Main topics
•Evolution of Italian Renaissance
◦Florence= birthplace of Renaissance and very successful city state
◾Wool industry was major factor in city’s financial expansion and political increase
◾Dominated European banking
◾Florence still remained economically stable after Black Death, huge debt issues, and labor unrest
◦Balance of power among Italian City States
Communes and republics
◾Northern Italian cities = communes (sworn associations of free men seeking complete political/economic independence from local nobles)
◾Feudal nobility + commercial aristocracy= (new social class) urban nobility
•Groups tied by blood, tightly knit alliances to defend/extend rights
◾Citizenship in the communes …show more content…
Venice, Milan, Florence, The Papal States, and the kingdom of Naples
•Rulers of city states acted as monarchs
•Major city states controlled smaller ones
•Controlled power b/w city states
◾Venice, ranked as international power
•Republic in name, an oligarchy of merchant aristocrats ran city
◦Same in Milan and Florence (Medici family)
◾End of 15th cen Venice, Florence, and Milan wealthy
•Italy target for invasion
•When Florence and Naples got in argument to get Milanese, Milan called on French
◾Invasion of Italy 1494 by french
•Suffered from warfare
•Italy unified in 1870
•Intellectual hallmarks of Renaissance
◦Individualism; stressed personality, uniqueness, genius, and full development of one’s capabilities and talents
◾A humanism characterized by interests in Latin classics and deliberate attempt 2 receive antique lifestyle emerged, and new secular spirit
◦Humanism; beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving