Posted on 08/22/2008 9:38:37 PM PDT by WesternCulture
- YES!
To begin with, let's try and fully understand what Renaissance Florence actually has accomplished, apart from making tourists feel like this:
"I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty ... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations ... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves.' Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling."
(Words originating from the year of 1817, written by the author Stendahl)
Before having visited Florence, Italy, intellects tend to be lacking in vigor as well as tenacity.
Why don't we Westerners of today, while being members of the best educated, best technologically equipped and most scientifically advanced civilization history has ever known, make full use of this enormous privelige of ours?
Does a civilization really have to experience something like the Black Death in order to gear up and make use of its full capacity?
It might well seem so.
In my part of the world, Europe, we still haven't gotten over the two disastrous world wars - at least from a psychological viewpoint - that haunted our continent just some decades ago. Likewise, many families of US, Canadian, Australian, Indian, New Zealand nationality etc have paid the ultimate price for defending democracy and it sure has influenced the way in which these nations too, at large, conceive of the development of mankind.
Still, these recent experiences were, comparatively speaking, less challenging than those of the Black Death was to Medieval Europe in the way that the people exposed to the latter weren't able of fully understanding the very nature of the horror plaguing their time.
The victims of the WWI and WW2 could, at least, mentally grasp what was going on around them, namely a devastating war between nations, but this was not the case concerning the Black Death - an epidemic killing around half of Europe's population at that time.
It has often been pointed out, during the last 20-30 years or so, by experts in the field that people living during the Renaissance itself were much more influenced by Medieval culture than generally has been believed since the late 19th century.
To some extent, this objection towards the traditional, modern image of Renaissance European holds water, but on the other hand the scholars who've launched these "alternative" perspectives probably underestimate the indirect influence of revolutionary thinkers like Pico della Mirandola and Erasmus among the broad layers of Western civilization at that time.
Even if ordinary people of Renaissance Florence slaving for 14 hours (and being awarded a loaf of bread and a jar of something called "vino" that no member of this forum would be brave enough to taste) didn't understand much of the enormous breakthroughs of their own time, they probably sensed that they were part of something unique - despite wars, despite plagues.
The people of Renaissance Italy, not only its intellectuals, displayed very much of a dualism in terms of attitudes towards what was going on in the immediate reality surrounding them and to them reality looked liked this; either God was with them or God wished to make them "liable", make them pay for their "sins".
In this sense, they were trapped within a Medieval structure of thought, shunning the central idea of the Renaissance (at least from a theological point of view); that the idea of Man having been created in the image of God manifests itself through the fact that Man, evidently, being able of shaping the Earth - as well as himself - according to his own, free will.
It is true most Europeans were unable of viewing things this way at that time. Most of them were in fact unable of understanding what their religious leaders were on about at all as all ceremonies were held in Latin before Luther came along and ordinary people neither in Holland, Bohemia, Sicily or anywhere else understood medieval church Latin.
However, (anti-Conservative) scholars who argue like the Renaissance never happened and probably believe we still are living in the Middle Ages, all have forgotten something of major importance.
Ordinary renaissance people (at least the majority of city dwellers) viewed themselves as being the inferiors of their heathen, although highly admirable predecessors, more precisely their distant, yet omnipresent ancestors who lived during the days of the Roman Empire.
Claiming that average inhabitants of the Italian peninsula living in the days of Dante - just prior to the Black Death (and prior to the Renaissance of course) - felt as if they spiritually and culturally were living in the shadow of their culturally superior forebears might sound like the brainchild of a 19th century, second rate, Goethe wannabee, Romanticist charlatan.
All the same, it stood clear to Medieval intellectuals, engineers and masons alike that they were unable of erecting structures like the Colosseum, the aqueducts and the Pantheon.
I doubt people of today are able of fully understanding what it actually means to live in an environment like this, an environment making you think mankind day by day is LOSING intellectual ground once gained.
Today, most people take for granted that our ancestors were ignorants compared to us in all fields. It has not always been like this.
In this context, I'd say two major factors contributed to a revolutionary change in the mindset among 15th and early 16th century Europeans;
1. The recovery from the Black Death
But also
2. The marvels of Renaissance engineering and science. Not so much the genius of Leonardo da Vinci in fact (even if we by today understand why already Vasari, in 1550, wrote that "grandissimi doni" - the greatest of gifts - had been bestowed upon him.)
Let's focus on two things here.
Engineering and the way common people of that very time experienced their reality.
To begin with, the PSYCHOLOGICAL impact on contemporary societal and cultural life following the completion of the dome of the Florence Cathedral/(Basilica di) Santa Maria del Fiore, is painfully overlooked and underestimated by most academies of today.
