the fourteenth century. black death beginning in 1347, killed one-third to one- half of european...
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The Fourteenth Century
Black Death
• Beginning in 1347, killed one-third to one-half of European population within a century
• Carried to Europe on flea-bearing rats on commercial ships
Effects of Black Death: Psychological
• Religious atonement: flagellants
• Self-indulgence
• Religious doubt
• Anxiety and self-consciousness
Wolgemut, Dance of Death, 1493
Effects of Black Death: Economic
• Labor shortage
• Rise in peasants’ social and economic status
• Migration to cities
• Peasant revolts
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned,c.1280-90
Giotto,Madonna
Enthroned,c.1310
chiaroscuro
North Transept, Chartres
Giotto, Lamentation, 1305-06
Lorenzetti,Madonna del Latte,c.1340
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned,c.1280-90
Limbourg Bros.,February, c.1413-16
14th c. Literature
Social Realism and Feminism
Boccaccio, Decameron, 1351
• 10 people outside Florence, hiding from plague, tell stories
• Social realism: plague, gender relationships, etc.
• “Tale of Filippa”– Social criticism of legal system
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, c. 1390
• Modeled on Decameron
• 29 pilgrims to shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, Canterbury
Christine de Pisan,Book of the City of Ladies, 1405• Environment and social conventions
explain why women are less accomplished than men
• History offers examples of accomplished women– Novella Andrea
Classical Humanism in the Renaissance
Renaissance
• “rebirth” of classical learning
• Began in 14th century Italy, spread north n 15th and 16th centuries
Scholasticism vs. Renaissance Humanism (1)
• Scholasticism: Classics used to explain Christian dogma
• Renaissance humanism: Classics used as “rational guide to the fulfillment of human potential” (373); however, Renaissance humanists were also devout Christians
Scholasticism vs. Renaissance Humanism (2)
• Scholasticism: primarily the concern of theologians
• Renaissance Humanism: involved many members of society, from civic leaders to artists to writers
Scholasticism vs. Renaissance Humanism (3)
• Scholasticism: based primarily on Latin writers and Latin translations of Aristotle; Greek literary masterpieces and most of Plato were unknown; few Medieval scholars could read Greek
Scholasticism vs. Renaissance Humanism (3)
• Renaissance humanism: balanced Greek and Latin culture; Greek literature and Plato rediscovered; many scholars study Greek
Scholasticism vs. Renaissance Humanism (4)
• Scholasticism: grammar, logic, metaphysics, theology
• Renaissance humanism: language, literature, history, ethics, that is, what we call “the humanities” today
Why Italy?
• Least feudalized and most urban part of Europe
• Commercial prosperity
• Contact with the East
• Wealthy families in urban centers served as patrons of arts and learning– Civic spirit
Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the City, 1338-39
Effects of Bad Government in the City
Medici family
• The leading family in Florence during the Renaissance
• Originally a family of physicians, they made money in banking
• Commissioned works by Botticelli, Michelangelo, and others
Petrarch (1304-74)• Scholar and poet, the “father of humanism”
• Collected and copied classical Latin manuscripts
• Letter to Lapo da Castiglionchio: – “For just in proportion as the writing is slower
than the reading does the passage make a deep impression and cling to the mind”
– Cicero’s copying inspires Petrarch’s copying
Petrarch: Dual Identities
• Judeo-Christian identity vs. Classical identity– A big fan of both Cicero and Augustine
• Studied Latin manuscripts, but wrote love poems in Italian: Petrarchan sonnets
Pico della Mirandola (1463-94)
• Humanist, poet, theologian; could read Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic
• Lived only 31 years
• Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)– Addressed to Catholic clergymen, an
introduction to his theological disputes with the Church
Oration on the Dignity of Man
• Revises Genesis, says that God created man in order to have someone to appreciate the Creation (380)
• Man is a creature of “indeterminate image” set “in the very center of the world” (381)
• Man has the free will to “trace for yourself the lineaments of your own nature” (381)
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1474)
• Mathematician, architect, engineer, musician, playwright
• On the Family (1443): – Man should work hard, scorn idleness– God approves of people who are useful to
others– Man “is born to be happy” (382)
Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
• The Book of the Courtier (1518), a Renaissance bestseller
• Marks shift from medieval to modern values
• The courtier practices sprezzatura• The purpose of the courtier is to influence
the ruler, strengthen the state
Raphael, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, c.1515
Which is NOT a courtier quality?• Able to use a variety of weapons
• Knows how to wrestle
• Tall in stature
• Plays tennis
• Able to swim
• Able to throw stones
• A good horseman
Which is NOT a courtier quality?• Able to use a variety of weapons
• Knows how to wrestle
• Tall in stature• Plays tennis
• Able to swim
• Able to throw stones
• A good horseman
Which is NOT a courtier quality?
• Speaks Latin, Greek, English
• Possesses clear, sonorous voice
• Writes well
• Knows how to dance
• Plays several musical instruments
• Knows how to paint
• Can tell a joke
Which is NOT a courtier quality?
• Speaks Latin, Greek, English• Possesses clear, sonorous voice
• Writes well
• Knows how to dance
• Plays several musical instruments
• Knows how to paint
• Can tell a joke
Lucretia Marinella (1571-1653)
• The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects of Men (1600)– Studies the psychology of misogyny
– Misogyny caused by men’s anger, envy, self-love, insufficient intelligence
Machievelli, The Prince (1513)
• Realist analysis of what keeps a leader in power
• The Prince must learn how not to be good, because human nature is not perfectly good
• Virtue is a nice idea, but the main job of the prince is to stay in power; virtue makes no sense of the prince loses his authority
Machievelli, The Prince (1513)
• Better for prince to be feared than loved
• The prince must be able to simulatesimulate and dissemble
• The evils of a prince will be excused by the people if the prince maintains his authority