Renaissance Italy

Constant warfare between states

Competition helped create civilization

1300

Important Places of the Italian Renaissance

• Florence – beginning of the Renaissance– The Doma, Pazzi Chapel, Medici Bank, wool

making – Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Botticelli,– Cosmo and Lorenzo Medici (and family),

Pazzi Family, Friar Savonarola– Ancient Greek and Roman books first studied

in modern Europe– Pazzi Family rivals to Medici tried to kill them

but was exciled.

Florence

• Architecture, sculpture and art emphasize humanity rather than God although still focused on God

• Humanity is represented as noble, full of potential and proud but not arrogant. Humanity is not represented as heroic or triumphant until Rome

Medici

• Ruled Florence directly or indirectly for 350 years– trusted bankers for all of Southern Europe– Developed the check system, double entry

accounting, the Florin– Patrons for art and science (Galileo)– Sided with Charles VIII when he invaded Italy

in 1494

Savonarola – Franciscan Priest 1498 attacked vice, frivolity and lust in Florence

Bonfire of the Vanities

Roman Renaissance

Nicholas V(1447-1455)

• rebuilt Rome as a Renaissance city, supported arts and revived Rome’s economy.

Calixtus III(1455-1458)

• 1st of the Borgia (Spanish) Popes• notorious nepotism to Spanish friends• Really irritated the Italians• Callixtus's heavy-handed methods of raising money, his

arrogant nepotism, and his harsh pronouncements against Jews created opposition from France, Germany, and his own native Spain. When he died, the Italians turned on Callixtus's Spanish generals and administrators, and they fled Rome in terror. The Spaniards --- called "Catalans" --- were reviled. Only the clever nephew, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, avoided the wrath of the populace.

Paul II(1458-1464)

• Easy-going• He gave plenty of

splendid pageants, didn't annoy anyone with unnecessary severities, and made no serious political enemies

Sixtus IV(1471-1484)

rebuilt Rome

• widening the streets and destroying the crumbling ruins.

• He commissioned the Sistine Chapel  

Innocent VIII(1484-1492)

• He had two illegitimate children when he was younger, and he was the first pope who openly acknowledged his children

• He was a generally harmless and agreeable pope, who was nevertheless also largely ineffectual.

• recognized the right of the Tudors to rule England

• He conferred the title "Catholic Majesty" on the king of Spain,

• He received the Holy Lance from the Sultan of Turkey;

• He chiefly had to deal with the threat from Naples. While he managed to keep Rome from being occupied by a Neapolitan army, he failed to neutralize the threat and bequeathed this problem to his successor

Pope Pius III

• Pope for 26 days until he died from an ulcer in the leg

• Or he was poisoned by…

Alexander VI Rodrigo Borgia (1492-1503)

• Very possibly the worst and most notorious of all the Renaissance popes, Rodrigo Borgia can find almost no one who has a good word to say about him. Corrupt, ambitious, worldly and pleasure-seeking.

• • Two years into his pontificate, the French invaded Italy: and an

incompetent pope might well have ended with the Papal States overrun by foreign powers. He did not let that happen.

• Proclaimed the line of demarcation that split the western hemisphere between Spain and Portugal. Known as the Treaty of Tordesillas.

• Foreign relations during his reign were dominated by the increasing influence of France in Italy, which culminated in the invasion of Charles VIII in 1494.

• Encouraged leaders of Florence to kill Savonarola because Savonarola pushed for spiritual reform

• Added 12 new Cardinals for bribes he received

• Invited both Spain and France to invade Italy at different times and double crossed Naples, Venice, Sicily and Florence at one time or another

• Totally disregarded any spiritual importance of the Papacy

• Breaking any commandment excited him, but he was partial to the seventh.

• Had at least 3 children with 2 mistresses and probably closer to 7 children in total

• Used the office to make money and help his son Cesar Borgia to gain power and influence

• His daughter Lucrecia was married to powerful men to help Alexander or Cesar at least 3 times.

Lucrecia Borgia

Lucrecia• Marriage #1:

– Giovanni Sforza, thus establishing an alliance with that powerful Milanese family

– She didn’t move in though, she lived with Alex VI’s mistress next to the Papacy

– Ended marriage when Sforza’s didn’t matter. When Joe refused to leave he was forced to sign a “confession” that he was impotent

• Lucrecia retired to a nunnery but became pregnant while there

• Unfortunate because the divorce required her to be a virgin. The Pope said she was a virgin and all was good. The son, Giovanni, was hidden until he was 3 and then 2 bulls were issued. One said he was the Pope’s son and one said he was Ceasar’s son. Eww.

• Marriage #2 seventeen-year-old Prince of Aragon - killed when he fell out of favor (Alex conquered Aragon)– When he left to check out his new land, Alex left Lucrecia as acting Pope

• Marriage #3 Duke of Ferrarra. Loved her husband very much and had 5 children with him. She had affairs with several court artists and acted as their patron as well. The locals loved her.

Wars with the French and Spanish• In 1494, Charles VIII invaded to take Naples and Pope

allowed him to pass through Rome so he wasn’t taken also.

• After multiple changing sides the French finally won. So Alex invited the Spanish and Venicians to help and they defeated the French and drove them back out.

