance in Rome, Gerard Noel’s The Renaissance Popes: Statesmen, Warriors, and the Great Borgia Myth, Margaret Ann Zaho’s Imago Triumphalis: The Function and Significance of Triumphal Imagery for Italian Renaissance Ruler’s, and finally K.J.P. Lowe’s Church and Politics
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Black takes a thoroughly intellectual and social approach to the study, by examining the changing interpretations of ideas and social interactions in Milan. Black writes on the ways in which the families secured their absolute power and legitimized it through legal arguments. Black argued that the Sforza and Visconti were able to legitimize their absolutist rules through the use of their lawyers, and that when the legal rhetoric turned against them, their power waned. This is significant to the study of Italian Imperial Renaissance power first and foremost because it shows how Milanese rulers functioned, and secondly, because it’s argued excellently. Black is in conversation with sources like Kenneth Pennington frequently in her work, she builds off of his and other similar sources on imperial governance and applies legal imperial theory to Milan specifically. Black successfully knocks home her point and simultaneously studies the significance of the Sforza and Visconti ruling families in wider Italy. My only knock on Black is that I would like more on other rulers or cities, perhaps more comparison between the Sforza and Visconti, it is there but it would not hurt the work at all to expand on it, but Milan is undoubtedly the best example of native non-Papal imperial power in …show more content…
Zaho’s work like Noel’s, is in a way classical in nature but for a different reason, she interacts heavily with Dante and Boccaccio, but even more so with Petrarch. Zaho traces the classical roots of triumphal imagery and its relation to Petrarch’s Africa. She argues that the revival of the antique triumph was the most significant tool, propagandistic or otherwise, in legitimizing the rules of Italian Renaissance rulers. She looks at Sigismondo Malatesta, Federico de Montefeltro, and the Duke Borso d’Este for her case studies. She lends a key contribution to the field, in that she argues a point perhaps somewhat contradictory to that of Jane Black who takes a far more legal approach to the topic of Renaissance ruler’s justifications for their
“I’ll be out of here and away from all you knaves for one time anyway, as not a month will pass before you’ll see whether I’m nobody or a somebody.” The story of Bianco Alfani reflected the nature of 14th century Florentine society where, as Alfani remarked, the election to public office could make or destroy a person. In late 14th century and early 15th century Florence, decreased population and expanding commerce provided a favorable environment for ambitious individuals. The real life examples of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati demonstrated the positive role of ambition in Florence. Pitti, a nobleman had an extremely successful career, partaking in military campaigns, holding public office in Florence and being an ambassador to foreign courts. Gregorio Dati, the grandson of purse venders, engaged in commerce, rising in social standing which culminated with his election to public office. Holding office was a definitive sign of success and recognition in Florence. In contrast was the tale Bianco Alfani, a deemed man unworthy of office. As told by Piero Veneziano, Alfani was the chief jailor in Florence who was duped into believing he had been named captain of the town of Norcia. Alfani publicly made a fool of himself, spending all his money and creating a great fanfare over his supposed appointment. Comparing the lives of Pitti and Dati to the story of Bianco Alfani illustrates how economic and social change in 14th century Florence produced a culture centered on reputation and commerce. For men like Pitti and Dati, who flourished within the constraints of Florentine society, their reward was election to office, a public mark of acceptance and social standing. Those who were ambitious but failed to abide by the values o...
Ginsborg P (1990). ‘A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943-1980’ Published by Penguin; Reprint edition (27 Sep 1990).
Machiavelli's Italy was caught in the middle of a conflict between France and Spain over control of Naples. When King Charles VIII of France set out, around the 1490's, to claim the southern Italian Kingdom, he found assistance, not resistance, from Lodovico Sforza, then Duke of Milan. The leader in Florence, Piero Medici, set out to confront the French invasion, but upon realization of the might of his opposition, he "panicked [and] rode out to meet Charles and presented him with keys to…the important fortresses in Florentine territory" (Muhlberger 1). With such leadership, it is no surprise that Italy was nothing more than a collection of weak city-states. The condition of Italy, with its fragmented populace and effeminate leaders, was a far cry from the glory and might of the Roman Empire.
A rediscover of their history and recognition of early Greek philosophers changed the way that the influential families and Princes, in Italy, considered themselves. Their way of thinking of the Devine and need to promote one’s own aspirations through sponsorship of the arts, as well as, civic duty became not only fashionable but important to progress in the city states. Although Donatello’s David and Botticelli’s Primavera are master pieces in their own right, their influence on future generations of artists cannot be ignored. The spark that ignited the fire which we call the Renaissance was a transformation of societies thinking and values to a Humanistic approach to one duties to society and the church. These two works are a reflection of the changing attitudes which would eventually change all of
When the word "Renaissance" is mentioned, an image of love for antiquity learning and fine arts usually springs to one's mind. Yet this perception, however legitimate it may be in many areas of Renaissance human achievements, shatters in the face of Niccolò Machiavelli's masterpiece The Prince. Unlike his contemporary Baldassare Castiglione who exemplified subtlety, Machiavelli was ruthlessly practical, nonchalantly callous, and admirably seamless in his logics about the bloody art of political power.
