Blue highlight: Vocab word

Green Highlight: Definition

Pink Highlight: Important Name

Orange highlight: Information about that person

Bold: Important information

WH1 Topic 15 #1 Study Guide

Vocab

Dominate: Have a commanding influence on; exercise control over.

Mercenary: A soldier who fights primarily for pay

Republic: A form of government in which the leader is not a king and certain citizens have the right to vote.

Clergy: Elected leader

Usury: Charging borrowers a fee on money loaned to them

Decline: Become smaller, fewer, or less; decrease.

Clergy: The body of all people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Christian Church.

Nobility: The group of people belonging to the noble class in a country, especially those with a hereditary or honorary title

Feudalism: The system in medieval Europe in which nobles got land from the ruler in exchange for military service, and vassals lived on the nobles’ land, while the peasants (serfs) were forced to live on their lord's land and give him respect, labor, and a share of the produce, theoretically in exchange for military protection.

Serfdom: A condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord

Patrician: An aristocrat or nobleman.

Dowry: A sum of money that the wife's family gave to the husband upon marriage.

Emancipated: Legally freed

Burgers: Shopkeepers, artisans, guild masters, and guild members.

Important Names to Know:

Francesco Sforza: Led mercenaries to conquer Milan

Cosimo de’ Medici: Took control of Florence. The Medici family ruled Florence for a while.

Girolamo Savonarola: Led attacks against the Medicis, and managed to exile them from France. Eventually he was killed thanks to his oppressive regulations, and the Medicis returned to power.

Charles VIII (8): King of France; He invaded Italy with 30,000 men in 1494.

Charles I (1): Made the Spanish the dominant force in Italy.

Niccolo Machiavelli: Wrote The Prince, a book on how to get and keep political power.

Baldassare Castiglione: Wrote about the idea of a perfect noble in The Book of the Courtier.

The Major Italian States

In the late Middle Ages, Italy was very urban (cities)
Thriving trade network stimulated the Renaissance
Italy traded with Byzantine and Islamic civilizations (east)
Imported from the East, exported to Europe.

Silks, sugar, spices

Renaissance ideas also spread
Italy had no ‘centralized monarchical state’ (no monarchy ruling all of it)
Five major states dominated the peninsula: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States centered on Rome, and Naples.

Economics and Politics in the Major Italian States

Milan, Venice, and Florence are in northern Italy.

Milan:

In the 1400s, Visconti family ruled Milan + Lombardy
Francesco Sforza led mercenaries to conquer Milan

Families together built up a strong central state

The Sforzas used a tax system to generate government money

Venice

Republic with an elected leader called a doge; but in reality, ruled by a few wealthy noble merchants.
Trade empire made it an international power

Florence

Florence :dominated Tuscany.
A few wealthy merchants controlled Florence's government.
They fought against their neighbors (other city-states) and made Florence a major one.
In 1434, Cosimo de' Medici took control of Florence.
Cosimo and then Lorenzo (Medicis) controlled Florence when it was the 'cultural center of Italy'.

Florence's Decline:

Individual italian states gained wealth, and the Church lost ground. Church doctrines were ignored.

Such as the sinfulness of usury (charging borrowers a fee on money loaned to them)

Late 1400s, Florence began to decline economically.
Economy was largely based on making cloth

English and Flemish cloth makers competed, lowering profits.

Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican preacher, didn't want the Medici family to rule.

He led attacks against the Medicis, and the French invading in 1494 resulted in them being exiled from Florence.
But eventually the Florentines turned against Savonarole and sentenced him to death, thanks to his strict rules against:

Gambling
Horse Racing
Swearing
Painting
Music
Books
The corruption of the Church

After his death, the Medici family returned to power.

The Papal States

In central Italy
Rome was capital
Officially ruled by Catholic Church

The Kingdom of Naples

Dominated southern Italy
One of five major states ruled by a hereditary monarch

Other Stuff

The Italian Wars

Italy's wealth attracted the attention of the French King, Charles VIII (8)..He invaded Italy with 30,000 men in 1494.
The French occupied the Kingdom of Naples.
Northern Italian states asked Spain for help. Spain agreed to help them.
For 30 YEARS, the French and Spanish battled over Italy.
May 5, 1527, Charles 1, king of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, sent thousands of troops to Rome.

Mercenaries! "Money! Money!" "If you have ever dreamed of pillaging a town and laying hold of its treasures, here now is one, the richest of them all, queen of the world."

Charles 1 made the Spanish the dominant force in Italy.
The Italian Wars continued for another 25 years, ending in 1559.

Machiavelli on Power

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote the Prince, a book on how to get and keep political power.
He used his study of practival politics to help the grandson of Lorenzo de' Medici.
Believed morality was unrelated to politics
Thought that humans were motivated by delf-interest, and a leader should do good when possible but overall be crafty and clever, and, when necessry, evil.
Believed that the ends justify the means.
Had a big influence on politics, even today.

Society in the Middle Ages

Three social classes:

Clergy
Nobility
Peasants and townspeople

Changed in the Renaissance

The Nobility

Nobles/aristocrats kept dominating society.
Served as advisors to the king
Expected to act a certain way

The idea of a perfect noble was written in The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione
One of the key ideals of the Renaissance was the well-developed individual
Castiglione believed this was the ‘social goal of the aristocracy’
The aim of the perfect noble, by Renaissance standards, was to serve his prince in an effective and honest way.

Peasants and Townspeople

Peasants made up the vast majority of the European population.
The Renaissance led to more and more peasants becoming legally free from serfdom in feudalism.
Patricians at the top of urban society
Beneath them were Burghers

Shopkeepers, artisans, guild masters, and guild members.

Beneath Burghers were workers, with low wages, and the unemployed.

Workers and the unemployed lived miserable lives.

In the 1300s to 1400s, poverty increased dramatically.

Family and Marriage

Marriages were arranged to strengthen business or family ties

In upper class, it could be when the kid was 2-3 years old.
Marriage contracts could include a dowry

The father/husband was the leader of the family. He handled the money and made decisions for the children.
The mother’s role was to supervise the children and keep the household clean.

Males became adults when they left home, reached a certain age (which varied from place to place), or were emancipated by their fathers.
Women became legal adults when their father either died or emancipated them.