History and Culture of Medieval Italy - Essay Example

Italian Identity History and Culture of Medieval Italy 06 May 2007 From the time people first used the word Italia until present day, Italians have identified themselves more with their own locales than with what we call "Italy". The centuries that followed the fall of Roman Empire were full of foreign invaders who humbled Italy but never extinguished its identity. The cities of medieval Italy responded to wars with extraordinary vitality; it was the vigor that fuled fierce local pride but worked against national unity. Italians wars have started in 1490s and resulted in the long debilitating wave of foreign invasions that ended only with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. For more than four centuries Italians were struggling to preserve their identity. Italy cannot be referred to it as merely the geographic unity, it is the national identity shaped and modified by culture of Medieval Italy which evolved into the nation known as "Italians" to the world today. Italian towns and Roman Papacy From the early medieval ages, Italians were different from their neighbours. They preferred to live on the tops of the hills, while the Romans lived in the valleys (Hodges 47). Based on the interpretation of the medieval monastic sources, hilltop villages evolved along with the Italian life out of the introduction of the monetary economy in the 9th century. This transformation has led to the process of incastellamento - the foundation of castelli on the top of the hills. Notably, Italian cities had the tendency not to grow, but to reduce as well. Unlike many other Italian urban centres, Florence's growth has declined in the 7th and 8th centuries, while Rome and Milan became the centres occupied only by aristocracy. Rural estates and houses of aristocracy were built in the distinct towns. Hodges continues that "the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 6th century led to the rural communities of the peasants reshaping the landscape and defining their own rules" (48). The economy activity in rural regions was insignificant and there is the evidence that town and country were truly separated in economic, social and political life. Even though Italy was the distinct community with common heritage, culture was embraced by only a handful of intellectuals - Dante, Petrarch, historian Guicciardini, and few others. Their works were the bonds of material and emotional importance which linked together the peninsular inhabitants and counterbalanced its fragmented structure. "While the Latin language had been replaced by a cluster of regional dialects, it remained the standard mode of discourse of university education and of the professions of law, medicine, and theology" (Brucker 1). In addition to common language, Italians shared the same administration of justice - it was based on the principles of Roman law and applied in every Italian court. The power of Roman papacy in Italy was due to its wealth, administrative structure, and regulation of religious practices and beliefs. Despite of the great influence of Roman Empire over the Italy, Italian cities and towns managed to retain the physical features of those ancient sites. A native of Naples could travel to any other city and feel at home: the buildings, the streets, the social structure and culture were all the same (Brucker 1). Traders were the most cosmopolitan segment of the medieval Italy and travelled along with the pilgrims, soldiers seeking employment and workers. Such unity with the citizens without permanent place of living and similarity of all towns, helped to create the feeling of belonging to the community larger than their native village. The Roman papacy was the only Italian institution that provided the focus on the Italian history in the early medieval ages. The papacy had the direct influence on the every region and medieval popes were so preoccupied with the concerns for their security as well as with the expanding authority over the whole society, that they unwillingly shaped the Italian national identity. As Peterson has noted, Italian intricate culture and fragmented geography has discouraged the historians from looking beyond the papal Rome and investigate the local religious life in the rest of peninsular (835). Religion and church played important role in the life of Medieval and Renaissance Italian people. The rise and influence of the Roman Catholic Church can be directly evaluated from the fact that Italy was politically unstable after fall of the Western Empire. The Church was the only stable institution and the only mode of learning. As a result, even the nomadic barbarians had to count on the clerics in order to administrate their conquests. It was also the time when the Catholic monastic orders, like the Benedictines, started playing a large hand in the economic life of the people, and in the preservation of the classical culture. Just after the Lombard invasion, the popes started receiving very little help from Constantinople. Since the popes had to provide administrative control and also provide the basic amenities of food to the poor and the needy apart from saving Rome from the invasion of the Lombards, they started building an independent state. Leaving behind the evolution and role of Roman papacy in Italy, it is worth to mention that women occupied the special position both in religion and political life of Medieval Italy. Lowe has written in his article "Elections of Abbesses and Notions of Identity in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Italy, with Special Reference to Venice" (2001) that ceremonies of election to abbess in major Italian cities were occasions of great display that reflected on the individual nun, her family, the convert, the order, and the religious elites of the local town (389). Abbesses' election, election to the highest of offices, was the defining moment of the successful nun's life and required the change in behaviour, decision making, acceptance of new responsibilities, and forging of new personal relations. Italian Culture and Role of Women Women have enjoyed numerous rights in Italy, especially in the 15th century, which were not granted to women in other nations. There are exclusively female institutions sanctioned by the Catholic Church. In urban centres such Venice and Rome, the middle-class men were appointed as administrators with the responsibility to convert policies and oversee the convert's dealing, however, in most cases males were employed as stewards, gardeners, or doctors rather than members of these institutions. There was the clear hierarchy and only women chosen from members of institution could be the leaders. Abbesses were in the unique position, holding the important office, granted considerable powers, and exercising indirect influence over men in society (Lowe 389). Women were provided the opportunity not only to vote but also to have authority over men. Nevertheless, the power of women was mostly limited to religious life, while