The Great Courses

Lecture 31: In negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to end the sack of Rome, the Medici Pope Clement VII made the recovery of Florence part of the treaty. With the collapse of Machiavelli’s citizen army and after a terrible siege of the city, Florence fell to imperial troops in 1530. The last Florentine Republic had exhausted the republican patricians. Their courageous sons had died on the ramparts and outside the walls in fruitless attempts to break the siege. Pope Clement VII made it clear through the use of Spanish arms that the Medici were back to stay. Not having a more appropriate member of the family to rule in his place, Clement sent the 19-year-old Alessandro de’Medici as non-hereditary duke of the city. Alessandro, who was universally believed to be Pope Clement’s natural son by a Moorish slave, was clearly mentally unstable. As long as Clement was alive, Alessandro listened to his councilors and to the bodies representing the political classes in the city. However, with Clement’s death in 1534, the duke ruled ever more tyrannically, obliterating the symbols of the republic and making arbitrary decisions. He was also showing signs of madness, especially in the company of his favorite, his bizarre, insane cousin Lorenzo (Lorenzaccio). These two together engaged increasingly in depraved behavior until Lorenzaccio, for no apparent reason, assassinated Alessandro in 1537. Secondary Sources: Eric Cochrane, Florence in the Forgotten Centuries, 1527−1800. Supplementary Reading: Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. Lecture 32: https://rumble.com/v4yoyob-the-italian-renaissance-the-monarchy-of-cosimo-i-lecture-32.html

Lecture 32: When 19-year-old Cosimo de’Medici (1519−1574) was installed as prince in 1537, many assumed that the architect of his victory, Guicciardini, would be the chief advisor to the inexperienced young prince. But as soon as he was installed, Cosimo decided to rule personally and dismissed the influential politician. A revolt led by patrician exiles followed but was brutally suppressed after the Battle of Montemurlo in 1537. Cementing his regime by allying with the Habsburg emperor Charles V, Cosimo married Eleonora of Toledo (d. 1562), daughter of the rich and influential Spanish viceroy of Naples. He enlarged the Florentine state through the conquest of Siena with Spanish help in 1557. And, in 1569, he was invested with the title of grand duke of Tuscany by the pope. Cosimo’s intention was to build a centralized, despotic monarchy on the ruins of the republic. The patrician families were offered titles and attached to his court; he created orders of knighthood; and he initially turned the symbol of republican government, the Palazzo della Signoria, into his palace, before moving into the Palazzo Pitti to house his large family and increasingly elaborate court. He provided patronage to artists, including Giorgio Vasari (1511−1574), who designed the Uffizi; Bernardo Buontalenti (c. 1531−1608), and Bartolommeo Ammanati (1511−1592). The Florentines had lost their freedom but had achieved stability in return. Secondary Sources: Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. Michael Levey, Painting at Court. Supplementary Reading: Eric Cochrane, Florence in the Forgotten Centuries, 1527−1800. Lecture 33: https://rumble.com/v4yw98k-the-italian-renaissance-guicciardini-and-the-history-of-italy-lecture-33.html

Lecture 33: Guicciardini was a remarkable, if flawed genius. Born into the highest ranks of the Florentine patriciate, he studied law in order to further his ambitions. A brilliant man, he attracted the attention of the republic and served, despite his youth, as an ambassador to Spain in 1511. The fall of the republic affected him not at all, as he was appointed by the Medici Pope Clement VII as governor of Modena in 1516, followed by ever greater responsibility until he became one of the pope’s chief advisors. Unfortunately, it was, in part, his advice that resulted in the sack of Rome in 1527, after which he retired to Florence, where the restored republic had little use for him. The return of the Medici rehabilitated Guicciardini, and he assisted in the irresponsible despotism of Alessandro, on whose murder he hoped to advance. Cosimo de’Medici, however, intended to rule personally, and Guicciardini sought refuge in scholarship. During his diplomatic and political career, he had written some history and a collection of maxims that reflected his belief in experience over abstraction and his cynical belief in human fallibility. He himself had little loyalty and did whatever those in power required. However, his monumental work, The History of Italy, completed just before his death, became the model for new Humanist historiography, using documentary evidence and making balanced judgments on men and events. This book has been called the most important work of history between Tacitus and Gibbon. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Francesco Guicciardini,” pp. 381−391, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy. Secondary Sources: Mark Phillips, Francesco Guicciardini: The Historian’s Craft. Supplementary Reading: Felix Gilbert, Machiavelli and Guicciardini: Politics and History in Sixteenth-Century Florence. Lecture 34: https://rumble.com/v4ywe5h-the-italian-renaissance-the-counter-reformation-lecture-34.html

