HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE - Higher ...

HANDBOOK TO LIFE

IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE

HANDBOOK TO LIFE

IN RENAISSANCEEUROPE

SANDRA SIDER

Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe

Copyright © 2005 by Sandra Sider

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:

Facts On File, Inc.132 West 31st StreetNew York NY 10001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sider, Sandra.Handbook to life in Renaissance Europe / Sandra Sider.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-8160-5618-81. Renaissance—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.CB361.S498 2005940.2´1—dc222004020088

Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.

You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com

Text design by Cathy RinconCover design by Semadar MeggedMaps by Jeremy Eagle

Printed in the United States of America

VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

This book is dedicated to my husband

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

LIST OF MAPS x

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

INTRODUCTION: ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE xiii

1 HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND SOCIETY 1Italy 3Holy Roman Empire 9France 10Spain and Portugal 11Germany 15The Netherlands 15Poland and Hungary 16England and Scotland 17Major Rulers and Their Dates of Office 19Major Figures 22Reading 27

2 RELIGION 29The Papacy 30Catholic Church 34Protestant Reformation 47Judaism 54Islam 56

Major Figures 58Reading 63

3 ART AND VISUAL CULTURE 65Painting 67Tapestries 78Sculpture 80Prints 85Decorative Art 85Major Artists 89Reading 98

4 ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING 99Rise of the Architect 100Influence of Rome 106Ecclesiastical Buildings 109From Fortresses and Castles

to Renaissance Palaces 111Villas 113Patronage in Italian Civic Architecture 115Beyond Italy and France 117Major Architects 120Reading 122

5 LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE 123Humanism, Philology, and Publishing 124Literary Theory 128Poetry 129Prose 133

Drama 140Oratory and Rhetoric 144Library Collections 146Major Writers 148Reading 157

6 MUSIC 159Sacred Music 160Secular Music 162Working Conditions and Patronage 164Musical Instruments 167Publication of Musical Material 170Major Composers 172Reading 175

7 WARFARE 177Major Wars 178Armor and Traditional Weaponry 182Soldiering 185Military Medicine 190Fortifications 191Major Leagues, Battles, Sieges,

and Peace Treaties 192Major Figures 196Reading 205

8 COMMERCE 207Banking and Accounting 208Mining 210Textiles 212Agriculture 213Wine, Beer, and Spirits 214Crafts 215Printing and Publishing 216Slavery 218Major Figures 219Reading 221

9 EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL 223Geography and Cartography 224Travel 228Exploration 232Major Figures 241Reading 247

10 SCIENCE AND MEDICINE 249Astronomy and Astrology 250Chemistry 253Mathematics 254Optics 257Botany and Drugs 257Anatomy and Medicine 260Major Figures 263Reading 268

11 EDUCATION 269Humanistic Education 270University Education 277Education in the Vernacular Languages 279Apprenticeship 281Education of Girls and Women 282Major Figures 285Reading 287

12 DAILY LIFE 289Time and the Calendar 291Family Life 293Ceremonies, Festivities, and Other Public

Events 299Clothing and Costume 303Food and Cooking 305Disease, Illness, and Death 306Reading 307

13 CONCLUSION: LEGACY OF THE RENAISSANCE 309Scholarship 310Influences of the Renaissance 311

GLOSSARY 313

CHRONOLOGICAL CHART 321

MUSEUMS AND OTHER COLLECTIONS 324

BIBLIOGRAPHY 326

INDEX 345

L I S T O F I L L U S T R A T I O N S A N D M A P S

ix

Portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici 7Portrait of Alfonso V 9Portrait of Francis I 11Portrait of Charles V 13Portrait of Philip II 14Portrait of Pope Leo X 32Full-page miniature of the Resurrection in a

manuscript life of Saint Margaret of Antioch 35Church of Santa Croce, Florence 36Saint Francis Xavier and his missionary

entourage, painted on a folding screen 38Gilt silver monstrance for presenting the

Eucharistic host 39Leaf from a Gutenberg Bible 45Martin Luther at the Wittenberg church

door in 1517 47Noah’s ark in an illustrated book of Genesis 48Portrait of Jean Calvin 49First leaf of the book of Joshua from an

illuminated Hebrew Bible 54Entrance hall of the Regensburg Synagogue 55Prayer carpet 57Apparatus for translating three-dimensional

objects into two-dimensional drawings 67Linear perspective illustrated in a woodcut

of the interior of a building 68Portrait of Michelangelo 70Altarpiece (retable) of the Apotheosis

of the Virgin 73Head of the Virgin 77The Last Supper depicted in a tapestry 79Swabian (German) limewood sculpture

of the Virgin and Child 81

Portrait of Iolanta Ludovica, wife of Philibert II of Savoy 84

Painted enamel plaque of the Crucifixion 84Lusterware plate with the arms of Aragon

and Sicily 87Intarsia paneling in the study of the duke of

Urbino 88Liturgical garment with metallic embroidery

on black velvet 89Part of the 16th-century cloister of the

Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, Italy 103

Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, Italy 105

Plan, elevation, and section of the ruins of the Roman Colosseum 108

Coffered ceiling in the porch of the Pazzi Chapel, 15th century, Florence, Italy 110

Château of Langeais, France, constructed during the latter 15th century 112

Engraving of the Monastery of El Escorial, Spain 118

Scene of the assassination of Julius Caesar, from the first illustrated edition of the works of the classical Roman poet Horace 125

Portrait of Louise Labé 131Scene from a novella painted on the panel

of an Italian cassone (storage chest) 136Title page of a book in French about

King Arthur’s search for the Holy Grail 138Illustrated page from the plays of the classical

Roman dramatist Terence 141

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

H A N D B O O K T O L I F E I N R E N A I S S A N C E E U R O P E

x

Musical instrument maker’s workshop 160Three angels singing from a shared

choir book 165Cortege of drummers and soldiers at the royal

entry of Henry II, king of France, into Rouen in 1550 168

Double virginal with pictorial lid 170Three musicians with books of music 171Armor of George Clifford, third earl

of Cumberland, c. 1580–85 183Double-barreled wheel lock pistol

of Charles V, c. 1540–45 185Battle scene depicting pikemen and cavalrymen 186Wooden siege tower with soldier preparing

to ascend 191A man weighing gold 210Hydraulic pump for mining operations 211Brocaded velvet, with silk and metallic thread 212Historiated initial E depicting grape picking

and wine making 215Illustrations of the “heathens” and “monstrous

races” believed to inhabit foreign lands 224Portolan chart of western Europe

and northwestern Africa 227Map of the world 229

Movable navigational tool 237Portrait of Christopher Columbus 239Illustration of an armillary sphere 252Geometrical studies of the human face 255Illustration of a pineapple 258Botanical illustration and analytical text 259Example of a patient in full-body traction 262Classroom scene 271An allegory of arithmetic 280Carpenter’s apprentice cutting wood 281Saint Anne reading to the Virgin 283Legal tribunal with the prince adjudicating 290System for counting by one’s fingers 292Venetian lacquered wood chest 293Two children teasing a cat 296Fifteenth-century merchant’s home,

Dinan, France 297Iron door knocker 298Tomb monument for the duchess

of Albuquerque 301Portrait of Sebastian Brant in a brocaded

garment and fur hat 303Kitchen still life 306Allegory of avarice, with skeleton 307

Europe, c. 1460 3Italian Peninsula, c. 1500 5Europe, c. 1519 179

Major voyages of exploration 233Portuguese voyages to 1498 235Asia and the Indian Ocean, 16th century 236

LIST OF MAPS

Colin Eisler; Paul Grendler; Albert Rabil, Jr.; andHenry Rasof read my initial outline for the

book and made several wise suggestions, for which Iam extremely grateful. Additional thanks are duePaul Grendler for his superb work as editor of theEncyclopedia of the Renaissance and Gordon Campbell

for The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance, twoimportant resources for the present book. AbbySider, my daughter, graciously did the research forthe List of Museums. I would also like to thank myexcellent editor at Facts On File, Claudia Schaab, aswell as the copy editor, Susan Thornton.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I N T R O D U C T I O N

xiii

The period covered by the Renaissance varies,depending on the geographic region or subject

under discussion. The Renaissance began in north-ern Italy in the latter 14th century, culminating inEngland in the early 17th century. Consequently thepresent book spans two centuries, c. 1400–c. 1600,emphasizing the pervasive influence of Italian sourceson the development of the Renaissance in other partsof southern Europe as well as in the north.

Although the ideal of the Renaissance individualwas exaggerated to the extreme by 19th-century crit-ics and historians, there was certainly a greater aware-ness of an individual’s potential by the 16th century.Emphasis on the dignity of man (though not ofwoman) distinguished the Renaissance from the rela-tively humbler attitudes of the Middle Ages. In thelove poetry of Petrarch and the great human schemeof Dante’s Commedia, individual thought and actionwere prevalent. Depictions of the human formbecame a touchstone of Renaissance art, from Giotto’slifelike frescoes to the altarpieces of the van Eyckbrothers and Michelangelo’s heroic statue of David. Inscience and medicine, from cosmography to anatomy,the macrocosm and microcosm of the human condi-tion inspired remarkable strides in research and dis-covery. The Earth itself was explored, as intrepidadventurers pushed past the southern tip of Africa to

claim parts of the Orient, and into the North Ameri-can continent, searching for gold and converts toChristianity. Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globeboth defined and extended the Earth, situating Euro-peans within a vast world of possibilities.

The word renaissance means “rebirth,” and themost obvious example of this phenomenon was therediscovery of Europe’s classical Roman past.Although important texts of ancient Greek authors,such as Homer and Plato, first became known inWestern Europe during the Renaissance, very littlewas understood about the culture of ancient Greece.Roman history, law, literature, and art dominatedthe classical rebirth of Renaissance Europe. Greektexts and works translated from Arabic and Greekcontributed to advances in science, medicine, andtechnology.

Although the Renaissance commenced in north-ern Italy, classicizing elements rapidly became assim-ilated in other regions. By the early 1500s, theseinfluences had resulted in imitations and variations inthe Late Gothic culture of France, Spain, Germany,the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, and Poland. Thelatter 1500s experienced the Renaissance as a newsyncretic mode of thought and activity. With the aimof treating the major origins and influences of theRenaissance in a comprehensive manner, the present

INTRODUCTION: ORIGINS OF THE RENAISSANCE


xiv

book focuses on western Europe, occasionally men-tioning eastern Europe and European colonies in theEast and West. Scandinavia is beyond our scopebecause Renaissance style did not flourish there untilthe 17th century, and it was tempered by influencesof the early baroque.

The geographic concept of “Europe” strength-ened during the early Renaissance, originating in thecontinent’s identification as Christendom. With Mus-lims in north Africa and southern Spain, and GreekOrthodox Slavs and Turks as well as Muslims to theeast, Europe was unified in its spiritual focus againstthese perceived common threats. The medieval Cru-sades had reiterated Europe’s multilateral coopera-tion against “infidels.” In addition, Europe’s religiousfervor had been heightened by fervent and desperateresponses to the biomedical devastation of the 14thcentury. Between 1347 and 1350, approximately 20million deaths resulted from what was called thepestilence, known as the Black Death several cen-turies later because of the plague’s hideous blackbuboes, and possibly from anthrax (only recently dis-covered). Western Europe lost one-third of its popu-lation. While 25 percent of the aristocracy may havedied, the peasantry suffered the loss of some 40 per-cent of its people. Peasants did not have the luxury ofescaping from crowded living conditions into the rel-ative safety of country houses. Several smaller epi-demics further reduced the population during thesecond half of the 14th century.

With grain and grapes rotting in the fields, herdsuntended, and foot soldiers rapidly dwindling in sup-ply, the peasants who survived found themselves in anew, much better bargaining position. Landlordswere forced to raise the standard of living for peas-ants throughout Europe, making it possible for manyof them to buy their freedom and become yeomen.Peasants freed from the land were able to seek apotentially better life elsewhere. One far-reachingresult of the plague may have been the gradual influxof more individuals into towns and cities. This classof workers contributed to the rise of the wealthymerchant families who would provide much of thefunding for Renaissance patronage.

Epidemics of the 14th century caused the deathsof numerous churchmen and monks, partly becauseany large group of people living together was suscep-tible to contagion. To keep the monasteries func-

tioning, many younger, untrained men were allowedto enter. Although some university graduates wereavailable, many of the new ecclesiasts were not readyfor holy orders, personally or professionally. Abusesof the system were sharply criticized as greedychurchmen attempted to take advantage of thechaotic administration of church property. Anothermeaning of rebirth for the Renaissance was theCatholic Church’s movement to investigate corrup-tion within, with the goal of reforming and returningto the purer religion of early Christianity. By the16th century, proposed reforms were deemed insuffi-cient and Protestants broke away to create their ownReformation.

Renaissance philosophy was involved in efforts tounderstand the pristine theology of the early church.The Christian Platonism of Marsilio Ficino (1433–99)and his circle of learned friends in Florence explainedthe ideas of Plato in Christian contexts. This new phi-losophy, called Neoplatonism, led to esoteric symbol-ism and other forms of hidden meaning in literature,art, architecture, and music. Neoplatonism is oneimportant example of the new philosophical strains inRenaissance thought. Although directly affecting onlysmall groups of scholars, these movements functionedas an undercurrent in the cultural innovations of the15th and 16th century.

Renaissance classical scholarship was enhanced, ifnot made possible, by Greek teachers and scholarswho had arrived in Italy from the East. Numerousindividuals emigrated from Constantinople duringthe late 14th and early 15th centuries, many of themto Venice. Then a major wave of Greeks escaped toItaly immediately before and after the fall of Con-stantinople to the Turks in 1453. Scholars in generalstudied and corrected ancient texts, including theBible. This process of textual criticism inevitably ledto a questioning of authority, from Roman rhetori-cians to church fathers.

New attitudes, ideas, and images from 15th-cen-tury Italy were disseminated across Western Europeby the printing press. Some scholars have argued thatthe advance of printing caused the Renaissance,whereas others have stated that the Renaissancecaused the spread of printing. The process was moreof a reciprocal arrangement, of Renaissance innova-tions and printers promoting each other. The works ofItalian artists, for example, became known in the


xv

north through printed engravings, and the engravings,in turn, encouraged Flemish, Dutch, and Germanartists to try their hand at painting and printmaking.

Although the Renaissance in general is often con-ceptualized by rebirth, as we have seen, the idea ofrenewal also expresses the cultural basis of life inRenaissance Europe. Europe had several new begin-nings, affecting every aspect of life described in thisbook, and they usually were connected. The Protes-tant Reformation instituted new attitudes towardmarriage that affected the daily life of thousands ofconverts; the so-called advancement of fired projec-tiles in military encounters led to new Europeanempires in Asia and the Americas; secular music withthe innovation of words to match the music devel-oped into opera, which in turn influenced dramaticwriting of the early 17th century; and, in medicine,new knowledge of the human body not only madelife in the Renaissance more tolerable but also madesurvival more likely. These are only a few examplesof the spirit of change experienced by Europeansduring the 15th and 16th centuries.

Political Boundaries

The political map of continental Europe was quitedifferent during the Renaissance from what it istoday, and different in the 16th century from what ithad been during the previous century. In 1400 thekingdom of France possessed less than half the area ithad by 1600, Spain was divided into several king-doms, Germany was peppered with independentprincipalities and townships, and Italy had more thana dozen city-states and republics, with the peninsulasplit across its central region by the Papal States, andAragon possessing the kingdom of Naples after1443. At the beginning of the 15th century, theNetherlands and Flanders (roughly present-day Bel-gium plus Zeeland) had been consolidated into onerealm under the control of the dukes of Burgundy,and by 1519 the Holy Roman Empire extended fromVienna to Madrid. Except for skirmishes along theircommon border, England and Scotland had the sameboundaries in the Renaissance that they have today.

In the Italian Peninsula, the papacy ruled thePapal States, territories stretching from Rome to the

Adriatic Sea, and the pope also claimed Bologna.The Republic of Venice, which included an extensivearea of the mainland near Venice during part of theRenaissance, controlled the northeastern ItalianPeninsula. The Republic of Genoa dominated thenorthwestern coast, and the Republics of Florenceand of Siena ruled most of Tuscany. Other majorcity-states and principalities were the duchies ofMilan, of Ferrara, and of Savoy, as well as the mar-quisate of Mantua and the smaller duchy of Modena.

The Holy Roman Empire encompassed landsowned or claimed by the Habsburgs. Germany formedthe core of the empire during the 15th century, andseveral regions later broke away as a result of theProtestant Reformation. The territories ruled by theHoly Roman Emperor and king of Spain Charles V(1500–1558) were Spain, the kingdom of Naples, andthe Holy Roman Empire, including a huge swath ofterritory in eastern Europe extending from the Tyrolto the borders of Hungary and from Bohemia (todaypart of the Czech Republic) to the Venetian republic.

The geographic area of early 15th-century Francewas much smaller than the country ruled by Francis I(1494–1547) at the end of his reign. The rich pro-vince of Burgundy became part of eastern France in1477, the very large province of Brittany (the penin-sula comprising most of northwestern France) in1532, and the eastern region of Bresse in 1536.France also ruled Navarre (on the border with Spain)during the Renaissance. France’s northeastern bor-der, including Alsace and Lorraine, was disputed dur-ing much of the Renaissance. The port city of Calaiswas ruled by the English until the mid-16th century.

The Iberian Peninsula still had an enclave ofMuslims ruling the kingdom of Granada in the southof present-day Spain. They were conquered by theSpanish in 1492. Except for Navarre to the northeastand the kingdom of Aragon along the Mediterraneancoast, the remainder of Spain belonged to Castileand León. Portugal, which had its modern bordersduring the Renaissance, was ruled by Spain from1580 to 1640. Spanish forces also controlled much ofthe Netherlands during the second half of the 16thcentury, as well as the entire southern half of Italyand the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

During the 15th century, the Netherlands (“LowCountries”) had become part of the Burgundian duchy,which included Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and


xvi

several areas in northeastern France. Through mar-riage this territory, called the Circle of Burgundy in theearly 16th century, was absorbed into the Holy RomanEmpire. Charles V officially claimed the Netherlan-dish provinces as part of the empire in 1548. TheProtestant Reformation and its resultant hostilities ledto the Dutch Revolt in the latter 16th century, with atruce in 1609 and ultimately the independence of theUnited Provinces by the mid-17th century.

Renaissance Poland was a tremendous territory,joining the Baltic states with present-day Belarus andUkraine. By the early 15th century, Poland waslinked dynastically with Lithuania. The grand dukesof Lithuania were also kings of Poland during muchof the Renaissance.

How to Use This Book

The topical organization of the present bookincludes 12 aspects of the Renaissance, allowing eachchapter to function as a lens on that slice of life. Ingeneral, information is presented from south tonorth, reflecting the predominance of Italy in thedevelopment of the Renaissance. The chapters bynecessity present rather compact descriptions andexplanations of each topic; for greater depth of studythe reader might consult the list of recommendedreadings at the end of each chapter, which note thespecific area treated in each reference unless thebook or article comprehensively covers the sectionfor which it is listed. The bibliography gives the fullcitation for each item in the readings, with generalreference works on the Renaissance (not listed in thereadings) at the beginning. Chapter 1, organizedchiefly by geographic regions, concerns history, gov-ernment, and society. Italy and the Holy RomanEmpire are discussed first, followed by other areas ofcontinental Europe and then England and Scotland.Chapter 2 pertains to religion, opening with sectionson the Catholic Church and papacy, followed by theProtestant Reformation and brief sections onJudaism and Islam. Chapter 3, on art and visual cul-ture, is organized by genres: painting, tapestries,sculpture, prints, and decorative art. Chapter 4focuses on architecture and urban planning in Italyand France, beginning with a section on the rise of

the architect with the major works of each architectmentioned. The next two sections analyze the influ-ence of Rome and ecclesiastical buildings; secularbuildings are organized by fortresses and castles, vil-las, and Italian patronage in general. Finally, severalimportant buildings outside Italy and France aredescribed. Chapter 5, which concerns literature andlanguage, opens with a discussion of humanism,philology, and publishing. Literary theory is fol-lowed by sections on the four genres of poetry, prose,drama, and oratory along with rhetoric. The finalsection pertains to library collections. Chapter 6 onmusic begins with sections on sacred and secularmusic, then continues with working conditions andpatronage. The two final sections discuss musicalinstruments and the publication of musical material.

Chapter 7 on warfare has six sections, beginningwith major wars, armor, and traditional weaponry.The fourth section discusses soldiering and battleconditions, and military medicine and fortificationsend the chapter. Chapter 8, which concerns com-merce, first describes banking and accounting. Theremainder of the chapter is organized by areas ofcommercial production: mining; textiles; agriculture;wine, beer, and spirits; crafts; publishing; and slavery.Chapter 9 on exploration and travel opens withgeography and cartography, followed by a discussionof travel and travelers. The final section on explo-ration takes the reader from Africa to Asia, and thento the Americas. Chapter 10 on science and medicineopens with the cosmic topics of astronomy andastrology, then focuses on chemistry, mathematics,and optics. The final two sections, on botany anddrugs and on anatomy and medicine, include infor-mation about medical treatment. Chapter 11, whichconcerns education, begins with teaching in Latin inhumanistic schools and at the universities. The threeother sections treat education in the vernacular lan-guages, apprenticeship, and the education of girlsand women (in Latin as well as in the vernacular).Chapter 12 discusses several areas of daily life, begin-ning with time and the calendar. The analysis of fam-ily life includes information on marriage, children,and housing, and the section on ceremonies focuseson various aspects of public life in the community.The section on clothing and costume describes theapparel of different classes of society, and the nextsection, on food and cooking, also discusses the dis-


xvii

crepancies among social classes. The final sectionconcerns disease, illness, and death. Important indi-viduals appear in several chapters, with their contri-bution to that particular subject emphasized.

Except for chapter 12 on daily life, each chapterhas brief notes about major figures, along with theirdates, preceding the list of readings. The extensiveindex should be consulted to locate all instances ofspecific individuals and subjects. Readers should alsouse the glossary, which describes approximately 185terms, including numerous non-English words.

My goal in writing this book was to encouragestudents to become interested in this fascinating andprovocative epoch of world history. I hope that theymight use this text as a springboard to meaningfulresearch of their own.

Note on Names, Orthography,and Bibliography

Because the main audience for this book are anglo-phone students, many names have been given intheir anglicized form, and spelling and accents havebeen modernized. For the same reason, all entries inthe bibliography are works in English, includingtranslations of several originally published in otherlanguages. Within this limitation, many of the mostrecent useful books have been included. Concerningproper names, surnames are used in the text except ina few instances of rather famous individuals, such asLeonardo da Vinci, who are universally known bytheir first name.

HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND SOCIETY

1

European government and society changed moreduring the two centuries of the Renaissance

than in the previous 500 years. The feudal society ofthe Middle Ages chiefly consisted of the nobility andpeasants living on large estates and monks residingin monasteries. The majority of medieval cities had arelatively small population, consisting of nobility,clergy, and townspeople, from merchants to poorlaborers. From the Middle Ages through the Renais-sance, there was little possibility of changing one’sposition in society. Even during the Renaissance,members of the clergy were locked into differentsocial classes, ranging from wealthy landholdingbishops to priests with poor rural parishes.

By the late 14th century the Italian city-stateshad begun to prosper from an increased level oftrade with the East; that prosperity led to the devel-opment of banks and monetary commerce.Although isolated parts of Italy, especially in thesouth and far north, had a feudal society duringmuch of the Renaissance, guilds and merchantsinfluenced the course of political events in the city-states and republics. Wealth began to concentrate inthe cities dominating their respective regions, and anew social class of bankers and wealthy merchantsarose. The great banking families opened branchesin other countries, notably in cities such as Brusselsand Seville at the nexus of trading routes. Conse-quently, cities with rapidly expanding commercialopportunities attracted residents.

While the vast majority of people continued tolive in rural areas, as they had for centuries, freepeasants who relocated to cities during the 15th cen-tury provided labor for construction, factories,transportation, and other areas important for urbandevelopment. On the one hand, urban society wasbecoming more complex, with more causes forsocial unrest. On the other hand, individuals in citieshad the potential for advancement through business,education, or religious training. The present bookfocuses predominantly on life in cities because mostof the movements and events that we identify as theEuropean Renaissance, especially in literature,music, and art, occurred in urban contexts. Therulers of nation-states gathered together membersof their court in and near the great cities of Europe,and the important political leaders resided in urbanlocations. Cities had become major centers of politi-

cal and economic power by the 16th century. Duringthe Italian Wars of the late 15th and 16th centuries,forces from northern Europe invaded Naples,Rome, and the northern Italian city-states. Conse-quently cities in northern Europe also became cen-ters of Renaissance culture as Italian artists,engineers, humanists, scientists, musicians, and oth-ers fled the economic destruction of their homelandand made their way north. Society in generalbecame more refined, with Italianate tastes dominat-ing fashion, cuisine, and other aspects of daily life.

The political structure of Renaissance Europeconsisted of city-states in the Italian Peninsula, prin-cipalities in Germanic areas, and nation-states inmost other parts of the continent. Several countries,especially Spain, France, and England, developedinto unified national states with organized govern-mental systems between 1400 and 1600. This unifi-cation enabled the rulers of such states to gainprestige and power far exceeding those of the duke-doms and regional kingdoms of the late MiddleAges. The role of the monarch was changing, andthis development would lead to the rise of abso-lutism in the 17th century. Many of the noble fami-lies, such as those in France, appeared to support themonarch while maintaining foreign allies with thehope of seizing the throne by force or by marriage.Monarchs began to gain a wider base of politicalsupport by forging new alliances with members ofthe middle class. In addition, the Great Schism andlater the Protestant Reformation reduced the influ-ence of the pope, while the fragmentation of theempire weakened that of the Holy Roman Emperor.Thus the political framework of modern Europeslowly took shape, with the bureaucracy of nationaland regional administrative offices giving rise to anew professional class, the civil servant. The govern-ments of Portugal, England, Spain, France, and theNetherlands had important colonies beyond theborders of Europe. A complicated network ofadministrative offices was required to keep track ofsettlers, land grants, mercantile affairs, shipping,lawsuits, and jurisdictional disputes with theCatholic Church. These colonies also provided newopportunities for young men in all levels of society.Many of the Spanish conquistadores, for example,were farmers’ sons from the far western part ofSpain.


2

As governments became more complex, theyrequired administrators, secretaries, and notaries tomanage the financial, legislative, and judicial aspectsof running the country. Many governments inRenaissance Europe had some type of representativebody, each functioning in different ways from theothers. Whereas some actually had the power toenact laws, others only advised the secular ruler.England had Parliament to approve laws, whereasthe Estates General of France functioned as a judi-cial body. The Cortes in Aragon and Castile werethe representative bodies of Spain, and diets servedvarious regions in Germany. Although these bodieshad existed in some form before the 15th century,their political philosophy was affected to some

degree during the Renaissance by new humanisticideals of representative government. These idealsoriginated in Italy, where the history of the Renais-sance begins.

ITALY

A politically unified Italy as we know it did not existuntil the 19th century. During the Renaissance, theItalian Peninsula was fragmented into city-states,principalities, dukedoms, republics, and the PapalStates ruled by the pope, with Naples, Sicily, and

H I S T O R Y , G O V E R N M E N T, A N D S O C I E T Y

3

Map 1. Europe, c. 1460

Sardinia under Spanish or French control for mostof this period. Venice was famous for having the old-est form of republican government, and Florencefollowed closely behind. Both Siena and Lucca had arepublican government, and Genoa was ruled by anoligarchy of powerful merchants rather than by asingle individual. Even in autocratic Milan, firmlyruled by the Visconti and then the Sforza dukes, theAmbrosian Republic (1447–50) lasted almost threeyears when the last Visconti died. In no instance,however, did any sort of representation in govern-ment extend beyond the cities and towns them-selves; workers in the surrounding countryside weretreated as subjects with no rights at all. To those atthe bottom level of society, it made no differencewhether the local government was a voting republicor a hereditary principality.

Guilds had been an important political forceduring the late Middle Ages, and in several towns,such as Bologna, guild members revolted againstpapal administrators to establish republican rule.They were the strongest element of the risingmiddle class. Guilds provided microcosms of self-government, with their constitutions and electedofficers and councils. Renaissance Italy, with itsstrong history of communal government duringthe Middle Ages, enjoyed much more self-govern-ment than did the rest of western Europe. ThePolitics of Aristotle was analyzed by early Italianhumanists, who distinguished between autocraticrule and political rule, in which government waslimited by the people’s law. Knowledge of theancient sources on political philosophy, rhetoric,and oratory greatly expanded during the 15th cen-tury. These subjects contributed to the humanisticcharacter of Renaissance republicanism.

During the 16th century, the Italian Warschanged the political structure of several parts of thepeninsula. In 1494, the French king, Charles VIII(1470–98), invaded Italy; he entered Naples in thespring of 1495. Through the house of Anjou, heclaimed Naples as part of his inheritance. His ulti-mate political goal was to use the port of Naples as astrategic point from which to capture Constantino-ple and become emperor of Byzantium. (He failed toaccomplish this endeavor.) Charles VIII’s chiefopponent in the Italian campaigns was the HolyRoman Emperor, Maximilian I (1459–1519), who

refused to accept French claims on the duchy ofMilan. Except for three years between 1508 and1511, when he allied himself with France againstVenice, Maximilian continued the Habsburg-Valoisbattle on Italian soil for as long as he was able tofight. Although lacking the support of the Germanprinces in his Italian campaigns, the emperor never-theless attempted to capture territory on the Venet-ian mainland, which bordered Habsburg lands. Healso claimed Milan as an imperial duchy.

When Francis I became king of France in 1515,one of his goals was to maintain French administra-tive control of Milan and Genoa, important bufferzones between France and Habsburg dominions. Inthe ensuing military campaigns, Imperial forcesunder Charles V seized Milan in 1521, and theFrench lost Genoa. Because Charles V was also kingof Spain, the previous balance of power with theFrench in northern Italy, the Spanish in the south,and Italians in central Italy was upset by theselosses. French forces, however, did not have achance to regain lost territory because both thepope and the king of England sent troops to assistthe Imperial army. In 1524 the French invaded Italyagain, seizing Milan, but were decisively defeated atthe Battle of Pavia, and Francis I was sent to Spainas a hostage. In the Treaty of Madrid (1526), Fran-cis relinquished his claims in Italy, but he repudi-ated the agreement as soon as he was released. Inthe subsequent conflict, the city of Rome wassacked in 1527 by the troops of Charles V. In 1528the city of Naples suffered during a siege by theFrench, led by the Genoan admiral Andrea Doria(1466–1560). Doria, however, decided that FrancisI had betrayed him, and he returned to Genoa tocreate a republican state protected by the SpanishCrown. When the duke of Milan died in 1535 with-out naming an heir, Charles V took charge of thecity by appointing an imperial governor. Thus theemperor and the kings of France continued toencroach upon Italian territory, with city-statesoccasionally playing these foreign rulers againsteach other. In 1552, for example, the citizens ofSiena asked France to protect them from the Impe-rial troops that they had driven out of the city. TheItalian Wars finally ended when Henry II of Franceand Philip II of Spain signed the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559.


4


5

PAPALSTATES

Map 2. Italian Peninsula, c. 1500

Northern ItalyVENICE

Venice’s largest governing body was the GreatCouncil, whose membership had been closed in1297 and opened only once, in 1381, to allow severalmore members. This body drawn from the aristoc-racy elected the doge, who ruled for his lifetime butcould not pass on the position to an heir. Venice wasunlike other Italian republics in that membership inthe Great Council was lifelong and hereditary, mak-ing the council a relatively closed, rigid society. Aswe shall see later, elsewhere in Italy short terms ofoffice were considered an important element of suc-cessful republican government. The Great Council,totaling more than 2,500 adult males during theRenaissance, also elected members of the Senate,the main legislative body. This smaller, inner bodyof some 200 men advised the doge and determinedwhich business would be raised before the GreatCouncil. Within the Senate was a core of advisers,the Council of Ten. The doge and his six councilors,the three heads of the court of criminal appeal, and16 ministers composed the Collegio. This Collegio,along with the Council of Ten and three attorneysgeneral, determined which business would passbefore the Senate. These 39 men were the oligarchyruling Venice, and they often rotated from one posi-tion to another. The structure of government inVenetian maritime dominions, such as the island ofCrete, mirrored that of Venice itself. The GreatCouncil of Venice elected the governor of Crete, amember of the Venetian nobility. Crete, in turn, hadits own Great Council, which comprised residentVenetians and lesser officials elected by that body.

During the 15th century, Venice had expanded itsterritory to include parts of the mainland, or ter-raferma. As in the maritime possessions, the Venet-ian government interfered as little as possible. Agovernor, the podesta, was appointed for each majorcity, along with a captain. These were the two Vene-tians who took their instructions from the Senate, orfrom the Council of Ten in urgent matters. Localcouncils were left to deal with details such as sanita-tion, medical care, water supplies, and transporta-tion, following their own statutes. Venice left wellenough alone as long as commerce flourished, peace

was preserved, and taxes were collected. The islandrepublic, with almost no land, needed the grain andwine from its dominions.

In Venice, as in other “republics,” rights of theworking class, whose members were viewed as ser-vants for those having the responsibility of govern-ment, were not recognized. The humanistic ideals ofvirtue and service applied only to the nobility and towell-educated males. This sort of upper-class atti-tude led to revolts and temporary republicanism inother cities, but not in Venice. As for the clergy, theSenate of Venice claimed jurisdiction over them,opposing what Venice considered to be papal inter-ference. The conflict over Venice’s rights versusthose of the papacy accelerated toward the end ofthe 16th century, and the republic was placed underpapal interdiction in 1606–07. (This was not the firsttime that Venice experienced interdiction.)

FLORENCE

Although the ruling class in Florence was not asrigidly closed as that in Venice, Florence neverthelesshad an oligarchic republic in spite of the proclaimedopenness of its election laws. Although Florence didhave representative institutions during the 15th cen-tury, the Medici family became powerful enough bythe 1430s to dominate the government. The historyof the Florentine republic is intertwined with the his-tory of the Medici. When open votes were being castby city leaders during the 1480s, for example,Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–92) was known to havewalked threateningly around the room, noting howeach man voted. In the city of Florence the highestexecutive body was the Signoria, in which severalelected men equally represented the four main quar-ters of the city. As in many other cities in northernItaly with this quarter system, population density wasnot a factor; all “fourths” had the same number ofrepresentatives. Each fourth in turn was divided intofour, creating the gonfaloni (sixteenths) that consti-tuted the foundation of the city’s administrative orga-nization. The most powerful positions in Florentinerepublican government were held by members of theSignoria and by the heads of the various councils.Several deliberative bodies also advised the Signoria.

Whereas Lorenzo de’ Medici virtually ruled Flo-rence as a prince, his son, Piero II de’ Medici


6

(1471–1503), did not command the same respect.When the French invaded northern Italy and Pierosubsequently fled, the people of Florence revolted.Rather than rebelling with weapons and violence,they ridiculed Piero for his cowardice, shoutingfrom windows and ignominiously pushing his familymembers along the streets and out of the city.Townspeople sacked the Medici palace and plun-dered the houses of the Medici bank’s officers. Anoligarchy of important families quickly assumed thereins of government, publicly hanging the unpopu-lar Medici government official who had been incharge of the public debt. Thus the Medici holdover the Florentine republic was broken for severalyears. One important result was that noble familieswho had been exiled by the Medici began to returnto Florence, expecting to gain their social and politi-cal positions and to have their confiscated propertyreturned. The constitution and administrative struc-ture were inadequate for the civic unrest of 1495,and reforms were obviously necessary. Into this situ-ation stepped Girolamo Savonarola (1452–98), aDominican friar and famous preacher who had pre-dicted the apocalyptic fall of the Medici. (See chap-ter 2 for information pertaining to religion andchapter 12 for his influence on daily life.)

Supported by thousands of his adherents,including many members of the middle class,Savonarola began to direct a movement for draft-ing a new constitution, His initial goal was to cre-ate a more representative, democratic government.The model followed was that of Venice, the moststable republic in Italy, with a Great Councilreplacing the medieval councils. This councilelected members of the new Senate (the Eighty),just as in Venice. The chief executive branch stillconsisted of the Signoria, the gonfaloniere of justice,and eight priors. Each held office for only twomonths. Thus the legislative system of Venice wascombined with the old executive system of Flo-rence, with the significant difference that in Flo-rence the more cumbersome Great Council, withits advisory bodies, determined policy. It wasimpossible for the government of Florence to actquickly, especially without an authority figure suchas the doge. The first laws passed were influencedby Savonarola, a strict moralist who opposed gam-bling, blasphemy, and other vices.

In addition to his efforts on behalf of Florence,Savonarola had antagonized the pope by creating anew, nonsanctioned congregation of monks. He wasexcommunicated in 1497, and the following yearFlorentine leaders agreed with the pope thatSavonarola should be arrested. He had become toopowerful within Florentine politics, and he washanged and his body burned.

Because of external threats and the inherent weak-ness of the new Florentine republic in dealing withthem, the Medici were welcomed back in 1512. Withthe national militia and the Great Council abolished,oligarchic rule once again became the accepted formof government. Although the Medici were expelledbetween 1527 and 1530 (the “Last Republic”), thefamily was restored to power by the Habsburgemperor, Charles V, and Cosimo I (1519–74) became


7

1.1 Portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Workshop ofBronzino. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, RogersFund, 1908 [08.262])

the first grand duke of Tuscany. During the 16th cen-tury, political stability increasingly depended uponaristocratic rule.

MILAN

Milan and its territory were ruled by authoritarianducal lords (signori), namely, the Visconti, between1287 and 1447, then the Sforza between 1450 and1515, 1521 and 1525, and 1529 to 1535. They wereadvised by several councils with appointed members,the most important being the Secret Council andthe Council of Justice. Milan was briefly occupied bythe French and by imperial forces, becoming part ofthe Holy Roman Empire in 1535 and then in 1546 adependency of Spain. Here we shall discuss a short-lived but historically interesting phenomenon, theAmbrosian Republic of 1447–50. The last Viscontiduke made no preparations for a successor or for aninterim form of government. After his death,overnight the leading citizens of Milan proclaimedthe republic of Saint Ambrose (patron saint of thecity). This action revealed not only the resentmentof all classes against seignorial government, but alsothe undercurrent of popular political tendenciesreminiscent of medieval communal government.While generals in the ducal military force arguedamong themselves about the succession, the republicwas born. The population of the city gathered nearthe cathedral with shouts of “Liberty!” in true revo-lutionary fashion.

Commoners, however, had nothing to do withformulating the new constitution, which was final-ized in secret by an oligarchy consisting of a groupof noblemen and lawyers with political experience,who had consulted prominent bankers and heads ofthe major guilds. As a first step, this groupappointed a council of 24 captains, the chief gov-erning body, with six-month terms of office. Parishelders were then given the task of selecting mem-bers of the Council of Nine Hundred, with equalrepresentation of each district of the city. Fiscalproblems, including massive debts left by the Vis-conti, haunted the city. The captains ordered thattax documents be destroyed (thus causing irrepara-ble loss to Milan’s archives) and attempted to createa public fund in which citizens could invest, to noavail. Moreover, Milan was losing income from sub-

ject cities in the territory that were rebelling againstthe authority of the Ambrosian Republic andattempting to establish their own republic or turn-ing to other powerful cities for support. During thewinter of 1449, accusations of treachery led to theexecution of dozens of men. Several months later,on the day before elections, the people revoltedagainst the captains, storming the palace, murder-ing one of them, and sacking the homes of the oth-ers. In the midst of this chaos, the troops ofFrancesco I Sforza (1401–66) were blocking deliv-eries of food to the city, whose inhabitants slowlybegan to starve. The Ambrosian Republic lasted for30 months, finally subdued because members of thenobility, wealthier merchants, and former ducaladvisers defected to the camp of the mercenary cap-tain Francesco I Sforza. As the husband of Bianca,the sole offspring of the last Visconti duke,Francesco had been promised the dukedom andthus was a logical choice for those who abandonedthe republic.

Southern ItalySouthern Italy is defined here as the southern sec-tion of the Italian Peninsula (below the Papal States)and the relatively large islands of Sicily and Sardinia.Sardinia’s political history is fairly simple during thisperiod as it was ruled by Aragon and then by Spain.The chief governing body was the Sardinian Cortes,with a viceroy assigned to the island in 1487. Withthe Cortes convening only at 10-year intervals, thegovernment was administered by feudal lords.Between 1432 and 1600 Sicily, as was Sardinia, wasnominally ruled by Aragon and then Spain. TheSicilian viceregal government was installed early, in1432, because the island was seen as an importantstepping stone to the kingdom of Naples. Alfonso Vof Aragon (Alfonso I, king of Naples, 1396–1458)jointly ruled both Sicily and Naples between 1443and 1458, but the Angevin dynasty (from Anjou inFrance) claimed Sicily when he died in 1458, and theisland was in dispute for much of the 16th century.Naples itself had been ruled by the Angevins from1266 until 1442, often in conflict with the powerfulNeapolitan barons and other members of the nobil-ity. The French ruled Naples briefly between 1495


8

and 1502, when the kingdom fell under Spanishadministration that lasted until 1707.

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

Seven electors held the power to elect the Germanking, who until 1508 would then travel to Rome tobe crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The seven elec-tors were the king of Bohemia, the count palatine ofthe Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the margrave ofBrandenburg, and the archbishops of Mainz,Cologne, and Trier. The Holy Roman Empire beganto be called Holy by its subjects in the 12th century,when the emperor and the pope were fighting forcontrol of northern Italy. After 1273, with the acces-

sion of Rudolf of Habsburg to the Imperial throne,the Holy Roman Empire no longer included anypart of Italy. It then consisted of present-day Ger-many, eastern France, the Netherlands, Switzerland,Austria, Poland, and areas of the modern CzechRepublic. By the time that Charles V abdicated in1556, the new emperor, Ferdinand I (1503–64), wasonly the titular head of a federation of German prin-cipalities. (See page 15 on Germany.) During theRenaissance, the empire gained and lost territory inItaly, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Netherlands.

Imperial military power was at its height duringthe 12th century. By the 15th century, the emperor’spower was waning. Major campaigns required allies,and emperors were often allied with the popes. Theemperor’s relationship with the popes between 1400and 1600 usually consisted of mutual support inboth military and religious matters, concerns thatoften overlapped. Emperors joined the holy leagueswith the pope and other allies to combat the Frenchin Italy as well as the Ottoman Turks. Imperialtroops combated Protestantism in the north in sev-eral campaigns, with the pope’s blessing and finan-cial support. Although not actually crowned by thepope, the Holy Roman Emperors of the Renaissancehad his recognition and approval.

The last emperor who was crowned in Rome wasFrederick III (1415–93), chosen by the electors in1440. (Charles V, the last emperor crowned by apope, received his crown in Bologna because Romewas in ruins from the 1527 sack.) By marrying hischildren with the children of powerful rulers acrossEurope, Frederick guaranteed that his Habsburgline would be part of Europe’s political future.Beginning with Frederick III, the Habsburgdynasty dominated the Imperial elections. The factthat the Spanish king, Charles I, was a Habsburgwas distinctly to his advantage when the Frenchking, Francis I, competed with him for the Imperialcrown in 1519.

In the 1480s, the archbishop of Mainz, one of theseven electors, attempted to create a centralizedimperial administration in Germany. This movementsucceeded only partially because regional rulers wereunwilling to relinquish control over their territories,and the emperor balked at what would have been aloss in status. The seven hereditary electors wereespecially autonomous, as their families were granted


9

1.2 Portrait of Alfonso V. Neapolitan School, 15thcentury. (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria/Bridgeman Art Library)

special privileges. Nevertheless, as a result of theDiet of 1495, an official Public Peace (Landfriede)assured law and order and an Imperial Court ofChancery (Reichskammergericht) was established.This tribunal, responsible not to the emperor but tothe Diet, held jurisdiction throughout the empire. Itwas not, however, an executive body and the admin-istration of justice was often difficult. Finally, in1500, the Council of Regency (Reichsregiment) of21 members was set up to deal with executive aspectsof Imperial administration. The other administrativebody, established by the emperor himself, was theAulic Council (Reichshofrat), which functioned as ahigh court of justice.

By the early 16th century, the empire includedGermany, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, parts of Italy,and the Burgundian Netherlands. Although this listmay sound impressive, in matter of fact the empirewas more a concept than an actuality. The “king ofthe Romans,” as the king of Germany (the emperor)was called, did not even rule Germany because somuch authority was vested in local princes anddukes. It was virtually impossible for him to raiseany revenue from his own country, unlike the sover-eigns of France, Spain, and England—the “new”monarchies of Europe. One important reason whythe Habsburgs were welcomed as dynastic emperorsis that each of them had personal territories in hisown realm that produced appreciable income. TheGerman king did, however, have political influence,whereas the influence of the princes was local, or atbest regional.

FRANCE

When Francis I (1494–1547) took the throne ofFrance in 1515, he asked the political theoristClaude Seyssel (c. 1450–1520) to write a workdescribing the French monarchy. His La grandemonarchie de France (The great monarchy of France,1519) explained how royal power had been tem-pered by Christian standards, custom, and local reg-ulations. The French kings were, in fact, named“Most Christian” at their coronation, a title takenseriously during the Renaissance. The “custom”

referred to by Seyssel was customary law, which pre-vailed in the north of France, with regional parlia-ments adjudicating disputes. In the south of France,Roman law was stronger, often modified to conformto the local needs of municipal government. Frenchkings during the 15th century recognized that thisfragmentation of legislative and judicial policy hin-dered the administration of government at thenational level. With ducal kingdoms competingagainst the Crown, centralization was quite difficult.Although the Valois king Charles VII (1403–61)began a project to record and organize local custom-ary laws throughout France, not until 1510 was thefirst compilation published, during the reign ofLouis XII (1462–1515). This early 16th-centurymonarch was able to begin uniting France as a cen-tralized monarchy. Because of his focus on Italianmilitary campaigns, however, the continuation ofthis endeavor fell to Francis I.

Francis IReigning for more than three decades, Francis Iconsolidated an extensive territory of some 15 mil-lion inhabitants, including its independent-mindednobility. Considering France as a European power,he wanted a modern model of government differentfrom the feudal system described by Seyssel. Guil-laume Budé’s (1467–1540) Institution du prince(Office of the prince, 1518), influenced by NiccolòMachiavelli’s (1469–1527) famous book on theRenaissance prince, interpreted the king as theembodiment of God on Earth, to be obeyed in allmatters. While recognizing the necessity for a coun-cil of advisers as well as for respect for the law andthe church, Francis I often attempted to rule as if hehad absolute power. Early in his rule, one purpose ofthis behavior was to expose corrupt officials, espe-cially those with access to the treasury who had beenrobbing the Crown of revenue from taxes. Mostimportantly, Francis I firmly believed that only theking could make political decisions affecting theentire state, such as making treaties. After a con-frontation with the Parlement of Paris during whichthe president informed him that the people gaveParlement its power, Francis issued an edict limitingParlement to its judicial role, forbidding its mem-


10

bers to become involved with national politics.Unlike the monarchs of England (see pages 17–18),the French king was not required to have royaledicts approved by a legislative body.

Renaissance France did not have, or pretend tohave, representative government. The Estates Gen-eral—a national assembly of the three classes ofFrench citizenry, the clergy, the nobility, and thecommoners—was blatantly ignored. Even thoughthe King’s Council numbered into the hundreds,these appointed advisers were scattered throughoutthe country and never met as a single group. Admin-istrative affairs were carried on by several smallercouncils, none of which convened with any other,and often with overlapping jurisdiction. The wheelsof government turned very slowly in France. Partlybecause the system was so cumbersome and commu-nication so slow, Francis I had a small core of a

dozen advisers at court, namely, his close relativesand favorites. The structure of this group foreshad-owed the secretaries of state of late 16th-centuryFrance. For regional administration, the king him-self selected governors. In 1515 France had 11provinces, each with a governor entitled royal coun-cillor representing the king in all matters. The gov-ernors were also expected to support the interests ofwealthy and important individuals within theirrespective provinces, selling governmental posts andother lucrative positions. France’s political systemduring the Renaissance provided income for thenobility and wealthy bourgeoisie, while taxing themiddle and lower classes on necessities such as salt.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Unlike most other parts of western Europe, Iberia,the areas that today we refer to as Spain and Portu-gal, struggled during the Middle Ages to defenditself against eastern invaders who had settled in itsterritory. For centuries, governmental policiesfocused on driving out the Muslims, with societyvery much divided between “us” and “them.” Iberiawas a society of warriors, churchmen, and workers;of chivalric values that prevailed into the early 16thcentury. At the beginning of the Renaissance, thepeninsula was divided into the large central regionof Castile, Aragon to the east, Portugal to the west,and tiny Navarre (claimed by France) in the north,with an enclave of Muslims still occupying Granadain southern Castile. In 1492 the Muslims, and thenthe Jews, were expelled from Spanish domains. Eachkingdom of Iberia was governed by a Corte (an aris-tocratic legislative body), whose members passedlegislation and approved financial measures. TheCortes of Aragon were by far the most powerful,infused with the independent Catalan spirit. Eachmonarchy also had various advisory councils. Localgovernors or viceroys administered the law, andsome of these individuals became quite influential.After Charles, king of Spain, was elected as HolyRoman Emperor in 1519, royal councils increased innumber and in power because of the king’s pro-longed absences from the country. Responsibilities


11

1.3 Portrait of Francis I. Workshop of Joos van Cleve.(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931[32.100.120])

of the Spanish monarchy extended into Portugal asof 1580, when the Portuguese king died without anheir and the king of Spain became also the king ofPortugal.

Both Spain and Portugal developed relativelysophisticated administrative offices to supervisecolonial territories. Portugal managed lucrativemining operations and the slave trade in Africa, aswell as its empire extending from several ports inthe Middle East to India and China. Spices, textiles,and other commodities from these overseas posses-sions necessitated governmental bureaucracy tohandle taxes and mercantile rights. Spain’s burgeon-ing empire was to the west, in the so-called NewWorld of the Americas. The House of the Indies inSeville was the clearinghouse for gold, silver, agri-cultural products, and other goods, and slaves trans-ported across the Atlantic. Hundreds of inspectors,tax collectors, and secretaries were required in bothPortugal and Spain to administer foreign territoriesand appoint viceroys and other colonial officials.These offices provided opportunities for socialadvancement for commoners with the appropriatetraining.

SpainISABELLA I AND FERDINAND V

Spain, which did not exist as such during theRenaissance period, consisted of the kingdom ofCastile (which included León) and the kingdom ofAragon. The latter included the kingdom of Naplesand the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Sardinia). In thesouth of Spain, the Moorish kingdom of Granadawas ruled by Muslim leaders, who paid tribute toCastile. Although Granada was famous for its cul-ture and architecture, the Muslims were not astrong military force by the 15th century. Castilianmonarchs wanted to drive the Muslims completelyout of Spain, to give Castile the entire sweep of thepeninsula from north to south. In Castile, however,aristocrats who had profited from the seizure ofMuslim estates and who benefited from Muslimtribute payments were reluctant to disturb the sta-tus quo. They enjoyed special privileges, beingexempt from taxation and entitled to trial in special

courts that were presided over by their fellowaristocrats. Nevertheless, the Muslim rule inwhat Castile considered its rightful territory was aconstant presence in the mind of 15th-centuryCastilians, who valued the heroic ideal of the sol-dier-citizen in service to the king. They neededonly a determined monarch who could convincethem that the main purpose of their governmentshould be to reclaim Granada for Castile. As itturned out, that monarch was a woman, Isabella I(1451–1504).

Although the Castilian Corte exerted localauthority, it was not as powerful as the Corte ofAragon. In Castile the monarch was not requiredto hold regular meetings of the Cortes and couldpass laws without their permission or participa-tion. In Aragon, however, the three main regionswere governed by three different Cortes. Eachnew law had to be approved by all three Cortes,and these groups were summoned on a regularbasis. In 1469 the future king of Aragon, Ferdi-nand V (1452–1516, later Ferdinand II of Castileand León) and Isabella I, future queen of Castileand León, were married. After a civil war waswaged to determine whether Isabella would beheir to the throne, she and Ferdinand began torule in 1479. Ferdinand subsequently spent mostof his life in Castile, supporting the constitutionalrights of the Cortes. In 1494 he approved the cre-ation of the Council of Aragon, a powerful super-visory body based in Castile. Because bothFerdinand and Isabella believed that the monarchshould be directly involved in government, theircourt was itinerant, traveling around the realm.They redistributed power among various levels ofsociety, appointing royal officials from members ofthe middle class. Many of these officials adminis-tered new institutions and social systems to carefor the poor. Isabella, a staunch Catholic, arguedfor greater governmental control of churchincome and for the right to make church appoint-ments. By achieving these goals, Ferdinand andIsabella enlarged their base of power. In addition,they had papal permission to institute a tax onmembers of the clergy, called the cruzada, for theavowed purpose of financing their crusade againstthe Muslims. After the final stage of the Recon-quest was completed, however, the royal coffers


12

continued to be subsidized with income from thistax. Isabella turned her attention to the Jews afterthe Muslims were conquered in 1492, giving Jew-ish residents four months to leave the country.At least 120,000 did so, taking their wealth andskills with them, a tremendous loss to society andcommerce.

In 1492, Isabella selected Jiménez de Cisneros(1436–1517), an austere Franciscan friar, as her con-fessor. She trusted completely in his judgment, fol-lowing his advice in affairs of state. Because religionwas so embroiled in politics during this time, Cis-neros became an important statesman and tookcharge of relations between Castilian authorities andMuslims in the kingdom of Granada. Those whorefused to convert to Catholicism via mass baptismin order to be loyal subjects of the Crown wereexiled. After the death of Philip I, Cisneros ruledCastile as regent between 1506 and 1507, when Fer-dinand returned from Aragon and made Cisnerosinquisitor general. Because the bishop had been sucha politically powerful figure, with numerous officialsanswering to him, Cisneros was able to unleash theSpanish Inquisition, first established by Ferdinandand Isabella in 1478, with unparalleled results (seechapter 2, on religion).

CHARLES I (CHARLES V)

When Philip I (1478–1506), king of Castile, diedin 1506, his son and heir to the throne, the futureCharles I (1500–58), was only six years old.Charles was the grandson of Holy RomanEmperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) and of Isabellaand Ferdinand. Because Ferdinand had returnedto Aragon, a Regency Council headed by BishopCisneros was established. Charles I assumed ruleof the Netherlands, the Spanish dominion wherehe spent his boyhood, in 1515. He was crownedking of Castile and León the following year afterFerdinand died. At the time the young king couldnot speak Spanish and was alienated from his Iber-ian subjects. He had great difficulty extractingmoney from the Cortes, and revolts erupted inboth Castile and Aragon while Charles was in Ger-many competing in the election for Holy RomanEmperor, which he won in 1519. (He was subse-quently referred to as Charles V.) In Valencia

(southern Aragon), for example, the rebels, refus-ing to recognize the monarchy, intended to createa republican form of government. In 1521 royaltroops defeated them; Charles ordered the execu-tion of the rebel leaders but pardoned everyoneelse. This policy for dealing with dissention wonmany followers for the king, who was learning todeal diplomatically with social unrest. Duringmost of his reign, Charles had to travel betweenSpain and the Netherlands, dealing, for example,with financial problems in the south and theincreasing hostility of Protestants in the north.Years of his life were consumed by traveling backand forth. Because the king could not always bepresent, royal councils administered governmentalbusiness. The councils consisted of men trained inthe university system as lawyers and of members of


13

1.4 Portrait of Charles V. Netherlandish painter, c. 1520.(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The FriedsamCollection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931 [32.100.46])

the lesser nobility, and the Council of the Indieswas incredibly powerful by midcentury. Thiscouncil was in charge of Spain’s dominions in theNew World, appointing viceroys, overseeing com-mercial interests, and settling disputes.

PHILIP II

In 1555 Charles abdicated in favor of his son,Philip II (1527–98), leaving Spain virtually bank-rupt from the vast sums spent on wars againstFrance and the Turks. The burden of taxation fellon the common people, who were reduced to mis-erable conditions. Philip declared in 1557 that allpayments from the monarchy to banks had to be

suspended, taking the country through a phase offinancial adjustment. Philip II took charge with avengeance, gathering as much power as possibleand centralizing it within Spain. As of 1559 heruled from his palace complex of El Escorial nearMadrid, the first time in nearly a century thatSpanish court society was focused in one location.In 1563 Philip established the Supreme Councilof Italy, making all Spanish dominions (whichincluded the duchy of Milan) directly answerable tohis central government. After 1580, he was alsoking of Portugal and sent a Spanish viceroy to Lis-bon. Portugal lost autonomy in several legal, judi-cial, and financial matters.

PortugalDuring the 15th and most of the 16th century, Por-tugal’s rulers were the house of Avis, founded in1385. As was Spain’s, Portugal’s monarchy wastempered by representational bodies, the Cortes,who included commoners. John I (1357–1433), anillegitimate son of the king, was elected to themonarchy by the Cortes after the heir to the thronedied. The Cortes thus asserted their power over theking of Spain, who claimed Portugal. During thereign of John I, his respect for chivalric ideals wasreflected in society at large. Because his grandson,Afonso V (1432–81), was only five years old whenhe inherited the crown, his mother and uncle ruledas regents. Afonso later had aggressive territorialambitions, leaving the government in the hands ofthe Cortes while he ventured out on several futilecampaigns. Manuel I (1469–1521), king of Portu-gal, using income from overseas colonies, providednumerous jobs and built up the economy with hisecclesiastical architectural commissions. Socialprograms benefited from the influx of funds. Onthe negative side, he expelled the Jews from Por-tuguese domains, losing a significant percentage ofskilled workers as well as wealthy taxpayers. Otherindividuals were also leaving Portugal, but ascolonists to overseas possessions. Not only didthese adventurers help fill the coffers of the royaltreasury, but they also left jobs that could be filledby others, thus keeping society fluid and peaceful.Unlike Spain, Portugal experienced relatively little


14

1.5 Portrait of Philip II in a manuscript document,Granada, 1572. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc.,© 2003)

civic unrest during this period. King Sebastian I(1554–78) had no interest in governmental busi-ness, which he delegated to his advisers and coun-cils. When Sebastian was killed in battle in 1578,the situation was ripe for internal turmoil and con-flict. Between 1580 and 1640, Portugal was ruledby the Spanish Crown.

GERMANY

Germany was the core of the Holy Roman Empire,whose seven electors voted to select the emperor (seepages 20–21 for a list of their offices). These men alsocomposed a permanent electoral body who formu-lated the conditions of rule for prospective emperors.Along with other rulers in Germany, the electors con-tinually strove to assert their authority over that ofthe emperor. In effect, they maintained feudal powersystems well into the Renaissance era. EmperorCharles V, also king of Spain, was drawn into conflictin Italy and elsewhere during the 1520s. With hisattention diverted to these military campaigns, severalGerman princes seized the opportunity to convert toProtestantism and to oppose Imperial power.

In Germany the Protestant Reformation and thepowerful guild organizations contributed to the riseof popular governmental reform. Many Germanprinces and dukes converted to the new religion toremain as head of state with a minimum of internalstrife. Encompassing more than three hundred prin-cipalities and cities that had separate secular orecclesiastical rulers and no centralized control, Ger-many was particularly vulnerable to a reform move-ment such as Protestantism. Except for the emperor,there was no centralized power that could moveswiftly to stifle protest, and the emperor often hadresponsibilities in other parts of the continent.Although towns answered to their territorial ruler, afew cities became independent enough to answeronly to the emperor. Imperial knights, members ofthe nobility, also answered only to the emperor. Thefate of Germany was historically linked with that ofthe Holy Roman Empire because the emperor waschosen by German electors and also served as theking of Germany. Maximilian I (1459–1519) helped

modernize the legal system by establishing the AulicCouncil (Reichshofrat) and the Imperial Court ofChancery (Reichskammergericht), whose jurisdic-tion sometimes overlapped. The Aulic Counciljudged cases pertaining to criminal charges involv-ing Imperial subjects and issues concerning succes-sion in the fiefdoms, and the Court of Chanceryheard most other lawsuits. Maximilian began to cen-tralize the governing of his Imperial dominions,including Austria, but Germany remained a dis-parate group of principalities and imperial cities. Inspite of the various reform movements, most of Ger-many was governed by feudal law; the Hohenzollernfamily in Brandenburg and the Wittelsbach familyin the Palatinate were particularly powerful.

The weakness of each principality chiefly lay inthe relatively small size of each territory, as manycities had no control of the population beyondtheir city walls. Living conditions of the peasantclass deteriorated during the 15th century, with ris-ing prices and princes’ demands for increasingsums in taxes and tribute. Local leaders had nointerest in national politics, only in their ownaggrandizement.

THE NETHERLANDS

The provinces of the Netherlands included semiau-tonomous cities (similar to Italian city-states),provinces under the Holy Roman Empire (notablyHolland), and provinces claimed by France. Severalof these city-states were wealthy through interna-tional trade, which provided economic opportunityand social advancement for members of the middleclass. During much of the 15th century, part of theNetherlandish territory was ruled by the dukes ofBurgundy. In the northern provinces, the governorsselected magistrates for the town council fromamong the most prosperous citizens. In the south,however, urban constitutions created by the power-ful guilds of dyers and weavers allowed for represen-tative government, giving a voice to commoners.Even the most autocratic ducal rulers had to negoti-ate with representatives of the towns in order to col-lect the income that the merchant class could


15

provide. One method of gaining partial control of aregion was to control the bishop, and the dukes ofBurgundy occasionally installed one of their sons inthat office, for example, in Utrecht. Episcopal gov-ernment in Netherlandish towns, while temperedby town councils, remained strong through theearly 16th century with support from members ofthe aristocracy. One reason for this was that thenames of members of the nobility friendly to theclergy were sometimes entered on rolls listing localtradesmen, giving the aristocracy a voice in towngovernment. Nevertheless, the dukes of Burgundyoften convened the Estates General of the Nether-lands, whose members—some elected and someappointed—represented the various provinces. As of1477, the Estates General had the power to convenemeetings, approve royal marriages, levy taxes, anddeclare war. Government was authorized at thegrassroots level; delegates returned home to canvasslocal councils before any major proposal could beratified. Thus the townspeople of the Netherlandsheld a significant amount of power. The only cen-tralized secular government was that in the Burgun-dian domain.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, born andraised in the Netherlands, spoke the Flemish lan-guage and initially had the cooperation of theEstates General. When the town of Ghent revolted,however, in 1540, he dealt harshly with the rebelsand the town lost its privileges. The relationshipbetween the Netherlands and Imperial authorityincreasingly deteriorated during the followingdecade. When the Netherlands became part of theinheritance of the Spanish king, Philip II, he alien-ated the Estates General by demanding higher taxesto finance his military campaigns. During the latter1560s, the Spanish king attempted to force abso-lutist rule on his Dutch subjects by sending in Span-ish troops. In response, William I of Orange(1533–84), governor of the United Provinces, con-vened the Estates of the provinces of Zeeland andHolland to form a provisional independent govern-ment. Although Netherlandish provinces in thesouth reaffirmed their loyalty to Spain, the sevennorthern provinces founded a republic that lastedmore than two centuries. The heads of state of thisnew government were members of the house ofOrange.

POLAND ANDHUNGARY

Located at the eastern edge of Europe, both Polandand Hungary consisted of large masses of continu-ous territory, quite different from other Europeanmonarchies ruling scattered regions separated byforeign possessions. Both countries had abundantsupplies of grain and other basic necessities, andthey needed very little from outside their own bor-ders. With a nobility that ruled self-sufficiently intheir respective fiefdoms, and with a powerful Dietassembled from these individuals, neither Polandnor Hungary felt the need for a strong centralizedgovernment or an ongoing foreign policy.

PolandPoland occupies a special place in Renaissance polit-ical history, as religious freedom was incorporatedinto the principles of government in 1573. Protes-tants, Muslims, Jews, and other groups coexisted inthe same cities during the 16th century as they hadduring the 15th, with no expulsions or official perse-cutions. Commoners in general experienced agreater atmosphere of personal freedom than inother parts of eastern Europe. The Polish Diet hadtwo houses, the Senate (upper house) consisting ofappointed members, and the Chamber of Deputies(lower house) consisting of elected representatives.This governmental body functioned both judiciallyand legislatively, and new laws were approved onlyby the Diet. Because actions of the king himselfcould be reviewed before the Diet, RenaissancePoland was a parliamentary monarchy. Significantly,electors from the Diet chose Poland’s kings.

After 1569, the principality of Lithuania was for-mally unified with Poland, creating a territory threetimes the size of present-day France. The Diet wasextremely powerful during the 16th century, whenthe provincial diets were virtually autonomous.Although the king could appoint administrativeofficials, he was not permitted to remove them fromoffice. This policy encouraged an independent atti-


16

tude among those in charge of local administration,making centralization of the government impossi-ble. When Poland doubled its land area in 1569,government at the national level faltered. The con-solidation that might have made Poland a powerfulpresence in European politics never occurred.

HungaryUntil 1526, Hungary’s Diet had only one house,which consisted of the entire nobility of the countryrather than delegates. The Magyar nobility includedennobled representatives of corporations in severalof the towns, all of whom were required to attendmeetings of the Diet. This rather large group con-vened annually, but there was no real leadership atthe national level. On the other hand, the Dietattempted to balance power among the executive,judicial, and legislative councils, and the gentry hadan equal voice with members of the old nobility inthe Privy Council. Although Hungary was a monar-chy, the king’s powers were limited by the Diet, andthere was no attempt to formulate foreign policy forthe country as a whole. For much of the Renais-sance, Hungary was under the rule of foreignhouses. The most noteworthy Hungarian king wasMatthias Corvinus (1443–90), who was elected in1458. The emperor’s brother, Ferdinand (whowould become Emperor Ferdinand I), was elected in1526; however, the Turks captured Buda in 1541 andmuch of Hungary fell under Turkish domination. By1568, Hungary was partitioned, its western andnorthern sections under Austrian rule and centraland eastern sections under Turkish domination.

ENGLAND ANDSCOTLAND

Ireland and Wales were nominally ruled by Englandduring the 15th century; Wales was formally incor-porated into England in 1537 by the Union of Walesand England Act. Ireland was under English sover-eignty by 1540. The rule of English law was estab-

lished in Wales by an act of 1542. The Irish andWelsh had the same legal rights and responsibilitiesas the English, and Wales had representatives in Par-liament. Although Ireland had its own parliament, itcould not convene without the permission of the rul-ing monarch of England. The earls of Kildare hadcontrol of much of Ireland and ruled in the king’s orqueen’s name. Ireland experienced several violentrebellions during the 16th century; most of themconcerned the imposition of the Church of Englandas official religion. The house of Stuart ruled Scot-land, but their reign was opposed in the early 15thcentury. The king was assassinated when Scottishlords asserted their autonomy and civil war disruptedthe country for several years. Another 15th-centuryking was imprisoned while his son seized the throne.Although Scottish soldiers clashed with English inseveral battles near the northern border of England,Scotland did not extend its territory. The politicalhistory of Scotland during the Renaissance was influ-enced not only by English opposition, but also by theregional focus of Scottish lords and the increasinglypowerful commoners, notably the Protestant faction.

EnglandEngland’s Parliament had (and has) two houses, theHouse of Lords and the House of Commons.Although the latter body was intended to representtownspeople, during the 16th century the townsdelegated more knights than commoners to repre-sent them. Until the reign of Henry VIII (r.1509–47) Parliament had met sporadically, usuallyless than once a year. Beginning in 1529, Parlia-ment sat for five years to work through the detailsof royal reforms, especially the closing of monas-teries and the impounding of monastic property. In1534, Henry VIII denied papal authority in En-gland and assumed the role of head of the Churchof England, or Anglican Church (see chapter 2,religion). Parliament also had long sessions duringthe reign of Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603) to finalizedetails concerning the independence of the Churchof England. Not until the Stuart dynasty of the17th century did England have an absolutemonarch who refused to convene Parliament, andhe was executed in 1649.


17

HENRY VIII

England was at peace when Henry VIII (1491–1547)was crowned in 1509. Henry claimed the crown ofFrance, especially the provinces of Normandy,Guyenne, Gascony, and Anjou. Although Englishforces attacked France three times during his reign,Henry kept only the cities of Calais, Tournai, andBoulogne, and the French king, Francis I, paid him ahefty pension as satisfaction for his claim. The portcity of Calais was actually enfranchised as part ofEngland in 1536 (lost in 1558), but the other twocities remained under the French Crown. The dis-trict outside Calais known as the Pale is important inEuropean political history because that was the loca-tion of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. For threeweeks in June 1520, Francis I and Henry VIII, withtheir full retinues and court advisers, met in anextravagant diplomatic display that lasted for threeweeks. Francis attempted in vain to persuade theEnglish king not to join forces with Holy RomanEmperor Charles V, knowing that such an alliancewould threaten France from all sides except thewestern coast.

Henry VIII’s international prestige was enhancedby this meeting, and his power in England backed byImperial support. His major political initiatives dur-ing the latter 1520s involved his efforts to obtainpapal dispensation for a divorce from his first wife,Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536). Because she hadnot produced a male heir, Henry wished to remarry.To break with the Catholic Church over this issue,Henry acted as “king in Parliament,” a prerogativewhereby the acts of this legislative and judicial bodyare sanctioned by the Crown as well as by the peo-ple. Besides calling the entire Parliament nine timesduring his reign, Henry met repeatedly with theGreat Council (the king and the House of Lords, hisclose peers).

The king also created 40 new constituencies forthe House of Commons. Parliament granted fundsfor extraordinary purposes, such as defense, andHenry VIII needed money from these new con-stituencies. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (c. 1474–1530),the king’s chaplain and lord chancellor, proposed anew basis for taxation. Unlike most countries in west-ern Europe, England did not exempt the nobilityfrom taxes. Wolsey proposed that royal commission-

ers should assess the estimated value of property, andthat taxes should be based on that amount. Parlia-ment, however, voted on the frequency of taxation.Thus Parliament, as this example demonstrates,somewhat balanced royal power with a modified formof popular government.

Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII andhis second wife, Anne Boleyn (1507–36). During herlong reign as queen, she formalized the Church ofEngland as the official church of the realm, and sheblended politics and religion by forcing Protes-tantism on the Irish. Parliament generally supportedElizabeth, who recognized the importance of itscooperation in domestic government.

ScotlandAlthough some statesmen advocated having a com-mon monarch for Scotland and England as the onlyway of ending the debilitating conflict betweenthem, that goal was not accomplished until thedeath of Elizabeth I in 1603. During the Renais-sance, Scotland was an independent country withits own parliament, ruled locally by some of thefiercest knights in western Europe. James IV, alongwith many of Scotland’s knights, died in the 1512Battle of Flodden fighting the English. His son,James V (1512–42), had a long minority, duringwhich commerce flourished and the merchant classbegan to gain political leverage in Scotland.Protestantism vied with Catholicism as the statereligion. As the new religion began to influencepolitical decisions, many Scots leaned toward En-gland. Hostile to Henry VIII of England, James Vpromoted members of the Catholic party, and hisFrench wife, Mary of Lorraine (Marie of Guise,1515–60), raised their, daughter, Mary (1542–87),as a Catholic. Because Mary, queen of Scots, wasonly an infant when she inherited the throne, hermother ruled as regent. England, which repeatedlyattempted diplomatic negotiations to control Scot-land, succeeded only when Elizabeth I agreed tohave her cousin, Mary, executed. Mary’s son JamesVI (1566–1625) became king of both England andScotland, but the countries were not united as asingle kingdom until 1707.


18

MAJOR RULERSAND THEIR DATESOF OFFICE(All dates are the dates of reign)

ItalyVENICE

Francesco Foscari, doge of Venice 1423–1457Pietro Mocenigo, doge of Venice 1474–1476Giovanni Mocenigo, doge of Venice 1478–1485Agostino Barbarigo, doge of Venice 1486–1501Leonardo Loredan, doge of Venice 1501–1521Andrea Gritti, doge of Venice 1523–1538Francesco Donato, doge of Venice 1545–1553

FLORENCE

Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder, 1434–1464ruler of Florence

Piero I de’ Medici, ruler of Florence 1464–1469Lorenzo de’ Medici, ruler of Florence 1469–1492Giulio de’ Medici, ruler of Florence 1519–1523Alessandro de’ Medici, duke of Florence 1531–1537Cosimo I de’ Medici, 1569–1574

grand duke of Tuscany(ruler of Florence, 1537–1560s)

MILAN

Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan 1395–1402(lord of Milan, 1378–1395)

Giovanni Maria Visconti, duke of Milan 1402–1412Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan 1412–1447Francesco I Sforza, duke of Milan 1450–1466Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan 1466–1476Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan 1494–1499

(ruler of Milan, 1480–1494)

FERRARA

Niccolò III d’Este, marquis of Ferrara 1393–1441Léonello I d’Este, marquis of Ferrara 1441–1450

Borso d’Este, marquis of Ferrara 1450–1471Ercole I d’Este, duke of Ferrara 1471–1505Alfonso I d’Este, duke of Ferrara 1505–1534Ercole II d’Este, duke of Ferrara 1534–1559Alfonso II d’Este, duke of Ferrara 1559–1597

MANTUA

Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, 1407–1444marquis of Mantua

Ludovico II Gonzaga, 1444–1478marquis of Mantua

Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga, 1484–1519marquis of Mantua

Federigo II Gonzaga, 1519–1540marquis of Mantua(duke of Mantua, 1530–1540)

PARMA

Ottavio Farnese, 1547–1549, 1550–1586 duke of Parma and Piacenza

Alessandro Farnese, 1586–1592duke of Parma and Piacenza

RIMINI

Sigismondo Malatesta, c.1433–1468lord of Rimini

URBINO

Federigo II da Montefeltro, 1474–1482duke of Urbino

Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro, 1482–1508duke of Urbino

Francesco Maria I delle Rovere, 1508–1516,duke of Urbino 1521–1538

Guidobaldo II delle Rovere, 1538–1574duke of Urbino

NAPLES

House of AnjouLadislas I, king of Naples 1400–1414Joanna II, queen of Naples 1414–1435René I of Anjou, king of Naples 1435–1442


19

House of Aragon (under Spain)Alfonso I, king of Naples 1443–1458

(Alfonso V of Aragon)Ferrante I, king of Naples 1458–1494

Holy Roman EmpireHOUSE OF LUXEMBOURG

Sigismund I, Holy Roman Emperor 1410–1437

HOUSE OF HABSBURG

Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor 1440–1493Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor 1493–1519Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1519–1556Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1556–1564Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor 1564–1576Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1576–1612

FranceFRANCE

House of ValoisCharles VII, king of France 1422–1461Louis XI, king of France 1461–1483Charles VIII, king of France 1483–1498

Orléans dynastyLouis XII, king of France 1498–1515

(king of Naples, 1501–1503)

Angoulême dynastyFrancis I, king of France 1515–1547Henry II, king of France 1547–1559Charles IX, king of France 1560–1574Henry III, king of France 1574–1589

House of BourbonHenry IV, king of France 1589–1610

BURGUNDY (CLAIMED BY FRANCE)

House of ValoisPhilip the Bold, duke of Burgundy 1363–1404John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy 1404–1419

Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy 1419–1467Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy 1467–1477

Spain and PortugalSPAIN

Castile and LeónJohn II, king of Castile and León 1406–1454

[in Spain]Henry IV, king of Castile and León 1454–1474Isabella I, queen of Castile and León 1474–1504

[in Spain]

AragonAlfonso V, king of Aragon [in Spain] 1416–1458

(Alfonso I of Naples)John II, king of Aragon [in Spain] 1458–1479Ferdinand V, king of Aragon [in Spain] 1479–1516

(Ferdinand II of Castile and León, 1474–1516)

House of HabsburgCharles I, king of Castile and Aragon 1516–1556

[Spain](Emperor Charles V)Philip II, king of Castile and Aragon 1556–1598

[Spain](king of Portugal as of 1580)

PORTUGAL

House of AvisJohn I, king of Portugal 1385–1433Duarte I, king of Portugal 1433–1438Afonso V, king of Portugal 1438–1481John II, king of Portugal 1481–1495Manuel I, king of Portugal 1495–1521John III, king of Portugal 1521–1557Sebastian I, king of Portugal 1557–1578

GermanyKINGS OF GERMANY

House of WittelsbachRuprecht of the Palatinate, 1400–1410

king of Germany


20

House of LuxembourgSigismund I, king of Bohemia 1410–1437

(also emperor)

House of HabsburgAlbrecht II, king of the Romans 1438–1439Frederick IV, king of the Romans 1440–1486

(also emperor, as Frederick III 1440–1493)

Maximilian I, king of the Romans 1486–1519(also emperor, 1493–1519)

Charles V, king of the Romans 1519–1558(also emperor, 1519–1556)

Ferdinand I, king of the Romans 1558–1562(also emperor, 1556–1564)

Maximilian II, king of the Romans 1562–1575(also emperor, 1564–1576)

Rudolf II, king of the Romans 1575–1612(also emperor, 1576–1612)

BRANDENBURG

House of HohenzollernFrederick II, elector of Brandenburg 1440–1470Albrecht III Achilles, elector of 1470–1486

Brandenburg (intermittently)Johann Cicero, elector of Brandenburg 1486–1499Joachim I, elector of Brandenburg 1499–1535Johann Georg, elector of Brandenburg 1571–1598

HESSE

Philip, landgrave of Hesse 1509–1567Wilhelm IV, landgrave of Hesse 1567–1592

PALATINATE

House of WittelsbachLudwig III, elector of the Palatinate 1410–1436Ludwig IV, elector of the Palatinate 1436–1449Friedrich I, elector of the Palatinate 1452–1476

(as regent, 1449–1452)Philipp the Upright, 1476–1508

elector of the PalatinateLudwig V, elector of the Palatinate 1508–1544Friedrich II, elector of the Palatinate 1544–1556Otto Heinrich, 1556–1559

elector of the Palatinate

Simmern dynastyFriedrich III, elector of the Palatinate 1559–1576Ludwig VI, elector of the Palatinate 1576–1583Friedrich IV, elector of the Palatinate 1583–1610

SAXONY

House of WettinAlbrecht the Bold, duke of Saxony 1464–1500Johann Friedrich I, elector of Saxony 1532–1547Maurice, duke of Saxony 1541–1553

(elector of Saxony, 1547–1553)

The NetherlandsHOUSE OF VALOIS

Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy 1363–1404John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy 1404–1419Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy 1419–1467Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy 1467–1477

HOUSE OF HABSBURG

Philip the Handsome 1482–1506(son of Mary of Burgundy and Emperor Maximilian I)

Margaret of Austria, 1507–1530regent of the Netherlands(in the name of Charles V)

HOUSE OF ORANGE-NASSAU

William I, Stadtholder 1572–1584of the United Provinces

Maurice, Stadtholder 1585–1625of the United Provinces

Poland and HungaryPOLAND

House of LithuaniaCasimir IV, king of Poland 1446–1492Sigismund I, king of Poland 1506–1548

(ruled with his son Sigismund IIas of 1530)


21

Sigismund II, king of Poland 1530–1572(ruled with his father, Sigismund I, 1530–1548)

House of TransylvaniaStefan Batóry, king of Poland 1575–1586

House of SwedenSigismund III, king of Poland 1587–1632

HUNGARY

Matthias I Corvinus, king of Hungary 1458–1490

England and Scotland

ENGLAND

House of LancasterHenry V, king of England 1413–1422Henry VI, king of England 1422–1461

and 1470–1471

House of YorkEdward IV, king of England 1461–1470

and 1471–1483Richard III, king of England 1483–1485

House of TudorHenry VII, king of England 1485–1509Henry VIII, king of England 1509–1547Edward VI 1547–1553Mary Tudor, queen of England 1553–1558Elizabeth I, queen of England 1558–1603

House of StuartJames I, king of England 1603–1625

( James VI of Scotland)

SCOTLAND

House of StuartJames IV, king of Scotland 1488–1513James V, king of Scotland 1512–1542Mary, queen of Scots 1542–1587James VI, king of Scotland 1567–1625

( James I of England)

MAJOR FIGURES

Albrecht III Achilles, elector of Brandenburg(1414–1486), was the son of Friedrich I of Hohen-zollern. In 1473 Albrecht III issued a famous edict bywhich primogeniture would determine inheritance.The eldest son would rule the mark of Brandenburgand the other sons would share the Hohenzollerndomains in Franconia.

Alexander VI, pope (Rodrigo de Borja y Doms)(1431–1503), born in Valencia (Spain), studied lawin Bologna. His main interest in both Italian andforeign affairs was in marrying his children intopowerful families, to promote political and territor-ial objectives. In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas,Alexander VI affected the foreign policies of bothSpain and Portugal by setting the demarcation lineof their New World claims in present-day Brazil. Hegave his support to the University of Rome, restoredthe Castel Sant’ Angelo, built the Torre Borgia inthe present-day Vatican, and commissioned Pin-turicchio for the paintings.

Alfonso V, king of Aragon (Alfonso I, king of Naples)(1396–1458), spent the final 15 years of his life in thecapital city of Naples, ruling with a firm but pioushand. A patron of learning and of the arts, Alfonsomost famously commissioned the sculpted tri-umphal arch that functioned as an entrance to hiscastle overlooking the Bay of Naples. It still can beseen today. In addition to patronizing the Universityof Naples, he founded a university in Catania and aGreek school in Messina.

Bloody Mary See MARY TUDOR, QUEEN OFENGLAND.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I,king of Spain) (1500–1558), inherited the largestEuropean empire since Charlemagne’s. He washindered in his efforts at holding together theEmpire by its geographic extent, the hostility ofhis Spanish subjects, and his failure to settle con-flicts with Protestant leaders in Germany and theNetherlands.


22

Charles VII, king of France (1403–1461), becameregent in 1418 because his mentally ill father wasproclaimed unfit to rule. With the help of Joan ofArc, he was crowned in 1419, but he later failed torescue her from the English. Distrustful of the aris-tocracy, Charles gathered around him a group ofbourgeois advisers. When members of the nobleclass rebelled, the king was able to suppress thembecause of the loyalty of his lesser subjects.

Charles VIII, king of France (1470–1498), has thedubious distinction of having refused to call anassembly of the Estates General (the chief governingbody) during his reign. (This type of autocraticbehavior by the French monarchy continued until1560.) Charles married Anne of Brittany in 1491,aligning that duchy under the aegis of France. Hisinvasion of Italy in 1494, to reclaim his Neapolitantitle, initiated the Italian Wars.

Charles IX, king of France (1550–1574), was aweak monarch who permitted his mother, Catherinede’ Medici, to intervene in decisions directly affect-ing the welfare of his subjects. Himself a poet,Charles patronized the writers belonging to thePléiade, and he supported the Academy in Paris.

Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1433–1477),aspired to be crowned king of Burgundy, to be theequal of the king of France. As the husband of Mar-garet of York, he was supported by Edward IV ofEngland, her brother. Charles was defeated in hiseffort to become king of Burgundy, and his auto-cratic power was limited. Had Charles the Boldbecome a king, the network of alliances between thecourt and Burgundian nobility would have shifted,with unpredictable results.

Clement VII, pope (Giulio de’ Medici) (1478–1534),is best remembered for his patronage of literature andthe arts, especially his commissioning of Michelan-gelo for frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. In Rome whenthe city was sacked in 1527, Clement was imprisoned.One of the results was the overthrow of the Medici bya republican government in Florence.

Contarini, Gasparo (1483–1542), a noblemanborn in Venice who served the republic as a diplo-

mat and wrote De magistratibus et republica Veneto-rum (On the Magistrates and the Republic of the Vene-tians, 1543). In that work he cited several reasonswhy the Venetian republic lasted 12 centuries andwhy it was superior to that of Rome. He laterbecame a reforming cardinal.

Elizabeth I, queen of England (1533–1603), isknown for the stability of her reign, notably her partin unifying English society after the chaos of her sis-ter, Mary’s, attempt at rule. Her long reign gaveElizabeth the opportunity to unify the Protestantchurch in England, especially with the Thirty-nineArticles, and she was famous for her patronage ofpoets and musicians. She was also an effective diplo-mat in her dealings with Philip II, and her encour-agement of “sea dogs” such as Drake expandedEngland’s command of maritime initiatives.

d’Este, Alfonso I, duke of Ferrara (1486–1534),was opposed by members of his own family, whofomented rebellion with the support of sympatheticpatricians. Although he suppressed this group,Alfonso feuded with the pope, putting his dukedomin jeopardy. Alfonso studied military weaponry andwas well informed about artillery. As head of thepapal troops, he defeated the Venetian fleet, and in1512 he helped the French win the Battle ofRavenna. He also patronized the arts at his court inFerrara, commissioning paintings by Titian andGiovanni Bellini.

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564),was the younger brother of Charles V. In the 1521Partition of Worms, he was given control of theHabsburg territories in Austria and Germany, andhe later became king of Hungary. He allied himselfwith the Utraquists in Bohemia by granting themthe religious sacrament of Communion, but heopposed the Lutherans in Germany. His administra-tive systems lasted until 1918; of them the PrivyCouncil, Treasury, and Council of War were espe-cially important.

Ferdinand V, king [consort] of Spain [Castile andLeón] (Ferdinand II, king of Aragon) (1452–1516),was guided in his rule by the three Cortes of Aragon,one for each major geographic region. As governing


23

bodies that convened regularly, they approved anynew laws. In 1469 he married Isabella of Castile; theunion that eventually unified Iberia itself. Ferdinandsupported Isabella in implementing the Inquisitionin Spanish territory, in expelling the Jews fromSpain, and in financing the voyages of ChristopherColumbus.

Ferrante I, king of Naples (1423–1494), wasauthoritarian in his government of Naples andSicily. When members of the nobility revolted inNaples, Ferrante promised them amnesty but laterhad them murdered. Alerted to the dynastic threatsof the king of France, Ferrante attempted to createan alliance with the pope and the duke of Milan. Hefailed, however, and Naples was left vulnerable afterhis death in January 1494.

Francis I, king of France (1494–1547), created aroyal council that attended to various needs of thegovernment. Although he contributed to the central-ization of the legal system, Francis never called anassembly of the Estates General during his reign. Hesupported many artists and humanistic scholars; hischateau of Fontainebleau was notable for paintingsand sculpture by several Italian artists. Francis wantedto become Holy Roman Emperor, but the electionwent to Charles V. The enmity of these two rulers ledto military encounters over several decades, duringwhich Henry VIII vacillated between the two.

Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua(1466–1519), was away from his court for long peri-ods. During the marquis’s absences, his wife, Isabellad’Este (1474–1539), became an important figure incourt culture and politics. They both patronized artand music, including the building of the Palazzo SanSebastiano. Gianfrancesco served as a military leaderfor Venice, France, Florence, and the pope.

Gonzaga, Ludovico II, marquis of Mantua(1412–1478), received a humanist education andruled as a virtuous and honorable lord of the city.During the early years of his rule, Ludovico wasinvolved in the conflicts between Venice and Milan,leading troops for each side. After the 1454 Peace ofLodi, he was able to turn his attention to patronizinghumanistic scholars such as Francesco Filelfo and

artists such as Mantegna. He also commissionedAlberti to design the Church of Sant’ Andrea inMantua.

Henry VII, king of England (1457–1509), foundedthe Tudor dynasty. A nephew of Henry VI, he mar-ried Elizabeth of York and thus united the houses ofYork and Lancaster. Directly involved in affairs ofgovernment, he was chiefly responsible for thesound financial condition of England at the close ofhis reign.

Henry VIII, king of England (1491–1547), usedhis position as monarch to create the Church ofEngland after he feuded with the pope about hisdivorce of Catherine of Aragon. His closing of themonasteries, many of which administered to thepoor, led to criticism and social unrest. Althoughroyal seizure of monastic property greatly added tothe treasury, Henry’s military engagements againstFrance and Scotland depleted the kingdom’sresources.

Henry III, king of France (1551–1589), wasmanipulated by members of the Catholic faction torepress the Huguenots. Although he agreed to peacein 1576, the religious wars continued. He foughtbravely, leading the royal army in several victories.Henry was assassinated during the siege of Paris.(For a brief period before his brother’s death in1574, he had been the king of Poland.)

Henry IV, king of France (1553–1610), was a firmruler who instituted strict financial reformsthroughout the country, strengthening royal power.As Henry of Navarre, he was raised as a Protestant.After becoming king, he supported limited tolera-tion of Protestantism.

Isabella I, queen of Spain [Castile and León](1451–1504) married Ferdinand II of Aragon in1469 and consolidated non-Moorish Spain. TheCorte of Castile did not have the power of those inAragon, and Isabella based her administration onseveral advisers, including her confessor. A staunchsupporter of Catholicism, Isabella reconqueredGranada and drove the Jews from the Spanish main-land. She sent Chistopher Columbus on his voyages


24

of exploration, not only for treasure but also for thespreading of the Catholic religion.

Julius II, pope (Giuliano della Rovere) (1443–1513),was known for his successful mediation of foreignaffairs, beginning with negotiating the Burgundianinheritance between Louis XII, king of France, andthe emperor Maximilian I. Julius was also a greatpatron of the arts; he commissioned Michelangeloto sculpt his tomb and paint the ceiling of the SistineChapel and Bramante to design a new basilica forSaint Peter’s. He also created the first bishoprics inthe New World.

Leo X, pope (Giovanni de’ Medici) (1475–1521), wasthe second son of Lorenzo de’ Medici. To finance hislavish patronage of art and learning and the cam-paign against the Turks, he levied a tax on benefices.His later sale of indulgences contributed to therebellion of Martin Luther against clerical corrup-tion, and in 1521 the pope excommunicated him.Leo had the bad fortune to be pope during the ItalianWars. In the 1516 Concordat of Bologna, he signedover Piacenza and Parma to the French, but he man-aged to retain Florence for his family, the Medici. InRome, he refounded the university and established aprinting press for Greek books. Leo’s art patronageincluded works by Raphael and Sansovino.

Louis XI, king of France (1423–1483), was the firstmonarch to unify France under a centralized admin-istration. He succeeded in extending French terri-tory to the Pyrenees and prevented an Englishinvasion in the north by paying off Edward IV.Though his various taxes, including a tax on salt,were unpopular, they helped stabilize the economy.Louis convened the Estates General only once andoften ignored the recommendations of the Par-lement of Paris.

Louis XII, king of France (1462–1515), paid littleattention to French domestic affairs, focusinginstead on the Italian Wars, which drained his trea-sury. Although the invasion of Italy gained Francefew tangible benefits during Louis’s reign, FrenchRenaissance culture benefited enormously fromexposure to the Italian Renaissance of the late 15thand early 16th centuries.

Louise of Savoy, duchess of Angoulême(1476–1531), was the mother of Francis I. She ruledFrance in his name whenever he was absent for anylength of time, and she herself was responsible forgoverning the duchies presented to her by Francis.She was one of the most powerful regents of theRenaissance.

Margaret of Austria,duchess of Savoy (1480–1530),was regent of the Netherlands from her widow-hood in 1507 until her death. She had the opportu-nity as a young woman to observe the workings ofgovernment in France (she was betrothed toCharles VIII at the age of two and raised at theFrench court) and of Savoy (she was married to theduke for three years). Margaret was a patron ofartists, especially composers, who set her poems tomusic.

Margaret, duchess of Parma (1522–1586), wasregent of the Netherlands from 1559 until her resig-nation in 1567, which resulted from severe opposi-tion to her implementation of the Inquisition byorder of Philip II. At times she had only nominalauthority, as the Spanish king pursued his own inter-ests in her domain. The result of his stringent poli-cies was the Revolt of the Netherlands.

Mary, queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) (1542–1587),was queen of Scotland and briefly of France (the lat-ter through her marriage to Francis II, who died in1560). Most of her reign was consumed with effortsto gather enough Catholic support to take the En-glish throne from Elizabeth I, whose legitimacy wasnot recognized by many of her Catholic subjects. AProtestant uprising in Scotland forced Mary to fleeto England, where she was arrested. She was exe-cuted by order of Elizabeth I in 1587.

Mary Tudor, queen of England (Mary I or BloodyMary) (1516–1558), ruled from 1553 to 1558.Daughter of Catherine of Aragon, she was raised inthe Catholic faith. Her main goal in governing En-gland was to destroy the Church of England andrestore Catholicism as the official religion of thecountry. The resulting Protestant rebellions, how-ever, made England more than ready to accept Eliz-abeth I as queen when Mary died.


25

Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490) was elected king ofHungary in 1458. He left domestic governmentchiefly in the hands of advisers while he sought toexpand his powers into Bohemia and push imperialtroops out of Vienna. He had humanistic courts inboth Buda and Vienna. Educated as a humanist,Matthias was personally involved with building hissubstantial library collection and patronizing the arts.

Maurice, count of Nassau (1567–1625), was gov-ernor of the United Provinces and, as of 1618,prince of Orange. He acted as chief executive, butgovernment was administered by the Estates Gen-eral, which during his reign was increasingly influ-enced by members of the middle class. An expertmilitary commander, Maurice reorganized his armyon classical models of small battalions, with specialunits of artillery. Between 1588 and 1598, his troopsdrove the Spaniards out of the northern provinces.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519),was embroiled in conflict for much of his reign withthe independent German princes and with theEstates General of the Netherlands. In the 1495 Dietof Worms, he agreed to the creation of a legal coun-cil and an advisory council but managed to preventthe establishment of an executive council. Maximil-ian’s problems in the north caused him to lose face inItaly, and his dream of a centralized Imperial admin-istrative system was not realized. Maximilian had ascintillating court, which patronized musicians andartists such as Dürer.

Medici, Catherine de’, queen of France(1519–1589), was a powerful figure during thereign of her sons, ruling as regent for part of thattime. Orphaned at a young age, she was under theprotection of Clement VII, a Medici pope. He andFrancis II arranged her marriage to the dauphin,Henry. After Henry’s death in 1559, Catherinereigned as regent for many years. Although she ini-tially made several major concessions to theHuguenots, later she schemed against them andwas partly responsible for the Saint Batholomew’sMassacre of 1572. As a result, the Protestantmasses turned against her and Catherine’s author-ity at court was usurped by members of the Guisefamily.

Medici, Cosimo I de’, duke of Florence andgrand duke of Tuscany (1519–1574), was a son ofthe famous condottiere Giovanni de’ Medici. He waselected by the Council of Forty-eight to the duke-dom in 1537. His election was opposed by a group ofnobles whom he subsequently defeated, and he ruth-lessly quelled any further opposition by execution.

Medici, Lorenzo de’ (1449–1492) inherited theFlorentine commercial empire of the Medici bank.Lorenzo manipulated the governing bodies of therepublic and virtually ruled as a prince for more thantwo decades. He was called “Il Magnifico” (the mag-nificent), signifying that he functioned as the head ofstate even though he was not actually a prince. Apoet himself, Lorenzo supported numerous artistsand writers, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio,Leonardo, Pico della Mirandola, and Poliziano.

Montefeltro, Federigo II da, duke of Urbino(1422–1482), ruled Urbino and its environs as a war-lord, assisted by his band of condottieri. During hisreign, several architectural and artistic projectsenhanced the beauty of Renaissance Urbino. Amongthese were an entire room in his palace decoratedwith trompe l’oeil intarsia work and a similar roomin the palace at Gubbio (today installed in the Met-ropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

Moro, Il See SFORZA, LODOVICO.

Philip II, king of Spain (also of Naples and Por-tugal, and duke of Milan) (1527–1598), was knownas a pious, serious man and a stern ruler. Althoughthe Aragonese nobility rebelled against his reign in1591, Philip quelled their independent spirit, as hehad that of his morisco subjects in Granada in 1570.He was also instrumental in the spread of the Span-ish Inquisition and directly responsible for theRevolt of the Netherlands. His most impressivecommission was El Escorial near Madrid, a palacecomplex that included a monastery.

Philip of Hesse (1504–1567), a German land-grave, was coleader of the Schmalkaldic League.He understood the powerful potential of theProtestant Reformation in European politics, andbecame a Lutheran early in his reign. Philip was


26

hailed by Protestants throughout Germany whenhis troops defeated Imperial forces in 1534. Hisinitial goal was to conquer the Habsburg emperor,but he was forced to sign a short-lived treaty withCharles V in 1541. Once again fighting for theProtestant cause a short time later, he was capturedand imprisoned. After his release in 1552, he spentthe remainder of his life as a Protestant champion.

Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy (1396–1467),maintained the chivalric ideals of his father, in anaristocratic court surrounded by his knights, mem-bers of the nobility. His court was a major center ofFlemish music and art, including the works of thepainter Jan van Eyck. Philip also founded the chival-ric Order of the Golden Fleece.

Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552–1612),needed funding to suppress rebellion in the Nether-lands and to wage war against the Turks. Thus hisvarious provinces gained important concessions, forboth Protestants and Catholics, in return for theirfinancial support. Organizing his court in Prague in1573, Rudolf became a patron of the arts and sci-ences, collecting works of art and scientific speci-mens from across Europe. Both Brahe and Keplerwere at his court; the latter’s Rudolphine Tables of1627 were named after the emperor.

Sebastian I, king of Portugal (1554–1578), ruledfor only 10 years until he was killed in battle. Focus-ing on mysticism and military crusades, Sebastianleft the administration of government to others,including Jesuits, who had entered positions ofpower in Portugal. Refusing to marry, he set thestage for the Spanish to take over the throne of Por-tugal after his death. Sebastian was killed in northAfrica during his second crusade against the Moors.

Sforza, Francesco I, duke of Milan (1401–1466),ruled as the first Sforza duke of Milan. Initially, how-ever, he had to confront the Ambrosian Republic (seethe section, Italy). His court attracted renownedhumanistic scholars, and he permitted his daughter,Ippolita, to become proficient in Latin. Francesco’sbuilding projects included a canal that allowed Milanto reach the Adda River and the Ospedale Maggiore(today part of the University of Milan).

Sforza, Lodovico, duke of Milan (1452–1508),had complete power over the government of theduchy of Milan, but he often left the administrationof government in the hands of advisers because ofhis personal focus on military endeavors. He wasvery much involved in the Italian Wars becauseMilan was a desirable duchy. In 1500 Lodovico lostMilan to the French; he spent the rest of his life inprison. Until 1499, however, his patronage was lav-ish, extending to music, science, art, and architec-ture. His most famous commission was for theChurch of Santa Maria della Grazie, for which Bra-mante built the dome and Leonardo painted TheLast Supper (which remains there today).

Sigismund I, king of Poland (1467–1548), spentmost of his reign in military campaigns. Althoughsupported by the aristocracy, he was opposed bymembers of the lesser nobility serving in the Diet ofPoland. In Poland he had to fight the TeutonicKnights, whose order he suppressed in 1521. He alsobattled the troops of Ivan IV on the eastern front.

READING

Becker 1988: social structure; Brown 1997, 41–47:republican politics; Griffiths 1968: representativegovernment; Hale 1971: society and the individual;Koenigsberger 1971: dissenters; Richardson 2002:Henry VIII, Francis I, and Charles V.

ItalyBrucker 1977: Florence; Finlay 1980: Venice; Fubini2000: diplomacy in the city-states; Gilbert 1965:Florence; King 1986: Venice; Lubkin 1994: Milan;Martines 1988: city-states; Muir 1981: Venice;Rubenstein 1997: Florence.

Holy Roman EmpireDoyle 2000: Mary of Hungary and patronage;Knecht 1999: French opposition; Mulgan 1998:monarchies; Weber 1995: theories of absolutism.


27

FranceBaumgartner 1995: 16th-century politics; Bohanan2001: nobility; Bosher 2000: New World colonies;Kelley 1981: society and ideology; Le Roy Ladurie1994: society and the state; Stephenson 2004: Mar-guerite de Navarre and patronage.

Spain and PortugalCorteguera 2002: Barcelona; Elliott 2002: Spainand the empire; Gschwend 1998: Portugal (viceroy,1583–1593); Hillgarth 2003: political history; Mul-gan 1998: monarchies; Perrone 2001: clericalopposition; Von Barghahn 1985: symbols ofmonarchy.

GermanyBarraclough 1984: Germany as a nation; Carsten1959, parliaments; Eyck 1998: Christianity and poli-tics; Wiesner 1998: gender issues in politics.

The NetherlandsDarby 2001: Dutch revolt; Davids 1995: DutchRepublic; Gelderen 1992: Dutch revolt; Tilmans2002: republicanism; Verlinden 1981: governmentand economic policy.

Poland and HungaryBalázs 1989: Magyars and the Hungarian nation;Friedrich 2000: Polish independent government.

England and ScotlandBurns 1996: Scotland (kingship); Donaldson 1983:Mary Stuart’s politics; Edington 1994: Scotland;Etty 2002: border disputes; Fleming 1998: Englishregionalism; Goodare 1999: Scotland (society);Mason 1998: politics in Reformation Scotland;Morgan-Russell 2002: More’s Utopia; Ormrod 1996:political ramifications of the Black Death; Rae 1966:Scotland’s frontier.


28

RELIGION

2

Religion during the Renaissance was characterizedby various reforming tendencies, from the

Catholic Inquisition on one end of the doctrinal spec-trum to the discipline of Calvinism on the other. Theroot of this conflict can be traced to the Middle Ages,with the split of Christianity in 1054 into the CatholicChurch and the Eastern Orthodox Church. (This wasthe first Great Schism.) The Western church gradu-ally became semisecularized, dealing with land own-ership and military campaigns. During the 12thcentury, the papacy was in conflict with the HolyRoman Emperor, not over spiritual matters but overterritory in Italy. Churchmen became wealthy land-lords, and many of them took mistresses and lived inluxurious surroundings. Pope Gregory VII undertookto reform the church during this period, enforcingthe rule of celibacy for priests. In the 13th century,Pope Innocent III increased the power of the papacyby reducing that of the emperor. With Imperialmight diminished, however, national governmentsbegan to rise to power. The king of France refused tosend any gold to Rome, and the papacy was bank-rupted and then moved to Avignon in 1305. Between1378 and 1417 (the second Great Schism), antipopeswere elected to rival the pope established in Avignon.Martin V, elected by the Council of Constance, effec-tively healed the rift in the church, though two rivalpopes had very small groups of supporters for severalyears thereafter. As of 1417, the papacy was onceagain based in Rome. One way that the church raisedmoney for numerous projects, such as building pro-grams in Rome during the 15th and early 16th cen-turies, was the selling of indulgences. These werepapers that released a sinner from temporal penaltiesonce he or she had been forgiven. The opposition toindulgences would become the rallying point forMartin Luther (1483–1546) and his supporters in theearly stages of the Protestant Reformation in Ger-many. Inquisitional tribunals that had merelyresponded to papal assignments during the MiddleAges were given extraordinary powers during thisperiod, ferreting out heretics of all kinds, includingsuspicious humanists, Protestants, and convertedJews who had secretly recanted.

The seriousness with which religion was regardedin Renaissance Europe was among the causes of theProtestant Reformation and of reform movementswithin the Catholic Church itself. All aspects of life

were affected by religion during the 15th and 16thcentury, when religious motifs and symbolism domi-nated visual art. By the mid-16th century, even mod-est homes displayed devotional imagery, in prints orsmall wooden statues. Much of Renaissance architec-ture concentrated on constructing or renovating reli-gious buildings. The church, synagogue, or mosqueserved as the center of a community, and spiritualconsiderations often took precedence over earthlyaffairs.

THE PAPACY

The Renaissance papacy had a difficult beginning, inthat the office had been split between Rome andAvignon between 1378 and 1417, as antipopes com-peted with the pope in Rome. This Great Schismwas resolved by the Council of Constance, whichinstalled Martin V as the new pope. Although twoantipopes also demanded recognition, the WesternChurch followed Martin V as their leader.

The word papacy derives from papa, Italian for“father,” and the pope functioned as the spiritualfather of the Western Church. As was the CatholicChurch in general, 15th-century popes were con-cerned about abuses within the papacy. Pope Pius II(1405–64), for example, denounced corruption dur-ing the 1458 meeting of the college of cardinals thatelected him as pope: “The richer and more influentialmembers of the college summoned the rest andsought to gain the papacy for themselves or theirfriends. They begged, promised, threatened, andsome, shamelessly casting aside all decency, pleadedtheir own causes and claimed the papacy as theirright” (Ross and McLaughlin 1968, p. 631). Pius IIwas well aware that the papacy offered wealth andprestige. The pope ruled the Papal States, consistingof Romagna, Umbria, the Marches, Campagna,Marittima, Rome, and the Patrimony of Saint Peter,with Ferrara as his vassal. (Some of these regions wereclaimed by others at various times.) These were pro-ductive agricultural regions that also manufacturedtextiles and paper, with a salt mine in Cervia and analum mine in Tolfa. Income from the Papal States wasmanaged by the Roman Curia, supervised by the col-


30

lege of cardinals and the pope himself. The popes ofthe Renaissance represented many types of men, fromlibertines who had numerous illegitimate children tosaintly scholars who promoted the study of theology.The most memorable Renaissance popes are dis-cussed in the sections that follow.

Martin VMartin V (Oddo Colonna, 1368–1431) was electedin 1417 by a conclave of cardinals and representa-tives at the Council of Constance. He called for reg-ular conciliar meetings, as agreed when he becamepope, although he would have preferred not to rec-ognize the councils’ authority. He used his positionto commission the restoration of several importantbuildings, including churches, in Rome. Remark-ably, Martin V seemed to be compassionate towardJews, tolerating if not respecting their religious law.On the negative side, he enabled his relatives toassume extensive control of land in the Papal States.

Nicholas VNicholas V (Tommaso Parentucelli, 1397–1455)became pope in 1447, at a time when the papacy wasfaced with serious diplomatic and financial prob-lems. An educated and cultivated scholar, he stroveto maintain harmony among disparate rulers withhis considerable skills in diplomacy. He was also ashrewd manager, using the Jubilee of 1450 as anopportunity to raise income for the Holy See. Partof that money was applied to works commissionedfrom artists and architects hired by Nicholas tobeautify Rome, the capital of Christendom. Hisgreatest cultural achievement was collecting some1,200 classical manuscripts, many of which con-tained patristic texts that he ordered translated.These manuscripts became the foundation collec-tion of the Vatican Library.

Pius IIPius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini, 1405–64), electedin 1458, introduced his love for humanistic learning

to the papacy. His Latin poems, histories, and geo-graphical works were praised during his lifetime,and his autobiography gives an intimate view of thepapal office during the mid-15th century. Constan-tinople had fallen to the Turks five years before Piusbecame pope, and his unrealized lifelong desire wasto organize a crusade to reclaim the city. Obsessedwith that goal, Pius failed to consider Frenchdemands concerning Naples, setting the stage forincreased French hostility toward the papacy as wellas toward the king of Naples.

Sixtus IVSixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere, 1414–84)assumed the papal tiara in 1471. He appointed sixof his nephews as cardinals and found positions inthe Curia for other members of his family. Nepo-tism at this exaggerated level would soon becomethe norm for Renaissance popes and was one of theabuses of authority discussed in church councils.Both France and Spain were able to impose theirwill on Sixtus, who could not claim ecclesiasticalauthority in the former and who agreed to theInquisition in the latter. He also became caught upin various Italian conspiracies that resulted inrevolts in several cities, including Rome. As ahumanist, however, he encouraged study of theclassics, and he refounded the Vatican Library. Healso improved the city of Rome by widening andpaving the streets.

Innocent VIIIInnocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cibò, 1432–92)was elected in 1484. He has the distinction of beingremembered as one of the worst popes of theRenaissance. Innocent’s main goal as pope was toprovide income to his illegitimate children, whichhe accomplished by auctioning positions in theCuria. He made the colossal diplomatic blunder ofexcommunicating the king of Naples and giving hiskingdom to Charles VIII of France, an act that led tothe destructive Italian Wars a few years later (seechapter 7, on warfare). Finally, Innocent’s only reli-gious concern seems to have been his hatred of

R E L I G I O N

31

alleged heretics. He established the Inquisition inGermany and ordered that witches be burned.

Alexander VIAlexander VI (Rodrigo de Borja y Doms or Borgiain Italian, 1432–1503) became pope in 1492. Heloved two things, money and women, bribing hisway into the papacy so that he could provide for hisillegitimate children. He also provided lucrativeposts to the male relatives of his mistresses. Unlikethe ineffectual Innocent VIII, Alexander personallyparticipated in international diplomacy, but usuallyfor personal gain. Although he had supported theFrench king’s claims to the kingdom of Naples, thepope changed sides when one of his sons marriedthe granddaughter of the king of Naples. When theking died in 1494, the pope crowned Alfonso II(1449–96). This decision prompted Charles VIII toinvade Italy, with the ultimate result that Alexandersided with the French in 1498. The papal abuse ofauthority was targeted by Savonarola as one of theevils that the “knife of God” would destroy, but thepreacher himself was cut down by the pope, whohad him hanged and his body burned.

Julius IIJulius II (Giuliano della Rovere, 1443–1513), anephew of Sixtus IV, was elected in 1503. Initially heopposed Alexander VI, called for his resignation,and was forced to flee to France. Later he decided torecognize the authority of the papacy in spite of hisdislike for the man acting as pope and served as apapal diplomat. As did Alexander, Julius bought thepapacy through bribery, but he later eschewed thenepotism of his predecessor and literally became awarrior for the Catholic Church. In full battlearmor, he fought in several campaigns to regain sec-tions of the Papal States that had been seized by oth-ers, including France and the Republic of Venice.(See chapter 7, on warfare, for information aboutJulius and the Holy League.) Julius II was also apatron of the arts, commissioning Michelangelo tosculpt his tomb and paint the ceiling of the SistineChapel, and Donato Bramante (c. 1443/44–1514) todesign a new basilica for Saint Peter’s.

Leo XLeo X (Giovanni de’ Medici, 1475–1521), secondson of Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–92), became popein 1513. Trained as a humanistic scholar and des-tined as a child for the church, Leo was also influen-tial in the Medici government of Florence. AlthoughJulius II had signed a decree forbidding simony inchurch politics, Leo installed his relatives inimportant positions. The Italian Wars drained thepapal treasury, so Leo instigated a tax on beneficesto fund his proposed campaign against the Turks.To pay for the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s, herenewed the sale of indulgences permitted by JuliusII. This decision instigated the Protestant Refor-mation. In 1521 he excommunicated MartinLuther, misjudging the potential power of Lutherand his supporters.


32

2.1 Portrait of Pope Leo X (seated). Raphael, 1518.(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/Bridgeman ArtLibrary)

Clement VIIClement VII (Giulio de’ Medici, 1478–1534), raisedby his uncle, Lorenzo de’ Medici, became pope in1523. His uncle’s patronage of the arts and learninginfluenced Clement, who commissioned works byartists such as Raphael and Michelangelo, includingfrescoes for the Sistine Chapel. His papacy was hin-dered by his adversarial relationship with theemperor Charles V, settled only after Clement con-ceded a portion of the Papal States to the HolyRoman Empire. This enmity had contributed to the1527 sack of Rome by Imperial troops and thedestruction of numerous monuments and works ofart. Seeking an ally in the king of France, Clementmarried his grandniece, Catherine de’ Medici(1519–89), to a son of Francis I (1494–1547). Shewould become queen of France and then the power-ful queen mother, persecuting Huguenots and otheralleged heretics. Clement, however, was powerlessto confront Protestants in the north.

Paul IIIPaul III (Alessandro Farnese, 1468–1549) waselected in 1534. He attracted the attention of impor-tant men in Rome through his sister, who was a mis-tress of Alexander VI. Paul fathered four children byhis own mistress and abandoned her to become apriest in 1519. He made sure that his sons and grand-sons benefited from his papacy, granting them part ofthe Papal States and other property belonging tothe church. Ironically, he subsequently campaignedagainst this sort of corruption and became known asone of the reforming popes of the 16th century. PaulIII realized that the church could best survive theProtestant Reformation by changing within. Heformed a commission to make recommendations forimprovement, and the resulting report formed thebasis of discussions at the Council of Trent.

Paul IVPaul IV (Giam Pietro Carafa, 1476–1559), a memberof a powerful Neapolitan family, became pope in1555. He was an ascetic man who as a youth lovedhumanistic scholarship and correspondence with

learned friends. In 1524 he cofounded a new religiousorder known as the Theatines, becoming militantlyreformist and rejecting humanism. Although he ruledfor only four years, Paul accomplished significantreforms in the Curia and in church policy. An impor-tant reform concerned the benefices of monasteries,which no longer could be awarded to members of thesecular clergy. Because of his prominence as areformer, Paul became closely identified with theCatholic Church, so that devout Catholics began tothink of themselves as papal supporters. (Enemies ofthe Church pejoratively referred to them as papists.)The people of Rome, however, hated Paul III, whosezealous condemnation of public immorality was quiteunpopular. Upon his death, the population rioted,smashing the office of the Inquisition and releasingthe prisoners sequestered there.

Pius IVPius IV (Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici, 1499–1565)became pope on Christmas day in 1559. He was ableto limit the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, and hereissued the Index of Prohibited Books with a moretemperate listing in 1564. Pius IV also reconvenedthe Council of Trent, dormant since 1552. His bullof 1564 published the council’s decrees, and heencouraged Catholics throughout Europe to imple-ment them.

Pius VPius V (Antonio Ghislieri, 1504–72) was elected in1566. A Dominican, he began his career as a lec-turer in theology and philosophy at the Universityof Padua. Then he was appointed as an Inquisitionofficial in 1551, and supporting the Inquisitionbecame an important goal of his papacy. He excom-municated Queen Elizabeth and sent financial aidto France to battle the Huguenots. Pius V was alsoresponsible for the holy league that defeated Turk-ish forces at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

Gregory XIIIGregory XIII (Ugo Buoncompagni, 1502–85),elected in 1572, devoted his career to the strict

R E L I G I O N

33

implementation of Counter-Reformation policiesformulated by the Council of Trent. In his cam-paign to improve the education of members of theclergy and missionaries, he founded several col-leges. Many of these missionaries were trained toreturn to their Protestant countries to reclaimthose areas for Catholicism. He attempted toexpand Catholic dominion in eastern Europe, andhe succeeded in drawing Poland away from theEastern Church to reconcile it with the Church ofRome. With all of the attention he paid to reform,however, this pope neglected the Papal States, andbandits were harassing several regions during thefinal years of his papacy. Gregory XIII is bestknown for his reforms of the calendar; the Grego-rian calendar is the one we use today. (See chapter12, Daily Life, for information about the calendarreforms.)

Sixtus VSixtus V (Felice Peretti, 1525–90) became pope in1585. During his tenure as pope, Sixtus executedbandits in the Papal States as well as members of thenobility harboring them. He was also a famous pros-elytizer, supporting missionary activity from Chinato South America. Sixtus sold ecclesiastical officesand imposed new taxes, raising money to improvepublic works in the Papal States and to renovate thecity of Rome. These improvements included con-struction of a new aqueduct and completion of SaintPeter’s Basilica.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

With the pope as its spiritual leader, the singlegreatest activity of the Catholic Church during theRenaissance was ecclesiastical reform from within,directed by the Holy See (not called the Vaticanuntil the 20th century). The Protestant Reforma-tion developed in response to the perceived inade-quacies of this movement. In a sermon preached inFlorence in 1495, the Dominican friar GirolamoSavonarola (1452–1498) warned, “The sword of

the Lord comes soon and swiftly over the earth.Believe me that the knife of God will come andsoon” (Elmer 2000, p. 286). This sort of extremistrhetoric protested the corruption that plaguedecclesiastical government and wealthy monasteries.Five major church councils were convened duringthe Renaissance, each dealing with reform. Thepunishment of heretics, the Inquisition, and theIndex of Forbidden Books were intended to helppurify the church and its congregations. Missionar-ies were sent to foreign lands to spread the messageof the “one true Church,” and the Counter-Refor-mation reinforced the new discipline and order ofCatholicism.

ClergyThe most important members of the clergy, or cler-ics, were bishops and priests, who had felt called bythe Holy Spirit to remain celibate and serve God.Their supreme head on Earth was the pope. WithinCatholic Church hierarchy, bishops had full jurisdic-tion in their diocese. They possessed the right toallow priests to preach and administer the sacra-ments (see pages 38–39). The sacraments were thelinchpin that assured the religious authority ofCatholicism because only priests were permitted toadminister them. The ordination of priests, also oneof the sacraments, set them above the laity and con-doned a class system that was attacked by the Protes-tant Reformation. Bishops and priests were thesecular clergy, meaning that they lived in the outsideworld. The regular clergy (“regulars”), in addition tothe vows of ordination, took vows of poverty andobedience. These men lived by certain rules (Latinregulae) of their religious order (see pages 35–37), inchapter houses or in communities. Regulars knownas canons usually were affiliated with a church orcathedral. Members of the clergy were privilegedindividuals, exempt from military obligations. Inaddition, they did not pay normal taxes and weresubject only to ecclesiastical justice. (A special taxwas levied on clerical benefices to support Crusadesagainst the Turks.) They could not be tried in civilcourts, regardless of the alleged offense.

Priests led the worship service in Catholicchurches. Unlike medieval structures, with screens


34

segregating the altar and main part of the sanctuaryfrom the rest of the church, post-Tridentine Renais-sance churches usually had a more open plan, wel-coming all Catholics in good standing to the altar toreceive Communion. Nothing more than an altarrailing separated the holiest part of the sanctuaryfrom the congregation in most churches constructedduring this time, and the screens were removed frommany medieval sanctuaries. Light from a cupolaoften illuminated the altar and the painted or carved

altarpiece placed behind and above it. After theCounter-Reformation mandated Crucifixions andimages of patron saints for Catholic religious build-ings, paintings and statuary filled the chapels ofCatholic churches. Worship services offered bothvisual and aural stimulation to heighten one’s senseof awe and reverence.

Orders and Other ReligiousGroupsThe reform movements in the religious orders ofthe 15th century had several precedents, notablythose of the 14th century. During the MiddleAges, monasteries had served as centers of intel-lectual as well as devotional life, where scholarlyscriptoria preserved ancient, ecclesiastical, liturgi-cal, and scriptural texts. With the rise of universi-ties, monasteries became more isolated fromsociety and thus lost some of their prestige andpurpose. Many of their abbots were not monasticmen but rather were powerful secular clergy suchas bishops who were mainly interested in profitingfrom their position. In addition, the pandemic of1347–50, which killed numerous monks and nuns,weakened the administrative structure of theorders. With abuses increasing, the orders them-selves began taking steps toward reform during thelatter 14th century.

The earliest important religious order for menwas the Benedictines, founded during the MiddleAges. Not long afterward, the more austere Cister-cian order split away from the Benedictines. The Cis-tercians were known for their very plain churches andmonochromatic illustrated manuscripts. The mostpopulous mendicant orders, who vowed to live inpoverty, were the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augus-tinians, and Carmelites. Some of the canons regularamong the Augustinians were influenced by theteachings of Gerhard Groote (1340–1384), founderof the Brethren of the Common Life. This lay orderfollowed the precepts of devotio moderna (moderndevotion), emphasizing meditation and personalprayer. The Carmelites focused on the Bible andteachings of the church fathers. Dominicans were thegreat preaching order, or Ordo Predicatorum, denotedby O.P. after the name of members. Franciscans were

R E L I G I O N

35

2.2 Full-page miniature of the Resurrection in amanuscript life of Saint Margaret of Antioch, one ofthe saints whose voices inspired Joan of Arc. France,15th century. Convent libraries often includedbiographies of female saints. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

the Order of Friars Minor, or Ordo Fratrum Minorum,which was divided in 1517 into the Friars Minor andConventual Franciscans. An even stricter form ofFranciscan observance was followed by the Minimsand by the Capuchins, the latter wearing the famouspointed hood, the capuche. The Society of Jesus, orJesuits, was established in 1534, with Ignatius Loyola(1491–1556) and Francis Xavier (1506–52) among thefounding members. They modeled themselves on thebiblical disciples, spreading the word of Jesus, andthe initial goal of the society was proselytizationthrough foreign missions. By the close of the 16thcentury, more than 8,500 men had joined the Societyof Jesus, teaching in schools, colleges, and overseasmissions.

Until the Council of Trent, nuns were notrequired to live in cloistered communities. During

much of the Renaissance, spiritual women wereinvolved in charitable works such as ministering tothe sick and to orphans, and especially to the poor.Although some orders pressured their female mem-bers to live secluded in convents, most nuns were notrequired to do so, and many were not required to takevows. The sheltering of holy women, denying themthe opportunity to participate in society, occurred inthe mid-16th century. In northern Europe, the simplepiety of the devotio moderna movement appealed tosome women, who became Sisters of the CommonLife, living together in secular congregations. Even-tually many of them took religious vows and enteredconvents. As were many of the monasteries in north-ern Europe, most of these convents were destroyedduring the Protestant Reformation. The Beguines,established in the 13th century, were an association ofphilanthropic and evangelical women who took vowsof chastity but otherwise lived communally, withoutformal ties to a religious order. In addition to teach-ing children, they took care of sick people and did thewashing of the dead. The Beguines were self-supporting and became famous for their handicrafts.They can be viewed as spiritual predecessors of theSisters of the Common Life, who maintained thelong tradition of ascetic women.

Two of the important associations for spiritualwomen created during the 16th century were theCompany of Saint Ursula and the Discalced (shoe-less) Carmelites. Teresa of Ávila founded the Dis-calced branch of the Carmelites. The nuns in herreformed order wore coarse wool habits and sandalsinstead of shoes and practiced strict vegetarianismat a time when meat was the chief food of most peo-ple. (Those who could not afford to purchase meatoften poached it from private estates or landsowned by the church.) Saint Teresa’s nuns experi-enced mystical, ecstatic religious revelation, asopposed to less dramatic forms of prayer and medi-tation. Founded in 1535, the Ursulines wereavowed virgins who initially lived in their ownhome, devoted to taking care of sick women andteaching girls of poverty-stricken families. In the1570s the Ursulines were taken under the rule ofthe Augustinian order, in which they maintainedtheir tradition of teaching. Ursulines also served asmissionaries, founding a mission in Canada duringthe 17th century.


36

2.3 Church of Santa Croce, Florence, founded by theFranciscan order. (Courtesy of Sandra Sider)

CONFRATERNITIES

Also known as guilds, confraternities were religiousorganizations for the laity. Members followed strictrules of propriety and piety, with each confraternitydedicated to specific good works. These groupspatronized hospitals, funded welfare for the poor,cared for orphans and widows, helped those impris-oned for debt, and even ministered to prisoners con-demned to death. Members also cared for the soulsof their deceased colleagues, paying for masses andprayers, and contributed to funds for unemployed orsick members. Confraternities are especially famousfor their commissioning of works of art. Some con-fraternities maintained autonomy from local reli-gious authorities; in northern Europe and England,however, they often supported the local parish, pay-ing for repairs and church music. Religious playsusually were funded by confraternities, whose mem-bers participated as actors. An estimated 10 to 20percent of individuals not among the poor classesbelonged to confraternities during the Renaissance,making these groups important contributors tosocial programs and to the religious life of the com-munity. The mendicant orders sponsored numerousconfraternities, whose members undertook a novi-tiate process similar to that experienced by monksand nuns. Their civic character and spiritual valueswere investigated before their membership was offi-cial. In general, confraternities were suppressed inareas where Protestants gained control.

Foreign MissionsThe missions discussed below were associated withthe Catholic Church. In principle, neither Luther-ans nor Calvinists supported missionary activity,although Jean Calvin (1509–64) did allow severalmembers of his church to participate in the firstmission to Brazil. (Not until the 18th century didProtestant missionary activity flourish outsideEurope.) Although Catholic missions were active asearly as the 14th century, the Counter-Reformationwas a catalyst that prompted the church and its var-ious orders to carry Catholicism to the far cornersof the Earth. The Counter-Reformation (see page44) included foreign missions among its primary

goals. From the early Renaissance, missionaryteaching was embroiled in issues concerning slaveryand colonialism. As Christianity was introduced toAfrica, Brazil, and Asia by the Portuguese; to theAmericas and Philippines by the Spanish; and toCanada by the French, expansionists used thesecontacts to further their own goals of economic andterritorial domination. Jesuit missionaries, forexample, were associated with Portuguese tradersand merchants in Mozambique. The Portugueseconverted numerous Africans along the west coastto Christianity, including the Congolese king,whose son maintained profitable diplomatic rela-tions with Portugal. During the early 16th century,Africans were sent to Portugal to train as priests andreturned as missionaries to their own people. As theslave trade accelerated, however, the mission in theCongo gradually became inactive. Jesuit missionar-ies were especially successful, partly because of theirexcellent training and willingness to learn nativelanguages. In South America and Mexico, Francis-cans were eager to communicate in the native lan-guages so that they could become more effectiveteachers. The first steps in any new mission were tobuild a church and convent; a school or college soonfollowed, and a hospital as well. Missionariesfounded the first six universities in the Americas.Resistance to Spanish missionary activity in theAmericas was futile because of the military power ofSpanish troops. Native Americans who refused toconvert and cooperate as slaves were massacred.Although fair-minded missionaries such asBartholomé de Las Casas (1474–1566) respectedthe Indians as human beings (unlike many of hiscontemporaries), they never expressed any respectfor their religion and believed that Christianity wasnecessary to the salvation of the soul of indigenouspeople.

In 1500 Portuguese ships carried missionaries toIndia, where they found a large community of Chris-tians claiming to date from the days of the apostles.Although these Christians welcomed the Portuguese,there was little missionary activity until the Jesuitsarrived. Francis Xavier encouraged his colleagues tolearn Indian customs as well as languages and adaptthemselves to Indian life. He became one of the mostrenowned missionaries of the Renaissance as he con-verted thousands in India and Japan, providing an

R E L I G I O N

37

example to other Jesuits. Matteo Ricci (1552–1610)used Xavier’s methods in China, mingling his Christ-ian message with Confucianism and allowing convertsto continue ancestor worship. With this approach, hediverted potential resistance to his teaching.

SacramentsThe devotional life of Catholicism was (and is)based on the seven sacraments: the Eucharist, bap-

tism, confirmation, marriage, penance, extremeunction, and ordination (for the clergy). TheEucharist (from the Greek word for “thanksgiv-ing”), also called Holy Communion, was part of theliturgy celebrated during mass. Worshipers con-sumed wine and bread, which were believed to bemiraculously transformed into the blood and bodyof Christ. Although Lutherans believed in a varia-tion of this doctrine, the Calvinists and Zwinglians(see pages 43–44) did not. Because most theologi-cal disputes of the Protestant Reformation involved


38

2.4 Saint Francis Xavier and his missionary entourage, painted on a folding screen. Japanese School, 16th century.(Musée Guimet, Paris, France/Bridgeman Art Library)

the Eucharist, this sacrament is discussed in greaterdetail later. Penance, the confidential and sincereconfessing of sins to a priest, followed by absolu-tion, was the other sacrament repeated throughoutone’s life. Friday was set aside as a general day ofpenance, when Catholics were forbidden to con-sume meat. Penance was a private sacramentwhereas the Eucharist and its Mass were public,observed in the church by the entire congregationas each person received the host (holy wafer). (Formore information about the Catholic liturgy, seechapter 6, on music.)

EUCHARIST

Originating in the Last Supper of Christ with hisdisciples, the Eucharist was discussed in detail bythe medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas. Heexplained how the mundane properties of wine andbread could be changed into the “substance” ofChrist, a process known as transubstantiation. MostLutherans believed in consubstantiation, meaningthat the substance of Christ was present with thesubstance of wine and bread. They did not believein an actual change in the properties of the wine andbread. This latter interpretation, promoted byMartin Luther (1483–1546), was one of the fun-damental disagreements between Catholic andProtestant doctrine. In addition, by the Renais-sance, Catholic congregations usually consumedonly the wafer while the wine was reserved for thepriest administering the Eucharist. In prints as wellas paintings, the Last Supper was a popular image,appearing in missals and even as the frontispiece toChristian commentaries on classical texts. Oneearly 16th-century woodcut depicted the Last Sup-per inserted below an image of the Crucifixion.

In the Catholic Church, where images weresacrosanct, the public nature of the Eucharist gaverise to elaborate monstrances (from monstrare, Latin“to show”), where the host wafer was displayed andvenerated. These vessels could be quite large, goldor silver, ornamented with engraving, preciousstones, and rock crystal. Often they were in theshape of a tabernacle, presenting the host in its ownchurchlike structure. During the annual feast ofCorpus Christi (body of Christ), processions of thefaithful paraded through the streets, carrying the

monstrance with its host. The spiritual power of theEucharist and its mass was often called upon to pro-tect a congregation from plague, drought, and otherthreats, and masses were celebrated for the dead toease their way through purgatory.

R E L I G I O N

39

2.5 Gilt silver monstrance for presenting the Eucharistichost. Cristóbal Becerril, c. 1585. (Courtesy of TheHispanic Society of America, R3019)

Heresies

The word heresy derives from a Greek word mean-ing “choice.” In the epistles of Paul, the word is usedto refer to a cause of divisiveness and friction withinthe church. The opposite of heresy is orthodoxy, orthe following of the rules of church doctrine. Threemain types of heresies have been persecuted by theCatholic Church: The first is a heretical syncretismof Christianity and another religion, belief, or prac-tice, such as Jewish law or withcraft; the second isrelated to doctrine, involving repudiation of orunacceptable emphasis on one or more theologicalissues; the third concerns movements such asProtestantism whose goal is to reform the churchitself. Persecution of heretics did not begin in theRenaissance, but was condoned by the emperorConstantine during the fourth century, and hereticswere executed as early as 385. Thousands of peoplewere killed in southern France during the Albigen-sian Crusade of the 13th century. The church thusattempted to enforce unity and the supremacy of thepapacy. During the 16th century, Protestants alsocondoned the persecution of heretical individuals,such as Michael Servetus (1511–53), whose execu-tion in Geneva was not contested by Jean Calvin(1509–64).

PERSECUTION OF WITCHES

Although the medieval Inquisition investigated alle-gations of witchcraft, not until 1398 was it given anyjurisdiction over suspected witches. In the latter15th century, two German inquisitors, the Domini-cans Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Institoris, per-suaded Pope Innocent VIII (1432–92) to give themdirect jurisdiction over witchcraft trials in Germany.His papal bull to this effect was published with theinquisitors’ book on witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum(Hammer of evils, 1486). Translated into seven lan-guages and surpassed in popularity only by theBible, Malleus Maleficarum gave major momentumto the hysteria about witchcraft that was to sweepacross Europe in the next decades. The majority ofindividuals killed for supposedly practicing witch-craft were not executed by order of the Inquisition;many civil authorities, especially in rural areas, were

responsible for these actions. The papal bull of 1484simply gave free rein to all witch hunters in northernGermany, an area specifically mentioned in thepope’s text. In the 15th century several thousandpeople, most of them elderly women but also menand children, were tortured and killed. Many ofthese women were midwives and healers, whoworked their “magic” by using medicinal herbs andpractical medical techniques passed on by theirmother or another older woman. An estimated50,000 to 100,000 people, the vast majority female,were killed as witches, including those in Massachu-setts in 1692. (So-called sodomites [homosexuals]were persecuted with the same degree of severity aswitches.) The Catholic Church did not repeal itsstatutes concerning witchcraft until 1736.

ANTI-SEMITISM

Persecution of Jews began in Roman times, whenbaptism was forced on them as early as the seventhcentury. The Fourth Lateran Council decreed in1215 that Jews were required to wear clothing dis-tinguishing them from Christians. England droveout its Jewish population in 1290, and Jews wereexpelled from France at the beginning and end ofthe 14th century. Many people in Germany blamedthe plagues of that century on resident Jews, andseveral cities forbade them to continue to live withinthe city walls. Other cities forced Jews to live inghettos. By the 16th century, many cities, such asVienna, Rome, and Prague, had ghettoized the Jew-ish population.

Although Protestants as well as Catholicsattacked Jews for their cultural practices and reli-gious beliefs, the Catholic phobia of the Jewish reli-gion was more deep-seated and became a majorimpetus for the Spanish Crown to grant extraordi-nary powers to the Spanish Inquisition (see page41). Various libels had been perpetuated against theJews during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance,the most insidious of them the blood libel and thehost libel. The blood libel consisted of the myth ofJews’ stealing and killing Christian infants andyoung boys to drain their blood for ritual use,including the baking of unleavened bread forPassover. An entire Jewish community in Trent wasmassacred in 1475 after a Jew was accused of mur-


40

dering a Christian boy. The host libel involved aChristian’s being persuaded to steal the host duringmass so that a Jew could vilify the host and thus tor-ture Christ. Both of these libels were connected tothe accusation that the Jews were responsible for theCrucifixion of Christ. Moreover, the very Jewswhose money helped to salvage numerous Christianbusinesses were considered unclean because of theirexpertise in monetary management. After the expul-sion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugalthree years later, the massive influx of Jewish fami-lies into other parts of western Europe led tostrained relations among Jews and Christians. Partlybecause of the Inquisition’s treatment of Jews, inbigoted minds the spiritual “contamination” of theJewish religion developed into an accusation ofactual physical infection. Thus the Renaissance wit-nessed anti-Semitism not only in the form of verbalharassment of Jews but also in the proliferation ofJewish ghettos in many of the major cities.

Inquisition and Index of Prohibited BooksINQUISITION

The word Inquisition derives from the Latin for“inquiry,” inquisitio. The Catholic Church alreadyhad an inquisitional process during the Middle Ages.In western Europe, four separate but related inquisi-tions were in operation between the last quarter ofthe 15th century and the early 19th century. (Thefourth Inquisition, in Latin America, did not offi-cially end until 1834; people accused of practicingwitchcraft were burned there during the early 19thcentury.) Inquisitional investigations flourished inCatholic countries, but with less success in areassuch as Switzerland, with its Calvinist partition, andBohemia, with its strong component of Waldensiansand other sects. Although Germany was known forits inquisitional tribunals during the early 16th cen-tury, these hearings later began to lose effectivenessin the principalities as the Protestant Reformationincreased its adherents. In France, the Inquisitionwas forbidden to operate. Henry II (1519–59),however, had his own organization for persecutingheretics; wishing to rid France of the Protestant

threat, he established a special tribunal for thatpurpose.

Founded in 1478 by order of the Spanish monar-chy under Isabella I and Ferdinand II (see pages12–13), the Spanish Inquisition was charged withinvestigating conversos, converted Jews and Mus-lims. The latter were called Moriscos (Moorishpeople) and the former Marranos (pigs). Wholesalepersecution of Jews in Castile and Aragon hadbegun nearly a century earlier, culminating in thou-sands of Jews’ being murdered and many morebeing forced to convert to Christianity. These Jew-ish Christians and their descendants graduallybecame assimilated into Spanish society, assumingprestigious positions in finance, banking, and othercommercial endeavors. By the mid-15th century,hostility toward the conversos was openly expressedin Castile, where many individuals were accused ofobserving crypto-Jewish rituals. By the 16th cen-tury, new Christians were forbidden to teach in uni-versities, join military or religious orders, and servein municipal offices. Jews were ridiculed in art andliterature, and anti-Semitic satire was especially vir-ulent. The concept of “blood purity,” limpieza desangre, dominated Inquisition tribunals in Spain,Portugal, and the Spanish Netherlands. CardinalCisneros, appointed grand inquisitor in 1507, hadbeen responsible for mass conversions in Granadaat the turn of the century. He was a driving force forthe Inquisition, especially during the final decade ofhis life. Founded in 1536, the Portuguese Inquisi-tion was especially violent toward conversos. Thecountry’s population had been increased approxi-mately 10 percent by Jews expelled from Spanishdominions during the latter 15th century. Thosenot expelled in 1497 were forced to convert, andmany still practiced Judaism secretly. Becausenumerous conversos immigrated to Goa, that cityin India had an office of the Portuguese Inquisition.For the same reason, Spain authorized tribunals inLima, Mexico City, and Cartagena.

The Roman Inquisition was founded in 1544,specifically in reaction to the Protestant Reforma-tion. This Inquisition achieved its main goal of pre-venting the spread of Protestantism in the ItalianPeninsula. Whereas other inquisitions were insti-gated by secular powers, the Holy Office of theInquisition in Rome was established by the pope.

R E L I G I O N

41

Thus the work of its tribunals superseded that of anyother court, including ecclesiastical courts. Never-theless, in independent city-states and republics,secular authorities monitored Inquisition activitiesand severe punishment or extradition to Rome usu-ally required their permission. In Venice, for exam-ple, lay assessors sat in on Inquisition hearings.Observers usually were not, however, permitted tohave access to pertinent documents in most areas.The accusation and trial of an alleged heretic werealways administered by Inquisition officials. If theaccused refused to recant and the trial proceeded tothe stage of sentencing, the individual was thenhanded over to secular authorities, who carried outthe punishment.

The procedure for an Inquisition investigationusually began with the accused’s being under suspi-cion of Judaism, Islam, Protestantism, witchcraft, orextreme mysticism. Teresa of Ávila (1515–82), one ofthe most renowned mystics of the Renaissance, hap-pened to be a member of a family of conversos, abackground that contributed to accusations againsther. Teresa, who was canonized in 1622, was calledbefore the Spanish Inquisition by members of theCarmelite order. Teresa had broken away from thisorder to establish the Discalced Carmelites (“unshod”and wearing sandals instead of shoes). Thus she is anexample of a devout and well-known Catholic womanwho nevertheless was charged and imprisoned forwriting an independent spiritual text; only her power-ful friends prevented severe punishment. Countlessothers were not so fortunate. The most famous victimof the Inquisition was probably the scientist GalileoGalilei (1564–1642), placed under house arrest forthe final nine years of his life. Numerous others hadtheir writings banned and destroyed. Those victimsburned at the stake included Giordano Bruno(1548–1600), Étienne Dolet (1509–46), and WilliamTyndale (c. 1494–1536).

In addition to the suspects mentioned, priestswho took advantage of their authority to obtain sex-ual favors were also investigated, and sometimeseven punished. Accusers for any Inquisition-relatedoffense could remain anonymous, and they oftenreceived a percentage of the suspect’s property if itwas confiscated. In Spain, Portugal, India, andLatin America, there was no appeal of an Inquisi-tion tribunal’s decision. In the Roman Inquisition,

however, an appeal could be made to the SupremeCongregation.

Archival research completed during the 1990shas revealed that the sensationalist history of theInquisition should be somewhat revised. Althoughseveral thousands of individuals indeed were put todeath, many more thousands were given light sen-tences. First offenders had the mercy of the court,often required only to pay a small fine. Thoseimprisoned often were released on parole after serv-ing only part of their term. Repeat offenders, how-ever, found themselves in deep trouble, and thosewho refused to recant could be burned at the stake.Those who recanted at the last minute werebeheaded or strangled before the fire was lit. Thesepublic burnings of human beings, so hideous to ustoday, were attended by huge crowds who felt com-pelled to witness such “edicts of faith,” or autos-da-féin Spanish.

INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS

Censorship of books occurred at the beginning of theChristian era. From that time until the 15th century,however, “books” were handwritten books, whichsimply did not reach many people. With the adventof the age of printing in conjunction with the Protes-tant Reformation a few decades later, Catholic offi-cials as well as secular rulers, such as Charles V(1500–1558), began publishing edicts prohibitinghundreds of books. Some of the lists published by theSpanish Inquisition contained some 2,000 names andtitles. If the author was known, everything that per-son had written could be censored; the notedhumanist Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) pro-vides a good example of a writer who was listed byname in the edicts. Otherwise a specific work waslisted by its title. By the 1520s, Inquisition officialswere policing libraries and bookstores, sometimeswith the full cooperation of civil authorities in mostcities. Punishment for possessing a prohibited bookwas harsh: Those found guilty were excommunicatedand occasionally executed, and their property wasconfiscated. The theology faculty at the Universityof Paris issued the first printed list of bannedbooks in 1544.

As the Reformation gained converts, the papacybecame sufficiently alarmed to establish a commis-


42

sion to compile an Index of Prohibited Books. Thislist was published in 1559, and its severity modifiedby the revised version of 1564. The Council of Trentauthorized the papacy to issue this Tridentine Index,based on that of 1559. Ten rules in the index influ-enced all further decisions concerning prohibitedbooks, including the provision that some bookscould be distributed after objectionable passageswere expurgated. Today we have numerous exam-ples of seemingly innocuous books from the Renais-sance, such as dictionaries, that have struck-throughpassages because they contained “suspect” informa-tion. For a long time, any mentions of sexual parts ofthe body, of astrology, and of other taboo topicswere blacked out by Inquisition inspectors. TheCatholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books wasnot officially withdrawn until 1966. Much researchconcerning the effects of the index on Renaissancereaders remains to be done. Instead of preventingindividuals from reading banned items, the lists mayhave whetted the curiosity of more than a few peo-ple, making them eager to see those very books.

Church CouncilsIssues and problems of the Catholic Church werediscussed at councils, which were lengthy meetingsof international significance attended by ecclesiastssuch as abbots and bishops. Their decisions weresupposed to be binding, even on the pope. Becausethe councils were of such long duration, attendeesusually were from the moneyed classes or were subsi-dized by wealthy individuals or institutions. Repre-sentatives to the councils sometimes had to leave formonths at a time to attend to business elsewhere,a circumstance that often shifted the power structurefor those remaining. During the 15th century, theCouncils of Constance, Basel, and Florence werethe most important. During the 16th century, theCouncil of Lateran V and the Council of Trent wereespecially noteworthy.

COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE (1414–1418)

The Council of Constance opened with three popesclaiming the papal throne, its main purpose to healthe Great Schism in the Catholic Church. After all

three popes were deposed, the council elected PopeMartin V (1368–1431) in 1417. Its other goals wereto stamp out heresy and to begin certain reforms, forexample, in the Franciscan order. The actionsagainst heresy included the desecration of the corpseof the English reformer John Wycliffe (c. 1328–84)and the trial and burning at the stake of Bohemiandissenter Jan Hus (c. 1372–1415).

