VII

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Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Discuss the development of Western civic practices.

2. Describe the causes and effects of major historical events. 2.3 Compare the impact of the Black Plague and Renaissance as cultural impacts.

3. Discuss key individuals in Western culture.

4. Recognize significant Western cultural ideas.

5. Describe influences that contributed to the development of Western society.

5.4 Describe the specific factors that differentiate the Black Plague and Renaissance.

6. Contrast attributes of Western societies across different periods and locations. 6.5 Contrast the ideals associated with the Renaissance and Black Death periods.

7. Exemplify academic research skills in scholastic exercise.

7.1 Summarize data to support your stance on a topic. Required Unit Resources Chapter 11: The Later Middle Ages, 1300–1450 Chapter 12: European Society in the Age of the Renaissance, 1350–1550 Unit Lesson Unit VI addressed the attempts to consolidate power by secular and spiritual rulers and sources of new power in the new cities. In Unit VII, we address how famine, plagues, and wars weakened some of the centralizing forces yet also created some of the key features of Western societies. From 1300–1550, events generated two different ways of looking at life:

1. as preparation for the afterlife (or death) through avoiding and atoning for sin during life, and 2. as valuable for its own sake, with potential for human achievement and happiness.

While never completely distinct, these views were manifested in many facets of society. Consider the images below, which appear to present almost contradictory views concerning the purpose of life. The image on the left is a detail from Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of the “seven deadly sins”—lust, avarice, envy, gluttony, wrath, pride, greed, and sloth, as well as the “four last things”—death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The emphasis is on avoiding sin and preparation for life after death. The image on the right by Hans Holbein the Younger celebrates this world, its accomplishments, politics, and opportunities for human achievement, and yet, what is that strange smudge painted on the floor? In this unit, consideration of the historical context will reveal why the painting on the right reveals multiple points of view about life and death in an effective presentation of the Renaissance world.

UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE The Hereafter and the Here and Now: 1300–1550

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Detail from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Heironymus Bosch (Bosch, ca. 1450–1516)

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) (Holbein, 1533b)

What is the historical context for the creation of these two images? Here the focus is on how climate, technologies, population distribution, and politics generated new ways of living and thinking about the place of humanity in the cosmos. So much happened during this period that only some key developments can be considered here, but a sense of the scope of change is important to making sense of any one change or artifact. People living in Western societies during 1300–1550 may have experienced or witnessed these specific, influential developments:

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• Climate change leading to famine and economic crisis • The Black Death and other forms of recurring plagues that undermined the traditional structures and

norms of society • Intense religious feelings or beliefs and an emphasis on life after death and the terrors of hell • The Hundred Years’ War leading to the development of consolidated kingdoms and unique national

identities for France and England • Voyages of exploration with an expansion of global trade and new ideas about the variety of human

life and social arrangements • The rise of the free cities in Italy and northern Europe due to the expansion of trade • The Renaissance focus on human life and reason leading to the rise of humanism, the critical

analysis of history and literature and the insistence on providing natural causes in explanations of human and natural events

• Patronage of the arts, architecture, and learning generating an explosion in civic art glorifying state and city leaders

• Realism and the invention of perspective (point of view) in art that reflects the same developments in ideas about scholarship and politics

• Moveable type and the printing press democratizing literacy and expanding access to news and ideas • Applications of humanistic analysis to scripture and Church doctrine, both strengthening it and

highlighting abuses • Uniformity of faith across Europe fracturing in response to abuses despite Church internal reforms

Four Medieval Terrors: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death

The first focus is on the hardships endured during this period that brought a sense of despair and grim sacrifice, as well as deep faith. The section title echoes the names of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse featured in the Christian accounts of the end of the world. To some people, events of the Middle Ages signaled that the time was ripe because of the significant loss of life due to the Hundred Years’ War, the plague, and the Small Ice Age that brought food scarcity, high prices, and famine. In Unit VI, the extension of power by ambitious rulers was countered by local loyalties and ongoing contests between rulers and the Church. Contests continued into the Renaissance, yet the goals changed as the sovereign kingdoms of Spain, France, and England emerged by 1550. The Hundred Years’ War between France and England led to the development of distinct kingdoms. This war marks a century-long transition from feudal to national loyalties as well as the growing influence of the kingdom as the dominant political unit. In 1337, at the war’s start, these two kingdoms were still very much a loose collection of estates and feudal provinces with very powerful nobles who promised but could choose not to deliver loyalty to the king. English nobles owned some of these regions in France, and due to the Norman Conquest in 1066, most English nobility—even those on the island of England itself—preferred to speak French (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). The conflicting loyalties between kingdoms and feudal states sparked the war when the authority of King Edward III of England, who owned a part of French territory named Guienne, was overruled by Charles IV of France. Citing Edward with neglect, Charles took part of Edward’s territory. When Charles was succeeded by Philip VI, and the territory was not restored to Edward, Philip claimed the French throne through his mother’s line. Thus began this 100-year struggle. It was not a constant battle but was similar to the plague, as it erupted repeatedly at times during this period. By the early 1400s, England appeared to have the upper hand, using new technology like such as long bows and new strategies such as quick raids. They devastated the French economy. After a ten-year lull in the war, English King Henry V routed French forces at Agincourt in 1415. This moment was immortalized two centuries later by Shakespeare in this famous speech on the love among brothers-in-arms, spoken by King Henry in King Henry the Fifth:

This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

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For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here; And hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

—Shakespeare (1859/2007, Act 4, Scene 3) It seemed that England would win until Joan of Arc took up arms on behalf of the new young French dauphin (heir to the French throne). St. Joan, spurred by divine visions, rallied the French to defend the young king. She and her army besieged Orléans to unseat the Duke of Burgundy, ally of the English king, and started a campaign that ultimately pushed the English into the sea—except for a small toehold called Calais. Joan of Arc was captured and tried by the English and their Burgundian allies. When she was burned at the stake in 1431 as a heretic and a mad woman, as well as for impersonating a man, Joan was 19 years old. She was beatified (recognized as a saint) in 1920 (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). By 1453, approximately 3.5 million people had died directly or indirectly due to the Hundred Years’ War (White, 2011). The waters of the English Channel then became a stable boundary, and the feudalism that had created conflicting loyalties within royal territories weakened.

15th century illustration depiction of Joan of Arc directing French troops during the siege of Paris in 1429 ([Illustration of French Troops of Joan of Arc Besieging Paris], ca. 1429)

Joan of Arc being tied to the stake (ca. 1484) (d’Auvergne, ca. 1484)

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Famine, Pestilence, Monsters, and Scapegoats Climate change produced severe consequences for developing political institutions and economies for a brief period during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Warm weather caused by ocean currents made farming along England’s northern shores and into Greenland common by 1300, including the growing of grapes. People settled in and with the production of food came an expanded population. Then the weather shifted in what historians call “the Little Ice Age,” shrinking the arable land and harvests. The needs of the large population could no longer be met, and famine ensued due to scarcity or high prices or both. The inability of Western authorities to come to the aid of the people crushed the centralization that monarchs and the Church had achieved during the previous century (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). Administrative networks and economies both began to stall; as they failed to help, both the Church and secular leaders lost authority. Pestilence intensified this effect. The Black Death (1347–1352) was one of many plagues in the west from 2000 B.C.E. through the 17th century. During the 14th century, as much as half the population of Europe perished due to the plague and the numbers are much higher if we consider the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The plague decimated London’s population in 1563, killing an estimated third to one half of its inhabitants within a century (Martin, 2001). Between 50%–70% of the citizens of Florence died. Sixty percent of all Venetians (citizens of Venice) died within an 18-month period, sometimes at a rate of 500–600 per day. It took 200 years to reattain the population numbers from 1347 in Europe (Video Education America, 2014). The plague spread to Europe, transmitted by the rats and fleas along the Silk Road and European trade routes, and the attempts to divine the cause and cure (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). These are interesting in themselves, but this epidemiological or medical focus does not reveal the social, economic, religious, cultural, and political impacts. The plague transformed the West. With roughly 16 outbreaks punctuating the Middle Ages and Renaissance, death was a constant presence permeating all of culture. This is the origin of the Danse Macabre or dance of death (images below), the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin who led rats and children to their doom, and disputedly perhaps even the nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie” (indicating the symptom and portent of almost sure death, the red pustule of plague). Boccaccio wrote his famous Decameron, a tale of people who managed to flee the infected cities for the mountainsides and, as in The Canterbury Tales, regaled each other with stories that reflected life in medieval Florence. For so many, life was brief or marked with loss, prompting two different reactions. The first launched a hyper- religiosity as people blamed or sought to appease God and expunge whatever sin was triggering the pestilential wrath. The second ranged from rejecting prudence, social constraints, and morals to celebrating life in the moment to having a greater respect for the significance of human life and endeavor. The focus on life after death, or the “hereafter,” prompted a range of behaviors from inspiring momento mori— artistic reminders of mortality to spur faith and good works—to the self-savaging of flagellants who whipped themselves as penance for sin, seeking pain and forgiveness. Horrible instances of scapegoating emerged. Traveling monks or friars spread the word that these illnesses were the plagues that foretold the world’s end in the scripture entitled The Book of Revelation (Hughes, 2004). This dim view of the worthlessness of mankind is expressed in Bosch’s painting below and in many paintings of the time, dotted with the monstrous and contorted figures of sinners and demons. “The Dance Macabre,” or dance of death, appeared everywhere—in paintings, manuscripts, statues, and churches and abbeys throughout the West.

