Men And Women During The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that marked the transition to a new world from the medieval traditions and values. It was regarded as the birth of a new era of learning, mind, education and spirit. This period began in the early fourteenth century, in cities of northern Italy, more specifically Florence, and that over time ended up spreading to other countries like Europe, France, Germany and Spain. An important part of the Renaissance was a literary movement which happened between the upper class who sought to recapture and recreate the classical past of Rome.
One of the pioneers of this movement was Petrarch, who was dazzled by the language, literature, architecture and art of ancient classical civilization. Petrarch proposed an appropriate
The letter to Ubertinus of Padua written in 1392 by Peter Paul Vergerius shows what is essential for males. First, history was the most important "on grounds both of its attractiveness and of its utility, qualities which appeal equally to the scholar and to the statesman." 2 Moral philosophy is the second issue at hand "to teach men the secret of true freedom." 3 Based on the first two issues it can be identified that men should be capable and intelligent in order to rule themselves: "... one shows what men should do, the other what men have said and done in the past, and what practical lessons we may draw therefrom for the present day. " 4
On the other hand, women have to be part of the story in another respect. The letter of Leonardo Bruni to Lady Baptista Malatest, 1405, suggested that the story is simply "Rhetoric in all its forms…lies absolutely outside the province of women.” 5 In other words, knowledge will simply be enough, since women do not have the responsibility to apply it as men. Also, Bruni believes that the main discipline for women is religion "gives you the maximum range for reverential, learned inquiry." 6 Again, there is no responsibility in learning; after the woman is there to remain submissive to
When it comes to behavior and attitude, Baldassare Castiglione said in his manual for each gender of the courtier, 1508-1516, that a male courtier should "also stand out from the rest as enterprising, bold, and loyal to whomever he serves.” 7 To Castiglione, men were made to be well-educated, fluent in Latin and Greek, as there is much to be learned from the literature written in both languages. The logic of this study was to get them to become more confident and strong. But they also would have to be essentially modest. In contrast, women had to continue to be the weaker sex, be soft, sweet and graceful. Indeed, the women would have to once again be submissive to men. But even if submissive, they must be able to entertain men. In the Prince, 1513, Niccolo Machiavelli describes the appropriate behavior of learning how to be a ruler. Although the story is again about a common practices during the renaissance, in this context it is teaching men how to become successful leaders. For a ruler to succeed it was necessary to earn the respect of his followers, and one way to achieve respect should be with love, but it is not always possible, so then fear and intimidation come into play. CITE