By the mid-fifteenth century, the popes had reasserted their supremacy over the Catholic Church. No longer, however, did they have any possibility of asserting supremacy over temporal governments as the medieval papacy had. Although the papal monarchy had been maintained, it had lost much moral prestige. In the fifteenth century, the Renaissance papacy contributed to an even further decline in the moral leadership of the popes.
The Renaissance Papacy
The Renaissance papacy encompasses the line of popes from the end of the Great Schism (1417) to the beginnings of the Reformation in the early sixteenth century. The primary concern of the papacy is governing the Catholic Church as its spiritual leader. But as heads of the church, popes had temporal preoccupations as well, and the story of the Renaissance papacy is really an account of how the latter came to overshadow the popes’ spiritual functions.
The manner in which Renaissance popes pursued their interests in the Papal States and Italian politics, especially their use of intrigue and even bloodshed, seemed shocking. Of all the Renaissance popes, Julius II (1503–1513) was most involved in war and politics. The fiery “warrior-pope” personally led armies against his enemies, much to the disgust of pious Christians, who viewed the pope as a spiritual leader. As one intellectual wrote, “How, O bishop standing in the room of the Apostles, dare you teach the people the things that pertain to war?”
To further their territorial aims in the Papal States, the popes needed loyal servants. Because they were not hereditary monarchs, popes could not build dynasties over several generations and came to rely on the practice of nepotism to promote their families’ interests. Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484), for example, made five of his nephews cardinals and gave them an abundance of church offices to build up their finances (the word nepotism is in fact derived from the Latin nepos,meaning “nephew”). Alexander VI (1492–1503), a member of the Borgia family who was known for his debauchery and sensuality, raised one son, one nephew, and the brother of one mistress to the cardinalate. A Venetian envoy stated that Alexander, “joyous by nature, thought of nothing but the aggrandizement of his children.” Alexander scandalized the church by encouraging his son Cesare to carve out a state for himself from the territories of the Papal States in central Italy.
A Renaissance Pope: Leo X. The Renaissance popes allowed secular concerns to overshadow their spiritual duties. Shown here is the Medici pope Leo X. Raphael portrays the pope as a collector of books, looking up after examining an illuminated manuscript with a magnifying glass. At the left is the pope’s cousin Guilio, a cardinal. Standing behind the pope is Luigi de’ Rossi, another relative who had also been made a cardinal.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence//© Scala/Art Resource, NY
The Renaissance popes were great patrons of Renaissance culture, and their efforts made Rome a cultural leader at the beginning of the sixteenth century. For the warrior-pope Julius II, the patronage of Renaissance culture was mostly a matter of policy as he endeavored to add to the splendor of his pontificate by tearing down the Basilica of Saint Peter, which had been built by the emperor Constantine, and beginning construction of the greatest building in Christendom, the present Saint Peter’s Basilica.
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CHRONOLOGY The Church in the Renaissance
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Council of Constance
1414–1418
Burning of John Hus
1415
End of the Great Schism
1417
Pius II issues the papal bull Execrabilis
1460
The Renaissance papacy
Sixtus IV
1471–1484
Alexander VI
1492–1503
Julius II
1503–1513
Leo X
1513–1521
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Julius’s successor, Leo X (1513–1521), was also a patron of Renaissance culture, not as a matter of policy but as a deeply involved participant. Such might be expected of the son of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Made an archbishop at the age of eight and a cardinal at thirteen, he acquired a refined taste in art, manners, and social life among the Florentine Renaissance elite. He became pope at the age of thirty-seven, reportedly remarking to the Venetian ambassador, “Let us enjoy the papacy, since God has given it to us.” Raphael was commissioned to do paintings, and the construction of Saint Peter’s was accelerated as Rome became the literary and artistic center of the Renaissance.
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CHAPTER SUMMARY
Beginning in Italy, the Renaissance was an era that rediscovered the culture of ancient Greece and Rome. It was also a time of recovery from the difficulties of the fourteenth century as well as a period of transition that witnessed a continuation of the economic, political, and social trends that had begun in the High Middle Ages.
The Renaissance was also a movement in which intellectuals and artists proclaimed a new vision of humankind and raised fundamental questions about the value and importance of the individual. The humanists or intellectuals of the age called their period (from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth century) an age of re-birth, believing that they had restored arts and letters to new glory. Humanism was an intellectual movement based on the study of the Classical literary works of Greece and Rome. The goal of a humanist education was to produce individuals of virtue and wisdom. Civic humanism posited that the ideal citizen was not only an intellectual but also an active participant in the life of the state.
The Renaissance is perhaps best known for its artistic brilliance. Renaissance artists in Italy sought not only to persuade onlookers of the reality of the object they were portraying, but also to focus attention on human beings as “the center and measure of all things.” This new Renaissance style was developed, above all, in Florence, but at the end of the fifteenth century, Renaissance art moved into a new phase in which Rome became the new cultural center. In the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, the High Renaissance ideal of beauty was convincingly portrayed.