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Detail from a 15th century Italian fresco on the Church of Disciplini depicting the Danza Macabre, or Dance of Death; in the fresco; the dead accompany living men in their different pursuits

([Fresco of Danza Macabra on the Church of Disciplini], ca. 1480)

Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronical of the Danse Macabre (Schedel, ca. 1493a)

Depictions of monsters are historical artifacts that can reveal the values and fears of specific cultures. Monsters expose the thoughts and ideas that are shaping culture but which are not necessarily spelled out in treatises. We can recover anxieties of any era from the monsters it produced because they indicate how that culture set the boundary between the possible and impossible, normal and abnormal, and good and evil. Monsters are often excesses or distortions of behaviors and mark limits of what is acceptable or desirable. Of course, a monster’s meaning changes across cultures and over time, so nothing can be assumed; careful attention to the specific cultural context is essential to using monsters as historical evidence. For example, consider the view of dragons in Asian and medieval western culture. In the former, dragons signify good fortune and protection. In medieval culture, the dragon was associated with the snake, the devil, temptation, greed, and harmful cunning; the dragon embodied some of the seven deadly sins. When a dragon was presented in plays and art as having been slain by a saint, good behaviors were reinforced. Monsters appeared in popular religion and in the art and literature of the plague years as demons and strange, contorted composites of animal and human that writhed over canvas and parchment (Verner, 2005). Often these monsters demonized or dehumanized people who were seen as living outside of the Christian or gender norm. By the Middle Ages, the term monster, first used due to its Latin meaning of “to demonstrate,

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show, or warn,” came to mean “deformed against its kind.” Kind included behaviors as well as physical attributes; thus, a monster could be intellectually or morally deformed (Verner, 2005). In this context, the scapegoat emerged to recast certain groups of people as monsters, making it easier to persecute them. Attacks on Jews and women became acute with the advent of the medieval plagues. Rumors rode the roads with traders and pilgrims, including stories that the Jews did not sicken to the same degree as Christians. This was taken as proof that the Jews must be the cause of the scourge. Jews were already executed for “desecrating the host” used in the Christian mass or for allegedly killing children to reenact the crucifixion of Christ in a phenomenon called blood libel. There is some truth to the perception that Jews were not infected at the same rate. Forced into isolation in certain regions and neighborhoods, and further discouraged from mingling among Christians by constraints on profession or clothing, some Jewish communities had lower rates of infection. In an event named the Strasbourg Massacre, 200 Jews were burned at the stake.

Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicles depicting Jews being burned alive in Deggendorf, Bavaria, in 1338, and in Sternberg, Mecklenberg, in 1493

(Schedel, ca. 1493b) In 1348, Pope Clement the VI quickly condemned the violence, issuing papal bulls asserting the innocence of the Jews in the spread of the plague (BBC, 2008), but these did not stop the murders. Charges against village wise women, the women who took care of the community sick with traditional remedies, also surfaced as charges of witchcraft. Because of the relationships between these women, witchcraft, the Protestant Reformation, and the rise of natural philosophy (science), this form of scapegoating will be considered in Unit VIII. The Church, its authority already diminished due to its failure to end the famine and economic slowdown, stopped building the great cathedrals and was in the midst of a battle over the succession of the pope. Two competing papacies emerged, one in Rome and one in Avignon aligned with and under the influence of the French King. Eight popes reigned from Avignon, partly due to French influence but also due to threats against the Papacy from the people of the Papal States (Rome). The people of Rome had been taxed heavily when diminishing respect and power resulted in nonpayment of tithes and fees by European powers. The Avignon Papacy, also known as the Babylonian Captivity, further diminished the respect for Church authority that had been so carefully cultivated in previous centuries by the reforming popes (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). Because of their responsibilities to the sick and dying, many clergy themselves succumbed to the plague. Soon there were so many dying that it was impossible to offer all the sacraments or blessings that accompanied a Christian buriaI.

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In Avignon, Pope Clement VI issued a blanket absolution (forgiveness) of all sins of the dead and dying who were victims of the plague (Valjak, 2017). Where the Church had become an ever-present guide and participant in so many aspects of life, there was now a gap that flagellants and pleasure-seekers filled. Both increase of faith and lack of faith emerged, and both atonement and revelry followed.

