Unit 2: The Renaissance- Juancarlos

city states

A form of government that had only one central city. Italian city states represented great wealth and cultural sophistication throughout the fifteenth century. Five major city states that dominated the Italian peninsula: Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and the kingdom of Naples. The city states maintained power and balance for the government to be successful.

communes

An association that began in the twelfth century to seek political and economic independence from local nobles. Free men and the merchant guild were apart of the communes. These communes happened in the northern cities of Italy. The communes happened in the twelfth century. The importance of communes is that it formed a powerful oligarchy, but due to the rivalry among powerful families in the oligarchy, the Italian communes were often politically unstable.

antiquity

Antiquity is the study of ancient Greece and Rome, which was a time before the middle ages. This term was used a lot during the Renaissance(1400-1700) due to the new discoveries and advancements the people of Italy looked back at ancient artifacts to move on in life.

individualism

Individualism is the importance of an individual. This occurred during the Renaissance in Italy when writers stressed about their achievements and characteristics, in contrast to the medieval idea of christian humility. This idea brought out the talent and intelligence of the people during the Renaissance.

signori

Most of all Italian cities became signori which signified that only one man ruled and automatically gave the right to his son to rule after him. In between the 15th and 16th centuries signori reformed their households into courts. Courtly culture afforded signori the opportunity to display and assert their wealth and power.

patronage

Patronage is a financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works. People who were involved were wealthy merchants, writers, and artists. Patronage happened in Florence, Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Rome during the early thirteenth century. The significance was that it brought economical and political power to merchants and gave artists and writers a chance to show their work.

popolo

Popolo were the common people who didn't have much power and were heavily taxed. The popolo were in many cities throughout Italy and used violence and armed forces to take over city government between the 14th and 16th century. Even though the popolo had their victory over the government it soon ended when they couldn't have civil order within their cities, which caused the merchant oligarchies to buy in powerful military leaders to establish order, but these leaders had their own armies and took over political power in many cities.

secularism

Secularism was the right to be free from religious rule and teachings. During the Renaissance in Italy, Renaissance thinkers came to see life as an opportunity rather than a painful pilgrimage toward god.