Renaissance

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Renaissance Era
Renaissance is a period of European civilization right after the Middle Ages. There is
a consensus that the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century.1 The word
"Renaissance" is borrowed from the French language, where it means "re-birth". It was first
used and defined2 by French historian Jules Michelet (1798–1874), in his 1855 work, Histoire
de France (History of France).3 Some have called into question whether the Renaissance was
a cultural "advance" from the Middle Ages, instead seeing it as a period of pessimism and
nostalgia for classical antiquity.4 This is caused by the statement that the entire Middle Ages
were often referred to as the "Dark Ages". 5 Jules Michelet defined the 16th-century
Renaissance in France as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a break from
the Middle Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the world.6
In the 15th century, the Renaissance spread rapidly from Florence, first to the rest of
Italy, and soon to Europe. Italian Renaissance invented the machinery of modern diplomacy:
permanent embassies with resident ambassadors in capitals where political relations and
commercial ties needed continual monitoring.7
As a cultural movement, the Italian Renaissance affected only a small part of the
population. Italy was the most urbanized region of Europe, but three quarters of the people
were still rural peasants.8 For this section of the population, life remained essentially
unchanged from the Middle Ages.9 Classic feudalism had never been prominent in Northern
Italy, and most peasants worked on private farms or as sharecroppers. Some scholars see a
trend towards refeudalization in the later Renaissance as the urban elites turned themselves
1 Burke, P. (1998). The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries.
2 Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1963). The Art of the Renaissance. London: Thames & Hudson

(World of Art). p. 9. ISBN 978-0-500-20008-7.
3 Michelet, Jules (1847). History of France, trans. G. H. Smith. New York: D. Appleton.
4 Huizanga, Johan (1999, trans. 1924). The Waning of the Middle Ages.
5 Mommsen, Theodore (April 1942). Petrarch's Conception of the 'Dark Ages'. Speculum 17

(2): 226–242.
6 Brotton, Jerry (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar. Oxford University Press. p. 21–22.
7 Aboukhadijeh, Feross. Chapter 13: European Society in the Age of the Renaissance. 29

Dec. 2013. [https://www.apstudynotes.org/european-history/outlines/chapter-13-europeansociety-in-the-age/] Accessed on 5 October 2015.
8 Burke, Peter (1999). The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Princeton

University Press. p. 256.

into landed aristocrats.10 But in the cities, these were dominated by a commercial elite; as
exclusive as the aristocracy of any kingdom from Medieval era. Below them there was a large
class of artisans and guild members who lived comfortable lives and had power in the
republican governments. This was in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe where artisans were
firmly in the lower class. Although they were educated, this group did participate in the
Renaissance culture.11
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, an official in diplomatic and military affairs in
the Florentine Republic, wrote a book about the governance in the Renaissance era entitled Il
Principe. In this book, it is clear that Machiavelli did not agree with Plato and Aristotle.
Machiavelli insisted that an imaginary ideal society is not a model by which a prince should
orient himself. This categorization of regime types is also "un-Aristotelian" 12 and apparently
simpler than the traditional one found for example in Aristotle's Politics, which divides
regimes into those ruled by a single monarch, an oligarchy, or by the people, in a
democracy.13 He also ignores the classical distinctions between the good and corrupt forms,
for example between monarchy and tyranny. Machiavelli frequently uses the words "prince"
and "tyrant" as synonyms, "regardless of whether he speaks of criminal or non-criminal
tyrants".14 Machiavelli presented himself at various times as someone reminding Italians of
the old virtues of the Romans and Greeks, and other times as someone promoting a
completely new approach to politics.15
Besides Machiavelli, a philosopher in the Renaissance era who also contributed the
idea about state was Thomas Morus or also known as Sir Thomas More. He was a chancellor
to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532. 16
He wrote two controversial books entitled De optimo rei publicae deque nova insula Utopia.
Most scholars see it as some kind of comment or criticism of contemporary European society,
9 Jensen, De Lamar (1992). Renaissance Europe. p. 105.
10 Burke, Peter (1999). The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. Princeton

University Press. p. 246.
11 Jensen, De Lamar (1992). Renaissance Europe. p. 104.
12 Gilbert, Allan (1938). Machiavelli's Prince and Its Forerunners. Duke University Press.

p. 19.
13 De Alvarez, Leo Paul S (1999). The Machiavellian Enterprise; A Commentary on The

Prince. p. 9
14 Strauss, Leo (1958). Thoughts on Machiavelli. University of Chicago Press. p. 272.
15 Fischer, Markus (2000). Well-ordered License: On the Unity of Machiavelli's Thought.

Lexington Book.

for the evils of More's day are laid out in Book I and in many ways apparently solved in Book
II.17 The politics of Utopia have been seen as influential to the ideas of Anabaptism and
communism.18 Utopia described as the life of the society wants and is a criticism of the
English government at the time. The absolute power of the king of the English government at
that time that caused Thomas More to criticize it.

16 Linder, Douglas O. The Trial of Sir Thomas More: A Chronology at University Of

Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School Of Law.
[http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/more/morechrono.html] Accessed on 6 October
2015.
17 Manuel and Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World.
18 AP European History. Religious Leader Networking Assignment.

[http://www.northernhighlands.org/cms/lib5/NJ01000179/Centricity/Domain/58/Religious
%20Leaders_review2013b.pdf] Accessed on 6 October 2015.

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