Economic Death and Rebirth The plagues also hastened the death of the feudal system in western and northern Europe since the disease struck down the rich and powerful. Nobles died leaving no one to inherit their lands. Urban elites perished or fled, leaving power vacuums in the cities that the rising merchant and craft guilds filled. Feudal hierarchies and norms were suspended, and new hierarchies were created in the towns, hastening the adoption of new ideas. Into the cities came the laborers no longer tied by law or necessity to their manors and feudal lords. Their freedom and increased standard of living came, ironically and sadly, from the death of many of them. Labor shortages left crops rotting in the fields and animals neglected. Landlords desperate for workers increased wages, creating opportunities for workers to move from place to place. In England, King Edward III tried to counter this movement by fixing wages in the Statute of Labourers in 1351. His actions sparked the English Peasants Revolt of 1381, a violent refusal of Henry’s attempt to use the law to drag them back into pre-plague wages and servitude to one estate. The result was a new mobile class, many of whom moved into the cities to contribute to new status and wealth (Cohn, 2007). Historians like Cohn (2007) debate whether the wage and price controls were a response to an actual labor shortage or to the suspicion among landowners and rulers that laborers were greedy and taking advantage of the crisis. These laws may have aimed to keep the laborers tethered to the land not because of actual labor needs, but in order to maintain the social hierarchies.

The Renaissance: Humanism, Perspective, Self-Fashioning, Patronage, and Power Changes in social structure and the economy boosted early modern capitalism and the rise of newly empowered social groups in Renaissance cities throughout Europe, such as Florence, Venice, Antwerp, and Posnan. New practices and business strategies magnified wealth—so much so that historians like Braudel (1982) see in this period the seeds of capitalism. The independent city-states became the forges of great art, civic engineering, individualism, factional strife, and new ideas. Challenged by the plague, urban dwellers nevertheless thrived and grew rich on trade. The Commercial Revolution emerged. The cities shaped the new Renaissance man whose mastery of diverse accomplishments marked him for leadership and admiration. This “man” accomplished so many of the great feats of art and architecture and science that we still admire. He did this in a roiling sea of power and patronage in which accomplishments were a form of currency used to purchase cultural influence for both patron and creator.

Patronage: The Engine of Achievement and Change With the subsidence of Church and feudal authority, the Italian and northern European cities themselves became powerful hubs of trade and commerce. Among their most notable characteristics are systems of patronage. Patronage is the bestowing of wealth or influence on others, often to generate loyalty by advancing careers or supporting the production of works of art, architecture, and learning. Powerful leaders mastered the art of deploying power from behind the scenes, known as masking, and thereby manipulated the populace and competing factions. Patronage was a way of cultivating the loyalty of the persons supported but also generated cultural capital, influence gained through the association of the patron with the admired works of genius. Because some of the Italian Renaissance cities were at times republics that ruled themselves, power had to be deployed or practiced behind the scenes rather than in overt military displays, although fighting was important, too. In a way, patrons could manipulate followers through the development of civic pride and public works. The pursuit of this “cultural capital” generated the works of art for which the Renaissance is celebrated and that enriched private and public spaces. Artists and scholars were embedded in the circles of powerful men. They had not only to produce great works but also to exalt the desired patron. This web of courtly manners was very influential in the rise and fall of thinkers and artists, as well as other ambitious men desiring financial

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or political advancement. In addition to pure talent, then, what we have of the great artists of this time was determined also by their ability to attract and maintain wealthy, powerful patrons such as the King of France, the pope, the Medici family, and other city and feudal elites—as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo did. If these people were not supported in building, transmitting, and installing works in public places, would we be as aware of them? Would even the geniuses of the day have been able to devote themselves to their gifts without patronage? This environment led to a cult of individual accomplishment that was initially called individualism. What looks like individualism is not quite the same as how we define individualism now—as independence from group ideas or financial support. It would be more accurate to say that Renaissance individuals distinguished themselves through finding their place in this web of support and loyalty. Individualism is best understood as a prominent focus on developing one’s talents that has been called self- fashioning (Biagioli, 1993). The ideal man was the man skilled in combat, strategy, philosophy, Latin, public speaking, writing, mathematics, music, poetry, and manners. The wealth of the leaders of these cities, such as Federico Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino, enabled them to become scholars and artists themselves. Their palaces or villas reflected these accomplishments. This is seen nowhere more so than in a new kind of architectural feature called the studiolo. The images below are of the studiolo of Federico Montefeltro, designed by himself, and these two images alone demonstrate how the walls were painted as if his very house were built out of his accomplishments. Below we can see how his possessions reflect his mastery of combat, arts, and sciences. Montefeltro was heralded in his own day as the model of the contemplative and active virtues of the Christian man (Cole, 2016).

The Studiolo of the Duke of Montefeltro, designed by himself and reflecting himself around 1470, is an artifact that reflects the Renaissance practice of self-fashioning to gain influence through accomplishment.