COUNCIL OF BASEL (1431–1449, WITHSEVERAL BREAKS)

Besides being the longest church council of theRenaissance, the Council of Basel is remembered forasserting its authority over the papacy. Not longafter the council opened, the pope ordered it closedto protect his supremacy, but in vain. With the sup-port of the emperor, the Republic of Venice, andother secular powers, those who attended reaffirmedthe council’s right to determine ecclesiastical policy.This attitude was part of the conciliar movement ofthe Renaissance by which church councils becamethe supreme authority in church matters. An impor-tant aspect of this movement was that councilswould meet regularly, regardless of whether thepope agreed. Because of the pope’s hostility, theCouncil of Basel went so far as to elect an antipope,but he abdicated when the council closed in 1449.Those who attended the council voted that thosecouncil members who had elected the antipope wereto be excommunicated for heresy.

COUNCIL OF FLORENCE (COUNCIL OFFERRARA-FLORENCE, 1438–1445)

Opening in Ferrara, the Council of Florence movedto Florence in 1439, then to Rome in 1442. Con-vened for the purpose of attempting to unite theByzantine Church with the Roman Church, thiscouncil originally had been part of the Council ofBasel. The delegates from Greece, however,requested a location closer to their homeland. Theeastern emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1390–1448)was in attendance with his retinue. He was inclinedto agree with the council’s decisions because he des-perately needed military aid against the Turks. Dis-puted points of doctrine were settled fairly easily,but the issue of papal authority over the Byzantine

R E L I G I O N

43

Church eventually caused the synod in Byzantium toreject the decree of unification. The Council of Flo-rence established the principle of papal supremacynot only over the Byzantine Church, but also overany future councils.

COUNCIL OF LATERAN V (1512–1517)

Held in the Lateran Basilica in Rome, the Fifth Lat-eran Council (as it is also called) was convened byPope Julius II to countermand the ineffective butschismatic Council of Pisa. The latter council(1511–12), instigated by the king of France, Louis XII(1462–1515), and initially supported by Holy RomanEmperor Maximilian I (1459–1519), attempted todepose Julius II. Julius died in 1513, and his successor,Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici, 1475–1521), vowed tocontinue the Fifth Lateran Council and set aside anydecisions made by the Council of Pisa. An average ofapproximately 110 prelates attended this council,which was obviously considered an important under-taking in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Besidesconfirming articles of faith, such as the soul’s individ-uality, this council created a commission for ecclesias-tical reform and launched the plans for a crusadeagainst the Turks. This crusade may have served tounify Christian Europe more than any other accom-plishment of the council.

While this council was in process, Leo issued thesale of an indulgence in 1516 that would become acrucial focus for Luther’s protests. The Council ofLatern V closed, however, in March 1517, sevenmonths before Luther posted his Ninety-five The-ses on the Wittenberg church door. This councilcould not have foreseen that Protestantism woulddevelop into a major confrontation that should havebeen addressed by its members.

COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545–1563, WITHSEVERAL LONG BREAKS)

The Council of Trent (Trento, Italy) was the firstmajor Counter-Reformation council of the 16th cen-tury. Its focus was on countering the threat of Protes-tantism and reforming the church from within. Thecouncil opened in the hope that the Lutherans,Calvinists, and Zwinglians might be drawn back intothe Catholic Church, but issues such as transubstan-

tiation of the Eucharist (see pages 38–39) made thisgoal unattainable. Reconciliation would no longer bepossible. Plans for internal reform of the CatholicChurch were more successful, with revisions of theVulgate Bible, catechism, breviary, and missalaccomplished before the end of the century. TheCongregation of the Index, for the Index of Prohib-ited Books, was also established. Pope Pius IV(1499–1565) spent the last few years of his pontificatedirecting the Council of Trent, publishing its doctri-nal decisions in a bull of 1564.

Counter-ReformationThe Council of Trent gave its imprimatur to Counter-Reformation policies, including a new era of censor-ship. Carlo Borromeo (1538–84), one of the mostfamous reforming cardinals of the 16th century,greatly influenced the decisions of the council becausethe pope heeded his advice. Borromeo not only “puri-fied” church music, but also had most of the ornamen-tation removed from the cathedral of Milan, where hewas bishop. Church leaders referred to these policiesas reforms; the term Counter-Reformation was not usedfor this movement until the 18th century. In additionto opposing Protestantism and virtually eliminating itin the Italian Peninsula, the Counter-Reformationattempted to curb abuses in ecclesiastical administra-tion by imposing stricter discipline on the orders andon priests. The papacy became a stronger force withinthe church, and Catholics began to think of them-selves as papists (see pages 30–34). The Council ofTrent also affirmed traditional devotional practices,such as the veneration of saints and Catholic mysti-cism. As a result, many artists benefited from commis-sions to sculpt or paint devotional images, andarchitects were hired to erect new chapels.

The Counter-Reformation had a deleteriouseffect on some Renaissance art, the most famousexample of which is censorship in the Sistine Chapel.Michelangelo and his assistants painted the ceiling ofthe Sistine Chapel during the early 16th century;then three decades later he painted the fresco of TheLast Judgment on the wall behind the altar and com-pleted it in 1541. The latter work caused quite ascandal, partly because of the censorious nature ofthe Counter-Reformation. The accusations included


44

charges of heresy and immodesty, most based on sev-eral male figures whose genitalia were visible. Ini-tially, in 1564, the fresco was going to be destroyed.Then the decision was made to overpaint the offen-sive parts, but even this step did not satisfy everyoneat the Vatican. Finally, modest apparel (similar tobathing suits) was painted over the lower torsos ofthe figures and the fresco as a whole was saved.

BibleHumanistic scholarship of the 15th and 16th centuriesmade major improvements in the textual accuracy ofthe Christian Bible. (For a discussion of ReformationBibles and Hebrew Bibles, see pages 52–54.) Eventhough the lists of prohibited books included somenew editions of the New Testament and of the entireBible, the Catholic Church welcomed new scholar-ship correcting errors in the Vulgate Bible. The firstbook printed in the Renaissance was the Vulgate, in1456, called the Gutenberg Bible after its printer,Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1394/99–1468). Thought tohave been written by Saint Jerome in the late fourthor early fifth century, the Latin translation known asthe Vulgate (in the vulgar, or common, Latin tongue)was the standard version used by the church. Advancesin Greek and Hebrew philology during the Renais-sance contributed to a better knowledge of the biblicaltext. In addition, manuscripts not previously studiedby European scholars became available. Greek biblicalmanuscripts taken to Basel from Constantinople inthe early 15th century, for example, were consulted byDesiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) and others whoworked on the New Testament. The French scholarJacques Lefèvre d’Étaples drew upon his humanistictraining to apply comparative methods of textualanalysis to the Pauline Epistles and to the Old andNew Testaments. He also published a gospel com-mentary and a French translation of the Bible that waslater used by Calvin. In his attempt to reconcile andharmonize variant texts, Lefèvre d’Étaples provided amodel derived from pious Christianity. Erasmus basedhis biblical scholarship on the theological writings ofchurch fathers, tempered by the French scholar’srespect for the text.

Several scholars and churchmen collaboratedon the first major multilingual printed Bible, the

Complutensian Polyglot Bible (the title takenfrom the university in Spain where they worked).With numerous manuscripts gathered by CardinalFrancisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) as itssource, this massive six-volume publication of1522 featured the Latin Vulgate of the Old Testa-ment alongside the texts in Hebrew and the Sep-tuagint (Old Testament in Greek and Aramaic).The New Testament had both the Vulgate text andthe original Greek. The other famous multilin-gual Bible of the Renaissance was the eight-vol-ume 1572 production by Christophe Plantin (c.1520–89) in Antwerp, with texts in Hebrew (newfonts cut for this), Greek, Chaldaic, and the LatinVulgate. The standard edition of the Vulgate itselfwas accomplished by Robert Estienne (1503–59)in 1538–40. His Greek New Testament of 1544–51was the first printed Bible that arranged chaptersin numbered verses.

R E L I G I O N

45

2.6 Leaf from a Gutenberg Bible. Mainz, c. 1454–55.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

Religious Literature, DramaticPresentations, and PreachingDuring the Renaissance, most nonclassical literaturehad a religious component, either overt or allegori-cal. This section discusses overtly Catholic litera-ture, including devotional treatises, books of prayer,religious drama, and preaching. Devotional litera-ture was based in a firm medieval tradition of suchworks, with the addition of the ars moriendi (art ofdying) treatises in response to the apocalyptic disas-ters of plague and war during the 14th and early15th centuries. Many of these publications wereillustrated with gruesome woodcuts, and the skele-tons of the Dance of Death were a popular image inprints. In general, the 15th-century books of devo-tion concentrated on personal meditation and spiri-tuality, and 16th-century examples added activitiesinvolving charitable acts. Devotional literature hadsomething for everyone, from the urban merchantwho could temporarily escape the bustle of the cityby reading (or by listening to someone read) themeditations of a desert hermit, to the cloistered nunwho experienced mystical ecstasy through a textsuch as Teresa of Ávila’s Castillo interior (Inner castle,1588). The two most popular devotional figureswere Christ and the Virgin, and the Passion (the tor-ment and death of Jesus) dominated many treatisesencouraging the imitation of Christ. For Catholics,the Sacred Heart and the Five Wounds were espe-cially powerful. Numerous woodcut examples ofthese images were produced, and most Catholichomes, however modest, displayed them in a wood-cut or small painting. Marian devotion (dedicationto the Virgin Mary) often focused on the Immacu-late Conception, which refers not to the conceptionof Christ by Mary but to the conception of Mary byher mother, Ann through divine intervention. Thisclose connection between the Virgin and her motherresulted in depictions of Ann and her young daugh-ter, many of which show the child holding a bookand evidently learning to read. The veneration ofAnn, especially in northern Europe, helped toencourage literacy among women.

Books of prayers were meant for individual devo-tion as opposed to liturgical works and vocal prayersshared by a congregation. By far the most popular

type for Catholics were the books of hours, producedduring the Renaissance in both manuscript andprinted formats. Ranging from luxurious produc-tions copied by hand and illuminated on large sheetsof vellum to tiny “girdle books” attached to one’sbelt, books of hours were used several times each day.Each of the eight canonical Hours of the Virgin wasassociated with a particular image from her life, usu-ally beginning with the Annunciation for matins(early morning) and ending with the Coronation(late evening). These images were visual remindersof the importance of the Virgin to devout Catholics.

Religious drama was performed both inside andoutside the church setting. Civic religious plays werepopular throughout Europe, often patronized bywealthy sponsors such as confraternities as well asindividuals. Beginning as early as the mid-14th cen-tury, religious drama treated the Passion, the miraclesof the saints, and the battle between virtue and vice orSatan’s struggle to control the soul. Passion plays, alsocalled mystery plays, involved the participation of theentire town and usually lasted several days. Thesemultimedia events, performed outdoors, could focuson an event in the life of Christ or a saint or summa-rize the entire spiritual life of humankind. They wereelaborate, expensive undertakings, with decorativeallegorical costumes and musical accompaniment.The most ornate religious dramas were performedduring Holy Week (Easter week) and on a patronsaint’s day. Morality plays depicting the strugglebetween vice and virtue became increasingly popularduring the 16th century, when church authoritiesbegan to prohibit Passion plays and miracle plays. Anew category of religious drama developed during the16th century as humanistic writers created Latindrama concerning the saints and biblical figures.Especially in Jesuit and Benedictine grammar schoolsthese plays were performed into the 18th century.

Renaissance preachers had several resources toaid them as they prepared their sermons. BothCatholics and Protestants used homiletic collec-tions, such as commonplace books concerning thevices and virtues, books of exemplary lives, and theGolden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, as well aspreaching manuals. The manuals benefited fromhumanistic works on classical eloquence, as preach-ing was considered the sacred form of eloquentspeech. Humanists also edited collections of homi-


46

lies and sermons from church fathers, making someavailable for the first time and improving others.Renaissance preaching also took advantage of cor-rected biblical texts in their exposition of the Scrip-tures. The church councils addressed the problem ofcorrupted preaching, especially the Fifth LateranCouncil, which threatened excommunication ofrabble-rousers who preached apocalyptic messages.Bishops were charged with responsibility forpreachers in their diocese and were instructed tomonitor their public activities. Preaching experi-enced a revival during the 16th century, when somebishops themselves became famous as preachers.

PROTESTANTREFORMATION

Educated as a boy by Brethren of the Common Life,Martin Luther attended the University of Erfurt andwas ordained a priest in 1507. At the University ofWittenberg, he became professor of biblical studies.As an Augustinian, he was put in charge of severalmonasteries of his order. When Luther posted hisTheses on the Wittenberg church in 1517 to protestthe sale of indulgences, his purpose was to reformabuses as a member of the Catholic community. Butthe text of his Theses was being discussed acrossEurope, and Luther himself defended it against thenoted theologian Johann Eck (1486–1543) in theLeipzig Disputation of 1519. The pope was com-pelled to excommunicate Luther the following year.After speaking out at the 1521 Diet of Worms,Luther was condemned to death, but he escaped toWartburg castle with the aid of the elector of Sax-ony. During his 10 months there, Luther translatedthe New Testament into German, probably hisgreatest achievement of the Protestant Reformation.Twelve years later his translation of the entire Bibleinto German appeared in print. In 1524 Lutherrenounced his association with the Augustinianorder and married a former nun.

For the remainder of his life, Luther focused ontaking his message of reformation to the people atlarge. He translated the liturgy into German, so that

the entire congregation chanted with the priest, andhe wrote hymns and possibly music for a few ofthem. Luther was the first to compose catechismbooklets illustrated with woodcuts that childrencould study by themselves; instead of listening to alecture by a priest reading from the catechism, achild could sit alone and study the text while beinginstructed by simple woodcut images that reinforcedthe message. Luther had a huge following during hislast two decades. Protestant hymns influenced Ger-man poets, many of whom wrote lyrics specificallyfor religious uses. Although Luther believed thatspecial individuals should be appointed to performcertain religious ceremonies, he taught that churchhierarchy was not necessary for salvation. Instead,salvation could be found in the communion of adevout congregation. Men and women worshipedtogether, in a church without the extravagant devo-tional imagery prevalent in many Catholic sanctuar-ies (see page 53 for information on iconoclasm).

German princes who supported Martin Luthersubmitted a decree to the 1529 Diet of Speyer thatbegan with the word Protestatio to protest the ban-ning of Lutheranism in their provinces. Thus thereform movement publicly begun by Martin Luther

R E L I G I O N

47

2.7 Martin Luther at the Wittenberg church door in1517. Woodcut, German School, 16th century.(Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library)

in 1517 became known as Protestantism. Althoughheretical individuals had previously broken awayfrom the Catholic Church, their followers eitherwere annihilated, decided to recant, or went under-ground. Violent fighting occurred again in Franceduring the 16th century during the Wars of Religion(see pages 50–51). Nevertheless Luther, along withJean Calvin (1509–64) and Huldrych Zwingli(1484–1531), successfully led spiritual revolutionsthroughout northern Europe.

The Protestant Reformation succeeded for sev-eral reasons where earlier attempts at breaking awayfrom the Catholic Church had failed. The GreatSchism in the Catholic Church, which ended only in1417, destroyed the historic unity of its government.Simultaneously, the Black Death destroyed entirecommunities and led to unqualified individuals

being appointed as local religious leaders. Both ofthese events led to abuses of clerical power that werevehemently criticized by reformers of the 15th cen-tury. The 16th-century reformers were driven bytheir hatred of clerical corruption and inspired bythe biblical studies of humanistic scholars. Many ofLuther’s enemies, including the inquisitors and theirassistants, had also been the enemies of certainhumanists in the previous century. Finally, in Ger-many, where the Protestant Reformation first suc-ceeded, local princes and others created their ownautonomy from the Holy Roman Emperor by sup-porting Martin Luther, the new popular force inGermany. Luther had made the strategic decisionnot to support the German peasants in their uprisingof 1524, enhancing his stature in the eyes of theGerman princes.

Spread of the ReformationBOHEMIA

Religious reform in Bohemia was rooted in incipientnationalism at the beginning of the 15th century. JanHus (c. 1372–1415), executed at the Council ofConstance, had advocated a classless society andcommunal ownership of property. He also spoke outagainst clerical immorality in his sermons and trans-lated a prohibited work by Wycliffe into Czech.After the Hussite Wars (discussed later), a reformgroup known as the Bohemian Brethren, or Unity ofthe Brothers, spread in Bohemia. They believed incommunal living and were located in rural areas.During the 1530s, the Brethren became interestedin Lutheran theology, especially his doctrine of theEucharist. Persecuted by the emperor, many of themfled to Poland and formed alliances with the Calvin-ists there. (Poland welcomed religious exiles of allpersuasion.) Those who remained in Czech landsestablished the head of their church in Moravia andwere the spiritual ancestors of present-day Mora-vians. They followed a strict Calvinist version ofReformed Protestantism.

Hussite WarsThe rebellion in central Europe known as the Hus-site Wars began when local parishes in Bohemia


48

2.8 Noah’s ark in an illustrated book of Genesis.Woodcut designed by Bernard Salomon. Lyon, 1558.Such illustrated biblical stories were very popular withadults, and even children who could not read Latinmight learn from the pictures. (Photograph courtesy ofSotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

drove away their Catholic priests to protest the mur-der of Jan Hus. As the protest movement grew, Hus-sites became bolder in their actions. In 1419 a groupof angry Hussites marched through the streets ofPrague to the town hall, where they threw the mag-istrates out of the windows. This famous Defenes-tration of Prague accelerated the conflict, as KingSigismund led a crusade against the Bohemianrebels after Pope Martin V declared war in 1420. Inspite of repeated invasions by Imperial troops, theHussites held firm. Their representatives wereinvited to the Council of Basel in 1433, but theopposing groups could not agree to a peace treaty. In1436 the conflict was settled by the Compacta ofPrague, which also recognized the Czech nationalchurch and Sigismund as king of Bohemia.

GERMANY

Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560), a leading theolo-gian of the Lutheran Reformation, assumed Luther’sposition of leadership while the latter was held in theWartburg (see pages 46–48). Melanchthon haddefended those who preached in the German vernac-ular, a practice forbidden by the church. During the1530 Diet of Augsburg, Melanchthon wrote andLuther approved the Augsburg Confession. This his-toric document set forth the new confession of faith,which included a list of ecclesiastical abuses that theLutherans demanded be corrected. It also set forthLuther’s conviction that faith, not good works, mer-ited divine grace. This doctrine was known as justifi-cation by faith alone. Luther also argued that priests,monks, and nuns be allowed to marry. A revised ver-sion of the Augsburg Confession was published in1531; as a result the doctrinal points of Lutheranismcould be easily disseminated. The printing press, infact, was a major agent in the spread of Protes-tantism. Anticlerical prints and images on printedbroadsides proliferated from Reformation presses.Members of the clergy were sometimes shown asdeformed or involved in obscene acts. These publica-tions served as an important tool of propaganda,especially among people who could not read. In pop-ular German poetry such as the Fastnachtspiele, thesatire often extended beyond the clergy to ridiculethe pope.

SWITZERLAND

Reformed Protestantism spread in French-speakingSwitzerland through the leadership of Jean Calvin(1509–64). Trained at French universities in humani-ties and civil law, Calvin was destined for a career inthe church. After the Augsburg Confession, however,he became attracted to Lutheran doctrine and fellinto disfavor. Calvin fled from Paris to Basel, wherein 1536 he first published his Institutio religionis chris-tianae (Institute of the Christian religion). Invited toGeneva to help spread the Reformation, he ran intodifficulties with the Zwinglians (discussed later).This group, based in Bern, disagreed with some ofthe stricter aspects of Calvin’s proposed church disci-pline, and he moved to Strasbourg. There, Calvinpreached and wrote for three years, translating his

R E L I G I O N

49

2.9 Portrait of Jean Calvin in his study. Engraving inhis Works, 1671. (Note that books in the Renaissancewere typically shelved with their spine to the wall).(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, © 2003)

Institutes into French. Finally he settled in Geneva,where he established a dogmatic government thatfunctioned as a watchdog of public morality.

Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) helped spreadReformed Protestantism in German-speaking Swit-zerland. In 1518 Zwingli moved to Zurich, appointedas a priest in the Old Minster, and the following yearhe preached the first Reformation sermons in theSwiss Confederation. Zwingli began publishingProtestant tracts, denouncing the authority of bish-ops and the pope. Zwingli’s break with the church wasinitially based on the issue of the celibacy of priests. Ina public disputation of 1523, he persuaded the Zurichcouncil to adopt his theses and announce its indepen-dence from Catholic authority. In a debate with anadvocate of the pope, Zwingli had successfullydefended 67 theses detailing his beliefs. In 1531,Swiss cantons loyal to Catholicism attacked Zurichand Zwingli was killed during the battle.

THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands had a diversity of religions, includ-ing a large community of converted Jews in Amster-dam. Anabaptists (whose name means “rebaptized”),considered heretical by Luther, had several sects inthe Netherlands. Believing that infant baptism wasinsufficient, they required that adults be baptized. Aspacifists, they refused to take oaths of allegiance or toserve in the military. Thousands of Anabaptists wereexecuted for their aberrant doctrinal stance andunorthodox behavior. Menno Simons (1496–1561)was a leader of Dutch Anabaptists. Renouncing prac-tices such as polygamy and public nudity, for whichAnabaptists had become infamous, Simons called forhis followers to live meekly, away from the world.Adherents to Anabaptism outside the Netherlands,such as members of the Swiss Brethren, joined theMennonites to escape persecution.

The two major Reformation groups in theNetherlands were Lutherans and Calvinists, and thelatter became the dominant force. Dutch Calvinistsseemingly took the fiercely moralistic overtones ofCalvin’s doctrine and transformed it into an aggres-sively militaristic crusade against Catholic troops sentby the king of Spain. In the Netherlands, Calvinismhelped propel the United Provinces to independencein the 17th century.

ENGLAND

Henry VIII, king of England (1491–1547), wasresponsible for establishing a modified form of Protes-tantism in England. Because his wife, Catherine ofAragon (1485–1536), was unable to produce an heir,the king wanted to marry Anne Boleyn (1507–36).When the pope refused to grant him a divorce orannulment, Henry denied all papal authority in Eng-land, and he assumed the role of head of the Church ofEngland (Anglican Church) in 1534. In doctrine, theChurch of England followed a compromise betweenProtestantism and Catholicism, its rituals explained inthe Book of Common Prayer (1549–59, see pages52–53). After Henry broke away from the church, thestatesman Thomas Cromwell (c. 1485–1540) becamehis secretary as well as vicar-general of the Church ofEngland. Cromwell engineered the dissolution ofEnglish monasteries between 1536 and 1540, whenmost of the property was seized and distributed tomembers of the nobility. This redistribution of prop-erty worth millions of dollars, more than any otherfactor, assured the success of the Reformation inEngland. Cromwell also had Miles Coverdale’s(1488–1568) English translation of the Bible pub-lished in 1535, and he commissioned work for theGreat Bible of 1539.

During the reign of Mary I (1516–58, ruled1553–58), Protestants were persecuted in England.The daughter of a Spanish princess and married tothe king of Spain, Mary had been raised in a strictCatholic household. Her chief goals as queen wereto exterminate Protestant rebels and to restore En-gland to the Catholic fold. After her death, Eliza-beth I (1533–1603) established herself as head of theChurch of England and reinstated Protestantism.During the first decade of her reign, a group ofreformers voiced the complaint that the Church ofEngland was not strict enough in its doctrine andstandards of behavior. They became known as Puri-tans for the purity of their morality and beliefs.

SCOTLAND

Calvinism prevailed in Scotland, opening the way forScotland to become politically united with Englandin the early 17th century. Mary, queen of Scots(1542–87), a devout Catholic, was never accepted by


50

her subjects because of the rising tide of Calvinistfaith. The reformer who did more than anyone elseto establish Protestantism in Scotland was John Knox(c. 1513–72). Fleeing to Europe after Mary I becamequeen, he met with Calvin in Geneva. AlthoughKnox was banned from England by Elizabethbecause of his rather unflattering book First Blast ofthe Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women(1558), his influence in Scotland was pervasive. Hehelped write the Scottish Book of Common Order.

FRANCE

French Protestants, known as Huguenots, practicedCalvinism. Their first synod was established in Parisin 1559. During the reign of Francis I (1494–1547),he at first was tolerant of religious reformers, partlybecause of his sister, Marguerite of Navarre(1492–1549), who had evangelical tendencies andsheltered dissidents at her court. But in 1534 theAffaire des Placards caused the king to respond withruthless persecutions. Broadsides (placards) denounc-ing the mass had been posted all over Paris, includingthe door of the royal bedchamber. This event demon-strated the radical nature of French Protestantism,which until then had not been fully understood. Tenyears later, Francis permitted the slaughter ofWaldenses in Provence who had formally renouncedthe Catholic Church. These violent actions towardreformers in France set the stage for the Wars of Reli-gion (discussed in the following section).

Wars of Religion in FranceThe kings of France were closely connected to thepapacy and the Catholic Church; their oath of coro-nation included a vow to eradicate heretics and sup-port the faith. One of the king’s titles, in fact, was“Most Christian King.” To understand the forcesthat led to the eight devastating Wars of Religion inFrance between 1562 and 1598, one must look at thepersonal relationships among several families. Thestage was set for violence in 1559, after the death ofHenry II, who had been planning to persecuteheretics, notably the Huguenots. His son, Francis II(1544–60), was only 15 when he became king. Fran-cis’s wife was Mary, queen of Scots (1542–87), whohappened to be the niece of the two Guise brothers,Charles of Guise, cardinal of Lorraine (1525–74),

and Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise (1519–63).The latter was a militant Catholic who dominatedcourt politics during the two years of Francis’s reign,causing a group of Protestants to plot to kidnap theyoung king in 1560. Their plot was exposed, andhundreds were hanged in retribution, many of theirbodies swinging for days from the window ledges ofthe palace in Amboise for all to see. This massacregalvanized Huguenot members of the nobility aswell as those in the middle and lower classes.

When Francis II died, his brother, a boy of 10,was crowned as Charles IX (1550–74). Their mother,Catherine de’ Medici (1519–89), acted as regent,even after Charles was of age. She was the real powerbehind the throne until 1588. Initially Catherine de’Medici attempted to establish a compromise betweenProtestants and Catholics, allowing Protestants thefreedom to preach openly. This moderate path ledonly to heightened hostility among powerfulCatholics, who used the printing press to propagan-dize against the Huguenots. War was the result;Catholic troops mowed down Protestants as theygathered to worship outside city walls, as required bythe government. Huguenots once again plotted tokidnap the king, and he panicked, ordering that theHuguenot leaders in Paris be assassinated. His orderwas applied in the broadest sense, and some 2,000people were killed in Paris on August 24, 1572, theinfamous Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Francewas in religious turmoil for much of the next quarter-century. Charles IX was succeeded in 1574 by hisbrother, Henry III (1551–80), who failed to producea male heir. The nearest heir was Henry of Navarre(1553–1610), an arch-Protestant who had foughtalongside Gaspard of Coligny (1519–72), comman-der in chief of the Huguenots. When Henry III wasassassinated in 1589, Henry of Navarre, Catherine’sson-in-law, claimed the throne as Henry IV. He con-verted to Catholicism, uttering the famous words“Paris is well worth a mass.”

Theological Elements of theMovements

Hussites were adherents of Utraquism (so namedfrom the Latin sub utraque specie, of both kinds)

R E L I G I O N

51

because they demanded to take wine from the chal-ice as well as the wafer of the host during theEucharist. In this doctrine, they did not view them-selves as breaking away from Catholicism. On thecontrary, Hussites thought that having the eucharis-tic wine aligned them with the traditions of the earlychurch in its purer form. The Council of Basel, infact, allowed them the wine, but this decision wasnot ratified by the pope. Lutherans differed fromCalvinists and Zwinglians in the belief that duringthe Eucharist the wine and bread were transformedinto the blood and body of Christ (in a variation ofCatholic doctrine). Calvinists and Zwinglians didnot believe that the wine and bread were actuallytransformed. The Zwinglians split with Luther ontheir interpretation of the Eucharist, which Zwinglisaid was merely commemorative (a doctrine calledsacramentarianism at the time). Calvinism was asevere form of Protestantism that demanded churchattendance, forbade most worldly pleasures, andemphasized the doctrine of predestination. Anabap-tists, who included several sects, required adults tobe baptized, even those who had been baptized asinfants. Each sect had specific doctrinal rules. TheSwiss Brethren, for example, had no association withsecular government, believed in the Zwinglian formof the Eucharist, permitted only adherents who hadbeen rebaptized to partake of it, and abstained fromall secular pleasures. Anglican theology was the clos-est to Catholicism of any Protestant sect, and theChurch of England was considered a middle roadbetween the two main ideologies. The Book ofCommon Prayer was carefully worded in its doc-trine so as not to subvert the Eucharist or othersacraments. What was subverted was the supremacyof the pope as head of the church, a political changerather than a religious revolution.

Church Hierarchy

The pope or any other central authority was super-fluous in Lutheran doctrine because ministers wereto be elected by their congregation or by localLutheran secular leaders. Zwingli followed thismodel, with an additional emphasis of the pastor as ashepherd caring for his flock. He also envisioned

more of a separation between the minister, who wasdivinely inspired, and the congregation, whoreceived his message. By the end of the 16th century,however, a Lutheran hierarchy, consisting of minis-ters and their superintendents, both answering to anadministrative body, was established. Calvinism hadseveral offices for the clergy: The minister, or pastor,taught the Scripture; the deacon was responsible foradministering to the poor; and the presbyter, orelder of the church, worked with the pastor whenmembers of the congregation needed to be disci-plined. Calvin based his organization of these officeson examples from the New Testament. UnlikeProtestant sects on the Continent, the congregationof the Anglican Church did not elect its priests. TheEnglish monarch appointed bishops, and bishopsappointed all members of the clergy without con-sulting the congregation or secular officials. Themonarch was the head of the church but was not apriest and could not consecrate bishops.

Early Lutheran churches were plainer thanCatholic churches, but they included an altar for theEucharist. The altar often was a table with a clothplaced over it, with a paten and chalice for the Com-munion service. Instead of an elaborately paintedaltarpiece, many Lutheran churches had a simplecarved crucifix. Holy Communion was truly a com-munal experience, as every member of the congrega-tion was permitted to partake of both the bread andthe wine. Participants were also encouraged to joinin the singing of hymns.

Protestant BiblePart of the break with the Catholic Church involveduse of the Scripture. Protestants believed in theBible as the only divine authority, and in the right ofindividuals to read the text (or at least hear it read) intheir native language. Religion became more pri-vate, with personal Bible study recommended as partof one’s spiritual life. As noted, Luther’s translationof the complete Bible into German was published in1534, but sections had been published since 1522.Various authors translated Luther’s High Germaninto Low German, thereby spreading the text tomany more readers. Between 1541 and 1550, thefirst Bibles in Swedish and Danish were published,


52

but a Bible for Dutch Protestants did not appearuntil 1637.

At the beginning of the 16th century, printing aBible translated into English was not permitted inEngland. William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) moved toAntwerp and translated the Bible into English andwas burned at the stake for his efforts. The EnglishBible by Miles Coverdale (1488–1568), printed onthe Continent in 1535, was sold in England. Subse-quently, church authorities in England asked him tocreate a new edition, which became known as theGreat Bible (1539). Several humanistic scholars whohad fled from England during the reign of Mary I(1516–58) moved to Geneva, where they producedthe Geneva Bible (1553–58). This English transla-tion was the accepted version for the remainder ofthe Renaissance. The Bishops’ Bible of 1568, lavishlyillustrated with woodcuts, went through several edi-tions. Finally, the King James Bible of 1611 becamethe standard English translation for nearly four cen-turies. Most of the text was based on that of Tyndale.

Religious Literature and Bookof Common PrayerBiblical exegesis spurred the Reformation. BecauseProtestant doctrine and daily practice were based inthe Bible, interpreting it correctly was crucial.Understanding of the Old Testament was thought tobe necessary for a more thorough knowledge ofChrist, and leaders such as Luther (Psalms) andCalvin (Song of Songs) published exegetical worksconcerning books of the Bible. Luther was especiallyprolific in publishing Reformation works in general.Of approximately 500 Reformation texts publishedin German in 1523, for example, more than fourhundred were by Luther. Both Geneva and Lyon (insoutheastern France) became strongholds of Protes-tant printing. Verse translations of the Psalmsbecame popular among Protestant poets, andfamous men and women of the Bible inspired play-wrights. Satirical treatments of the pope and otherCatholic figures were effective tools of the Reforma-tion. Some of these were dramatic texts thatridiculed church authorities in public performances.Finally, by the latter 16th century, Reformation his-tories had begun to appear, notably John Knox’s His-

tory of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland in 1587(incomplete edition).

The Book of Common Prayer first was publishedin 1549, with a revised version in 1552. ThomasCranmer, archbishop of Canterbury (1489–1556),helped formulate the text with the assistance of acommission appointed by the king. (The text was notfinalized until 1662.) The first version followedLutheran doctrine, but in wording that recalled theCatholic mass. This wording was changed in the 1552edition. The priest could celebrate Holy Communiononly with the congregation, and the group as a wholewould partake of both the wine and the wafer. Prayersfor the dead were included in 1549; these were expur-gated for the subsequent edition, along with any men-tion of purgatory or of an altar, which was referred toas a table. Finally, by 1552, the Eucharist would beonly a commemoration; that change aligned theAnglican Church with the Reformed Protestantism ofthe Continent.

IconoclasmAlthough ephemeral printed images and texts servedthe purposes of the Reformation, Luther and his sup-porters spoke out against ornate imagery inchurches. In a letter of 1522, for example, he wrote,“I condemn images . . . so that trust will not be put inthem, as has happened so far and still happens. Theywould fall of their own accord if an instructed peopleknew that they were nothing in God’s eyes” (Elmer2000, p. 341). Protestant iconoclasm resulted inaltars being removed or their ornamentation cut orbroken away. Luther envisioned a pure communionbetween God and the congregation, with the altartransformed into a simple table laid with a cloth, as iffor a meal. Zwinglianism was as strict as Calvinism inits iconoclasm, so all works of art were removed fromchurches in Zurich and the mass was suppressed.There was no place in Protestant churches of theRenaissance for gilt statues, stained glass, and othertypes of decoration found in Catholic churches.

This iconoclastic attitude caused the wholesaledestruction of innumerable works of art, especially innorthern Europe and England. Because of Protes-tantism, England and the Netherlands lost much oftheir Gothic and early Renaissance religious art. The

R E L I G I O N

53

Lollards, John Wycliffe’s followers, were avid icono-clasts. The enthusiasm with which Catholic works ofart and architecture were destroyed in England after1534 may have sprung from Lollard sympathizers.

JUDAISM

This section discusses the Jewish religion in its rela-tionship to Catholicism, the dominant religion ofwestern Europe during the period covered by thepresent book. (See page 40 for information on thebackground of this conflict.) The rich cultural tradi-tions of European Judaism, not treated here, wouldprovide fertile ground for further study. For theCatholic Church, the forced conversion of manythousands of Spanish and Portuguese Jews intro-duced the problem of sincerity of faith, and this issuehelped catapult Spain into the Inquisition, withpapal approval. Another problem for the church wasthe demand of Franciscan preachers that Jews beforbidden to practice usury, or lending money forinterest. (The usual interest was 20 percent, whichoutraged Renaissance borrowers. That happens tobe the approximate interest rate charged today bymany credit card companies.) The pope had to pro-ceed with caution concerning Jewish bankersbecause the papal treasury could not afford to sup-port a bankrupt community. Partly for this reason,Roman Jews enjoyed somewhat better treatmentthan their colleagues elsewhere in the Papal States.Not until the 1580s were Jews in Rome forced toattend Catholic sermons. Finally, the decision tomove Jews into ghettos was made during the Renais-sance, unintentionally herding Jewish familiestogether for future anti-Semitic attacks. The mainpurpose for ghettos at his time was to remove Jewsfrom Christian society so that they would not “pol-lute” Catholics, and some Jewish communities pre-ferred to be isolated: The ghettos gave them a senseof security.

BibleJews very much revered the sacred text. Some ofthe most extraordinary manuscripts of the Renais-

sance are illuminated Hebrew Bibles, meaning, ofcourse, the Old Testament and its associated books,on vellum or heavy paper. Some of the ornamenta-tion in these manuscripts was executed by Christ-ian artists. Often the initial page of each book ofthe Old Testament opens with a panel featuring thefirst word highlighted in gold, with geometricshapes in different colors filled with patterns ingold and with a decorative border featuring pea-cocks and other birds, butterflies, and flowers.Unlike Catholic Bibles, most Hebrew Biblesavoided the use of human figures. The remainderof the pages usually contain only the Hebrewscript, in stately rows of carefully scripted ink.Even after Hebrew Bibles were printed during the16th century, beautiful copies in manuscript con-tinued to be produced. The most sacred part of the


54

2.10 First leaf of the book of Joshua from anilluminated Hebrew Bible. Decorated in southern Castile or Andalusia, 15th century. (Courtesy of TheHispanic Society of America, MS. B241)

Bible was (and is) the Torah, or Pentateuch, thefirst five books of the Old Testament, written onparchment or leather in the format of a large,impressive scroll (see the following section).

SynagogueEach congregation had its synagogue, with therabbi as its head. Unlike Catholicism, Judaism didnot (and does not) have a hierarchy of leaders. Eachrabbi had autonomy within his synagogue, advisedby a small group of highly respected men within the

congregation. Traditionally, Renaissance syna-gogues were relatively small structures intended toserve the local community. The dislocation anddiaspora of many thousands of Jews during the late15th and early 16th centuries caused their localrites—Spanish, German, Italian, and others—to beintroduced into the communities to which theyimmigrated. (Neither England nor France had aJewish community, because they had driven themout during the Middle Ages.) Each rite usually hadits own synagogue, with services on Saturday, theJewish sabbath. Christians observed the sabbath onSunday. As Catholic churches had an altar for thehost, synagogues had a platform where the Torahwas read aloud as well as an ark in which the Torahwas stored. Some synagogues had both the ark andplatform at the same end of the building; others hadthe ark at one end and the platform at the other. Adecorative lamp or lantern hung in front of the ark.Although both men and women attended services,the sexes were segregated. Men sat on the groundfloor near the Torah, with women above them inthe balcony.

The Torah scroll was the most precious object ina synagogue, followed by the ark. In most syna-gogues the decorations of the Torah, the crowns,finials, and so on, were solid silver. There was also asilver rod for pointing out sections of the Torah tobe read because the holy text was never to betouched by human hands. Elaborately embroideredcovers for the Torah and ark were made by Jewishwomen, who gave them to the synagogue. ForChristians, both Catholic and Protestant, the Biblenever became such a talismanic object. Certaintaboos applied to the Bible, such as never placing aBible on the floor, but Catholic priests handled themduring church services, and Protestants had theirown copies, which were read each day.

SermonsJewish sermons were usually delivered in the vernac-ular languages, although the preparatory notes wereoften written in Hebrew. Judging by the evidence ofpublished sermons, we can assume that thosepreached in synagogues remained fairly conservative,using the medieval method of homiletic exposition.

R E L I G I O N

55

2.11 Entrance hall of the Regensburg Synagogue.Etching by Albrecht Altdorfer, 1519. According to thecaption, dated February 21, the artist documented thishistoric synagogue on the day before it was demolished,February 22. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, HarrisBrisbane Dick Fund, 1926 [26.72.68])

Christian preachers observed the same tradition.Even the humanistic scholar Isaac Abravanel(1437–1508), whose philosophical commentaries onthe Bible interested Christian scholars, followed theconservative mode in his sermons. During Abra-vanel’s lifetime, however, young Jewish men began tobe educated in classical rhetoric in the curriculum oftheir Hebrew schools. The ancient Roman authorsQuintilian and Cicero were influential by the early16th century, and mythological analogies, for exam-ple, entered the texts of sermons by Judah Moscato(c. 1530–c. 1593), a rabbi in Mantua. His eclecticstyle of preaching combined comments from the Tal-mud (collection of Jewish tradition), mystical writers,Aristotle, and Jewish philosophers. Jewish preacherswere intellectuals, trained in rabbinical disputation.

Religious PracticesIn different parts of Europe, the details of specificreligious practices could differ considerably. But inmost Jewish communities, three of the most impor-tant practices, all of which distinctly set Jews apartfrom Christians, were usually observed. These werecircumcision of male infants, the ritual bath ofwomen after menstruation, and family celebrationof the eve of sabbath on Friday. Even in communi-ties where dancing was banned, the prohibition wasrescinded for the nights immediately preceding thecircumcision ceremony. The birth of a male childwas a cause of rejoicing in Jewish as well as Christ-ian homes; the birth of a female child was not cele-brated. In fact, the father of a newborn daughterwas sometimes sent notes of condolence by hisfriends. For Christians, sending an actual note ofcondolence would have been considered inappro-priate. The ritual bath for Jewish women certainlydistinguished them from Christians as it requiredcomplete immersion. Bathing of this sort was notoften practiced during the Renaissance (see chapter12, Daily Life).

CabalaCabala (also spelled kabbalah or cabbala), a principalcomponent of Jewish theosophy, consisted of inter-

preting the Old Testament through mystical, eso-teric methods, often using ciphers and acronyms.The greatest mystery involved decoding meaningsin the tetragrammaton, the four letters of the divinename. Major schools of cabala were located in Spain(until 1492), Italy, and Israel (notably the school atSafed). Christians also studied the Cabala, using itto formulate christological interpretations of theOld Testament. The philosopher Pico della Miran-dola (1469–1533) learned about the Cabala, proba-bly after seeing a manuscript of the Zohar, a famousmystical text. In 1486 he wrote a Cabalistic doctri-nal work, Conclusiones cabalisticae (Cabalistic conclu-sions), and the theologian Johannes Reuchlin(1455–1522) published his De arte cabalistica (Onthe Cabalistic art) in 1517. These writers blendedcabala with Neoplatonism in a syncretic mode ofinterpretation. One of the most influential ChristianCabalists was Guillaume Postel (1510–81), an extra-ordinary French scholar who specialized in orientaltexts. Postel was imprisoned by the Inquisitionbecause of his grand idea for world peace, that allsects should unite in a universal religion. His toler-ance of Judaism and Islam was viewed as particu-larly subversive.

ISLAM

This section discusses Muslims in Spain, the onlyarea of western Europe where Islam was practicedon a significant scale. Although Islam dominatedmuch of the Iberian Peninsula for several centuriesafter the Arab conquest in the eight century, by theearly 15th century only the kingdom of Granadaremained under Muslim control. Until the Turkishcapture of Constantinople in 1435, Spaniards toler-ated the Muslim presence. The Ottoman Muslims,however, threatened the stability of the entireMediterranean, as well as the borders of easternEurope. The fall of Constantinople caused Muslimseverywhere, including Spain and North Africa, to beviewed with suspicion and hatred. They had becomethe dreaded “infidels,” even those who had beenresiding peacefully in Spain for several generationsand whose contributions to western culture were


56

well known. The medieval Crusades against theTurks had never been forgotten.

Mosques

As in Judaism, in Islam there was no (and is no) reli-gious hierarchy. Each mosque has a designated imam(holy man), with spiritual teachers who assist him inenlightening the Muslims under his care. The idea forthe mosque originated in the Prophet Muhammad’sdwelling, dated 622, in Medina. Its design of a hall ofcolumns surrounded by a courtyard became the usualarrangement for a mosque. Because Muslims turnedtoward Mecca when praying (and still do so), in amosque the wall facing Mecca was indicated by amihrab, a highly decorative niche or other distinctiveelement. In Spain this ornamentation often consistedof lusterware tiles. In front of the mihrab, a screenallowed the sultan and other high officials to pray inprivacy. There was also a screened area behind whichwomen could pray; they were not permitted to beamong the male worshipers. The sermon was givenfrom a pulpit above a flight of stairs, as in many Chris-tian churches. Each mosque had at least one minaret, atower from which the call for prayer could be heard.Although Muslims usually attended the mosque onceeach week, the call for prayer sounded five times eachday. Muslims were expected to stop their activities,face toward Mecca, and kneel for prayer, bowing theirface to the Earth. Neither Jews nor Christians prac-ticed such a regular, public form of worship. Thecourtyard of the mosque contained fountains or wellsbecause Muslims were required to perform ritualwashing of their face, hands, and feet before enteringthe mosque. (The bathing traditions of Islam wouldhave seemed excessive to any of their European con-temporaries.) Mosques had gloriously ornate surfacedecoration, in tiles, marble, or carved wood. Therewere not, however, any representations of forms innature because they were forbidden by the religion.

Spain’s most important mosques were those inGranada and Córdoba. The monumental mosque ofCórdoba was erected during the Middle Ages, in acity that included 700 mosques by the 10th century.The Muslim city of Córdoba was probably the great-est cultural resource of the time, containing some 70

libraries with staffs of scribes, artists, and scholars.When Christian forces conquered Córdoba in thelate Middle Ages, the exterior of the great mosquewas allowed to remain standing. It was so massivethat the Christian cathedral could be constructedwithin its center. When Granada was reconquered in1492, however, most of the mosques were destroyed.

Muslim PhilosophyThe sacred book of Islam is the Qur’an (or Koran),believed to be revelations from Allah (the divinebeing) given to Muhammad. The other basic text of

R E L I G I O N

57

2.12 Prayer carpet. Turkey, late 16th century. Thecentral section depicts a mihrab (prayer niche) like thosein mosques. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, TheJames F. Ballard Collection, Gift of James F. Ballard, 1922[22.100.51])

Islam is the Hadith, a collection of sayings fromMuhammad and other holy men consulted as asource of religious authority. Islam was not a prose-lytizing religion, therefore, Muslims in Spain couldlive peaceably with the Jews and Christians whomthey conquered during the Middle Ages. Thefamous philosophical schools of Toledo, Córdoba,and Granada welcomed (male) students of all faiths,in a prototypical globalization of knowledge. Theopen-minded attitudes of scholars in the Muslimworld of Spain originated in Islam’s exploration ofhumans’ relationship to the One, the supreme being.During the late medieval period and early Renais-sance, human intellect became valued as a powerfulinstrument for seeking eternal truths. This is thelegacy of the Islamic religion to Renaissance science,mathematics, medicine, and philosophy.

MAJOR FIGURES

(For information on the popes, see pages 30–34.)

Abrabanel, Isaac (1437–1508), Jewish scholar whoserved at the Portuguese and Spanish courts and set-tled in Venice in 1503. His biblical commentarieswere studied by Christian scholars.

Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535), notedphilosopher and scholar of the Cabala, wrote a pop-ular treatise on magic, De occulta philosophia (Onoccult philosophy, 1510).

Amerbach, Johannes (c. 1445–1513), Swiss human-ist, founded an important printing house in Basel in1484. His editions of patristic writers, especiallySaint Augustine, set new standards for Renaissancepublishing.

Anchieta, José de (1534–1597) founded a Jesuitmission school in the area where São Paulo, Brazil,is now located. He spoke out against Native Ameri-can slavery.

Aquaviva, Claudio (1543–1615), superior generalof the Jesuit order for 34 years, was largely responsi-

ble for more than doubling membership and expan-sion of the Jesuits into Asian and American colonies.

Arias Montano, Benito (1527–1598) is most famousas editor of the Polyglot Bible. He also taught orientallanguages at the Escorial, where he was librarian.

Arminius, Jacobus (1560–1609) worked to revisethe statements of creed for the (Calvinist) DutchReformed Church. He was embroiled in theologicalcontroversy, accused of Pelagianism because he didnot believe in predestination.

Arndt, Johann (1555–1621) was a Lutheran mysticwho emphasized the union between the true believerand Christ.

Báñez, Domingo (1528–1604), a Spanish Domini-can and scholar of the works of Thomas Aquinas,was the spiritual adviser of Teresa de Ávila.

Baro, Peter (1535–1599) was a French theologianwho converted to Calvinism. He fled to Englandand taught divinity at Cambridge.

Bellarmino, Roberto, cardinal (1542–1621), lec-tured on theology at the Jesuit College in Rome. Hewas influential in the revision of the Vulgate Bible.

Benedict XIII, antipope at Avignon (Pedro daLuna), (c. 1328–1423), refused to be deposed.Because Spain, Portugal, Scotland, and Sicily recog-nized him as pope, he caused the Great Schism to beprolonged for many years.

Bessarion, Basil, cardinal (1403–1472), was aGreek scholar who favored reuniting the Romanand Byzantine churches. After his conversion toCatholicism, he was made a cardinal. Bessarion con-tinued to study Greek and Latin manuscriptsthroughout his life and left his substantial collectionto the republic of Venice.

Bèze, Théodore de (1519–1605), theologian andhistorian, was a Protestant who fled to Switzerland.He taught in Geneva and published several Calvinistworks. His Latin translation of the New Testamentwas published in 1556.


58

Borja, Francisco de (1510–1572) gave up a duke-dom in southern Spain to join the Society of Jesus( Jesuits). He gave enormous prestige to the society,as the great-grandson of both King Ferdinand V andPope Alexander VI. Borja served as the second gen-eral of the Jesuits.

Borromeo, Carlo, cardinal (1538–1584), was can-onized in 1610. He helped reform church music andpresided over part of the Council of Trent. As bishopof Milan he enforced the strict Tridentine decrees,removing some of the ornamentation from MilanCathedral. Borromeo also reformed the religiousorders and persecuted witches and other heretics.

Bruno, Giordano (1584–1600) was burned at thestake in Rome after his pantheistic theology and het-erodoxy were condemned by an Inquisition tribunal.

Bucer, Martin (1491–1551), Protestant reformer,participated in several conferences before settling inEngland to teach divinity at Cambridge. QueenMary I ordered his tomb desecrated and his bodyburned, but Elizabeth I later restored the tomb.

Bullinger, Heinrich (1504–1575) was a Protestantpolemicist who argued with Luther over the doctrineof the Eucharist, among other topics. His sermonswere published in German, Latin, and English.

Cajetan, San (Gaetano Thiene), (1480–1547) foundedthe Order of Theatines, with the goal of promotingapostolic purity.

Cajetan, Tommaso, cardinal (1469–1534) was arenowned scholar of the works of Thomas Aquinas.He served as general of the Dominican order andpapal legate. Cajetan fell out of favor because of hisleniency toward Lutheranism.

Calvin, Jean (1509–1564), founder of Calvinism,spent most of his adult life in Geneva. After an initialcontroversy with the Zwinglians, he was made head ofthe city government. The Latin version of his Institutes(1559) became a standard text of the Reformation.

Campion, Edmund (1540–1581) was an EnglishJesuit, ordained in Rome in 1578. After teaching in

Prague, he helped lead the Jesuit mission to En-gland. There Campion was captured by Protestantauthorities, tortured, and executed.

Cano, Melchior (1509–1560), Spanish Dominican,supported Philip II in his conflict with the papacyconcerning ecclesiastical revenues. He was a profes-sor of theology at the University of Salamanca.

Carranza, Bartolomé de (1503–1576) was an emi-nent Spanish Dominican whose career vacillatedbetween royal and Imperial representation to long-term imprisonment by the Inquisition. He advocatedseveral clerical reforms and wrote a controversialtreatise on the catechism.

Cassander, Georg (1513–1556), Catholic theolo-gian, was spurned by both Catholics and Protestantsfor his attempts to reconcile their doctrinal stances.

Catherine de’ Medici (1519–1589) was queenmother and then regent of France as of 1560. Sheinitially supported toleration of French Protestantsbut by 1572 encouraged their persecution. She wasthe power behind the throne until 1588.

Charles of Guise, cardinal of Lorraine(1525–1574), was the brother of the duke of Guise.He vehemently opposed the Reformation, particu-larly the Calvinists.

Chemnitz, Martin (1522–1586), Protestant theolo-gian, was a student of Melanchthon. He became animportant Lutheran polemicist, defending Luther’sdoctrine of the Eucharist and criticizing the Councilof Trent.

Cisneros, Francisco Jiménez de, cardinal(1436–1517), became the confessor of QueenIsabella I. Reluctantly accepting his appointment asa bishop, he continued to live in modest conditions.He was also grand Inquisitor general for Castile andLéon (Spain).

Coligny, Gaspard of (1519–1572) was commanderin chief of the French Huguenot army. He was killedduring the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre.

R E L I G I O N

59

Coverdale, Miles (1488–1568) translated the entireBible into English, drawing upon William Tyndale’stranslation of the New Testament.

Cranmer, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury(1489–1556), revised the liturgy for the Church ofEngland under Henry VIII and contributed to thefirst two Books of Common Prayer. He was burnedat the stake during the reign of Mary I.

Cromwell, Thomas (c. 1485–1540) was secretaryto Henry VIII. He instigated the dissolution andlooting of monasteries in England.

Des Périers, Bonaventure (c. 1500–1544) assistedwith the first translation of the Bible into French. Hewas a member of the court of Marguerite de Navarre.

Dolet, Étienne (1509–1546) was a French humanistwhose affinity for the skepticism of classical authorsled to his denial of the immortality of the soul. Hewas burned at the stake, condemned by Sorbonnetheologians.

Eck, Johann (1486–1543) was a Catholic theologianwho vehemently opposed Luther. He dedicated hislife to crushing Protestantism, traveling back andforth between Rome and Germany.

Edward VI, king of England (1537–1553), wasonly nine years old when he succeeded to thethrone. His ministers continued to strengthen theChurch of England and published the first Book ofCommon Prayer.

Elizabeth I, queen of England (1533–1603), reignedfrom 1558 until 1603. Although several Catholic dis-senters were executed during her reign, she toleratedCatholics who posed no threat to her authority.

Erasmus, Desiderius (c. 1466–1536), Augustinianpriest and renowned humanist, carried on numerousarguments with Luther, for instance, on the freedomof the human will. He also edited the New Testa-ment in Greek.

Erastus, Thomas (1524–1583) was a Zwingliantheologian after whom Erastianism is named. This

creed affirmed the superiority of the state over thechurch in ecclesiastical affairs.

Fisher, John, cardinal (1469–1535), became chan-cellor of Cambridge University. He vehementlyopposed Henry VIII’s demand for a divorce and wasexecuted for refusing to recognize the authority ofthe Church of England.

Flacius Illyricus (1520–1575) was a Protestant the-ologian who became an adherent of Lutheranismand a friend of Luther’s. He was famous for hisscholarly biblical exegesis.

Fonseca, Pedro da (1528–1599), Portuguese Jesuit,was chancellor of the University of Evora and laterworked for the church in Rome.

Foxe, John (1516–1587) wrote an influential bookon Protestant martyrs in England, Acts and Monu-ments of Matters Happening in the Church (1554).During the reign of Mary I, he lived in exile, return-ing to England after Elizabeth I became queen.

Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise (1519–1563)and brother of the cardinal of Lorraine, fought inthe Italian Wars and the Wars of Religion on theCatholic side. Troops under his leadership killed agroup of Huguenots in 1562, instigating the Wars ofReligion. The duke died of a gunshot wound the fol-lowing year.

Gutenberg, Johannes (c. 1394/99–1468) succes-fully printed the first book with the new technologyof movable type. That book was the Vulgate Bible,known as the Gutenberg Bible.

Henry IV, king of France (1553–1610), was raised ina Protestant household. Forced to renounce his faithin 1572, he recanted after escaping from house arrestand joined the Huguenot rebels. However, in 1593,he converted to Catholicism after becoming king.

Henry VIII, king of England (1491–1547), brokewith the Catholic Church when the pope refused togrant him a divorce. He founded the Church ofEngland, confiscated Catholic property, and closedthe monasteries.


60

Hooker, Richard (c. 1554–1600) was an Englishdivine whose multivolume work Of the Laws ofEcclesiastical Polity became the foundation stone ofAnglicanism.

Hus, Jan (c. 1372–1415), born in Bohemia, studiedtheology at the University of Prague. His preachingwas censured for criticism of the clergy; then Hus fellinto greater disfavor as a result of papal politics. In1411 Hus was excommunicated, forbidden to haveany contact with members of the church, and exiledfrom Prague. With a safe-conduct pass from theemperor, he journeyed to the Council of Constanceto appeal his excommunication, but he was burned atthe stake by order of the pope. His followersresponded to this outrage with the Hussite Wars.

John VIII Palaeologus, emperor of Byzantium(1390–1448), sought to unite the Eastern and Westernchurches. He was present for the Council of Florenceand agreed to the decree of 1439 reconciling the twochurches. The agreement was rejected in Byzantium.

Junius, Franciscus (1545–1602), Protestant theolo-gian, spent many years translating the Old Testa-ment into Latin. He was a professor of theology andHebrew, who concluded his career at the Universityof Leiden.

Knox, John (c. 1513–1572) was a Scottish Protestantwho worked on the second Book of Common Prayer.Knox is infamous for his attack on female rulers, FirstBlast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment ofWomen (1558), for which he was banned from Eng-land by Elizabeth I even though he served theChurch of England.

Latimer, Hugh (c. 1485–1555), royal chaplain forHenry VIII, was a Protestant reformer. When herefused to recant under Mary I, she had him burnedat the stake.

Laínez, Diego (1512–1565), second Jesuit general,defended papal authority at the Council of Trent.He also promoted Jesuit missionary activity.

Lefèvre d’Étaples, Jacques (c. 1460–1536), Frenchhumanistic scholar, studied and corrected biblical

texts. Although this work brought him under suspi-cion of the Sorbonne, he was protected by the kingand his sister, Marguerite of Navarre.

L’Hôpital, Michel de (1505–1573), chancellor ofFrance, supported religious toleration and attemptedto prioritize the interests of the state over those ofreligion. He eventually was forced to resign his officebecause of opposition from the church.

Loyola, Saint Ignatius (1491–1556), a Spaniard,founded the Society of Jesus ( Jesuits). The societywas recognized by Pope Paul III in 1540. SaintIgnatius’s Spiritual Exercises (1548), originally pub-lished in Spanish, was the first book issued by thesociety.

Luther, Martin (1483–1546) disapproved of clericaland papal corruption. His initial criticisms wereintended to reform the Catholic Church fromwithin, but he soon advanced from criticism to for-mulate new doctrines. Luther began the ProtestantReformation and translated the Bible into German.

Maier, Georg (1502–1574) was taught at the Uni-versity of Wittenberg by Melanchthon and Luther.A Lutheran theologian, Maier lectured that goodworks were necessary for salvation, in addition tothe justification by faith preached by Luther.

Mary I, queen of England (Mary Tudor)(1516–1558), was known as “Bloody Mary.” Sherelentlessly persecuted Protestants. Married toPhilip II of Spain, Mary did not produce an heir,thus allowing Elizabeth to become queen.

Mary, queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) (1452–1587),was married to Francis II, heir to the throne ofFrance, but he died not long after their wedding.Fleeing from Protestant forces in Scotland, she wasimprisoned and ultimately executed by her cousin,Elizabeth I.

Melanchthon, Philipp (1497–1560), Protestantreformer, sought to reconcile Lutheranism, Calvin-ism, and Zwinglianism. At heart Melanchthon was ahumanistic scholar with a synergistic view of reli-gion, which alienated him from many Protestants.

R E L I G I O N

61

Molina, Luis de (1535–1600) was a Spanish Jesuitwho spent most of his career teaching in Portugal.Molinism, named after him, involves the theologyof grace.

More, Sir Thomas (1478–1535) become lord chan-cellor of England in 1529. He opposed Henry VIII’sdivorce, however, and was executed.

Motilinía, Toribio de (c. 1490–1569) was a Spanishmissionary in Mexico. His work on the Aztecs is animportant early source concerning their religiouspractices.

Müntzer, Thomas (c. 1489–1525), a German stu-dent of theology and a Catholic priest, became areligious visionary. He was rejected by Luther forhis extreme beliefs. Müntzer led an army during thePeasants’ Revolt in Thuringia and was subsequentlycaptured and executed.

Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), born in the Ger-man town of Kues (hence his name), wrote num-erous Latin treatises, including religious andphilosophical works. His best known treatise is Dedocta ignorantia (On learned ignorance, c. 1440),which concerns human understanding of God.

Oecolampadius, Johannes (1482–1531), a GermanProtestant, encouraged participation in church gov-ernment. Along with Zwingli, he persuaded the can-ton of Bern to adopt Protestantism.

Osiander, Andreas (1496/98–1552) was a Protes-tant reformer who argued with Luther about justifi-cation by faith.

Pfefferkorn, Johannes (1469–1524) was a Jewwho converted to Catholicism and attempted topersuade Maximilian I to destroy all Jewish writ-ings. The Hebrew scholar Reuchlin persuaded himotherwise.

Philip II, king of Spain (1527–1598), also con-trolled the Netherlands as part of his Burgundianinheritance. He attempted to quell the 1567 Revoltof the Netherlands by dispatching Spanish troops.

This action only fueled the Protestants’ desire forindependence, in conflicts that lasted until a truceof 1609.

Pole, Reginald, cardinal (1500–1558) and arch-bishop of Canterbury, turned against Henry VIII insupport of the papacy. His family was persecutedbecause he propagandized against the EnglishCrown. When Mary I became queen, Pope Paul IIIsent Pole as legate to England.

Reuchlin, Johannes (1455–1522), humanist andHebrew scholar, persuaded Emperor Maximilian Inot to order the wholesale destruction of Jewishbooks and manuscripts.

Ricci, Matteo (1552–1610) was a Jesuit mission-ary in China. His work became controversialbecause he permitted converts to practice ancestorworship.

Servetus, Michael (1511–1553), a Unitarian the-ologian opposing Trinitarianism, was denounced byCalvin. He was burned at the stake in Switzerland byorder of the city council of the Calvinist strongholdof Geneva.

Sigismund, king of Hungary and Bohemia(1368–1437), was crowned as Holy Roman Emperorin 1433. For 17 years he had to battle the Hussites inBohemia before his kingship was firmly establishedthere.

Simons, Menno (1496–1561), who had been aCatholic priest, joined the Anabaptists and became aminister. Greatly influenced by the writings ofLuther, he preached that people should lead a life ofservice and advocated peace. The Mennonitesnamed themselves after him.

Stumpf, Johannes (1500–1578) was a Swiss Protes-tant theologian, many of whose Catholic parish-ioners converted with him.

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), Spanish mystic,founded a reformed house of the Carmelite order,


62

known as Discalced (shoeless) Carmelites, who livedin strict poverty. Members of the regular orderdenounced her to the Inquisition, and she wasforced to write to defend herself. In 1970 SaintTeresa became the first woman honored as a doctorof the church.

Thiene, Gaetano See CAJETAN, SAN.

Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471), devotionalwriter, was probably the author of the immenselypopular Imitatio Christi (Imitation of Christ).

Tyndale, William (c. 1494–1536) translated theBible into English. He was executed in the Nether-lands for heresy.

Wolsey, Thomas, cardinal (c. 1474–1530), servedas chaplain for both Henry VII and Henry VIII. Aslord chancellor he was given the task of negotiatingthe king’s divorce, then charged with treason whenhe failed. Wolsey died before he could respond.

Xavier, Francis (1506–1552), Spanish Jesuit, wasa disciple of Ignatius de Loyola. He spent most ofhis career as a missionary to the Far East, estab-lishing missions in Goa and elsewhere, introduc-ing Catholicism to thousands. He is buried in Goabut had the posthumous honor of having his rightarm detached and taken to the Gesù church inRome.

Wycliffe, John (c. 1328–1384), an Oxford man, wastolerated by the government when he criticized cor-rupt members of the clergy and taught that theBible is the supreme source of doctrinal informa-tion. He attacked the Eucharist, however, as asource of superstitious behavior and was ordered toleave his position at Oxford in 1382. The Lollards,his followers, originally were members of the aris-tocracy, but Wycliffe’s fall from grace caused themovement to die out among the upper class. It wassubmerged among members of the middle andlower classes and may still have been smoldering inthe early 16th century.

Zwingli, Huldrych (1484–1531) was an importanttheologian in the Swiss Reformation. He broke withRome over the issue of marriage for priests and sub-sequently broke with Luther over his interpretationof the Eucharist. Zwinglianism, the creed namedafter Zwingli, promoted the practice of theEucharist as only a commemorative ritual.

READING

The PapacyD’ Amico, Renaissance Humanism, 1991: papal Rome;Grendler 1999: Bologna; Hallman 1985: cardinalsand reform; McGinness 1995: Counter-Reformation;O’Malley 1979: reform in Rome; Partner 1972: thePapal States; Partner 1990: papal service; Prodi 1987:papal monarchy; Signorotto 2002: politics in Rome.

Catholic Church

Alden 1996: Jesuit missions; Black 1989: confrater-nities; Crowder 1977: heresies in the 15th century;DeMolen 1994: religious orders; Donnelly 1999:confraternities; Hay 1977: Italy in the 15th century;Housley 2001: holy wars; Kloczowski 2000: Poland;Oakley 1979: early Renaissance; Peters 1988: Inqui-sition; Racaut 2002: French Counter-Reformation;Raitt 1987: spirituality; Tedeschi 1991: Inquisition;Weinstein 1970: Florence.

Protestant Reformation

Bainton 1956: mostly Germany; Belloc 1992:impressionistic description of Reformation individ-uals; Bergsma 1999: Netherlands; Diefendorf 1991:Paris in the 16th century; Holt 1995: wars of reli-gion in France; Oberman 1994: effects of the Refor-mation; Pelikan 1996: the Bible; Stadtwald 1996:antipapalism in Germany; Unghváry 1989: Hun-gary; Waite 2000: drama and propaganda.

R E L I G I O N

63


64

JudaismBonfil 1990: rabbis; Frojmovic 2002: Jewish–Christ-ian relations; Gitlitz 1996: crypto-Jews; Langmuir1990: anti-Semitism; Meyers 2001: conversos; Mulsow2004: converts to Judaism; Oberman 1994: anti-Semitism; Reinharz 1982: Jewish intellectual history;Roth 1984: (general study); Ruderman 1981: Jewishculture; Ruderman 1992: Italy.

IslamArmour 2002: conflicts; Beckingham 1983: travel-ers; Blanks 1997: Islam as the “other”; Burnett1999: Italy; Cardini 2001: general study; Fuller2001: English converts to Islam; Mastnak 2002:Islam and Western politics; Miller 2000: Luther onIslam.

ART AND VISUAL CULTURE

3

Until the 20th century, Renaissance art chieflymeant painting, sculpture, and architecture,

including the illuminated painting in manuscripts.Scholarly writing in art history focused mostly onItalian artists working in these media, influenced byGiorgio Vasari’s (1511–1574) Delle vite’ de’ più pit-tori, scultori, ed architettori (Lives of the most excel-lent painters, sculptors, and architects, 1550). The18th- and early 19th-century art markets were dri-ven by the connoisseurship of scholars and collec-tors, and the artists described by Vasari dominatedthe market. Although his Lives remains an extraordi-nary insight into the artistic life of the Renaissance,Vasari’s bias toward Florentine artists sometimescaused him to disparage the work of those workingin other areas, such as Siena and Venice, and, ofcourse, no northern European artists are included inthe first edition of his book. Today we have a muchfuller picture of the period and can better appreciatethe visual idiosyncrasies of Renaissance art from var-ious regions of Europe. In addition, we now see thatnorthern European art played a significant role inthe development of certain media, notably woodcarving, oil painting, printmaking, and metalwork.Several exhibitions and publications of the 19th andearly 20th centuries informed scholars and collec-tors about Netherlandish art of the Renaissance, andtoday we have a more balanced view of the artisticproductions of northern and southern Europe dur-ing the 15th and 16th centuries. Scholarship of thelatter 20th century explored the relationshipsbetween the Renaissance art of western Europe andthat of other cultures, such as the hybrid forms thatdeveloped in the Iberian Peninsula under Islamicinfluence.

Students of the Renaissance now look at theentire panoply of visual culture in which artists of thetime lived and worked. We still admire, of course, themasterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecturethat have defined Renaissance art for four centuries.That admiration, however, is both enriched and tem-pered by the knowledge that many of the same artistsproducing these works also drew designs for othermedia such as prints, medals, embroidery, and tapes-tries and sculpted small works such as mirrors, jew-elry, and decorative details for furniture. Looking atart from the Renaissance point of view, we should

understand that tapestries, especially those fromFlanders and Italy, were often valued more highlythan paintings. These portable forms of textile wallart could be transported from one residence toanother, whereas frescoes remained on the wallwhere they were painted and large sculpturesremained on their pedestals.

Except for the visual art in public buildings andchurches, the majority of the population did not seethe masterpieces of Renaissance art. Many of themajor commissions were for private residences of thepope, monarch, or local official and for their privategardens or for private organizations such as guilds.Town and city dwellers viewed artistic works duringfestivities and funerals, for which artists were commis-sioned to design and paint wooden triumphal arches,decorations for pageants, banners, coats of arms, andother works. Many people living in rural areas duringthe 15th century spent their entire life worshiping in amedieval church, oblivious to art of the Renaissance.By the 16th century, however, prints and illustratedbooks were making their way into even the smallesttowns. This explosion of imagery affected the socialand cultural stability of western Europe, causing peo-ple to question assumptions about political hierar-chies, social stratification, and religion.

The new visual culture contributed significantlyto the Protestant Reformation, which relied onprints and illustrated books to spread its propa-ganda, especially among the lower classes.

Realizing the power of religious imagery,Protestant leaders advocated iconoclasm, causingthe wholesale destruction of Catholic crucifixes,stained glass, paintings, carvings, sculpture, prayerbooks, and choir books. Some areas of Protestantnorthern Europe escaped this onslaught; Englandwas not so fortunate. In the reigns of Henry VIII(1491–1547) and Edward VI (1537–53), Englandlost almost all important Catholic art, most of itGothic and some recently imported from the con-tinent. Several English artists, influenced by Flem-ish painters, were working in their native countryduring the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Mostof their religious art was destroyed. The Reforma-tion in England discouraged both painting andsculpture, except for the production of alabasterstatuary and the painting of portraits, especially in


66

miniature. Italy, of course, did not suffer this depri-vation, and the story of Renaissance art beginsthere.

PAINTING

To appreciate the differences between early Renais-sance painting, which largely means northern Ital-ian art, and the medieval (or Gothic) painting that iteventually superseded, we must realize thatmedieval paintings had a relatively flat picture planewith stiff, two-dimensional figures. Although indi-vidual objects could be rendered realistically, theoverall picture usually resembled the iconic style ofByzantine paintings. Often there was no back-ground to the composition, only a gilt surface occa-sionally decorated with punched or incised patterns.Giotto di Bondone’s (1267–1337) frescoes of theLives of the Virgin and Christ painted between 1305and 1308 for the Arena Chapel in Padua, with theirwell-proportioned figures and various lifelike ges-tures, are among the earliest representations of thenew art form. Giotto, in fact, was designated byVasari in his Lives as the founder of Renaissancepainting, on the basis of the assumption that Giotto

had painted the frescoes in the upper church of SanFrancesco in Assisi. Although most scholars nowbelieve that another artist executed those works,Vasari’s assessment of Giotto’s significance was notinappropriate. Frescoes, or mural paintings, werethe first medium in which Renaissance artistsexcelled, followed closely by paintings on woodpanels and illuminated manuscripts. The singlegreatest achievement of painting during the Renais-sance was the understanding of perspective, whichwas used by artists in both southern and northernEurope by the mid-15th century. The other majorachievement was a new understanding of how torender form and mass, or a “sculptural” feeling forfigures in two-dimensional space.

Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise on painting, De pic-tura (1435), included the first published description ofone-point perspective, or linear perspective. Albertireferred to the “centric point” (vanishing point) todescribe the method used to create the illusion ofdepth on a two-dimensional surface. He and thearchitect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) may havebeen working on this concept together in Florence.Because linear perspective can be used to situatehuman and mythological figures properly within pic-torial space, it was one of the most importantadvances in Renaissance art. Alberti emphasized thatthe story (istoria) or narrative of a painting was itsmain purpose, and that story was expressed throughfigures. He assumed that artists knew anatomy, whichwas crucial for the composition: “Before dressing aman, we must first draw him nude, then we enfoldhim in draperies. So in painting the nude we placefirst his bones and muscles which we then cover withflesh so that it is not difficult to understand whereeach muscle is beneath” (Alberti 1966, p. 73). A newsense of precision entered artistic vocabulary withAlberti’s text, as compositions were based on mea-surements and accurate proportions in figures andbuildings. Alberti encouraged painters to introduce asense of movement by using the contrapposto posefound in ancient statues, in which one foot is placedslightly forward, balanced by a turn of the head or anextended arm. This particular pose became importantnot only for Renaissance painting, but also for sculp-ture. By the 1520s in Italy, many artists were creatingworks featuring twisted and exaggerated figures, with

A R T A N D V I S U A L C U LT U R E

67

3.1 Apparatus for translating three-dimensional objectsinto two-dimensional drawings. Woodcut by AlbrechtDürer, published 1525. (Private Collection/BridgemanArt Library)

dramatic lighting or texture highlighting these figuresin the style known as Mannerism that influencedother Renaissance art of the latter 16th century. Bythe turn of the century, Mannerism had evolved intothe grand exuberance of baroque.

Painting on WallsMural painting, or wall painting, was usually donein the form of fresco for images that were meant tobe permanent, with powdered pigments dissolvedin water. The fresco technique, from the Italianword for “fresh,” involved painting onto freshlyapplied plaster so that the paint hardened into the

plaster as it dried. Details could be added in secco(dry work) after the plaster dried, and the colorblue usually had to be added after the plaster driedbecause that pigment did not dissolve properly inwater. Most Renaissance frescoes were created inItaly, though usually not in Venice, because humidconditions caused the surface to deteriorate. Themost famous fresco of the Renaissance isMichelangelo’s (1475–1564) Sistine Chapel ceilingin Rome. Giotto’s Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel inPadua is among the earliest (see previous discus-sion). Although most fresco painters, as wereartists in general, were men, some religious fres-coes in convents were painted by nuns.

Fresco painting during the early Renaissancewas a demanding medium that required an excellentvisual memory and a sure, quick hand. The paintersketched the design on a plaster base, decidingwhich section would be painted on a particular daybecause the pigments had to be applied before theplaster dried. Then a thin, smooth coat of plasterwas applied over that section, covering the sketchthat was now in the artist’s memory so that theactual painting could commence. By the mid-15thcentury, fresco painters had learned to sketch theirdesigns in full scale on pieces of paper, then transferthe sketch to sections of the final layer of plaster bypricking along the sketched lines or pressing lightlywith a stylus. Some artists also used pieces of clothpressed onto the damp plaster to prevent it fromdrying out until that section could be painted.Because the pigments in fresco (except some blues)were physically bonded into the plaster, their colorsremained fresh and vibrant, and the images werestrengthened visually by becoming part of thestructure of the wall or ceiling. These paintingswere not restrained or defined by frames: Angelscould appear to fly around the ceiling and peoplecould seem to be walking along the walls. Unlikemost panel paintings and paintings on canvas, fres-coes were not covered over with varnish or otherprotective material. Whereas most Renaissancepaintings in other media are now darkened or dis-colored by the very material intended to protectthem, many frescoes have retained their originalbrilliance or can be cleaned to reveal it. Frescoesgive a good idea of the bright colors that must haveappeared in other painted media of the time.


68

3.2 Linear perspective illustrated in a woodcut of theinterior of a building. Hieronymus Rodler, Perspectiva,Frankfurt, 1546. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’sInc., © 2003)

Because mural painting could be executed in amonumental scale, figures could be life-sized and nar-rative could easily be incorporated into the imagery.In Florence, as in other important cities, monasticorders often commissioned mural paintings to pre-serve and celebrate the history of their institution,creating a sort of group memory. The cloisters ofmonasteries were perfect locations for such muralsbecause the monks or nuns and their visitors habitu-ally strolled around this area, the open center permit-ted sunlight to illuminate the paintings, and theroofed loggia protected the murals from inclementweather. During the Middle Ages, cloister decorationwas chosen by and pertained to wealthy families,patrons of the order, who had the right to be buriedwithin the cloister. By 1420 in Florence, however,such paintings, which contributed to the public per-ception and communal memory of the orders, beganto be designed by them. The narrative scope of frescocycles also told stories such as the lives of the Virginand Christ or the life of the patron saint of a wealthyindividual donor or guild. Taddeo Gaddi (fl. 1325, d.1366), Giotto’s assistant for some 24 years, paintedthe fresco cycle The Life of the Virgin (1332–38) in theBaroncelli Chapel of Santa Croce in Florence, as wellas other frescoes in the church. In Lives of the MostExcellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects GiorgioVasari, however, assigned these works to Giotto. It isimportant to understand that Renaissance readersviewed their own art history through Vasari’s eyes.

EXAMPLES OF 15TH-CENTURY FRESCOES

The first Renaissance painting depicting an eques-trian statue was executed in fresco (1436), by PaoloUccello (c. 1397–1475), for the Florence cathedral.Modeled after ancient Roman sculpture, the paint-ing celebrated John de Hawkwood, an English mer-cenary (condottiere) who had fought for Florence.The painting, which observes the rules of linear per-spective, is nearly 30 feet in height. Vasari praisedthe geometric proportions of the horse and thepainting in general: “Paolo drew in perspective alarge sarcophagus, as if the body were inside, andabove it he placed the image of the man in his com-mander’s armour astride a horse. This work was andis still considered to be a most beautiful painting”(Vasari 1998, p. 80). The equestrian statue and its

representation in painting and prints would becomea favorite topos for rulers in Renaissance art.

Masaccio’s (1401–c. 1428) fresco cycle in theBrancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine in Flo-rence was painted near the end of his short life, for aprivate patron. It is still extant, although somewhatdamaged by an 18th-century fire and subsequentlyrepaired. Fresco was the perfect medium for thisartist’s innovative use of the luminous qualities oflight, with figures modeled after classical examples.Vasari elevated Masaccio to a position of honoramong 15th-century artists, and Renaissance artists inFlorence studied his compositions in the BrancacciChapel. Vasari praised his realism: “Masaccio con-stantly tried to create the most lifelike figures with afine animation and a similarity to the real. His out-lines and his painting were done in such a modernstyle, and so different were they from those of otherpainters, that his works can surely stand comparisonwith any kind of modern design or colouring” (Vasari1998, p. 103). When Vasari wrote “modern,” hemeant the new style influenced by classical models, asopposed to the older Gothic style, which he called“German.” Thus, as in other aspects of Renaissanceculture, ancient classical models became the “mod-ern” prototypes.

Piero della Francesca (1415–1492) painted thefresco cycle Legend of the True Cross in the choir of theChurch of San Francesco, Arezzo, between circa1455 and 1460. Beautifully preserved today, thiswork became justifiably famous during the Renais-sance through Vasari’s adulation: “But over andabove every other consideration of Piero’s talent andtechnique is his depiction of Night, where he showsan angel in flight, foreshortened with its head fore-most on the plane . . . and, with his depiction of thedarkness, Piero makes us realize how important it isto imitate real things and to draw them out, derivingthem from reality itself” (Vasari 1998, pp. 165–166).This striving toward naturalism would become thesingle most important goal for painters of the latter15th century, and its fulfillment would be achievedby Flemish artists. Numerous other 15th-centuryItalian artists worked in fresco, including several,such as Andrea Mantegna (1430/31–1506),Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448/49–1494), and SandroBotticelli (1445–1510), who also were in demand fortheir panel paintings.


69

EXAMPLES OF 16TH-CENTURY FRESCOES

The Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, originally commis-sioned by Pope Sixtus IV (1414–84), has been a focalpoint of papal history since it was built. Each newpope is elected by the conclave of cardinals in thisroom. Between 1481 and 1483, frescoes were paintedon the walls by several artists, including Botticelli,Ghirlandaio, and Perugino (c. 1440–1523). In theearly 16th century, Michelangelo and his assistantspainted the ceiling under the patronage of PopeJulius II (1443–1513); three decades later he paintedthe fresco The Last Judgment on the wall behind the

altar. The latter work caused quite a scandal, partlybecause of the dour nature of Counter-Reformationadherents (see page 44 in chapter 2, on religion).The Sistine Chapel ceiling is a triumph of trompel’oeil illusionistic architecture and interactive figuresin various scale. During the 20th century, the paint-ings received a controversial cleaning that revealedthe bright colors that one expects to see in Renais-sance frescoes. (Several experts believe that the col-ors are too bright.) Recent scholarship has revealedthat the iconographic program of the ceiling evi-dently was planned by the humanistic theologianEgidio da Viterbo (1469–1532), working withMichelangelo. Jewish cabalistic mysticism was usedas the source of the symbolism, in the belief that thekingdom of heaven on Earth could be projectedthrough the union of numerology, mystical symbols,and Christian imagery. Although only Vatican offi-cials and humanistic elite at the time would haveknown about this use of the cabala in a Christiancontext, Michelangelo assuredly knew, especiallysince he would have been introduced to the doc-trines of Christian Neoplatonism and cabala at theMedici court when he was younger. Vasari, however,knew nothing about the Jewish aspect of this sacredfresco cycle.

Long before Vasari suggested that mid-16th-cen-tury artists should use the Sistine Chapel ceiling astheir model, Raphael (1483–1520) did so. Commis-sioned by the pope to decorate the Vatican apart-ments (the Stanze) in fresco, Raphael looked atMichelangelo’s work in the chapel and changed thefocus of his own imagery. In his painting Liberation ofSaint Peter from Prison (1511–14), for example, heemphasized the dramatic effect as Michelangelomight have. This fresco challenged Raphael’s inge-nuity as it had to be designed for a lunette into whichthe top of a window intrudes. Millard Meiss in TheGreat Age of Fresco, 1970, explained how the artistdrew attention away from the window by creatingfour sources of light within a rather dark painting(dark for a fresco, that is). Raphael was recognizedfor the “sweet style” of his painting, which can easilybe seen in his classicizing frescoes celebrating the seanymph Galatea (1513) in the Villa Farnesina, Rome.

Correggio (1494–1534) executed the cupola ofSan Giovanni Evangelista in Parma. Paintedbetween circa 1518 and 1522, the top of the cupola


70

3.3 Portrait of Michelangelo. Giorgio Vasari, Le vitede’ piu eccellenti pittori . . ., Florence, 1588.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

(which has no lantern and thus no light from above)is approximately 100 feet from the floor of thechurch. The subject he painted is usually referred toas The Vision of Saint John, with Saint John observingChrist’s ascending into heaven, surrounded by hisapostles. The renowned Venetian painter Titian (c.1489–1576) praised Correggio for his fresco paint-ing in the dome of Parma cathedral, which is anAssumption of the Virgin (1526) similar to the ascen-sion in San Giovanni Evangelista. In the latter paint-ing, Correggio created “light” from the cupola bycausing Christ to appear to float up into an endless,glowing heaven of gold and white.

Veronese (1528–88) was a masterful illusionisticpainter, as exemplified by his frescoes in several pri-vate villas, notably the Villa Barbaro in Maser (theVeneto) built by Andrea Palladio (1508–80). Becauseit is part of the wall itself, fresco easily lends itself todepictions of fictive three-dimensional architecture.In the Villa Barbaro, Veronese’s visual wit created afalse balustrade with a “rural scene” visible in thedistance, a woman holding a violin that seems toproject beyond the surface, a little girl seeming toopen a door and look into the room, and similaramusing trompe l’oeil imagery. By the early 1560s,when the villa was painted by Veronese, painterswere appreciated for their wit as much as for theirskill.

In Castile (present-day Spain), Juan de Borgoña(fl. from 1495, d. 1535) designed several frescoes forthe cathedral of Toledo, including “windows” thatopened into gardens filled with flowers, fruit trees,and birds. He himself painted three large battlescenes in 1514 celebrating his patron, FranciscoJiménez de Cisneros (c. 1436–1517), who had led acampaign against Muslims in Morocco in 1509.Originally from Burgundy (as his name implies),Borgoña apparently spent three years studyingpainting in Rome. His frescoes demonstrate that heunderstood linear perspective and the classical mod-eling of human figures. On the vault above his battlescene of Oran, Borgoña painted a trompe l’oeil cof-fered ceiling in perfect Italian style.

The royal hunting lodge of Fontainebleau hasone of the most ornate examples of a frescoedRenaissance interior, in the Salle de Bal (ballroom),full of mythological allegories. Commissioned byKing Henry II (1519–1559), it was painted by

Francesco Primaticcio (1504/5–70) and Niccolòdell’Abbate (c. 1512–1571) between 1551 and 1556.Originally working with Il Rosso (1494–1540) onthe frescoes and stuccoed wall decoration for thelodge, Primaticcio became director of the project inwhat is now called the School of Fontainebleau.There were several assistants and student artists inthe workshop, from both northern and southernEurope. Under the guidance of their Italian master,these artists produced a syncretic effusion of color,realism, and sensuality. Primaticcio’s greatestachievement in fresco at Fontainebleau, the Galleryof Ulysses, was destroyed during renovations byKing Louis XV. Although highly valued by Renais-sance artists, the imagery in the gallery did notconform to later tastes.

Painting on Wooden PanelsWooden panels were a portable, relatively inexpen-sive medium for Renaissance painters. After the sur-face was prepared with a ground of white gesso,panels could be executed in either water-based tem-pera or paint prepared with oil. The surface couldalso be prepared with a cloth stretched over it, thengessoed. In his early 15th-century treatise Il Librodell’ Arte (The craftsman’s handbook), the painterCennino Cennini (c. 1370–c. 1440) gave detailedinstructions for preparing panels and then drawingand painting on them. This very practical treatiseincludes recipes and tips for the artist, for example:“When the gesso has all been scraped down, andcomes out like ivory, the first thing for you to do isto draw your . . . panel with those willow coals whichI taught you to make before. But the charcoal wantsto be tied to a little cane or stick, so that it comessome distance from the figures; for it is a great helpto you in composing” (Cennini 1954, p. 75).

Panel painting involved an artistic process differ-ent from the technique of fresco painting. Even formultiple panels in a large altarpiece, panel paintingusually covered a much smaller area than frescopainting, and the artist could proceed at a moreleisurely pace because there was no concern aboutplaster’s drying out. Cennini made the point thatpanel painters could pause in their work and con-sider the composition before picking up the brush


71

and continuing to paint. Because panels could bepainted in the artist’s studio and then transported toa purchaser, patrons and other clients often visitedthe studio instead of the artist’s visiting the buildingin which a fresco would be executed. Clients couldthus have the opportunity to buy from the artist’sstock of paintings in addition to commissioning spe-cific works. Unlike fresco painting, which presentedno problems of installation, panel paintings had tobe mounted or otherwise fixed for display. Artistssometimes sent instructions for installation alongwith their paintings. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528),for example, sent this note in 1509: “If the picture isset up, let it be made to hang forward two or threefinger breadths, for then it will be well visible, onaccount of the glare” (Holt 1981, p. 335). Althoughpanel painting includes several genres, we shall con-centrate on altarpieces and portraits, two importanttypes for the Renaissance. Mythological scenes, suchas Botticelli’s Primavera (Uffizi Museum, Florence),and historical scenes were also popular. We shouldnote that many single-panel paintings from theRenaissance with Christian themes might originallyhave been part of an altarpiece. As a result of theProtestant Reformation, French Revolution, andother disruptive and destructive activities, numerousaltarpieces were disassembled or destroyed. Todaywe have examples of historic altarpieces whose cen-tral panel and wings are in different countries, oreven different hemispheres.

ALTARPIECES

Altarpieces are the crowning glory of Christianchurches. They are painted or carved representa-tions of the Crucifixion or other Christian subjects,placed on, behind, or above an altar in a church orchapel. Various words are used for an altarpiece,retablum (behind the altar) in Latin. Retable and rere-dos (from French, behind the altar) are used in Eng-lish; the latter usually denotes a large screen carvedin wood or stone and only rarely painted. ManyRenaissance altarpieces were constructed of threewooden panels hinged together (a triptych), andsome had four or more hinged panels (polyptychs).Use of two panels (diptychs) is rather rare inchurches, but diptychs evidently were used for pri-vate devotional purposes. Although installed near an

altar, altarpieces are not part of the official liturgicalensemble. Usually their iconography celebrates thesaint associated with each church, and Counter-Reformation policy supported this aspect of Christ-ian art. In southern Europe, especially Italy,altarpieces of the early Renaissance usually consistedof one large panel, or a central panel with two sta-tionary wings. In northern Europe, hinged, movablepanels were preferred, and by the latter 15th centurythis fashion had become popular in Italy. Hingedpanels gave artists the opportunity to paint scenes onthe exteriors of the wings. When such an altarpieceis closed, these scenes are the only visible compo-nent unless the altarpiece has a predella, a relativelynarrow strip of paintings along the horizontal baseof the structure. In this section we shall describeexamples of painted altarpieces; carved altarpieces

Examples of 15th-Century Painted AltarpiecesThe van Eyck brothers, Hubert (c. 1385/90–1426)and Jan (1385?–1440/41), probably created the mon-umental Ghent Altarpiece (1432?, Altarpiece of theLamb, Cathedral of Saint Bavo in Ghent). Jan com-pleted the painting after Hubert’s death. In fact, giventhe vastly differing scale of figures between the topand bottom sections, Jan van Eyck may have assem-bled this famous altarpiece from several paintings left

sance era, it was considered wondrous and miracu-lous. Recent scholarship has proposed that the GhentAltarpiece, commissioned for the Church of SaintJohn in Ghent (now called Saint Bavo), was not sim-ply displayed in wooden framing, but rather installedwithin an elaborate framework that may have resem-bled a cathedral. Such a display would have made theGhent Altarpiece even more magnificent.

The Portinari Altarpiece (Uffizi Museum, Flo-rence) by the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes wasone of the most influential altarpieces of the 15thcentury. Probably commissioned in Bruges between1474 and 1475, it measures approximately 101 by121.5 inches (253 by 304 centimeters). Only theGhent Altarpiece is larger among Renaissance worksin this genre. The subject of the Portinari Altarpieceis the Adoration of the newborn Christ child. In15th-century Florentine altarpieces, the subject of


72

are discussed later (see Sculpture, pages 81–82).

in his brother’s studio when he died (see Snyder 1985,p. 93). The largest extant altarpiece of the Renais-

the Adoration usually focused on the magi, not theshepherds, as in van der Goes’s composition. In bothiconography and monumental proportions thePortinari commission stood out from contemporaryaltarpieces, and in an astounding way since the shep-herds are highlighted so realistically. This altarpiece

is an important example of the sacred art being com-missioned by Italian merchants; the donor portraitsare discussed later. The Flemish realism of van derGoes and his contemporaries made a tremendousimpact on European painters of the second half ofthe 15th century.


73

3.4 Altarpiece (retable) of the Apotheosis of the Virgin. Altarpieces usually featured the Virgin or Christ in the center,with saints and donors on the sides and at the bottom. Spanish artist, late 15th century. (Courtesy of The HispanicSociety of America, A13)

In France circa 1498, the Master of Moulins(name unknown, fl. c. 1480–1500) painted a triptychaltarpiece now in Moulins Cathedral. Its subject isthe Madonna of the Immaculate Conception, withan Annunciation scene in grisaille (monochromaticgray) on the two exterior wings. The donor portraitsare mentioned later. (The doctrine of the Immacu-late Conception proclaims that the Virgin herselfwas conceived without sin, her mother Ann being ina state of divine grace.) This altarpiece is noteworthyfor its amazingly luminous color. The seated Virginhas her feet on a crescent Moon (symbol of theImmaculate Conception), with concentric circles inpale and bright colors tunneling into a golden, Sun-like orb behind her. She thus becomes a Madonna ofthe Sun, a popular northern Renaissance image.

Examples of 16th-Century Painted AltarpiecesThe Isenheim Altarpiece (1515, Musée d’Unterlin-den, Colmar) was painted by the German artistMatthias Grünewald (c. 1470–1528) for a monastichospital at Isenheim. With its images of healing saintsand grossly diseased individuals, the altarpiece offeredwhat the Renaissance believed was the best possibilityof recovery, namely, prayer and devotional medita-tion. For severely ill people, because there was littlehope of recovery, the altarpiece was a reassurance oflife after death through Christian salvation. Unlikethe other painted altarpieces described in this chapter,the Isenheim Altarpiece was a complicated movablestructure with three sets of hinged wings. The wingsprovided several levels of revelation as the altarpiecewas gradually opened; the final interior presentationwas a carved wooden shrine, gilded and polychromed,by Nikolaus Hagenaur (fl. 1493–before 1538). SaintAnthony Abbot, patron saint of the monastery, is cel-ebrated in the shrine.

Piero di Cosimo’s (1461/62–1521) ImmaculateConception altarpiece painting for San Francesco inFiesole was probably executed shortly after 1510. Intypical Italian style, it is painted on a single panel.Piero di Cosimo evidently was not known for hisaltarpieces, but for secular mythological paintings.This altarpiece is famous today for its extraordinarycomposition, in which Saints Jerome and Francis,kneeling on a stone slab and each holding an inscrip-tion, presumably are discussing the Immaculate Con-ception. This painting originally would have been

placed behind the altar, and the stone slab seems toproject back into the picture plane from the bottomedge of the painting and to be comparable to a backsection of the altar. The saints to the left and right ofthe slab are in three-quarter view (heads to thighs),with their feet “standing” below the actual picture.They seem to be standing within the church itself.For Renaissance worshipers, in a shadowy space illu-minated only by candles, the devotional effect of thisinteractive painting must have been powerful.

The Altarpiece of the Holy Kinship (or SaintAnn Altarpiece, 1507–09) by the Antwerp painterQuentin Metsys (1466–1530) was commissioned bythe Confraternity of Saint Ann in Louvain for theirChurch of Saint Peter. During the early 16th cen-tury, Antwerp was experiencing an economicupsurge as the city became a major port via the riverScheldt. Both art and commerce flourished, generat-ing many significant artistic commissions. Thisaltarpiece by Metsys, executed with typically Flem-ish attention to detail, has the soft colors of contem-porary Venetian paintings and the type of settingfound in many Italian compositions. Ann, themother of the Virgin, is placed on a porch withMary, the infant Jesus, and two female relatives.Behind them are Ann’s male relatives, standing in aclassicizing loggia with a landscape opening into thefar distance. Such fantasy landscapes would soonbecome a popular component of Mannerist paintingin northern Europe. In the confraternity’s church,this infinite landscape may have lifted the wor-shipers’ inner vision beyond the limits of the earthlybuilding.

PORTRAITURE

Today we usually think of portraiture as reproducingan exact photographic likeness, recording how a per-son looks at a particular stage in life. Renaissanceportraiture was somewhat more complicated, asmight be expected of an age that did not yet have themedium of photography. Until Flemish realismbegan to dominate European portraiture, the qualityof being lifelike, or naturalistic, was the major goalof a successful portrait, even if the painting did notlook exactly like the sitter. Precise physical represen-tations were not necessarily the goal of portraiture,and artists sometimes treated the sitter as a type; the


74

result, for example, would be a regal or spiritual vis-age that did not conform to outward reality. Forwomen, beauty and “virtue” were important attrib-utes, leading to subtle manipulations of facial char-acteristics, especially in portraits sent to prospectivesuitors. Representations of age, particularly forwomen of power, were a problem for most artists. Inthis instance, painters could be ordered to copy aportrait made when the sitter was younger instead ofpainting an aging subject. Finally, one genre of por-traiture did approach photographic precision,namely, the masks made of a living or recentlydeceased subject. Death masks were often used tocreate the facial aspects of tomb sculpture.

The media in which the Renaissance producedportraits included drawing, painting, prints, illumi-nated manuscripts, statues, and medallions. Paintedportraits are treated in this section; other media exceptdrawings are discussed later. The focus here is on por-traits painted on panels, with passing mention of fres-coed portraiture. In general, Italian painters duringthe early Renaissance depicted their subjects in a pro-file pose, probably influenced by the profiles ofRoman emperors on coins and medallions. Althoughthe profile portrait may lend imperial grandeur to thesubject, it seems distant and unconnected with theviewer. Flemish and Franco-Flemish painters used themore intimate and descriptive three-quarter view forthe head, and this pose prevailed throughout westernEurope by the mid-16th century. The northern por-trait tradition influenced southern artists in otherways: Entire compositions often were copied with adifferent individual depicted in the portrait. The mostprestigious type of painted portrait was the represen-tation of donors and their families in altarpieces,ambitious projects that could take several years. Otherimportant types included royal portraits, bridal ordowry portraits, and marriage portraits.

Portraits were created in a variety of circum-stances, ranging from painting a subject who sat forthe artist to attempting a painted portrait from asketch sent by another artist to painting a portraitpurely from memory. New portraits of ancestors orfamous individuals for whom no portrait was extantsometimes were desired, in which case the painterwould have had to rely on representing the subjectas a specific type, following a written description ofthe person, or using someone (perhaps a descen-

dant) as a model. There was, of course, no profes-sional lighting mechanism. Portraits painted by sun-light streaming in through a window could result ina harsh treatment, and portraits painted by candle-light or lamplight could be too somber and dark.Artists learned to compensate for such problems,using linen curtains to diffuse sunlight as well asmirrors and light-colored walls to boost the illumi-nation of candlelight. Finally, once the sitter was sat-isfied with a portrait, the artist often had to providepainted copies. Many art students and apprenticeslearned their technique by copying portraits, as themaster usually completed only the face and hands, ifthose. The market for portraits in western Europewas amazingly strong, especially during the 16thcentury, when collectors paid handsomely for well-executed portraits, even of unknown sitters. Portraitminiatures (discussed at the end of this section) wereparticularly desirable. During the Renaissance, theaesthetics of portraiture had its beginnings.

Donor Portraits in Painted AltarpiecesUnlike the Ghent Altarpiece, with its donors on theexterior wings, the Portinari Altarpiece incorporatesthe Portinari family into both interior side panelswith the members kneeling and praying to the Vir-gin. Although the donors and their children are partof the interior scenery, they are nevertheless dis-tanced from the Virgin by their discrete panels. Theleft wing depicts Tommaso Portinari, head of theMedici bank in Bruges until 1477, with his elder son,Antonio, and younger son, Pigello, accompanied bytheir patron saints, Saint Anthony Abbot and SaintThomas. In the right wing, Mary Magdalene isstanding behind the daughter, Margherita, whileSaint Margaret is behind her mother, Maria. Thenearly life-sized scale of the Portinari portraits keptthe family perpetually present behind the altar oftheir family church, Saint Egidio, with the childrenshown at about the same size as the angels in theforeground. Naturally, this altarpiece was commis-sioned as sacred art that might ease the Portinaris’path into heaven. It was also, however, an obviousstatus symbol for Tommaso Portinari, who was bit-terly competing commercially and financially withhis Florentine rival, the banker Angelo Tani, also apatron of the arts. The rising merchant class acrosswestern Europe commissioned elaborate altarpieces


75

as an indication of social rank as well as of their alle-giance to the church.

In the circa 1498 altarpiece by the Master ofMoulins (discussed earlier), the donors’ portraitsalong with that of their daughter are painted on thetwo interior wings. As it was for the Portinari Altar-piece, the impetus for this work was competitive, butin a more congenial vein. The duke of Bourbon,John II (d. 1488), commissioned an altar and stained-glass window celebrating the Madonna of theImmaculate Conception for the Collegiate Churchof Moulins. After John II’s death, his brother, PierreII, who succeeded him as duke, commissioned thealtarpiece for the chapel of the church. The duke’spatron saint is Saint Peter, depicted behind himwearing the golden, jeweled papal tiara and luxuriousrobes, greatly enhancing the duke’s own status.Pierre II and his family are very lifelike, even to theextent that his little girl looks sickly and his wifelooks exhausted, indicating the high value placed onnaturalistic portraiture in northern Europe. Even theangels appear to be individual children, each with adistinctive physiognomy.

Patrons sometimes were depicted within themain, central panel of an altarpiece instead of in thewings, as in Hans Memling’s (c. 1430–1494) DonneTriptych, in which the donors are virtually at the Vir-gin’s knees with their clothing touching the edges ofher rug. Such compositions may have had talismanicqualities, actually giving the donors an illusion ofattachment to the Virgin’s purity and to her powerof intercession for their sins. The Portuguesepainter Nuno Gonçalves (fl. 1450–71) was a courtpainter for Afonso V (1432–81) influenced by thenew Flemish style, possibly because of a diplomaticvisit that Jan van Eyck made to Lisbon in 1428. Thecentral panel of Gonçalves’s Saint Vincent Polyp-tych (c. 1465, now in the National Museum, Lisbon)is filled with lifelike figures with seemingly individu-alistic features, as if he had been painting a portraitof each person. These are thought to be representa-tions of members of the royal family, his patrons.

Painted Portraits of Royalty and Other NotablesOwning a portrait of a powerful individual conferredstatus during the Renaissance, and powerful individu-als who displayed their own portrait enhanced their

commanding presence. Members of royal and ducalfamilies had their portrait painted not only for theirimmediate family, but also for presentation as diplo-mat gifts. Papal portraits had the greatest statusamong Catholics, and Raphael was one of the greatestportrayers of Renaissance popes. In 1511 or 1512 hepainted a portrait of Julius II (1443–1513) that lookedalmost alive (National Gallery, London). Vasariremarked that viewers were actually frightened by itsrealistic appearance. In England, except for portraitminiaturists (see later discussion), the portraitpainters were Flemish or German; the most famouswas Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543). Hemade several portraits of Henry VIII (1491–1547)and members of the court. His famous portrait of theking grimly staring forward, costumed in jeweled vel-vet finery and massively filling the picture, was as for-bidding to Renaissance people as it is to viewers today(National Gallery, Rome). The Dutch artist AnthonisMor (c. 1516/20–76/77) was painter to the Spanishcourt in the Netherlands. His stern yet lifelike depic-tions of the Habsburgs and Spanish nobility, includ-ing Philip II’s (1527–98) wife, Mary Tudor (1516–58),placed Mor in the vanguard of portraitists. A femaleartist, Sofonisba Anguissola (1532–1625), gainedinternational fame with her work in court portraiture.While painting in Madrid, Anguissola also gave artlessons to the queen, Elisabeth of Valois, herself a tal-ented portraitist.

Painted Bridal or Dowry Portraits and Marriage PortraitsEspecially in 15th-century Italy, husbands commis-sioned portraits of their new bride to show off notonly her beauty, but also the wealth of jewels eitherowned by the bride as a dowry or presented to herby the husband as a wedding gift. These portraitsexclusively depicted young women, their ideal ageabout 16 years old. We can tell that they are marriedbecause their hair is bound up; unmarried womenhad freely flowing hair. Besides being symbolicallyassociated with womanly virtues such as chastity(meaning faithfulness for a married woman) and fer-tility, the jewels depicted in these portraits rein-forced the social status of the husband. For artistspainting the portraits, the ornate hairstyles inter-twined with pearls, rubies, and other strings of gems,combined with the lovely youth of the subjects, pre-


76

sented an excellent opportunity to create some ofthe most beautiful portraits of Renaissance women.Noteworthy artists who executed such bridal por-traits included Pisanello (c. 1395–1455/56), Fra Fil-ippo Lippi (c. 1406–69), and Antonio del Pollaiuolo(c. 1432–98). Marriage portraits commemorating thewedding depicted the married couple and were pop-ular in both northern and southern Europe. Amongthe best known examples is Arnolfini Wedding Portrait(1434, National Gallery, London) by Jan van Eyck,portraying Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife. The cou-ple, holding hands, are standing in a bedroom with abrass chandelier and sumptuous orange bedcover-ings. Their portraits are full length, showing the lux-ury of their fur-trimmed garments. Most otherRenaissance marriage portraits are less than full-length portraits, often with a plain background.

Some Other Types of Painted PortraitsAll the types of portraits described popularized thegenre among the wealthy middle class, promptingcommissions from husbands, parents, and otherswho wished to immortalize their family members inpainted portraits. Today the most famous individualportrait of the Renaissance is Mona Lisa (LouvreMuseum, Paris), executed by Leonardo da Vinci(1452–1519) in the early 16th century. Leonardo,whose extant portraits are only of women (unusualfor the time), may have become somewhat obsessedabout what probably began as simply a commissionfor the sitter’s husband. The painting quicklybecame famous in the 16th century, partly becauseof Vasari’s published description: “The mouth, withits opening joining the red lips to the flesh of theface, seemed to be real flesh rather than paint. Any-one who looked very attentively at the hollow of herthroat would see her pulse beating . . . And in thisportrait by Leonardo, there is a smile so pleasingthat it seems more divine than human, and it wasconsidered a wondrous thing that it was as lively asthe smile of the living original” (Vasari 1998, p. 294).

In his book Utopia (1516), Sir Thomas More(1478–1535) recommended that portraits of note-worthy individuals be displayed in the marketplace sothat their descendants might be reminded of theirvirtue and emulate them. In this case, the viewerwould be receiving the impetus toward noblethoughts and deeds via the portrait. Another type of

Renaissance portrait had a different goal, as the artistpainted an individual as a saint or mythological deityand thus imbued the sitter with qualities of the par-ticular saint or deity. Agnolo Bronzino (1503–72), forexample, painted a portrait of the great admiralAndrea Doria (1466–1560) as Neptune, god of thesea. Portraits were introduced into the narrativecompositions of mural painting, such as the frescoespainted by Raphael in the Vatican apartments. Forhis portraits of historic popes, the artist used the like-nesses of Renaissance popes, his patrons. Sometimesthe artists inserted portraits of themselves into suchgroup scenes, usually gazing toward the viewer. Onepopular type of portraiture was the genealogical tree,with individual heads inserted in circles or othershapes. Although ancestors usually had idealized por-traits, the heads of Renaissance contemporariescould be realistic. Portrait miniatures are treated inthe following section.


77

3.5 Head of the Virgin. Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci,late 15th or early 16th century. (The MetropolitanMuseum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1951 [51.90])

Painting on Vellum andParchment

Vellum and parchment were the preferred mediafor painting portrait miniatures. (Illuminated man-uscripts on vellum and parchment are discussed inchapter 5.) The court painter Hans Holbein alsocreated miniature portraits, including a self-por-trait head and shoulders in watercolor, on vellumless than two inches in diameter (The Wallace Col-lection, London). Several female artists excelled inminiatures, but individual attribution is impossibleto determine. The best known English Renaissancepainter of portrait miniatures was NicholasHilliard (c. 1547–1619), who produced miniaturesof the royal family. In addition to the usual bustportraits in miniature, Hilliard painted full-lengthexamples, some less than six inches in height.Although we have no extant miniatures of livingsubjects earlier than the 1520s, inventories fromthe 15th century document portraits in miniature,some on ivory instead of vellum. Much more per-sonal than portraits in fresco or painted on panels,the miniatures were keepsakes, often gifts intendedfor loved ones. Some of them were inserted inbrooches or lockets and worn as sentimental jew-elry by the recipients.

TAPESTRIES

In the latter 14th century, important tapestryworkshops were established in the duchy of Bur-gundy, which included Flanders, and northernFrance. The driving forces behind this productiv-ity were four brothers: Charles V, king of France,and the dukes of Burgundy, Berry, and Anjou.Their commissions supported numerous tapestryweavers, especially in Arras, Tournai, and Brussels.By the 16th century, Brussels had become one ofthe most important tapestry centers of Europe,along with other cities in Flanders such as Bruges,Ghent, and Lille. In addition to producing tapes-tries, some of these workshops trained foreigners

in the craft. The English weavers who managedthe famous Sheldon workshops established inEngland in the 1560s were taught in Flanders.Italy had tapestry workshops established under theauspices of various city-states, those of Florence,Milan, and Ferrara the most significant. Manytapestry commissions required months, if notyears, of labor. These luxurious wall decorations,also serving as insulation from cold and damp,often were created in a series of a dozen or morepieces. Single tapestries in the series sometimeswere as high as 15 feet and as long as 30 feet.Entire galleries of royal residences had tapestriesin series covering the walls, providing visual enter-tainment, warmth, and prestige.

Artists designed the tapestries by drawingsketches for the patron; secular imagery, especiallythat involving classical mythology, was almost aspopular as sacred imagery. Once the sketches wereapproved, the designs were converted into full-scale cartoons. Weaving the tapestry was apainstaking process because the weaver had tokeep checking the cartoon being copied. There areisolated examples of tapestries commissioned toreproduce wall paintings, the most notable ofwhich is the series created circa 1540 that copiedthe frescoes in the Gallery of Francis I atFontainebleau (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).Many tapestry designs, of course, reflected thestyles of famous painters, some of whom them-selves created the designs. Because tapestries wereportable, they were carried from one residence toanother, and they also were used for ceremonialpurposes. Tapestries commissioned by Pope Leo X(1475–1521) and designed by Raphael (woven inBrussels, 1515–19) covered the walls of the SistineChapel on special occasions. Italian Renaissanceart, particularly individualized figural forms andlinear perspective, had a significant impact on16th-century Flemish tapestry design. Becausetapestries were woven from luxurious fabrics,including finely spun wool, silk, and sometimesgold or silver thread, and because the process wasquite time-consuming, tapestries were among themost costly and desirable art objects of the Renais-sance. King Henry VIII owned more than 2,000 ofthem. (See Ceremonies, pages 299–302 in chapter12, for more information on tapestries.)


78

Flemish TapestriesPictorial designs in tapestry became the preferredmode for Renaissance tastes, with early examples

influenced by the religious work of artists such asRogier van der Weyden (c. 1400–64), whose studiowas in Brussels. Narrative designs were very popu-lar, especially since tapestries provided an expansive


79

3.6 The Last Supper. Tapestry designed by Bernaert van Orley, probably woven in Flanders by Pieter dePannemaker, before 1530. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 [1975.1.1915])

surface on which the story could be displayed.Hunting scenes, highly sought after, often containedsymbolic imagery within a gorgeous surface filledwith colorful costumes. During most of the 15thcentury, Flemish narrative tapestries were crowdedwith numerous people and animals as Gothic tasteprevailed in the north. Italian Renaissance artists,such as Raphael and Bronzino, began to create car-toons, and they designed tapestries with life-sizedfigures in their own pictorial space, often placedwithin proper linear perspective. Italian prints of the16th century provided a plethora of sources forFlemish tapestry designers, particularly in thegraphics of Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1470/82–c.1527/34), who reproduced well-known Renaissancepaintings in Rome in detailed graphic images (seePrints, page 85). The Flemish artist Bernaert vanOrley (c. 1492–1542) was the best representative ofthe new “Roman style” in northern tapestry produc-tion, influenced by Raphael’s cartoons executed aspapal commissions. Orley worked for the Habs-burgs, particularly Margaret of Austria (1480–1530),regent of the Netherlands, and her heir, Mary ofHungary (1505–1558), sister of Emperor Charles V(1500–1556). He designed both sacred and seculartapestries, including Maximilian’s Hunts (LouvreMuseum, Paris) celebrating Margaret of Austria’sfather, Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519). Becauseof the political instability of the Spanish Nether-lands during the 1560s and later in the 16th century,many Flemish weavers moved their workshops intoGerman territory, and a few emigrated to Englandor France.

Italian TapestriesBecause tapestry workshops in Italy were createdunder the patronage of specific individuals andfunded directly by them, the weavers often had toclose the shop or emigrate when the dynasty of thecity-state died out or was conquered. In general, thisworkshop system was smaller and less independentthan the large factory workshops of northernEurope. The market was local, whereas an interna-tional clientele patronized workshops in Flanders.Three of the more productive Italian workshopswere those in Milan, Ferrara, and Florence.

Francesco Sforza (1401–66), duke of Milan, foundedthat city’s tapestry workshop in 1450. About thesame time, Leonello d’Este (1407–50), lord of Fer-rara, established a workshop in Ferrara shortlybefore his death that was still productive during the16th century. The Flemish weaver Nicolas Karcher(fl. 1517, d. 1562) and his brother, Jan, worked in theshop. One of the more famous series of tapestriesproduced by them depicted the mythological themesof the Latin poet Ovid. After working in Mantua forthe Gonzaga court, Karcher relocated to Florenceand set up a tapestry workshop in 1546 under thepatronage of Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519–74). Histapestry series in 20 pieces, the History of Joseph(1546–52, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence), includeddesigns by Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–57) and hisstudent, Agnolo Bronzino.

SCULPTURE

Renaissance sculpture was the medium most obvi-ously influenced by ancient forms, as Italian artistscreated sculpture in a truly classical style. Becausethe polychrome color was lost from ancient statuesand buildings, Italian artists thought that theancients did not color their sculpture, and thus theirclassicizing sculpture usually remained uncolored.During the 15th century, many northern sculptors,as well as southern sculptors living outside Italy,continued the medieval practice of coloring theirwork. As in painting, the renewal of sculpture beganin northern Italy, where artists combined the realismof Flemish style with an understanding of humananatomy and of the movement of the human figurein volumetric space. Using classical statues as theirinspiration, Italian 15th-century sculptors created“the beginning of good modern style” (thus Vasari1998, p. 92, describes the work of Ghiberti). TheFlorentine goldsmith and sculptor Lorenzo Ghib-erti (1378–1455) owned a collection of antiquesculpture, including bronze statuary. He achievedartistic immortality in 1401, when he won a much-publicized competition to create bronze-paneleddoors for the baptistry in Florence, the first majorsculpture commission of the Italian Renaissance.


80

These contests, which continued throughout theRenaissance, were necessary because a patronundertaking a major sculptural project was commit-ting to a significant investment in time and materi-als. The cost of transporting stone from the quarry,for example, could be prohibitive. Unlike a paintingor tapestry, which could be commissioned on thestrength of sketches, the three-dimensional qualityof sculpture, as of architecture, usually required thatartists submit models and budgets. Models wererequired for major commissions. Not surprisingly,the public nature of such competitions not onlyenhanced the fame of the winner, but also helped toraise the status of sculptors in general.

Sculpture in WoodGerman, Netherlandish, and English wood-carverswere renowned for their expertise, particularly inaltarpieces that consisted of numerous sacred fig-ures within intricately filigreed structures. The flex-ibility and relatively light weight of wood permittedwood-carvers to produce enormous altarpieces withelaborate compositions. Viet Stoss (c. 1438–1533)was a German sculptor who moved to Poland in1477 for the purpose of creating a wooden altar-piece for the Church of Our Lady (Cracow), com-missioned by the community of German merchantsin the city. With double-folding wings, it is one ofthe most ambitious carved wooden altarpieces ofthe 15th century. It was fully painted in poly-chrome, probably by another artist. Sculptors oftenworked in collaboration with a painter when a piecewas to be polychromed. Stoss seemed to havebypassed Renaissance style completely, joining thevertical Gothic style to the turbulent expressionismof the baroque. His treatment of drapery exempli-fies the exuberant movement of this huge altarpieceas a whole. It is important to realize that manyartists of the 15th and 16th centuries, especiallythose in northern Europe, retained Gothic ele-ments in their work through the end of what we callthe Renaissance period.

Tilman Riemenschneider (c. 1460–1531), a mas-ter of both wood and stone, created two elaboratetriptych altarpieces in limewood that remain in theiroriginal locations: the Altarpiece of the Holy Blood

in the Jakobskirche (Rothenburg), and the Altarpieceof the Assumption of Mary in the Herrgottskirche(Creglingen). Limewood has a very fine grain, whichallows minute details to be carved much more easily


81

3.7 Swabian (German) limewood sculpture of theVirgin and Child. Devotional statues of the Christ childand his mother were popular throughout Europe. Circleof Hans Multscher, third quarter of the 15th century.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

than in less receptive wood. These two altarpiecesattest to Riemenschneider’s originality, especially hisflowing treatment of drapery as it harmoniously fol-lows the movement of the three-dimensional figures.Both altarpieces have Renaissance spatial characteris-tics, with figures in the central section situated insidea chapel having small “windows” in the back, allow-ing light to play against the backs of the carvings andflicker across the sides of their faces—an effect thatcan make them seem almost lifelike. These altar-pieces, as is much of Riemenschneider’s work, wereuncolored so that the fine texture of the wood can beappreciated. The more sacred of the two altarpiecesis that of the Holy Blood (1501–05) in the Jakob-skirche, with its relic of the blood of Christ anddepiction of the Last Supper. The figures are ratherlarge; the contract called for figures four feet inheight. Most wood-carvers made smaller woodensculptures for stock, and people purchased devo-tional statues such as crucifixes and Madonnas at fairsand sales stands. Although some of these carvingswere made for mass consumption and thus are rathercrude, they permitted even the lower classes to have adevotional object in their private home. The Protes-tant Reformation caused many of these pieces to beburned, along with more important art such aswooden altarpieces and shrines.

Sculpture in StoneFor sculpture in stone, marble was highly valuedbecause most types of marble are very durable andcan be beautifully smoothed and polished, as inancient Roman statuary. Other stone favored byRenaissance sculptors included limestone and sand-stone. Relief sculpture was often executed in a com-bination of marble and limestone. In some instances,artists created Renaissance stone sculpture frompieces of ancient Roman buildings or actual Romansculpture, such as in the Medici tombs by Michelan-gelo. The dense Cararra marble found near Pisa wasconsidered the best marble in Italy. Michelangelopersonally traveled to the Carrara quarry in 1495 toselect the large block of marble from which hewould sculpt the Pietà for Saint Peter’s Basilica.Although most stone sculptors were men, one femalesculptor was praised by Vasari, Properzia de’ Rossi

(c. 1490–1530). She worked in her native Bologna,creating church sculpture and portrait busts. In hischapter on this artist, Vasari made a very interestingremark about women in general: “It is extraordinarythat in all the skills and pursuits in which women inany period whatever have with some preparationbecome involved, they have always succeeded mostadmirably and have become more than famous, ascountless examples could easily demonstrate”(Vasari 1998, p. 338).

Tomb sculpture provided commissions for manysculptors working in stone during the 15th and 16thcenturies. Unlike in the Middle Ages, when tombswere usually decorated years and even decades afterthe individual had died, many Renaissance patronshad their own tomb sculpture completed while theystill were very much alive. In Gothic tomb sculpture,effigies, as if asleep, were often carved on a stoneslab or sarcophagus installed on the floor of achurch, with heraldic insignia to identify them andfaces of portrait quality. There might also be a statueof the person as he or she looked when alive. In Italy,tomb sculpture was usually installed above the floorin a wall niche, with stone molding or curtains fram-ing the niche. Tombs of royalty and other importantpeople often included statues as “mourners,” includ-ing allegorical figures and ancestors. Michelangelo’stomb sculpture for the Medici, created between1521 and 1534 (Church of San Lorenzo, Florence),was famous among his contemporaries. Lorenzo de’Medici is seen not as in death, but as a pensive,armored male figure seated in a niche above the sar-cophagus. Two magnificent nude allegorical figures,one male and one female, partially recline on theclassical sarcophagus. Vasari said of the Medici tombsculpture that “these statues are carved with themost beautifully formed poses and skillfully exe-cuted muscles and would be sufficient, if the art ofsculpture were lost, to return it to its original splen-dour” (Vasari 1998, p. 456).

Renaissance sculpture based on classical modelswas spread to other parts of Europe by Italian sculp-ture that was imported, Italian artists who workedoutside Italy, and foreign artists who were trained inworkshops in Italy. Several Spanish sculptors, forexample, studied in Naples, which was part of theSpanish kingdom. Members of the Mendoza familypreferred Italianate art, and Pedro González de


82

Mendoza (1428–95), who in 1473 became a cardinal,patronized Renaissance humanists and the new clas-sicism. His tomb in the cathedral of Toledo, evi-dently by an Italian sculptor, includes a magnificenttriumphal arch in Roman style. Funerary monu-ments in France began to have classicizing elementsby the latter 15th century, and in the early 16th cen-tury several important tombs by Italian artists com-bined the medieval-style recumbent effigy with aclassical-style sarcophagus. Receptacles for the heartof the deceased were sometimes commissioned sepa-rately from the tomb sculpture proper. The Frenchartist Pierre Bontemps (c. 1512–c. 1570) created theclassical urn for the heart of Francis I (Saint Denis,near Paris). Both the urn and its rectangular pedestalhave Renaissance strapwork cartouches, oval on theurn and round on the pedestal, with allegorical fig-ures representing the arts and sciences.

Secular sculpture in stone included garden statu-ary, such as fountains, allegorical and equestrian fig-ures, portraits (especially bust portraits), andclassical shapes such as urns and obelisks. Gardenssometimes had bust portraits mounted on highpedestals or columns so that those strolling throughthe garden would see the faces eye to eye. Gardensculpture included both ancient and modern pieces.Several important Italian villas, such as the Villa Far-nese, had a “secret garden” or “garden of love.”These featured monstrous, erotic, or amusing stat-ues and inscriptions, installed to surprise or delightvisitors. Several villas had a nymphaeum, a wadingpool or small swimming pool like those found in pri-vate houses in ancient Rome. With mosaic floors inglass and ceramic tile, the nymphaea (plural form)often included statues of water nymphs.

Sculpture in BronzeRenaissance bronze sculpture was not carved as woodand stone were but instead cast in a mold via the lost-wax process. In this process, a wax model was closelycoated with a substance that could withstand hightemperatures, then heated until the wax melted.The result was a mold into which molten bronzewas poured. After the bronze cooled, the coating wasremoved. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was supe-rior to brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. Artists were

able to apply finishes, such as gilt, to bronze statuesand decorative objects, and the natural patina ofbronze was appreciated by Renaissance collectors.Ghiberti (see page 80) was the first great bronze sculp-tor of the Renaissance, closely followed by anotherFlorentine artist, Donatello (1386–1466), whosebronze statue of David was the first life-sized, free-standing nude in Renaissance style (1430–32,Bargello, Florence). Although Donatello carved bibli-cal figures in stone in a formalized manner, as if theywere ancient Romans, his David, in a relaxed contrap-posto pose, could not be more realistic. Donatello exe-cuted commissions in both Florence and Rome,including sculptural work for Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Funerary monuments in bronze were highlyprized during the Renaissance. The Vischer foundryin Nuremberg was active from the latter 15th centuryuntil 1549, and two of the director’s sons were influ-enced by a visit to Italy. This firm was known for itsbronze tomb monuments, which were exported toPoland, Hungary, and elsewhere. The Italian sculptorLeone Leoni (c. 1509–90), who settled in Milan, pro-duced bronze portraits for the Habsburgs and mem-bers of the Spanish royal family. (King Philip II wasalso duke of Milan at the time.) Leone’s son, PompeoLeoni (c. 1533–1608), created the famous funerarygroup of gilded bronze portraits composing the royalfamily’s tomb sculpture at the Escorial (1597–1600).

Leone Leoni also made small round portraitmedals in bronze, of such famous contemporaries asMichelangelo, Titian, and Andrea Doria. With hisexpertise in engraving coins for the mints of severalcity-states, Leoni could work with ease in such smallscale. Pisanello, in 1439, cast the first known Renais-sance portrait medal, of the Holy Roman Emperor.Early in the 15th century, collecting antique Romanmedals and coins, as well as medieval reproductions ofsuch pieces, had become popular among the aristoc-racy. Because the heads of Roman emperors and theircontemporaries were almost always in profile, Renais-sance portrait medals also depicted heads in profile.Given the individualized appearance of many Renais-sance medals, we assume that they portrayed the headwith some degree of accuracy. There are severalexamples of portraits sketched from life for peoplewho also have portrait medals extant, and in mostinstances the likenesses are quite similar. In additionto providing visual information about the appearance


83

of such luminaries as popes, monarchs, and condottieri,Renaissance portrait medals help to document build-ings that are no longer standing or that have beenaltered. Alberti’s façade for the Tempio Malatestianoin Rimini, for example, is preserved on a coin honor-ing Sigismundo Malatesta, who commissioned theproject (see chapter 4, on architecture).

Because bronze was an excellent material forartillery, numerous Renaissance bronzes weremelted down in subsequent centuries by militaryleaders desperate to obtain munitions. The imageryof some of these lost works of art has been docu-mented in drawings, engravings, and verbal descrip-tions by artists and collectors.

Sculpture in ClayLuca della Robbia (1400–1482) was the first majorceramic sculptor of the Renaissance. Terra-cotta, amaterial abundantly supplied by the Earth, has beenan artistic medium in Italy since the beginning ofrecorded history. Della Robbia discovered how toglaze terra-cotta to make it waterproof, so that

molded, thrown, and sculpted ceramic sculpturecould be included in permanent architectural instal-lations. Because the color was baked into the clayduring the firing process and not just applied aspaint, it was very durable, especially in the relativelymild climate of northern Italy. With this technicalimprovement, the artistic status of ceramic artistswas enhanced. The white Madonna and Child, inrelief against a blue background in a circularwreath, became della Robbia’s signature image andthus became a standard component of many Renais-sance buildings. The French artist Bernard Palissy(c. 1510–89) created a new type of white enamel forhis glazes that improved the durability of his ceram-ics. A noted naturalist, Palissy molded realisticsnakes, fish, and other creatures for his garden pro-jects as well as for his pottery. Catherine de’ Medicicommissioned him to create a ceramic grotto forthe Tuileries Gardens in Paris (c. 1573). Becauseterra-cotta was such an inexpensive material, arti-sans made stock pieces to sell at fairs and in shops,especially devotional imagery. Inexpensive, small


84

3.8 Portrait of Iolanta Ludovica, wife of Philibert II ofSavoy. Silver coin, late 15th or early 16th century.(Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman ArtLibrary)

3.9 Painted enamel plaque of the Crucifixion. Limoges,France, second half of the 16th century. (Photographcourtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

low reliefs in clay, many depicting the Madonna andChrist child, for example, were a popular exportcommodity from both Utrecht and Cologne.

PRINTS

The earliest European prints were woodcut reliefs,and the earliest extant examples are playing cardsand devotional images. Block books of the 15th cen-tury were produced as prints, with each page of theimages and text carved on a single block of wood.Because during the latter 14th century, paper millsin northern Europe were well established, printersof the early Renaissance had a ready supply of paper.By the mid-15th century, intaglio engraving onmetal had become feasible. Several of the best print-makers were trained as goldsmiths, a craft thatrequires the same close attention to detail as doesprintmaking. The present section discusses a few ofthe artists who were important printmakers duringthe Renaissance. (See chapter 2, Religion, for moreinformation on religious prints; chapter 4, Architec-ture and Urban Planning, for views; chapter 5, Lit-erature and Language, for information on illustratedbooks; and chapter 9, Exploration and Travel, forinformation on printed maps and exotic imagery.)

Martin Schongauer (1435/50–91), though knownas a painter during his lifetime, is now rememberedfor his prints. The style of this northern artist isGothic, in that much of his religious imagery con-sists of swirling crowds of figures. He refined thetechnique of engraving, however, with clarity of lineand delicacy of expression. Another significant con-tribution were his engravings of ornaments, some ofwhich were surely used by artisans in creating thedecorative arts described later. With the advent ofsuch prints, artists no longer needed to draw theirown pattern books as a source for ornamentaldesigns. Schongauer’s work had a tremendous influ-ence on the young Albrecht Dürer, who traveled toColmar, then part of Germany, to study with Schon-gauer but arrived after he had died. Dürer becamefamous through the international marketing of hisprints, beginning with the 15 large woodcut printsin his Apocalypse series issued in 1498. His style in

this series combined the Gothic idiom with harmo-nious appropriation of pictorial space. Dürer’s nudeAdam in his print Adam and Eve represents a boldstep forward in northern figural form, virtuallytransforming Adam into a Roman deity. His manyprints provided a lively business for the artist, as wellas a medium of exchange with other artists, such asLucas van Leyden and Raphael.

Although only a few engravings by the Gonzagacourt painter Andrea Mantegna (1430/31–1506) areextant, they show his mastery of classical forms,especially the bacchanals. These prints also demon-strate his ability to create emotional power throughfigural expression in the monochromatic medium ofprints. Raphael collaborated with Marcantonio Rai-mondi to publish his compositions as prints, anarrangement that greatly benefited the engraver.Raimondi established a workshop for reproducingartworks in print format, setting strict standards forhis pupils. He helped to make printmaking a profes-sion that functioned within the workshop system.Raimondi’s prints distributed the designs of Renais-sance painters worldwide, giving artisans new mod-els to follow. Titian used both woodcuts andengravings to make his compositions available to abroader market, simultaneously advertising hispaintings. Scholars think that Titian himself mayhave drawn directly onto the wood block ratherthan trusting someone else to transfer his drawingto the block for cutting. Given the tonality of Tit-ian’s paintings, the greater sensitivity of intaglioengraving was more suited to his style, and by themid-16th century he was issuing his images fromengravings.

DECORATIVE ART

Decorative art consists of secular objects valued forthe visual pleasure of their appearance, as much asfor any intrinsic value of their materials. Although agreat altarpiece may be beautiful, it is not decorativebecause the art was meant to serve a higher purpose.In a similar manner, propagandistic and political artis not decorative because its main value lies in itssubversive power. Renaissance aristocracy and the


85

wealthy merchant class desired material comfort andthe status of having fine objects in their homes.Artists and artisans responded to this market withtableware in gold and silver, delicately hand paintedceramics, ornate glass vessels, carved and paintedfurniture, and expert needlework.

Gold and SilverBenvenuto Cellini’s (1500–1571) gold saltcellarwith mythological imagery created for Francis I isprobably the most famous piece of Renaissance dec-orative art made of metal. Given the expense of pre-cious metals, especially gold and silver, only theupper class could afford such objects. Royal fami-lies, however, commissioned entire table services ofgold and silver. For the commercial market, cupsand goblets were made of silver; northern artistsornamented these objects with enameling or incisedpatterns. English silversmiths, most of whose pro-duction was for the local market, made someunusual tableware, such as saltcellars in the shape ofanimals. Tableware was made of solid silver, muchless costly than gold. Because gold was prohibitivelyexpensive, it was often used in an alloy with copper,brass, or another cheaper metal. The color was stillbright, if a little brassy. Gold was also made into apaste and rubbed onto another metal with a highermelting point. When fired, the gold would thenfuse with the base metal, producing a “golden”object. Donatello used this process, as did othergoldsmiths in the 15th century.

CeramicsThe Italian majolica so valued by the Renaissancehad its European beginnings in southern Spain, nearValencia (in Catalonia), and its origins in the Islamicworld. The name majolica derived from the name ofthe Spanish island Majorca. Arab ceramists had dis-covered a method that used coated tin oxide in theglazing process that resulted in a brilliant surface.Because glass was such a luxury, ceramics and pot-tery resembling glass were in demand. Ceramicworkshops in Italy did not know how to make luster-ware during the 15th century, but in the early 16th

century, the Deruta factory in Umbria (central Italy)discovered a profitable method of producing it bydouble-firing the vessel. With the 15th-centuryexpansion of trade with the East, ceramic factoriessuch as that in Deruta had access to a greater spec-trum of colors as new pigments were imported.With its new lusterware technique, Deruta exportedmore pottery during the 16th century than in anyother century until the 1900s. This factory, one ofthe few for which a detailed history has been pub-lished, exemplifies the extraordinary market for Ital-ian ceramics during the second half of theRenaissance. During this period, the painted motifsof Deruta combined the factory’s signature fish-scaledesign with classical imagery taken from prints, her-aldry, and foliate designs.

Ceramic tiles were produced in both Italy andSpain; there was minimal local production in Por-tugal by the end of the 16th century. Lusterwaretiles, the most expensive, were used sparingly inwall decoration and almost never for floors. Untilthe early 16th century, Spanish tiles were orna-mented only with the geometric shapes preferredby Arab artisans who worked in the tile factories.The designs were painted on or created by raisedand stamped shapes. Francisco Niculoso (“ElPisano,” d. 1529), an Italian potter, introduced thedecorative motifs of Italian Renaissance ceramicsto Seville near the turn of the century. His maincontribution to Iberian ceramics was the Italianconcept of using many tiles to compose a singlelarge picture. His altarpiece made in 1504 for achapel in the Alcázar, Seville, is such a scene,framed by grotesques.

GlassVenetian glass, including beads, was the most presti-gious glass in western Europe. The glass mosaics ofVenice were internationally famous. In the latter13th century, glassmakers in Venice were united in aguild protecting their industrial secrets. Also sincethat time, the glassmakers have been located ontheir own island of Murano, where the factories con-tinue to operate today. There were other glassmak-ing centers in Europe by the late 15th century, someof them founded by emigrant artisans from Murano.


86

The factory at Saint Germain-en-Laye near Paris,for example, executed commissions for the Frenchroyal family. With various advances in the appliedsciences, several media in the decorative artsachieved new standards of excellence. For glass, thediscovery of clear, pure cristallo gave Venice an edgein the market. Renaissance tastes preferred orna-

mented glass, such as the enameled and gilded piecesfavored by Catherine de’ Medici (1519–89), queenof France, who influenced aristocratic tastes atcourt. Glass was also painted from the back, such asglass platters stenciled on the bottom with a designthat was then painted by hand. Although the paint-ing could be sealed with a clear substance, it could


87

3.10 Lusterware plate with the arms of Aragon and Sicily. Manises, Spain, c. 1500. (Courtesy of The HispanicSociety of America, E651)

not be heated and was thus rather fragile. In thistechnique, portraits, heraldic motifs, and classicalimagery could be painted on commemorative vessels,such as large cups celebrating a marriage. Imageryfrom famous Renaissance paintings was occasionallycopied and painted onto glass. Clear or monochro-matic glass could be textured with ribbing or anothersimple pattern, and the rim gilded or enameled. Thedecorative glass described here was largely a productfor the upper class; a poor family might have nothingmore than a commemorative cup or bowl, if that.

FurnitureDuring this period, wood-carvers undertook manydifferent types of commissions, from altarpieces tostorage chests. They often had large workshops that

were run by family members or by an artist acting asoverseer. Wooden furniture was a good marketbecause every middle-class household needed thebasics: beds, chests, cabinets, tables, chairs. Oak andwalnut were the preferred woods. Because membersof the aristocracy regularly moved from one resi-dence to another as the seasons changed, most fur-niture was made in sections so that it could be takenapart and easily transported in wagons. Upholsteredfurniture had not yet been invented; people spreadcarpets or pieces of carpets over tables, beds, andchairs, along with cushions, thus brightening thehouse and providing some padding. Chests and cab-inets often were painted with figural scenes or werecarved. For wealthy households, furniture mighthave gilt details. Intarsia, with small pieces of differ-ent-colored wood inlaid, was a durable form of flatdecoration that could be used on the top of a tableor other flat surface. Some intarsia artists took thistechnique to extremes, executing commissions tocreate entire trompe l’oeil rooms in which every wallcontained objects “painted” in wood. Florentinefurniture makers also used tortoiseshell, ivory, andmother-of-pearl for inlaid designs.

NeedleworkBesides the lace used for trim and small curtains,the most pervasive forms of needlework for interiordecoration were needlework carpets (threadhooked through coarse mesh) and embroidery.Steel needles were available by the early 16th cen-tury, greatly facilitating the fine stitchery ofRenaissance embroiderers. Although women madeembroidery for their household use, much com-mercial embroidery was produced by members ofguilds. The most lavish household embroidery wasthat for ornamental bedcovers and bed hangings,and canopy beds had elaborate panels that some-times combined embroidery with quilting. Manypainters, including Raphael and Pollaiuolo, madeembroidery designs, or cartoons. Although mostexamples of this craft consist of colored yarn orthread on a neutral background, cutwork embroi-dery done in linen was a popular white-on-whitetechnique for tablecloths.


88

3.11 Intarsia paneling in the study of the duke ofUrbino. Designed by Baccio Pontelli, latter 15thcentury (before 1492). (Palazzo Ducale, Urbino,Italy/Bridgeman Art Library)

MAJOR ARTISTS

Abbate, Niccolò dell’ (c. 1512–1571) began hiscareer painting wall decorations and portraits inBologna; then in 1552 he moved to France to assist inthe paintings for Fontainebleau. His mythologicallandscapes inspired French artists of the 17th century.

Aertsen, Pieter (c. 1507/8–1575) mainly paintedlarge works, most of still life (especially of meat), inAmsterdam and Antwerp. None of his painted altar-pieces has survived intact.

Agostino di Duccio (1418–c. 1481) was a Floren-tine sculptor who also worked in Rimini on the

Tempio Malatestiano (Church of San Francesco).His work in low-relief sculpture has a unique style;there is no record of his training.

Alari-Buonacolsi, Pier Jacopo di Antonio SeeANTICO.

Alberti, Leon Battista (1404–1472), a painter,architect, musician, writer, and man of many othertalents, wrote the first Renaissance treatise concern-ing the theory of painting, De pictura, in 1435, andtranslated it into Italian the following year.Although his paintings and engravings are no longerextant, several monuments testify to his expertise inarchitecture.

Allegri, Antonio See CORREGGIO.

Altdorfer, Albrecht (c. 1480–1538), Germanpainter and architect, spent most of his life in hisnative Regensburg. Altdorfer’s specialty was land-scape painting, in which he was influenced by bothnorthern and southern artists.

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) was a Florentinepainter trained in the studio of Piero di Cosimo. Heis best known for religious mural paintings in gri-saille, located in monasteries in Florence.

Angelico, Fra (Fra Giovanni da Fiesole) (1395/1400–1455) was a devout member of the Dominicanorder who worked in Florence most of his life.Because he painted only religious subjects, he wascalled “Brother Angelic,” or Fra Angelico. Hispaintings use perspective in simple yet naturalisticcompositions.

Anguissola, Sofonisba (1532–1625) is famous asthe first internationally known female painter inwestern Europe. Trained by Bernardino Campi, sheworked in Madrid and Sicily. Anguissola producedapproximately 50 paintings, most of them portraits.

Antico (Pier Jacopo di Antonio Alari-Buonacolsi) (c.1460–1528) was an Italian sculptor who workedmainly in gold, bronze, and other medals. His nameAntico derived from his affinity with antique Roman


89

3.12 Liturgical garment with metallic embroidery onblack velvet. Spain, 16th century. (Courtesy of TheHispanic Society of America, H3920)

style in “re-creating” statuettes of ancient statuesextant only in fragments.

Arcimboldo, Giuseppe (c. 1530–1593) learnedpainting in his family’s studio in Milan, especiallywhile assisting with the art for Milan Cathedral. Hiswork included designs for tapestries and stainedglass. In 1562 Arcimboldo began working for theimperial court, in Vienna and Prague.

Baldovinetti, Alessio (c. 1425–1499) was a painterin Florence who also worked in stained glass andmosaics.

Baldung Grien, Hans (c. 1484–1545) had the nameGrien (or Green) added while working in Dürer’sworkshop. His painted altarpieces are best knownfor their supernatural subjects and bright colors.

Barbarelli, Giorgio See GIORGIONE.

Barbari, Jacopo de’ (c. 1440–1516), born in Venice,was known as Jakob Walch in northern Europe,where he worked for much of his career. Anengraver and painter, de’ Barbari became the courtpainter for Maximilian I, and then for Margaret ofAustria in Brussels.

Bartolommeo, Fra (Baccio della Porta) (1472–1517)was a Florentine Dominican who became director ofthe San Marco workshop. His painting style wasinfluenced by the two years he spent in Rome.

Bellini, Gentile (c. 1429–1507), son of JacopoBellini, was best known for his paintings of religiousprocessions. He also spent three years working atthe court of the sultan in Constantinople.

Bellini, Giovanni (Giambellino) (c. 1431/36–1516)was the younger son of Jacopo Bellini. His sister,Nicolosia, married Mantegna, and Giambellino’searly work was influenced by that of Mantegna. Hislater paintings feature innovative uses of light andtexture that became important for later artists, suchas Giorgione.

Bellini, Jacopo (c. 1400–1470), father of Gentileand Giovanni Bellini, was born in Venice and stud-

ied under Gentile da Fabriano. His Venetian work-shop handled some of the city’s most significantcommissions.

Bening, Sanders (Benig) (d. 1519), Flemish manu-script illuminator and father of Simon Bening, workedin Bruges and Ghent. The Hours of Mary of Burgundy(National Library, Vienna) has been attributed to him.

Bening, Simon (Benig) (c. 1483–1561) was SandersBening’s son and also a Flemish illuminator. TheGrimiani Breviary (Pierpont Morgan Library, NewYork) was among his greatest accomplishments.

Berruguete, Alonso (1488–1561) was the son of theSpanish painter Pedro Berruguete. He worked withhis father and also spent time in Italy studying classi-cal models. Berruguete became a master of Manner-ism, especially in his painted altarpieces featuringlow-relief sculpture heavily ornamented with gilt.

Berruguete, Pedro (c. 1450–1504), father ofAlonso Berruguete, was Spanish court painter toFerdinand and Isabella. He may also have worked inthe Ducal Library of Urbino.

Betto, Bernardino di See PINTURICCHIO.

Bontemps, Pierre (c. 1512–c. 1570) assisted Pri-maticcio with the decorative sculpture atFontainebleau. This French sculptor executed theheart receptacle for Francis I and worked on histomb sculpture (all now in Saint Denis, near Paris)from designs by Philibert Delorme (see chapter 4,Architecture and Urban Planning).

Borgoña, Juan de (fl. from 1495, d. 1535), Spanishpainter, worked mainly in and near Toledo. His majorworks are the frescoes in the cathedral of Toledo.

Bos, Cornelis (c. 1510–c. 1566), Dutch engraver,probably studied in Rome. Much of his work repro-duces Italian paintings of the time.

Bosch, Hieronymus (Jeroen Bosch) (c. 1450–1518)was a Dutch painter best known for the surrealisticimagery in his religious subjects, especially depic-tions of sinners and their punishments.


90

Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro Filipepi) (1445–1510),who apprenticed in Florence under Andrea del Ver-rocchio, assisted in the painting of the SistineChapel during the 1480s. In addition to religiousworks, Botticelli painted mythological scenes.

Boulogne, Jean See GIAMBOLOGNA.

Bouts, Dieric (c. 1400–1475), Dutch painter,worked in Louvain most of his career. He is knownfor the landscapes and bright color in his religiousart. Both his sons became artists.

Bronzino, Agnolo (Agnolo Tori di Cosimo di Mori-ano) (1503–1572), Florentine poet and painter,trained under Jacopo da Pontormo. He is bestknown for portraits of court figures.

Brueghel the Elder, Pieter (“Peasant Brueghel,”) (c.1520–1569), a Flemish painter, specialized in repre-sentations of peasants in rural landscapes and villages.His two sons, Pieter and Jan, were also painters.

Caliari, Paolo See VERONESE.

Campi, Bernardino (1522–c. 1591), painter in Cre-mona, is not to be confused with the goldsmith ofthe same name who died in 1573. Campi is nowfamous as the teacher of Sofonisba Anguissola. Heworked mainly on church frescoes.

