How Did Renaissance Change Over Time
History has been viewed and valued differently throughout time. The style of analysis has changed to fit the views, feeling and morals of the time period. Dante Alighieri, Christinia de Pizan and Niccolo Machiavelli illustrate this. Being grouped now, their views differed and time has changed the meaning of their writings.
Dante had his origins in 13th to 14th century Florence, Florence was then a form of commune reigning the city-state. Florence had no single head of state but was led by elected a leader who served two month terms called Priars. Priars during work could not be influenced by family because during those two months of service they were denied access to their families. They were influenced by money and had the power to sign peace …show more content…
treaties. Under the Priar was the council of the Popolo and the council of the Commune. These councils were staffed by skilled citizens that were chosen by public lottery. One third of the citizens of Florence took part in government office and it was viewed at the time, by men like Leonardo Bruni, that the “ideal citizen is one that takes part in a government” Florence had a limited military because during times of war it was believed it was the public duty to take arms and defend your city-state. The city-state at that time was run guild members who were considered the citizens. With all this pro guild mentality the power of the nobility weakened. They had virtually no political power as nobles were seldom connected with guilds. Eventually the majority of common people who were not connected to a guild joined together and rebelled.
When the uprising demanding citizenship for the masses erupted, Dante was an ambassador of the papal curia in Rome, serving during the time of Pope Boniface VIII. This put him in exile from his home. Dante’s book Monarchy is an interesting analysis of the direction of politics in Florence that time. He notes there had been a rise in scholasticism. The scholastics viewed the proper interpretation in the creation of the bible, as included a range of assumption. These assumptions used classical philosophers and classical myths and histories to justify their claim. Theologians at the time Dante lived used scholasticism to interpret verses of the bible to find meaning. This however did not mean that phrases that were used did not need biblical context to support the interpreted meanings. Scholastics also believed that the way to understand god was by using human reasoning. There was never any doubt that god existed, but rather that reason strengthened faith. It was also believed that most scripture was not literal but figurative and that logical arguments were built to better understand belief Dante’s Monarchy is interesting as it notes the change in southern Italy to monarchy and how with all the political problems of the time. It predicted the future problems in Florence that Machiavelli experienced.
Christina De Pizan (c.1364-1430) was born a hundred years later. Her different view was based upon the different environment surrounding her. Pizan was born in Venice but was raised in France during the hundred years’ war. She was one of the first women of letters in France. As Pizan lived in France her political system was not the oligarchy Dante experienced. She was a member of the feudal system under the rule of King Charles V. To her the ancient people were both emulated or not emulated and history was nothing more than a series of events. The reason that people looked back at history was for the moral lessons. She gave little attention to the context of which surrounded the historical event. During her life-time monarchs suffered from a lack of funds. Consequently Kings had to attend assemblies to get tax raises from their nobles. As insurance kings conserved some power to the nobles to raise taxes. A king had to be interested in the needs of the people to get funds to run the lands that he ruled. Pizans’ book The Book of the Body Politic was a training program for future kings so that kings knew what morally should and shouldn’t be passed in order to be a just ruler. Nevertheless at this time of enlightenment, pessimism was on the rise. People reverted to older views on the bible. They challenged the official church doctrine and what constituted an official doctrine. A new idea arose, the idea of the power of rhetoric. Rhetoric became very important as writers linked rhetoric with moral virtue or that eloquence makes a person more human. Rhetoric studies humanities as it searches for perfect classical literature and thought. An example of Pizans’ usage of the humanities is seen in “In the rhetoric Aristotle said that the old and elderly did not have the habit of believing lightly, because they had been defrauded in their lives.” Pizan believed studying humanities makes you and others better. The idea originated from Petrarch the founder of humanism. Petrarch said “history is not a linear straight path to hell that there is no need to improve well but simply you must improve each coming generations and civilization” During Pizans’ era it was believed a truly educated person was a generalist not a specialist. She asserted “one ought to provide a tutor who is wise and prudent more in morals then in lofty learning, despite the fact that in ancient times the children of princes were taught by philosophers…nevertheless because at present princes do not desire to be taught in the sciences as they used to be and as I would wish it pleased god, I believe that it would be better to have a very discrete and wise tutor who had good morals and loved God rather than the most excellent philosopher.” She did this because it represented the belief education should be well rounded not specialized and the pursuit of human excellence was impossible and corrupt. All this was done in the attempt to achieve virtu.