(Martini, ca. 1470a; Martini, ca 1470b) The studiolo also contains images of philosophers and saints who inspired the Duke, symbols of his royal lineage, and other visual reminders of his impacts on the arts and politics of his age. Thus, in a way, the room became a mirror of the man. He could sit in the center and regard himself—not just his immediate physical image but the story of his worthiness. This room may be seen as an icon or emblem of the Renaissance ideal of the individual. Montefeltro’s famous patronage of the arts in the 15th century transformed Urbino from a small agricultural village into a bustling center for the arts. Montefeltro’s achievement was immortalized in the Book of the Courtier, a handbook of Renaissance masculinity written by Baldassare Castiglione in the court of Montefeltro’s son. The city and the patron magnified each other. There are often exceptions to any ideas about social systems. The genius of Leonardo da Vinci and many other famous Renaissance men stands regardless of the system in which they made their name and living. Still, it would be equally inaccurate to take the exception as the norm. Looking at this same social dynamic in

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cities all over Europe, we see that self-fashioning through accomplishments and patronage was a way of enacting power. It was a powerful engine driving Renaissance achievement.

Humanism Italy in particular hosted Renaissance humanism, the applying of reasoned analysis about natural causes to studies of the cosmos and its inhabitants. Whereas the Scholastics consumed and preserved the wisdom in the works of Greece and Rome, seeking to synthesize wisdom, the humanists critiqued and applied, always questioning the wisdom they found by comparing it to observation of contemporary life. However, it is crucial to remember that this ability to analyze grew out of Scholastic devotion to preserving and learning these works. Scholasticism continued to exist alongside humanism. It prompted the humanistic practice of questioning and demand for realistic answers. Men who wanted to apply their scholarship to improvement of human life joined in a “Republic of Letters,” a metaphor for those centered in universities, private homes, and governments who were linked through the exchange of information. Renaissance humanism is not to be confused with secular humanism, a term used in our own times to refer to a worldview that rejects religious and metaphysical dogma as the basis for correct human action. It is important to remember, yet again, that the meanings of words change and are often distorted by use in political debates. Historians must always expect and look for differences in meaning of familiar terms. Renaissance humanists almost all continued the tradition of the Greeks in combining the application of reason with spiritual beliefs, but they insisted on the notion that natural causes should be considered first when explaining phenomena. William of Ockham or Occam (1285–1347), a Franciscan friar who demanded that the Papacy extract itself from political affairs, believed in separation of church and state. He rejected the Scholastic merging of faith and reason. Clearly, he was a man protective of what he saw as authentic faith, yet he insisted that the simplest explanation of phenomena was probably the correct one. Ockham argued that explanations of phenomena should not be multiplied to include the spiritual if natural causes explained them sufficiently. Ockham’s Razor or the Rule of Parsimony contributed to the new emphasis on uncovering natural causes by men and women who were nevertheless believers in God and often devout. Students who watch the film The Name of the Rose will see the similarity between the real William of Ockham and the fictional William of Baskerville (a lurid depiction echoing the Sherlock Holmes’ story “The Hound of the Baskervilles”). One of the greatest of the Renaissance humanists was Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374), or Petrarch. Scholars in the Middle Ages frequently adopted Latin names since the language of intellectual life was mostly still Latin. Famous for his beautiful poetry or songs, Petrarch began to analyze the language in the written works and was able to critique their authenticity and the accuracy of their contents by analyzing how language was used. Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457), Catholic priest and educator, used this method to reveal that The Donation of Constantine discussed in Unit IV—supposedly bequeathing Rome to the Church—was a forgery. His mastery of classical Latin texts enabled him to detect the nuances of language proving its origin was much later than Constantine’s death. Both Petrarch and Valla found the Scholastics’ reverence for preserving classical works off-putting and devoted themselves to learning classical works to advance farther toward the truth. This was the birth of the modern academic disciplines of philology (the analysis of language and rhetoric), history, and political science, all marked by the willingness to critique, analyze, and look for realistic explanations. For example, Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540), Florentine ambassador to Spain and friend of Machiavelli, analyzed the developments he witnessed, trying to interpret the causes and true motives behind decisions by considering what was rational or likely in most human beings. While historians would not measure reality by comparison to their own feelings now, his work reflects his aim to use critical thinking to go beyond appearances. Trained in Greek and Roman classics of history and politics, he nevertheless rejected the application of abstract or prior ideas to specific, actual situations. He relied instead on what he observed or learned about that specific situation. This is a fundamental tenet of historical research to this day. Perhaps the most famous of the Italian Renaissance humanists is Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), known for his writings on what we now think of as political science (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). Machiavelli analyzed historical, literary, and contemporary examples to discern the rules of the most effective leadership. One of his most famous statements—“the end justifies the means”—is often misconstrued to mean that he

