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by Anthony Molho
In 14th-century Europe there was no more exciting place to live than the city of Florence. To be sure, other Italian cities - Milan, Venice, Naples, and Rome - shared much of its brilliance. Paris, in France, far to the north, was large, although in many other ways scarcely. comparable. But of all these places Florence had in fullest degree those qualities that in the 14th century marked a city as extraordinary.
What was it that made Florence the jewel of Italian urban life in the 14th century? First, there was wealth, acquired not from great landed estates but from business. There were wool merchants and bankers in Florence who were as rich as the greatest landholding nobles- or even as kings. Moreover, Florentine society was an, open one. A modest family, by making good in business for two or three generations, could hope to rise to the very top. Florence was also a republic. Let a man do well in business and he could aspire to take his turn in the highest offices of state.
But
this was not all; Florence was a noted center of art and learning. A steady flow of great works of art came
from the studios of painters and sculptors.
Artists from distant places journeyed to Florence to learn new
techniques. The. vogue for great churches and large family palaces
gave full employment to the famous
architects who made their homes in the city. Meanwhile, scholars studying the works of ancient authors learned
new subjects to write about and new ways of dealing with the subject
matter. Literary activity was as
important as art in the life of the city.
Writers and artists came
to believe that the
greatest subject was the human individual.
Because, of this belief they called themselves humanists.
Humanists in Florence and elsewhere believed
that they were ushering in a new age.
They looked back with great disapproval at the preceding centuries, the
period we now call the Middle Ages. In
fact, the humanists labeled most medieval art and learning
"barbaric." They called
it “Gothic” after the Germanic peoples
who moved into the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. To their own culture the humanists gave the,
name Renaissance, meaning rebirth.
They saw themselves as reviving the brilliant civilization of Greece and
Rome after 1,000 years of "Gothic barbarism." Historians still use the word Renaissance to
describe Italy from the 14th through the 16th centuries.
But were the humanists right? Were they reviving ancient
culture? Or were they giving the world something new that grew naturally out of
the conditions of their times? Full answers to these questions would require a
detailed study of all Italy in the 14th century and later, as well as studies
of ancient and medieval society and thought for comparison. In this small book we can only look at
Florence, the best single example of a Renaissance city, to see what was
happening there. From this picture of
Florence we can hope to find only a small part of an answer to the question,
"What was the Renaissance?"
Our
study will be limited to the period from the 1290's to the 1430's. This was the early Renaissance. Here we can observe the beginnings of
things. We shall be largely concerned
with what was new in the life of the times, beginning with business life. Then we shall see how wealthy merchants
became leaders in society, in government, and even as patrons in art and
literature. This approach emphasizes
the economic side of the Renaissance.
Our
book begins with a view of Florence, the city itself. Then we observe the processes whereby in that day manufacturing,
commerce, and banking were carried on.
The next three chapters show how businessmen influenced society,
government, and ideas. Finally, we sum
up the qualities of the Renaissance that emerge from our study of this one
brilliant city.