Campin, Robert (c. 1375/79–1444), Flemish artistnow assumed to be the Master of Flémalle. Hepainted individual portraits as well as altarpieces.

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio)(1573–1610) spent much of his career in Rome, spe-cializing in realistic representations of religious sub-jects. During his later life, Caravaggio was in exile,painting in Naples, Sicily, and Malta. His style hadbecome baroque by the close of his career.

Carucci, Jacopo See JACOPO DA PONTORMO.

Cellini, Benvenuto (1500–1571), born in Florence,was a sculptor in marble and goldsmith who workedfirst in Rome, then Fontainebleau, and finally Flo-rence. His autobiography includes lively accounts of

Cellini’s contemporaries. Cellini’s golden saltcellarwith mythological figures completed for Francis I isa masterpiece of the art (today located in the ArtHistory Museum, Vienna).

Cennini, Cennino (c. 1370–c. 1440), trained inFlorence by Taddeo Gaddi’s son, Agnolo, wrote thefirst technical treatise of the Renaissance on paint-ing. None of his own paintings has survived.

Christus, Petrus (c. 1420–1472/73), Flemishpainter, was influenced by the work of Jan vanEyck and Rogier van der Weyden. Christus wasone of the earliest northern painters to use linearperspective.

Clouet, François (c. 1516–1572), son of JeanClouet, was a painter of genre scenes and portraits.

Clouet, Jean (c. 1485–1540/41) began his paintingcareer in Burgundy and then became court painterfor Francis I.

Clovio, Giulio (Julije Klovic) (1498–1578) was aCroatian illuminator and painter who worked inVenice, in Rome, and at the Imperial court. Themanuscript Farnese Hours (Pierpont Morgan Library,New York) is among his masterpieces.

Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (1494–1534), a painterwho worked chiefly in Parma, was influenced byMantegna. His subjects were mythological as well asreligious.

Cranach the Elder, Lucas (1472–1553), Germanpainter and engraver, worked for the electors of Sax-ony and executed portraits of Maximilian I and thefuture Charles V. A friend of Martin Luther,Cranach often dealt with Reformation themes in hispaintings. All three of his sons became artists.

Crivelli, Carlo (1430/35–c. 1495), born in Venice,spent his career in remote Ascoli Piseno in centralItaly. His heavily ornamented religious paintingsfeature numerous decorative motifs.

David, Gérard (c. 1460–1523), Dutch painter,worked in Bruges and Antwerp. He specialized in


91

scenes from the domestic life of Christ, popular sub-jects copied by many of his contemporaries.

Della Robbia, Andrea (1435–1525), nephew ofLuca Della Robbia, was a ceramic artist and sculp-tor. He executed the blue and white roundels forBrunelleschi’s famous Ospedale degli Innocenti inFlorence. All five of his sons worked in the DellaRobbia ceramic studio.

Della Robbia, Luca (1399/1400–1482), uncle ofAndrea Della Robbia, was the first major Renais-sance artist to use ceramics for sculpture. Heinvented a method for glazing terra-cotta to renderit waterproof, and his creation of the blue-and-whiteMadonna and Child in a circular wreath became astandard for Renaissance ornamentation.

Donatello (Donatello de Betto di Bardi) (1386–1466),Florentine sculptor, spent part of his career com-pleting commissions for Cosimo de’ Medici. Healso worked in Rome, in Saint Peter’s Basilica.Donatello is noted for his bronze statue of David,the first life-sized, freestanding nude statue ofthe Renaissance (1430–35, now in the Bargello inFlorence).

Dürer, Albrecht (1471–1528) was a painter andengraver, working in both wood blocks and copperplates. Born in Nuremberg, he was influenced bysouthern artists during his travels in Italy. His workincluded commissions for Maximilian I, and hewrote about human proportions, perspective, geom-etry, and fortifications.

Eyck, Hubert van (c. 1370–1426) was probably thebrother of Jan van Eyck. Although none of his paint-ings is extant, he evidently produced the design forthe Ghent Altarpiece.

Eyck, Jan van (1385?–1440/41) was probably thebrother of Hubert van Eyck, who taught him how topaint and whose designs Jan evidently completed inthe Ghent Altarpiece. He was court painter for theduke of Burgundy, creating religious works and por-traits, and one of the first major European artists towork in oil-based paint.

Filipepi, Alessandro See BOTTICELLI, SANDRO.

Flémalle, Master of See CAMPIN, ROBERT.

Fontana, Lavinia (1552–1614), daughter of Pros-pero Fontana, was the second Renaissance womanto become famous for her paintings. She worked inportraiture as well as historical scenes.

Fontana, Prospero (1512–1597), born in Bologna,was best known for his portraits. Fontana’s mostgifted student was his daughter, Lavinia. He assistedin the decoration of buildings in Rome and Flo-rence, and at Fontainebleau.

Fouquet, Jean (Foucquet) (c. 1415/20–c. 1481) was aFrench illuminator and painter, influenced by hisseveral years of living in Rome. He was a portraitpainter at the French court for much of his career.

Gaddi, Taddeo (fl. 1325, d. 1366) was Giotto’sassistant for more than two decades; he also workedin Pisa and Pistoia. Some of his paintings were exe-cuted for the Church of Santa Croce in Florence,where they can be seen today.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans (fl. 1475–1495), a Dutchpainter, worked for the religious order of the Broth-erhood of Saint John in Haarlem.

Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370–1427) began hiscareer as a painter in Venice, where Jacopo Belliniwas among his pupils. Gentile worked in both fres-coes and panel painting. The altarpieces areregarded as his masterpieces, especially The Adora-tion of the Magi of 1423 (Uffizi Museum, Florence).

Ghiberti, Lorenzo (1378–1455), born in Florence,was one of the most renowned sculptors of the earlyRenaissance. He executed bronze panels for thedoors of the baptistry in Florence.

Ghirlandaio, Domenico (1448/49–1494) was a tal-ented Florentine portraitist who incorporated rep-resentations of his contemporaries in some of hisaltarpieces. Michelangelo was one of his pupils.

Giambellino See BELLINI, GIOVANNI.

Giambologna (Jean Boulogne) (1529–1608), Flem-ish sculptor famous for his fountains. He worked


92

mostly in Florence, and his work was comparedfavorably with that of Michelangelo.

Giannuzzi, Giuliano See ROMANO GIULIO.

Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco or Giorgio Bar-barelli) (c. 1477–1511) was born in Venice. He ismost famous for situating his figures in evocativelandscapes. After Giorgione died of plague, many ofhis paintings were completed by Titian.

Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337), born near Flo-rence, is thought to have studied with the medievalpainter Cimabue (d. c. 1302). Giotto’s lively compo-sitions are among the earliest indications of Renais-sance art, especially his frescoes Lives of the Virginand Christ in the Arena Chapel, Padua.

Giovanni Battista di Jacopo See FIORENTINO,ROSSO.

Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi or Giuliano Gianuzzi)(c. 1499–1546) was born in Rome and studied underRaphael. He worked as both an architect and apainter, mainly in Rome and for the court of Mantua.

Goes, Hugo van der (c. 1440–1482), a Flemishpainter who began his career in Bruges designingfestivity and funeral art. Later he lived in the RodeKloster in Brussels as a lay member, executingcommissions in the monastery. His most famouswork is the Portinari Altarpiece (Uffizi Museum,Florence).

Gonçalves, Nuno (fl. 1450–1471) was a Portuguesepainter in service to Afonso V whose work featuredlifelike realism.

Greco, El (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) (c. 1541–1614),born on the Greek island of Crete, worked first inVenice and then in Rome. He relocated to Toledo in1577 and spent the remainder of his life in Spain.Known as a Mannerist artist, El Greco painted elon-gated figures in intensely dramatic light.

Grien, Hans Baldung See BALDUNG, HANS.

Grünewald, Matthias (Mathias Gothart Niethart)(c. 1470–1528) worked as an engineer and painter

for two archbishops of Mainz. His expressive reli-gious imagery was realized to its fullest extent in theIsenheim Altarpiece (1515, today in Colmar).

Heemskerk, Maerten Van (1498–1574) was aDutch painter who worked in Italy during the 1530s.His later work was strongly influenced by that ofMichelangelo.

Hilliard, Nicholas (c. 1547–1619), English painterof miniature portraits, was also a goldsmith. Hismost famous miniatures are portraits of the royalfamily.

Hoefnagel, Joris (1542–1600), born in Antwerp,was most famous for his drawings and paintings oftowns and cities, many of which were published asengravings during his lifetime in Civitates orbis ter-rarum (Cities of the world, 1572–1618).

Holbein, the Younger, Hans (1497/98–1543)trained in the Augsburg studio of his father, HansHolbein the Elder. In Basel he converted to Protes-tantism; subsequently he painted only a few reli-gious pictures. Holbein worked for ThomasCromwell as well as for the English court, especiallyin portraiture.

Jacopo della Quercia (c. 1374–1438), born inSiena, was a sculptor of religious art. He worked onthe Siena baptistry and executed panels for tombs,portals, and other parts of churches in Tuscany.

Jones, Inigo (1573–1652), architect and designer oftheatrical sets, was influenced by Palladio’s buildingsduring trips to Italy. His own designs helped popu-larize Palladian architecture in England.

Juan de Flandes (c. 1465–c. 1519) was a Flemishpainter in service to Isabella, executing religious artin several Spanish cities.

Julije Klovic See CLOVIO, GIULIO.

Lafréry, Antonio (1512–1577), an engraver fromBurgundy, spent much of his career in Rome, creat-ing views of the city. Many of his contemporariesviewed Rome through Lafréry’s eyes.


93

Laurana, Francesco (c. 1430–c. 1502) was a Dal-matian sculptor who worked in Naples at the courtof Alphonso V, and in France for René of Anjou,king of Naples.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), engineer, archi-tect, painter, and sculptor, painted the famous MonaLisa (today in the Louvre Museum, Paris). He spentmuch of his career in Milan, working for LudovicoSforza, and his fresco of the Last Supper is in achurch there. His notebooks include sketches of asubmarine, helicopter, and automobile.

Leoni, Leone (c. 1509–1590), goldsmith and sculp-tor in bronze, worked for the papacy and the Impe-rial court before settling in Milan. He engravedcoins and medals, many with portraits of contempo-rary rulers, in addition to making portrait sculpture.His son, Pompeo, learned bronze casting in hisfoundry.

Leoni, Pompeo (c. 1533–1608), son of LeoneLeoni, worked mostly in Spain as a sculptor. He cre-ated the gilded bronze tomb sculpture for the highaltar of the Escorial and returned to Milan to castthe statues.

Limbourg brothers (dates not known) Hen-nequin, Herman, and Pol, were French illumina-tors who worked at the ducal courts. Their book ofhours decorated for the duke of Berry, Très richesheures (Condé Museum, Chantilly), is the mostfamous illuminated manuscript of 15th-centuryEurope.

Lippi, Fra Filippo (c. 1406–1469) was born in Flo-rence. He painted religious art and was especiallyknown for his delicately graceful Madonnas. His useof perspective indicated knowledge of contemporaryFlemish painting.

Lomazzo, Giovanni Paolo (1538–c. 1590) was aMilanese painter and poet. After he became blind at33, Lomazzo dictated two theoretical treatises thatbecame milestones of art history: Idea del tempio dellapittura (Idea of the temple of painting, 1590) andTrattato dell’arte della pittura (Treatise on the art ofpainting, 1584).

Lombardo, Pietro (c. 1435–1515) spent most of hiscareer in Venice, creating marble sculpture withclassicizing elements. His son Tullio was also asculptor in Venice.

Lombardo, Tullio (c. 1455–1532) worked in a morepurely classical style of sculpture than did his father,Pietro.

Lorenzetti, Ambrogio (fl. c. 1317–1348) was aSienese painter who also worked in Florence. HisGood and Bad Government fresco in the Palazzo Pub-lico (Siena) is considered the earliest major depic-tion of landscape by an Italian artist. Lorenzetti’sbrother, Pietro, was also a painter.

Lorenzo, Piero di See COSIMO, PIERO DI.

Luciani, Sebastiano See PIOMBO, SEBASTIANODEL.

Malouel, Jean (or Maelwael) (c. 1365–1415), Flem-ish painter, worked in Paris before moving to thecourt of Burgundy. He served both Philip the Boldand John the Fearless as court painter.

Mander, Karel van (1548–1606) was a Flemish poetand painter. For much of his career he was in Haar-lem, where he cofounded an art academy. His hand-book for artists, Het schilderboeck (The painter’sbook), was published in 1604.

Mantegna, Andrea (1430/31–1506) trained in thestudio of Francesco Squarcione in Padua. Hebecame court painter to the Gonzagas in Mantua,where his illusionistic art and skill in handling fore-shortening earned an international reputation.

Marmion, Simon (c. 1425–1489), Franco-Flemishpainter, was known for his wide spectrum of colorsand densely populated surfaces.

Masaccio (Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Guidi)(1401–c. 1428) began his painting career in Florenceand then settled in Rome in 1428. His use of per-spective and classically modeled figures were praisedby Vasari. Most of Masaccio’s paintings did not sur-vive; his most famous work is the fresco cycle in theBrancacci Chapel, Florence.


94

Maso di Bartolomeo (1406–1456) was a sculptor inbronze who also collaborated on architectural pro-jects with Donatello and Michelozzo.

Mazzola, Francesco See PARMIGIANINO.

Memling, Hans (or Memlinc) (c. 1430–1494) firstworked under the supervision of Rogier van derWeyden, then moved to Bruges c. 1467. He was indemand as a portrait painter and achieved interna-tional fame during his lifetime.

Metsys, Quentin (Matsys or Massys) (1466–1530)was a Flemish painter who lived in Antwerp. He exe-cuted altarpieces and portraits in which the influ-ence of Italian works is apparent.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), one of themost famous artists of the Renaissance, was an archi-tect and poet as well as a sculptor and painter. Afterapprenticing with Domenico Ghirlandaio, Michelan-gelo studied at the court school of Lorenzo de’Medici. The David in marble is his best-known sculp-ture and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel his best-known painting.

Mor van Dashorst, Anthonis (Antonio Moro) (c.1512/1525–1575) was a Dutch painter who traveledextensively and executed portraits of the members ofseveral ruling families.

Morales, Luis de (c. 1520–1586) was a Spanishpainter who lived in the remote western region ofExtremadura. He mainly painted devotional subjects.

Moriano, Agnolo Tori di Cosimo di SeeBRONZINO.

Moulins, Master of (name unknown) (fl. c.1480–1500) was a French painter with a sculpturalstyle so distinctive that several works have beenattributed to him, including portraits and an altar-piece in Moulins Cathedral.

Negroli, Filippo (fl. 1531–1551) was a member of afamily of weapon and armor makers in Milan. Hisembossed parade armor for the emperor Charles Vis his most famous extant work.

Niethart, Mathias Gothart See GRÜNEWALD,MATTHIAS.

Orley, Bernaert van (c. 1492–1542) was an artist inBrussels who worked chiefly for Margaret of Austriaand Mary of Hungary. Besides painting religioussubjects and portraits, he designed tapestries andstained glass.

Palissy, Bernard (1510–1589), French potter, wasalso a ceramic artist, trained as a glass painter. Heinvented a new type of white enamel for his glazesthat improved the surface ornamentation. Cather-ine de’ Medici commissioned him to create aceramic grotto for the Tuileries Gardens in Paris(c. 1573).

Paolo di Dono See UCCELLO, PAOLO.

Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola) (1503–1540),etcher and painter, was born in Parma (hence hisname). His Mannerist paintings of figures are knownfor the elongation of their hands and neck. In etch-ing, Parmigianino evidently executed the first wood-cuts in chiaroscuro.

Pasti, Matteo de’ (c. 1420–1467), born in Verona,was a medalist, architect, and illuminator, whoseportrait medals are among his few extant smallworks. Pasti completed sculpture for the interior ofthe Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.

Pellegrini, Pellegrino See TIBALDI.

Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo) (c. 1440–1523), bornnear Perugia, learned oil painting in Florence. Hewas chosen to direct the group of artists paintingfrescoes in the Sistine Chapel.

Piero della Francesca (1415–1492) painted fres-coes and altarpieces, notably the fresco cycle Leg-end of the True Cross (c. 1455–1460) in the Churchof San Francesco, Arezzo. He understood perspec-tive and wrote several treatises on the relation ofmathematics and geometry to painting. His manu-script treatise De prospectiva pingendi (On perspec-tive in painting) was written in Italian (though itstitle is Latin).


95

Piero di Cosimo (Piero di Lorenzo) (1461/62–1521)trained in Florence and was influenced by the workof Leonardo. He is best known for mythologicalsubjects, portraits, and the Immaculate Conceptionaltarpiece painting for San Francesco in Fiesole (c.1510?). Andrea del Sarto was among Piero’s pupils.

Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto) (c. 1452–1513),born in Perugia, was a student of Perugino’s andassisted him in painting frescoes in the SistineChapel. His main works are fresco cycles in the Vat-ican and in the cathedral of Siena.

Pippi, Giulio See GIULIO ROMANO.

Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (c. 1395–1455/56) grewup in Verona, then worked with Gentile da Fabri-ano on frescoes in Venice and finished some of hiscolleague’s frescoes in Rome. Pisanello is bestknown for his portrait medals and painted portraits.

Pisano, Andrea (c. 1270–1348/49) was a sculptorwho worked in Florence, notably on bronze doors forthe baptistry. He also carved reliefs for the campanile.

Pisano, Antonio See PISANELLO.

Pollaiuolo, Antonio (c. 1432–1498) and his brother,Piero, worked together in their Florentine studio.Piero basically painted, while Antonio worked as apainter, goldsmith, sculptor, and designer of embroi-dery for vestments. He created bronze sculptures forthe tombs of two popes.

Pontormo, Jacopo da (Jacopo Carucci) (1494–1557)trained under Andrea del Sarto and spent his entirecareer in Florence, painting altarpieces and frescoes.His work is Manneristic, with distorted poses andelongated figures.

Porta, Baccio della See FRA BARTOLOMMEO.

Primaticcio, Francesco (1504/5–1570), born inBologna, worked mainly at Fontainebleau, paintingmythological scenes and assisting as architect.

Pucelle, Jean (c. 1300–c. 1355) was a French illumi-nator who directed an important studio in Paris. Hiswork was influenced by Italian art.

Quercia, Jacopo della See JACOPO DELLAQUERCIA.

Raimondi, Marcantonio (c. 1470/82–c. 1527/34)was a Bolognese engraver who worked in Venice andthen settled in Rome, where he reproduced manyfamous paintings of the time in his prints.

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Raffaello da Urbino)(1483–1520) was best known as a painter. Afterstudying under Pietro Perugino, Raphael moved toFlorence and gained a reputation for his Madonnas.For Pope Julius II he painted monumental frescoesin the Vatican Palace (the Stanze, rooms), includingSchool of Athens, depicting ancient philosophers.

Riemenschneider, Tilman (c. 1460–1531) was aversatile sculptor working in stone, marble, andwood, including altarpieces carved in wood. Hismarble tomb in Bamberg Cathedral for EmperorHenry II and Empress Kunigunde is his masterpiecein that medium.

Robusti, Jacopo See TINTORETTO.

Rossi, Properzia de’ (c. 1490–1530), the firstwoman recognized as a sculptor in Renaissance Italy,executed a marble panel and two angels for SanPetronio in her native Bologna. She also made por-trait busts and copper engravings.

Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo)(1494–1540), a painter born in Florence, is bestknown for his collaboration with Primaticcio inwhat has come to be called the School ofFontainebleau.

Sánchez Coello, Alonso (c. 1531–1588), born inSpain of Portuguese parents, followed AntonioMoro as court painter to Philip II. He specialized inportraiture.

Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (c. 1400–1450) was aSienese painter who mainly painted altarpieces.

Schongauer, Martin (1435/50–1491), painter andengraver, spent most of his life in his native Colmar(then part of Germany). He was best known for reli-gious engravings.


96

Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani)(1485/86–1547) first studied to be a musician inVenice, then turned to painting, studying with bothGiovanni Bellini and Giorgione. He spent most ofhis life in Rome and became known for portraiture.

Simone Guidi, Tommaso di Giovanni di SeeMASACCIO.

Simone Martini (c. 1284–1344), born in Siena,painted altarpieces for several Italian cities. TheAnnunciation Altarpiece of 1333 (now in the UffiziMuseum, Florence) executed for the Siena Cathe-dral was the earliest known Italian altarpiece with anarrative subject.

Sluter, Claus (c. 1360–1406) was a sculptor fromHaarlem who served at the Burgundian court. Heworked on the famous Chartreuse de Champmolnear Dijon, planned as the ducal mausoleum.

Squarcione, Francesco (c. 1395–1468), born inPadua, became a painter after working for severaldecades as a tailor. Although he trained severalartists in his workshop, including Mantegna, nounassisted work by Squarcione himself survives.

Stefano di Giovanni See SASSETTA.

Stoss, Viet (c. 1438–1533) was a German sculptorwho was in Kraków (Poland) from 1477 to 1489carving the wooden altarpiece for the Church ofOur Lady, considered his masterpiece. After 1489 hewas in Nuremberg producing pieces for the city’schurches.

Tibaldi (Pellegrino Pellegrini) (1527–1596), architect,painter, and sculptor, completed several commissionsfor Cardinal Carlo Borromeo and served as architectfor Milan Cathedral. His final creations were thefrescoes painted for Philip II at the Escorial.

Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (1519–1594) workedchiefly as a painter in Venice, completing numerouscommissions from the doge. His most famous seriesof paintings are the biblical scenes executed for theScuola di San Rocco. Tintoretto’s son, Domenico,was also a painter.

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (c. 1489–1576), who trainedin Venice under Giovanni Bellini, was a prolificpainter who created altarpieces, portraits, andmythological scenes. He was best known among hiscontemporaries as a colorist. Philip II of Spain washis patron for much of the 1550s.

Theotokópoulos, Doménikos See GRECO, EL.

Uccello, Paolo (Paolo di Dono) (c. 1397–1475) was apainter and mosaicist trained by Ghiberti. Severalpaintings were executed by him for the cathedral inFlorence. Uccello understood perspective, using itin The Hunt in the Forest (c. 1460, now in the Ash-molean Museum, Oxford).

Vasari, Giorgio (1511–1574), architect and painter,studied under both Michelangelo and Andrea delSarto. His most renowned architectural project wasthe Uffizi in Florence. Vasari’s Delle vite de’ più eccellentipittori, scultori, ed architettori (Lives of the most excel-lent painters, sculptors, and architects, 1550) is aninvaluable biographical record of Renaissance artists.

Vecellio, Tiziano See TITIAN.

Veneziano, Domenico (fl. c. 1438–1461) evidentlyspent most of his career as a painter in Florence,where he was known for using oil in his fresco cycleof the life of the Virgin (now lost) in the Church ofSant’ Egidio. Panels from his Saint Lucy Altarpieceare extant but scattered.

Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari) (1528–1588), bornin Verona, established his workshop in Venice,where he had several major commissions. He alsodid decorative painting for villas, notably the VillaBarbaro designed by Palladio. Assisted during hisfinal years by his brother and two sons, Veronesecompleted work for an international clientele.

Vischer the Elder, Peter (c. 1460–1529) was thehead of an important bronze foundry in Nurem-berg. His three sons learned bronze sculpture thereand managed the business after their father’s death.Two of the sons traveled to Italy and introducedclassical motifs into the sculpture produced inNuremberg.


97

Vivarini, Antonio (c. 1415–1476/84) painted altar-pieces and other works in Venice, with his brother-in-law Giovanni d’Alemagna. Antonio’s brotherBartolomeo and son Alvise were also painters.

Vries, Adriaan de (c. 1560–1626) was a Dutchsculptor who studied in Florence under Giam-bologna. He worked in Rome and Prague, specializ-ing in fountains.

Walch, Jakob See BARBARI, JACOPO DE’.

Weyden, Rogier van der (Roger de la Pasture) (c.1399–1464) studied under Robert Campin and setup his own studio in Brussels circa 1435. His reli-gious paintings influenced the following generation,such as Hans Memling, one of his students.

Witz, Konrad (c. 1400/10–1445/47) was a Germanpainter who worked primarily in Switzerland, creat-ing altarpieces.

Wolgemut, Michael (1434–1519), famous as theteacher of Albrecht Dürer, ran an important studioin his native Nuremberg. Wolgemut painted altar-pieces and engraved in wood.

Zuccaro, Federico (c. 1540–1609), Taddeo Zuc-caro’s younger brother, took over his studio afterTaddeo’s death and worked on his brother’s commis-sions. After painting portraits at the English court,he traveled to Spain and executed several altarpiecesfor the Escorial. Zuccaro returned to Rome andfounded the Accademia di San Luca (for artists). Histreatise L’idea de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti (The ideaof painters, sculptors, and architects) was publishedin 1607.

Zuccaro, Taddeo (1529–1566) was a painter whohad a studio in Rome large enough to allow him tocreate monumental canvases of historical subjects.Because history painting was his specialty, Zuccarowas given several important commissions for design-ing decorative sets of majolica, including a table ser-vice depicting the life of Julius Caesar as a gift forPhilip II of Spain.

READING

PaintingBabelon 1968: fresco (Fontainebleau); Barolsky 1998:naturalism; Blunt 1991: France; Brown 1991: fresco(Toledo); Campbell 1990: portraiture; Franklin 2001:fresco, portraiture; Holt 1981; Hood 1995: fresco;Kempers 1992: patronage; Lübbeke 1991: Germany;Meiss 1970: fresco; Rodrigues 2000: Italian influencesin Portugal; Sagerman 2002: Sistine Chapel ceiling;Snyder 1985: panel painting, portraiture in northernEurope.

TapestriesCampbell 2002: many illustrations of tapetries;Domínguez Ortiz 1991: Spanish royal collection;Hunter 1912: (general history); Snyder 1985: tapes-tries in northern Europe.

SculptureBlunt 1991: France; Böker 1999: emblematic influ-ences; Chapuis 1999: Riemenschneider; Decker1969: Italy; Goldschneider 1952: portrait medals;Martín González 1991: Spain; Mulcahy 1994: sculp-ture (Escorial); Snyder 1985: sculpture in northernEurope; Welch 2000: Italy.

PrintsJohnson 1999: social context; Landau 1994: (generalsurvey); Stock 1998: printmaking in Antwerp;Woodward 1996: maps as prints; Zigrosser 1939:(general survey).

Decorative ArtAmico 1996: Palissy; Baskins 1998: cassone painting;Jourdain 1924: England; Kavaler 2000: Nether-lands; Raggio 1996: Gubbio studiolo; Welch 2000:Italy; Wells-Cole 1997: England.


98

ARCHITECTURE ANDURBAN PLANNING

4

The classical forms and decorative ornamentsof Renaissance architecture originated in Italy

and rapidly spread into France; these two regionswere the chief representatives of the new style dur-ing the 15th and 16th centuries. This chaptermainly discusses Italy and France; architecture inother regions is described later (see Beyond Italyand France, pages 117–120). Renaissance architec-ture is distinguished by a proliferation of designsinfluenced by Roman models, and by the rise toimportance of the architect as a single individual incharge of the complete building project. Evenwhen several architects collaborated on a majorproject during the Renaissance, the building usu-ally was the vision of one person. Great buildingsof the Middle Ages, especially the cathedrals,entailed long-term projects usually lasting at leastfrom 75 to 100 years. These buildings were createdby group efforts, usually with no single geniusguiding the endeavor. Often the design of medievalcathedrals was changed during construction aspolitical or financial conditions demanded, and asthe project lengthened in time and outlived its ini-tial builders. Although the accomplishments ofmedieval building programs are impressive, theyare very different from the unified vision of Renais-sance architectural endeavors. The most importantbuilding program of the 15th century was the reno-vation of Florence. During the 16th century, Romebecame a focus of urban renewal through papalpatronage. The first part of this chapter charts thegeneral development of the architect and Renais-sance architecture, and the second part discussesspecific examples of various types of buildings.

This chapter also touches on the 16th-centurystylistic shift from purely classical Renaissance styleto the Mannerism (whimsical or witty capricious-ness) that prevailed into the latter 16th century.Because chapter 3 includes information on sculpturein architectural and garden settings, the presentchapter focuses on architecture in general and not ondetails of sculptural decoration. Chapter 7, Warfare,discusses fortifications and military engineering.Harbors and canals are treated in chapter 9 in thesection, Travel.

RISE OF THEARCHITECT

The idea of an architect as the individual who bothdesigned a building and saw it through all stages ofconstruction did not begin to crystallize until the16th century. During the 15th century, the titlearchitect could pertain to several individuals, such asthe designer of a building or the person in charge ofpaying for the work. Occasionally designers ofbuildings left the on-site supervision to a colleagueworking on building materials, sculpture, or anotheraspect of the construction. Architects supervisingprojects from a distance included Leon BattistaAlberti (1404–72), who wrote De re aedificatoria (Onthe art of building in ten books, c. 1450), the firstarchitectural treatise of the Renaissance. By theearly 16th century, architects were working closelywith patrons, usually supervising on-site develop-ment of their projects. They sometimes, however,were working from drawings provided by others,especially the court artist. As we shall see, the courtartist or sculptor often became the architect. Thissection explains the development of the architect asa Renaissance phenomenon.

Northern ItalyBRUNELLESCHI

Filippo Brunelleschi’s (1377–1446) participation inthe construction of the Florence cathedral was animportant step in the rise of the Renaissance archi-tect. The cathedral of Florence, begun in 1296, hadadvanced by 1420 to the stage at which a dome wasneeded to cover the huge octagon space at its easternend. The dome was consecrated in 1436. In collabo-ration with several colleagues, Brunelleschi designeda complex octagonal dome requiring no central sup-port because the stress was contained within thedouble-walled dome itself. Inside the inner andouter walls a circular structure of bricks evenly dis-


100

tributed the weight. Brunelleschi also constructedspecial hoisting mechanisms that were used tomanipulate sections of the dome into position—these, too, were marvels of engineering for the mid-15th century. Although the dome could have beenmodeled on the ancient Pantheon of Rome, whichBrunelleschi may have studied, his accomplishmentwas praised as revolutionary. No one with eyes wholived in Florence or visited the city could help butnotice this imposing feature of the cityscape, and theview into the cupola from the floor of the cathedralwas (and is) an uplifting experience. In Alberti’s pref-ace to his treatise Della pittura (On painting,1435/36) he praises Brunelleschi (“Pippo”): “Whocould ever be hard or envious enough to fail topraise Pippo the architect on seeing here such alarge structure, rising above the skies, ample tocover with its shadow all the Tuscan people, andconstructed without the aid of centering or greatquantity of wood? Since this work seems impossibleof execution in our own time, if I judge rightly, itwas probably unthought of among the Ancients”(Alberti 1966, p. 40).

Although the cathedral’s dome was impressive, itwas not a model easily emulated because of its tech-nical complexity and massive scale. Brunelleschidesigned another building whose dome did providea model followed by other architects—the SacrestiaVecchia (old sacristy) in the Medici parish church ofSan Lorenzo. Designed in perfectly concentricshapes, the sacristy consists of a hemisphericaldome constructed on a cube. Pendentives (bridgesfrom corner to corner) support the circular base ofthe dome. The geometric details of this harmoniousdesign are highlighted in dark stone against thelight stucco background, an effective technique thatwas copied by other builders. Brunelleschi’s con-struction of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (hospitalor home for orphans) in Florence, begun circa1419, provided an elegant prototype of a monu-mental building that influenced other architectsduring the 15th century. The arcaded portico withits rounded columns, Corinthian-style foliage in thecapitals atop the columns, and classical symmetry ofdesign provided an excellent example of the new

all’antica (antique) style that would define earlyRenaissance architecture.

MICHELOZZO

Michelozzo di Bartolommeo (or Michelozzi Miche-lozzo, 1396–1472)—usually called Michelozzo—worked mainly in Florence. As a gifted sculptor, hewas given commissions by members of the Medicifamily. Brunelleschi was the first to make the transi-tion in his career from sculptor to architect, at a timewhen the “architect” was only beginning to be rec-ognized as a distinct professional. A generation laterMichelozzo could make that same transition withease. Brunelleschi’s influence was so pervasive thatwe are only recently learning that some of the build-ings attributed to him during past centuries mayhave been designed by others. The Pazzi Chapel atthe Church of Santa Croce in Florence, probablydesigned by Michelozzo, is one example. Miche-lozzo was prominent during his lifetime for severalnoteworthy buildings, such as the Palazzo Medici inFlorence. Begun circa 1445, the palace was commis-sioned as the Florentine residence of Cosimo de’Medici the Elder (1389–1464, not to be confusedwith Cosimo I de’ Medici, born in 1519). The build-ing project was ambitious, and no fewer than 20houses were demolished to make way for the palace.The three-story exterior wall was heavily rusticated,with the stones randomly chiseled to give them theappearance of strength and age. Erected on a largecorner where two busy streets converge, this presti-gious palace advertising Michelozzo’s genius was thefirst of several palaces built by Florence’s new rulingclass. Containing more than 40 rooms, the buildinghad a garden, a loggia, and a courtyard with a colon-nade modeled on Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degliInnocenti. The ornately classical cornice below theedge of the roof helped define the Palazzo Medici asa true Renaissance structure featuring elements ofRoman republican style. This building designed byMichelozzo influenced architects commissioned tobuild other private residences in the city. Miche-lozzo also introduced Renaissance architecture toLombardy (north of Tuscany). He designed the

A R C H I T E C T U R E A N D U R B A N P L A N N I N G

101

Portinari Chapel in the Church of Sant’ Eustorgioin Milan circa 1462.

ALBERTI

Leon Battista Alberti was known during his lifetimeas a prodigiously gifted Renaissance personality. Inhis preface to Alberti’s treatise on architecture firstpublished in 1485/86, the humanist scholar and poetAngelo Polizano (1454–94) wrote: “He was able tograsp every principle of ancient architecture andrenew it by example. . . . He had moreover the high-est reputation as both painter and sculptor, and . . .he achieved a greater mastery in all these differentarts than only a few can manage in any single one”(Alberti 1997, p. [1]). In addition to his architecturaltreatise, Alberti wrote other books, including a trea-tise on painting discussed in chapter 3. He enhancedhis status as an artist in several fields by these writ-ings, especially the presentation of beautifullycrafted manuscripts to important patrons such asPope Nicholas V (1397–1455). Rather than a hand-book of rules, Alberti’s treatise is an inspirationalhumanistic text meant to celebrate great architec-ture and great architects (not forgetting himself),and to encourage creative solutions for buildingsand renovations initiated in Alberti’s own time.

Alberti’s first and last major commissions exem-plify his rise to prominence as an architect. They arethe Tempio Malatestiano circa 1450 in Rimini (a newfaçade for the medieval Church of San Francesco)and the Church of Sant’ Andrea in Mantua begun in1470. Alberti’s humanistic design for San Francescohailed a new age for architecture, and the parts ofSant’ Andrea that were finished had an importantinfluence on other Renaissance churches. Althoughneither structure was completed according toAlberti’s plan, and both have passed through renova-tion and reconstruction, the evidence that remains isa remarkable witness to Alberti’s creativity and to theingenuity of his builders. The Tempio’s very name,from the Latin templum, associates the structure withclassical antiquity. The façade of the entrance alludesto an actual Roman triumphal arch in Rimini, theArch of Augustus. Commissioned by the lord ofRimini, Sigismondo Malatesta, the Tempio was atribute to him and his mistress, Isotta degli Atti,meant to unite them for eternity though they were

not then united in the eyes of the church. This Tem-pio would be their joint tomb; Alberti believed thatsepulchres were an effective means of preserving aname for posterity. The building’s harmonious, bal-anced façade and antique-style ornamentationproved to be a monument not only to his patron, butalso to Alberti’s genius as an architect—even thoughhe was not present at the building site. Letters extantfrom Alberti give instructions to the sculptor Matteode’ Pasti (c. 1420–67) for building the Tempio. Pastiwas working on the site, supervising workers, whileAlberti was in Rome directing the project. There iseven an extant letter (now in the Pierpont MorganLibrary, New York) in which Alberti drew an orna-mental detail for the roof, but evidently he did notjourney to Rimini, far away on the Adriatic coast, toinspect the Tempio’s progress. Pasti followedAlberti’s modular design, which created preciselyproportioned surfaces derived from ratios in paintingand mathematics.

The Church of Sant’ Andrea was commissioned byLodovico Gonzaga (1412–78), marquis of Mantua, asoldier and humanist who as a young man studied withnone other than Vittorino da Feltre (1378–46) in hisfamous Casa Giocosa (discussed in chapter 11, Educa-tion). Lodovico fought for both Venice and Milan andmarried Barbara of Brandenburg, niece of theemperor Sigismund. After the Peace of Lodi settledItalian conflicts in 1454, Lodovico was able to rulepeacefully for more than two decades, during whichhis patronage extended to numerous artists andhumanists. He also became one of Alberti’s majorpatrons. When Alberti wrote to Lodovico in 1470about his proposal for Sant’ Andrea, the architect hadbeen involved with Gonzaga projects for nearly adecade (however, his precise degree of involvement isdebated by scholars). Sant’ Andrea’s plan had to beworthy of a church whose main relic was supposedlythe actual blood of Christ, and it had to be largeenough to contain safely the vast crowds whothronged to the church whenever the relic was dis-played. The Sant’ Andrea commission presentedAlberti with the opportunity to design an entirechurch at the culmination of his career as an architect.The building was his crowning achievement, thelargest structure built from his designs. The design ofSant’ Andrea’s interior was based on Rome’s ancientBasilica of Maxentius with its gigantic nave and wide


102

openings into lateral spaces. The width of the façadeof Sant’ Andrea equals its height: perfectly propor-tioned according to Alberti’s theoretical system ofratios and definitively recognizable as his design.

SERLIO

Although one château and one doorway are the onlyremainders of Sebastian Serlio’s (1475–c. 1554) build-ings, his illustrated books on architecture were enor-mously influential in the rise of the architect. Trainedas a painter by his father in Bologna, Serlio began hisarchitectural career in Rome. In 1527 he fled toVenice after Rome was sacked; he worked in thenorthern republic until 1541 when he moved toFrance by invitation of the king to work onFontainebleau (see page 13). His Archittetura (Archi-

tecture) was published in several books between 1537and 1547. Because of Serlio’s years in Rome, the trea-tise used architectural examples from such notewor-thy sources as Raphael (1483–1520) and Bramante,disseminating their classicizing style throughoutwestern Europe. During the Renaissance, Serlio’sbooks were translated into French, Spanish, Dutch,and English. His work was the first published Renais-sance documentation of the five “orders” of architec-ture—including the system by which columns andtheir capitals, and so on, were designed, as describedin his fourth book. Although Renaissance editions ofVitruvius as well as Alberti’s treatise discussed theorders, Serlio was the first to publish detailed illustra-tions. The five orders of columns (somewhat sim-plifed) are Tuscan (the plain Italic style), Doric (theplain ancient style), Ionic (an inverted scroll at each


103

4.1 Part of the 16th-century cloister of the Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, Italy. The rondelornamentation is typical of the Renaissance, and the arches have the proportions of classical style. (Photograph by theauthor, 2003)

end of the capital), Corinthian (ornamental acanthusleaves), and Composite (a combination, usually ofIonic and Corinthian). Each order was thought tohave its own unique character. Here Serlio describesthe Tuscan order: “the greatest and rusticke order ofBuilding, that is, the Thuscan, being the playnest,rudest, and strongest, and of least grace and seemeli-ness” (Holt 1982, p. 45). Architects were taught thateach order of architecture was appropriate for specifictypes of buildings, and that columns on a façadeshould be arranged with plain capitals for the firstfloor, Ionic for the second, and Corinthian or Com-posite for the third. Architects who followed this clas-sical model demonstrated that they were welleducated and working within classical precedents.

PALLADIO

Andrea Palladio (1508–80), more than any otherarchitect of the 16th century, adhered to the classicalrules of building as stipulated by the Roman archi-tect and engineer Vitruvius (fl. 46–30 B.C.E.). Palla-dio worked in Venice and the Veneto. His buildingshad coherence and dignity, often centrally designedand with porticoes like those of ancient temples.These porticoes usually have several columns sur-mounted by a decorative flat entablature (compara-ble to a tabletop) across their capitals that supports adecorative frieze and triangular pediment, withsmall statues (acroteria) at the point of the pedimentand at each end. Such buildings were re-creations ofclassical designs, down to the smallest details. Palla-dio owed his rise to fame as an architect to thepatronage of Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478–1550), apoet and dramatist (whose work is discussed in chap-ter 5, Literature and Language). Trissino befriendedPalladio, who grew up in the poet’s hometown ofVicenza in northern Italy, working as a stonemasonand architect. Having served in Rome as a papaldiplomat, Trissino subsequently enjoyed the supportof the Vatican. In 1545 he took his friend to Rome,where Palladio studied ruins of ancient buildings.With this firsthand knowledge, Palladio won animportant competition in Vicenza in 1547 to reno-vate a palazzo that came to be known as the BasilicaPalladiana. His career as an architect flourished afterthat accomplishment; several of Palladio’s other pro-jects are described in the following.

RomeBRAMANTE

Donato Bramante (c. 1443–1514) began his career asa painter in Urbino and continued it in Milan circa1479 as an architect under the patronage of itsrulers, the Sforza family. Twenty years later, whenthe French occupied Milan, Bramante escaped toRome. There his status as an architect was enhancedin 1503 when Pope Julius II (1443–1513) selectedhim to renovate and rebuild the Holy See (Vatican,seat of the popes). The first building he designed inRome, the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace,derived from antique Roman models such as theTheater of Marcellus. Although Bramante diedbefore he could realize his Greek cross plan for SaintPeter’s Basilica, the grand sweep of his Cortile delBelvedere at the Vatican provided an archetypal ter-raced courtyard that used antique forms. The per-formance space included a system of hydraulics forflooding the enclosure so that mock naval battlescould be staged, similar to those in ancient times.No less an authority than Serlio praised Bramantefor reviving the art of architecture, meaning hisRenaissance interpretation of classical models.

RAPHAEL

Raphael (1483–1520) is best known as a painter (seechapter 3, Art and Visual Culture). Partly because ofhis skill as a draftsman, he was selected as architectof Saint Peter’s Basilica in 1514. Raphael’s com-pleted buildings include the Villa Madama in 1518(see page 111-112) and the Chigi Chapel in theChurch of Santa Maria del Popolo circa 1516.

MICHELANGELO

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) is a specialcase because his fame as a painter and sculptor waswidespread before he began working as an architectat the age of 40 (see chapter 3). His expertise as asculptor made him a likely candidate for designingbuilding façades, and indeed Pope Leo X (Giovannide’ Medici, 1475–1521) commissioned Michelan-gelo to create a new façade for the family’s parishchurch of San Lorenzo in Florence. Although this


104

project was never realized, Michelangelo did com-plete the New Sacristy, which balancedBrunelleschi’s Old Sacristy and gave the churchsymmetrical chapels. With this project, Michelan-gelo increased his standing as an architect by placinghimself on the same level as Brunelleschi’s earliergenius. Toward the end of his career, Michelangelowas commissioned by Pope Paul III (1468–1549) tocomplete Saint Peter’s Basilica. The gigantic hemi-spherical dome was completed after his death, butwith a pointed top not part of his original design.

VIGNOLA

Giacomo da Vignola (1507–73) moved to Rome in1530 after studying architecture in Bologna; therehe became architect to Pope Julius III (1487–1555).Vignola caught the attention of everyone involved inthe arts in Rome when he designed an oval dome,the first in Europe, for the Tempietto (little temple)di San Andrea constructed for the pope. Vignola’sstatus in the profession was assured by his plans forIl Gesù, the Jesuit church begun in 1568. The façadewas designed by Giacomo della Porta (c.1490–1577) after Vignola died. Vignola’s extrava-gantly spacious interior (a nave approximately 60feet wide) and elegant forms were emphasized bylight streaming in from innovative windows cutthrough the clerestory. Because the Gesù churchwas copied by Jesuit communities around the world,Vignola’s fame was international. He published in1562 Regole delle cinque ordini d’architettura (Rules ofthe five orders of architecture), closely focusing onone of the most significant topics treated by Serlio.This publication established Vignola as an authorityin the field of Renaissance architecture.

VASARI

Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) is best known for his Vitede’ più eccelenti architetti, pittori e scultori (Lives of themost excellent architects, painters and sculptors),first published in 1550 and greatly expanded in1568. He was also a renowned painter and an archi-tect of some importance, especially for his design forthe Uffizi Palace. This building, in classicizing style,was constructed to house the administrative officesof Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (uffizi means

“offices” in Italian). Vasari believed that the writtenword provided the best possible record for posterityof great works, and time has proven him correct inmany instances.

FranceDELORME

Philibert Delorme (1514–70), the son of a stonema-son, spent several years in Rome during the mid-1530s. This was an exciting time for Renaissancearchitecture because of the rebuilding and urbanrenewal that followed the 1527 sack of the city.


105

4.2 The Tempietto (little temple), 1502, was designed byDonato Bramante. It originally was to have been framed bya much grander setting. This monument in classical Romanstyle was constructed on the site where St. Peter was believedto have been martyred. (Courtesy of Sandra Sider)

Delorme’s subsequent architectural projects wereinfluenced by the buildings he studied in Rome; thatinfluence gave him new status as an architect in hishomeland. His publications, especially L’Architectureof 1567, as well as his designs were important forFrench architecture during the second half of the16th century. Unfortunately, most of his buildingshave been destroyed, including the Tuileries in Pariscommissioned by Queen Catherine de’ Medici(1519–89) near the end of his career.

DUCERCEAU

Jacques Androuet Ducerceau the Elder (c. 1515–85)was the patriarch of a family of architects, engravers,and engineers. His son, Baptiste (c. 1545–90),responsible for construction of the Louvre, alsoerected Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge still standing inthe city of Paris). In 1539 Jacques Ducerceau pub-lished the first French architectural handbook, Livred’architecture. His most important work for laterarchitects was Les plus excellents bâtiments de France(The most excellent buildings of France, 1576 and1579), which documented not only the buildings butalso their gardens. The exuberant ornamentation ofJacques Ducerceau’s style, evident in his architec-tural engravings, helped introduce the Manneristmode to France. Mannerism, consisting of very styl-ized details in surface ornamentation and design,became the dominant artistic style of latter-16th-century France.

INFLUENCE OF ROME

The city of Rome influenced Renaissance archi-tecture in two ways: The ruins and history ofancient Rome inspired architectural designs andmotifs, and the building projects of 16th-centuryRome provided a contemporary model of urbanrenewal. Venice, for example, was favorably com-pared to ancient Rome, especially the DucalPalace. The sack of Rome by Imperial troops in1527, which destroyed much of the city, generatedrebuilding and renovation in the remainder of the16th century.

Ruins of Rome: 15th Century

We have seen that most of the architects who roseto prominence during the 15th and 16th centuriesincluded allusions to ancient Rome if not to actualRoman ruins in some of their most famous build-ings. At the beginning of the 15th century, Romeessentially was a large medieval town, with sheeppastured in its meadows and the hills virtually aban-doned. Parts of a few of the ancient buildings and ofthe city wall were visible, but even those were beingdestroyed as residents took stones to build andrepair their own structures, or to crush and burninto lime. Although Rome had been part of thePapal States for centuries, between 1309 and theelection of Nicholas V in 1447 the instability of thepapacy prevented any serious attention from beingpaid to the city itself. From 1309 until 1377 thepopes resided in Avignon (a period known as theGreat Schism or Babylonian Captivity; see chapter2, Religion), and for another seven decades a seriesof rival popes caused the schism to continue in Italy.During the latter 14th century, Petrarch surveyed

Literature and Language), but his identification ofruins was filled with errors. Nevertheless, hisdescriptions of the city inspired antiquarians andarchitects to begin serious study of the ruins ofRome. They were supported in this effort by thepopes and the Holy Roman Emperors, many ofwhom viewed themselves as equal to the emperorsof ancient Rome, especially Augustus Caesar.

When Nicholas V became pope, Rome was in alamentable state, sacked and partially destroyed in1413 by troops serving under the king of Naples.Italy was fractured into several competing city-states, notably Milan and Bologna, against theHoly See. Using the Jubilee year of 1450 to pro-mote Rome as the center of Christianity, NicholasV helped to unify the Italian states and stabilize thePapal States. This relatively peaceful era in Italianaffairs drew much-needed income into Rome dur-ing the mid-15th century as thousands of pilgrimswere able to travel safely to and from the Holy See.During Nicolas V’s papacy, the cultural legacy ofRome began to thrive, guided by humanists such asPoggio Bracciolini (1380–1459). Trained in Flo-


106

the city and praised it in his poetry (see chapter 5,

rence, Poggio (as he is usually called) moved toRome in 1403 and worked in the service of eightpopes. His scholarly focus involved discovering themanuscripts and editing the texts of Latin classics.Poggio’s travels in Europe with the papal entouragegave him the perfect opportunity to explore thegreat monastic libraries, such as Saint Gallen, andhe often took the manuscripts he found back to thepapal library. Among these Latin texts weredescriptions of Rome as well as inscriptions, andPoggio traveled around the city in his spare timeinspecting and describing the ruins in his attemptto understand the texts. Most importantly, Poggiodeplored the despoliation of ancient Rome andemphasized the need to preserve the ruins thatremained.

The Roman Academy was founded by thehumanist Pomponio Leto (1425–98), who suc-ceeded the great historian Lorenzo Valla (1407–57)in the Latin chair at the Gymnasium Romanum.Along with the Accademia Platonica (PlatonicAcademy) in Florence and Accademia Pontana(Academy of Pontano) in Naples, the Roman Acad-emy was among the first in a long tradition oflearned societies in Italy. The Academy in Romewas significant for the study of classical architecturebecause Leto was fascinated by the ancient city—itsmonuments as well as its literature. He and his col-leagues wandered over Rome and down into thecatacombs, documenting inscriptions and otherantiquities. Leto lectured on the monuments ofancient Rome at the university, informing numer-ous students about his interpretations of ancientsites as well as referring to the work of the ancientantiquarian Varro. Leto was more systematic in hisarchaeological studies than previous scholars, help-ing his contemporaries understand the purpose ofancient buildings, their relationships within a site,and other information useful to architects modelingtheir designs on classical buildings. Finally, hetaught his students to study ancient structures in thecontext of ancient texts (and vice versa), a boldinterdisciplinary approach that introduced histori-cal validity to architectural planning of the earlyRenaissance. Another forerunner of Roman archae-ology was the papal secretary Flavio Biondo(1392–1463), who wrote meticulously about thetopography of Rome. He supplemented classical

sources by field study of actual ruins; his Romainstaurata (Rome restored) was consulted as a refer-ence source by artists and architects for more than acentury.

Pope Sixtus IV (1414–84), elected in 1471,founded a museum on the Capitoline hill in 1474.By then the craze for collecting antiquities washelping to preserve individual statues, inscriptions,and architectural ornaments, though at the sametime causing these works to be dislocated fromtheir original locations and thus obscuring the his-torical record. Although some collectors madenotes of where their pieces had been found, otherswere more interested in impressing visitors withtheir treasures. Sixtus IV vastly improved the city’sinfrastructure by commissioning a building pro-gram that included the much-needed advancementof widening and paving the streets. Even thoughparts of ruins were destroyed or relocated duringthe construction, that work uncovered more of themedieval and ancient city, which the next genera-tion could then study. Except in isolated examples,such as the papal town of Pienza, urban planningas such did not progress outside Rome during the15th and 16th centuries. In Rome the popes usedtheir authority to sweep aside ruins, domesticdwellings, and small institutional buildings tomodernize both the city and the Holy See. Inother cities, however, the private vision of patronssuch as the Medici, Rucellai, and Sforza usuallyprevailed; magnificent private residences wereconstructed without much thought about modern-izing the city as a whole or even specific neighbor-hoods. The main public squares of Renaissancecities, however, were notable exceptions as effortswere made to frame these spaces with complemen-tary buildings. Venice is the best example of thisaspect of urban planning (see Libraries and Muse-ums, page 117).

We should note that Roman antiquities werenot the only treasures available to architects inRenaissance Rome. The Roman emperors hadtransported several massive obelisks from Egypt toRome, and the obelisk near Saint Peter’s was stillstanding during the Renaissance. Sixtus V(1525–90), who did not place any value on preserv-ing Rome’s ancient legacy, wanted to transfer thisobelisk from the side of Saint Peter’s into the main


107

piazza (where it stands today). Architects in Romehad long discussions concerning the hydraulicengineering that would be required for such a feat,which led to improved knowledge of hydraulics.But not even Michelangelo would undertake theproject, which was finally accomplished by DomenicoFontana (1543–1607).

Restoring Rome: 16th CenturyPope Leo X commissioned Raphael to draw sketchesto document the ruins of Rome, suggesting how they

might be preserved. Raphael was also appointedcustodian of classical antiquities, a position thatgave him ample opportunity to study antiquebuildings and fragments for his own architecturaldesigns. With papal support, Rome was flourishingas a center of architecture and art in the 1520s. TheItalian Wars (see chapter 7, Warfare), however,reached the gates of Rome in 1527. The papacyhad been in league with France, Venice, and theduke of Milan against the emperor Charles V,whose German and Spanish troops of some 30,000soldiers overran Rome in May 1527, sacking thecity and destroying monuments for several months.The occupation by foreign troops lasted nine


108

4.3 Plan, elevation, and section of the ruins of the Roman Colosseum. Woodcut by Sebastiano Serlio, in his Il terzolibro nel qual si figurano, e descrivono la antiqua di Roma (Third book in which are illustrated and described theantiquities of Rome, 1540, the book on which many other Renaissance books illustrating architecture were modeled).(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

months and Rome was devastated, physically andfinancially. As we have seen, this attack causednoted architects to flee from Rome to other areas.They took their classical training and affinity forthe antique to cities that otherwise might not havehad access to their expertise. Rome, however, didnot recover from the events of 1527–28 for severaldecades.

Many of the artists who were in Rome to learnabout classical styles and building techniques madedrawings of the ruins they were studying. This doc-umentation gives us a fairly clear idea of the majormonuments as the Renaissance saw them. TheFrench painter Etienne Dupérac (c. 1525–1604), forexample, journeyed to Rome in 1550. His drawingsexecuted during the next three decades provided avaluable historic record, especially the engravingspublished in 1575, Vestigi dell’antichità di Roma(Remains of the antiquity of Rome). Another toolfor architects and city planners were the maps ofRome, including maps and views of the ancientmonuments, published during the 16th century.Although such maps were being drawn during the15th century, for example, by Alberti, topographicprinting of the 16th century gave architects acrossEurope greater access to this visual information.These maps also helped to promote interest in pre-serving the vestiges of the ancient city among anti-quarians and scholars.

Architectural InscriptionsEpigraphy, or the study of inscriptions, delightedRenaissance humanists. They spent many hours intheir academies debating interpretations of Latininscriptions and pondering where fragmentaryinscriptions might once have been located inancient Rome. The visual interest of inscribedcharacters, especially on an otherwise blank wallor entablature, appealed to Renaissance architectsand artists. Moreover, such monumental inscrip-tions in Latin enhanced the grandeur of buildingson which they appeared, recalling the monumentsof ancient Rome. The Venetian Church of SanFrancesco della Vigna (discussed later) is a perfectexample of “antique” inscriptions in Renaissancearchitecture.

ECCLESIASTICALBUILDINGS

The dome of the cathedral of Florence is the quintes-sential Renaissance ecclesiastical structure of the 15thcentury. Brunelleschi’s achievement was recognizedin perpetuity by his burial within the cathedral, withan epitaph lauding him as “Filippo the Architect.”Renaissance architects functioned within a hierarchi-cal mode of esteem for public buildings, in whichmunicipal buildings were valued least, palaces more,and churches most highly. The greatest honor was todesign and construct an ecclesiastical building, aboveall a cathedral or basilica. Saint Peter’s Basilica at theheart of the Holy See was the grandest religiousbuilding of the 16th century. Not completed until1614, it had been planned as early as the mid-15thcentury by Pope Nicholas V. Architects who designedor modified the basilica included Bramante and theartists Raphael and Michelangelo. When he was onhis deathbed, Nicholas V said that the churches hecommissioned were for the general public, whoshould be awestruck by their magnificence.

ItalySanta Maria Novella (Florence) was founded as aDominican church in the mid-13th century. Thefaçade was never completed above the main floor;the vaulted (curved) central roof and sloping roofs ofthe side aisles projected above the façade. SantaMaria Novella was the parish church of the Rucellaifamily, who commissioned Alberti to create a façadefor the upper level. Renaissance architects wereoften asked to complete or restore medieval build-ings. Using his modular system of proportions,Alberti designed a façade that complemented theoriginal design in shape and color, using green andwhite marble in striped patterns (c. 1458–70). Theupper level was finished with a classicizing pedimentabove the frieze with its inscription, and with a gableon each side topped by a long, sloping scroll. Thelatter feature became a popular component ofRenaissance façades designed in antique style.


109

The Pazzi Chapel (Florence), probably by Miche-lozzo, functioned as a chapter house for meetings ofmembers of the Franciscan order at the Church ofSanta Croce. Commissioned by Andrea de’Pazzi, awealthy Florentine and enemy of the Medicis, thebuilding was his family burial chapel. Opening onto acourtyard, the Pazzi Chapel is a rectangular domedstructure featuring a porticoed entrance and porchwith triple-vaulted ceilings. The central ceiling of theporch is lavishly decorated in polychromed tiles, andboth of the lateral barrel-vaulted ceilings are hand-somely coffered in squares of Renaissance floral andgeometric motifs. The interior coffered ceilings, inbarrel-vaulted bays on each side, echo the design ofthe porch. With cream-colored stuccoed walls, darkergeometric detailing, and glazed terra-cotta rondelreliefs of the apostles in blue and white, the interior ofthe Pazzi Chapel is a scintillating example of 15th-century architectural design. Michelozzo added aninnovative touch in four large polychromed rondelsof the Evangelists installed in pendentives supportingthe dome. The curved ornamentation and structure

of the chapel, including arches inscribed around thewalls and rondels on the doors, unify the space, mak-ing it both vibrant and serene. The Pazzi Chapel is ajewel of Renaissance architecture.

Bramante’s 1502 Tempietto for the Church ofSan Pietro in Montorio (Rome) was a revolutionarystructure. Loosely based on Roman models such asthe Pantheon, the round Tempietto is only 15 feet indiameter. Nonetheless, with its lofty dome and deepniches, it is a powerful memorial to the martyr SaintPeter. The effect of the Tempietto is iconic, in that itwas meant to be experienced as a three-dimensionalimage from the outside, more than as a structurethat one entered.

Andrea Palladio, who published Le antichità diRoma (The antiquity of Rome) in 1554, designedthree churches for the Republic of Venice between1562 and 1577. They all have classical porticoes likethose on ancient temples, a Renaissance style thatwas seen as essentially Palladian. One of thesechurches, San Francesco della Vigna, is remarkablefor its use of inscriptions. Palladio designed thefaçade in 1564, for a church built 30 years earlierfrom Sansovino’s plans. (The committee approvingSansovino’s design included Serlio, then living in theVeneto.) The grand bronze lettering on the façade,combined with the statuary, comprises an emblem-atic text indicating that the church was modeled onthe “temple” of the human body. Relating structuresand texts to the human body was a basic tenet ofRenaissance humanism.

FranceThe classicizing style of 15th-century Italy enteredFrance through the south; the first ecclesiasticalexample was the Chapel of Saint-Lazare constructed1475–81 in the cathedral of Marseille. The chapel,commissioned by René of Anjou, king of Naples,features on its façade Renaissance shell niches alongthe top and antique-style carved reliefs, the compos-ite capitals surmounted by an entablature. Thearchitect was Francesco Laurana (c. 1430–c. 1502),who had worked at several humanistic courts, espe-cially that of Alphonse V of Aragon in Naples. InFrance, the antique style came to be called la modeitalienne (Italian style) as French nobility returned


110

4.4 Coffered ceiling in the porch of the Pazzi Chapel,15th century, Florence, Italy. (Courtesy of Sandra Sider)

home from the Italian Wars and imported Italianarchitects and workers to construct and renovatetheir châteaux.

For monumental architecture such as churches,the Gothic style prevailed in France until the mid-16th century. Nevertheless, with the disseminationof Serlio’s practical handbook of architecture in the1530s, antique elements of Roman Renaissancearchitecture (the High Renaissance) began to influ-ence French patrons and architects, engendering anaffinity for classical style. The exterior of the choirbuilt for the Church of Saint-Pierre in Caen (north-ern France) in 1528–35 demonstrates an early stagein France of the massive volume of Roman style.Ornate, crusted surfaces and pierced openwork inthe stone have been replaced by clean, flat surfacesand relatively simple, classicizing contours.

Philibert Delorme’s Chapel of Anet built in1549–52 for the château of the same name (dis-cussed later) was the first circular church in France.As we have seen, Delorme had studied ancient archi-tecture in Rome. For the chapel he put his theoreti-cal knowledge to practical use and created astructure with coffered dome (the first hemispheri-cal dome in France), fluted Corinthian pilasters (rec-tangular flattened columns barely projecting fromthe wall), and canted corners with the cornice tiltedoutward. All these elements of antique style wereunited by Delorme to produce a fine example ofFrench classicism.

FROM FORTRESSESAND CASTLES TORENAISSANCE PALACES

Many medieval fortresses or castles were actually smallfortified towns (the word castle is derived from theLatin word castrum, fort). Seen from the outside, theyimpressed viewers by their sheer mass, having high,thick walls of stone or sometimes brick, a single gatedentrance usually with a drawbridge over a moat, andonly a few small, narrow windows. Often the castle hada forecourt and second gate past the drawbridge so vis-

itors could be closely inspected in the forecourt beforebeing permitted to enter the castle grounds. Usuallysquare or rectangular in shape, the earliest Europeanfortresses were based on ancient Roman foundations.During the Middle Ages, fortified secondary and eventertiary walls of defense extended the protective sphereof the castle past the primary structure. These wallsdeveloped into the fortified city walls of many medievaltowns and cities as houses, shops, schools, and otherstructures were built into and between the walls. Partsof the old city walls and gates are still visible acrossWestern Europe. They are preserved almost in theirentirety in historic towns such as Siena in central Italyand Dinan in northwestern France. During theRenaissance, architects had the challenge of convertingsections of delapidated, war-torn, or burned city cen-ters into more open, spacious urban environments.Private and royal palaces, with stepped approaches andsymmetrical façades featuring columns or pilasters,larger windows, and fine ornamentation, created a newarchitectural aesthetic in Renaissance cities. The risingmerchant class helped to pay for numerous privatepalaces while royal coffers funded the construction ofmany others.

ItalyThe Palazzo Rucellai (Florence) of circa 1460 devi-ates from contemporary Florentine palaces, such asthe Palazzo Medici discussed earlier, in that itsfaçade is truly in elegant Renaissance style. Unlikethe other palaces with deeply rusticated façades, thePalazzo Rucellai, possibly designed by BernardoRosellino (c. 1407–1464), has the stones smoothedover to create a more stately appearance. In addi-tion, there are three tiers (stories) of pilasters fram-ing the doors and all the windows, one pilaster abovethe other. The result is an imposing edifice of pleas-ingly symmetrical proportions.

Rome’s Villa Madama was a palatial residence,constructed in the 1520s by Antonio da Sangallo theYounger (1483–46) following Raphael’s design.Named after Margaret of Austria (“Madama”), whomarried Allesandro de’ Medici in 1536 and was pre-sented with the palace, it originally was built for Car-dinal Giulio de’ Medici (1478–1534). Giulio was apatron of the arts as well as an antiquarian; in 1523 he


111

was elected to the papacy as Clement VII. TheVilla Madama was designed to his antique tastes,with a central dome never before used in a Renais-sance residence. Although only the garden loggiaremains today; its frescoed vaulted ceiling and loftypiers (squared columnar supports) recall thegrandeur of Emperor Nero’s ancient GoldenHouse, on which the decoration of the palaceapparently was based.

Sangallo was working as an architect for PopePaul III (Alessandro Farnese, 1468–1549) in theearly 1540s when he was commissioned to under-take remodeling of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome.(This building should not be confused with theVilla Farnese described later). After Michelangelobegan supervising the renovation, he emphasizedthe sculptural quality of the building by addingweight and monumentality to the structure with amassive Florentine-style cornice that extends fromthe roofline out over the façade. Sangallo’s antiqueinspiration for the courtyard was expressed by largemasonry piers resembling those in Roman ruinssuch as the Colosseum. The Palazzo Farnese standsin Rome today, dominating an expansive piazza evi-dently planned concurrently to complement thepalazzo—an example of effective urban planning inRenaissance Rome. (Today the building houses theFrench embassy.)

FranceIn France the word hôtel was used for a palatial urbanresidence, whereas a palace outside the city wascalled a château (both singular and plural pro-nounced “sha-toe” with emphasis on the second syl-lable). These lavish structures gave Renaissancearchitects an opportunity to experiment with differ-ent styles and display their virtuosity. The bestexamples of châteaux were commissioned by theroyal family and their immediate circle. Becausemany of the royal archives were destroyed duringthe French Revolution, we unfortunately do nothave information about the architects commissionedto create most of the buildings.

The Louvre in Paris (now the French nationalmuseum) was begun as a renovation of a 13th-centurymedieval fortress, commissioned by King Francis I

(1494–1547). The castle keep, with its dungeon in thecellar, was demolished to open up a courtyard.Although only a small portion of the Louvre as con-ceived by its architect Pierre Lescot (1510/15–78) wasconstructed before the close of the 16th century, hisItalianate square courtyard greatly influenced otherFrench Renaissance architecture. Lescot’s façade onthe west wing overlooking the square court was com-pleted in 1546. Created in collaboration with thesculptor Jean Goujon (c. 1510–c. 65), the façade is amasterpiece of classical style, with fluted columns and


112

4.5 Château of Langeais, France, constructed during thelatter 15th century. Although the entrance was designedas a medieval fortress, this façade facing the garden is ina transitional early Renaissance style. Note the rows ofmullioned windows. (Courtesy of Sandra Sider)

niches for statuary between the columns. In addition,the spaces between windows on the shorter thirdstory are filled with sculpture in relief, like that foundon ancient pediments. The result is a lively yet har-monious whole.

In 1528 Francis I commissioned the Frencharchitect Gilles de Breton (c. 1500–c. 1552) to beginrenovations of the small medieval fortress ofFontainebleau, situated in a forest approximately 40miles southeast of Paris. We also know that Serliowas working at Fontainebleau, called there by theking to work on the renovations. The Gallery ofFrancis I, whose Italianate interior decoration is dis-cussed in chapter 3, was a model of Renaissancestyle. Fontainebleau was famous at the time for itsgardens, including a grotto like those that were pop-ular in Italy. One of the earliest garden grottoes inFrance, it still exists today.

Renovations at the French royal residence ofBlois, in the Loire Valley, commenced in 1514. TheItalianate wing added by Francis I has Bramantesqueelements of rectangular windows with mullions,flanked by pilasters. The building features a uniqueexternal spiral staircase dominating the courtyard.Shaped as a hexagon, part of it ingeniously inside thebuilding and the rest outside, the staircase is cappedby a handsome classical balustrade. Defined by thestaircase, the façade has the presence of a monumen-tal Roman structure, even in the context of medievalelements in other parts of the château’s roofline andfaçade.

Chambord, also in the Loire Valley close toBlois, was renovated for the king from 1519. Thissplendidly grandiose edifice, a converted huntinglodge, was not completed until 1550. The main,central building is designed with a Greek cross floorplan and four circular structures at each corner.Because such a balanced floor plan was already pop-ular in Italian villas and palazzos, scholars have pro-posed that the architect was Italian. The moststriking feature of Chambord is its double spiralstaircase at the center, leading up to the top of thethird story. Italianate in its perfect symmetry, thestaircase permits those using it to see each other butnot to cross over from one staircase to another.

Anet, approximately 50 miles west of Paris, wasconstructed between 1546 and 1552. This creationwas the château of Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), a

gift from her lover, Henry II, king of France(1519–59). The architect was Philibert Delorme,whose grand scheme unified the château and gar-dens in a single design. Although such planning wasusual for Italian architects, Anet was the first exam-ple in France of this Italianate scheme. Only sectionsof the structure are known to us today, butDelorme’s application of the architectural orders,triumphal arch, and heavy classical moldings indi-cate that the original château was an archetype ofFrench classicism.

VILLAS

The Italian terms villa and palazzo (palace) can beconfusing. Although villa usually designates acountry house and palazzo a large house in the city,readers find occasional references to villas in thecity and palazzos in the country. Here we shall dis-cuss villas constructed as retreats in the country(suburban villas that qualify as palaces are discussedin Palaces, pages 111–113). Palladio designed themost perfectly classical villas and palaces of theRenaissance.

The Country HouseBy the close of the 15th century, a spectacular viewhad become an important component of villa design,almost as important as the house itself. Alberti wrotecirca 1450 that the villa should have “a view of somecity, town, stretch of coast, or plain, or it should havewithin sight the peaks of some notable hills ormountains, delightful gardens, and attractive hauntsfor fishing and hunting” (Alberti 1997, p. 145, book5.16). Villas might also overlook part of the estate’sfarmland, for rural activities were very much part ofvilla life. Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder, in his villa atCareggi (near Florence), was reported to havepruned his vineyards and read patristic manuscriptsin the same morning.

The tales in Giovanni Boccaccio’s (1313–75)Decameron are narrated by aristocratic Florentines ina country villa, enjoying the leisure of a house and


113

garden away from the noise, dirt, and intermittentplague of the city. The pleasant diversion of the sto-rytellers’ literary pursuit typifies the relaxed sort ofactivity enjoyed by the owners and guests in Renais-sance villas. The ancient Roman idea of the villa wasthat of a locus amoenus (pleasant place), with sunnygardens, pungent groves, and soothing fountains orstreams—a concept that certainly appealed toRenaissance aristocracy. To make good use of thegardens, the villa design was often the opposite ofthat for houses in town, which usually had an opencentral courtyard and massive walls facing the street.In the villa, at least one side could be a roofed loggiafacing the gardens, with the central space used as aroom. The warm, dry climate of Rome and northcentral Italy permitted this type of partially opendesign.

Nevertheless, the 14th-century style of fortifiedvillas having the defensive aspects of castles (castel-lated) persisted when the individual commissioninga villa suspected that bandits, mercenaries, or thedanger of political rivals could be a threat. Not onlydid such a design provide actual defense, but also itincorporated elements historically associated withstrength and power, especially small windows, thickwalls, and towers. Although we think of castles asessentially medieval forms and villas as a Renais-sance phenomenon, during the 15th century manyvillas had castellated features. As we have learned inother chapters of this book, the Middle Ages andRenaissance overlapped in numerous ways. In noarea was this overlapping more obvious than inarchitecture, with literal juxtaposition of medievaland Renaissance forms. The Medici Villa at Careggiis a good example of such a hybrid building. In 1457the architect Michelozzo (1396–1472) converted themedieval manor house into a villa, adding a doubleloggia opening onto a garden and leaving most ofthe fortified exterior.

Palladian VillasPalladio, schooled in humanism, was also trained asa stonemason. The Villa Rotonda in Vicenza, begunby Palladio in 1567, is one of his most ambitious vil-las. It was designed after the Pantheon in Rome,with a rounded dome in the center and with four

porticoes, one on each side. Palladio studied notonly Renaissance buildings built in Rome by hiscontemporaries, but also ancient monuments andruins. His villas are in the Veneto, the area ruled bythe Republic of Venice, especially near the town ofVicenza. Several of the town’s wealthy residentscommissioned Palladio to design country retreats inthe classical style, with colonnaded porticoes andsymmetrical proportions. These villas, meant to re-create the villas of classical Rome, gave birth to anew style called Palladianism.

Other VillasThe Palazzo Te, located on the island of Te nearMantua, was commissioned by the Gonzaga family(the ducal rulers of Mantua). Designed by the artistGiulio Romano (c. 1499–1546), the villa complexwas built between 1527 and 1534 as a rustic retreatfor dining and entertaining. As in many otherRenaissance building projects, the architect had tocontend with a preexisting medieval structure. Here,the architect integrated medieval, classical, andcapricious forms in surprising Mannerist combina-tions. Giulio Romano also played with the classicalforms themselves. For example, every now and thena sculpted decoration on the architrave (the horizon-tal beam running along the base of the entablatureabove the columns) is set partly below the beam.The façade is thus destabilized in a distinctly unclas-sical fashion. The educated guests at the Gonzagavilla would have appreciated such Mannerism as anarchitectural joke.

Giacomo da Vignola was commissioned by Car-dinal Alessandro Farnese (1520–89) to design a luxu-rious villa at Caprarola, outside Rome. Because of itsgrand scale and extensive gardens, this villa is some-times referred to as the Palazzo Farnese, which con-fuses it with the palazzo in the city of Rome built foran earlier Cardinal Farnese (see page 112). Com-pleted in 1583, the Villa Farnese has four stories plusa basement. Vignola’s design, based on an earlierpentagonal foundation, ingeniously united thehouse with the gardens by connecting them viabridges. In addition, the terraced gardens gracefullylead up to the villa by a series of wide staircasesshaped like horseshoes.


114

Gardens

Many villa gardens in Italy were intended to replicatethe ancient Roman garden, with cypress, myrtle,pomegranates, fig trees, boxwoods, and pungent orsweet herbs and flowers such as lavender, rosemary,narcissus, and violets. Although no ancient gardenssurvived as such into the Renaissance, patrons andarchitects could read about Roman gardens in classicaltexts. (Today our visual knowledge of Roman gardenshas greatly benefited from the frescoes discovered atPompei in the 18th century.) Cicero mentioned theserenity of his garden near the river by his countryhouse, and Ovid claimed that he was inspired whileworking in his garden. Ancient writers wrote in detailabout several aspects of gardening. Topiary, for exam-ple, was described by Pliny the Elder as popular inancient villa gardens. This garden art was revived inItaly during the 15th century to create ornamentalshapes such as ships and animals. In French and Eng-lish Renaissance gardens these shaped bushes andshrubs often were geometrical rather than representa-tional. Serlio in his 1537 treatise on architectureincluded a section pertaining to garden design thatfeatured illustrations of geometrical plantings.

Water played an important role in the plantingsdesigned for Italian villa gardens. Suburban villasnear aqueducts could have water piped into theproperty, permitting the inclusion of several foun-tains and lush, exotic greenery. More remote villasdid not always have predictable sources of continu-ous water. Their gardens required larger trees andground cover that would be able to sustain severalseasons of drought. Even in remote areas, however,Italian villa gardens usually included at least onefountain with antique-style statuary. Some of thisstatuary functioned as automata, moving as waterflowed through them. French gardens used lesswater than those in Italy, partly because villa andpalace gardens in France were designed on relativelyflat terrain; there were fewer areas that allowedwater to flow from one level to another. WhereasItalian gardens favored cascades, if not torrents, ofwater when it was available, gardens in France weremore restrained in the use of water. Another differ-ence in French villa gardens of the early Renaissancewas the creation of parterres (discrete areas with their

own design), often with a separate gazebo or smallpavilion, that usually could be viewed from the villa.Several important Italian villas, such as the Villa Far-nese, had a “secret garden,” “wild garden,” or “gar-den of love.” Their decoration is mentioned inchapter 3 Sculpture, (see page 83).

PATRONAGE IN ITALIANCIVIC ARCHITECTURE

As we have seen, the Medici in Florence and thepopes in Rome were outstanding patrons of Renais-sance architecture, commissioning many of thebuildings and renovations that remain today as wit-nesses to the genius of Brunelleschi, Michelozzo,Alberti, Bramante, and their colleagues. Papal influ-ence in civic architecture extended far beyondRome. The first permanent building for the Univer-sity of Bologna, for example, was commissioned in1562 by order of Pope Pius IV (today the Palazzodell’Archiginnasio, which houses the municipallibrary); Pope Pius II, born in a remote villageknown as Corsignano, renamed Corsignano asPienza, after himself. The entire village wasredesigned with symmetrical roads and buildings,the central piazza featuring a cathedral, palace, andtown hall. Such displays of wealth and magnificence,especially in northern Italy, prompted other individ-uals and institutions to commission buildings thatwould perpetuate their own name and status.Schools, guild halls, town halls, libraries, theaters,and other buildings, especially hospitals and theiradjacent churches, benefited from this competitiveimpetus. The religious groups known as confrater-nities, often funded by lay associates, built hospitalsfor lepers, the poor, and other disadvantaged people.

HospitalsThe hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence,founded by the Portinari family in the 13th century,was expanded in 1334 when a cruciform ward wascompleted. This new model for a hospital, with an


115

altar at the center and four wings radiating out from it,was emulated during the 15th and 16th centuries—asfar away as England and Spain. Previously, most hos-pitals, being rather small, were simply one or two largeopen rooms. In Italy, the cruciform design for hospi-tals became the foundation for modernizing hospitalarchitecture. When Pope Sixtus IV commissioned therebuilding of the Pammatone hospital in Genoa circa1475, the plan was in the shape of a cross. Filarete(Antonio Averlino, c. 1400–1469) was a Florentinearchitect and sculptor who began his career in Romeas a sculptor. He designed the Ospedale Maggiore(great hospital) in Milan, begun in 1457, commis-sioned by Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan. This wasto be the most ambitious hospital project of the 15thcentury, planned as two cruciform units united in thecenter by a chapel. Although Filarete’s original planwas not achieved as he had envisioned it, such as leav-ing the lower-level colonnade open to fresh air, thebuilding was a monument to the Sforza patronage. Itwas by far the largest hospital begun during theRenaissance, with a front façade measuring approxi-mately 1,000 feet.

Banks and ExchangesBanks as such did not exist in western Europe beforethe latter 14th century. Even into the 15th century,merchant bankers carried out monetary transactionsin their private palazzos. The first significant banks inItaly were commissioned in cities outside the homebase of the bankers patronizing their construction,partly to impress other merchants. Michelozzo proba-bly designed the Medici bank in Milan circa 1455–60,recorded in a drawing by Filarete in his treatise onarchitecture. The two-story edifice was ornately deco-rated with sculpted leafy swags and masks in theantique style. This bank was also the residence ofPigallo Portinari, head of the Medici bank in Milan.Not until the late 16th century did public, secularbanks (as we know them today) come into existence.

Town HallsEuropean town halls originated with the meetingrooms in an enclosed second-story space above an

open market arcade. By the mid-13th century, thearcade area sometimes was enclosed, creating anadditional space for meetings and council offices onthe ground floor. The medieval Bargello in Florencewas the first major example of this new style. Renais-sance town halls usually followed the medievalmode, with a meeting space one story above anarcade. Although Filarete designed a commercialsquare in the early 1460s with a central town hallflanked by two mercantile piazzas, the plan nevercame to fruition. The Uffizi in Florence fulfilledseveral civic functions. Vasari had designed theMedici complex for offices in general, and duringthe latter 16th century the Uffizi housed the officesof guilds as well as of prominent city officials. Palla-dio’s 1547 design for the town of Vicenza involvedthe renovation of the Palazzo della Ragione, inwhich the city council held its meetings. As we havelearned, this building was called the Basilica by Pal-ladio himself because of its stylistic affinities withRoman civic buildings. Palladio redesigned the two-story loggia to create bays of equal width, with per-fect Renaissance symmetry.

TheatersUntil the Renaissance, theatrical presentationsusually were open-air events, as performers oftenstrolled from one location to another. Religiousdrama was also performed within churches andother institutions. With the revival of classicaldrama, involving relatively stationary players orat-ing before an audience, the desire for theaters inthe classical mode arose. The best example of sucha theater from the Renaissance is the TeatroOlimpico in Vicenza (near Venice), Palladio’s finalcommission, which he began in 1580 as a replica-tion of a classical theater. It was built for the Accad-emia degli Olimpici for entertaining theirmembers. One of the distinguishing features of thisstructure, which still stands, is that the permanentbackground scenery was designed as actual build-ings, in linear perspective. Looking through thearches of the front stage scenery, the audience cansee the façades of buildings receding into the dis-tance. These views in perspective were designed byVincenzo Scamozzi (1522–1616), who was trained


116

by Palladio, succeeded him, and completed theTeatro Olimpico in 1584. Following classical mod-els, this antique-style space features a colonnadetopped by statuary curving along the back of theseating area.

Libraries and MuseumsClement VII, a Medici pope, commissionedMichelangelo to build a library for the cloister ofSan Lorenzo to house the manuscript collection ofthe Medici. Work began in 1524 on the BibliotecaLaurenziana; the structure was completed in 1559by others, including Vasari, as Michelangelo sentmodels of the building and written information fromRome. Whereas the reading room was designed inthe linear Florentine idiom of the 15th century, withdark geometric forms against a light background,the stairway at the entrance is a marvel of sculpturalbrilliance. Constructed within a small yet highspace, the stairway has three sections. The angularside stairways are invigorated by a monumental cen-tral section consisting of curving steps scrolling intovolutes on each end. This entranceway portends thedynamic sculptural qualities of baroque architecture.

Jacopo Sansovino became city architect forVenice in 1529, after escaping the sack of Rome. In1536 the city commissioned him to create animportant building that would stand across thePiazzetta (little piazza) of San Marco from themedieval Palazzo Ducale (palace of the doges, orleaders, of Venice). This was a daunting task as thePalazzo Ducale is a magnificent, imposing struc-ture with Oriental overtones. Sansovino had todesign a complementary Renaissance building thatwould command, with the Palazzo, the mainapproach of visitors approaching the city by water.In 1537 the doge decided that the new buildingwould contain the collection of manuscripts storedin the Palazzo, making them available for scholarsto study. The library was known as the Libreria delSansovino (now called the Loggetta and housingthe Museum of Archaeology; the Biblioteca Mar-ciana long ago moved to an adjoining space).Sansovino drew upon his vocabulary of antiqueRoman forms to create a double loggia of two sto-ries, topped by an opulent balustrade with statuary

to balance the roofline details of the PalazzoDucale. The arched bays with a column applied toeach supporting pier give the structure a weighty,sculptural feeling that balances the airy, openfaçade of the Palazzo. In addition, both the lowerand upper friezes are opulently sculpted in rondelsand leafy swags, appropriate for the richly orna-mented surfaces of Venetian architecture.

During the Renaissance, most museums (fromthe word Muses) were spaces for storing andexhibiting antiquities. Thus a museum often wascalled an antiquariam, and many were owned byindividuals. In addition to displaying antique sculp-ture in gardens or loggia, such as at the VillaMadama, collectors commissioned architects todesign special galleries. Scamozzi, for example,built a gallery at Sabbioneta (near Mantua)between 1583 and 1590 for Vincenzo Gonzaga.Nearly 300 feet long, the long, narrow room wasopen to sunlight on one wall with niches forexhibiting sculpture on the other. A few years ear-lier, the Medici Villa in Rome was expanded toinclude a sculpture gallery. Other villas featuredportrait galleries of paintings or busts of contem-porary individuals, but we have very little informa-tion about their design.

BEYOND ITALY ANDFRANCE

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Gothic styleremained popular outside Italy, including in all ofFrance, and some regions missed the Renaissanceentirely. Italianate Renaissance style usually was con-fined to ornamental details of façades, such as theswags and scrolls on the palace of Margaret of Aus-tria in Mechelen rebuilt circa 1517. Nevertheless,especially in centers of trade and at courts influencedby Italian art and architecture, some remarkableRenaissance structures were erected. Several of thebest examples outside France and Italy are describedin the following. Not all of these buildings, however,are in the classical mode that usually defines Renais-sance architecture.


117

Ecclesiastical BuildingsUse of Renaissance architecture in the antique stylein ecclesiastical buildings had very few supportersoutside Italy and France, and indeed not many inFrance. The great cathedrals had already beenestablished by the early 15th century, and renova-tions or extensions were accomplished in Gothicstyle or a regional variation of the same. An exampleof such a regional variation is the Manueline stylenamed after Manuel I (1495–1521), king of Portu-gal, the most distinctive architectural style todevelop in Portugal during the Renaissance. Manue-line architecture was based on the Spanish Renais-sance style known as Plateresque, characterized byan effusion of opulent Gothic, Moorish, and Italiansurface ornamentation unrelated to the structuralelements of a building. Manueline architecturetransformed structures by aggressively incorporat-ing ornamental forms. Windows, for example, areframed by masses of sculpted ropes and coral, andcosmographic armillary spheres seem to supportcornices. Much of the imagery is maritime, celebrat-ing Portuguese exploration and overseas colonies.The Convento do Cristo (convent of Christ) atTovar in Portugal, designed by Diogo de Arruda (c.1470–1531), was built between 1510 and 1514. Thewest façade is a marvel of Manueline style, featuringsails, ropes, seaweed, and other maritime imagery.

PalacesIn 1526 Emperor Charles V visited Granada anddecided to build a Renaissance palace within thecomplex of the Alhambra (a Moorish castle). Pedrode Machuca (d. 1550), awarded the commission forthe project, had worked in Italy for several years as apainter and had relocated to Granada circa 1520 topaint altarpieces. His experiences with Renaissanceantique forms and the architectural models ofRaphael and Bramante influenced the simple, Ital-ianate structure of the palace. Although work con-tinued sporadically from 1526 until 1568, the placewas never completed. The stately forms thatremain, such as the round courtyard with its curvingcolonnade, testify to the power of the ItalianRenaissance on Machuca’s artistic imagination.

Since the emperor must have approved the design,then he, too, was attracted to the majestic style ofclassical Rome.

The Escorial, the royal residence in the country-side outside Madrid commissioned by Philip II(1527–98), was constructed between 1563 and 1582by Juan de Herrera (1530–97) and Juan Bautista deToledo (d. 1567). The palace is part of a giganticwalled complex that included a church and amonastery. Toledo died during the early stages ofthe project, and his assistant, Herrera, completed hisplan with a few modifications. Toledo had lived for awhile in Rome, assisting Michelangelo at SaintPeter’s Basilica and learning about the classicalforms that would influence his designs in Spain. Atthe Escorial site Toledo lived to see the completionof his Patio de los Evangelistas (patio of the Evange-lists), modeled on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (dis-cussed previously). The Escorial is ordered (usingthe five orders) and symmetrical, and, with thefaçades virtually unadorned, follows the ascetic ten-dencies of the king and his court. (The interior dec-oration is discussed in chapter 3.)

Robert Smythson (c. 1535–1614) was an archi-tect known for his English country houses. WollatonHall in Nottinghamshire was built by him between1580 and 1588 for Sir Francis Willoughby (c.1546–96). Centrally planned, the house may havebeen inspired by a design by Serlio with ornamenta-


118

4.6 Bird’s-eye view of the Monastery of El Escorial,Spain. Engraving in Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitatesorbis terrarum (Cities of the world, c. 1572). (PrivateCollection/The Stapleton Collection/Bridgeman ArtLibrary)

tion taken from other 16th-century treatises.Renaissance architecture did not flower in Englanduntil the early 17th century, with the designs ofInigo Jones (1573–1652). He visited Italy and laterbecame the “Palladio” of England. Although hiswork is beyond the chronological scope of this book,we should note that Jones designed the Queen’sHouse in Greenwich as a villa in Italian Renaissancestyle, as well as the first classicizing church in Eng-land, Queen’s Chapel in Saint James Palace, between1623 and 1625.

Civic ArchitectureThe Renaissance town hall in Antwerp (Belgium),designed by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt the Younger(c. 1513/14–75), was constructed between 1561 and1565. Obviously influenced by the work of Bramante,Floris created a magnificent four-storied edifice, withsymmetrical wings featuring cross-mullioned win-dows flanked by pilasters. The central part of thebuilding has arcuated windows with balustrades, theheight of this section lifted to five stories, creating atower crowned by an aedicule (pedimented temple-like form). Supporting the building from the groundfloor is an arcade of thick, rusticated piers. TheAntwerp town hall is justifiably famous as the mostclassically Renaissance civic building of northernEurope.

As we have seen, the symmetrical cruciform planof Santa Maria Nuova in Florence had an impressiveeffect on Renaissance hospital designs. The firstsuch hospital in Spain was the Hospital Real (royalhospital) in Santiago de Compostela, the pilgrimagedestination in northwest Spain. The architect wasEnrique Egas (fl. c. 1480–1534), who also worked onthe cathedral of Toledo. His family originated inBrussels and emigrated to Toledo in the 15th cen-tury; they produced several architects. Egas con-structed the hospital in Santiago de Compostelabetween 1501 and 1511, making it the first modernhospital in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ornamentationis in the flat, pure Florentine style. He went on tobuild other hospitals in Toledo and Granada.

London’s Swan Theatre was constructed circa1595, designed for both sports and dramatical per-formances. Unlike most other theaters in London, it

was evidently commissioned by an entrepreneurrather than by the director of a company of per-formers. The unroofed wooden structure was circu-lar, with a foundation of bricks. Its wooden pillars onthe stage, painted in the antique style to resemblemarble, featured ornately carved capitals and monu-mental bases. Inigo Jones (who did not plan theSwan) designed a Palladian-style theater, Cockpit-in-Court, consisting of an octagon within a square.It was built in 1629.

The Royal Exchange in London was completedin 1566 in response to the city’s increasing impor-tance as a trading center. Sir Thomas Gresham(1519–79), Queen Elizabeth I’s (1533–1603) finan-cial adviser in Antwerp for some 20 years, raised themoney to build the Royal Exchange. The originalbuilding, in elegant Florentine fashion, comprised alarge central courtyard surrounded by a loggia atground level with two stories above it. Interestingly,after the complex burned in the Great Fire of 1666,it was restored almost to the original plan. The oneanomaly, a glaring fault that clashes with the Renais-sance design, is an inept triumphal archway at theentrance topped by an out-of-scale tower. Such lateradditions detracted from the Renaissance purity ofseveral of the buildings discussed earlier.

GardensIn England, the first noteworthy Renaissance gar-den was created at the end of the 15th century forthe royal palace at Richmond. In the fashion thatwould become popular in England during the 16thcentury, this garden had galleries and covered walk-ways. Palace gardens of the 16th century, such asthat of Hampton Court, featured elements of bothFrench and Italian design. Usually at least one areawas strictly geometrical, divided into quarters witha knot garden in each segment. Knot gardens, orig-inating in France, consisted of interlacing strips ofplants that created a sort of carpet design. Mountsand mazes were also popular, especially in therather large gardens of aristocratic houses. InPoland, Italian garden design predominated, withterraces being the major feature of several Renais-sance gardens. As in Italy, Polish aristocrats favoredgardens extending from both sides of the domicile,


119

so that a pleasant garden view could be enjoyedfrom several places inside the house. Renaissance-style gardens did not become popular in Germanyuntil the latter 16th century, after gardening booksin Italian and French had been translated into Ger-man. The gardens of Germany featured Italianateelements, such as grottoes, and French structures,such as pavilions. Important German gardens werefound in Munich and Heidelberg, and in severalAustrian cities. Because of Arabic traditions, bothPortugal and Spain had Renaissance gardens withfountains and large, reflective pools of water. Usu-ally laid out in geometric arrangements, these gar-dens had cool arcades alongside the pools, withmost of the surfaces decorated with colorful tiles.The best surviving example is the garden of theAlcázar in Seville.

MAJOR ARCHITECTS

Alberti, Leon Battista (1404–1472), a painter,musician, writer, and man of many other talents,wrote the first treatise on Renaissance architecture,De re aedificatoria (On the art of building in tenbooks). His buildings were based on humanisticideals of perfect proportion. Important projectsattributed to him are the upper façade of SantaMaria Novella in Florence, the Church of SanAndrea in Milan, and the Tempio Malatestiano inRimini.

Bramante, Donato (c. 1443–1514) was born inUrbino and may have been influenced by artists atthat ducal court. He began his career as a painterand later worked as an architect for the duke ofMilan, for whom he remodeled several importantchurches. Bramante designed the Belvedere Courtof the Vatican, as well as a Greek cross plan for SaintPeter’s Basilica.

Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377–1446), engineer andarchitect, was originally trained as a goldsmith. All ofBrunelleschi’s commissions were in Florence, includ-ing the Ospedale degli Innocenti, the nave and choirof the Church of Santo Spirito, the Old Sacristy of

San Lorenzo, and, his most famous accomplishment,the dome of the cathedral of Florence.

Delorme, Philibert (1514–1570), the son of astonemason, visited Rome and returned to Francefilled with classical ideas for architectural commis-sions. His most complete building was the châteauof Anet outside Paris, featuring the first circularchurch in France.

Ducerceau the Elder, Jacques Androuet (c.1515–1585) wrote Livre d’architecture (Book ofarchitecture, 1539), the first such handbook pub-lished in France. Best known as an engraver, in hisbooks he documents buildings and decoration of thetime, much of which is now lost to us.

Filarete (Antonio Averlino) (c. 1400–1469), famousas a sculptor and goldsmith, created the bronzedoors of Old Saint Peter’s in Rome (now the westdoor of the Basilica). His major architectural legacyis the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan, begun in 1456.

Floris de Vriendt the Younger, Cornelis (c.1513/14–1575), usually referred to as CornelisFloris, was one of a family of painters and architects.Floris designed the splendid 16th-century town hallof Antwerp. He was also famous for publishingengravings of Italian ornamental material.

Fontana, Domenico (1543–1607) was commis-sioned by Sixtus V to modernize the city of Rome.His engineering family placed the Egyptian obelisknow outside Saint Peter’s, and Fontana was the archi-tect for what is known as the Vatican Library, com-pleted in 1590. He was among the architects workingon completing the dome for Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Herrera, Juan de (1530–1597), trained as a mathe-matician, collected a library of scientific material. In1563 he began working on the Escorial under theguidance of Juan Bautista de Toledo and supervisedthe project after Toledo died. His other major con-tributions included the Exchange in Seville and thecathedral of Vallodolid.

Lescot, Pierre (1510/15–1578) was a French archi-tect working in and near Paris. His masterpieces


120

were the Italianate courtyard of the Louvre, surviv-ing today, and the Fontaine des Innocents (1547–49),which has been reconstructed.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), one of themost famous artists of the Renaissance, also workedas an architect, creating a new sense of sculpturalform in his projects. He designed the New Sacristyfor San Lorenzo as well as the Biblioteca Lauren-ziana in Florence. In 1546 he commenced work onSaint Peter’s but had not quite completed the domeat his death 18 years later.

Michelozzo di Bartolommeo (or MichelozziMichelozzo) (1396–1472) first worked as a sculptorin Florence. The Medici commissioned him torenovate their villa at Careggi, and in 1444 hedesigned the Palazzo Medici, providing the modelfor other Florentine palazzos. His major worksinclude the Convent of San Marco in Florence,notably the elegant library, and probably the PazziChapel.

Palladio, Andrea (Andrea di Pietro della Gondola)(1508–1580) took the Roman classical style to theVeneto, creating classicizing villas with porticoesand pediments. His most famous villa is La Rotondain Vicenza, completed by Scamozzi. Palladio wasinfluenced by Raphael and Bramante in the designsfor his façades.

Peruzzi, Baldassare (1481–1536) moved fromSiena to Rome in 1503 and assisted in the buildingof Saint Peter’s for much of his career. He alsodesigned villas, such as the Villa Farnesina in Rome,commissioned for Agostino Chigi (1465–1520), apowerful banker from Siena.

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483–1520) was bestknown as a painter. He became architect of SaintPeter’s in 1514 and a few years later designed theVilla Madama. Much of his work in architectureinvolved painting frescoes to decorate their walls.

Rossellino, Bernardo (c. 1407–1464) began hiscareer as a sculptor, then during the 1450s heworked in Rome as a papal engineer. Upon return-ing to Florence, he was in charge of building the

Palazzo Rucellai and designed the lantern atop thecathedral’s dome. Rossellino was the architectselected by Pius II to remodel Pienza as a Renais-sance town.

Sangallo the Younger, Antonio da (1483–1546)was trained as an architect by his uncles. In 1516 hesucceeded one of them as architect of Saint Peter’sand worked at that post for three decades. Sangallodesigned the Palazzo Farnese in Rome as well as lay-ing the foundations for the Villa Farnese atCaprarola.

Sansovino, Jacopo Tatti (1486–1570) spent mostof his career working for the city of Venice, notablythe Libreria del Sansovino (or Libreria Vecchia),praised by none other than Palladio. He alsodesigned or renovated several churches and palaz-zos, including the Church of San Francisco dellaVigna, for which Palladio created the façade.

Scamozzi, Vincenzo (1522–1616), Palladio’spupil, completed several of his buildings. He alsowrote two treatises relating to architecture, Dis-corsi sopra le antichità di Roma (Discourses on theantiquity of Rome, 1582) and L’idea dell’architet-tura universale (The idea of universal architecture,1615).

Serlio, Sebastiano (1475–c. 1554) first studiedarchitecture in the studio of Peruzzi, learning aboutancient Roman buildings. His books on architecturewere very influential, especially since they includedwoodcut illustrations. Serlio was the first to publishan explanation of the architectural orders.

Toledo, Juan Bautista de (d. 1567) designed theEscorial. After having worked for the Spanishviceroy in Naples, he returned to Spain in 1559 tobecome royal architect. His most important ecclesi-astical commission was the façade of the church ofthe Convento de Descalzas Reales in Madrid.

Vasari, Giorgio (1511–1574) was a multitalentedartist as well as a writer. His most important buildingproject was the Uffizi complex in Florence, and hecollaborated on the design for the Villa Giulia. Vasari’sbiographies of his contemporaries, first published in


121

1550 and expanded in 1568, constitute a preciousrecord of their life and work.

Vignola, Giacomo da (1507–1573) was both anarchitect and a garden designer. In 1530 he becamearchitect to Julius III and designed several churchesin Rome, including the famous Gesù. His 1562 pub-lication on the orders was considered a masterfultreatment of the subject.

Vredeman de Vries, Jan (1527–c. 1606) worked innorthern Europe. He was chiefly a landscape archi-tect, who included galleries and other structures inhis garden designs. Vredeman de Vries publishedpattern books of perspective drawings, gardens, anddecorative material, and his own work included theRenaissance royal gardens in Prague.

READING

Rise of the ArchitectHeydenreich 1996: Italy; Payne 1999: architecturaltreatises; Trachtenberg 2002: (general study).

The Influence of RomeP. F. Brown 1995: Venice; Claridge 1998: Rome;Giedion 1967: (part of a general study on influ-ences); Grafton 1993: Rome and Renaissance cul-ture; McDonald 2002: the Pantheon; Serlio 1982:(facsimile of his Renaissance treatise).

Ecclesiastical BuildingsAckerman 1971: Michelangelo; Heydenreich 1996:Italy; Sparrow 1969: inscriptions; Trachtenberg2002 (general study); Wittkower 1971: humanisticinfluences; Serlio 1982: (facsimile of his Renaissancetreatise).

From Fortresses and Castlesto Renaissance PalacesBlunt 1991: France; Heydenreich 1996: Italy; Tra-chtenberg 2002: (general study).

VillasAlberti 1997: (translation of his Renaissance treatiseon building); Lillie 1995: humanism; Trachtenberg2002: (general study).

Patronage in Italian CivicArchitectureAckerman 1971: Michelangelo; Heydenreich 1996:Italy; Howard 1997: techniques and materials; Mar-tines 1988: city-states; Pevsner 1976: (general his-tory); Trachtenberg 2002: (general study).

Beyond Italy and FrancePevsner 1976: (general history); Trachtenberg 2002:(general study).


122

LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE

5

During the Middle Ages, a work of literature wasoften read aloud or recited because the vast

majority of people could not read or write, andbooks in manuscript were comparatively expensive.Although collective reading continued throughoutthe Renaissance, it usually was in the context of acourt, salon, or coffeehouse, in which the readingbecame a social activity. By the 16th century, privatereading for pleasure and study (which often mayhave been “sounded out” rather than done insilence) was normal for the educated class. In gen-eral, literacy rates for young males increased signifi-cantly across western Europe between 1400 and1600; young women also learned to read in scatteredareas (see chapter 11, on education). With thespread of printed books, literature became easilyattainable, even for members of the middle class.Illustrated books, with woodcuts or engravings,helped to popularize histories, biographies, novels,plays, and several types of poetry. During the 16thcentury, libraries of printed books began to beappreciated as much as the famous manuscriptlibraries had been in the 15th century, and severalcollections functioned as public libraries for theupper classes.

Classical texts and Renaissance works in Neo-Latin (rarely in Neo-Greek) were marketed at thebook fairs alongside tales of medieval romance,popular ballads, reports from explorers, medicinaltreatises, prayer books, emblem books, and manyother forms of literature that proliferated duringthe late 15th and 16th centuries. Although theRenaissance began with Latin as the universalEuropean tongue, and although several renownedhumanists advocated Latin as the preferred literarylanguage, literature in the vernacular flourished.Meanwhile, Renaissance Latin had an impact onthe vernacular, notably in poetry. The presentchapter discusses the genres of poetry, prose,drama, and oratory, including nonfiction prose,considering “literature” in its broadest sense.Although it is impossible to explore the work ofevery author in this 200-year period, the highlightsof each genre are treated in the chapter. In addi-tion, a list of major authors identifies many of thenoteworthy writers. Several important works con-cerning religion, art, architecture, music, warfare,travel, and science are treated in the chapters on

those topics. Bibles and biblical literature are dis-cussed in chapter 2.

HUMANISM,PHILOLOGY, ANDPUBLISHING

Writers and editors of Renaissance literature natu-rally were concerned with the accuracy and appro-priateness of their texts. In the early Renaissance,the main preoccupations with textual accuracypertained to the writings of classical Greek andRoman authors, as well as to biblical and patristictexts. By the late 16th century, such philologicalawareness included not only classical works andliterature created during the 15th century, but alsonew writing as authors consulted lexicons, dictio-naries, grammars, and other tools produced byhumanists to enhance the written word. Renais-sance translators often justified their linguisticmethods in prefaces that emphasized the power ofrhetoric in literary language and the power of lan-guage itself. Words and language as concepts wereincluded among the literary images in severalmajor works, for example, in the novels ofFrançois Rabelais (1483–c. 1553). Renaissancehumanism was the principal impetus for the newtextual focus, especially for works written in Latin,the universal language of educated people. As theprinting press made texts available to a muchbroader audience than had been possible in themanuscript market of the early 15th century, liter-ature in the vernacular languages became increas-ingly popular. Learned individuals debated thevalidity of writing in the vernacular language (theItalian spoken in Tuscany was the first example)instead of in the classical Latin of Cicero and hiscontemporaries. Similar controversies in severalregions of Europe resulted in the eventual literaryascendancy of English over the Celtic (Gaelic) ofScotland, French over the Celtic (Breton) of Brit-tany, and so on, as the various national literaturesbegan to coalesce into their modern forms. Other


124

debates concerned the appropriateness of classicalLatin itself as a literary language.

Latin as a Literary LanguageA work of prose by the French royal librarian Guil-laume Budé (1467–1540) presents a good example of

the impact of classical Latin rhetoric on Renaissancehumanistic writing, in both its content and its form.His De philologia (On philology, 1532) pretended to bea dialogue of table talk between the king and theauthor, but in Latin rather than French. In lofty lan-guage and sonorous phrases, Budé convinced the kingof the power of eloquence, using Homer as one of hismodels. He compared humanistic Renaissance writers

L I T E R A T U R E A N D L A N G U A G E

125

5.1 Scene of the assassination of Julius Caesar, from the first illustrated edition of the works of the classical Roman poetHorace. The woodcut illustrated an ode to Caesar by Horace. Published in Germany in 1498, this book was also thefirst edition of Horace issued by a printer in Germany (actually Strasbourg, a German city at that time).(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

to the demigod Hercules, stating that they deservehonor for their country as well as for themselves. Atthe same time, by using rhetorical figures of speechsuch as those taught from the classical Rhetorica adHerrenium (Rhetoric for Herennius, ascribed to Ciceroduring the Renaissance), and by displaying his facilityin literary Latin, Budé assured his own status as aman of letters. Numerous learned writers during the15th and 16th centuries truly believed that onlyLatin would prevail as a literary language. Otherwriters, some of whom were unskilled in Latin, con-tinued to use the vernacular. Many noted authors,such as Rabelais and Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533),were equally comfortable writing in either Latin ortheir native tongue. Latin verse and orations in Latinwere showcases for writers displaying their dexterityin the language of Cicero and Catullus. One of themost popular Latin poets was the Dutch writerJohannes Secundus (1511–36), who composed odes,elegies, and epigrams in Latin and received recogni-tion from the Holy Roman Emperor. His love poemsBasia (Kisses) were translated into several languages.

For the Renaissance, the question was, WhichLatin should be used? Lorenzo Valla (1407–57) pro-moted a conservative yet flexible approach to Latinusage in the preface to his grammar, Elegantiarumlinguae latinae libri sex (Six books on the glories ofthe Latin language, written in 1440, published1471). Adhering to Latin as the only appropriatelanguage for the liberal arts, Valla explained thatscholars were relearning the classical language,whose rules were partly lost with the fall of theRoman Empire. The ongoing debate betweenScholastics and humanists focused on three points.Renaissance Scholastics, especially theologians,resisted change, feared that pagan classical textscould corrupt Christian readers, and opposedsophisticated literary language. They preferred sim-ple language to express pious thoughts. A dialogueby Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536), for example,represented the critics of humanism describingHorace, Virgil, and Ovid as monstrous figures. Thiscontroversy was exacerbated by the circumstancethat humanists were competing with Scholastics forteaching positions in the major universities. More-over, contemporary writers influenced by the lan-guage and style of pagan texts threatened the statusquo. Although this debate was similar in some ways

to the ancient contrasts between philosophy andrhetoric, the Christian component of the argumentsagainst humanistic rhetoric introduced an elementof extremism into the dialectic, especially during theReformation.

From our modern point of view, both sides of theargument had their merits, and the compromises inLatin usage suggested by Valla prevailed during the16th century. As the dogmatic extremism of Reforma-tion theologians, such as relegating classical authorsto the depths of hell, failed to impress learned individ-uals of the 16th century, the strict Ciceronianism ofthe 15th century alienated many contemporary writ-ers. Radical humanists of the 15th century sought topurge Latin of any modern words, with rather sillyeffects in their Neo-Latin literature; for example, nunbecame Vestal Virgin and violin became lyre. Largelybecause the Jesuit colleges favored a moderate formof Ciceronian Latin, in which reasonable neologismscould be inserted, that strain of Neo-Latin prolifer-ated in European intellectual circles. From Italy Neo-Latin literature spread to northern and easternEurope, Britain, and finally Scandinavia and Den-mark. The main advantage of Latin literature wasthat it could be read by the educated classes through-out Europe. In addition, it placed the writer within aprestigious tradition of classical authors. Neo-Latinliterature was a driving force in European cultureuntil the 17th century, when writers in the vernacularwere confidently achieving the same effects in theirneoclassical compositions.

Latin versus the VernacularFrancesco Petrarch (1304–74), the first poet of theItalian Renaissance, wrote most of his works inLatin. It would have been impossible for Petrarch tobelieve that posterity would revere him not for hisLatin epic poetry, which is largely forgotten, butrather for his love poetry celebrating Laura andwritten in Tuscan, his native tongue. During his life-time, Italy was filled with numerous dialects (as itstill is), Tuscan but one of them. The primacy ofTuscan developed long after Petrarch’s death.Although the great medieval poet Dante wrote hismasterpiece in Tuscan, no other Italian poet beforePetrarch was famous for using the vernacular. Latin


126

reigned supreme during the 15th century as it hadfor more than a dozen centuries, the language of theCatholic Church and of the courts.

Valla considered Latin as the civilizing force of theWestern world: “For this language introduced . . . allpeoples to all the arts which are called liberal; it taughtthe best laws, prepared the way for all wisdom; andfinally, made it possible for them no longer to becalled barbarians” (Ross and McLaughlin 1968, p.131). In describing the effect of Latin on the vernacu-lar languages of people conquered by Rome, Vallawrote (in Latin, of course): “They recognized . . . thatthe Latin language had both strengthened andadorned their own, as the later discovery of wine didnot drive out the use of water, or silk expel wool andlinen, or gold the other metals, but added to theseother blessings” (Ross and McLaughlin 1968, p. 132).Valla and his learned contemporaries believed thatLatin was preferable to the vernacular, the “gold” ver-sus the base metals of everyday vernacular speech.Many humanists did not accept the linguistic richnessof native tongues or understand that after Latin hadindeed “strengthened and adorned” the vernacularlanguages of Europe, they would surpass Latin itself.If literature had been restricted to the circle of theupper class, Latin might have prevailed indefinitely.As it was, Latin dominated the universities, science,law, and the church until the 19th century. For litera-ture, however, the printing press took the works ofRenaissance writers not only to the middle class,many of whom knew only rudimentary Latin, but alsoto people in remote areas where only the priest trulyunderstood Latin. Largely because of the prolifera-tion of inexpensive printed books, literature in thevernacular increased in popularity over the course ofthe 16th century. Even for deluxe printings of Latinworks in the early 16th century destined for only a fewaristocratic patrons, texts in the vernacular weresometimes printed beside the main Latin text. Thededication or preface could also be in the vernacular,making the book a more personal statement from theeditor or author to the book’s intended audience.

The Printed BookUntil the 1450s, the only method for obtaining a copyof a written work, short of copying it oneself, was to

purchase or commission one in manuscript. Whilescribal workshops in monastic settings provided manyof the religious texts, scribes at universities and at themajor courts made copies of secular texts as well as ofcertain religious works. During the early years ofprinting, books were made chiefly for the religiousand academic markets (Bibles, grammars, canon lawbooks, patristic texts, etc.). Under the influence ofhumanistic studies, more attention was paid to philo-logical standards, especially for texts and translationsof the Greek and Latin church fathers and classicalauthors. Printing in Europe began in Germany butdispersed to Italy and France after warfare betweentwo archbishops resulted in the Sack of Mainz in1462. Most aristocratic collectors at first preferredmanuscripts, especially those elaborately decoratedwith gold highlights and painted illustrations, on lux-urious vellum or parchment. By the mid-1470s, how-ever, printers were leaving spaces in their text blocksfor ornamental initials to be added by hand, as well asgenerous margins so that at least the first page andsectional divisions of a book might have decorationadded later, according to the taste of the purchaser.By the late 1470s, several printers were adding wood-cut initial letters, marginal decorations, and illustra-tions such as maps or scientific diagrams, and a fewprinters were experimenting with metal cuts for illus-trations. Although some 15th-century collectors wereaverse to acquiring printed books, the new technol-ogy was praised, especially for the durability of its ink.Here is a somewhat biased panegyric of 1466 by awriter who worked in an early print shop: “Why go tothe trouble of borrowing the book [i.e., in manu-script] and paying the price for that, when the sameprice would . . . give you a copy to keep? This truecopy cannot be transcribed into a false likeness: fromone constant setting of type a thousand good copiescan be produced. Again, the test of corrosive wax andacid water proves that this ink is not fugitive. No foulstream can wash away a letter, so durable is the paper”(Barker 1999, p. 198).

The German printers Sweynheim and Pannartzestablished a printing house near Rome in 1465 andlater moved into Rome itself. Their press issued 10first editions of Latin classical texts, using not thespiky Gothic letters of medieval hands, but ratherthe rounded cursive letters favored by Italianhumanists. This type style, still called roman today,


127

perpetuated the classical style in book design andbecame the norm by the end of the 16th century.We probably can assume that roman letters wereeasier to read, and that this is one reason why theywere eventually preferred to the Gothic font. By theclose of the 15th century, books were being printedin runs of 1,000 and more; as a result the price ofmany individual titles was decreasing. Publishers inVenice were especially prolific, issuing some 4,000editions before 1500. Other major centers of pro-duction included Lyon, Paris, Cologne, Augsburg,Nuremburg, and Basel. The early efforts at illus-trating printed books blossomed into a new indus-try in these and other publishing centers. Themarket for many books issued in the vernacular lan-guages was expanded by illustrations that made thetexts more enjoyable and more accessible to thegeneral reading public.

LITERARY THEORY

Among the ancient texts that evolved between 1400and 1600, Aristotle’s Poetics was the most crucial forthe development of literary theory and literary crit-icism. Aristotle was important to Renaissance writ-ers because he was the first ancient author knownto have formulated poetic terminology and stan-dards. He both quantified and qualified literarygenres, and his rules for tragedy were especiallyinteresting to Renaissance authors and critics.Translations and editions of the Poetics provided thefirst serious literary theory of the Renaissance, asprefaces and commentaries explained Aristotle’sideas. Other literary theory was discussed in trea-tises supporting either Latin or the vernacular asappropriate vehicles for literary language. The Arspoetica (Art of poetry) of the classical Roman writerHorace provided a rhetorical basis for literaturethat appealed to many Renaissance authors. Finally,beyond the debate of whether Latin or the vernac-ular was preferable, literary theorists argued overwhether authors should follow the dictates of clas-sical treatises or the actual practices of popularRenaissance authors such as Ludovico Ariosto andTorquato Tasso (1544–95).

Aristotle’s PoeticsMedieval texts of Aristotle’s Poetics would hardlyhave been recognized by Aristotle himself. Theystemmed from corrupt and incomplete manu-scripts, and from misinterpretations of Aristotle byAverroës, an Islamic philosopher of the 12th cen-tury. Translated into Latin, the Poetics as inter-preted by Averroes was first printed in 1481,presenting the Renaissance with a theory of poet-ics based on logic and rhetoric, and twice removedfrom the original Greek. The additions by Aver-roes, although philosophically interesting from amedieval point of view, were distinctly unhelpfulto anyone attempting to craft a work of literature.Fifteenth-century critics attempted to distinguishthe basic text of Aristotle from the additions ofAverroes, and a good Latin translation was avail-able by the end of the 15th century. Nevertheless,Aristotle was viewed in the context of Horace, andthe concept of plot was considered within arhetorical framework of persuasion. The humanis-tic scholar Pietro Vettori (1499–1585), who heldchairs of both Latin and Greek in Florence, spe-cialized in commentaries on the works of Aristotle.In 1560 he published Commentarii in primumlibrum Aristotelis de arte poetarum (Commentary onthe first book of Aristotle concerning the art ofpoetry), which finally categorized the parts oftragedy properly. During the remainder of the16th century, several vernacular translations of thePoetics with commentary promoted the ascendancyof plot over character and the importance ofrepresentation of action. Lodovico Castelvetro’s(1506–71) Poetica d’Aristotele vulgarizzata et sposta(Poetics of Aristotle translated and explained,1570) included a commentary on the dramatic uni-ties. Alessandro Piccolomini’s (1508–78) Italiantranslation was published in 1572, and his Annota-tioni nel libro della Poetica d’Aristotele (Annotationson the book of Aristotle about the art of poetry) in1575. The latter text promoted the author’s inter-est in vernacular Italian literature. These and otherItalian treatises concerning the Poetics, includingseveral of the works discussed in the following sec-tions, influenced literary theory throughout west-ern Europe.


128

Renaissance Treatises

In France, three members of the original Pléiadegroup of poets (see the section, Poetry) wroteimportant literary treatises: Peletier, du Bellay, andRonsard. Jacques Peletier’s (1517–82) preface to his1541 translation of Horace’s Ars poetica (Art ofpoetry) encouraged French authors to write inFrench rather than in Greek or Latin. His prefacewas a call to arms for writers, who were charged withmaking their native literary language more illustri-ous. His own Art poétique (Art of poetry) publishedin 1555 reinforced his earlier message whileexpounding on the divine nature of poetry, the roleof imitation in literature, and the various poetic sub-genres. Joachim du Bellay (1522–60) wrote LaDéfence et illustration de la langue française (Defenseand illumination of the French language, 1549),which became the most famous poetic treatise of theFrench Renaissance. Written in an intense, almostinflammatory style, du Bellay’s text assured contem-porary writers that the French language was capableof exalted poetic expression. His treatise promotedvernacular literature in general, explaining thatFrench authors should familiarize themselves notonly with the classics, but also with noteworthy lit-erature written in the languages of modern Europe.Pierre de Ronsard (1524–85), leader of the Pléiade,published his Abregé de l’art poétique françois (Hand-book of the art of French poetry) in 1565. Thishandbook offered practical advice for young poets,including an appreciation of the classical languages.Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558), an Italianscholar residing in France, wrote the lengthy treatisePoetices libri septem (Seven books of poetics, 1561)emphasizing strict decorum in literary productions.His Aristotelian ideas had a tremendous impact onFrench dramatic works of the 17th century.Two subgenres that presented special problems forRenaissance theorists were romance and tragicom-edy, partly because classical literature did notencompass them and thus they had no rules. Somewriters rejected tragicomedy outright as a mongrelform. Sir Philip Sidney (1554–86) in his Apologie ofPoetry (c. 1583) suggested that poetry was an effec-tive medium for teaching virtue and that tragicom-edy subverted this goal: “All their plays [by his

contemporaries] be neither right tragedies nor rightcomedies; mingling clowns and kings . . . with nei-ther decency nor discretion” (Preminger 1965, p.693). Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538–1612), whowrote the immensely popular pastoral drama Ilpaster fido (The faithful shepherd, 1590), was wellaware that he was violating literary protocol andantagonizing strict theorists with this tragicomedy.Hesitant to say that he wrote simply to entertain hisreaders, Guarini suggested that the noble nature ofsome of the shepherds should redeem the work inthe eyes of his critics.

Italian theorists argued especially about thestructure and style of epic poetry, particularly withinthe context of the works of Ariosto and Tasso.Giambattista Cinthio Giraldi (Il Cinthio, 1504–73)attempted to include chivalric romance as a heroicmode, comparable to epic, and Torquato Tasso in hisDiscorsi del poema epico (Discourses on the epic poem,1594) wrote that epic should concern Christianknighthood. This controversy was discussed amongEnglish poets, who were struggling during the 16thcentury to write epic poems in response to national-istic fervor in their own country. Although the king’s(or queen’s) English might be acceptable for conver-sation at court, whether it was appropriate for anational epic was debatable. Edmund Spenser’s (c.1552–99) The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596), with itsuse of rustic language and chivalric romance, out-raged Sidney and caused the dramatist Ben Jonson(1572–1637) to exclaim that Spenser “writ no lan-guage.” The fluidity of the vernacular as manipu-lated by writers such as Spenser and Shakespeare,however, guaranteed the vitality of English as a liter-ary language.

POETRY

Poetry was studied within the subjects of bothrhetoric and grammar during the Middle Ages, andthis connection continued into the Renaissance. Inthe towns of Flanders and Holland, for example, the“chamber of rhetoric” was the official term forsalons where vernacular writers gathered to readeach other’s work and discuss art in general. In


129

France, poets of the early Renaissance were calledrhétoriqueurs, meaning those who use elaboraterhetorical devices in their work. The Renaissancedefinition of poetry was quite general, encompassingimaginative writing in general, and treatises on“poetics” covered creative writing in its various rep-resentations. The present section discusses onlynondramatic literature written in verse, unrhymedas well as rhymed. Contemporary treatises on Latinprosody influenced the work of numerous poets, andthe quantitative measures of classical poetryimposed artificial rules on the accented rhythms ofEuropean vernacular languages. The resultingverses were often stilted and awkward. Nevertheless,discussions of Latin prosody heightened writers’awareness of the rhythmic effects of poetic meter intheir own language. In addition, certain types ofmedieval vernacular poetry were refined andexpanded during the Renaissance. By the 16th cen-tury, several subgenres of poetry, such as pastoraland satire, were illustrated with woodcuts. Many ofthe numerous editions of Das Narrenschiff (Ship offools, 1491; see later discussion), for example,reprinted the original woodcut images, enhancingthe book’s appeal. Major poetic subgenres discussedin the following sections include the epic, lyric, pas-toral, and emblem.

Epic PoetryRenaissance poets knew the ancient epics of bothHomer and Virgil, but the latter’s Aeneid appealedto them more than the Iliad and the Odyssey. First,Aeneid could be read in its Latin original whereasHomer’s Greek was impossible for most writers.More important, Virgil’s epic celebrated the des-tiny of the ancestors of Italy and glorified the city ofRome, enhancing the Aeneid for early Italianhumanists. As Homer wrote about great heroes,Virgil wrote about the history of a great people.The nationalistic tendencies of western Europecaused poets to look to Virgil as their model. Virgilalso was considered a proto-Christian writer, asinterpreted by allegorists during the Middle Ages,and Dante had selected Virgil as his guide throughthe underworld of the Divine Comedy. Homer,nonetheless, was revered because he was the first to

create poetry in the hallowed epic mode. AngeloPoliziano (1454–94), a renowned Hellenist and poetin Latin as well as Italian, not only translatedHomer into Latin hexameters (the meter of theAeneid), but also presented his inaugural lecture onHomer’s work. One poet who did emulate Homerin an epic poem was Gian Giorgio Trissino(1478–1550) in his Italia liberata (Italy liberated) of1547, written in blank verse. Writers often referredto Homer when discussing epic and structured theirown works to be more like the Aeneid. Poets evenattempted to structure their career to emulate thatof Virgil, creating pastoral eclogues during theiryouth and later attempting to write an epic. Only afew managed to succeed, partly because epic is adaunting form. Sustaining story and meter for thelength required by epic poetry was found to be aHerculean task. Pierre Ronsard (1524–85), leader ofthe Pléiade group of poets in France, managed towrite only the first four books of La Franciade(1572), though he had planned an epic of 20 books.

Os Lusíadas (The Luciads or The sons of Lusus,1572) by Luis de Camões (between 1517 and1524–80) is the great national epic of the Por-tuguese Renaissance, and one of the most success-ful epic poems of European literature. Written in10 cantos and modeled on the Aeneid, Os Lusíadasrelates the history of Portugal through the narra-tion of the explorer Vasco da Gama (c. 1460–1524)as he sails to India in 1497–98. Classical deities areinvolved in the voyage, as Venus supports theenterprise while Bacchus attempts to sabotage it.The poetry is rich and lush, full of sea imagery andof the wonders of the East. Camões’s personal his-tory enhanced the reception of his epic in Portugal.Imprisoned because of a brawl in Lisbon, he wassent to India in 1553 as a soldier and eventuallyserved eight viceroys and spent time in Macao(China) as well. He wrote Os Lusíadas in India, nar-rowly survived a shipwreck, and salvaged his manu-script. Had the Spaniards not taken control ofPortugal in 1580, Os Lusíadas might have beentranslated into English before 1655 and thus couldhave influenced Spenser in his own epic poem, TheFaerie Queene (discussed previously). AlthoughCamões’s epic was famous throughout Portugalduring the late Renaissance, it was not well knownin the rest of Europe.


130

Other Renaissance authors created a new typeof long narrative poem, based on chivalricromance. By far the most popular work in thismode was Orlando furioso (Mad Orlando, 1516,1521, 1532) of Ariosto, written in octave stanzas.The poem was not only an epic in its conception,but also a parody, responding to Matteo Boiardo’s(1441–94) unfinished romance Orlando innamorato(Orlando in love, 1495). Although the tone ofOrlando furioso switches between romance and epic,many of Ariosto’s contemporaries who commentedon the work praised its epic qualities. Set in the his-toric time of Charlemagne, the poem was used as avehicle to comment on contemporary issues, suchas military alliances and war machinery. By 1600more than 100 editions had appeared, placingOrlando furioso among the top-selling books of theRenaissance. As some critics argued that the poemwas actually better than the epics of classical antiq-uity, Ariosto’s poem achieved its own status as aclassic. Editions published during the latter 16thcentury even included commentary, historicalnotes, and other sorts of additions that usuallyaccompanied texts of ancient Greek and Latinauthors.

Lyric PoetrySONNET

Petrarchism, which included Neoplatonic attitudestoward love, inspired lyric poets for more than twocenturies after Petrarch’s death in 1374. Petrarch’ssonnets were especially important, for their innova-tive structure as much as for their visual imagerydescribing the lady’s beauty and strong moral quali-ties. During the 15th century, Petrarchism waspushed to extremes, with strained rhetorical devices,forced rhyme, and excessive praise of one’s love. Inhis Prose della volgar lingua (Essay on the vulgartongue) of 1525, Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) formu-lated new standards for Renaissance Italian, recom-mending Petrarch as the best model for lyric poetry.Bembo, however, suggested that contemporary poetsshould personalize their own experience within thegeneral outline of Petrarchan verse, to avoid plati-tudes and stereotypes. The sonnet format, with its

interlaced rhyme, could be easily assimilated to anyof the Romance languages with their naturallyoccurring rhymes, especially in noun forms. Out-standing composers of sonnets in the Romance lan-guages included Ronsard in French, Luis de Camõesin Portuguese, Juan Boscán (c. 1490–1542) in Span-ish, and Vittoria Colonna (1492–1547) in Italian.Although other European languages presented moredifficulty for poets writing sonnets, several authorsnevertheless succeeded famously in English, such asThomas Wyatt (1503–42) and William Shakespearein his sonnets about a “dark lady” (1564–1616). Dur-ing the 16th century, the sonnet became a popularpoetic form in Poland, the Netherlands, Germany,


131

5.2 Portrait of Louise Labé, an influential writer ofFrench sonnets during the 16th century. Engraved byDubouchet, 1555. (Private Collection/Roger-Viollet,Paris/Bridgeman Art Library)

Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. Although sonnetswere written in Latin, the loftiest subgenre for Latinwas the ode.

ODE

The ode is a ceremonious form of poetry, writtenin a serious, often intense tone. The more personalodes of Horace were reflective and philosophical,concerning life in general, whereas those of theclassical Greek poet Pindar were written for spe-cific public occasions, such as an athletic victory.Because it was a serious verse form containingexalted language, the ode was recognized as an easytarget for parody and lampooning. Pindaric odes,requiring complicated metrics, were difficult forRenaissance poets to achieve. The Pléiade poets inFrance, under the guidance of Ronsard, were thefirst to publish odes closely related to the flowing,swirling structure of those by Pindar (first printedin 1513). In his youth, Ronsard had studied andemulated the more accessible Latin odes ofHorace. He also read the Latin odes of Italianpoets who attempted to copy Pindar’s style. Ron-sard referred to Horace and Pindar as the twodiverse harpists that influenced his own composi-tions. He understood music, and Pindar’s originalodes were performed within a musical context(which unfortunately is lost to us). When Ronsarddied, his contemporaries lamented that Pindar haddied with him. That, however, was not the case, ashis odes had been studied by poets in other coun-tries, such as Bernardo Tasso (c. 1493–1569), whohelped to maintain the Pindaric tradition in west-ern Europe.

OTHER FORMS OF LYRIC POETRY

Sonnets and odes were only two forms of lyricpoetry among many, including metrical forms deriv-ing from the Middle Ages. Some poets created theirown verse forms, such as the “skeltonics” of JohnSkelton (c. 1460–1529), also known as “tumbling”verse. Perhaps derived from Anglo-Saxon poetry,skeltonics typically feature short lines and rhymethat never crosses in the verses, as the same rhymeoften continues for several lines. Although Dutchlyric poetry in the vernacular did not flourish until

the 17th century, during the Renaissance Dutchoccasional verse was revivified by metrics taken fromfolk songs. The greatest Renaissance poet of Poland,Jan Kochanowski (1530–84), published two books ofoccasional verse set to music as well as epigrams(Fraski, or Trifles, 1584) modeled after those of theGreek writer Anacreon. Poets in both Portugal andSpain were affected by the publication in 1516 of theCancioneiro geral (Universal book of poems), a col-lection of poems by approximately 200 Spanish andPortuguese poets, mostly of the 15th and early 16thcenturies. These works included specifically Iberianverse forms such as the cantiga. Much of the lyricpoetry in Germany was written for hymns and otherreligious purposes, the work of Martin Luther beingthe best example.

Satiric verse, which can be quasi-dramatic ifconceived in dialogue form, can also play outsidethe rules of poetic genre. Indeed, the rules andgenres themselves were sometimes the target ofRenaissance poetic satire and parody, such as pas-toral poetry written in a purposefully vapid man-ner. As did classical satirists, Renaissance authorsusually portrayed the speaker as a well-meaning,honest person whose sole intent was to informsociety of a grievous wrong, or of a grievouslywrong individual, using rhetorical modes. Sebast-ian Brant (1458–1521) wrote chiefly satiricalworks. His Das Narrenschiff (Ship of fools, 1491),published in several editions and translations dur-ing the author’s lifetime, appealed to Protestantsbecause he criticized abuses of the CatholicChurch. As might be expected, uncensored satirewas recognized by Renaissance political authoritiesas dangerous to the state and perhaps even to them.In Elizabethan England the printing of satires wasprohibited, and those of noted writers such as JohnMarston (1576–1634) were publicly burned. Satiresalso lampooned entire classes of people, depictingthe lower classes as well as the aristocracy, espe-cially courtiers, as subjects of scorn; Skelton’s TheBowge of Court is a good example of the latter.Satirists also made fun of the seriousness of reli-gion, government, business, and other potentiallyboring and corrupt aspects of society. The GrandTestament of François Villon (c. 1431–after 1463),for example, satirized the process of writing one’slast will and testament.


132

Pastoral PoetryThe Idylls of the classical Greek poet Theocritus andthe Eclogues of Virgil were the chief models forRenaissance pastoral poetry. Written from a courtlypoint of view, the pastoral form treated the life ofshepherds in an appropriate rural setting. By exten-sion, pastoral sometimes included other rural sub-jects, such as fishermen, or characters such as aknight who might accidentally enter the pastoralrealm. Because Aristotle had not presented pastoralas one of his canonical genres, Renaissance literarytheorists debated the validity of writing pastoral as aserious creative pursuit. One of the criticisms of pas-toral poetry, and indeed of the pastoral in general,was its artificiality. Theocritus had been raised in thecountryside of Sicily and could genuinely long forthe simplicity of that life, or appear to be longing forit, while writing his Idylls at the court in Alexandria.Virgil’s Eclogues refined the sentiments of Theocritusfrom the viewpoint of an urbane Roman, and mostRenaissance poets acquired their knowledge of The-ocritus through a polished Virgilian lens. Pastoralpoetry was spawned by Renaissance humanists whotranslated Theocritus into Latin and wrote theirown versions of eclogues. Dante, Petrarch, and Gio-vanni Boccaccio (1313–75) all wrote eclogues andsometimes added elegiac laments to their verse. Thebest-known and most influential eclogue of Renais-sance England was Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender of1579. He enhanced the realism of his characters byhaving them speak in simple, rustic language.Eclogues were easily parodied, and court figureswere ridiculed in thinly veiled satire posing as pas-toral poetry—even more so in pastoral drama (seelater discussion).

EmblemsProduced chiefly for didactic purposes, an emblemconsists of a motto, picture (woodcut or engraving),and explanatory verse or stanza of poetry, often onthe same page. Although a short prose passagecould substitute for the verse, most emblems hadthe commentary in poetic form. In both subjectmatter and purpose, emblems were related to pro-

verbs, epigrams, and fables. Although the termsdevice and emblem were sometimes used inter-changeably, a device in the Renaissance was a per-sonal symbol and an emblem had more universalsymbolic qualities. The first published emblembook was the Latin Emblemata (1531) of AndreaAlciati (1492–1550), which became immensely pop-ular in its many editions and Renaissance vernaculartranslations. Original emblem books by Renais-sance authors began to appear in the 1530s, and bythe early 17th century almost every vernacular ofwestern Europe had its emblem books. Authors ofemblem books in Spanish specialized in spiritualand devotional subjects, Dutch authors were partialto emblems about love (both human and divine),and the earliest English emblem books per se con-cerned religion. Emblems were popular among var-ious classes of readers, as their witty combinationsof text and image inspired poets such as Spenser,painters such as Raphael, and anonymous decora-tive artists such as needleworkers.

PROSE

During the course of the Renaissance, prose litera-ture was important because it not only developedalong with the national vernacular, but also helped toset new standards of grammar, vocabulary, orthogra-phy, and style. Unlike poetry, and even unlike manyforms of dramatic writing, prose literature some-times was written in the style of the spoken word. Anexcellent example of this phenomenon would be theautobiography in French of Michel de Montaigne(1533–92) published between 1580 and 1595.Renaissance historical writers demonstrated howwriters in the 15th and 16th centuries found them-selves at a cultural crossroads, looking back towardthe Middle Ages and forward to the golden age of thepresent or future. One aspect of this golden age inliterature was the development of the novel, evenwhile that subgenre incorporated elements ofmedieval chivalric romance. Satirical prose writersused all the formats of literary narrative to structuretheir works, in which the humor ranged fromdescriptions of bodily functions to humanistic


133

wordplay. Major prose subgenres discussed in thefollowing sections are history, the novel, and satire.

HistoryHistory, in the Renaissance, meant somethingentirely different than it had in previous epochs. Forbetter or worse, Renaissance humanists conceived ofthemselves as existing in a pivotal historical position,in a golden age quite superior to the “gothic” spirit ofthe immediate past. What had happened in the pastwas viewed as different not only in kind, but also indegree. Periodization of history began in the Renais-sance; 15th-century Italian historians believed thatthe Roman empire ended with the transfer of its cap-ital to Constantinople. Because their focus was onRome and Roman civilization, they refused to acceptmost medieval culture as valid representations of civ-ilized society—even though medieval chivalricromances were among the most popular forms of lit-erature read during this time. Renaissance writersconsidered themselves qualified to interpret historyrather than simply to report it, year by year, as hadbeen done in medieval chronicles. As in other formsof literature, their models were classical authors;Livy was an important initial source, and Tacitusappreciated later in the 15th century. As humanisticwriters studied the texts of ancient history, theylearned to question secondary sources, and to recog-nize unreliable evidence, and they began to under-stand patterns of behavior and motivation. Whilenationalist fervor colored the historical interpreta-tions of some Renaissance writers, others concen-trated on the lessons that scholarly historical writingcould teach all educated readers.

The first Renaissance history was, of course,written in Latin. Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444) con-tributed the earliest example, Historia florentini populi(History of the Florentine people, not publisheduntil 1610), of which many copies circulated in man-uscript. He set high standards for this subgenre ofwriting, in both style and comprehension of histori-cal evidence. Most 15th-century historical writingwas accomplished in Ciceronian Latin prose, statelyand sophisticated. History written in the vernacular,however, often retained medieval characteristics,such as archaisms and episodic form. One of the best

gothic “historical” works written during the Renais-sance was Les illustrations de Gaule et singularités deTroie (The glories of Gaul and distinctions of Troy,1510–13) by Jean Lemaire de Belges (c. 1473–1525),which was part legend and part historical fact. By themid-16th century, entire historical works were beingwritten on near-contemporary subjects, such asPaolo Giovio’s (1483–1552) Historiarum sui temporislibri (History of his time, 1550–52), mainly concern-ing the wars that were devastating Italy. Various Ital-ian writers attempted to analyze and understand thecauses and consequences of the Italian Wars, includ-ing the sack of Rome in 1527. Niccolò Machiavelli(1469–1527), best known for his pragmatic advice torulers in Il Principe (The prince), also wrote theimportant Istorie fiorentine (History of Florence,1525, in Italian). This work praised the republic ofFlorence and rationalized its current problems asstemming from mismanagement by the Medicis.Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) wrote hisfamous Storia d’Italia (History of Italy, publishedposthumously in 1561) using the archives of Flo-rence as his chief source of information.

Philippe de Commynes (c. 1446–c. 1511), Flem-ish historian, produced annals of the French monar-chy published as Mémoires (1524). Translated intoseveral languages, this text contributed to Europeanknowledge of early Renaissance France. In France,humanistic history was best represented by JacquesAuguste De Thou (1553–1617), whose Historia suitemporis (History of his time, 1604, part 1) discussedthe wars of religion from a scholarly and relativelyunbiased point of view. In Spain, the unification ofAragon and Castile in the latter 15th century underFerdinand V (1452–1516) and Isabella I (1451–1504)awakened interest in Spanish historiography. Never-theless, it was 1592 before a complete history ofSpain was published, by the Spanish philosopher andjurist Juan de Mariana (1536–1623/24), Historiae derebus Hispaniae (History of the affairs of Spain). Orig-inally published in Latin, this comprehensive workwas quickly translated into Spanish. Historical writ-ing in Germany, the Netherlands, England, andScotland was strongly affected by the Reformation.In both England and Germany, history was writtento justify the “restoration” of religious order byProtestant rulers. Mention should be made of Jewishhistoriography, especially that written after the Jews


134

were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.This event, combined with the new research meth-ods of Renaissance humanism, prompted considera-tions of persecution from a truly historicalperspective. Jewish scholars also attempted to recon-cile historical contradictions in rabbinical texts.

BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Biography and autobiography are specific subgen-res within history, and the powerful rulers whopatronized Renaissance writers were pleased whenscholars included their patron’s genealogy andbiography in historical analyses. Oddly, the wordbiography was not known during the Renaissance,though the histories of individual lives were pre-sented as examples of good or bad character. Bio-graphical works of rulers sometimes wereillustrated with “portraits” of the subjects, many ofwhich were idealized representations rather thanlifelike portraits of the actual person. Classicalwriters, particularly the Greek authors Xenophonand Plutarch, provided the models for writingabout individual lives. Biography—fabricated aswell as real—was interwoven with history. Autobi-ography was sometimes written by an unreliablenarrator, for example, in the exaggerated accountsof the artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571). Hisautobiography, not published until 1728, containsmany outrageous situations in which Cellini isalways superior and always proved right. Althoughimmensely entertaining and historically useful fordetails about art processes and court life, suchquasi-fictional autobiography is more like a novelthan the historical documentation of a person’s life.Michel de Montaigne wrote the most famous auto-biography of the Renaissance: Published between1580 and 1595, the clear, firm prose of his Essais(Essays) supported religious tolerance and philo-sophical neostoicism. The quality of his Frenchprose probably helped raise standards of prosecomposition during the latter 16th century. Withinthe work Montaigne discussed other types of writ-ing, such as letters, which he wrote himself ratherthan dictating to a secretary: “I never copy themover, and have accustomed my eminent correspon-dents who know me to put up with my erasures, mywords written one over the other. . . . Those I work

hardest over turn out the worst” (Montaigne 1999,pp. 146–147).

Collections of autobiographical letters, consid-ered as quasi-literary forms during the Renaissance,are important to scholars today for their documenta-tion of everyday life as well as of the decorum usuallyrequired in polite society. Pietro Aretino(1492–1556), for example, left numerous insightsabout living in Venice: “Carriages in their places!Litters for those who like them! The deuce withhorseback riding! . . . But the little gondolas rest you,they lull you to sleep, they soothe your spirit, limbs,and body” (Aretino 1967, p. 320). For women’s his-tory, letters document an important subculture ofRenaissance life. Many women who otherwise werenot known to have written anything at all have left anabundance of letters. A few of these collections werepublished during the Renaissance, notably VittoriaFranco’s (1546–91) Lettere famiglia a diversi (Friendlyletters to diverse men, 1580). These letters gaveadvice to various powerful and famous men troubledby love affairs. Within the subgenre of letter writing,fictional letters were enjoyed for their erudition andwit. A good example is the book Epístolas familiares(Friendly letters, 1539–42) of the Spanish writer FrayAntonio de Guevara (c. 1480–1545), a Franciscanwho served the royal court as a writer and preacher.His most famous work was Reloj de príncipes y libroaureo de Marco Aurelio (Mirror of princes and goldenbook of Marcus Aurelius, 1529), containing ideals forthe Christian ruler. This book was in epistolary for-mat, purporting to be letters written by the Romanemperor Marcus Aurelius. With collections of fic-tional epistles, “historical” writing approached thenovel or novella, a major subgenre of prose that orig-inated during the Renaissance.

NovelNovels and novellas are prose fiction, but for manyRenaissance readers the boundaries of fact and fic-tion may have been more fluid than they are today.Chivalric and picaresque novels (discussed later)provided not only literary escapism, but also exam-ples of how to behave (or not, as the case might be).During a period when knights in armor stillmounted their steeds and engaged in tournaments, it


135

was very easy to believe that the ladies and theirchampions in chivalric novels actually existed. As forthe rogues who went from one antic to another inpicaresque novels, there were more than enoughthieves, knaves, and tricksters in the cities of Europefor such characters to be literally believable. Then,in 1531 or 1532, Pantagruel, the first volume ofRabelais’s novel in French relating the exploits ofGargantua and his son, Pantagruel, appeared.Related in the reading public’s mind to satiricalworks such as the long poem Narrenschiff (Ship offools, 1491) of Sebastian Brant (1458–1521, see pre-

vious discussion), Rabelais’s work was much morethan satire. It was a great, sprawling, imaginativeinvention—picaresque, chivalric, obscene, humanis-tic, and evangelistic. As the protégé of Margueritede Navarre (1492–1549), sister of the king, and as aclose friend of Cardinal Jean du Bellay, Rabelais wasin a position to write freely. His tales of battlinggiants and fantastical scenery composed the first realnovel, in our modern sense of the term. Margueritede Navarre herself published a series of novellas in1559, Heptameron, famous for candid discussionsamong its narrators of relations between the sexes.


136

5.3 Scene from a novella painted on the panel of an Italian cassone (storage chest). By Liberale da Verona (Liberale diJacomo), Italy, latter 15th century or before 1527/29. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gwynne Andrews Fund,1986 [1986.147])

One of the greatest novels of world literaturewas published in the waning years of the SpanishGolden Age: Don Quixote (Don Quijote in modernSpanish) of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra(1547–1616), issued in two parts, in 1605 and 1615.Even before Cervantes could finish writing the sec-ond part, part one had been reprinted four times inSpanish (in three countries) and translated intoEnglish and French. The first part is basically aningenious comic farce and the second part some-what more serious yet still with comic elements.The protagonist is the idealistic, aristocratic DonQuijote de La Mancha, who is perfectly balanced byhis fool of a squire, Sancho Panza. Inspired by read-ing medieval chivalric romance, Don Quijote ven-tures out on a quest, only to tilt at windmills.Cervantes’s story, with its entertaining secondarynarratives and colorful characters, including somespicy females, appealed to readers at every level ofsociety. Rabelais invented the novel; Cervantes cat-apulted the form into the modern age.