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accepted wrongdoing on the part of rulers. When he wrote that history showed that it is better to be feared than loved, he appeared to admire force and reject the idea of a divinely chosen leader who was a mirror of God and who was ruling through Christian example. In The Prince, he also noted that spectacles of cruelty against enemies, such as public beheadings, if only performed rarely, were most effective in creating loyalty. Taken out of context, these passages lead to the assumption that Machiavelli advocated rule through strength and cruelty—but this is incorrect. Reading the entire book shows that the justified ends he mentioned were the maintenance of power in order to provide stability to the people. Spectacular violence was to be used sparingly to teach loyalty without having to employ constant force and surveillance of citizens. The chasing of subjects’ love through Christian behaviors was rejected because it could bankrupt the state and ruin the people with taxes, resulting in worse conditions for them than if the ruler remained ungenerous but prudent. If the prince was amoral in actions, it was because he should be prudent and realistic to achieve the stability that seemed to be Machiavelli’s desired outcome. Alternative interpretations still abound. One of these argues that Machiavelli really was advocating ruthlessness, but only because he hoped that the patron to whom he dedicated The Prince would fail by taking the advice! He dedicated his book, The Prince, to Lorenzo de Medici, the very man who had destroyed the republic of Florence and forced Machiavelli himself out of public life. Dietz (1986) has argued that given Machiavelli’s service to the republic and his writings supporting republics, The Prince can be best understood as bad advice that if taken by Lorenzo would foment rebellion among citizens who loved self-rule. In a way, the book itself is an example of Renaissance masking and requires us to dig deep to discover its truth since Machiavelli, the former political operative, may or may not have used his work to play the game of hidden power.

Christian Humanism Italian Renaissance humanists were not secularists or atheists. Yet, their focus was not necessarily on perfecting the Church and generating Christian societies. These aims were more the vision of humanists in England and Northern Europe. Inspired by the achievements of the South, scholars visited Italy to learn analytical methods. They began to apply them to the controversies and corruption in the Church. Many of these were devout Catholics seeking to reform the Church from within. Two of the most famous, St. Thomas More and Erasmus, tried to restrain the excesses of wealth and worldly behaviors leading to money-making practices. St. Thomas More was a classical scholar, lawyer, and Lord High Chancellor to Henry the VIII who ultimately was martyred for his refusal to swear the Oath of Supremacy acknowledging Henry as head of the Church in England. More’s political writings, including the satire Utopia, skewered what he saw as the fake fawning of courtiers in Henry the VIII’s court who played to his ego to gain lands and honors while neglecting the welfare of the common people. More’s writings espouse a sober industry and the ideal of the wise servant leader. Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, or Erasmus (1466–1536) called Italy, “the country where the very walls are more scholarly and articulate than human beings are with us” (Yoran, 2010, p. 27). Erasmus’ own recommendations on the education of the Christian ruler, expressed in The Education of the Christian Prince, were in the same year (1516) as More’s and after Machiavelli’s The Prince. He believed that education should be universal, including for women, and that rulers should be educated through instruction in classical literature and the Bible. To this end, he published side-by-side versions of the Bible in both Greek and Latin and called for translations in all languages to encourage people to seek out meaning. Like Thomas More, Erasmus called for a Christianity defined by inner spiritual devotion and Christian behaviors rather than participation in outer acts like pilgrimage. He called this “the philosophy of Christ” (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020, p. 353). As Unit VIII will explain, the Protestant Reformation grew out of these reform efforts that took place first within the Church. Martin Luther, whose Ninety-Five Theses mark the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, would initially be one of these humanists. Even after the break with the Catholic Church, he referred frequently to the writings of Erasmus. Erasmus would remain in the Catholic Church.

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The Printing Press and the End of Unified Christendom In 1671, the governor of the colony of Virginia, William Berkeley, wrote, ‘‘I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall never have, these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, . . . . God keep us from both’’ (Breig, 2003, para. 1). The creation of moveable type printing presses was another child of the new cities, this time of Mainz in the Holy Roman Empire in a region we know as Germany. Mainz had the same attributes as other Renaissance cities mostly free of external authority and devoted to the pursuit of trade and accomplishment. In this context, Johann Gutenberg headed a team of printers in 1454 that used transposable type to produce the famous Gutenberg Bibles (Richardson, 2004). Printing presses rapidly multiplied throughout Europe and the exchange and acquisition of books became an avid activity of the men in the Republic of Letters. Never before was this acquisition so easy or affordable. Add to this an explosion in the publication of pamphlets and what we would call flyers, and knowledge was sometimes literally strewn in the streets along with complaints, rumor, humor, and invective.

The two oldest printing presses still in existence in the world, from circa 1600, on display at the Plantin- Moretus Museum, Antwerp, Belgium

Printed page (left) and the hand-set metal type assembled for it (right) exhibited at the Plantin-Moretus

Museum, a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium This could be seen as a democratization of access to knowledge. Berkeley spoke from observations of how literacy had magnified dissent. The humanist’s critique of religion and society expanded out from the scholar

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or churchman’s cell to the houses of burghers and guildsmen as access to print materials expanded literacy (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020).