The Renaissance in Europe was also an era of “new monarchies,” best seen in England, France, and Spain. Monarchs in these countries limited the private armies of the aristocracy, raised taxes, created professional armies, and in the process were able to reestablish the centralized power of monarchical governments. At the same time, the Renaissance popes became increasingly mired in political and temporal concerns that overshadowed their spiritual responsibilities.
Of course, the intellectuals and artists of the Renaissance wrote and painted for the upper classes, and the brilliant intellectual, cultural, and artistic accomplishments of the Renaissance were products of and for the elite. The ideas of the Renaissance did not have a broad base among the masses of the people. The Renaissance did, however, raise new questions about medieval traditions. In advocating a return to the early sources of Christianity and criticizing current religious practices, the humanists raised fundamental issues about the Catholic Church, which was still an important institution. In the sixteenth century, as we shall see in the next chapter, the intellectual renaissance of the fifteenth century gave way to a religious renaissance that touched the lives of people, including the masses, in new and profound ways.
CHAPTER TIMELINE
CHAPTER REVIEW
Upon Reflection
What was the pattern of political development in Renaissance Italy? What new political practices (statecraft) did the Italians contribute to Europe, and how were these new political practices reflected in the work of Machiavelli?
What was the relationship between Italian Renaissance humanism and Italian Renaissance art?
What impact did the policies of the Renaissance popes have on the Catholic Church?
Key Terms
Renaissance
entrepreneurs
estates
individualism
secularism
humanism
civic humanism
Neoplatonism
Herme
ticism
pantheism
“new monarchies”
nepotism
Suggestions for Further Reading
GENERAL WORKS ON THE RENAISSANCE General works on the Renaissance in Europe include P. Burke, The European Renaissance: Centres and Peripheries(Oxford, 1998); M. L. King, The Renaissance in Europe(New York, 2005); J. Hale, The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance(New York, 1994); and the classic work by M. P. Gilmore, The World of Humanism, 1453– 1517(New York, 1962). Also valuable are T. K. Rabb, The Last Days of the Renaissance (New York, 2006), and S. Sider, Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe(New York, 2005).
FAMILY AND MARRIAGE On family and marriage, see C. Klapisch-Zuber, Women, Family, and Ritual in Renaissance Italy(Chicago, 1985). On women, see M. L. King, Women of the Renaissance(Chicago, 1991), and M. L. Brownand K. B. McBride, Women’s Roles During the Renaissance(New York, 2005).
ITALIAN CITY-STATES For studies of the Italian city-states, see J. M. Najemy, Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1300–1550(Oxford, 2004). There is an enormous literature on Renaissance Florence. A good introduction is J. M. Najemy, History of Florence, 1200–1575(London, 2006). See also G. Brucker, Florence: The Golden Age, 1138–1737(Berkeley, Calif., 1988), and L. Martines, April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici(Oxford, 2003). On the condottieri,see M. Mallett, Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy(Totowa, N.J., 1974). Machiavelli’s life can be examined in Q. Skinner, Machiavelli (Oxford, 2000).
RENAISSANCE HUMANISM A good introduction to Renaissance humanism can be found in C. G. Nauert Jr., Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe,2nd ed (Cambridge, 2006). The fundamental work on fifteenth-century civic humanism is H. Baron, The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance,2nd ed. (Princeton, N.J., 1966). The impact of printing is exhaustively examined in E. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change,2 vols. (New York, 1978). See also R. Mackenny, Renaissances: The Cultures of Italy, c. 1300–c. 1600 (New York, 2004).
RENAISSANCE ART Good surveys of Renaissance art include J. T. Paolettiand G. M. Radke, Art, Power, and Patronage in Renaissance Italy,3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2003); C. Bucciand S. Buricchi, Renaissance Art (New York, 2007); R. Turner, Renaissance Florence: The Invention of a New Art(New York, 1997); P. F. Brown, Art and Life in Renaissance Venice(Upper Saddle River, N.J., 1997); and L. Murray, The High Renaissance(New York, 1967). POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTSFor general works on the political development of Europe in the Renaissance, see R. W. Winksand L. P. Wandel, Europe in a Wider World, 1350–1650(Oxford, 2003), and C. Mulgan, The Renaissance Monarchies, 1469–1558 (Cambridge, 1998). On France, see R. J. Knecht, The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France, 1483–1610, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 2001). Early Renaissance England is examined in J. R. Lander, Crown and Nobility, 1450–1509(London, 1976). Good coverage of Renaissance Spain can be found in J. N. Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 1250–1516, vol. 2, Castilian Hegemony, 1410–1516(New York, 1978). On the Spanish Inquisition, see J. Perez, The Spanish Inquisition(New Haven, Conn., 2005). On the Ottomans and their expansion, see C. Imber, The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power(New York, 2004).
