7.

THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE: In the Ancient Manner

Each famous author of antiquity whom I recover places a new offence and another cause of dishonor to the charge
of earlier generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds,
and the writings that their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through insufferable neglect.
Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its
ancestral heritage.
-Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), 1345

A. The Babylonian Captivity: Rome is abandoned by the Papacy (1303-1417)

By 1300, France has emerged as a major European power. Paris has grown from a town of 3,000 in 1100 to the
largest city in the Roman Catholic world with a population of 200,000 by 1300.
Pope Boniface attempts to maintain authority over French clergy, King Philippe IV has the Pope kidnapped for
three days and beaten; dies within a month, next Pope lives for less year, 1303
After a series of long, drawn-out elections between Italian and French cardinals, Clement (an agent of Philippe)
is elected Pope; stays at Lyons/Poitiers, never even goes to Rome to be invested as Pope, 1305
Philippe kicks the Knights Templars out of France; Clement moves into their castle at Avignon, 1307 (begins
the Avignon papacy: the "Babylonian Captivity" as coined by the Italian scholar Petrarch)
Philippe dies 1314; succession of French throne in question: beginning of 100 Years War (France vs. England)
The Bubonic Plague devastates Europe, 1347-50

B. The Renaissances: Rediscoveries of Ancient Knowledge (1090-1453)

Northern Italian lawyers (Univ. of Bologna) begin to search for Roman law, c.1090 (Legal Renaissance)
Ptolemy's Almagest translated in Sicily (earth-centered universe), 1175 (Math/Astronomy Renaissance)
Thomas Aquinas at Univ. of Paris, Summa Theological (rediscovery of Aristotelian thought), 1266 (Philo.Ren.)
Giottos paintings mark start of Renaissance in painting, c.1300
Barlaam (Byzantine minister) meets Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) in Avignon, begins to teach him
Greek, 1342 (Literature Renaissance)
Ottoman Turks reach the Dardanelles Strait, opposite Constantinople, 1354 (force Byzantines to seek help
from West; Byzantine emissaries take Classical Greek manuscripts with them to West)
Canzoniere, Petrarch, 1366 (father of Humanism)
Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, thus ending the Roman Empire, 1453
C. The Florentine Renassaince (1367-1494)
Guelfs (pro-Pope, Italian) vs. Ghibellines (pro-Holy Roman Emperor, German)
S. Maria del Fiore, Florence Cathedral begun in Ghibelline style (Gothic), 1296
With the Papacy moved to France, Holy Roman Emperor makes a move for Northern Italy (Florence)
Neri di Fioravanti wins 1367 competition for continued design of the Florence cathedral: a larger Dome with no
flying buttresses
Public referendum confirms di Fioravantis design with no flying buttresses, anti-German/Gothic response, 1367
Coluccio Salutati becomes Chancellor of Florence (also is the leader of Greek movement), 1375
Salutati brings Byzantine Manuel Chrysoloras, to Florence to teach Greek: to learn roots of Latin learning, 1397
Lorenzo Ghiberti wins competition for Florence Baptistry doors, 1403
Filippo Brunelleschi: "Rules of Perspective", 1412
Vitruvius Treatise on Architecture (written c.25 BC) discovered in Switzerland, 1414
Hospital of the Innocents, Brunelleschi, 1419
Brunelleschi wins competition to build the Cathedral Dome, 1420
Celebration of completion of Florence Dome, 1436
Della Pittura, Leon Battista Alberti, 1435 (perspective treatise)
The Ten Books of Architecture, Alberti, 1452
Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, 1453

