MATERIAL TO ORGANIZE AND REVIEW FOR MIDTERM HSTEU401
Review:
use lecture outlines, class notes, themes (below) and
Also Kaborycha, Short History of Renaissance Italy and Gene Brucker; emphasis on areas of overlap
Gordon
Griffiths, "The Italian City State" in Xerox packet (36pp)
Use as general review, overview of commune:
Commune:
bishops, aristocratic commune 12-13th C.
Rise of the Popolo: 13th C. Guelfs & Ghibellines
Guild regime & merchant companies
Political and economic crises: 1340's
State of the Visconti: Milan
Florence under the Medici (through Cosimo and Piero only for midterm)
Gene Brucker, Renaissance
Chapter 1:
pp. 1-50 Changing
Chap
2: Economy: Foundations / Cloth Industry / Merchants
pp. 51-88
Patterns of Econ. Change 1380-1450
Chapter 3: Patriciate: Structure of Patriciate society
pp. 89-127
Social Values & contradictions /
Bonds: Enmity & Friendship
/
Changing Social Values 300-400
Chapter 4: Politics: Evolution of
pp. 128-71 Patrician Hegemony 1382-1434
Domestic Conflict Patterns / War and Society
THEMES FOR MIDTERM REVIEW:
Basic
Economic Structures/Issues: Brucker Ch. 2
Guild organization of urban, artisanal labor
Expansion of commerce and rise of merchant-capitalism
Land: relationship of city and contado (countryside)
Plague, famine and demographic issues in 14th C.
Social
Structures of city states:
Brucker Ch. 3
Privileged groups: nobility, patriciate, magnates, grandi
Guild organization: upper guilds / popolo grasso; lesser
guilds
Workers below guild structure: sottoposti / popolo minuto
Humanism: literary and civic versions:
Petrarch's revival of classical Latin literature, curriculum
"Civic humanism" in
Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni
Political
Structures: ; Brucker Ch 4: use following
Chronological
framework for review of political changes:
11th C. Rise of communes: from bishops
to consuls
12th C. From aristocratic commune
to podesta:
1160-1260 Age of towers: aristocratic consorterie
1150-60's Merchant guilds begin to appear
1190-1225 first use of podestá,
foreign executive/judge
13th
C: Guelf-Ghibelline conflict: factions ally with Pope or Emperor
Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen (d 1250)
Florentine Guelf-Ghibelline civil war
Black Guelfs vs Whites (Dante's exile 1302)
Commune:
from podestá to rise of popolo and guild regimes
1220-1270 rise of podesta
Popolo: 1190-1250 popolo emerges as party within commune p. 47)
institutions: arti = guilds, armi
= militia
leader: Capitano del popolo (Captain of
the people)
1250-60's: violent takeover of communes by popolo in
some cities (
14th C.
Rise of the Signoria: one man rule:
Causes:
war, taxation, party conflict, noble self-assertion
Examples: Milan- Visconti, Padua- Carrara , Ferrara- Este
15th C: Oligarchic
Republicanism:
Most
important and longest lasting republics:
Florence: 15th C. rise of Medici within republican format
[later: 1494-1512 restoration of Republic; again 1527-30
]
1454 Peace of Lodi:
Midterm will go through
HSTEU401 POSSIBLE ID'S FOR MIDTERM EXAM
Choice of 5 ID's out of 8 or 9 from list below:
You need to identify (who, what where, when) and explain the significance of each term (why, so what), in a paragraph of about
2-3 sentences. Include as much information as you have, including dates where appropriate
11-12th consular commune age of the towers podestá
13th C. guild regimes
Black Plague
Milan: Venice: Doge Rome:
Gian Galeazzo Visconti Grand Counci Cola di Rienzo
Francesco Sforza Avignon Papacy
Florence: Dante Alighieri, Guelfs and Ghibellines, Black vs White Guelfs
Ordinances of Justice
Ciompi Revolt
Bardi & Peruzzi banks Black Death
Petrarch, poet laureate Jakob Burckhardt
civic humanism Coluccio Salutati Baron thesis
Council of Ferrara/Florence 1438-39
Cosimo dei Medici Piero dei Medici
Peace of Lodi
Marsilio Ficino
Essays: Use Gordon Griffiths' article on city state as a review (in xerox packet)
The central issue in first part of the course is the rise of the city states
or communes in late medieval and renaissance Italy (12th-early 15th C).
The essay question on the midterm will ask you to discuss the major political
phases in this process, especially the relationship between the social
composition of the commune and its various political structures.
Because we have focussed more on Florence than on other cities, you should use
the Florentine situation as your basic frame of reference, comparing other cities'
institutions at specific points, such as Milan, Venice, Rome.
Use class handouts and lecture notes as a guide to reviewing course texts
(Kaborycha & Brucker).
Here are some suggestions for issues to keep in mind while reviewing course texts:
What were the social groups that gave rise to the commune?
What kinds of changes were there in urban societies from 12-13th C.?
Basic phases, periods, turning points in political structure of communes?
How do social tensions and social mobility translate into political change?
How does the role of humanism change between 14th and 15th C.?
Why are the communes so often at war?
Vocabulary quiz: Italian & Latin terms: be able to briefly define these terms (one to three words)
commune consuls consorterie Lana, lanaiuoli
popolo armi & arti gonfaloniere (standard bearer)
podestá condottiere Cambio Calimala
Signore (-i) Signoria Ciompi sottoposti
scrutinio borse accoppiatori catasto