Start of the Renaissance Italian Renaissance Origins of the Italian Renaissance Fourteenth century collapse Renaissance Development Spread of the Renaissance Renaissance music

Fourteenth-century collapse

The fourteenth century saw a series of catastrophes that caused the European economy to go into recession. The Medieval Warm Period was ending as the transition to the Little Ice Age began. This change in climate saw agricultural output decline significantly, leading to repeated famines, exacerbated by the rapid population growth of the earlier era. The Hundred Years' War began between England and France, disrupting trade throughout northwest Europe, most notably when, in 1345, King Edward III of England repudiated his debts, leading to the collapse of the two largest Florentine banks, those of the Bardi and Peruzzi. In the east, war was also disrupting trade routes as the Ottoman Empire began to expand throughout the region. Most devastating, though, was the Black Death that decimated the populations of the densely populated cities of Northern Italy. The population of Florence, for instance, fell from 90,000 to 50,000 people. Widespread disorder followed, including a revolt of Florentine textile workers, the ciompi, in 1378.

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It was during this period of instability that the first Renaissance figures, such as Dante and Petrarch lived, and the first stirrings of the Renaissance took place in the opening half of the 14th century. Paradoxically, some of these disasters would help establish the Renaissance. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire at the expense of Byzantium caused an influx of wealthy and educated Greek refugees from the east, who brought with them knowledge of classical Greek learning, leading to the rediscovery of many long-forgotten classical works. The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population, and the new smaller population was much wealthier, better fed, and, significantly, had more surplus money to spend on luxury goods like art and architecture. As incidences of the plague began to decline in the early 15th century, Europe's devastated population once again began to grow. This new demand for products and services, and the reduced number of people able to provide them (due to the deaths caused by the plague), put the lower classes in a more favorable position. Furthermore, this demand also helped create an increasing class of bankers, merchants, and skilled artisans. The horrors of the Black Death and the seeming inability of the Church to provide relief would contribute to a decline of church influence, another significant contributing factor to the Renaissance. Additionally, the collapse of the Bardi and Peruzzi banks would open the way for the Medici to rise to prominence in Florence. Robert Sabatino Lopez argues that the economic collapse was a crucial cause of the Renaissance. According to this view, in a more prosperous era, businessmen would have quickly reinvested their earnings in order to make more money in a climate favorable to investment. However, in the leaner years of the fourteenth century, the wealthy found few promising investment opportunities for their earnings and instead chose to spend more on culture and art.

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Another popular explanation for the Italian Renaissance is the "Baron Thesis," first advanced by historian Hans Baron. It states that the primary impetus of the early Renaissance was the long running series of wars between Florence and Milan. By the late fourteenth century, Milan had become a centralized monarchy under the control of the Visconti family. Giangaleazzo Visconti, who ruled the city from 1378 to 1402, was renowned both for his cruelty and for his abilities, and set about building an empire in Northern Italy. He launched a long series of wars with Milan, steadily conquering neighbouring states and defeating the various coalitions led by Florence that sought in vain to halt the advance. This culminated in the 1402 siege of Florence, when it looked as though the city was doomed to fall, before Giangaleazzo suddenly died and his empire collapsed.

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Baron's thesis was that during these long wars, the leading figures of Florence rallied the people by presenting the war as one between the free republic and the despotic monarchy, between the ideals of the Greek and Roman Republics and those of the Roman Empire and Medieval kingdoms. For Baron, the most important figure in crafting this ideology was Leonardo Bruni. Baron argues that this time of crisis in Florence was the period when most of the major early Renaissance figures were coming of age, such as Ghiberti, Donatello, Masolino, and Brunelleschi, and that they were inculcated with this republican ideology. These and other figures, according to Baron, later went on to advocate such republican ideas, ideas which were to have an enormous impact on the Renaissance.

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The Renaissance Start of the Renaissance Italian Renaissance Origins of the Italian Renaissance Fourteenth century collapse Renaissance Development Spread of the Renaissance Renaissance music