Lecture 34: It was not just the foreign invasions of Italy or the loss of economic power that affected the later Italian Renaissance. The revolt in the Church led by Martin Luther (1483−1546) from 1517 had a devastating impact. The Roman Church had seen itself as universal and confident and able to permit relative freedom of debate and belief. Only when the authority of the Church was attacked was there a strong response, as in the case of Savonarola. Luther’s revolt changed that, especially as Protestantism spread so quickly and effectively through the printed word. The Church lost millions of adherents and much revenue as a consequence, and the unity of Christian Europe was shattered forever. To combat this danger, the Church responded by tightening controls. The Roman Inquisition was established in 1542 to determine centrally what and who were orthodox or heretical. In 1545, Paul III called a great council of the Church to meet at Trent whose purpose was to define doctrine and build discipline among Catholics; the council was to sit, with some interruptions, until 1563. As a consequence of Trent, the Index of Prohibited Books was created in 1559 to control what books were printed, read, and circulated, and the penalties for possession were severe. The claims of the reformers were also rejected and the authority of the Church and the papacy reinforced. The ultimate effect of these measures was to suppress open debate and original thinking. The principles that had stimulated the Renaissance initially were being overwhelmed by forces that demanded uniformity and obedience. Primary Source Texts: Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. Secondary Sources: Gigliola Fragnito, Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy. J. W. O’Malley, The First Jesuits. Supplementary Reading: Eric Cochrane, ed., The Late Italian Renaissance, 1525−1630. Lecture 35: https://rumble.com/v4ywgy9-the-italian-renaissance-the-end-of-the-renaissance-in-italy-lecture-35.html

Lecture 35: It is very difficult to establish when a period such as the Renaissance ended. What is clear, however, is that the Italian world was a very different place in 1550 from what it had been in 1450. There are particular events that can illustrate why that dramatic change occurred: the French invasions of 1494; the failure of the Italian states to work together consistently to protect the peninsula; the sack of Rome in 1527; and the closure of free thought, debate, and experimentation by the Church and its secular supporters after mid-century. Moreover, the victory of despotic monarchical regimes in such states as Florence ended the competitive, energetic world of the republic, replacing it with a singular, official ideology and power that everyone, regardless of rank or genius, had to obey. Art and literature, then, reflected increasingly the patronage and needs of princes and their servants, and these were not universally talented. Furthermore, the voyages of discovery in the later 15th century had moved the economic center of Europe from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic seaboard. It was now cheaper to buy spices and luxury goods in Lisbon or Seville than in Venice or Florence, because the route around Africa was faster and incurred fewer charges and dangers. The incessant wars of the period drained money that could have been spent on patronage, and religious debate consumed everyone. The consequence was a loss of the forces that had initially given rise to the Renaissance mentality: confidence and will. The disasters that befell Italy ended the belief that “man is the measure of all things” and that “man can do anything if he but wills.” Primary Source Texts: Giovanni Della Casa, Il Galateo. Secondary Sources: Chris F. Black, Church, Religion and Society in Early Modern Italy. William Bouwsma, The Waning of the Renaissance, 1550−1640. Supplementary Reading: Gregory Hanlon, Early Modern Italy, 1550−1800. Lecture 36: https://rumble.com/v4ywuu2-the-italian-renaissance-echoes-of-the-renaissance-lecture-36.html

Lecture 36: This course has introduced, developed, and discussed the Italian Renaissance as a cultural and intellectual phenomenon in the political and social context of the Italian city-states. The remarkable efflorescence of culture that Italy witnessed from the mid-14th to the mid-16th century stands as a monument to the human imagination. That Italy failed politically and economically by the end of that period in many ways puts this achievement into clearer perspective. Castiglione suggests in The Book of the Courtier that individual cultivation can be successfully achieved by any man or woman who seeks knowledge, truth, love, and beauty, regardless of the circumstances, although hard times make the process more difficult. In some ways, the Italian Renaissance continued strongly into the last century, as ideals of beauty based on Naturalism, proportion, and the ability to reproduce what the eye sees remained the foundation of academic art. The role of antiquity continued in the architectural vocabulary of public buildings, and the central place of the Greek and Roman classics was sustained in the education of elite groups in every Western nation. It can be argued, then, that the echoes of the Renaissance died only in the 20th century, with the triumph of objective science over purely human values. Secondary Sources: Alan Bullock, The Humanist Tradition in the West. Supplementary Reading: Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself.

