Italian Renaissance

Politics: the 5 Major States

5 Major States• North– Milan and Venice

• Central– Florence & Papal States

• South– Naples

• Numerous smaller minor states & Independent city-states*– Lucca, Modena, Siena, Ferrara, Matua, Urbino

North Italian Peninsula

• Duchy of Milan–1447 Francesco Sforza (a powerful

condottieri) conquered Milan–Became Duke; worked with conquered

Visconti family to centralize the territory–Devised efficient system of taxation

that generated high revenue for the state

• Republic of Venice–Maritime republic: huge commercial

empire–Governed by small oligarchy of merchant-

aristocrats–Expanded via conquest inland to protect

food supply & overland trade routes• This put them in opposition to Milan and

Florence

Central Italian Peninsula• Republic of Florence– Dominated region of Tuscany– Ruled by oligarchy that manipulated the ‘republican’

government– 1434 Cosimo de’ Medici (1434-1464) took control of

the oligarchy– Medici’s ran government under the guise of a

republican government– Lavish patronage! – 2nd most famous Medici was Lorenzo the

Magnificent (1469-1492)

• Papal States–Technically ruled by the Pope, however

due to the Avignon Papacy, small areas such as Urbino, Bologna, and Ferrara essentially became independent territories–Renaissance Popes worked hard to

reassert their control over these territories

Southern Italy

• Kingdom of Naples– France and Aragon (later Spain) fought over

control of this kingdom–Aragon (Spain) will eventually acquire control

and rule–Backward monarchy–Population of poverty-stricken peasants– For the most part this area did not partake in

the Renaissance

Major City-States• Mantua: Gonzaga lords• Ferrara: d’Este family• Urbino: Montefeltro dynasty

• Some of these smaller states had females involved in court matters– Battista Sforza (niece of Milan’s ruler and wife of

Federigo da Montefeltro)– Isabella d’Este (daughter of Duke of Ferrara

married to Francesco Gonzaga) called ‘First Lady of the World’

Interaction, War, Diplomacy

• Balance of Power– Territories practiced this ideology– Designed to prevent aggrandizement of any one state at

the expense of others– Built on a system of alliances/friendships/deal-making

• Peace of Lodi (1454)– Ended almost half a century of war– Had almost 4o years of peace

• Milan, Florence, Naples versus Papal States & Venice

• New Monarchies in Northern Europe in full swing– Will lead to outside interference in Italian affairs– Italy becomes a battle ground for French-Spanish conflict

• Peace in Italy ended when Ludovico Sforza (Duke of Milan) invited the French to intervene in Italian politics– King Charles III advanced through Italy with a 30,000

strong army– French occupied Naples

• Other Italian states turned to the Spanish for help against the French– Ferdinand of Aragon willingly helped

• After Charles VIII and Ferdinand were dead & gone, new rulers continued the fight– Francis I of France–Charles I of Spain (aka Charles V of HRE)

• Valois-Hapsburg wars have been, and will continue to be a major theme in our history course!!!

• 1527 Charles I (Charles V) goes so far as to even sack Rome itself

Effects of Foreign Involvement

• Italian rulers could no longer sustain the glories of the Renaissance

• Italians developed a sense of national consciousness distinguishing themselves from foreigners– Fierce loyalty to their own states, however,

prevents any sort of Italian unification• Modern diplomatic system created

throughout these events

Modern Diplomacy

• Use of ambassadors no longer a servant of all of Christendom – Now an ambassador was used to ferret out important

information about others– Ambassadors represent their own state

• Residential ambassadors used (living in foreign states)

• Basic guidelines were developed on the rights of ambassadors during this era

Niccolo Machiavelli“the Prince”

1469-1527

• Served Florence after Medici family expelled from Florence (1494)

• Made many diplomatic trips to various states, France, and German States

• When the Medici’s returned to power in 1512 Machiavelli was sent into exile

• It was in this forced retirement from politics that he wrote his famous book “The Prince”

• turn to page 349 & 350 for primary source material

• “How we live is so different from how we ought to live that he who studies what ought to be done rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall rather than to his preservation.”

• “Men are driven by two two principal impulses, either by love or by fear.”

• “it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

• “One can say this in general of men: they are ungrateful, disloyal, insincere and deceitful, timid of danger and avid of profit...Love is a bond of obligation that these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes.”

• “History is written by the victors.”• “the ends justifies the means”• “If an injury has to be done to a man it should

be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

• “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

• “Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”