Renaissance Development
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International relationsNorthern Italy was divided into a number of warring city-states, the
most powerful being Milan, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Genoa, Ferrara,
and Venice. Northern Italy was further divided by the long running
battle for supremacy between the forces of the Papacy and of the
Holy Roman Empire. Each city aligned itself with one faction or the
other, yet was divided internally between the two warring parties.
Warfare between the states was common, invasion from outside Italy
less so. In an age when armies were primarily composed of
mercenaries, these city-states could field considerable forces,
despite their low populations. Eventually, the most powerful
city-states annexed their smaller neighbours. Florence took Pisa in
1406, Venice captured Padua and Verona, while the Duchy of Milan
annexed a number of nearby areas including Pavia and Parma. |
The first part of the Renaissance saw almost constant war on land
and sea as the city-states vied for pre-eminence. On land, these
wars were fought primarily by armies of mercenaries known as
Condottieri, bands of soldiers drawn from around Europe, but
especially Germany and Switzerland. The mercenaries were not willing
to risk their lives unduly , and war became one largely of sieges
and manoeuvring with few pitched battles. It was also in the
interest of mercenaries on both sides to prolong any conflict, as
this would continue their employment. Mercenaries were also a
constant threat to their employers; if not paid, they often turned
on their patron. If it became obvious that a state was entirely
dependent on mercenaries, the temptation was great for the
mercenaries to take over the running of it themselves -- this
occurred on a number of occasions.
At sea, Italian city-states sent many fleets out to do battle. The
main contenders were Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, but after a long
conflict the Genoese succeeded in reducing Pisa. Venice proved to be
a more powerful adversary, and while at first relatively equal, the
Genoese fleet was destroyed in a Venetian assault in 1380; from then
on, Venice was pre-eminent.
On land, decades of fighting saw Florence and Milan emerge as the
dominant players, and these two powers finally set aside their
differences and agreed to the Peace of Lodi in 1454, which saw
relative calm brought to the region for the first time in centuries.
This peace would hold for the next forty years, and Venice's
unquestioned hegemony over the sea also led to unprecedented peace
for much of the rest of the 15th century.
In the beginning of the 15th century, adventurer and traders such as
Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469) traveled as far as Southeast Asia and
back, bringing fresh knowledge on the state of the world, presaging
further European voyages of exploration in the years to come.Florence under the MediciFrom the late fourteenth century, Florence's leading family had been
the Albizzi. Their main challengers were the Medicis, first under
Giovanni de' Medici, then under his son Cosimo. The Medici
controlled Europe's largest bank and a wide array of other
enterprises in Florence and elsewhere. In 1433, the Albizzi managed
to have Cosimo exiled. The next year, however, saw a-pro Medici
Signoria elected and Cosimo returned. The Medici became the town's
leading family, a position they would hold for the next three
centuries. Florence remained a republic, but the instruments of
government were firmly under the control of the Medici and their
allies. Cosimo only rarely had an official post, but was the
unquestioned leader of the town.
Cosimo de' Medici was highly popular among the citizenry, mainly for
bringing an era of stability and prosperity to the town. One of his
most important accomplishments was negotiating the Peace of Lodi
with Francesco Sforza ending the decades of war with Milan and
bringing stability to much of Northern Italy. Cosimo was also an
important patron of the arts, though some modern historians have
argued the extent of his patronage has long been exaggerated.
Cosimo was succeeded by his sickly son Piero de' Medici, who died
after five years in charge of the city. In 1469 the reins of power
passed to Cosimo's twenty-one-year-old grandson Lorenzo, who would
become known as "Lorenzo the Magnificent." Lorenzo was the first of
the family to be educated from an early age in the humanist
tradition and is best known as one of the Renaissance's most
important patrons of the arts. Under Lorenzo, the Medici rule was
formalized with the creation of a new Council of Seventy, which
Lorenzo headed. The republican institutions continued, but they lost
all power. Lorenzo was less successful than his illustrious
forebears in business, and the Medici commercial empire was slowly
eroded. Lorenzo continued the alliance with Milan, but relations
with the papacy soured, and in 1478, Papal agents allied with the
Pazzi family in an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo. Although the plot
failed, Lorenzo's young brother, Giuliano, was killed, and the
failed assassination led to a war with the Papacy and was used as
justification to further centralize power in Lorenzo's hands. |
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