Through Brunelleschis architectural triumph, Renaissance Florence beat everything the ancient Romans were able of erecting - as well as anything the revolutionary Gothic vaults were able of supporting.
Even by today, we do not fully understand how Brunelleschi went ahead bringing about his architectural revolution. But we do know he combined forgotten/rediscovered building techniques of ancient Rome and Gothic principles of architecture.
Imagine to be a simple peasant from "il Contado", the immediately surrounding countryside of Florence, visiting this leading city of medieval Europe a beautiful morning for the first time in your life.
To you, the meaning of words like "life" and "reality" are very much restricted to whatever is going on in the village you belong to.
The elders of this community, men you respect, men you'd better respect and likewise men who have more of a say in your own life than you do yourself til you reach their age, lately have spoken a lot of a certain miracle that recently has taken place in Florence. They have heard news of "La Cupola" having been completed.
Being a curious person in the possession of a vivid imagination, you've sometimes allowed yourself to get carried away listening to discussions between these elders and the local priest.
Even though the priest is far from old, he is an educated man who in fact knows how to read, how to write and even how to count without using his fingers, small stones or sticks.
Something these men once got very excited over was a fascinating discussion dealing with the bygone age when Rome - a distant, but yet not too distant city, ruled all of the world.
At that particular occasion, these old men made the impression of having a great deal of insight into the history of ancient Rome. Too bad most of them lack teeth and the local wine produced that year turned out a very strong one.
Anyhow, these highlights of local village life somehow inspired you to explore the world outside your home terrain.
You've understood that the Roman Empire was a "golden" age and as far as you've understood things, almost everyone back then was noble, brave and knew how to read and write - and now some claim Florence of your time has found out the secret behind it all!
Despite the fact that you nourish mixed emotions regarding the cocky "Fiorentini" - the people living in the city itself - resisting the desire of experiencing the "new Rome" on everybody's lips at first hand is futile.
Carried by winding roads, you approach Florence. The noise and the stench of her gutters drag you into an endless labyrinth.
You hear excited tounges throwing the words "la cupola" all around them, but "la cupola" seems nowhere to be found.
Then, given no forewarning, you are instantly struck, dwarfed into utter nothingness by a giant, cupped hand coming out of the sky - the hand of God.
Everything people have been telling you about it all you realize to be true.
Surrounded by likewise dumbfounded men wearing much fancier clothing than you and children running around shouting things like "Ecco la cupola, ecco la cupola, apri gli occhi vecchia letrosa, ecco Fiorenza!!" you admit to yourself:
In Florence, a new golden age has been born.
This story has no end.
Just like the struggle for freedom is eternal, humanity can not allow itself to embrace each and every idiotic doomsday prophecy being presently being marketed by the least responsible occupational group throughout the entire history of mankind; journalists.
Western Civilization finally survived the Black Death and in the middle of the former century, Europe (where I live) went from the chaos, starvation and scorched earth following WWII to a prosperity never experienced before in the history of the continent (a development much aided by the US - in several ways).
We all know life isn't easy, but that doesn't mean whining is the solution to anything.
Once we Westerners of today decide to do away with the PC notion consisting in our civilization being morally inferior compared to all others and doomed for one reason or the other and all of that nonsense, we will found an age more "golden" than the Renaissance. An era actually even more golden than the sum of all tacky accessories that troughout history has hindered hip hop/R&B celebs and their entourage from moving around like normal persons.
Believe me, developing a confidence in one's own dignity, in the ability of your own country and the future possibilities of true civilization is something more fruitful and rewarding than running around, constantly cackling about the end of the world.
"What, me worry?"
(Alfred E. Neuman)
The Middle Ages saw the establishment of free cities with free citizens. That is one of its great accomplishments. It also saw the establishment of Republics. It was the wealthy merchants of these Medieval Republics that supported many of the artists and scholars of the Renaissance.
The original article of this thread mentions the Cathedral of Florence. Most of that church was build in the Middle Ages. That is very evident in the style of the bell tower at the front of the church. As for Brunelleschi's dome, that was paid for by the Wool Guild of Florence. How do you get the dome without those institutions that were created in the Middle Ages? Even his dome used a Gothic ribbed construction in the outer shell as well as a pointed arch.
As for the peasants working the land, did the Renaissance set them free? I think the French Revolution some centuries later answers that question.
Of course all the accomplishments of the Middle Ages must be debunked by the modern who expects every age to be a mirror of some perfection that has never exited and never will exist.
- War has seldom been fun.
But the idiocy of the wars taking place on the Italian Peninsula during the Renaissance were, in part, highly laughable and ridiculous.
Most experts of this department of European history admit it is extremely difficult to figure out what the conflicts between these national leaders actually were all about. Probably, it was even more difficult for these rulers to understand themselves.