Lecture 30: Machiavelli (1469–1527) was one of Renaissance Italy’s most interesting thinkers. Best known for his political writing, such as The Prince, and historical works, such as The History of Florence, he was also a fine dramatist, letter writer, and diplomat. Born into a patrician Florentine family the year Lorenzo the Magnificent assumed control of the city, he pursued his career through the turbulent years of Savonarola’s ascendancy and the restoration of the republic. He served as second chancellor, responsible for diplomatic work and, eventually, the creation of a citizen militia. Unfortunately, the militia was a failure, and his skill at negotiation did not save Florence or Italy from the scourge of foreign incursions and the ambitions of the Borgias. Still, his observations on these events and the lessons he learned entered the Western political consciousness. The Prince is his most read work. Written after the return of the Medici in 1512 removed him from power and relegated him to his small family villa outside the city, this book reviews the situation of Italy, particularly Florence, in an uncertain age. The Prince, using the ruthless Cesare Borgia as model, counsels harsh medicine, based on the need for strong leadership to protect Italy from the northern “barbarians.” Primary Source Texts: Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince. Secondary Sources: Maurizio Viroli, Niccolò’s Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli. Lecture 31: https://rumble.com/v4yov8r-the-italian-renaissance-alessandro-de-medici-lecture-31.html

Lecture 29: The struggle between the French and the Spanish-Imperial Habsburgs for domination of the continent often took place in Italy, where both crowns had competing dynastic claims. Led by a French traitor, the Constable of Bourbon, an imperial army, unpaid, undisciplined, hungry, and including many zealous German Protestant soldiers, arrived at the gates of Rome. On May 6, 1527, the walls were breached and the city was stormed by this savage army, left leaderless by the death of Bourbon in the first assault. His army then proceeded to spend the next almost eight months ravishing the city, murdering and torturing its inhabitants. The Medici pope, Clement VII, had taken refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo but was able to watch the destruction. Churches and private homes were despoiled, wealthy citizens were held for ransom, nuns were raped and murdered, and even the tombs of popes and bishops were opened in search of valuables. The last months of the sack saw the use of whatever was made of wood as fuel to keep warm. Those who could escape did, although many were killed by starving peasants outside the walls or captured by thugs for ransom. About 50,000 inhabitants either fled or were killed through the savagery, making this sack more brutal than even the barbarian incursions at the end of the Roman Empire. Rotting bodies, along with lack of sanitation, food, and clean water, then gave rise to disease that devastated the few left behind. The result was that the pope was, in effect, the creature of the emperor, and the Humanist belief in the dignity of man was seriously tarnished. Primary Source Texts: Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Secondary Sources: André Chastel, The Sack of Rome, 1527. Supplementary Reading: Judith Hook, The Sack of Rome. Lecture 30: https://rumble.com/v4yormk-the-italian-renaissance-niccol-machiavelli-lecture-30.html

Lecture 28: The broadly based republic established by Savonarola survived, but the factional disputes within the large Council of Five Hundred resulted in instability. To ensure continuity of policy, a new office, standard bearer of justice for life, was created, but it was not sufficient to preserve the city’s liberty in a European environment of war and expansion. In 1512, the Medici were returned, with the head of the family, Cardinal Giovanni de’Medici (d. 1520), taking control and turning the clock back to the days of his father, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Just months later, Giovanni was elected pope as Leo X; thereafter, the fate of Florence and the papacy became inseparable, as Leo was succeeded in 1521 by his cousin Giulio as Clement VII (d. 1534). With the leaders of the Medici now in Rome, Florence was governed either by papal representatives or by young or lesser members of the family, who often were incompetent or insensitive to Florentine traditions. Secondary Sources: J. R. Hale, Florence and the Medici: The Pattern of Control. Supplementary Reading: Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall. Lecture 29: https://rumble.com/v4yog1f-the-italian-renaissance-the-sack-of-rome-1527-lecture-29.html

Lecture 27: The regime established by Savonarola was a puritanical theocracy. Although the institutions of the republic continued, Savonarola had become the guiding force in the city and directed a potent faction that supported his policies. Simple pleasures, such as cards and carnival, were banned; bands of boys collected “vanities,” parading them through the streets and setting bonfires in the Piazza della Signoria. A broadly based republican constitution was written by Savonarola and instituted by his followers. The monk began to preach against the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, resulting in his excommunication. Believing the French to be God’s scourge for a decadent Church and a “pagan” Italy, Savonarola also refused to abandon the French alliance, despite the hostility of Italians to the foreign invaders. Diplomatic and natural disasters, however, began to alienate moderate Florentines, who in 1498, arrested Savonarola and tried and burned him as a heretic, yet his faction and his constitution for Florence survived him. Secondary Sources: Gene A. Brucker, Renaissance Florence. Supplementary Reading: Lorenzo Polizzotto, The Elect Nation: The Savonarolan Movement in Florence, 1494–1545. Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophesy and Patriotism in the Renaissance. Lecture 28: https://rumble.com/v4yl6pq-the-italian-renaissance-the-medici-restored-lecture-28.html