Some Renaissance novels blended the chivalricand picaresque modes, for example, Joanot Mar-torell’s Tirant lo Blanc (Tirant the white, 1490, writ-ten in Catalan). While still in the medieval mode ofprose fiction, such works often introduced originalapproaches to the narrative format. Martorell musthave startled readers by shifting from educated tolower-class dialogue within the same scene. In Ger-many, prose fiction in the vernacular was largelybased on folk literature, such as the Volksbuch sub-genre, which presented prose versions of medievalromances. When written in continuous form, theVolksbücher (plural) had the formal appearance ofnovels. By far the most popular of these books dur-ing the 16th century was the anonymous Till Eulen-spiegel (the title is the name of the comic peasantwho connects the stories). The roguish hero, whoplayed jokes on the wealthy, resembled the pícaro(rogue) of Spanish picaresque novels.

PICARESQUE NOVEL

Spanish writers began composing novels with apícaro as the protagonist because they were bored bythe saccharine nature of pastoral romances beingpublished. Although not precisely parodies of indi-vidual pastoral novels, picaresque novels parodied

the subgenre in general. The first important novel ofthe picaresque was the anonymous Lazarillo deTormes (the title is the rogue’s name, 1554), trans-lated into French in 1560 and influential on writersin several countries during the second half of the16th century. (We should note that the term pícarowas not associated with these novels until the late16th century.) In Lazarillo, the “hero,” actually a ser-vant, relates his grotesque treatment at the hands ofmasters who evidently respect their peers but nottheir servants. Because Lazarillo was a rogue, how-ever, the reader was faced with the interesting task ofdeciding whether to believe his first-person narra-tive. Several of the roguish protagonists in pic-aresque novels were female (pícaras). The mostpopular among these novels was La tragicomedia deCalisto y Melibea (La Celestina, 1499) by Fernando deRojas (c. 1465–1541). Prostitution of the pícarasmanaged by the lusty old lady Celestina drives thenarrative of the novel, revealing misogynist elementsof the society in which the story takes place. Withnovels such as La Celestina, Renaissance writers wereas far as possible from the chivalric ideal. At the endof the 16th century, Mateo Alemán (1547–1614)published Guzmán de Alfarache (The rogue, or Thelife of Guzmán de Alfarache, 1599, part 1; 1604, part2), one of the best picaresque novels of the age. Theauthor used a galley slave, Guzmán, as his protago-nist, with the narrative technique of having areformed rogue present the outrageous story of hislife. This book was so popular that it was even trans-lated into Latin (1623), rather unusual for pic-aresque novels.

CHIVALRIC OR COURTLY ROMANCE

Chivalric romance originated with medievalpoems and tales about the court of Charlemagneand of King Arthur with the knights of his RoundTable. (The word chivalric derives from the Frenchword for horse because knights rode on horse-back.) These stories encouraged refined behavior,proper etiquette, military prowess, Christianbelief, and feudal loyalty. Although society waschanging during the Renaissance, military leadersstill supported these ideals, and new chivalricorders were created. The most noteworthy was theOrder of the Golden Fleece, founded by the duke


137

5.4 Title page of a book in French about King Arthur’s search for the Holy Grail. Woodcut border by Geofroy Tory, inCest lhystoire du sainct greaal (This is the history of the Holy Grail, 1523). (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc.,© 2003)

of Burgundy in 1431. Members of this orderincluded the Holy Roman Emperors. The conceptof knighthood was expanded so that members of thenew wealthy class could buy their way into a broth-erhood or order. In tournaments, coronations, andsimilar public events, those belonging to a chivalricorder paraded in processions wearing the regalia oftheir respective order.

One of the most popular chivalric romances wasDiego de San Pedro’s (c. 1437–c. 1498) Spanishnovel La cárcel de amor (The prison of love, 1492).During the 16th century alone, it went through 20translations, influencing countless writers. Amadísde Gaula (Amadis of Gaul, 1515), first printed inthe Spanish version, had many copies in manu-script during the 15th century. Perhaps first writ-ten in Galician or Portuguese, this chivalricromance based on the story of Sir Lancelot origi-nated in French medieval tales. It influenced sev-eral Renaissance writers in this subgenre. AmongSpanish readers, chivalric romances were by far thebest-selling books of the 16th century, and KingCharles V was virtually addicted to them. In Portu-gal, chivalric novels based on Spanish modelsappeared throughout the 16th century. They per-petuated the medieval ideals of gallant knightlybehavior and loyalty to the throne. Renewed inter-est in the Crusades was also part of the chivalricmode, as contemporary Turkish threats againstsouthern Europe reawakened hostility towardforces in the East.

PASTORAL ROMANCE

Pastoral romance, which often mixed songs andpoems with prose narrative, had the same rural set-ting as pastoral poetry (see earlier discussion).Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), who lived at thecourt of Naples, wrote L’Arcadia (Arcadia, 1504),the first important pastoral romance of the Renais-sance. The Diana (c. 1559) of Jorge de Mon-temayor (1519–61), a Portuguese who wrote inSpanish, was based on Sannazaro’s work. Trans-lated into Spanish in 1547, L’Arcadia spawned anentire generation of pastoral imitators. That work,Diana, and their translations were seminal influ-ences for the pastoral subgenre during the Renais-sance. The scenic “Arcadia” of writers such as Sir

Philip Sidney and Lope Félix de Vega Carpio(1562–1635) was modeled on that of Sannazaro andMontemayor. One of the main themes in pastoralwas the open, authentic nature of simple, ruralcharacters versus that of the urban sophisticateswho must survive at court and in the turmoil andtemptations of the city. This conflict of personalitytypes provided fascinating material for Renaissancedramatists (discussed later).

Satire and HumorWhen studying satire and humor of the Renaissance,indeed from any other society besides our own, weoften have difficulty determining what other culturesmight regard as humorous. In general, Renaissancehumor was much earthier than ours. Toilet humor,even scatological jokes, evidently was enjoyed by allclasses of readers. Rampant scatology and similarsatirical references that to our eyes might seemgrotesque were quite funny and witty in the Renais-sance. Comedic writing, especially collections of jokebooks, short stories, and longer prose satires, wasamong the most popular of all literary forms of prosepublished during the 16th century. Whereas satiricpoetry and drama often made their points throughshort, witty phrases, or episodic scenes, satiric prosecould sustain a lengthy narrative scene or dialogue.Topics could be anything under the sun. Johann Fis-chart (1546–90), who translated Rabelais ratherfreely into German, wrote satire with a Protestantmoralistic slant. His topics included a misogynistbattle between fleas and women and a humorous taleabout gout. Medical conditions and doctors wereoften the object of satire, as were lawyers. Althoughsome satirical writers wrote in a rather hateful tone,the most popular prose satire was in a lightercomedic vein. Satirical short stories were especiallypopular in Italy and France, and English writersexcelled in shorter anecdotes with a punch line. SirThomas More’s novella Utopia (1516) is a satiric cat-egory unto itself. Profoundly humanistic, theenlightened island of Utopia is a representativedemocracy with compassion for the poor and arespect for learning. The more he praises this idealcommunity, the more the author satirizes contraryconditions in the real world.


139

DRAMA

Dramatic literature clearly demonstrated the paral-lel development of humanistic works in the vernacu-lar and traditionally medieval forms that continuedto be used in the Renaissance with slight modifica-tions. There was occasional overlapping, for exam-ple, in biblical subjects familiar from medieval playsused in 16th-century tragedies. In tragedy, theancient models were Seneca, Sophocles, and Euripi-des. In comedy, Plautus and Terence served as classi-cal examples. Although every national vernacular inEurope had its playwrights during the 16th century,many of the plays were quite derivative because thepoint of writing a classical tragedy or erudite com-edy was to emulate the work of ancient authors.Court theater predominated in Italy and France.Except for the street performances by the commediadell’arte, plays were mainly written for the aristoc-racy. Most German drama, however, was written toappeal to the Protestant masses, with much of thecontent blatantly religious. There was no set formatfor dramatic speech, and playwrights wrote in proseas well as in several types of verse. European theaterwas evolving during this period. In addition to playsperformed in piazzas, inn yards, great halls, and rov-ing wagons, new dramatic works began to be per-formed in permanent theaters during the secondhalf of the 16th century. These new structures, withresident companies of actors, helped to legitimizeplaywriting and acting as serious professions.

Fortunately, we have some knowledge about ear-lier Renaissance performances and stage settingfrom contemporary reports, especially in personalletters. In 1513, for example, Baldassare Castiglione(1478–1529), author of Il cortegiano (The courtier,1528), wrote about the stage scenery of a comedythat premiered at the court of Urbino. The play wasLa calandria by Bernardo Dovizi, Cardinal Bibbiena,which became one of the most acclaimed comediesof the early 16th century. According to Castiglione’sreport, it took four months to construct the follow-ing scenery: a wall with two towers; a rampart;tapestries of the Trojan War hung above the tiers ofseats; wires extending from the cornices holding 13gigantic carved letters, each with torches to light the

stage; building fronts in relief “in scenic perspec-tive”; an elaborately decorated octagonal temple; atriumphal arch with an equestrian statue; and evenmore. Renaissance theatrical performances hadintermissions in which short skits were performed,often with music and dancing. Castiglione alsodescribed the intermezzi of the Urbino play, one ofwhich was a chariot of the goddess Juno: “This carwas drawn by two peacocks so beautiful and lifelikethat I could not believe my eyes, and yet I had seenthem before, and had myself given directions howthey were to be made” (Ross and McLaughlin 1968,pp. 461–465). Although many stage-settings were byno means so elaborate, the scenery for La calandria isrepresentative of that of the plays commissioned bythe powerful Renaissance courts.

Major dramatic subgenres discussed in the fol-lowing include tragedy, comedy, and the masque.The commedia dell’arte, which usually performedcomedies, is treated in a separate section. Religiousdrama, another important subgenre, is discussed inchapter 2, and theatrical architecture is discussed inchapter 4.

TragedyInitially ancient tragedy was revived as a purely liter-ary form, and many Renaissance tragedies werewritten in verse. Until the 15th century, most classi-cal tragedies were known only in selections or frag-ments. Virtually nothing was understood aboutstaging, and indeed it is unclear whether the earlyhumanists knew that classical tragedies were per-formed in public by different players. Partly becauseof this confusion, original Renaissance tragedieswere written as dialogues in narrative form, with anemphasis on plot rather than stage action. Trissino’sSofonisba of 1515, the first vernacular tragedy, wasnot performed until 1562. Other 16th-centurytragedies had a long lapse between publication andfirst production. Giambattista Cinthio Giraldi(1504–73), a major Renaissance playwright, stagedthe first Italian tragedy in 1541, his Orbecche. Thechief classical models were the plays of Seneca theYounger and of the ancient Greeks. Aristotle’s Poetics(see earlier discussion) was not influential until thelate 16th century. Seneca’s dramatic presentation of


140

5.5 Illustrated page from the plays of the classical Roman dramatist Terence. Published in Strasbourg, 1496.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

bloody horror, ghosts, witches, and other shockingelements was easily assimilated by 16th-centuryplaywrights. One of the best tragedies following theSenecan model was Les Juives (The Jewish women,1583), on a biblical topic, by Robert Garnier(1535–90). As writers became more experienced inhandling tragic situations, violence was often inter-nalized by the characters in a more psychologicallyoriented treatment by the author.

Besides the works of Trissino, other notabledrama writing in the tragic mode included LuigiAlamanni’s (1495–1556) Antigone (1566), adaptedfrom Sophocles; Pietro Aretino’s Orazia (1546); andTorquato Tasso’s Re Torrismondo (King Torris-mondo, 1587). For Germany, the prolific HansSachs (1494–1576) warrants mention here. Bestknown for his songs, Sachs was a cobbler withoutany humanistic education. Yet he wrote 58 Germantragedies, a major contribution to Protestantdrama. (The comedies by Sachs are mentionedlater.) German vernacular drama of the 16th cen-tury was heavily influenced by humanism. Biblicalthemes, for example, were structured like classicalplays. Swiss authors writing in German created dra-matic plots with more action than most writers inGermany, who usually favored dialogue over action.In Spain, Cervantes attempted to create a nationaltheater on the Aristotelian model, with clear delin-eation between tragedy and comedy. His patriotictragedy Numancia, written in the classical mode,was about a town in Spain destroyed by the Romansin the second century B.C.E. Spanish writers, how-ever, preferred to ignore the restrictions imposed byAristotle. The dramatist Lope Félix de Vega Carpio(1562–1635), who wrote more than 300 plays,ignored the ancients and established new, relativelysimple rules in Spain without any formal distinctionbetween tragedy and comedy. All plays of every sortwere called comedias, and many of them had greatsuccess. French humanists in the circle of Francis Istudied classical models closely and produced neo-classical tragedies during the second half of the 16thcentury. They were familiar with the structure andtone of tragedy through the Latin plays written byGeorge Buchanan (1506–82) in the 1540s while hewas teaching in France. Théodore de Bèze(1519–1605) published the first French tragedy,Abraham se sacrifiant (Abraham sacrificing himself)

in 1550, based on a biblical subject, and JacquesGrévin (1538–70) the first French historicaltragedy, César, in 1561. There were also adaptationsof plays by the Greek tragedians Sophocles andEuripides. Writers in both France and Italy madetranslations of newly discovered ancient tragedies,including Oedipus Rex and Electra by Sophocles andIphigenia in Tauris and Hecuba by Euripides. Thepublication of these new translations heightenedexcitement among contemporary writers andprompted new dramatic works. In general, follow-ing ancient examples, Renaissance tragedy focusedon the tension between a powerful state and therights of an individual.

Dramatic tragedy in Renaissance England culmi-nated with the masterpieces of William Shakespeare(1564–1616), whose predecessors had introducedthe subgenre into vernacular English. From thebeginning, the audience for tragedy was somewhatdifferent in England than in the Catholic countries.As were part of Germany and the Netherlands, Eng-land was Protestant territory by the time thatThomas Norton (1532–84) and Thomas Sackville(1536–1608) staged the first English tragedy, Gorbo-duc, circa 1561, with Queen Elizabeth (1533–1603)attending the performance. In Protestant countries,the lower classes, often barely literate, were animportant sector of the viewing public of dramaticperformances. They paid less for their standing-room tickets than those who had seats but neverthe-less paid something. In England, playwrights wereaware that their productions either had to competewith other lower-class entertainment, such as bearbaiting, or to provide the same level of diversion forthose who frequented such events. Whereas tragedi-ans in Italy and France wrote for the aristocracy,English playwrights did not have that luxury. At theend of England’s Renaissance, masques would bewritten for court audiences (see later discussion).During the latter 16th century, tragedies had to bewritten in broad strokes, to appeal to the masses.Tragedies usually incorporated moralistic homiliesand domestic doom, as in the anonymous Arden ofFaversham (1589–92) and A Warning for Fair Women(1598–99). Anonymous history plays were also pop-ular, notably The Famous Victories of Henry V(1583–88). Part of Shakespeare’s genius was his abil-ity to transform earlier plays and stories into more


142

complicated yet interesting plots with unforgettablecharacters. He created Prince Hal, for example,from the cardboard figure of Henry V and height-ened the tension in Falstaff’s persona. Three of hismajor tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, werewritten between 1601 and 1605, at the very end ofElizabeth’s reign and the beginning of that of JamesVI (1566–1625, James I of England as of 1603).

ComedyBecause tragedy was a noble form of great serious-ness that appealed mainly to the educated classes, inEurope as a whole it was not as popular as comedy.Though the lower classes might not catch thenuance of every comedic speech, they could appreci-ate the buffoonery and slapstick humor prevalent inmost productions. Renaissance comedy began withworks in Latin written by Italian humanists, basedlargely on the classical comedies of Plautus. In thesepresentations, the story concluded decorouslythough most of the characters were ridiculed duringthe course of the play. In England the braggart sol-dier of Plautus was immortalized in Ralph RoisterDoister (printed 1566, performed earlier) byNicholas Udall (c. 1505–56). Italian comedies mod-eled on those of Plautus were favorites of the Estecourt at Ferrara, and Isabella d’Este (1474–1539)patronized the earliest vernacular comedies byLudovico Ariosto: La cassaria (The casket play, 1508)and I suppositi (The pretenders, 1509). The Latincomedy of Terence also became influential, espe-cially after his Andria was edited by Poliziano andtranslated by Machiavelli. The focus of Renaissanceerudite comedy usually was a family situation, withwife pitted against husband or children against par-ents, and various “advisers” who served only to com-plicate matters and enrich the plot. This restrictedstory line facilitated the classical unities of time andplace, as the dramatic events took place in a singlelocation within the time span of a single day. Thisstructural unity prevailed in erudite comedy, inwhich the action occurred in five acts.

The farce was a loose form of low comedic dramain medieval France, extremely popular with the com-mon people. When Rabelais was a medical student,he may have performed in student farces, which con-

tinued throughout the Renaissance. Marguerite deNavarre wrote a farce, and there were guilds in Paristhat performed farces during the 16th century.Related to the farce were the sotties (fools’ plays) writ-ten in French for carnival, or Shrovetide, perfor-mances. In Germany, the carnival plays were calledFastnachtspiele, and the latter 15th century saw someexcellent examples. During the days just prior to thefasting of Lent, Catholics were permitted to ridiculechurch authorities and, in general, behave outra-geously. The master of these German carnival playswas Hans Sachs. He wrote more than 100 of them,full of untrustworthy priests, spying neighbors, andother characters depicted with humor and wit.Although Sachs concluded his comedies with a morallesson, they were not antipapal, unlike the Fastnacht-spiele discussed in chapter 2.

Renaissance comedies could have vastly differenttypes of “comedic” endings. Whereas Shakespeare’sconcluded in a congenial tone, other plays purport-ing to be comedies had more serious endings. In BenJonson’s (1572–1637) Volpone of 1606, for example,one character was whipped and sent to the galleysand Volpone himself was taken away to be chainedin prison. Tragicomedy, a hybrid form criticized byseveral literary theorists, often concluded in anunsuspected or (according to critics) inappropriatemanner. Tragicomedies were, however, popularamong moralistic writers who wished to demon-strate wisdom or redemption through suffering.Ultimately tragicomedy was accepted in the guise ofpastoral drama, with the action somewhat removedfrom daily life. One of the best examples was Il pastorfido (The faithful shepherd, 1589) of Giovanni Bat-tista Guarini (1538–1612), copied by playwrightsthroughout the continent.

MasquesAlthough masques originated in Italy, they reachedthe height of their form in England, especially dur-ing the early years of the reign of James VI. Hisremarkable queen, Anne of Denmark (1574–1619),was patroness of the masques commissioned fortheir court. As the daughter of Frederick II, king ofDenmark (1534–88), she gave Scotland permanentclaim to the Orkney and Shetland Islands with her


143

marriage to James in 1589. Ignored in her efforts tobecome involved in politics, Anne enthusiasticallyparticipated in court festivities, wearing in turn thejewels and some 6,000 dresses she inherited fromQueen Elizabeth. Well loved for making the courtso gay, Anne herself acted in the masques, playingeverything from a nymph to a black woman, thelatter in Ben Jonson’s (1572–1637) Masque of Black-ness (1605), written at her request. Masques wereable to have amateur performers because they con-sisted mostly of disguise, poetry, dance, and music.There was very little plot, except perhaps a simplepastoral story. Jonson introduced an “antimasque,”often with grotesque or savage characters, suppos-edly as a negative foil to the positive societydepicted in the masque proper. His actual purpose,however, may have been to enliven an increasinglystilted performance. Because it required more dra-matic skill, the antimasque usually included profes-sional performers. Unlike the parsimonious courtof Elizabeth, the Jacobean court spared no expenseon these scintillating spectacles. The architectInigo Jones (1573–1652) designed many of theiringenious stage settings.

Commedia dell’ArteCommedia dell’arte is a later term for the troupes ofitinerant Italian performers during the 16th and17th century who improvised much of their mater-ial. Women as well as men were members of thesecompanies. They were documented as traveling toGermany, France, Spain, England, and Poland. Theactors played stock parts; a commedia dell’arte com-pany required young lovers, maids (one usually quiteold), a daffy scholar named Graziano, a pompousaristocrat named Pantalone, numerous clowns (thezanni), and additional characters as the story mightrequire, depending on whether the drama wastragedy (usually tragicomedy) or comedy. The com-edy they performed was often quite similar to theFrench farce. Actors often doubled in the roles, andthe clowns played everything from gypsies to satyrs.Except for the lovers and maids, the commediadell’arte players wore masks or other types of facialmodifications. Costumes could be extravagantlycolorful, such as those worn by Pulcinella and

Arlecchino (Harlequin). Staging was minimal, oftenconsisting of trestle tables set up in a piazza and thesecond story of a dwelling used for any balconyscenes. The commedia dell’arte actors were multi-talented, singing, dancing, and playing instrumentsin most performances. The actors were also quitewitty, improvising on the texts of plays published bytheir contemporaries. In some instances, theseimprovisations were incorporated in revised editionsof the plays. Two of the more famous troupes werethe Gelosi and Accesi, both of whom performed forroyal audiences.

ORATORY ANDRHETORIC

Oratory, or public speaking, is a form of literaturethat is performed by a single individual. AlthoughRenaissance speakers wanted each audience to feelthat every speech was directed specifically to them,and although a good orator could convince an audi-ence that a speech was extemporaneous, Renaissanceorations usually were well-crafted pieces of writing.On the assumption that they were following the dic-tates of Cicero, 15th-century orators emphasizedstylistic aspects of public speaking rather than thelogical development of their argument. AfterCicero’s mature works on oratory were discoveredby humanistic scholars, it became clear that a goodoration has to be based on reasonable arguments andthat style is the ornament that propels the listener toaccept the speaker’s logic.

Classical Rhetorical TreatisesIn his Rhetoric, Aristotle wrote that a speech had tohave only two parts, delineation of the case at handand proof of one’s argument. This rather matter-of-fact approach to oratory did not appeal to Renais-sance speakers, who preferred to follow what theythought were the dictates of Cicero in the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium (Rhetoric) and inCicero’s own De inventione (On invention). The


144

declamatory oratory of the Renaissance gave writersthe opportunity to display publicly their classicalerudition and wit. In addition to Aristotle’s arrange-ment of argument and proof (or disproof), the Latintreatises had lengthy sections on memory, style, anddelivery, with speeches divided into low, middle, andhigh style. Early Renaissance oratory emphasizedthe stylistic aspects of public speaking and deliverythat affected the emotions. During the 15th century,humanistic scholars discovered major treatises byCicero concerning oratory, such as De oratore andBrutus, along with the complete text of Quintilian’sInstitutio oratoria. These works presented a fullerpicture of ancient oratorical practices, especially thenecessity for logical arguments.

Humanistic Rhetoric andOratoryRudolphus Agricola (1444–85), a Dutch humanist,wrote poems, orations, and classical translations andcommentaries. His De inventione dialectica (On theinvention of logic) was important for the develop-ment of Renaissance rhetoric. Those who studiedAgricola’s work realized that for purposes of persua-sion, logical arguments in proper arrangement werejust as important as style and manner of speaking.Petrus Ramus (Pierre de la Ramée, 1515–72) wrotein Latin on Aristotle’s use of logic in rhetorical argu-ment and in 1555 published his Dialectique (Dialec-tic) concerning logical deduction, a significantcontribution to Renaissance rhetoric. As the firstpublished work in French concerning a major philo-sophical subject, the Dialectique had a tremendousimpact on writers, especially since it was written inthe vernacular.

Humanistic orations often used the rhetoricaltrope of comparison to praise or castigate the subjectat hand, especially comparison of the ancient andthe modern world. An oration delivered in the Sis-tine Chapel in 1508, for example, with Pope Julius II(1443–1513) in the audience, favorably comparedRome under his papacy with ancient Greece: “You,now, Julius II, Supreme Pontiff, have founded a newAthens when you summon up that prostrated worldof letters as if raising it from the dead, and you com-mand . . . that Athens, her stadiums, her theaters,

her Athenaeum, be restored” (Rowland 2000, p.157). The purpose of this eloquence was to contrastthe culture of Rome with the “barbaric” nature ofthe Turks, whose “ancient evil” would be erased bythe “sponge” of learning and “circumcised” at itsroots. This cutting reference finally led the orationto the actual occasion of the speech, namely, theFeast of the Circumcision. Such stylistic circumlo-cutions exemplify humanistic oratory of the 15thand early 16th centuries.

During the 16th century, writers argued aboutwhether it was proper to present official orations inthe vernacular and, if it was, what type of vocabu-lary should be utilized. In 1553, Thomas Wilson’sArte of Rhetorique, for example, advocated plainspeaking and avoidance of “inkhorn” words. Heopposed the neologisms being invented from Latinand sometimes Greek by his learned contempo-raries. In the interest of English nationalism, even afew classical scholars participated in the InkhornControversy, supporting Wilson’s point of view. Inthe end, however, new words coined from Latin andGreek made their way into public speaking, thusentering the vernacular vocabularies of westernEurope.

SermonsEven more than humanistic oratory, sermons weremeant to direct the emotions of listeners. Sixteenth-century sermons that have been published preservethe words of the great preachers of the Renaissance,but not the oratorical fervor with which they weredelivered. Egidio da Viterbo (1469–1532), cardinaland humanist, was such a preacher. A member ofthe Augustinians, he became their prior general.Contemporary accounts of his preaching provide anindication of his rhetorical prowess: “Who elseamong the multitudes seems so uniquely born topersuade, to win over the minds of the Italians,whose speech is so seasoned with the salt of literaryelegance, so that all the sap of content is present inthe supreme harmony of his words, and it flows sogently and rhythmically with the pitch and varietyof his voice that one seems to hear sounds like thatof a plucked lute?” (Rowland 2000, p. 145). As didother members of the itinerant Catholic preaching


145

orders, he preached effectively to mixed audiences,with various rhetorical devices directed to differentclasses of listeners. Protestant preachers, many ofwhom were trained as priests or humanists, alsoused the tools of classical rhetoric to persuade theiraudiences. Homilies (inspirational sayings) relatedto biblical verses gave both Catholic and Protestantpreachers the opportunity to construct persuasivearguments in understandable, down-to-earthvocabulary.

LIBRARY COLLECTIONS

Renaissance library collections—their formation,use, and dispersal—reflected the vagaries of Renais-sance cultural history. From the great manuscriptcollection of the dukes of Milan (taken as war spoilsto France) to ancient Greek texts in the Frenchroyal library printed from freshly designed type,libraries preserved literary masterpieces importantto Renaissance readers. These included not onlynew writing, but also newly edited texts of classicalliterature that influenced Renaissance authors. Theearliest Renaissance libraries of any significance forliterature were those of humanistic scholars, begin-ning with the collection of Francesco Petrarch.Cardinal Bessarion’s (1403–72) collection containedmore than 1,000 volumes, most of them Greekmanuscripts. Another major humanistic library wasthat of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94),which included manuscripts of contemporary litera-ture. Court libraries were symbols of prestige andpatronage during the 15th century, for example,those of Naples, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara, andMilan. In Germany, the outstanding ducal librarieswere those in Munich and Wolfenbüttel. TheImperial library in Vienna, rich in Burgundian illu-minated manuscripts acquired as dowry, was onlybeginning to become accessible to readers by thelatter 16th century. University and other institu-tional libraries, often available only to students andfaculty, began to open their doors to the educatedpublic toward the close of the 16th century. TheBodleian Library at Oxford, for example, was acces-

sible as of 1602. Private libraries, as one mightimagine, tended to focus on the professional inter-ests of the owners. The subjects usually collectedwere law, medicine, natural history, and technicaltreatises, rather than literature per se.

Humanistic and CourtLibraries

From inventories, notes written in the margins ofvarious texts, and contemporary reports such as let-ters, we have information about the contents of sev-eral humanistic libraries that no longer exist asdiscrete collections. The earliest was that ofPetrarch, whose library of Latin works includedtexts of Cicero and Seneca, historical books, andpoetry. Although not able to read Greek, Petrarchwas given a copy of Homer’s Iliad as a gift, which hetreasured. At a time when many people had only afew books (in manuscript, of course) stored in anarmoire or stacked on a shelf, two of Petrarch’s resi-dences had a separate room used as a study orlibrary. The collector Niccolò Niccoli (1363–1437),who advised the Medici rulers of Florence onsources of classical manuscripts, had a renownedlibrary and owned some 800 manuscripts that wereeventually bequeathed to the Biblioteca Laurenzianain Florence. By the early 1400s, humanists and theiragents were traveling in the East and to remotemonasteries in Europe, purchasing and “borrowing”Greek manuscripts of classical authors.

Libraries served as important cultural centersin ancient Rome, and Renaissance monarchs,dukes, and other figures of authority were wellaware of the ancient precedent for their own mag-nificent libraries. The papal library in the HolySee had the most impressive collection of anycourt library of the Renaissance (see later discus-sion). It is important to note that many of thecourt collections were accessible for readers andthus functioned as public libraries for the upperclasses. From some of them books could even beborrowed, including manuscripts taken out forcopies to be made. Renaissance court librariesserved as models for princely collectors for more


146

than two centuries. A few these collections aredescribed in the following section.

Examples of Court LibrariesVATICAN LIBRARY

Today’s Vatican library, or Biblioteca Apostolica,was first developed under the guidance of PopeNicholas V (1397–1455), a humanistic scholar par-tial to ancient Greek writers. During his earlycareer as Tommaso Parentucelli, he had servedCosimo de’ Medici (1389–1464) as librarian in theMonastery of San Marco in Florence, a collectionthat functioned as a public library from whichitems could be borrowed. He developed a system-atic arrangement for the collection that was used inother Italian court libraries. During his briefpapacy from 1447 to 1455, Nicholas V basicallyfounded a new papal library. Organizing the Curiaas a sort of academy, he welcomed Byzantine andItalian editors and translators, and he commis-sioned Lorenzo Valla to translate the Greek histo-rians into Latin. The classical and patristic textsproduced by the intellectual creativity at the papallibrary were those used by several printers and pub-lishers during the latter 15th century. Borrowers ofthese manuscripts, including some of the expertlyilluminated examples on vellum or parchment,included priests, scholars, and copyists. Subsequentpopes added to the library’s literary wealth andcontinued to allow access to the collection.

FRENCH ROYAL LIBRARY

King Charles V (d. 1380) accumulated one of thegreatest collections of manuscripts of any monarchin Europe. He also commissioned French transla-tions of works in Latin. Writers such as Christinede Pisan were welcome to use his libraries, and theking himself spent time there reading his books.During their reign Charles VI (d. 1422) and QueenIsabeau permitted many items to be borrowed thatwere never returned. In 1424, most of the manu-scripts in the royal library were shipped to Englandby the duke of Bedford, English regent of France.When Charles VIII (1470–98) invaded Italy in

1491, he in turn seized most of the humanisticlibrary of Alfonso, king of Naples. These manu-scripts included the texts of ancient Greektragedies unknown to scholars in France. MoreItalian literary booty entered the French royal col-lection after Louis XII invaded Milan and took partof the Visconti-Sforza library back to France.When Francis I (1494–1547) ascended to theFrench throne in 1515, the royal library with allthese manuscript treasures was located in theChâteau of Blois. Guillaume Budé (1468–1540),the first royal librarian, persuaded the king to moveit to the court at Fontainebleau. During Francis I’slong reign, from 1515 until 1547, the royal libraryserved not only scholars and writers, but alsodesigners working to create new fonts and a newRenaissance style for books in Greek, Latin, andthe vernacular.

AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL LIBRARY

The Austrian National Library in Vienna, or Hof-bibliothek, was organized by the Dutch humanistHugo Blotius, beginning in 1575. Emperor Maxim-ilian II (1527–76) owned more than 7,000 volumesthat had been gathered together by the HolyRoman Emperors since the late 14th century.Unlike many other monarchs of the time, theemperor did not encourage outsiders to use thesebooks and manuscripts. Blotius was determined tomodernize the library and make it accessible forreaders under specific rules, but apparently he didnot succeed. Manuscripts were removed by theemperor Rudolf II (1552–1612) to his court inPrague, never to be seen again in Vienna, andBlotius himself allowed individuals to borrow booksthat were never returned. Undaunted, he continuedto permit readers to use the collection, stating, “Alibrary that keeps its doors closed is like a candleinside a barrel, which burns but gives no light”(Staikos 2000, p. 440). He made numerous effortsto improve the collection, especially an attempt toacquire one copy of each book published under theImperial franchise. The deposition in officiallibraries of books granted special publishinglicenses, which commenced in the Renaissance,continues today.


147

MAJOR WRITERS

Abrabanel, Judah ben Isaac See LEONE HEBREO.

Acciaiuoli, Donato (1429–1478) was a Florentinescholar who translated Plutarch’s Lives into Latinand wrote biographies of classical figures.

Agricola, Rudolphus (1444–1485), a Dutchscholar, studied in Italy and later published poems,orations, and classical translations and commen-taries. His De inventione dialectica (On the inventionof logic) contributed to Renaissance rhetoric.

Alamanni, Luigi (1495–1556), Florentine human-ist, wrote satire, poetry, and drama. His much-admired La coltivazione (Cultivation, 1546) in blankverse imitated the Georgics of Virgil.

Alciati, Andrea (1492–1550), a native of Milan,taught law in Avignon, Bourges, and northernItaly. In addition to writing humanistic legaltreatises, Alciati popularized emblem books andpublished the first, Emblemata (1531), which hadnumerous editions and translations.

Alemán, Mateo (1547–c. 1614), born in Seville,spent several years in Mexico. He wrote Guzmán deAlfarache (1599, part 1), one of the greatestpicaresque novels of the Renaissance.

Ambrogini, Angelo See POLIZIANO.

Amyot, Jacques (1513–1593) was a French human-ist best known for his translations of classical Greekauthors. His most important work was Les vies deshommes illustres grecs ou romains (The lives of illustri-ous Greek or Roman men, 1559), translated fromPlutarch. Not only did this work influence literaryprose in France, but its English translation also pro-vided Shakespeare with the historical informationfor his Roman plays.

Aragona, Tullia d’ (c. 1510–1556), courtesan andpoet, was famous for her epistolary sonnets and aNeoplatonic work, Dialogo della infinità di amore(Dialogue on the infinity of love, 1547).

Aretino, Pietro (1492–1556), a versatile Italianwriter who lived in Rome and later in Venice, pub-lished plays, satires, and sexy sonnets. His lettersreflect the life and times of an irreverent Renaissancespirit.

Ariosto, Ludovico (1474–1533), dramatist, satirist,and poet, served the Este court. His plays (mostlycomedies) were performed in Ferrara in a theaterthat he helped to design. Ariosto’s masterpiece isOrlando furioso (Mad Orlando, 1516, part 1).

Ascham, Roger (1515–1568), who wrote TheScholemaster, or Plain and Perfect Way of TeachingChildren the Latin Tongue (1570), was Latin secre-tary for Mary I (Mary Tudor, 1516–58) and servedas a writer for both Elizabeth I and Edward VI. Healso wrote a handbook on archery, Toxophilus(1545), a model of the dialogue format.

Baïf, Jean-Antoine de (1532–1589), born in Venice ofa French father and Venetian mother, became anillustrious poet. A member of the Pléiade, he co-founded the Académie de Poésie et de Musique in1570.

Barclay, Alexander (c. 1476–1552) was an Englishtranslator and poet, whose writings include satiricalelements. His Eclogues (c. 1513) were the first poemsin English to use the eclogue form.

Barzizza, Gasparino (c. 1360–1431) founded aninstitute for classical Latin in Padua in the early 15thcentury. Between 1407 and 1421 he taught studentsin Padua who boarded in his home. His letters inLatin became stylistic models for other humanists.

Beaumont, Francis (1584–1616), English drama-tist, collaborated with John Fletcher on dozens ofromantic plays and comedies.

Bellay, Joachim du (1522–1560), one of the Pléi-ade, he published in 1549 the earliest FrenchPetrarchan sonnet. Works included Latin verse andsatire. He also wrote an important theoretical trea-tise, La Défence et illustration de la langue française,also in 1549.


148

Bembo, Pietro (1470–1547), born in Venice, wrotepoetry and literary theory. He was involved in thelanguage debate of the early 16th century, suggest-ing that the 14th-century Tuscan of Boccaccio andPetrarch should provide the model for literary Ital-ian of the 16th century.

Bijns, Anna (1493–1575), born in Antwerp, pub-lished three important collections of poems that seta new standard for Dutch literature in the vernacu-lar. She included criticism of Martin Luther in twoof these publications (1538 and 1567).

Biondo, Flavio (1392–1463) pioneered the study ofarchaeology. One of his historical publications, Deverbis Romanae locutionis (On Roman speech, 1435),closely tied Italian to the Latin language.

Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313–1375) was born innorthern Italy and educated in Naples. HisDecameron, a famous collection of novellas, was thefirst significant model of Italian (Tuscan) writing inprose. Boccaccio’s poetry provided sources forChaucer (considered a writer of medieval English,whereas Boccaccio’s work is proto-Renaissance).

Boccalini, Traiano (1556–1613), Italian satiristwho lambasted Italian society in general andSpaniards in Italy in particular.

Boiardo, Matteo Maria (1441–1494) served thecourt of Ferrara. He wrote comedies, sonnets, andthe unfinished romance Orlando innamorato (Or-lando in love, 1495).

Boscán, Juan (Joan Boscà i d’Almogaver in Catalan)(c. 1490–1542), born in Barcelona, wrote in Castil-ian Spanish. His poems in octava rima (octava real inSpanish) helped to bring about the dominance ofCastilian as the main poetic language of Iberia.

Bracciolini, Poggio (1380–1459) served in thepapal scriptorium for many years. He returned toFlorence and became chancellor in 1453. Poggioadvocated the use of Latin as a living language,adapted to current conditions, versus the strictlyCiceronian style of Lorenzo Valla (1407–57), with

whom he had a famous feud over the Latin lan-guage. For Valla, Latin was frozen in its classicalusage; for Poggio, new words and new uses of classi-cal words were possible.

Brant, Sebastian (1458–1521), German poet, wrotechiefly satirical works. His Das Narrenschiff (Ship offools, 1491) was published in several editions andtranslations during Brant’s lifetime.

Bruni, Leonardo (1370–1444) returned to Flo-rence in 1415 after working for the papal secre-tariat. He became chancellor of Florence in 1427and championed humanistic studies from this posi-tion of power. Bruni translated several ancientGreek authors into Latin and wrote an importanthistory of the Florentine people modeled on classi-cal historiography.

Buchanan, George (1506–1582), Scottish human-ist, taught at universities in France and Portugal. Hewas a Neo-Latin poet and philosopher. Influential asthe tutor of the future James VI, king of England,Buchanan opposed tyranny in any form.

Budé, Guillaume (1467–1540), humanistic jurist,was King Louis XII’s (1482–1515) ambassador toPope Leo X (1475–1521), and later Francis I’slibrarian at Fontainebleau. He was a renownedclassical philologist, publishing on Roman law,weights and measures, and Greek.

Camden, William (1551–1623) was an English his-torian who wrote a survey of British antiquities aswell as annals of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Camões, Luiz Vaz de (c. 1517 and 1524–1580), bornin Lisbon, was one of the most important poets of thePortuguese Renaissance. Also a soldier, he spentnearly two decades in India and other Portuguesecolonies in Asia. His great epic Os Lusíadas (The Lusi-ads, 1572) celebrates Portuguese exploration.

Caro, Annibale (1507–1566) served members ofthe Farnese family. A poet, dramatist, and satirist,Caro translated the Aeneid into Italian blank verse(not published until 1581).


149

Casaubon, Isaac (1559–1614) was a FrenchHuguenot and Greek scholar who published edi-tions of several ancient authors.

Castanheda, Fernão Lopes de (d. 1559), whospent 10 years in India and the Moluccas (“SpiceIslands”), wrote História do descobrimento e conquistada India pelos Portugueses (History of the discoveryand conquest of India by the Portuguese, publishedafter his death). In their various translations, extractsfrom this multivolume work were the basis of Euro-pean knowledge of this phase of Portuguese history.

Castelvetro, Lodovico (1506–1571), who wasinvolved in the language debate, also wrote literarytheory. His work on Aristotle’s Poetics included animportant commentary on the dramatic unities.

Castiglione, Baldassare (1478–1529) wrote poetrybut is best remembered for his dialogue Il cortegiano(The courtier, 1528), set at the court of Urbino.

Castillejo, Cristóbal de (c. 1491–1550) was a Span-ish poet who favored simple Castilian verse formsover the Italianate style of Boscán and others. Hewas a trenchant satirist of courtly life.

Castro y Bellvís, Guillén de (1569–1631) wrotemany plays, including dramatic adaptations from thework of Cervantes. He was a founding member of aliterary academy in Valencia.

Celtis, Konrad (1459–1508) was a German writerof history and Latin poetry. In 1487 he was crownedas the first Imperial poet laureate, an honor awardedfor excellence in composing Latin poetry.

Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de (1547–1616),arguably the greatest writer of the Golden Age inSpain, wrote plays, poems, and several novels. Hismost famous work is Don Quijote (1605, part 1).

Christine de Pisan (c. 1364–c. 1430) was born inVenice, the daughter of an astrologer. Because herfather was appointed as royal astrologer for CharlesV, king of France, Christine was raised at theFrench court. She became a poet, championing thecause of women in prehumanistic France and advo-

cating equal educational opportunities for youngwomen.

Cinthio, Il See GIRALDI, GIAMBATTISTA CINTHIO.

Colonna, Francesco (1433–1527), an ItalianDominican, wrote an allegorical romance resonat-ing with Neoplatonic philosophy, HypnerotomachiaPolifili (Polifil’s dream of love’s strife, 1499). Thelanguage of the text mixes Italian and Latin, and thefirst edition was handsomely illustrated by wood-cuts. The book has been a collector’s prize since itsfirst publication.

Colonna, Vittoria (1490–1547) was one of the mostimportant women poets of Renaissance Italy. Hersonnets range from emotionally intense to philo-sophically detached.

Commynes, Philippe de (c. 1446–c. 1511), Flem-ish historian, wrote annals of the French monarchypublished as Mémoires (1524). Translated into sev-eral languages, they contributed to Europeanknowledge of early Renaissance France.

Coornhert, Dirck Volckertszoon (1522–1590)translated several classical and Italian works, includ-ing tales from Boccaccio, into Dutch. He was also apoet, playwright, and engraver.

Cueva, Juan de la (1543–1610), born in Seville,spent several years in Mexico. He wrote poetry andplays, especially satire and historical drama.

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Florentine patriot,served as a model for Italian poets. His most famouswork was the Divina commedia (Divine comedy)written in the Tuscan dialect.

Des Autels, Guillaume (1529–1581), French poetand a member of the Pléiade. He also wrote aboutcurrent events and orthography.

Desportes, Philippe (1546–1606), born in Chartres,became enmeshed in the French wars of religion. Hewrote Petrarchan verse and a poetic translation ofPsalms.


150

De Thou, Jacques Auguste (1553–1617) was aFrench historian. His Historia sui temporis (Historyof his time, 1604–20) concerned French historyfrom 1545 to 1584, including the wars of religion.

Dolce, Lodovico (1508–1568), was an Italiandramatist who wrote tragedies based on biblical andclassical subjects.

Donne, John (c. 1572–1631), a Protestant poetknown for his religious verses and “metaphysical”poems. Also a preacher, he was dean of Saint Paul’sin London.

Drayton, Michael (1563–1631), a versatile Englishpoet, wrote sonnets, eclogues, and other forms ofverse.

Du Bartas, Guillaume de Saluste (1544–1590)wrote French biblical epics and Calvinist poetry. Adiplomat and soldier who fought for Henry ofNavarre, he died in battle.

Du Bellay, Joachim See BELLAY, JOACHIM DU.

Elyot, Sir Thomas (c. 1490–1546) wrote the BookNamed the Governor (1531) explaining how humanis-tic education benefits the state. Sir Thomas trans-lated several treatises concerning statecraft andserved the English Crown as a diplomat.

Erasmus, Desiderius (c. 1466–1536) was born inRotterdam of humble origins. Trained as a human-ist, Erasmus advocated reform within the CatholicChurch. His philological work included editing textsfor publishers such as Aldus Manutius.

Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de (1533–1594), born inMadrid, was both a poet and a soldier. During the1550s, while fighting in Arauco (Chile) and Peru, hewrote his epic poem La Araucana (1569, part 1),describing the conflict.

Estienne, Henri (1528–1598), French Greekscholar and printer, edited several classical Greek

authors. His work on Greek epigrams was veryinfluential on members of the Pléiade.

Everaerts, Jan Nicolaeszoon See SECUNDUS,JOHANNES.

Ferreira, António (1528–1569) was a Portuguesedramatist and poet, writing in Portuguese in theclassical style of the Latin poet Horace.

Ficino, Marsilio (1433–1499) lectured and wroteunder the patronage of Cosimo de’ Medici. Neo-platonism in Renaissance Florence was championedby Ficino. His Latin translations of and commen-taries on Plato and other Greek authors set stan-dards of excellence for Renaissance humanism.

Fischart, Johann (1546–1590), German satiricalwriter, is most famous for his ingenious translationof Rabelais’s novels (1575).

Fletcher, John (1579–1625), English dramatist, col-laborated with Francis Beaumont on dozens ofromantic plays and comedies.

Florio, John (c. 1553–1626) was an Italian whosefamily moved to England because of religious perse-cution. He is best known for his English translationof the Essais of Montaigne.

Fonte, Moderata (1555–1592), a Venetian noble-woman, wrote dramatic verse for musical produc-tions and religious poetry.

Franco, Veronica (1546–1591), the daughter of aVenetian procuress, became a courtesan and poet.She habituated literary salons, publishing her ownwork as well as editing collections of poems by hercontemporaries. Franco is known for her candidattitude toward sexuality in her poems and letters.

Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 1501–1536), born inToledo, was a poet in military service to theemperor Charles V. His travels included a journeyto Naples, where he met several Italian poets andwas influenced by Italian verse forms. His eclogues


151

and love poems are among the finest of the SpanishRenaissance.

Garcilaso de la Vega, el Inca (1539–1616) was theson of a Spanish father and an Inca princess inCuzco (Peru). His histories of Peru and Florida wereimportant additions to European knowledge ofSpanish possessions in the New World.

Garnier, Robert (c. 1545–1590) wrote poems andplays in French, notably tragedies based on classicalmodels.

Gascoigne, George (1525–1577), an English sol-dier-poet, also wrote plays and a novella.

Giovio, Paolo (1483–1552) served the Medicis,including Pope Clement VII. His writings includedbiography, history, and a book on imprese. Giovioalso collected antiquities, portraits, and other works.

Giraldi, Giambattista Cinthio (Il Cinthio,1504–1573) wrote literary theory, plays, and novellas.From 1542 to 1559 he was at the court of Ferrara.

Góis, Damião de (1502–1574) served the Por-tuguese court as a diplomat. His historical publica-tions include accounts of the reigns of theRenaissance kings of Portugal.

Góngora y Argote, Luis de (1561–1627), born inCórdoba, was a poet known for complex languageand imagery, called culteranismo in Spanish. ThisManneristic style in early 17th-century poetrybecame known as Gongorism.

Górnicki, Lukasz (1527–1603), Polish essayist, waseducated in Italy. His most important work wasDworzanin polski (1566), an imitation of Castiglione’sCourtier.

Gringore, Pierre (c. 1475–1538), French dramatistand poet, was also an actor. He wrote a mystery playas well as comedies.

Guarini, Giovanni Battista (1538–1612), born inFerrara, was a poet and playwright at the Este court.His pastoral drama Il paster fido (The faithful shep-

herd, 1590) was influential across Europe, with sev-eral translations.

Guevara, Fray Antonio de (c. 1480–1545) was aSpanish Franciscan who served the royal court as awriter and preacher. His most famous work was theReloj de principes y libro aureo de Marco Aurelio (Mirrorof princes and golden book of Marcus Aurelius,1529), containing ideals for the Christian ruler.

Guicciardini, Francesco (1483–1540), born in Flo-rence, wrote the famous Storia d’Italia (History ofItaly, published posthumously in 1561), coveringfour decades of Italian history from 1494 to 1534.This work was rapidly translated into the majorEuropean languages.

Harington, Sir John (1561–1612), English poet,translated Ariosto and wrote epigrams and satires.He was infamous at the English court for publishingthe satirical Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596), whichexplained the need for flush toilets in England.

Harvey, Gabriel (c. 1545–1630) was a literary criticwho wrote about classical poetry and rhetoric.

Herrera, Fernando de (1534–l597), born in Seville,was chiefly a poet. His best known works were threeodes celebrating contemporary heroes. Herrera alsowrote a biography of Sir Thomas More.

Heywood, John (c. 1497–c. 1580) wrote plays andsatirical poems. He also sang and played the virginalat the English court.

Holinshed, Raphael (d. 1580) compiled the firstcomprehensive history of Britain written in English,Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577).

Houwaert, Jean Baptista (1533–1599) was a mem-ber of the Brussels Chamber of Rhetoric and in ser-vice to the ducal court in Brabant. He publishedseveral plays on mythological subjects.

Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego (1503–1575) was apoet, historian, translator, soldier, and diplomat. Hisparticipation in suppressing the Moorish rebellionin Granada resulted in his most significant historical


152

publication, La guerra de Granada (The Granadawar, 1610).

Hutten, Ulrich von (1488–1523), German human-ist, wrote several satires in the dialogue form, inLatin and German translation. These works con-tributed to the popularity of the dialogue as aRenaissance literary form.

Jodelle, Étienne (1532–1573) was a poet, play-wright, and member of the Pléiade. His Cléopâtre cap-tive (Captive Cleopatra, c. 1552) was one of theearliest tragedies written in French.

Jonson, Ben (1572–1637), poet, actor, and drama-tist, was a friend and rival of Shakespeare’s. Theprincipal playwright at the court of James I, hewrote masques that were staged by Inigo Jones.

Kochanowski, Jan (1530–1584), Polish poet anddramatist, was distinguished in his use of Polishrather than Latin for writing poetry. He served atthe court of King Sigismund II.

Kyd, Thomas (1558–1594) wrote many plays thatwere published anonymously. The Spanish Tragedy (c.1589), a drama of revenge, is his most famous work.

Labé, Louise (1524–1566) influential poet knownfor elegies and love sonnets. She encouraged womento focus on culture rather than jewels and fashion.

Landino, Cristoforo (1424–1504), Italian philolo-gist and poet, wrote commentaries on classicalauthors associating their works with Christian doc-trine and Neoplatonism.

Lebrija, Antonio (also Antonio Nebrija) (1442–1522)studied at the Universities of Salamanca andBologna. Most of his career was spent teaching theclassics at the University of Alcalá de Henares,where he became Spain’s most illustrious humanisticscholar. In addition, Lebrija wrote the first grammarof Castilian Spanish (1492).

Lemaire de Belges, Jean (c. 1473–1525), born inHainaut, mainly wrote poetry. His outstanding prosework is Les illustrations de Gaule et singularités de Troie

(The glories of Gaul and distinctions of Troy,1510–13) about the legendary origins of France.

Leone Hebreo (Judah ben Isaac Abrabanel) (c.1460–c. 1521) was son of the Jewish scholar IsaacAbrabanel. A Portuguese philosopher influenced byNeoplatonism after he fled to Naples, LeoneHebreo is known for his Dialoghi d’amore (Dialogueson love, 1535), which concerned mystical Neopla-tonic doctrine.

Lipsius, Justus (1547–1606), born near Brussels,was the chief Renaissance supporter of ChristianStoicism and conciliation in political affairs. He alsopublished editions of the classical authors Senecaand Tacitus.

Lope de Vega Carpio, Félix (1562–1635), a prolificSpanish poet and playwright, he has more than 300plays extant. These dramatic works were inspired bymedieval tales as well as by classical sources.

Lopes, Fernão (c. 1380–1460) was commissionedby the Portuguese Crown to write chronicles of pastdynasties. His historical texts were models of Por-tuguese prose for the early Renaissance.

López de Gómora, Francisco (1511–1566), secre-tary to Hernán Cortés, was a historian whose accountof Spanish activities in Mexico, Historia de las India yconquista de México (History of the Indies and con-quest of Mexico), was published in 1552.

Luis de Léon, Fray (c. 1527–1591), Spanish Augus-tinian, was a poet and translator who wrote classical-style odes in Spanish based on the Horatian model,which were published until 1631. During his life-time, he was known as a teacher and biblical scholar.

Lyly, John (c. 1554–1606) is famous for writingEuphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578), a prose romancethat spawned the term euphuism (see Glossary). Hewas also a playwright.

Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527), political theo-rist and playwright, is most famous for Il principe(The prince, 1513). He also wrote comedies, satires,poems, and commentaries on classical authors.


153

Malherbe, François de (1555–1628), born in Nor-mandy, was court poet to Henry IV. His clear, classi-cal style, as opposed to the rhetorical ornamentationof earlier poets, was welcomed by 17th-centurycritics.

Manrique, Gómez (c. 1412–c. 1490), soldier-poetand dramatist, wrote some of the earliest playsof Renaissance Spain. He was the uncle of JorgeManrique.

Manrique, Jorge (1440–1479), soldier-poet, isknown for lyric poems and a famous elegy on thedeath of his father, Coplas por la muerte de su padre(published posthumously in 1494). He was thenephew of Gómez Manrique.

March, Ausiàs (1397–1459) was a Catalan poetwhose work was influenced by that of Dante andPetrarch.

Marlowe, Christopher (1564–1593) wrote poemsand plays; the latter works influenced those ofShakespeare. Marlowe’s long poem Hero and Lean-der (1598) in blank verse is one of his best knownworks.

Marguerite de Navarre (also Marguerite d’An-goulême) (1492–1549), queen of Navarre, was the sis-ter of Francis I. A patron of learning and the arts,she wrote religious poetry as well as the stories ofher Heptameron (1558) exploring relations betweenthe sexes and women’s place in society.

Mariana, Juan de (1536–1623/24), Spanish histo-rian and philosopher trained as a Jesuit, wrote Histo-riae de rebus Hispaniae (History of the affairs ofSpain, 1582). In 1605 he expanded the text toinclude the reigns of the three most recent kings.

Marot, Clément (1496–1544), Protestant poet andtranslator, worked under the patronage of Mar-guerite de Navarre. He spent part of his life exiledfrom France, writing bitter satire as well as lovepoems and sonnets.

Marston, John (1576–1634), playwright andsatirist, whose most famous work was The Malcon-

tent of 1604, a tragicomedy that satirized corruptionat court.

Mary Herbert, countess of Pembroke (1561–1621),Philip Sidney’s sister, was a poet in her own right.After her brother’s death, she completed his transla-tion of Psalms.

Mena, Juan de (1411–1456), poet and translator, isbest known for Las trescientas (The three hundred[stanzas], completed in 1444). The long poem repre-sents the earliest Spanish effort to incorporate classi-cal references in contemporary poetry.

de Mendoza, Íñigo López, marquis of Santillana(1398–1458), poet and literary theorist, was also aneminent statesman. His sonnets are the first knownSpanish poems in that format.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de (1533–1592) wasthe most famous essayist of the French Renaissance.Published between 1580 and 1595, the clear, firmprose of his Essais supported religious tolerance andphilosophical neostoicism.

Montemayor, Jorge de (1519–1561) was a Por-tuguese poet and translator who wrote in Spanish.His best known work is the pastoral romance Diana(c. 1559).

Morales, Ambrosio de (1513–1591) wrote Crónicageneral de España (Chronicle of Spain, 1574–77),using historical documents in a modern analyticalapproach rather than repeating the romantic storiesof medieval chroniclers.

More, Sir Thomas (1478–1535), English states-man, is most famous for his satiric novella Utopia(1516), which introduced a new word and new con-cept of life’s possibilities into English. Although heserved Henry VIII faithfully, More’s defense of papalsupremacy led to his execution.

Murner, Thomas (1475–1537), a German Fran-ciscan, was the most vitriolic satirist of his genera-tion. His chief target was Martin Luther. Murneralso translated classical works, notably the Aeneid,


154

into German. He was crowned Imperial poet laure-ate in 1505.

Nashe, Thomas (1567–1601), English satiricalwriter, criticized contemporary society. He also col-laborated with Christopher Marlowe on an earlydramatic work.

Noot, Jan Baptist van der (1539–1595), Flemishpoet, modeled his Dutch poems on those of thePléiade.

Peletier Du Mans, Jacques (1517–1582), transla-tor and poet, was also a mathematician. A memberof the Pléiade, Peletier Du Mans wrote a poeticmanifesto, Art poétique (1555) after translating theArs poetica (Art of poetry) of Horace.

Pérez de Guzmán, Fernán (c. 1378–c. 1460) was aSpanish poet best known for his chronicles of con-temporary illustrious men.

Petrarch, Francesco (Petrarca in Italian) (1304–1374)provided the first significant model of Italian (Tuscan)writing in poetic form. He also wrote works in Latin,including allegorical dialogues. In 1341 Petrarch wascrowned poet laureate in Rome for his Latin verse.

Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius See PIUS II.

Piccolomini, Alessandro (1508–1578), born inSiena, was a philosopher, poet, and dramatist. Hetranslated Aristotle’s Poetics into Italian (1572) andpublished his commentary of the text in 1575.

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni (1463–1494) was ahumanist and controversial philosopher. His pub-lished works included a lengthy diatribe againstastrologers.

Pirckheimer, Willibald (1470–1530), Germanhumanist and translator of classical Greek worksinto Latin, also was the author of a famous humor-ous essay on gout, Apologia seu podagrae laus (Defenseor praise of gout, 1510).

Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini) (1405–1464),pope from 1458 to l464, was trained as a humanist.

He was a renowned Latinist, who wrote a famousautobiography, biographies of his contemporaries,history, novellas, poems, and other works.

Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini) (1454–1494) spentmost of his life under Medici patronage in Florence.A brilliant humanist and philologist, Poliziano wasequally at ease writing poetry in Greek, Latin, andItalian. His most famous poem is the unfinishedStanze per la giostra del Magnifico Giuliano (Stanzasfor the joust of the magnificent Giuliano [de’Medici], 1478).

Pontano, Giovanni (between 1426 and 1429–1503)was a humanist serving at the court of Naples. A ver-satile Neo-Latin writer, he composed poems, essays,history, and dialogues. The Neapolitan Academywas later named Accademia Pontaniana in his honor.

Rabelais, François (1483–c. 1553), humanist andphysician, mainly wrote satirical works. His novelsof the tales of Gargantua and Pantagruel containsome of the most original and idiosyncratic prosewritings of the French Renaissance.

Ramus, Petrus (Pierre de la Ramée, 1515–1572)wrote in Latin about Aristotle’s use of logic and in1555 published his Dialectique (Dialectic) concerninglogical deduction, a significant work in Renaissancerhetoric. This was the first published work in Frenchexclusively concerning a philosophical subject.

Rojas, Fernando de (c. 1465–1541), born in Toledoof a converted Jewish family, is chiefly known as theauthor of Celestina (1499), a Renaissance best-seller.The protagonist of the play is the procuress Celestina,an old woman who has surprising resources.

Ronsard, Pierre de (1524–1585), leader of the Pléi-ade, was one of the most important French poets ofthe Renaissance. His odes in classical style andPetrarchan sonnets were immensely popular. In1565 Ronsard published his handbook of poeticcomposition, Abregé de l’art poétique françois, whichencouraged poets to write in the vernacular.

Sá de Miranda, Francisco da (c. 1481–1558), a Por-tuguese poet who also wrote in Castilian Spanish,


155

traveled in Italy, and introduced Italian verseforms, such as the sonnet, to Portugal. He was alsoa playwright.

Sachs, Hans (1494–1576), born in Nuremberg, wasa shoemaker-poet who wrote in several genres,including dramatic works. He is best known forsongs performed by the Meistersinger school inNuremberg.

Saint-Gelais, Mellin de (1487–1558) was one ofthe first French poets to compose sonnets. He alsotranslated contemporary Italian literature and wroteseveral dramatic works.

Salutati, Coluccio (1331–1406) served as chancellorof Florence for three decades, attracting humanisticscholars such as Manuel Chrysoloras to the city. Salu-tati wrote poetry and works of moral philosophy basedon classical sources, as well as letters in classical style.

Sambucus, Johannes (János Zsámboki) (1531–1584),Hungarian humanist and physician, served at theHabsburg court in Vienna. He wrote on several sub-jects, including emblems; his popular emblem bookEmblemata was published in 1564.

Sannazaro, Jacopo (1458–1530) spent most of hiscareer under the patronage of the Neapolitan court.He wrote poetry in both Latin and Italian; his mostinfluential work was the pastoral romance L’Arcadia(1504).

San Pedro, Diego de (c. 1437–c. 1498), a Spanishgovernment official, wrote La cárcel de amor (Theprison of love, 1492), a novel of courtly romancethat became very popular.

Sebillet, Thomas (1512–1589) wrote an importantwork of literary theory, L’Art poétique français (1548),in which he suggested that both medieval and classi-cal models can be useful.

Scève, Maurice (c. 1510–1564) wrote French lovepoems and pastoral verse. His most famous work isthe sonnet cycle Délie, objet de plus haute vertu (Delia,object of the highest virtue, 1544), illustrated withemblematic woodcuts.

Secundus, Johannes (Jan Nicolaeszoon Everaerts)(1511–1536), Dutch writer, composed odes, elegies,and epigrams in Latin. His love poems entitled Basia(Kisses) were translated into several languages.

Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) was the mostfamous dramatist of the Renaissance, if not of alltime. Also a poet, he wrote some of the best lovesonnets of the era.

Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–1586) wrote sonnets, aprose romance, and Apologie of Poetry (c. 1583),which suggests that poetry is an effective mediumfor teaching virtue.

Skelton, John (c. 1460–1529), English poet, wrotein a running verse form that came to be called “skel-tonics.” A court poet under Henry VII and tutor toPrince Henry, Skelton wrote works celebrating theCrown as well as satirical works such as The Tunningof Elynour Rummyng (c. 1521).

Spenser, Edmund (c. 1552–1599) was one of themost illustrious poets of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign.The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) celebrated hermonarchy.

Sponde, Jean de (1557–1595), French humanistand poet, wrote sonnets and an essay on Psalms.

Stampa, Gaspara (1523–1554), Italian poet, wroteverse inspired by that of Petrarch. She was a mem-ber of the Accademia of Pellegrini in Venice.

Surrey (Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey) (1516–1547),English poet, was an early practitioner of the sonnetform. He also wrote a blank-verse translation of partof the Aeneid.

Tasso, Bernardo (c. 1493–1569), father ofTorquato Tasso, was a poet who modeled his workon that of Horace.

Tasso, Torquato (1544–1595), son of BernardoTasso, was a poet and playwright. For many years hewas at the Este court in Ferrara, where he wrote hisepic poem Gerusalemme liberata ( Jerusalem liber-ated, 1581) about the First Crusade.


156

Terracina, Laura (1519–c. 1577), who lived inNaples, published poetry and Discorso sopra il princi-pio di tutti i canti d’Orlando furioso (Discourse on thefirst cantos of Orlando furioso, 1549).

Thyard, Pontus de (1521–1605), a member of thePléiade, published essays and three volumes ofsonnets.

Trissino, Gian Giorgio (1478–1550), a poet andplaywright based chiefly at the papal court, wasinvolved in the question of language during the early16th century. His own work included odes, sonnets,and the tragedy Sofonisba (1515), which were basedon Greek models instead of that of Seneca. His Italialiberata (Italy liberated) of 1547, modeled on Homer,was in blank verse.

Valdés, Alfonso de (c. 1490–1532), brother of Juande Valdés, served at the court of Holy RomanEmperor Charles V. His satirical writings defendedthe policies of the emperor.

Valdés, Juan de (c. 1490–1541), brother of Alfonsode Valdés, was a humanist who spent most of hiscareer in Naples. He was known for his defense ofSpanish as a literary language.

Valla, Lorenzo (1407–1457), one of the most illus-trious Italian humanists, celebrated Latin as theproper language for eloquent discourse. He was apivotal figure in the language controversy of theearly Renaissance.

Vergil, Polydore (c. 1470–c. 1555), an Italian wholived in England, was a historian. His best knownwork is Anglicae historiae libri XXVI (History of En-gland, 1534–55).

Villena, Enrique de (1384–1434) translated Dante’sDivine Comedy and the entire Aeneid into Spanish. Hewas also a cook and wrote a treatise about use ofknives.

Villon, François (c. 1431–after 1463) regarded as anotorious poet, Villon disappeared from the histor-ical record when he was banished from Paris in1463. His best work was in satiric verse, such as theGrand Testament (Last Will and Testament, 1461),

in which the bequests make fun of such seriousdocuments.

Visscher, Pieter Roemer (1547–1620), born inAmsterdam, wrote Dutch poetry in the classicalmode. More important, the humanistic tone of hishousehold produced two famous 17th-centurypoets, his daughters, Anna and Maria.

Wyatt, Sir Thomas (1503–1542) was an impor-tant innovator of the sonnet as an English poeticform.

Zsámboki, János See SAMBUCUS JOHANNES.

Zurita, Jerónimo de (1512–1580), Spanish histo-rian, was the official chronicler for Aragon. His his-torical writing was based on archival research ratherthan chivalric tales.

READING

Elsky 1989: England; Hampton 2001: France; Her-man 1999: cross-cultural influences; Kinney 2000:England; Lewis 1954: England, nondramatic litera-ture; Whinnom 1994: Spain.

Humanism, Philology, andPublishingBarker 1999: printing; Birnbaum 1985: humanismin Hungary and Croatia; Hankins 1993: papacy;Lewis 1954: England; Nichols 1979: Neo-Latin;Rowland 2000: Rome in the 16th century; Rummel1998: humanism and Scholasticism; Trapp 1983:manuscripts; Winn 1983: presentation manuscripts(patronage).

Literary TheoryBaldwin 1959: classicism; Holyoake 1973: France;Preminger 1965: (terminology); Quint 1983: origi-nality; Schmitt 1983: Aristotle; Weinberg 1961: Italy.


157

PoetryBaldwin 1959: classicism; Binns 1999: England;Navarrete 2000: Italian influences; Preminger 1965:(terminology); Silver 1981: France; Sullivan 2001:Germany; Willett 2004: (translations of threeRenaissance prefaces to French poetic works);Wright 2001: metrics.

ProseAretino 1967: (translation of his Renaissance let-ters); Cox 1992: the dialogue; Ferguson 1986: gen-der issues; Fowler 1997: consideration of the NewWorld; Hannay 1985: Tudor women; Montaigne1999: (translation of his Renaissance autobiogra-phy); Rhodes 1997: England; Shepherd 1985:women pamphleteers.

DramaAdams 2001: Spain; D’Amico 1991: England (imagesof the Moor); Foster 2004: tragicomedy; McKendrick1992: Spain; Robinson 2002: England (history plays);Ruiter 2003: Shakespeare (images of fasting and fes-tivity); Taunton 2001: England (war imagery).

Oratory and RhetoricLe Sylvain 1596: (translation of a Renaissance hand-book); Mack 1994: (general study).

Library CollectionsGrafton 1993, 3–46: Vatican Library; Staikos 2000:(survey of great libraries).


158

MUSIC

6

Medieval music, in both its sacred and secularmanifestations, continued to be composed as

well as performed in western Europe well into the15th century. Although literature and art nowthought of as “Renaissance” had commenced by theearly 1400s, Renaissance music was still in its earlystages of development. Certain progressive aspectsbegan in England, while on the continent Franco-Flemish composers were praised during the 15thcentury for their innovative style. As many of thesenortherners moved south into Italy, Spain, Portugal,and Provence, composing and playing at the majorcourts as well as working for the pope, the center ofRenaissance music shifted to Italy. By the 16th cen-tury, Italy had become the musical power of westernEurope. The most important shift in music betweenthe Middle Ages and Renaissance, the increasing useof instrumentation, was due to technical advances in

instrument production and the proliferation ofprinted music and books about musical theory. InRenaissance singing, the voice was generally used toemphasize the text, following the sense of the wordsand thus moving the soul of the listener. Whereasmedieval music had been a rarefied abstraction ofmusical relationships, Renaissance music attemptedto project the meaning of the text.

SACRED MUSIC

Motets and settings for the mass, often in large-scalepolyphony, dominated sacred music for Catholicservices during the 15th and 16th centuries, withmelodies derived from both secular songs and sacredplainsong. The foundation of all sacred music dur-ing this period, as in medieval music, was the churchchoir. Consisting solely of men, church choirs pro-vided the “heavenly” voices intended to uplift thecongregation. The chief differences betweenCatholic and Protestant music were that hymns andchorales in the latter often were written in vernacu-lar languages instead of Latin and that congrega-tions joined in the singing. Lutheran musicpopularized the chorale, sung in unison by the entirecongregation. Strict Calvinist churches prohibitedthe use of musical instruments.

Catholic ServicesUnlike most other innovative aspects of Renaissanceculture, changes in music originated in northernEurope and influenced composers writing forcourts, churches, and civic institutions in the Italianand Iberian Peninsulas. Franco-Flemish polyphonysung in Latin, which resounded in the cathedrals ofEurope during the 15th century, introduced newstructural elements into liturgical compositions forthe mass as several voices sang the various parts.Sections of the mass, such as the Gloria and Credo,and the Sanctus and Agnus Dei, became musically orliturgically (textually) related as pairs. These pairsmight each open with the same melody or have thesame plainsong tenor (the basic melodic line). A sin-


160

6.1 Musical instrument maker’s workshop. Engravingby Jost Amman, c. 1570. The artisan is depicted playinga lute. (Private Collection/Giraudon/Bridgeman ArtLibrary)

gle cantus firmus (fixed song) sung in unison oftensupported the composition. Some of these innova-tions originated with English composers, notablyLional Power (d. 1445), John Dunstable (c.1390–1453), and their contemporaries. Dunstable’smusic, largely based on the harmonic intervals ofthirds, was described as a sweet new style. Power wasbest known for linking cycles in the mass throughrelated chants, and he trained chapel choirs for theduke of Clarence and Christ Church, Canterbury.

Composers in western Europe had ampleopportunity to hear each other’s church music,such as during the Council of Constance(1414–18, see chapter 2, on religion). The variouschurch councils of the 15th and 16th centuriesdrew together bishops, cardinals, and other offi-cials, who usually arrived with their own com-posers, musicians, and singers. The Holy See andRome naturally were important locations forsacred music, and papal appointments as chaplainsor choirmasters were considered plums amongcomposers. Until about 1550, non-Italian com-posers such as Adriaan Willaert (c. 1490–1562)dominated sacred music in Italy. Then, in 1562,the Council of Trent appointed Cardinal CarloBorromeo to head a commission charged with“purifying” sacred music of secular influences suchas madrigals (see Secular Music, page 162). Gio-vanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26–94) becamethe most influential composer of the new reformedstyle of sacred music.

Protestant ServicesLUTHERANISM

Sacred music for Protestant churches in Germanyduring the second half of the 16th century wasquite similar to that for Catholic usage, especiallyin the performance of motets. These vocal compo-sitions set in harmony were very popular with bothgroups. There were, however, alterations in thecontents of Protestant sacred music. Texts in honorof the Virgin Mary were changed to emphasizeChrist, and motets in honor of the various saintswere omitted from Protestant services. Mostimportantly, many Latin texts were translated intoGerman even when Latin remained in the liturgy

in the larger cities and in universities. Many com-posers wrote sacred music for both Catholic andProtestant use. Ludwig Senfl (c. 1486–1542/43),who worked chiefly for Emperor Maximilian I, alsocomposed motets for Duke Albrecht of Prussia,who embraced Lutheranism, and two motets forMartin Luther. A Latin composition by Senfl onunity and brotherhood was performed when theAugsburg Diet convened in 1530 (see chapter 2, onreligion), in the futile hope that religious factionsmight be reconciled.

Martin Luther (1483–1546), a lutenist and singerof some repute, wrote both the words and music forhis hymns. The composer Johann Walther(1496–1570) collaborated with Luther to makeplainsong that would be appropriate for words inGerman. Unlike music for the Catholic mass, inwhich the organ became increasingly prominent,Luther’s church music relied on the human voice.Through Lutheran music, the a capella (voices only)chorale grew in popularity, with entire congrega-tions’ joining in to sing the hymns. For Luther,words and music, as well as the manner of singing,derived from one’s native language. In addition,Luther demanded that practical musical training beincluded in pastoral education.

CALVINISM

Although Jean Calvin (1509–64) evidently had noformal musical training, he gathered from hishumanistic education that music has the potential toaffect behavior. Calvinist church music became asstrictly severe as the religion itself. No musicalinstruments were permitted, the music was mono-phonic because polyphony was thought to detractfrom the text, and the text had to be in the vernacu-lar. In 1542 the so-called First Genevan Psaltermade monophonic settings of the Psalms widelyavailable to Calvinist congregations. The relation-ship between music and text was even more basicthan in Lutheran music, as the melody followed syl-lables of the words. Subsequent publications of theCalvinist Psalter became popular in Germany andthe Netherlands and eventually were used byLutherans as well. Polyphonic versions of thePsalter were used in private, domestic worship, usu-ally as chorales in four voices.

M U S I C

161

SECULAR MUSIC

During the 15th century, the French genres of balladesand chansons dominated secular music. By the early16th century, French rondeaux and Italian madrigalswere becoming popular, often with their melodiclines taken from well-known sacred music. Besidesjocular pieces and music lamenting lost love, secularmusic during the 16th century included lyrical workssupposedly based on the principles of ancient Greektonal music, influenced by the research and writingsof Renaissance humanists. Madrigals were the mostpopular genre of European secular music during thesecond half of the 16th century.

Major GenresBALLAD

Although ballad has been used as a translation for theFrench word ballade, the ballad was a different typeof musical piece. Originally similar to the ballade inits form and function as music for folk dancing, bythe 14th century the ballad had become almostexclusively a narrative folk song performed solo.These were (and are) songs for storytelling, eachstanza expressing a stage in the narrative. Theirpoetic meter is most often iambic or trochaic, andthe verse patterns are closely intertwined with themelodies.

BALLADE

The ballade was a French medieval poetic form set tomusic, usually with the scheme AAB, and very popu-lar during the 15th century to accompany dancing.This musical form consisted of three stanzas, allwith the same refrain. Although ballades were writ-ten to celebrate patrons or commemorate historicevents, their most common use by far was for lovesongs.

CHANSON

Chanson, French for “song,” referred to several typesof vocal music and could include virtually any secu-

lar composition. Examples are drinking songs andsophisticated songs performed at court. While thefixed forms of ballade, rondeau, and virelai graduallydied out, the more inventive chanson became increas-ingly popular during the 16th century. The Parisianchanson, which developed during the 1530s and1540s, gave a new elegance and simplicity to thestructure of the chanson. With no fixed rhymescheme, the Parisian chanson of the 16th centuryallowed for musical repetitions with greater freedomof expression.

MADRIGAL

The vocal polyphony of madrigals became verymuch appreciated during the 16th century, begin-ning in the Italian Peninsula and spreading all theway to England. Many of the early madrigals fea-tured poems in the style of Petrarch set to music ina stately cadence (see chapter 5, Literature and Lan-guage). Later in the century madrigals were writtenwith more chromatic and dramatic expressiveness.The later madrigals allowed both composers andperformers to lengthen a phrase, lighten the tex-ture, or vary the song in some other way to delightor respond to the audience. Almost any genre ofpoetry was fair game—erotic, pastoral, epic, philo-sophical, and others. Madrigals were a favoritegenre of Elizabeth I’s (1533–1603), popularized inEngland by Thomas Morley (1557/58–1602), a stu-dent of William Byrd’s. Although most composersof madrigals were men, several women were famousduring their lifetime for writing madrigals andother secular music; they usually were also talentedsingers who wrote much of their own music. Fourmadrigals by Maddalena Casulana (c. 1540–c. 90)included in an anthology published in 1566 werethe first pieces of music by a woman to appear inprint. By the 1580s, virtuoso female singers ofmadrigals were welcomed at many of the Italiancourts.

MOTET

Motet was a very general musical term during theMiddle Ages, and the motet developed into animportant genre for polyphonic compositions dur-ing the Renaissance. In structure, the medieval


162

motet usually featured a tenor voice sustaining therhythmic base while higher voices sung the words ata somewhat faster speed. By the 15th century,motets of several types featured structures of vari-ous degrees of complexity, with three or more sec-tions of tenor voices and with instruments pairedwith voices.

RONDEAU

The rondeau was a song with a refrain, from the ideaof ronde (round) as the refrain came back around atthe end of each verse. Rondeaux were the dominantfixed form of song in western Europe during the15th century, and their circular structure reflectedthe dances for which they were originally intended.The refrain was the focus of the song, using thecomplete melodic line even though its text was oftenquite short.

VILLANCICO

The villancico (from the word for peasant) was Span-ish popular verse set to music. Madrigals influencedpolyphonic additions during the 16th century.Although villancicos used traditional melodies, theirpoetic structure was quite flexible. Their contentbecame more spiritual toward the end of the 16thcentury under the influence of the Counter-Refor-mation. (Today a villancico is simply a song forChristmas.)

VIRELAI

The virelai was a French medieval poetic form set tomusic, usually ABBAA, popular during the 15th cen-tury. It may have originated from Arabic songstransmitted by Provençal troubadours during the12th century. With virer (to twist) as its root word,the virelai was closely related to dance. This genrecan be distinguished from the ballade by its refrain ofseveral lines, placed in the first section of the music.

Humanism and MusicThe musical treatises by Johannes de Tinctoris (c.1435–1511), referring to numerous classical author-

ities such as Aristotle, Plato, and Plutarch, werehighly valued as sources of both theory and practice.Humanist composers believed that the purpose ofmusic was to appeal to the listener, with the wordsclearly carried by the voice, following a passage inbook 3 of Plato’s Republic. Tinctoris was in service toFerrante I, king of Naples (1423–94), as tutor to hisdaughter, Beatrice. Educated by the famous human-ist Lorenzo Valla (1407–57), Ferrante I respectedthe humanistic educational system and patronizedthe work of Tinctoris. Although his treatise on theorigin of music is lost, Tinctoris’s dozen extantworks include the earliest printed dictionary ofmusical terminology. Among other diplomatic tasks,he was charged by Ferrante I with persuadingsingers in service to the French court to leave KingCharles VIII (1470–98) and move to the court inNaples.

During the 15th century, the itinerant Frenchroyal court traveled with its retinue of singers andmusicians, residing in castles along the Loire River.By 1500 the court was established in and near Paris.Shortly after Francis I (1494–1547) was crowned in1515, humanistic studies began to flourish underthe leadership of Guillaume Budé (1467–1540), abrilliant scholar of ancient Greek. Francis I’s sister,Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), supported theProtestant poet Clément Marot (1496–1544, seeChapter 5, Literature and Language), whose folk-life verses set to music defined the chanson for hisgeneration. The king, on the other hand, encour-aged humanistic efforts to revivify ancient Greeksongs, or odes. A group of seven poets known as thePléiade wrote poetry in “classical” meter (see chap-ter 5). The name Pléaide derived from a group ofseven classical Greek poets, living during the Hel-lenistic era, who had called themselves the Pléiadeafter the constellation with seven stars. An exam-ple of the Renaissance classical meter was PierreRonsard’s (1524–85) book Amours (Loves), pub-lished in 1552, produced as chansons in collabora-tion with several musicians. Unlike the simplechansons of Marot and his contemporaries, the newhumanistic chanson was strictly measured to followthe text. In 1571 the Academy of Poetry andMusic was founded in Paris, for the purpose ofpromoting the “new” forms and upholding theirnew standards. Orlando di Lassus (1530/32–94)

M U S I C

163

was among the composers influenced by this mea-sured style.

By the mid-16th century, Italian humanists whohad studied the available treatises of ancient Greekmusic made an effort to revive this genre or torestore it through their own compositions. Newpoems written in classical Greek meter were meantto be set to music in the ancient mode. VincenzoGalilei (late 1520s–91), father of the scientistGalileo Galilei and of the lutenist (lute player)Michelangelo Galilei, wrote a treatise entitled Dial-ogo della musica antica et della moderna (Dialogue onancient and modern music), published in 1581. Heand his colleagues in Florence, including the singerGiulio Caccini (c. 1545–1618) and the composerJacopo Peri (1561–1633), formed a group called theCamerata who met in the home of Count Giovannide’ Bardi. One of the purposes of Galilei’s Dialoguewas to criticize the erroneous assumptions aboutancient music of his contemporaries, notably histeacher, Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–90), a noted musicaltheorist. Zarlino, chapel master of Saint Mark’s inVenice, published Le istitutioni harmoniche (Har-monic principles) in 1558. Although his system ofharmonic yet imperfect consonances was a majorcontribution to the development of Renaissancemusic written for voice, Zarlino had misunderstoodmany of his ancient sources, as pointed out byGalilei.

Zarlino had used the modal system of the Swisshumanist Heinrich Glarean (1488–1563) withoutacknowledging his source. Glarean studied at theUniversity of Cologne and achieved recognitionfrom Emperor Maximilian I in 1512 when he sangone of his pieces for an assembly in Cologne.Befriended by Erasmus, Glarean taught music andthe classical languages in Basel and later in Freiburg.After studying manuscript sources in ancient Greekand Latin, in 1547 Glarean published his influentialbook Dodecachordon (Twelve chord [system]). Thiswork’s chief value is the discovery that the GreekIonian mode was equivalent to the major scale(prevalent in most music during his time) and thatthe Aeolian mode was equivalent to the naturalminor. Glarean’s explanation of ancient modal musicfacilitated the work of composers who were attempt-ing to link their work with the “newest” ancientsources.

WORKINGCONDITIONS ANDPATRONAGE

Unlike most other forms of art patronage (paintings,sculpture, architecture, costume), for which thepatron paid for a commodity and then no longerrequired the presence of the artists, music requiredboth singers and musicians to interpret and performmany of the pieces commissioned. These individualswere part of the courtly retinue and became a statussymbol of the respective court, with dukes, kings,emperors, and popes competing for the services of themost renowned composers, musicians, and singers.

PatronageEvery Imperial, royal, and major ducal court in west-ern Europe patronized composers of sacred music;service for the Vatican was particularly sought after,because the papal choir was one of the best in westernEurope. During the 15th century, the Burgundianducal court (controlling much of northern France andthe Netherlands) was one of the most importantpatrons of music in all of Europe. Among the Habs-burg monarchs, Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519)was the first to become internationally known duringthe Renaissance for patronage of music. Through hisfirst wife, Mary of Burgundy (1457–82), Maximilian Iwas exposed to music from the Netherlands, andthrough his second wife, Bianca Maria Sforza, helearned about Italian music. Musicians and com-posers at the court cities of Vienna and Innsbruckincluded Ludwig Senfl, famous for his polyphonicmotets, and Jacob Obrecht (c. 1450–1505). Theimperial Kapelle (chapel choir and orchestra) fea-tured trumpets, lutes, trombones, drums, shawms,crumhorns, fifes, and, of course, singers. In additionto instruments, choirs had books of music, usuallyshared among the choir members.

Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) became king ofSpain in 1516, moving his court from Brussels toSpain, but he often journeyed to other court centers


164

with an extensive entourage. Charles V’s Flemishchoir followed him on his various travels throughoutEurope. His choir directors included CorneilleCanis [de Hondt] (d. 1561), known for contrapuntaltechniques. Nicolas Gombert (c. 1490–c. 1566),probably the most famous student of the renownedcomposer Josquin Desprez (c. 1440–1521), was amaster of the Imperial choirboys for more than adecade. The fame and prestige of this choir, espe-cially since it could be experienced firsthand in thecathedrals of several cities, helped to publicize theskill of Flemish singers during much of the 16thcentury. When Charles V abdicated the Spanishthrone in favor of his son, Philip II (1527–98), hebequeathed his Flemish choir to the new king.Charles V was known by his contemporaries for hismusical erudition and appreciation of fine music,and numerous pieces were dedicated to him, such assongs by Desprez.

Court patrons supported the work of many com-posers, commissioning pieces for specific occasions.The aunt of Emperor Charles V, Margaret of Aus-tria (1480–1530), especially favored the music ofJosquin Desprez. Margaret herself was a talentedkeyboard player. As regent of the Netherlands from1506 to 1515 and again from 1519 until 1530, sheestablished a lively, cultured court at Mechelen (inpresent-day Belgium). Some of Margaret’s ownpoetry was set to music by composers at her court.Composers who flourished at Mechelen includedthe organist Henry Bredemers and the singer/com-poser Pierre de La Rue. In the early years of Mar-garet’s reign, the future emperor Charles V and hissister, the future Mary of Hungary (1505–58), wereeducated in music and the other arts under thedirection of their aunt. Bredemers was their tutor inmusic. In 1531 Mary assumed the regency of theNetherlands after Margaret’s death and continued tobe a patron of court musicians and composers.

The Mechelen court was part of the SpanishHabsburg empire, which controlled the Nether-lands, Sicily, Naples, Spain, and Spanish colonies inthe Americas. In 1521 the entire Habsburg empirewas divided into Spanish and Austrian houses. In thelatter, Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–64) championedmusic in Vienna and other court cities; the imperialKapelle had expanded to 83 performers by the timethat Maximilian II (1527–76) became emperor in

1564. His Kapellmeisters Jacobus Vaet (d. 1567) andPhilippe de Monte (d. 1603), with Maximilian’sencouragement, directed numerous secular musicalevents, such as carnivals and tournaments. Duringthe latter 16th century, Italian musicians becamevery popular in the court cities of Vienna, Inns-bruck, and Graz, opening the way for Italian operato thrive in the Austrian Habsburg empire duringthe 17th century.

Courtly patrons in the Italian Peninsula includedthe Medici family in Florence, the Gonzaga dynastyin Mantua, the Este in Ferrara, the Sforza in Milan,the doges of Venice, and the kings of Naples.Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444–76), the second Sforzaduke of Milan, learned to sing at the age of eight. As

M U S I C

165

6.2 Three angels singing from a shared choir book, theusual procedure for church choirs. Detail from a paintingby Botticelli of the Madonna and Child with Saint Johnthe Baptist, latter 15th century. (Villa Borghese, Rome,Italy/Bridgeman Art Library)

an adult, the duke was said to enjoy musical perfor-mances more than any other pastime. In the processof building his chapel and hiring northern singersand musicians, he antagonized many of his contem-poraries, such as Duchess Yolanda of Savoy, by lur-ing away their best performers. The duke paidJosquin Desprez the respectable sum of 160 ducatsannually (at a time when one ducat would purchase10 chickens), although one should note that othermusicians and singers were given nonmonetaryrewards such as horses, beyond their regular salaries.He also supported the election of Pope Sixtus IV(1414–84), an important patron of music, who builtthe Sistine Chapel and founded the Sistine choir.

Singing and PerformanceMembers of the nobility, especially young women,learned to sing and play musical instruments. Mary,queen of Scots (1542–87), for example, was a tal-ented lutenist. Several composers were famous assingers; Ockeghem was known for his deep basstones. During the late 15th century, sacred musicoften featured the bass voice, especially in harmonywith the contrapuntal line. Itinerant poet-singersmaintained the troubadour or Minnesinger traditionof the Middle Ages. These very popular composers,usually men, sang their own music. By the mid-16thcentury, handbooks were focusing on musical orna-mentation, notably for musicians playing the fluteand other instruments in the higher tonal ranges.Because the human voice also functions in thisrange, the same principles of ornamentation couldbe applied to singing. Even though the handbooksoriginally pertained to sacred music such as motets,the art of ornamentation also appeared in madrigalsand other genres of secular music.

Isabella d’Este, marchioness of Mantua(1474–1539), was an accomplished player of the luteand keyboard as well as a gifted singer. She also hadan impressive collection of musical instruments. Butin her time, music was largely written for malevoices. Later in the 16th century, the soprano voicebecame a new standard for composers. Vocal partsfor soprano were written up to high G. The popu-larity of ornamentation and the increased range ofvocal parts eventually led to extreme virtuosity

between about 1575 and 1600. This manneristdevelopment, while dismaying composers whocould hardly recognize their own works, con-tributed to the musical language of early opera. Thefirst opera was presented in Florence in 1598; itsmusic and libretto have not survived. Jacopo Peri’sdrama Euridice was set to music and first performedin 1600. Another result of the desire of audiencesand congregations to experience virtuosity in thehigher octaves was the castration (removal of thetesticles) of boys, to prevent their voices fromchanging. Because women were not permitted tosing in Catholic choirs, castrati sang the sopranoparts. (In fact, they did so in Europe until the early20th century.)

Working Conditions andSocial StatusWorking conditions for musicians and singers var-ied, of course, depending on their social standingand on uncontrollable factors such as climate. Forchoirboys—the largest class of singers by far—their lives revolved around their position as per-formers of sacred music. They lived together, inhousing provided by the cathedral, college, orother institution in which they sang, but theirchoir master often had to provide other necessi-ties. A document from Tudor England dated 1564granted one Richard Farrant, master of choristersin Queen’s Chapel, his own housing, an organist,and a clerk, with an annual salary of approximately81 pounds. In turn, for the choirboys Farrant hadto “provide them not only clothes and diet but alsobedding, and to leave them as well clothed as hefinds them” (Scott Tudor Age, pp. 103–104). Inaddition, if a boy was unable to perform, the mas-ter of choristers had to find a replacement withinone month or be fined by the church. The socialstatus of choir boys was much lower than that ofprofessional solo singers; the former literallysinging for their supper while the latter enjoyedthe company of nobility and payment for perfor-mances. In general, during the Renaissance profes-sional singers were treated better and had a highersocial status than did musicians.


166

Certain instruments were ranked as loftier thanothers; the loud wind instruments were thought ofas being so lowly that women were prohibited toplay them in public until the latter 16th century. Inaddition to producing brash sounds, wind instru-ments when played required grotesque facial expres-sions that would have been considered inappropriatefor women. In 1514 Castiglione praised courtierswho accompanied their singing on the lute but dis-paraged accompaniment by wind instruments forproducing too unpleasant a sound. Musicians whoplayed wind instruments could not rise to the statusof singers, partly because they were not able toaccompany themselves singing on instruments thatrequired their breath to be played.

Many municipalities and courts had special bandsof wind players, called piferri in Italian. One can hearthe sound of puffing in the name itself; the wordmeans “shepherd’s pipes.” During the early 15thcentury, many piferri consisted solely of shawm play-ers (see Wind Instruments, pages 168–169). Then,around 1450, a trombone was added for greatertonal range. These wind bands, being more musicalthan the military trumpet bands, were more versatileand played at diplomatic functions, local ceremoniessuch as weddings, and other festive occasions. Mostimportantly, they provided music for dancing. Windbands at court, along with all musicians and singersin that environment, usually enjoyed higher socialstatus than municipal bands. Because the variouscourts competed for the best performers, musicians’salaries were at the level of artists, court physicians,and other professionals. The wind ensembles alsoplayed sacred music; the Holy See had both a windband and a trumpet band.

Beginning in 1580, the Este family in Ferrarapatronized the first ensemble of professional femalesingers—Anna Guarini, Livia d’Arco, TarquiniaMolza, and Laura Peverara. Molza also composedmusic, chiefly for the harp, viol, and lute. As thefame of this group spread to other Italian city-states,female singers’ performing secular music in publicbecame socially acceptable. Although women stillwere not permitted to sing in Catholic churchchoirs, the door had been opened for respectablewomen to perform in public during the late Renais-sance. Nevertheless, scholars have questionedwhether these women actually benefited from their

rather significant salaries, which probably wentdirectly to their father, uncles, or husband. Whereasnoteworthy male composers and performers oftenwere rewarded with luxurious rooms in the palace orcountry houses, their female counterparts evidentlyreceived only a salary, dowry, or tips.

MUSICALINSTRUMENTS

The spread of Renaissance instrumental polyphonywould not have been possible without innovations ininstrument production. “Families” of woodwind,brass, and stringed instruments were invented tocomplement the human voice, in the bass to sopranorange. This tonal grouping facilitated the music ofinstrumental ensembles and enhanced instrumentalaccompaniment for the human voice. Many medievalinstruments, especially the brasses, were improved byscientific advancements in metallurgy and othertechnical processes. In addition, new instrumentssuch as the harpsichord and violin were inventedduring this period.

Percussion InstrumentsMany of the same types of percussion instrumentsused during the Middle Ages continued to be popularduring the Renaissance. Modern speculations abouthow percussion instruments were played during theRenaissance are based mostly on visual material andtextual comments. From what we can determinethrough these means, percussion instruments main-tained the beat of music for dancing and singing andusually did not add ornamentation or flourishes. Formilitary musical purposes, drums were used to main-tain the rhythm of marching, much as they are today.Besides their place in music, drums were sometimesplayed vigorously before battle. (During the 14thcentury, Saracen military drummers were famous forthe terrifying sounds they produced.)

The side drum and the kettledrum were createdduring the Renaissance; both became popular during

M U S I C

167

the 16th century. Unlike the medieval tabor drumplayed with only one stick, the side drum was playedwith two. This innovation allowed much more flexi-bility in the style of drumming, and the roll and dragentered the repertoire of military music. The kettle-drum, constructed from copper or brass with anaverage diameter of approximately two feet, could beas shallow as one foot. German instrument makersused two hoops for the drumhead, with the skin firstdraped over a wooden hoop and a metal hoop thenfastened over the rim. Tensioning screws around therim gave musicians more control over the timbre oftheir instruments, permitting the kettledrum to pro-duce harmonic sounds for the bass parts of the music.For ceremonial music, kettledrums introduced amajestic presence not heard previously at court. In1542 King Henry VIII of England (1491–1547)ordered not only kettledrums from Vienna, but alsomen who knew how to play them well.

Other popular percussion instruments in Renais-sance Europe included the tambourine, triangle,cymbals, and castanets, all of which are played todayin slightly altered forms. The xylophone and chimebells were valued for both their percussive andmelodic qualities. The tuned chime bells did nothave clappers; they were struck with small hammersto produce clear, sharp sounds. Shaped as upside-down cups, the bells were made in various sizes, the

largest accompanying church choirs. Smaller setshelped students learn to sing the scale.

Wind InstrumentsRenaissance wind instruments consisted of brassinstruments, organs, and woodwinds. In Il Corte-giano (The courtier, 1528), Baldassare Castiglione(1478–1529) praised keyboard instruments for theirsweet harmony, and by the mid-16th century organsproduced the most sonorous harmony of all. Espe-cially in Germany, the ponderous church organ ofthe Middle Ages yielded its importance to morerefined instruments with stops and reed pipes forbetter resonance and control. Arnolt Schlick’s (c.1460–c. 1521) book Spiegel der Orgelmacher undOrganisten (Mirror of organ makers and organ play-ers, 1511) included building instructions as well as ahandbook for both fingering and pedaling.

The three main brass instruments of the Renais-sance were the cornet, trumpet, and sackbut (trom-bone), in various lengths and degrees of complexity.Particularly for trumpets and sackbuts, because oftheir curved shapes, advances in metallurgy duringthe Renaissance contributed to their development.New casting techniques and alloys permitted instru-ment makers to produce brass instruments withmuch better tonal qualities. The German city ofNuremberg was the leading center for this manufac-ture. Brass instruments were very important for cer-emonial events; for example, 17 trumpets and sixsackbuts were played during the coronation ofQueen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) in 1558.

Woodwind instruments proliferated during the15th and 16th centuries. They were quite popularin northern courts, such as those of Emperor Maxi-milian I and King Henry VIII. Venice, however, wasthe main center of production, where woodwindswere made in graduated matched sets to guaranteethat their sounds would be complementary. Thechief woodwind instruments were the shawm,crumhorn, bagpipe, recorder, and flute. Recordersare the woodwind that everyone today associateswith early music, and indeed they were played vir-tually everywhere in both sacred and secular set-tings. In Spain, for example, the cathedral of Sevilleowned several recorders, said to give variety to the


168

6.3 Cortege of drummers and soldiers at the royal entryof Henry II, king of France, into Rouen in 1550.Painted on vellum, c. 1550. Military music was animportant aspect of royal patronage. (BibliothèqueMunicipale, Rouen, France/Giraudon/Bridgeman ArtLibrary)

music, and in 1549 a box of large recorders wasreceived by the new cathedral in Guatemala. Fluteswere usually produced in three sizes, tuned to A, D,and G. Flutes played in ensembles became popularin France; Elizabeth I’s ambassador to the Frenchcourt included flute players among his musicians.Renaissance texts about flutes sometimes confusedthem with recorders, but this error did not pertainto the transverse flute held against the side of theface (what we think of today as a flute). The bag-pipe, basically a solo instrument, was played in uni-son with other bagpipes during military ceremoniesand campaigns. Henry VIII’s inventory of propertylisted five bagpipes with ivory pipes, probably usedfor military occasions. Bagpipes began to be closelyassociated with Scotland and Ireland during the16th century, and with simple folk music. Thecrumhorn (“curved horn”), shaped in a simple Jcurve, was the earliest woodwind instrument with areed cap. Made of boxwood, the curved shape wasornamental and served no practical purpose. Crum-horns were especially popular for dances and madri-gals, such as the six-part madrigal played during theMedici wedding celebration of 1539. The shawmhad a broad cane reed that enabled musicians toproduce piercing notes. Because of their loud,bright sounds, shawms were a favorite instrumentfor outdoor performances. (Today they are stillused in parts of Spain for traditional dances andoutdoor bands.)

Stringed InstrumentsExcept for harps, Renaissance stringed instrumentshad frets and were played by being strummed,bowed, or plucked. We probably think of the lute asthe quintessential Renaissance stringed instrument,and both listeners and theorists in the Renaissancewould have agreed. Of Moorish origin, the lute hasthe shape of a pear sliced vertically, with therounded back creating a lush resonance of sound.Strings were constructed as they had been duringthe Middle Ages, of either metal or sheep gut. Themetal used was brass or steel. Not until the 17thcentury were strings produced with a central corespun around by brass, which improved the tone onthe lower notes. Although the lute could be played

with either a plectrum (for plucking) or the fingers,by the mid-15th century strumming or pluckingwith the fingers was preferred. The lute was consid-ered the ideal musical instrument, with the musi-cian’s fingers in close control of the strings creatingthe purest possible sound, as witnessed by a 16th-century listener, who described a lutenist’s playing“with such ravishing skill that, little by little, makingthe strings languish under his fingers in a sublimeway, he transported all those who were listeningwith so pleasurable a melancholy that . . . it was as ifthe listeners were ecstatically carried away by somedivine frenzy” (Smith 2003, p. 135).

Because of the unsatisfactory lower tones pro-duced on the lute, the slightly larger theorbo and themuch larger chitarrone were created during themid-16th century to accompany the lute. A portraitof Mary Herbert, countess of Pembroke (d. 1622), inPenshurst Place depicts her holding an upright chi-tarrone almost as tall as she is. The cittern, slightlysmaller than the lute, was a medieval instrumentusually played solo. Musicians during the Renais-sance continued to play it by plucking in themedieval style. Other members of the lute familyincluded the smaller mandora, popular for dancemusic, and the colascione.

The vihuela and guitar were quite similar, bothhaving frets consisting of gut strings tied around thefingerboard. The guitar was used more for popularand folk music; the vihuela was a favorite instru-ment of aristocratic society in both Spain andsouthern Italy. By the close of the 16th century, theguitar had eclipsed the vihuela and was being playedthroughout Europe. The bowed instruments of theRenaissance included the viol and violin, the formerwith six strings and the latter four. Partly becausethe vihuela was very similar to the tenor viol in tun-ing and shape, the viol is thought to have its originsin Spain during the second half of the 15th century.The violin did not attain its fullest form until thesecond half of the 16th century. Whereas the violinwas (and is) played under the chin or on the shoul-der, musicians playing members of the viol familyare seated, with the instrument held on the groundor between the legs. The violin was used almostexclusively by professional musicians during theRenaissance, especially for dance music and in theintervals between acts of dramatic performances.

M U S I C

169

The harpsichord, perfected during the 15th cen-tury, is played by keys that trigger the plucking ofstrings, unlike the modern piano, in which stringsare hammered. Elizabeth I’s favorite instrument wasa virginal, a member of the harpsichord family. Italywas a major center of harpsichord production duringthe early 16th century; the earliest extant example isdated 1521 (today in the Victoria and AlbertMuseum). By the end of the century, Antwerp,notably the shop of Hans Ruckers and his sons, hadbecome known for its harpsichords. Harpsichordcases were elegant pieces of furniture, often linedwith velvet, with exteriors of inlaid wood or paintedornamentation including mottoes about music invarious languages. They most definitely were instru-ments for the courtly patron.

PUBLICATION OFMUSICAL MATERIAL

Until the early 16th century, “publishing” musicalmaterial usually entailed producing copies in manu-script. These included liturgical manuscripts, oftenlarge enough for a small choir to read the musicfrom a single volume. Much secular music circulatedin manuscript copies, even during the 16th centuryafter books of printed music were fairly widespread.Until the early 16th century, music was printed fromwood blocks, and plainsong printing had achievedtechnical excellence. However, music with measured


170

6.4 Double virginal with pictorial lid. By Hans Ruckers the Elder, 1581. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of B. H. Homan, 1929 [29.90])

signs (usually written within four lines) presentedmore complications, which were solved in Venice by1501, and the Venetian method quickly spread toother parts of Europe. Pierre Attaingnant in Pariswas the first to print a book of Renaissance music inone impression.

ManuscriptsExamples of liturgical music in multivolume sets thatcan be viewed today, such as at the cathedral ofToledo, are close to three feet high. Usually producedand bound in monastic shops, such manuscripts weretruly a labor of love. Some of the most beautiful man-uscripts created during the 15th century are liturgicalworks hand copied on vellum, with luminous initialletters as large as eight inches square, depicting saintsand biblical figures. King David, who played a harp,was a popular image for manuscript psalters. Unlikemass-produced printed music created for a large mar-ket, manuscripts could be executed for quite specificaudiences. Each Catholic diocese and monastic com-munity localized both the text and music, making itvery difficult for printers to provide standard editionsof liturgical works. Moreover, the size needed forchoir books made printing prohibitively expensive. Aslate as the 18th century, liturgical music for use of thechoir was still being produced in manuscript. Thesemanuscripts in deluxe, illuminated copies were valuedas gifts in presentation copies. For example, a manu-script choir book decorated with Margaret of Aus-tria’s coat of arms may have been given by her as a giftto Pope Leo X (1475–1521).

For secular music, singers often had manuscriptcopies of the specific part that each was performing.Called part books, these also appeared in printedversions. In fact, by 1600 most printed music wasbeing produced in this form and not in the scoresthat we usually think of today. Well into the 17thcentury, scribes were employed to copy musicaltexts, especially for operatic performances.

Printed BooksDuring the 15th century, printers experimentedwith several methods for printing music with wood

blocks, and by about 1473 success had beenachieved, as evidenced by a single surviving gradual(part of the liturgy). As printers began to marketmusical works during the latter 15th century, thediversity of local religious usage, for example, in theOffices, necessitated books in which the Latin textwas issued without music with space left for the localtext to be inserted by hand. There were also booksof sacred music in which only the music appeared,allowing a vernacular text to be inserted if desired.In this stage of early printing, the musical notes werecreated by wood blocks, in a separate impressionfrom the text. When staves were added, threeimpressions were required. Ottaviano Petrucci inVenice originated a method for printing music inmovable type rather than with wood blocks, reduc-ing the passes through the press. Finally, in 1527/28,

M U S I C

171

6.5 Three musicians with books of music. By the Master ofthe Half Figures, between 1500 and 1533. (Hermitage,Saint Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman Art Library)

the first music book executed in one impression wasproduced by Pierre Attaingnant in Paris: Chansonsnouvelles en musique a quatre parties (New songs inmusic for four parts). His achievement helped tomake books of music more easily affordable.

With the spread of printed books during the firsthalf of the 16th century, Protestant churches wereable to supply their congregations with personalcopies of hymnals and other devotional works.Instead of a trained choir gathering around onegigantic manuscript choir book or sharing a fewsmaller handwritten books of music, sacred musiccould be performed by individual worshipers partic-ipating personally in the church service. This wasonly one way in which the art of printing helped topopularize the Protestant religion in RenaissanceEurope.

In addition to books discussed previously, thetitles described in the following sections are amongthe printed works that were especially important inthe history of Renaissance music. In 1536 Luis deMilán (c. 1500–c. 1561), a Spanish composer livingin Valencia, published his Libro de música de vihuelade mano intitulado El maestro (Book of music for thevihuela entitled The master). This publication,which includes dance music, was significant becauseof its indications of tempo. The Trattado de glosas(Treatise of glosses) by Diego Ortiz (c. 1510–c. 70)included instructions for ornamentation. Director ofthe chapel orchestra and choir for the Spanishviceroys in Naples, he wrote this didactic manualabout stringed instruments played with a bow. As wehave learned, the tonal values of this music permit-ted the information about ornamentation to betransferred to voice training.

The Dialogue on Ancient and Modern Music byVincenzo Galilei is a good example of how printedinformation helped to disseminate ideas that other-wise might have remained within a small circle ofspecialists. Many of the ideas in Galilei’s treatisewere based on his collaboration with the humanistGirolamo Mei (d. 1594), who had extensively stud-ied ancient Greek musical modes but never pub-lished the part of his studies that concernedcontemporary music. Most important among theseideas was Mei’s criticism of polyphony, which hefound musically disordered and inferior for project-ing textual meanings. He supported, however, the

cantus firmus (fixed song), which he further devel-oped with an emphasis on textual content of thesong. Through Galilei’s book, Mei’s advocacy ofmonodic music (sung in a single melodic line)helped bring about an innovation in Western musicthat contributed to the birth of opera.

MAJOR COMPOSERS

Binchois, Gilles (c. 1400–1460), along with Dufayand Dunstable, was one of the three most significantcomposers of his time. In the late 1420s Binchoisbecame a member of the court chapel of the duke ofBurgundy, where he served as both composer andsinger for three decades. His work defined and dig-nified Burgundian court music, and many of hismelodic (tenor) lines were used in the music of other15th-century composers. Because this court valuedtradition, Binchois was not inspired to introduceinnovations in his compositions. He was, neverthe-less, a master of the rondeau, the dominant form ofsecular song during the 15th century. Some of Bin-chois’s songs were known in England, not surpris-ingly, given the cultural interchange between theEnglish and Burgundian courts.

Byrd, William (1543–1623) All the notable Renais-sance composers wrote for Catholic Church ser-vices; most of them also composed and playedsecular music. The versatile English composerWilliam Byrd was organist and choirmaster at Lin-coln Cathedral from 1563 to 1570. During theseyears, he learned to experiment with various genresand forms to create his own individual style blendingold and new. Byrd may have invented the particu-larly English form known as the verse anthem: Someof his metrical settings for the Psalms feature stanzasending with a simple chorus. Between 1570 and1580, the composer worked for the Chapel Royal(London), where his genius was recognized by influ-ential members of the nobility and royal family,including Queen Elizabeth I. Byrd wrote the musicfor a piece celebrating English victory over theSpanish Armada, its words written by the queen(entitled “Look and bow down”). In Protestant


172

England, Byrd did not have appreciable success withmost of his published work because of its Catholicovertones. In 1588, however, his Psalmes, Sonets, andSongs, published to persuade “every one to learne tosinge,” became quite popular. Known as Byrd’s Lul-labys, they included sacred music.

Desprez, Josquin (c. 1440–1521), of French origin,was documented as a singer at the cathedral in Milanbetween 1459 and 1472. During the 1480s and1490s, he was in Rome as a member of the papalchoir. By the turn of the century, Desprez was unof-ficially working for Louis XII of France, for whomhe wrote a motet and songs while recruiting Flemishsingers for the court of Ferrara. From 1503 to 1504he was not only director of the chapel at Ferrara, butalso a virtuoso singer commanding the highest salaryever paid to a singer at that court. Desprez ended hiscareer as a singer-composer in northern France atthe cathedral of Notre Dame in Condé-sur-l’Escaut.Praised by the writers Castiglione and Rabelais,Desprez was also a favorite composer of MartinLuther’s. Desprez is considered the most outstand-ing composer of his time, on the basis of an impres-sive 60-year career. His motets have an exceptionalexpressive range, and the music he wrote for massesusually is closely tied to the words, within inge-niously inventive structures.

Dufay, Guillaume (c. 1400–1474) was one of themost famous French composers of his time. He com-posed music in Bologna, was papal chaplain in Rome,and worked at the courts of Burgundy and Savoy. Hismost famous work of music during his lifetime wasprobably the motet he wrote for the dedication in1436 of the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Finally,he became director of the chapel in Chambéry forAmadeus, duke of Savoy, writing music in severalforms, including motets, masses, and secular ballads.Dufay wrote music for the marriage of the duke’s sonin 1434, an international event attended by the dukeof Burgundy and his entourage.

Dunstable, John (c. 1390–1453) was the mostprominent English composer of the early 15th cen-tury; 70 works are credited to him, many of whichcan be found in Continental manuscripts. Between1422 and 1435 he was in France as a musician in ser-

vice to John, duke of Bedford, possibly enhancinghis reputation outside England. Dunstable’s musicincludes cycles for the mass, motets, and several typ-ically English carols. His compositions were recog-nizable by their clear harmonies.

Gombert, Nicolas (c. 1490–c. 1566) composeddensely textured music, frequently with overlappingphrases and few rests for the voices, preferring five orsix voices rather than four. He wrote motets andmasses for several important court events, such as thebirth of Philip II in 1527 and the coronation ofCharles V in Bologna in 1530. More than 60 motetsare attributed to Gombert, the texts usually fromScripture, especially Psalms. One of his most famousmotets is Musae Jovis (Muses of Jove), written in trib-ute to his teacher Josquin Desprez and utilizing amelodic line from Desprez as the cantus firmus.Gombert also left more than 70 chansons, most withverses lamenting unhappy love. His concentrated styleinfluenced an entire generation of composers, partiallybecause of the widespread dissemination of his workthrough collections published in 1539 and 1552.

Lassus, Orlando di (1530/32–1594) The music ofOrlando di Lassus, one of the most admired Franco-Flemish composers of the 16th century, was extraor-dinarily expressive and inventive. Much of hisliturgical work is characterized by precise vocal scor-ing and chordal harmony. As a boy, Lassus enteredthe household of Ferrante Gonzaga, a member ofthe Mantuan dynasty whose court was based inPalermo (Sicily). During his young adulthood, Las-sus resided in Naples and Rome; he became choir-master at Saint John Lateran in 1553 (two yearsbefore Palestrina’s arrival). In 1556 he accepted aninvitation from Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria to jointhe court in Munich as a tenor in the chapel choir.Lassus remained in Munich as a singer, composer,and musician. His prestige was so great by the timehe died that two sons successively inherited his posi-tion. Orlando di Lassus wrote at least 60 masses and101 settings for the Magnificat, many of which headapted from secular music, such as a madrigal byPalestrina. His music for the Magnificat circulatedwidely in manuscripts and printed books. He alsowrote a great many motets, including settings forspecific ceremonial events honoring the Habsburgs

M U S I C

173

and other court luminaries. These works oftenalluded to classical texts or included Renaissancehumanistic poetry for the words.

Ockeghem, Johannes (c. 1420–1497) Although theFranco-Flemish master Johannes Ockeghem com-pleted a relatively small number of masses, he washighly esteemed by his contemporaries. Interestingly,two of his unfinished masses were based on melodiesfrom his own secular songs (chansons), with polyphonicvoices transferred to different parts for the masses.Ockeghem’s motets, usually for the Virgin, featurevocal coloration and other forms of ornamentation.His career included two years in Moulins writingmusic for Charles I, duke of Bourbon, and then manyyears of service at the French court for kings CharlesVII and Louis XI. During the years Ockeghemworked in France, no other composer equaled his cre-ative use of musical sources. Johannes Tinctoris, in hisLiber de arte contrapuncti (Book on the art of counter-point), praised the sweetness of Ockeghem’s music.

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da (1525/26–1594)began his career as a choirboy in the church of SantaMaria Maggiore in Rome. In the 1540s Palestrinawas playing the organ and teaching music at thecathedral of Palestrina. He returned to Rome in1551 and a few years later was appointed choirmas-ter of Saint John Lateran. Palestrina gained a thor-ough knowledge of techniques and styles as appliedto motets and masses. Although in later life he apol-ogized for composing frolicsome madrigals, duringhis career he wrote some 140 pieces in this genre.The final phase of his career was 23 years as choir-master for the famous Cappella Giulia at SaintPeter’s in Rome. Palestrina’s work as a composer ofsacred music was prodigious, and 43 of the 104masses and 177 motets were published during hislifetime. He was one of the greatest composers ofsacred music for the Counter-Reformation.

Power, Lionel (d. 1445), along with Dunstable,pioneered the unified mass cycle and was a leader inEnglish music during the first half of the 15th cen-tury. Forty works of sacred music are definitelyattributed to Power. His compositions in the early-15th-century Old Hall Manuscript, which containsworks by several individuals, feature sonorous tones

and syncopated rhythms. Power is best known forhis innovative rhythmic passages, with asymmetricsequences expressed in modern notation throughfluctuating bar lengths. He was also a teacher ofmusic, as master of the choir of the Lady Chapel atCanterbury, where he was in charge of training thechoir boys.

Victoria, Tomás Luis de (1548–1611) was the mostrevered Spanish composer of the 16th century. Hewrote sacred music exclusively, using only the Latintexts. Born in Ávila, Victoria was a choirboy in thecathedral and experienced the spiritual ambiance ofthe town in which Saint Teresa was establishing herrigorous convent life guided by her Discalced (“shoe-less”) Carmelites of the Reform. From his Jesuitschool in Ávila, Victoria was sent to the Jesuit Colle-gio Germanico in Rome, probably circa 1565. Fouryears later Victoria was a singer and organist at theAragonese church in Rome, and in 1572 he pub-lished his first collection of motets. By that time hehad become choirmaster of the Collegio Germanico,communicating with his German students in Latin.Victoria dedicated his 1583 book of masses to KingPhilip II and requested to be transferred back to hisSpanish homeland. Victoria spent the final threedecades of his career in Madrid, as chaplain, choir-master, and organist. He served the dowager empressMaria, widow of Maximilian II (and daughter ofCharles V), at her Franciscan convent, Monasteriode las Descalzas Reales, which had been endowed byher sister, Juana, queen of Portugal. The small chapelin the convent was very beautiful, attracting wealthymerchants and members of the court. This audiencehelped popularize Victoria’s masses and motets. Dur-ing his lifetime, Victoria was able to publish almostall of the music that he had written (an unusual featfor a Renaissance composer).

Willaert, Adriaan (c. 1490–1562), Flemish com-poser and singer, began his adult career in the serviceof the Este court in Ferrara. The well-connectedCardinal Ippolito I d’Este, in whose account booksWillaert is listed, probably provided excellent socialand political opportunities through which the com-poser’s music became widely known. In 1527Willaert was appointed as chapel master of SaintMark’s in Venice, where he worked until 1560.


174

Known for his versatility, Willaert composed Latinmasses, motets, hymns, and psalms, as well as Italianmadrigals and French chansons.

READING

Knighton 2003: listing of important manuscriptsand their locations in index, genres in glossary.

Sacred MusicH. Brown 1999: (general study); Burgess 2000: Eng-land; Fernandez Collado 2001: Spain (choir books);Haggh 2001: performance, musical culture; Harper2000: liturgy; McIver 2002: art and music; Nelson2000: Spain; Oettinger 2001: German Reformation;Pointer 2002: colonial Mexico.

Secular MusicH. Brown 1999: (general study); Bryce 2001: Flo-rence (women performers); Haar 2003: humanism;

Henze 2001: love songs; Peters 2000: southernFrance.

Working Conditions andPatronageH. Brown 1999: (general study); Macy 2003:women; Mateer 2000: court patronage.

Musical InstrumentsLeach 1973: (general survey); McGrattan 2001:wind instruments; Montagu 1976: cultural con-texts; Munrow 1980: instruments and their uses;Paganelli 1988: (general study); Polk 2001: Brus-sels (instrumental music); Smith 2003: pluckedinstruments.

Publication of MusicalMaterialFallows 2003: polyphony; Haines 2004: manu-scripts; Noone 2003: manuscripts.

M U S I C

175

WARFARE

7

Although the Hundred Years’ War betweenEngland and France ended in 1453 and the

Peace of Lodi in 1454 concluded fighting in the Ital-ian city-states, Europe was never free of warfareduring the 15th century. England’s civil conflict, theWars of the Roses, lasted from 1452 until 1487, andFrance was fighting to gain control of both Brittanyand Burgundy during this time. Unified under Fer-dinand I (1503–64) and Isabella the Catholic(1451–1504), Spain waged a successful campaignagainst the last Muslim stronghold on the peninsulain 1492. The balance of power of these monarchieswas shifted toward Spain in the early 16th century,when its king became Holy Roman EmperorCharles V (1500–1558). His position was strength-ened by revenues pouring in from Spanish conquestsin the New World.

The regional governing powers in both Italy andGermany were weakened during the late 15th and16th centuries, the former by invasions of foreigntroops and the latter by religious strife. Wars of reli-gion in France essentially became civil war between1560 and 1598, as Catholics fought Huguenots.Finally, Spanish mismanagement of the Netherlandsresulted in several bloody revolts between 1567and1609. Forces of western Europe occasionally joinedagainst a common foe. In 1571, for example, the jointnavies of the emperor, the pope, and Venice defeatedthe Turks at the Battle of Lepanto. Although ostensi-bly organized to halt the spread of the “infidel reli-gion,” the campaign also sought to dominate traderoutes. Economic factors were significant in everymajor conflict except a few of the religious wars.

Colonial warfare, ostensibly waged to spreadChristianity to indigenous people, also had eco-nomic motivations as Europeans gained new terri-tory. Even though precious metals in many of thesenew possessions were less ubiquitous than had beenassumed, other riches from the land, such as lumberand spices, validated the expense of military con-quest. Warfare in European colonies included thePortuguese in Africa and Asia, the Dutch in Brazil,and the Spanish in Mexico and South America.Although colonial warfare affected western Europe,it is beyond the scope of the present book.

Advances in technology and architecture, espe-cially in metallurgy, the European manufacture ofgunpowder, and fortification design, led to changes in

battle tactics, armor, and weaponry. French smallartillery proved to be a decisive factor in the HundredYears’ War, effectively moving the fighting into theopen field. More soldiers were needed because casu-alties increased, and more mercenaries were hired asthe 16th century progressed. By 1550, fortificationswere being renovated with the addition of bastiondefensive positions, again making it possible to with-stand siege warfare waged with artillery. Militarymedicine progressed somewhat, in that amputationswere performed with a greater degree of accuracyas anatomical knowledge advanced. Neverthelesswounds continued to threaten the lives of soldiersbecause the nature of infection was not understood.

MAJOR WARS

Wars were usually undertaken to gain additional ter-ritory or to reclaim lost territory, with rights ofinheritance and claims through marriage or treatygiven as the reasons for fighting when negotiationsfailed to produce a settlement of conflicting claims.The potential threat of loss of territory, for example,France’s fear that the Holy Roman Empire’s posses-sions would block its access to the rest of Europe vialand routes, also prompted military response. Indeedthe frontiers of most monarchies were susceptible toattack, regardless of whether the rulers were officiallyat war. Even in the relatively brief respites betweendeclared campaigns of war, bands of renegade sol-diers took advantage of the instability along interna-tional borders to plunder towns and estates. Duringmuch of the 15th century, conflict was localized. TheItalian city-states fought each other as well as foreignthreats on Italian soil, the rulers of Spain suppressedtheir Muslim neighbors, soldiers of the Swiss Con-federation successfully asserted independence againstthe Imperial army, and forces within England strug-gled over the accession to the throne. France’s strug-gle to put Brittany and Burgundy under control ofthe Crown set the stage for French hostilities againstthe Holy Roman Empire, which had possession ofBurgundian domains, in the following century.

In the 16th century, the rulers of France, En-gland, and the Holy Roman Empire (who during


178

W A R F A R E

179

Map

3.

Eur

ope,

c. 1

519

FRA

NC

HE

-C

OM

TE

HU

NG

AR

Y

FRA

NC

HE

-C

OM

TE

part of the 16th century included the king of Spain)dominated warfare in international military cam-paigns. Their battles were staged in both northernand southern Europe, where personal animosity andcompetitive egos contributed to their determinationto win. During most of their long reigns, Francis I,king of France (1494–1547); Henry VIII, king ofEngland (1491–1547); and Charles V were at warwith each other, in sometimes shifting allegiances.Subsidiary hostilities involved conflict between En-gland and France, and between France’s royal houseof Valois and Charles V’s house of Habsburg. At var-ious times, the pope or his allies supported one ormore of these three monarchs, particularly in theircommon cause against Turkish forces. The doge ofVenice repeatedly allied his troops with anyoneopposing the Turks, because Venice was vulnerableto attacks from its neighbors to the east. By the1560s, religious turmoil led to the wars of religion inFrance (see chapter 2) and to fragmented regionsacross northern Europe. Several monarchs, notablyElizabeth I, queen of England (1533–1603), tookadvantage of prevailing conditions to billet theirown troops in the Netherlands and other areas.Nominally sent for the purpose of assisting DutchProtestants against the Spanish, these troops alsogave England control of two important Dutch ports.As in today’s world, countries not technically “atwar” still could maintain a hostile presence outsidetheir own borders.

The major wars discussed in the sections that fol-low present a summary of military conflicts between1400 and 1600, which often were embroiled with mar-riage contracts, commercial negotiations, and argu-ments concerning colonial territory, when the fightingsometimes took place in the colonies themselves.

Hundred Years’ WarTechnically, the Hundred Years’ War between En-gland and France lasted from 1337 to 1453, withintermittent periods of peace. Its premise was En-gland’s claim via marriage to the French throne,with hostilities encouraged by the ducal leaders ofBurgundy and Brittany in France. During the con-flict England lost Gascony and Normandy but keptcontrol of the port city of Calais until 1558. This

war ended with the Treaty of Tours, but otherAnglo-French conflicts during the Renaissance wererooted in simmering hostilities engendered by theHundred Years’ War, exacerbated by religious dif-ferences after the 1530s.

Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses during the 15th century, civilwars over the succession to the English throne, werefought between the house of Lancaster and thehouse of York. Both families had a rose as theirheraldic device. From the outset, the Lancastrianswere less popular because they had been responsiblefor the huge drain of men and other resources lost inthe Hundred Years War. Fighting was notoriouslybrutal because hundreds of angry soldiers returnedfrom France and enlisted haphazardly on either side,simply to have the opportunity to fight and plunder.Begun in 1455, the Wars of the Roses ended withthe Battle of Bosworth in 1485, after which HenryVII (1457–1509) was crowned as king and the houseof Lancaster was defeated. A member of the house ofTudor, he was a nephew of the house of York andmarried Elizabeth of York.

The Final “Reconquest” in SpainThe Reconquest of Spain (Reconquista in Spanish)commenced in the 13th century when SpanishChristians captured the city of Córdoba from theMuslims. By the late 13th century, only the region ofGranada remained under Muslim control. Isabellaand Ferdinand rallied their troops in 1491 and tookGranada in January 1492. This victory, whichmarked the last stage of the Reconquest, was cele-brated throughout Europe as a triumph over the“infidel.”

Swiss WarsThe Swiss Confederation, consisting of German-speaking cantons united for military defense,became known during the 15th century for the


180

organization and expertise of their fighting men.They defeated the Burgundian army in severalencounters between 1456 and 1477. In the majorSwiss War, against Emperor Maximilian I(1459–1519), the Confederation was victorious overImperial troops in 1499. Thus the Confederationgained its independence and Swiss mercenariesbecame the most sought-after soldiers in westernEurope.

Italian WarsDuring the Italian Wars the Austrian Habsburgdynasty and the French Valois dynasty fought forsupremacy in Italy. The wars lasted from 1494 untiltheir official end in the 1559 Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (discussed later). Whereas localizedwars in Italy were ubiquitous in the major northerncities during the 15th century, the Italian Warswere characterized by international involvement offoreign powers. The papacy initially supported itstraditional ally, the Holy Roman Emperor, CharlesV, but later, alarmed by the increasing power of theHabsburgs in Italy, formed a league with theFrench King, Francis I. Several Italian rulers ofcity-states also participated in this conflict, some-times preferring probable temporary foreign domi-nation to control by neighboring cities. Francerelinquished all claims in Italy in 1559. (See thediscussions of the major battles, many of whichpertain to the Italian Wars.)

Austro-Turkish WarsThe Turkish army assaulted Austria twice duringthe 16th century, advancing as far as Vienna in 1529and 1532 but failing to take the city. The mostfamous siege of Vienna took place in 1529, whenthe 20,000 soldiers in the city were outnumbered byTurkish forces 10 to one. Ironically the sultan wasfoiled by the huge number of troops because hissource of supply was too far away to support such alarge encampment. The siege was lifted by a combi-nation of brilliant defensive fighting within the cityand the threat that Imperial forces would be sent toaid the Austrians.

Schmalkaldic WarLasting only two years, 1546–47, the SchmalkaldicWar was fought between Imperial troops of CharlesV and German Protestant princes who had formedthe Schmalkaldic League in 1531. Charles V won adecisive victory at the Battle of Mühlberg, supportedby Maurice of Saxony (1521–53) and his army.

Anglo-Scottish Conflicts

Anglo-Scottish skirmishes concerning their com-mon frontier accelerated into an international con-flict during the 1560s and 1570s, with the influenceof Mary, queen of Scots (1542–87), supported bythe French. The daughter of a member of thehouse of Guise, Mary was raised in a householdwhere the French language and French sympathiesprevailed. Descended from Henry VII, Maryclaimed to be heir to the throne of England, and asa Catholic she had the backing of the king ofFrance. Her marriage in 1558 to Francis II(1544–60), heir to the French Crown, enhancedher appeal to the French but alienated her fromProtestant groups in Scotland as well as fromProtestant England. When Mary’s own subjectsrose up against her in 1567, she sought asylum inEngland, where Elizabeth placed her under housearrest. Mary’s ongoing plotting with the Frenchagainst England finally resulted in her execution.

Revolt of the Netherlands

In 1555 Philip II, king of Spain (1527–98), becamethe duke of Burgundy, which controlled the Nether-lands at the time. Desiring to live in Spain, heappointed his half sister, Margaret of Parma(1522–86), as regent. Philip also assigned Jesuits tothe Netherlands to fight Protestantism and establishthe Inquisition. Beginning in 1567, the provincesrebelled and Philip’s response was relentless. Led byWilliam of Orange (1533–84), the Protestant forcestook Holland and Zeeland. In 1576, however,marauding Spanish troops attacked the city ofAntwerp in what has been called the “Spanish fury,”

W A R F A R E

181

murdering thousands and destroying entire neigh-borhoods. The fighting became very fierce duringthe 1580s, as England and France entered the war toassist the United Provinces. For France, this actionwas a continuation of the Habsburg–Valois hostili-ties discussed earlier. Although a truce declared in1609 gave the Dutch colonial rights in the WestIndies, a treaty was never completed. These hostili-ties led to the Thirty Years War, the most violent inEurope’s history until the 20th century.

Turkish WarThe Turkish War was fought between Hungary andthe Ottoman Turks, between 1593 and 1606. Aus-trian forces aided the Hungarians, with the aim ofending Turkish prospects of further Europeanexpansion. The Ottomans won several battles andraised the siege of Buda in 1602, but coalition forcescaptured Pest. The war was settled by treaty in 1606,whereby Turkey officially recognized the HolyRoman Empire.

ARMOR ANDTRADITIONALWEAPONRY

As weapons became more lethal during the 15th cen-tury, especially as firearms began to be used in war-fare, body armor and armor for horses were modifiedto provide better protection. Increased protectionmeant decreased mobility, however, and full bodyarmor consisting of tempered steel plates was notthick enough to withstand short-range gunfire. InWestern society, the Renaissance was the only periodduring which plated armor covering the entire bodywas used in warfare. By the 17th century, firearms hadbecome so powerful and efficient at short distancesthat defensive measures necessitated good marksman-ship, which required the ability to maneuver quicklyand adroitly. Thus Renaissance body armor, whichsomewhat restricted movement, became obsolete.

Tournament armor, unlike field armor, was heavy andthick to prevent mortal injury. Parade armor, purelyceremonial, was extravagantly decorated by a varietyof metalworking techniques.

ArmorFIELD ARMOR

Medieval body armor consisted of chain mail, astrong mesh of small iron rings. Although this typeof armor allowed great flexibility, that veryattribute was its weakness. There was no rigidresistance against the points of arrows and spearsand against bludgeoning from missiles such asstones and rocks. Chain mail was later supple-mented with plates of solid bone, leather hardenedby boiling, and steel. By the 14th century, soldierswere protected by plates of metal attached to aheavy fabric vest, with separate plates shielding thearms and legs and a metal helmet for the head. Thedevelopment of tempered steel crossbows and effi-cient firearms, however, necessitated additionalprotection. Between 1400 and 1600, as advances intechnology improved offensive capabilities, defen-sive tactics and weapons also were improved, andmilitary budgets rose at astronomical rates. Themost skillful armor makers during the early Renais-sance were in Milan, and by 1420 they had createda full suit of plate armor. Moderate flexibility wasachieved by overlapping or interlocking the plates,which were connected by leather straps or rivets.Even for a relatively large combatant, a suit of fieldarmor rarely weighed more than 60 pounds;unwieldy, heavy armor would have been disastrousin warfare. The steel in 15th-century armor wasextremely hard, designed to deflect arrows andblows from pikes, swords, maces, and otherweapons. Steel of this hardness, however, couldsplit or shatter if fired upon by guns. A soldier withslivers of steel embedded in his flesh was muchmore susceptible to infection than a soldierwounded by a simple musket ball. Although armormakers attempted to produce steel that was morepliant and could bend slightly instead of shattering,they were not very successful. In the end the onlyeffective method for making armor resistant to


182

firearms was to make it thicker, and soldiers couldnot fight when wearing full body armor thickenough to resist fired projectiles. The answer was tofocus on vital parts of the body, including the headand torso, and heavy breastplates and plates for theback replaced full armor by the end of the 16th cen-tury. Armor for horses during the Middle Ages con-sisted of chain mail extending over the tops of thelegs and a helmet of chain mail. Cavalry horses dur-ing the Renaissance also had armor, including a hel-met covering most of the head. While horsehelmets often were made of thick leather, the bodyarmor of horses consisted of curved or interlockingmetal plates, with raised bosses for deflectingarrows and other projectiles. The legs, however,were left uncovered for speed and mobility.

TOURNAMENT AND PARADE ARMOR

Tournament armor during the Middle Ages wasthe same used as field armor. During this periodtournaments (or jousts) served as training and con-ditioning for actual warfare. Men were sometimeskilled during tournament competition, whichcould be brutal. By the 15th century, public tour-naments resembled sporting events, and specificarmor was used for each type of competition.Because tournament armor was worn only a shorttime for a specific purpose, it was thicker and heav-ier to provide maximal protection for the partici-pant. This armor sometimes required a winch tolift a knight onto the horse, and anyone wearingsuch armor often could not stand up in it afterfalling to the ground. Firearms were not used dur-ing Renaissance tournaments; the usual weaponswere lances for horseback contests and swords andaxes for fighting on foot.

Parade armor, which evolved during the early16th century, was not worn in any type of battle,including tournaments. All Renaissance armor wasdecorated, even if only with a narrow band incisedaround the edges; however, parade armor was mag-nificently ornamented, for both knights and horses.Artists such as Holbein and Dürer made designs foretching on armor. The three techniques for armordecoration were etching, embossing, and dama-scening, in conjunction with gilding and bluing.Inlays often consisted of gold and silver. Parade

armor was a symbol of status and power, andancient Roman motifs were used in the ornamen-tal imagery. Classical figures were displayed along-side biblical quotations and saints, with heraldicdesigns proclaiming the wearer’s identity and rank.Parade shields gave artists an especially cohesivesurface for creating elaborate designs; the innersurface of these shields was sometimes lined withfabric and painted with hunting scenes or otherappropriate motifs.

W A R F A R E

183

7.1 Armor of George Clifford, third earl ofCumberland, c. 1580–85. Made in the royal workshops,Greenwich, England. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art,Munsey Fund, 1932 [32.130.6])

Traditional WeaponryHANDHELD WEAPONRY

Medieval handheld weapons, improved by advancesin metallurgy, continued to be used by soldiers duringthe first half of the Renaissance. The chief types oftraditional weaponry were those with sharp edges,those with sharp points on a staff, and those that shotprojectiles such as arrows, supplemented by projec-tiles hurled from a sling. Sharp-edged weapons forwarfare included daggers and swords. The heavymedieval sword, wielded with two hands for cutting,metamorphosed into a lighter, narrower weapon thatcould be used to stab into the body where pieces ofplate armor were joined. Cavalry most often used thelance, a steel-tipped staff 10 to 12 feet in length. Heldby a seasoned knight charging at full tilt on an experi-enced horse, the lance was a formidable weapon. Footsoldiers used the halberd or pike, on a staff approxi-mately six feet long. Swiss pikemen, who often stoodtheir ground against a cavalry charge, were the mostrespected foot soldiers of the era. Archers used thecrossbow or longbow; the English were renowned fortheir superiority in the latter. The longbow had oneadvantage over the crossbow in that its rate of fire wasat least twice as fast. Loading the crossbow and wind-ing the tension lost crucial seconds in the midst ofbattle.

ARTILLERY

During siege warfare, very large slings and catapultswere used to bombard walls with stones in attemptsto create a breach through which troops couldattack. One of the most powerful of these was thetrebuchet, originally operated by teams of menpulling on a rope to create the tension that, whenreleased, would hurl projectiles. During the 12thcentury, counterweights replaced human force.Winches pulled the counterweight down, and a trig-ger released the heavy projectile with some degreeof accuracy. By the 15th century, accuracy had beenimproved by the use of round projectiles, includingiron spheres. Aggressive bombardment by a tre-buchet against a medieval wall was bound to causesignificant damage. One disadvantage of this sort ofmechanical siege machine, however, was that sol-

diers operating it were somewhat vulnerable todefensive firepower. Open space was required sothat no one would be injured when the trigger wasreleased.

Fired ProjectilesGunpowder originated in China, and probablyreached western Europe in the 13th century.Firearms as well as larger artillery were being used inwestern Europe by the 14th century, and the price ofgunpowder dropped significantly after it could bemanufactured in Europe. This decreased cost was onereason that larger artillery guns became feasible nearthe turn of the 14th century. By 1409, the duke ofBurgundy had a cannon that could shoot stonesweighing up to 900 pounds. One of the famousartillery pieces of the 15th century was the iron“Mons Meg” made in Flanders, with a bore diameterof nearly 20 inches (on display today in Edinburgh).The amount of gunpowder required to fire such acannon was prodigious, meaning that a single piece ofartillery could normally use more than 100 pounds ofpowder during a siege. By the mid-15th century, mil-itary commanders had devised a system of utilizingsmaller firearms to provide covering fire while gun-powder was repacked in the firing chamber by theartillery crew. Firearms were used in conjunction withartillery as well as with more traditional weapons andwere especially effective in siege warfare. The Hus-sites, for example, devised a weapon known as theWagonburg in which a group of soldiers firing arque-buses fought alongside archers with crossbows. Gun-powder led to new battle tactics, different types ofarmor, and finally, lethal warfare such as the worldhad never witnessed. In 1620 the philosopher FrancisBacon claimed that gunpowder was one of the majoragents of change in Western society. Between 1400and 1600 the manufacturing of firearms and their usein warfare altered not only technological processesbut also the political face of Europe.

FIREARMS

There were no standards for ammunition or for thecaliber of guns. Certain general statements can, how-


184

ever, be made concerning several aspects of firearms.Gun barrels gradually became longer, the size of thecharge increased, the highest-quality firearms weremade of cast bronze, and forged iron was used forsmaller, cheaper weapons. Cast-iron technology wasonly beginning in Europe during the Renaissance.Obviously, a firearm cast in one piece was safer andmore reliable than one forged in several parts. Newfield tactics developed to maximize the power andnoise of firearms, even though the trajectory of theirprojectiles was somewhat unpredictable. The “SwissSquare” battle formation, for example, was a mass ofsoldiers with long pikes grouped in a solid square,with groups of soldiers on two sides armed witharquebuses. Until ballistics improved considerablyduring the 17th century, soldiers with firearms usu-ally were complemented by soldiers equipped withtraditional handheld weapons. In Renaissance war-fare, except in very close-range firing, soldiers didnot take aim at a specific individual. They simplyfired toward the enemy, hoping to hit someone.More often than not, their shots went awry.

ARTILLERY

Artillery discharged with gunpowder was a muchmore effective weapon than small firearms duringthis period. In the Bohemian civil wars during theearly 1420s known as the Hussite Wars, small can-nons played an important role in the decisive victoryof rebel forces. Fear of Hussite advance spurred Ger-many to focus on the manufacture of firearms and toincorporate artillery in military planning. Frenchartillery became famous across Europe when it endedthe final phase of the Hundred Years War, and Span-

ish cannons drove the Muslims out of Granada in1492. To military strategists at the beginning of the16th century, artillery was clearly the key to futureconquests. Warfare changed considerably during the16th century, especially field warfare fought in theopen, and cavalry gradually ceased to be an impor-tant component of warfare. The Italian Wars, foughtbetween 1494 and 1559, were a testing ground fornew weaponry and new battle tactics, especiallyamong Spanish troops who had benefited from theirexperience in Granada. Although breech-loadingcannons were used in Italy, the majority of theartillery pieces were muzzle loading. Soldiers hadspecial tools for cleaning and loading the cannon,and for tamping the charge into the breech. Therewere also daggers marked on the blade with a scalefor weighing shot. Gunners used a quadrant to sightthe target in order to know how high to elevate thebarrel.

SOLDIERING

Mercenaries dominated the armies of RenaissanceEurope, sometimes changing sides when the pricewas right or refusing to fight if they had not beenpaid. By the 16th century, these companies weresupplemented by standing professional armiesalong with militia. During the 15th century, cavalrymercenaries such as the condottieri of Italy wereimportant elements of fighting in the open field.With the technological advancement of fired pro-jectiles, skilled infantrymen became more strategi-cally useful.

Although women did not fight as soldiers, theywere ordered to the barricades and bulwarks in timesof siege warfare. Tremendous amounts of dirt had tobe moved to construct bulwarks, which often had tobe erected on short notice. Women of all ranks andages, from 12 to 50, shoveled dirt and carted it inwheelbarrows. Occasionally they were recognizedand rewarded for their participation in defensivewarfare. In 1472, for example, the sumptuary lawswere relaxed in Beauvais (France) for the womenwho had helped prevent the duke of Burgundy fromseizing control.

W A R F A R E

185

7.2 Double-barreled wheel lock pistol of Charles V, c. 1540–45. Made by Peter Peck, Munich, Germany.(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of William H.Riggs, 1913 [14.25.1425])

The ArmyMERCENARIES

Mercenaries are soldiers who fight because they arepaid for their services, and usually they areemployed by countries to which they have no alle-giance. During the Renaissance the majority offighting soldiers were mercenaries. The total num-ber of mercenary troops in Europe in the 16th cen-tury has been averaged at 500,000. When wemention “the troops fighting for Metz in 1490,” forexample, those soldiers included Albanians, French,Italians, Flemish, Germans, and Spaniards. DuringFrance’s aggressive actions in Italy during the late15th and early 16th centuries, Swiss pikemen were amainstay of the French infantry. As did the Swisscompanies and the German Landsknechte, mostsmall companies of mercenaries during the Renais-sance consisted of soldiers recruited as a group from

one geographic area. Typically these regions, such asGascony, Swabia, and Scotland, were plagued with ahigh rate of unemployment and depressed economy.Because language barriers could be a problem, it wasstrategically important that the most cohesivegroups of fighting men be able to communicateeffortlessly among themselves. By 1500 these com-panies might have more than 100 men. Heavilyarmed cavalrymen and pikemen dominated the mar-ket for mercenaries in the 15th century, and infantrysoldiers experienced in use of artillery and smallfirearms gradually replaced most of the cavalrybetween 1500 and 1600. The most famous merce-naries on horseback during the 15th century werethe condottieri of Italy (discussed later).

Regular pay was only one of the benefits of fight-ing as a mercenary. Taking prisoners for ransom wasa lucrative business in Renaissance warfare. Merce-naries also looted the baggage trains of enemy forcesand seized booty in conquered cities. Occasionally


186

7.3 Battle scene depicting pikemen and cavalrymen. Woodcut in Sebastian Franck, Germaniae Chronicon(Chronicle of Germany, 1538). (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

they were out of control, as in the 1527 sack ofRome and the 1576 sack of Antwerp. In theseevents, mercenaries stole priceless treasures fromthe sacristies of churches and cathedrals anddestroyed property. They were also infamous forcruelty and sexual excesses. The life of a mercenaryprobably appealed to some men who had maverick,asocial personalities. Nevertheless, mercenaries hadtheir own codes of honor and sometimes refused tofight, or only pretended to fight, when opposed byfellow countrymen.

CONDOTTIERI

Italian condottieri were leaders of (mainly) cavalry-men working under a condotta, a contract in whichthey promised to supply a certain number of sol-diers for a finite period. Condottieri and their com-panies were the most efficient and respectedfighters of 15th-century Italy. Most condottiericompanies originated in city-states other than thosefor which they were fighting, with the result thatthey might find themselves fighting in their homestate against home forces. Apparently this systemwas acceptable to those who followed the professionof soldier. Many Italian mercenaries fighting forcondottieri were from Umbria, Romagna, or theMarche, remote or economically depressed regions.Although one condottieri was the son of a butcherand another the son of a baker, normally such lead-ers did not advance through the ranks. Most con-dottieri were of noble birth, and several of the mostnoteworthy were lord of their city-state, such as theEstes and Gonzagas. Although almost all condot-tieri were Italian, or at least half-Italian, a few illus-trious foreigners led Italian mercenary companies.The most famous was the Englishman Sir John deHawkwood (c. 1320–94).

