Political Structure in the Renaissance Let s look at some of

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• Lets look at some of the big themes that are
  connected to the growing secular centers of power
  in Europe.
• Remember we contrast secular (or earthly) power
  with sacred (or religious) power like the Pope.
• The status quo in Europe had been the feudal
  kingdom, which was rural, dominated by a
  hereditary monarchy, and non-commercial.
• Power was seen as connected directly with the
  Great Chain of Being, and mirrored the center
  of control in the papacy.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• As a result of the Hundred Years War, (bet.
  French and English kingdoms) and the War of the
  Roses in England we witness the establishment of
  the House of Tudor as the controlling Royal
  family in England.
• This meant that there was one royal family
  controlling all of England.
• France had also become a consolidated monarchical
  power, and the Spanish throne was unified,
  between the Houses of Castile and Aragon, as a
  result of the marriage between Ferdinand and
  Isabella.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• So, we see the establishment of three unified
  monarchies to the west and North of the Italian
  peninsula.
• What this will point to is the beginnings of the
  establishment of the modern state which would
  have a centralized government, a large military,
  an organized taxation system, and freedom from
  the control of the papacy.
• We will have to wait until 1688, when England
  will establish their constitution and Bill of
  Rights, but these large states are certainly
  different from their medieval counterparts.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• We also have to consider the structure of the
  Holy Roman Empire, which was a confederation of
  three hundred or so states, united under the
  reign of an elector (The Holy Roman Emperor) that
  was voted in by the seven great electors.
• We also know that Charles I of Spain, (grandson
  of Ferdinand and Isabella), also becomes Charles
  V, head of the Holy Roman Emperor.
• This would put Spain in a real position of power
  in the 1500s
• To a large extent, politics was the province of
  the King, the Prince, the Dynastic family, and of
  course the Pope.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• This is what makes the development of the Italian
  City States so interesting, and in many was so
  atypical of the rest of Europe.
• There will not be an Italian King (regardless of
  what Julius II thought of himself)
• There will not be a unified Italian State until
  1861!!!
• Lets consider the flavor of the Italian City
  state, and see how we can tie its political
  structure to the development and innovation of
  the Renaissance.
• This might be a chicken or the egg discussion,
  but certainly the structure of the city state was
  impacted by factors unique to the Italian
  Peninsula, and it alos impacted the Renaissance.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• We see the vibrancy of the Urban culture, and
  outgrowth of advantageous location and the trade
  between east and west, both an outgrowth and a
  cause of the Political structure.
• What does this mean?
• Lets look at the characteristics of the Italian
  City state, and its political culture.
• We will not see anything like it in the rest of
  Europe.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• The economic development of the city states was
  as a result of trade, and changed the face of
  these city states.
• Remember the benefits of the crusades,
  economically, that you studied in global?
• Banking houses rise, and financial ventures reach
  all over Europe.
• We see a rise of civic pride that becomes part of
  what we will known as Civic Humanism
• Cities were independent entities that were free
  from the control of Kings and to a large extent,
  the Pope.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• As the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperor fought,
  City states grew independent of their control.
• Remember that since the Great Schism (1377
  1414) where the papacy was divided between France
  and Rome, papal control and supremacy (aside from
  Julius II) was on the wane.
• We see the rise of the Urban Oligarchy simply
  put, it is the control of a city (like Florence)
  by a group of powerful merchants determining
  policy based on their economic influence. (Like
  the Medici)
• The wealthy determining political policy? How
  modern!!!
• Hence, we see competition and skill bringing the
  individual into public office, not hereditary or
  religious affiliation.
• Individualism? That sounds like Humanism!!!

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• However this by no means provided an egalitarian
  (equal) way of life.
• The mechanisms of control focused on dictates and
  financial superiority, and strong families like
  the Medici and the Sforzas were mini
  dynasties.
• Cities were stratified (divided) quite severely
  into social classes, and the closer to the seat
  of power the greater the influence.
• Money influence
• Hence, the vibrant economic climate of the city
  states would determine what families or business
  people would set political policy.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• Grandi old money, historically in control of
  a particular city.
• Popolo Grosso new money, found in the
  banking and merchant classes.
• Burghers Middle classes, primary from the trade
  guilds or small scale manufacturing.
• Popolo Minuto the little people, the urban
  peasant.
• High, middle and low