Lecture 28: The broadly based republic established by Savonarola survived, but the factional disputes within the large Council of Five Hundred resulted in instability. To ensure continuity of policy, a new office, standard bearer of justice for life, was created, but it was not sufficient to preserve the city’s liberty in a European environment of war and expansion. In 1512, the Medici were returned, with the head of the family, Cardinal Giovanni de’Medici (d. 1520), taking control and turning the clock back to the days of his father, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Just months later, Giovanni was elected pope as Leo X; thereafter, the fate of Florence and the papacy became inseparable, as Leo was succeeded in 1521 by his cousin Giulio as Clement VII (d. 1534). With the leaders of the Medici now in Rome, Florence was governed either by papal representatives or by young or lesser members of the family, who often were incompetent or insensitive to Florentine traditions. Secondary Sources: J. R. Hale, Florence and the Medici: The Pattern of Control. Supplementary Reading: Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall.

Lecture 25: The Italian Renaissance had flourished so richly in part because of the protected space of the peninsula. Surrounded on three sides by water and the Alps to the north, Italy had not suffered from foreign invasion on a large scale since the barbarian incursions after the collapse of Rome. However, at the end of the 15th century, the situation changed. The creation of dynastic territorial monarchies in the north, such as France, permitted the concentration of huge resources for foreign adventures. Also, the competing state system and the ambition of many of the ruling houses of Italy resulted in northern monarchies, such as France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, having dynastic or sovereign claims on various states. In 1494, King Charles VIII of France decided to invade Italy with the largest army then amassed and with sophisticated materiel, such as mobile artillery, in order to assert his claim to the Kingdom of Naples. Initially aided by the Milanese, who thought to manipulate the French into destroying the threat posed to Lodovico il Moro’s rule by the Neapolitans, the French army was virtually unopposed and the conquest of Naples was an easy victory. Although the Milanese realized their error and joined with the other Italian states to hurry the French out of Italy, Charles had shown that the rich cities of the peninsula were vulnerable and that the peninsula would never again enjoy its unmolested independence. Primary Source Texts: Alessandro Benedetti, Diaria de Bello Carolino (Diary of the Caroline War). Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy. Secondary Sources: Denys Hay and John Law, Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1380−1530. Lecture 26: https://rumble.com/v4yk3ax-the-italian-renaissance-florence-in-turmoil-lecture-26.html

Lecture 26: One of the casualties of the French invasions of 1494 was the Medici hegemony in Florence. Lorenzo de’Medici had died in 1492, succeeded by his incompetent eldest son, Piero. The French invasions caused Piero to panic in 1494, driving him to yield to all of the French king’s demands, including the payment of a huge indemnity and the loss of the port at Pisa and the fortresses protecting the Florentine perimeter. On hearing of his capitulation, the Florentines drove him and his family from the city and declared the pristine republic restored. But 60 years of Medici rule had so weakened the opposition that a power vacuum ensued. The only force sufficiently organized to fill the void was led by a millenarian Dominican monk, Girolamo Savonarola (d. 1498). He had come to Florence to preach, soon becoming prior of San Marco, from which his sermons on Florence’s divine mission attracted large crowds. In particular, he attacked Lorenzo de’Medici, claiming he had stolen the people’s liberty, assuming spiritual leadership of a faction of republicans, and demanding a harsh puritanical regime. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Girolamo Savonarola,” pp. 329–336, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Secondary Sources: Lorenzo Polizzotto, The Elect Nation: The Savonarolan Movement in Florence, 1494–1545. Supplementary Reading: Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophesy and Patriotism in the Renaissance. Lecture 27: https://rumble.com/v4yl32f-the-italian-renaissance-savonarola-and-the-republic-lecture-27.html

