Renaissance Italy 1464-1534, Peter Laven, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London,
1966
Preface (5-7) This book for students and general readers presents a
wide perspective, the interactions of a number of topics.
1 The Country (15-34) Agriculture and population increased until the
Black Death. Sicily and southern Italy provided grain to the north and
to Spain. Florence had advanced terracing. This encouraged wider
distribution of farmers throughout hilly country. Many were share
croppers. Rural aristocrats moved to Florence. City dwellers invested
in country homes and mills.
Milan cultivated grain, grapes, mulberry trees, rice, woad. Land was
consolidated and developed; canals, irrigation ditches and roads were
built. Venetians turning to the land grew grain, grapes, rice. They
raised pigs, sheep and poultry
In general, then, a period which is known for its violence, its
treachery and its instability in fact offered a great deal of
opportunity for the peaceful development of its agriculture and the
secure occupation of the land. p. 34
2 The Manufacturing Industries (35-58): Florence produced woolen
textiles, then silks. Milan produced silk and dairy products. Venice
turned to wool. Dyes, natural products providing dyes and alum, for
use in the dyeing process, as well as in tanning, glass-making and
sugar, were important. Venice and Genoa had significant shipyards,
Construction (of palaces, villas, churches, canals, etc.) flourished.
Milan had a thriving iron industry, largely in armaments.
Italy was the home of several other industries. In Venice alone
there was a leather industry, soap-manufacturing, sugar-refining,
bead making; the glass industry there made spectacles as well as
cruets or chandeliers; tallow candles were manufactured and precious
stones were cut; there were rope-makers and there were goldsmiths.
But the two remaining industries of major importance in Italy were
paper-making and printing. p. 53
The town of Fabriano made paper; Venice was the leading printing centre
in Italy.
3 Trade (59-90): Venice and Genoa had overseas possessions and
presence, greatly impacted by Turkish expansion. Cloth, metal goods and
soap were traded for slaves, silks, fur, musk, etc. The Eastern spice
trade ("pepper and spices of many kinds...dyestuffs, herbs and drugs"
p. 66) connected with Persian Gulf and Arabian (aloe, amber, pearls,
etc.) and East African (ivory and amber) arriving in Alexandria and
Beirut where mainly Venetians met it with German gold, silver, copper
as well as cloth, tin and coral.
Genoa traded slaves, wine, salt, wood, etc. for: "cotton, balm and fine
linens; sugar and dates, emeralds, beryls and rubies, and senna and
cassia." p. 69 portuguese rounding of Africa and reaching Indian and
Southeast Asian trade sources affected Venice, though not totally, in
part because corrupt Portuguese officials did not fully exert
themselves. Alum holdings profited popes and those (Florence, Genoa,
etc.) distributing the commodoty.
Overland trade brought merchants to Venice and Genoese to Geneva. Milan
traded north and through Venice. Robbers threatened overland trade.
4 Finance (91-107): Ways were found around the spiritual prohibition
against interest. Diversification and insurance reduced risk. Public
debt and tax and fee collection were ventures open to the moneyed, at
times through enforced loans.
With all her ingenuity, in one respect Italy was slow. In the
republics and in Rome the idea that government was for private
exploitation was hard to shake. p. 106
5 External Relations (108-129): The Treaty of Lodi and the Italian
League brought relative peace before the 1494 invasion. Italians did
not unite, even against the Turk.
This severe economic competition between the commercial republics
was at least one of the major factors underlying Italian disunity.
p. 109
After the invasion, Italian interests centred on balancing powerful
France, Spain and Germany. Italian states, Papacy included, considering
local interests first, allied with one great power or another against
each other. Foreign powers, seeking total control, not partition,
fought each other.
Arming local residents seemed more threatening to leadership than
employing mercenaries. Prolonged widespread peace was not in the
interests of such mercenaries.
Italian states had ambassadors in Italy and abroad. These and spies
were very interested in gathering commercial information.
6 Internal Affairs (130-148): Feudal lords, especially in the islands,
Naples and the Papal States, sought to maintain their independence and
privileges, rulers to curtail them; peasants faced opportunities in
towns, as mercenaries, in a less feudal rural life. Powerful rulers
(e.g. the Medici) could arise in republics. Such could arouse envious
opposition from others of their upper class. Other contending classes
could generate internal instability.
Venice with its complex constitution, checks and balances, secret
ballot, justice, integrity and freedom, greatly impressed others. All
rulers took care to ensure the people had food.
7 History, Political Thought and Language (149-171): The Fifteenth
Century saw the regaining and collation of Classical Greek and Latin
texts. Petrarch had begun Classical revival, conscious of his distance
from ancient pagans. Leonardo Bruni and Lorenzo Valla urged a critical
approach to writing history; Bruni provided such in his history of
Florence. History gave examples to political thinkers, also pondering
Aristotle's Politics.
