Why Did the Renaissance Occur in Italy - Term Paper Example

?Topic:  Modern Age Europe 1348-1789 Essay and Primary Document Analysis 2 Why did the Renaissance occur in Italy? (Short Analytical Essay) In the middle ages, from the fifteenth to seventeenth century, the Italian province of Europe witnessed unprecedented chaos, as this was the age of revolution and conflicts in Roman history. During this time, the Dutch scholars defined the stage of Italy as both deteriorating and fruit giving. The deterioration of art and architecture of Italy was on high scale, on the other hand, the society of Italy started to get influenced by education, trade and well established infrastructure. With the trade initiated by roman rulers among Asians, spices and silk started flowing in to the country which led to the development of the Roman Empire demographically and politically. According to (Ch.10,part 1,pg.281) “ By the late fifteenth century, Europe was recovering well from two of the three crises of the late middle ages: the demographic and political” . Due to the change in the rule and power of Italian patrons, there was an establishment of ambassadors for the very purpose of authorizing the political and ceremonial functions of Rome. Moreover, the connection of the Italian rulers with the Asian culture led to the flourishment of Roman province in the area of living style and knowledge. Along with this, humanism was one concept which initiated debate among the scholars of renaissance era. The first humanist of Italy was poets and orators and they believed in classical literature and biblical thoughts rather than untraditional modern concepts. As per (Ch.10,part 2,pg.285)“Humanism was not a philosophy or a value system, but an educational program built on rhetoric and scholarship for their own sake”. One such critic of humanism was Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio, who supported ethical principles and value for the upgrading of social values. The main accusation by the scholars of those times was that the Roman government’s attachment to an un-Christian philosophy in order to accept and follow a modern and sophisticated culture. The medieval theologians and philosophers asserted that the middle age of Roman Empire was a period of dark ages, due to its compliance to non religious concepts and unbiblical principles. On the contrary, the artists of roman renaissance period were assisted with new technological skills which enhanced their ability to be more creative. As per (Ch.10prt.3 pg,292) “These techniques enabled the artist to portray space realistically and to paint a more natural world”. These artists were the well renowned Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo who enabled the Italian empire to outstand in the world with the splendor of creativity and potentiality. Along with the art and culture, the Roman Empire also experienced an invasion from Greek, Italian and French personalities like Alexander the Great, Pope Julius II and Niccolo Machiavelli. These invasion and ruling criteria from various leaders raised conflicts and destruction to the Italian renaissance. According to (Ch.10,part 4,pg.296) “The foreign invasions made a shamble of Italy”. Generally, the country which had conflict with Italy were France, Swiss and Spain province, and this obviously led to the degradation of the authentic heritage and culture of Italian renaissance. Here the France and Italy through the marriage of royals established a mixture of French and Italian fusion culture in Italy. On the other side, Spain brought about easy routes to the Italy for trade with Middle Eastern regions and Asian province. However Spain being overly tolerant to religious multiplicity had to face risk with the initiation of marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella. The marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella brought about considerable change in the economical, political and religious background of Spain. In the book,(Ch.10,part 5,pg.299). it is mentioned that, “Spain had long been remarkable among European lands as a place where three religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity- co –existed with a certain degree of toleration”. Thus the Italian renaissance had numerous connections with its neighboring countries which led to its downfall and prosperity in different ways. Apart from all the intervention of foreign provinces and humanism in Italy, there was also an awakening of printing press in Roman Empire. It is Desiderius Erasmus, who has brought printing press innovation into the Rome with his outstanding printing work and educational reform activities. In those times, theologians like Erasmus received no royalties but had to live on favor from private patrons. Still they dedicated themselves to the reform in educational and religious sector of Italy which brought about renaissance in Italian province. According to (Ch.10 ,part3.pg,302) “Erasmus aspired to unite classical ideals of humanity and civic virtue with Christian ideals of love and piety”. So in many ways the foreign countries, the contemporary thinkers, rulers and artists reformed the Italian province to undergo renaissance. Western Civilization (Primary Document analysis) Petrarch and his Principles In the western civilization historical revolution, the humanist had a significant contribution to make, and main two rulers which come into a man’s mind is Petrarch and Machiavelli. Here Petrarch was the first humanist to launch himself as a writer, who thrived on the patronage from wealthy political family. The Petrarch was not entirely religious, but he was secular in his thoughts. His main authority was to detail the political leaders about the essential way to rule the state and how ethics and morale can be established in the Roman cities. As part of receiving patronage, he did praise his patron and also set standards for them on ways to rule the state. Pertrach in praise of patrons states that “You ruled with such competence and such maturity that no rumor, no hint of rebellion, disturbed the city in that time of great change” (Ch 10.1,pg.160). The Petrarch mentions that the rulers of the Roman province achieved excellent status due to the assistance of citizens and lords of other nations. He stated that a ruler in order to be successful needs to develop a nature of humbleness and soberness. Moreover, arrogance and pompousness needs to be eliminated from the very personality of the rulers for them to be beneficial to the country. Petrarch propagated to the rulers that, if they ruled the country in a humble and pious manner, then they can marry of their daughters to excellent neighborhood nations which will enhance their prestige and good will all around the globe. On top of that, the rulers of a nation need to consider that, no blood of an innocent person is spilled for the gain of wealth and power of rulers. Petrarch put forth that an ideal ruler should never be terrifying to a good citizen, but needs to be aggressive to a citizen who