Lecture 24: After Martin V returned a united papacy to Rome in 1420, it was the ambition of almost every Renaissance pope to reestablish the authority of the Holy See. But if absolute papal theocracy were to be firmly reestablished, it would be necessary for the pope to enjoy economic, military, and political power, as well as spiritual primacy. There was, therefore, built into the papacy an ambiguous dual authority, one religious and one secular. As the heirs of St. Peter, the popes who ruled during the Renaissance were the leaders of Catholicism. But also as the reputed heirs of the Roman emperors, they were regarded as universal sovereigns. Thus, the story of the Renaissance papacy is one of family and personal ambition, a desire to increase the grandeur of Rome and the see of St. Peter while also increasing the power of the pope’s family so that it could outlast his death. In fact, the Renaissance popes were most often seen by their neighbors as powerful Italian princes, ruling a large state that cut across the center of the peninsula north of the Kingdom of Naples. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “The Church and the Papacy,” pp. 297–339, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Secondary Sources: Peter Partner, Renaissance Rome, 1500–1559: A Portrait of a Society. Charles L. Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome. Supplementary Reading: Michael Mallett, The Borgias: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Dynasty. Lecture 25: https://rumble.com/v4yk0f8-the-italian-renaissance-the-crisis-the-french-invasion-of-1494-lecture-25.html

Lecture 22: Rome was as much an idea as it was a city and, as a consequence, had a much different character from that of Florence during the Renaissance. Its ancient heritage was everywhere to be seen in huge ruins. The legend of the Donation of Constantine (in which the emperor was said to have given rule of the western empire to Pope Sylvester when the capital was moved to Constantinople) permitted the pope to claim universal sovereignty. And the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul made the city an attraction for pilgrims, ambitious scholars and clerics, and those who wished to serve or profit from them. Rome was, then, a cosmopolitan city of foreigners, with an enormous floating population of pilgrims and clergy from across Europe. However, conflict damaged the city during the 14th century. Violence among the great Roman families resulted in the Babylonian Captivity, during which the pope abandoned Rome to reside in Avignon between 1305 and 1377. There were insufficient funds to maintain the great churches and palaces, and the population and the number of pilgrims and visitors fell precipitously. The Renaissance, then, came late to Rome. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “The Church and the Papacy,” pp. 309–315, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Petrarch, Book Without a Name (Liber Sine Nomine). Secondary Sources: Guillaume Mollat, The Popes at Avignon, 1305–1378. Supplementary Reading: Charles L. Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome. Lecture 23: https://rumble.com/v4yjk2w-the-italian-renaissance-the-rebuilding-of-rome-lecture-23.html

Lecture 23: The Babylonian Captivity was followed hard upon by the Great Schism of 1378−1417, in which there were two and, finally, three competing popes. With the papacy absent or competing for souls and revenues with anti-popes, the authority of the Church and the wealth of Rome declined. The schism was finally ended, not through purely religious means, but by a general council of the Church (Constance, 1414−1418) under the authority of the German Holy Roman Emperor who, with memories of the Guelf-Ghibelline conflict, also claimed to be the sovereign heir of the Roman emperors. The return of a united papacy in 1420 required the rehabilitation of the neglected, derelict public and religious spaces of the eternal city. Driven by a desire for grandeur and concrete evidence of the end of the schism in the Church, popes increasingly looked to ancient models for authority, not only the example of St. Peter but also their imperial legacy. For example, Nicholas V (d. 1455) began the Vatican Library and brought artists and architects to rebuild the city and restore an ancient aqueduct to ensure sufficient fresh water. Sixtus IV (d. 1484) continued this work, constructing the first bridge across the Tiber since ancient times and establishing hospitals and churches, as well as the Sistine Chapel in the apostolic palace. Secondary Sources: Paolo Portoghesi, Rome of the Renaissance. C. W. Westfall, In This Most Perfect Paradise: Alberti, Nicholas V, and the Invention of Conscious Urban Planning in Rome, 1447–1455. Supplementary Reading: Loren Partridge, The Art of Renaissance Rome, 1400–1600. Lecture 24: https://rumble.com/v4yjq8x-the-italian-renaissance-the-renaissance-papacy-lecture-24.html