Machiavelli included Fortune and necessity with historical processes in
his explanation of events. Bernardo Rucellai held garden gatherings of
thinkers, many favouring the Venetian approach. Francesco Guicciardini
suggested flowing with historical tendencies. Petrarch had raised the
question of otium et negotium, leisured study and the active life. He
favoured leisure, the political class the activity of the refined.
Castiglione upheld education.
This recognition of an education--valuable in itself, yet at the
same time of service to the state--was perhaps nowhere more accepted
than amongst the Venetian patriciate, which was generally educated
at Padua from the 1460s onwards as a preparation to a career of
service. Here the distinguished patricians would gather together in
academies or in private palaces and discuss Aristotle, art,
mathematics or questions of principle underlying political problems,
never regarding their own education as ending, enjoying their
culture and believing it to be useful. p. 164
The study of Greek and the publishing of Greek texts in Italy are
considered on pages 165-168 and the vernacular on pages 168-171.
8 Science, Medicine and Technology (172-196): Classical Greek science
revived. Scholarly attention focused more on this world. Authority now
required verification. The assumption of an earth centred universe was
questioned. Arabic mathematical and scientific influence was felt.
Efforts were made to identify, locate and examine the herbs in
Classical literature. There was awareness of personal hygience. Soap
was manufactured. Technology advanced. In 1474 venice passed patent
legislation. Inspired by Vitruvius architects strove for comprehensive
attainments from churches and villas to canals and fortifications.
9 Religion (197-219): This was an age of worldly popes, pagan values
and continuing Christianity. Charismatic preachers (e.g. Savonarola)
fearlessly attacked irreligion and vast extremes of wealth and poverty.
Other responses to spiritual decline occurred: San Lorenzo Giustiniani
encouraging pastoral work, Pietro Barozzi seeking improved connection
between prists and parishoners, Matteo Gilberti involving the laity in
Church administration and his keen focus on spiritualizing and
educating the priesthood, etc.
10 Art and Architectura (220-245): Classical revival led to technical
advances, to studied accurate representation of nature, to efforts to
portray highest ideals, to elevated self-evaluation of artists (in the
Middle Ages, largely anonymous Christian craftsmen), to patrons (for
reasons including personal prestige) spending large amounts on the
arts.
11 Conclusion (246-256): The 1494 French invasion divided the time
which is the focus of this book and shattered conceptions of revived
Italian grandeur. 1464 saw the deaths of Pius II about to attack
Istanbul, capable Cosimo de Medici and thoughtful Nicholas of Cusa.
1534 saw the election of Paul III (founding the Inquisition, approving
the Jesuits, summoning the Council of Trent, etc.).
Revival of Classical learning contained consideration of practical,
human concerns beyond the focus of an otherworldlt Medieval Church.
This revival also fostered awareness of essential Italian unity,
persisting despite long political division and foreign rule.
Life, history is complex, intricate. And one long paragraph seems so
relevant and significant as to warrant quoting in full:
The most impressive aspect of Italian economic life during this
period is the extent to which capitalistic attitudes and techniques
were already employed. Businessmen were dedicated to the pursuit of
profit to swell their riches, even when they had already reached
fabulous dimensions. If these men manoeuvered within the limits
imposed upon them by the doctrines of their Church, they did not
need the sanction of new prophets like Luther or Calvin to furnish
them with the spirit and justification of capitalism. Centurioni,
Bonvisi, Affaitadi, Vendramin or Rucellai never ceased to take
advantage of opportunities to effect a good business deal, although
often they spent lavishly on unproductive luxuries. They were not
meanspirited capitalists, although they were cautious and obviated
as far as they could elements of risk in their transactions. It was
a sane, calculating and careful world of business they inhabited;
but in the main they were not narrow men, but rather men of a wide
culture who knew how to enjoy their good fortune. The techniques
they evolved, like the culture they patronised, spread with their
activities through Europe. Men of business at Augsburg or Nuremburg,
Antwerp or Seville, Lyons or London, borrowed from their experience
and imitated their methods. Their exchange techniques, banking
devices such as the use of cheques or endorsement, manufacturing
skills, book-keeping, factory organisation, were all eventually
copied beyond the Alps. They invented commercial insurance,
industrial patents, new manufacturing processes for silks, glassware
and paper. They were fertile in expedients to exploit their working
staff, often rising above the protective regulations of the guilds,
sometimes controlling them through their hold on government, using
methods of remuneration unfavourable to the workers, utilising
loopholes in the law. Their world of cut-throat competition was
enhanced by the political divisions of Italy, whilst governments
were often harnessed to their business needs. Foreign policies and
domestic legislation were thus often determined by the requirements
of capitalism. If capitalism was later dominated by the protestant
world, it had its origins deep in pre-Reformation Italy. pp. 252-3
The annotated bibliography (257-275) although dated remains quite
valuable.
This dense book, so befitting a harvest of the author's stated intent
to offer a wide perspective of the times covered, is well worth the
read.
Michael McKenny, February 1-4, 2008 C.E.
Solarguard Renaissance
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