STANDING ARMIES AND MILITIA

As warfare became a predictable aspect of life by themid-15th century, commanders in chief began tothink about how they could be best prepared for thenext conflict. France was the first country to estab-lish a standing permanent army: Charles VII(1403–61) ordered that permanent companies ofcavalry be organized, and Louis XI (1482–1515)

established a permanent infantry. Naturally as soonas one major European power had a standing army,others had to follow. Italy, especially Milan, Venice,and Naples, soon had standing armies as well. Oneserious problem was that permanent armies existedto fight. During peacetime these soldiers oftenmarauded through towns and villages on theirchargers, wreaking havoc and terrifying the popu-lace. In addition, they were usually accompanied byprostitutes and other unsavory characters. Ofanother caliber completely were the impressivenumbers of permanent guards who protected theimmediate vicinity of rulers across Europe. QueenIsabella, for example, had 1,100 infantry and 130knights, and Francis I had 720 soldiers assigned tohis household. These soldiers, much more than justbodyguards, often marched to war with their leaderand instructed new recruits.

Although militia were organized during the 16thcentury, their members had very little training oropportunity to practice with their weapons, whichwere handheld. The strategy of military comman-ders during this period depended on maneuveringfairly large groups of soldiers as single units, such aspikemen alongside gunners. Small towns in Europeusually did not have groups of men who all foughtwith the same weapon. The following reportdescribes the battle readiness of a typical English vil-lage: “The said armour and ammunition . . . is keptin one several place of every town, appointed by theconsent of the whole parish, where it is always readyto be had and worn within an hour’s warning. . . .Certes there is almost no village so poor in England(be it never so small) that hath not sufficient . . .readiness to set forth three or four soldiers, as onearcher, one gunner, and a billman [man with a bill-hook] at the least” (Scott 1976, p. 244, from WilliamHarrison’s 1587 Description of England). These sol-diers often set out without any idea of how to followinstructions for deploying their weapons duringactual warfare. The situation became even worsetoward the end of the 16th century, when firearmsused in battle were not always the same firearmsused in hunting, so that militiamen had to fight notonly in unfamiliar formations, but with unfamiliarweapons. There were, of course, exceptions to theseconditions, such as militia near court centers whowere occasionally drilled by the princely guards.

W A R F A R E

187

COMMUNICATIONS AND SUPPLY LINES

An army could advance no faster than its supplies,and heavy artillery slowed the daily pace of baggagewagons pulled by horses. Depending on the weatherand terrain, an army transporting artillery couldmove forward no more than three to nine miles perday. Ammunition had to be hauled for firearmsbecause soldiers no longer could use local stones forsiege attacks. Even though wheat or other grain wassometimes acquired from local suppliers, each armyusually traveled with its own flour mills and portableovens, necessitated by the great quantity of breadrequired for provisioning troops. Moreover, as platearmor became heavier, soldiers no longer wore it onlong marches unless the enemy was nearby. Armor,too, had to be transported in the baggage trains,adding to the weight and slowing the march. Thenumbers of individuals who had to be supplied withfood were staggering, an average of one noncombat-ant for each soldier, doubling the mouths to be fed.Every member of the nobility had several atten-dants, and some of them even took their “wife,”although that practice was discouraged if not forbid-den. When the French king Henry II (1519–59)joined the Lutheran princes to oppose Charles V, heestimated that his 50,000 troops would be accompa-nied by almost as many noncombatants.

During battle, communication could be impededby the international composition of the troops. Oneadvantage of hiring mercenaries was that at least eachcompany’s own members could communicate easily.Certain basic commands were effected by hand signalsand signal flags; fighting usually ended at nightfall.When those engaged in battle needed reconnaissanceinformation, a runner was sent. Military runners alsocarried communications between front-line comman-ders and the commander in chief. For such communi-cations carried over an appreciable distance, a riderwas used. The practical limits of communication withmilitary headquarters by horseback riders became evi-dent as the Turks advanced across eastern Europe.Turkish efforts in the siege of Vienna were futilebecause Vienna was too far from Constantinople toallow effective transmission of battle plans.

COMMAND STRUCTURE

During the Renaissance the main purpose of a mili-tary command structure was to impose discipline

and cohesion on a disparate group of individuals.Developing out of feudal warfare in which a knightwas the smallest fighting unit, the earliest commandstructure in the 15th century employed a horsemanin armor in charge of a small combat group. Thisfighting unit, called a lance, was first organized inFrance. It consisted of a knight, his squire and page,a few mounted archers, and a servant. For battle thelances were organized into “conroys” of fewer than100 men, in groups based on geographic origin orlanguage. The convoys fought alongside mercenarybands with comparable numbers of men and along-side groups of Swiss pikemen.

As warfare became more professionalized duringthe 15th century and the discipline of Swiss pikemenbecame the standard to be emulated, the concept of amilitary regiment evolved within the Landsknechte.Mustering, in which recruits were read their terms ofservice and swore to follow their officers, wasrequired. Each company (of approximately 400 men)was overseen by a colonel, and each platoon of 40men elected its own leader. Other appointed officersmediated disputes among platoon leaders andimposed disciplinary measures. This regimental sys-tem was adopted by military commanders in otherareas, who recognized the value of the esprit de corpsfostered within the platoon. The commander in chiefwas, of course, the king or duke, whose general com-manded the colonels in charge of each company.When the monarch was present at a battle, he usuallycommanded a special reserve group who wouldcharge into the conflict if the general faltered.

BATTLE TACTICS

Organizing a battle in the field was a matter ofselecting groups of fighters appropriate for the spe-cific conditions and type of enemy to be engaged.Mountainous terrain, for example, required moreinfantrymen and archers than horsemen in heavyarmor. Whatever the configuration of soldiers, hav-ing more troops than the enemy was crucial becausesheer numbers often won the day. Military comman-ders usually arranged their troops in a main battleline, with a vanguard, rearguard, and two flanks.The battle line could have several shapes, dependingon the terrain and available men; favorite arrange-ments were a dense, solid square of pikemen or athick crescent of infantrymen. Archers or gunners


188

often filled the ranks of the flanking troops. Battletactics during this period involved “shock” tactics ofhitting the enemy first and hitting him hard withpikemen, armored horsemen, or artillery. Surpriseencounters, however, were sometimes effective, andthe best surprise were massive desertions by theenemy’s own soldiers. One tactic used as a lastresort, but surprisingly successful when used, was fora large group of soldiers to pretend to flee. Anenemy who broke ranks to chase them became vul-nerable to attack from flanking troops who could behiding in a forest or behind a hill.

The NavyDuring the late 15th and even more so during the16th century, the experience of sailors during navalwarfare changed considerably. Before the inventionof naval artillery, sailors and officers usually won bat-tles in the open sea only by close hand-to-hand com-bat. The main alternative was ramming a vesselbroadside, a very risky maneuver. Before the inven-tion of gunpowder, medieval war machines could beused to sling or catapult projectiles against the decksof enemy ships during naval encounters near shore.On the open sea, smaller war machines could be usedfrom the attacking vessel. If burning pitch washurled, it could burn the sailors as well as set part ofthe ship on fire. In the days of sailing vessels, a shipwas disabled if the rigging and sails were severelydamaged. Catapulted rocks could jeopardize a ship,but the damage to individual enemy sailors was lim-ited. On the open water, an attacking ship had to rowor sail close enough to an enemy ship to toss grap-pling hooks against the rails, then haul the shipalongside to board it for combat. With the pitchingand tossing of ships in the open sea, arrows were usu-ally less effective than on land. Sailors often had tofight aboard the enemy ship, with daggers, swords,clubs, and other medieval types of weaponry. Onegroup of attackers was often assigned to search thecaptain’s cabin and the bridge for maps and sailingcharts. When an attack was imminent, some captainstossed their maps into the sea rather than risk theirbeing seized and used by the enemy. The Por-tuguese, for example, were famous for destroyingtheir sailing charts in the face of an attack.

Naval artillery consisted of large carriage-mounted cannons. Although cannons had been usedin naval warfare as early as the 14th century, theyrequired heavy, awkward mounts on the main deckof a ship. This location made smaller ships top heavyand exposed both the artillery and sailors operatingit during bombardment. Not until the early 16thcentury did military engineers devise a bettermethod for installing naval artillery. Gun decks wereadded, closer to the waterline for better stability,along with gun ports through which the weaponscould be discharged. The main disadvantage wasthat if a ship with cannons close to the waterline wasdamaged and began to sink, water could pour inthrough the gun ports and the weight of theweaponry could drag the ship underwater. This hap-pened to the English vessel Mary Rose in 1545 whileengaged in battle with the French near the coast ofPortsmouth. Most naval artillery during the Renais-sance was made of iron and fired stones or pieces ofiron. Bronze cannons were significantly lighter, butalso much more expensive to produce. (Someancient bronze statues were melted down during thisperiod to provide the raw material for casting can-nons and other weapons.) The weight and deploy-ment of this type of artillery ultimately led to thepopularity of the full-rigged, relatively large galleonas a battleship.

European superiority in naval artillery won the1571 Battle of Lepanto for the Christian coalitionunited against the Turks, the greatest military tri-umph of the Renaissance. The victory was cele-brated in songs, poems, paintings, and tapestries.This encounter is also famous in military history asthe last major battle involving ships propelled byoars. The ships of the Holy League met the Turkishfleet near the Gulf of Corinth, and more than 500vessels participated in the conflict. Including slaves,conflicts, and press-ganged men as oarsmen for thegalleys, along with sailors, there were at least140,000 individuals involved in the battle. TheChristian captains ordered their officers to fire atpoint-blank range, killing some 20,000 Turkishsailors by cannon impact, fire, or drowning. Thedamage inflicted on a ship’s personnel by repeatedartillery fire could be horrific, for example, duringthe 1596 English attack on the Spanish port of Cádizwhen ships were burning: “The spectacle was very

W A R F A R E

189

lamentable on their side; for many drowned them-selves; many, half-burnt, leapt into the water; verymany hanging by the ropes’ end by the ship’s side,under the water even to the lips; many swimmingwith grievous wounds, strucken under the water, andput out of their pain. And withal so huge a fire, andsuch tearing of the ordnance in the great Philip, andthe rest, when the fire came to them, as if any manhad a desire to see Hell itself, it was there most livelyfigured” (Scott 1976, p. 259, letter written by SirWalter Raleigh). The English sunk almost all theenemy ships in the harbor.

MILITARY MEDICINE

Advances in anatomical knowledge during the 16thcentury allowed more efficient surgical procedures,and more successful amputations were a direct resultin military medicine. Broken bones could also berepaired after a fashion if the break was clean andthe bones were not crushed. In treating openwounds, such as slashes from a sword, surgeonsbegan to understand more fully the locations ofmajor blood vessels and how to tie them off to pre-vent hemorrhaging. The French surgeon AmbroiseParé (1510–90) was a pioneer in Renaissance mili-tary medicine. Although he did not comprehend thenature of microbes, he experimented with variousfield dressings to fight infection, and he attemptedto make the treatment of soldiers a more humaneprocess. The brutal nature of fighting, however,exacerbated by the increasing popularity of firearmsduring the 16th century, challenged the scientificknowledge of medical specialists during this era.

InfectionSoldiers often died of infected wounds; stabs and gun-shot wounds were especially difficult to treat becauseoften they were punctures deep into the flesh. WhenAmbroise Paré first began working as a field surgeon,the common treatment for a gunshot wound was topour boiling oil into the hole and cauterize it. Havingrun out of the proper oil on one occasion, Paré acci-

dentally discovered a better, more humane dressingfor this type of wound: “At last I wanted oil and wasconstrained instead thereof to apply a digestive ofyolks of eggs, oil of roses, and turpentine . . . [The nextmorning] I found those to whom I had applied mydigestive medicine, to feel little pain, and their woundswithout inflammation or tumor . . . The others, towhom was used the said burning oil, I found feverish,with great pain and tumor about the edges of theirwounds. And then I resolved with myself never so cru-elly to burn poor men wounded with gunshot” (Rossand McLaughlin 1968, p. 561). Later in his careerParé bribed an Italian surgeon to reveal the secret ofan amazingly successful field dressing; it consisted ofturpentine, oil of lilies, and crushed earthwormsboiled up with newborn puppies. Although such pro-cedures may seem barbaric in today’s world of modernmedicine, we must realize that gunshot wounds wererelatively new problems in battlefield medicine. Gan-grene was the result of badly infected wounds, andamputation was usually the only remedy.

Field ConditionsWealthy officers and commanders took their doctorswith them on military campaigns, and bands of mer-cenary soldiers paid for their own barber-surgeons.For the common soldier, however, the ratio of men todoctors was probably about 150 to one. Although thisratio might be acceptable in a peaceful village, it wasinadequate during warfare. Triage approaches totreatment could leave a soldier with “only” a gunshotwound lying in a filthy field for hours, until infectionwas unpreventable. On the whole, soldiers shot byguns died more often than those wounded by pikesand similar weapons, but the latter weapons oftencaused more bleeding and obvious trauma, which hadto be treated. Other traumatic conditions in Renais-sance warfare were frostbite and freezing—the for-mer causing disfigurement if fingers and toes or anose and ears had to be amputated, and the lattercausing death. Numerous soldiers froze to deathwhile sleeping in the fields around Metz, for example,during the siege of 1552. Unlike in medieval warfare,when armies in the north of Europe usually wenthome during the winter, Renaissance campaignsbecame year-round events, especially in siege warfare.


190

Also, during an era when microbes were not properlyunderstood, in any large group of people gatheredclosely together as soldiers are during warfare, epi-demic diseases were rampant. Dysentery, sweatingfevers, and typhoid were particularly virulent duringsome campaigns, killing more soldiers than did battle.

Aftermath of WarfareAn aspect of military medicine unrelated to warfareitself was the return home of large numbers of sickand mutilated veterans, who discovered that theyhad no pension and no recognition of any value.Moreover, no medical treatment was provided forthose who needed additional care, such as surgerycorrecting a badly set bone or cleaning of the stumpof a botched amputation. In an age that had noindustrialized machinery with its concomitant acci-dents, men in such wounded condition were rarelyseen in public on a daily basis. The psychologicaldamage must have been severe, especially for thosewho no longer were able to support their family andwere forced to become beggars. One notable excep-tion to this situation was the attention paid toinjured and fallen condottieri in the republic ofVenice. To encourage greater loyalty, Venice offeredmedical care to the injured, military pensions, statefunerals, and occasionally monuments honoring thememory of great soldiers.

FORTIFICATIONS

At the beginning of the Renaissance, fortificationshad to be completely reconsidered as a result ofdevelopments in artillery. During the Middle Ages,well-stocked fortresses with a source of potablewater stood a fairly good chance of resisting siegewarfare. Such assaults usually began in the spring orearly summer, and hostile troops returned home atthe onset of cold weather if success did not appearimminent. Because repeated artillery bombardmentof medieval structures often yielded rapid results,warfare continued year-round by the latter 15th cen-tury. Even though winter might be approaching,

military commanders persisted in barrages ofartillery as long as supplies were available for theirtroops, certain that they could break the siege in afew more days or weeks. A new type of defensivefortification was needed, and it was designed in Italy.

Early RenaissanceMedieval fortified structures consisted of high wallsand towers with slot windows, constructed of brick orstone. These buildings were designed to withstand along siege by hostile forces. The only ways to capture

W A R F A R E

191

7.4 Wooden siege tower with soldier preparing to ascend.Woodcut in a German edition of Vegetius, Rei militarisinstituta (Military handbook, 1529). (Photographcourtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

such a fortification were (1) to roll a wooden siegetower against the wall and climb over, but such towerswere quite flammable and could be threatened by fieryobjects catapulted over the wall; (2) to batter downpart of the wall, under an assault of arrows, hot pitch,and other weapons hailing down from above; and (3)to tunnel under the foundation, a process that couldtake a very long time. Conventional towers and highwalls were no match for artillery bombardment, whichcould be accomplished from a distance with no threatto the invading army. In addition, the walls and towersof medieval fortifications were not equipped for theplacement and utilization of heavy defensive artillery.During the 15th century, European towns began toconstruct low, thick walls against their main defensivewalls, permitting pieces of artillery to be rolled alongthe top and positioned as needed. The outer wallswere often sloped outwardly or slightly rounded todeflect projectiles at unpredictable angles back towardthe enemy. Bulwarks, usually U-shaped formations ofearth, timber, and stone, were built to protect themain gate and to provide defensive artillery posts. Inboth central and northern Europe, many towns con-structed gun towers whose sole purpose was thedeployment of defensive artillery. These structureshad guns at several levels, but usually lighter, lower-caliber weapons than those used on the walls. Heavierweapons would have created unbearable noise andsmoke in the small rooms in which they were dis-charged. In several conventional medieval towers, theroof was removed and a gun platform install.

Later RenaissanceNear the close of the 15th century, Italian archi-tects and engineers invented a new type of defen-sive trace, improving upon the bulwark design. Inthe “Italian trace” triangle-shaped bastions withthick, outward-sloping sides were pointed outfrom the main defensive wall, with their top at thesame level as the wall. At Civitavecchia, a port nearRome used by the papal navy, the city walls werefortified with bastions in 1520—the first exampleof bastions completely circling a defensive wall.Bastions solved several problems of the bulwarksystem, especially with bastions joined to the walland not placed a short distance away, where troops

could be cut off by enemy troops. The most impor-tant improvement was the elimination of the blindspot caused by round towers and bulwarks; gun-ners had a complete sweep of enemy soldiers in theditches below. Development of the bastion designin Italy was a direct response to the 1494 invasionby the troops of Charles VIII and the superiorartillery of France at that time, and to continuedthreats from the Turks. Bastion-dominated fortifi-cations were constructed along the Mediterraneancoast to create a line of defense against navalattacks. Several such fortifications were built innorthern Europe, beginning with Antwerp in1544. In some instances fortifications were not fea-sible, for reasons such as very hilly terrain or oppo-sition from estate owners reluctant to loseproperty, and in some regions military threat wasnot extreme enough to warrant the effort of con-structing new fortifications. In such cases, an exist-ing fortress might be renovated and strengthenedto create a citadel. Municipalities often opposedconstruction of citadels, which symbolized tyranny,because they were imposed on defeated cities bywarlords. Citadels proved to be an effective means,however, for providing a protective enclosure dur-ing enemy attacks. By the mid-16th century, theexpense of fortifications was exorbitant. HenryVIII, for example, was spending more than one-quarter of his entire income on such structures,and the kingdom of Naples was expending morethan half.

MAJOR LEAGUES,BATTLES, SIEGES, ANDPEACE TREATIES

LeaguesEach of the leagues discussed in the following sec-tions was involved in conflicts concerning religiousdifferences, either Catholic versus Protestant, oneProtestant sect against another, or Christian versusMuslim.


192

League of Cambrai:Formed in 1508 with the ostensible purpose ofcontrolling the Turkish threat, the League ofCambrai consisted of the kings of France, En-gland, Spain, and Bohemia/Hungary; the HolyRoman Emperor; the pope; the marquis of Man-tua; and the duke of Ferrara. Their secret agenda,however, was to seize the mainland territory ofVenice. Although they were successful in 1509 atthe Battle of Agnadello, the league dissolved in1510 because of conflict among its members.Within eight years, Venice regained most of itslost territory.

Catholic League (French Holy League):Militant Catholics organized in France in 1576, ledby the duke of Guise, with the aim of resistingProtestant advancement. In 1584 this group nar-rowed its focus to oppose Henry IV as the heir tothe throne, and the duke was murdered.

Catholic League of Nuremberg:This association of German Catholic princes wasformed in 1538 in response to the SchmalkaldicLeague (discussed later).

Holy Leagues:There were four associations known as the HolyLeague or simply “the League” between 1495 and1571, in addition to the French Catholic League.The 1495 Holy League, or Holy League of Venice,consisted of Venice, Milan, the emperor, the pope,and the king of Spain, formed for the purpose offorcing Charles VIII out of Italy. The main HolyLeague, usually referred to without a date althoughit was formed in 1511, consisted of the kings of Eng-land and Spain, the pope, and the republic of Venice.The emperor allied himself with this group in 1512after its hostile stance against France became clear.The 1538 Holy League—the pope, the emperor,and Venice—joined to fight the Turks and the Bar-bary pirates. The 1571 League of the pope, the kingof Spain, and Venice was formed for the same pur-pose. Although not called a “Holy” League, the anti-imperial League of Cognac (1526) included thepope, along with the duke of Milan, the republicof Venice, and the kings of France and England.

Charles V responded to the threats of this League bysacking Rome in 1527.

Schmalkaldic League:In 1531, several Protestant towns and states joinedtogether under the leadership of Johann Friedrich I,elector of Saxony (1503–54), and Philip of Hesse(1504–67) to oppose Charles V and his Catholictroops.

Swabian League:The Swabian League was a confederation of severalcities in the southern part of present-day Germanycreated in 1488 to assure peace in their immediateterritory. Gradually it was enlarged to includeBayreuth, Baden, and all of Bavaria. In 1534 theleague was broken up as a result of disagreementsstemming from the Protestant Reformation.

Battles and Sieges1415—Battle of Agincourt:During the Hundred Years’ War, Henry V of En-gland invaded France, and his army of some 10,000men was repelled by the French. Then his soldierswere trapped as they attempted to retreat to Calais(English territory at the time). With only 5,000archers and perhaps 1,000 other foot soldiers,Henry’s strategy of deploying archers along bothsides of a muddy gully yielded victory for the En-glish. The 20,000 horsemen of the French cavalry,slowed by the terrain, were annihilated when theycharged. The resulting Treaty of Troyes restoredNormandy to the English, with other provisions (seelater discussion).

1428—Siege of Orléans:As the English were besieging the town of Orléansin 1429, Joan of Arc rallied French troops to repulsethe enemy and conducted Charles VII to Reims forhis coronation.

1450—Battle of Formigny:Charles VII led French troops against the Englishat Formigny, putting Normandy under the FrenchCrown.

W A R F A R E

193

1453—Siege of Constantinople:Turkish forces assaulted Constantinople, which fellin 1453. Many Byzantine scholars escaped to Italy,taking manuscripts and knowledge of ancient andearly Christian Greek authors.

1485—Siege of Ronda:Spanish troops under Ferdinand and Isabella suc-cessfully besieged Muslim troops in Ronda (west-ern Granada), where Spanish artillery was adecisive factor.

1503—Battle of Cerignola:Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453–1515) ledHoly League troops to defeat the French near thissouthern Italian town in the Neapolitan campaign.His success marked the first time that the arquebushad been instrumental in winning a military victory.Holy League troops simply dug trenches and waiteduntil the French were within range.

1509—Battle of Agnadello (Battle of Giaradadda):The Battle of Agnadello was fought on the borderbetween the territories of Venice and Milan. Here thetroops of the League of Cambrai, commanded by thecondottiere Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (1441–1518),handed the Venetian army its worst loss in history.Charles, duke of Bourbon (1490–1527), played animportant part in the victory.

1512—Battle of Ravenna:Although the French were victorious in the Battle ofRavenna, both sides lost so many men that this was thebloodiest confrontation to date in the Wars of Italy.

1513—Battle of Novara:At Novara, Swiss forces defending Milan defeatedthe French army led by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio.

1515—Battle of Marignano:French troops and German Landsknechte com-manded by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio defeated sol-diers of the Swiss Confederation in a humiliatingvictory at Marignano (near Milan), leaving Milanopen for French occupation. Artillery played a largepart in the victory.

1522—Battle of Biocca:At Biocca (near Milan) Ferdinando d’Avalos(1489–1525) led German and Spanish Imperialtroops to defeat the French army.

1525—Battle of Pavia:Imperial troops under Ferdinando d’Avalos andCharles, duke of Bourbon, attacked French troopslaying siege to Pavia. They defeated the French andtook Francis I as prisoner.

1526—Battle of Mohács:Suleiman’s Turkish army defeated Hungarian troopsand killed their king. From Mohács the victoriousarmy marched on Buda, and occupied the city in thename of the sultan.

1527—Sack of Rome:Charles, duke of Bourbon (1490–1527), fought in theItalian Wars for Louis XII. Francis I appointed himconstable of France, putting him in charge of theFrench military. After he served as governor of Milan,Charles became alienated from the king and defectedto Charles V. He was killed in the 1527 attack onRome, after which his soldiers rioted and sacked thecity.

1535—Battle of Tunis:Imperial land troops led by Alfonso d’Avalos and anaval force commanded by Andrea Doria, withCharles V personally at the head of his army, tookTunis from the Muslims. The caliph Mohammed VIwas put in charge of the city as a vassal of Spain.

1529—Siege of Vienna:Among the several sieges of Vienna, the mostfamous is that of 1529, when the city held off theTurkish army of Suleiman I. Because the sultan’stroops were so far from Constantinople, communi-cation became difficult and supply lines werestrained. With the onset of winter and approach ofthe Imperial army Suleiman withdrew his troops.

1547—Battle of Mühlberg:The battle of Mühlberg was the decisive victory ofthe Schmalkaldic War. Imperial soldiers and thearmy of Saxony defeated the Protestant army.


194

1553—Battle of Marciano:The battle of Marciano is famous for the blatantlydefensive tactics of both the Imperial army and theSienese-French coalition. After a week-long stale-mate, the French were running short of supplies andattempted to retreat. They lost at least one-third oftheir 12,000 soldiers in the resulting assault.

1557—Battle of Saint Quentin:Spanish forces stationed in the Netherlandsmarched on Picardy in 1557 in retaliation forFrench attempts to recapture Naples. Although thesoldiers fighting for Spain won a resounding victoryand might have been able to take Paris, they refusedto continue because they had not been paid.

1571—Battle of Lepanto:Fought near the Gulf of Corinth, the naval battle ofLepanto was among the most famous events of the16th century. Don Juan of Austria, commandingmore than 200 ships of the Holy League, defeatedthe Turkish navy. This victory was seen as a triumphfor Christianity.

1588—Spanish Armada:Also known as the “Invincible” Armada, this Spanishnaval attack on England never reached shore, partlybecause of wretched weather conditions. It is one ofthe most famous failures in Spanish military history.The Spanish fleet of 130 ships sailed from Lisbon,with the goal of picking up the army of the duke ofParma on the coast of Flanders and then invadingEngland. With long-range cannon on more rapidships, English captains such as Sir Francis Drake(1540 or 1543–96) and John Hawkins prevented theArmada from reaching Flanders. Skirmishes lastedfor two weeks, at the end of which violent stormsbattered the Spanish vessels and scattered the fleet.

Peace Treaties andSettlements1420—Treaty of Troyes:Located southeast of Paris, Troyes was the seat ofgovernment between 1419 and 1425, during the

Hundred Years’ War between England and France.As of result of this treaty ending a stage of the con-flict, Henry V of England married Catherine,daughter of Charles VI of France. Charles VI namedHenry V as heir to the French Throne, ignoring therightful heir, Charles VII.

1435—Treaty of Arras:The Burgundian factions, led by Philip the Good,recognized Charles VII as king of France in thetreaty.

1444—Treaty of Tours:In the treaty of Tours the Hundred Years’ War hos-tilities between England and France finally ended.

1454—Peace of Lodi:Signed by Milan and Venice, the Peace of Lodi ledto an important nonaggression pact by these twopowers, along with Florence, the Papal States, andthe kingdom of Naples.

1485—Battle of Bosworth:The English civil war known as the Wars of theRoses ended at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry VIIwas recognized as king of England, thus securing thesuccession for the Tudors.

1494—Treaty of Tordesillas:The treaty of Tordesillas, with papal sanction, parti-tioned the New World between Spain and Portugal,giving Portugal claim to Brazil.

1526—Treaty of Madrid:Signed by Francis I and Charles V, the treatyallowed the French king to be released from prisonin Spain. In his place his two young sons were sentto Spain as hostages.

1529—Treaty of Saragossa:In a modification of the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portu-gal was given rights to the Moluccas (Spice Islands).

1529—Peace of Cambrai:Also known as the “Ladies’ Peace,” the Peace ofCambrai was negotiated by Louise of Savoy,mother of Francis I, and Margaret of Austria, aunt

W A R F A R E

195

of Charles V. In addition to territory exchange, thetwo sons of Francis I who had been held hostagefor nearly three years in Spain were returnedhome, and the French king married Eleanor,Charles’s sister.

1555—Peace of Augsburg:The religious wars of the Protestant Reformationwere concluded by this peace settlement, by whichCatholicism and Lutheranism (though not Calvin-ism) were recognized as valid religions in Germany.(Chapter 2 discusses the Diet of Augsburg, whichpreceded the peace settlement, and the Wars ofReligion in general.)

1559—Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis:A set of treaties concluded the drawn-out ItalianWars that began in 1494. Savoy was returned to theduke of Savoy, Spanish claims to Italian possessionswere recognized, Burgundy was returned to France,and Florence gained Siena. In addition, Francerespected the autonomy of Mary, queen of Scots,and Philip II of Spain married Elizabeth Valois,daughter of the French king.

1598—Peace of Vervins: The treaty between Philip II and Henry IV reiter-ated the territorial distribution of the Peace ofCateau-Cambrésis agreed upon by Spain andFrance, and France regained land in Flanders. Spainturned over control of the Spanish Netherlands toIsabella, the king’s daughter, and her future husband,Albrecht von Habsburg.

MAJOR FIGURES

Albrecht III Achilles of Brandenburg (1414–1486),Hohenzollern elector, fought with Imperial troopsagainst the Hussites and later against the Poles. Heestablished primogeniture in Brandenburg.

Alexander VI, pope (Rodrigo de Borja y Doms)(1431–1503), born in Valencia (Spain), studied lawin Bologna. He became the most nepotic pope of the

15th century, installing his illegitimate children inpositions of power. These included the territory ofNaples, disputed by Spain and France, instigatingCharles VIII’s invasion of Italy.

Alfonso V, king of Aragon (Alfonso I, king of Naples)(1396–1458) invaded Corsica and Sicily, addingthem to his Aragonese empire. After the war of suc-cession for the kingdom of Naples, the city ofNaples became the cultural center of his domains.

Álvarez de Toledo, Fernando, duke of Alba(1507–1582) was one of the most powerful militaryfigures serving the Crown of Spain. He was com-mander in chief of Spanish forces in Italy underCharles V, and then viceroy of Naples under PhilipII. In 1580 he led the Spanish troops that con-quered Lisbon.

Anne of Brittany (1477–1514) was the daughter ofFrançois, duke of Brittany, whom she succeeded asduchess. By marriage she was twice the queen ofFrance, and her daughter, Claude, married thefuture Francis I, placing Brittany under control ofthe Crown.

Attendolo, Micheletto (c. 1390–1451) was a victo-rious condottiere who fought for Naples, the PapalStates, Florence, and Venice. He was instrumental inthe Florentine victory at the Battle of Anghiari.

d’Avalos del Vasto, Alfonso (1502–1546), marquisof Pescara, fought with Imperial troops at the Battleof Pavia and led the land forces of Charles V at theBattle of Tunis. In 1538 he became Imperial gover-nor of Milan.

d’Avalos, Ferdinando Francesco, marquis ofPescara (1489–1525), fought for Spain andEmperor Charles V. As Imperial lieutenant, he com-manded the troops at the Battle of Pavia and tookFrancis I prisoner.

Bandello, Matteo (1485–1561), Italian diplomatand soldier, was also a writer. He lost everything heowned in the Spanish attack on Milan and ultimatelymoved to France.


196

Barbarossa (Khayr ad-Dın) (c. 1465–1546), or “Red-beard,” was admiral of the Turkish navy. Along withhis brother, Horuk, Barbarossa harassed the fleets ofevery major Mediterranean power and conquered thenorth African coast. The fleet of Charles V wasdefeated several times by ships under Barbarossa’scommand. He also fought for Francis I, when theFrench king was briefly allied with the sultan.

Bloody Mary See MARY TUDOR, QUEEN OFENGLAND.

Borgia, Cesare (1475–1507) was one of the fourillegitimate children of Pope Alexandria VI. As papallegate he ingratiated himself with the king ofFrance, Louis XII, who made him duke of Valenti-nois. Borgia led troops in campaigns to reclaim partsof the Papal States and was made gonfalionere of thechurch by his father.

Botero, Giovanni (1544–1617) was a Savoyardpolitical philosopher whose writings advocatedthat Christian morality govern the life of the state.He opposed the political morality espoused byMachiavelli.

Bourdeille, Pierre de, seigneur de Brantôme (c.1540–1614), was an aristocratic soldier who partici-pated in the Wars of Religion. After an injury in1584, he began to write biographies of his fellow sol-diers (not published until 1665).

Braccio da Montone See FORTEBRACCIO,ANDREA.

Bussone da Carmagnola, Francesco (c. 1385–1432)was the most important condottiere of Filippo Vis-conti, duke of Milan, and defeated the Swiss army atArbedo. His services were needed by both Milan andVenice, and Carmagnola vacillated between the twopowers; he eventually was tricked and beheaded by theVenetians.

Caraccioli, Giovanni (1487–1550), condottiere,fought for the Republic of Florence and laterbecame governor of Marseille and the Piedmontunder the French Crown.

Castelnau, Michel de sieur de la Mauvis-Sière (c.1520–1592), soldier and diplomat, fought in the Ital-ian Wars. He was involved for many years in variousnegotiations with the English.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I, kingof Spain) (1500–1558), whose election as emperormade him a lifelong enemy of Francis I, who hadcompeted for the honor. Charles V’s reign wasplagued by war with France, hostility from theTurks, the Protestant Reformation, and revolts inSpain. Although he was able to claim a famous vic-tory at the Battle of Tunis, Christian forces were notable to hold the city.

Charles VII, king of France (1403–1461), with thehelp of Joan of Arc, was crowned in 1419. The firstfew years of his reign were spent in fighting the En-glish and their Burgundian supporters. Then he cre-ated a regular army that he used to suppress thepower of feudal lords within French territory. Theduke of Burgundy remained hostile, and the dauphin,Louis XI, who feared his father, lived at the Burgun-dian court until he became king. Charles was marriedto Marie d’Anjou, of the house who claimed the king-dom of Naples.

Charles VIII, king of France (1470–1498), theonly son of Louis XI, participated in the ItalianWars; he invaded Italy in 1494, conquered Naples in1495, and claimed his Anjou inheritance. He wassucceeded as king of France by his cousin, whobecame Louis XII.

Charles VIII, king of Sweden (1408/1409–1470),joined in a revolt against the ruling house of Den-mark in 1436. The Estates elected him as king ofSweden in 1448.

Charles IX, king of France (1550–1574), allowedhis mother, Catherine de’ Medici, to rule as regenteven after he became of age. She was partly respon-sible for the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (seechapter 2) and Gaspard Coligny’s murder.

Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1433–1477),led the final threat from Burgundy to the monarchyof France. Married to Margaret of York, sister of the

W A R F A R E

197

English king, Charles enlisted the aid of England inhis bids for the French Crown and the kingdom ofBurgundy. Leading his troops against the forces ofLorraine and the Swiss Confederation, he was killedin battle.

Charles, duke of Bourbon (1490–1527), fought inthe Italian Wars for Louis XII. Francis I appointedhim constable of France, in charge of the French mil-itary. After he served as governor of Milan, Charlesbecame alienated from the king and defected toCharles V. He was killed in the 1527 attack on Rome,after which his soldiers rioted and sacked the city.

Christian IV, king of Denmark (1577–1648), wascrowned in 1598. He created a resplendent court atthe turn of the 17th century that was especiallyfamous for its Italian, Dutch, and English singersand musicians. In Renaissance military affairs,Christian improved fortifications in Denmark.

Christine de Pisan (c. 1364–c. 1430) was born inVenice, the daughter of an astrologer. Because herfather was appointed as royal astrologer for CharlesV, king of France, Christine was raised at the Frenchcourt. She became a writer and translator. One ofher works pertinent to military history was theFrench translation of Epitoma rei militaris (On mili-tary affairs) by Vegetius, updated with informationabout contemporary warfare.

Clement VIII, pope (Ippolito Aldobrandini)(1536–1605), began his diplomatic career as a papallegate. Among other achievements, he negotiated asettlement in Poland between the Habsburgs andSigismund III Vasa. He recognized Henry IV as kingof France and helped to engineer the Peace ofVervins.

Coligny, Gaspard de (1519–1572), admiral ofFrance and commander in chief of the Huguenotarmy, served the Crown in the Italian Wars beforehe was captured. In prison he converted to Protes-tantism, alienating himself from the powerful queenmother, Catherine de’ Medici. His death was one ofthe worst individual losses of the Saint Bartho-lomew’s Day Massacre.

Colleoni, Bartolomeo (1400–1475), condottiere,served the Republic of Venice for most of his career.After the Peace of Lodi, he was appointed captain-general of Venice.

Commynes, Philippe de (c. 1446–c. 1511) was aFlemish historian and diplomat, who served asambassador for Louis XI. He was also a soldier, whofought at the Battle of Fornovo.

Cortés, Hernán (1485–1547), Spanish conquista-dor, conquered the Aztec capital city of Tenochti-tlán by besieging it for three months, includingcutting off the water supply, in spring 1521.Charles V appointed him governor of New Spain.After rebuilding the capital, Cortés continued toexplore and conquer parts of Mexico and CentralAmerica.

Cosimo I de’ Medici, duke of Florence andgrand duke of Tuscany (1519–1574), financed hiswars of expansion by assassinating suspected ene-mies and seizing their property, mainly in Tuscany.

Devereux, Robert, earl of Essex (1566–1601), lednaval forces that captured Cádiz in 1596 and wasassigned to quell Tyrone’s rebellion in Ireland. Fail-ing in that effort, he returned to England and waslater executed for treason.

Doria, Andrea (1466–1560) was a condottiere whobecame a naval commander, leading the ships ofCharles V at the Battle of Tunis. He helped place hisnative Genoa under French control, hoping in vainfor autonomy, and later established the Republic ofGenoa with support from the emperor. Many of hisnaval encounters were with Turkish marauders andBarbary pirates.

Drake, Sir Francis (1540 or 1543–1596), who cir-cumnavigated the world in 1577–80, fought for En-gland against Spanish naval forces. He played aninstrumental part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532–1588), afavorite of Elizabeth I’s, was general of her troopsin the Netherlands. He also served as her privycounselor.


198

Elizabeth I, queen of England (1533–1603), had arelatively peaceful reign, with the exception of theScottish disputes that resulted in the execution ofMary, queen of Scots, and of England’s victory overthe Spanish Armada.

d’Este, Alfonso I, duke of Ferrara (1486–1534),was an important military figure in the Italian Wars.Interested in artillery, he established a foundry forcasting cannons. With the support of such fire-power, Alfonso was appointed commander of papaltroops by Julius II.

Farnese, Alessandro, duke of Parma (1545–1592),soldier and diplomat, was raised at the Netherlan-dish court of his mother, Margaret of Austria. Hegrew up with the future Charles V and Don Juan ofAustria and served with the latter at the Battle ofLepanto. After conquering the southern Nether-lands, Alessandro became involved with the Wars ofReligion in France, fighting on the side of SpanishCatholics.

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564),was the younger brother of Charles V. Early in hiscareer Ferdinand married a Hungarian princess andfought for supremacy in Hungary. His chief militaryencounters were against the Turks.

Ferdinand V, king of Spain [Castile and León](Ferdinand II, king of Aragon) (1452–1516) marriedIsabella I in 1469 and consolidated non-MoorishSpain. He was also known as Ferdinand the Catholic.Their long reign saw the establishment of the Inquisi-tion, Jews’ expulsion from the territory, the conquestof Granada, and exploration in the New World.

Fernández de Córdoba, Gonzalo (1453–1515),Spanish soldier, was among the officers whoreceived the surrender of the Moors at Granada in1492. He distinguished himself driving the Frenchout of Spanish possessions in Italy, earning the nick-name “El Gran Capitán.” The Swiss Square battleformation (discussed previously) was invented byFernández de Córdoba.

Ferrante I, king of Naples (1423–1494), as anillegitimate son of Alfonso V spent much of his

reign protecting his claim to the Crown. He diedshortly before Charles VIII of France attacked thecity of Naples.

Foix, Gaston de, duke of Nemours (1489–1512)and nephew of King Louis XII, commanded Frenchtroops fighting members of the Holy League duringthe Italian Wars. Although he conquered both theSpaniards and the Venetians, he was killed at theBattle of Ravenna.

Fortebraccio, Andrea (Braccio da Montone)(1368–1424), condottiere, served Pope John XXIIIas captain-general and captured Perugia. His mili-tary specialty was the simultaneous use of multiplesmall units of soldiers reinforcing each other.

Francis I, king of France (1494–1547), was a life-long enemy of Charles V’s, partly because Francishad wanted to be named Holy Roman Emperor.Participating in the Italian Wars, Francis I won theBattle of Marignano to assure French dominanceof Milan, but he lost the Battle of Pavia and wastaken as prisoner to Spain. A low point of his reignwas the bargaining of his freedom in exchange forhis two young sons’ being sent to Spain ashostages.

François, duke of Anjou (1554–1584), fourth sonof Henry II, king of France, and Catherine de’Medici. He supported the Huguenots in the Warsof Religion. With the support of Elizabeth I,whom he almost married, “Monsieur” (as he wascalled) attempted to seize Antwerp but was drivenback.

Frundsberg, Georg von (1473–1528) was an illustri-ous German soldier who fought in the Imperial army.He advised Maximilian I on military reforms and latercommanded troops in the Swabian League. His sonand grandson also served as Imperial soldiers.

Gattamelata, Il (Erasmo da Narni) (1370–1443),condottiere whose nickname means “Tabby Cat,”began his career fighting for Florence. In 1434 heentered the service of Venice, leading troopsagainst the forces of Milan and ultimately becom-ing captain-general.

W A R F A R E

199

Giorgio Martini, Francesco di (1439–1501) was apainter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. His writ-ings on military engineering, well known by hiscontemporaries through manuscript copies, wereimportant for the development of the bastion infortification.

Giovanni della Banda Nere See MEDICI, GIO-VANNI DE’.

Giustiniani, Pompeo (1569–1616), condottiere,was nicknamed “Iron Arm” because he lost an armin battle and used an artificial limb. He servedAlessandro Farnese in the Netherlands and foughtthe Turks in Crete.

Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco I (1395–1444), condot-tiere, fought first for Venice and later for Milan, thenvacillated for and against Venice. Formerly captain-general, he became marquis of Mantua in 1433.

Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco II, marquis of Mantua(1466–1519), was a soldier who served as captain-general of Venice. He was away from his court forlong periods, fighting in turn for France, Florence,and Pope Julius II, then being imprisoned for a yearby the Venetians. During the marquis’s absences, hiswife, Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), became an impor-tant patron of art.

Gonzaga, Ludovico II, marquis of Mantua(1412–1478), was a military commander who foughtfor both Venice and Milan. For the first decade of hismarquisate, Ludovico was involved in war againstVenice, which was finally settled by the Peace of Lodi.

Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de (1517–1586), aSpanish minister of state in the Netherlands, wasalso a bishop. In this double role he negotiated peacesettlements, royal weddings, and church councils.Granvelle eventually became a cardinal and viceroyof Naples, contributing to the strategic planning forthe Battle of Lepanto. Near the end of his career, hereturned to Spain and advised the king on the inva-sion of Portugal.

Gritti, Andrea, doge of Venice (1455–1538), was amilitary leader in the campaign against the League of

Cambrai. His study of the defense system for Venice’smainland led to improvements in fortifications.

Guicciardini, Francesco (1483–1540), one of themost famous historians of the Renaissance, docu-mented the Italian Wars of 1494–1534 in his Storiad’Italia (History of Italy, published after his death in1561 and swiftly translated into six languages).

Gustavus Vasa, king of Sweden (1496–1560),founded the Vasa dynasty. He was involved in themovement to win Sweden’s independence fromDenmark. The Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 led toa revolution, and Gustavus was elected in 1523.Under his reign, in 1544, the Swedish monarchybecame hereditary rather than elected. He alsoestablished Lutheranism as the state religion.

Guzmán, Alonso Pérez de, duke of Medina-Sidonia (1550–1619), commanded the SpanishArmada.

Hawkwood, Sir John de (c. 1320–1394) was anEnglish condottieri. After fighting for France, heand his troops spent 35 years in Italy serving variousrulers. He ended his career in Florence, where afresco in his honor was painted in the cathedral.

Helmschmied family For more than a century,this family was famous as armor makers in Augs-burg. In the 15th century the original family nameKolman was changed to Helmschmied (literally“helmet makers”). Much of their work, especially inetched parade armor, was for the Holy RomanEmperors. Lorenz Helmschmied (1445–1516), forexample, produced a full set of armor for bothEmperor Friedrich III and his horse.

Henry V, king of England (1387–1422), was thelast English chivalric knight to wear the crown. Hisgoals as king included reclaiming what he consid-ered English territory in France and reunitingChristian Europe after the Great Schism. Henry Vis most famous for the victory of Agincourt in1415.

Henry VII, king of England (1457–1509), wascrowned in 1485 after defeating Richard III at


200

Bosworth. He ended the civil war between the housesof York and Lancaster by marrying Elizabeth of York.

Henry VIII, king of England (1491–1547), wagedhis own religious war within England when he estab-lished the Church of England, nullifying the powerof the papacy. Near the end of his reign, Henry insti-gated futile wars with France and Scotland.

Henry II, king of France (1519–1559), was mor-tally wounded in a tournament celebrating theTreaty of Cateau-Cambrésis. Although Henry waswearing full jousting armor, the tip of a woodenlance pierced the eye slit of his helmet and enteredhis brain.

Henry III, king of France (1551–1589), partici-pated in the Wars of Religion. He was partlyresponsible for the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Mas-sacre. In his fight to quell the Huguenots, he alliedhimself with Henry of Navarre against Henry, dukeof Guise, in the War of the Three Henrys. Afterthe duke of Guise and Henry III were both assassi-nated, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV.

Henry IV, king of France (1553–1610), was raisedas a Protestant. After becoming king, he convertedto Catholicism in 1593 to create peace in his trou-bled country, with the famous remark “Paris is wellworth a mass.”

Hus, Jan (c. 1372–1415) was a reformer in Bohemiawho followed the principles of John Wycliffe. Huscriticized social hierarchies, spoke out against theownership of private property, and had numerousfollowers. He was excommunicated and expelledfrom Prague. Attending the 1414 Council of Con-stance to appeal his excommunication, Hus wasseized and burned at the stake. The Hussite Warserupted after his murder.

Isabella I, queen of Spain [Castile and León](1451–1504), married Ferdinand II of Aragon in1469 and consolidated non-Moorish Spain. She wasalso known as Isabella the Catholic. Their longreign saw the establishment of the Inquisition, Jew-ish expulsion from the territory, the conquest ofGranada, and exploration in the New World.

Ivan IV, first czar of Russia (Ivan the Terrible)(1530–1584), greatly expanded Russian territory butfailed in his wars with Poland over the Baltic Sea.The sobriquet “Terrible” would be better translatedas “Mighty.”

Joan of Arc (the Maid of Orléans) (1412–1431),visionary military leader, roused the French to raisethe siege of Orléans and led Charles VIII to hiscoronation in Rheims cathedral. Betrayed by theduke of Burgundy, she was sold to the English andburned at the stake.

Johann Friedrich I, elector of Saxony (1503–1554),was coleader of the Protestant Schmalkaldic Leaguewith Philip of Hesse. He was taken prisoner at theBattle of Mühlberg in 1547 and imprisoned until1552.

John VIII Palaeologus, emperor of Byzantium(1390–1448), was involved in the Council of Florencedecreeing the primacy of the papacy. John VIIIattempted to organize a crusade against the Turks,but military efforts failed and his rule was restricted tothe area in and near Constantinople.

John III, king of Sweden (1537–1592), foughtagainst his brother, Eric, to become king in 1569.He was able to conclude peace with Denmark in1570. A Catholic sympathizer, he installed hisCatholic son, Sigismund, as king of Poland.

John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy (1371–1419),fought the Turks at the Battle of Nicopolis. In Francehe feuded with the Armagnacs and refused to lead histroops into the Battle of Agincourt, thus contributingto the English victory. He ordered the massacre ofArmagnac family members in Paris in 1418. In thefollowing year John was assassinated by a soldier ofthe king.

Juan of Austria (Don Juan of Austria) (1545–1578)was one of the most illustrious Spanish soldiers of histime. The illegitimate son of Charles V, he was recog-nized as a half brother of Philip II when the emperordied. His initial fame derived from commanding asquadron of galleys against Barbary pirates, shortlyafter which he drove rebellious Moriscos out of

W A R F A R E

201

Granada. Don Juan became governor-general of theNetherlands, where he defeated the rebels in 1578.

Julius II, pope (Giuliano della Rovere) (1443–1513),is best known in military history for donning fullbattle armor to lead the papal army against Perugiaand Bologna. He expended an inordinate amount ofeffort, both in fighting and in negotiating, attempt-ing to expand the Papal States.

Khayr ad-Dın See BARBAROSSA.

La Noue, François de (1531–1591) was a FrenchHuguenot soldier known as “Iron Arm” because ofthe prosthesis he wore after losing an arm in battle.His Discours politiques et militaires (Political and mil-itary treatise, 1587) was an important account of theWars of Religion from the Protestant point of view.

Lasseran-Massencôme, Blaise de, seigneur deMonluc (1520–1577), was a French soldier whofought in the siege of Siena. After participating inthe Wars of Religion, he became maréchal (Marshal)of France under Henry III.

Leo X, pope (Giovanni de’ Medici) (1475–1521), wasvery deeply involved in the Italian Wars. At firstopposing French claims to Naples and Milan, Leo Xfinally sued for peace, making certain that Florencewent to the Medicis.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), brilliant artist andengineer, left notebooks containing designs for vari-ous military machines. None of these designs wasknown by his contemporaries.

Lorraine, François de, duke of Guise (1519–1563),fought in the Italian Wars. He was instrumental inseizing Naples and Calais and became a powerful fig-ure in France. His troops instigated the Wars of Reli-gion in 1562 by annihilating a congregation ofHuguenots.

Lorraine, Henri de, duke of Guise (1550–1588),led the Catholic forces during the Wars of Religion.He was involved in the planning of the SaintBartholomew’s Day Massacre and the murder ofGaspar de Coligny.

Louis XI, king of France (1423–1483), alienatedhimself from the powerful Burgundian faction. Withthe help of the Swiss Confederation and allies inFrance, Louis XI managed to create a unified Franceby seizing Burgundy and other domains.

Louis XII, king of France (1462–1515), began hismilitary career by attempting to seize power fromthe regent and spent three years in prison. He wasembroiled in the Italian Wars for much of theremainder of his reign, with virtually no politicalgains as a result.

Louis de Bourbon, prince of Condé (d. 1569),served the Crown as a soldier and later became aleader of the Huguenots. He was shot and killed bythe Catholic enemy upon surrendering after theBattle of Jarnac.

Louise of Savoy, duchess of Angoulême(1476–1531), was the mother of Francis I. Duringthe years when he was on campaign in Italy, she vir-tually ruled France.

Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527), most famousfor his treatise on princely attributes, also wroteDell’ arte della guerra (On the art of war, 1519–20), abook that was read throughout much of westernEurope. It was influenced by Valturio’s De re militari(On military affairs).

Malespini, Celio (1531–c. 1609), condottiere, was aVenetian who served in the Spanish army, fighting inthe Netherlands and Italy. He became a literarytranslator from Spanish to Italian and from Frenchto Spanish.

Margaret of Austria, duchess of Savoy (1480–1530),was regent of the Netherlands from 1507 until herdeath. Her father was the emperor Maximilian I.

Margaret, duchess of Parma (1522–1586), wasregent of the Netherlands from 1559 until her resig-nation in 1567, compelled by severe opposition toher instigation of the Inquisition. She was succeededby her son, Alessandro Farnese.


202

Mary, queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) (1542–1587),was queen of Scotland and France. Her claim to thethrone of England was supported by her Catholicallies. She was beheaded by order of Elizabeth I.

Mary Tudor, queen of England (Mary I or BloodyMary) (1516–1558), ruled from 1553 to 1558. Dur-ing her reign, she attempted to reinstate Catholi-cism as the official religion of England, and severalProtestant martyrs were burned at the stake.

Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490), king of Hungary,spent much of his reign in military encounters,including struggles concerning the Crown ofBohemia and campaigns against the Turks in Bosnia.Matthias also engaged in a war with the emperor,taking Vienna in 1485, which then became a courtcenter along with that of Buda.

Maurice, count of Nassau (1567–1625), was themilitary commander during the Revolt of theNetherlands. Studying treatises on warfare, he reor-ganized the army into small battalions, includingspecialists in artillery and supplies. Between 1588and 1598, his troops drove the Spanish from thenorthern regions of the Netherlands.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519),commanded Imperial troops in France, Italy, and hiseastern European territories. His French claimsstemmed from his marriage to Mary of Burgundy,and he campaigned in vain against Louis XI to holdthe province. Much of his participation in the ItalianWars was in opposition to the French. He managedto drive the Hungarians out of Vienna and to repulsethe Turks at Villach. Among his military reforms wasthe establishment of the Landsknechte, foot soldiersfighting with long pikes who could be deployed witheither artillery or cavalry.

Medici, Catherine de’, queen of France(1519–1589), was a powerful figure during the reignof her sons. Although initially she attempted tokeep peace by allowing concessions to Protestants,the Wars of Religion nevertheless erupted in 1562.

Medici, Giovanni de’, (Giovanni della Banda Nere)(1498–1526), was a condottiere from Florence who

fought for Pope Leo X and later for the king ofFrance.

“Monsieur” See FRANÇOIS, DUKE OF ANJOU.

Montefeltro, Federigo II da, duke of Urbino(1422–1482), condottiere, fought for Milan, for Flo-rence, and most notably for the king of Naples, lead-ing a combined force from all three areas against thepapal army. In 1474 the pope created him duke ofUrbino, after which Federigo led the papal troops.

Moro, Il See SFORZA, LODOVICO.

Narni, Erasmo da See GATTAMELATA, IL.

Narváez, Pánfilo de (1470/80–1528), Spanish con-quistador, served under Diego Velázquez. In Mexicohe fought against Cortés, whom Velázquez wasattempting to remove from command, and as aresult lost an eye.

Navarro, Pedro (c. 1460–1528), Spanish militaryengineer, began his career by fighting in Africa.During the Italian Wars, he specialized in explo-sives, such as mines and charges to breach defensivewalls. In 1515 he began service to Francis I asartillery commander.

Negroli family Some two dozen members of theNegroli family worked in the family armor-makingbusiness in Milan during the 16th century. Theywere most famous for their highly decorativeembossed ceremonial armor. Filippo Negroli (fl.1531–51) created the parade armor for Charles V.

Niccolò da Tolentino (Niccolò Mauruzi della Stacci-ola) (c. 1350–1435), condottiere, spent most of hiscareer fighting for Florence against the forces ofMilan. In 1431 he became commander in chief ofthe Florentine army.

O’Neill, Hugh, earl of Tyrone (c. 1540–1616), arebel in Ireland, held off English troops for sevenyears with support from Catholics on the continent.

Paré, Ambroise (1510–1590) studied medicine inParis. He began serving as an army surgeon in 1537,

W A R F A R E

203

revolutionizing the treatment of gunshot wounds andintroducing a safer method of amputation. Paré pub-lished La méthode de traiter les plaies faites par arque-bustes et autres bastions à feu (Method of treatingwounds made by muskets and other firearms) in 1545.

Philip II, king of Spain (1527–1598), was also kingof Portugal after he invaded the country with troopsled by the duke of Alba in 1580. During the firstthree years of his reign, 1556–59, he lived in Brus-sels while waging war against France. In 1559 hereturned to Spain, expelling the morisco rebels.Although his ships won the Battle of Lepanto, Spainlater lost ground to the Turks and was forced toaward autonomy to the southern Netherlands.

Philip of Hesse (1504–1567), a German landgrave,was coleader of the Schmalkaldic League. A convertto Lutheranism, he sent his own troops to supportthe Huguenots in France and the Protestant rebelsin the Netherlands.

Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy (1396–1467),joined forces with the English against the FrenchCrown. In 1420 he reluctantly recognized CharlesVIII as king. Much of the remainder of his rule wasfocused on the rebellious Netherlands. His triumphat the Battle of Gavere was at the cost of some20,000 dead enemy soldiers.

Piccinino, Niccolò (1386–1444), condottiere, was acavalryman who spent the most important years ofhis career in the service of Milan, fighting againstthe papal army, Florence, and Venice.

Porto, Luigi da (1485–1529), a soldier who becamea historian, mainly fought for Venice as a cavalryofficer. He wrote a sort of memoir documentingmilitary affairs in the Venetian mainland between1509 and 1524, Lettere storiche (Historical letters).

Raleigh, Sir Walter (1554–1618), best known as acourtier and explorer, was also a naval commander.He fought with Essex in the 1596 attack on Cadíz.

Requeséns y Zúñiga, Luis de (1528–1576), whobecame Spanish governor of the Netherlands, wasin charge of suppressing the moriscos in Granada.His years as governor were full of conflict, partlybecause he refused to accommodate the Protestants.

Sampiero da Bastelica (Sampiero Corso) (1498–1567),condottiere, was a Corsican who fought for bothGiovanni de’ Medici and France. A leading figureon his native island, Sampiero caused several yearsof bloody conflict there, with Imperial andGenoese forces against Turkish troops supportedby France.

Sebastian I, king of Portugal (1554–1578), cru-saded against the Moors in north Africa. Obsessedwith military affairs, he was killed in the secondAfrican expedition.

Sforza, Caterina, countess of Forlí (c. 1462–1509),is one of the few illustrious women in Italian militaryhistory. When her husband died, she occupied thefortress and put herself in command of her husband’stroops. They held Forlí and Imola for nearly twoyears.

Sforza, Francesco I, duke of Milan (1401–1466),was also a condottiere, who fought both for andagainst Venice and the papacy. He expandedMilanese territory and worked with Cosimo de’Medici to conclude the Peace of Lodi.

Sforza, Lodovico, duke of Milan (1442–1508),began his participation in the Italian Wars by sup-porting Naples and Florence, but in 1493 he alliedhimself with Venice and the pope. After the Frenchattacked Milan in 1500, Ludovico was imprisoned inFrance, where he later died.

Sickingen, Franz von (1481–1523) began his careeras a German soldier serving in the Imperial armyunder Maximilian I. Then he became a mercenarywho extorted large sums of money, enlarging hisestates. Von Sickingen is most famous for leading histroops into Frankfurt during the Imperial election of1519 and helping to elect Charles V, though he hadaccepted a bribe from Francis I to oppose Charles.

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (also king ofHungary and Bohemia) (1368–1437), was notcrowned emperor until 1433. The military historyof his reign included a resounding defeat in his cru-sade against the Turks, his struggle to assert hisauthority in Hungary, and campaigns against theHussites.


204

Sigismund I, king of Poland (1467–1548), was atwar during most of his reign. He finally suppressedthe Teutonic Knights in 1521, and he waged severalcampaigns against Ivan IV of Russia.

Sigismund III Vasa, king of Poland (1566–1632),instigated a war with Sweden over his claims to thethrone. His troops occupied Moscow, asserting thathis son should be Czar, and fought the Turks inMoldavia. Sigismund III also influenced the culturalhistory of Poland by moving the court from Krakowto Warsaw.

Suleiman (c. 1494–1566) was the Ottoman (Turk-ish) sultan for 46 years, during which he expandedthe Turkish empire to its greatest territorial bound-aries. Had he not been defeated in his effort to takeVienna in 1529, parts of western Europe might havefallen under Turkish rule.

Terrail, Pierre, siegneur de Bayard (c. 1473–1524),was a brilliant military tactician from Savoy whofought for three French kings during the ItalianWars. He was most famous for holding Mézieres (inthe Ardennes) with 1,000 men against an Imperialsiege of some 35,000 troops, thus preventing theinvasion of France. Bayard, a model of chivalry,opposed the use of firearms.

Trivulzio, Gian Giacomo (1441–1518), a nobleMilanese condottiere, fought for Louis XI in Brit-tany and then for the Sforza family in Italy. Later hereturned to service for France, commanding troopsof the League of Cambrai who defeated Venice atthe battle of Agnadello. Trivulzio also led his sol-diers to victory at the battle of Marignano.

Valturio, Roberto (1405–1475), Italian writer, spe-cialized in warfare. He served at the court of Sigis-mondo Malatesta in Rimini as a diplomat andpublished an influential treatise, De re militari (Onmilitary subjects, 1472). This book, with its 82 illus-trations of war machines, discussed weaponry, battlestrategy, and other pertinent topics.

Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego (1461/66–1524),Spanish conquistador, was leader of the troopsinvading Cuba in 1511. Three years later he was

appointed governor of the island. He also assistedCortés in the conquest of Mexico.

William of Orange, count of Nassau (1533–1584),allied as a young man with the Habsburgs, graduallybecame alienated from the Imperial house. Hebecame a leader in the Revolt of the Netherlands,fighting Spanish troops, and was proclaimed a traitorby Philip II. He was assassinated by a Spanish loyalist.

READING

Major WarsBurne 2002: Hundred Years War; Goodman 1981:Wars of the Roses; Hale 1986: effects of major con-flicts; Kaeuper 1988: Anglo-French conflicts;Seward 1978: Hundred Years War; F. L. Taylor1973: Italian Wars.

Armor and TraditionalWeaponryBlair 1958: (general survey); Domínguez Ortiz1991: illustrations of armor, including details; Hall1997: information on the effectiveness of armoragainst gunfire; Vale 1981: England, France, andBurgundy; Verbruggen 1977: armor in warfare.

Fired ProjectilesHale 1986: the effect of firearms battle on forma-tions; Hall 1997: extensive information on the man-ufacturing of gunpowder; Rice 1970, 10–18: gunsand the balance of power.

SoldieringGouwens 1998: accounts of the sack of Rome; Hale1986, proportions of cavalry to infantry in 12 bat-tles between 1474 and 1610, p. 53; Hall 1997:weapons’ effects on the daily life of soldiers; Mallett1974: mercenaries; Martines 1988: Italy; Millar

W A R F A R E

205

1980: mercenaries; Murrin 1994, 79–102: literarydepictions of sieges; 179–196: literary depictions ofofficers; Showalter 1993: command structure; Vale1981: England, France, and Burgundy; Verbruggen1977: (general history).

Military MedicineHale 1986, 120–121: hospitals; Lindemann 1999,141–147, especially military hospitals; Siraisi 1990,181–183: field surgeons.

FortificationsHale 1986, 206–209, 234–235: modification of exist-ing structures; Hall 1997, 163: illustration of theItalian trace.


206

COMMERCE

8

Between 1400 and 1500, Europe experienced aneconomic revolution as the beginnings of capi-

talism developed alongside more archaic economicsystems. Many aspects of life were intertwined tobring about this change, including new designs forships that made long voyages for the purpose oftrade an important part of European commercialenterprises. Large-scale manufacturing endeavorsthat thrived during this period involved mining, tex-tiles, and building, the first of these dependent onslave labor in the Americas. Slaves were themselvestreated as commercial entities, not only as objects tobe bought and sold but also as producers and con-sumers. Businesses developed new markets duringthe Renaissance as a result of new products fromcolonial possessions, including exotic plants. Thepublishing of printed books, which began during thesecond half of the 15th century, was flourishing by1600. This new venture, itself contributing to theEuropean economy, disseminated information thatimproved various aspects of business. Booksexplained such practical topics as double-entrybookkeeping, the principles of crop rotation, andtechniques to operate hydraulic pumps. Books alsohelped teach the basic skills of reading and numer-acy; the relatively sophisticated economy of theRenaissance could not have functioned successfullywithout such knowledge.

Businesses that produce commodities for tradedepend on standards of weight and measure, and thelack of universal standards was a problem during theRenaissance. There were hundreds of names andunits with which to measure length, weight, and vol-ume. Long before 1400, the uniform Roman systemhad been contaminated by local usage, with theresult that Europe had no international standards.Moreover, the standards that did exist were poorlyregulated. Attempts at regulation were haphazardand confused, as numerous officials were involved insetting and maintaining standards. Devices forrecording and standardizing weight and measurewere made of substances such as wood and iron,which were altered slightly by frequent usage andchanges in the weather. To add to the confusion, dif-ferent units of weight and measure often were basedon various standards, even within the same country.In addition, a unit such as the foot, known by thesame word in several languages, did not contain the

same actual measure from one country to another.Linear units were usually longer on sea than on land.A French league, for example, was approximatelyone-third longer on the open sea. Measurements ofarea could be based on several factors, such as theamount of rent or annual income that the field couldbe expected to produce. Measurements of volumeoften were determined by the linear measurement ofthe rope or string needed to tie the items together.Finally the same unit often was referred to by two ormore words; for example the English pint, was calleda jug or stoup. Few countries had units of measurethat were multiples of smaller units. England, how-ever, did have such a system. For liquid volume, thequart contained two pints, the gallon equaled fourquarts, the barrel 31.5 gallons, the hogshead 63, thebutt (or pipe) 126, and the tun 252 gallons. TheEnglish mile was established at 5,280 feet, the fur-long at 660, the fathom at six, the pace at five, theyard at three, the cubit at 18 inches, the span at nine,and the palm at three.

BANKING ANDACCOUNTING

Banking changed dramatically between 1400 and1600. Pawnbrokers, who charged exorbitant rates ofinterest, had to compete with publicly owned bank-ing institutions by the 16th century. While powerfulmerchant banks continued to function internation-ally during the Renaissance, especially in the use ofbills of exchange, privately owned local depositbanks gradually closed as their clients turned to thepublic banks. In general, financial documentationbegan to be more professional as account books andjournals supplemented the new system of double-entry bookkeeping.

BankingBanking in the Renaissance began with a long reces-sion during the second half of the 14th century,caused chiefly by the plague, defaulted loans, and


208

severe fluctuations in the market. Several importantbanking houses in Italy became bankrupt, includingthat of the renowned Acciaiuoli family. With thegrowth of banks in Barcelona and Genoa during theearly 15th century, along with the establishment ofthe Medici bank in Florence, finances became morestable. Toward the close of the 15th century, theGerman city of Augsburg flourished as the bankingcapital of northern Europe. Banks in Augsburgowned by the Fuggers, Weslers, and Höchstettersbecame known throughout the Mediterranean.Wealthy individuals functioned as bankers to kingsand other rulers. Agostino Chigi (1465–1520), forexample, served as papal banker.

Renaissance Europe had four types of money-lending institutions: pawnbrokers, merchant banks,local deposit banks, and public banks. The rate ofinterest at some pawnbrokers’ shops was quite high,as much as 40 or even 60 percent. The majority ofpawnbrokers during the early Renaissance wereChristians, not Jews, in spite of the CatholicChurch’s prohibition against usury (lending moneyand charging interest). Many more pawnbrokerswere Jewish by the late 15th century, and they werecriticized for practicing usury. Montes pietatis (literallymountains of piety) operated in Italy by the CatholicChurch functioned as special nonprofit banks. Theylent relatively small amounts to private citizens inexchange for pawned property. Founded in 1461 bythe Franciscan order, these banks were established sothat people might avoid the “sin” of usury, especiallythe usury of Jewish sources of money. In 1515 theFifth Lateran Council (see chapter 2) approved thissystem and branches were opened in France, Spain,Germany, and the Netherlands.

Merchant banks functioned as internationalorganizations, issuing credit and invigorating themarket. Activities of these banks, which wereadministered chiefly by the extended families ofwealthy merchants, included insurance (especiallyfor ships), financial speculation, and foreignexchange. Bills of exchange facilitated the operationof merchant banking. These bills involved moneylent to the issuer of a bill of exchange, with theamount payable in the future in another currency atanother bank. Although interest per se was notcharged, a profit often was realized though differ-ences in exchange rates. Thus the lender received

more money than was originally lent to the bor-rower. By the 16th century, lenders were endorsingtheir bills of exchange, transforming them intonegotiable commodities, much like checks. In theRepublic of Venice, however, the bearer of a bill ofexchange could not transfer it to a third party andhad to be physically present at the bank to completethe transaction. Besides earning a slight profit forthe lender, bills of exchange permitted merchantsand their associates to travel internationally with noneed to transport heavy chests full of coins. The riskof theft by highway robbers was also greatlyreduced. (See chapter 9 for more information aboutmerchants and travel.)

Local private banks, as well as the larger publicbanks that eventually replaced them, functionedsomewhat as today’s banks do. Current accounts, orshort-term accounts, did not earn any interest.Long-term accounts, similar to modern savingsaccounts, did bear interest over a period. Localdeposit banks evidently began in Genoa during theMiddle Ages, and Venice dominated the market bythe 15th century. These banks were failing by theclose of the century, partly because they were fool-ishly speculating with the deposits, significantlyreducing the necessary reserve of funds. Publicbanks were monitored by public officials employedby the government, which operated these lendinginstitutions. Different rules applied in differentregions; some public banks were not allowed tomake loans to private individuals. Money could,however, be deposited into savings accounts. Duringthe 16th century, several public banks benefitedfrom the tremendous influx of silver and gold fromSouth America. The discovery of silver in centralEurope simulated the growth of public banks inGermany as money was minted from the silverextracted in the mining operations.

MONEY

While bills of exchange were used in Renaissancebanking, currency in the form of paper money didnot yet exist. Medal coins manufactured under gov-ernment control, the majority made from alloys ofcopper and silver, served as money. Because thesecoins were struck by hand with a hammer and die,the shapes often were irregular and the weight

C O M M E R C E

209

could vary slightly. In Augsburg circa 1550, mass-produced coins cut from sheets of metal creatednew standards of precision for Renaissance money.Coins were produced in the mints, from metal sup-plied by merchants, bankers, and others involved infinance. Those supplying the metal received pay-ment in coins; some of the money was paid in taxesto the government and some kept by the mint foroperating expenses. Each type of metal was madeinto coins of varying weights, with the heaviest, ofcourse, being the most valuable. Some of the

largest coins were quite heavy; Spanish pieces ofeight, for example, weighed 30 grams each. In 1400several cities and countries had a gold coin of equalvalue, approximately 3.5 grams each in 24-karatquality: the Hungarian ducat, the Aragoneseducado, the French salut, the Venetian ducat, theGenoese genovino, and the Florentine florin. Suchequivalences, however, were never a constant inRenaissance finance. Debasement of coinage pre-sented a recurring problem, partially caused by theexcessive expense of military campaigns, for whichgovernments minted more and more money. Nev-ertheless, in spite of inflation, the larger gold coinswere usually worth several hundred dollars each intoday’s money.

AccountingExcept in German domains, double-entry book-keeping had become popular across western Europeby the late Renaissance. Probably originating inTuscany in the late 13th century, this system wasfirst used among merchants in Genoa. In its sim-plest format, double-entry bookkeeping consistedof two columns on a page, each with a heading ofthe same date. The left-hand column listed debitsand the right-hand columns listed credits. Somemerchants also kept a journal as well as an accountledger, for the purpose of cross-indexing in both.The procedures for double-entry bookkeeping werefirst discussed in print by the mathematician LucaPacioli in his Summa de arithmetica (Summary ofarithmetic, 1494). Besides helping to make busi-nesses more profitable, double-entry bookkeeping,with its supporting documentation, helped mer-chants keep better track of inventories and otheraspects of their enterprises that benefited fromimproved records.

MINING

Mining was a large-scale operation that requiredmanagers and workers with specialized experience.Central Europe had several mining centers, for silver,


210

8.1 Man Weighing Gold. By Adriaen Isenbrandt, c. 1515–20. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, TheFriedsam Collection, bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931[32.100.36])

copper, and rock salt. Cornwall in England wasknown for its tin mines, and coal mining rose toimportance in England during the 16th century. Bythe latter 16th century, the silver and gold mines ofSouth America were sending significant amounts ofmetal to Spain. Exploitation of slave labor was espe-cially severe in Peru and Mexico, where generationsof slaves were worked to death in mining and smelt-ing operations (see pages 218–219). Though menoften died while working in mines in both the Oldand New Worlds, the job was safer in the Renaissancethan it had been previously because of new machin-ery. Giant water wheels as large as 30 feet in diameterwere used to power winches and lift buckets filledwith ore. Some of these wheels were not powered bywater, but rather by two or more men who rantogether inside the wheel (as hamsters run on a wheelin their cage). Mining shafts often were ventilated bymechanized processes, and more efficient designs forhydraulic pumps not only contributed to the safety ofmining, but also expedited the digging.

During the course of the Renaissance the extrac-tion of metallic ore was increasingly dependent onmachines, such as hammering devices for crushingore. More individuals had money to invest in min-ing operations, and more metals and alloys wereneeded for weaponry and armor for the wars thatplagued Europe. This unprecedented combinationof economic forces resulted in improvements intechnology and specialized labor. Metallurgybecame a scientific field, and treatises such as De remetallica (On metallurgy, 1556), by Georg Agricola,illustrated the subject in abundant detail. Manualsexplaining how to test ores and minerals were pub-lished, contributing to the standardization ofprocesses as well as vocabulary. These treatises alsoemphasized the role of machines and engineering incommercial production, enhancing the possibilityof mechanized processes in other fields.

Investment in mining made the fortunes of sev-eral families in northern Europe. Jakob Fugger(1459–1525), for example, lent money to the arch-duke of the Tyrol in 1487 and received amongtypes of security the controlling interest in themost lucrative silver mine of the Tyrol. Three yearslater the emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519)became head of the Tyrolean government and bor-rowed money from the Fuggers for military

expenses. As a result, Jakob negotiated even betterterms on the income from his silver mine. With theemperor holding a monopoly on the minting ofmoney, the Fugger family earned a concession of50 percent of the proceeds of each silver coin(mark) produced. This amount was eight florinsper coin, which was approximately enough moneyfor a family of four to live modestly for about onemonth. Because trading in silver was prohibitedin Austria and Hungary at this time, Jakob Fuggerdominated the silver market. His initial investmentof 20,000 ducats lent to the archduke constituted

C O M M E R C E

211

8.2 Hydraulic pump for mining operations. Woodcut inGeorgius Agricola, De re metallica (On metallurgy,1561). (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

the foundation of the Fugger’s multimillion-dollarempire of the 16th century.

TEXTILES

The creation of textiles was part of the life of everyhousehold. This domestic production, of peasants’making their own cloth and other textile items,should be distinguished from the manufacture oftextiles in workshops run by guilds (see page 216).Textiles manufactured for sale included woolencloth, linen cloth, and silk woven in various weightsand patterns, such as velvet and brocade. Produc-ing wool involved five processes, namely, carding(combing), spinning, weaving, fulling, and dyeing.Florence was internationally famous for the qualityand quantity of wool produced there during the14th century; its silk luxury goods became animportant commodity during the Renaissance.

Florence dominated the European supply of lux-ury fabric in the 15th century, including the fursand elaborately woven cloth produced for thepapacy. Clients for Florentine cloth ranged fromthe courts of Burgundy to harems in Turkey. Byoffering tax relief to silk workers who relocated toFlorence, the city guaranteed a large pool of skilledspinners and weavers. In addition, new types of silkcloth were developed, the most popular of whichwas “shot silk” in a taffeta weave with the warp andweft threads of different colors. The color of agown designed from this fabric would change,depending on shifting light and shadow as thewearer moved. Such novelties enhanced the appealof silk across Europe and beyond.

Woolen and silk cloth alone were expensive, andtailoring and embellishment such as embroideryadded to their cost. Some embroidery threads con-sisted of spun gold or silver, making them costlyindeed. In Florence, silk workers were paid much


212

8.3 Brocaded velvet, with silk and metallic thread, late15th or early 16th century. (The Metropolitan Museum

of Art, Rogers Fund, 1912 [12.49.8])

better than wool workers, an important reason whysilk fabric could cost five to six times more thanwool. Even though the manufacture of woolen clothrequired 27 steps and that of silk only nine, the rela-tively low wages of wool workers by the 15th cen-tury resulted in a lower-priced product. In addition,the weaving of fine silk was quite time-consumingon the hand-powered looms of the Renaissance. Askilled weaver might take as long as three months toproduce enough brocaded silk velvet for a sleevelessovergown. Cloth of gold, with gold or silver threadswoven as an additional weft, was so costly that anoutfit might have only the sleeves made of this lux-ury fabric. The fashion in Florence after about 1450was detachable sleeves for fancy gowns, whichallowed the wearer to display a variety of sumptuousfabrics with a single gown. The dyeing process alsoadded to the cost of both silk and wool, especiallysince the deep red preferred by many people derivedfrom a very expensive powder. The status of the costmay have been one reason why the aristocracy con-spicuously wore such a color. That red was, in fact,created from the kermes louse, dried and groundinto powder in the Far East and shipped to Florence.

Investing in luxury items such as silk was smartfinancial strategy in the expanding economy of mid-15th-century Europe. As is wool, refined from thefiber shaved from sheep, silk fibers are produced by ananimal. Sericulture is the growing of mulberry treeson which silkworms can feed to produce their fibers.Naturally the manufacture of silk textiles was relatedto sericulture, and regions that cultivated their ownsilkworms usually made a better profit in silk manufac-ture because the raw fibers were not supplied by athird party. The relatively mild climate of Europe per-mitted the spread of sericulture, even in England.In addition to textiles manufactured from rawmaterials found in Europe, cotton was a desirabletrade good purchased by the European market.Cotton’s role in the economic balance of trade wasrelated to that of other commodities shipped fromthe Middle East. Cotton yarn and bales of cottonfrom Syria, for example, reached European citiesvia the port of Venice. Much of this fiber waswoven into a popular utilitarian cloth called fust-ian, with a woof of cotton and a warp of flax (thefiber from which linen was made). (For more infor-mation on textiles, see chapter 12.)

AGRICULTURE

Grain was by far the most crucial agricultural com-modity of the Renaissance, especially wheat and rice.Census takers did not count the number of people ina household, but rather the number of grain con-sumers (meaning that small children usually were notincluded). The main goal of agronomy was to learnhow to improve the supply of grain, of all types.Renaissance agronomy began with the study of clas-sical texts on the subject, and, of course, the ancientRoman sources pertained to the Mediterraneanbasin. In addition, because of the mild climate ofmost of western Europe, successful experiments inone region could help improve agricultural produc-tion in other areas. The two most significant changeswere the elimination of fallowing (in which fieldswere left unused for a season or more) and crossplowing. With previously fallowed fields kept in pro-duction, three crops per year could be produced inwarmer regions. An increase in the use of manurehelped accomplish this innovation. Cross plowing, asopposed to plowing of parallel lines in ridges, pro-duced perpendicular lines, which opened more of theearth to receive seeds. The forage crops grown dur-ing the crop rotation in this system provided morefodder, which could feed more animals during thewinter. A greater supply of manure from the addi-tional animals perpetuated this cycle of abundance.The chief new forage crop was alfalfa (an Arabicword), which supplied nitrogen, supplemented byclover. Although lost to most of Europe after antiq-uity, alfalfa was still grown in the Muslim dominionsof Spain. Known as Spanish grass in Italy during the16th century, alfalfa became a mainstay in the diet offarm animals.

Improved irrigation systems as well as newhydraulic machinery that could drain wet areas forcultivation made untended land available for Renais-sance agriculture. In his Obra de agricultura (Book ofagriculture, 1513), the horticulturist Gabriel Alonsode Herrera (born c. 1470) insisted that regular sup-plies of water were more important than fertilizer.Working in Granada, Herrera observed firsthandthe sophisticated Muslim irrigation systems ofsouthern Spain. Other improvements to European

C O M M E R C E

213

farming included new cultivators created in 16th-century botanical gardens and new plants from theAmericas. Maize was grown in Spain before 1500,and western Europe was producing sweet potatoesduring the 16th century. The white potato, however,was not consumed as food. Along with tobacco, itwas grown for medicinal purposes. The tomato,considered inedible at this time, was cultivated as anornamental plant.

The general statements in this section should besupplemented in further study by more detailedanalysis of individual regions where the local terraindictated agricultural techniques. The Italian Penin-sula, for example, had (and has) three large agricul-tural regions, Lombardy in the north, Tuscany inthe center, and the south. Lombardy is relativelyflat with heavy soil, so fields could easily be irri-gated and diverse crops grown for market. Dairyfarming thrived, and cheeses from the regionaround Parma were famous during the 15th cen-tury. In Tuscany, with its hills, thinner soil, andsparse rainfall, grapes and olives did well. Peasantsgrew food for their own consumption, rotatingthree crops per year. Although sheep were culti-vated there, the wool was not valued very highly.Most of the southern zone, with its poor soil, wasdivided into large estates, many of which producedlemons and oranges. The land was also used forgrazing. Farms that did grow food products did sowith only a two-crop rotation. The entire peninsulawas beginning to feel the effects of deforestation bythe 16th century as massive numbers of trees wereremoved for shipbuilding and fuel.

During this period the state became much moreinterested in measuring and managing rural landuse, and regional officials gathered information onagricultural production. Cities were naturally linkedwith their rural neighbors because much of theirfood supply was local. Farms and larger estates alsoprovided another important raw material to urbanareas, namely, peasants, who did the menial tasksthat kept roads passable, raw goods delivered, work-shops clean, and so on. The rate of mortality amongthe lower classes in cities was very high: Only abouthalf of these individuals lived past the age of 20. Liv-ing conditions of the urban poor were appalling bymodern standards; urban people were continuouslyexposed to the filth of daily life (see chapter 12).

WINE, BEER, ANDSPIRITS

Wine and beer were the favorite beverages of theRenaissance. In general, the upper classes drankwine and the lower classes drank beer, and north-ern and eastern Europeans drank more beer thandid southern Europeans. Freshly made beer andwine were preferred because the barrels in whichthey were stored did not preserve them very well.Each season the arrival of new wine was a cause forcelebration as the first barrel was tapped. Althoughstrong spirits were first consumed as beveragesduring the Renaissance, their manufacture anddaily consumption were more widespread after1600.

WineThe upper classes as well as people who grew theirown grapes drank wine on a daily basis. Viniculturewas a good business in southern Europe, with vine-yards operating commercially as far north as the49th parallel. In France the mouth of the LoireRiver was the demarcation line for large-scale wineproduction. Wine made in Europe was not storedin bottles at this time, but in wooden barrels, orcasks, and it was rather high in alcohol content.Wine did not age well, often turning to vinegarwhen being transported in hot weather. New winewas preferable, at times commanding prices asmuch as eight times higher than those for olderwine. In general, both red and white wine wereconsidered undrinkable after five or six years ofstorage in the cask.

The Azores and the islands of Madeira and theCanaries had flourishing wine markets; shipsstopped in the Azores to take on fresh barrels ofwine, and vineyards in Madeira and the Canariessent wine via the water routes to England and theAmericas. Although wines from Chile were alreadygaining a reputation in the 16th century, Europeansdrank wine made chiefly in Europe. Because winewas such a necessity among the upper classes, gov-


214

ernments knew that they could easily tax wine mer-chants, providing a steady source of income to themunicipalities that instigated such a tax. Many mer-chants set up their wine stalls outside town walls toavoid payment.

BeerBeer was the standard beverage of the lower classes,especially in northern Europe, because wine usuallybecame more expensive the farther it was trans-ported from the source of supply. Members of thenorthern aristocracy were also fond of beer, themost famous example was the emperor Charles V(1500–1558), who was raised in Flanders. Createdfrom brewed grain, such as barley, beer has addi-tional ingredients to enhance the flavor. During theRenaissance brewers experimented with variousadditions, such as honey and bay leaves, for flavor, aspossible preservatives, and for their potential medic-inal effects. Although the brewing of beer some-times was not legally permitted in powerfulwine-growing regions, especially in France, the bev-erage was so popular that taverns in these regionsimported barrels of beer. Peasants were great beerdrinkers, sometimes imbibing more than a galloneach day (about two six-packs).

SpiritsUntil the 16th century, alcoholic spirits made fromdistilled wine were used for medicinal purposes,often in monasteries that added spices and herbs todistilled wine. Brandy, the most common spirit, wasthought to help protect against the plague, curetoothache, preserve one’s youth, and confer otherbenefits, when consumed in moderation. Near theend of the 15th century, people began drinking alco-holic liquor in greater quantities, especially duringpublic festivities. Within a decade town govern-ments in France had seized upon brandy productionas a new source of revenue from customs fees andtaxes. Although documentation concerning thespread of spirits as a commercial venture is lacking,we do know that brandy was being shipped interna-tionally by the late 16th century. Taking up the samespace in the holds of ships as did casks of wine,brandy and other spirits turned a greater profitbecause they were more expensive.

CRAFTS

Almost everything produced during the Renaissancewas made individually by hand. The two exceptionswere coins (see previous discussion) and printedtexts—and the presses that created them were, ofcourse, pulled by hand. The industrial age had not yetbegun. Workshops functioned in a quasi-industrialfashion in the textile (see pages 212–213), mining (seepages 210–211), and building fields. Most crafteditems were made by guild members, and a mastercraftsman (and they were always men) was in chargeof each workshop. Although women did assist in theshops, they did so as the wife or daughter of the guildmember.

ShipbuildingThe construction of ships, a branch of building,required special skills and tools, and the workshophad to be located near a body of water. Venice’s Arse-nal complex was one of the most famous shipbuilding

C O M M E R C E

215

8.4 Historiated initial E depicting grape picking andwine making. Manuscript on vellum of Pliny’s NaturalHistory, Italy, 15th century. (Biblioteca Marciana,Venice Italy/Lauros / Giraudon / Bridgeman Art Library)

yards of the Renaissance, employing several thou-sand workers. Among them were numerous women,who were employed to sew the sails. Interestingly,the Arsenal workshops were reorganized during the16th century: The usual Renaissance workshop sys-tem of masters’ training apprentices and journeymenwas suppressed, and each worker was forced to per-form one single task repeatedly. This model of laborincreased productivity but was relatively rare in thebuilding trade at this time. Frequent naval battlesand the resultant loss of Venetian ships may havenecessitated the new system. Shipbuilding work-shops in northern Europe had artisans who couldcarve the decorative figureheads that began to beplaced at the front of ships after the mid-16th cen-tury. Popular on medieval ships, the figurehead dis-appeared from galleons because of the design ofthese large vessels. Although the modern imagina-tion usually thinks of a ship’s figurehead as a mer-maid or similar female figure, the most popular 16th-century figureheads were of animals or mythologicaldeities such as Neptune.

GuildsAs European cities became important economiccenters during the late Middle Ages, wealthy mer-chants and government officials were able to pur-chase not only expensive paintings, tapestries, andsculpture, but also beautifully made householditems in leather, metal, wood, and other materials.These handicrafts—even the paintings were con-sidered handicrafts in 1400—were created by arti-sans organized into guilds. In some cities eachguild monopolized the production of one type ofcraft. In others larger guilds consisted of severalgroups of artisans, each group specializing in a par-ticular craft. Joining a guild entailed working firstas an apprentice (see chapter 11, on education),then as a journeyman, and finally as a master inone’s own workshop. The number of masters wasoften limited, to prevent undue competition withinthe guild. Although women were not permitted tojoin guilds, masters usually had to be marriedbecause the wife was expected to assist in the shop.Guild members helped support the economic wel-fare of their city, providing aid to masters who

became too old to work, as well as to orphans andwidows of masters. Guilds were also patrons of art.Several of the most impressive altarpieces werecommissioned by guilds, which also paid for elabo-rate church funerals for their members. On feastdays and during civil ceremonies, guild membersbanded together and paraded in uniform costume,similarly to members of confraternities (see chapter2, on religion). In fact, guild members constitutedmany of the confraternities, extending their contri-butions to the city’s social welfare beyond theimmediate families of the guild itself. Thus someguilds became not only powerful commercial forceswithin the framework of European cities, but alsonotable political groups.

By the 16th century many guilds were producinggoods via the “putting-out system,” as wealthier mas-ters invested in the handicrafts produced by thepoorer households. Instead of one artisan’s making anentire item in his workshop, the item might be passedfrom one workshop to the next, until all the steps ofits production were complete. This system, somewhatlike a mobile assembly line, could manufacture hand-icrafts much faster than the simple workshop system.The results, however, were less prestige and usuallyless income for the individual artisan.

PRINTING ANDPUBLISHING

The first books printed in Europe were block books,with each page cut from a single block of wood.Occasionally these books were produced in two col-ors. Because the process of cutting letters into thewood was quite laborious, such books often had onlya few pages. In the mid-15th century, the Mainzgoldsmith Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1394/99–1468)discovered a method for making punches and cast-ing type for letters that allowed him to print a book(the Gutenberg Bible) with movable type. The firstsuch letters were in gothic script, copying thegothic style of lettering in manuscripts.

Two innovations of Renaissance publishing werethe more readable italic script, modeled on humanis-


216

tic cursive hands, and pocket editions, both developedby the Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius(c. 1450–1515). Trained as a humanistic Greekscholar, he first offered Greek texts in large-formatfolio volumes, at expensive prices. Copies were still instock a decade later. He then decided to market inex-pensive textbooks of classical authors. Although theAldine press was shut down twice by warfare (in 1506and again in 1510–15), Aldus (as he is usually called)eventually produced books that most scholars couldafford. Fluctuations in the profits of his businessexemplify the experimental nature of publishing as acommercial enterprise during the first century of itsexistence. Other publishing houses, desiring a widermarket, issued books in the vernacular languages,which, in turn, encouraged more works to be writtenin those tongues. During the 16th century, secularpublications such as school texts, geographies, and lit-erature were marketed along with the Bibles anddevotional works that had become popular during theearly decades of book publishing in Europe.

PrintingThe first printed European work with a date in mov-able type is a papal indulgence of 1454 produced inMainz. During the 1460s, German printers estab-lished workshops in Rome, Venice, and Basel (Ger-man territory at the time). Toward the end of the1460s, a press was founded in Paris that printed textsfor use in the university curriculum of the Sorbonne.By 1480, important print shops were functioning inUtrecht, Nuremberg, Cracow, and Budapest, and inseveral cities in England, France, Italy, the Nether-lands, Portugal, and Spain. When studying incun-ables (books printed before 1501), determining theprecise place of production can be difficult becausemany printers moved from city to city, taking theircasting molds and matrices with them. Many earlybooks did not have title pages, only the names ofpublishers or printers at the end, along with the dateof publication. These early printers were imaginativeand creative, capable of issuing books with Greek by1465, music by 1473, and mathematics by 1482.Although most of the earliest printed books were inLatin, books in the vernacular languages became amajor component of the European market by 1500.

Publishing as an InvestmentSetting up a workshop for printing books was anexpensive undertaking because of the tools andmachinery required. The early printers were theirown publishers, but by the 16th century, more andmore printers were funded by other individuals, whoassumed most of the costs as well as the financialrisks. Many of the title pages of Renaissance booksstate at the bottom that the work was “printed by xxxfor xxx.” The name after the for is the publisher orbookseller of the book, who sometimes was responsi-ble for paying for part of the equipment and suppliesin the print shop and who often shared income fromthe print run with the printer. Local bankers wereamong the earliest investors in publishing ventures,from the 1480s. In Geneva, merchant bankers suchas the Fuggers funded the publishing of Calvinistworks. Many books were published under the aus-pices of an important patron, such as the pope, amonarch, or a wealthy cardinal. Aldus, for example,issued several titles with papal support.

Most publishing projects were meant to make aprofit, but not necessarily immediately. Print runswere surprisingly large, suggesting that most publish-ers must have been fairly confident of their market.Whereas items printed for special occasions, such asmemorial pamphlets, might have only 50 to 100copies, an ordinary print run usually had between1,000 and 1,250. Bibles and devotional tracts oftenhad much larger printings, between 3,000 and 4,000.The first edition of the Bible translated into Germanby Martin Luther (1483–1546) was printed in 4,000copies. Between jobs for printing books, the special-ized workers in print shops were never idle during theworkday. They produced numerous single-sheet(broadside) works, such as prayers and devotionalwoodcuts, as well as little ABC books for children andshort collections of popular verse.

Printing PrivilegesBecause publishing entailed such an extraordinaryinvestment of time and money, printers and publish-ers naturally wanted to protect their investment.Before publishing a specific text, the printer wouldrequest the “privilege” from governing authorities

C O M M E R C E

217

of having a monopoly on printing that text. Theseprivileges normally extended for a significant lengthof time, between 10 and 20 years. They functionedin effect as copyrights, but for the printer, not theauthor or editor. Piracies abounded, however, espe-cially when the jurisdiction of the authority issuingthe privilege did not extend into the territory wherethe piracy occurred. Printers in Florence, for exam-ple, pirated Aldus’s 1528 edition of the Book of theCourtier issued with a papal privilege. Much of theinvestment for a book could be lost if a pirated edi-tion flooded the market.

Related BusinessesBook publishing required tremendous amounts ofpaper and ink, as well as of metal to cut type. Paperrepresented the lion’s share of the cost, approxi-mately two-thirds of production expenses. On aver-age, most presses used 1,500 sheets of paper each day.With several thousand print shops in operation dur-ing the 16th century, the need for paper was extreme.To guarantee regular supplies of paper, some printersbypassed merchants and purchased their paper involume directly from the paper mills. Printers hadstanding orders with paper makers, and some print-ers ordered massive amounts of paper several years inadvance from the mills. The best solution for a fewprinters was to invest in their favorite paper mills,with an agreement that paper would be constantlysupplied. Although the binding of books usually wasnot the responsibility of printers, who issued bookswith paper wrappers, the explosion of printing dur-ing the 16th century resulted in the growth ofbinderies. Bookbinders, in turn, stimulated the man-ufacturing of leather in Europe as well as the import-ing of leather. The book trade also helped expand theannual Frankfurt fair into an international event eachspring (and continues to play an important part inthat famous trade fair even today).

SLAVERY

People were enslaved in the ancient world as galleyslaves, domestic workers, artisans, and other labor-

ers. During the Middle Ages, with the use ofenserfed peasants, estate owners no longer neededto purchase slaves for fieldwork and other gruelingtasks. Domestic slaves, however, continued to formpart of the household of wealthy individuals. Manyof these served as sexual partners for their owners.The Black Death of the 14th century that killedthousands of serfs precipitated an urgent need forgroups of hard-working, inexpensive laborers. Dur-ing the early 15th century, slaves from the Circassianmountains and other regions to the east were sold toindividuals in Genoa and other coastal cities. This“white slave trade,” both men and women, repli-cated the Muslim system operating in southernSpain and north Africa. Other cities, notably Venice,used young indentured servants sold to the captainsof ships by their own parents along the Dalmatiancoast and on the islands of the Adriatic Sea. Unlikeslaves, indentured servants usually worked for theirowners for a specific number of years and were freedat the end of their contract. Unlike the peopleenslaved as a result of the African slave trade thatbegan in the mid-15th century, indentured servantswere not legally defined as property.

With their navigational skills and proximity tothe coast of Africa, the Portuguese ventured intonorthern Africa and conquered the town of Ceuta in1415. From this base of operations, Portuguese mer-chant seamen slowly began trading with Africans,purchasing grain and textiles from the Moroccans.In 1434 the Portuguese expeditions passed CapeBojador, and seamen began capturing Africans alongthe coast for the developing slave trade. Ratherquickly, slaves became a valuable commodity. Thecity of Seville had one of the largest slave popula-tions of western Europe, more than 7 percent of thetotal inhabitants in the mid-16th century. Many ofthe owners were artisans, who purchased slaves towork in their shop. English sea captains as well asthe Portuguese participated in the slave trade, sup-plying workers to the Spanish colonies. (It was aDutch sea captain who sold slaves to the Englishcolony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1620.) Africanslaves were considered the legal property of theirowner and were treated as a commodity. Unlikegrain, textiles, and similar trade goods, Africanslaves were not consumed and usually did not wearout for a long time. Moreover, they produced moreslaves when given the chance to mate. For slave


218

traders who failed to recognize Africans as humanbeings, slaves were a good investment. During theRenaissance, between 300,000 and 400,000 Africanswere forced to toil as slaves, the majority in theAtlantic islands and the New World. (That numberrose dramatically during the 17th century.) The rel-atively small number of African slaves in Europewere located mostly in Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Slaves in Spanish America had a champion inBartolomé de Las Casas (1474–1566), a priest whobecame a wealthy landowner in Cuba. Stunned bythe cruel treatment of American Indians, he firstattempted to free them from slavery by suggestingthat each landowner who freed Native Americanslaves could have a dozen African slaves in return. Afew years later, however, Las Casas spoke out againstthe very concept of human bondage, publishing sev-eral books voicing his concerns. Because of the eco-nomic dependence of American settlers on slavery,changing the system was a difficult task. During histrips to Spain, Las Casas finally persuaded those inpower that the Indians, at least, should not beenslaved. This is the compromise for which hebecame famous. Although the new Laws of theIndies passed in 1543 prohibited using Indians asslaves, the legislation hardly improved the situationof most Native Americans. Instead of working asslaves, they worked equally hard in exchange forfood and housing.

Sugarcane Plantations

Sugarcane plantations in the Atlantic islands, such asMadeira and the Canaries, were prototypical exam-ples of the sort of large-scale slave labor used later inthe Americas. The Portuguese in Brazil andSpaniards elsewhere in the New World rapidlyexhausted sources of native labor. Partly because theIndian population had never been exposed to Euro-pean diseases such as smallpox, they were wiped outby various sicknesses. In addition, as of 1543, theSpanish government prohibited the enslavement ofNative Americans because they were considered assubjects of the Crown. Both of these factors causedcolonialists to invest in African slaves, who cultivatedthe sugarcane and provided the backbreaking laborto operate sugar refineries. Producing sugar required

a tremendous amount of wood for the burners, andslaves had to chop down trees and cut them up forfuel. Plantation owners preferred African slaves, whowere said to be able to do the work of four or moreAmerican Indians. It was virtually impossible for ablack African slave to become free (be given manu-mission). Because of their skin color, slaves mightescape but could not easily hide and were usuallycaught and punished severely, if not killed. In addi-tion, the slave trade dislocated families so that aslave’s relatives could not find their relative, even ifthey could afford the price of manumission.

Mining

Slaves consigned to the mines of Spanish Americausually fared much worse than those on sugar plan-tations. Working conditions were horrific, even byRenaissance standards, with many hours spent inheat, dust, and semidarkness with inadequate oxy-gen. Silver mines at this time were tortuous cham-bers winding back and forth beneath the access pit,not straight mine shafts supported by woodenbeams. Workers descended and ascended by ropesand ladders, carrying out the ore on their back, avery slow process. The key to commercial success inmining gold and silver was high productivity, andmining had no off-season. Unlike agriculturalendeavors, mining could continue night and day,and it was exhausting work. Moreover, toxic chemi-cals such as mercury were utilized in the refinementprocess, and miners were exposed to poisonous gasesin the tunnels. The mortality rates for slaves used inmining must have been quite high, but more slavessimply took the place of those who died. Labor wasthe most costly aspect of mining operations, butslaves were cheap compared with paid workers.

MAJOR FIGURES

Acciaiuoli family bank had its headquarters in Flo-rence, with branches in Rome, Naples, and Athens.When the king of England defaulted on his loans in1350, the business became bankrupt.

C O M M E R C E

219

Agricola, Georg (1494–1555) was a German min-eralogist who became burgomaster of Chemitz, in amajor mining region. He wrote a treatise on miningand smelting, De re metallica (On metallurgy, 1556).

Barbarigo, Andrea (1399–1449) was a member of afamily of merchants in Venice. His account books arean important resource on early Renaissance practices.

Biringuccio, Vannoccio (1480–1539) was a metal-lurgist and engineer who concluded his career assuperintendent of the papal arsenal. His Pirotechniaof 1540 (Fireworks, in a more general sense thantoday’s word) illustrated mining and smelting, themanufacture of glass and gunpowder, and otherprocesses involving fire or extreme heat. This bookwas translated and went through several editions.

Bodin, Jean (1530–1596), philosopher and econo-mist, wrote a detailed analysis of 16th-century infla-tion in France, Discours sur les causes de l’extrèmecherté qui est aujourd’hui en France (Treatise on exces-sive inflation in contemporary France, 1574). Thetopics he discussed included wages, prices, and thesupply of money.

Chigi, Agostino (1465–1520), of a wealthy familyin Siena, founded a bank in Rome and helpedfinanced the projects of several popes. He also heldthe concession of the alum mines in Tolfa.

Coeur, Jacques (1395–1456) was the son of aFrench merchant. Trading in textiles from Damas-cus, he became very wealthy and was appointed mas-ter of the mint and steward of the royal treasury.Coeur loaned the king of France money for his cam-paign in Normandy against the English.

Fugger family of Augsburg was the most promi-nent dynasty of bankers in Germany and one of thewealthiest mercantile families in western Europe. Inaddition to banking, their main commercial areaswere textile manufacturing and distribution, min-ing, and the spice trade. Emperor Maximilian Idepended on the Fuggers for loans, and they fundedthe election of Charles V. They were rewarded withthe management of income from Spanish miningoperations in both Spain and the Americas.

Gresham, Sir Thomas (1519–1579), English mer-chant, spent some 20 years in Antwerp as the finan-cial adviser for Elizabeth I. He also administeredher loans.

Grimaldi family were prominent bankers in Genoa.They became rulers of Monaco in 1458, a dynastythat continues to this day.

The Höchstetter family owned an important bankin Augsburg but became bankrupt when the head ofthe family failed in his attempt to corner the marketon mercury in 1529.

Las Casas, Bartolomé de (1474–1566) was the firstpriest ordained in the New World. Opposing slav-ery, he was instrumental in persuading the Spanishgovernment to pass new laws in 1543 prohibitingthe use of Native Americans as slaves.

Manutius, Aldus (c.1450–1515) was a printer andpublisher in Venice. He was the first to publishbooks in italic (cursive) script, and he published thefirst pocket-sized book (the octavo format), whichmade reading material more portable.

Medici family founded their bank in Florence andsubsequently established branches elsewhere,notably in Antwerp. One of the wealthiest familiesin Italy, they used their money to install familymembers as popes, cardinals, and other church offi-cials. The Medici bank became bankrupt in 1494when Florence was captured by the king of France.

Oresme, Nicole (c. 1320–1382) was a French econ-omist, whose treatise De moneta (On money) wasfirst published in 1488 and had several Renaissanceprintings.

Pacioli, Luca (c. 1445–1517), a mathematician whoworked at several courts in northern Italy, publishedthe first explanation of double-entry bookkeeping inhis Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proporzioni etproportionalità (Summary of arithmetic, geometry,and proportion, 1494).

Piccolomini family Sienese merchants, had a lucra-tive commercial network that extended from the port


220

cities of Genoa and Venice into France and Germany.They also had significant investments in real estate.

Strozzi family and their bank were the main rivalsof the Medici in Florence. They had an impressivemercantile empire.

Welser family founded a banking dynasty in Augs-burg with branches throughout western Europe.They invested in trade from the Far East and hadseveral mineral rights in the Americas as a result ofloans to Charles V.

READING

Appuhn 2002: economic development; Berriman1953: weights and measures; Braudel, Perspective 1992,pp. 1–174: (general survey); Brotton 2002: “A GlobalRenaissance,” pp. 33–61, on trade between theOttomans and Europe; Frick 2002: p. 97 table listingestimated annual earnings in Florence during the 15thcentury for 19 categories of employment, from lawyerto carpenter, in descending order; Kula 1986: weightsand measures; Miskimin 1977: (general history).

Banking and AccountingCenter for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 1979:banking; De Roover 1966: Medici bank; Edwards2000: accounting; Ehrenberg 1963: banking; Goldth-waite 1987: banking; Lane 1985: banking; Munro1992: banking; Tenenti 1991: (character study).

MiningBraudel, Structures, 1992; (general survey); Hatcher1973: English tin; Tylecote 1992: metallurgy.

TextilesBraudel, Structures, 1992; (general survey); Frick2002: Florence; Molà 2000: Florentine silk.

AgricultureAmbrosoli 1997: botanical studies; Appuhn 2002:economic development; Braudel, Structures, 1992:(general survey); Fusell 1972: classical Roman meth-ods of farming.

Wine, Beer, and SpiritsBraudel, Structures, 1992 (general survey).

CraftsAppuhn 2002: economic development; Braudel,Wheels 1992: markets; Frick 2002: Florence.

PublishingEisenstein 1983: social context of printing; Hind-man 1991: social context of books; Hirsch 1974: lit-eracy and the book market; Jardine 1998: “TheTriumph of the Book,” pp. 135–180: popularity ofprinted books.

SlaveryKnight 1993: Spain and Portugal; Marino 2002:economic impact; Panzer 1996: papal involvement;Phillips 1993: the Americas; Solow 1993; Atlanticbasin.

C O M M E R C E

221

EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL

9

Outside the large cities, travel within Europewas not much different from travel during the

later Middle Ages—dirty, slow, and often danger-ous. The few improvements were along routes usedfor mail delivery, which by the 16th century wasregulated by the state in some areas. Whether trav-eling by water or land, people during the Renais-sance had a problem transporting their money.Because all money was in the form of coins, a packanimal was sometimes required to carry the heavysacks or a cart or wagon was needed to transport achest of coins. Such conveyances targeted travelersfor highway robbers and other disreputable people.Most travelers had to stay in roadside inns, whichwere crowded and flea-ridden; pilgrims, however,

sometimes were permitted to stay overnight in hos-pitals when there was enough room.

Ancient texts of geography, navigational knowl-edge and tools from Arabic sources, and maps drawnfrom firsthand observation all contributed to a newworld picture for Renaissance Europeans. Between1400 and 1600, the world seemed to double in size.This information did not, however, cause mostEuropeans to cease thinking of themselves as themost powerful people on the face of the Earth.Descriptive reports from geographers, explorers,and other travelers convinced the pope and otherrulers that Catholic Europeans were morally andspiritually superior to the “heathens” in newlyexplored and conquered territory. Voyages of explo-ration had a twofold purpose, in that the conversionof the native population to Christianity was almostas important as foreign trade. This pious attitude didnot hinder the development of the slave trade, whichbecame an impetus for voyages to Africa.

With the modern world’s comfortable and reliablemeans of transoceanic travel, it may be difficult tocomprehend the extreme risk of voyaging into theopen ocean during the Renaissance. Letters, log-books, and literature of the 15th and 16th centuriesrefer to rocky promontories, mighty waves, icestorms, and destructive winds in metaphorical as wellas literal descriptions. Exploring the world’s oceanshad captured the popular imagination. During theperiod covered by this book, Portugal and Spaindominated the voyages of exploration; France andEngland sent out only a few explorers. By the later16th century Dutch and Flemish cartographers dom-inated the map market.

GEOGRAPHY ANDCARTOGRAPHY

Geography and cartography are complementary dis-ciplines; cartography graphically depicts informa-tion about the Earth related through geographicalstudy. Because of new Renaissance mathematicalcomputation techniques, both fields advanced sig-nificantly between 1400 and 1600. Knowledge from


224

9.1 Illustrations of the “heathens” and “monstrous races”believed to inhabit foreign lands. Woodcut title page inJohn Mandeville’s Libro de maravillas (Book of marvels,1531). (Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America)

ancient texts, as well as from medieval Arabicsources translated into Latin, contributed to theenhancement of research concerning the Earth’ssurface. Manuscript maps and Portolan charts (sail-ing charts) proliferated during the Renaissance. Inaddition, new techniques for engraving on copperplates led to the production of finely drawn mapsthat could be printed in multiple copies. During themid-16th century, engraved maps were marketed byItalian map publishers, who occasionally sold smallcollections of maps in albums. The first album ofmaps describing the entire known world was pub-lished by a Flemish cartographer in 1570. Worldglobes were created from engraved globe gorespasted onto a round plaster base. These gores con-tained a map of the world printed in a series ofalmond-shaped sections, wider across the equatorand tapering to a point at the North and SouthPoles. When cut apart and trimmed along the edges,globe gores fit perfectly over a round form.

Descriptive geography and ornamental cartogra-phy presented information about physical and cul-tural aspects of foreign lands. Often exaggerated, thepublished reports of explorers and travelers gaveEuropeans their earliest knowledge of West Africanflora and fauna, customs of India, indigenous inhab-itants of the New World, and the promise of goldand fertile land in the Americas.

GeographyGeography, or writing about the Earth, developed asa scientific discipline during the Renaissance. Unlikecosmography (see chapter 10), which related theEarth’s relationship with the known universe, geogra-phy focused on divisions of the Earth itself. Chorog-raphy, a branch of geography (from the Greek wordchoros, place), consists of topographical and historicaldescriptions of districts or regions. During theRenaissance, this specialized field often includedgenealogical information. Geographic measurementbenefited tremendously from advances in mathemat-ics, and geographical mathematics was invigoratedafter 1410 by the translation into Latin of Ptolemy’s(c. 100–c. 170) Greek treatise on geography. Thisfield of mathematics was used to determine the loca-tion and size of parts of the Earth’s surface, and pilots

and surveyors added information on the shapes ofcoastlines and the contours of rivers. Ptolemy’s tech-nique for describing the Earth’s surface, includinglines of latitude and longitude, created the foundationtext for Renaissance geographical studies. (The actualpositions of longitude could not be determined byRenaissance navigators because they needed an accu-rate portable clock. The longitude lines on maps andcharts were largely ignored by those charting coursesfor ships.) The Greek author Strabo (c. 63 B.C.E.–c.20 C.E.) provided the ancient model for descriptivegeography. Renaissance authors wrote about the dis-tinctive characteristics, political as well as physical, ofEurope and of exotic locales.

Many texts of descriptive geography includedethnographic information. During this period, newlyrevealed geographic details about the Old World con-tributed to the development of national identities. Inaddition, detailed information on European coloniesin the east and west, often couched in imperialistvocabulary, heightened the sense of superiority ofEuropeans in relation to other societies. As Europeansmeasured other parts of the Earth with mathematicalgeography, they assumed that they could controlthem. As Europeans learned about other places andcultures via descriptive geography, they decided thatthey should control them. A French adventurer wrotethe following description of Brazilian natives in 1556:“Those who live upstream near the equator are eviland vicious; they eat human flesh. Those further fromthe equator, being lowland people, are more tractable.All the said savages, both upstream and down, gonaked; their huts and houses are covered with leavesand bark” (Lestringant 1994, p. 134). Other reports of“barbarous” living conditions reached the eyes ofEuropean readers from Africa and from the Far East,prompting Christian Europe to attempt to convert the“heathens” while exploiting their natural resources.

Gomes Eanes de Zurara (1410/20–74), a Por-tuguese historian, used the government archives inLisbon to write the first known account of tropicalAfrica by a European. Zurara’s work, however, wasnot published during the Renaissance, althoughcopies circulated in manuscript. Such reports wereconsidered state secrets and not to be shared withforeigners. Firsthand geographic information fromthe voyages of Vasco da Gama (c. 1460–1524),Pedro Cabral (c. 1467–c. 1520), and other explorers

E X P L O R A T I O N A N D T R A V E L

225

nevertheless was translated into Italian and pub-lished in 1507 as Paesi novamente retrovati (Newlydiscovered lands). Although much of the countrydescribed was in the Americas, this very popularbook also included reports on parts of the Orient.There were 14 16th-century editions of this textalone, plus many “adaptations” by others. Themajority of European readers probably learnedabout foreign lands by reading this book.

The first significant description of part of Amer-ica appeared in Pietro Martire d’Anghiera’s(1457–1526) De orbe novo (On the New World, part1, 1511). His conversations with explorers who sailedfor Spain were the basis of much of the informationin this book. The description of the island of Hispan-iola, for example, began by stating that its shape isthat of the leaf of a chestnut tree. After extolling theclimate and fertility of the soil, the author described avalley with many rivers: “Out of the sands of them allthere is found plenty of gold,” with reports ofnuggets of gold as large as a walnut, an orange, andeven a child’s head (Ross and McLaughlin 1968, pp.148–149). A report from the first European explo-ration in the land called Virginia, published in 1589,mentioned that the natives were “handsome andgoodly people” and that the “island [Roanoke] hadmany goodly woods, and full of deer, conies [rabbits],hares and fowl” and “the highest and reddest cedarsof the world” (Scott 1976, p. 264). Reports such asthese, in which the Americas were touted as a goldenland, persuaded Europeans to leave their home andfamily to settle in “paradise.” Because the nativeswere said not to be realizing the potential of the landand its abundance, Europeans presumed that theyhad the right to do so.

CartographyThe art and science of cartography depict geograph-ical information in a graphic format. Renaissancecartography visually reinforced the divisions of theEarth described by geography. (For celestial cartog-raphy, see chapter 10). Engraved maps, which pre-sented much greater detail than most woodcut maps,were issued in single sheets as well as in atlases. Manypeople could afford to buy single-sheet printed maps.During the 16th century, individual maps of France,

England, Spain, and other political entities con-tributed to the developing concept of nations withinEurope, and maps of Europe emphasized the familiarheterogeneity of the continent, as opposed tounknown regions in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

The Contarini world map of 1506, of which onlyone copy remains (in the British Museum), was thefirst printed map to display results of recent explo-rations. America is depicted but not labeled. Acaption states (incorrectly, of course) thatColumbus arrived on the coast of Asia to the westof Japan. The earliest printed map with the NewWorld named America (after Amerigo Vespucci,1454–1512) was a world map engraved in 1507.Created by the German cartographer Martin Wald-seemüller (1470–1518), this rather large map repre-sents South and North America as separatecontinents, the latter extremely narrow. (Today theunique extant example is in Wolfegg Castle, Würt-temberg.) A third early world map depicting Amer-ica was made by Johannes Ruysch and inserted incopies of his Cosmographiae introductio (Introductionto cosmography, 1507–8). Amazingly accurate,Ruysch’s map was drawn from firsthand observa-tions during an expedition to the New World.

Printed maps of faraway lands often includedexotic imagery in the cartouche, especially depic-tions of natives, and animals and plants decoratedthe body of the map. Decorative aspects of cartogra-phy were familiar to Renaissance navigators becausethey sometimes appeared on manuscript portolancharts. Many portolan charts were art objects, val-ued for their ornamentation as much as for theirgeographic information. Crafted in guilds by illumi-nators, and occasionally highlighted in gold, the bestcharts were made to order. The larger charts drawnon parchment required the entire skin of a smallsheep. From extant contracts pertaining specificallyto portolan charts, we know that a client paid morefor extra compass roses, human figures, gold detail-ing, and other additional decoration.

During the 14th century, portolan chart produc-tion in the Iberian Peninsula and the kingdom ofNaples was stimulated by royal mandates. Each shiphad to carry at least two portolan charts of its sailingroutes. Many of these charts were crafted by Majorcanchart makers, who were subjects of the king ofAragon. After the Portuguese king enticed a Majorcan


226


227

9.2 Portolan chart of western Europe and northwestern Africa. By the Portuguese cartographer Luís Lazaro,16th century. (Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal/Bridgeman Art Library)

cartographer to Portugal, Portuguese artists learnedto make portolan charts. In addition to the geo-graphic information learned from Majorcan chartmaking, the Portuguese cartographers incorporated“secret” reports from the overseas empires in Asia,Africa, and Brazil. By the 16th century, portolancharts made by the Portuguese were in demand in themajor courts of Europe. These charts were not, how-ever, readily available because navigational reports, aswas descriptive geography from Portuguese sources,were secret state documents. If a Portuguese ship wasattacked and the captain decided that his ship mightbe taken, his orders were to destroy the portolancharts. Several Portuguese chart makers were respon-sible for disseminating the secrets in their charts.They left Portugal and worked in the pilots’ schoolsof other governments; one Portuguese cartographerbecame the chief pilot of the school in Seville. Theircharts were esteemed by the captains and navigatorsof the voyages of exploration. Giovanni da Verrazano(1485–1528), for example, carried Portuguese por-tolan charts on his ships.

With Renaissance advances in mathematical car-tography, the discrepancies in portraying sections ofthe curved surface of the Earth on a flat surfacebecame glaringly obvious. The rhumb lines of por-tolan charts, radiating from central points known aswind roses, were used by navigators rather loosely.Although such directional lines following the majorwinds were adequate for coastal sailing, or for sailingshort distances in open water, they did not conformto the Earth’s curve and introduced serious errors innavigating. The Flemish cartographer Gerhard Mer-cator (1512–94) produced a world map with a revisedsystem of projection in 1569. The Mercator projec-tion, still used by mapmakers today, improvedRenaissance cartography by curving the lines of lati-tude and the meridians (lines of longitude). By thelatter 16th century, terrestrial globes (of the Earth’ssurface), particularly those with the Mercator projec-tion, were used on ships and by merchants surveyingthe global market. They usually were displayed oncarved wooden globe stands, with the globes them-selves colored by hand to delineate political divisions.Many atlases featured hand-colored maps; those pro-duced by the Flemish shop of Abraham Ortelius(1527–98) were especially desirable. In 1575 Orteliuswas appointed cartographer to the king of Spain, the

culmination of a remarkable career as an engraver,cartographer, and map dealer. He continued to pub-lish numerous editions as well as three translations ofhis Theatrum orbis terrarum (Atlas of the Earth’sglobe), originally issued in 1570. Ortelius’s workshopfunctioned as a map-coloring studio, where hisdaughter, Anne, was a talented watercolor artist.

Toward the end of the 16th century, Amsterdamemerged as a center for printed maps, globes, andnavigational instruments, as the Blaeu family estab-lished a cartographic dynasty that endured for sev-eral decades. The founder was Willem JanzoonBlaeu (1571–1638), an astronomer who had studiedwith Tycho Brahe (1546–1601; see chapter 10).The large-scale world map that he published in1605 included inset views of famous cities along theborders. Known as a planisphere because it pre-sents the spherical Earth as two hemispheres on aflat surface, this style of world map was popularizedby the Blaeu firm.

TRAVEL

In 1400 the world of most people was defined first bytheir local surroundings and then by their region orprovince. Except for peddlers, pilgrims, soldiers, andsailors, members of the lower classes did not usuallytravel because they could not leave their farm orworkshop. For these people, the walk to a fair in aneighboring village was probably as far as they evertraveled from home. Moreover, most roads were nomore than rocky pathways, dangerous in many areasbecause of bandits, and travel by sea was even riskierbecause of storms and pirates. The merchants, mis-sionaries, diplomats, artists, students, and others whojourneyed cross-country or across the oceans usedhorses, mules, carts, wagons, coaches, riverine vessels,coasting vessels, and seafaring carracks that couldtransport nearly 1,000 people. Some journeys, ofcourse, were easier than others. Slaves stacked by thehundreds in the hold of ships surely experienced theworst of Renaissance travel; members of royal fami-lies transported in the elegant, padded carriages of thelate 16th century traveled in comparative luxury.Europe was flooded with reports of new lands andnew opportunities between 1493 and 1600, prompt-


228

ing numerous individuals to depart from the relativesafety of home with the knowledge that they probablywould never return. By 1600 even those who stayedhome were aware of a much larger world than that ofthe previous century. Travel literature and engravingsof distant places put the world at their door.

Inland Waterways andHarborsINLAND WATERWAYS

People and merchandise traveled inland via lakes,rivers, and canals. A journey by boat across a largelake could be relatively fast; travel via rivers and canalswas notoriously slow. Rivers, of course, had currents,which could work for or against the traveler. Most

merchandise transported on rivers or canals waspulled along on a barge by a horse walking on a path-way beside the water. Going downstream, a moder-ately loaded barge unhindered by other traffic mighthave taken no longer than 24 hours to travel acrossone-third of France; this speed would be possibleunder optimal weather conditions, with the river clearof debris and not at low water. A trip upstream on thesame river could take a week or more. Whereas peo-ple usually traveled on single boats or barges, prod-ucts such as grain and textiles often were transportedin a line of barges grouped together, which movedslowly indeed. In addition, some rivers and canals hadtolls, decreasing the speed of travel when several ves-sels lined up to pay the toll. There were few inlandcanals in Europe before the 17th century. AlthoughLeonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is thought to havedesigned several locks for the Milan canals in 1487,


229

9.3 Map of the world. Engraving published in the 1574 Latin edition of Ortelius’s atlas. Note the extraordinary sizeof Antarctica, covering the entire southern portion of the globe. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

the use of locks for moving vessels from one level ofwater to another was largely unknown during theRenaissance. Canals were very practical, however, inflat areas such as the Netherlands. Barges hauled by ahorse did not travel much faster than three miles perhour in canals. Even if vessels could have movedfaster, their wash would have eroded the dirt banks ofthe canal. Very few inland canals were constructedwith stone or brick walls. Finally, rivers and canalswere not always dependable means of transportationbecause in very dry seasons they simply did not con-tain enough water.

HARBORS

Several European rivers were deep enough, and shipswere small enough, that oceangoing vessels coulddock in riverine harbors such as Antwerp on theScheldt River. Even where the rivers flowing by suchharbors were shallow, new designs for dredgingmachines usually kept the traffic flowing. Several har-bors were constructed or renovated in Europe duringthe 15th and 16th centuries, notably the Tuscan portof Livorno. Located near Pisa, on the northwesterncoast of the Italian Peninsula, the village of Livornowas selected by Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519–74) toreplace Pisa when the latter city’s harbor began siltingin at an alarming rate. Florentine artists and architectsparticipated in an ambitious project to reclaim marshyland, construct a wharf, and dig a canal betweenLivorno and Pisa. The Florentine governmentencouraged settlers, including Jews, Moors, and Turks(not welcome in many areas of western Europe), suc-cessfully transforming the village of Livorno into athriving port city by the end of the 16th century.

The largest inland harbor in western Europe, andone of the busiest, was Seville, located 55 miles fromthe Atlantic Ocean. Seville dominated shipping in thewestern Mediterranean, just as Venice led in the east.After the establishment of the Casa de Contratación(house of trade) in Seville in 1505, the city’s harborhad a monopoly on trade with Spain’s colonial posses-sions, including silver bullion. Impressive new build-ings were erected for the pilots’ school and otherorganizations that served Spanish navigation andtrade. Travelers entering the teeming port of Sevilleduring the 16th century must have felt that they wereat the nexus of European wealth and power.

Coastal NavigationCoastal navigation required charts, though mostcoasting vessels stayed within sight of land. Sub-merged rocks and shipwrecks, sandbars, treacherouscurrents, and estuaries were indicated in the betterportolan charts, whose cartographic accuracy wasimpeccable. To aid sailors as they navigated, por-tolan charts also featured iconic depictions of portcities and prominent topographic elements, such asmountains and lighthouses. Several extant portolancharts have small holes around the edges, suggestingthat these charts were either nailed to a table or wallor laced with cord and mounted on a frame. Pin-pricks in the center of wind roses indicate that ameasuring compass was centered in the middle ofthe winds and rotated in an arc to determine sailingdirections. During the early Renaissance, ships fromGenoa, Venice, Marseilles and Catalan ports domi-nated the Mediterranean, sailing mostly along thecoasts with the aid of portolan charts, a magneticcompass, and an astrolabe, an instrument used byIslamic astronomers. During the 16th century, themost famous northern port for navigators wasDieppe, on the coast of France, whose cartographicschool was renowned for its portolan charts. Besidescoasting south to the mouth of the Mediterranean,sailors from Dieppe ventured to Africa and acrossthe Atlantic. By the late 15th century, sailors realizedthat the magnetic compass did not take into accountthe magnetic declination of the Earth, and theazimuth compass was invented. This instrumentcontributed to the accuracy of navigation in general.With the astrolabe (“star taker”), sailors could fixtheir position within a specific latitude.

Navigating beyond the CoastDuring the 15th century Portuguese captains navigat-ing the African coast and the oceans beyond werefaced with the problem of sailing without the NorthStar. This star was the point of reference for determin-ing latitude in northern waters. In the school foundedby Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), geogra-phers and astronomers worked on revising tables forthe declination of the Sun, which moved to a differentposition relative to the horizon each day. Improved


230

knowledge of the ecliptic (the Earth’s solar orbit) gavenavigators a better tool for sailing with confidencebelow the equator, and far out into the ocean.Although relatively few documents of the early Por-tuguese and Spanish voyages remain, the few that sur-vive, especially the logbooks, record the proceduresof navigating in the open ocean. One of the mostfamous is the daily logbook of da Gama’s first voyage,compiled by a member of the expedition. By far themost valued navigational document of the Renais-sance was (and is) the journal kept by ChristopherColumbus (1451–1506) during the first voyage,which survived in a reliable 16th-century copy.Greatly abridged, the journal was published in 1493in four cities, introducing European readers toColumbus’s momentous “discovery.”

By the late 15th century, commercial ships wereoutfitted with large square sails, necessary for mov-ing heavy cargo through rough seas. It was impossi-ble to sail such ships close to the wind to changedirections easily. The smaller caravels used for manyof the voyages of exploration had lateen (triangular)primary sails that could be augmented by one ormore square sails. The Renaissance innovation ofcombining triangular and square sails resulted in theconstruction of ships that could respond with moreflexibility to the unpredictable conditions of oceantravel. With lateen sails navigators could slowlymove within 10 degrees of the wind, or tack againstit in a zigzag course. Although manipulating lateensails was rather time-consuming, the ultimate gainin speed surpassed the capabilities of square-riggedships. Once the wind direction was set with thelateen sails, a ship with both types of sails could hoistthe square-rigged sails and quickly follow its course.

From the latter 16th century, several reportsfrom English navigators were published by RichardHakluyt (c. 1552–1616). Among other topics, thesedocument the particular hazards of sailing intonorthern waters. The expedition of Martin Fro-bisher (1535–94), for example, experienced an icestorm in 1576 in their attempt to locate a NorthwestPassage to the Orient. Great slabs of sharp ice werepushed against the ships, threatening to crashthrough timber three inches thick: “(The sailors)strengthened the sides of their ships with junks ofcable, beds, masts, planks, and such like, which

being hanged overboard . . . might better defendthem from the outrageous sway and strokes of thesaid ice. . . . For some, even without board upon theice, and some within board upon the sides of theirships, having poles, pikes, pieces of timber, and oarsin their hands, stood almost day and night withoutany rest, bearing off the force, and breaking the swayof the ice with such incredible pain and peril, that itwas wonderful to behold” (Scott 1976, p. 248). Suchaccounts, eagerly read by the public, heroicizedexplorers and encouraged young adventure seekersto join future expeditions.

Traveling by LandPeople traveled overland for many purposes, includ-ing commerce, diplomacy, pilgrimages, postal ser-vices, education, spa treatment, and warfare (seechapter 7, Warfare). Merchandise was moved by avariety of means, including carts, pack animals, andlarge wagons. Merchants often transported goods incaravans of several pack animals or wheeled con-veyances. Caravans of several travelers providedsome security against bandits, and extra pack animalscould carry provisions for the merchants and theiranimals. Just as today’s automobiles require fuel, ani-mals transporting people and commodities had to befed. The roadside inns charged exorbitant prices,knowing that they had a captive market. Moreover,eating and sleeping in an inn were not pleasant expe-riences, because three or more strangers had to shareeach bed, which often was infested with fleas. Innsalso attracted unsavory characters, notably merce-nary soldiers looking for a victim, and prostitutes.

The vast majority of travelers by land journeyedon foot, especially those on religious pilgrimages. Asthese travelers passed local shrines, they couldacquire souvenirs such as metallic pilgrim badgesthat were fastened to hats and clothing. Rome,Jerusalem, Santiago da Compostela, and Canterburywere the preferred destinations, where merchantshawked pilgrim badges as well as statuettes, candles,and other devotional objects. By the 16th centuryprinted views of the cathedrals and schematic mapsof the pilgrimage routes were available. Pilgrimageswere ambitious undertakings, often requiring sev-eral weeks of travel. Walking purposefully from


231

Mainz to Venice, for example, required 15 to 20days, a distance of 370 miles. Traveling by both landand sea, a pilgrim could leisurely make the journeyfrom Germany to Jerusalem in three months.

Walking was usually as fast as traveling by coachor wagon because the roadways outside cities andtowns were in terrible condition, not much betterthan they were during the Middle Ages. Wheelsbecame stuck in ruts or mired in mud, with the drafthorses or mules struggling along in adverse condi-tions. In dry seasons, passengers in wagons were sub-jected to clouds of dust churned up by the horses.Mounted on the axles of wooden wheels, even pri-vate coaches with padded seats were quite uncom-fortable, bouncing and shifting with every rut andcurve in the road. More comfortable were the newercoaches suspended from thick leather straps or litters(sedan chairs) suspended on wooden poles with onehorse in front and another behind. Horseback ridingwas the fastest mode of travel. In some regions trav-elers could rent horses at stations along the roadway,changing horses as pony express riders did in the OldWest. Couriers on horseback were the speediest trav-elers in Renaissance Europe. Changing to a freshhorse every 12 miles or so, an experienced couriercould cover as many as 50 miles per day. By the latter15th century, both France and Spain had postal ser-vice using couriers. During the 16th century thepostal systems of the Holy See and of the Habsburgempire were models of efficient courier service.

TRAVEL LITERATURE

Renaissance pilgrims were guided by informationalpublications that described and depicted not only themain roads, but also scenic or inspirational side trips.These books and pamphlets were quite popular. InFrance, for example, approximately 8 percent of allbooks printed in the 16th century were guidebooksfor pilgrims. One of the earliest books printed inEnglish was Informacion for Pylgrymes unto the HolyLonde (1498), because Jerusalem was an importantdestination. Letters sent from foreign missionariesprovided descriptive accounts of distant locales thatcould be savored by those unable or unwilling totravel, just as the itineraries marketed to studentsattending foreign universities could also be enjoyedby their family and friends at home. Several practical

road guides were published during the 16th century, afew claiming to describe all the roads of the world.Travel as a metaphor for one’s life became quite pop-ular during the Renaissance, probably as a result ofthe heightened interest in actual travel, in Europe aswell as abroad.

EXPLORATION

Until the Renaissance voyages of exploration, theworld was defined with Europe at its center. Althoughpolitically this assumption still pertained in 1600,geographically it had been proven false. In 1400, theaverage educated European possessed knowledge ofgeography that extended from Scandinavia across tothe British Isles, down the western coast of Europe tothe north coast of Africa, across and up to the easternshore of the Black Sea, and back along the DanubeRiver into eastern Europe. Although sea captainsknew of the existence of present-day Iceland, Green-land, and various islands, their size and exact locationson the globe were a mystery to most people. Europe’sinformation about sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia,and the Far East was obtained from the few travelerswho had journeyed there and written about theirexperiences, whose observations were often exagger-ated or distorted. Manuscript maps, however, didshow Africa with its entire coastline, along withdescriptive captions concerning gold-producing areasin West Africa.

At the beginning of the Renaissance, not evenscholars of mathematics could measure the Earth’scircumference (although they did know that it wasroughly spherical), and the equator of the Earth wasthought to be so hot and fiery that no human beingcould survive in that zone. Through explorationsfunded by the Portuguese in Africa and the East, andby the Spanish, French, and English in the Americas,the world was enlarged in Europe’s imagination by1600. The possibility of expanding commercial ven-tures far beyond Europe, and of converting countlessthousands to Christianity, prompted governments aswell as individuals to commit themselves to furtherexploration. Of all the voyages of exploration under-taken between 1400 and 1600, the most impressive


232


233

Map

4.

Maj

or V

oyag

es o

f Exp

lora

tion

was the circumnavigation of the globe (1519–22)begun by Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), a Por-tuguese who sailed for the king of Spain. Grosslyunderestimating the size of the Pacific Ocean (whichhe named), Magellan nevertheless led his five shipsaround the southern tip of South America, reachedthe Philippines, and claimed them for Spain.Although he was killed in a battle with natives and hisassociate Juan Sebastián del Cano (1476–1526) finallyreached Spain with only one ship (the Victoria), Mag-ellan’s voyage was pivotal. Not only did the expedi-tion determine the vastness of the Pacific, it alsohelped define Portuguese and Spanish territory forfuture trade and colonization (see later discussion).

AfricaIn 1479 the rulers of Spain and Portugal agreed thatSpanish ships would not trade in the PortugueseAtlantic islands or in West Africa, and Spain (Castileand León) acquired rights to the Canary Islands alongwith other concessions. Portuguese incursions intoAfrica were mainly commercial ventures, but Por-tugal’s king, John II (1455–95), did send Pêro daCovilhã (fl. 1487, d. 1525) to search for Ethiopia andits legendary Christian king, Prester John. Covilhãfirst traveled by land and sea to Calicut (India) andsent back a report to the king about the lucrative spicetrade. He reached Ethiopia in 1490 and was forced toremain there until his death. A Portuguese priest whovisited him wrote Verdadera informaçam das terras doPreste João (True account of the lands of Prester John,1540). Some attempts were made to introduce Chris-tianity to West Africa, and the king of the Congo con-verted to Christianity. For other African rulers in thatregion, Christianity was only a curiosity.

In 1483, Diogo Cão (fl. 1482–86) set out fromPortugal to explore the west coast of Africa. Thefirst European to navigate the Congo River, he cap-tured Africans, whom he took home to sell as slaves.Returning to the Congo in 1486, Cão made anarrangement with the local ruler to supply him withmore slaves, usually African prisoners of war. Thus aChristian king in West Africa benefited economi-cally from the black slave trade. With Portugal’sflourishing African trade in pepper and gold, andwith the new commercial venture of slavery, John IIdecided to send an expedition that might determine

the southern extent of Africa for future trading postsas well as locate a possible route by sea from Africato India and the Far East.

To the EastBartolomeu Dias (fl. 1478, d. 1500) sailed withDiogo Cão and was familiar with the winds alongthe west coast of Africa. Dias was in charge of theroyal storage facility in the fortified African tradingpost of São Jorge da Mina in Guinea. He also mayhave been a privateer who operated in Genoesewaters in the 1470s. His experience of the Africancoast and navigational expertise caused John II toassign Dias as captain of three caravels that sailedout of Lisbon’s harbor in 1487 toward Africa. Dur-ing the journey Dias had difficulty pushing towardthe south because the prevailing winds along thesouthwestern coast of Africa blow toward the north-west. Passing into uncharted waters and fighting thewind, Dias made the decision to turn into the opensea, where he traveled for nearly two weeks. Whenthe air began to feel cooler, he turned his ships backtoward the east and discovered that he had sailedpast the Cape of Good Hope. When Dias returnedin triumph to Lisbon, Columbus was in the city andmust have known about his success.

After Columbus completed his second voyage (seelater discussion), the king of Portugal commissionedthe most ambitious expedition yet, from Lisbon toIndia. Under the assumption that Columbus hadreached the Far East, Portugal needed to explore thepossibility of navigating around the tip of Africa andthrough the Indian Ocean to establish control of thespice trade. In 1497 Vasco da Gama (c. 1468–1524)was commissioned to lead the first expedition des-tined for India via the Cape of Good Hope. Insteadof hugging the coast of Africa, almost impossiblebecause of the prevailing winds, da Gama set outfrom the Cape Verde Islands toward the open ocean.In a daring feat of navigation, he sailed for 93 days onthe open ocean to reach the southern coast of Africa.This extent of time spent at sea was a record for anyEuropean vessel, at least for any that returned to tellthe story. To put da Gama’s achievement (or possiblyhis great good luck) in perspective, we should notethat the 1492 voyage of Columbus took only 36 days.After rounding the tip of Africa, da Gama reached


234

waters into which no European had ever navigated.Fighting the Agulhas current, he finally arrived atMozambique, where his Arabic interpreter hired

local pilots to help him navigate to Malindi. There,another pilot, Ahmed ibn Majid, was hired to sail therest of the way to Calicut (Kozhikode). This teeming


235

Map 5. Portuguese Voyages to 1498


236

Map

6.

Asia

and

the

Indi

an O

cean

, 16t

h ce

ntur

y

port was the most important commercial center forthe East–West market. Although da Gama lost halfhis ships and more than half of his sailors to scurvy(deficiency of vitamin C), he returned to Lisbon witha shipment of pepper and cinnamon. More impor-tant, he now knew how to reach India by sailingsouth. The king of Portugal quickly launchedanother fleet of ships, under the command of PedroÁlvars Cabral (c. 1467–c. 1520). Following da Gama’sinstructions, Cabral attempted to sweep toward thetip of Africa by using prevailing winds. Instead hisships were blown much farther out into the Atlanticand Cabral sighted the coast of present-day Brazil.Ordering one ship to return to Lisbon to report thisunknown land in the west, Cabral continued on toIndia with the fleet. Rather accidentally, Cabral dis-covered that during the summer (monsoon season)the prevailing winds in the Indian Ocean could assistnavigators voyaging from Africa to India. Thus daGama’s two-year trip was accomplished by Cabral in17 months. (Unfortunately, very little is known aboutthe first decade of Portuguese exploration in Brazil.Many of Portugal’s historic documents from thisperiod were destroyed in Lisbon in the horrificearthquake and tidal wave of 1755.)

The voyages of Columbus spurred the Por-tuguese to compete with the Crown of Spain diplo-matically as well as nautically. After Columbusreturned to Spain from his 1492 voyage (discussedlater), announcing that he had sailed to the Orient,the monarchs of both Spain and Portugal claimedterritory in the fabled Indies. They approached thepope and asked him to divide the world betweenthem. Earlier in the 15th century, Portugal had beengranted the rights to the Indies, mainly because thisgeographic area was assumed to be located near thecoast of Africa. Columbus’s 1492 voyage and his sub-sequent claims prompted Spain to request partialrights to the East Indies and its trade commodities,especially spices and textiles (silk and fine cotton). In1494, the papal Treaty of Tordesillas established theline of demarcation near the longitudinal 50thdegree west of Greenwich, England, granting Brazilto Portugal. The treaty was modified in 1529 by theTreaty of Saragossa (Zaragoza), in which Portugalpaid Spain for rights to the Moluccas, or SpiceIslands. Portugal never contested Spain for thePhilippines, located within the Portuguese zone.

(None of the other governments of Europe honoredthese treaties as competition for the spice tradeincreased during the 16th century and especially the17th century.)

The Moluccas should not be confused withMalacca, a major port in East Asia not far from Sin-gapore. Malacca was an important intermediate cityfor the Portuguese, approximately halfway betweenIndia and China, and India and the Moluccas. Hav-ing captured the Indian port of Goa in 1510, Por-tuguese forces sailed for Malacca the following year.Led by Afonso de Albuquerque (c. 1453–1515),admiral of the fleet, they drove out the Muslims andassumed control of the city for more than a century.Albuquerque sent an embassy to Rome, where thepope publicly celebrated this Christian victory overthe “infidels,” as the Portuguese ambassador and hisentourage paraded exotic animals and wealth fromthe Orient. The Portuguese traded with both Chinaand Japan and founded the colony of Macao in


237

9.4 Movable navigational tool used to help determine aship’s position in the open sea. Woodcut device in the 1524edition of Petrus Apianus’s Cosmographia (Cosmo-graphy), 1524. (The device is called a volvelle and can beturned.) (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

1557. Reports of European travelers to Asia pub-lished in the 16th century corrected and clarifiedgeographical knowledge of that far-off region of theglobe, and new maps published toward the end ofthe century began to demystify the Far East foreducated Europeans.

To the WestSeveral of the captains who led Renaissance voyagesof exploration from Europe to the west, fromColumbus to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539–83),were looking for a shorter route to Japan, China,and the East Indies. For nearly 20 years before his1492 voyage, Columbus had corresponded withscholars about geographical and cartographic ques-tions. He concluded that the Asian landmass wasmuch larger than it actually is, an error that wouldhave located Japan much closer to Europe. Colum-bus began discussing his ideas for a western voyageto the Far East in 1485, attempting to persuade theSpanish Crown to finance his expedition. Mean-while, his brother approached the king of France aswell as the king of England, who declined. FinallyQueen Isabella I (1451–1504) decided to support theendeavor. In 1492 Columbus thought that he hadreached islands near the Orient. Instead, his firstsighting was of present-day Watling’s Island in theBahamas, where the flagship, Santa María, alongwith the Pinta and Niña stayed for three days. BeforeColumbus reached Hispaniola (the island wherepresent-day Haiti and Dominican Republic arelocated), the captain of the Pinta sailed away and theship was missing for a time. After claiming Hispan-iola for Spain and exploring the island, Columbusset sail to return across the Atlantic. Almost immedi-ately the Santa María was smashed on a reef, and theNiña returned to harbor. Columbus had no choicebut to leave some of his men as settlers, orderingthem to construct a small fort with timbers from thewrecked ship. Thirty-nine settlers remained on His-paniola as Columbus captained the Niña towardSpain. His ship met the Pinta along the way back,but that ship’s captain abandoned Columbus onceagain to return to Spain before him. Queen Isabellarefused to grant him an audience, and Columbuswas credited with the success of the expedition. After

he described the infinite riches of the islands andexhibited the Native Americans whom he had trans-ported to the court in Barcelona, Columbus wasgiven an impressive command of 17 ships and some1,500 men. His passengers included craftsmen, gov-ernment officials, a surgeon, and other potential set-tlers lured by tales of the fortunes to be made inSpain’s new dominion.

Landing at Hispaniola, Columbus foundedanother settlement (Isabela) because the first groupof settlers had been killed by local inhabitants. Afterexploring the coasts of Cuba and Jamaica for fivemonths, Columbus returned to Isabela to discoverhostile natives and sickness among the settlers.When he returned to Spain, his brother moved theIsabela settlers along the coast to the location ofSanto Domingo, thus founding the oldest Europeantown in the New World. Once again Columbus,who had taken back solid evidence of gold and otherriches, was hailed as a conquering hero in Spain.During his third voyage (if not during the second—the point is disputed), Columbus reached the Amer-ican mainland in 1498. He sailed into the Gulf ofParia, claiming Venezuela for Spain, along with thepearl fisheries in the gulf. Arriving at SantoDomingo, Columbus found the settlement close tomutiny and learned that these conditions had beenreported to the Spanish authorities. Columbus andhis two brothers supposedly governing the settle-ment were placed in chains and taken to Spain.Isabella, nevertheless, had him released and put incharge of a fourth voyage. Off the coast of Hon-duras, he came upon a canoe in which the nativeshad copper vessels and other indications of a rela-tively advanced civilization (Mayan and Aztec).Instead of exploring the land from which they hadsailed (Yucatán), Columbus persevered in hisattempt to find a strait through which he could reachthe Orient. This was his final voyage of exploration,which ended with his being shipwrecked andmarooned for a year before returning to Spain.