Lecture 17: The victory of monarchies in Italy and the examples of the aristocratic societies of the French and Spanish invaders of Italy changed the character of the later Italian Renaissance. The new model of behavior was the ideal courtier serving a wise and virtuous prince. The emphasis in Humanist education shifted toward elite caste marks, increasingly reflecting aristocratic values and courtly and military prowess. Furthermore, the loss of Italian liberty meant that public life changed, with less social mobility available and little call for rhetorical skill in government. As early as the regime of Cosimo de’Medici (d. 1464) in Florence, there had been a growing interest in Platonic ideas. These stressed the dignity of the individual soul; the value of knowledge, including the arcane and the mystical; and the power of love. In the charged and courtly world of 16th-century Italy, these elements created a new perspective in art, learning, and social intercourse best exemplified in Baldassare Castiglione and his Book of the Courtier. Castiglione (1478−1529) was born into a noble family in Mantua but served Guidobaldo, son of the celebrated Federigo, duke of Urbino. Recovering from an injury, he became attached to the duchess Elisabetta Gonzaga (d. 1526) and a familiar of the duke. The treachery of Cesare Borgia drove the ducal family into exile and scattered the court, but it was reconstituted after their restoration following the fall of the Borgia. This is the environment of The Book of the Courtier, written over a period of many years but printed only at the end of Castiglione’s life. In it, the ideals of a perfect society are discussed over four nights of dialogue. The role of women was central and the place of love assured, but the love was the platonic version in which the soul sought knowledge of the divine through contemplation. The book became a guide for how Italians could sustain their culture through manners and learning, despite their loss of liberty and confidence following the foreign invasions. Primary Source Texts: Baldessare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier. Secondary Sources: Sergio Bertelli, Italian Renaissance Courts. Lecture 18: https://rumble.com/v4y3ui2-the-italian-renaissance-women-in-renaissance-italy-lecture-18.html

Lecture 18: It has been argued that women did not have a Renaissance, that their position was better during the Middle Ages. There is some truth to this, in part because the classical literature that was recovered during the Renaissance was often misogynistic. Roman law also disadvantaged women; they had no legal persona before the courts and had to be represented by a male proctor, usually a blood relation or husband. Women could not own property in their own names, except under very unusual circumstances. In essence, they were subject to their fathers until marriage and, thereafter, to their husbands. In light of the Humanist belief that the purpose of a classical education was to prepare for public life, learning for women was seen as superfluous. Indeed, it generally came to be regarded as an outright danger to a female’s virtue and reputation. Despite these inherent disadvantages, many women rose to great heights, often assisted by high birth. Beatrice (d. 1497) and her sister, Isabella d’Este (d. 1539), for example, were patrons of art and skillful representatives of their princely husbands. Laura Cereta (d. 1499) became a celebrated Humanist scholar, and Sofonisba Anguissola (1532−1625) became a famous painter. Wealth, rank, and a sympathetic husband or father permitted women to fulfill their ambitions, but for the majority, life was very difficult. Poor women were particularly marginalized, because there were few opportunities for work outside the convent, domestic service, or prostitution. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Marriage, the Family and Women,” pp. 139–208, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Secondary Sources: Judith C. Brown and Robert C. Davis, eds., Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy. Supplementary Reading: Gene Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence. Franco Cardini, introduction, The Medici Women. Lecture 19: https://rumble.com/v4y3y09-the-italian-renaissance-neoplatonism-lecture-19.html

Lecture 19: The Humanists, beginning with Petrarch, largely rejected the philosophy and the methodology of the Middle Ages known as Scholasticism, that is, the application of Aristotelian logic to theology. This did not mean that they rejected the original writings of either Aristotle or his teacher, Plato. On the contrary, both enjoyed great status as classical writers. Many of the dialogues of Plato were only just becoming available with the spread of Greek texts in the late 14th and early 15th centuries; thus, there was a sense of novel discovery. Even more important, Platonism had had a substantial influence on early Christianity. Such concepts as the immortality of the soul and the interconnection of all creation had deep roots in Platonic thought. The impetus to institutionalize Neoplatonism in the Renaissance was Cosimo de’Medici’s decision to commission the young scholar Marsilio Ficino (d. 1499) to translate the Platonic corpus into Latin. Soon, Ficino gathered around him a group of learned laymen and scholars whose interest in Plato turned his study into a kind of court; its members included such luminaries as Lorenzo the Magnificent, Angelo Poliziano (d. 1494), and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (d. 1494), as well as such artists as Botticelli (d. 1510) and Michelangelo (d. 1564). Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Florentine Neoplatonism and Mysticism,” pp. 117–137, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Secondary Sources: James Hankins, Plato in the Italian Renaissance. Supplementary Reading: Nesca A. Robb, Neoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance. Lecture 20: https://rumble.com/v4y40gl-the-italian-renaissance-milan-under-the-visconti-lecture-20.html

