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The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy

by Jacob Burckhardt





Table of Contents
Part One: The State as a Work of Art
1…1 Introduction
1…2 Despots of the Fourteenth Century
1…3 Despots of the Fifteenth Century
1…4 The Smaller Despotisms
1…5 The Greater Dynasties
1…6 The Opponents of the Despots
1…7 The Republics: Venice and Florence
1…8 Foreign Policy
1…9 War as a Work of Art
1…10 The Papacy
1…11 Patriotism
Part Two: The Development of the Individual
2…1 Personality
2…2 Glory
2…3 Ridicule and Wit
Part Three: The Revival of Antiquity
3…1 Introductory
3…2 The Ruins of Rome
3…3 The Classics
3…4 The Humanists
3…5 Universities and Schools
3…6 Propagators of Antiquity
3…7 Epistolography: Latin Orators
3…8 The Treatise; and History in Latin
3…9 Antiquity as the Common Source
3…10 Neo…Latin Poetry
3…11 Fall of the Humanists in the Sixteenth Century
Part Four: The Discovery of the World and of Man
4…1 Journeys of the Italians
4…2 The Natural Sciences in Italy
4…3 Discovery of the Beauty of the Landscape
4…4 Discovery of Man
4…5 Biography in the Middle Ages
4…6 Description of the Outward Man
4…7 Description of Human Life
Part Five: Society and Festivals
5…1 Equality of Classes
5…2 Costumes and Fashions
5…3 Language and Society
5…4 Social Etiquette
5…5 Education of the 'Cortigiano'
5…6 Music
5…7 Equality of Men and Women
5…8 Domestic Life
5…9 Festivals
Part Six: Morality and Religion
6…1 Morality and Judgement
6…2 Morality and Immorality
6…3 Religion in Daily Life
6…4 Strength of the Old Faith
6…5 Religion and the Spirit of the Renaissance
6…6 Influence of Ancient Superstition
6…7 General Spirit of Doubt

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY

By Jacob Burckhardt

Translated by S。 G。 C。 Middlemore; 1878

Part I

THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART

INTRODUCTION

This work bears the title of an essay in the strictest sense of the  word。 No one is more conscious than the writer with what limited means  and strength he has addressed himself to a task so arduous。 And even if  he could look with greater confidence upon his own researches; he would  hardly thereby feel more assured of the approval of competent judges。  To each eye; perhaps; the outlines of a given civilization present a  different picture; and in treating of a civilization which is the  mother of our own; and whose influence is still at work among us; it is  unavoidable that individual judgement and feeling should tell every  moment both on the writer and on the reader。 In the wide ocean upon  which we venture; the possible ways and directions are many; and the  same studies which have served for this work might easily; in other  hands; not only receive a wholly different treatment and application;  but lead also to essentially different conclusions。 Such indeed is the  importance of the subject that it still calls for fresh investigation;  and may be studied with advantage from the most varied points of view。  Meanwhile we are content if a patient hearing is granted us; and if  this book be taken and judged as a whole。 It is the most serious  difficulty of the history of civilization that a great intellectual  process must be broken up into single; and often into what seem  arbitrary categories in order to be in any way intelligible。 It was  formerly our intention to fill up the gaps in this book by a special  work on the 'Art of the Renaissance'an intention; however; which we  have been able to fulfill only in part。