As soon as letters from Columbus about his firstvoyage were published, the kings of England andFrance became interested in exploring the new lands.Early 16th-century reports increasingly persuadedEuropeans that the territory was indeed not the Ori-ent, but a New World, which came to be calledAmerica. While Spaniards certainly dominated the


238


239

9.5 Portrait of Christopher Columbus. Engraving in Jean-Jacques Boissard, Icones . . . virorum illustrium(Portraits of famous men, 1597–99). (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc.,© 2003)

California coast, the Caribbean, Mexico, CentralAmerica, South America, and southeastern NorthAmerica, both France and England had settlementsin North America. England first explored the newlands to the west in an official way when John Cabot(a citizen of Venice) sailed from Bristol in 1497,across the Atlantic, and along some part of the north-eastern seaboard. On his second voyage, Cabot mayhave traveled as far south along the coastline as CapeHatteras, North Carolina. Although he founded nosettlements, Cabot was credited with informing theEnglish about the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.This section of the Atlantic became a very productivefishing ground for Renaissance mariners. The firstEnglish settlement was established in 1585 by SirWalter Raleigh (1554–1618), on Roanoke Island (offthe coast of present-day North Carolina). Thecolony failed, however, and the survivors were takenhome by Sir Francis Drake (1540 or 1543–96) in oneof his privateering ships that had been menacing theSpanish. A second group of settlers on the sameisland became known as the “lost colony” because alltraces of them disappeared.

In 1523 Giovanni Verrazano (a Florentine) sailedunder the flag of France to search for a sea passageto the Orient. Landing on the North Carolina coast,he turned north and became the first European toexplore the harbor of present-day New York City.The French king’s determination to locate a North-west Passage by sea to the Orient resulted in theFrench exploration of what would become Canada.Financed by the French Crown, Jacques Cartier setout from Saint Malo in 1534 and explored the GaspéPeninsula and surrounding coastal regions. Return-ing to France with reports about three Indian king-doms in the north that might be comparable to therich kingdoms of Mexico, Cartier was outfitted bythe king for another voyage. With captured nativesto guide him, Cartier traveled nearly 1,000 miles upthe Saint Lawrence River, to the site of present-dayMontreal. Though a climb up Montreal’s mountainshowed Cartier that land stretched as far as he couldsee, he remained hopeful and returned home withmore captives and stories of potential wealth. Dur-ing his final voyage of 1541 Cartier founded thecolony of Cap Rouge (near present-day QuebecCity), but the previously friendly natives withdrewtheir support when their relatives taken as “guests”

did not return home, and the colonists suffered fromthe frigid winter. The colony ended in 1543 whenthe settlers sailed back to France.

Summary of MajorExplorations and Conquests1434 Gil Eannes reaches Cape Bojador on

the coast of West Africa.1484 Diogo Cão sails into the estuary of the

Congo River.1488 Bartolomeu Dias voyages beyond the

Cape of Good Hope.1492 Christopher Columbus sails to the

Caribbean islands.1497 John Cabot reaches North America.1497–98 Vasco da Gama sails around the tip of

Africa to reach India.1500 Pedro Cabral sights the coast of Brazil.1511 Portuguese troops capture the city of

Malacca.1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa sees the Pacific

Ocean.1513 Juan Ponce de León explores the

Florida coast.1519–22 Ferdinand Magellan sets out to circum-

navigate the globe and dies along theway; the voyage is completed by Sebas-tian del Cano.

1519–38 Hernán Cortés explores and conquersMexico.

1523 Giovanni da Verrazano sails fromFrance, along the eastern North Amer-ican seaboard, and into present-dayNew York harbor.

1534–35 Jacques Cartier enters the Gulf of SaintLawrence.

1539–41 Hernando de Soto explores the pre-sent-day southeastern United States.

1540 Hernando de Alarcón reaches California.1540–42 Vázquez de Coronado travels through

the present-day southeastern and southcentral United States.

1576–78 Martin Frobisher attempts to find aNorthwest Passage.

1577–80 Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates theglobe.


240

1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert reaches New-foundland.

1585 Sir Walter Raleigh and associates estab-lish the first English colony in Americaon Roanoke Island.

1596 Willem Barents explores the Arctic.

MAJOR FIGURES

Alarcón, Hernando de (c. 1500–c. 1542) com-manded the Spanish expedition to California in1540. Exploring the Baja coast, he determined thatBaja was not an island, as had been assumed, butrather a peninsula.

Albuquerque, Afonso de (c. 1453–1515) was aPortuguese admiral who became the second viceroyof India, significantly enlarging the eastern empire.

Apianus, Petrus (1501–1552), astronomer andmathematician, taught mathematics at Ingolstadt.His Cosmographia (Cosmography) of 1520 appliedinformation from Renaissance exploration to updatePtolemy’s ancient work on geography.

Azurara, Gomes Eanes de. See ZURARA, GOMESEANES DE.

Balboa See NÚÑEZ DE BALBOA, VASCO.

Barbaro, Giosofat (1413–1494) was a merchantin Venice whose business took him to Russia andthe Caucasus for 15 years. Subsequently he wasappointed as the ambassador of the Venetian republicto Persia, where he remained for four years. Barbarothus combined two classes of Renaissance travelers,the businessman and the diplomat.

Barents, Willem (1550–1597), Dutch navigator,explored the Arctic region during the 1590s.

Barros, João de (1496–1570) led an expedition tonorthern Brazil in 1539. After returning to Portugal,he wrote about the Portuguese conquest of Asia.

Behaim, Martin (c. 1436–1507), German geogra-pher, resided at the Portuguese court during thereign of John II. Behaim sailed with Diogo Cão onhis second African expedition. In 1492 he madethe first known terrestrial globe (today in the Ger-man National Museum in Nuremberg, Behaim’snative city).

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon (1571–1638) was a Dutchcartographer and publisher of maps who had studiedastronomy with the Danish astronomer TychoBrahe. Blaeu’s publishing house issued globes as wellas atlases, and in 1605 he published a famous large-scale world map.

Bry, Théodore de (1528–1598), Flemish engraver,founded a printing workshop in Frankfurt special-izing in travel books and related material. He pub-lished Las Casas’s 1552 account of atrocities againstNew World natives. De Bry and his sons providedEuropeans with visual documentation of Renais-sance exploration and colonialization.

Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez (c. 1500–c. 1564)was one of the few surviving victims of anexploratory voyage to Florida and wandered acrossthe present-day southern United States for somenine years. His account of this experience was pub-lished in 1537. Cabeza de Vaca became governor ofRío de la Plata and Paraguay.

Cabot, John (Giovanni Caboto) (c. 1450–c. 1498), anItalian in the service of England, made two Atlanticcrossings, sailing from England. His son, Sebastian,continued his explorations of the North Atlanticafter 1498.

Cabot, Sebastian (1476–1557), son of John Cabot,explored the northeastern shores of the present-dayUnited States in attempts to discover a NorthwestPassage to the Far East.

Cabral, Pedro Álvars (c. 1467–c. 1520), Por-tuguese explorer, landed on the coast of Brazil in1500 after setting sail for India via Africa. Heclaimed the country for Portugal and then jour-neyed on to India.


241

Cadamosto, Alvise de (1432–1488), Venetian nav-igator, explored the western coast of Africa in theservice of Portugal. His account of his voyages waspublished in 1507.

Cano, Juan Sebastián del (1475–1526), who cap-tained one of Magellan’s five ships, assumed com-mand after Magellan was killed. When he finallyarrived in Seville with only his ship, he was hailed asthe first to sail around the world.

Cão, Diogo (fl. 1482–1486) was a Portugueseexplorer and the first European to navigate theCongo River; he returned home with a cargo ofAfrican slaves.

Cartier, Jacques (1491–1557) made three voyagessearching for a Northwest Passage to the Far East.He claimed Canada for France and took back severalNative Americans.

Cavendish, Thomas (1560–1592), sea captain andexplorer, became the second Englishman to circum-navigate the globe.

Champlain, Samuel (1567–1635) explored theCaribbean, indicating that a canal could be dugacross the isthmus of Panama. Later he set up atrading post at Mont Royal (present-day Mon-treal) and became governor of New France(Canada).

Chancellor, Richard (d. 1556) explored the Arcticregion, traveling overland from the White Sea tomake trading contacts with the Russians.

Colón, Diego (1478/79–1526), son of ChristopherColumbus, inherited his father’s titles and becamegovernor of Hispaniola.

Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506), born inGenoa, explored the Caribbean islands, insistingthat they were part of the Far East. He died withoutrealizing that in 1492 he had reached a region of theworld unknown to Europeans.

Contarini, Ambrogio (1429–after 1496) was aVenetian traveler who joined Giosofat Barbaro inPersia.

Conti, Niccolò de (c. 1395–1469) left Venice in1419 and journeyed for 25 years in the Middle East,India, and Java.

Coronado See VÁZQUEZ DE CORONADO, FRAN-CISCO.

Corte Real family of explorers were the father,João, who sailed to Newfoundland circa 1472, andhis sons, Gaspar (c. 1450–1501) and Miguel (c.1450–1502). The latter son may have explored thearea that is now Massachusetts.

Cortés de Albacar, Martin (c. 1510–1582) wroteEl arte de navigar (The Art of navigating, 1551),which included information about magnetic decli-nation.

Coryate, Thomas (c. 1577–1617) walked throughmuch of western Europe and published an accountof his journey in 1611. The following year he trav-eled to India by land, a journey of four years.

Cosa, Juan de la (d. 1510), Columbus’s cartogra-pher on the second voyage to the Caribbean, madesubsequent voyages to the New World. In 1500 hepublished a map of the world, the first to include theAmericas.

Covilhã, Pêro da (fl. 1487, d. 1525) was charged bythe king of Portugal with discovering the source ofcinnamon as well as a land route to Ethiopia. Cov-ilhã sailed to India, and sent back information toPortugal with recommendations concerning thebest ocean route for Vasco da Gama; he then in 1490traveled to Ethiopia. Although honored by the king,he was placed under house arrest for the remainderof his life.

Cunha, Tristão da (c. 1460–1540) explored theSouth Atlantic and the east coast of Africa, and laterjoined Afonso de Albuquerque on an expedition. Hepresented souvenirs of the Indies to Pope Leo X in1513.

Davis, John (1550–1605) sailed in search of aNorthwest Passage. He also invented the backstaff, adevice by which the observer faces away from the


242

Sun and measures its altitude from its shadow, thuscalculating latitude.

Dias, Bartolomeu (fl. 1478, d. 1500) was the firstEuropean to sail past the Cape of Good Hope(southern tip of Africa). He also sailed as far as theAzores with da Gama and to Brazil with Cabral.

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1492–c. 1581) sailed toCentral America in 1514 and eventually settled inGuatemala. His account of the conquest of Mexicopublished in 1632 became quite popular.

Díaz de Solís, Juan (1470–1516) explored theAtlantic coast south of North America and suc-ceeded Amerigo Vespucci as royal chief pilot.

Drake, Sir Francis (1540 or 1543–1596), privateer,was instrumental in the defeat of the SpanishArmada. In 1577–80 he circumnavigated the globe.

Elcano, Juan Sebastián del See CANO, JUANSEBASTIÁN DEL.

Esquivel, Juan de (fl. 1494–1519) sailed on Colum-bus’s second voyage. He later conquered Jamaica,where his brutal treatment of the natives wasinfamous.

Federmann, Nikolaus (c. 1501–1542), an agent ofthe Welser bank in Augsburg, explored Venezuelaand later the Orinoco basin. His account of his expe-riences was published in 1557.

Fenton, Edward (d. 1603) sailed with Frobisher inhis attempts to discover a Northwest Passage.

Fernandes, Álvaro (fl. 1440s) explored the westerncoast of Africa, the first European to sail past CapeVerde.

Fernández, Juan (c. 1536–c. 1604) explored the west-ern coast of South America, determining that the voy-age from Peru to Chile could be shortened by sailingfar from shore and taking advantage of the currents.

Fernándes de Quirós, Pedro (1570–1615) was aPortuguese navigator who sailed for Spain (at a time

when Spain ruled Portugal). He spent most of hiscareer in search of the southern continent, Australia.

Frobisher, Sir Martin (1535–1594) attempted todiscover a Northwest Passage. Frobisher Bay, offBaffin Island, bears his name.

Gama, Vasco da (c. 1460–1524) made two majorvoyages from Portugal to India, the first the subjectof The Lusiads by Camões. During the second voy-age, he bombarded Calicut in retaliation for themurder of men left there by Cabral.

Garay, Juan de (1528–1583) helped colonize Argen-tina. He enslaved the native population, several ofwhom later assassinated him.

Gemma Frisius, Reinerus (1508–1555) madeglobes and maps. His treatise De principiis astronomiaeet cosmographiae (Principles of astronomy and cartog-raphy, 1530) suggested that longitude could be deter-mined using a clock. Although impractical for the16th century, this idea was later proved correct whenportable clocks became much more accurate.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey (c. 1539–1583) reachedNewfoundland in 1583, exploring a route for theNorthwest Passage. He also published a treatise onthe passage that prompted others to make theattempt to find it.

Gomes, Diogo (fl. 1440, d. 1482) explored thewestern coast of Africa and wrote about African’sgeography and people.

Gosnold, Bartholomew (d. 1607) sailed along theeastern coast of North America, trading with NativeAmericans. He also helped colonize Jamestown,where he died.

Grijalba, Juan de (c. 1480–1527) participated in the1511 Spanish expedition that conquered Cuba. Hetraveled along the eastern coast of Mexico andestablished contact with the Aztec.

Hakluyt, Richard (c. 1552–1616) compiled first-hand accounts of English exploration, first publishedin 1589 in his Principal Navigations, Voyages, Trafficsand Discoveries of the English Nations.


243

Harriot, Thomas (c. 1560–1621) was Raleigh’stutor in mathematics. He sailed with him as his sur-veyor on the Virginia expedition and published ABrief and True Report of the New-Found Land of Vir-ginia in 1588.

Hawkins, Sir John (1532–1595) was a sea captainand slave trader.

Heemskerk, Jacob van (1567–1607) accompaniedBarents on two voyages of exploration; he later com-manded his own ship and died after a naval battleagainst Spanish forces.

Henry the Navigator (Infante Dom Henrique)(1394–1460) was the fifth son of King John I. Hedirected numerous voyages of African explorationfrom Sagres, his residence at the southern tip ofPortugal, aided by a fine collection of navigationaland astronomical instruments.

Hernández de Córdoba, Francisco (d. 1517) (notto be confused with the conquistador of the samename). He was part of the expedition that conqueredCuba, went on to the Yucatan, and became the firstEuropean to have contact with the Maya. He washunting for people to enslave.

Hirschvogel, Augustin (1503–1553) was an etcher,potter, and cartographer known for his etchings ofmaps and landscapes.

Hondius, Jodocus (Josse de Hondt) (1563–1611),cartographic engraver, had shops in both Londonand Amsterdam. He bought Mercator’s engravedplates and in 1606 issued an atlas, which included 37new plates. This publication became a bestseller.

Hudson, Henry (d. 1611) worked as an explorer forthe Muscovy Company. He also sailed up the Hud-son River and into Chesapeake Bay on behalf of theDutch.

Lancaster, Sir James (c. 1555–1618) was in charge ofthe first expedition sent by the East India Company.

Las Casas, Bartolomé de (1474–1566), the firstpriest ordained in the New World, dedicated his

life to abolishing slavery and improving conditionsfor Native Americans. He wrote several publica-tions on the topics that were published during hislifetime.

Le Clerc, François (Jambe de Bois or Peg Leg)(d. 1563) was a Huguenot pirate in the service ofFrance, attacking the Spanish in the Caribbean.

Leo Africanus (c. 1495–c. 1550) was a Moor fromGranada who journeyed across north Africa and tothe Near East. He wrote an account of his travelsthat appeared in translation during the 16th century.

Linschoten, Jan Huyghen van (1563–1611) spentseveral years in India, then was shipwrecked for twoyears in the Azores. The account of his Indian expe-riences was first published in 1595.

Magellan, Ferdinand (1480–1521) first sailed withAlmeida to India, where he stayed for seven years. In1519 under the flag of Spain he set out with fiveships to find a western sea route to the Spice Islands.The Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of SouthAmerica are named after him. He was killed in anengagement against native warriors on an island inthe Philippines.

Martire d’Anghiera, Pietro (1457–1526), an Ital-ian humanist and soldier, served at the Spanish courtas a teacher. Appointed as an administrator of Span-ish colonies in the Americas, he met many explorers,including Columbus. Martire d’Anghiera’s De orbenovo (On the New World, 1511–30) contained thefirst major published account of the Americas. Thework was translated into English in 1555.

Mauro, Fra (d. 1459) was a monk in Venice whowas commissioned by the king of Portugal to paint ahuge circular world map (75 inches in diameter)using information from contemporary exploration.After completing the map for his commission, FraMauro painted a copy, which is now displayed in theBiblioteca Marciana in Venice.

Mercator, Gerard (1512–1594), cartographer andcosmographer, began his career assisting Gemma


244

Frisius. He made maps for globes as well as flatmaps, creating the Mercator projection in whichlines of latitude and longitude cross at right angles.This projection is still used on globes today.

Münster, Sebastian (1489–1552) was professor ofmathematics at the University of Basel. A cosmogra-pher and Hebrew scholar, he published his majorcosmological treatise in 1544.

Narváez, Pánfilo de (1470/80–1528) was part ofthe expedition that conquered Cuba. Then he wassent to Mexico, where he lost an eye in a violentencounter with Cortés. In 1528 Narváez led a largecompany into Florida, where many of his men died.

Niño, Pedro Alonso (1468–c. 1505) explored thewestern coast of Africa with Portuguese explorers,then accompanied Columbus on his third voyage.

Nunes, Pedro (1492–1577) was professor of mathe-matics at the University of Coimbra; he wasappointed royal cosmographer in 1529. Among hispublications is De arte atque ratione navigandi (Onthe art and method of navigating, 1546), whichincludes information on scientific instruments usedaboard ships.

Núñez de Balboa, Vasco (1475–1519) was one of themany conquistadores from the remote western regionof Spain known as Estremadura. After escaping fromHispaniola, where he became bankrupt, Balboa (as heis usually called in English) explored the isthmus ofPanama and led the first company of Europeans whosaw the Pacific Ocean. In Panama he founded acolony, today known as Antigua, and became the firstgovernor of the new province. He was arrested by hisreplacement, who had him beheaded.

Ojeda, Alonso de (1465–1515) sailed with Colum-bus on his second voyage. Exploring the Caribbeancoast of South America, he named Venezuela. Ojedawas appointed governor of Colombia’s coastalregion on the Caribbean.

Ortelius, Abraham (1527–1598), engraver and car-tographer, became royal cartographer for Philip II

in 1575. The world atlas that he published in 1570went through 25 editions before 1600.

Pereira, Duarte Pacheco (c. 1460–1533) exploredthe western coast of Africa and sailed to Brazil withCabral. After spending some time in India, Pereirawas appointed governor of El Mina in West Africa.He published a geographic treatise that includedinformation on Africa.

Pigafetta, Antonio (fl. 1491–c. 1526), an Italiansailor, was among the 18 men who survived theMagellan circumnavigation. He wrote an accountof the voyage that was first published in 1524 or1525.

Pinto, Fernão Mendes (c. 1510–1583) journeyedfor 21 years through Ethiopia and on to the FarEast. His published account of this adventure isquite exaggerated.

Pinzón brothers were Martín Alonso (c. 1440–1493)and Vicente Yáñez (fl. 1492–1509), both captains, andFrancisco, pilot for Martín. On Columbus’s first voy-age he himself commanded the Santa Maria, Martínthe Pinta, and Vicente the Niña. In 1499 Vicente ledan expedition exploring Brazil, where he landed threemonths before Cabral.

Pizarro brothers were Francisco (1476–1541), con-queror of Peru, and his younger half brothers, Fer-nando (fl. 1530–60) and Gonzalo (1511/13–48),both of whom assisted him. They all ended badly,with Francisco assassinated, Gonzalo executed, andFernando spending the last two decades of his life inprison.

Ponce de León, Juan (c. 1460–1521) was presentduring the conquest of Hispaniola and became gov-ernor of Boriquien (present-day Puerto Rico). In1513 he landed on the coast of Florida and namedthe site Saint Augustine. Although he founded acolony on the west coast of Florida, its location isunknown.

Prester John (Prester from presbyter), who appar-ently did not actually exist, was thought to rule a


245

Christian kingdom somewhere in the East. By the14th century this land was identified as Ethiopia.

Raleigh, Sir Walter (1554–1618) explored the coastof Virginia and founded a colony, Roanoke, whoseinhabitants disappeared. He introduced tobacco andpotatoes into England.

Ramusio, Giovanni Battista (1485–1557) com-piled firsthand accounts of travelers, translating sev-eral of them, which he published between 1550 and1559.

Ribault, Jean (1520–1565) was a French Huguenotin charge of founding a colony for refugees in thesoutheast region of North America. Although thecolony failed, his True and Last Discovery of Florida(in English) was published in 1563. On another voy-age to North America Ribault was captured bySpaniards and executed as a heretic.

Ruysch, Johannes (d. 1533), German geographer,sailed on an expedition to the North Americancoast. His world map depicting the Americas wasprinted in 1507 or 1508 and inserted in copies of hisCosmographiae introductio (Introduction to cosmog-raphy, 1507–08).

Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro (1532–1592), histo-rian and navigator, traveled in Peru and wrote His-torica Indica (Indian history, in manuscript,1570–72), describing violence and injustice againstthe Inca. The work was not published until 1906.

Saxton, Christopher (c. 1542–1611) surveyed andmapped the counties of England and Wales. Theresult, published in 1579, was the first provincial atlas.

Schouten, Willem Corneliszoon (fl. 1590–1619)was a captain in the Dutch East India Company whosailed around the southern tip of South America toreach the Spice Islands. He named that cape Hornafter Hoorn, his hometown.

Soto, Hernando de (c. 1500–1542) was part of theforce that conquered Guatemala in 1519. After lead-ing troops to assist Pizarro in Peru, Soto was one ofthe first Europeans to enter the Inca capital of

Cuzco. Later he spent three years exploring the pre-sent-day southeastern United States, reaching theregion just west of the Mississippi River.

Speed, John (c. 1552–1629) was a cartographer whopublished The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britainin 1611.

Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo (1397–1482) was aFlorentine mathematician who determined that aship might sail westward to reach Asia, but he mea-sured the Earth as somewhat smaller than it actuallyis. Columbus had access to this information, whichmay have encouraged his plans to travel west toreach the East.

Tristão, Nuno (d. 1446) several times explored thewestern coast of Africa in the service of Henry theNavigator. He was killed by Africans whom he wasattempting to capture for the slave trade.

Varthema, Lodovico de (c. 1470–1517) was an Ital-ian traveler who immersed himself in the MiddleEast for several years, then went on to India. HisItinerario (Itinerary) describing these experienceswas published in 1510.

Vázquez de Ayllón, Lucas (c. 1473–1526) becamean administrator and businessman in Hispaniola. Heestablished a colony (location unknown) on theAtlantic coast of North America, where African slaveswere part of the population. When the colony failed,many of the slaves escaped into the wilderness.

Vázquez de Coronado, Francisco (c. 1510–1554)was an explorer who became governor of New Gali-cia. Coronado (as he is usually called in English) ledtwo ambitious expeditions searching for riches,including the quest for the mythical city of “Quivira,”which took him as far as present-day Kansas. Writtenaccounts of these adventures include descriptions ofbison and of the Grand Canyon.

Verrazano, Giovanni da (1485–1528) sailed forFrance to search for a Northwest Passage. Heexplored the eastern coast of North America, thefirst European to visit what is now New York City.In 1528 he led another expedition into the LesserAntilles, where he was killed by the Carib people.


246

Vespucci, Amerigo (1454–1512), for whom Amer-ica was named, began his career as a shipping agentfor a Medici firm in Seville. His various voyages tothe Americas have been questioned, as well as hispossible service for the king of Portugal. Rather thanan intrepid explorer, he may have been an adroitpublicist. Vespucci was granted Spanish citizenshipfor his alleged accomplishments and was appointedprincipal navigator for the Casa de Contratación(house of trade) in Seville. (This building nowhouses Spain’s Archive of the Indies.)

Villegaignon, Nicolas Durand de (1510–1571)established a Protestant colony for France inBrazil; it was attacked and ultimately destroyed bythe Portuguese.

Waghenaer, Lucas Janszoon (c. 1534–1605), car-tographer, published Spieghel der Zeevaerdt (Mariner’smirror) in 1588.

Waldseemüller, Martin (1470–1518) was a Ger-man cartographer who included a world map show-ing the Americas in his Cosmographiae introductio(Introduction to cosmography, 1508).

Wright, Edward (1558–1615), English mathemati-cian, worked on errors in navigation after a voyageto the Azores. He lectured on this topic to membersof the East India Company.

Zurara, Gomes Eanes de (1410/20–74), historianand descriptive geographer, wrote the earliest extantreport on the Portuguese in West Africa, Crónica dodescobrimeno e conquista de Guiné (Chronicle of thediscovery and conquest of Guinea).

READING

Geography and CartographyBuisseret 1992: political applications; Cormack1997: England; Gambi 1997: Vatican map gallery;Lestringant 1994: cartography; Mundy 1996: Amer-icas; Penrose 1967: “The Geographical Literature ofthe Renaissance,” pp. 274–326: (bibliographic infor-mation); Randles 2000: nautical astronomy; Sider2000: portolan charts; Woodward 1991: cartographyand concepts of space.

TravelAllen 1972: postal service; Braudel Wheels, 1992: (gen-eral survey); Febvre 1977: “The Renaissance Mer-chant,” pp. 91–121: (character study); Gardiner 1994:ships; Lay 1992: roadways; Massing 1991: exoticimages; Penrose 1967: “Some Free-Lance Travelers ofthe Early Renaissance,” pp. 21–32: individual journeys.

ExplorationAlbuquerque 1991: Portugal; Chiappelli 1976: Amer-icas; Dutra 1995: Brazil; Elliott 1970: Americas; Hale1968:(general history); Jackson 2001: ethnography;Manchester 1993: “One Man Alone,” pp. 223–296;Magellan; Morison 1974: Americas; Ptak 1995:China; Sauer 1971: North America; Thornton 1992:Africa; Thornton 1995: West Africa; Todorov 1991:cross-cultural contact; Verlinden 1995: Portugal.


247

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

10

Advancements in science and medicine affectedevery aspect of Renaissance life. Although

many fields of scientific investigation, such asphysics and chemistry, did not yet exist as such, the15th and 16th centuries witnessed extraordinarydevelopments in astronomy, mathematics, optics,botany, and anatomy. Ancient Greek scientific textspreserved through Arabic sources and edited bymedieval scholars were studied throughout theRenaissance, then compared with newly discoveredGreek texts. Renaissance editors of the ancient trea-tises thus drew upon several resources for new schol-arly treatments. Individuals studying scientific topicsbegan to combine medieval methods with moreadvanced ideas. Allopathic and homeopathic med-ical remedies might involve the application of newinstruments and techniques, especially toward theend of the 16th century. New mathematical knowl-edge, for example, in triangulation, led to better sci-entific instruments for surveying and navigation.Both the reduction compass and the proportionalcompass were invented during this era, and the mag-netic compass benefited from William Gilbert’s(1544–1603) work on magnetism.

The Renaissance study of natural history com-prised many areas of science, including botany andgeology. The general study of nature as a whole wascalled both natural philosophy and natural science(scientia is the word for knowledge in Latin). Deriv-ing chiefly from the works of Aristotle, natural phi-losophy was split into two schools, one moretheoretical and the other more practical. Medicineand anatomy, for example, fell into the latter group.Some of the arguments and conflicts among Renais-sance scholars involved in the study of natural phi-losophy were caused by advocacy of “book learning”versus experience in the field. The best scientificminds of the Renaissance used both.

Astronomical discoveries of the Renaissancewere momentous in that the Earth was no longer thecenter of the universe by the early 17th century.This repositioning of the world itself rocked thefoundations of all scientific thought. Nicolas Coper-nicus (1473–1543) disproved the Ptolemaic geocen-tric (Earth-centered) universe. He did not permit hisbook De revolutionibus orbium calestium (On the revo-lutions of the heavenly orbs) to be published untilshortly before his death, because such an opinion

was potentially heretical; in fact, the CatholicChurch strongly discouraged any teaching of theCopernican system. Medieval cosmology, the studyof the world in relation to the heavens, had to berewritten by the end of the 16th century. The geniuswho did so was Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), whosemajor contributions are beyond the scope of the pre-sent book. We should note that his famous experi-ment of dropping objects from the leaningcampanile of Pisa may never have happened; by1609, however, he knew that the speed of a fallingbody varies according to the time of its fall, not thedistance. Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), as didGalileo, did most of his important astronomicalwork after 1600. Earlier he was influenced by thework of Copernicus and studied with Tycho Brahe(1546–1601) in Prague. Kepler’s Mysterium cosmo-graphicum (Cosmographic mystery, 1596) supportedCopernicus’s heliocentric system. He also correctlydefined gravity as a force of mutual attraction amongcelestial bodies.

ASTRONOMY ANDASTROLOGY

Renaissance astronomy during the 15th century andearly 16th century was based on the geocentric uni-verse, even though a few imaginative theologiansbelieved in a much less rigid cosmos of infinite pos-sibilities. Copernicus was the first astronomer topublish a scientific description of the heliocentricuniverse. Without supporting the Copernican sys-tem, Tycho Brahe made further advances by dis-proving the assumption that the cosmos wasenclosed by a fixed, crystalline sphere. Brahe alsodeveloped a geoheliocentric system, in which theEarth remained fixed at the center of the cosmos,with the planets orbiting the Sun, which in turnorbited the Earth. Geocentrism prevailed into theearly 17th century in this guise.

Astrology remained very popular during theRenaissance, when printed horoscopes and prog-nostications enhanced its popular appeal. Astro-logers were consulted for numerous reasons, and


250

those with compatible horoscopes were encouragedto join in various undertakings, from commercialventures to marriage. Commanders in chief oftenbased the precise day and hour to launch an attackon astrological predictions, and almanacs followedthe Moon and stars to advise farmers on propitiousdates for planting and harvesting. In spite of, andperhaps because of, the greater knowledge of thecosmos developed between 1400 and 1600, astrol-ogy was taken as seriously as the actual science ofastronomy.

AstronomyLong before 16th-century astronomers began tosuggest changes in the concept of the universe, the-ologians such as Nicholas Cusanus (1401–64)described an endless, infinite universe consisting ofmany inhabited worlds. Cusanus also believed thatthe Earth rotates and is not immovable. The radicalDominican friar Giordano Bruno (1548–1600)went so far as to teach that the Sun was only a staramong many such stars, in multiple solar systemsexpanding into the universe. His belief in innumer-able planets similar to the Earth revolving aroundmany Suns was one of the heretical notions forwhich Bruno was burned at the stake. Counter-Reformation policies and the power of the Inquisi-tion threatened astronomical progress for morethan a century.

The science of astronomy, assiduously studied byancient Greeks, treats the location, movement, andsize of heavenly bodies as physical facts. Astrology(see later discussion) studies the possible influence ofcelestial bodies on earthly events. A Renaissanceastronomer might predict the precise date of a plan-etary conjunction; an astrologer would interpretwhat the conjunction might mean for a specific indi-vidual or town. Astronomy had its origins in ancientcosmology; medieval cosmographic illustrations toPtolemy’s Almagest and other works showed animmovable Earth at the center of the universe. Thedays, years, and seasons of our world were explainedas movements of the Sun, stars, and planets. BecauseCopernicus based his discoveries of the heliocentric(Sun-centered) universe on arguments against thePtolemaic system, Epitome in Almagestum Ptolemaei

(Summary of the Almagest of Ptolemy), published in1496, was an important starting point. That workwas partially edited by Georg von Peurbach(1423–61), whose own research on planetary move-ment was printed several times during the 16th cen-tury. The Epitome was completed by Peurbach’sdisciple Regiomontanus (1436–76).

Copernicus began formulating his theories morethan two decades before they were published.Anomalies in planetary movements and other celes-tial events persuaded the astronomer that somethingwas wrong with the current understanding of thecosmos. When he positioned the Sun at the centerof our planetary system, several of the inconsisten-cies and errors were removed. This correction, inCopernicus’s opinion, restored celestial harmony:“We find, therefore, under this orderly arrange-ment, a wonderful symmetry in the universe, and adefinite harmony in the motion and magnitude ofthe orbs, of a kind it is not possible to obtain anyother way” (Ross and McLaughlin 1968, p. 596). Bydefining the heliocentric system, Copernicusdescribed the Earth as a planet that rotated daily onits axis and revolved around the Sun each year. Hisdrive for perfect harmony, however, held him to theconcept of concentric spheres, with circular orbitsfor the planets. Elliptical orbits would be revealed inKepler’s reforms of the Copernican system in theearly 17th century.

Kepler was a student of the brilliant Danishastronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), who built anobservatory on an island given to him by the king ofDenmark, designing his own instruments. Remark-ably, Renaissance astronomers accomplished theirdiscoveries without the aid of a telescope, which wasnot invented until the 17th century.

AstrologyAstrology was one of the most important compo-nents of magic; the person who produced magicaleffects was called a magus. During the Renaissancenatural (or white) magic was considered beneficial,especially when it involved medical procedures, asopposed to the demonic (or black) magic of witchesand other practitioners. These occult studies oftenhinged on astrology because the stars and planets

S C I E N C E A N D M E D I C I N E

251

were conceived of as superior intelligences thatcould be invoked for various purposes. Moreover,each heavenly body was thought to possess specificproperties, and objects such as plants and stoneswere thought to have an affinity with these proper-ties. All the senses were involved in certain incanta-tions; sounds and smells were employed as objects,arranged in patterns and sequence. Astrology, then,was used not only to predict the future, but also toaffect it. The great Neoplatonic scholar MarsilioFicino (1433–99) developed a new theory of super-natural forms, with mystical wisdom released fromthe mind itself. Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) sup-ported the idea of Christian Cabala in which positiveheavenly forces could be summoned by numericalcombinations, Hebrew letters, and other tools tocombat the negative influence of demonic power. Inthese and most other Renaissance perceptions ofastrological forces, human beings are a microcosmreflecting and communing with the macrocosm ofthe universe.

Astrology informed the decisions of many ofEurope’s rulers, just as some of today’s political lead-ers have depended on astrological advice. John Dee(1527–1608), royal astrologer at the English court,advocated an eclectic approach. His predictionscombined knowledge of navigation and weatherwith the inspiration derived from dreams.Astronomers were not exempt from the fascinationof astrological influence. Regiomontanus, for exam-ple, hoped for support from the king of Hungarybecause of their compatible horoscopes: “Theascendant of my nativity is no more than 12 degreesaway from the ascendant of his; given his birth, hewill offer me the offices of friendship. Similarly, themoon in his nativity is in the position of Jupiter inmy nativity” (Grafton 2001, p. 114). Numerousprognostications concerning royal marriages,treaties, travel, and even diet were pronounced byastronomers after studious deliberation, for whichthey were very well paid. Girolamo Cardano(1501–76), who wrote several treatises on astrology

and medicine, helped to promote astrology as a rig-orous intellectual system. Astrology may be seen asquasi-scientific in its taxonomic structure andreliance on cause and effect.

CHEMISTRY

Renaissance chemistry was studied in the context ofalchemy, a discipline concerned with much more thanjust converting base metals into gold and silver. Themain applications of chemistry during this periodwere medical (see later discussion), metallurgical, mil-itary, and artisanal. Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480–c.1539), for example, investigated the properties ofgunpowder, smelting processes, and the effect of alco-hol and acids in distillation. Artisanal applications ofchemistry included improvements in glassmaking andtextile dyeing. For the latter, the preparation of alumas a mordant to fix the dye became a major chemicalindustry during the 15th century.

Early chemists, influenced by the philosopher andphysician Paracelsus (1493–1541), worked from thethree principles of salt, sulfur, and mercury. Thesewere the organizing elements of experimentation, inthe sense of inherent qualities of matter. Stability wasrepresented by salt, liquidity and fusibility by mer-cury, and combustion by sulfur. During any specificexperiment, several salts, sulfurs, and mercuries mightbe applied or combined. As for air, Paracelsusreferred to it as “chaos,” a term that was corruptedinto “gas” during the 17th century. Raised in a miningtown, Paracelsus was familiar with the chemistry ofmetallurgy as well as of alchemical treatises, fromwhich he incorporated processes into his research.The main purpose of his own work, however, focusedon chemical applications for medicine, or iatrochem-istry (see later discussion).

Andreas Libavius (c. 1540–1616) trained as ahistorian, applied the discerning eye of a student


253

10.1 (opposite) Illustration of an armillary sphere. Woodcut in the first edition of Johannes Regiomontanus’s summaryof the Almagest of Ptolemy, 1496. The horizontal bands of the sphere indicate the Earth’s zones. (Photograph courtesyof Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

of history to his criticisms of contemporaryalchemists and their methods. Although Libaviuscalled himself an alchemist and thought that trans-mutation of metals was possible, he either discov-ered several new substances or was the first topublish about them. Among his discoveries wasammonium sulfate, and he found a new process forproducing sulfuric acid. Libavius’s major work onchemistry, entitled Alchemia, first appeared in1597. The second edition, published in 1606, fea-tured many illustrations of furnaces and glass con-tainers, along with instructions for organizing achemical laboratory.

MATHEMATICS

Renaissance mathematicians did not have some ofthe basic tools for solving problems, notably properlogarithmic tables, analytic geometry, and differen-tial calculus. Nevertheless major progress was madein algebra and geometry. Before the 14th century,algebraic problems were expressed mostly in narra-tive language, as in a literary text. Most numbersand expressions were written out, hindering visual-ization of the problem. Then during the early 14thcentury European mathematicians began to learnthe Hindu-Arabic method for writing out theirproblems in a sort of shorthand, which included thesymbolic letters of today’s algebra. The familiarnotations used in algebra were a Renaissance inven-tion. In mathematics in general, the Arabic base 10system of arithmetic was adapted by Europeansduring this time. Advancements in geometry wereimportant for art, as human proportions were betterrepresented and linear perspective was applied topainting (see chapter 3). The new geometric knowl-edge also contributed to improvements in survey-ing, navigation, and cartography (see chapter 9).Trigonometry began to be understood, and multi-ple-angle formulas were used for the trigonometricfunctions. The combination of rediscovered ancientGreek sources and increasingly sophisticated com-mercial problems requiring computation creatednew opportunities for mathematicians to experi-ment and learn.

AlgebraArithmetic, with geometry, astronomy, and music,was part of the quadrivium, the upper level of uni-versity studies during the Middle Ages. These fourareas composed the mathematical sciences (seechapter 11, Education); geometry was studied inrelation to astronomy, and arithmetic in conjunctionwith theoretical aspects of music. Arithmetic waspurely a computational tool involving real numbers,not a science of numbers in general. Mathematics asan abstract science began to develop during theRenaissance, with 16th-century publications leadingthe way for some of the major discoveries of the17th-century scientific revolution.

Methods for solving cubic equations (equationsin which the largest sum of exponents of variables is3) were not fully successful in Europe until the 16thcentury. The first important Renaissance book onmathematics, by Luca Pacioli (c. 1445–c. 1514)1494, stated that it is impossible to solve cubic equa-tions algebraically. A teacher of mathematics inVerona, Niccolò Tartaglia (c. 1499–1557), deter-mined how to solve such equations using algebra.He became famous in Italian learned circles becauseof this knowledge. Girolamo Cardano persuadedTartaglia to reveal his secret, promising not to shareit with anyone. Instead, Cardano published it in hisArs magna (The great art, 1545), probably the bestknown book about algebra for Renaissance readers.Tartaglia was furious and rightly attempted to takecredit for the work, but his method is known todayas Cardano’s solution.

When Cardano published The Great Art, mathe-maticians were not yet accustomed to using abbrevi-ations and symbols in algebraic publications.Cardano wrote out the solution, with actual numbersinstead of symbols serving as his model. During thesecond half of the 16th century, mathematical nota-tion became more symbolic and abstract. RobertRecorde (c. 1510–58), for example, wrote The Whe-stone of Wit (1557), the first mathematical book to usethe equal (=) sign. German mathematicians were thefirst to use the square-root sign (√) while their Italiancontemporaries were still using the letter R. Six-teenth-century mathematicians dealt with some ofthe more abstruse qualities of algebra; Pedro Nunes,for example, already in 1532 was writing about


254


255

10.2 Geometrical studies of the human face. Woodcut in the first edition of Albrecht Dürer’s book on humanproportions, 1528. This book included the earliest printed descriptions of spatial geometry; Dürer himself checked theproofs shortly before his death. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

square roots and quadratic equations. His Libro dealgebra en arithmetica y geometria (Book of algebra inarithmetic and geometry) was published much later,in 1567.

The French humanistic scholar François Viète(1540–1603) contributed in several ways to thedevelopment of algebra. His mathematical publica-tions were the first to put equations in a separate areaof the text block, making them visually accessible andhighlighting their importance. Viète made anattempt to create trigonometrical tables in his Canonmathematicus (Mathematical canon) of 1572 but sub-sequently discovered numerous errors in the workand had most of the copies destroyed. His statusamong mathematicians was established in 1593 whenhe won an algebraic contest, solving an equation ofthe 45th degree. Viète also published the first infiniteseries in algebraic literature, to express π. SimonStevin (1548–1620) taught mathematics at the Uni-versity of Leiden. He was unusual among the famousRenaissance mathematicians in that he was anaccountant and applied his knowledge of numbers tofinancial problems. As superintendent of the finan-cial administration of the Netherlands, Stevin pub-lished a useful table for determining compoundinterest. He contributed to the theory of equationsby explaining that signs could be attached to individ-ual numbers, and he popularized the use of decimalfractions, which elegantly simplified commercialtransactions.

GeometryDiscoveries in Renaissance geometry were most sig-nificant for architecture, art, optics, cartography,navigation (see the Mercator projection in chapter9), and surveying. In 1400, the basic text for geome-try in universities were the first few books of Euclid’sElements. Pertaining mostly to triangles and circles,Euclid’s text had been used in schools since antiquity.Other Greek texts on geometry, however, had beenlost. Renaissance humanists produced new editionsof these works as they were discovered, often addinglengthy commentaries. An important Greek text onconics was published in Latin in 1566, and the worksof Archimedes appeared in print in 1588. Mean-while, in the abacus schools (see chapter 11) where

technical subjects were taught, solid geometry wasbeginning to be developed. The three-dimensionaltechnique required for surveying also applied toarchitecture and painting, and Luca Pacioli andDaniele Barbaro (1513–70) contributed significantpublications. Pacioli taught mathematics throughoutmuch of northern Italy, discussing his ideas with col-leagues in several cities. Leonardo de Vinci(1452–1519), who was interested in geometry, illus-trated Pacioli’s 1509 publication on proportion. Bar-baro’s profusely illustrated La practica della perspettiva(The practice of perspective, 1568, 1569) includedinformation on polyhedra. More important, heexpounded the intellectual value of studying suchshapes, because “by the secret intelligence of theirforms we ascend to the highest speculations concern-ing the nature of things” (Kemp 1990, p. 76).

No one studied forms more closely than artists.Several 15th-century artists contributed to thedevelopment of linear perspective (see chapter 3),notably Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72) and FilippoBrunelleschi (1377–1446). Although not publishedduring the Renaissance, De prospettiva pingendi (Onperspective in painting) by the painter Piero dellaFrancesca (c. 1420–92) circulated in manuscriptcopies after circa 1474. Written from a practicalpoint of view, this treatise explained through geo-metric diagrams the techniques for drawing three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional space.Commencing with Euclidean principles, Pierodescribed additional proportional relationships,paying particular attention to the sides and diago-nals of geometric shapes. Albrecht Dürer publishedUnderweysung der Messung (Treatise on measure-ment, in four sections) in 1525. Because he wasfamous as an artist, and because this was the firstprinted treatise in German on geometry, the bookwas quite popular. Besides illustrating theoreticalpoints, Dürer applied geometric polyhedra to sev-eral artisanal topics, such as typography. The firstsection of the book, on lines, illustrates how to cre-ate sections of cones; the second treats both the the-ory and the applications of polygons; the thirddiscusses the attributes of solid forms; the fourthpertains to polyhedra. This last book shows solids intwo-dimensional shapes, flattened out as templates.

The problem of expressing three-dimensionalshapes on a two-dimensional surface also concerned


256

navigators and cartographers (see chapter 9). TheMercator projection, though useful, was not to scale,and shapes of the continents were somewhat dis-torted. Mercator’s system, based on the concept ofcylindrical projection, allowed mariners to set theircourse in a straight line, but measurement of dis-tance was problematic. After gaining practical expe-rience in navigation, the English mathematicianEdward Wright (1558–1615) used trigonometry tocalculate latitudinal distances. His 1599 treatise,Certain Errors in Navigation Detected and Corrected,interpreted and improved Mercator’s system.

OPTICS

Renaissance optical studies benefited fromadvances in geometry, from tables of refractionmeasuring starlight to geometric diagrams explain-ing retinal images. Although the properties ofvision itself became better understood between1400 and 1600, Renaissance eyeglasses were onlyconcave lenses. Invented during the late 13th cen-tury, eyeglasses were rare even in the 14th century.Evidence in art suggests that they had becomesomething of a status symbol by the 16th century.The eyes, of course, were understood as the path-way of all visual knowledge. Renaissance scholarsand artists realized that the eye was a receptor forimages rather than a projector. The learnedFrenchman Petrus Ramus (1515–72) collaboratedwith Friedrich Risner (d. 1580) to publish a work in1572 that included scholarly editions of two impor-tant texts on optics. Entitled Opticae thesaurus(Thesaurus of optics), this publication influencedthe study of optics for the next few decades. Thework presented the work of Alhazen, a medievalArabic scholar who had studied ancient Greek sci-entific treatises to create his own theory of vision,as well as the conclusions of Witelo, a student ofRoger Bacon’s, written circa 1270. Not publisheduntil 1611, the work of a Benedictine monk,Francesco Maurolico (1494–1575) on optics wouldhave been important if others had known about it.Maurolico explained the camera obscura in geo-metric terms, quantified the light reflected from

mirrors of various shapes, and discussed refractionin the eye.

Anatomical discoveries included significantchanges in assumptions about the eye and vision.Dissecting eyeballs, Leonardo realized that theexternal image received on the retina was inverted.He thus was able to compare the eye to the cameraobscura, experimenting with variations in the pupil’sdiameter. Although Renaissance researchers did notquite comprehend how the eye acts as a lens, theydid locate the lens, which they called the crystallinehumor. Experiments by Kepler, working on opticspertaining to astronomy, further distinguished vari-ous functions of vision. Giambattista Della Porta (c.1535–1615) was a Neapolitan who studied what hecalled “natural magic.” The second edition of hisbook with this title, Magia naturalis, discussed hisexperiments with refraction of light. This topic verymuch appealed to Della Porta, who subsequentlywrote a book focusing on refraction, De refractione(1593). His research with concave and convex lenses,and with the pupil of the eye, contributed to studiesconcerning distance vision and the invention of thetelescope in the early 17th century.

BOTANY AND DRUGS

The study of plants in the Renaissance focused ontheir medicinal properties and on proper identifica-tion of plants described by ancient writers as well asof unknown plants introduced to Europe by travel-ers and explorers. Medicinal lore and basic informa-tion about each plant were published in herbals,books consulted by all levels of society. Humanisticeditions of classical texts concerning botanyincluded works by Aristotle, Theophrastus, Galen,Pliny, and, above all, Dioscorides. Renaissancebotanists also learned about numerous other plantsthrough Arabic sources. During the 16th century,many hundreds of plants were added to the classicallist, many of them illustrated from nature in life-sized woodcuts. By 1600 botanists had describedapproximately 5,400 more plants than the 600known to Dioscorides. Each plant was assumed tohave medicinal properties, regardless of whether


257

these were fully understood. Botanical gardens wereestablished in several cities to enable researchers tostudy living plants in a controlled environment. Thefirst successful examples were planted in northernItaly during the 1540s and 1550s. Herbs were also

studied in herbaria, collections of pressed plants, ofwhich the earliest known example dates from 1532.

BotanyBotany truly developed as a science during the 15thand 16th centuries, as scholars and researchers facedthe task of identifying and describing new plantsfrom the Americas and Asia. In addition, manyEuropean plants had different names in varioussources. The same plant could have different namesin Greek, Arabic, Latin, and the vernacular lan-guages. Further confusion was caused by the factthat some authors simply transliterated Greek andArabic into similar sounds in Latin or the vernacu-lar, and others translated the meaning of the plantname. As a result, the same plant might have severalnames, or, even worse, different plants might havethe same name or very similar names. Every Renais-sance botanist had to deal with these taxonomic dif-ficulties. Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), papalphysician, recommended in 1583 that plants bedescribed according to their purposes. In this Aris-totelian system, roses would be grouped with roses,fruit trees with fruit trees, and so on. Other botanistsof the time followed other organizational principles,such as pharmacological purposes, edibility, or mor-phological characteristics.

Ancient botanical information not accessibleduring the Middle Ages was made available toscholars by 15th-century humanists. Ermolao Bar-baro the Younger (1454–93), for example, spentseveral years working on his most famous work,Castigationes Pliniae (Emendations of Pliny, 1493).He made thousands of improvements in Pliny’s textof natural history, determining that Pliny himselfhad misdescribed some plants. The definitive edi-tion of De materia medica (Medical materials, 1544)of Dioscorides was that of the physician PierandreaMattioli (1500 or 1501–77). He included in thispublication several European plants as well asexotic plants sent to him by friends traveling in for-eign lands. Beautifully illustrated, this book wasextensively reprinted during the 16th century. Theworks of several botanists were published byChristophe Plantin (c. 1520–89) or by his son-in-


258

10.3 Illustration of a pineapple. Woodcut in the firstedition of Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de lasIndias, con sus plantas (Treatise on drugs andmedicines of the Indies, with its plants, 1578) byCristóbal de Acosta and García de Orta. Many exoticplants were studied for their potential medicinal uses.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

law, Jan Moretus (1543–1610). Plantin operatedthe largest printing house in northern Europe, withshops in Antwerp and Leiden, running as many as22 presses. (His Antwerp shop is now the MuséePlantin-Moretus, still set up as a 16th-centuryprint establishment.) The herbals and other botan-ical books issued by this firm contained woodcutsby artists and engravers who worked directly forPlantin. The remarkable quality of these illustra-tions helped to popularize the study of botany. Car-olus Clusius (1526–1609) worked for Plantin,translating Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Span-ish botanical treatises. Such translations also con-tributed to furthering the knowledge of botany.

DrugsMedication was the most prevalent method of treat-ing illnesses during the Renaissance. The main alter-native was phlebotomy (bloodletting, discussedlater), with its inherent dangers. Most medicinalremedies of the Renaissance were known in the Mid-dle Ages, if not in the ancient world. Tea made fromwillow bark, for example, was used to reduce fever.(We now know that willow bark contains salicylates,the main component of aspirin.) Plant products fromcolonies in the Far East and the Americas signifi-cantly improved Renaissance pharmacology. One ofthe more beneficial drugs was ipecacuanha, whichcould loosen chest congestion. Even chocolate, cof-fee, and tobacco were first recommended for theirmedicinal properties. Although Europeans were alsocurious about exotic animals such as the armadillo,they were serious in their study of exotic plantsbecause of their potential pharmacological value.

Drugs were usually dispensed by apothecaries,who learned their trade in the guild system. In manycities apothecaries competed with physicians, offer-ing medical advice along with their products. Dur-ing the 16th century, several cities, such asAmsterdam, passed ordinances prohibiting apothe-caries from selling medication without the writtenorder of a physician. Outwardly conforming to locallegislation, most apothecaries evidently continued toadvise “patients,” some of whom simply wanted thedistilled alcoholic concoctions sold at apothecaryshops. Apothecaries were, in fact, as well trained inpharmacopoeia as many physicians. They experi-mented with different combinations of medicationand learned, as best they could, to substitute ingredi-ents for items in ancient recipes that were no longeravailable.

Leonhard Fuchs (1501–66), chair of the medicalfaculty at the University of Tübingen, wrote the bestmedical herbal of the first half of the 16th century.His De historia stirpium (History of plants, 1542)established a new standard of excellence in botanicalpublications. The woodcut illustrations were particu-larly important as great care was taken in their execu-tion. One of the works translated by Carolus Clusiuswas the 1563 Portuguese account of the drugs ofIndia by Garcia de Orta (c. 1500–c. 1568), a physician


259

10.4 Botanical illustration and analytical text.Hieronymus Bock, Kreutterbuch (Herbal, 1595).(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

who lived in Goa. His entry on cinnamon typifies theclarity of his work. Stating that cinnamon is both aspice and a drug, the author explained that, because oflinguistic corruption, it had two names in Malaysia.He described both the tree and its bark in great detail.Modern scholars have suggested that the Renaissanceimpulse to measure and quantify such commodities incolonial territory was one way of gaining control overunfamiliar, unknown lands and people.

Many researchers studying medicinal plantsworked closer to home. Ulisse Aldrovandi(1522–1605), professor of natural history at theUniversity of Bologna, investigated plants in theherbarium that he founded there, which can be vis-ited today. (For more information on drugs, seechapter 12.)

ANATOMY ANDMEDICINE

Anatomical writings in the Western world beganwith the Greek physician Galen, who dissectedmonkeys because they were the animals mostclosely resembling human beings. During the Mid-dle Ages students in the renowned medical school atSalerno (southern Italy) dissected pigs. Until the13th century, the dissection of human beings waslargely prohibited. Thus medieval attempts tounderstand the structure of the human body had azoological context; bodies of different mammalswere seen to have similar organs and the same basicskeletal frame. When human dissections were per-formed in the early Renaissance, the bodies wereoften those of condemned criminals. Both malesand females were dissected, and a pregnant womanwas dissected in Bologna during the 16th century.In some instances, the medical professor would sitin an elevated chair behind the dissecting table,reading from Galen or another ancient authoritywhile an assistant performed the cutting and saw-ing. Other professors, such as Andreas Vesalius(1514–64), did the dissecting themselves. Physicalanomalies were often overlooked because the pur-pose of the dissection was to illustrate information

in the text of Galen. During the course of theRenaissance, anatomists increasingly paid moreattention to the body itself. Leonardo da Vinci, whoobtained cadavers from a hospital in Florence, wasone of the first anatomists to learn about the bodydirectly from its physical evidence, letting the bodyteach him. His drawings of organs and of nude fig-ures indicate the wisdom of such an approach.Leonardo’s work, however, was not published dur-ing the Renaissance. Vesalius, who lectured onanatomy at the University of Padua, influenced thecourse of Renaissance anatomy with his De humanicorporis fabrica (On the structure of the human body,1543). (For information on anatomy and Renais-sance art, see chapter 3.)

Renaissance medical practitioners were dividedbetween physicians and surgeons. Unlike surgeonsof today, who command a very high salary and havethe respect of their community, surgeons in the earlyRenaissance were on the social level of barbers andbutchers. This attitude changed by 1600, when bar-ber-surgeons performed only minor procedures andprofessional surgeons were respected for their skill.Physicians hardly examined the body of theirpatients, using other means to make diagnoses, suchas inspection of urine and fecal matter. These menstudied at universities and usually had a medicaldegree. They prescribed drugs and advised patientsabout general health practices. Surgeons, on theother hand, learned their trade in the field asapprentices and had no university accreditation oftheir capabilities. Surgery was greatly feared by mostpeople because there was no effective anesthetic. Inaddition, surgeons were associated with the negativeconnotations of failed childbirth. After a midwifehad exhausted every effort to deliver a baby lodgedin the birth canal, a surgeon would have to be calledin to dismember and extract the stillborn baby tosave the mother’s life. (Forceps were not routinelyused in live births until the 17th century.) Surgeons,in general, had to deal with patients in tremendouspain, bleeding excessively and highly susceptible toinfection and amputation. Through his publicationsand reputation, the French military surgeonAmbroise Paré (1510–90) raised the status of sur-geons among his contemporaries. (For more infor-mation on medicine, including hospitals, seechapters 7 and 12.)


260

Anatomy

Human dissection in the Renaissance apparentlybegan in Bologna, with autopsies done in responseto legal questions. From performing autopsies, itwas a short step to dissecting human cadavers forpurposes of instruction. By 1400 the medical facul-ties in both Bologna and Padua were teachinganatomy through dissection, and university statutesrequired at least one dissection each year. These hadto be done during the winter months, and the workusually was accomplished quickly, before the organsbegan to decay. Executions of criminals were some-times scheduled at the convenience of professors ofanatomy. Until the 16th century dissections simplyshowed students the location and physiologicalcharacteristics of body parts. Anatomists did notunderstand bodily functions beyond what was taughtin the Galenic corpus, which consisted of Galen’stexts as well as later commentaries. Medieval lorepertaining to certain body parts also prevailed intothe Renaissance, such as the idea that the uterus hasseven sections. The “warmer” sections on the rightwere thought to conceive males; the “colder” oneson the left, females; and the central section, her-maphrodites.

The basic presumption of 16th-century anatomy,that observation of nature could produce results supe-rior to those of traditional authorities, assured its suc-cess. Galen openly admitted that his own work onhuman anatomy had been hindered by being limitedto study of the anatomy of monkeys. Researcherssuch as Vesalius spent their career correcting Galenand adding information to his basic account of thehuman body. Vesalius may have been the first profes-sor of anatomy to perform his own dissections on thehuman body in a university setting. Vesalius followedin the Greek physician’s footsteps, performing humandissections in the same order on the body as Galenused for monkeys, commencing with the bones andending with the brain. He did not hesitate to correctGalenic misconceptions that had persisted for cen-turies, such as the assumption that the liver has fivelobes whereas it actually has none. His De humani cor-pus fabrica (Structure of the human body), publishedin a folio edition, had numerous full-page illustrationsthat enhanced the educational value of the book.

Drawn under Vesalius’s supervision, the illustrationswere done by a pupil of Titian’s (c. 1489–1576). Inaddition to his own masterwork, Vesalius contributedto editions of Galen’s texts, notably the book on dis-secting arteries and veins.

Building on Vesalius’s discoveries, and oftenattempting to compete with him, other anatomistsfocused on specific parts of the body. Compara-tive anatomy appealed to both Gabriele Falloppio(c. 1523–62) and the papal physician BartolomeoEustachio (c. 1520–1574). Falloppio, for whom thefallopian tubes are named, taught anatomy at thefamous medical school in the University of Padua.His Observationes anatomice (Anatomical observa-tions, 1561), which included new information aboutthe female reproductive organs, emphasized thefunctions of various body parts. Eustachio, forwhom the eustachian tubes in the ear are named,was the first to publish a correct description of theadrenal glands. Falloppio’s most famous pupil wasWilliam Harvey (1578–1657), whose discoveriesconcerning circulation of the blood belong to the17th century. During the 16th century, however,Harvey’s predecessors at Padua performed dissec-tions on living animals (vivisection). They learnedhow blood from the pulmonary artery enters thelungs to take on air before being pumped by theheart throughout the body. This discovery was oneof the first steps toward the knowledge that the sameblood, continuously refreshed, flowed in a circularmanner and was controlled by valves (or “littledoors” as they were called).

MedicineThroughout the Renaissance medical diagnosis wasgrounded in the belief that the human body com-prises four humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm,and blood, associated with the four primal qualitiesof cold, dry, wet, and hot, and with the four elementsof earth, air, water, and fire. Each person wasthought to have some of all four humors, with onehumor dominating the others and thus forming theindividual’s body type and personality. Allopathicmedicine treated an illness with the “other” (themeaning of allopathic). A person who had an excessof heat, for example, a sanguine type, would be


261

treated with a medication having the property ofcold. Special diets, not very different from today’sdiets according to blood type, were recommendedfor each predominant humor. Each new drug dis-covered in the Americas or Asia was adapted to thehumoral system, which prevailed into the 17th cen-tury. Humors were conceptualized as actual physicalcomponents of the body, which could be damaged orputrefied and become life threatening. Althoughtheir logic was fallible, Renaissance physicians real-

ized that pain or discomfort in one part of the bodycould be caused by problems in another part. Redis-tributing or repairing the humors was thought to beone possible cure.

Renaissance physicians were university men, andmost of them were scholars for whom ancient med-ical texts of Hippocrates and Galen were as impor-tant as new works published by their colleagues.Paracelsus stood outside this model, vehementlycriticizing Galenic medicine. Even though many ofhis ideas about medicine were bizarre, even for thetime, he may have foreseen why vaccinations areeffective. Paracelsus suggested that a mild case of adisease might prevent a more serious case of thesame malady. He also recommended homeopathictreatment, in which the plant from which a medica-tion was derived had a similarity, visual or otherwise,to the organ or other body part being treated. Hismajor contribution to medicine were chemicalremedies, especially compounds of salts, minerals,and metals. The principles of effervescence and fer-mentation used in iatrochemistry were later appliedto basic human physiological functions. Iatrochem-istry was used to treat the new disease called syphilis.Introduced to Europe from the Americas, syphilisbecame the scourge of the 16th century. The ail-ment was treated chiefly by mercury, which slowlypoisoned the patient and rotted the bones. Fortu-nately for Europe, the virulent strain that killedthousands during the 16th century evolved into aless deadly form of the disease. Girolamo Fracastoro(1478–1553), a Veronese physician, wrote a famousLatin poem entitled Syphilis, sive morbus Gallicus(Syphilis, or the French sickness, 1530), in which hediscussed several possible treatments, as well as thegruesome symptoms.

Barber-surgeons could perform minor proce-dures, such as bloodletting with leeches or cupping.The latter procedure involved heating the inside of aglass cup and quickly sliding it over the skin, usuallyon the back. The slight vacuum would then breakminor capillaries. Phlebotomy was sometimes doneby barber-surgeons, even though cutting into a veinwas supposed to be the job of an actual surgeon. Abasic knowledge of anatomy was necessary to pre-vent cutting into an artery and risking the patient’sbleeding to death, or into a nerve and causing partialparalysis. Veins in the arms were normally used for


262

10.5 Example of a patient in full-body traction. Newmedical knowledge gained by the study of ancient Greektexts and of practical anatomy led to innovativetreatments such as that depicted here. The patientprobably suffered an injury to the back. Woodcut in GuidoGuidi, Chirurgia (Surgery, 1544). (Photographcourtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

bloodletting, unless the specific condition called forrelease of bad humors from another part of the body.Physicians argued about whether blood should bereleased from the side of the body that had a prob-lem, or from the opposite side to draw the illnessaway from its location. Physicians also debated theamount of blood to release; some argued for smallamounts over time and others advised a gush ofblood until the patient fainted. Phlebotomy waspracticed as holistic medicine; the procedure wasplanned around the patient’s diet, routine, humors,and specific illness, with attention paid to the seasonof the year and phases of the Moon. In spite ofadvances in anatomy and general medical knowl-edge, such treatments continued well past theRenaissance.

Considering the simple knives, razors, and lancetsavailable to Renaissance surgeons, they accomplishedamazing feats of healing. Surgeons knew how tocouch cataracts (displacing the lens into the vitreouspart of the eye), remove kidney stones, diagnose andexcise malignant breast cancer, and even performtrepanation (rarely undertaken). Although manyRenaissance procedures had been known sinceancient times, surgical knowledge during the later15th and 16th centuries benefited from the severewounds resulting from firearms used in warfare.Ambroise Paré (1510–90), a field surgeon in theFrench army, improved the treatment of infection bydealing with gunshot wounds. He also made signifi-cant advances in the procedures for amputation, pre-viously a major cause of death because of bleedingand shock (see chapter 7). Paré published several sur-gical manuals, including Deux livres de chirurgie (Twobooks of surgery, 1572), which explained his methodof turning a breech baby in the womb. In recognitionof his expertise, he was appointed surgeon to the kingof France, Henry II (1519–59). During a joustingtournament, the tip of a wooden lance pierced theking’s temple and lodged in his brain. Although bothParé and Vesalius were at his bedside and treatedhim, not even their best efforts could save him.

MIDWIFERY

Pregnancy was not considered an illness, thoughmany women died in childbirth or occasionallyafterward as a result of infection. (Childbed fever

was not a serious problem until much later, whenmore children were born in hospitals and with theaid of unsterilized instruments.) Though physicianstreated gynecological problems, they were notobstetricians. Not until the 18th century did malesurgeons routinely attend normal births. In theRenaissance babies were delivered at home by mid-wives, older women in the community who usuallyhad learned their skills from women in their family.Midwives did not have professional organizations orapprenticeships in guilds, and for most of them mid-wifery supplied only part of their income, becausemany were married to artisans or farmers.

The midwife was called as soon as a womanbegan labor. Examining the patient with her handin the birth canal, the midwife would determine thedilation of the cervix by using her fingers. If birthseemed likely to occur within a few hours, shewould stay with the patient, encouraging her andhelping to keep her in good spirits. During thistime the patient’s entire family was likely to be inthe room with her. A positive mental attitude andfamily support were considered important for asuccessful birth. Midwives knew how to straightentwisted limbs in the birth canal during delivery, andsome midwives knew how to turn a breech baby inthe uterus. After delivery the midwife tied theumbilical cord, helped the mother deliver the pla-centa, and cleaned and inspected the baby. She alsoknew how to dress vaginal abrasions and stitchtears. The midwife advised a mother who was giv-ing birth to her first child about breast-feeding.Although midwives were not permitted to adminis-ter drugs to women during or after childbirth,many had their own recipes for soothing potionsand aids for sleeping.

MAJOR FIGURES

Acosta, José de (1539–1600), Spanish Jesuit serv-ing as a missionary in Peru, wrote a catechism inIndian dialects and an influential work on the floraand fauna of the New World, Historia natural ymoral de las Indias (Natural and moral history of theIndies, 1590).


263

Aldrovandi, Ulisse (1522–1605) held the chair ofnatural history at the University of Bologna andestablished a botanical garden in the city. His trea-tise on drugs published in 1574 was partially basedon research involving plants in the garden.

Apianus, Petrus (1501–1552) was professor ofmathematics at Ingolstadt. His Cosmographia of 1520included information based on Renaissance voyagesof exploration. He also published on astronomicaltopics.

Argyropoulos, Johannes (c. 1415–1487), a teacherof Greek and medicine from Constantinople, trans-lated works of Aristotle, including Physics, into Latin.

Bacon, Francis (1561–1626) studied at Cambridgeand became an advocate of the inductive method,studying the book of nature. His Advancement ofLearning (1605) contributed to the scientific revolu-tion of the 17th century.

Barbaro, Daniele (1513–1570), Venetian humanistand diplomat, translated Vitruvius’s classical Latintext on architecture into Italian. Using the work ofPiero della Francesca, Barbaro wrote an influentialbook on perspective that also discussed polyhedra,La practica della perspettiva (The practice of perspec-tive, 1568, 1569).

Barbaro the Younger, Ermolao (Almoro di Zac-caria) (1454–1493), Venetian humanist and diplo-mat, published editions of and commentaries onclassical Greek authors. His most famous work isCastigationes Pliniae (Emendations of Pliny, 1493),with thousands of corrections and additions, espe-cially pertaining to botany.

Bauhin, Gaspard (1560–1624), the son of Frenchparents, was born in Basel, where he later held thechairs of both Greek and botany at the university.Bauhin’s botanical publications codified thousandsof native plants.

Bayer, Johann (1572–1625) was an astronomer whoinvented the system of using letters from the Greekalphabet to indicate the brightness of stars in eachconstellation.

Benedetti, Giovanni Battista (1530–1590), mathe-matician, specialized in geometry. In 1574 he pub-lished an important treatise on sundials.

Benzi, Ugo (1376–1439), physician, wrote a treatisein Italian (first printed in 1481) concerning goodhealth.

Biandrata, Giorgio (c. 1515–1588) was a physicianwho specialized in female disorders, serving asphysician to the dowager queen of Poland and thento women in the royal family at the court of Transyl-vania. He was also known for his Unitarian beliefs.

Biringuccio, Vannoccio (1480–c. 1539) was achemist who studied combustibles, distillation, andmetallurgy. His De la pirotechnia (On fireworks) waspublished in 1540.

Bombelli, Rafael (1526–1572) spent most of his lifeworking as an engineer. He was also a brilliant mathe-matician, whose L’algebra of 1572 discussed the squareroots of negative quantities (imaginary numbers).

Brahe, Tycho (1546–1601), one of the most illustri-ous astronomers of the Renaissance, was given theisland of Hveen in 1574 by the kind of Denmark. Hefounded his observatory, Uraniborg, there anddesigned the instruments himself. Later he becameimperial mathematician at the court of Rudolf II inPrague.

Brunfels, Otto (c. 1489–1534) was a botanist whowrote an important Renaissance herbal, published in1530–36 with illustrations drawn from life.

Cardano, Girolamo (1501–1576) worked as aphysician and mathematician, making significantimprovements in the study of algebra. He also wroteseveral treatises on astrology and medicine.

Cesalpino, Andrea (1519–1603) was a physicianand director of the botanical garden in Pisa. Late inlife he moved to Rome, where he served as papalphysician.

Clavius, Christoph (1537–1612) was a Jesuitastronomer who supported the calendar reforms of


264

Pope Gregory XIII. In the early 17th century heapproved the work of Galileo but did not agree withthe heliocentric cosmos. He also wrote mathemati-cal school texts.

Clusius, Carolus (1526–1609) one of the mostfamous botanists of the 16th century, was invited byMaximilian I to create a medicinal garden in Vienna.He also established the botanical garden in Leiden.Clusius collected plants throughout Europe and wassent specimens from Turkey, and he did pioneeringresearch on tulips.

Copernicus, Nicolas (1473–1543) was a physician inPoland who studied astronomy, abandoning thePtolemaic theory of the universe with the Earth at itscenter. Copernicus determined that the universe isheliocentric, but he understood that this theory couldbe considered heretical. His treatise De revolutionibusorbium calestium (On the revolutions of the heavenlyorbs) was not published until shortly before he died.

Danti, Egnazio (1536–1586), mathematician, con-tributed to the 1582 reform of the calendar. He wasalso a geographer, appointed papal cosmographerfor Gregory XIII.

Dee, John (1527–1608) was astrologer to Mary Iand lectured on astrology and navigation at thecourt of Elizabeth I. He also experimented in theoccult sciences in Poland and Bohemia.

Della Porta, Giambattista (c. 1535–1615) was bornin Naples. Influenced by Neoplatonism, he studiedunexplained natural phenomena, including refraction.His book on the topic, De refractione, was published in1593. In 1560, Della Porta founded the earliestRenaissance scientific academy, the Academia Secre-torum Naturae (Academy of the secrets of nature).

Digges, Leonard (c. 1515–c. 1559) wrote practicalmanuals on geometry and surveying. ThomasDigges was his son.

Digges, Thomas (c. 1546–1595), eldest son ofLeonard Digges, was educated by John Dee. Heedited work by his father and published his ownwritings concerning geometrical solids.

Dodoens, Junius Rembert (1517–1585), Flemishphysician, published an important herbal influencedby the work of Leonhard Fuchs.

Dürer, Albrecht (1471–1528) was an engraver andpainter who in 1525 published the first book in Ger-man on geometry, Underweysung der Messung (Trea-tise on measurement).

Estienne, Charles (1504–1564) published a treatiseon anatomy. For 10 years he was also a printer in Paris.

Eustachio, Bartolomeo (1520–1574), papal physi-cian, was author of Opuscula anatomica (Anatomicaltreatise, 1564). This work described the adrenalglands for the first time and included information onkidneys and ears. The eustachian tube and eusta-chian valve are named after him.

Fabrici, Girolamo (1537–1619), who studied withFallopio, became professor of anatomy at the Uni-versity of Padua. Fabrici did pioneering work in thestudy of embryos and of the venous system.

Falloppio, Gabriele (c. 1523–1562) precededFabrici as professor of anatomy at Padua, supervis-ing the dissections for which his department wasfamous. Important reports on his anatomicalresearch concerning the female reproductive andsexual organs are contained in his Observationesanatomice (Anatomical observations, 1561). The fal-lopian tubes are named after him.

Fernel, Jean François (1497–1558) was physicianto Diane de Poitiers and her lover, Henry II, king ofFrance. His medical textbook of 1554, reprintednumerous times, was the first publication to use psy-chology as a medical term.

Ferrari, Lodovico (1522–1565), Cardano’s assistantknown for his expertise in algebra, became professorof mathematics at the University of Bologna.

Fracastoro, Girolamo (1478–1553) was a physicianand writer in Verona. His most famous work is aNeo-Latin poem entitled Syphilis, sive morbus Galli-cus (Syphilis, or the French sickness, 1530), in whichhe described symptoms and proposed cures.


265

Fuchs, Leonhard (1501–1566) was chair of themedical faculty at the University of Tübingen. Hepublished an influential treatise on medicinal plantsin 1542 that included descriptions of North Ameri-can species. The flowering plant fuchsia is namedafter him.

Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642), known simply asGalileo, was the most famous astronomer of the firsthalf of the 17th century. Although most of his workis beyond the chronological limits of the presentbook, he is mentioned here because his ideas aboutthe universe were influenced by the heliocentricconcept of Copernicus.

Gerard, John (1545–1612) was a physician who hadan extensive knowledge of herbs. His herbal pub-lished in 1597 became a classic in the field.

Gesner, Conrad (1516–1565) spent the years of hisretirement in Zurich doing research in botany andzoology and publishing prolifically. His five-volumezoological survey was among his most importantcontributions.

Gilbert, William (1544–1603), physician to Eliza-beth I during the final years of her reign, publishedhis influential work on magnetism in 1600.

Kepler, Johannes (1571–1630), as did Galileo, didmost of his important astronomical work after 1600.Earlier he was influenced by the work of Copernicusand studied with Brahe in Prague. Kepler’s Mys-terium cosmographicum (Cosmographic mystery,1596) supported Copernicus’s heliocentric system.

Libavius, Andreas (c. 1540–1616), a follower ofParacelsus’s, published his own Alchemia (Alchemy)in 1597. Although grounded in medieval alchemy,the book presented chemical research in an orga-nized, methodical manner and encouraged furtherexperimentation.

Lobelius, Matthias (1538–1616), French botanist,published an herbal in 1571 in which plants wereorganized according to their leaves. Also a skilledherbalist, Lobelius was one of the physicians ofWilliam of Orange, count of Nassau (1533–84). He

ended his career as royal gardener at the Englishcourt.

Lopez, Rodrigo (d. 1594) was a Jewish physicianwho left Spain in 1559 to settle in England. Whileserving as chief physician to Elizabeth I, he wasfound guilty of treason and hanged, unleashing awave of anti-Semitism.

Mattioli, Pierandrea (1500 or 1501–1577) workedas a physician in Italy and Prague. In 1544 he pub-lished an annotated edition of the herbal of theancient Greek author Dioscorides. This publicationbecame a classic text and was reprinted several times.

Müller, Johannes See REGIOMONTANUS.

Nunes, Pedro (1492–1577), Portuguese mathe-matician, became royal cosmographer in 1529. Hispublished works include an edition of Ptolemy, anavigational treatise, and a book on mathematics,Libro de algebra en arithmetica y geometria (Book ofalgebra in arithmetic and geometry) (1567).

Orta, Garcia de (c. 1500–c. 1568) was a physicianwho immigrated to the Portuguese court at Goa,and published his work on the drugs of India in1563.

Pacioli, Luca (c. 1445–c. 1514) taught mathematicsthroughout much of northern Italy. Leonardo deVinci illustrated his 1509 publication on proportion.Pacioli’s major work on arithmetic and geometrywas published in 1494, Summa de arithmetica, geo-metrica, proportioni et proportionalita (On arithmetic,geometry, proportions, and proportionality).

Paracelsus (1493–1541), an idiosyncratic physi-cian who dabbled in alchemy, may have been thefirst to suggest that a disease might be cured byinducing a mild case of it. He thus foresaw theprinciple of vaccination.

Paré, Ambroise (1510–1590) first worked as a fieldsurgeon in the French army and later practiced gen-eral surgical medicine. He published pioneeringbooks on gunshot wounds, amputations, fractures,and obstetrics. His final work, Deux livres de chirurgie


266

(Two books of surgery, 1572) explained his methodof turning a baby in the womb.

Peurbach, Georg von (1423–1461), Austrianastronomer, wrote an important elementary treatiseon planetary movement, first printed in the 1480sand reprinted several times during the 16th century.

Piero della Francesca (c. 1420–1492) was a painterinterested in theoretical aspects of his art. Around1474 he wrote De prospectiva pingendi (On perspec-tive in painting), a geometric treatise that was readin manuscript copies.

Ramus, Petrus (1515–1572) worked with FriedrichRisner to publish Opticae thesaurus (Thesaurus ofoptics, 1572).

Recorde, Robert (c. 1510–1558) was a Welshmathematician who published several books, includ-ing The Whestone of Wit (1557), the first algebrabook to be printed in English and the first mathe-matical publication to use the equal (=) sign.Recorde also practiced medicine and for two yearswas surveyor of mines for Ireland.

Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller) (1436–1476)studied astronomy under Peurbach at the Univer-sity of Vienna and became his colleague. He laterestablished an observatory in Nuremberg and wasasked by Pope Sixtus IV to help reform the calen-dar. He died, however, at the age of 40. Peurbachpublished several of the mathematical treatises ofRegiomontanus.

Reinhold, Erasmus (1511–1553) was a Germanastronomer instrumental, along with George Rheti-cus, in Copernicus’s publishing of his De revolution-ibus (On [planetary] revolutions) positing theheliocentric universe. Reinhold then made his ownastronomical tables in 1551, using the theories ofCopernicus.

Rheticus, Georg (1514–1576), along with ErasmusReinhold, persuaded Copernicus to publish De revo-lutionibus (On [planetary] revolutions) before hisdeath in 1543. For nine years Rheticus was professorof mathematics at Leipzig.

Risner, Friedrich (d. 1580) collaborated withPetrus Ramus to publish Opticae thesaurus (The-saurus of optics, 1572).

Robin, Jean (1550–1629) was a botanist in Parisasked by the University of Paris in 1597 to design abotanical garden, today’s Jardin des Plantes.

Rondelet, Guillaume (1507–1566), marine zoolo-gist, taught medicine in Montpelier after travelingaround Italy and studying specimens. He publishedtwo important works on ichthyology, with manyillustrations.

Sacrobosco, Johannes de (fl. c. 1250) was amedieval writer whose De sphaera (On the sphere)became a popular astronomical textbook during theRenaissance.

Stevin, Simon (1548–1620), Flemish mathemati-cian, worked as an engineer for Maurice of Nassauand taught at Leiden. His many publications dis-cussed music, astronomy, navigation, and hydrostat-ics, and he formulated the concept of fluid pressure.His mathematical work De Thiende (The tenth),published in 1585, was translated into French thesame year, making the text more accessible.

Tartaglia, Niccolò (c. 1499–1557) taught mathe-matics in Verona and discovered a method to solvecubic equations, which he explained to Cardano,who subsequently published this information. A bit-ter controversy developed, during which the twomen engaged in a famous problem-solving contest.

Vesalius, Andreas (1514–1564) began his career bylecturing on anatomy in Paris. Between 1537 and1543, he dissected the cadavers of criminals who hadbeen executed and publishing the results of hisinvestigations in De humani corporis fabrica (On thestructure of the human body, 1543). SubsequentlyVesalius served as court physician to Charles V andthen Philip II.

Viète, François (1540–1603) was a French mathe-matician who contributed to the study of algebra.Most importantly, he treated the equations as equiva-lent to their explanatory text, setting them off visually


267

in his publications. Most other writers had incorpo-rated elements of the equations into the text.

Vigo, Giovanni da (1450–1525) was papal surgeonfor Julius II. He published two practical manuals ofsurgery.

Wilhelm IV, landgrave of Hesse (1532–1592),established an observatory at Kassel to study thefixed stars. His work contributed to that of Brahe.

Wright, Edward (1558–1615), mathematician, rec-ognized the difficulties of applying Mercator’s pro-jection to actual navigation during a voyage to theAzores. Wright’s 1599 treatise, Certain Errors inNavigation Detected and Corrected, interpreted Mer-cator’s system for pilots.

Zaccaria, Almoro di See BARBARO THE YOUNGER,ERMOLAO.

Zacuto, Abraham (c. 1450–c. 1515) began hiscareer as a mathematician in Salamanca, then immi-grated to Portugal in 1492 when Spain expelled itsJewish residents. There he advised Vasco da Gamabut was expelled from Portugal in 1497. Columbuscarried copies of Zacuto’s astronomical tables aboardhis ships.

READING

Gilbert 1960: scientific method; Hawkes 1981:instruments; Michel 1967: instruments; Turner1987: instruments.

Astronomy and AstrologyBiagioli 1993: Galileo; Gingerich 1975: Copernicus;Grafton 2001: astrology; Pedersen 1993: early

physics; Rosen 1971: Copernicus; Westman 1975:Copernicus.

ChemistryDebus 1977: Paracelsus; Sarton 1958: chemistry,pp. 104–115; Shumaker 1972: occult sciences.

MathematicsField 1997: art and mathematics; Hay 1988: printingmathematics; Rose 1975: Italian humanists; Sarton1958: “Mathematics and Astronomy,” pp. 23–76;Struik 1986: (general survey).

OpticsKemp 1990: art and optics; Kubovy 1986: perspec-tive; Lindberg 1976: vision; Veltman 1986: Leonardoda Vinci.

Botany and DrugsGreene 1983: (important landmarks); Morton 1981:(general history of botany); Reeds 1991: botany inthe universities; Riddle 1997; gynecological drugs;Sarton 1958: “Natural History,” pp. 128–171.

Anatomy and MedicineCipolla 1976: public health; Goodrick-Clarke 1990:Paracelsus; Lind 1975: anatomy before Vesalius;Loudon 1997: medicine (many illustrations); Lyons1978: medicine (illustrations); Sarton 1958;“Anatomy and Medicine,” pp. 172–218: (generalhistory); Sawday 1995: dissection; Wear 1985; medi-cine in the 16th century.


268

EDUCATION

11

Renaissance humanism was the single greatestinnovation in education during the 15th and

16th century. The second important current in edu-cation was the Protestant Reformation, whichresulted in the founding of Protestant universities.Until the 15th century, medieval grammar schools,conducted in Latin, had functioned relativelyunchanged for hundreds of years, using a combina-tion of basic Roman texts combined with primers andthe Psalter or other devotional texts. These schoolstaught the elementary skills of literacy. MedievalEuropean universities awarded the doctoral degree inthe disciplines of theology, medicine, and law, a sys-tem that continued into the Renaissance, butimproved by humanistic texts in these fields and anemphasis on classical rhetoric. The lower degreeawarded was master of arts; the seven liberal arts werethe trivium of humanities (rhetoric, logic, and gram-mar) and the quadrivium of mathematical sciences(arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music). By1500 approximately 100 universities were in existenceacross western Europe, one-third more than in 1400.Education, particularly of young men, flowered dur-ing this time. Greek studies were enhanced by schol-ars’ traveling in Europe, mainly in Italy, and thenfleeing to Italy from Constantinople after the city wascaptured by the Turks in 1453. In addition, the print-ing press made more texts available to a broad spec-trum of students. These books included not onlyhumanistic works, but also practical handbooksteaching commercial skills, such as accounting.

HUMANISTICEDUCATION

Long before the Renaissance of the 15th and 16thcenturies, western Europe had other periods of clas-sical rebirth. Knowledge of Greek and Roman learn-ing never completely died out, but was kept alive inmonasteries where texts of the classical era werestudied and copied. After Charlemagne was crownedemperor in A.D. 800, he began to revive Roman lit-erature, law, and art across western Europe. Thiseffort at revival included copying of numerous

ancient manuscripts in an elegant, rounded script(Carolingian minuscule) that later would be used by15th-century humanists. They assumed that thismanner of writing was adopted from ancient Rome,so the new texts were “reborn” in form as well as incontent. Being much easier to read than the tight,spiky Gothic text of the Middle Ages, the roundedhumanistic script facilitated reading. Because thenew learning originated in Italy, we shall focus onthat region in this subchapter, then discuss thespread of humanistic education (studia humanitatis)to other parts of western Europe.

The rise of education based on humanistic textshelped to define the very meaning of the Renais-sance as a period of rebirth. Lost texts of the classics,in both Greek and Latin, rose as the proverbialphoenix did from the ashes of antiquity. It is impor-tant to remember that during the early RenaissanceLatin was the preferred language for writing amongthe upper class. The newly edited texts of classicalLatin provided new models of style and eloquence.Discoveries of works long thought to have been lostcaused unprecedented excitement in learned circles.Along with the rediscovered texts was a revival of theurbane, polite society of republican Rome, as well asan affinity for the grandeur of imperial Rome. Ital-ians assimilated these aspects of the classics mostcompletely, to the extent that in England membersof the upper class were often ridiculed for putting on“Italian” airs. Humanistic education generated notonly new modes of thinking, but also new behaviorand attitudes. Analogies were drawn between thestate of learning in Renaissance Italy and that inancient Rome, as Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444)explained in his Le vite di Dante e di Petrarca (TheLives of Dante and Petrarch, 1436): “The Latin lan-guage was most flourishing and reached its greatestperfection at the time of Cicero. . . . One can say thatletters and the study of the Latin language wenthand in hand with the state of the Roman republic”(Brown 1997, pp. 95–96).

Greek learning, secondary to that in Latin, was amore rarified course of study. Nevertheless those whodid pursue this more difficult subject were able toshed light on the Greek basis of Roman culture. Thisaspect of ancient history became part of the humanis-tic curriculum. On the whole, advanced humanisticeducation took place in private schools or academies.


270

Many grammar schools, however, quickly adaptedprecepts of the elementary humanistic curriculum.The Commune of Lucca, for example, ordered itsteachers in 1499 to include in their daily lessons thefollowing: grammar, a historian, an orator or epistles,a poet, and basic Greek. This program of study wasrenewed at least three times between 1499 and 1574.Whereas the newly founded universities were imme-diately receptive to the new classical curriculum, mostof the medieval institutions resisted the intrusion ofhumanism until well into the 16th century.

Pedagogical TreatisesThe pedagogical treatises of a classical Greekauthor, assumed by humanists to be Plutarch, and of

the classical Roman author Quintilian helped toprompt the new philosophy of education in early15th-century Italy. The Greek text On EducatingChildren was translated into Latin by Guarino Guar-ini (1374–1460) in 1411 as De pueris educandis. In1417 at the Saint Gall monastery, Poggio Bracciolini(1380–1459) discovered Quintilian’s Institutio orato-ria (On the education of an orator). Both texts weredisseminated in manuscript copies, teaching educa-tors and upper-class parents alike that childrenwould benefit from what we now call positive rein-forcement. The curriculum was to be appropriatefor various levels of age and ability, and broader,with recreational activities balancing more seriousstudy. Quintilian’s work became a Renaissance best-seller: More than 100 editions were published. Thiswas also one of the basic texts for rhetorical training,

E D U C A T I O N

271

11.1 Classroom scene. Woodcut in a French edition of the Romance of the Rose by Guillaume Lorris and Jean deMeung, 1531. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

which became an important element of humanisticeducation.

In addition to Quintilian’s work and the pseudo-Plutarchan Greek text, four treatises originating inthe 15th century were seminal guides for humanis-tic educators. Their authors were Piero Paolo Verg-erio the Elder (1370–1444), Leonardo Bruni,Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405–64, who becamePope Pius II in 1458), and Battista Guarini (b.1434). Vergerio and Bruni studied Greek in Flo-rence near the close of the 14th century withManuel Chrysoloras (c. 1350–1415), a diplomat andfriend of Emperor Manuel II’s. Chrysoloras helpedto found humanistic Greek studies in Italy, and hetaught Greek in Constantinople to Guarino Guar-ini and other foreigners residing in the city.Leonardo Bruni began his career in Rome, workingfor the papal secretariat between 1410 and 1415.Returning to Florence, he eventually became chan-cellor in 1427 and used that position to promotehumanism and other aspects of Renaissance culture.Bruni was famous as a translator, including of majorworks by Plato and Aristotle. Piccolomini was givena humanistic education in Siena and Florence; oneof his teachers was Francesco Filelfo (1398–1481;see later discussion). He became involved in papalpolitics and worked as a diplomat for EmperorFriedrich III, at the same time writing humanisticessays such as the treatise discussed in this section.Guarini, the son of Guarino Guarini, was educatedat his famous school in Ferrara (discussed later).Battista Guarini’s educational treatise describes thecurriculum of his father’s school.

Pier Paolo Vergerio’s treatise, completed circa1403, was entitled De ingenuis moribus et liberalibusadulescentiae studiis liber (On the character and studiesappropriate for a free-born adolescent). Written for ayoung nobleman, this treatise emphasized that thevirtuous, educated man must excel in both physicalprowess (bearing of arms) and intellectual endeavors.One of Vergerio’s most important pedagogical pointswas that the curriculum must be adapted to thestrengths and weaknesses of the student. Among thephysical activities to be learned and practiced werewrestling, boxing, throwing of the javelin, shootingof arrows, rolling of rocks, breaking of horses, andswimming. Relaxation, however, with caution, wasalso necessary: “Dancing to music and group dances

with women might seem to be pleasures unworthy ofa man. Yet there might be certain profit in them,since they exercise the body and bring dexterity tothe limbs, if they did not make young men lustful andvain, corrupting good behavior” (Kallendorf 2002, p. 87). For the study of texts Vergerio insisted thatstudents must memorize as much as possible: “In thisregard we should know that memory apart fromintellect is not worth much, but intellect withoutmemory is worth almost nothing, at least as far aslearning disciplines is concerned. Yet such a mind canhave value in matters of action, since it is possible towrite down things that have been done or must bedone to compensate for poor memory. Nevertheless,in the case of book-learning, whatever we do nothave by heart or cannot easily recall we seem not toknow at all” (Kallendorf 2002, p. 57).

Leonardo Bruni’s De studiis et litteris liber (On thestudy of literature, c. 1424) was the only one of thesetreatises dedicated to a woman, Battista Malatesta ofMontefeltro. Although he cautioned her that oratorywas not fitting for women, who would not beexpected to speak in public, Bruni otherwise outlineda comprehensive program of classical reading andstudy: “In sum, then, the excellence of which I speakcomes only from a wide and various knowledge. It isnecessary to read and comprehend a great deal, andto bestow great pains on the philosophers, the poets,the orators and historians and all the other writers.For thus comes that full and sufficient knowledge weneed to appear eloquent, well-rounded, refined, andwidely cultivated. Needed too is a well-developedand respectable literary skill of our own. For the twotogether reinforce each other and are mutually bene-ficial” (Kallendorf 2002, p. 123). Finally, Bruni rec-ommended that her humanistic education beundertaken with the assumption that moral philoso-phy and religion are paramount, and indeed that theclassical authors must be subservient to those twosuperior subjects. Authors whose works mightencourage vices of any sort were to be avoided.

Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote De liberoremeducatione (On the education of boys, 1450) forLadislaus V (1440–57), king of Hungary, Austria,and Bohemia, born a few months after his fatherhad died. Ladislaus’s mother, Elizabeth, was thedaughter of Emperor Sigismund. Had he livedbeyond the age of 17, the young king could have


272

become a powerful figure in European politicalaffairs and in spreading of humanistic education tonorthern Europe at an early date. This lengthy trea-tise was written at the request of Ladislaus’s teacher.Piccolomini instructed the boy-king to focus on hisreligious education, then on a curriculum balancingphysical exercise and training with study of the clas-sical authors. At the beginning of his text, theauthor praises Ladislaus’s noble lineage; he thenexplains that Ladislaus must be deserving of suchancestors: “You are succeeding to men of noblerank: take care that you become likewise their heirin virtue. Nobility clothed in holy morals is deserv-ing of praise. Nothing vicious is noble. For whowould call a man noble who is unworthy of his fam-ily and distinguished only by a famous name?”(Kallendorf 2002, p. 129). The entire purpose of thetreatise was to help make Ladislaus a better king,learning enough in each subject but not so much asto distract him from the overall goal: “You shouldknow what the duty of an orator is, and you shouldlearn how properly to discover, arrange, embellish,memorize, and deliver the parts of an oration. Butsince our desire is that you be a perfect king morethan a good orator, we do not require of you theeloquence of a Cicero or a Demosthenes” (Kallen-dorf 2002, p. 245). This concept of moderation ineducation would become a general principle duringthe Renaissance, except in schools run by the Jesuitsand other strict orders.

Battista Guarini’s De ordine docendi et studendi(On a curriculum of teaching and learning) waswritten in 1459. This treatise documented the pro-gram of learning instituted by his father, Guarino,at the court of Ferrara, which influenced much ofthe humanistic teaching in western Europe as hisstudents established schools of their own. BecauseGuarino was the first Italian to place as muchemphasis on the Greek part of the curriculum as onthe Latin, his son’s treatise is an important recordof pedagogical methodology. Many words in Greekare explained, including their context, and gram-mar is highlighted as a major component ofhumanistic learning. He recommended orderly,regular work habits: “Students should not engagein indiscriminate reading of miscellaneous books.They should establish fixed hours for particularreadings. This is the single most useful practice for

achieving a range of reading and for finishingtasks” (Kallendorf 2002, p. 301).

Italy and the Italian City-StatesOne of the first humanistic teachers was GasparinoBarzizza (c. 1360–1431), who edited recently discov-ered texts of Cicero. Between 1387 and 1392 he hadstudied with the noted professor of rhetoric Gio-vanni Trevisi da Cremona at the University of Pavia.Barzizza lectured at the universities of Padua, Pavia,and Bologna. Between 1407 and 1421 he also taughtstudents in Padua who boarded in his home, some-times as many as 20 at once. Barzizza wanted toreform the medieval system of ars dictaminis (learningto write prose letters) by using the new epistolarytexts, especially of Cicero. Although his teachingmethods remained medieval, Barzizza’s enthusiasmfor humanistic texts spread throughout much of Italyvia his students.

After returning from Constantinople (see previ-ous discussion), Guarino Guarini establishedhumanistic schools in Florence and Venice. In 1418he married a wealthy woman from Verona andmoved with her back to her native city. His indepen-dent school founded there in 1419 was recognizedthe following year by the Commune of Verona,which gave him a five-year appointment at a gener-ous salary of 150 gold ducats. This teaching contractawarded in 1420 was an important step in Latin edu-cation for the Renaissance. Ten years later Guarinowas called to Ferrara, honored by an appointment asthe tutor of Leonello d’Este (1407–50), who wouldlater become lord (signore) of Ferrara in 1441. In1442 Guarini was appointed as a professor at theUniversity of Ferrara.

Vittorino da Feltre (1378–1446) established hisfamous Casa Giocosa (House of Games or MerryHouse) at the court of Mantua. By its very name hisschool indicated that Vittorino incorporated recre-ational activities into his pedagogical precepts. Hav-ing learned Greek from Guarino Guarini in Venice,Vittorino taught in Padua and then established aschool in Venice in 1423. That same year heaccepted the invitation of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga

E D U C A T I O N

273

(1395–1444), a condottiere (see chapter 7, on war-fare) who governed Mantua and founded his human-istic school in the city. Selected poor childrenattended the Casa Giocosa alongside the Gonzagachildren, including a few girls and children as youngas four years old. There was no fee for the lessons.All students were trained to read, speak, and write inboth Greek and Latin. The “games” referred to bythe name of his school included physical exercisesuch as that mentioned earlier. More advanced stu-dents learned moral philosophy, especially that ofthe Stoics, and all the students were attentive totheir religious duties of attending mass and confes-sion. Other teachers were hired to teach the mathe-matical sciences, including astronomy.

By the 1430s students of Barzizza, Guarini, andVittorino were opening schools of their own, takingover leadership of their cities, and, in severalinstances, marrying each other. Marguerita Gon-zaga, a student of Vittorino’s, married Leonellod’Este in 1435. Such marriages ensured that thehumanistic legacy would be continued with theirown children and those of others at court. Becausethe majority of students instructed by the firsthumanistic teachers were members of the powerfulgoverning class, the new system of education rapidlybegan to replace that of the medieval curriculum.

Francesco Filelfo (1398–1481) is an example ofthe second generation of humanistic scholars. Hestudied with Barzizza between 1416 and 1417, thenin 1420 went to Constantinople as secretary to theVenetian legation. There he studied Greek and mar-ried a Greek woman. Returning to Italy in 1427,Filelfo took with him some 40 manuscripts ofancient Greek texts that he labored to translate sothat students would be able to read them in Latin.He was one of numerous students of early humanis-tic teachers who helped to change western Europe’sphilosophy of education.

FranceAlthough small towns and villages in France werehardly aware of humanistic education, the new cur-riculum was welcomed at the court of Francis I andby the urban elite. The exciting new studies pro-mulgated by the Italian governing class were viewed

as a means to revivify France and pay homage to theking. Some French teachers, however, were wary ofa program that emphasized Latin, which they foundItalianate. Texts in French thus remained part of theprogram of study. Many municipal and several uni-versity grammar schools called colleges (collèges)that followed the humanistic curriculum wereestablished by the 1530s. In Paris some of the uni-versity colleges incorporated the study of classicalauthors as the basis for the curricula of liberal artsand theology. The humanist and jurist GuillaumeBudé (1467–1540) was one of the driving forces inFrench humanistic education. Appointed as the firstroyal librarian (see chapter 5), Budé also was incharge of the study groups that later evolved intothe Collège de France. A serious Hellenist, hetranslated Plutarch, and his classical philology pro-vided texts useful for students, such as Commentariilinguae Graecae (Commentaries on the Greek lan-guage, 1529). Budé also improved the study ofRoman law by advocating close textual analysis andthe study of legal history through humanisticsources.

A few of the cathedral schools also accepted thehumanistic educational program, for example, atCarpentras, under the auspices of Cardinal JacopoSadoleto (1477–1547). Educated as a humanist,Sadoleto had been a papal secretary writing perfectlyCiceronian letters and copying them in the preferredhumanistic script (chancery cursive, or cancellerescacorsivo). Assigned by the pope in 1542 to negotiate atruce between the king of France and EmperorCharles V (1500–1556), Sadoleto spent must of histime in France on this futile mission. Sadoleto wrotea pedagogical treatise entitled De pueris recteinstituendis (On the education of boys), using classicalauthors. The cathedral school at Carpentras bene-fited from his expertise and interest. By the latter16th century, however, religious conflicts and a lackof well-trained teachers caused the quality of teach-ing to deteriorate in many of the schools acrossFrance. Counter-Reformation dogma increasinglyemphasized religious education and French chauvin-ism rejected the Latin culture of classical Rome.Jesuit private schools (for boys only, of course)applied a highly disciplined classical curriculum;however, their main emphasis was on religious his-tory and spiritual doctrine.


274

Spain, Portugal, and theSpanish Kingdom of Aragon,Naples, and SicilyThe Jesuit system of secondary education had infil-trated both Portugal and Spain by the latter 16th cen-tury; nearly 120 Jesuit colleges in Spain by 1600 hadgraduated some 10,000 boys each year. There evi-dently has been no extensive study concerning thecurricula of public schooling in either country duringthe Renaissance published, and we cannot assumethat humanistic education reached small towns whosecitizens had no strong connections to the court.Before the Jesuits virtually took over secondary edu-cation, however, the courts of both Spain and Portu-gal responded positively to humanistic educatorsduring the 15th and early 16th centuries. The univer-sities in Spain boasted several noted teachers of Greekand even of Hebrew, trained as students by humanistsin Italy. The greatest of these was Antonio Lebrija(1442–1522), who returned from Italy in 1473 toteach at the University of Salamanca and then at theUniversity of Alcalá de Henares. His Spanish-Latindictionary was used in the Spanish school system, andhis compendium of classical rhetoric became part ofthe humanistic curriculum.

During the 15th century the Spanish court inNaples ruled by Alfonso V (1396–1458), king ofAragon from 1416 to 1458 (partially in dispute; seechapter 1), was an important humanistic center.Selected as his capital city in 1443, Naples hostedhumanists, artists, and architects, such as FrancescoFilelfo. Alfonso V founded a Greek school in Messinaas well as a university in Catania (Sicily), and heexpanded the University of Naples. The king’s devo-tion to the classical authors, for example, that he car-ried copies of works by Julius Caesar and Livy onmilitary expeditions, was legendary. Some of the uni-versities in Italy had separate humanistic college forstudents from other countries, notably the College ofSan Clemente at the University of Bologna, attendedby many Spanish students. Others studied at the uni-versity in Rome or Florence, learning about classicalauthors through Italian humanistic programs. IsabellaI (Isabella the Catholic, 1451–1504), queen of Castileand Aragon, was the first Spanish monarch to establishhumanistic education at the court. She hired the noted

humanist Pietro Martire d’Anghiera (1457–1526) toorganize a school for the sons of nobility (which a fewnoble girls attended). Martire d’Anghiera was famousas both a teacher and a soldier, as a participant in theexpulsion of the Moors and Jews from Granada in1492. Doubtless this experience doubly qualified himto train the future leaders of Iberia.

From the Portuguese court, students oftenattended the university in Paris because of tiesbetween the courts of France and Portugal. By thebeginning of the 16th century King Manuel I(1469–1521) had introduced humanism to his court.In 1496 he married a daughter of Isabella I, and afterher death he married her sister, Maria, both of whomhad been raised at the humanistic court of Spain.The king hired the Portuguese scholar Arias Barbosato establish a school at the Portuguese court. Bar-bosa, who had studied Greek in Italy under AngeloPoliziano (1454–94, a renowned Hellenist and poet,had distinguished himself as a professor of Greek for20 years at the University of Salamanca. The Por-tuguese humanist-poet García de Resende (c.1470–1536), who had studied in Spain under Anto-nio Lebrija, served as Manuel I’s private secretary.

Germany and the NetherlandsIn the late 14th century a religious group calledBrethren of the Common Life was founded in Ger-many, its members the chief supporters of devotiomoderna (modern devotion; see chapter 2). Althoughthe Brethren of the Common Life had died out bythe 17th century, during the 15th and 16th centuriestheir emphasis on private pietism contributed signifi-cantly to the improvement of education. The morelearned a person could be, the more completely thatperson’s understanding might be developed. Manyfamous humanists were trained in schools foundedby the Brethren, including Desiderius Erasmus (c.1466–1536), arguably the most important humanisticscholar of the Renaissance (see England and Scot-land, pages 276–277). In general, humanistic curric-ula in northern Europe had a religious undercurrent,and biblical studies were a core component of theprogram. Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) was oneof the leading theologians of the Protestant Refor-mation (see chapter 2). A professor of Greek who

E D U C A T I O N

275

corrected Luther’s German translation of the NewTestament, Melanchthon was a reforming educator.He had a humanistic school in his own home, and hisLatin curriculum combining biblical passages withthe Latin classics was adopted throughout Germany.

During the Renaissance Strasbourg, today in east-ern France, was part of Germany. In 1538 thereformer Johannes Sturm (1507–89) moved to Stras-bourg and founded a gymnasium (public secondaryschool) that would become a model of the humanisticcurriculum. At times it had as many as 500 students.Sturm had been educated by the Brethren of theCommon Life and at the humanistic University ofLouvain. Before moving to Strasbourg, he had livedamong humanists in Paris, teaching the literature ofthe classics. His program at the Strasbourg gymna-sium, of which he was rector, included the dramaticpresentation of classical plays. This pedagogical tool,also utilized by Jesuit schools in other parts of westernEurope, became more prevalent in education by theclose of the 16th century. Sturm’s curriculum con-sisted of eight divisions of students (like today’s grades)with strict standards for advancement. His school hadan outstanding faculty, many of whom publishedgrammars and textbooks. These publications were dis-seminated throughout Europe by German publishers.

Juan Luís Vives (1492–1540) was a humanisticscholar from Valencia who had studied in Paris. Hetaught privately in Bruges and then Louvain andreturned to Bruges after spending five years teachingand advising the queen in England. Humanism inpublic schools in the Netherlands was promoted as aresult of Vives’s treatise De disciplinis libri xx (Twentybooks on education, 1531). He advocated teaching inthe vernacular, as well as in Latin and Greek; associa-tive learning; and pious devotion to one’s education.His other pedagogical works included Linguae latinaeexercitatio (Exercises in the Latin language, 1539, dia-logues for beginning students). As a result of the influ-ence of Vives and his contemporaries, the Netherlandsinstituted a rigorous, comprehensive humanistic edu-cational system that remains influential even today.

England and ScotlandChrist Church, Canterbury, had the first humanisticschool in England, led by the prior William Sellyng

(d. 1494), a Benedictine monk, from 1472 until hisdeath. Sellyng had studied Greek in Italy and takenhome manuscripts of Homer and Euripides. He wasknown as a Latin orator, applying the rhetoricalprinciples of ancient writers, and oratory was fea-tured in his curriculum. The most famous Renais-sance humanistic school was that of Saint Paul’s inLondon, refounded by John Colet (c. 1466–1519)with his family inheritance. Dean of the school from1505 to 1519, he appointed the Greek scholarWilliam Lyly (c. 1468–1522) as the first headmaster.Colet and Lyly were friends of Sir Thomas More(1478–1535), who instructed his own daughters inthe classics, and of Erasmus, who was teaching inEngland between 1509 and 1514; while residingthere he wrote De ratione studii (On the method ofstudy, 1511), which argued for early fluency in Latinand copious reading in addition to memorization ofgrammar. Sir Thomas Elyot (c. 1490–1546) in hisBook Named the Governor (1531) explained howhumanistic education benefited the state and pro-vided better service to the monarch. The fact that hepublished this treatise in English contributed to itspopularity.

The school for children at the royal court pro-vided the most progressively humanistic educationin the country. From 1526 to 1528 Juan Luís Viveslived at court, serving as councilor to Queen Cather-ine of Aragon and contributing to the humanisticambience of her court. Roger Ascham (1515–68),author of The Scholemaster (1570), tutored the royalchildren with humanistic methods (see later discus-sion). The 1548–52 notebooks of the boy-kingEdward VI (1537–53) document his classical educa-tion under the head tutelage of Sir John Cheke(1514–57), one of the most outstanding Greekscholars of his generation. The first book printed inEngland in Greek type was his edition of the ser-mons of Saint John Chrysostom in 1543. His pro-gram of studies for the young king was developedfrom that taught to the undergraduates at SaintJohn’s College, Cambridge, which combined a studyof historical authors with Latin essays and Greekorations, moral philosophy, mathematical sciences,geography, music (he played the lute), and Protes-tant doctrine.

Schools in Scotland had humanistic teachers bythe mid-16th century, but no consistent curriculum


276

as each teacher created an individual program ofstudy for a specific school. The humanist-poetGeorge Buchanan (1506–82) instituted a curriculumof classical studies at Saint Andrews that may havebeen implemented elsewhere in Scotland. Buchananobliquely influenced the growth of humanism in theBritish Isles by tutoring the son of Mary, queen ofScots (1542–87), who would become James I, king ofEngland (1566–1625, James VI of Scotland). Nearthe end of the 16th century, the prestigious grammarschool in Edinburgh incorporated Buchanan’shumanistic program into its curriculum.

UNIVERSITYEDUCATION

During the early Renaissance universities main-tained the medieval educational model of readingand disputation (debating) of existing texts. Thecanon was expanded by the addition of humanisticmaterial, as the basic pedagogical model was slowlyaltered in some universities by a new emphasis onclassical stylistics and oratory. During the Renais-sance, experimental science was not part of a univer-sity education, which focused on the seven liberalarts and professional studies. The increased numberof students during the Renaissance led to the found-ing of new universities. Those founded duringthe 15th century included universities in Leipzig,Trier, Basel, Mainz, Copenhagen, Uppsala, Poitiers,Nantes, Bourges, Saint Andrews, and Glasgow;16th-century institutions were established in theSpanish cities of Alcalá, Seville, Valencia, andGranada, among others.

Study of the Liberal ArtsFor educational purposes the seven liberal arts weredivided into the three-part trivium of grammar,rhetoric, and logic (or dialectic) and the four-partquadrivium of arithmetic, astronomy, geometry,and music (mainly theoretical). Many studentsreached the university with some preparation in

grammar, which they had learned earlier along withreading and writing. Grammar, with rhetoric andlogic, was taught to students entering the university.These basic skills of expression and argumentationwere necessary for advancing to the quadrivium ofmathematical science. Arithmetic was learned inconjunction with theoretical problems of music,and geometry was necessary to the understanding ofastronomy. For geometry the text was the Elementsof the Greek author Euclid, chiefly the first fewchapters concerning triangles. Arithmetic wastaught from an expanded version of Euclid’s laterchapters, with special emphasis on determiningratios such as those in musical intervals.

Professional TrainingTHEOLOGY

Until the Protestant Reformation training in theol-ogy meant the Christian theology of the CatholicChurch. Theology, literally “the study of gods,” inwestern Europe referred to the one god, the Christ-ian God. In the theology of Saint Augustine(354–430) God is a distant, omniscient power, andthis church father dominated much of religiousthought during the Renaissance. Entire faculties ofuniversities worked on his texts, and an 11-volumeopus was published in Antwerp in 1577. Saint Augus-tine’s concepts of predestination and grace were twoof the subjects debated in schools of theology. Thetheological works of Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)were promoted by members of his order, theDominicans (literally dogs of God). Saint Thomas’sGod was more anthropomorphic than that of SaintAugustine; by the time of the Renaissance God wasvisualized as a wise old man. Thomism, as his theol-ogy was called, served to formulate many decrees atthe Council of Trent (1545–63, several separatemeetings). Theological studies included the subjectsof the seven sacraments, the Holy Trinity, biblicaltraditions, prayer, purgatory, and the place of mira-cles in church history. Most humanists criticized thecerebral, dialectical method of theological dispute, inwhich all conclusions were based on predeterminedauthority. Humanists, on the other hand, advocatedthe rhetorical approach to teaching and debate,

E D U C A T I O N

277

which could move the emotions of listeners ifeffective. Desiderius Erasmus was quite outspokenagainst the Scholastic disputations by which theol-ogy was being taught. In his Moriae encomium (Praiseof folly 1511), Erasmus strongly criticized thelabyrinthine expostulations of theologians, com-plaining that not even the apostles could follow sucharguments.

MEDICINE

Around 1328 Emperor Frederick II established auniversity in Padua, which became the mostfamous medical school of the Renaissance. Its stu-dents included several of the individuals discussedin chapter 10, Science and Medicine. Some univer-sities had a separate school of medicine; in othersthe medical faculty shared a facility with liberalarts. Medical schools graduated physicians, whosupposedly understood the nature of illnesses andthe theoretical basis of treatments and were thusprepared to treat internal ailments. Although sur-geons did not attend the university, but weretrained in an apprenticeship system of hands-onexperience, famous surgeons could become profes-sors of medicine. Midwives, of course, received noformal training and developed expertise throughinstruction by other midwives, often their motheror aunt. The university schooling of physiciansduring the Renaissance directly benefited fromhumanistic study of the ancient Greek medicaltexts of Galen and Hippocrates. Galen’s works hadnearly 600 printings in the 16th century, whichgenerated a multitude of textbooks for medicalstudents. Not only the texts themselves providedinstruction; so also did the humanistic criticism ofcertain points of anatomy. Dissections of humancadavers, mostly of criminals condemned to death,were of paramount importance in the training ofyoung physicians. This pedagogical tool had beenintroduced in European medical schools duringthe 14th century. Andreas Vesalius (1514–64), aFlemish physician trained in Paris, entered the fac-ulty of the Padua school of medicine in 1537. Hisextensively illustrated anatomical handbook Dehumani corporis fabrica (On the structure of thehuman body, 1543) revolutionized the study ofanatomy.

LAW

As urban societies spread throughout western Europeduring the 11th and 12th centuries and tradeincreased during the Crusades, the secular worlds ofcommerce and politics demanded new systems oflegal and political administration. Culture in generalbecame more secular, though religion continued toplay a major role in daily life. The 12th century, infact, experienced a “renaissance” in classical studiesthat many scholars consider more significant thanthat of the 15th and 16th centuries. The study ofcanon (ecclesiastical) law was revived along with anew focus on Roman (civil) law. During the MiddleAges legal scholars at the University of Bologna stud-ied the sources for both canon and civil law, preparingglosses (commentaries). They debated questions thatinvolved current legal affairs as well as textual prob-lems. Law students were expected to do research onthe questions at hand and participate in the debates.Gradually jurists in towns across Italy wrote books ofstatutes codifying the law, a system that came to becalled common law in England. In addition, somecourts and towns created statute books of their ownlocal laws; law students in the Renaissance had toconsider these additional laws in their deliberations.Training in the law was complicated because areas ofwestern Europe operated under different rules of law.Unlike medical training, which was relatively univer-sal because physical maladies had common treat-ments, legal training necessitated a knowledge ofregional interpretations and local precedents.

The system of legal education that developedduring the Middle Ages continued to be used intothe Renaissance, becoming more complicated asmore laws were recorded in writing. Universitiesthat had not previously included legal training in thecurriculum established law schools, and chairs in lawwere funded by monarchs such as Henry VIII(1491–1547). Law students had to learn how to doc-ument legal procedures and contracts, whichrequired the skill of a notary. Scribes who wrote let-ters and other simple texts were not qualified forlegal writing. Notaries became an important assetfor law schools and formed their own guilds. SeveralItalian humanists, including Petrarch (1304–74),Salutati, and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72), weretrained in law and members of such a guild. They


278

first learned to interpret classical texts through thestandard sources of Roman law.

Protestant UniversitiesThe first Protestant university was founded in Mar-burg in 1527, under the aegis of Philip the Magnani-mous (1504–67), landgrave of Hesse. His motive waspurely political as he had converted to Lutheranism in1524 to assemble a league of Protestant leaders againstthe Habsburg empire. The university in Marburgserved as encouragement for the founding of otherProtestant universities in Germany and elsewhere. Bythe late 16th century, there were several Protestantuniversities in the Netherlands, and Trinity Collegehad been established in Dublin. Protestantism itselfwas partly based on a skeptical attitude toward con-temporary religious authority, and thus toward theinherent truth of the Catholic religion. Protestant uni-versities taught that personal reading and interpreta-tion of the Bible and related texts in their originallanguages, unmediated by priests or the pope, wouldreveal religious truth. By the mid-16th century,Protestant scholars were debating points of theologyon the basis of differing philological conclusions aboutthe texts at hand. In addition points of canon law wereset aside or called into question. Students could seethat metaphysical truth was questionable, and thatinsight introduced philosophical questions about thenature of truth itself. This critical and inquisitive atti-tude, already awakened in some of the humanists whowere editing classical texts, may have contributed tothe development of experimental science during the17th century.

EDUCATION IN THEVERNACULARLANGUAGES

The word vernacular derived from the Latin word ver-naculus (native), which in turn derived from verna (aslave born in the master’s house). During the Renais-

sance, as discussed in chapter 5, Latin was the univer-sal language of the educated class in western Europe.These were men—women were not accepted—whoattended universities to become physicians, lawyers,and theologians, as well as priests who perfected theirLatin at the seminary. This class of educated menadvised rulers, governed cities and provinces, andbecame professors themselves. Most of the populationof western Europe, involved in the world of businessthat sustained the economy, did not belong to thisclass. Although the Latin of lawyers was oftenrequired for business transactions, business people andartisans did not need to know the language them-selves. The Protestant Reformation, teaching thatChristians should be able to read sacred texts in theirown language, supported education in the vernacular.

Primary Education in theVernacularPrimary education in the vernacular languages tookplace in classes for younger, nonuniversity students.There were several different types of environmentsfor learning the basic skills of literacy—being able toread simple texts, write school exercises, and count—and not all were formal classrooms. Many childrenwere taught at home by hired tutors or family mem-bers. By the early 16th century, printed grammars andprimers for learning how to read were being usedthroughout much of western Europe, and these couldeasily be used in the home. The printed book allowedboth learning and reading to become private, self-directed endeavors, especially for those destined tobecome merchants or otherwise involved in the every-day world of commerce. In Germany, England,France, and Spain many more books were publishedin the vernacular languages than in Latin, providingan abundance of reading material for those unable orunwilling to read Latin. These books included Protes-tant religious handbooks appropriate for young menand women. Aldus Manutius (c. 1450–1515), Venetianprinter and publisher, was the first to produce “pocketbooks” in a format small enough to be easily portable.His books pertained almost exclusively to the classics,but publishers of vernacular language books, includingprimers and grammars, soon followed his example.Only those students destined for the university or an

E D U C A T I O N

279

ecclesiastical career needed the formal guidance of aninstructor, and these individuals attended Latin gram-mar schools rather than learning the basics of readingand writing in vernacular schools, at home, or, as didsome apprentices, on the job.

Secondary Curriculum andMethod of LearningBefore the invention of printing, pupils listened to ateacher and took notes by hand, just as students dotoday. Unlike in today’s schools, students could notverify their information via the Internet or booksreadily available in the school library. There was nostandard textbook in any of their subjects. Thuspupils learned to listen well if they wanted to excel intheir studies. Whereas humanistic education mainlyused classical texts, education in the vernacularfocused on whatever texts the teacher decided to useor parents could provide. There were no systems ofaccreditation and no guidelines for the curriculum.Basically the vernacular texts read by the parents ofchildren were those taught by their teachers.Medieval chivalric romances were popular, as well ascatechisms, books about the saints, and other textsmeant to encourage virtuous behavior. Althoughthese topics may sound boring today, in an age with-out comic books, television, or cinema, the colorfuladventures of saints spurning temptation would haveheld the attention of young students. Teachers alsoincluded devotional and spiritual training as part ofthe day-to-day vernacular classroom activity. Themost widely read text in Italy was Fior di virtù (Flowerof virtue), which was first printed circa 1471 and hadan astonishing 56 printings before 1501. Some ofthese editions were illustrated with woodcuts, whichcould only have increased the book’s appeal to school-children. These basic texts had rather simple vocabu-lary and grammar. They could be read easily bystudents who had made their way through a primer inthe vernacular tongue, especially if parents helpedthem at home. Parents (including fathers) wereencouraged to take part in their children’s instruction.Sir Thomas Elyot in The Book Named the Governor(1531) wrote: “It shall be no reproach to a noblemanto instruct his own children . . . considering that theEmperor Octavius Augustus disdained not to read the

works of Cicero and Virgil to his children andnephews” (Brown 1997, p. 103).

Study of PracticalMathematicsMathematics in humanistic schools and at the uni-versity had a theoretical focus that did not serve anypractical purpose in the world of Renaissance com-merce. Students planning to enter the businessworld needed another sort of mathematics, whichwould teach them how to determine the cost ofmerchandise, deal with the varying standards ofweights and measures, measure for surveying, andhandle similar problems of daily business. In practi-cal mathematics each problem was reasonedthrough on its own, sometimes with educated


280

11.2 Allegory of Arithmetic. Woodcut by GregorReisch in the Margarita philosophica (PhilosophicalPearl, 1504). (Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médecine,Paris, France/Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Art Library)

guesses to test possible conclusions. The basictextbook for this study was Liber abbaci (Book ofabaci, early 13th century). Although the title wasderived from the abacus used for calculations bysliding counters along rods, the reasoning processcalled abbaco in Italian was accomplished on paper.The book’s author was the medieval mathemati-cian Leonardo Fibonacci (c. 1170–after 1240), orLeonardo of Pisa. A businessman who studied Ara-bic and visited Arab regions, Fibonacci was instru-mental in popularizing the Hindu-Arabic systemsof numerals in western Europe. These replacedthe Roman numerals and made computation muchsimpler. Abbaco loosely translates as “accounting,”the single most important skill of any Renaissancemerchant. Textbooks for teaching abbaco oftenincluded woodcut illustrations, such as pictorialtables for reckoning on the fingers while comput-ing long division and multiplication. The fingerson the left hand were bent and straightened in var-ious combinations while the right hand noted theanswers on a piece of paper. The final stage oflearning in abbaco mathematics was algebra,including the solving of cubic equations.

APPRENTICESHIP

Apprenticing, which derives from the Latin wordapprendere (to learn), was the system by whichyoung men learned a trade. Many of today’s youngpeople learn how to be a tradesperson, such as anelectrician or plumber, by apprenticeship. In spiteof the number of universities in Europe by 1500,the majority of people did not attend them; ratherthey learned to work with their hands or in a com-mercial activity such as banking. Some of the great-est artists of the period never attended a university,absorbing their knowledge of color, line, form, andmaterials from master painters, sculptors, andbuilders. The apprenticeship system was rigorous,and today students might be shocked at the youngage of novice apprentices (usually between 12 and14 years of age) and the strict working conditionsunder which they labored for several years (occa-sionally as long as 12 years).

Apprenticeship in GeneralApprenticeship contracts and working conditionswere regulated by guilds, whose members desired touphold standards of quality in the commodities theyproduced. There were statutes pertaining to thenumber of apprentices that a master could trainconcurrently and the length of time that appren-tices should serve. It was forbidden for apprenticesto sell their work outside the workshop or to changemasters. If these two rules were broken, there couldbe legal and financial repercussions for the appren-tice’s parent or guardian who had signed the con-tract. The oath of an apprentice was strict, asexemplified by part of the oath sworn in 1504 inEngland by an apprentice to the Mercers’ (Mer-chants’) Company: “Ye shall hold steadfastly,secretly and for counsel all and every the lawfulordinances, whatsoever they be, to the Craft or

E D U C A T I O N

281

11.3 Carpenter’s apprentice cutting wood. This 15th-century French woodcut illustrates one of the menial tasksassigned to apprentices. (Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs,Paris, France/Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Art Library)

occupation of the Mercery belonging, and . . . yeshall observe, hold and keep, and not to break, dis-cover, open or show any of them to any person, butunto such as unto the fellowship of the Mercery ishere according to this oath sworn” (Scott 1976, p.130). Their clothing was equally severe—a simple,flat cap over short hair and coarsely woven coats.

When an apprenticeship was completed, theindividual usually set out on a Wanderjahr (year oftraveling around), which often extended to severalyears in different locations. The English word jour-neyman literally expresses this idea. Unlike intoday’s “gap year” in which students travel astourists or work as volunteers for humanitariancauses, the journeyman worked for different mas-ters, learning special techniques or processes fromeach one. He (and it was always a “he”) was paid forthis work; many journeymen saved income from theWanderjahr to return home and establish theirworkshop as master. Then they, too, could trainapprentices, thus supporting the apprenticeship sys-tem in which they had learned their trade. TheWanderjahr was significant in the dissemination ofnew techniques and processes; the Wanderjahr forartists was especially important in the developmentof Renaissance art. New types of imagery as well asnew techniques and processes were taken home bytraveling apprentices.

Apprenticeship of ArtistsWe know quite a bit about the apprenticeship ofartists and artisans during the Renaissance, partlybecause extensive research concerning this subjecthas been done. There are also several contemporarydocuments written by the artists themselves. In Illibro dell’arte (Art handbook, c. 1400), for example,Cennino Cennini (c. 1370–c. 1440) included infor-mation about his apprenticeship with Agnolo Gaddi(d. 1396), son of the famous Taddeo Gaddi (seechapter 3), in this first treatise of the Renaissance onpainting. Although none of Cennini’s paintings hassurvived, this treatise alone makes him an importantfigure in Renaissance art history. Above all else hisapprenticeship focused on drawing, beginning withcopying and tracing the paintings and drawings ofothers. Exercises in drawing continued throughout

the years of his study with Gaddi. The methodologywas imitative, as the apprentice learned from goodmodels. Cennini spent 12 years studying withGaddi, the first half of his apprenticeship occupiedwith technical skills such as mixing pigments, andthe second half focused on the application of paintto panels and walls. Other apprentices in Tuscanylearning to be painters probably followed a similarprogram.

EDUCATION OF GIRLSAND WOMEN

As are most Western societies, the Renaissance soci-eties of western Europe were patriarchal. As scholarshave recently noted, the Renaissance was not arebirth for women. Until well into the 17th century,the place of girls and women was in the home orconvent. The education of young women usuallywas accomplished within a spiritual context, andoften inside a convent, much as it was during theMiddle Ages. Although a few schools specificallyfounded for girls of noble families were establishedduring the 16th century, spiritual enrichment andmoral training remained the chief goals of the edu-cational process. A famous example of such a schoolwas the Jesuit institution founded in Milan in 1557by Ludovica Torelli (1500–1569), daughter of theduke of Guastella. As might be expected, youngwomen potentially destined to be the companions ofrulers were trained in court etiquette and languages.Members of royalty, such as princesses, often sharedlessons with their brothers, benefiting from excel-lent tutors. The examples of powerful women innorthern Italy during the 15th century, and acrossmuch of Europe during the 16th, suggest that someupper-class women were educated in subjects of his-tory, statecraft, and other knowledge useful for theruling class. Although Ludovico Dolce (1508–68) inhis Dialogo della institutione delle donne (Dialogue onthe instruction of ladies, 1545) recommended thatwomen not learn as much as men, he encouragedwomen destined to rule to study the entire humanis-tic curriculum.


282

Childhood EducationChildren were considered a blank slate, hardly humanat all until they reached one year of age. The motherhad the task of instilling moral precepts into her chil-dren. Although the Renaissance learned from classicalauthors, such as Quintilian, that both parents shouldset an example of virtue for their children, motherswere responsible for teaching young children. Inturn, this meant that girls realized early in life thatthey would bear this responsibility if they becamemothers. Needlework, spinning, simple weaving, andsometimes lacemaking were part of the childhoodeducation of girls, who would later provide the cloth

and textiles for their own home. Upper-class girlswere expected to master the art of embroidery, one ofthe signs of a cultivated woman. Mary Stuart(1542–87), for example, created exquisitely embroi-dered pillow covers while imprisoned by Queen Eliz-abeth I (1533–1603). By the 14th century girls werebeing taught to read and write, especially in the ver-nacular, as long as the subjects were virtuous or spiri-tual. Although many parents liked for their youngdaughters to learn to sing and play an instrument,some pedagogical theorists taught that such “vanities”should not detract from other lessons. The socialclass of a girl determined the extent of her basic edu-cation; upper-class girls even learned some arith-metic, girls of lower status learned only to read andwrite, and poor girls learned only to read well enoughto comprehend their book of prayers, if that. Only asmall percentage (probably less than 10 percent) ofteachers were women. They instructed primaryschool pupils, both girls and boys, in the vernacular.

Humanistic Education forYoung WomenHumanistic education for young women usuallyoccurred within the supportive environment of courtculture, beginning in northern Italy during the 15thcentury. The main exception was the educational pro-gram for young women taught by members of thevarious religious orders, such as the Ursulines duringthe latter 16th century. In their schools, chiefly innorthern Europe and Venice, the students learnedLatin, geography, and composition, in addition to theusual spiritual training. Learned women of ancientGreece and Rome were presented as role models inthe humanistic education of upper-class youngwomen. The basic text for this information was Gio-vanni Boccaccio’s (1313–75) De claribus mulieribus(On famous women, c. 1362). For the first time inwestern Europe, biographies of famous women ofclassical times were gathered into one work. It hasrightly been pointed out that the virtuous models pre-sented by Boccaccio, along with the harsh punish-ments of women who misbehaved, emphasized the“proper” roles for women during the Renaissance.Nevertheless this text and others like it helped toopen the door to study of the classics for young

E D U C A T I O N

283

11.4 Saint Anne reading to the Virgin. Netherlandishoak sculpture, first quarter of the 16th century. SaintAnne’s reading to her daughter was a popular model forchildhood education. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s,Inc., © 2003)

women because they read them in Latin. In additionyoung women learned in school that a woman couldachieve recognition outside her home and family fornotable achievements; Isis, “Queen of Egypt,” forexample, was credited with inventing an alphabet anda written language. But at the same time female stu-dents were encouraged to admire the great women ofhistory acclaimed as weavers and spinners of cloth.

We should note that young women enrolled inhumanistic schools who did not plan to become nunswere expected to learn the domestic skills necessaryto run a household, and all young women weretaught that their spiritual and religious training tookpriority. Young men, on the other hand, could focusalmost exclusively on their studies of the classics.The few pedagogical treatises that included adviceabout schooling for girls, even those that supportedsecondary education for young women, cautionedthat there were limits to what they should (andcould) learn. Advanced oratory was considered inap-propriate and unnecessary, as was higher training inmathematics. The Spanish humanist Juan Luís Viveswrote the most comprehensive Renaissance treatisespecifically about female education, De institutionefeminae christianae (On the instruction of a Christianwoman, 1523). Published in Spanish in 1528 and inEnglish in 1540, this influential book had dozens ofeditions during the Renaissance. Although its cur-riculum advocated the reading (in Latin) of Cicero,Plato, and Seneca, in addition to biblical texts andchurch fathers, Vives insinuated that young womenshould learn to be silent, chaste, and obedient. Theywere not trained in rhetoric and oratory, whichmight teach them to speak their mind, or logic,which might teach them how to argue. Above allyoung women were advised not to neglect their fam-ily in favor of their studies. In spite of all these obsta-cles, the Renaissance produced some outstandinglearned women, as the following examples demon-strate. In most instances, however, such women hadlittle influence on the education of other women.

Examples of Learned WomenChristine de Pisan (c. 1364–c. 1430) was the well-educated daughter of an Italian serving as royalastrologer at the French court. Widowed at a young

age with small children to support, Christine becamea writer. She wrote wittily in Latin as well as Frenchand obviously knew the works of classical authors.Because of her fame as a poet, Christine de Pisan’streatise Livre de la cité des dames (Book of the city ofladies, c. 1405) was well known among her contem-poraries. In it she argued that girls might learn morereadily than boys if given the opportunity, and shecontinued to support female abilities in the literaryDebate of the Rose against several male opponents.She countered derogatory remarks about womenmade in the medieval Roman de la rose (Romance ofthe rose). Although Christine’s writings were popularamong the nobility, with dedication copies in manu-script presented to the queen and other members ofthe nobility, her prehumanistic feminism had littleeffect on the education of girls. Scholasticism wasfirmly entrenched in 15th-century French domains.

The courts of northern Italy, on the other hand,were experiencing the effects of humanistic educa-tion by the early 15th century. During the Renais-sance the greatest number of learned women werefound in the courts of Mantua, Urbino, Modena,Ferrara, and Verona, where bright young womenlearned Greek, delivered orations in Latin, and cor-responded in Latin with noted male humanists.Although most of them evidently abandoned theirstudies upon marrying, a few continued their studiesby teaching their children or by refusing to marry atall. At the court of Mantua, Cecilia Gonzaga(1425–1451) was reading ancient Greek at the age ofseven with Vittorino da Feltre at the Casa Giocosa(see earlier discussion), and she could write Greekcompositions by the time she was 10. In Ferrara,Olympia Morata (1526–55) learned both Greek andLatin, writing poems and dialogues in these lan-guages. Isotta Nogarola (1418–66), at the court ofVerona, was fluent in Latin and spoke at learnedconferences. She had received a humanistic educa-tion in Latin from a pupil of Guarino Guarini’s.During her 20s Isotta took up the study of theology,in addition to her program of studying the classics.She became famous among her contemporaries forshutting herself up in solitude in her family’s house,to be able to focus on her studies. Isotta’s readingsturned to dialectic and philosophy, evoking praisefrom fellow humanists, but she was cautioned toremain a virgin so that she would maintain her


284

scholarly focus. Women involved with daily life andthe demands of the body were not considered fit topursue the pleasures of the mind.

By the late 15th century young noblewomen inother parts of western Europe had tutors in classicalLatin and Greek. Most of these educated womenentered convents, and some of them continued theirstudies there. One of the best examples in Germanywas Caritas Pirckheimer (b. 1467), sister of thescholar and translator Willibald Pirckheimer(1470–1530) in Nuremberg, who gave his daughtersa humanistic education. Caritas Pirckheimer wasconsidered almost an equal among German human-ists. When she was appointed abbess of her convent,however, her superiors instructed her that she wouldno longer be permitted to write in Latin, and shecomplied. Having escaped a patriarchal family life,she was trapped within the patriarchal church. InFrance the king’s elder sister, Marguerite de Navarre(1492–1549), was the first well-known femalehumanist. A patron of the arts and learning, she wasa writer herself. Her collection of stories titled Hep-tameron (not published until after her death in 1558),loosely modeled on Boccaccio’s tales in Decameron,had much to say about a woman’s place in society.

The Spanish humanistic tradition reached theTudor court of England through none other thanVives, hired by Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) astutor for the young Mary Tudor. The first wife ofHenry VIII, Catherine was a scholar herself anddaughter of Queen Isabella I, who had learned Latinas an adult. Mary Tudor, who potentially could haveruled England, was taught to read and write bothGreek and Latin, as was her younger half sister,Elizabeth. The English humanist Roger Ascham washired by Henry VIII to tutor Elizabeth, who eventu-ally became Elizabeth I. Ascham’s pedagogical trea-tise The Scholemaster (first published in 1570)outlined the proper humanistic education for ayoung man, and that was the approximate curricu-lum that he established for Elizabeth during the twoyears he was her tutor. She read classical Greekauthors in the morning, then Latin authors alongwith church fathers and the New Testament in theafternoon. Unfortunately for young women in En-gland who wished to study the classics during andafter Elizabeth’s reign, the antipapal sentiments inEngland prevented any serious study of Latin. The

humanistic studies that sometimes had been allowedin convents were no longer possible because HenryVIII had closed them earlier in the century.

MAJOR FIGURES

Ascham, Roger (1515–1568), who wrote TheScholemaster, or Plain and Perfect Way of Teaching Chil-dren the Latin Tongue (1570), was Latin secretary forMary I (Mary Tudor, 1516–58) and served as a tutorfor both Elizabeth I and Edward VI. He also wrote ahandbook on archery, Toxophilus (1545), whichserved as a model of the dialogue format.

Barbosa, Arias established a humanistic school atthe Portuguese court during the reign of Manuel I,teaching the royal children Alfonso and Enrique. Hehad studied Greek in Italy under Angelo Polizianoand was a professor of Greek for 20 years at the Uni-versity of Salamanca.

Barzizza, Gasparino (c. 1360–1431) founded aninstitute for classical Latin in Padua in the early 15thcentury. Between 1407 and 1421 he taught studentsin Padua, who boarded in his home. Barzizza’s life-long goal was to edit classical texts and restore themto their original purity. His letters in Latin becamestylistic models for other humanists.

Bracciolini, Poggio (1380–1459) served in thepapal scriptorium for many years; he returned toFlorence and became chancellor in 1453. Poggioadvocated the teaching of Latin as a living language,versus the strictly Ciceronian style of Lorenzo Valla(1407–57), with whom he had a famous feud overLatin (see chapter 5). Humanism flourished in Flo-rence during his term as chancellor.

Bruni, Leonardo (1370–1444) returned to Florencein 1415 after working for the papal secretariat. Hebecame chancellor of Florence in 1427, championinghumanistic studies from this position of power. Brunitranslated several ancient Greek authors into Latinand wrote an important history of the Florentinepeople modeled on classical historiography.

E D U C A T I O N

285

Buchanan, George (1506–1582) was a Scottishhumanist and philosopher. He taught at universitiesin France and Portugal and returned to Scotland in1561 as a Protestant. Buchanan was the principal ofSaint Leonard’s College, Saint Andrews, and wastutor to the future James I, whom he taught that thepeople are the source of all political power.

Budé, Guillaume (1467–1540), humanistic jurist,was King Louis XII’s (1462–1515) ambassador toPope Leo X (1475–1521) and later Francis I’s royallibrarian at Fontainebleau. He was a renowned clas-sical philologist, publishing on Roman law, weightsand measures, and the Greek language.

Colet, John (c. 1466–1519) was an instrumentalreformer of the curriculum in England, institutinghumanistic studies at Saint Paul’s School. Alongwith William Lyly, Colet wrote a Latin grammarthat was widely used in England. His educationalphilosophy was published in On the Basis of Study(1511).

Christine de Pisan (c. 1364–c. 1430) was born inVenice, the daughter of an astrologer. Because herfather was appointed as royal astrologer for CharlesV, king of France, Christine was raised at theFrench court. She became a poet, championing thecause of women in prehumanistic France and advo-cating equal educational opportunities for youngwomen.

Elyot, Sir Thomas (c. 1490–1546) wrote the BookNamed the Governor (1531), explaining how human-istic education benefits the state. Sir Thomas trans-lated several treatises concerning statecraft andserved the English Crown as a diplomat.

Erasmus, Desiderius (c. 1466–1536) was born inRotterdam of humble origins. Trained as a human-ist, Erasmus advocated reform within the CatholicChurch. His philological work included editing textsfor publishers such as Aldus Manutius, and he taughtin several countries. In England he lectured at Cam-bridge, where he became friends with Colet andMore. His pedagogical writings and internationalcorrespondence were extremely influential onhumanistic education.

Guarini, Battista (b. 1434) (not to be confused withthe 16th-century Italian playwright of the samename) was the son of Guarino Guarini, whose teach-ing methods are documented in Battista’s De ordinedocendi et studendi (On a curriculum of teaching andlearning), written in 1459.

Guarini, Guarino (Guarino da Verona) (1374–1460)lived in Constantinople from 1403 to 1408, studyingGreek and collecting manuscripts. After teaching inVenice, Florence, Padua, and Verona, Guarini waschosen to establish a humanistic school at the courtof Ferrara. There he remained for 30 years, perfect-ing his famous curriculum in classical literature. Hewas the father of Battista Guarini.

Lebrija, Antonio (also Antonio Nebrija) (1442–1522)studied at the universities of Salamanca andBologna. Most of his career was spent teaching theclassics at the University of Alcalá de Henares,where he became Spain’s most illustrious humanisticscholar. In addition to his publications on ancienttexts, Lebrija wrote the first grammar of CastilianSpanish (1492). He also was a member of the com-mittee that produced the Complutensian PolyglotBible (see chapter 2).

Martire d’Anghiera, Pietro (1457–1526), Italianhumanist and soldier, moved to Spain and taught atthe court of Queen Isabella I. He established ahumanistic school where the royal children and sonsof the nobility were instructed. Because Martired’Anghiera became involved in administeringSpain’s colonial empire, he was familiar with theexplorers in service to the Crown of Spain. His Deorbe novo (On the New World, 1511) was the firstextensive documentation of Spanish exploration.

More, Sir Thomas (1478–1535) supported human-istic education, including that of his daughters. Hebecame lord chancellor for Henry VIII in 1529 butwas executed in 1535 because he spoke out againstthe new religious regime and the king’s attacks onCatholic institutions.

Marguerite de Navarre (also Marguerite d’An-goulême) (1492–1549), queen of Navarre, was the sis-ter of Francis I. A patron of learning and the arts,


286

she wrote religious poetry as well as the stories ofher Heptameron (1558) exploring relations betweenthe sexes and women’s place in society.

Nebrija, Antonio See LEBRIJA, ANTONIO.

Melanchthon, Philipp (1497–1560) was Luther’sfriend and is buried beside him in Wittenberg. Anoted Greek scholar, Melanchthon was involved inthe major religious polemics of his day. His Latincurriculum combining biblical passages with theLatin classics was adopted throughout Germany.

Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius (1405–1464) waselected as Pope Pius II in 1458. Educated as a human-ist, he appointed humanistic scholars to posts in hisadministration. Although much of his reign was occu-pied with attempts to lead another Crusade againstthe Turks, Pius II helped to found the University ofBasel in 1459 and supported humanistic schools.

Salutati, Coluccio (1331–1406) served as chancel-lor of Florence for three decades, attracting human-istic scholars such as Manuel Chrysoloras to the city.Salutati wrote poetry and works of moral philosophybased on classical sources, as well as letters in classi-cal style. It was partly due to the efforts of Salutatithat Florence became a mecca for Renaissancehumanism in the early 15th century.

Sellyng, William (d. 1494) studied in Italy and jour-neyed there several times on diplomatic missions forthe king of England. His monastery of ChristChurch, Canterbury, was among the earliest studycenters for classical Greek literature in England.Sellyng had returned from his travels with copies ofGreek manuscripts that could be used as texts.

Sturm, Johannes (1507–1589), a Protestant convert,founded an important humanistic gymnasium inStrasbourg (then part of Germany). His writingsinclude a biography of Beatus Rhenanus (1485–1547),a German printer of humanistic texts and friend ofErasmus.

Vergerio the Elder, Piero Paolo (1370–1444),trained as a humanist, served in the administrationsof two popes between 1406 and 1409. From 1418

until his death Vergerio worked for the imperialcourt. His treatise De ingenuis moribus et liberalibusadulescentiae studiis liber (On the character and stud-ies appropriate for a free-born adolescent) was thefirst comprehensive Renaissance work on thehumanistic curriculum.

Vesalius, Andreas (1514–1564) served as personalphysician to both Emperor Charles V and Philip II,king of Spain (1527–98), having achieved interna-tional fame for his anatomical masterpiece, Dehumani corporis fabrica (On the structure of the humanbody, 1543). Although much of his work depended onthe classical writings of Galen, advancements in dis-section and medical illustration helped Vesalius’sbook become a standard of medical education.

Vittorino (Rambaldoni) da Feltre(1373/78–1446/47) learned Greek from GuarinoGuarini and later opened a school in Venice.Selected to educate the children of nobility at thecourt of Mantua, Vittorino moved there and estab-lished his Casa Giocosa. This was the first school inItaly to teach Greek; its notable instructors includedTheodore Gaza (c. 1415–75/76) and George of Tre-bizond (1396–1472/73).

Vives, Juan Luis (1492–1540) studied in Valenciaand Paris; he finally settled in Bruges after residingfor a while at the English court. His pedagogicalworks include a handbook of dialogues for learningLatin and the influential De institutione feminaechristianae (On the instruction of a Christianwoman, 1523).

READING

Huppert 1984: education in France.

Humanistic EducationGrafton 1986: general survey; Grendler 1989:Italy; Kallendorf 2002: translations of Renaissancepedagogical treatises; Kekewich 2000: impact ofhumanism; Nauert 2000; cultural contexts.

E D U C A T I O N

287

University EducationCarlsmith 2002: Jesuits; Koen Goudriaan 2004:Netherlands; Ruggiero 2002: medicine; Rummel1998: theology; Schwinges 2000: Germany.

Education in the VernacularLanguagesGrendler 1989, 273–329: Italy; Pardoe 2000: Ger-many.

Education of Girls andWomenAdelman 1999: Jewish women; Donawerth 1998:conversation; Grendler 1989, 87–102: Italy; King1991; Italy; Michalove 1999: aristocratic women;Stevenson 1998: humanism; Watson 1972: Vives.