Lecture 20: Milan was the model of the despotic monarchy. Ruling over the vast and fertile Lombard plain, the city had been briefly the capital of the late Roman Empire and, as the see of St. Ambrose, an important episcopal center during the Middle Ages. The struggles between the Ghibellines and Guelfs had, therefore, been particularly bitter. The Visconti family, which had ties to both factions, emerged victorious from the chaos, being formally recognized by the city in 1349 as hereditary rulers. By engaging in almost constant warfare and brutal repression, the Visconti built Milan into the most powerful state in northern Italy. The wealth of the rulers and the city, combined with the Visconti desire for lasting fame, stimulated the patronage of art and literature. Giovanni Visconti (d. 1354), who ruled simultaneously as signore and archbishop of Milan, was Petrarch’s patron, and Giangaleazzo Visconti (d. 1402), who built a huge territorial state through brilliant diplomacy and warfare, began the celebrated cathedral and the monastery of Pavia. His successors were cruel, incompetent, and strange, culminating in the last of his line, Filippo Maria (d. 1447). Filippo married his natural daughter to the mercenary general Francesco Sforza (d. 1466), who seized the city and assumed the role of duke. Secondary Sources: E. R. Chamberlin, The Count of Virtue: Giangaleazzo Visconti. Supplementary Reading: Ernest Hatch Wilkins, Petrarch’s Eight Years in Milan. Sergio Bertelli, Italian Renaissance Courts Lecture 21: https://rumble.com/v4y43a9-the-italian-renaissance-milan-under-the-sforza-lecture-21.html

Lecture 21: Filippo Maria Visconti had married his natural daughter, Bianca, to his most successful mercenary general, Francesco Sforza. Having saved the city, Sforza was dismissed by the republic that had arisen on the duke’s death. He seized the government and had himself named duke of Milan, the first of the new dynasty. Francesco was a fine ruler who, together with Cosimo de’Medici, ensured the stability of the peninsula through the Peace of Lodi (1454) and the Italian League (1455). His death in 1466 resulted in yet another cruel and incompetent ruler who was murdered by his nobles, leaving the throne to a minor. The new duke’s uncle, Francesco’s son, Lodovico il Moro (d. 1508), emerged as regent and later assumed full authority as duke of Milan. Lodovico and his incomparable bride, Beatrice d’Este, presided over a brilliant court in which Leonardo da Vinci resided for many years. Lodovico was removed from his throne by the French in 1500, presaging the control of Milan by foreign powers until the unification of Italy. Primary Source Texts: Diana Robin, Filelfo in Milan: Writings, 1451–77. Secondary Sources: Gregory Lubkin, A Renaissance Court: Milan Under Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Supplementary Reading: Alison Cole, Virtue and Magnificence: Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts. Lecture 22: https://rumble.com/v4yjele-the-italian-renaissance-the-eternal-city-rome-lecture-22.html

Lecture 16: Although a tiny principality of only 40 square miles perched in the Apennines, Urbino became one of the most celebrated sites of Renaissance culture. Because the inhospitable nature of the terrain made it difficult to coax much from the soil, the population sustained itself for generations by serving as mercenary soldiers fighting under the signori of the Montefeltro family. The most famous of the Montefeltros was Federigo, who ruled from 1444 until his death in 1482. In addition to being a great leader, never losing a battle, and—uncharacteristically for a mercenary—never betraying a client, Federigo was among the greatest patrons of culture in the Italian Renaissance. His new palace was a center for study and art, welcoming such painters as Piero della Francesca and Giovanni Santi, father of Raphael. He patronized scholars who worked constantly on his library until it became one of the most important collections of manuscripts in Europe, and his books were among the most beautiful, as illustrated by the incomparable Urbino Bible. After many pregnancies, Federigo’s wife, Battista Sforza, finally produced an heir, Guidobaldo (1472−1508). But he proved to be sickly and weak, no match for the invasion of Cesare Borgia. Primary Source Texts: Vespasiano da Bisticci, “The Life of Federigo da Montefeltro,” in The Vespasiano Memoirs: Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth Century. Secondary Sources: James Dennistoun, Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino. Supplementary Reading: Alison Cole, Virtue and Magnificence: Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts. Lecture 17: https://rumble.com/v4y3sxk-the-italian-renaissance-castiglione-and-the-book-of-the-courtier-lecture-17.html