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• The Ciompi Revolts (1378) witnessed probably
  the first large scale uprising of the urban poor,
  who were oppressed by the rich, hurt severely by
  the effects of the plague and economic collapse
  in several banking houses.
• Remember, this is only possible in the growing
  urban cities in Italy.
• We will see many other examples of the urban
  revolt in our course
• Here are a few more points on the city state, and
  the peculiar juxtaposition of political
  oppression and artistic expression.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• We move from a period of relative calm and
  progress to a period in the later part of the
  15th century that saw chaos and decline in Italy,
  and the introduction of foreign troop,
  specifically the French into the Italian
  Peninsula.
• The Treaty of Lodi had established a de-facto
  truce amongst the city states in Italy, and this
  truce would be broken at the close of the
  century.
• Essentially, the city states will war among
  themselves, and will be preyed upon by the strong
  unified monarchies of France and Spain.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• 1494 a critical moment where the desire for
  power coaxes an Italian Ruler, Ludvico il Moro
  from Milan saw a threat from the states of
  Florence, and the Borgia Pope Alexander VI as
  enough of a reason to put his trust in the
  French.
• His ideas was to allow the French King safe
  passage into Italy, through Milan, to claim
  territories that had been historically controlled
  by France.
• It proved to be a disaster.
• Remember this is also the time when Florence was
  under the control of Savonarola.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• This lead to nearly three decades of invasion by
  the French Forces, and the eventual fall of the
  city of Rome (1527) to the forces of the Holy
  Roman Empire and Charles V of Spain.
• The successes of the French King in Italy also
  prompted the Spanish king, Ferdinand, to form an
  alliance with Italian city states of Venice, the
  papal states as well as the Holy Roman Emperor
  against the territories conquered by Charles VIII
  of France.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• We all remember that fun loving family, the
  Borgias and the fact that Pope Alexander VI was
  anything but a caretaker of the keys of St.
  Peter.
• Alexander would use the intersession of the
  French to re-claim states that had fallen away
  from the papacy, as a result of the Avignon
  Papacy.
• Alexander even went so far as to annul the
  marriage of the French King Louis VIIIs to the
  previous Kings sister, so that he could marry
  the widow!

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• Alexander's illegitimate son marries into the
  French royal family.
• Alexander gets what he wanted, but the French
  presence on the peninsula remains for decades,
  and would be the primary cause for Machiavelli to
  compose The Prince, as an appeal to someone in
  Italy to regain the greatness of Ancient Rome, at
  any cost.
• Julius II would continue this very secular flavor
  of Papal control.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• It is also interesting to note that at the time
  of the greatest upheaval in the political life of
  the Italian city states, we see the greatest
  achievement in the realm of the arts, the High
  Renaissance.
• We need to look no further than the work of
  Michelangelo and Raphael to see the patronage of
  the Vatican during this time period.
• Despite the chaos and invasions, the papacy
  become the most consistent patron of the Arts,
  and the commission of Michelangelo to construct
  the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel
  is the high point of this papal patronage.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• Big issue, the Revival of the Northern
  Monarchies.
• What we have to do is to look for patterns of the
  growth of Monarchies while there were towns and
  eventually cities that began to have their own
  autonomy.
• What do we see?

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• The shift is toward feudal dynasties that will
  unify entire countries, like England, France and
  Spain.
• With the concomitant increase in the size and
  power of towns and cities, thee has to be a
  negotiating point between the Monarchs, and the
  ever increasing power base in the cities

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• Kings began to utilize business people and those
  we might consider humanists to staff their
  growing bureaucracies.
• Hence we see a breaking of the traditional bonds
  between the monarchies and the nobility.
• Now, as the monarchies are growing larger, we see
  things like taxes and warfare becoming a matter
  of national importance rather that something
  controlled on a regional level.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• We see kings acting more and more independently
  of the national assemblies that had gained power
  in the Medieval Era.
• Law was dictated by the monarch, and any local
  magistrates or judges were at the beck and call
  of the Monarchy.
• We see also the growth of standing armies,
  meaning, and this is a big idea, troop were no
  not just raised in times of war.

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Political Structure in the Renaissance

• This meant two things
• Now we had soldiers that were employed by the
  monarch, not simply on loan as it were from the
  nobility.
• Further, this always raised the specter of a King
  using these troops, many of which could be
  mercenaries, against his own people.
• And, we will see an increase in taxation of the
  people, and a subsequent effort on the part of
  the nobility to avoid being taxed.

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Political Life Renaissance Europe

• Not surprisingly, the burden of the taxation fell
  on the middle and lower classes, and taxes like
  the gabelle, the taille became virtual
  institutions.
• Lets take a look at four growing monarchies,
  France, Spain, England and the Holy Roman Empire.

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Political Life Renaissance Europe

• What do we take away from this section?
• Think of the characteristics of what we consider
  the renaissance
• It happens generally in the cities.
• It is a revival of Greek and Roman culture and
  thought
• It places a great deal of emphasis on the
  imortance and potential of the individual
• Iit glorifies the city, as exemplified by Civic
  Humainsm meaning, the position of being a
  citizen, much like ancient Rome, meant something
  rather than simply being the subject of a King
  or Queen
• It was pushed by families who were economically
  independent and powerful.

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Political Life Renaissance Europe

• We can see the reasons why the Renaissance
  occurred first in the Italian City States.
• However, as power and commerce shift to Western
  and Eastern Europe in the 1500s, the Renaissance
  will die down on the Italian Peninsula and will
  have a revival in the north.