The reference article, Filippo De Vivo’s paper Paolo Sarpi and the Uses of Information in the Seventeenth-Century Venice, is structured very much like a standard essay in that it has an introduction, thesis, supporting paragraphs for the points brought up by the thesis, and a conclusion. The title of De Vivo’s paper is an accurate depiction of what the subject matter pertains to which is about Paolo Sarpi and the uses of information in Venice during the seventeenth-century. Background information regarding Venice and its information network start the paper off. It is then established that information that was once only available to the elite classes such as merchants and politicians was then made available to the masses as a saleable commodity in the form of newsletters called avvisi (De Vivo 37). His network expanded beyond that which was available to the common people and he had access to information only available to one with political ties such as his and predictably he made great use of those sources. Besides having written correspondences with ranking officials of other nations, which had severe consequences if caught doing so, Sarpi would regularly meet with both domestic and foreign merchants and other travelers to discuss the happenings abroad, which also frowned upon by the government. The thesis of the article is introduced as an explanation of Sarpi’s use of the newly developing means of information (38). To do this,
While the feudal system did not disappear for some 30 years after unification, both feudalism and a more modern-day rule of law would always be subject to interpretation. Legal scholar and philosopher Dennis Patterson concisely points out there are two prevailing camps standing at opposites: Those who argue that the interpretation of law is solely objective versus those who see it in terms of subjectivity (671). Assuming that passions during the time of Sicily’s turbulent unification were predicated more on subjectivity than objectivity, it becomes understandable that Don Fabrizio was caught in a historical trajectory not of his own choosing.
The Italian Renaissance developed in cities such as Florence, Milan, and Venice, which had emerged during the 12th and 13th centuries as new commercial developments allowed them to expand (Paolucci 12). This mercantile society contrasted sharply with the rural, tradition bound society of medieval Europe. A significant break with tradition came in the field of history, as Renaissance historians rejected the medieval Christian views of history (Cole 40). Studies such as the Florentine History (1525) of Niccolo Machiavelli revealed a secular view of time and a critical attitude toward sources (Cole 44). This secular view was expressed by many Renaissance thinkers known as humanists. Humanism was another cultural break with medieval tradition; under its ideas scholars valued classical texts on their own te...
In this brief monograph, we shall be hunting down and examining various creatures from the bestiary of Medieval/Renaissance thought. Among these are the fierce lion of imperious, egotistical power, a pair of fantastic peacocks, one of vanity, one of preening social status, and the docile lamb of humility. The lion and the peacocks are of the species known as pride, while the lamb is of an entirely different, in fact antithetical race, that of humility and forgiveness. The textual regions we shall be exploring include the diverse expanses, from palace to heath, of William Shakespeare, the dark, sinister Italy of John Webster, and the perfumed lady's chambers of Ben Jonson and Robert Herrick.
“Just as he led the way in the commercial world, extending Florentine markets, assisting trading houses, bringing commerce and wealth to the city, so also he led the way in that world of literature and art which, to the fifteenth-century Florentine, was of almost equal importance with the world of trade” (Ewart 210). Cosimo worked hard to create a lasting legacy for his future family. Florence under Cosimo’s rule would begin to transition into a place of wealth, architecture, literature, and art and began to step away from politics. Cosimo was the primary patron of the significant Florentine patrons of the arts (Mee 20).
...ts of the Italian Renaissance." ThinkQuest : Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. .
The Renaissance Papacy was a period in which the church was attempting to recover from the effects of the western schism and regain a sense of control and composure within the church itself. After the prolonged period in which the papacy had been based in Avignon, and then the intermittent years in which two popes existed in contention with the other, the Catholic model was being doubted for its ability to function well, and there was a desperate need to demonstrate that the papacy was still a powerful and influential institution, both in the west and in the immediate regions surrounding Rome. Moving along this vein of thought, the papacy turned its sights to the Papal States, and how re-establishing a sense of dominance over these states would
During this period of Italian history, Catholicism was the dominant religion, and reigned supreme among others. Advancement in the Catholic faith was used as a means to secure political power in a divided region. With religion and politics being strongly interconnected, the Pope was often seen as the most influential political f...
Alessandro Allori reproduces the view of a young man in 3/4s view in his portrait of Francesco de Medici (c. 1560). Every element of the portrait, from its dominant red key to the intricate gold embroidery of the sitter’s costume connotes virtue.This rectangular composition presents a young virtuous man deserving of his power and wealth. More importantly, it exposes the attitudes of the painter and patron as towards what virtues qualified a man as deserving privilege and power.
The Renaissance in Italy is the most important historical movement. Many of today’s inventions trace their paths back to the 14th century when man rediscovered himself. The Renaissance was a transition between the medieval and early modern worlds. During the middle ages, the ultimate goal of man was to find God and prove pre conceived ideas, but during the Renaissance, the ultimate goal was to find man and promote learning. This period also aided the development of the Humanist philosophy: pursuit of individualism and appreciation of art as a product of man. Historians consider Renaissance as the “rebirth of classical Rome and Greece.” This cultural emergence took place in the states of Florence, Rome, and