288

DAILY LIFE

12

The conditions of daily life in the Renaissancedepended on gender, class, geographic loca-

tion, precise period, and other factors, such as a per-son’s religion. Previous chapters of this book havetouched upon several aspects of daily life, especiallythose concerning education, religion, travel, andwarfare. The present chapter explores what it mighthave been like to live a secular, moderate, Christianlife during the Renaissance, and what experiencesand events directly affected the majority of individu-als living outside convents and monasteries. In 1400Europe had two main social classes, the nobility andthe peasants or workers, and some peasants andworkers were exposed to upper-class life becausethey worked as servants or artisans in houses of thewealthy. By 1600 the inflated cash economy hadfragmented this relatively simple social structureinto a multiclass society, which still included theupper and lower classes, in addition to a new middleclass and a desperately poor lower class. A city mighthave as many as 8 percent of its people supported bycharity, and approximately 20 percent of the generalpopulation occasionally needed assistance simplyto survive. These people lived on the margin of sub-sistence and could be thrown into abject povertywith the slightest downward shift in their financialcircumstances.

Urban life, of course, differed from rural life.Only 5 percent of Europe’s population lived perma-nently in a city of significant size (more than100,000), and only 25 percent lived in a city at all.The larger the city, the more complex it tended tobe. Although major cities had more wealthy citizenspaying taxes that supported the infrastructure, largercities had more problems with sanitation and otherissues pertaining to public health. Much of theinformation in the present book focuses on cities,but the majority of individuals lived in rural areas, invillages or small towns. Most people were born,married, and died in or near the same place;attended the same country church; and regulatedtheir life by church bells and hours of sunshine.Daily life in either town or country was odoriferous,and that atmosphere probably would be the firstthing we would notice if transported back to Renais-sance times. The farm animals and hay-strewn dirtfloors of rural living would have been an assault tomodern sensibilities; the sewage and garbage flow-

ing down city passageways would have been worse.People everywhere had a strong odor becausebathing was infrequent, to say the least, and outergarments were rarely laundered. Babies also werepungent because their swaddling clothes usuallywere changed only a few times each day, except inwealthy households.

Men in all classes were considered superior towomen, who remained girls (referred to as virginsand expected to remain so) until their betrothal orwedding. All children were raised by the motheruntil about age seven, at which point boys would


290

12.1 Legal tribunal with the prince adjudicating.Woodcut title page from a 1507 treatise on Salic law(the law of the Salian Franks), which governed severalaspects of personal life in northern Europe. Most notably,daughters were not permitted to inherit land.(Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

be handed over to tutors or taken to live with influ-ential uncles or other relatives. Girls remained athome unless they were placed in a convent, helpingtheir parents in the field or shop or with householdchores. Girls learned the skills of managing ahouse, especially the crafts pertaining to textiles.Renaissance inventions, such as the treadle forspinning wheels, helped make these tasks a littleeasier than they had been in past centuries. In mostparts of Europe mothers and daughters did notventure away from their home except to shop,attend church, or visit nearby relatives. Whereasboys were free to roam the streets after a certainage, girls were never seen in public alone. Becausetheir greatest value was as a virgin bride, theirhonor and the honor of their father had to be pro-tected. Girls who stayed at home and never mar-ried were never regarded as fully adult.Gender-based differences were also reflected in thelegal system, as discussed later.

TIME AND THECALENDAR

The installation of town clocks, timepieces carriedin the pocket, and arguments concerning the calen-dar made time a palpable force by the 16th century.For city dwellers removed from the rhythm of farmlife, the workday was arbitrarily divided into hours,or o’clocks. Unlike the canonical hours that soundedfor prayers approximately every three hours, clockhours divided the days and nights into smaller, yetarbitrary segments. The calendar was out of syncwith the equinoxes, and Easter fell earlier each cen-tury. Reform of the calendar undertaken in the1570s resulted in an adjustment of the date forEaster, but also in political conflict that continuedfor many years.

TimeThe perception of daily time was changing duringthe Renaissance, especially in urban centers, where

public clocks struck on the hour. Whereas churchbells might toll for some or all of the canonicalhours throughout each day, a clock striking eachhour must have created a greater awareness oftime’s passing as it broke the day into smaller units.Early Renaissance clocks struck each of the 24hours in succession, but people found counting somany bongs difficult. For this reason the 24-hourday was divided into two equal parts, so that a clockdid not strike more than 12 times. Medieval clockswere cumbersome, weight-driven mechanisms,which had to remain upright and stationary. Duringthe 15th century spring-driven clocks wereinvented, facilitating the production of smaller,portable clocks for the home. In the early 16th cen-tury the pocket watch appeared, enabling an indi-vidual to know the time at all times. These firstpocket watches were called Nuremberg eggs, fromthe city of their manufacture and their oval shape.Although not very accurate, they must haveprompted their owners to look at them severaltimes each day and to show them to other people.The early pocket watches were relatively expensive,but people also had pocket sundials as well as ashort stick called a hand dial. Held by the thumbover the palm of the hand and pointed toward theNorth Pole, the stick cast a shadow on the out-stretched hand that allowed a person to determinethe approximate time. The point for 12 noon waslocated at the outer edge of the palm, one o’clock atthe base of the pinkie finger, and so on. (The termo’clock simply means “of clock,” or a time shown ona clock face.)

Time functioned on an annual schedule, much asit does today, signified by the seasons and by reli-gious celebrations and observances. The seasonsrevolved around planting and harvest, which wereespecially busy times of the year. Each city, town,and village had religious celebrations on the impor-tant dates of the Christian calendar, notably Easterand Christmas. Every local area also had its patronsaint’s day, one of the grandest celebrations of theyear. In locations dominated by Protestants, how-ever, the saint’s day was no longer observed. Renais-sance time comprised all these events, as mostpeople lived life in a cycle of predictable, familiaractivities, with the week punctuated by Sundaychurch service.

D A I L Y L I F E

291

The CalendarIn 1400 the European calendar was based on theRoman calendar established by Julius Caesar. Knownas the Julian calendar, this system assumed that oneyear has exactly 365 1/4 days, whereas the Earth’spath around the Sun is actually slightly shorter. Leapyear was added every four years to this calendar, toaccount for the quarter-day. Because the Julian yearwas 11 minutes and 42 seconds more than the actualyear, this extra time became quite noticeable by the14th century, especially in relation to the placementof Easter in the Christian liturgy. Whereas mostCatholic feasts are on fixed dates, Easter is a movablefeast, depending on the lunar calendar. Easter is cele-brated after the full Moon that follows the vernal

(spring) equinox. Although the equinox was fixed onMarch 21, the actual equinox was occurring 10 daysearlier. Easter and all its attendant outdoor celebra-tions were slowly moving toward winter, and particu-larly for northern Europeans something had to bedone. In the early 1560s the Council of Trent pro-claimed that the pope should reform the calendar.

Pope Gregory XIII (1502–85) convened a com-mission for this purpose that lasted nearly a decade.Its members made several changes, for both long-term and immediate correction. Three leap yearswere to be removed in 400 years, and any leap yeardivisible by 100 (such as 1900) would instead be anormal year, whereas any leap year divisible by 400(such as 2000) would still be a leap year. Then 10days were removed from the calendar to make the


292

12.2 System for counting by one’s fingers. Woodcut in a book by Anianus on computing, 1490/91. Time, measurement,and money could all be tallied by mnemonic systems using the fingers and hands. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc.,© 2003)

actual equinox fall on March 21. In 1582 the calen-dar went from October 4 to October 15, a decisionnot welcomed in part of Europe, and certainly not inProtestant countries because the pope was in chargeof the reform. Most Catholic areas had adopted theGregorian calendar by 1583; many other areas hadnot. In fact some countries began using the Grego-rian system only in the early 20th century. Englandnot only refused to comply until 1752, but also keptMarch 25 as the beginning of the new year until thesame date. Several other countries and cities, such asFlorence, had observed New Year on March 25 until1582. (That is the reason why some dates prior to1582 are now expressed as two years, e.g., 1526/27.The pertinent event occurred between January 1and March 24 of what is not the Gregorian year of1527, but was 1526 at the time. For England, ofcourse, this anomaly pertains for dates until 1752.)

FAMILY LIFE

A family consisted of a married couple and theirchildren, occasionally with other immediate rela-tives. Wives stayed at home and husbands worked,and children who were older often helped in theshop or fields. Because people married to have chil-dren, sex and procreation were important topicsabout which numerous manuals were written in the15th century. With the advent of printing, thesepamphlets spread throughout Europe. Thoseintended for the use of priests instructing betrothedcouples were rather general; others were quite spe-cific concerning sexual positions and activities.Although the husband had legal control over hiswife, she could complain to the priest if he wanted toengage in “inappropriate” activities, meaning any

D A I L Y L I F E

293

12.3 Venetian lacquered wood chest, c. 1580. Islamic influence can be seen in the lacquerwork and arabesqueornament. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

sexual act that could not result in pregnancy.Although women often had as many as 10 or 15 chil-dren, only two or three might survive to adulthood.

Couples enjoyed domestic pastimes, such asgames and music, and small children played withpets, rolled hoops, and participated in ball gamesand similar activities involving simple, handmadetoys such as stuffed dolls and hobbyhorses. Olderchildren helped with the work or focused on theirstudies (see chapter 11, Education). Except for theupper classes, houses were quite small, often nomore than two rooms with a low ceiling, and a fam-ily of four usually slept in one large bed. In winterhouses in northern Europe were chilly, dark, anddank. Fireplaces were used for most domestic cook-ing and heating, meaning that the house could besmoky whenever the weather was warm and humidunless it had a metal stove. In summer houses insouthern Europe were stifling in the daytime heat,so that meals and many other household activitiesoccurred outside. A small loom, for example, mightbe set up on a terrace. Families regulated their lifeaccording to sunlight, rising with the Sun and goingto bed not long after sunset. The day usually beganand ended with the family’s kneeling in prayer. Out-side cities people were relatively self-sufficient, mak-ing almost everything they needed. Until theconsumer society of the latter 16th century, mostfamilies had simple needs: a couple of outfits andpair of shoes each; some kitchen utensils; a bed,chamberpot, table, bench, and chest, lamps; andtools for the farm or workshop.

MarriageRenaissance writers compared the proper relation-ship between wife and husband to that of a magis-trate carrying out the orders of a higher official, in asocial relationship reflecting the political hierarchyof the state. Men were in charge of families andcould beat, starve, or otherwise abuse their wife aswell as their children. This is not to say that mosthusbands did so, but that the legal system allowedsuch behavior. Church authorities were the onlyrecourse for an abused wife. A priest could shame anabusive or adulterous husband in cases in which thestate would do nothing. Although being sinful was

not necessarily illegal, such behavior could be con-demned by the congregation and community.Households usually consisted of a nuclear familyhaving a few surviving children, especially in urbancenters. Rural families with estates of any size mighthave a more extended network of relatives to helprun the farm. Because the normal life expectancywas approximately 40 years, relatively few grandpar-ents lived for any length of time in the houses oftheir sons or daughters. People married relativelylate, considering how quickly they died. Most cou-ples in a first marriage were fairly close in age, thewife usually younger. Young women of 14 or 15sometimes married much older men, however,partly as a result of the plagues of the 14th century,when the population balance was destroyed. In mostRenaissance societies, such a May/December couplewas viewed as inappropriate and would have beensubjected to a raucous charivari (see later discussion)on the first night of their marriage.

WIDOWHOOD

Widows who functioned as the head of a householdwere the only secular women considered to be adults,and they held an ambiguous position in society. Onthe one hand they commanded respect because oftheir station; on the other hand they sometimes werethe subject of suspicion because they had been sexu-ally active. Widows outnumbered widowers by farbecause women were somewhat younger than theirhusband. Young widows almost always remarried,but older widows, especially those at the cusp ofchildbearing years, often did not. Their widowhoodwas the first time in their life when they experiencedindependence, and those with money had no need toremarry. In some regions a widow had to forfeit apercentage of her husband’s estate if she remarried.Children were the property of their father but not oftheir mother in most countries on the Continent. Awidow was not necessarily allowed to keep her chil-dren if powerful male relatives of her husband inter-vened. The marriage contracts of some couplesspecifically named the wife as guardian of any chil-dren and of the estate to protect the woman’s rightsshould her husband predecease her. Poverty-strickenwidows were cared for by family members or bycharitable organizations.


294

BETROTHALS

Except for young women whose family lived inpoverty, brides were expected to bring a dowry tothe marriage. In most cases, the dowry signified allthe property that a woman might expect as an inher-itance from her father’s estate. Her husband man-aged the money or property and actually owned it,but the bride was usually entitled to have the dowryreturned if the marriage was annulled. Betrothal wasa solemn vow, as binding as the marriage vow.Announced in public, often at the door of a churchand in the presence of a priest, the betrothal couldbe broken only if both parties agreed. Betrothedcouples occasionally had sexual intercourse, whichlegally bound them as if they were already officiallymarried. Because of the confusion between thebetrothal ceremony and the wedding, formalbetrothals were discouraged during the 16th cen-tury. Subsequently the actual wedding ceremonybegan to assume more significance. Marriage was(and is) a sacrament in the Catholic Church, butbetween two individuals rather than between anindividual and a priest. According to the Council ofTrent a marriage was valid if vows were spokenbefore a priest and witnesses. Parental consent (i.e.,from the fathers) was not required for Catholics, butmost Protestant sects did require permission.

SEXUAL ADVICE AND ACTIVITY

Advice concerning sexual activity abounded duringthe Renaissance, some of it from ancient Greeksources. This advice was meant for married couplesbecause only they were supposed to be having sexualintercourse. An impressive percentage of these textspertained to fertility and conception, and much ofthe information was quite specific, such as the adviceto tie a string around the left testicle in order to con-ceive a male child. Although married partners werenot expected to exult in sexual activity—such senti-ment would have been “lustful”—the satisfaction ofsexual urges was assumed to be part of a marriedcouple’s obligation to each other. Some writers, suchas the Florentine preacher Girolamo Savonarola(1452–98), agreed with the ancient Greek physicianGalen that the wife had to reach orgasm in order toconceive. (Rape was never supposed to result in

pregnancy. A raped women who conceived wasassumed to have enjoyed the act and had no meansof punishing her attacker.)

Moderation was the keyword, as newlyweds werecautioned to drink sweet wine and chicken soup, restmore, and save their strength. Sperm was thought tobe more potent if a man abstained from sexual activ-ity for a time. Older men who wished to impregnatetheir wife were advised to use the 40 days of Lent tostore sperm and enhance its power. Abstention wasrequired not only during Lent, but also on Sundays,religious feast days, and three days before and afterreceiving Holy Communion. Men were requestedby priests to respect the wishes of a wife who wantedto take Communion, even if she chose to do so sev-eral times a year. Abstention was also suggested dur-ing pregnancy, breast-feeding, and menstruation.Some people had a very interesting sex life: Theprohibitions against having intercourse in public orin church must have been enacted because suchbehavior had been observed.

Adultery was a very serious offense, at all levels ofsociety. Offenders were sometimes forced to sit inchurch, wrapped in a white sheet or wearing othersigns of shame. An adulterous woman might have herhead shaved or her clothing torn. Members of guildswho were married, especially in northern Europe,were subject to expulsion if they were known to havecommitted adultery. Dishonoring the marriage vowswas said to dishonor the guild, but having one lessmember in a guild also reduced the competition foravailable work. In addition a man would usually beexpelled from the guild if his wife committed adul-tery and he continued to cohabit with her. In generalthe adultery of a wife was viewed as a much moreserious offense than a husband’s philandering. If ahusband caught his wife in the act and killed her, usu-ally he would not be punished.

ChildrenThe role of a married woman was to have babies,and women desired to have many babies becauseonly a few of them normally would live to adulthood(see page 294). Some women were pregnant most oftheir adult life. Poorer women nursed their ownbabies; however, most babies had wet nurses selected

D A I L Y L I F E

295

by the father, who evaluated the nurse’s health andcharacter. Wet nurses were paid for their servicesunder the terms of a contract signed by the father.Many wet nurses lactated for years because healthywomen usually continue to do so when a child issuckling. Some wet nurses had babies of their own;others had older children or a baby who had recentlydied. Wives who did not breast-feed their owninfants were more likely to conceive again sooner.Renaissance physicians did not understand why butassumed that the uterus was connected to the breastsand that menstrual blood was transformed into milkafter a baby was delivered.

Toddlers did not normally roam freely aroundthe house or yard. They were kept in wooden walk-

ers that functioned as today’s walkers do; they hadfour or five wheels around a bottom rim and a nar-rower top rim with a seat into which the child wasplaced. Toddlers were also connected to theirnurse, mother, or a stationary object by means of along strap or rope. Small children had to be keptaway from the fireplace, which contained not onlyburning wood but also boiling liquids and hotgrease. Outside they had to be kept away fromgarbage, bodies of water, the well, and unpre-dictable roving dogs and other animals. Boys ofabout seven no longer stayed all day with theirmother because they had to learn to be men. Thiswas the age at which children were consideredcapable of reason. Some older boys had tutors at


296

12.4 Two Children Teasing a Cat. Annibale Carracci, between the later 16th century and 1609. (TheMetropolitan Museum of Art, purchase, Gwynne Andrews Fund, and bequests of Collis P. Huntington and Ogden Mills,by exchange, 1994 [1994.142])

home, others attended a grammar or abacus schoolnear home (see chapter 11), and others left home tobe raised at court or at the home of a well-placedrelative. Around the age of 14 boys became youngmen who could enter an apprenticeship, becomesailors, join the army, begin studying for the priest-hood, or simply work at menial labor. In very poorfamilies children aged nine or even younger weresent to work as servants in wealthy houses, chieflybecause their parents could no longer afford to feedthem. In spite of entering the adult world so early,between the ages of eight and 14, most boys andgirls did not experience puberty until the age of 15or even later.

ORPHANS

Orphans whose parents had been married and weredeceased enjoyed a special status in Renaissancesociety, as opposed to foundlings (abandoned chil-dren), generally referred to as bastards. During the15th century both classes of parentless children wereusually cared for by the same hospitals operating ascare centers. Some of these institutions had a hori-zontal wheel beside an interior wall that could berotated from outside the wall and positioned in frontof an opening. The foundling was placed on thewheel, which was then turned again to take theinfant into the hospital anonymously. Some commu-nity leaders complained that providing institutionsfor unwanted children encouraged immorality, butothers argued that the rather undesirable alternativewas infanticide. Foundlings who survived to becomeolder children were often able to make their way inthe world, working as laborers or servants and occa-sionally even being adopted by childless couples. Bythe 16th century separate foundations were beingestablished for orphans, endowed with money foreducation, clothing, and other provisions. Oneunfortunate result was even greater discriminationagainst foundlings.

HousingHousing, like clothing, visually distinguished theupper classes from the middle class and both fromthe lower class. Extremely poor people subsisted in

shantytowns, hovels made of earth and hay. Peasantshad a house built of wood or of earth with a thatchedroof and a floor of packed dirt or tiles. Their win-dows were simply rectangular holes covered withshutters. The ground floor of most houses was cov-ered in flowers and herbs in the summer and hay inwinter, most likely to mask odors. Many townhouses for the middle class were constructed entirelyof wood, or of the wood and stucco combinationknown as Tudor style, with a slate or tile roof.Because of their narrow street frontage, these housesusually had only two or three small rooms on eachfloor, connected by a spiral staircase that requiredless space than a stairway. Where stone was moreplentiful than wood, stones formed both the innerand outer walls, with the roof made of thatch ortiles. Bricks were used in areas where clay was

D A I L Y L I F E

297

12.5 Fifteenth-century merchant’s home, Dinan, France.The shop was on the ground floor with living quartersabove. (Courtesy of Sandra Sider)

plentiful and became more popular in towns towardthe end of the 16th century. Although woodenhouses were somewhat less expensive, they presenteda serious fire hazard in crowded urban centers. (Seechapter 4 for information about villas and otherhousing for the upper classes.) Windows could haveseveral designs, depending on climate and the home-owner’s budget. One ingenious solution was to builda large window in which the upper half consisted ofstationary leaded glass, for light, and the bottom half

of wooden shutters, for ventilation and better secu-rity at street level. Renaissance craftsmen did nothave the technology to produce large, flat singlepanes of glass. Indoor plumbing did not exist inEurope until the 17th century, although some exper-iments were made with flush toilets before 1600.

Games and SportsGAMES

Middle- and upper-class couples of the 15th centuryfavored the game of chess, which had enteredEurope via Arabic players in Spain. Originally thegame had a vizier and not a queen accompanying theking. During the reign of Isabella I (1451–1504) thequeen replaced the vizier. Also, instead of beingmoved only diagonally as the vizier was, the queencould be moved in any direction. Modern scholarshave suggested that the appearance and power of thequeen on the European chessboard may havereflected the power of Queen Isabella. By the late16th century chess was more often played by malesas the pace of the game became much faster.Although queens such as Catherine de’ Medici(1519–80) and Elizabeth I (1533–1603) weredevoted chess players, women in the domestic envi-ronment were subject to numerous interruptions.They either had to tend to children and cooking orsupervise servants doing those tasks. The courtly,leisurely game of chess played by women during theRenaissance became too fast paced and professional-ized for them to enjoy it.

Many people played card games, and some verybeautiful hand-colored cards are extant from thisperiod, probably commissioned by avid players. Bythe time of the Counter-Reformation, card playinghad fallen into disrepute because preachers andpriests warned that this pastime encouraged thevice of gambling. Nevertheless soldiers on cam-paign, sailors at sea, and innumerable coupleshousebound during the winter continued to play.Other games of chance involved dice, coins, anddominos. Children probably had board games,which were simple to make. There were also musi-cal games, as well as music played to accompanysinging.


298

12.6 Iron door knocker, Spain, 16th century. (Courtesyof The Hispanic Society of America, R128)

SPORTS

Many outdoor games would qualify as sports sincethey required active physical participation. Churchgroups played ball games, community memberschallenged each other to races, and, on a granderscale, tournaments enacted the chivalric competi-tions of the Middle Ages. Women and girls usuallywere spectators at outdoor events unless dancing, asin maypole celebrations, was involved. Renaissancehumanists taught the ancient Greek ideal of the ben-efits of physical exercise for young men, in a bal-anced regimen of wrestling, running, hunting,swimming, and other activities. Although the classesmight mingle in sporting activities, peasants werenot expected to best noblemen. Among the upperclasses tennis became very popular during the 16thcentury. Golf was revived in Scotland, its homeland,and a version of soccer was played in England. Ani-mal sports such as bearbaiting drew huge crowds,even though the violent nature of these events wascriticized by religious leaders.

CEREMONIES,FESTIVITIES, ANDOTHER PUBLICEVENTS

The premier festivity in most areas of Europe wascarnival, with its preceding weeks of indulgence inrich food, alcoholic beverages, sexual activity, andhectic street theater. Although of religious deriva-tion, carnival was celebrated in a very secular man-ner. Observance of saints’ days, civic processions,weddings, and triumphal entries also drew commu-nities together. Entertainment for such eventsincluded pantomimes, public declamations, recita-tions of poetry, singing, and participatory dancing.Artists made drawings of many royal festivities, andtapestries were sometimes woven to commemoratethese events. Visitors to palaces and chateaux werereminded of the festive occasion whenever theyviewed these large-scale scenes.

CarnivalAs part of the Christian calendar, carnival took placeimmediately before the beginning of Lent, with its 40days of fasting and abstaining from bodily pleasures.The carnival season could start several weeks beforethe actual day of carnival itself, which in Italy meantthe Thursday before Ash Wednesday (first day ofLent) and the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inother parts of Europe. The French expression for thisday, mardi gras (Fat Tuesday), is the way carnival isoften referred to in English. The word carnival meanstaking away meat; Christians were not permitted toconsume meat during Lent. Meat became symbolic ofcarnival, with giant, phallic sausages paraded throughthe streets and floats advertising the butchers’ guild.The carnival season was a time for butchering hogsand gorging on various meat products, such assausages and roasts. For those who could afford theingredients, rich desserts were also part of carnivalmeals. In private festivities the world was topsy-turvy,with servants dressed in finery and masters pretend-ing to be servants, waiting on them at table. Cross-dressing contributed to the confused world ofcarnival, and ordinary people acted out impromptustreet theater, usually in a comical or satirical mode.In Protestant Europe carnival floats often made fun ofthe pope or of local preachers. With the consumptionof alcoholic beverages that accompanied public cele-bration, crowds could become rowdy. Sporting activi-ties were a bit more violent than usual, and riots couldensure. Masks and disguises added to the festivalnature of carnival; Venice was (and is) particularlyfamous for its artistic masks and costumes. Maskedcouples flirted and danced, heightening the sexualcharge of carnival. Sexuality was enhanced, and morebabies were conceived during this season than at anyother time of the year. (Although Christians in the farnorth of Europe, such as in England, celebrated car-nival, their major outdoor festivals occurred duringthe spring and summer.)

Civic Processions and PublicGatheringsCivic processions that took place on a regular basisconsisted of two major types, the ritualistic celebration

D A I L Y L I F E

299

of local saints and parades by civic organizations.Patron saints were thought to protect the localities inwhich they were revered, functioning as intermedi-aries between citizens of the town and the Virgin.Many paintings were commissioned of the sacra con-verzatione (sacred conversation) depicting Mary andthe infant Jesus with these intercessionary saints.When a saint’s day was observed, the citizens wereoften required to participate; it was part of their civicduty. These processions were especially elaborate insouthern Europe. Most towns had one or more relicsof their patron saint, and parading relics through thestreets, from the church and back again, propitiatedthe saint and honored the saint’s name. Alternately, theprocession might begin from a city gate and proceedaround town, finally arriving at the church containingthe relic. The parades and processions of civic organi-zations derived from the model of saints’ processions,with a rigid hierarchy of position of each official in thegroup as it paraded. The organizations that partici-pated included militias, guilds, and confraternities.These events were quite colorful as each group dis-played banners or flags and uniform costumes. Mem-bers of the public observing the festivities also enjoyedallegorical tableaux vivants (living pictures) in whichcostumed actors staged static scenes without speaking,moving pantomimes in which they also were silent,and declamatory scenes in which the actors spoketheir lines. The content of these presentations couldbe quite political and propagandistic; even mythologi-cal scenes sometimes had veiled references to currentevents.

Two of the most lavish civic processions innorthern Europe were the London mayoral inaugu-ration of the latter 16th century and the Ommegan-gen (guild processions) of Antwerp. During theRenaissance, London’s mayor was always a guildmember, and his guild was responsible for the fes-tivities. In a competitive spirit each guild tried tosurpass the efforts of previous ceremonies, withboats, chariots, floats, stationary stages, andephemeral works of art, drama, and poetry commis-sioned for the occasion. Each guild in Antwerpowned a large wagon or chariot used for theOmmegangen. This procession was linked to theAugust 15 Assumption of the Virgin and alwaystook place on the following Sunday. The themes ofthe floats could be religious or secular, often relat-

ing to some aspect of travel, trade, or commerce.Because Antwerp was an important artistic center,the statues, paintings, and music in this processionoften were of professional quality.

FEAST OF FOOLS

The Feast of Fools, or Feast of Asses, was a jubilantwinter celebration in which misrule reigned. Takingplace not long after Christmas, this festival con-sisted of mock mass pronounced in church, with ayoung man pretending to be a bishop or other highchurch official. A donkey might be taken into thesanctuary, and everyone, including the priest,brayed during parts of the liturgy. This sort ofirreverent hilarity was strongly discouraged by theCounter-Reformation and eventually died out, atleast within the church building itself.

EXECUTIONS AND CORPORALPUNISHMENT

Although the number of public executions declinedtoward the end of the 16th century, many thousandsof city dwellers witnessed hangings, burnings, andthe mutilation of human beings. These severe pun-ishments were usually reserved for murderers andviolent thieves, but in some areas, notably Florence,personal “crimes” such as sodomy were punishableby hanging. Punishment occasionally entailed dese-cration of the criminal’s corpse. A hanged person’sbody could be left to rot and be picked on by carrionbirds, or “drawn and quartered,” a punishment inwhich the body was spread out and split into fourpieces. Very rarely was a living person executed inthis fashion or burned at the stake. The Renaissancewas a violent era, and people, especially children,who witnessed such public events must have beenaffected by the spectacle.

Triumphal Entries and State FuneralsMonarchs and other royalty officially visiting a cityor town would usually be given an extravagant wel-come, in the form of a sumptuous banquet andreception, preceded by a public procession known


300

12.7 Tomb monument for the duchess of Albuquerque, 16th century. Nineteenth-century drawing by Arthur Byne.(Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, A313)

as a triumphal entry. These entries derived from theprocessions of emperors and other leaders in Romewhen they returned as conquering heroes. Thecommon element of such events was the triumphalarch, a two- or three-story temporary structuremade of wood and gesso, painted in a classicizingstyle with emblematic texts, coats of armor, allegor-ical scenes, and portrait medallions. Otherephemeral architectural structures, such as plat-forms and stages, were placed along the proces-sional route for actors and musicians. Theprocession usually began at a city gate, where civicleaders greeted the person honored. The celebra-tion ended at the cathedral, where the bishop oranother church official led the crowd in a devo-tional prayer. Along the way the entertainmentmight include mechanical giants or animals, such asthe automaton of a lion created by Leonardo for the1507 entry of the French king into Milan. Tapes-tries and banners floated from windows and bal-conies, contributing to the festive atmosphere, andfireworks lit up the night sky. Tapestries, in fact,provided decoration for numerous public eventsbecause they were somewhat portable. Funerals formonarchs, including the funeral procession, couldbe as elaborate as triumphal entries. Proxy funeralswere held in several cities for emperors, kings, andqueens, with temporary catafalques equaling thegrandeur of triumphal arches.

Triumphal entries and civic processions weremajor events, when work stopped so that peoplemight participate in and applaud them. For manypeasants and other lower-class workers, the decora-tions for these processions and parades were theonly reflections of the classical influences on upper-class Renaissance culture to which they wereexposed. People living in rural areas never experi-enced this panoply of imagery while it was takingplace, but they did have opportunities to see itreproduced. Andrea Mantegna (1430/31–1506), forexample, documented Roman triumphal entries inseveral drawings that were later issued as engravings.Although most people could not afford the printedand engraved festivity books describing these publicevents, many could afford a single print to nail to thewall or pass among friends. Such prints served aspowerful reminders of the lofty status of Renais-sance monarchy.

WeddingsWedding ceremonies differed, depending on religiouspersuasion and social status, but usually involved awedding ring, the clasping of hands, and the father’sgiving away of the bride. Except among Protestantcouples, wedding celebrations consisted of proces-sions through the streets, during which the bride worea beautiful dress. Music was an important componentof such events, including outdoor dancing and singingif the weather was good. In some societies, the bridewas led through town on horseback. The main pur-poses of weddings among the upper classes were tocelebrate the bride and display the wealth and socialstatus of the groom. The bride’s father contributedher dowry and trousseau to the marriage; the groomprovided a rich countertrousseau, including jewels.Although the velvet or brocaded overgown might beborrowed or rented, the other finery became part ofthe marriage property, meaning that it was owned bythe husband. Royal wedding festivities were amongthe grandest of all public celebrations during thisperiod. Actors portraying cupids and nymphs partici-pated in ballets and mock battles, “love boats” sailedon artificial lakes, mythological couples celebrated themarried state, and other thematically appropriate per-formances entertained the newlyweds, their guests,and onlookers.

CharivariCharivari, or shivaree, derives from the ancientGreek for “heavy head,” or headache. A charivari wasa very noisy event, when young men banged on potsand pans and shouted as loudly as possible. Acted outas a sort of folk justice, the charivari focused on peo-ple who had stepped outside the normal bounds oftheir community, such as adulterers, husband beat-ers, couples who did not have children, and newly-wed couples who had a significant difference in theirages. The victims might be chased through town,dunked in water, or otherwise ridiculed publicly.Unpopular mayors and tax collectors could findthemselves led across town, facing backward on adonkey. Charivari functioned as an escape valve forcommunity conflict and could become dangerous ifthe behavior escalated into violence.


302

CLOTHING ANDCOSTUME

Because of sumptuary laws, class differences wereemphasized by a person’s attire. Members of thelower classes, for example, were not permitted towear certain furs or silk. Excellent documentationof Renaissance clothing, from Europe and else-where, is available in archival records as well asbooks and other visual sources. Fashion trendsbetween 1400 and 1600 included the lowering ofwomen’s necklines and the shortening of men’spants, and prominent codpieces appeared during

the 16th century. Members of the upper classes lux-uriated in fine silk, woven as velvet and brocade,and in jewelry consisting of pearls, precious metals,and gemstones.

Sumptuary LawsLaws regulating consumption and conspicuous dis-play dated from as early as the 12th century.Although such rules originated with the CatholicChurch, by the 15th century they were issued ascivil legislation. Fines for no-observance were thuspaid to local authorities. The rules concerning thewearing of fur exemplify the class-structuredaspects of these rules. Only royalty could wearermine, and workers could wear only fur of lowvalue, such as cat, fox, and rabbit. Women’s neck-lines were a particular focus of sumptuary law, espe-cially when lowered necklines were used to show offgold necklaces and pendants of precious jewels. ARenaissance version of fashion police would stopoffending women in the street and issue a fine. Insome parts of Europe the tailor who made the dressmight also be fined. In 15th-century Florence thetailor was fined twice as much as the women whowore an illegal garment.

ClothingOur knowledge of Renaissance clothing is morecomplete than that of many other aspects of dailylife because of documentation in guild records,notarial inventories, and visual sources such aspaintings, prints, and tapestries. Extant tapestriesare a particularly good source for costume studybecause of their large scale, which allows details ofornamentation to be seen. Especially during the16th century, several artists made ethnographicdrawings of clothing and costume, and costumemanuals were published as well as other books thathad costume illustrations. Some of these comparedEuropean clothing to that of other regions, such asthe Americas and Africa, and a few included com-ments about the occupations or activities of thosedepicted. Renaissance interest in foreign costumeprobably was related to the fascination with new

D A I L Y L I F E

303

12.8 Portrait of Sebastian Brant in a brocaded garmentand fur hat. Woodcut in Nicholas Reusner, Icones siveimagines virorum . . . illustrium (Icons or images offamous men, 1587). Brant, a prominent jurist, wasauthor of The Ship of Fools. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)

geographical and topographical publications. The1572 Civitates orbis terrarum (Cities of the world),for example, included figures of men and women inthe foregrounds of city views, wearing the costumesof various classes.

Clothing for the lower classes was simple anddrab, made of unbleached linen or rather coarsewool, depending on the climate. The colors wereusually dull, mostly black, gray, or brown becausedyes were relatively expensive. Men wore knee-length pants and jackets with buttons; women worelong skirts, aprons, and tight bodices. Silk and velvetwere prohibited to the lower classes in many parts ofEurope. Details of sleeve length, collars, tucks,pleats, darts, and modest ornamental detail variedacross Europe, but the outfits were similar. Womenknitted and crocheted the family’s hats and scarves,and men usually wore wide-brimmed hats. Theupper classes dictated fashion, and the middle classcopied details of elite style as budgetary limitationsand sumptuary laws would permit. The clothing ofmiddle-class Protestants, especially of Calvinists,was usually plain and severe. Iconoclastic tendenciesextended to the exclusion of bright colors and shinydecoration.

Men’s upper-class fashion was as ornate as that ofwomen, and both spent a long time dressing. Mens’jackets tended to have a broader silhouette duringthe 16th century, the shoulders stuffed with strawand other padding. Many garments, for both sexes,were held together by “points,” lace or ribbons usedto tie parts of the piece of clothing together. Theassistance of a servant was required because thewearer could not reach all the ties. The chief fabricswere wool and linen, but of a much finer weave thanthat worn by the lower classes and often dyed inbrilliant hues. Red was a popular color, especially inItaly. As the Habsburg court gained power duringthe 16th century, the rich black woolens and velvetsof Spanish fashion made their way across Europe. Ingeneral Italian styles dominated the 15th century,Spanish and German the 16th century. The puffed,slashed men’s garments of the latter 16th centuryoriginated in Germany and Switzerland, as did theprominent codpieces sported by upper-class gentle-men. Men’s shirts and jackets during that periodextended just to the thighs, and the legs were cov-ered by tight-fitting hose. Although women’s

dresses remained long throughout the Renaissance,their necklines fluctuated tremendously, with thebreasts partially exposed at several courts. By theend of the 16th century necklines had crept upagain, to be adorned by the ruff in England and thenorth. Luxury fabrics made of silk were quiteextravagant, and some silks were woven in two col-ors of thread so that a garment would seem tochange colors as the wearer moved or the lightshifted. Brocade weaves were very much desired fortheir swirling patterns, and some brocade had armo-rial motifs. Aristocratic clothing might also haveornate embroidery along with encrustations ofpearls and other jewels. Mention should also bemade of underwear, which most people wore by the15th century. Upper-class women were donningcorsets in the Renaissance, some of them very snugand tightened by a key.

Jewelry and Other AccessoriesMen wore rings, ropelike necklaces of gold or sil-ver, and jewels or medallions in their hat. Towardthe close of the 16th century hats for many upper-class men were rather flat, decorated with a jauntyfeather. Women again began wearing earrings,which had not been favored during the MiddleAges and early Renaissance, around 1525. Womenalso wore rings and bracelets, and even lower-classwomen had a betrothal or wedding ring. (Peopledid not wear both an engagement and a weddingring, as people in some societies do today.) Longstrings of pearls were very desirable for the neck-laces of wealthy women, as were pendant necklacesdisplaying stones in a silver or gold setting. Forspecial occasions women would have pearls, jewels,ribbons, and flowers tied and woven into their hair.Jewels also bedecked shoes and even fans. Duringthe early Renaissance smooth cabochon stoneswere preferred, then faceted stones became popu-lar by the 16th century. Goldsmiths also createdsmall, perforated spheres with hollow centers to beworn as pomanders, with cloves or other spicesenclosed. Several stones, such as sapphires, werethought to have medicinal value and were designedin settings that would allow the stone to have con-tact with the skin.


304

FOOD AND COOKING

Public events involving food and drink had to con-form to laws that dictated which food and how muchof it could be served to people in different socialclasses. Special occasions, such as weddings, wereregulated by local officials to limit the amountsspent on comestibles. Dining was crude, by modernstandards, with everyone digging into commondishes without the aid of serving utensils. Fine man-ners in dining did not evolve until the 17th century,and even then they could be considered pretentious.Members of the upper classes consumed more meat;the lower classes had more grain and vegetables intheir diet. Everyone ate relatively large quantities ofbread, except the very poor.

FoodSumptuary laws pertained to food and drink as wellas to clothing and jewelry; in 16th-century Scotland,for example, members of the nobility might con-sume eight or more plates (courses) during a meal,but members of the middle class were not allowed tohave more than three. In various parts of Europe theamount of money that could be spent on weddingbanquets and other celebratory dining was strictlyregulated, partly to prevent families from bankrupt-ing themselves by the financial burden of organizinga public event. Meals consumed in one’s privatehome were not regulated, and Europeans, especiallythe wealthy, consumed an enormous quantity ofmeat compared with most of the rest of the world atthat time. They might have three or four differentkinds of meat in one meal, sometimes prepared oneinside another. Small birds with heavy sauces accom-panied other types of meat. Europeans in generalwere fortunate in their climate and terrain, in whichherds of animals could easily be maintained. In thesouth freshwater fish was an important part of thediet because eating of meat was forbidden on Friday.In the north more saltwater fish was consumed,especially herring and cod.

Eggs and cheese were eaten throughout Europe;more butter and lard were used in the north and more

olive oil in the south. Because butter was made fromanimals, it was forbidden during the 40 days of Lent,when everyone was supposed to cook with oil. Fromour modern point of view, the lower classes had amore healthful diet because they could not afford toeat much meat, fatty food, or sweet dessert. A typicalmeal for them might be dark bread, such as rye; beansor peas; and cheese or salted fish, washed down withbeer, cider, or red wine. Few people drank water byitself, although water was used to dilute heavy wine.The lower classes had many more vegetables in theirdiet, and poorer people consumed large quantities ofgrain, in soup and porridge. The very poor often hadonly a few pieces of bread most days. Most largerhouseholds produced their own beverages, brewingbeer and ale as well as pressing cider in the north andmaking wine in the south. The medieval drink mead,consisting of fermented honey, was still enjoyed dur-ing the Renaissance. (See chapter 8, on commerce, formore information concerning alcoholic beverages.)

Cooking and ServingMost people did not have ovens. Bread was cookedcommunally in a shared bread oven or made by abaker. Covered iron pots on short legs served as roast-ing pots, placed near the fire. (Today these are calledDutch ovens.) Meat was also grilled or fried, but themost ubiquitous method of cooking was by stewing iniron pots. Porridge was also cooked in such a pot.Large hooks for holding pots with a handle extendedinto fireplaces, usually pivoting over the fire and backinto the room. Toasting and grilling irons clampedbread, fish, vegetables, or meat inside a flat cage forholding it over the fire. Wealthier homes with largerfireplaces had a horizontal rod onto which meat orfowl could be inserted for rotisserie cooking. Salt wasa staple of Renaissance cuisine, along with nativeherbs such as mustard, parsley, basil, and thyme.Although Europeans were quite fond of exotic spices,such as pepper, and sugar, only the upper classescould afford to cook with them on a regular basis.

During the 15th century food was often served inthe medieval fashion, from a trencher in the middle ofthe table. For the lower class, the trencher might be along wooden bowl or even a large loaf of bread, withthe top sliced off for serving and stew or beans ladled

D A I L Y L I F E

305

on the top. Pieces of bread were used to scoop and sopup the food, with scant attention to table manners aswe know them; most people ate with their fingers.The trenchers in upper-class homes might be metalinstead of wood but the manner of eating was verysimilar. The idea of each diner’s having an individualplate did not take hold until the mid-16th century, andthe fork was not introduced until about the same time.Southern Europeans popularized the use of ceramictableware, which was being used across Europe by thelate 16th century. Even relatively poor householdscould afford a brightly painted pitcher or platter.

DISEASE, ILLNESS, AND DEATH

During the early Renaissance most hospitals werenot like our modern institutions. They could func-

tion as hospices, providing comfort and minor med-ical care for those who were weak and dying, and astemporary shelters for pilgrims, widows, abusedwives, and orphans. By the 16th century in Italysome hospitals included healing the seriously illamong their mission, and several rather large insti-tutions were established for that purpose. A few hos-pitals, for example in Bologna, began trainingdoctors on site. The more ambitious institutions hadpharmacists and surgeons available when needed.Thus the Renaissance saw the beginning of the pro-fessionalization of hospital services.

At least 20 and as many as 40 percent of allbabies, regardless of class, died within the first 12months of life. For this reason many babies werebaptized immediately after birth. Half of those whosurvived infancy died before they reached the age of10. Although some scholars have stated that parentsresigned themselves to the deaths of infants and didnot become emotionally attached to children untilthey reached the age of two, there is much firsthandevidence to contradict such an assumption. Fatherswrote letters to friends expressing their grief at thedeath of a small son, and mothers rejoiced in theirbabies. Beatrice d’Este (1475–97) wrote to her sister,Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), about her infant son, “Ioften wish that you could be here to see him, as I amquite sure that you would never be able to stop pet-ting and kissing him” (Durant 1953, p. 587). Babiesand small children slept in a cradle that was oftensuspended from the ceiling to prevent mice and bugsfrom crawling up the legs and to keep the child awayfrom the cold floor. These cradles sometimes weredraped with netting to guard against insects. Unfor-tunately most cradles were placed near the fireplacefor warmth, and occasionally their blankets and net-ting caught on fire. Toddlers who slept in the bedwith their parents or older siblings were sometimesaccidentally smothered, or “overlaid” in Renaissancelegal terminology. Another hazard that could kill aninfant but not necessarily an older child was tainteddrinking water; that is one reason why water was nota popular beverage during this period.

Most common illnesses were treated with homeremedies, and girls were trained by their mother to befairly competent nurses. Aloe juice, for example, wasused as a purgative and as a dressing to soothe burns.The flower, stalk, and root of lilies of the valley were


306

12.9 Kitchen still life. Pieter Aertsen, between 1557 and1575. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s Inc., © 2003)

known to help prevent apoplexy, and indeed thisflower has some of the properties of the digitalis takentoday as heart medication. Many other herbs andflowers were used against head lice, chest congestion,mild forms of influenza, internal parasites, toothache,and similar conditions. The Renaissance had nothingwith which to battle the major diseases that attackedthousands, including dysentery, diphtheria, ergotism,tuberculosis, smallpox, syphilis, a sickness that mayhave been typhus fever, and, of course, plague. Both

smallpox and plague were known to spread rapidly,even though the precise mechanism of their epidemicnature was not clearly understood. Civil authoritiesattempted to control their virulence by quarantininghouseholds and even neighborhoods. If anyone in afamily contracted plague or smallpox, the entire fam-ily could be boarded up inside the house for severalweeks. By the late 16th century Europe had manytimes more people living in dire poverty than in 1400.Hunger, then, was almost a disease and people didstarve to death. Those who managed to cling to lifewere much more susceptible to illness and diseasebecause of their weakened physical state.

Treatises were written on “the good death” andon preparation for the inevitability of dying. Wood-cuts of skeletons leading the Dance of Death werepopular in northern Europe. These publicationsconstituted the genre known as ars moriendi (the artof dying). Based on ancient philosophical ideas, theStoical attitude toward one’s death was said to facili-tate access to purgatory. Mourning was to be sub-dued because, for Christians, death was consideredthe pathway to eternal life. A proper death includeddisposition of one’s worldly goods through a legallybinding testament and setting aside of money forfuneral masses that might speed one’s way to purga-tory. Catholic funerals could be lavish; Protestantfunerals were usually rather somber and plain. Allfunerals involving burial of the corpse took place assoon as possible after death because embalming wasnot done. In northern Europe there were visualreminders of death’s triumph. Tomb sculpture oftendepicted skeletal imagery. Because most people didnot live beyond the age of 40, death and the dyingwere a constant presence, simply a fact of life.

READING

Clark 1976: urban life; Cowan 1998: urban life.

Time and the CalendarGregorian Reform of the Calendar 1983; Philip 1921:calendar history; Richards 2000: cultural contexts.

D A I L Y L I F E

307

12.10 Allegory of avarice, with skeleton. JacopoLigozzi, between the latter 16th century and 1626.(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Eric Seller andDarcy Bradbury, and Edward A. and Karen S. W.Friedman, 1991 [1991.443])

Family Life

Ariès 1989: private life; Bell 1999: sex; Cavallo 1999:widows; Cunningham 1995: children; Gelis 1991:childbirth and other topics; Harrington 1995: mar-riage; Houlbrooke 1984: England; Howell 1998:marriage; Jordan 1986: feminism; King 1991:women; Klapisch-Zuber 1985: women and ritual inItaly; Moulton 2002: sex, crime; Ozment 1983:Reformation families; Pullan 1989: orphans; Wein-stein 2004: marriage in Italy; Wiesner 1986: clothproduction; Yalom 2004: chess, women.

Ceremonies, Festivities, andOther Public Events

Bergeron 2003: England; Bryant 1986: Paris; Burke1978: popular culture; Cunningham 1965: England(dancing); Davis 1975: social contexts; Mitchell1981: Italy; Muir 1981: Venice; Saslow 1996: Mediciwedding; Strong 1984: festivals and art; Yates 1975:France (evidence in tapestries).

Clothing and CostumeDavenport 1970: (costume survey); Frick 2002: Flo-rence; Hackenbroch 1979: jewelry; Jordan 1999:Oriental fans; Laver 1951: (fashion survey); Victoriaand Albert Museum 1980: jewelry; Weiditz 1994:Germany (facsimile of costume book).

Food and CookingBraudel Wheels 1992: markets; Freeman 1943: herbs;Henisch 1976: feasts and fasting; Jeanneret 1991:banquets; Mintz 1985: sugar; Revel 1982: culturalcontexts; Riley 1993: recipes.

Disease, Illness, and DeathBrockliss 1997: France; Cipolla 1976: public health;Cohn 1992: Italy; Freeman 1943: medicinal herbs;Gittings 1984: England (burial); Herlihy 2001: BlackDeath; Lindemann 2002: cures; Marland 1993: mid-wifery; Strocchia 1992: Florence (death rituals).


308

CONCLUSION: LEGACY OF THERENAISSANCE

13

SCHOLARSHIP

Any discussion of the legacy of the Renaissanceshould consider the major historians and critics whointerpreted the Renaissance for their contempo-raries. Every historical period is filtered through thelens of later writers, who have conscious or subcon-scious agendas of their own. Those writers mostinfluential in Western culture before the 20th cen-tury were Giorgio Vasari (see chapters 3 and 4),Jules Michelet (1798–1874), Jakob Burckhardt(1818–97), John Ruskin (1819–1900), John Adding-ton Symonds (1840–93), and Walter Pater(1839–94). The 20th-century writers who have sig-nificantly directed our vision of the Renaissanceincluded three specialists in art history, BernardBerenson (1865–1959), Aby Warburg (1866–1929),and Erwin Panofsky (1892–1968), along with thehistorians Johan Huizinga (1872–1945), HansBaron (1900–1988), Eugenio Garin (b. 1909), andPaul Oskar Kristeller (1905–99).

Jules Michelet was one of the most eminentFrench historians of the 19th century. His work,however, was grounded in the romantic ideal ofhumanity’s close relationship with nature. Michelet’streatment of the Renaissance disallowed the endur-ing force of Catholicism and church politics, empha-sizing instead a new age of individualism inspired bypagan antiquity. Jakob Burckhardt’s historicalapproach attempted to understand past epochs notthrough actual documents, but through reading ofliterary works and other publications to capture thespirit of the times. As did Michelet, he focused onwhat he believed was a new attitude of individual-ism, oversimplifying perceived differences betweenthe Renaissance and preceding centuries. Neverthe-less, Burckhardt’s unified myth concerning thedevelopment of human nature stimulated manyscholars to turn to the Renaissance as a field of study.John Ruskin, who loved Venice, wrote mainly aboutarchitecture and art. Judging Renaissance art with a19th-century critical eye, he faulted most 16th-cen-tury works as too analytical and mathematical, pre-ferring what he described as the more natural stylesof the latter 15th century. As many critics did,Ruskin judged the creative work of earlier times not

by the standards of their contemporaries, but by hisown aesthetic rules. John Addington Symonds’smultivolume publications interpreted the ideas ofBurckhardt for English readers, expanding on hisconcept of the individual. As did Burckhardt, hefailed to see the continuing importance of organizedreligion for Renaissance culture, in both its negativeand its positive manifestations. The work of WalterPater has been a major influence on many otherscholars, especially his impressionistic yet uncannilyeffective discussions of the Renaissance artistic men-tality. Although much of his criticism makes grandassumptions about an artist’s personality from theperson’s works, that point of view has provided richterritory for later research.

Bernard Berenson’s own legacy included his VillaI Tatti near Florence, bequeathed to Harvard Uni-versity as a center for studying the Italian Renais-sance. Berenson trained himself in connoisseurship,identifying artists and their schools chiefly by mor-phological characteristics (shapes of details such asears and eyes in artworks). He always focused on theart objects themselves, not the culture in which theywere produced. Berenson’s publications helped topopularize the art of the Renaissance, which he con-sidered a golden age of creativity. Unlike Berenson,Aby Warburg was a cultural historian. Part of hispersonal legacy is his library, the Warburg Institutein London. Warburg’s iconographic researchreached across scholarly disciplines, foreshadowingthe multidisciplinarity prevalent in today’s Renais-sance scholarship. His research into the pagandeities of antiquity informed not only his own publi-cations but also those of his students. Erwin Panof-sky, a Jewish student of Warburg’s, escaped to theUnited States in 1934. Subsequently most of hispublications, in English, were very influential on arthistory as a new scholarly field in his adopted coun-try. Panofsky taught iconography, the “what” ofRenaissance art, as well as iconology, the “why,”interpreting the art object in its cultural context.

Johan Huizinga criticized the emphasis placed onthe individual by Burckhardt and his followers. Heviewed the Renaissance not as a golden age, butrather as a turbulent transitional period between theMiddle Ages and modern times. Huizinga probablywould have agreed with today’s scholars who havereplaced the term Renaissance with Early Modern to


310

describe the epoch. Hans Baron fled from Nazi per-secution to the United States in 1938. As were thoseof Panofsky, his major works were published in Eng-lish, giving his ideas a much larger initial audiencethan if they had been published in German. Baronviewed 15th-century humanism as more politicallyand socially engaged than earlier movements, teach-ing that Renaissance civic humanism contained theseeds of modern republicanism. His close study ofthe political works of Machiavelli revealed nascentrepublican tendencies in this 16th-century writer.Eugenio Garin, a professor of the history of philoso-phy, investigated philosophical aspects of Renais-sance humanism. Philosophy itself means “love ofwisdom,” and Garin’s publications presented severalsources of wisdom and learning important forRenaissance humanists. Paul Oskar Kristeller alsoescaped from Germany to the United States, wherehe joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1939.He may have published more on Renaissance topicsthan any other American scholar during the 20thcentury. His massive bibliography and fortunatelongevity reinforced the hegemony of Italy. Kris-teller emphasized the significance of humanism inRenaissance education, and he dedicated part of hiscareer to unearthing the manuscripts that were avail-able to scholars during the 15th and 16th centuries.

INFLUENCES OF THERENAISSANCE

The Renaissance model of humanistic educationpersisted in the Western world until the mid-20thcentury, with an emphasis on languages and philol-ogy, and with lessons taught in Latin until the 19thcentury. Many of the classical texts used in class-rooms had been discovered and edited by Renais-sance humanists. The admiration of classical Romanrepublicanism promulgated by the Renaissance wasemulated in both Europe and the United States dur-ing the 18th century. Both the French and AmericanRevolutions were conceived by individuals inspiredby the republican models of Renaissance Venice andFlorence. In a few European countries, notably

Poland, the modern nation was formed in the 19thcentury, inspired by its own Renaissance model.

As the new republics of the late 18th and early19th centuries began erecting noteworthy buildings,the most pervasive architectural models were build-ings by Palladio. Thomas Jefferson, for example,owned a copy of Palladio’s work on architecture anddesigned his Virginia home, Monticello, after theVilla Rotonda of Palladio. In both England and theUnited States Palladio was popular for his associa-tion with the Republic of Venice as much as for hisarchitectural expertise. Among bankers and otherwealthy merchants of the 19th and early 20th cen-turies, the semiclassical styles of Renaissance palacesbecame popular. Their association with the Mediciand other powerful financial figures of the Renais-sance gave them an aura of authority and perma-nence.

The scientific revolution of the 17th centuryoriginated with Renaissance humanists who ques-tioned the authority of classical texts. New editionsand translations of Greek mathematicians turnedthe attention of scholars to this field, and advancesin algebra and geometry culminated in scientific dis-coveries a century later. The study of medicine dur-ing the 17th and 18th centuries was rooted inanatomical publications of the 16th century. Clinicalmedicine also had its beginnings in the Renaissanceas students observed their teachers in the hospitalenvironment. More than anything else, the Coper-nican universe, displacing the Earth as the center ofthe cosmos, taught that even the most basic assump-tions of science should be examined and perhapsmodified.

All the arts have benefited from Renaissance con-tributions. Lyrics and music were first performed ina unified manner during this time; the madrigal is aperfect example. Opera has often retold Renaissancehistory, and Verdi’s Don Carlo (1867) is a notoriousexample of creative manipulation of historical facts.The foundations of modern literary theory can beattributed to Renaissance scholars who argued aboutthe purpose of literature. Ideas about literary genresdiscussed during the Renaissance helped later criticsformulate their own theoretical stance. Realistic fig-ural sculpture, reborn during the Renaissance,remains the basis of many monumental forms com-missioned today. Painters have followed Renaissance

C O N C L U S I O N

311

models for creating the illusion of three dimensionsin a two-dimensional picture plane. The principlesof Renaissance perspective are still taught in draw-ing classes. Techniques of printmaking developedduring the Renaissance have persisted through thecenturies. Today’s printmakers working in intagliouse the same tools and techniques as their predeces-sors. Iconographically the Renaissance probably hasinfluenced more artists than any other epoch. Eventoday the photographer Cindy Sherman, for exam-ple, has presented herself in the manner of Renais-sance portraits. Whether parodying artists of theRenaissance or nodding to their talents, visual artistscontinue to be inspired by their work.

In popular culture the Renaissance lives on,though often distorted and exaggerated. The playsof Shakespeare have been, by far, the most pervasive

cultural artifacts of the Renaissance in modern the-ater and cinema. There have been some two dozenfilms of his plays and more than a dozen based onhis plays, from Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (King Lear) in1985 to a modern-day version of Hamlet. More thanthree dozen films have dealt with the historicalperiod of the Renaissance, almost all focusing onthe excesses of the time—greed, sex, cruelty, andviolence. Several of these films present the biogra-phies of famous artists and rulers, confirming mod-ern assumptions that Renaissance figures werelarger than life. The life they were larger than,however, is our own. The Renaissance had its ownstandards of behavior and levels of expectations. Ifwe are to understand anything at all about thisperiod of Western history, we must approach it onits own terms.


312

G L O S S A R Y

313

GLOSSARY

abatis French term for defensive fortification con-sisting of rows of tree branches or of small treessharpened at one end, pointing toward the enemy,with the branches sometimes fastened together withwire or rope

all’antica Italian term meaning “in the antique(Roman) style”

altarpiece a painted or carved representation ofthe Crucifixion or other Christian subjects, whichmay be in one piece or in several sections hingedtogether, placed on, behind, or above an altar in achurch or chapel

anamorphosis distorted image that must be viewedobliquely or with a curved mirror

Annunciation announcement by the angel Gabrielto the Virgin Mary that she is pregnant with theChrist child

Apocalypse book of revelation in the Bible, full ofsymbolic imagery prophesizing the cataclysmicdestruction of the forces of evil

arcade several arches on columns or piers in a series

arcuated having arches in any form

arquebus heavy yet portable matchlock gun usu-ally fired from a support

artillery weaponry used for firing projectiles (usedhere for pieces that could not be transported by anindividual soldier)

azimuth compass navigational compass thataccounts for the magnetic declination of the Earth(azimuth is from the plural of an Arabic word thatmeans “the way”)

ballade French medieval poetic form set to music,usually rhyming AAB, very popular during the 15thcentury

barrel vault “tunnel” vault, in half-cylindrical form

bas relief French term meaning “low relief” forsculpture projecting from its background in lowprofile

basse danse French and Italian music in a simpleseries of long notes, the basis for improvising musicfor a graceful courtly dance

bastion (or bastion trace) projecting area of afortified building, angling out from the main wallsand usually wider at the base than at the top

billhook or bill long rod with a hook-shapedblade

blank verse unrhymed iambic pentameter verse,important in English poetry

block book pictorial book printed from wood-blocks during the 15th century, mostly in Germanyand the Netherlands

blunderbuss See MUSKET

bombard type of cannon for hurling stones

boulevard See BULWARK

bulwark solid defensive wall, usually consisting ofearth, timber, and stone in a U-shaped formation

burin tool for cutting an engraving, with anoblique sharp point

caltrop defensive device consisting of sharp spikesor nails pointing out in at least four directions from acentral block, camouflaged or thrown out on theground and designed to halt foot soldiers or horses(derived from the Old English word for “star thistle”)

cameo engraved gem carved to produce a designabove the surface, in relief; see also INTAGLIO

cantus (Latin for “song”) general word for melody,also the part for the upper voice in polyphony

cantus firmus (Latin for “fixed song”) the melody(often plainchant or plainsong) that provides thebasis for polyphony

capital top of a column, often with sculpted detail

cartoon image drawn on paper in full size, fortransferring to a design for painting, tapestry, fresco,mosaic, and other media.

cartouche ornamental design with edges consist-ing of scrolled shapes, often used as a label or aframe for a coat of arms

cavalry division of an army mounted on horseback

centric point See PERSPECTIVE

chanson general word for a lyric poem, also forpolyphonic song (French for “song”)

cheval-de-frise French term for a defensive deviceconsisting of a thick wooden frame, log, or barrelembedded with numerous spikes, often used to fill abreach in a wall (plural chevaux-de-frise)

chiaroscuro Italian term meaning “bright-dark”first used in the 17th century to describe engravingswith emphatic shading

chivalric romance work in prose or verse empha-sizing the fine manners and high ideals of medievalcourtly society (from French chevalier, knight)

clerestory part of a roof rising above the lowersection, usually with windows

coat of arms heraldic design, often with a crest atthe top, identifying an individual, corporate body, orinstitution

coffers recessed panels decorating a ceiling

column vertical support, usually cylindrical in form

comedy amusing dramatic work with a happyending

compass rose a circular design drawn around theconverging rhumb lines in a Portolan chart, namingthe wind directions; compass roses became quitecolorful and elaborate during the 16th century

condottiere Italian term for leader of a band ofmercenary soldiers, consisting of at least a troop ofarmored cavalry (plural condottieri)

contrapposto Italian term meaning “opposite,”used for the upright human figure in classicizingsculpture, with one leg slightly forward and (usually)the opposite arm extended or bent


314

copla Spanish poetic form, usually rhymingABCB

cornice section of the entablature that extends outfrom the roofline

crossbow short bow mounted perpendicular to itsbase, with tension on the bow produced by windinga windlass; the bow is horizontal to the ground whenan arrow is released

Crucifixion depiction of Christ hanging from thecross, present in every Catholic Renaissance house-hold

damascene to decorate metalwork with inlaiddesigns of precious metals (from Damascus), also thework itself

Dance of Death representation of a dance thatincludes the dead, usually skeletal figures, with theliving

Deposition act of removing Christ from the cross

device See IMPRESA

diptych altarpiece or other painting consisting oftwo hinged panels

drypoint technique of scratching on a copperplate with a sharp needle, sometimes to sketch themain design and sometimes to enhance it; the result-ing lines are slightly soft

earthwork field fortification, such as an embank-ment, consisting of earth moved into position

eclogue short poem, often on a pastoral subject indialogue form (from the Greek word for “to choose,”meaning a choice poem)

elegy lament, usually on death, in verse form

emblem hybrid literary and pictorial formatinvented in the early 16th century, consisting of amotto, picture, and poem or short prose passage

emboss to decorate in raised relief on a flat orrounded surface

embossed metal manipulated to produce an imageor pattern in relief

enfilade fire gunfire shot along the enemy linefrom a flanking position

engraving (intaglio) printmaking process of cut-ting designs with a burin into metal or wood, withthe ink from these designs printed onto paper or vel-lum by the pressure of rollers

entablature upper section of a classical façadeconsisting of the architrave (base), frieze (midsec-tion, with ornamentation or inscription), and cor-nice (top)

epic narrative poem, usually quite long, celebrat-ing a heroic character (either historical or fictional)

epigram short, often witty poem on a single subject

Epiphany viewing of the newborn Christ child inBethlehem by the three Magi (wise men) ( January 6)

epitaph tomb inscription or brief statement com-memorating the deceased (e.g., “sleeps with theangels”)

etch to decorate a surface by using a chemicalagent such as an acid to eat into the material alongan inscribed design

Eucharist celebration of the mass in which wor-shipers partake of the host (holy wafer) and some-times of the wine symbolizing Christ’s blood

euphuism use of antithesis (contrasting of ideas)to an extreme degree (taken from Lyly’s proseromance Euphues of 1578)

faience Italian majolica, known as faience in mostother parts of Europe because it was manufacturedin Faenza

G L O S S A R Y

315

farce humorous satirical drama with improba-ble turns of plot, often with burlesque or grosscomponents

fire lance primitive flame thrower

firearm weapon used for firing projectiles (usedhere for pieces that could be transported by an indi-vidual soldier, such as an arquebus or musket)

fletch an arrow (from French flèche)

flintlock mechanism with a flint in the hammer ofa gun, so that a spark can be struck to light the charge

fresco Italian term meaning “fresh,” for theprocess of applying pigments dissolved in water tofreshly plastered walls; see also SECCO

friar member of a mendicant order

gabion large wicker basket filled with earth as abarrier against gunfire from soldiers on the groundor in a trench

galliard triple-meter lively dance music, very pop-ular in late 16th-century England

gauffering technique for decorating the gilt edgesof bound books and manuscripts with a heated toolto create dots, flowers, and other simple motifs

genre painting subjects and scenes from everydaylife (first used in the 18th century as a term todescribe art)

gesso gypsum paste for casts and decorativedetails in furniture, also thinned out to spread on thesurface as a ground for panel paintings

gonfalone Italian for “military banner”

gonfaloniere head of an administrative district inItalian territory (in Florence, also used for the headof the political council)

graffito Italian term (plural graffiti) for a designcreated by scratching on a surface, especially

scratching through one layer of paint to produce adesign in another color painted beneath it

grisaille French term meaning “grayish” to denotepainting in monochrome

grotesque fantastic motifs in wall decoration fromancient Rome, discovered during the Renaissance ingrottoes (thus “grotesque” and not grotesque in themodern sense of horrible)

guild group of people with a common interest,usually producing items for sale, and with an orga-nized membership structure (from an Old Englishword for “payment”)

gunpowder explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal,and potassium nitrate ground together

halberd pike and battle ax mounted on a shaftapproximately six feet long

harquebus See ARQUEBUS

heraldry the act of tracing genealogies, also devis-ing and recording coats of arms

Huguenot French Calvinist (the word Huguenotwas derived from a German word meaning “confed-erate”)

Hussite follower of the reformer Jan Hus

iconoclasm the destruction of icons or images ingeneral, notably the Protestant destruction ofCatholic imagery

impresa [plural imprese] Italian term for a symbolicimage accompanied by a motto (device in English)

incunable book printed in Europe before 1501(from the Latin for “cradle,” i.e. cradle of printing)

infantry foot soldier

intaglio engraved gem carved to produce a designbelow the surface; see also CAMEO, ENGRAVING


316

intarsia mosaic work in wood (from Italian tarsia);see also MARQUETRY

intermedio originating near the end of the 15thcentury, a dramatic musical interlude performedbetween the acts of plays

Lamentation act of mourning over Christ’s bodyafter the Deposition

Landsknechte German term meaning “men ofthe plain,” usually denoting the German Imperialarmy (infantrymen) of the 16th century

lantern crown of a dome, often open to allow lightand air to enter

Last Supper supper of Christ and his disciples onthe night he was betrayed by Judas; see alsoEUCHARIST

loggia arcade open on one or both sides

Lollard follower of the reformer John Wycliffe

longbow handheld wooden bow that is vertical tothe ground when an arrow is released

lunette a semicircular shape (from Latin luna,“Moon”)

madrigal secular nonstrophic verse in a refinedmusical setting, beginning in the 16th century (thelate medieval madrigal was another genre)

Magnificat sacred music for the biblical text ofLuke 1: 46–55 celebrating the Virgin

majolica ceramics with a glaze containing tin; seealso FAIENCE

Mannerism term describing the exaggerated,witty forms in some Italian Renaissance art after c.1520

mantlet shelter, usually on wheels, that protectedtroops who were attacking a besieged structure

marquetry decorative work consisting of smallpieces of wood, mother-of-pearl, ivory, and othermaterials, inserted into a wood veneer; see alsoINTARSIA

mass musical settings that originated in the sev-enth century, celebrating the Eucharist; by the 16thcentury, most music for the mass was polyphonic;there were special types of music for mass, such asthe Requiem Mass for the dead.

matchlock match that burns slowly to ignite thecharge in the breech of a musket

mercenary soldier paid to serve in a foreign army

militia citizens organized and available for mili-tary service

miniature (1) a painted (“illuminated”) picture ina manuscript, from the Latin miniare (to illuminate);(2) a portrait painted in small format, usually a bustportrait or head

monk male member of a religious order residingin a monastery

monstrance vessel in which the host (holy wafer)is displayed (from Latin monstrare, “to show”)

Morisco Moor living in Spain

mosaic small pieces of colored glass, ceramic,marble, or stone embedded in stucco or cement tocreate pictorial or geometric designs

motet very general musical term during theMiddle Ages; an important genre of polyphoniccomposition

musket portable shoulder gun loaded via themuzzle

Nativity birth of the Christ child (Christmas,December 25)

novel narrative work of prose fiction, with a com-plex, lengthy plot

G L O S S A R Y

317

novella prose fiction of intermediate length(shorter than a novel)

nun female member of a religious order residingin a convent (as of the mid-16th century)

octava rima Italian verse form in eight-line stan-zas rhyming ABABABCC

ode poem on a serious subject written in complex,formal verse (during the Renaissance, often used tocommemorate a state event such as a coronation orfuneral)

order system for describing columns, based ontheir capitals and proportions: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic,Corinthian, and Composite

ordnance See ARTILLERY

palisades defensive fence of sharpened stakes

parchment skin of a sheep or goat preparedwithout tanning for printing or painting; see alsoVELLUM

parody to imitate the style of another author, usu-ally for comic purposes

Passion events immediately preceding and follow-ing the Crucifixion, with specific symbols pertainingto each event

pastoral poetic or dramatic work set in the coun-tryside, usually involving shepherds and shep-herdesses

pavan double-meter stately dance music

pediment triangle formed by two sloping cor-nices and a horizontal base, often found in templefaçades

pendentive transitional masonry supporting adome over a square base

Pentateuch See TORAH

Pentecost event when the apostles of Christreceived the Holy Spirit, usually in the form of adove (Whitsunday, the seventh Sunday after Easter)

perspective artistic technique to create the illu-sion of three dimensions in a two-dimensional space,using the idea of the vanishing point by which paral-lel lines converge in the distance (the Renaissanceterm for this is centric point)

Petrarchism imitation of the literary work ofFrancesco Petrarch, usually his poetry

piazza Italian word for a city square

picaresque novel prose fiction relating outlandishadventures in first-person narrative (from Spanishpícaro, “roguish”)

pier usually a massive vertical support, square inshape; also can be used for the mass between othervertical elements (e.g., windows)

pike heavy spear with a long shaft

pilaster flattened columnar shape slightly project-ing from the wall (usually rectangular)

platitude a trite remark, usually rather dull andsometimes annoying (e.g., “I know how you feel”)

Pléiade group of seven French poets, named afterthe Pléiade poets of ancient Alexandria (who in turnwere named after the seven stars known as thePleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas in mythology)

polyptych altarpiece or other painting consistingof more than three panels

portico roofed colonnade at the entrance to abuilding

portolan text of navigational instructions for sail-ing along a coastline

portolan chart a type of map, usually on parch-ment, that charts the coastline and has rhumb lines


318

radiating from central points; also called a rutter(because it shows the route) in northern Europe; seealso COMPASS ROSE, WIND ROSE

predella Italian term for small images (usually)along the bottom of altarpieces, often depictingevents from the life of a saint, the Virgin, or Christ

prie-dieu French term (“pray to God,” pluralprie-dieux) for a kneeling desk with support for aprayer book, used in private devotion

putto Latin term for “boy” (plural putti), depictedas a nude young boy with wings and usually associ-ated with Eros (Cupid), the god of love

regulars members of the clergy who also tookvows of poverty and obedience, often living awayfrom the world in cloistered communities (fromLatin regula, “rule,” namely, the rules of their order)

reliquary an object, often costly and ornate, inwhich a holy relic is kept

Resurrection rising of Christ from his tomb

rhumb lines straight lines on a Portolan chartradiating out from central points, used as sailingdirections; see also COMPASS ROSE, WIND ROSE

rifled gun with spiral grooves cut inside the boreof the barrel

romance See CHIVALRIC ROMANCE

rondeau song with a refrain, from the idea of“ronde” (round) as the refrain came back around atthe end of each verse; the dominant form of song inwestern Europe during the 15th century

rustication masonry chiseled with rough texture

rutter See PORTOLAN CHART

sacra converzatione Italian for “sacred conversa-tion”; a painting in which the Virgin and ChristChild are depicted with a saint or saints

satire work in any genre ridiculing or scorningvices and human weaknesses, often using irony orsarcasm

secco Italian term meaning “dry,” for the process ofapplying pigments dissolved in water to dry plaster;see also FRESCO

serpentine swivel gun

sfumato Italian term, meaning “smoked,” used todescribe the subtle transition of dark colors notdefined by lines

siege tower tower on wheels for storming thewalls of a tall structure

siglo de oro “Golden Age” in Spanish, pertaining toliterature and art of the High Renaissance in Spain

smoothbore gun with a smooth, unrifled bore

sonnet 14-line poem in iambic pentameter (iambichexameter in France), often with a turn of thoughtafter the octave or after three quatrains when there isa closing couplet (from the Italian word sonetto, littlesong)

tempera pigment tempered with another medium,usually egg yolk, used in a thinly layered process bywhich luminosity is achieved by allowing the whiteground to show through

terra-cotta Italian for “baked earth,” denotingunglazed red ceramics, chiefly bricks and tiles; alsoused as the name for a color resembling that of theceramics

terza rima Italian verse form in three-line stanzasrhyming ABA BCB, and so on (e.g., Dante’s DivineComedy was written in terza rima)

Torah first five books of the Old Testament, thePentateuch or books of Moses, written on a leatheror parchment scroll

trace ground plan of a fortification

G L O S S A R Y

319


320

tragedy drama in which the protagonist battles amore powerful force, resulting in a piteous or terri-fying conclusion

tragicomedy dramatic work mingling comedyand tragedy, using both “high” and “low” characters

trebuchet siege engine that either catapulted mis-siles of various types, including cows and prisoners,or was used to batter a defensive wall with stones

triptych altarpiece or other painting consisting ofthree panels, sometimes hinged

trompe l’oeil French term meaning “it fools theeye”: fictive three-dimensional architecture andobjects in two-dimensional painting or intarsia(mosaic work in wood)

trou de loup French term (wolf hole) for a camou-flaged round pit with inwardly sloping sides, dug alittle deeper than a person’s height, with a sharpstake embedded in the earth at the bottom

vellum fine skin of a lamb, kid, or calf preparedwithout tanning for printing or painting; uterinevellum was made from the skin of stillborn or newlyborn animals; see also PARCHMENT

villancico Spanish popular verse set to music, begin-ning in the 15th century; madrigals influenced poly-

phonic additions during the 16th century, and contentbecame more spiritual toward the end of the century

virelai French medieval poetic form set to music,usually rhyming ABBAA, popular during the 15thcentury

volley fire simultaneous discharge of a group ofmissiles (such as arrows)

Wagenburg German for “wagon fortress” (liter-ally, wagon mountain), a defensive strategy firstimplemented by the Hussites in the 15th century,consisting of several carts chained together in a cir-cle or half-circle, a few possibly upended, with 15 to20 soldiers in the center using firearms and cross-bows (the same concept as “circling the wagons” inthe American West); also a single large cart havingseveral small cannons

wheel lock mechanism in a muzzle-loading gun inwhich sparks are struck by a wheel to light the charge

wind rose the points on portolan charts whererhumb lines converge; see also COMPASS ROSE

woodcut relief printmaking process of cutting intoa wood block with a burin, leaving a design in theuncut areas, with the ink from these designs printedonto paper or vellum by the pressure of rollers

1400 Death of Geoffrey Chaucer1401 Lorenzo Ghiberti wins the competi-

tion to create bronze panels for thebaptistry doors in Florence

1407 Founding of first public bank, inGenoa

1414–1418 Council of Constance1415 Jan Hus is burned at the stake1415 Battle of Agincourt1417 End of the Great Schism in the papacy1420 Treaty of Troyes1428 Siege of Orléans1430–1432 Donatello creates his bronze statue of

David1431 Joan of Arc burned at the stake1431–1449 Council of Baselc. 1432 Ghent Altarpiece completed 1434 Gil Eannes reaches Cape Bojador on

the coast of West Africa1435 Filippo Brunelleschi completes the

dome of Florence Cathedral1435 Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise

on painting1436 Treaty of Arras1438 Habsburgs establish control of the

Holy Roman Empire1438 Pisanello casts first portrait medal of

the Renaissance1438–1445 Council of Florence (Council of

Ferrara-Florence)

1444 Treaty of Tours1450 Battle of Formignyc. 1450 Renovations of Tempio Malatestiano

completed1450s Successful application of movable

type for printing1453 Turkish army conquers Constan-

tinople1454 Peace of Lodi1455–1460 Piero della Francesca paints his fresco

Legend of the True Cross1469 Union of Spain through the marriage

of Isabella and Ferdinand1484 Diogo Cão sails into the estuary of

the Congo River1485 Battle of Bosworth1485 Siege of Ronda1488 Bartolomeu Dias voyages beyond the

Cape of Good Hope1490 First printed edition in Latin of the

works of Galen1492 Muslims defeated in Granada by

Spanish troops1492 Expulsion of Jews from Spanish terri-

tory1492 Christopher Columbus sails to the

Caribbean islands1494 French troops invade Italy1494 Savonarola hanged and his body

burned at the stake

C H R O N O L O G I C A L C H A R T

321

CHRONOLOGICAL CHART

1494 Treaty of Tordesillas1497 John Cabot reaches North America1497–1498 Vasco da Gama sails around the tip of

Africa to reach India1498 Albrecht Dürer issues his prints

Apocalypse1500 Pedro Cabral sights the coast of

Brazil1503 Battle of Cerignolac. 1505 Invention of the pocket watch1509 Battle of Agnadello (Battle of

Giaradadda)1511 Portuguese troops capture the city of

Malacca1512 Battle of Ravenna1512–1517 Council of Lateran V1513 Battle of Novara1513 Juan Ponce de León explores the

Florida coast1513 Nuñez de Balboa sees the Pacific

Ocean1513 Niccolò Machiavelli writes The Prince1515 Battle of Marignano1517 Martin Luther posts his Ninety-five

Theses on the church door in Wit-tenberg

1519–1522 Ferdinand Magellan sets out to cir-cumnavigate the globe, dies along theway; Sebastian del Cano completesthe voyage

1519–1538 Hernán Cortés explores and conquersMexico

1521 Siege of Tenochtitlán1522 Battle of Biocca1523 Giovanni da Verrazano sails from

France, along the eastern NorthAmerican seaboard, and into present-day New York harbor

1525 Battle of Pavia1526 Battle of Mohács1526 Treaty of Madrid1527 Imperial troops sack Rome1528 Baldassare Castiglioni writes The Book

of the Courtier1529 Peace of Cambrai1529 Siege of Vienna1529 Treaty of Saragossa

1532 François Rabelais begins publicationof his satirical novel

1534 Henry VIII proclaims his suprem-acy and confiscates Catholic Churchproperty

1534 Society of Jesus founded by Ignatiusof Loyola

1534–1535 Jacques Cartier enters the Gulf ofSaint Lawrence

1535 Battle of Tunis1539–1541 Hernando de Soto explores the pre-

sent-day southeastern United States1540 Fernando de Alarcón reaches Cali-

fornia1540–1542 Vázquez de Coronado travels through

the present-day southeastern andsouth-central United States

1541 Jean Calvin establishes the ProtestantReformation in Geneva

1543 Andreas Vesalius publishes his firstanatomical treatise

1543 Nicholas Copernicus publishes hisheliocentric theory of the universe

1545–1563 Council of Trent (with several longbreaks)

1547 Battle of Mühlberg1550 Giorgio Vasari publishes his Lives of

the Artists1553 Battle of Marciano1555 Peace of Augsburg1556 Georg Agricola publishes his On

Metallurgy1557 Battle of Saint Quentin1559 Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis1567 Villa Rotonda begun by Andreas Pal-

ladio in Vicenza1569 Mercator’s projection in cartography

first published1571 Battle of Lepanto1576–1578 Martin Frobisher attempts to find a

Northwest Passage1577–1580 Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates

the globe1580 Spain begins rule of Portugal1582 Gregorian reform of the calendar1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert reaches

Newfoundland


322

1585 Sir Walter Raleigh and associatesestablish the first English colony inAmerica on Roanoke Island

1588 Michel de Montaigne writes hisEssays

1588 Failure of Spanish Armada in attackon England

1594–1597 Willem Barents explores the Arctic1598 Peace of Vervins1616 Death of William Shakespeare

C H R O N O L O G I C A L C H A R T

323


324

Austria, Vienna: Kunsthistorisches MuseumBelgium, Antwerp: Musée Plantin-MoretusCanada, Montréal: Museum of Fine ArtsCanada, Toronto: National GalleryEngland, Leeds: Royal Armouries MuseumEngland, London: British LibraryEngland, London: British MuseumEngland, London: National GalleryEngland, London: National Maritime MuseumEngland, London: Victoria and Albert MuseumEngland, London: The Wallace CollectionEngland, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum of Art

and ArchaeologyEngland, Oxford: Museum of the History

of ScienceEngland, Oxford: The Sackler LibraryFrance, Chantilly: Musée CondéFrance, Lyon: Musée des Tissus et des Arts

DécoratifsFrance, Paris: Bibliothèque NationaleFrance, Paris: Musée du LouvreGermany, Berlin: Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche

MuseenGermany, Dresden: Rüstkammer, Staatliche

KunstsammlungenGermany, Hamburg: KunsthalleGermany, Mainz: Gutenberg MuseumGermany, Munich: Alte PinakothekGermany, Nürnberg: Germanisches

Nationalmuseum

Italy, Faenza: Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche

Italy, Florence: Galleria degli UffiziItaly, Florence: Galleria dell’AccademiaItaly, Florence: Istituto e Museo di Storia

della ScienzaItaly, Florence: Museo Nazionale del BargelloItaly, Milan: Biblioteca-Pinacoteca AmbrosianaItaly, Milan: Pinacoteca di BreraItaly, Rome: Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti

MusicaliItaly, Vatican City: Musei VaticaniItaly, Venice: Galleria dell’AccademiaNetherlands, Amsterdam: RijksmuseumNetherlands, Amsterdam: ScheepvaartmuseumNetherlands, Leiden: Museum BoerhaaveNetherlands, Rotterdam: Museum

Boijmans-van BeuningenPortugal, Lisbon: Biblioteca NacionalPortugal, Lisbon: Museu da MúsicaPortugal, Lisbon: Museu Nacional do AzulejoRussia, Moscow: Glinka State Museum of Musical

CultureRussia, St. Petersburg: Hermitage MuseumScotland, Edinburgh: National GallerySpain, Barcelona: Museu MaritimSpain, Madrid: Biblioteca NacionalSpain, Madrid: Museo Nacional del PradoSpain, Madrid: Museo Thyssen-BornemiszaSwitzerland, Geneva: Musée Ariana

MUSEUMS AND OTHERCOLLECTIONS

United States, Boston: Museum of Fine ArtsUnited States, Chicago: Art Institute of ChicagoUnited States, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty MuseumUnited States, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County

Museum of ArtUnited States, New York City: Metropolitan

Museum of ArtUnited States, New York City: The Morgan

Library

United States, New York City: The Frick Collection

United States, Pasadena: Norton Simon MuseumUnited States, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum

of ArtUnited States, Washington, D.C.: Folger

Shakespeare LibraryUnited States, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery

of Art

M U S E U M S A N D O T H E R C O L L E C T I O N S

325


326

BASIC REFERENCE WORKS

The Cambridge Modern History. Vol. 1, The Renais-sance. New York: Macmillan, 1902.

Campbell, Gordon, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of theRenaissance. Oxford: Oxford University Press,2003.

Durant, Will. The Renaissance: A History of Civiliza-tion in Italy from 1304–1576 A.D. The Story of Civ-ilization: Part V. New York: Simon & Schuster,1953.

Fletcher, Stella. The Longman Companion to Renais-sance Europe, 1390–1530. New York: Longman,1999.

Grendler, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. 6vols. New York: Scribner in association with theRenaissance Society of America, 1999.

Hale, John Rigby, ed. A Concise Encyclopedia of theItalian Renaissance. New York and Toronto:Oxford University Press, 1981.

Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia ofthe Reformation. 4 vols. New York and Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1996.

Ross, James Bruce, and Mary Martin McLaughlin,eds. The Portable Renaissance Reader. New York:Viking Press, 1968.

Rundle, David. The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of theRenaissance. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,1999.

Whitlock, Keith. The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader.New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000.

REFERENCES FOR THE READINGS

Ackerman, James. The Architecture of Michelangelo.Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971.

Adams, Kenneth, Ciaran Cosgrove, and JamesWhiston, eds. Spanish Theatre: Studies in Honourof Victor F. Dixon. Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.:Tamesis, 2001.

Adelman, Howard. “The Literacy of Jewish Womenin Early Modern Italy.” In Barbara J. Whitehead,ed. Women’s Education in Early Modern Europe: AHistory, 1500–1800. New York: Garland, 1999,pp. 133–158.

Agrippa, Henricus Cornelius. The Nobility and Pre-eminence of the Female Sex. Edited and translatedby Albert Rabil, Jr. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1996.

Alberti, Leon Baptista. On Painting. Translated byJohn R. Spencer. New Haven, Conn., and Lon-don: Yale University Press, 1966.

———. On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Trans-lated by Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach and RobertTavernor. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997.

Albuquerque, Luís. “Portuguese Navigation: Its His-torical Development.” In Jay Levenson, ed. Circa1492: Art in the Age of Exploration. Washington,D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1991, pp. 35–39.

Alden, Dauril. The Making of an Enterprise: The Soci-ety of Jesus in Portugal, Its Empire, and Beyond,1540–1750. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford UniversityPress, 1996.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, E. John B. Post and Courier Service in the Diplo-macy of Early Modern Europe. The Hague: Nijhoff,1972.

Ambrosoli, Mauro. The Wild and the Sown: Botanyand Agriculture in Western Europe. Translated byMary McCann Salvatorelli. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 1997.

Amico, Leonard N. Bernard Palissy: In Search ofEarthly Paradise. Paris and New York: Flammar-ion, 1996.

Amos, N. Scott, Andrew Pettegree, and Henk vanNierop, eds. The Education of a Christian Society:Humanism and the Reformation in Britain and theNetherlands. Aldershot, Hants, U.K.: Ashgate,1999.

Amussen, Susan D., and Adele Seeff, eds. Attendingto Early Modern Women. Newark: University ofDelaware, 1998.

Appleby, John C., and Paul Dalton, eds. Government,Religion and Society in Northern England 1000–1700.Stroud, U.K.: Alan Sutton, 1997.

Appuhn, Karl. “Tools for the Development of theEuropean Economy.” In Guido Ruggiero, ed. ACompanion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. Oxford:Blackwell, 2002, pp. 259–278.

Aretino, Pietro. The Letters of Pietro Aretino. Editedand translated by Thomas Caldecott Chubb.N.p.: Archon Books, 1967.

Ariès, Philippe, and Georges Duby. A History of Pri-vate Life. Vol. 3. Edited by Roger Chartier andtranslated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge,Mass., and London: Belknap, 1989.

Armour, Rollin S. Islam, Christianity, and the West: ATroubled History. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books,2002.

Arnold, Thomas F. “Violence and Warfare in theRenaissance World.” In Guido Ruggiero, ed. ACompanion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. Oxford:Blackwell, 2002.

Aylmer, Gerald, and John Tiller, eds. Hereford Cathe-dral: A History. London: Hambledon Press, 2000.

Babelon, Jean. “Mannerism in Northern Europe andthe School of Fontainebleau.” In René Huyghe,ed. Larousse Encyclopedia of Renaissance and BaroqueArt. Middlesex, U.K.: Hamlyn House, 1968, pp. 203–215.

Bainton, Roland H. The Reformation of the SixteenthCentury. Boston: Beacon Press, 1956.

Balázs, György. The Magyars: The Birth of a EuropeanNation. Budapest: Corvina, 1989.

Baldwin, Charles Sears. Renaissance Literary Theoryand Practice: Classicism in the Rhetoric and Poetic ofItaly, France, and England, 1400–1600. Glouces-ter, U.K.: P. Smith, 1959.

Barasch, Moshe. Light and Color in the Italian Renais-sance Theory of Art. New York: New York Univer-sity Press, 1978.

Barkan, Leonard. Unearthing the Past: Archaeologyand Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture.New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale Univer-sity Press, 1999.

Barker, Nicolas. “A Contemporary Panegyrist of theInvention of Printing: The Author of the Gram-matica Rhythmica.” In Martin Davis, ed. Incunab-ula: Studies in Fifteenth-Century Printed BooksPresented to Lotte Hellinga. London: BritishLibrary, 1999, pp. 187–214.

Barolsky, Paul. “Naturalism and the Visionary Art ofthe Early Renaissance.” In Andrew Ladis, ed.Franciscanism, the Papacy, and Art in the Age ofGiotto. New York: Garland, 1998, pp. 317–324.

Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renais-sance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in anAge of Classicism and Tyranny. 2 vols. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1955.

Barraclough, Geoffrey. The Origins of Modern Ger-many. New York: Norton, 1984.

Baskins, Cristelle Louise. Cassone Painting, Human-ism, and Gender in Early Modern Italy. Cambridgeand New York: Cambridge University Press,1998.

Baumgartner, Frederic J. France in the Sixteenth Cen-tury. Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan Press, 1995.

Baxandall, Michael. Painting and Experience in Fif-teenth Century Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1972.

Bayne, Diane Valeri. “The Instruction of a ChristianWoman: Richard Hyrde and the Thomas MoreCircle,” Moreana 12 (February 1975): 5–15.

Becker, Marvin. Civility and Society in WesternEurope, 1300–1600. Bloomington: Indiana Uni-versity Press, 1988.

Beckingham, Charles Fraser. Between Islam andChristendom: Travelers, Facts, and Legends in theMiddle Ages and the Renaissance. London: Vario-rum Reprints, 1983.

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

327


328

Bell, Rudolph M. How to Do It: Guide to Good Livingfor Renaissance Italians. Chicago and London:University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Belloc, Hilaire. Characters of the Reformation. Rock-ford, Illinois: Tan Books, 1992.

Berenson, Bernard. The Italian Painters of the Renais-sance. London: Phaidon, 1952.

Bergeron, David M. English Civic Pageantry,1558–1642. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medievaland Renaissance Studies, 2003.

Bergsma, Wiebe. “The Intellectual and CulturalContext of the Reformation in the NorthernNetherlands.” In N. Scott Amos, Andrew Pette-gree, and Henk van Nierop, eds. The Education ofa Christian Society: Humanism and the Reformationin Britain and the Netherlands. Aldershot, U.K.:Ashgate, 1999, pp. 243–261.

Berriman, A. E. Historical Metrology. London: Dent,1953.

Biagioli, Mario. Galileo, Courtier: The Practice of Sci-ence in the Culture of Absolutism. Chicago andLondon: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Binns, J. W., ed. and trans. Latin Treatises on Poetryfrom Renaissance England. Signal Mountain Tenn.:Published for the Library of Renaissance Human-ism by Summertown, 1999.

Birnbaum, Marianna D. Humanists in a ShatteredWorld: Croatian and Hungarian Latinity in theSixteenth Century. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica,1985.

Black, Christopher. Italian Confraternities in the Six-teenth Century. Cambridge and New York: Cam-bridge University Press, 1989.

Blair, Claude. European Armour, circa 1066 to circa1700. London: Batsford, 1958.

Blanks, David R. Images of the Others: Europe and theMuslim World before 1700. Cairo: American Uni-versity in Cairo Press, 1997.

Blunt, Anthony. Art and Architecture in France1500–1700. London: Viking Penguin, 1991.

———. Artistic Theory in Italy 1450–1600. London:Oxford University Press, 1973.

Boccaccio, Giovanni. Famous Women [De mulieribusclaribus]. Edited and translated by VirginiaBrown. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UniversityPress, 2001.

Bohanan, Donna. Crown and Nobility in Early Mod-ern France. Houndmills, U.K., and New York:Palgrave, 2001.

Böker, Hans J., and Peter M. Daly, eds. The Emblemand Architecture. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,1999.

Bonfil, Roberto. Rabbis and Jewish Communities inRenaissance Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1990.

Bosher, J. F. “Government and Private Interests inNew France.” In A. J. R. Russell-Wood, ed. Gov-ernment and Governance of European Empires,1415–1800. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2000, pp. 519–532.

Bowen, Barbara C. Humour and Humanism in theRenaissance. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2004.

Braudel, Fernand. The Perspective of the World: Civi-lization and Capitalism, 15th–18th century. Vol. 3.Translated by Siân Reynolds. Berkeley and LosAngeles: University of California Press, 1992.

———. The Structure of Everyday Life: Civilizationand Capitalism, 15th–18th century. Vol. 1. Trans-lated by Siân Reynolds. Berkeley and Los Ange-les: University of California Press, 1992.

———. The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization andCapitalism, 15th–18th century. Vol. 2. Translatedby Siân Reynolds. Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press, 1992.

Brockliss, Laurence, and Colin Jones. The MedicalWorld of Early Modern France. Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Brotton, Jerry. The Renaissance Bazaar: From the SilkRoad to Michelangelo. Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press, 2002.

Brown, Alison, ed. Language and Images in Renais-sance Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Brown, Alison. The Renaissance. New York and Lon-don: Longman, 1997.

Brown, David. Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo’s Ginevrade’ Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Wash-ington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2001.

Brown, Howard M., and Louise K. Stein. Music inthe Renaissance. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pren-tice-Hall, 1999.

Brown, Jonathan. “Spain in the Age of Exploration:Crossroads of Artistic Cultures.” In Jay Leven-son, ed. Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration.Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art,1991, pp. 41–49.

Brown, Michelle. Understanding Illuminated Manu-scripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. Malibu, Calif.:Getty Museum, 1994.

Brown, Patricia Fortini. “Renovatio or Concilatio? HowRenaissances Happened in Venice,” In AlisonBrown, ed. Language and Images in Renaissance Italy.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995, pp. 127–154.

———. Venice and Antiquity: The Venetian Sense of thePast. New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale Uni-versity Press, 1996.

Brucker, Gene. The Civic World of Early RenaissanceFlorence. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, 1977.

Bryant, Lawrence M. The King and the City in theParisian Royal Entry Ceremony: Politics, Ritual, andArt in the Renaissance. Geneva: Librairie Droz,1986.

Bryce, Judith. “Performing for Strangers: Women,Dance and Music in Quattrocento Florence,”Renaissance Quarterly 54, no. 4.1 (2001):1074–1107.

Buisseret, David, ed. Monarchs, Ministers, and Maps:The Emergence of Cartography as a Tool of Govern-ment in Early Modern Europe. Chicago and Lon-don: The Newberry Library, 1992.

Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissancein Italy. New York: Harper, 1958.

Burgess, Clive. “Mapping the Soundscape: ChurchMusic in English Towns,” Early Music History 19(2000): 1–46.

Burke, Peter. The European Renaissance. Oxford:Blackwell, 1998.

———. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe.New York: New York University Press, 1978.

Burne, Alfred Higgins. The Hundred Years’ War.London: Penguin, 2002.

Burnett, Charles, and Anna Contadini, eds. Islamand the Italian Renaissance. London: The WarburgInstitute, 1999.

Burns, James Henderson. The True Law of Kingship:Concepts of Monarchy in Early Modern Scotland.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Campbell, Lorne. Renaissance Portraiture: EuropeanPortrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Cen-turies. New Haven, Conn., and London: YaleUniversity Press, 1990.

Campbell, Thomas, et al. Tapestry in the Renaissance:Art and Magnificence. New York: MetropolitanMuseum of Art, 2002.

Cantor, Norman. In the Wake of the Plague: The BlackDeath and the World It Made. New York: Peren-nial, 2002.

Cardini, Franco. Europe and Islam. Translated byCaroline Beamish. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.

Carlsmith, Christopher. “Struggling toward Suc-cess: Jesuit Education in Italy, 1540–1600,” His-tory of Education Quarterly 42, no. 2 (2002):215–246.

Carsten, F. L. Princes and Parliaments in Germany,from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.

Cavallo, Sandra, and Lyndan Warner, eds. Widow-hood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. NewYork: Longman, 1999.

Cellini, Benvenuto. The Autobiography of BenvenutoCellini. Translated by George Bull. Har-mondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, 1976.

Cennini, Cennino. The Craftsman’s Handbook. Trans-lated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York:Dover, 1954.

Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Uni-versity of California, Los Angeles. The Dawn ofModern Banking. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni-versity Press, 1979.

Cereta, Laura. Collected Letters of a Renaissance Femi-nist. Edited and translated by Diana Robin.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Chapuis, Julian et al. Tilman Riemenschneider: MasterSculptor of the Late Middle Ages. Washington,D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1999.

Chiappelli, Fred, ed. First Images of America: TheImpact of the New World on the Old. 2 vols. Berke-ley and Los Angeles: University of CaliforniaPress, 1976.

Cipolla, Carlo. Public Health and the Medical Profes-sion in the Renaissance. Cambridge and New York:Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Claridge, Amanda. Rome: An Oxford ArchaeologicalGuide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Clark, Peter, ed. The Early Modern Town. New York:Longman, 1976.

Cohn, Samuel K., Jr. The Cult of Remembrance andthe Black Death: Six Renaissance Cities in CentralItaly. Baltimore and London: The Johns HopkinsUniversity Press, 1992.

Cormack, Lesley B. Charting an Empire: Geographyat the English Universities, 1580–1620. Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Corteguera, Luis R. For the Common Good: PopularPolitics in Barcelona, 1580–1640. Ithaca, N.Y.:Cornell University Press, 2002.


329

Courtenay, William J., ed. Universities and Schoolingin Medieval Society. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Cowan, Alexander. Urban Europe, 1500–1700. Lon-don and New York: Arnold, 1998.

Cox, Virginia. The Renaissance Dialogue: A LiteraryDialogue in Its Social and Political Contexts, Cas-tiglione to Galileo. Cambridge and New York:Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Crowder, C. M. D. Unity, Heresy, and Reform:1378–1460. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977.

Cunningham, Hugh. Children and Childhood inWestern Society since 1500. New York: Longman,1995.

Cunningham, James P. Dancing in the Inns of Court.London: Jordan, 1965.

Cuttler, Charles. Northern Painting from Pucelle toBrueghel. Fort Worth, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1991.

D’Amico, Jack. The Moor in English RenaissanceDrama. Tampa: University of South FloridaPress, 1991.

———. Renaissance Humanism in Papal Rome:Humanists and Churchmen on the Eve of the Refor-mation. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hop-kins University Press, 1991.

Darby, Graham, ed. The Origins and Development ofthe Dutch Revolt. London and New York: Rout-ledge, 2001.

Darling, Linda T. “The Renaissance and the MiddleEast.” In Guido Ruggiero, ed. A Companion to theWorlds of the Renaissance. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002,pp. 55–69.

Davenport, Millia. The Book of Costume. New York:Crown Publishers, 1970.

Davids, Karel, and Jan Lucassen, eds. A Miracle Mir-rored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective.Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 1995.

Davis, Martin, ed. Incunabula: Studies in Fifteenth-Century Printed Books Presented to Lotte Hellinga.London: British Library, 1999.

Davis, Natalie Zemon. Society and Culture in EarlyModern France. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Uni-versity Press, 1975.

Debus, Allen G. The Chemical Philosophy: ParacelsianScience and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seven-teenth Centuries. New York: Science History Pub-lications, 1977.

Decker, Heinrich. The Renaissance in Italy: Architec-ture, Sculpture, Frescoes. New York: Viking Press,1969.

DeMolen, Richard L., ed. Religious Orders of theCatholic Reformation. New York: Fordham Uni-versity Press, 1994.

De Roover, Raymond. The Rise and Decline of theMedici Bank. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.

Diefendorf, Barbara B. Beneath the Cross: Catholicsand Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris. NewYork and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Domínguez Ortiz, Antonio et al. Resplendence of theSpanish Monarchy: Renaissance Tapestries andArmor from the Patrimonio Nacional. New York:Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.

Donaldson, Gordon. All the Queen’s Men: Power andPolitics in Mary Stewart’s Scotland. London: Bats-ford, 1983.

Donawerth, Jane. “Changing Our Originary Sto-ries: Renaissance Women on Education, andConversation as a Model for our Classrooms.” InSusan D. Amussen and Adele Seeff, eds. Attend-ing to Early Modern Women. Newark: Universityof Delaware, 1998, pp. 263–277.

Donnelly, John P., ed. Confraternities and CatholicReform in Italy, France, and Spain. Kirksville, Mo.:Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1999.

Doyle, Daniel R. “The Sinews of Habsburg Gover-nance in the Sixteenth Century: Mary of Hun-gary and Political Patronage,” Sixteenth CenturyJournal 31, no. 2 (2000): 349–360.

Dutra, Francis A. “The Discovery of Brazil and ItsImmediate Aftermath.” In George D. Winius,ed. Portugal, the Pathfinder. Madison, Wis.: His-panic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1995,145–168.

Edington, Carol. Court and Culture in RenaissanceScotland: Sir David Lindsay of the Mount. Amherst:University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.

Edwards, John Richard, ed. A History of FinancialAccounting. London and New York: Routledge,2000.

Ehrenberg, Richard. Capital and Finance in the Age ofthe Renaissance: A Study of the Fuggers and TheirConnections. New York: A. M. Kelley, 1963.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Revolution inEarly Modern Europe. Cambridge and New York:Cambridge University Press, 1983.


330

Elliott, John Huxtable. Imperial Spain, 1469–1716.London: Penguin, 2002.

———. The Old World and the New, 1492–1650.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

———. Spain and Its World. New Haven, Conn. andLondon: Yale University Press, 1989.

Elmer, Peter, ed. The Renaissance in Europe. NewHaven, Conn., and London: Yale UniversityPress, 2000.

Elsky, Martin. Authorizing Words: Speech, Writing,and Print in the English Renaissance. Ithaca, N.Y.:Cornell University Press, 1989.

Etty, Claire. “A Tudor Solution to the ‘Problem ofthe North’? Government and the Marchestoward Scotland,” Northern History 39, no. 2(2002): 209–226.

Eyck, Frank. Religion and Politics in German History:From the Beginnings to the French Revolution. NewYork: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Fallows, David. “Polyphonic Song.” In TessKnighton and David Fallows, eds. Companion toMedieval and Renaissance Music. Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.123–126.

Febvre, Lucien. Life in Renaissance France. Translatedby Marian Rothstein. Cambridge, Mass., andLondon: Harvard University Press, 1977.

Ferguson, Margaret W., Maureen Quilligan, andNancy J. Vickers, eds. Rewriting the Renaissance:The Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early ModernEurope. Chicago and London: University ofChicago Press, 1986.

Ferguson, Wallace. The Renaissance in HistoricalThought: Five Centuries of Interpretation. Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 1948.

Fernández Collado, Angel. “The Mozarabic ChantBooks of Cisneros,” Sacred Music 128, no. 4(2001): 14–18.

Field, Judith Veronica. The Invention of Infinity:Mathematics and Art in the Renaissance. Oxfordand New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Finlay, Robert. Politics in Renaissance Venice. NewBrunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1980.

Fleming, Peter, Anthony Gross, and J. R. Lander,eds. Regionalism and Revision: The Crown and ItsProvinces in England. London: Hambledon, 1998.

Foster, Verna A. The Name and Nature of Tragicom-edy. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2004.

Fowler, Alastair. Renaissance Realism: NarrativeImages in Literature and Art. Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Fowler, Elizabeth, and Roland Greene, eds. The Pro-ject of Prose in Early Modern Europe and the NewWorld. Cambridge and New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1997.

Franklin, David. Painting in Renaissance Florence1500–1550. New Haven, Conn., and London:Yale University Press, 2001.

Freedman, Luba. The Revival of the Olympian Gods inRenaissance Art. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 2003.

Freeman, Margaret B. Herbs for the Medieval House-hold for Cooking, Healing, and Divers Uses. NewYork: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1943.

Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence:Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing. Baltimoreand London: The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 2002.

Friedrich, Karin. The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia,Poland, and Liberty, 1569–1772. Cambridge andNew York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Frigo, Daniela, ed. Politics and Diplomacy in EarlyModern Italy: The Structure of Diplomatic Practice,1450–1800. Translated by Adrian Belton. Cam-bridge and New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2000.

Frojmovic, Eva, ed. Imagining the Self, Imagining theOther: Visual Representation and Jewish–ChristianDynamics in the Middle Ages and Early ModernPeriod. Leiden: Brill, 2002.

Fubini, Riccardo. “Diplomacy and Government inthe Italian City-States of the Fifteenth Century(Florence and Venice).” In Daniela Frigo, ed.Politics and Diplomacy in Early Modern Italy: TheStructure of Diplomatic Practice, 1450–1800.Translated by Adrian Belton. Cambridge andNew York: Cambridge University Press, 2000,pp. 25–48.

Fuchs, Barbara. Mimesis and Empire: The NewWorld, Islam, and European Identities. Cambridgeand New York: Cambridge University Press,2001.

Fuller, Mary C. “English Turks and Resistant Trav-elers: Conversion to Islam and HomosocialCourtship.” In Ivo Kamps and Jyotsna G. Singh,eds. Travel Knowledge: European “Discoveries” in


331


332

the Early Modern Period. New York: Palgrave,2001, pp. 66–73.

Fumerton, Patricia, and Simon Hunt, eds. Renais-sance Culture and the Everyday. Philadelphia: Uni-versity of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Fusell, G. E. The Classical Tradition in West EuropeanFarming. Newton Abbot: David and Charles,1972.

Gaimster, David, and Paul Stamper, eds. The Age ofTransition: The Archaeology of English Culture1400–1600. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1997.

Gambi, Lucio. The Gallery of Maps in the Vatican.Translated by Paul Tucker. New York: GeorgeBraziller, 1997.

Gardiner, Robert, ed. Cogs, Caravels, and Galleons:The Sailing Ship, 1000–1650. London andAnnapolis, Md.: Conway Maritime Press, 1994.

Garin, Eugenio, ed. Renaissance Characters. Trans-lated by Lydia G. Cochrane. Chicago and Lon-don: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Gelderen, Martin van. The Political Thought of theDutch Revolt, 1555–1590. Cambridge and NewYork: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Gelderen, Martin van, and Quentin Skinner, eds.Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage. Vol. 1,Republicanism and Constitutionism in Early ModernEurope. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2002.

Gelis, Jacques. The History of Childbirth: Fertility,Pregnancy, and Birth in Early Modern Europe.Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.

Gentrup, William F., ed. Reinventing the Middle Agesand the Renaissance. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,1998.

Giedion, Sigfried. Space, Time and Architecture.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1967, pp. 1–100.

Gilbert, Felix. Machiavelli and Guicciardini: Politicsand History in Sixteenth-Century Florence. Prince-ton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.

Gilbert, Neal Ward. Renaissance Concepts of Method.New York: Columbia University Press, 1960.

Gilmore, Myron. Humanists and Jurists: Six Studiesin the Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass.: BelknapPress of Harvard University Press, 1963.

———. The World of Italian Humanism. New York:Harper & Row, 1962.

Gingerich, Owen, ed. The Nature of Scientific Discov-ery: A Symposium Commemorating the 500th

Anniversary of the Birth of Nicholas Copernicus.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 1975.

Gitlitz, David M. Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion ofthe Crypto-Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish PublicationSociety, 1996.

Gittings, Clare. Death, Burial, and the Individual inEarly Modern England. London: Croon Helm,1984.

Goldschneider, Ludwig. Unknown Renaissance Por-traits: Medals of Famous Men and Women of the XVand XVI Centuries. London: Phaidon Press, 1952.

Goldthwaite, Richard. “The Medici Bank and theWorld of Florentine Capitalism,” Past and Present14 (1987): 3–31.

Gombrich, Ernst. New Light on Old Masters: Studiesin the Art of the Renaissance. Vol. 4. Chicago: Uni-versity of Chicago Press, 1986.

Goodare, Julian. State and Society in Early ModernScotland. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999.

Goodman, Anthony. The Wars of the Roses. NewYork: Dorset, 1981.

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Paracelsus: EssentialReadings. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire:Crucible, 1990.

Goudriaan, Koen, Jaap van Moolenbroek, and AdTervoort, eds. Education and Learning in theNetherlands, 1400–1600. Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Gouwens, Kenneth. Remembering the Renaissance:Humanist Narratives of the Sack of Rome. Leiden:Brill, 1998.

Grafton, Anthony. Cardano’s Cosmos. Cambridge andLondon: Harvard University Press, 2001.

———. “The Vatican and Its Library.” In AnthonyGrafton, ed. Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library andRenaissance Culture. Washington, D.C.: Libraryof Congress, 1993, pp. 3–46.

Grafton, Anthony, ed. Rome Reborn: The VaticanLibrary and Renaissance Culture. Washington, D.C.:Library of Congress, 1993.

Grafton, Anthony, and Lisa Jardine. From Human-ism to the Humanities: Education and the LiberalArts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1986.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Marvelous Possessions: The Won-der of the New World. Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1992.

———. Renaissance Self-Fashioning, from More toShakespeare. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1980.

Greene, Edward Lee. Landmarks of Botanical History.2 vols. Edited by Frank N. Egerton. Stanford,Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1983.

Gregorian Reform of the Calendar. Rome: PontificaAcademia Scientiarum, 1983.

Grendler, Paul F. Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Lit-eracy and Learning, 1300–1600. Baltimore andLondon: Johns Hopkins University Press,1991.

———. “The University of Bologna, the City, andthe Papacy,” Renaissance Studies 13, no. 4 (1999):475–485.

Griffiths, Gordon. Representative Government inWestern Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1968.

Gschwend, Annemarie Jordan. “In the Shadow ofPhilip II, El Rey Lusitano: Archduke Albert ofAustria as Viceroy of Portugal (1583–1593).” InWerner Thomas and Luc Duerloo, eds. Albertand Isabella, 1598–1621. Turnhout, Belgium: Bre-pols, 1998, pp. 39–46.

Gundersheimer, Werner L., ed. French Humanism1470–1600. London: Macmillan, 1969.

Haar, James. “Value Judgments in Music of theRenaissance.” In Tess Knighton and David Fal-lows, eds. Companion to Medieval and RenaissanceMusic. Oxford and New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2003, pp. 15–22.

Hackenbroch, Yvonne. Renaissance Jewelry. London,Sotheby Parke Bernet: 1979.

Haggh, Barbara, ed. Essays on Music in Honor of Her-bert Kellman. Paris: Minerve, 2001.

Haines, John, and Randall Rosenfeld, eds. Music andMedieval Manuscripts: Paleography and Perfor-mance. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2004.

Hale, John Rigby. Renaissance Europe: Individual andSociety. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia Press, 1971.

———. Renaissance Exploration. New York: BritishBroadcast Corporation, 1968.

———. War and Society in Renaissance Europe,1450–1620. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univer-sity Press, 1986.

Hall, Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in RenaissanceEurope. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1997.

Hallman, Barbara McClung. Italian Cardinals,Reform, and the Church as Property, 1492–1563.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Hampton, Timothy. Literature and Nation in the Six-teenth Century: Inventing Renaissance France.Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Hankins, James. “The Popes and Humanism.” InAnthony Grafton, ed. Rome Reborn: The VaticanLibrary and Renaissance Culture. Washington,D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993, pp. 47–85.

Hannay, Margaret, ed. Silent but for the Word: TudorWomen as Patrons, Translators, and Writers of Reli-gious Works. Kent, Ohio: Kent State UniversityPress, 1985.

Harper, John. “Music and Liturgy, 1300–1600.” InGerald Aylmer and John Tiller, eds. HerefordCathedral: A History. London: Hambledon Press,2000, pp. 375–397.

Harrington, Joel. Reordering Marriage and Society inReformation Germany. Cambridge and New York:Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Hatcher, John. English Tin Production and Tradebefore 1550. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.

Hawkes, Nigel. Early Scientific Instruments. NewYork: Abbeville Press, 1981.

Hay, Cynthia, ed. Mathematics from Manuscript toPrint, 1300–1600. Oxford and New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1988.

Hay, Denys. The Church in Italy in the Fifteenth Cen-tury. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 1977.

Hayum, Andrée. The Isenheim Altarpiece: God’s Medi-cine and the Painter’s Vision. Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press, 1989.

Henisch, Bridget Ann. Fast and Feast. UniversityPark: Pennsylvania State University Press,1976.

Henze, Catherine A. “Women’s Use of Music toMotivate Erotic Desire in the Drama of Beau-mont and Fletcher,” The Journal of MusicologicalResearch 20, no. 2 (2001): 97–134.

Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transforma-tion of the West. Edited and with an introductionby Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. Cambridge, Mass., andLondon: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Herman, Peter C., ed. Opening the Borders: Inclusivityin Early Modern Studies: Essays in Honor of James V.Mirollo. Newark: University of Delaware Press,1999.


333


334

Heydenreich, Ludwig H. Architecture in Italy1400–1500. Revised by Paul Davies. New Haven,Conn.: and London: Yale University Press, 1996.

Hillgarth, J. N. Spain and the Mediterranean in theLater Middle Ages. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate,2003.

Hindman, Sandra, ed. Printing the Written Word: TheSocial History of Books, circa 1450–1520. Ithaca,N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991.

Hirsch, Rudolf. Printing, Selling, and Reading1450–1550. Wiesbaden, Ger.: Harrassowitz,1974.

Holt, Elizabeth Gilmore, ed. A Documentary Historyof Art. Vol. 1. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-sity Press, 1981.

Holt, Mack P. The French Wars of Religion,1562–1629. Cambridge and New York: Cam-bridge University Press, 1995.

Holyoake, Sydney John. An Introduction to FrenchSixteenth-Century Poetic Texts. Manchester: Man-chester University Press, 1973.

Hood, William. “Creating Memory.” In AlisonBrown, ed. Language and Images in RenaissanceItaly. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995, pp.157–169.

Houlbrooke, Ralph A. The English Family 1450–1700.London and New York: Longman, 1984.

Housley, Norman. Crusading Warfare in Medievaland Renaissance Europe. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate,2001.

Howard, Maurice. “Civic Buildings and CourtierHouses: New Techniques and Materials forArchitectural Ornament.” In David Gaimsterand Paul Stamper, eds. The Age of Transition: TheArchaeology of English Culture 1400–1600. Oxford:Oxbow Books, 1997, pp. 105–114.

Howell, Martha. The Marriage Exchange: Property,Social Place, and Gender in Cities of the Low Coun-tries, 1300–1550. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1998.

Hunter, George Leland. Tapestries, Their Origin,History, and Renaissance. New York: John Lane,1912.

Huppert, George. Public Schools in Renaissance France.Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984.

Huyghe, René, ed. Larousse Encyclopedia of Renais-sance and Baroque Art. Middlesex, U.K.: HamlynHouse, 1968.

Jackson, Peter. “Christians, Barbarians and Monsters:The European Discovery of the World beyondIslam.” In Janet L. Nelson, ed. The MedievalWorld. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.

Jardine, Lisa. Worldly Goods: A New History of theRenaissance. New York: Norton, 1998.

Jeanneret, Michel. A Feast of Words: Banquets andTable Talk in the Renaissance. Translated by JeremyWhiteley and Emma Hughes. Chicago: Univer-sity of Chicago Press, 1991.

Johnson, Charles. Religion and Politics: The Renais-sance Print in Social Context. Richmond, Virginia:Marsh Art Gallery, 1999.

Jordan, Annemarie. “Exotic Renaissance Acces-sories: Japanese, Indian and Sinhalese Fans at theCourts of Portugal and Spain,” Apollo new series,150, alt. no. 453 (1999): 25–35.

Jordan, Constance. “Feminism and the Human-ists: The Case for Sir Thomas Elyot’s Defense ofGood Women.” In Margaret W. Ferguson et al.,eds. Rewriting the Renaissance: The Discourses ofSexual Difference in Early Modern Europe.Chicago and London: University of ChicagoPress, 1986, pp. 242–258.

———. Renaissance Feminism: Literary Texts andPolitical Models. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UniversityPress, 1990.

Jourdain, Margaret. English Decoration and Furnitureof the Early Renaissance (1500–1650). London:Batsford, 1924.

Kaeuper, Richard W. War, Justice, and Public Order:England and France in the Later Middle Ages.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.

Kallendorf, Craig W. Humanist Educational Treatises.Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard Uni-versity Press, 2002.

Kamps, Ivo, and Jyotsna G. Singh, eds. TravelKnowledge: European “Discoveries” in the EarlyModern Period. New York: Palgrave, 2001.

Kavaler, Ethan Matt. “Renaissance Gothic in theNetherlands: The Uses of Ornament,” The ArtBulletin 82, no. 2 (2000): 226–251.

Kekewich, Lucille, ed. The Renaissance in Europe: ACultural Enquiry: The Impact of Humanism. NewHaven, Conn., and London: Yale UniversityPress, 2000.

Kelley, Donald R. The Beginning of Ideology: Con-sciousness and Society in the French Reformation.

Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 1981.

Kemp, Martin. The Science of Art: Optical Themes inWestern Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven,Conn., and London: Yale University Press, 1990.

Kempers, Brian. Painting, Power, and Patronage: TheRise of the Professional Artist in the Italian Renais-sance. Translated by Beverley Jackson. Londonand New York: Penguin Press, 1992.

King, Margaret L. Venetian Humanism in an Age ofPatrician Dominance. Princeton, N.J.: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1986.

———. Women of the Renaissance. Chicago and Lon-don: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Kinney, Arthur F. The Cambridge Companion to Eng-lish Literature 1500–1600. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 2000.

Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane. Women, Family, and Rit-ual in Renaissance Italy. Translated by LydiaCochrane. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1985.

Kloczowski, Jerry. A History of Polish Christianity.Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 2000.

Knecht, Robert J. “Francis I and Charles V: TheImage of the Enemy.” In (Re)constructing the Past= Het verleden als instrument = Le passé recomposé:Proceedings of the Colloquium on History and Legit-imisation Organised by the Charles V 2000 Commit-tee: 24–27 February 1999, Brussels, Belgium.Brussels: Colloquium on History and Legitimisa-tion, 1999, pp. 47–65.

Knight, Franklin W. “Slavery and Lagging Capital-ism in the Spanish and Portuguese AmericanEmpires, 1492– 1713.” In Barbara L. Solow, ed.Slavery and the Rise of the Atlantic System. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press and the W. E.B. Dubois Institute for Afro-American Research,1993, pp. 62–74.

Knighton, Tess, and David Fallows, eds. Companionto Medieval and Renaissance Music. Oxford andNew York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Koenigsberger, H. G. Estates and Revolutions: Essaysin Early Modern European History. Ithaca, N.Y.:Cornell University Press, 1971.

Kristeller, Paul Oskar. Renaissance Thought: The Clas-sic, Scholastic, and Humanist Strains. New York:Harper & Brothers, 1961.

Kubovy, Michael. The Psychology of Perspective andRenaissance Art. Cambridge and New York: Cam-bridge University Press, 1986.

Kula, Witold. Measures and Men. Translated byRichard Szreter. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-versity Press, 1986.

Labalme, Patricia, ed. Beyond Their Sex: LearnedWomen of the European Past. New York: New YorkUniversity Press, 1980.

Ladis, Andrew, ed. Franciscanism, the Papacy, and Artin the Age of Giotto. New York: Garland, 1998.

Landau, David, and Peter Parshall. The RenaissancePrint: 1470–1550. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni-versity Press, 1994.

Lane, Frederic C., and Reinhold Mueller. Money andBanking in Medieval and Renaissance Venice: Coinsand Moneys of Account. Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press, 1985.

Langmuir, Gavin. History, Religion, and Anti-semitism. Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1990.

Laver, James. Costume of the Western World: Fash-ion of the Renaissance in England, France, Spainand Holland. New York: Harper & Brothers,1951.

Lay, Maxwell G. Ways of the World: A History of theWorld’s Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them.New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press,1992.

Leach, Lois Elaine Triller. Renaissance Instruments.Welland, Canada: Welland County RomanCatholic Separate School Board, 1973.

León, Vicki. Outrageous Women of the Renaissance.New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

———. Uppity Women of the Renaissance. Berkeley:Conari Press, 1999.

Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Royal French State,1460–1610. Translated by Juliet Vale. Oxford:Blackwell, 1994.

Lestringant, Frank. Mapping the Renaissance World.Translated by David Fausett. Berkeley and LosAngeles: University of California Press, 1994.

Le Sylvain. The Orator, handling a Hundred severalDiscourses, in Forme of Declamations. London:Adam Islip, 1596.

Levenson, Jay A., ed. Circa 1492: Art in the Age ofExploration. Washington, D.C.: National Galleryof Art, 1991.


335

Lewis, C. S. English Literature in the Sixteenth Cen-tury Excluding Drama. Oxford and New York:Oxford University Press, 1954.

Lillie, Amanda. “The Humanist Villa Revisited.”In Alison Brown, ed. Language and Images inRenaissance Italy. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1995, pp. 193–215.

Lind, Levi Robert. Studies in Pre-Vesalian Anatomy.Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society,1975.

Lindberg, David C. Theories of Vision from Al-Kindito Kepler. Chicago and London: University ofChicago Press, 1976.

Lindemann, Mary. Medicine and Society in Early Mod-ern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1999.

———. “Plague, Disease, and Hunger.” In GuidoRuggiero, ed. A Companion to the Worlds of theRenaissance. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 427–443.

Lockwood, Lewis Henry. Music in Renaissance Fer-rara 1400–1505: The Creation of a Musical Centerin the Fifteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1984.

Loudon, Irvine, ed. Western Medicine: An IllustratedHistory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Lowe, Kate, ed. Cultural Links between Portugal andItaly in the Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 2000.

Lübbeke, Isolde. Early German Painting, 1350–1550.Translated by Margaret Thomas Will. Stuttgart:Klett-Cotta, 1991.

Lubkin, Gregory. A Renaissance Court: Milan underGaleazzo Maria Sforza. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1994.

Lyons, Albert et al. Medicine: An Illustrated History.New York: H. N. Abrams, 1978.

Mack, Peter, ed. Renaissance Rhetoric. New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1994.

Macy, Laura W. “Women’s History and EarlyMusic.” In Tess Knighton and David Fallows,eds. Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,2003, pp. 93–98.

Mallett, M. E. Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfarein Renaissance Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman, 1974.

Manchester, William. A World Lit Only by Fire: TheMedieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of anAge. Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.

Marino, John A. “Economic Encounters and the FirstStages of a World Economy.” In Guido Ruggiero,ed. A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance.Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 279–295.

Marland, Hilary, ed. The Art of Midwifery: EarlyModern Midwives in Europe. London and NewYork: Routledge, 1993.

Martín González, J. J. “Sculpture in Castile.” In JayLevenson, ed. Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Explo-ration. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery ofArt, 1991, pp. 51–54.

Martines, Lauro. Power and Imagination: City-Statesin Renaissance Italy. Baltimore: The Johns Hop-kins University Press, 1988.

Mason, Roger A. Kingship and the Commonweal:Political Thought in Renaissance and ReformationScotland. East Lothian, U.K.: Tuckwell Press,1998.

Massing, Jean Michel. “The Quest for the Exotic:Albrecht Dürer in the Netherlands.” In Jay Lev-enson, ed. Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Explo-ration. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery ofArt, 1991, pp. 115–119.

Mastnak, Tomáz. Crusading Peace: Christendom, theMuslim World, and Western Political Order. Berke-ley: University of California Press, 2002.

Mateer, David, ed. The Renaissance in Europe: A Cul-tural Enquiry. Courts, Patrons, and Poets. NewHaven, Conn., and London: Yale UniversityPress, 2000.

McDonald, William L. The Pantheon: Design, Mean-ing, and Progeny. Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 2002.

McGinness, Frederick J. Right Thinking and SacredOratory in Counter-Reformation Rome. Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.

McGrattan, Alexander. “Italian Wind Instruments atthe Scottish Royal Court during the 16th Cen-tury,” Early Music 29, no. 4 (2001): 534–551.

McIver, Katherine A. Art and Music in the Early Mod-ern Period: Essays in Honor of Franca TrinchieriCamiz. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2002.

McKendrick, Malveena. Theatre in Spain1490–1700. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1992.

Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean deBerry. The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries.New York: Braziller, 1974.


336

———. The Great Age of Fresco. New York: GeorgeBraziller, 1970.

Meyers, Charles, and Norma Simms, eds. TroubledSouls: Conversos, Crypto-Jews, and Other ConfusedJewish Intellectuals from the Fourteenth through theEighteenth Century. Hamilton, New Zealand:Outrigger, 2001.

Michalove, Sharon D. “Equal Opportunity? TheEducation of Aristocratic Women 1450–1550.”In Barbara J. Whitehead, ed. Women’s Educationin Early Modern Europe: A History, 1500–1800.New York: Garland, 1999, pp. 47–74.

Michel, Henri. Scientific Instruments in Art and His-tory. Translated by R. E. W. Maddison and Fran-cis R. Maddison. New York: Viking, 1967.

Millar, Gilbert J. Tudor Mercenaries and Auxiliaries,1485–1547. Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 1980.

Miller, Gregory. “Luther on the Turks and Islam,”Lutheran Quarterly 14, no. 1 (2000): 79–97.

Milward, Peter, ed. The Mutual Encounter of East andWest, 1492–1992. Tokyo: The Renaissance Insti-tute, Sophia University, 1992.

Minchilli, Elizabeth Helman. Deruta: A Tradition ofItalian Ceramics. San Francisco: Chronicle Books,1998.

Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place ofSugar in Modern History. New York and London:Sifton, 1985.

Miskimin, Harry A. The Economy of Later RenaissanceEurope, 1460–1600. Cambridge and New York:Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Mitchell, Bonner. The Majesty of the State: TriumphalProgresses of Foreign Sovereigns in Renaissance Italy(1494–1600). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-sity Press, 1981.

Molà, Luca. The Silk Industry of Renaissance Florence.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,2000.

Montaigne, Michel de. The Autobiography of Michelde Montaigne. Translated by Marvin Lowenthal.Jaffrey, N.H.: David R. Godine, 1999.

Montagu, Jeremy. The World of Medieval and Renais-sance Musical Instruments. Woodstock, New York:Overlook Press, 1976.

Morgan-Russell, Simon. “St. Thomas More’s Utopiaand the Description of Britain,” Cahiers élis-abéthains 61 (2002): 1–11.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery ofAmerica: The Southern Voyages, A.D. 1492–1616.New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Morton, Alan G. History of Botanical Science. Londonand New York: Academic Press, 1981.

Moulton, Ian Frederick. “The Illicit World of theRenaissance.” In Guido Ruggiero, ed. A Compan-ion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. Oxford: Black-well, 2002, pp. 491–505.

Muir, Edward. Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981.

Mulcahy, Rosemarie. The Decoration of the RoyalBasilica of El Escorial. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1994.

Mulgan, Catherine. Renaissance Monarchies,1469–1558. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1998.

Mulsow, Martin, and Richard H. Popkin. Secret Con-versions to Judaism in Early Modern Europe. Lei-den: Brill, 2004.

Mundy, Barbara E. The Mapping of New Spain:Indigenous Cartography and the Maps of the Rela-ciones Geográficas. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1996.

Munro, John H. A. Bullion Flows and Monetary Poli-cies in England and the Low Countries, 1350–1500.Aldershot, U.K., and Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum,1992.

Munrow, David. Instruments of the Middle Ages andRenaissance. London: Oxford University PressMusic Department, 1980.

Murray, Peter, and Linda Murray. Art of the Renais-sance. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1985.

Murrin, Michael. History and Warfare in RenaissanceEpic. Chicago and London: University ofChicago Press, 1994.

Nauert, Charles G., Jr. Humanism and the Culture ofRenaissance Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 2000.

Navarrete, Ignacio. “Francisco Sà de Miranda, Gar-cilaso de la Vega, and the Transfer of ItalianPoetic Forms to Portugal and Spain,” Viator 31(2000): 291–309.

Nelson, Bernadette. “Ritual and Ceremony in theSpanish Royal Chapel,” Early Music History 19(2000): 105–200.

Nelson, Janet L., ed. The Medieval World. Londonand New York: Routledge, 2001.


337

Nichols, Fred J., ed. and trans. An Anthology of Neo-Latin Poetry. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UniversityPress, 1979.

Nogarola, Isotta. Complete Writings: Letterbooks, Dia-logue on Adam and Eve, Orations. Edited andtranslated by Margaret L. King and Diana Robin.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Noone, Michael. “A Manuscript Case-Study.” InTess Knighton and David Fallows, eds. Compan-ion to Medieval and Renaissance Music. Oxfordand New York: Oxford University Press, 2003,pp. 239–246.

Oakley, Francis. The Western Church in the LaterMiddle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UniversityPress, 1979.

Oberman, Heiko Augustinus. The Impact of theReformation. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerd-man, 1994.

Oettinger, Rebecca Wagner. Music as Propaganda inthe German Reformation. Aldershot, U.K.: Ash-gate, 2001.

———. The Roots of Antisemitism in the Age of theRenaissance and Reformation. Translated by JamesI. Porter. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.

O’Malley, John W. Praise and Blame in Rome:Rhetoric, Doctrine, and Reform in the Sacred Oratorsof the Papal Court, c. 1450–1521. Durham, N.C.:Duke University Press, 1979.

Ormrod, Mark. The Black Death in England. Stam-ford, Conn.: Paul Watkins, 1996.

Ozment, Steven. When Fathers Ruled: Family Life inReformation Europe. Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1983.

Paganelli, Sergio. Musical Instruments from theRenaissance to the 19th Century. London: Cassell,1988.

Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting: ItsOrigin and Character. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press, 1953.

———. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art.New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

Panzer, Joel S. The Popes and Slavery. New York:Alba House, 1996.

Pardoe, Elizabeth Lewis. “Education, Economics,and Othodoxy: Lutheran Schools in Württem-berg, 1555–1617,” Archiv für Reformations-geschichte 91 (2000): 285–315.

Partner, Peter. The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal Statein the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.

———. The Pope’s Men: The Papal Service in theRenaissance. Oxford and New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 1990.

Payne, Alina. The Architectural Treatise in the ItalianRenaissance. Cambridge and New York: Cam-bridge University Press, 1999.

Pedersen, Olaf. Early Physics and Astronomy. Cam-bridge and New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1993.

Pelikan, Jaroslav, Valerie R. Hotchkiss, and DavidPrice. The Reformation of the Bible/The Bible of theReformation. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UniversityPress, 1996.

Penrose, Boies. Travel and Discovery in the Renais-sance, 1420–1620. Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1967.

Perrone, Sean. “Clerical Opposition in HabsburgCastile,” European Historical Quarterly 31, no. 3(2001): 325–352.

Peters, Edward. Inquisition. New York: Free Press,1988.

Peters, Gretchen. “Urban Minstrels in LateMedieval Southern France: Opportunities, Sta-tus and Professional Relationships,” Early MusicHistory 19 (2000): 201– 235.

Pevsner, Nikolaus. A History of Building Types.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,1976.

Philip, A. The Calendar, Its History, Structure andImprovements. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1921.

Phillips, William D., Jr. “The Old World Back-ground of Slavery in the Americas.” In BarbaraL. Solow, ed. Slavery and the Rise of the AtlanticSystem. Cambridge: Cambridge University Pressand the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Africanand African American Research, 1993, pp. 43–61.

Pointer, Richard W. “The Sounds of Worship:Nahua Music Making and Colonial Catholicismin Sixteenth-Century Mexico,” Fides et Historia34, no. 2 (2002): 25–44.

Polk, Keith. “Instrumental Music in Brussels in theEarly 16th Century,” Revue Belge de Musicologie55 (2001): 91–101.


338

Pollard, A. J. “The Characteristics of the Fifteenth-Century North.” In John C. Appleby and PaulDalton, eds. Government, Religion and Society inNorthern England 1000–1700. Stroud, U.K.: AlanSutton, 1997, pp. 131– 143.

Pope-Hennessy, John. Italian Renaissance Sculpture.San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996.

Preminger, Alex, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetryand Poetics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, 1965.

Prodi, Paolo. The Papal Prince: One Body and TwoSouls: The Papal Monarchy in Early Modern Europe.Translated by Susan Haskins. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 1987.

Ptak, Roderich. “Early Sino-Portuguese Contacts tothe Foundation of Macao.” In George D.Winius, ed. Portugal, the Pathfinder. Madison,Wis.: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies,1995, pp. 269–289.

Pullan, Brian. Orphans and Foundlings in Early Mod-ern Europe. Reading: University of Reading,1989.

Quint, David. Origin and Originality in RenaissanceLiterature: Versions of the Source. New Haven,Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983.

Rabb, Theodore K. Renaissance Lives: Portraits of anAge. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

Rabil, Albert, Jr., ed. Renaissance Humanism: Founda-tions, Forms, and Legacy. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Uni-versity of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.

Racaut, Luc. Hatred in Print: Catholic Propaganda andProtestant Identity during the French Wars of Reli-gion. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2002.

Rae, Thomas I. The Administration of the ScottishFrontier, 1513–1603. Edinburgh: EdinburghUniversity Press, 1966.

Raggio, Olga. The Liberal Arts Studiolo from the DucalPalace at Gubbio. New York: MetropolitanMuseum of Art, 1996.

Raitt, Jill, Bernard McGinn, and John Meyerdorff,eds. Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages andRenaissance. New York: Crossroad, 1987.

Randles, W. G. L. Geography, Cartography and Nauti-cal Science in the Renaissance. Aldershot, U.K.:Ashgate, 2000.

Rebhorn, Wayne A., ed. and trans. RenaissanceDebates on Rhetoric. Ithaca, N.Y., and London:

Cornell University Press, 2000 (including 25texts by Renaissance authors).

(Re)constructing the Past = Het verleden als instrument= Le passé recomposé; Proceedings of the Colloquiumon History and Legitimisation Organised by theCharles V 2000 Committee: 24–27 February 1999,Brussels, Belgium. Brussels: Colloquium on His-tory and Legitimisation, 1999.

Reeds, Karen Meier. Botany in Medieval and Renais-sance Universities. New York: Garland, 1991.

Reinharz, Jehuda, and Daniel Swetschinski, eds.Mystics, Philosophers, and Politicians: Essays in Jew-ish Intellectual History in Honor of Alexander Alt-mann. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,1982.

The Renaissance in Europe: An Anthology. Edited byPeter Elmer, Nick Webb, and Roberta Wood.New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale Univer-sity Press, 2000.

Revel, Jean-François. Culture and Cuisine. Translatedby Helen R. Lane. Garden City, N.Y.: Double-day, 1982.

Rhodes, Neil, ed. English Renaissance Prose: History,Language, and Politics. Tempe, Ariz.: Medieval &Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1997.

Rice, Eugene F., Jr., and Anthony Grafton. TheFoundations of Early Modern Europe 1460–1559.New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1970.

Richards, E. G. Mapping Time: The Calendar and ItsHistory. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 2000.

Richardson, Glenn. Renaissance Monarchy: The Reignsof Henry VIII, Francis I and Charles V. London andNew York: Arnold and Oxford University Press,2002.

Riddle, John M. Contraception and Abortion from theAncient World to the Renaissance. Cambridge,Mass., and London: Harvard University Press,1994.

———. Eve’s Herbs: A History of Contraception andAbortion in the West. Cambridge, Mass., and Lon-don: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Riley, Gillian. Renaissance Recipes. San Francisco:Pomegranate Artbooks, 1993.

Robinson, Marsha. Writing the Reformation: Actes andMonuments and the Jacobean History Play. Alder-shot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2002.


339

Rodrigues, Dalila. “Italian Influence on Por-tuguese Painting in the First Half of the Six-teenth Century.” In Kate Lowe, ed. CulturalLinks between Portugal and Italy in the Renais-sance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000,pp. 109–123.

Rose, Paul Lawrence. The Italian Renaissance ofMathematics: Studies on Humanists and Mathemati-cians from Petrarch to Galileo. Geneva: Droz, 1975.

Rosen, Edward, ed. and trans. Three Copernican Trea-tises. New York: Octagon Books, 1971.

Ross, James Bruce, and Mary Martin McLaughlin,eds. The Portable Renaissance Reader. New York:Viking Press, 1968.

Roth, Cecil. The Jews in the Renaissance. Philadel-phia: The Jewish Publication Society of America,1984.

Rouse, A. L. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Cul-tural Achievement. New York: Charles Scribner’sSons, 1972.

———. The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of theSociety. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.

Rowland, Ingrid. The Culture of the High Renaissance:Ancients and Moderns in Sixteenth-Century Rome.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Rubenstein, Nicolai. The Government of Florenceunder the Medici (1434–1494). Oxford and NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Ruderman, David B. Essential Papers on Jewish Cul-ture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. New York:New York University Press, 1992.

———. The World of a Renaissance Jew. Cincinnati:Hebrew Union College Press, 1981.

Ruggiero, Guido, ed. A Companion to the Worlds ofthe Renaissance. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

Ruiter, David. Shakespeare’s Festive History: Feasting,Festivity, Fasting and Lent in the Second Henriad.Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2003.

Rummel, Erika. The Humanist–Scholastic Debate inthe Renaissance and Reformation. Cambridge,Mass., and London: Harvard University Press,1998.

Russell-Wood, A. J. R., ed. Government and Gover-nance of European Empires, 1415–1800. Aldershot,U.K.: Ashgate, 2000.

Sagerman, Robert. “A Kabbalistic Reading of theSistine Chapel Ceiling,” Acta ad Archaeologiam etArtium historiam Pertentia 16 (2002): 91–177.

Sarton, George. Six Wings: Men of Science in theRenaissance. London: The Bodley Head, 1958.

Saslow, James M. The Medici Wedding of 1589: Flo-rentine Festival as “Theatrum Mundi.” NewHaven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996.

Sauer, Carl O. Sixteenth Century North America: TheLand and the People as Seen by the Europeans.Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor-nia Press, 1971.

Sawday, Jonathan. The Body Emblazoned: Dissectionand the Human Body in Renaissance Culture. Lon-don: Routledge, 1995.

Schmitt, Charles B. Aristotle and the Renaissance.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1983.

Schwinges, Rainer C. “On Recruitment in GermanUniversities from the Fourteenth to SixteenthCenturies.” In William J. Courtenay, ed. Univer-sities and Schooling in Medieval Society. Leiden:Brill, 2000, pp. 32–48.

Scott, A. F. Every One a Witness: The Tudor Age, Com-mentaries of an Era. New York: Thomas Y. Crow-ell, 1976.

Serlio, Sebastiano. The Five Books of Architecture: AnUnabridged Reprint of the English Edition of 1611.New York: Dover, 1982.

Seward, Desmond. The Hundred Years War. NewYork: Atheneum, 1978.

Shepherd, Simon, ed. The Women’s Sharp Revenge:Five Women Pamphleteers from the Renaissance.New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985.

Showalter, Dennis F. “Caste, Skill, and Training:The Evolution of Cohesion in European Armiesfrom the Middle Ages to the Sixteenth Century,”The Journal of Military History 57 ( July 1993):407–430.

Shumaker, Wayne. The Occult Sciences in the Renais-sance: A Study in Intellectual Patterns. Berkeley:University of California Press, 1972.

Sider, Sandra. “Manneristic Style in Portuguese andItalian Compass Roses on Manuscript PortolanCharts.” In Kate Lowe, ed. Cultural Links betweenPortugal and Italy in the Renaissance. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 125–138.

Signorotto, Gianvittorio, and Maria Anto Visceglia,eds. Court and Politics in Papal Rome, 1492–1700.Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 2002.


340

Silver, Isidore. Ronsard and the Hellenic Renaissance inFrance. Vol. 2, Ronsard and the Grecian Lyre, Part 1.(Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance, no.CLXXXII.) Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1981.

Siraisi, Nancy. “Life Sciences and Medicine in theRenaissance World.” In Anthony Grafton, ed.Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and RenaissanceCulture. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress,1993, pp. 169–197.

———. Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: AnIntroduction to Knowledge and Practice. Chicagoand London: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Smith, Hopkinson. “Plucked Instruments: SilverTones of a Golden Age.” In Tess Knighton andDavid Fallows, eds. Companion to Medieval andRenaissance Music. Oxford and New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 2003, pp. 135–137.

Snyder, James C. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting,Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575.New York: Abrams, 1985.

Solow, Barbara L., ed. Slavery and the Rise of theAtlantic System. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute forAfrican and African American Research, 1993.

Sparrow, John. Visible Words: A Study of Inscriptions inand as Books and Works of Art. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 1969.

Stadtwald, Kurt. Roman Popes and German Patriots:Antipapalism in the Politics of the German HumanistMovement. Geneva: Droz, 1996.

Staikos, Konstantinos. The Great Libraries: FromAntiquity to the Renaissance (3000 B.C. to A.D.1600). New Castle, Del., and London: Oak KnollPress and the British Library, 2000.

Stefoff, Rebecca. The Young Oxford Companion toMaps and Mapmaking. New York and Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1995.

Stephenson, Barbara. The Power and Patronage ofMarguerite de Navarre. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate,2004.

Stevenson, Jane. “Women and Classical Educationin the Early Modern Period.” In Yun Les Tooand Niall Livingstone, eds. Pedagogy and Power:Rhetorics of Classical Learning. Cambridge andNew York: Cambridge University Press, 1998,pp. 83–109.

Stock, Jan van der. Printing Images in Antwerp: TheIntroduction of Printmaking in a City. Translated

by Beverley Jackson. Rotterdam: Sound & VisionInteractive, 1998.

Strocchia, Sharon T. Death and Ritual in RenaissanceFlorence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1992.

Strong, Roy. Art and Power: Renaissance Festivals,1450–1650. Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1984.

Struik, Dirk Jan, ed. A Source Book in Mathematics,1200–1800. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univer-sity Press, 1986.

Strunk, Oliver, ed. Source Readings in Music History:The Renaissance. New York: Norton, 1965.

Sullivan, Robert G. Justice and the Social Context ofEarly Middle High German Literature. New York:Routledge, 2001.

Swerdlow, N. M. “The Recovery of the Exact Sci-ences of Antiquity.” In Anthony Grafton, ed.Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and RenaissanceCulture. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress,1993, pp. 125–168.

Taunton, Nina. 1590s Drama and Militarism: Por-trayals of War in Marlowe, Chapman and Shake-speare’s Henry V. Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2001.

Taylor, F. L. The Art of War in Italy, 1484–1529.Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1973.

Taylor, James H. M., and Lesley Smith, ed. Womenand the Book: Assessing the Visual Evidence. Londonand Toronto: The British Library and Universityof Toronto Press, 1997.

Tedeschi, John. The Prosecution of Heresy: CollectedStudies on the Inquisition in Early Modern Italy.Binghamton, New York: Medieval & Renais-sance Texts & Studies, 1991.