the nature of state was purely patriarchal. In the late medieval Italy, the special attention in civil courts has been paid to cases involving sexual morality (Lansing 37). The sin was associated with women, while men were able to have relations with more than one woman. The civil authority was created with the intention to understand sexual morality and sexual difference. Public and private spheres were divided: women and family were understood as private life and as distinct from state of authority power. However, the emphasis on the patriarchal family and Christian moral teaching (which has become the part of Italian identity for many centuries to come), town governments pursued sexual relations of women as crime and lawmakers believed that one cause of disorder was concupiscence associated with female nature (Lansing 38). Interestingly, even though the medieval ages are often referred to as "the thousand years without bath" (Caskey 170), bathing was the vital element of Italian culture since 13th century. The examination of the bathing chambers revealed that there was the architecture in the Middle Age Italy distinct from courtly and monastic monuments. Moreover, most of the baths examined by archaeologists were located in domestic setting; however, the big size of the bathing structure leads to the idea that bathing rooms were also of public establishment. Constructing and operating the bath in the Middle Age Italy required substantial resources such as building materials, renewable supplies of water and heating fuel. Thus, very few families were able to afford the construction of bath for personal usage. Notably, there is evidence that baths were opened to the select group of Italians for a fee or exchange of services (in Rome and Naples) (Caskey 170). Thus, Medieval Italy already had some form of modern day public swimming pool. The importance of bathing to Italian culture can be attributed to the fact that baths were the controllable means of curing the chronic woods of soldiers as well as preserving sterility. "Appropriate herbal, dietary, and massage remedies" (Caskey 188) were also applied. Italians had good knowledge in medicine and bathing was seen as the mean to remain healthy. Italian Rulers and Political Situation Returning to history, it should be noted that despite of the numerous similarities among the cities, cultural beliefs, and religious views, Italy was much divided because of the lack of powerful leader. In the middle decades of the 13th century, Emperor Frederick II sought to gain permanent control over the Italian peninsular. Frederick's father, Henry VI has married Constance, the heiress to the Norman kingdom of Sicily, and Frederick, in the result of this marriage, possessed the solid territorial base to pursue his goal (Brucker 1). He established multicultural court and introduced the bureaucratic military structure. Together with the German troops, Frederick fought against his enemy - the Roman papacy. In 1244, Pope Innocent IV has escaped from Frederick's clutches and started the ideological campaign against the emperor (Brucker 1). Frederick's empire was too unwieldy, administrative structure was very primitive and material resources scarce, and, as the result, he triumph was on the papacy's side. Frederick II was the intelligence and charismatic ruler, however, his ambitions were greater than available resources and his aim to unite the Italian nation failed. His sons and grandsons continued to fight against papacy; however, they all failed and left their supported, like Dante Alighieri to dream of what might have been. Dante lived in the period of late Middle Ages (14th century) which was marked by the "agony and death of the traditional Medieval culture, that is the one formed mainly by the influence of the Church, and the Roman classical tradition" ("His Time" http://www.greatdante.net/time.html). There were two rulers of Italy - the Emperor (represented the temporal power) and the Pope (religious power). Italians did not have the political unity and the country was divided into many different village councils. The political rivalries between the supporters of Pope and supporters of Emperor were strong and dramatic. Despite of his failure, Frederick II was the European prince of the same scale as Napoleon, the ruler of the empire (Brucker 1). For the couple of centuries after his death, Italian nation was threatened by foreign powers due to its vulnerable to attack geography. German princes came to Italy with the intentions to be crowned emperor or to collect the ransom, however, the resources of this princes were too scarce to threaten the municipal regimes that dominated the land of Italia. Italians "survived as the vibrant and dynamic communities in the atmosphere of incessant conflict: rival factions Montagues and Capulets in every town, and constant warfare between them" (Brucker 1). In such environment, politics were parochial and focused on the quarrels between neighbors and commercial disputes. These small elements have contributed to the development of the Italian identity of modern day nation - noisy and emotional. In conclusion, the history and culture of Medieval Italy provide the informative insight on the Italian identity developed. For many centuries, Italy was controlled by Roman Church and Emperor; however, neither of two parties has managed to unite the nation not only geographically but also ideologically. Despite of administrative and political separation, Italian people had the sense of unity with each other and they felt at home in any city they travelled. The continuous wartime, political instability and lack of effective strong leader, encouraged Italians to provide support to each other and protect themselves from foreign invaders. Many foreign princes tried to conquer Italy, but they failed because the national spirit was strong. Word Count: 2020 Works Cited Brucker, Gene. "The Horseshoe Nail: Structure and Contingency in Medieval and Renaissance Italy." Renaissance Quarterly 54.1 (2001): 1. Caskey, Jill. "Steam and "Sanitas" in the Domestic Realm: Baths and Bathing in Southern Italy in the Middle Ages." The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 58.2 (1999): 170-195. "His Time." Dante Alighieri on the web. 05 May 2007 . Hodges, Richard. "Taking to the Hills: Archaeologists in Italy Are Uncovering Fascinating Evidence about the Origins of Italy's Medieval Hilltop Villages to Create a New and Compelling Picture of the Circumstances That Brought Them into Being, Says Richard Hodges." History Today 13.2 (2006): 47+. Lansing, Carol. "Gender and Civic Authority: Sexual Control in a Medieval Italian Town." Journal of Social History 31.1 (1997): 33+. Lowe, Kate. "Elections of Abbesses and Notions of Identity in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Italy, with Special Reference to Venice." Renaissance Quarterly 54.2 (2001): 389. Peterson, David. "Out of the Margins: Religion and the Church in Renaissance Italy." Renaissance Quarterly 53.3 (2000): 835. Read More