FRANCESCO PETRARCA ARETINO 1304-1374
Family: Aretino = from Arezzo, Tuscan city ruled by Florence
White
Guelfs exiled from Florence in 1302
Avignon: father notary at Papal court;
Poetry: Canzoniere, Rime Italian poems,
including sonnets to Laura (d. 1348)
Africa
Latin epic poem about Scipio Africanus
republican hero of the Punic Wars
Italia
mia
pacification of Italy by Roman virtue
1341 crowned Poet Laureate on Capitoline
Hill
patronage of King Robert of Naples
Humanism:
revival of Latin literature
manuscript hunting in monastic libraries
desire
to go ad fontes (to the sources)
Petrarch's Works:
Latin edition of Livy's History of Roman Republic
De Viris Illustribus (Concerning
Illustrious Men):
biographies of Romans as model of virtue
humanist
view of history
Letters to Famous
Men: writes to classical authors
Cicero,
Socrates
Familiar Letters to contemporaries
including Cola di
Rienzo, Emperor Charles IV
Secretum (Secret Book)
dialogue with St. Augustine internal struggle:
pursuit of fame, love versus Christian goals
RENAISSANCE HUMANISM
revival of classical literature and learning:
recovery of Latin
texts 14th C
Greek texts (Plato) 15th C
social context:
literate laymen, lawyers
notaries
(ars dictaminis
= letter writing)
new curriculum: use
classical texts for study of
human life, morality
* studia humanitatis:
study of things human (not divine, not natural)
curriculum:
grammar, rhetoric, poetry,
history, moral philosophy
compare medieval scholastic curriculum
trivium: grammar, logic, rhetoric
quadrivium: arithmetic,
geometry, music, astronomy
Humanism as guide to
living:
classical Latin literature as moralizing, practical,
this-worldly virtues aim to
teach good conduct,
responsibilities in social
& political relationships
14th century roman Politics
context:
Papacy in Avignon 1305-1378
City of Rome:
Commune – republican city government
head quarters on Capitoline
Hill
Barons - noble families (Orsini,
Colonna)
COLA DI RIENZO
Roman notary:
studies classical history, archeology
1342: sent to Avignon by city of
Rome
Petrarch hears Cola speak before Pope
1347: ROMAN REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION
Cola leads revolt, takes title of
"Tribune of Freedom, Peace & Justice;
Liberator of the Holy Roman Republic"
Conference
in Rome of Guelf city states:
proclaims Roman jurisdiction over entire world
1348 overthrown
by Roman nobility,
prisoner of Charles IV, then Pope; escapes,
returns to Rome as Senator; executed 1354
Petrarch’s correspondence with Cola:
supports
revival of Roman Republic
poem: Spirito Gentil 1337-38
lament on the decline of Rome
RENAISSANCE ROME: HUMANISM
AND THE PAPACY
Great Schism (1378-1414)
after return from Avignon, French elect rival Pope
Conciliarism
theory that
highest authority in Church is
General Council
of Bishops; evolves to end Schism;
threat to
idea of papal monarchy
1409 Council of Pisa:
elects new Pope,
Avignon & Rome refuse to resign;
three papal lines (Rome,
Avignon, Pisa);
1414 Council of Constance:
all three Popes deposed; 1417 elects Martin V
POPES: The return to Rome
Martin V Colonna,
Roman noble
1420 enters Rome as first Pope after Schism
Cosimo di Medici (Florentine)
as papal banker
Eugenius IV
1434 Roman uprising; takes refuge
in Florence
suppresses
Roman nobility in Latium
Council
of Ferrara/Florence 1438-9;
Eastern (Greek) Emperor John Palaeologus
& Orthodox Patriarch seek aid against Turks
NICHOLAS V 1447-55
1st humanist Pope: studied Greek in Florence;
Founder of
Vatican Library manuscript collector;
scribes copy all known Latin & Greek manuscripts
building
program for Rome Flavio
Biondi
refortification of
Castel Sant'Angelo
Florentine Humanists in
Rome:
Leonardo Bruni Aretino:
Papal secretary
1406-1427
Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459)
1403 papal secretary; goes to Constance
for council
1430-40 writes De varietate fortunae (On the vagaries
of fortune)
Maxim: "Quanto fuit Roma ruina ipsa docet."
The ruins themselves show how great Rome was.
Edward Gibbon,
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1780's:
last chapter: Poggio & Eugenius
IV on ruins of Capitoline
1452 back to Florence
as Chancellor (same office as Salutati, Bruni)
Flavio Biondi:
employed as humanist scholar at papal court 1433-1463
1444-46 Roma Instaurata (Rome Restored) dedicated to Eugenius IV
urges
Pope to rebuild city of Rome; ancient literary texts
used to reconstruct ancient Roman archeology & topography
15th C. FLORENCE: MEDICI vs REPUBLIC OF 1494
1434-1494 Medici family
controls Florentine Republic:
through manipulation of electoral system by
Cosimo de Medici: (1434-1464)
merchant
banker, title “Pater Patriae”
1454 Peace of Lodi
Balance of
power between major Italian powers:
Milan, Venice,
Florence, Papal States, Naples:
1454-1494 Period of (relative) peace in Italy
Lorenzo the Magnificent
(1469-1492) Cosimo’s grandson
1494 Medici overthrown & expelled
by Republic of 1494
1512 Medici re-instated as rulers of Florence
first Medici Pope Leo X 1513-1521
Florentine Republic (1494-1512)
Context of French invasion
of 1494: Valois King Charles VIII
Role of Girolamo Savonarola,
Dominican preacher
moral reformer;
opposed to corruption and luxury;
republican govt: higher standards of civic virtue
conflict
with Papacy:
denounces corruption of Borgia Pope
1497 excommunicated by
Alexander VI
1498 executed by Republic
The Career of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
under Republic: diplomatic missions to
Emperor, French King, Cesare Borgia, Pope Julius II;
1512: fall of Republic, return of the Medici, exiled to country
1512-1513 Prince and Discourses on Livy
(republican)
1520 Art of War; 1520-25 History of Florence = humanist
Restoration of Florentine Republic, 1527-1530 (occurs in year of Mach's death)
1527 invasion of Italy
by Hapsburg troops at war with France & Pope;
overthrow
of Medici (allies of Pope); restored as Grand Dukes 1530