The struggle between the Popes and the Hohenstaufen left Italy in a  political condition which differed essentially from that of other  countries of the West。 While in France; Spain and England the feudal  system was so organized that; at the close of its existence; it was  naturally transformed into a unified monarchy; and while in Germany it  helped to maintain; at least outwardly; the unity of the empire; Italy  had shaken it off almost entirely。 The Emperors of the fourteenth  century; even in the most favourable case; were no longer received and  respected as feudal lords; but as possible leaders and supporters of  powers already in existence; while the Papacy; with its creatures and  allies; was strong enough to hinder national unity in the future; but  not strong enough itself to bring about that unity。 Between the two lay  a multitude of political unitsrepublics and despotsin part of long  standing; in part of recent origin; whose existence was founded simply  on their power to maintain it。 In them for the first time we detect the  modern political spirit of Europe; surrendered freely to its own  instincts。 Often displaying the worst features of an unbridled egotism;  outraging every right; and killing every germ of a healthier culture。  But; wherever this vicious tendency is overcome or in any way  compensated; a new fact appears in historythe State as the outcome of  reflection and calculation; the State as a work of art。 This new life  displays itself in a hundred forms; both in the republican and in the  despotic States; and determines their inward constitution; no less than  their foreign policy。 We shall limit ourselves to the consideration of  the completer and more clearly defined type; which is offered by the  despotic States。 

The internal condition of the despotically governed States had a  memorable counterpart in the Norman Empire of Lower Italy and Sicily;  after its transformation by the Emperor Frederick Il。 Bred amid treason  and peril in the neighbourhood of the Saracens; Frederick; the first  ruler of the modern type who sat upon a throne; had early accustomed  himself to a thoroughly objective treatment of affairs。 His  acquaintance with the internal condition and administration of the  Saracenic States was close and intimate; and the mortal struggle in  which he was engaged with the Papacy compelled him; no less than his  adversaries; to bring into the field all the resources at his command。  Frederick's measures (especially after the year 1231) are aimed at the  complete destruction of the feudal State; at the transformation of the  people into a multitude destitute of will and of the means of  resistance; but profitable in the utmost degree to the exchequer。 He  centralized; in a manner hitherto unknown in the West; the whole  judicial and political administration。 No office was henceforth to be  filled by popular election; under penalty of the devastation of the  offending district and of the enslavement of its inhabitants。 The  taxes; based on a comprehensive assessment; and distributed in  accordance with Mohammedan usages; were collected by those cruel and  vexatious methods without which; it is true; it is impossible to obtain  any money from Orientals。 Here; in short; we find; not a people; but  simply a disciplined multitude of subjects; who were forbidden; for  example; to marry out of the country without special permission; and  under no circumstances were allowed to study abroad。 The University of  Naples was the first we know of to restrict the freedom of study; while  the East; in these respects at all events; left its youth unfettered。  It was after the examples of Mohammedan rules that Frederick traded on  his own account in all parts of the Mediterranean; reserving to himself  the monopoly of many commodities; and restricting in various ways the  commerce of his subjects。 The Fatimite Caliphs; with all their esoteric  unbelief; were; at least in their earlier history; tolerant of all the  differences in the religious faith of their people; Frederick; on the  other hand; crowned his system of government by a religious  inquisition; which will seem the more reprehensible when we remember  that in the persons of the heretics he was persecuting the  representatives of a free municipal life。 Lastly; the internal police;  and the kernel of the army for foreign service; was composed of  Saracens who had been brought over from Sicily to Nocera and Lucera men who were deaf to the cry of misery and careless of the ban of the  Church。 At a later period the subjects; by whom the use of weapons had  long been forgotten; were passive witnesses of the fall of Manfred and  of the seizure of the government by Charles of Anjou; the latter  continued to use the system which he found already at work。

At the side of the centralizing Emperor appeared a usurper of the most  peculiar kind; his vicar and son…in…law; Ezzelino da Romano。 He stands  as the representative of no system of government or administration; for  all his activity was wasted in struggles for supremacy in the eastern  part of Upper Italy; but as a political type he was a figure of no less  importance for the future than his imperial protector Frederick。 The  conquests and usurpations which had hitherto taken place in the Middle  Ages rested on real or pretended inheritance and other such claims; or  else were effected against unbelievers and excommunicated persons。 Here  for the first time the attempt was openly made to found a throne by  wholesale murder and endless barbarities; by the adoption in short; of  any means with a view to nothing but the end pursued。 None of his  successors; not even Cesare Borgia; rivalled the colossal guilt of  Ezzelino; but the example once set was not forgo

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