Niccolo Machiavelli’s (1469-1527) beliefs represents the intellectual change after Pizan.
Machiavelli wrote and studied the change in political beliefs in France and Italy. Machiavelli was a descendant from Florence like Dante but Machiavelli came from a different political climate. Florence had changed many times since Dante’s oligarchy succumbed to the power of rich Signori who gained control of the councils of government. The Signori passed laws that had the upper classes fight to take away power from the lower classes. Slowly the oligarchy became a monarchy with fake republics to be able to give the people a place to air their grievances. Signori found ways to pass down power and territorial consolidation of smaller city-states started. Consolidation started wars and during these times of emergency the Signori families took the needed power to become despotism and dukedoms. The constant fear causes intellectuals to question beliefs. William of Ockham started the intellectual revolution as humanists changed their views and believed the material world is the illusion. Ockham’s theory was that things are named things based on human decision. Ockham also held if there are universals god created humans could not understand. Knowledge of the universal being was not possible so metaphysics does not exist. Humans could not understand god but must worship god based on human ability. People believed scripture was a complete value of god but cannot understand the supernatural. The upheaval was at its height when King Charles VII of France invaded. The change failed due to syphilis triggering a shift in political power. When Pope Julius II used Spanish troops to defeat the French and repel French, he brought back the Medici Family as Signori. But for a time the city state was under the control of the French and Spanish. It was these two political powerhouses that Machiavelli served. After the purge of the foreigners Machiavelli, wrote The Prince to attempt to receive
political office. It detailed his study of foreign and diplomatic courts and his many travels including his time with the court of the Duke of Romagna. Machiavelli broke away from either Dante or Pizan by supporting his arguments with observations instead of examining the faults of those of the classical or biblical past. The book The Prince was Machiavelli’s attempt to come back into politics after being in jail. For serving on the chancellery to foreigners who controlled Florence. This book failed to return Machiavelli to politics. The Medici’s refused it was the start in Machiavelli’s talented analytical writing on the state of politics.
The world changes. Dante, Machiavelli, and Christinia de Pizan demonstrate the approach and view of history changes depending on the politics and environment of the time.
Dante had his origins in 13th to 14th century Florence, Florence was then a form of commune reigning the city-state. Florence had no single head of state but was led by elected a leader who served two month terms called Priars. Priars during work could not be influenced by family because during those two months of service they were denied access to their families. They were influenced by money and had the power to sign peace …show more content…
treaties. Under the Priar was the council of the Popolo and the council of the Commune. These councils were staffed by skilled citizens that were chosen by public lottery. One third of the citizens of Florence took part in government office and it was viewed at the time, by men like Leonardo Bruni, that the “ideal citizen is one that takes part in a government” Florence had a limited military because during times of war it was believed it was the public duty to take arms and defend your city-state. The city-state at that time was run guild members who were considered the citizens. With all this pro guild mentality the power of the nobility weakened. They had virtually no political power as nobles were seldom connected with guilds. Eventually the majority of common people who were not connected to a guild joined together and rebelled.
When the uprising demanding citizenship for the masses erupted, Dante was an ambassador of the papal curia in Rome, serving during the time of Pope Boniface VIII. This put him in exile from his home. Dante’s book Monarchy is an interesting analysis of the direction of politics in Florence that time. He notes there had been a rise in scholasticism. The scholastics viewed the proper interpretation in the creation of the bible, as included a range of assumption. These assumptions used classical philosophers and classical myths and histories to justify their claim. Theologians at the time Dante lived used scholasticism to interpret verses of the bible to find meaning. This however did not mean that phrases that were used did not need biblical context to support the interpreted meanings. Scholastics also believed that the way to understand god was by using human reasoning. There was never any doubt that god existed, but rather that reason strengthened faith. It was also believed that most scripture was not literal but figurative and that logical arguments were built to better understand belief Dante’s Monarchy is interesting as it notes the change in southern Italy to monarchy and how with all the political problems of the time. It predicted the future problems in Florence that Machiavelli experienced.