Perspective: A Renaissance Discovery Da Vinci’s Vetruvian Man and Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David and Creation of Adam are frequently presented icons of Renaissance art, but attention to another master reveals a very influential attribute of the age—the rediscovery of perspective (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). Florentine architect Fillipo Brunelleshi (1377–1446), student of Greek geometry, architect, and builder of the Florence cathedral dome, ships, theatrical machines, and fortifications, clearly fit the definition of the Renaissance Man. He also either created linear perspective or rediscovered it from works by Greeks and Romans. Art before and after the discovery differed greatly (see images below). Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1474) explained the theory of perspective in his how-to manual for artists.

The Ideal City, a panel painted by Fra Carnevale in Urbino, Italy, was commissioned by Duke Federico de Montefeltro. It exemplifies Renaissance painting after the rediscovery of perspective and celebrates urban

planning (Carnevale, 1480).

Appearance Behind Locked Doors, which was painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1308–1311), is an example of painting prior to the rediscovery of perspective.

(di Buoninsegna, ca. 1308) The idea of perspective inspired applications in many fields. Its influence can be seen in the humanist quest for original meanings, natural causes, or historical perspectives that are recovered through applying rational

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principles to observations. We have considered the use of masking and manipulation of perspectives. Yet another Florentine master, Dante Alighieri, underscored this by creating a literary portrait of hell, purgatory, and heaven in The Divine Comedy (Weisner-Hanks et al., 2020). In his work, Dante himself is the main character guided by reason (represented by the Roman writer Virgil) to climb a spiral from the center of earth to God. This spiral is populated with people from Dante’s life as well as famous historical characters, both real and literary. Each, sinner or saint, offers his own unique perspective on his experience as Dante travels through the cosmos. The pinnacle of heaven is where all knowledge and all perspectives become one. Dante placed many of his former political foes in Hell. Even the factionalism within and between city-states highlights the awareness of multiple points of view. Perspective also holds the key to understanding Holbein’s The Ambassadors, the painting placed at the beginning of this lesson as a reflection of key features of this period. After having examined the developments of 1300–1550 in this lesson, what can we now understand about this painting and why it captures the Renaissance world so well?

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) (Holbein, 1533b)

The above is a portrait of Jean de Dinteville, French ambassador to the court of King Henry VIII, and his longtime friend and visitor, Georges de Selve, a scholarly man soon to become the Bishop of Lavaur, France. The men show the wealth of the court and the riches of their accomplishments. On the shelf behind them are the human achievements of the seven liberal arts, exploration, and trade (Seventh Art Productions, 2003). The top shelf focuses on mastery of the heavens and the bottom, mastery of the earth—both conquered by human ingenuity.

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The black dye of their clothing was expensive, indicating their wealth and also their ability to be introspective (as in black bile, one of the four humors indicating contemplation or melancholic disposition). They are presented as men of both contemplation and action (Seventh Art Productions, 2003); they are Renaissance men. Yet looking closely at the upper left of the picture, we see the almost completely obscured crucifix, Jesus at the moment of his death at the hands of the Roman state. Immediately, that rich, velvety curtain drawn across the back becomes mysterious and perhaps suspect. If you wish to see a larger version of the picture that shows the details described more clearly, you can access the full-size image by clicking the link below. Holbein, H. (1533b). The ambassadors [Painting]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_The_Ambassadors_- _Google_Art_Project.jpg

What is hidden here? What might threaten their achievement? Among the books belonging to these Catholic men, a hymn written by Martin Luther appears. Looking closely, we see that the string on the lute is broken, wrecking any potential harmony should the hymn be sung. Due to clues in the painting, we know both of the men’s ages and the precise moment the painting depicts. They are young men at the very day, April 12, 1533, when Anne Boleyn first attended mass on Easter eve as queen of England. Anne was the woman for whom Henry the VIII divorced his wife without the consent of the pope, generating a rupture in the once universal Church (Seventh Art Productions, 2003). Therefore, these young men are poised at a moment when that potential to achieve the one truth and a unified Christendom is about to shatter. What is that smudge on the floor at their feet? The artist has inserted a clever visual trick called an anamorphic, meaning the image on the floor is an optical illusion. If a viewer places the image at the level of and perpendicular to his or her eyes or moves to the side and looks back, a new image appears on the floor. As the viewer’s perspective changes, the image is revealed – a skull or momento mori, a reminder of human mortality and the ravages of time. This painting, then, captures the powerful multiple perspectives shaping this period in a masked version of the Danse Macabre, showing both the celebration of human achievement in the here and now and a potent warning of human limitations. It also trains its viewer to look beyond appearances, with an analytical eye mindful of perspective.