is evil and law breaking. It is said by him that many princes of antique and modern times, believed in carrying ferocious attitude in order to remain royal and powerful in the eyes of their mostly innocent citizens. He asserts that carrying a sword should not be to terrify the citizens but to protect the nation from evil eyes. According to (10.1,pg.161)“Concerning this belief we have an example in the case of the barbaric emperor named Maximinus”. It is also explained by Petrarch that a ruler’s primary interest is to rule a country or region for a prolonged period in security, and in this effort he forgets to be a loving ruler. He asserts that, the only rule to achieve love is to give love. Love is a free magical potion which can be used by rulers to gain power, wealth, security and fame. It is said here that, for a ruler to beget love from his subjects is like getting a position of father for his own country. Petrarch states that being a father of a nation, a ruler can also be enemy to his nation. According to the writing (Ch.10.1 pg.161)“Both Caesar Augustus and Nero were called “ father of his country”. The first was a true father; the second was an enemy of both his country and religion” . Petrarch further details that, it is the utilization of justice and considering the goodwill of the citizen can enhance the merit of a ruler. The father of a nation ought to believe that his subjects are like his own children and should treat them with likeness and equality. One another important point described by Pertrach is the value and reliability of Justice. He establishes Justice as the crucial noble function which can give virtue to the subjects and punishment to the evil subjects. But he also reinstate that, mercy should be a criteria when punishing the evil doers as all of us are human and is prone to sinful acts. Petrarch as a precaution states to the rulers that they should avoid unnecessary and useless expenditure, in order to safeguard the wealth and fame of the nation. In this manner, a ruler canpreserve the value of treasury and also can protect the nation from deterioration and defamation. A wise ruler in order to maintain his kingdom should select a person who is knowledgeable in law ,for the ruler to consult about the legal issues. The Petrarch also explains to the rulers that death is not something to be mourned of but something to be rejoiced. In the end , Petrarch apologizes for any mistake and less knowledgeable aspects specified by him. Niccolo Machiavelli and his Principles Niccolo Machiavelli is a political philosopher, who witnessed arrogant and aggressive Italian political situation during 15th and 16th century. Machiavelli discussed about the cut throat ruling system of Roman politicians, which provoked him to present excellent ruling guidelines and philosophy. Here, Machiavelli confess that he has not made any conclusion without understanding the republic , military or religious organization of Rome. He states that people might think the founder of civic state as “Romulus” might have occupied his position by killing his brother or by being violent or aggressive. Otherwise, the prince has killed his colleagues Titus Tatius and Sabine to achieve his position. In such a case, the ambitious citizens also assume to have the right like the prince in achieving higher position which is bad for the state. Machiavelli here states that, for a republic or kingdom to survive there needs to be a presence of single authority rather than a support from religious, political or military organization. “It is like -wise essential that there should be but one person upon whose mind and method depends any similar process of organization”(Ch.10.2,pg.164 Further, Machiavelli states that the prime authority of a ruler is to rule the country in the favor of his subjects rather than of his successor. Thus no reasonable man will blame the ruler for taking any extraordinary or illegal action .Generally speaking; it is the ruler who chooses violence is blame worthy, than the person who attempts to correct them. Here, Machiavelli wisely explains that, if the present ruler uses prudence and ethic in his ruling, then this would be a set standard for his successors and subjects to be ambitious and virtuous. He also suggests that, the ruling power should not be burdened on one man’s shoulder as this could lead to problem on long term basis. There should be some distribution of power to some legible authorities in order to rule the nation on a stable ground and with high maintenance. However, here it is said that diversity of opinion can built up confusion about the best advice .But when advisers see their opinion put in practice is worth appreciating, they would not be reluctant to abandon the advising procedure. Here, Machiavelli gives an example of Romulus, who was an ideal ruler who worked for the common good of his subjects, but had to witness the death of his brother and colleagues in the due course. According to (Ch.10.2.pg.164)Machiavelli states that “ Also, a careful consideration of the authority which Romulus reserved to himself will show that all he reserved to himself was the command of the army in time of war and the convoking of the senate”. Here, Machiavelli also discuss about the leaders like Moses, Lygurcus and Solon for being a righteous rulers who implement political and ethical laws and worked for the common good of the public. He also defines about the attempt of King of Sparta to mold the activities of the Spartans in align with the principles of Lycurgus in an attempt to establish virtue and righteousness among them. Machiavelli explains that the king of Sparta and his subjects have separated themselves from the virtuous principles of ideal philosophers, which led to the downfall of their power and empire. Unfortunately, the Spartan ephors considered the king of Spartan as a person who set out to built a tyranny and was killed by the hands of the former. However his successor knows as Cleomenes was wise enough to consider the plans and moralities of King of Sparta as he imbibed much knowledge about righteousness from some records and writings. He understood from the writing that true mind and good intentions consistently paved way to good results and virtue. But, ironically it was impossible for the Clemens to practice what he believed as he did not have the sole authority to rule the nation. Cleomens in his attempt to withstand virtue killed all the ephors and decided to destroy any obstacle which came in the way of his rulership. Apart from this, he also revived the laws of Lycurgus in order to establish order, ethics, morality and goodwill in his kingdom and ruling system. In this way he gave new life to the Spartans, and he also gained a reputation like that of Lycurgus. But the power of Macedonians led to the defeat of the organized Spartan province and the laws, ideas and philosophies of Cleomenes. Thus the goodwill and reputation of the Spartan province declined and Cleomenes ideals famished without achieving completion. Read More