Italy in the Age of the Renaissance 1300-1550

by Najemy, John M.

• ISBN13: 9780198700401
• ISBN10: 0198700407
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The twelve essays in this volume, each written by a leading specialist, present an accessible and comprehensive introduction to Italian Renaissance society, intellectual history, and politics, with each contribution reflecting the most recent innovations in the way that historians view and study the period.

Author Biography

John M. Najemy is Professor of History at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

General Editor's Preface	v
Acknowledgements	vii
List of contributors	xiii
Introduction: Italy and the Renaissance	1	(17)
John M. Najemy
Education and the emergence of a literate society	18	(19)
Robert Black
Literacy and the rise of the vernacular	18	(1)
Primary and secondary education	19	(5)
Latin and vernacular education	24	(5)
The revival of Latin, and humanist education	29	(4)
The triumph of humanist education	33	(4)
Humanism and the lure of antiquity	37	(22)
Carol Everhart Quillen
The passion for antiquity	37	(1)
Emergence of humanism: Padua and Florence	38	(2)
Francesco Petrarca	40	(2)
Humanism in Florence	42	(5)
Varieties of humanism: Naples, Venice, Milan, and Rome	47	(5)
Humanist communities	52	(2)
Humanist practice: annotation, translation, citation	54	(5)
Religion and the Church	59	(23)
David S. Peterson
Religion and the Renaissance	59	(2)
The Church in Italy	61	(3)
Italy without the popes	64	(5)
Papal schism and civic control of religion	69	(2)
A flawed recovery	71	(5)
Awaiting the deluge	76	(6)
Family and marriage: a socio-legal perspective	82	(21)
Julius Kirshner
Old and new perspectives	82	(2)
Legal framework	84	(2)
Patria potestas	86	(3)
Demographic framework	89	(1)
Marriage norms	90	(1)
Making marriage	91	(2)
Dowries	93	(2)
Living marriage	95	(3)
Termination of marriage	98	(1)
Inheritance	99	(2)
Conclusion	101	(2)
Bodies, disease, and society	103	(21)
Diane Owen Hughes
Bodies as social texts	103	(2)
Plague and syphilis	105	(5)
Jews, prostitutes, and the body social	110	(7)
Social contagion	117	(7)
The economy: work and wealth	124	(21)
Franco Franceschi
Prosperity or hard times?	124	(3)
Three cases of `reconversion'	127	(4)
The origins of `proto-industry' and the formation of `economic regions'	131	(3)
The organization of work	134	(4)
The `real economy' and the guild system	138	(2)
The distribution of wealth and its imbalances	140	(5)
The popolo	145	(20)
Andrea Zorzi
Popular associations and governments	146	(4)
Magnates and popolani	150	(2)
The popolo in Florence, Siena, Rome, and Genoa	152	(4)
The popolo minuto	156	(1)
Reaction against the popolo	157	(2)
Popular ideology and culture	159	(3)
Late revivals	162	(3)
The power of the elites: family, patronage, and the state	165	(19)
Dale Kent
Authority and attitudes: continuity and change	165	(3)
Defining the elites: size, wealth, office-holding, prestige	168	(7)
Issues of inclusion and exclusion: popolo and magnates	175	(3)
Personal bonds: the cement of elites and the basis of patronage	178	(4)
Patronage, politics, and the state	182	(2)
Governments and governance	184	(24)
John M. Najemy
Republics	185	(4)
Signorie	189	(3)
Territorial states	192	(3)
Functions of government	195	(1)
Public order and justice	196	(2)
Armies and war	198	(2)
Taxation and public finance	200	(3)
Diplomacy	203	(1)
The new paternalism	204	(4)
The South	208	(18)
David Abulafia
Is the South different?	208	(4)
The crisis of monarchic centralization	212	(6)
Spanish kings and French intruders	218	(6)
The southern Renaissance	224	(2)
Representations of power	226	(20)
Edward Muir
The power of perception	227	(4)
Vocabularies of power	231	(5)
Representing the pope	236	(3)
Representing the city	239	(3)
Representing the prince and court	242	(4)
Rethinking the Renaissance in the aftermath of Italy's crisis	246	(21)
Alison Brown
The crisis of 1494 and its impact on Renaissance culture	246	(8)
The new political realism	254	(5)
Renaissance culture in Italian courts	259	(8)
Further reading	267	(30)
Chronology	297	(10)
Maps	307	(6)
Index	313