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History · Europe in Transition: From Feudalism to Industrialization

Chapter 3 : The Renaissance and Society

Table of contents62 sections
  1. 1.The Renaissance and Society
  2. 2.MEANING
  3. 3.Historiography and Interpretations of the Renaissance
  4. 4.Key Terms
  5. 5.📌 Exam Tidbits
  6. 6.SOCIAL BASIS
  7. 7.Social Structure of Florence
  8. 8.Economic and Political Foundations
  9. 9.The Debate on Economy and Culture
  10. 10.Sources of Patronage
  11. 11.Intellectual Catalysts
  12. 12.Key Terms
  13. 13.📌 Exam Tidbits
  14. 14.THE ITALIAN HUMANISM
  15. 15.Key Figures of Italian Humanism
  16. 16.Civic Humanism
  17. 17.High Renaissance Literature (c. 1490–1530)
  18. 18.Hallmarks of Italian Humanism
  19. 19.The Dignity of Man
  20. 20.Key Terms
  21. 21.📌 Exam Tidbits
  22. 22.REVIVAL OF ANTIQUITY
  23. 23.Greek Revival
  24. 24.Vernacular Literature
  25. 25.Humanism and History
  26. 26.The Humanist Education
  27. 27.Political Thought
  28. 28.Key Terms
  29. 29.📌 Exam Tidbits
  30. 30.CHRISTIAN HUMANISM IN THE NORTH
  31. 31.The Print Culture
  32. 32.The Low Countries (Netherlands)
  33. 33.Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536)
  34. 34.English Humanism
  35. 35.French Humanism
  36. 36.Spanish and Portuguese Humanism
  37. 37.German Humanism
  38. 38.Key Terms
  39. 39.📌 Exam Tidbits
  40. 40.HUMANISM AND WOMEN
  41. 41.Key Female Figures and Writers
  42. 42.Women in Art and Society
  43. 43.📌 Exam Tidbits
  44. 44.THE VISUAL ART
  45. 45.Early Renaissance in Florence
  46. 46.The Great Florentine Pioneers
  47. 47.📌 Exam Tidbits
  48. 48.HIGH RENAISSANCE
  49. 49.The Three Great Masters
  50. 50.Key Terms
  51. 51.📌 Exam Tidbits
  52. 52.RENAISSANCE ART OUTSIDE ITALY
  53. 53.Regional Developments
  54. 54.Gardening and Horticulture
  55. 55.📌 Exam Tidbits
  56. 56.MUSIC
  57. 57.The Flemish Schools (1450–1600)
  58. 58.England and Italy
  59. 59.Post-Renaissance Art Movements
  60. 60.Key Terms
  61. 61.📌 Exam Tidbits
  62. 62.Quick-Recall Box

Chapter preview

The Renaissance and Society

MEANING

  • Definition and Chronology: 'Renaissance' means 're-birth'. It implies a momentous cultural movement marked by the revival of interest in the classical age of the Romans and Greeks, aiming to recreate a new culture free from medieval bondage.
  • Period: Roughly between 1300 and 1600, beginning around the time of the 'Black Death' (or early fourteenth century) and ending in the early-sixteenth century.
  • Core Concept: It was not merely the discovery of the ancient past, but the application of classical knowledge (arts, literature, social values, political life) to reshape contemporary social order, primarily in the Italian city states.

Historiography and Interpretations of the Renaissance

Key Terms

ConceptDefinition
ScholasticismAn academic movement (1250–1500) centred at the University of Paris that tried to systematize Christian theology and provide a philosophical system based on Aristotelian presuppositions and logic.
rinascitaItalian term for 'rebirth' used by Giorgio Vasari to describe the cultural revival of the preceding two centuries.

📌 Exam Tidbits

  • Dates: Renaissance spanned c. 1300–1600; Scholasticism spanned 1250–1500.
  • Texts: Voltaire's Essay on Manners (1756); Burckhardt's Die Kultur des Renaissance in Italien (1860).
  • Causal Chain: Socio-economic forces → break-up of medieval society/feudal system/universal church → revival of commerce/towns/money economy → emergence of fresh ideas and renewed interest in arts/literature.

SOCIAL BASIS

  • Urban Environment: The Renaissance was the product of the highly urbanized Italian city states (northern and central Italy).

Social Structure of Florence

The society was far from egalitarian and was divided into three principal categories:

Economic and Political Foundations

  • Political Autonomy: The Peace treaty of Lodi (1454) → prevented any single ruler from asserting complete authority → created self-governing city states → stimulated cultural/political competition for patronage (Denys Hay's view).
  • Economic Growth: Pre-capitalist features emerged. Florentine merchants controlled Papal banking and European banking.
  • 'Mercantile' or 'Bourgeois Mentality': Fostered by international trading/banking. Characterized by an ability to quantify, mathematical accuracy, art of measurement, and value of time.
  • Civic Climate Causal Chain : Continuous warfare among Italian states → demand for military and hydraulic engineers; large number of officials…
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Chapter 4 : Explorations, Discovery and Colonial Empires