This skull is revealed on the floor of The Ambassadors as the viewer changes perspective. (Holbein, 1533a)

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References BBC (Producer). (2008). Inside the medieval mind: Knowledge [Video]. Films on Demand.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=42041

Biagioli, M. (1993). Galileo, courtier: The practice of science in the culture of absolutism. University of

Chicago. Bosch, H. [ca. 1500]. [Table with painting of seven deadly sins]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hieronymus_Bosch_091.jpg Braudel, F. (1982). Civilization & capitalism, 15th–18th century (Vols. 1–3). Harper & Row. Breig, J. (2003, Spring). Early American newspapering. The Colonial Williamsburg Journal.

http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring03/journalism.cfm Carnevale, F. [ca. 1480]. The ideal city [Oil and tempera on panel]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fra_Carnevale_-_The_Ideal_City_-_Walters_37677.jpg Cohn, S. (2007). After the Black Death: Labour legislation and attitudes towards labour in late-Medieval

Western Europe. Economic History Review, 60(3), 457–485. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4502106&site=eds-live

Cole, A. (2016). Italian Renaissance courts: Art, pleasure and power. Laurence King Publishing.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbiasouthern/reader.action?docID=4536966&query=Italian +renaissance+courts%3A+art%2C+pleasure+and+power

d’Auvergne, M. [ca. 1484]. Les vigiles de Charles VIII [Illustration]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vigiles_du_roi_Charles_VII_10.jpg di Buoninsegna, D. [ca. 1308]. Appearance behind locked doors [Tempera painting on wood]. Wikimedia

Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duccio_di_Buoninsegna_- _Appearance_Behind_Locked_Doors_-_WGA06734.jpg

Dietz, M. G. (1986). Trapping the prince: Machiavelli and the politics of deception. American Political Science

Review, 80(3), 777–799. [Fresco of danza macabra on the Church of Disciplini]. [ca. 1480]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clusone_danza_macabra_detail.jpg Holbein, H. (1533a). Holbein skull [Image]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holbein_Skull.jpg Holbein, H. (1533b). The ambassadors [Painting]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_The_Ambassadors_- _Google_Art_Project.jpg

Hughes, D. O. (2004). Bodies, disease, and society. In J. M. Najemy (Ed.), Italy in the age of the

Renaissance: 1300–1550 (pp. 103–124). http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbiasouthern/detail.action?docID=422931

[Illustration of French troops of Joan of Arc besieging Paris]. [ca. 1429]. Wikimedia Commons.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paris_siege_1429.jpg Martin, S. (2001). The Black Death. Pocket Essentials.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbiasouthern/reader.action?docID=3386014&query=The+b lack+death

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Martini, F. [ca. 1470a]. Fichier:Stdiolo di guidobaldo da montefeltro [Painting]. Wikimedia Commons. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Stdiolo_di_guidobaldo_da_montefeltro_02.jpg

Martini, F. [ca. 1470b]. Le armi del duca, dallo studiolo di fereico da montefeltro [Painting]. Wikimedia

Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baccio_portelli,_le_armi_del_duca,_dallo_studiolo_di_federic o_da_montefeltro.jpg

Richardson, B. (2004). Printing, writers, and readers in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge University Press. Schedel, H. [ca. 1493a]. Dancing skeletons [Wood cut illustration in Liber Chronicarum]. Wikimedia

Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dancing_skeletons,_%27Dance_of_Death%27_Wellcome_L 0006816.jpg

Schedel, H. [ca. 1493b]. [Wood cut illustration in Liber Chronicarum of host desecration]. Wikimedia

Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=246297 Seventh Art Productions (Producer). (2003). Holbein: Great artists (Series 2) [Video]. Films on Demand.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=59671

Shakespeare, W. (2007). Shakespeare’s play of King Henry the Fifth (C. Kean, Ed.). Project Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22791/22791-h/22791-h.htm (Original work published in 1859) Valjak, D. (2017). Pope Clement VI: The generous and progressive pope who granted remission of sins to all

people who died of the plague. The Vintage News. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/03/03/pope-clement-vi-the-generous-and-progressive-pope- who-granted-remission-of-sins-to-all-people-who-died-of-the-plague/

Verner, L. (2005). The epistemology of the monstrous in the Middle Ages. Taylor & Francis.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbiasouthern/reader.action?docID=4523674&query=The+e pistemology+of+the+monstrous+in+the+Middle+Ages

Video Education America (Producer). (2014). Impact of the Black Death [Video]. Films on Demand.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=129147

Wiesner-Hanks, M. E., Crowston, C. H., Perry, J., & McKay, J. P. (2020). A history of Western society: From

Antiquity to the Enlightenment (13th concise ed., Vol. 1). Bedford/St. Martin’s. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781319112547

White, M. (2011). Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 deadliest achievements. Canongate. Yoran, H. (2010). Between utopia and dystopia: Erasmus, Thomas More, and the humanist Republic of

Letters. Lexington Books. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbiasouthern/detail.action?docID=616204

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Given the debates surrounding Machiavelli’s aims in writing The Prince, you may wish to read the short book and look beneath the surface for yourself. Chapter 17 is famous and recommended, but you can choose to read any of the chapters. Is a Machiavellian ruler evil? Machiavelli, N. (2006). The prince (W. K. Marriott, Trans.). Project Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm (Original work published 1532)