• Now, the Spanish held power in Italy• Italians were disgusted by their inability to defend

themselves from anyone• Pope owes a lot to Spain, • France gains power in Italy, • Machievelli writes “The Prince” encouraging Italians

to unite under a powerful Prince (Caesar Borgia)• Renassiance moves North• Political rulers become more important than Pope

Julius II: The Warrior Pope(1503-1510)

1508 he was able to conclude with French King Louis XII, the emperor Maximilian, and Ferdinand of Aragon, the famous League of Cambrai against the Venetian Republic. In the spring of the following year the Republic was placed under an interdict

• Julius traded sides and forgave the Venetians in exchange for their help getting rid of the French. He also placed the interdiction on France.

• Patronage: in 1506 he laid the foundation stone of the new St Peter's;

• He was the friend and patron of Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

Old St. Peters

                                                         

       

1602 (finished in 1626)

St. Peter’s Basilica

Plaza and entry to St Peter’s

Leo X - Medici (1510-1521)

• "Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it."

• And he did, traveling around Rome at the head of a lavish parade featuring panthers, jesters, and Hanno, a white elephant. He served dinners with sixty-five courses at which little boys jumped out of puddings.

• Fought the Turks• Increased the sale of Indulgences• Excommunicated Martin Luther• He was at ease in social situations, a

skilled diplomat, demonstrated great skill as an administrator, and was an intelligent and beneficent patron of the arts. He encouraged scholarly learning, and supported the theatre, an art form considered to be of ambiguous morality until that time

 

Machiavelli’s The Prince• The Prince was written to encourage Italians and their rulers to be

more united and firm in their attempts to keep foreigners out.• Machiavelli believed Italy needed to ruled by a cultured yet ruthless king• Ceasar Borgia was the most likely ruler but he dedicated the book to the

Medici family• “The ends justifies the means”.

• "We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed. "

• "For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavour of them may last longer."

• "And a prince ought, above all things, always to endeavour in every action to gain for himself the reputation of being a great and remarkable man. "

Reformation begins!!!

• Martin Luther and other Germans demanded the Catholic church reform

• The Church ignored them and believed they would go away

• Instead, the Germans broke away from Catholicism, destroyed the unity and some of the power of the Catholics and set the stage for hundreds of years of internal conflict and war

Pope Adrian(1522-23)

First Dutch Pope

Tried to Reform the Church – especially indulgences.

Stated that the pope could err in matters of faith

Cut spending on art and parties

Not popular

Most of Adrian VI's official papers disappeared soon after his death.

Pope Clement VII(1523-34)

• an illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, who was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici; he was thus the nephew of Lorenzo de' Medici and cousin of Pope Leo X.

• As a man he possessed few virtues and few vices; as a pontiff he did nothing to disgrace the church and nothing to restore its lustre; his adroitness and dexterity as a statesman were counteracted by his suspicion and irresolution;

• his administration affords a proof that at eventful crises of the world's history mediocrity of character is more disastrous than mediocrity of talent.

• article was originally taken from the 9th edition (1876) of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Sacking of Rome - 1527• Italian peninsula was a collection of independent nations and states• 1527 Charles V had sent mercenary troops into Italy but he was unable to

pay them for their labors.  • Many of the troops were recruited from Germany and the Lutheran

influence was not inconsequential.  Following repeated attempts at stalling the economic demands of the troops, who had not been paid in months, the mercenaries turned their sights on Rome and the riches of the Renaissance Papacy to appease what they perceived as their “rightful compensation”.  Without the orders or permission of Charles V, and under the leadership of a renegade French Duke, Charles of Bourbon, these mercenary troops attacked Rome.  Bourbon was killed in the battle and the troops were left uncontrolled to ransack and pillage the city.

• The Sacking of Rome lasted eight days at which time untold sacrilege and villainy was conducted against the city and its inhabitants.  Four Thousand citizens were killed, Roman Catholic clergy (and their consorts & children) were thrown from windows, sexual acts and rapes took place on the altars, the Sistine Chapel was used as a barn and all of the papal treasures were pillaged.  Luther was named Pope in effigy and pro-Lutheran graffiti was painted on any works of art that could not be removed. 

Pope Clement –non Ren.• One momentous consequence of this dependence on Charles was the

breach with England occasioned by Clement's refusal in 1533, justifiable in point of principle, but dictated by no higher motive than his fear of offending the emperor, to sanction Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon; this ultimately resulted in the establishment of the independent Church of England.

• At first attached to the interests of the Holy Roman Empire, he was terrified by the overwhelming success of Emperor Charles V in the battle of Pavia into joining the other Italian princes in a league with France. This policy in itself was sound and patriotic, but Clement's zeal soon cooled; by his want of foresight and unseasonable economy he laid himself open to an attack from the turbulent Roman barons, which obliged him to invoke the mediation of the Emperor. When this danger seemed over he veered back to his former engagements, and ended by drawing down upon himself the imperialist host, eventually uncertainly led by Charles, Duke of Bourbon, who, compelled to satisfy his clamorous mercenaries by pillage, embraced the opportunity of leading them against Rome.