First publication of Vitruvius, 1486

Following the French invasion of Florence in 1494, monk Girolamo Savonarola assumes leadership of the city.
Begins burning books, 1497
D. The Roman Renaissance (1443-1527)
Council of Konstanz(Germany)removes all three Popes, elects new pope to be seated in Rome,1414-17
New Pope, Martin V, charged to return to Rome and clean it up for the move back from Avignon, not so easy
Twenty-six years later, 1443, the next Pope, Eugene IV, begins the clean-up of Rome
Pope Julius II proposes tearing down old St. Peter's to be replaced by a new design by Donato Bramante,1505
Tabula Rasa: a clean slate
Pope Leo X begins selling Indulgences to raise money to pay for the construction of St. Peter's, 1517
Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, initiating the Reformation, 1517
Troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sack Rome, effectively ending the Roman Renaissance, 1527
Summary:
By 1400:
a. While the teaching of Classical Greek learning had continued unbroken in Constantinople for over 1000 years
following the fall of Rome in 476, no one in the former western Roman empire after 500 could read Greek. Hence,
classical Greek writings went unrecognized in the west for over almost 1000 years. There was little interest in the ancient
writings, because the Bible had become the source of all knowledge and wisdom.
b. There has been a complete division in Christianity at least since the Great Schism of 1054, when the Pope
excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople, who returned the favor.
c. The Fourth Crusade, 1204, culminated in the western Christians sacking the capital of their eastern Christian
allies.
d. by 1300, the French King felt strong enough to challenge the papacy in Rome, and sent a small force to Rome
to kidnap and physically beat the Pope. This action eventually lead to the election of a French Cardinal as Pope, who
ordered the move of the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France. Eventually, the Italians respond by electing their own
Pope, only to be followed with the Germans electing a third Pope in 1409. For the next 100 years, Rome would be virtually
abandoned, while Europe would eventually become engaged in the argument between 1378-1417 over which of the three
popes who claimed to be Pope, was the legal successor of St. Peter.
e. During all of this, the bubonic plague devastates all of Europe, 1347-50...
f. Rome has been abandoned for almost a century...
g. Constantinople is faring little better than its ancient parent, Rome. Having spent much of its energy and
treasure in beating back the western Christian crusaders out of Constantinople, a new, more menacing threat has arisen
and laid siege to what remains of what was the once, vast Empire of the Romans: the Ottoman Turks are slowly closing
the noose... and those members of the Byzantine intelligentsia who can escape to the West, do so and take many of their
most-treasured ancient manuscripts with them.
-if we define the Renaissance as the search for, and discovery and incorporation of the knowledge of Classical Antiquity in
medieval Italy, then it is appropriate to suggest that there is not just one start date for the Renaissance. This is due to
the fact that the various human disciplines began and succeeded in their search for this material at different times in
history. For instance:
-law began to search the ancient documents around 1100
-math/science/astronomy began with the translation of Ptolemys Almagast in Sicily in 1175
-philosophy is said to have first encountered Aristotle with the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1265
-painting is credited to Giotto around 1300
-literature is usually credited with Petrarchs first meeting with Barlaam in 1342
-architecture discovered Vitruvius in 1414
-music never found any classical precedents(it can be said that we do not know what was "Classical music.")
-the problem faced by those in search of ancient knowledge was that the ability to read or speak Greek in medieval
Western Europe had been lost around 500, meaning that for over 800 years, no one in the West could understand any of

the ancient Greek manuscripts that may have been stored in a monasterys scriptorium. It was not until contact with the
Byzantine Empire in Constantinople was reestablished during the 1300s that opportunities became available for
westerners to learn Greek.
-Petrarch, an Italian author/philosopher was one of the first to make contact with a Byzantine emissary, Barlaam, who
briefly introduced Petrarch to the Greek language in 1342. As this fueled his interest in the knowledge of antiquity, he is
known as the father of humanism, the primary philosophy of the Renaissance. One of Petrachs main goals was to renew
the ancient glory of Roman culture, for which he even proposed the replacement of contemporary spoken Italian with
Latin.
-Florence became the early center of the Italian Renaissance. This was partially due to the fact that the French had
kidnapped the Papacy, leaving Rome abandoned. The commercial and political vacuum thus formed in central Italy was
quickly filled by Florence. Florence at this time enjoyed an enlightened political system, which encouraged all of the
humanities. This civic spirit was nurtured by the citys Chancellor (mayor), Coluccio Salutati, who led a small circle of
humanists. It was Salutati who sent a city leader to Constantinople to bring back someone (Manuel Chrysoloras) who
could teach this group Greek.
-Florence, as were all of the Italian cities north of Rome, was deeply involved in the political struggle between those who
supported the Pope (Guelfs) and those who supported the Holy Roman Emperor (Ghibellines). A perfect manifestation of
this struggle was the Florence Cathedral. Started in 1296, its exterior design in the entrance faade incorporated the
northern pointed arch, symbolic of the Ghibellines. There was an eventual power shift in Florence towards the Guelfs
following the moving of the Papacy to France, and in 1367, a public referendum was held to approve a new design for the
under-construction cathedral. Following the election, the building began to sprout Italian round arches.
-the new design also included a new challenge for the builders of the cathedral: the largest dome ever attempted to be
constructed since the Pantheon, which was also to be the tallest structure ever erected in Europe. In addition to not
having the secret of Roman concrete for its material, an even greater challenge was that the dome was to be constructed
without the use of traditional Roman ballast rings so that the curve of its interior volume could be expressed in its exterior
form. At the time of its design and civic approval, no one in the city had any idea on how it could be built. Nonetheless,
construction of the nave and the drum for the dome continued for over fifty years, with the hope that God would supply a
person who would be able to solve the problem when they reached the point of starting the dome itself.
-such a person, Filippo Brunelleschi, was born and raised in Florence, seemingly educated by his father to solve this
problem. Among his solutions needed to construct the dome, was his incorporation of stone and timber tension rings at
various elevations throughout the height of the dome, so that the ballast rings could be eliminated.
-Papal control over Rome was not reestablished until 1443 by Pope Eugene IV, who mounted a campaign to clean up and
rebuild the city which been abandoned since 1307, when the French had moved the papacy to Avignon, France. In 1505,
Pope Julius II proposed tearing down old St. Peter's in order to build a new design by Donato Bramante. Pope Leo X
began selling Indulgences to raise money to pay for the construction of St. Peter's in 1517. Within six months, German
pastor Martin Luther railed against German money going to build an Italian church, and nailed his 95 theses to the door of
the castle church in Wittenburg, initiating the Reformation.
-was the Renaissance the start of Modern thought or the last phase of Medieval beliefs?
Reading: Weston
-18: Humanism
-20: Form
-22: Ideal
-28: Architect
-29: Orthographic Projection
-30: Perspective Projection
-31: Composition