Christina De Pizan (c.1364-1430) was born a hundred years later. Her different view was based upon the different environment surrounding her. Pizan was born in Venice but was raised in France during the hundred years’ war. She was one of the first women of letters in France. As Pizan lived in France her political system was not the oligarchy Dante experienced. She was a member of the feudal system under the rule of King Charles V. To her the ancient people were both emulated or not emulated and history was nothing more than a series of events. The reason that people looked back at history was for the moral lessons. She gave little attention to the context of which surrounded the historical event. During her life-time monarchs suffered from a lack of funds. Consequently Kings had to attend assemblies to get tax raises from their nobles. As insurance kings conserved some power to the nobles to raise taxes. A king had to be interested in the needs of the people to get funds to run the lands that he ruled. Pizans’ book The Book of the Body Politic was a training program for future kings so that kings knew what morally should and shouldn’t be passed in order to be a just ruler. Nevertheless at this time of enlightenment, pessimism was on the rise. People reverted to older views on the bible. They challenged the official church doctrine and what constituted an official doctrine. A new idea arose, the idea of the power of rhetoric. Rhetoric became very important as writers linked rhetoric with moral virtue or that eloquence makes a person more human. Rhetoric studies humanities as it searches for perfect classical literature and thought. An example of Pizans’ usage of the humanities is seen in “In the rhetoric Aristotle said that the old and elderly did not have the habit of believing lightly, because they had been defrauded in their lives.” Pizan believed studying humanities makes you and others better. The idea originated from Petrarch the founder of humanism. Petrarch said “history is not a linear straight path to hell that there is no need to improve well but simply you must improve each coming generations and civilization” During Pizans’ era it was believed a truly educated person was a generalist not a specialist. She asserted “one ought to provide a tutor who is wise and prudent more in morals then in lofty learning, despite the fact that in ancient times the children of princes were taught by philosophers…nevertheless because at present princes do not desire to be taught in the sciences as they used to be and as I would wish it pleased god, I believe that it would be better to have a very discrete and wise tutor who had good morals and loved God rather than the most excellent philosopher.” She did this because it represented the belief education should be well rounded not specialized and the pursuit of human excellence was impossible and corrupt. All this was done in the attempt to achieve virtu.
Niccolo Machiavelli’s (1469-1527) beliefs represents the intellectual change after Pizan.
Machiavelli wrote and studied the change in political beliefs in France and Italy. Machiavelli was a descendant from Florence like Dante but Machiavelli came from a different political climate. Florence had changed many times since Dante’s oligarchy succumbed to the power of rich Signori who gained control of the councils of government. The Signori passed laws that had the upper classes fight to take away power from the lower classes. Slowly the oligarchy became a monarchy with fake republics to be able to give the people a place to air their grievances. Signori found ways to pass down power and territorial consolidation of smaller city-states started. Consolidation started wars and during these times of emergency the Signori families took the needed power to become despotism and dukedoms. The constant fear causes intellectuals to question beliefs. William of Ockham started the intellectual revolution as humanists changed their views and believed the material world is the illusion. Ockham’s theory was that things are named things based on human decision. Ockham also held if there are universals god created humans could not understand. Knowledge of the universal being was not possible so metaphysics does not exist. Humans could not understand god but must worship god based on human ability. People believed scripture was a complete value of god but cannot understand the supernatural. The upheaval was at its height when King Charles VII of France invaded. The change failed due to syphilis triggering a shift in political power. When Pope Julius II used Spanish troops to defeat the French and repel French, he brought back the Medici Family as Signori. But for a time the city state was under the control of the French and Spanish. It was these two political powerhouses that Machiavelli served. After the purge of the foreigners Machiavelli, wrote The Prince to attempt to receive
political office. It detailed his study of foreign and diplomatic courts and his many travels including his time with the court of the Duke of Romagna. Machiavelli broke away from either Dante or Pizan by supporting his arguments with observations instead of examining the faults of those of the classical or biblical past. The book The Prince was Machiavelli’s attempt to come back into politics after being in jail. For serving on the chancellery to foreigners who controlled Florence. This book failed to return Machiavelli to politics. The Medici’s refused it was the start in Machiavelli’s talented analytical writing on the state of politics.
The world changes. Dante, Machiavelli, and Christinia de Pizan demonstrate the approach and view of history changes depending on the politics and environment of the time.