The Church In Renaissance Florence

The Church was a prominent figure for the community and leaders of Renaissance Florence in numerous ways. The Church was able to unify the community in times of prosperity as well as in times of need. The Church also respected by the people of Florence and therefore had their support. Using examples from The Chronicle of Giovanni Villani, I will prove how the Church was present in the life of the people of Renaissance Florence. The Church played a valuable component in bringing the community together in significant periods. For example, as learned from the primary source,“... The citizens agreed to renew their leading church, which was a rude affair and small for such a municipality.” (pg. 36). The Cathedral was a project the community could unify together to build something beautiful after a period of destruction. This excerpt also shows how significant the church was in the communities’ lives. After a revolution, the country was troubled, and one of the first things they wanted to fix was the church. If the church was important to the community, it would not be one of the first buildings to fix. This also shows that the prior church was small and did not represent the community proudly, they wanted a grand church to represent the city of Florence. Giovanni goes on to say, “And the foundation was laid with great solemnity on the day of
To meet the needs of the community population the church had to have large numbers as well. Giovanni states some statistics of the church, he says, “.... the abbeys and the churches of friars, were 110, among which were 57 parishes with congregations, 5 abbeys with two priors and some 80 monks each, 24 nunneries with some 500 women...” (pg. 41). If the people of Florence were not involved in the church those numbers would not be as large. Throughout the primary source we learn that the church had a large presence in Renaissance