Lecture 13: Venice, the other great republic in the peninsula, is a curious place. It was founded by Romans fleeing the barbarian invasions in the 5th and 6th centuries, seeking safety in the lagoons where the river Po meets the Adriatic. It was, therefore, not a Roman foundation and not originally an episcopal see. Its initial economy was fishing, which soon expanded to local and, eventually, long-distance maritime trade. The calling of the Crusades made Venice enormously rich and permitted the republic to become the most powerful maritime state in Europe and the richest city in the West. The social organization of the city resulted from its origins as well; fiercely independent, the inhabitants knew no prince or bishop but ruled themselves by choosing magistrates, who were seen only as primi inter pares, “first among equals.” At the end of the 7th century (697), the duke (doge in Venetian dialect) emerged as the elected head of state. In 1297, the system was codified in the Serrata (or closure of the Great Council) with the institution of legally defined classes. The Serrata limited membership in the Great Council, the source of political power in Venice, to families who had sat there previously and whose names were recorded in the Golden Book. Thereafter, Venice was a republic of nobles whose economic and political interests were almost entirely associated with the success of the state. The city also avoided the factional crises of the other Italian states as the Guelf-Ghibelline struggle did not obtain. Moreover, the fear of the impoverished working class in cities, illustrated by the ciompi in Florence, was not present. The industrial workers in Venice were the skilled employees of the Arsenal, building the vast fleets for Mediterranean trade and protection, and the glass workers were equally privileged and well paid. Consequently, Venice was a stable and homogeneous society, divided informally by wealth and occupation. Primary Source Texts: D. Chambers, and B. Pullan, eds., Venice: A Documentary History, 1450 to 1630. Secondary Sources: D. S. Chambers, The Imperial Age of Venice, 1380–1580. Robert Finlay, Politics in Renaissance Venice. Supplementary Reading: Frederic Lane, Andrea Barbarigo, Merchant of Venice, 1418–1449. Lecture 14: https://rumble.com/v4xlh0q-the-italian-renaissance-renaissance-venice-lecture-14.html

Lecture 14: Its social and political context meant the Renaissance arrived late in Venice. Looking to Byzantium rather than to Italy, having little motivation to make cultural or intellectual connections with other Italian states, and not seeing itself as a city with a classical Roman past, Venice was isolated from the first appearances of Humanist values in the peninsula. Also, the social structure separated the educated members of the chancery, or civil service, from the dominant political families. Everything changed, however, after 1380, when Venice decided to expand onto the mainland in order to protect its flank, its food supply, and trade routes. Venice conquered the sophisticated cities of northern Italy, such as Vicenza and Verona, and in 1405, Padua, with its celebrated university. There, Venetians confronted and began to adopt Humanist and Renaissance artistic values. Such architects as Sansovino and Palladio worked in Venice to bring the classical style to maturity. Painters, such as Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Titian, developed a unique use of light and color to reflect the atmosphere of the Veneto in which they lived. The wealth of the city meant patronage flourished, and official commissions to adorn public buildings quickly institutionalized this transformation. Secondary Sources: Manfredo Tafuri, Venice and the Renaissance. Patricia Fortini Brown, Art and Life in Renaissance Venice. Supplementary Reading: Margaret King, Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance. Lecture 15: https://rumble.com/v4xlo39-the-italian-renaissance-the-signori-renaissance-princes-lecture-15.html

Lecture 12: Despite the republican constitution of Florence, Lorenzo was born, in effect, a Renaissance prince. His father and grandfather had managed the state, using the Medici faction and their enormous wealth as instruments for control. Only 20 in 1469, when his father, Piero, died, Lorenzo was thrust into the political and diplomatic currents of the peninsula at a moment of general peace, leaving him free to engage in his true interest, the patronage of art and literature. As a collector, he filled the huge palace built by his grandfather with ancient sculpture, rare gems, and objets de vertu; he supported such poets as Poliziano and such philosophers as Pico della Mirandola; he discovered the genius of the young Michelangelo and patronized Botticelli. His own talents as a poet, diplomat, and statesman were such that he had little difficulty maintaining his control of the fractious Florentines. However, there was opposition, led internally by the ancient Pazzi family, jealous of the Medici hegemony, and externally by Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484), who believed that Lorenzo was blocking the creation of a principality for his nephew. There was a conspiracy in 1478 to murder Lorenzo and his brother, Giuliano, at mass. The plot failed, although Giuliano was killed, and the aftermath was bloody vengeance on the conspirators. Angry, the pope excommunicated Lorenzo and declared war on him personally, ravaging Florentine territory. Rather than submit, Lorenzo slid away to Naples, the capital of the king commanding the papal armies, and made a separate peace, leaving Sixtus no choice but to abandon his aggression. Thereafter, Lorenzo tightened his control on the state, and a certain sadness characterized the last decade of his life. Primary Source Texts: Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Florentine Neoplatonism and Mysticism,” pp. 125–128, 134–137, and “The Church and the Papacy,” pp. 329–336, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Secondary Sources: Judith Hook, Lorenzo de’Medici: An Historical Biography. Lauro Martines, April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici. Supplementary Reading: Harold Acton, The Pazzi Conspiracy: The Plot Against the Medici. “Angelo Poliziano: The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in Benjamin G. Kohl and Ronald G. Witt, eds., The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society. Lecture 13: https://rumble.com/v4xlel6-the-italian-renaissance-venice-the-most-serene-republic-lecture-13.html