ITALY'S ADVANTAGES

•Renaissance was an explosion of creativity in art, writing, and thought
•It lasted from 1300-1600
•It was the revival of art and learning. In striving to revive the past, the renaissance created something new.

CITY STATES

• Overseas trade started by the Crusades had led to a growth of large towns in northern Italy.
• This caused Italy to be urban while the rest of Europe was rural.
• City were places where people exchanged ideas making them the breeding ground of intellectual revolution.
• After the bubonic plague, there were few opportunities so merchant looked to art

MERCHANTS AND THE MEDICI

• A wealthy merchant class developed in each Italian city state
• Merchants dominated politics, but merchants did not inherit social rank.
• Many successful merchants believed they deserved power + wealth because of their individual merit

MERCHANTS AND THE MEDICI (CONT.)

• During the Renaissance, Florence went under the rule of the Medici
• Cosmo de Medici was the most wealthiest in the family, and in 1434 he gained control of the Florence government.
• Cosmo did not seek political office but influenced members of the council by giving them loans.
• For 30 years, he was the dictator of Florence; when Cosmo died, his family took over.

LOOKING TO GREECE AND ROME

• Renaissance scholars looked down at the art and literature of the Middle Ages so they wanted to return to the learning of Greeks and Romans.
• They achieved this is several ways: returning to the ruins of Rome and gaining inspiration, studying ancient Latin literature, and scholars fled to Rome w/ Greek manuscripts to escape the Turks who took over Constantinople.