Tenenti, Alberto, “The Merchant and theBanker.” In Eugenio Garin, ed. RenaissanceCharacters. Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane.Chicago and London: University of ChicagoPress, 1991, pp. 154–179.

Thomas, Werner, and Luc Duerloo, eds. Albert andIsabella, 1598–1621. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,1998.

Thornton, John Kelly. Africa and Africans in theMaking of the Atlantic World, 1400–1680. Cam-bridge and New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1992.

———. “Early Portuguese Expansion in WestAfrica: Its Nature and Consequences.” In George


341

D. Winius, ed. Portugal, the Pathfinder. Madison,Wis.: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies,1995, pp. 121–132.

Tilmans, Karin. “Republican Citizenship and CivicHumanism in the Burgundian-HabsburgNetherlands.” In Martin van Gelderen andQuentin Skinner, eds. Republicanism: A SharedEuropean Heritage. Vol. 1, Republicanism andConstitutionism in Early Modern Europe. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002,pp. 107–125.

Todorov, Tzvetan. “Voyagers and Natives.” InEugenio Garin, ed. Renaissance Characters.Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane. Chicago andLondon: University of Chicago Press, 1991,pp. 250–273.

Too, Yun Lee, and Niall Livingstone, eds. Pedagogyand Power: Rhetorics of Classical Learning. Cam-bridge and New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1998.

Trachtenberg, Marvin, and Isabelle Hyman. Archi-tecture from Prehistory to Postmodernity. New York:Harry N. Abrams, 2002, pp. 212–325.

Trapp, J. B., ed. Manuscripts in the Fifty Years after theInvention of Printing: Some Papers Read at a Collo-quium at The Warburg Institute on 12–13 March1982. London: The Warburg Institute, 1983.

Turner, Anthony. Early Scientific Instruments: Europe,1400–1800. London: Published for Sotheby’sPublications by Philip Wilson Publishers, 1987.

Turner, James Grantham. “Literature.” In GuidoRuggiero, ed. A Companion to the Worlds of theRenaissance. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, pp. 366–383.

Turner, Jane, ed. Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissanceand Mannerist Art. 2 vols. London: MacmillanReference, 2000.

Tylecote, R. F. A History of Metallurgy. London:Institute of Materials, 1992.

Unghváry. A. Sándor. The Hungarian ProtestantReformation in the Sixteenth Century under theOttoman Impact. Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press,1989.

Vale, Malcolm. War and Chivalry: Warfare and Aris-tocratic Culture in England, France, and Burgundyat the End of the Middle Ages. Athens: Universityof Georgia Press, 1981.

Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. Translatedwith an introduction and notes by Julia Conway

Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford andNew York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Vecellio, Cesare. Vecellio’s Renaissance Costume Book.New York: Dover, 1977 (facsimile).

Veltman, Kim H. Studies on Leonardo da Vinci I: Lin-ear Perspective and the Visual Dimensions of Scienceand Art. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1986.

Verbruggen, J. F. The Art of Warfare in WesternEurope during the Middle Ages. Antwerp: NorthHolland, 1977.

Verlinden, Charles. “Economic Fluctuations andGovernment Policy in the Netherlands in theLate XVIth Century,” The Journal of EuropeanEconomic History 10, no. 1 (1981): 201–206.

———. “European Participation in the PortugueseDiscovery Era.” In George D. Winius, ed. Portu-gal, the Pathfinder. Madison, Wis.: Hispanic Sem-inary of Medieval Studies, 1995, pp. 71–80.

Victoria and Albert Museum. Princely Magnificence:Court Jewels of the Renaissance, 1500–1630. Lon-don: Debrett’s Peerage in association with theVictoria and Albert Museum, 1980.

Vives, Juan Luis. The Education of a Christian Woman.Edited and translated by Charles Fantazzi.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Von Barghahn, Barbara. Age of Gold, Age of Iron:Renaissance Spain and Symbols of Monarchy. Lan-ham, Md.: University Press of America, 1985.

Waite, Gary K. Reformers on Stage: Popular Dramaand Religious Propaganda in the Low Countries ofCharles V, 1515–1556. Toronto: University ofToronto Press, 2000.

Warnke, Martin. The Court Artist: On the Ancestry ofthe Modern Artist. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press, 1993.

Watson, Foster, ed. Vives and the Renascence Educationof Women. New York: Kelly, 1972.

Wear, Andrew, Roger Kenneth French, and Iain M.Lonie, eds. The Medical Renaissance of the SixteenthCentury. Cambridge and New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1985.

Weber, Wolfgang. “‘What a Good Ruler Should NotDo’: Theoretical Limits of Royal Power in Euro-pean Theories of Absolutism, 1500–1700,” Six-teenth Century Journal 26, no. 4 (1995): 897–915.

Weiditz, Christopher. Authentic Everyday Dress of theRenaissance: All 154 Plates from the “Trachtenbuch.”New York: Dover, 1994.


342

Weinberg, Bernard. A History of Literary Criticism inthe Italian Renaissance. 2 vols. Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1961.

Weinstein, Donald. Savonarola and Florence: Prophecyand Patriotism in the Renaissance. Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press, 1970.

Weinstein, Roni. Marriage Rituals Italian Style: AHistorical Anthropological Perspective on Early Mod-ern Italian Jews. Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Weiss, Roberto. The Renaissance Discovery of ClassicalAntiquity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1969.

Weisser, Michael. Crime and Punishment in EarlyModern Europe, 1350–1850. Hassocks, U.K.:Harvester Press, 1979.

Welch, Evelyn. Art in Renaissance Italy 1350–1500.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Wells-Cole, Anthony. Art and Decoration in Eliza-bethan and Jacobean England: The Influence of Con-tinental Prints, 1558–1625. New Haven, Conn.:Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art bythe Yale University Press, 1997.

Westman, Robert S. The Copernican Achievement.Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor-nia Press, 1975.

Whinnom, Keith. Medieval and Renaissance SpanishLiterature: Selected Essays. Edited by Alan Deyer-mond, W. F. Hunter, and Joseph T. Snow. Exeter:University of Exeter, 1994.

Whitehead, Barbara J., ed. Women’s Education inEarly Modern Europe: A History, 1500–1800. NewYork: Garland, 1999.

Wiesner, Merry E. Gender, Church, and State in EarlyModern Germany. London and New York: Long-man, 1998.

———. “Spinsters and Seamstresses: Women inCloth and Clothing Production.” In MargaretW. Ferguson et al., eds. Rewriting the Renais-sance: The Discourses of Sexual Difference in EarlyModern Europe. Chicago and London: Univer-sity of Chicago Press, 1986, pp. 191–205.

Willett, Laura, trans. Poetry and Language in 16th-Century France: Du Bellay, Ronsard, Sébillet.Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renais-sance Studies, 2004.

Winius, George D., ed. Portugal, the Pathfinder.Madison, Wis.: Hispanic Seminary of MedievalStudies, 1995.

Winn, Mary Beth. “Antoine Vérard’s PresentationManuscripts and Printed Books.” In J. B. Trapp,ed. Manuscripts in the Fifty Years after the Inventionof Printing: Some Papers Read at a Colloquium atThe Warburg Institute on 12–13 March 1982. Lon-don: The Warburg Institute, 1983, pp. 66–74.

Wittkower, Rudolf. Architectural Principles in the Ageof Humanism. New York and London: W. W.Norton, 1971.

Woods-Marsden, Joanna. “‘Ritratto al naturale’:Questions of Realism and Idealism in EarlyRenaissance Portraits,” Art Journal 46, no. 3 (fall1987): 209–216.

Woodward, David. “Maps and the Rationalizationof Geographic Space.” In Jay Levenson, ed.Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration. Wash-ington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1991,pp. 83–87.

———. Maps as Prints in the Italian Renaissance:Makers, Distributors and Consumers. London:British Library, 1996.

Wright, George Thaddeus. Hearing the Measures:Shakespearean and Other Inflections. Madison:University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.

Wright, Georgia Summers. “The Reinvention ofthe Portrait Likeness in the Fourteenth Cen-tury,” Gesta 39, no. 2 (2000): 117–134.

Yalom, Marilyn. Birth of the Chess Queen: A History.New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Yates, Frances A. The Valois Tapestries. London:Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.

Zigrosser, Carl. Six Centuries of Fine Prints. NewYork: Garden City Publishing, 1939.


343

Aabatis 313gabbaco 281Abbate, Niccolò dell’ 71, 89Abrabanel, Judah ben Isaac 56,

148Abrabanel, Isaac 58absolute power 10accessories (fashion) 304Acciaiuoli, Donato 148Acciaiuoli family 219accounting 210, 281Acosta, José de 263adultery

charivari 302sexual advice and activity 295

Aeneid (Virgil) 130Aertsen, Pieter 89, 306Afonso V (king of Portugal) 14Africa and Africans 321c, 322c. See

also slavery and slavescartography 226Congo 37, 234, 321cexploration 224, 232, 234foreign missions 37geography 225northern xivportolan chart of northwestern

227mPortugal 12slavery 218–219sugarcane plantations 219

Agincourt, Battle of 193, 321c

Agnadello, Battle of 322cbattles and sieges 194leagues 193

Agostino di Duccio 89Agricola, Georg 211, 220, 322cAgricola, Rudolphus 145, 148agriculture

commerce 213–214the papacy 30

Agrippa von Nettesheim 58Alamanni, Luigi 142, 148Alarcón, Hernando de 241, 322cAlberti, Leon Battista 89, 100,

102–103, 120, 321cFilippo Brunelleschi 101ecclesiastical buildings 109fortresses/castles/palaces 111geometry 256and perspective 67training in the law 278

Albigensian Crusade 40Albrecht (duke of Prussia) 161Albrecht III Achilles (elector of

Brandenburg) 22, 196Albuquerque, Afonso de 237, 241alchemy 253, 254Alciati, Andrea 133, 148alcohol 299

beer 215, 305spirits 215wine 38, 39, 52, 53, 214, 215,

215, 215, 305Aldrovandi, Ulisse 260, 264

Aldus. See Manutius, AldusAlemán, Mateo 137, 148Alexander VI (pope) 22, 32, 196alfalfa 213Alfonso II (king of Naples) 32Alfonso V (king of Aragon) 8, 9, 22,

196, 275algebra 254, 254, 256, 311all’antica 313gAllegory of Arithmetic (Gregor

Reisch) 280Allegory of avarice, with skeleton

(Jacopo Ligozzi) 307allopathic medicine 250, 261aloe juice 306Alonso, Gabriel 213Alphonse V of Aragon 110Alsace xvaltar

church hierarchy 52clergy 35iconoclasm 53Protestant Reformation 52

altarpiece(s) 72–74, 313g, 321c15th-century painted 72, 73,

7316th-century painted 74clergy 35donor portraits on 75–76guilds 216portraiture 75–76sculpture 81

Altdorfer, Albrecht 89

I N D E X

345

INDEX

Boldface page numbers indicate major treatment of a subject. Italic page locators indicate illustrations. Page numberswith suffix m denote a map; suffix c denotes a chronology; and suffix g denotes a glossary.

Álvarez de Toledo, Fernando (dukeof Alba) 196

Ambrosian RepublicItaly 4Milan 8

Amerbach, Johannes 58American Revolution 311Americas

cartography 226Charles I (Charles V) 14exploration of the West 238foreign missions 37geography 226Latin America 41Mexico 37, 211, 240, 322cNorth America 37, 311, 322cPortugal 12South America 37, 211, 219,

240Spanish America 219sugarcane plantations 219

ammunition 188Amours (Pierre de Ronsard) 163amputation 190, 191, 260, 263Amsterdam

cartography 228drugs 259

Amyot, Jacques 148Anabaptists

Netherlands 50Protestant Reformation 50, 52

anamorphosis 313ganatomy 250, 260, 261

Galen 260–262, 278, 295, 321cAndreas Vesalius 260, 261,

267, 278, 287, 322cAnchieta, José de 58Andrea del Sarto 89Andria (Terence) 143Angelico, Fra 89Anglican Church. See Church of

EnglandAnglo-Scottish Conflicts 181Angoulême dynasty 20Anguissola, Sofonisba 76, 89Anjou 4, 19Ann (mother of Mary) 46Anne, Saint 283Anne of Brittany 196Anne of Denmark (queen of

England) 143–144Annunciation 313ganthrax xivAntico 89–90“antimasque” 144antipopes

Council of Basel 43the papacy 30

antiquities15th century and Roman ruins

10716th-century Roman restoration

108museums 117

anti-SemitismInquisition 41Judaism 54

Antwerpaltarpiece 74civic architecture 119civic processions 300fortifications 192mercenaries 187Revolt of the Netherlands

181–182travel of harbors 230

Apianus, Petrus 237, 241, 264Apocalypse 313gApocalypse (Albrecht Dürer) 85, 322capothecaries 259Apotheosis of the Virgin (altarpiece) 73apprenticeship 281, 281–282

children 297guilds 216oath of 281–282shipbuilding 216training in medicine 278

aprons 304Aquaviva, Claudio 58Aquinas, Saint Thomas. See Thomas

Aquinas, SaintArabs 86Aragon xv

Charles I (Charles V) 13education 275history, government, and

society 3, 8Inquisition 41Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12,

13Italy 8major rulers of 20Spain 11

Aragona, Tullia d’ 148arcade 116, 313garchaeology 107archbishop of Mainz 9–10archers

battles and sieges 193battle tactics 188handheld weaponry 184

arches 302Archimedes 256architects

Leon Battista Alberti. SeeAlberti, Leon Battista

Donato Bramante 32, 104,110, 120

Filippo Brunelleschi. SeeBrunelleschi, Filippo

Philibert Delorme 105–106,111, 113, 120

Jacques Androuet Ducerceauthe Elder 106, 120

major 120–122Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101–102, 110, 114, 116,121

Nicholas V 31Andrea Palladio. See Palladio,

AndreaRaphael 104. See also Raphaeland rise of the 100–106Sebastian Serlio 103, 104, 108,

111, 115, 121Giorgio Vasari 105. See also

Vasari, GiorgioGiacomo da Vignola 105, 114,

122architecture and urban planning

100–12215th century and Roman ruins

107beyond Italy and France

117–120civic architecture 119ecclesiastical buildings

109–111, 118, 118fortresses/castles/palaces

111–113gardens 115, 119–120influence of Rome on

106–109influences of the Renaissance

on 311inscriptions 109major architects 120–122palaces 118–119patronage in Italian civic

115–117religion 30and rise of the architect

100–106villas 113–114

architrave 114Archittetura (Sebastian Serlio) 103Arcimboldo, Giuseppe 90Arctic 241, 323carcuated 313gArena (Scrovegni) Chapel (Padua)

67, 68Aretino, Pietro 135, 148Argyropoulos, Johannes 264Arias Montano, Benito 58


346

Ariosto, Ludovico 148comedy 143epic poetry 131Latin 126

aristocracy xiv, 142Aristotle

history, government, andsociety 4

Italy 4oratory and rhetoric 144, 145pastoral poetry 133pedagogical treatises 272Poetics 128science 250tragedy 140

ark 55Arminius, Jacobus 58armor. See also weaponry

of George Clifford 183Julius II 32mining 211

the army 186, 186–189Arndt, Johann 58Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (Jan van

Eyck) 77arquebus 194, 313gArras, Treaty of 195, 321carrows 184Arruda, Diogo de 118Arsenal (Venice) workshops

215–216ars moriendi

disease/illness/death 307religious literature 46

Ars poetica (Horace)literary theory 128Renaissance treatises 129

art and artists xiii, 66–98. See alsopatronage; specific headings, e.g.:Leonardo da Vinci

apprenticeship 282Clement VII 33confraternities 37decorative 85–89, 87–89destruction of 53–54, 66–67geometry 256influences of the Renaissance

on 311major artists 89–98Nicholas V 31painting. See paintingprints 85religion 30scholarship 310sculpture. See sculpturetapestries. See tapestries

Arthur, King 137,138

artillery 184, 185, 313gbattle tactics 189bronze sculpture 84fired projectiles 184fortifications 191, 192mercenaries 186military supply 188the navy 189

artisans 218Ascham, Roger 148, 276, 285, 285Asia 37, 226, 232, 236massembly line 216Assumption of Mary, altarpiece of

the 81Assumption of the Virgin (Correggio)

71astrolabe 230astrology 250–251, 251, 252, 253astronomy 250, 251, 257, 277

Tycho Brahe 250, 251, 264Nicolas Copernicus 250, 251,

265, 311, 322cJohannes Kepler 250, 251, 257,

266Attaingnant, Pierre 172Attendolo, Micheletto 196Augsburg 209Augsburg Confession 49Augustine, Saint 277Augustinians 35Aulic Council

Germany 15history, government, and

society 10Holy Roman Empire 10

Aurelius, Marcus 135Austria

Austro-Turkish Wars 181history, government, and

society 9, 10Holy Roman Empire 9, 10

Austrian Imperial Library 147Austro-Turkish Wars 181autobiography 135Avalos, Ferdinando Francesco d’

(marquis of Pescara) 194, 196Avalos del Vasto, Alfonso d’ 196Averroës 128Avignon 30Avis 20azimuth compass 313gAzores 214

Bbabies. See infantsBacon, Francis 184, 264bagpipe 168, 169Baïf, Jean-Antoine de 148

Balboa, Vasco Núñez de Balboa 240,245, 322c

Baldovinetti, Alessio 90Baldung Grien, Hans 90ballade 162, 313gballads 162Baltic states xvibalustrades 119Bandello, Matteo 196Báñez, Domingo 58banking 2, 116, 208–210, 210, 321cbaptism

anti-Semitism 40Protestant Reformation 52sacraments 38theological elements 52

Barbari, Jacopo de’ 90Barbarigo, Andrea 220Barbaro, Daniele 256, 264Barbaro, Giosofat 241Barbarossa 197Barbaro the Younger, Ermolao 258,

264barber-surgeon. See surgeonsBarbosa, Arias 275, 285Barcelona 209Barclay, Alexander 148Bardi, Giovanni de’ 164Barents, Willem 241, 241, 323cbarges 229, 230Baro, Peter 58Baron, Hans 311barrel vault 313gBarros, João 241Bartizza, Gasparino 148Bartolommeo, Fra 90Barzizza, Gasparino 273, 274, 285basilica 109. See also Saint Peter’s

Basilicabas relief 313gbasse danse 313gbastion (or bastion trace) 192, 313gbattle(s) 193–194. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Bosworth, Battle ofscene 186“Swiss Square” formation 185tactics for 188–189

Bauhin, Gaspard 264Bayer, Johann 264beads 86bearbaiting 299Beaumont, Francis 148beer 215, 305the Beguines 36Behaim, Martin 241Belarus xviBelgium xvBellarmino, Roberto (cardinal) 58

I N D E X

347

Bellay, Jean du (cardinal) 136Bellay, Joachim du 129, 148Bellini, Gentile 90Bellini, Giovanni 90Bellini, Jacopo 90Bembo, Pietro 131, 149Benedetti, Giovanni Battista 264Benedictines 35Benedict XIII, (antipope at Avignon)

58Bening, Sanders 90Bening, Simon 90Benzi, Ugo 264Berenson, Bernard 310Berruguete, Alonso 90Berruguete, Pedro 90Bessarion, Basil (cardinal) 58, 146betrothals 295Bèze, Théodore de 58–59, 142Biandrata, Giorgio 264

Catholic 45English 53Gutenberg 45Hebrew 54, 54–55Judaism 54, 54–55Noah’s ark illustration from 48printing and publishing 217Protestant 52–53Protestant Reformation 50Protestant universities 279publishing 217religious orders 35witches 40

Biblioteca Apostolica 147Bijns, Anna 149billhook or bill 314gbills of exchange 209Binchois, Gilles 172binding of books 218Biocca, Battle of 194, 322cbiography 135Biondo, Flavio 107, 149Biringuccio, Vannoccio 220, 253,

264bishops

clergy 34preaching 47Protestant Reformation 52religious orders 35

Bishop’s Bible 53

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon 241blank verse 314gblock book 216, 314gBlois (royal residence) 113bloodletting 259, 262–263blood libel 40–41

Bloody Mary. See Mary TudorBlotius, Hugo 147board games 298Boccaccio, Giovanni 113–114, 149,

283Boccalini, Traiano 149bodices 304Bodin, Jean 220Bodleian Library (Oxford) 146Bohemia

history, government, andsociety 9, 10

Holy Roman Empire 9, 10Inquisition 41Protestant Reformation 48–49

Bohemian Brethren 48Boiardo, Matteo Maria 149Boissard, Jean-Jacques 239Boleyn, Anne

England 50

Protestant Reformation 50

anatomy 261history, government, and

society 4Italy 4

Bologna, University of 278bombard 314gBombelli, Rafael 264Bondone, Giotto di 67Bontemps, Pierre 83, 90bookbinders 218bookkeeping (double-entry) 208,

210booklets 47Book of Common Prayer

England 50Protestant Reformation 50, 52,

53Protestant religious literature

53theological elements 52

book of hours 46books

binding of 218musical 171, 171, 172printed 127–128, 171, 171, 172printing of 217title page of 138

Borgia, Cesare 197Borgoña, Juan de 71, 90Borja, Francisco de 59Borromeo, Carlo (cardinal) 44, 59,

161Bos, Cornelis 90Boscán, Juan 131, 149Bosch, Hieronymus 90

Bosworth, Battle of 321cpeace treaties and settlements

195Wars of the Roses 180

botany 250, 258, 258–259Dioscorides 257, 258Christophe Plantin 45,

258–259Botero, Giovanni 197Botticelli, Sandro 91

fresco painting 70Madonna and Child with Saint

John the Baptist 165Boulogne 18Bourbon, House of 20Bourdeille, Pierre de (seigneur de

Brantôme) 197Bouts, Dieric 91boys

children 296–297daily life 290–291

Bracciolini, Poggio 149, 28515th century and Roman ruins

106–107pedagogical treatises 271

Brahe, Tycho 264astronomy 250, 251science 250

Bramante, Donato 104, 120Italian ecclesiastical buildings

110Julius II 32

Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria delCarmine

fresco painting 69Brandenburg 21brandy 215Brant, Sebastian 149

lyric poetry 132portrait of 303

brass instruments 167, 168Brazil 240, 322c

exploration of the East 237foreign missions 37sugarcane plantations 219

breadcooking and serving 305the Eucharist 39food 305sacraments 38

Bresse xvBrethern of the Common Life

humanistic education inGermany 275, 276

Protestant Reformation 47religious orders 35

Breton, Gilles de 113Breughel the Elder, Pieter 91


348

Henry VIII 18

Bologna xv

the Bible xiv

Black Death xiv, 48, 218

bricks 297, 298brides 302Brittany xv

Hundred Year’s War 180wars 178

bronze 321ccannons 189sculpture 83, 84

Bronzino, Agnolo 91Portrait of Cosimo I de’ Medici 7portrait of Andrea Doria 77tapestries 80

Brunelleschi, Filippo 100–101, 101,120, 321c

ecclesiastical buildings 109geometry 256Michelangelo 105Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101and perspective 67

Brunfels, Otto 264Bruni, Leonardo 149, 285

history 134humanistic education 270, 272pedagogical treatises 272

Bruno, Giordano 59astronomy 251Inquisition 42

Brussels 78Bry, Théodore de 241Bucer, Martin 59Buchanan, George 149, 286

humanistic education inScotland 277

tragedy 142Buda, siege of 182Budé, Guillaume 149, 286

court libraries 147education in France 274Francis I 10humanism 163, 274Latin 125music 163

buildingscastles 111, 111–113, 114country houses 113–114,

118–119ecclesiastical 109–111, 118, 118fortresses 111–113, 112, 191villas 113, 113–114

Bullinger, Heinrich 59bulwark 192, 314gBuoncompagni, Ugo. See Gregory

XIIIBurckhardt, Jakob 310Burgundy xv–xvi

Hundred Year’s War 180major rulers of 20

the Netherlands 15, 16peace treaties and settlements

196tapestries 78wars 178

burin 314gburning at the stake 42, 321cbusiness 280Bussone da Carmagnola, Francesco

197butter 305Byne, Arthur 301Byrd, William 162, 172–173Byzantine Church 43–44Byzantium 4

CCabala

astrology 253Judaism 56Sistine Chapel ceiling 70

Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez 241Cabot, John 240, 241, 322c

exploration of the West 240route of 233m

Cabot, Sebastian 241Cabral, Pedro Álvars 240, 241, 322c

exploration of the East 237geography 225

Caccini, Giulio 164Cadamosto, Alvise de 235m, 242Cádiz 189–190Caesar, Julius 292Cajetan, San 59Cajetan, Tommaso (cardinal) 59

calendar 34, 291, 292–293, 322cCalifornia 322ccaltrop 314gcalvary

condottieri 187handheld weaponry 184mercenaries 186

Calvin, Jean 49, 59, 322cthe Bible 45foreign missions 37heresies 40Protestant Reformation 48–50Protestant religious literature 53sacred music 161Switzerland 49, 50

Calvinism and Calvinists. See alsoCalvin, Jean

Bohemia 48church hierarchy 52clothing 304Council of Trent 44

foreign missions 37France 51iconoclasm 53Inquisition 41music 161Netherlands 50Protestant Reformation 48,

50–52sacraments 38sacred music 160Scotland 51theological elements 52

Cambrai, Peace of 322cCamden, William 149cameo 314gthe Camerata 164Camões, Luiz Vaz de 149

epic poetry 130lyric poetry 131

Campagna 30Campi, Bernardino 91Campin, Robert 91Campion, Edmund 59Canada 37canals 229, 230Canary Islands 214, 234Canis, Corneille 165cannon

artillery 185battles and sieges 195fired projectiles 184the navy 189

Cano, Juan Sebastián del 240, 242,322c

Cano, Melchior 59canon law

law 278Protestant universities 279

canons (regular clergy) 34cantus 314gcantus firmus 161, 314gCão, Diogo 240, 242, 321c

exploration of Africa 234map of exploration by 235m

a capella 161Cape of Good Hope 321ccapital 104, 314gcapitalism 208Caraccioli, Giovanni 197Carafa, Giam Peitro. See Paul IVCararra marble 82Caravaggio 91caravans 231caravels 231Cardano, Girolamo 264

algebra 254astrology 253

card games 298

I N D E X

349

Calais xv, 18, 180

cardinalsCounter-Reformation 44the papacy 30–31Sixtus IV 31

CarmelitesInquisition 42religious orders 35, 36

carnival 143, 299Caro, Annibale 149carpets 88Carracci, Annibale 296Carranza, Bartolomé de 59Cartier, Jacques 240, 242, 322ccartography 224–225, 226, 227m,

228, 322c. See also geography;navigation

cartoon 314gneedlework 88tapestries 78, 80

cartouche 314gCasa Giocosa 273, 274Casaubon, Isaac 150Cassander, Georg 59cassone 136Castanheda, Fernão Lopes de 150Castelnau, Michel de, sieur de la

Mauvis-Sière 197Castelvetro, Lodovico 128, 150Castiglione, Baldassare 150, 322c

drama 140wind instruments 168

Castile xvCharles I (Charles V) 13history, government, and

society 3Inquisition 41Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12,

13major rulers of 20Spain 11

Castillejo, Cristóbal de 150Castillo interior (Teresa of Ávila) 46castles 111, 111–113, 114. See also

palacescastrati 166Castro y Bellvís, Guillén de 150Casulana, Maddalena 162catapults

artillery 184the Navy 189

Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of 4catechism 47cathedral(s)

architecture 100ecclesiastical buildings 118of Florence 100–101, 109, 321chumanistic education in France

274

Catherine of AragonEngland 50Henry VIII 18humanistic education in

England 276learned women 285Protestant Reformation 50

also specific headings, e.g.: Holy Seeanti-Semitism 40–41banking 209betrothals 295the Bible 45, 45. See also the

Biblecardinals 30–31, 44church councils 43–44Church of Santa Croce 36clergy 34–35. See also clergyconfraternities 37Council of Basel 43, 49, 52,

321cCouncil of Constance 30, 31,

43, 321cCouncil of Florence 43–44,

321cCouncil of Lateran V 43, 44,

322cCouncil of Trent 44. See also

Council of TrentCounter-Reformation 44–45.

See also Counter-Reformation

destruction of art of the 66the Eucharist 38, 39, 39. See

also the Eucharistforeign missions 37, 38, 38France 51Henry VIII 18heresy 30, 32, 40–41, 43history, government, and

society 2Index of Forbidden Books 34Index of Prohibited Books 33,

42–43, 44indulgences. See indulgences

(papal)Inquisition 41–42. See also

InquisitionIsabella I and Ferdinand V 12Julius II 32Latin vs. the vernacular 127literature, drama and preaching

46–47lyric poetry 132Saint Margaret of Antioch 35orders and groups 35–37the papacy 30–34. See also the

papacy

Paul IV 33persecution of witches 40Protestant Reformation 51religion 30sacraments 34, 38–39science 250sumptuary laws 303training in theology 277working conditions in music

167Catholicism and Catholics

anti-Semitism 40calendar 292, 293comedy 143disease/illness/death 307England 50the Eucharist 38, 39, 39. See

also the EucharistFrance 51Gregory XIII 34Isabella I and Ferdinand V 13music 160–161peace treaties and settlements

196Pius IV 33preaching 46Protestant Reformation 50, 51Protestant universities 279sacred music 160Scotland 18sermons 145–146singing and performance 166Synagogue 55warfare 178

Catholic League (French HolyLeague) 193

Catholic League of Nuremberg193

cavalry 186, 314gbattles and sieges 193field armor 183standing armies 187

Cavendish, Thomas 242ceilings 110celibacy

clergy 34Protestant Reformation 50religion 30Switzerland 50

Cellini, Benvenuto 91autobiography 135decorative art 86

Celtic language 124Celtis, Konrad 150Cennini, Cennino 91

apprenticeship of artists 282on wooden panel painting 71,

72


350

Catholic Church xiv, 34–47, 322c. See

censorshipCounter-Reformation 44Index of Prohibited Books 42

ceramics 84–86Cerignola, Battle of 194, 322cCervantes Saavedra, Miguel de 150

novels 137tragedy 142

Cesalpino, Andrea 258, 264Chael of Saint-Lazare 110chain mail 182, 183Chambord 113Champlain, Samuel 242Chancellor, Richard 242chanson 162, 163, 314gChapel of Anet 111charity 290charivari 302Charles (duke of Bourbon) 194, 198Charles I (king of Spain) xv, 13. See

also Charles V (Holy RomanEmperor)


Holy Roman Empire 9Spain 11

Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor)xv, xvi, 13, 13–14, 22, 197. Seealso Charles I (king of Spain)

16th-century Romanrestoration 108

battles and sieges 193, 194beer 215chivalric romance 139Clement VII 33court libraries 147Florence 7France 274Germany 15Henry VIII 18history, government, and

society 4, 7, 9Holy Roman Empire 9humanistic education in France

274Index of Prohibited Books 42Italian Wars 181Italy 4leagues 193military supply 188the Netherlands 16palaces 118patronage 164, 165peace treaties and settlements

195Schmalkaldic War 181Spain 11standing armies 187

tapestries 78warfare 178wars 180wheel lock pistol of 185

Charles VI (king of France) 147Charles VII (king of France) 23, 197

battles and sieges 193France 10history, government, and

society 10peace treaties and settlements

195Charles VIII (king of France) 23,

197Alexander I 32court libraries 147fortifications 192history, government, and

society 4humanism and music 163Innocent VIII 31Italy 4leagues 193

Charles VIII (king of Sweden) 197Charles IX (king of France) 23, 197Charles XI (king of France) 51Charles of Guise (cardinal of

Lorraine) 51, 59Charles the Bold (duke of Burgundy)

23, 197–198charts (sailing) 318g–319g

cartography 225, 226, 228coastal navigation 230the Navy 189portolan chart 225, 226, 227m,

228, 230, 318g–319gof western Europe and

northwestern Africa 227mchâteau 112Chaucer, Geoffrey 321ccheese 305Cheke, Sir John 276chemistry 253–254

Vannoccio Biringuccio 220,253, 264

Paracelsus 253, 262, 266Chemnitz, Martin 59chess 298cheval-de-frise 314gchiaroscuro 314gChigi, Agostino 209, 220childbirth

anatomy 260midwifery 40, 263, 263, 278

children 295–297Alexander I 32disease/illness/death 306education of 283, 283

family life 293, 294games 298infanticide 297infants 56, 306Innocent VIII 31orphans 36, 297secondary curriculum 280teasing a cat 296toddlers 296, 306widowhood 294

chimes 168China 38chitarrone 169chivalric romance 137, 139, 314g

epic poetry 131prose 133Renaissance treatises 129secondary curriculum 280

chocolate 259choir books 171choirs

church 165patronage 165sacred music 160singing and performance 166working conditions in music

166chorales 160chorography 225Christ, Jesus. See also Crucifixion

anti-Semitism 41civic processions 300drama 46the Eucharist 39literature 46, 53Passion 46, 318gProtestant Reformation 52Resurrection 35, 319gtheological elements 52

Christ (Giotto di Bondone) 67Christ Church 276Christianity xiii, xiv. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Catholicism andCatholics

15th century and Roman ruins106

Africa 234battles and sieges 195the Bible. See the BibleCabala 56Jesus Christ. See Christ, Jesuschurches 72–74Crucifixion 35, 39, 41, 72, 84,

315gCrusades xiv, 12–13, 31, 44, 57disease/illness/death 307the Eucharist 38, 39, 39, 44,

52, 315g

I N D E X

351

Christianity (continued)exploration 224, 232, 234foreign missions 37Latin 126Mary. See Mary, VirginSynagogue 55warfare 178

Christian IV (king of Denmark) 198Christine de Pisan 150, 198, 286Christmas 291, 300Christus, Petrus 91Chrysoloras, Manuel 272church bells 291churches

clergy 35ecclesiastical buildings 109foreign missions 37Italian ecclesiastical buildings

110religion 30

Church of England (AnglicanChurch)

Book of Common Prayer 53church hierarchy 52England 17, 50Henry VIII 18Protestant Reformation 50, 52theological elements 52

Church of Our Lady (Cracow) 81Church of Saint John (Ghent) 72Church of Saint Peter (Louvain) 74Church of Saint-Pierre (Caen) 111Church of San Francesco (Arezzo) 69Church of San Francesco della Vigna

(Venice) 109Church of Santa Croce (Florence,

Italy) 36Church of Sant’ Andrea (Mantua)

102–103Cibò, Giovanni Battista. See

Innocent VIIICicero

gardens 115humanistic and court libraries

146humanistic education in Italy

273Italy 273Jewish sermons 56Latin 126libraries 146oratory and rhetoric 144, 145

circumcision 56circumnavigation of the globe 234,

240, 322cCisneros, Francisco Jiménez de

(cardinal) 59the Bible 45

Charles I (Charles V) 13fresco painting 71Inquisition 41Isabella I and Ferdinand V 13

Cistercian order 35citadels 192cities xiv, 2, 290cittern 169city-states


Italian 2, 178, 273–274Italy 3

civic architecture 119civic processions 299–300civil law 278classical style


humanism, philology, andpublishing 124

sculpture 80Classroom scene (woodcut) 271Clavius, Christoph 264–265clay sculpture 84, 85Clement VII (pope) 23, 33, 198

Italian fortresses/castles/palaces112

libraries 117clerestory 314gclergy 34–35

church hierarchy 52Germany 49Gregory XIII 34history, government, and

society 6Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12the Netherlands 16Protestant Reformation 49, 52religious orders 35sacraments 38Venice 6

Cleve, Joos van 11Clifford, George (earl of

Cumberland) 183clocks 291cloisters

Donato Bramante 104mural paintings 69

clothing and costume 89, 303,303–304

Clouet, François 91Clovio, Giulio 91Clusius, Carolus 259, 265coal mining 211coat of arms 314gcodpieces 304Coeur, Jacques 220

coffee 259coffers 314gcoins

crafts 215exploration and travel 224money 209, 210portrait of Iolanta Ludovica 84

Colet, John 276, 286Coligny, Gaspard de 59, 198College of San Clemente 275Collegiate Church of Moulins 76Collegio 6Colleoni, Bartolomeo 198Colosseum (Rome, Italy) 108Colón, Diego 242colonialism and colonization 323c

exploration of the West 238,240

foreign missions 37history, government, and

society 2Portugal 12Spain 12warfare 178

Colonna, Francesco 150Colonna, Oddo. See Martin VColonna, Vittoria 131, 150coloring of sculpture 80Columbus, Christopher 240, 242,

321ccartography 226exploration of the East 234,

237exploration of the West 238navigation 231portrait of 239route of 233m

column(s) 103, 104, 314gcomedy 143, 314g

commedia dell’arte 144drama 140

command structure 188commedia dell’arte 144commerce 208–221. See also trade;

specific headings, e.g.: Medici familyagriculture 213–214banking 210banking and accounting

208–210crafts 215–216major figures in 219–221mining 210–212, 211printing/publishing 216–218slavery 218–219textiles 212, 212, 213wine/beer/spirits 214, 215,

215common law 278


352

communal living 48Commune of Lucea 271communications (in the army) 188communion

Book of Common Prayer 53church hierarchy 52clergy 35Protestant Reformation 47,

52sacraments 38

Commynes, Philippe de 134, 150,198

Company of Saint Ursula 36compass rose 314gComplutensian Polygot Bible 45composers 172–175. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Lassus, Orlando dihumanism and music 163patronage 165singing and performance 166

Composite (style of column order)104

conception 295condottiere 187, 314g

aftermath of warfare 191mercenaries 186soldiering 185

confession 39confirmation 38confraternities 37Confraternity of Saint Ann

(Louvain) 74Confucianism 38Congo 321c

exploration of Africa 234foreign missions 37

congregation 52Congregation of the Index 44conquistadores 2Constantinople xiv, 321c

battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 4Islam 56Italy 4siege of 194

consubstantiation 39Contarini, Ambrogio 242Contarini, Gasparo 23contests, sculpture 80–81Conti, Niccolò de 242contrapposto 67, 314gConvento do Cristo 118convent(s)

daily life 291education of women and girls

282foreign missions 37

learned women 285religious orders 36

conversos 41, 42cooking and serving 306Coornhert, Dirck Volckertszoon 150Copernicus, Nicolas 265, 322c

astronomy 250, 251influences of the Renaissance

on 311science 250

copla 315gcopper

mining 211money 209

copyrights 218Córdoba

mosques 57Reconquest of Spain 180

Corinthian styleFilippo Brunelleschi 101Sebastian Serlio 104

cornet 168cornice 315gCornwall, England 211Coronado, Francisco Vázquez de

240, 246, 322ccorporal punishment 300Corpus Christi 39Correggio 70–71, 91corsets 304Corte Real family 242the Cortes 11

of Aragon 11Charles I (Charles V) 13history, government, and

society 3, 8Portugal 14

Cortés, Hernán 198, 240, 322cCortés de Albacar, Martin 242Corvinus, Matthias 17Coryate, Thomas 242Cosa, Juan de la 242Cosimo, Piero di 74Cosimo I de’ Medici (duke of

Florence and grand duke ofTuscany) 80, 198

cosmology 250cotton 213Couer, Jacques 220Council of Basel 43, 321c

Bohemia 49Protestant Reformation 49, 52theological elements 52

Council of Constance 43, 321cMartin V 31religion 30

Council of Florence 43–44, 321cCouncil of Lateran V 43, 44, 322c

Council of Nine Hundred 8Council of Pisa 44Council of Regency 10Council of Ten (Venice) 6Council of Trent 44, 322c

calendar 292church councils 43Counter-Reformation 44Gregory XIII 34Index of Prohibited Books 43Paul III 33Pius IV 33religious orders 36sacred music 161

councilsroyal 13–14sacred music 161

Counter-Reformation 44–45altarpieces 72astronomy 251Catholic Church 34clergy 35Council of Trent 44Feast of Fools 300foreign missions 37France 274games 298Gregory XIII 34humanistic education in France

274country houses 113–114, 118–119couriers 232The Courtier (Baldassare Castiglione)

140, 322ccourt libraries 146–147courtly romance. See chivalric

romancecourts (ecclesiastical) 42Coverdale, Miles 53, 60Covilhã, Pêro da 242

exploration of Africa 234route of 235m

crafts 215–216Cranach the Elder, Lucas 91Cranmer, Thomas (archbishop of

Canterbury) 53, 60Crete 6crimes 300cristallo 87Crivelli, Carlo 91Cromwell, Thomas 50, 60crops 214crossbow 182, 184, 315gcrossdressing 299Crucifixion 315g. See also Passion;

Resurrectionaltarpieces 72anti-Semitism 41

I N D E X

353

Crucifixion (continued)clergy 35the Eucharist 39painted enamel plaque of the

84cruciform design 116crumhorn 168, 169

Council of Lateran V 44Isabella I and Ferdinand V

12–13Pius II 31

cruzada 12–13Cuba

exploration of the West 238slavery 219

Cueva, Juan de la 150Cunha, Tristão (Tristan) da 242cupola

Filippo Brunelleschi 101clergy 35fresco painting 70–71

cups 88Curia. See Roman Curiacurrency 209cursive 127Cusanus, Nicholas 251customary law 10cymbals 168Czech Republic 9

Ddaggers 184daily life 290–307

calendar 34, 291, 292–293,322c

carnival 299ceremonies/festivities/other

public events 299–307charivari 302children 295–297, 296civic processions and public

gatherings 299–300clothing and costume 303,

303–304disease/illness/death 306–307,

307family life 293–299food and cooking 305, 306,

306games 298housing 297, 297, 298, 298.

See also housinglegal tribunal 290sports 299, 299state funerals 301, 302time 291, 292

triumphal entries 300, 302Venetian lacquered wood chest

293weddings 302, 305

damascene 315gDance of Death 315g

disease/illness/death 307religious literature 46

dancingpedagogical treatises 272sports 299weddings 302

Dante Alighieri 130, 150Danti, Egnazio 265Das Narrenschiff (Sebstian Brant)

132David (Donatello) 83, 321c

David, Gérard 91–92Davis, John 241–242

death masks 75Decameron (Giovanni Boccaccio)

113–114decorative arts 85–89

ceramics 84–86furniture 88, 88glass 86–88, 87gold and silver 86needlework 88, 89, 283

Dee, John 253, 265Defenestration of Prague 49Della pittura (Alberti) 101Della Porta, Giambattista 257, 265Della Robbia, Andrea 92Della Robbia, Luca 92Delorme, Philibert 105–106, 111,

113, 120De materia medica (Dioscorides)

258democracy 7De philologia (Guillaume, Budé) 125De pictura (Leon Battista Alberti) 67Deposition 315gDeruta factory 86Des Autels, Guillaume 150Des Périers, Bonaventure 60Desportes, Philippe 150Desprez, Josquin 165, 166, 173De Thou, Jacques Auguste 134,

151Devereux, Robert (earl of Essex)

198device (personal symbol) 133devotio moderna 35, 36devotional imagery

clay sculpture 84iconoclasm 53–54, 66, 316g

Protestant Reformation 47religion 30

devotional literature 46Dialectique (Petrus Ramus) 145Diane de Poitiers (château) 113Dias, Bartolomeu 234, 235m, 240,

243, 321cDias, Dinís 235mDíaz del Castillo, Bernal 243Dieppe 230the Diet 16, 17Diet of 1495 10Diet of Augsburg (1530) 49Diet of Worms (1521) 47diets 3Digges, Leonard 265Digges, Thomas 265diocese 34Dioscorides 257, 258diptych 315gDiscalced Carmelites

Inquisition 42religious orders 36

disease and illness 306–307altarpiece 74military medicine 178,

190–191dissection

anatomy 260, 261training in medicine 278

Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri)130

divorce 50Dodecachordon (Heinrich Glarean)

164Dodoens, Junius Rembert 265Dolce, Lodovico 151, 282Dolet, Étienne 42, 60dome 321c

Filippo Brunelleschi 100Italian ecclesiastical buildings

110Michelangelo 105Giacomo da Vignola 105

domestic skills 284Dominicans

Pius V 33religious orders 35training in theology 277

Donatello 92, 321cbronze sculpture 83decorative art 86

Don Carlo (Verdi) 311Don Juan of Austria 195Donne, John 151Donne Triptych (Hans Memling) 76Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes

Saavedra) 137


354

Crusades xiv, 57

death xiv, 306, 307

David (Michelangelo) xiii

Doria, Andrea 198battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 4Italy 4

Doric order 103, 104Dovizi, Bernardo (Cardinal

Bibbiena) 140dowry

betrothals 295bridal portraits 76weddings 302

Drake, Sir Francis 195, 198, 240,243, 322c

drama 140, 141, 142–144. See alsotheater

comedy 140, 143, 144, 314gcommedia dell’arte 144confraternities 37masques 143–144religious drama 46tragedy 140, 140, 142–143,

320gtragicomedy 129, 143, 320g

drapery (in sculpture) 81drawing 282Drayton, Michael 151dresses 304drinking songs 162drugs 257–259, 259–260drummers 168drums 167–168drypoint 315gDu Bartas, Guillaume de Saluste

151Du Bellay, Jean. See Bellay, Jean duDu Belloy, Joachim. See Bellay,

Joachim du 151Ducerceau, Baptiste 106Ducerceau the Elder, Jacques

Androuet 106, 120Dudley, Robert (earl of Leicester)

198Dufay, Guillaume 173Dunstable, John 161, 173Dupérac, Etienne 109Dürer, Albrecht 92, 265, 322c

apparatus for translating objectsin drawings 67

Geometrical studies of the humanface (woodcut) 255

geometry 256prints 85wooden panel painting 72

the Dutch xvemblem 133lyric poetry 132slavery 218

the Dutch Revolt xvidying of fabric 213

EEannes, Gil 235m, 240, 321cearrings 304the Earth

astronomy 250, 251calendar 292exploration 232influences of the Renaissance

on 311earthwork 315gEaster

calendar 292daily life 291religious drama 46time 291

Eastern Orthodox Church 30ecclesiastical buildings 118

architecture of 109–111Monastery of El Escorial 118

ecclesiastical courts 42ecclesiastical justice 34Eck, Johann 47, 60eclogue 315gEclogues (Virgil) 133economic revolution 208education. See also specific headings,

e.g.: Erasmus, Desideriusapprenticeship 216, 278, 281,

281–282, 297Aragon 275of children 283, 283, 297classroom scene (woodcut)

271England 276, 277France 274Germany 275–276

Gregory XIII 34humanistic 270–277, 271,

283–284, 311in Italy 273–274major figures in 285–287Naples 275the Netherlands 275–276pedagogical treatises 271–273Portugal 275primary 279–280schools 271, 274, 276,

279–280Scotland 276–277secondary 280Sicily 275Spain 275

universities 35, 37, 271,277–279

of women and girls 282–285Edward VI (king of England) 60,

276Egas, Enrique 119eggs

food 305Nuremberg 291

Eischart, Johann 139Elcano, Juan Sebastián del. See

Cano, Juan Sebastián delelegy 315gElements (Euclid)

geometry 256liberal arts 277

Elizabeth I (queen of England) 23,60, 199

childhood education 283civic architecture 119England 17, 50games 298Henry VIII 18Pius V 33Protestant Reformation 50, 51Scotland 18, 51secular music 162string instruments 170tragedy 142wars 180wind instruments 168, 169

Elisabeth of Valois 76Elyot, Sir Thomas 151, 276, 280emblem 133, 315gemboss 315gembossed 315gembroidery 89

childhood education 283clothing 304needlework 88textiles 212

empires (European) xvenamal (white) 84enfilade fire 315g

specific headings, e.g.: Elizabeth IAnglo-Scottish Conflicts 181,

181anti-Semitism 40battles and sieges 193, 195calendar 293cartography 226Church of England. See Church

of Englandclothing 304comedy 143court libraries 147destruction of art in 66

I N D E X

355

England xiii, xv, 17–18, 323c. See also

Greek teachers xiv

England (continued)education 276, 277Edward VI 60, 276exploration of the West 240gardens 115, 119Henry VIII. See Henry VIIIhistory, government, and

society 2–4, 10, 134Holy Roman Empire 10Hundred Year’s War 180iconoclasm 53, 54influences of the Renaissance

on 311Italy 4leagues 193London 119, 300lyric poetry 132major rulers of 22masques 143the navy 189–190pastoral poetry 133peace treaties and settlements

195Protestant Bible 53Protestant Reformation 50, 51Renaissance treatises 129Revolt of the Netherlands 182Scotland 51slavery 218synagogue 55tapestries 78tragedy 142–143training in the law 278warfare 178wars 178, 180War of the Roses 180

English language 124engraving xv, 315g

literature and language 124prints 85

entablature 315gepic (poetry) 129, 130–131, 315gepidemics xivepigram 315gepigraphy 109Epiphany 315gepitaph 315gequations 254, 256Erasmus, Desiderius 60, 151, 286

the Bible 45England 276Germany 275humanistic education 275, 276Index of Prohibited Books 42Latin 126training in theology 278

Erastus, Thomas 60Ercilla y Zúniga, Alonso de 151

the Escorial 118Esquivel, Juan de 243Essais (Michel Eyquem de

Montaigne) 135Estates General

France 3, 11Francis I 11history, government, and

society 3Netherlands 16

Este, Alfonso I d’ (duke of Ferrara)23, 199

Este, Beatrice d’ 306Este, Isabella d’ 143

disease/illness/death 306singing and performance 166

Este, Leonello d’ (lord of Ferrara)80, 273, 274

Este family 167Estienne, Charles 265Estienne, Henri 151Estienne, Robert 45etch 315gEthiopia 234ethnographic information 225the Eucharist 39, 39, 315g

church hierarchy 52Council of Trent 44Protestant Reformation 52sacraments 38theological elements 52

Euclid 256, 277euphuism 315gEuripides 142Europe xiv

map of, c. 1460 3mmap of, c. 1519 179mpolitical boundaries xvportolan chart of western

227mwestern xiv

Eustachio, Bartolomeo 261, 265Everaerts, Jan Nicolaeszoom 151exchanges 116excommunication 47executions 300

also geography; navigation; specificheadings, e.g.: Cabral, Pedro Álvars

of Africa 234Asia and the Indian Ocean, in

16th century 236mJohn Cabot 233m, 240, 241,

322ccartography 224–225, 226,

227m, 228, 322cChristopher Columbus. See

Columbus, Christopher

to the East 234, 235, 235m,236m, 237–238

Vasco da Gama. See Gama,Vasco da

Ferdinand Magellan xiii, 233m,234, 240, 244, 322c

major voyages of 233mto the West 238, 239, 240

extreme unction 38Eyck, Hubert van xiii, 72, 92Eyck, Jan van xiii, 72, 77, 92eye glasses 257Eyot, Sir Thomas 286

FFabrici, Girolamo 265facade

architecture 117Château of Langeais (France)

112Church of Santa Maria della

Pieve 105ecclesiastical buildings 109, 110fortresses/castles/palaces

111–113libraries 117Sebastian Serlio 104theaters 116Giacomo da Vignola 105villas 114

faience 315gFalcius Illyricus 60Falloppio, Gabriele 261, 265fallowing 213family life 293–299

children 295–297, 296games 298housing 297, 297, 298, 298marriage 294–295sports 299

family portraits 77farce 143, 144, 316gFar East 232, 234, 238Farnese, Alessandro (duke of Parma)

199Farrant, Richard 166Fastnachtspiele 143Feast of Fools 300Federmann, Nikolaus 243Fenton, Edward 243Ferdinand I (Holy Roman Emperor)

23, 199battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 9Holy Roman Empire 9Hungary 17


356

exploration xiii, 224, 224–247. See

patronage 165Reconquest of Spain 180warfare 178

Ferdinand V of Aragon (king ofSpain) 23–24, 199, 321c

Charles I (Charles V) 13history 134Inquisition 41

Fernandes, Álvaro 243Fernández, Juan 243Fernández de Córdoba, Gonzalo

194, 199Fernández de Quirós, Pedro 243Fernel, Jean François 265Ferrante I (king of Naples) 24, 163,

199Ferrara xv

major rulers of 19tapestries 78, 80

Ferrari, Lodovico 265Ferreira, António 151fertility 295feudal society 2Fibonacci, Leonardo 281Ficino, Marsilio xiv, 151, 253fiction 135, 136field armor 182–183field conditions 190–191Field of the Cloth of Gold 1815th century

Swiss Wars 180–181wars, major 178

figureheads 216Filarete 120

hospitals 116town halls 116

Filelfo, Francescohumanistic education in Italy

274pedagogical treatises 272

Filipepi, Alessandro 92films 312fingers (system for counting on) 292Fior di virtù 280firearm(s) 316g

armor and weaponry 182field armor 182, 183fired projectiles 184mercenaries 186military supply 188militia 187tournament armor 183wheel lock pistol 185

fired projectiles xv, 184–185fire lance 316gfireplaces

cooking and serving 305family life 294

Fischart, Johann 151fish 305Fisher, John (cardinal) 60Five Wounds 46Flanders xv

battles and sieges 195peace treaties and settlements

196Flemish artists xv

naturalism of 69portraiture 75realism 73, 74tapestries 78Hugo van der Goes 73

Flemish tapestries 66, 79–80fletch 316gFletcher, John 151flintlock 316g

altarpieces 72–73architecture 100banking 209fresco painting 69history, government, and

society 4influences of the Renaissance

on 311Italy 4Leo X 32major rulers of 19Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101mural paintings 69peace treaties and settlements

196pedagogical treatises 272tapestries 78, 80textiles 212, 213

Florida 240, 322cFlorio, John 151Floris de Vriendt the Younger,

Cornelis 119, 120flowers 307flute 168, 169Foix, Gaston de (duke of Nemours)

199folk literature 137folk music 169Fonseca, Pedro da 60Fontainebleau

court libraries 147French

fortresses/castles/palaces113

fresco painting 71tapestries 78

Fontana, Domenico 108, 120Fontana, Lavinia 92

Fontanta, Prospero 92Fonte, Moderata 151food and cooking 305, 306, 306forage crops 213foreign missions 37, 38, 38fork 306Formigny, Battle of 193, 321cFortebraccio, Andrea 199fortifications 178, 191, 191, 192fortresses 111–113

Château of Langeais (France)112

fortifications 191foundlings 297fountains 115Fouquet, Jean 92Foxe, John 60Fracastoro, Girolamo 262, 265France xv, xvi, 10–11, 240, 321c,

322c. See also specific headings, e.g.:Louis XII

altarpieces 74Anglo-Scottish Conflicts 181anti-Semitism 40architects 105–106battles and sieges 193–195beer 215cartography 226Clement VII 33comedy 143drama 140ecclesiastical buildings

110–111education 274exploration of the West 240foreign missions 37fortifications 192fortresses/castles/palaces 112,

112, 113Francis I. See Francis Igardens 115, 119Henry II. See Henry IIHenry VIII 18history, government, and

society 2–4, 8–10Holy Roman Empire 9, 10Hundred Year’s War 180Inquisition 41Italian Wars 181Italy 4Julius II 32major rulers of 20Milan 8military command structure

188the Netherlands 15ode 132Paris 112, 195, 275

I N D E X

357

Florence xv, 6–8, 321c

France (continued)peace treaties and settlements

195, 196Pius II 31poetry 130printed books 127Protestant Reformation 51religion 30Revolt of the Netherlands 182secular music 163Sixtus IV 31southern Italy 8, 9standing armies 187synagogue 55tragedy 142travel literature 232warfare 178wars 178, 180wine 214

Francesca, Piero della. See Pierodella Francesca

Francis I (king of France) xv, 10–11,11, 24, 199

battles and sieges 194Clement VII 33court libraries 147fortresses/castles/palaces 112,

113France 10, 51Henry VIII 18history, government, and

society 4, 9, 10Holy Roman Empire 9humanism and music 163Italian Wars 181Italy 4peace treaties and settlements

195, 196Protestant Reformation 51standing armies 187wars 180

Francis II (king of France) 51Franciscan order

Church of Santa Croce 36Council of Constance 43foreign missions 37Judaism 54religious orders 35–36

Francis of Lorraine (duke of Guise)51, 60

Francis Xavier, Saint. See Xavier,Francis

Franco, Veronica 135, 151François (duke of Anjou) 199Francois I. See Francis IFrancois II. See Francis IIFrankfurt fair 218

Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor)278

Frederick III (Holy RomanEmperor) 9

freezing 190French language

comedy 143prose 133Renaissance treatises 129secular music 162

French Revolution 311French Royal Library 147fresco(-es) 44–45, 68–69, 316g,

321c15th-century 69–7016th-century 70–71of Giotto di Bondone 67Sistine Chapel ceiling 70tapestries 78wooden panel painting vs. 71,

72friar 316gFriday 56Frobisher, Sir Martin 231, 240, 243,

322cfrostbite 190Frundsberg, Georg von 199Fuchs, Leonhard 259, 266Fugger, Jakob 211, 212Fugger family 220funerals 301, 302, 307funerary monuments 83fur 303furniture

deocrative art 88, 88Intarsia paneling 88

Ggabion 316gGaddi, Agnolo 282Gaddi, Taddeo 69, 92Galen 321c

anatomy 260, 261medicine 262sexual advice and activity 295training in medicine 278

Galilei, Galileo 266humanism and music 164Inquisition 42science 250

Galilei, Michelangelo 164Galilei, Vincenzo

humanism and music 164printed music books 172

gallerygardens 119museums 117

Gallery of Ulysses (Fontainebleau)71

galliard 316gGama, Vasco da 240, 243, 322c

epic poetry 130exploration of the East 234,

235, 237geography 225route of 233m, 235m

games 298Garay, Juan de 243Garcilaso de la Vega 151–152Garcilaso de la Vega (el Inca) 152gardens 115, 119–120

botany 258country house 114French fortresses/castles/palaces

113stone sculpture 83villas 114

Garin, Eugenio 311garment (liturgical) 89Garnier, Robert 142, 152Gascoigne, George 152Gattamelata, Il 199gauffering 316gGeertgen tot Sint Jans 92Gemma Frisius, Reinerus 243Geneva, Switzerland 322cGeneva Bible 53Genoa xv, 321c

accounting 210banking 209history, government, and

society 4Italy 4

genre painting 316gGentile da Fabriano 92geography 224–225, 225–226. See

also cartographygeology 250Geometrical studies of the human face

(woodcut) 255geometry 255, 256–257

Euclid 256, 277study of liberal arts 277mathematics 254influences of the Renaissance

311Gerard, John 266Gerhsam, Sir Thomas 220German language

Protestant Reformation 47scholarship 311

Germany and Germans xv, 15anti-Semitism 40banking 209battles and sieges 194


358

Bohemia 49clothing 304comedy 143drama 140education 275–276gardens 120history, government, and

society 2, 3, 9, 10, 134Holy Roman Empire 9, 10Innocent VIII 32Inquisition 41leagues 193learned women 285library collections 146major rulers of 20–21novels 137Nuremberg 168peace treaties and settlements

196printed books 127Protestant Reformation 49religion 30sacred music 161tragedy 142warfare 178wind instruments 168witches 40Wittenberg 44, 47, 322c

Gesner, Conrad 266gesso 71, 316gGhent Altarpiece 72, 321cGherit 16ghettos 40, 41, 54Ghiberti, Lorenzo 92, 321c

bronze sculpture 83sculpture 80

Ghirlandaio, Domenico 70, 92Ghislieri, Antonio 33Giambologna 92–93Gilbert, Sir Humphrey 241, 243, 322cGilbert, William 250, 266Giorgio Martini, Francesco di 200Giorgione 93Giotto di Bondone 69, 93Giovio, Paolo 134, 152Giraldi, Giambattista Cinthio 152

Renaissance treatises 129tragedy 140

girlschildhood education 283daily life 290, 291disease/illness/death 306education of 282–285humanistic education in Italy

274learned women 284sports 299

Giulio Romano 93, 114

Giustiniani, Pompeo 200Glarean, Heinrich 164glass 86–88, 87glaze 84globe gores 225Goes, Hugo van der 72, 73, 93gold

banking 209chemistry 253decorative art 86exploration of the West 238Man Weighting Gold 210mining and slavery 219Portugal 12Spain 12textiles 213

goldsmithsdecorative art 86jewelry 304

golf 299Gombert, Nicolas 165, 173Gomes, Diogo 243Gonçalves, Nuno 76, 93gonfalone (banner) 316ggonfaloni (sixteenths) 6gonfaloniere 316gGóngora y Argote, Luis de 152Gonzaga, Cecilia 284Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco I 200Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco II (marquis

of Mantua) 24, 200Gonzaga, Lodovico 102Gonzaga, Ludovico II (marquis of

Mantua) 24, 200Gonzaga, Marguerita 274Gonzaga, Vincenzo 117Gonzaga family 114, 165gores (globe) 225Górnicki, Lukasz 152Gosnold, Bartholomew 243Gothic style

architecture 117ecclesiastical buildings 111, 118prints 85sculpture 81

Goujon, Jean 112government 2–28

England 17, 17–18Florence 7France 10–11, 11Francis I 11Germany 15history, government, and

society 2–4, 6–8Holy Roman Empire 9–10Hungary 16, 17Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12Italy 3–9

major rulers 19–22map of Europe, c. 1460 3mMilan 8the Netherlands 15–16Poland 16–17Portugal 11, 14–15Spain 11, 12–14Venice 6

governors 11graffito 316ggrain

agriculture 213beer 215food 305

grammareducation in the vernacular

languages 279liberal arts 277

grammar schools 271Granada xv, 321c

artillery 185Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12,

13Islam 56mosques 57palaces 118Reconquest of Spain 180Spain 11

Grand Banks 240Granvelle, Antoine Perrenot de 200grape picking 215The Great Arc (Girolamo Cardano)

254Great Bible 53Great Council 6, 7Great Schism 321c


Council of Constance 43history, government, and

society 2the papacy 30Protestant Reformation 48religion 30

Greco, El 93Greece and Greeks xiii, xiv

astronomy 251education 270, 283humanism, philology, and

publishing 124women 283

Greek languagethe Bible 45England 276humanistic education 274, 276Italy 274learned women 284, 285pedagogical treatises 273

I N D E X

359

Greenland 232Gregorian calendar 322c

calendar 293Gregory XIII 34

Gregory VII (pope) 30Gregory XIII (pope) 33–34, 292Gresham, Sir Thomas 119Grévin, Jacques 142Grijalba, Juan de 243grilling 305Grimaldi family 220Gringore, Pierre 152grisaille 316gGritti, Andrea (doge of Venice) 200Groote, Gerhard 35grotesque 316ggrotto

Frenchfortresses/castles/palaces113

gardens 120Grünewald, Matthias 74, 93Guarini, (Giovanni) Battista 152,

272, 273, 286comedy 143Renaissance treatises 129

Guarini, Guarino 286humanistic education in Italy

273, 274learned women 284

Guevara, Fray Antonio de 135, 152Guicciardini, Francesco 134, 152,

200guild(s) 216, 316g

apprenticeship 281cartography 226civic processions 300confraternities 37crafts 215Germany 15history, government, and

society 2, 4Italy 4the Netherlands 15sexual advice and activity 295textiles 212training in the law 278–279

guitar 169gunpowder 316g

artillery 185fired projectiles 184the Navy 189

Gustavus Vasa (king of Sweden) 200Gutenberg, Johannes 60

the Bible 45printing and publishing 216

Gutenberg Bible 45, 216gymnasium 276

HHabsburgs xv, 321c

bronze sculpture 83history, government, and

society 4, 9, 10Holy Roman Empire 9, 10Italian Wars 181Italy 4major rulers of 20, 21patronage 165tapestries 80wars 180

Hadith 58Hagenur, Nikolaus 74Hakluyt, Richard 231, 243halberd 184, 316gHamlet (William Shakespeare)

influences of the Renaissanceon 312

tragedy 143harbors 229–230Harington, Sir John 152harp 171harpsichord 170Harriot, Thomas 244Harvey, Gabriel 152Harvey, William 261hats

clothing 304fur 303jewelry 304

Hawkins, Sir John 195, 244Hawkwood, Sir John de 69, 200Head of the Virgin (Leonardo da

Vinci) 77healers 40heart (receptacles for) 83“heathens” 224Hebrew

the Bible 45, 54Jewish sermons 55

Heemskerk, Jacob van 244Heemskerk, Maerten Van 93heliocentric 251heliocentric theory of universe

322chelmets 183Helmschmeid family 200Henri II. See Henry IIHenri III. See Henry IIIHenri IV. See Henry IVHenry II (king of France) 201

cortege at royal entry of 168French

fortresses/castles/palaces 113fresco painting 71history, government, and

society 4

Inquisition 41Italy 4medicine 263military supply 188Protestant Reformation 51

Henry III (king of France) 24,201

Henry IV (king of France) 24, 60,201

peace treaties and settlements196

Protestant Reformation 51Henry V (king of England) 200


195Henry VII (king of England) 24,

200–201Anglo-Scottish Conflicts 181peace treaties and settlements

195Henry VIII (king of England) 18,

24, 60, 201, 322cEngland 17fortifications 192percussion instruments 168Protestant Reformation 50royal portrait of 76Scotland 18tapestries 78training in the law 278wars 180wind instruments 168, 169

Henry of Navarre 51. See alsoHenry IV

Henry the Navigator 230, 244Heptameron (Marguerite de Navarre)

285heraldry 316gherbals 259Herbert, Mary (countess of

Pembroke) 154herbs

cooking and serving 305disease/illness/death 307witches 40

heresy 40–41Council of Constance 43Innocent VIII 32Inquisition 41religion 30

Hernández de Córdoba, Francisco244

Herrera, Fernando de 152Herrera, Juan de 118, 120Hesse 21Heywood, John 152Hilliard, Nicholas 78, 93


360

Hippocratesmedicine 262training in medicine 278

Hirschvogel, Augustin 244Hispaniola

exploration of the West 238geography 226

history 2–28, 134–135England 17, 17–18France 10–11, 11Germany 15Holy Roman Empire 9–10Hungary 16, 17Italy 3–9major rulers 19–22map of Europe, c. 1460 3mthe Netherlands 15–16Poland 16–17Portugal 11, 14–15Spain 11, 12–14

History of Joseph (tapestry) (Karcher)80

History of the Reformation of Religionin Scotland (John Knox) 53

The Höchstetter family 220Hoefnagel, Joris 93Hohenzollern family

Germany 15major rulers of 21

Holbein, the Younger Hans 93miniature portraits 78royal portraits 76

Holinshed, Raphael 152Holland xv

the Netherlands 16, 181Revolt of the Netherlands 181

Holy Blood, Altarpiece of the 81, 82Holy Communion

Book of Common Prayer 53church hierarchy 52clergy 35Protestant Reformation 52sacraments 38

Holy Kinship, Altarpiece of(Quentin Metsys) 74

Holy Leaguesbattles and sieges 194, 195leagues 193

Holy Roman Empire xv, xvi, 9–10,321c. See also specific headings, e.g.:Charles V


chivalric romance 139Clement VII 33Germany 15history, government, and

society 2, 8

Italian Wars 181leagues 193major rulers of 19–20Milan 8the Netherlands 15religion 30wars 178, 180

Holy See15th century and Roman ruins

107Donato Bramante 104Catholic Church 34ecclesiastical buildings 109Nicholas V 31patronage 164sacred music 161working conditions in music

167homeopathic medicine 250, 262Homer xiii

epic poetry 130humanistic and court libraries

146homilies

preaching 46–47sermons 146

homosexuals 40Hondius, Jodocus 244Honduras 238Hooker, Richard 61Horace 125

Aristotle’s Poetics 128literary theory 128ode 132Renaissance treatises 129

horsesarmor and weaponry 182field armor 183military supply 188tournament armor 183travel by land 232

hospices 306Hospital Real (Santiago de

Compostela) 119hospitals

civic architecture 119disease/illness/death 306foreign missions 37orphans 297patronage for 115–116

host libel 40–41hôtel 112House of Commons

England 17Henry VIII 18

House of LordsEngland 17Henry VIII 18

housing 297, 297, 298. See alsopalaces

castles 111, 111–113, 114country houses 113–114,

118–119iron door knocker 298Tudor style 297villas 113, 113–114

Houwaert, Jean Baptista 152Hudson, Henry 244Huguenot 316g

France 51Pius V 33Protestant Reformation 51warfare 178

Huizinga, Johan 310–311human figures 54humanism 124–128, 125

education 270history 134Latin 125–127library collections 146music 163and music 163–164Paul IV 33Pius II 31the printed book 127–128satire 139Sixtus IV 31tragedy 140, 142training in theology 277–278

humanistic education 270–277Aragon 275classroom scene 271England 276, 277France 274Germany 275–276influences of the Renaissance

on 311in Italy 273–274Naples 275the Netherlands 275–276pedagogical treatises 271–273Portugal 275Scotland 276–277Sicily 275Spain 275for young women 283–284

humanistic libraries 146–147humanistic oratory and rhetoric 145humor 139humors (in medicine) 261–263Hundred Year’s War 180

artillery 185battles and sieges 193peace treaties and settlements

195warfare 178

I N D E X

361

Hungary xv, 16, 17battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 9, 10Holy Roman Empire 9, 10major rulers of 22Turkish War 182

hunger 307hunting 299Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego

152–153Hus, Jan 61, 201, 321c

Bohemia 48, 49Council of Constance 43Protestant Reformation 48,

49husbands

betrothals 295family life 293marriage 294weddings 302

Hussite 316gfired projectiles 184Protestant Reformation 51–52theological elements 51–52

Hussite Warsartillery 185Bohemia 48–49Protestant Reformation

48–49Hutten, Ulrich von 153hydraulics 108hymnals 172hymns

church hierarchy 52Protestant Reformation 47, 52sacred music 160

IIberian Peninsula xv

Islam 56Portugal 11Spain 11

ice 231Iceland 169iconoclasm 53–54, 66, 316giconography 72Idylls (Theocritus) 133Ignatius Loyola, Saint 36, 61, 322cIl Gesù 105Iliad (Homer)

epic poetry 130humanistic and court libraries

146illegitimate children

Alexander I 32Innocent VIII 31

illness. See disease and illnessillustrations 127, 128imam 57Immaculate Conception 46Immacluate Conception altarpiece

(Piero di Cosimo) 74Imperial Court of Chancery

Germany 15history, government, and

society 10Holy Roman Empire 10

Imperial library (Vienna) 146impresa 316gincunable 316gIndex of Forbidden Books 34Index of Prohibited Books 42–43

Council of Trent 44Pius IV 33

India 322cdrugs 259exploration of the East 237foreign missions 37

Indian Ocean 236mIndies 237indoor plumbing 298indulgences (papal) 217

Council of Lateran V 44Leo X 32Protestant Reformation 47religion 30

infanticide 297infantry 187, 316ginfants

disease/illness/death 306Jewish religious practices 56

infectionsanatomy 260medicine 263military medicine 190, 190

“infidels” xiv, 56Inkhorn Controversy 145inland waterways 229–230Innocent III (pope) 30Innocent VIII (pope) 31–32, 40Inquisition 41–42

anti-Semitism 40, 41astronomy 251Cabala 56Catholic Church 34Innocent VIII 32Isabella I and Ferdinand V 13Judaism 54Paul IV 33Pius IV 33Pius V 33religion 30Sixtus IV 31witches 40

inscriptionsarchitectural 109Italian ecclesiastical buildings

110Institors, Heinrich 40instrumentation 160instruments (musical)

brass 167, 168childhood education 283flute 168, 169lute 164, 166, 167, 169percussion 167–168, 168sacred music 161stringed 169, 170, 170violin 169virginal 170, 170wind 167, 168–169working conditions in music 167

intaglio 85, 316gintarsia 317g

furniture 88paneling 88

intermedio 317gIonic order 103, 104Ireland

England 17Henry VIII 18

iron door knocker 298irrigation 213–214Isabeau (queen of France) 147Isabella I of Castile (queen of Spain)

24–25, 201, 321cbattles and sieges 194Charles I (Charles V) 13exploration of the West 238games 298history 134humanistic education 275Inquisition 41learned women 285Reconquest of Spain 180standing armies 187warfare 178

Isenbrant, Adriaen 210Isenheim Altarpiece (Matthais

Grünewald) 74Isis (“queen of Egypt”) 284Islam 56–58. See also Muslims

Inquisition 42Koran 57mosques 57Muslim philosophy 57–58prayer carpet 57

Italian city-stateshistory, government, and

society 2humanistic education 273–274wars 178


362

Italian language 124Italian Wars 181

artillery 185battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 2, 4Innocent VIII 31Italy 4Leo X 32peace treaties and settlements

196italic script 216–217Italy xiv, xv, 3–9, 321c. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Medici familyAlexander I 32architecture 115–117artillery 185banking 209banks 116battles and sieges 194bridal portraits 76bronze sculpture 83ceramics 86clothing 304condottieri 187disease/illness/death 306drama 140ecclesiastical buildings 109,

110, 110education 270, 273–274education of women and girls

282Florence 6–8. See also Florencefortifications 192fortresses/castles/palaces

111–112fresco painting 68gardens 115history, government, and

society 2, 4, 9, 10humanism 164, 270Italian Peninsula, c. 1500 5mItalian Wars 181leagues 193major rules of 19–20Milan 8. See also Milanmusic 160, 164northern Italy. See northern Italypatronage in Italian

architecture 115–117pedagogical treatises 272portraiture 75printed books 127religion 30sculpture 80soldiering 185southern Italy. See southern

Italy

standing armies 187stone sculpture 82tapestries 66, 78, 80tragedy 142Venice 6. See also Venicewars in 181women and girls 282

Ivan IV (czar of Russia) 201

Jjackets 304Jacopo della Quercia 93Jamaica 238James I (king of England). See also

James VI (king of Scotland) 277James IV (king of Scotland) 18James V (king of Scotland) 18James VI (king of Scotland) 18

masques 143, 144Janzoon-Blaeu, Willem 228Japan 37Jefferson, Thomas 311Jerome, Saint 45Jerusalem 232Jesuits

education of women and girls282

foreign missions 37, 38humanistic education 275Latin 126Portugal 275religious orders 36Spain 275Giacomo da Vignola 105

Jesus. See Christ, Jesusjewelry 304

bridal portraits 76–77clothing 304

Jews 321c. See also Judaismanti-Semitism 40–41banking 209ghettos 40, 41, 54heresies 40history 134–135Inquisition 41Isabella I and Ferdinand V 13Judaism 54Martin V 31Netherlands 50Poland 16Portugal 14Protestant Reformation 50Spain 11

Joan of Arc 35, 193, 201, 321cJoão (king of Portugal). See under

JohnJodelle, Étienne 153

Johann Friedrich I (elector ofSaxony) 193, 201

John I (king of Portugal) 14John II (duke of Bourbon) 76John II (king of Portugal) 234John III (king of Sweden) 201John VIII Palaeologus (emperor of

Byzantium) 43, 61, 201John the Fearless (duke of

Burgundy) 201Jones, Inigo 93

civic architecture 119masques 144palaces 119

Jonson, Ben 153comedy 143masques 144Renaissance treatises 129

journeymenapprenticeship 282guilds 216shipbuilding 216

Juan de Flandes 93Juan of Austria 201–202Judaism 54–56

the Bible 54, 54–55Cabala 56, 70, 253Inquisition 42religious practices in 56sermons 55–56Sistine Chapel ceiling 70Spain 11synagogue 55, 55

Julian calendar 292Julius II (pope) 25, 32, 202

Donato Bramante 104Council of Lateran V 44humanistic oratory and rhetoric

145portraiture 76Giacomo da Vignola 105

Junius, Franciscus 61jurists 278justice 34justice (ecclesiastical) 34

KKapelle 165Karcher, Jan 80Karcher, Nicolas 80Kepler, Johannes 266

astronomy 251optics 257science 250

kettledrum 167–168Kildare, earls of 17King James Bible 53

I N D E X

363

King Lear (William Shakespeare)143

Kitchen Still Life (Pieter Aertsen) 306knot gardens 119Knox, John 61

Protestant Reformation 51Protestant religious literature

53Scotland 51

Kochanowski, Jan 132, 153Koran (Qur’an) 57Kristeller, Paul Oskar 311Kurosawa, Akira 312Kyd, Thomas 153

LLabé, Louise 131, 153lace

clothing 304needlework 88

Ladislaus V (king of Hungary,Austria, and Bohemia) 272–273

Lafréry, Antonio 93Laínez, Diego 61laity 37Lamentation 317gLancaster, house of

major rulers of 22Wars of the Roses 180

Lancaster, Sir James 244lance (fighting unit) 188lance (weapon) 184Landino, Cristoforo 153landlords xivLandsknechte 317g

battles and sieges 194mercenaries 186military command structure 188

Langeais, Château de 112language(s). See also literature and

languageCeltic 124English 124French 129, 133, 143, 162German 47, 311Greek. See Greek languageHebrew 45, 54, 55influences of the Renaissance

on 311Italian 124Latin. See LatinSpanish 133Tuscan 126vernacular. See vernacular

languagesLa Noue, François de 202lantern 317g

lard 305Las Casas, Bartolomé de 220, 244

foreign missions 37slavery 219

Lassus, Orlando di 163–164,173–174

The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)44–45, 70

Last Supper 39, 317gThe Last Supper (tapestry) (Bernaert

van Orely) 79Late Gothic culture xiiiLateran Council, Fifth 47Lateran Council, Fourth 40Latimer, Hugh 61Latin 125–127, 321c

Aristotle’s Poetics 128botany 258comedy 143court libraries 147education 270, 276, 284education in the vernacular

languages 279, 280history 134humanism, philology, and

publishing 124, 125humanistic education 270, 276,

284influences of the Renaissance

on 311inscriptions 109learned women 284, 285literature and language 124lyric poetry 132Neo-Latin 124, 126ode 132picaresque novel 137poetry 130printing 217sacred music 160, 161science 250women 284

Latin America 41Laurana, Francesco 94, 110law(s)

canon 278, 279civil 278common 278customary 10education 278–279legal tribunal 290Roman 10Salic 290sumptuary 303, 305

Lazaro, Luís 227mLeague of Cambrai

battles and sieges 194leagues 193

leagues (for warfare) 181, 192–193leap year 292Lebrija, Antonio 153, 275, 286Le Clerc, François 244Lefèvre d’Étaples, Jacques 45, 61legal justice 302legal system 15legal tribunal 290Legend of the True Cross (Piero della

Francesca) 69, 321cLeipzig Disputation 47Lemaire de Belges, Jean 134, 153Lent

carnival 299food 305

Leo X (pope) 25, 32, 32, 20216th century Roman

restoration 108Council of Lateran V 44Michelangelo 104musical manuscripts 171tapestries 78

Leo Africanus 244León xv

Charles I (Charles V) 13major rulers of 20

Leonardo da Vinci 94, 202anatomy 260geometry 256Head of the Virgin 77Mona Lisa 77optics 257travel of inland waterways 229triumphal entries 302

Leonardo of Pisa 281Leone Hebreo 153Leoni, Leone 83, 94Leoni, Pompeo 83, 94Lepanto, Battle of 322c

battles and sieges 195the navy 189Pius V 33warfare 178

Lescot, Pierre 112, 120–121Lessaran-Massencôme, Blaise de

(seigneur de Monluc) 202Leto, Pomponio 107letters 135L’Hôpital Michel de 61Libavius, Andreas 253–254, 266Liber abbaci 281liberal arts 277Liberation of Saint Peter from Prison

(Raphael) 70Libereria del Sansovino 117libraries

collections 146–147humanistic and court 146–147


364

literature and language 124patronage for 117scholarship 310

light 257lighting for portraiture 75Ligozzi, Jacopo 307lilies of the valley 306–307Limbourg brothers 94limestone 82limewood 81, 82linear perspective. See perspectivelinen 304Linschoten, Jan Huyghen van 244Lippi, Fra Filippo 77, 94Lipsius, Justus 153literacy

childhood education 283education in the vernacular

languages 279literature and language 124pastoral poetry 133

literary theory 128–129literature and language 124–157. See

also language(s); specific headings,e.g.: More, Sir Thomas

Catholic Church 46devotional 46drama 140, 141, 142–144. See

also dramahumanism, philology, and

publishing 124–128, 125humor 139library collections 146–147literary theory 128–129major writers 148–157novel 16, 133, 137, 139, 317g,

322coratory and rhetoric 144–146,

276, 284poetry 129–133. See also poetryprose 16, 131, 133–137, 138,

139Protestant Reformation 53religious literature 46, 53satire 49, 132, 133–134, 139,

319g, 322ctravel 232

Lithuania xvi, 16, 21–22liturgical garment 89liturgy 47, 48Lives of the most excellent painters,

sculptors, and architects (GiorgioVasari) 66, 67, 70, 105, 322c

Lives of the Virgin (Giotto diBondone) 67

Livorno, Tuscany 230Lobelius, Matthias 266local deposit banks 209

locks 229–230Loggetta 117loggia 317glogic

humanistic education forwomen 284

liberal arts 277Lollard 317gLollards 54Lomazzo, Giovanni Paolo 94Lombardo, Pietro 94Lombardo, Tullio 94Lombardy

agriculture 214Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101London, England

civic architecture 119civic processions 300

longbow 184, 317gLope de Vega Carpio, Félix 153

pastoral romance 139tragedy 142

Lopes, Fernão 153Lópes de Gómora, Francisco 153Lopez, Rodrigo 266Lorenzetti, Ambrogio 94Lorenzo Villa 147Lorraine xvLorraine, François de (duke of

Guise) 202Lorraine, Henri de (duke of Guise)

202lost-wax process 83Louis XII (king of France) 25, 202

battles and sieges 194Council of Lateran V 44court libraries 147France 10history, government, and

society 10Louis XI (king of France) 25, 187,

202Louis de Bourbon (prince of Condé)

202Louise of Savoy (duchess of

Angoulême) 25, 195–196, 202Louvre 106, 112“Low Countries” xvLoyola, Saint Ignatius. See Ignatius

Loyola, SaintLucca 4Ludovica, Iolanta 84Luis de Léon, Fray 153lunette 317glute

humanism and music 164singing and performance 166

string instruments 169working conditions in music

167Luther, Martin 47, 61, 322c

Council of Lateran V 44the Eucharist 39Germany 49iconoclasm 53Leo X 32Ninety-five Theses 44, 322cProtestant Bible 52Protestant Reformation 47–49Protestant religious literature

53publishing 217religion 30sacred music 161

Lutheranism. See Lutheranism andLutherans

Lutheranism and Lutherans. See alsoLuther, Martin

church hierarchy 52Council of Trent 44the Eucharist 39foreign missions 37music 161Netherlands 50peace treaties and settlements

196Protestant Reformation 50, 52Protestant universities 279sacraments 38sacred music 160theological elements 52

Lutheran Reformation 49Luxembourg xv–xvi, 20, 21Lyly, John 153, 276lyric poetry 131, 131, 132lyrics 311

MMacao 237Machiavelli, Niccolò 153, 202, 322c

Francis I 10history 134

Machuca, Pedro de 118Madeira 214Madonna and Child (Luca della

Robbia) 84Madonna and Child with Saint John

the Baptist (Sandro Botticelli) 165Madrid xvMadrid, Treaty of 322c


Italy 4peace treaties and settlements

195

I N D E X

365

madrigal 162, 317ginfluences of the Renaissance

on 311singing and performance 166

234, 240, 244, 322cmagic 251, 253magnetism 250Magnificat 317gMaier, Georg 61maize 214majolica 86, 317gmajor figures in 241–247Malacca 237, 240, 322cMalatesta, Sigismondo 102Malespini, Celio 202Malherbe, François de 154Malleus Maleficarum 40Malouel, Jean 94Mander, Karel van 94Mandeville, John 224Maneuline style 118Mannerism 68, 317g

Jacques Androuet Ducerceauthe Elder 106

fantasy landscapes 74singing and performance 166villas 114

Manrique, Gómez 154Manrique, Jorge 154Mantegna, Andrea 94

prints 85triumphal entries 302

mantlet 317gMantua xv, 19, 165Manuel I (king of Portugal)

ecclesiastical buildings 118humanistic education 275Portugal 14

manufacturing 208manumission 219manuscripts

court libraries 147education 270the Hewbrew Bible 54humanistic and court libraries

146humanistic education 270libraries 146musical 171Nicholas V 31printed books 127publication of music 170religious orders 35

Manutius, Aldus 220education in the vernacular

languages 279printing and publishing 217

printing privileges 218publishing 217

Man Weighting Gold (AdriaenIsenbrandt) 210

map(s)16th-century Roman

restoration 109Asia and the Indian Ocean,

16th century 236mcartography 225, 226Contarini world map (1506)

226Europe, c. 1460 3mexploration 232exploration and travel 224Italian Peninsula, c. 1500 5mmajor voyages of exploration

233mMercator world map (1569)

228Ortelius’s atlas 229mPortuguese voyages to 1498

235mof western Europe and

northwestern Africa 227mworld 226, 228, 229m

marble 82Marburg 279March, Ausiàs 154Marches, the 30marching 167Marciano, Battle of 195, 322cmardi gras (Fat Tuesday) 299Margaret (duchess of Parma) 25,

181, 202Margaret of Antioch, Saint 35Margaret of Austria (duchess of

Savoy) 25, 202architecture 117Italian fortresses/castles/palaces

111musical manuscripts 171patronage 165peace treaties and settlements

195–196tapestries 80

Marguerite de Navarre 154,286–287

comedy 143France 51humanism and music 163learned women 285novels 136Protestant Reformation 51

Mariana, Juan de 134, 154Marian devotion 46Marignano, Battle of 194, 322cMarittima 30

Marlowe, Christopher 154Marmion, Simon 94Marot, Clément 154, 163marquetry 317gmarriage xv, 294–295

adultery 295, 302betrothals 295, 295family life 293Germany 49husbands 293–295, 302jewelry 304portraits 77Protestant Reformation 49sacraments 38sexual advice and activity 295weddings 302, 305wives 293–295, 302

Marston, John 132, 154Martin V (pope) 31

Bohemia 49Council of Constance 43the papacy 30Protestant Reformation 49religion 30

Martire d’Anghiera, Pietro 244, 286geography 226humanistic education 275

Martorell, Joanot 137Mary, Virgin (mother of Jesus)

civic processions 300Marian devotion 46religious literature 46

Mary I (queen of England) 25, 50,61, 203

learned women 285royal portraiture 76

Mary of Burgundy 164Mary of Hungary

patronage 165tapestries 80

Mary of Lorraine 18Mary Rose (ship) 189Mary Stuart (queen of Scots) 25, 61,

203, 283Anglo-Scottish Conflicts 181France 51peace treaties and settlements

196Protestant Reformation 50–51Scotland 18, 50–51singing and performance 166

Mary Tudor. See Mary IMasaccio 69, 94masks

carnival 299commedia dell’arte 144death 75

Maso di Bartolomeo 95


366

Magellan, Ferdinand xiii, 233m,

Masque of Blackness (Ben Jonson) 144masques 143–144mass 317g

sacraments 38, 39sacred music 160

Massachusetts 40Master of Moulins 76matchlock 317gmathematics 254, 255, 256–257

algebra 254, 254, 256, 311Girolamo Cardano 253, 254,

264Euclid 256, 277geography 225geometry 254, 255, 256–257,

277, 311influences of the Renaissance

on 311liberal arts 277science 250study of practical 280, 280,

281Niccolò Tartaglia 254, 267

Matthias Corvinus 26, 203Mattioli, Pierandrea 258, 266Maurice (count of Nassau) 26, 203Mauro, Fra 244Maurolico, Francesco 257Maximilian I (Holy Roman

Emperor) 26, 203Charles I (Charles V) 13Council of Lateran V 44Germany 15history, government, and

society 4humanism and music 164Italy 4mining 211patronage 164sacred music 161Swiss Wars 181wind instruments 168

Maximilian II (emperor of Austria)court libraries 147patronage 165

mayoral inauguration (London)300

mead 305measurement 208meat

carnival 299cooking and serving 305food 305religious orders 36sacraments 39

Mecca 57medication. See drugsMedici, Allesandro de’ 111

Medici, Catherine de’ (queen ofFrance) 26, 59, 203

Clement VII 33Philibert Delorme 106games 298glass 87Protestant Reformation 51

Medici, Cosimo I de’ (duke ofFlorence and grand duke ofTuscany) 7, 26

country house 113court libraries 147Florence 7–8history, government, and

society 7–8Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101travel of harbors 230

Medici, Giovanni Angelo de’. SeePius IV

Medici, Giovanni de’ 203. See alsoLeo X

Medici, Giulio de’ 111–112. See alsoClement VII

Medici, Lorenzo de’ 26Clement VII 33Florence 6history, government, and

society 6stone sculpture 82

Medici, Piero II de’ 6–7Medici family 220

banking 209Florence 6–8history, government, and

society 6–8influences of the Renaissance

on 311Leo X 32patronage 115, 165stone sculpture 82

medicine xiii, xv, 257, 258,261–263. See also disease andillness; specific headings, e.g.:Vesalius, Andreas

anatomy 261. See alsoanatomy

drugs 257, 258, 259–260education 278full-body traction 262Galen 260–262, 278, 295, 321cherbs 259, 307Hippocrates 262, 278influences of the Renaissance

on 311major figures in 263–268midwifery 40, 263, 278military 178, 190–191

pharmacists 306physicians 260, 263, 278spirits 215surgeons 190, 260, 262, 263,

278, 306training in 278warfare 178

Medici tombs 82Medici Villa (Careggi) 114, 117Medina 57Medina-Sedonia, Alonso Pérez de

Guzmán, duke of 200Mei, Girolamo 172Meiss, Millard 70Melanchthon, Philipp 61, 287

Germany 49humanistic education in

Germany 275–276Protestant Reformation 49

Memling, Hans 95donar portraiture 76Donne Triptych 76

menclothing 304husbands 293–295, 302jewelry 304Synagogue 55

Mena, Juan de 154Mendoza, Ìñigo López de (marquis

of Santillana) 154Mendoza, Pedro González de

82–83Mennonites 50menstruation 56Mercator, Gerard 228, 244–245Mercator projection 228, 322cmercenary(-ies) 186–187, 317g

soldiering 185warfare 178

merchant(s) xivbanks for 209history, government, and

society 2home of 297the Netherlands 15–16travel by land 231

mercury 262metallurgy

chemistry 253handheld weaponry 184warfare 178

metal(s). See also gold; silvercopper 209, 211mining 211money 210tin 211warfare 178

Metsys, Quentin 74, 95

I N D E X

367

Mexico 240, 322cforeign missions 37mining 211

Michelangelo Buonarroti xiii, 95, 121architecture of 104–105Clement VII 33fresco painting 68, 70Italian fortresses/castles/palaces

112Julius II 32libraries 117portrait of 70Sistine Chapel 70stone sculpture 82

Michelet, Jules 310Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101–102, 121banks 116country house 114Italian ecclesiastical buildings

110Middle Ages xiii

architecture 100history, government, and

society 2, 4Inquisition 41Italy 4literature and language 124religion 30

midwifery 263training in medicine 278witches 40

mihrab 57Milan xv, 8

battles and sieges 194education of women and girls

282field armor 182history, government, and

society 4Italy 4major rulers of 19peace treaties and settlements

195tapestries 78, 80

Milán, Luis de 172military encounters xvmilitary medicine 178, 190–191military music

percussion instruments 167wind instruments 169

militia 185, 187, 317gminaret 57miniature 317gmining 210–212

hydraulic pump for 211the papacy 30slavery 219

miracle plays 46Mirandola, Pico della

astrology 253Cabala 56

missionariesCatholic Church 34foreign missions 37, 38, 38Gregory XIII 34religious orders 36Sixtus V 34

mode italienne, la (Italian style)110–111Modena xvMohács, Battle of 194, 322cMohammed VI (caliph of Tunis)

194Molina, Luis de 62the Moluccas 195, 237Molza, Tarquinia 167Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci) 77monarchy

France 10history, government, and

society 2, 10Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12

monasteries xivmural paintings 69Paul IV 33religious orders 35

Monastery of El Escorial (Spain) 118Monastery of San Marco (Florence)

147money 209, 210. See also gold; silver

coins 84, 209, 210, 215, 224exploration and travel 224

monkeys 260, 261“Monsieur.” See François (duke of

Anjou)“Mons Meg” 184monstrance 317g

the Eucharist 39gilt silver 39

“monstrous races” 224Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de 133,

135, 154, 323cMonte, Philippe de 165Montefeltro, Federigo II da (duke of

Urbino) 26, 203Montemayor, Jorge de 139, 154Monticello (Virginia) 311Mor, Anthonis 76Morales, Ambrosio de 154Morales, Luis de 95Morata, Olympia 284More, Sir Thomas 62, 154, 286

humanistic education inEngland 276

portraits 77satire 139

Moretus, Jan 259morisco 317gMorley, Thomas 162Mor van Dashorst, Anthonis 95mosaic 86, 317gMoscato, Judah 56mosques

Islam 57religion 30

motet 162–163, 317gmothers. See also children

childhood education 283daily life 290, 291

Motilinía, Toribio de 62motto 133Moulins, Master of 95movable tool for navigation 237movable type 216, 321cMozambique 235Muhammad, Prophet

mosques 57Muslim philosophy 58

Mühlberg, Battle of 322cbattles and sieges 194Schmalkaldic War 181

Müller, Johannes. SeeRegiomontanus

municipal buildings 109Münster, Sebastian 245Müntzer, Thomas 62mural painting. See frescoMurano 86Murner, Thomas 154–155museums 117, 324–325music 160–175

ballade 162, 313gchanson 162, 163, 314gchurch choirs 165composers 172–175games 298and humanism 163–164hymns 47, 52, 160influences of the Renaissance

on 311instruments 161, 167, 283liberal arts 277madrigal 162, 166, 311, 317gmotet 162–163, 317gmusical instruments. See

instruments (musical)patronage 164–166, 165performance 166Protestant Reformation 47publishing of 170–172, 171rondeau 163, 319gsacred 160–161


368

monk xiv, 317g

sacred music 160–161, 164,166, 171, 172

secular xv, 162–164singing 160, 161, 166, 167villancico 163, 320gvirelai 163, 320gweddings 302working conditions and social

status 166–167musical manuscripts 171musket 317gMuslims xiv, xv, 321c

agriculture 213artillery 185battles and sieges 194Inquisition 41Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12,

13Poland 16Reconquest of Spain 180Spain 11wars 178

mysticismCounter-Reformation 44Inquisition 42

mythological portraits 77mythological themes 80

NNaples xv

Alexander I 32battles and sieges 195education 275history, government, and

society 3, 4humanistic education 275Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12Italy 3, 4major rulers of 19–20Pius II 31

Narrenschiff (Sebastian Brant) 136Narváez, Pánfilo de 203, 245Nashe, Thomas 155nation-states 2Native Americans

exploration of the West 238foreign missions 37slavery 219sugarcane plantations 219

Nativity 317gnaturalism 69natural philosophy 250natural science 250Navarre xv, 11Navarro, Pedro 203navigation 230–231, 237. See also

cartography

astrolabe 230beyond the coast 230–231coastal 230geometry 257movable tool for 237science 250

the navy 189–190, 195necklaces 304necklines 304needlework 88, 89, 283Negroli, Filippo 95Negroli family 203Neo-Latin

Latin 126literature and language 124

Neoplatoism xiv, 56, 70nepotism 31, 32the Netherlands xv, 15–16

battles and sieges 195Charles I (Charles V) 13education 275–276history, government, and

society 9, 10Holy Roman Empire 9, 10humanistic education 276iconoclasm 53major rulers of 21patronage 164, 165peace treaties and settlements

196Protestant Reformation 50Revolt of the 181–182tapestries 80tragedy 142wars 180

New Sacristy 105New Testament

the Bible 45church hierarchy 52Protestant Reformation 47, 52

New World. See AmericasNew Year 293New York City 240, 322cNiccoli, Niccolò 146Niccolò da Tolentino 203Nicholas V (pope) 31

15th century Roman ruins 106Leon Battista Alberti 102court libraries 147ecclesiastical buildings 109

Nicholas of Cusa 62Niculoso, Francisco 86Nina (ship) 238Ninety-five Theses 44, 322cNiño, Pedro Alonso 245Noah’s ark 48nobility

daily life 290

Henry VIII 18history, government, and

society 2, 6Hungary 17sports 299Venice 6

Nogarola, Isotta 284–285Noot, Jan Baptist van der 155Normandy 193North America 322c

Canada 37United States 311, 322c

North Carolina 240northern Italy xiii, 6–8

Florence. See Florencehistory, government, and

society 4Italy 4learned women 284Milan. See Milanrise of the architect in

100–104Venice. See Venice

North Star 230Norton, Thomas 142notaries 278Novara, Battle of 194, 322cnovel 16, 317g, 322c

chivalric romance 137, 139pastoral romance 139picaresque novel 137prose 133

novella 318gNunes, Pedro 245, 254, 256,

266Núñez de Balboa, Vasco. See Balboa,

Vasco Núñez denun(s) 318g

Germany 49Protestant Reformation 49religious orders 36

Nuremberg, Germany 168Nuremberg eggs 291nypmhaea 83

Ooarsmen 189oath of apprenticeship 281–282obedience 34obelisks 107–108Obrecht, Jacob 164Ockeghem, Johannes 166, 174octava rima 318gode 125, 132, 163, 318gOdyssey (Homer) 130Oecolampadius, Johannes 62Ojeda, Alonso de 245

I N D E X

369

Old TestamentCabala 56the Hebrew Bible 54, 55Protestant religious literature

53oligarchy 4, 6–8olive oil 305Ommegangen of Antwerp 300On Educating Children 271O’Neill, Hugh (earl of Tyrone) 203On Metallurgy (Georg Agricola)

322copera xv


printed music books 172singing and performance 166

optics 257Orange-Nassau, House of 21oratory 144–146. See also rhetoric

education 276, 284humanistic 145, 276, 284sermons 47, 55–56, 57,

145–146order 101, 103–104, 318gOrder of the Golden Fleece 137,

139ordination 38Ordo Predicatorum 35Orely, Bernaert va 95

The Last Supper (tapestries) 79tapestries 79, 80

Oresme, Nicole 220organs (church) 168the Orient 226, 238Orlando furioso (Ludovico Ariosto)

131Orléans, siege of 193, 321cOrléans dynasty 20ornamentation 166ornaments 85orphans 36, 297Orta, Garcia de 259–260, 266Ortelius, Abraham 228, 245Ortelius’s atlas 229morthodoxy 40Ortiz, Diego 172Osiander, Andreas 62Os Lusíadas (Luis de Camões) 130Ospedale degli Innocenti 101Ospedale Maggiore 116Othello (William Shakespeare) 143Ottoman Turks


Holy Roman Empire 9Islam 56Turkish War 182

ovens 305Ovid 80

PPacific Ocean 322cPacioli, Luca 220, 266

accounting 210algebra 254geometry 256

Padua 278painting 67–78, 321c. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Raphael15th-century frescos 69–7016th-century frescos 70–71altarpieces 72–74, 73. See also

altarpiecesapparatus for perspective

drawing 67clergy 35contrapposto 67, 68frescoes. See frescoeson glass 87, 88Head of the Virgin (Leonardo da

Vinci) 77influences of the Renaissance

on 311–312on parchment 78perspective. See perspectiveportrait of Michelangelo 70portraiture 74–78, 77. See also

portraitureon vellum 78on walls 68–69on wooden panels 71–78

palaces 111–113, 118–119. See alsocastles

ecclesiastical buildings 109fortresses/castles/palaces 111French

fortresses/castles/palaces112

gardens 119influences of the Renaissance

on 311Italian fortresses/castles/palaces

111Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

101Palatinate 21palazzo 113, 114Palazzo Farnese (Rome)


villas 114Palazzo Medici (Florence) 101Palezzo Rucellai 111palazzos 113

Palazzo Te (Mantua) 114the Pale 18Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da 174palisades 318gPalissy, Bernard 84, 95Palladian villas 114Palladio, Andrea 71, 104, 121, 322c


Italian ecclesiastical buildings110

Palladian villas 114theaters 116town halls 116villas 113

Panofsky, Erwin 310Pantheon (Rome) 114pantomines 300pants 304the papacy 30–34, 321c. See also

specific headings, e.g.: Julius II15th century and Roman ruins

107Alexander VI 22, 32, 196antipopes 30, 43church hierarchy 52Clement VII 23, 33, 112, 117,

198clergy 34Council of Basel 43Counter-Reformation 44Florence 7Gregory XIII 33–34, 292history, government, and

society 2, 3, 7, 9history, government and society

6Holy Roman Empire 9Index of Prohibited Books

42–43Innocent VIII 31–32, 40Italy 3Julius II 32leagues 193Leo X 32. See also Leo XMartin V 30, 31, 43, 49Nicholas V 31, 102, 106, 109,

147patronage 115Paul III 33, 105, 112Paul IV 33Pius II 30, 31, 115, 155, 272Pius IV 33Pius V 33portraiture 76Protestant Reformation 52Protestant religious literature

53


370

religion 30Sixtus IV 31, 107–108, 116,

166Sixtus V 34theological elements 52Venice 6wars 180

papal authority 17papal bull 40papal indulgences. See indulgences

(papal)papal library 146


Clement VII 33Gregory XIII 34history, government, and

society 3Italy 3Julius II 32Martin V 31the papacy 30Sixtus V 34

paperthe papacy 30publishing 218

Paracelsus 266chemistry 253medicine 262

parade armor 182, 183parades

civic processions 300triumphal entries 302

parchment 318gpainting on 78printed books 127

Paré, Ambroise 190, 203–204, 260,263, 266–267

Parentucelli, Tommaso. See NicholasV

Paris, Francebattles and sieges 195French fortresses/castles/palaces

112humanistic education 275

ParliamentEngland 17Henry VIII 18history, government, and

society 3Parma

agriculture 214cathedral 71major rulers of 19

Parmigianino 95parody 318gpart books 171

parterres 115Passion 46, 318gPassover 40Pasti, Matteo de’ 95, 102pastoral 318g

poetry 133romance 139

Pater, Walter 310Patrimony of Saint Peter 30patronage


Leon Battista Alberti 102architects 100architecture 100Donato Bramante 104Clement VII 33confraternities 37in Italian architecture 115–117Julius II 32military music 168and music 164–166Andrea Palladio 104sculpture 81stone sculpture 82–83tapestries 78, 80

Patron saints 300Paul III (pope) 33


Michelangelo 105Paul IV (pope) 33pavan 318gPavia, Battle of 322c

battles and sieges 194history, government, and

society 4Italy 4

pawnbrokers 208, 209Pazzi, Andrea de’ 110Pazzi Chapel (Florence) 110Peace of Augsburg 196, 322cPeace of Cambrai 195–196Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis 322c

Italian Wars 181peace treaties and settlements

196Peace of Lodi 195, 321cPeace of Vervins 196, 323cpeace treaties 195–196peasantry xiv

agriculture 214beer 215daily life 290Germany 15history, government, and

society 2housing 297

sports 299triumphal entries 302

pediment 318gItalian ecclesiastical buildings

109Andrea Palladio 104

Peletier Du Mans, Jacques 155penance 38, 39pendentive 318gPentecost 318gpepper 305percussion instruments 167–168,

168Pereira, Duarte Pacheco 245Pérez de Guzmán, Fernán 155Peri, Jacopo 166Peritti, Felice 34perspective 318g

apparatus for, drawing 67Juan de Borgoña 71fresco painting 69, 71geometry 256influences of the Renaissance

on 312linear 67, 68tapestries 78theaters 116understanding of 67

Peru 211Perugino 95Peruzzi, Baldassare 121Pest 182Petrarch, Francesco 155


humanistic and court libraries146

Latin vs. the vernacular 126library collections 146lyric poetry 131secular music 162training in the law 278

Petrarchism 131, 318gPetrucci, Ottaviano 171Peurbach, Georg von 251, 267Pfefferkorn, Johannes 62pharmacists 306Philip I (king of Castile) 13Philip II (king of Spain) (also of

Naples and Portugal, and duke ofMilan) 14, 14, 26, 62, 204

bronze sculpture 83history, government, and

society 4Italy 4the Netherlands 16palaces 118patronage 165

I N D E X

371

the Papal States xv

Philip II (continued)peace treaties and settlements

196Revolt of the Netherlands 181

Philip of Hesse (Philip theMagnanimous) 26–27, 204, 279

Philippines 37Philip the Good (duke of Burgundy)

27, 195, 204, 279Philip the Magnanimous. See Philip

of Hessephilology 124–128, 125, 311philosophy 250phlebotomy

drugs 259medicine 262–263

photography 74, 75physical exercise 274physicians. See also surgeons

anatomy 260medicine 263training in medicine 278

piazza 318gPicardy 195picaresque novel 137, 318gpícaro 137Piccinino, Niccolò 204Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius 287

Aristotle’s Poetics 128pedagogical treatises 272–273

Piccolomini, Alessandro 155Piccolomini, Enea Silvio. See Pius IIPiccolomini family 220–221Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni 146,

155pier 318gPiero della Francesca 69, 95, 256,

267, 321cPiero di Cosimo 96Pierre II (duke of Bourbon) 76Pietà (Michelangelo) 82piferri 167Pigafetta, Antonio 245pigs 260pikemen 186

battle tactics 188, 189mercenaries 186military command structure

188militia 187

pike(s) 318gfirearms 185handheld weaponry 184military medicine 190

pilaster 318gpilgrimages 231–232pilgrims 106, 232Pindar 132

pineapple, illustration of 258Pinta (ship) 238Pinto, Fernão Mendes 245Pinturicchio 96Pinzón brothers 245Pirckheimer, Caritas 285Pirckheimer, Willibald 155Pisa 230Pisan, Christine de

court libraries 147learned women 284

Pisanello 96, 321cbridal portraits 77bronze sculpture 83

Pisano, Andrea 96Pius II (pope) 31, 155

the papacy 30patronage 115pedagogical treatises 272

Pius IV (pope) 33, 115Pius V (pope) 33Pius VI (pope) 44Pizarro, Fernando 245Pizarro, Francisco 245plague xiv

anti-Semitism 40disease/illness/death 307marriage 294religious literature 46

planisphere 228plantations (sugarcane) 219Plantin, Christophe

the Bible 45botany 258–259

plants 257, 258plaque (painted enamel) 84plate armor

field armor 182military supply 188

plates 87, 306platitude 318gPlato xiii, xiv, 272Plautus 143plays. See dramaPléiade 318g

epic poetry 130humanism and music 163ode 132Renaissance treatises 129

plowing 213plumbing (indoor) 298Plutarch

biography 135pedagogical treatises 271

Poetics (Aristotle) 128, 140poetry 129–133

emblems 133epic 129, 130–131, 315g

humanism and music 163, 164Louise Labé 131Latin 126Latin vs. the vernacular 126literature and language 124lyric 131, 131, 132ode 125, 132, 163, 318gpastoral 133Renaissance treatises 129sonnet 131, 131, 132, 319g

gardens 119–120Gregory XIII 34history, government, and

society 9Holy Roman Empire 9influences of the Renaissance

on 311major rulers of 21–22

Pole, Reginald (cardinal) 62political boundaries xv–xvipolitical structure 2Politices (Aristotle) 4Poliziano, Angelo 102, 130, 155Pollaiuolo, Antonio 77, 96Polo, Marco 233mpolychrome

Italian ecclesiastical buildings110

sculpture 81polygamy 50polyphony 172polyptych 318gPonce de León, Juan 240, 245,

322cPontano, Giovanni 155Pont Neuf 106Pontormo, Jacopo da 96pools (reflective) 120popes. See the papacypopulation, reduction in xivporridge 305portico 101, 104, 318gPortinari, Pigallo 116Portinari, Tommaso 75Portinari Altarpiece (Hugo van der

Goes) 72, 73, 75–76Portinari family 115Porto, Luigi da 204portolan 318gportolan chart 318g–319g

cartography 225, 226, 228coastal navigation 230of western Europe and

northwestern Africa 227mportrait medals 83, 84, 321cPortrait of Alfonso V 9Portrait of Charles V 13


372

Poland xvi, 16–17

Portrait of Christopher Columbus (JeanJacques Boissard) 239

Portrait of Cosimo I de’Medici(Bronzino) 7

Portrait of Francis I (Joos van Cleve)11

Portrait of Jean Calvin 49Portrait of Michelangelo (Giorgio

Vasari) 70Portrait of Philip II 14Portrait of Pope Leo X (Raphael) 32Portrait of Sebastian Brant (Nicholas

Reusner) 303portraiture 74–78

bridal/dowry/marriage 76–77of Christopher Columbus 239of donors on altarpieces

75–76goal of 74–75Head of the Virgin (Leonardo da

Vinci) 77lighting for 75of Iolanta Ludovica 84of Michelangelo 70miniature 78mythological 77royalty 76, 78

14–15, 240, 322c. See also specificheadings, e.g.: Manuel I

Africa 234anti-Semitism 41cartography 228chivalric romance 139in the East 234, 237ecclesiastical buildings 118education 275epic poetry 130exploration 232, 234, 235m,

236m, 237foreign missions 37Vasco da Gama. See Gama,

Vasco dagardens 120Inquisition 41John I 14John II 234Judaism 54lyric poetry 132major rulers of 20navigation 231the Navy 189Philip II 14slavery 218Spain 11sugarcane plantations 219voyages of, to 1498 235m

Postel, Guillaume 56

potato 214pottery 86poverty

clergy 34daily life 290disease/illness/death 307religious orders 35

Power, Lionel 161, 174Prague 40prayer

book of 46carpet 57family life 294mosques 57

preaching 46–47predella 319gPrester John 234, 245–246prie-dieu 319gpriests

celibacy 30, 34, 50clergy 34family life 293Germany 49Inquisition 42marriage 294Protestant Reformation 49religion 30sacraments 39

primary education 279–280Primaticcio, Francesco 71, 96Primavera (Botticelli) 72primers 279The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli)

134, 322cprinted books

commerce 208crafts 215education in the vernacular

languages 279Latin vs. the vernacular 127

of books 127–128, 171, 172press 51, 124privileges 217–218

printmaking 312privileges (printing) 217–218processions 302property taxes 18proportions 109prose 133–137, 138, 139

biography and autobiography135

history 134–135novel 16, 135–137, 138, 139poetry 131satire and humor 139

proselytization 36prosody 130

Protestantism and Protestants xivAnabaptists 50, 52Anglican Church. See Church

of Englandanti-Semitism 40betrothals 295calendar 293Calvinism. See Calvinism and

Calvinistscarnival 299Charles I (Charles V) 13Church of England. See Church

of Englandclothing 304Council of Lateran V 44Council of Trent 44Counter-Reformation 44disease/illness/death 307drama 140the Eucharist 39foreign missions 37heresies 40history, government, and

society 9, 134Inquisition 42lyric poetry 132music 161Poland 16preaching 46printed music books 172Protestant Reformation. See

Protestant ReformationRevolt of the Netherlands 181sacred music 160Scotland 18sermons 146synagogue 55time 291tragedy 142universities 279wars 180

Protestant Reformation xiv, xv, xvi,47–54, 322c

Book of Common Prayer 50,52, 53

Jean Calvin. See Calvin, JeanCatholic Church 34church hierarchy 52clergy 34and destruction of art 66–67education 270, 279Germany 15history, government, and

society 2iconoclasm 53–54, 66, 316gIndex of Prohibited Books 42Inquisition 41leagues 193

I N D E X

373

Portugal and Portuguese xv, 11, 12,

printing xiv–xv, 216–217, 321c

Protestant Reformation (continued)Leo X 32Martin Luther. See Luther,

MartinPaul III 33peace treaties and settlements

196Protestant Bible 52–53religion 30religious literature 53religious orders 36sacraments 38–39sculpture 82spread of the 48–51theological elements in the

51–52training in theology 277

the Psaltereducation 270sacred music 161

Ptolemyastronomy 251geography 225

public banks 209public gatherings 299–300public libraries 147publishing 216–217, 218

as an investment 217of musical material 170–172the printed book 127–128

Pucelle, Jean 96Puritans 50putto 319g

Qquarantining 307Quintilian

childhood education 283Jewish sermons 56pedagogical treatises

271–272Qur’an. See Koran

Rrabbi 55Rabelais, François 155, 322c

comedy 143humanism, philology, and

publishing 124Latin 126novels 136

Raimondi, Marcantonio 96prints 85tapestries 80

Raleigh, Sir Walter 204, 240, 241,246, 323c

Ramus, Petrus 155, 267humanistic oratory and rhetoric

145optics 257

Ramusio, Giovanni Battista 246Ran (King Lear) (Akira Kurosawa)

312rape 295Raphael 96, 121

16th-century Romanrestoration 108

architecture of 104Clement VII 33emblem 133needlework 88Papal portraiture 76Portrait of Pope Leo X 32prints 85Sistine Chapel ceiling 70tapestries 78, 80

Ravenna, Battle of 194, 322crealism 73, 74, 80the Reconquest of Spain 180Recorde, Robert 254, 267recorders 168–169red (color) 304reflective pools 120reform

Catholic Church 34Counter-Reformation. See

Counter-ReformationProtestant Reformation. See

Protestant Reformationreligious orders 35

Regensburg Synagogue 55regiment (military) 188Regiomontanus 267regulars 34, 319gReinhold, Erasmus 267Reisch, Gregor 280relics

Leon Battista Alberti 102civic processions 300

relief sculpture 82

witchcraftAnabaptists 50, 52Catholic Church. See Catholic

ChurchCatholicism. See Catholicism

and CatholicsConfucianism 38foreign missions 37, 37, 38, 38frescos 68, 69Germany 15Henry VIII 18Isabella I and Ferdinand V 13Islam 42, 56–58, 57

Judaism. See Judaismmajor figures in 58–63missionaries 34, 36, 37, 38, 38Muslims. See Muslimsthe papacy 30–34Protestantism. See Protestantism

and ProtestantsProtestant Reformation 47,

47–54scholarship 310Scotland 18wars 48, 51, 180

religious celebrations 291religious freedom 16reliquary 319gRenaissance

influences of 311–312meaning of word xiiiorigins of the xiii–xvitreatises 129

Renè of Anjou 110representative body 3representative government 11republics 6Requeséns y Zúñiga, Luis de 204reredos 72Resurrection 35, 319gretable 72retragrammation 56Reuchlin, Johannes 56, 62Reusner, Nicholas 303revenue 10. See also taxationRevolt of the Netherlands 181–182Rheticus, Georg 267rhetoric. See also oratory

classical treatises 144–145education 284humanism, philology, and

publishing 124humanistic 145, 284Jewish sermons 56liberal arts 277poetry 130

Rhetoric (Aristotle) 144rhumb lines 319gRibault, Jean 246ribbon 304Ricci, Matteo 38, 62rice 213Riemenschneider, Tilman 81, 82, 96rifled 319gRimini 19rings 304Risner, Friedrich 257, 267ritual bathing (washing) 56, 57rivers 229Roanoke Island 240, 241, 323cRobbia, Luca della 84


374

religion xiv, 30–64. See also

Robin, Jean 267rock salt 211Rojas, Fernando de 137, 155Rollaiuolo 88Romagna 30Roman Academy 107Roman Catholic Church. See

Catholic Churchromance 129

chivalric 129, 131, 133, 137,139, 280, 314g

pastoral 139Roman Curia

Innocent VIII 31the papacy 30–31Paul IV 33Sixtus IV 31

Roman Empirehistory 134Latin 126

Roman Inquisition 42Romano, Giulio. See Giulio Romanoroman type style 127–128Rome, sack of 322c

16th-century Romanrestoration 108, 109

battles and sieges 194Clement VII 33history, government, and

society 4, 9Holy Roman Empire 9influence of Rome on

architecture 106Italy 4mercenaries 187

Rome and Roman(s) xiii. See alsoHoly Roman Empire

15th century and Roman ruins106–108

16th-century restoration of108, 108, 109

anti-Semitism 40architects 104–105architecture 100, 106–109calendar 292Philibert Delorme 105, 106education 270education for women 283fortresses/castles/palaces 111gardens 115history, government, and

society 9Holy Roman Empire 9humanism, philology, and

publishing 124Inquisition 41–42Judaism 54law 10

libraries 146Nicholas V 31oratory and rhetoric 145Andrea Palladio 104the papacy 30Paul IV 33religion 30sacred music 161Sebastian Serlio 103Sixtus IV 31triumphal entries 302Giacomo da Vignola 105women 283

Ronda, siege of 194, 321crondeau 163, 319gRondelet, Guillaume 267rondels 110Ronsard, Pierre de 155

epic poetry 130humanism and music 163lyric poetry 131Renaissance treatises 129

Rossellino, Bernardo 121Rossi, Properzia de’ 82, 96Rosso, Il 71Rosso Fiorentino 96Rovere, Francesco della. See Sixtus

IVRovere, Giuliano della. See Julius IIroyal councils 13–14Royal Exchange (London) 119royalty

astrology 253decorative art 86education 276, 282portraiture of 76, 78stone sculpture 82weddings 302women and girls 282

Rucellai family 109Palazzo Rucellai 111

Ruckers, Hans 170Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor)

27, 147ruins

15th century and Roman ruins106, 107

16th-century Romanrestoration 108, 109

influence of Rome onarchitecture 106

running 299Ruskin, John 310rustication 319g

civic architecture 119Italian fortresses/castles/palaces

111Ruysch, Johannes 226, 246

Ssabbath

Jewish religious practices 56Synagogue 55

Sachs, Hans 156comedy 143tragedy 142

sackbut 168sack of Rome. See Rome, sack ofSackville, Thomas 142sacra converzatione 319gsacraments 34, 38–39Sacred Heart 46sacred music 160–161

patronage 164printed music books 171, 172working conditions in music

166Sacrestia Vecchia 101Sacrobosco, Johannes de 267Sá de Miranda, Francisco da

155–156Sadoleto, Jacopo 274sailors 189sails 231Saint Anne reading to the Virgin

(sculpture) 283Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre

51Saint-Gelais, Mellin de 156Saint John’s College (Cambridge) 276Saint Paul’s (London) 276Saint Peter’s Basilica

15th century and Roman ruins107–108

ecclesiastical buildings 109Julius II 32Leo X 32Michelangelo 105Raphael 104Sixtus V 34

Saint Quentin, Battle of 195, 322csaints

civic processions 300clergy 35Counter-Reformation 44patron 300religious drama 46

Saint Vincent Polyptych (NunoGonçalves) 76

Salic law 290salt 305Salutati, Coluccio 156, 278, 287Sambucus, Johannes 156Sampiero da Bastelica 204Sánchez Coello, Alonso 96sandstone 82San Francesco della Vigna 110

I N D E X

375

Sangallo the Younger, Antonio da111, 112, 121

San Giovanni Evangelista (Parma)70–71

Sannazaro, Jacopo 139, 156San Pedro, Diego de 139, 156Sansovino, Jacopo Tatti 117, 121Santa Maria (ship) 238Santa Maria della Pace, cloister of

104Santa Maria della Pieve, Church of

(Arezzo, Italy) 105Santa Maria Novella (Florence) 109Santa Maria Nuova, hospital of

115–116Santo Domingo 238Saragossa (Zaragoza), Treaty of 195,

237, 322csarcophagus 82Sardinia xv


Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12Italy 4, 8

Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro 246Sassetta 96Satan 46satire 139, 319g, 322c

Germany 49lyric poetry 132prose 133–134Protestant Reformation 49

Saturday 55Savonarola, Girolamo 321c

Alexander I 32Catholic Church 34Florence 7history, government, and

society 7sexual advice and activity 295

Savoy xv, 196Saxony 21, 194Saxton, Christopher 246scale (musical) 164Scaliger, Julius Caesar 129Scamozzi, Vincenzo 116–117, 121Scandinavia xivscarves 304scatology 139Scève, Maurice 156Schlick, Arnolt 168Schmalkaldic League 181, 193Schmalkaldic War 181, 194scholarship 72, 310–311Scholastics

Latin 126learned women 284training in theology 278

The Scholemaster (Roger Ascham)285

Schongauer, Martin 85, 96School of Fontainebleau 71school(s). See also universities

children 297France 274Germany 276grammar 271humanistic education 274, 276Italy 274primary education 271,

279–280Schouten, Willem Corneliszoon

246science 250–268. See also medicine;

specific headings, e.g.: Copernicus,Nicolas

alchemy 253, 254anatomy 261. See also anatomyastrology 250–251, 251, 252,

253astronomy 251. See also

astronomybotany 250, 257, 258, 258,

258–259chemistry 253–254. See also

chemistrydrugs 257, 258, 259–260geology 250major figures in 263–268mathematics. See mathematicsoptics 257university education 277

scientific revolution 311Scotland xv, 17, 18

Anglo-Scottish Conflicts 181education 276–277food 305James IV 18James V 18major rulers of 22masques 143–144Protestant Reformation 50–51wind instruments 169

script 216–217, 270sculpture 80–85. See also specific

headings, e.g.: MichelangeloBuonarroti

bronze 83, 84clay 84, 85clergy 35coloring of 80contrapposto 67, 68disease/illness/death 307influences of the Renaissance

on 311painted enamel plaque 84

portrait of Iolanta Ludovica 84Saint Anne reading to the

Virgin 283in stone 82–83Virgin and Child (limewood

sculpture) 81wood 81, 81, 82

seasons 291Sebastian I (king of Portugal) 15,

27, 204Sebastián del Cano, Juan 234Sebastiano del Piombo 97Sebillet, Thomas 156secco 68, 319gsecondary education 280secretaries of state 11Secret Council 8secular clergy 35secular imagery 78secular sculpture 83Secundus, Johannes 126, 156segregation of the sexes 55Sellyng, William 276, 287Senate 6, 7Seneca the Younger 140, 142, 146Senfl, Ludwig 161, 164sericulture 213Serlio, Sebastian 103, 104, 121

French ecclesiastical buildings111

gardens 115Roman Coliseum (woodcut)

108sermons 145–146

Judaism 55–56mosques 57preaching 47

serpentine 319gServetus, Michael 40, 62Seville

slavery 218travel of harbors 230

sexual activity and advice 295, 299Seyssel, Claude 10Sforza, Bianca Maria 164Sforza, Caterina (countess of Forlí)

204Sforza, Francesco I (duke of Milan)

27, 204history, government, and

society 8hospitals 116Milan 8tapestries 80

Sforza, Galeazzo Maria (duke ofMilan) 165–166

Sforza, Lodovico (duke of Milan)27, 204


376

Sforza familyDonato Bramante 104history, government, and

society 4, 8Italy 4Milan 8patronage 165

sfumato 319gShakespeare, William 156, 323c

comedy 143influences of the Renaissance

on 312lyric poetry 131Renaissance treatises 129tragedy 142–143

shawm 168, 169Sheldon workshops 78Sherman, Cindy 312shields 183shipbuilding 215–216ships. See also the Navy

navigation 231oarsmen 189travel of harbors 230

Sicily xveducation 275history, government, and

society 3, 8Isabella I and Ferdinand V 12Italy 3, 8

Sickingen, Franz von 204side drum 167–168Sidney, Sir Philip 156

pastoral romance 139Renaissance treatises 129

siege tower 319gfortifications 192wooden 191

siege warfare 190, 193–194Constantinople 194fired projectiles 184Orléans 193, 321cRonda 194, 321csoldiering 185Tenochtitlán 322c

Siena xv, 4Sigismund I (king of Poland) 27, 205Sigismund III Vas (king of Poland)

205Sigismund (Holy Roman Emperor)

204Sigismund (king of Hungary and

Bohemia) 49, 62siglo de oro 319gthe Signoria (Florence) 6, 7silk

clothing 304textiles 212, 213

silverbanking 209chemistry 253decorative art 86mining 210, 211, 219money 209Portugal 12slavery 219Spain 12Synagogue 55textiles 213travel of harbors 230

silversmiths 86Simmern dynasty 21Simone Martini 97Simons, Menno 50, 62singing 166

a capella 161music 160working conditions in music

167Sisters of the Common Life 36Sistine Chapel

Clement VII 33Counter-Reformation 44fresco painting 68, 70Julius II 32patronage 166tapestries 78

16th centuryarchitects 100humanistic oratory and rhetoric

145wars 178, 180

Sixtus IV (pope) 3115th century and Roman ruins

107–108hospitals 116patronage 166

Sixtus V (pope) 34Skelton, John 132, 156“skeltonics” 132skirts 304slavery and slaves 218–219

commerce 208exploration and travel 224exploration of Africa 234foreign missions 37mining 211Portugal 12travel 228

Slavs (Greek Orthodox) xivslings

artillery 184handheld weaponry 184the Navy 189

Sluter, Claus 97

smallpoxdisease/illness/death 307sugarcane plantations 219

smoothbore 319gsmothering 306Smythson, Robert 118–119society 2–28

England 17, 17–18France 10–11, 11Germany 15Holy Roman Empire 9–10Hungary 16, 17Italy 3–9major rulers 19–22map of Europe, c. 1460 3mthe Netherlands 15–16Poland 16–17Portugal 11, 14–15Spain 11, 12–14

Society of Jesus 36, 322cSofonisha (Gian Giorgio Trissino)

140soldiering and soldiers 185–190

artillery 184, 185battle tactics 188field armor 182–183games 298military medicine 190military music 168military supply 188militia 187the Navy 189–190wars 178Wars of the Roses 180

Solís, Juan Díaz de 243Solomon, Bernard 48songs 162sonnet 131, 131, 132, 319gSophocles 142soprano 166Soto, Hernando de 240, 246, 322csotties 143South America

exploration of the West 240foreign missions 37mining 211slavery 219

southern Italy 8, 9, 169Sardinia xv, 4, 8, 12Sicily xv, 3, 8, 12, 275

Spain xiv, xv, 11, 12, 12–14,321c–323c. See also specific headings,e.g.: Philip II

Africa 234agriculture 214anti-Semitism 41battles and sieges 194, 195cartography 226

I N D E X

377

Spain (continued)ceramics 86

chivalric romance 139civic architecture 119clothing 304education 275exploration 232, 234, 236m,

237, 238, 240Ferdinand V. See Ferdinand Vforeign missions 37gardens 120geography 226history, government, and

society 2, 4, 8, 10, 134Holy Roman Empire 10Isabella I. See Isabella IIslam 56–57Italy 4Judaism 54leagues 193lyric poetry 132major rulers of 20Milan 8mining 211Muslim philosophy 58navigation 231the Navy 189–190patronage 164–165peace treaties and settlements

195, 196picaresque novel 137Portugal 15the Reconquest of 180Sixtus IV 31slavery 219Hernando de Soto 240, 246,

322csouthern Italy 8stone sculpture 82–83string instruments 169sugarcane plantations 219tragedy 142travel of harbors 230warfare 178wars 178wind instruments 168–169

Spanish America 219Spanish Armada 195, 323cSpanish Inquisition

anti-Semitism 40Index of Prohibited Books 42Inquisition 42

Spanish language 133Speed, John 246Spenser, Edmund 156

emblem 133epic poetry 130

pastoral poetry 133Renaissance treatises 129

Spice Islands. See the Moluccasspices

cooking and serving 305Portugal 12

spice trade 234, 237spirits (alcoholic) 215Sponde, Jean de 156sports 299, 299Sprenger, Jakob 40Squarcione, Francesco 97staircase (spiral) 113Stampa, Gaspara 156standards (weights and measures)

208standing armies 187state funerals 300, 301, 302Stevin, Simon 256, 267stewing 305storytelling 162Stoss, Viet 81, 97Strabo 225Strasbourg 276stringed instruments 169, 170, 170Strozzi family 221Stuart dynasty

England 17major rulers of the 22Scotland 17

Stumpf, Johannes 62Sturm, Johannes 276, 287sugar 305sugarcane plantations 219Suleiman (Ottoman sultan) 194, 205summary of major 240–241sumptuary laws 303, 305the Sun

astronomy 250, 251calendar 292navigation 230

SundaySynagogue 55time 291

sundials 291supply lines 188surgeons. See also physicians

anatomy 260disease/illness/death 306medicine 262, 263midwifery 263military medicine 190training in medicine 278

Surrey (Henry Howard, Earl ofSurrey) 156

Swabian League 193Swan Theater (London) 119Sweden, house of 22

Sweynheim and Pannartz 127swimming 299Swiss Brethren 52Swiss Confederation

battles and sieges 194Protestant Reformation 50Swiss Wars 180–181wars 178

“Swiss Square” battle formation 185Swiss Wars 180–181Switzerland and the Swiss

battles and sieges 194clothing 304history, government, and

society 9Holy Roman Empire 9Inquisition 41military command structure

188Protestant Reformation 49–50

swords 184symbols (mathematical) 254Symonds, John Addington 310synagogue

Judaism 55, 55religion 30

syphilisdisease/illness/death 307medicine 262

Ttableaux vivants 300Talmud 56tambourine 168Tani, Angelo 75tapestries 78–80

clothing 303Flemish 66, 79–80Italian 66, 80The Last Supper 79triumphal entries 302

Tartaglia, Niccolò 254, 267Tasso, Bernardo 132, 156Tasso, Torquato 129, 156taxation

clergy 34Francis I 10Henry VIII 18history, government, and

society 6Isabella I and Ferdinand V

12–13the Netherlands 16Philip II 14Portugal 12Sixtus V 34Spain 12


378

Charles I xv, 9, 11, 13, 13–14

Venice 6wine 215

tea 259Teatro Olimpico (Vicenza) 116, 117telescope

astronomy 251optics 257

tempera 319gTempietto di San Andrea 105Tempietto for the Church of San

Pietro 110Tempio Malatestiano (Rimini) 102,

321ctennis 299Tenochtitlán, siege of 322cTerence

comedy 143illustrated page from plays of

141Teresa of Ávila 62–63

Inquisition 42religious literature 46

Terracina, Laura 157terra-cotta 84, 319gTerrail, Pierre (siegneur de Bayard)

205terza rima 319gtextiles 212, 213. See also weaving

and weaversbrocaded velvet 212childhood education 283daily life 291the papacy 30Portugal 12

theater. See also dramacivic architecture 119drama 140humanistic education in

Germany 276influences of the Renaissance

on 312patronage for 116–117

Theatines 33Theatrum orbis terrarum (Abraham

Ortelius) 228themes (mythological) 80Theocritus 133theology

education 277–278Protestant universities 279

Thomas à Kempis 63Thomas Aquinas, Saint

the Eucharist 39training and theology 277

Thomism 277Thyard, Pontus de 157Tibaldi 97tiles (ceramic) 86

Till Eulenspiegel 137time 291, 292tin 211Tinctoris, Johannes de 163Tintoretto 97Tirant lo Blanc (Joanot Martorell)

137Titian 85, 97tobacco

agriculture 214drugs 259

toddlerschildren 296disease/illness/death 306

Toledo, Juan Bautista de 118, 121Toledo, cathedral of 71tomato 214Tomb momument for the duchess of

Albuquerque (Arthur Byne) 301tomb(s)

Leon Battista Alberti 102disease/illness/death 307Julius II 32Medici 82sculpture 82, 83

topiary 115Torah 319g

the Hebrew Bible 55Synagogue 55

Tordesillas, Treaty of 237, 322cTorelli, Ludovica 282Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo 246to the West 238–239, 239Tournai 18tournament armor 182, 183Tours, Treaty of 321c

Hundred Years’ War 180peace treaties and settlements

195tower, siege. See siege towertown halls

civic architecture 119patronage for 116

towns xivtrace 319gtraction (full-body) 262trade. See also commerce

center for 119commerce 208exploration of the East 234,

237spice 234, 237travel of harbors 230

tragedy 140, 140, 142–143, 320gtragicomedy 320g

comedy 143Renaissance treatises 129

training (professional) 277–270

transubstantiationCouncil of Trent 44the Eucharist 39

Transylvania 22travel 224, 224, 228–232

by land 231–232literature 232navigation 230–231world map (1574) 229m

treaties 10. See also specific treatiestreatises

classical rhetorical 144–145pedagogical 271–273Renaissance 129

trebuchet 184, 320gtrees 214trencher 305, 306Trent 40triangulation 250Tridentine Index 43trigonometry

geometry 257mathematics 254

triptych 320gTrissino, Gian Giorgio 157

epic poetry 130Andrea Palladio 104tragedy 140

Tristão, Nuno 235m, 246Trivulzio, Gian Giacomo 194, 205trombone

wind instruments 168working conditions in music

167trompe l’oeil 320g

furniture 88Sistine Chapel ceiling 70Veronese 71

troubadour 166trou de loup 320gTroyes, Treaty of


195trumpet 168Tudors

major rulers of the 22peace treaties and settlements

195Tudor style 297Tunis, Battle of 194, 322cTurkey and Turks xiv, 321c

Austro-Turkish Wars 181battles and sieges 194, 195Council of Lateran V 44fortifications 192Hungary 17Islam 57

I N D E X

379

Turkey and Turks (continued)military communications 188war 178, 180

Turkish War 182Tuscan language 126Tuscan style 103, 104Tuscany xv, 214Two Children Teasing a Cat (Annibale

Carracci) 296Tyndale, William 63

Inquisition 42Protestant Bible 53

type style 127–128Tyrol xv, 211

UUccello, Paolo 69, 97Udall, Nicholas 143Uffizi palace

town halls 116Giorgio Vasari 105

Umbria 30unction (extreme) 38United States 311, 322cuniversities 277–279. See also

school(s)foreign missions 37humanistic education 271Protestant 279religious orders 35

urban life 290, 291urban planning. See architecture and

urban planningurban renewal 106urban society 2Urbino 19urn 83Ursulines 36usury

banking 209Judaism 54

utensils (for eating) 306Utopia (Sir Thomas Moore)

on family portraits 77satire 139

Utraquism 51–52

Vvaccinations 262Vaet, Jacobus 165Valdés, Alfonso de 157Valdés, Juan de 157Valla, Lorenzo 157

humanism and music 163Latin 126, 127

Valois, Elizabeth 196

Valois dynastyhistory, government, and

society 4Italian Wars 181Italy 4major rulers of the 20, 21

Valturio, Roberto 205Varthema, Lodovico de 246Vasari, Giorgio 66, 97, 105, 105,

121–122, 322con fresco painting 69on the Mona Lisa 77papal portraiture 76Portrait of Michelangelo 70on Sistine Chapel ceiling 70stone sculpture 82town halls 116

Vatican. See Holy SeeVatican Library 31, 147Vázquez de Ayllón, Lucas 246Vázquez de Coronado, Francisco

240, 246, 322cvegetables 305Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego 205vellum 320g

the Hebrew Bible 54manuscripts 171painting on 78printed books 127

velvet 304Venetian glass 86Veneziano, Domenico 97Venezuela 238Venice xiv, xv, 6


aftermath of warfare 191banking 209battles and sieges 194carnival 299ecclesiastical buildings 110Florence 7fresco painting 68glass 86, 87history, government, and

society 4, 7influence of Rome on

architecture 106influences of the Renaissance

on 311Inquisition 42Italy 4Julius II 32leagues 193major rulers of 19Palladian villas 114peace treaties and settlements

195printed books 128

publication of music 171shipbuilding 215–216war 178, 180

Vergerio the Elder (Piero Paolo)272, 287

Vergil, Polydore 157vernacular languages

Aristotle’s Poetics 128botany 258drama 140education 276, 279–281emblem 133history 134humanism, philology, and

publishing 124Latin vs. 126–127literature and language 124poetry 129–130printing and publishing 124,

171, 217prose 133Renaissance treatises 129secondary curriculum 280tragedy 142

Verona 284Veronese, Paolo 71, 97Verrazano, Giovanni da 240, 246,

322ccartography 228exploration of the West 240

Vesalius, Andreas 267, 287, 322canatomy 260, 261training in medicine 278

Vespucci, Amerigo 247Vettori, Pietro 128Victoria, Tomás Luis de 174Vienna xv, 40Vienna, siege of 322c

Austro-Turkish Wars 181battles and sieges 194

Viète, François 256, 267–268Vignola, Giacomo da 105, 114, 122Vigo, Giovanni da 268viheuls 169Villa Barbaro (Maser) 71Villa Farnese 83Villa I Tatti (Florence) 310Villa Madama 111–112villancico 163, 320gVilla Rotonda (Vicenza) 322c


Palladian villas 114villas 113, 113–114Villegaignon, Nicolas Durand de

247Villena, Enrique de 157Villon, François 132, 157viol 169


380

Ukraine xvi

violin 169virelai 163, 320gVirgil

epic poetry 130pastoral poetry 133

virginal 170, 170Virgin and Child (limewood

sculpture) 81Virginia 226Virgin Mary. See Mary, VirginVischer the Elder, Peter 97Visconti 8The Vision of Saint John (Correggio) 71Visscher, Pieter Roemer 157Viterbo, Egidio da

sermons 145–146Sistine Chapel ceiling 70

Vittorino (Rambaldoni) da Feltre 287humanistic education in Italy

273–274Vivarini, Antonio 98Vives, Juan Luis 287

education 276, 284women 284, 285

vivisection 261Volksbuch 137volley fire 320gVolpone (Ben Jonson) 143Voragine, Jacobus de 46vows 34Vredeman de Vries, Jan 122Vries, Adriaan de 98Vulgate Bible 45

Wwafer (communion)

Book of Common Prayer 53Protestant Reformation 52theological elements 52

Wagenburg 320gWaghenaer, Lucas Janszoon 247wagon 232Wagonburg 184Waldensians 41Waldseemüller, Martin 226, 247Wales 17walkers 296walking 232Walther, Johann 161Wanderjahr 282Warburg, Aby 310Warburg Institute (London) 310warfare 178–205. See also specific

headings, e.g.: Hundred Year’s Waraftermath of 191armor 32, 182–183, 183, 211the army 186, 186–189artillery. See artillery

battles. See battlescavalry 183, 186, 187, 193,

314gin Europe, c. 1519 179mfirearms. See firearmsfortifications 178, 191, 191,

192fortresses 111–113, 112, 191Julius II 32leagues 181, 192–193major figures in 196–205military medicine 178,

190–191the Navy 189–190, 195peace treaties/settlements

195–196siege 184, 185, 190, 193–194,

321c, 322csoldiering. See soldiering and

soldierswars 178–182weaponry. See weaponry

wars 46. See also specific headings, e.g.:Wars of the Roses

Wars of ReligionFrance 51Protestant Reformation 48, 51

Wars of the Roses 180peace treaties and settlements

195warfare 178

watch (pocket) 291water

disease/illness/death 306gardens 115wheels 211

Watlings Island 238weaponry. See also armor

artillery. See artillerycannons 184, 185, 189, 195catapults 184, 189firearms. See firearms

gunpowder 184, 185, 189,316g

handheld 184lance 184mining 211pikes 184, 185, 190, 318gswords 184

weaving and weavers 78childhood education 283tapestries 78, 80textiles 212, 213

weddings 302, 305weight and measures 208Welser family 221wet nurse 295, 296Wettin, house of 21

Weyden, Rogier van der 79, 98wheat 213wheel lock 320gwidowhood 294Wilhelm IV (landgrave of Hesse)

268Willaert, Adriaan 161, 174–175William of Orange (count of Nassau)

205the Netherlands 16, 181Revolt of the Netherlands 181

Willoughby, Sir Francis 118willow bark 259Wilson, Thomas 145wind instruments 167, 168–169windows 298wind rose 320gwine 214, 215, 215

Book of Common Prayer 53the Eucharist 39food 305Protestant Reformation 52sacraments 38spirits 215theological elements 52

witchcraftheresies 40Innocent VIII 32Inquisition 41, 42persecution of 40

Wittelsbach familyGermany 15major rulers of the 20, 21

Wittenberg, Germany 322cCouncil of Lateran V 44Protestant Reformation 47

Witz, Konrad 98wives

betrothals 295family life 293marriage 294weddings 302

Wolgemut, Michael 98Wollaton Hall (Nottinghamshire)

118–119Wolsey, Thomas (cardinal) 18, 63

headings, e.g.: Medici, Catherine

autobiography 135betrothals 295brides 302children 295clothing 304crafts 215daily life 290education of 282–285examples of learned 284–285family life 293

I N D E X

381

de’

women xiii. See also girls; specific

fired projectiles xv, 184–185

women (continued)guilds 216jewelry 304Jewish religious practices 56land ownership 290midwifery 263mosques 57mothers 283, 290, 291pedagogical treatises 272religious orders 36secular music 162shipbuilding 216singing and performance 166soldiering 185sports 299stone sculpture 82sumptuary laws 303synagogue 55weddings 302, 305widowhood 294witches 40wives 293–295, 302working conditions in music

167wood blocks 171wood-carvers

furniture 88sculpture 82

woodcut relief 85, 320gwoodcut(s)

botany 259emblem 133literature and language 124poetry 130printed books 127religious literature 46secondary curriculum 280

wooden chest (Venetian lacquered)293

wooden houses 298wooden panel painting 71–78wool

agriculture 214clothing 304textiles 212, 213

working conditions, for musicians166–167

workshop(s)apprenticeship 281, 282crafts 215furniture 88musical instrument maker’s 160prints 85publishing 217shipbuilding 215–216tapestries 80

world map(s)in 1574 229mContarini, (1506) 226Mercator, (1569) 228

wrestling 299Wright, Edward 247, 257, 268writing xvWyatt, Sir Thomas 131, 157Wycliffe, John 63

Council of Constance 43iconoclasm 54

XXavier, Francis 63

foreign missions 37, 38religious orders 36

Xenophon 135

Y

Yolanda of Savoy 166York, House of

major rulers of the 22Wars of the Roses 180

ZZaccaria, Almoro di. See Barbaro the

Younger, ErmolaoZacuto, Abraham 268Zaragoza, Treaty of. See Saragossa,

Treaty ofZarlino, Gioseffo 164

the Netherlands 16, 181Revolt of the Netherlands 181

Zsámboki, János. See Sambucus,Johannes

Zuccaro, Federico 98Zuccaro, Taddeo 98Zurara, Gomes Eanes de 225, 247,

321cZurita, Jerónimo de 157Zwingli, Huldrych 63

Protestant Reformation 48, 50Switzerland 50

Zwinglianismchurch hierarchy 52Council of Trent 44iconoclasm 53Protestant Reformation 49, 52sacraments 38Switzerland 49theological elements 52


382

yeomen xiv

Zeeland xv

HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE - Higher ...

Documents