THE CHURCH IN THE RENAISSANCE Aspects of the Renaissance papacy can be examined in G. Noel, The Renaissance Popes(New York, 2006), and M. Mallett, The Borgias(New York, 1969).
Visit the CourseMate website at www.cengagebrain.com for additional study tools and review materials for this chapter.
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CHAPTER 13
Reformation and Religious Warfare in the Sixteenth Century
A nineteenth-century engraving showing Luther before the Diet of Worms
© Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY
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CHAPTER OUTLINE AND FOCUS QUESTIONS
Prelude to Reformation
What were the chief ideas of the Christian humanists, and how did they differ from the ideas of the Protestant reformers?
Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany
What were Martin Luther’s main disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, and what political, economic, and social conditions help explain why the movement he began spread so quickly across Europe?
The Spread of the Protestant Reformation
What were the main tenets of Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism, and how did they differ from each other and from Catholicism? What impact did political, economic, and social conditions have on the development of these four reform movements?
The Social Impact of the Protestant Reformation
What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on society in the sixteenth century?
The Catholic Reformation
What measures did the Roman Catholic Church take to reform itself and to combat Protestantism in the sixteenth century?
Politics and the Wars of Religion in the Sixteenth Century
What role did politics, economic and social conditions, and religion play in the European wars of the sixteenth century?
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CRITICAL THINKING
Where and how did the reform movements take hold, and how did the emergence of these reform movements affect the political and social realms where they were adopted?
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ON APRIL 18, 1521, a lowly monk stood before the emperor and princes of Germany in the city of Worms. He had been called before this august gathering to answer charges of heresy, charges that could threaten his very life. The monk was confronted with a pile of his books and asked if he wished to defend them all or reject a part. Courageously, Martin Luther defended them all and asked to be shown where any part was in error on the basis of “Scripture and plain reason.” The emperor was outraged by Luther’s response and made his own position clear the next day: “Not only I, but you of this noble German nation, would be forever disgraced if by our negligence not only heresy but the very suspicion of heresy were to survive. After having heard yesterday the obstinate defense of Luther, I regret that I have so long delayed in proceeding against him and his false teaching. I will have no more to do with him.” Luther’s appearance at Worms set the stage for a serious challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church. This was by no means the first crisis in the church’s fifteen-hundred-year history, but its consequences were more far-reaching than anyone at Worms in 1521 could have imagined.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Christian church continued to assert its primacy of position. It had overcome defiance of its temporal authority by emperors and kings, and challenges to its doctrines had been crushed by the Inquisition and combated by new religious orders that carried its message of salvation to all the towns and villages of medieval Europe. The growth of the papacy had paralleled the growth of the church, but by the end of the Middle Ages, challenges to papal authority from the rising power of monarchical states had resulted in a loss of papal temporal authority. An even greater threat to papal authority and church unity arose in the sixteenth century when the unity of Christendom was shattered by the Reformation.
The movement begun by Martin Luther when he made his dramatic stand quickly spread across Europe, a clear indication of dissatisfaction with Catholic practices. Within a short time, new forms of religious practices, doctrines, and organizations, including Zwinglianism, Calvinism, Anabaptism, and Anglicanism, were attracting adherents all over Europe. Although seemingly helpless to stop the new Protestant churches, the Catholic Church also underwent a reformation and managed to revive its fortunes by the mid-sixteenth century. All too soon, the doctrinal divisions between Protestants and Catholics led to a series of religious wars that dominated the history of western Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century.
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Prelude to Reformation
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FOCUS QUESTION: What were the chief ideas of the Christian humanists, and how did they differ from the ideas of the Protestant reformers?
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Martin Luther’s reform movement was by no means the first. During the second half of the fifteenth century, the new Classical learning that was part of Italian Renaissance humanism spread to northern Europe and spawned a movement called Christian or northern Renaissance humanism whose major goal was the reform of Christianity.
Christian or Northern Renaissance Humanism
Like their Italian counterparts, northern humanists cultivated a knowledge of the classics, the bond that united all humanists into a kind of international fellowship. In returning to the writings of antiquity, northern humanists (also called Christian humanists because of their profound preoccupation with religion) focused on the sources of early Christianity, the Holy Scriptures and the writings of such church fathers as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome. In these early Christian writings, they discovered a simple religion that they came to feel had been distorted by the complicated theological arguments of the Middle Ages.
The most important characteristic of northern humanism was its reform program. Convinced of the ability of human beings to reason and improve themselves, the northern humanists felt that through education in the sources of Classical, and especially Christian, antiquity, they could instill a true inner piety or an inward religious feeling that would bring about a reform of the church and society. For this reason, Christian humanists supported schools, brought out new editions of the classics, and prepared new editions of the Bible and writings of the church fathers. In the preface to his edition of the Greek New Testament, the famous humanist Erasmus wrote:
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