According to most sources, the troops of Cesare Borgia were very cruel. Not to speak of their commander himself.
However, a Renaissance Florentine like Luca Landucci author of “Diario Fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516”) actually viewed wars fought on Italian soil mainly being far too sissy in nature and also complained no real physical contact between the combatants took place.
Landucci, furthermore, called for the necessity of Italians
learning the art of true warfare from the nations north of Italy.
Apart from being an amateur historian, Landucci was a rather well off pharmacist.
Thanks to him, we today know young Florentine boys occasionally enjoyed playing some sort of football with the heads of newly decapitated criminals.
Science is a discipline of knowledge that takes generation's to build up. Newtonian physics is based upon Galilean relativity that says space and time are constant but the speed of light is relative. But we know that to be false. In Einsteinian relativity space and time are relative but the speed of light is constant. Since Galileo got it wrong, should be dismiss him as a superstitious crank? Or should be instead honor him as one of the great historical figures of science even though he was quite mistaken about some things?
My point was that, with rare exceptions generally ended quickly and bloodily, the Middle Ages did not have anything resembling modern labor unions.
I agree that the Middle Ages often get no respect. Technologically Western Europe was probably ahead of the ancient classical world by 1250 or so, with the advancement accelerating all the time. Rome, OTOH, was stagnant or even retrograde in technology for centuries.
The common man in the Middle Ages, while often severely oppressed by modern standards, was also well ahead of his equivalent in the classical world. The serf was at least recognized as a man with enforceable legal and property rights. The slave was chattel.
It’s hard to compare Galileo to the Scholastics. I will grant that it would be a mistake to brand the Scholastics as bogeyman, an evil to be overcome, but I don’t think you can equate Galileo to the Scholastics by citing his errors. Galileo was revolutionary because of his experimental method, and because of his application of mathematics to the results of his experiments. However faulty many of his ideas might have been, he is recognizably modern in his approach, and we can easily identify with him. Just the opposite is true of the Scholastics. Whatever sort of merit or virtuosity we might identify in their thinking, their entire perspective and approach is alien to our modern minds.
Terminat hora diem. Terminat auctor opus :-)
Italian Renaissance wars were largely fought by mercenary condottieri, which is Italian for "contractors."
Not surprisingly, the condottieri on opposing sides were not anxious to destroy their capital investment, their army, by engaging in mutually bloody battle. Their wars therefore tended to be sieges or minimally bloody manuever-fests.
This did not, however, keep the wars themselves from being bloody, as soldiers on all sides had no problems with pillaging and killing civilians.
Machievelli saw the problems with mercenary armies and tried to organize a Florentine national army. Didn't work out.
Not surprisingly, numerous condottieri took over as tyrants of many Italian states.
The whole system collapsed pretty thoroughly in 1494 with the French invasion. The condottieri fell apart when faced with a real army that fought for keeps.
Thereafter Italy was generally dominated and fought over by outsiders for the next 350 years or so.
But most important of all, they did not have mircrowave ovens. Now that I call barbarian living.
“In Einsteinian relativity space and time are relative but the speed of light is constant.”
- The speed of light is constant only in complete vacuum according to Einstein.
Anyhow, Einstein was very much of brilliant mathematician and theorist and didn't bother much about the concrete aspects of the physical world as long as they didn't interfere with his theories - like they do in the case of the behavior of subatomic particles.
Irritatingly enough, they continue to elude our attempts at trapping them into a given mathematical definition of the freedom behind their choices of actions.
Naomi Klein, of all people, talks about the flip side of this in her book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. She notes that the destruction of established institutions can lead to the spread of revolutionary ideas.
She complains, however, about how Milton Friedmanit acolytes viewed the Katrina-caused destruction of New Orleans, for example, as an opportunity to fix the broken culture of the city rather than just restore the natives to their prior squalor (both economic and cultural). She sees it as a bad thing that the powers-that-be grasped the opportunity to replace the unworkable public schools system with a network of innovative charter schools. She somehow thinks that the response to destruction should be a restoration of the status quo rather than making things better.
“But most important of all, they did not have mircrowave ovens. Now that I call barbarian living.”
- If Italian peasants of that time would’ve been provided the opportunity of tasting microwave food, they would probably have considered anyone insane to pay for and even EAT it a true barbarian.
Correction:
“insane enough”
Much of the nineteenth century is alien to the modern mind.
Scholasticism is not a monolith. There were competing schools. But they were always reinterpreting Aristotle in some way. We can laugh about the experiments of Albertus Magnus, but that is the beginning of experimental science in the West. And it began in the Middle Ages before Galileo.
Galileo got his education as a boy in a monastery school and later at a university. These are institutions established in the Middle Ages. And without the mathematical training that Galileo received in these institutions, we would not be talking about him now.
So yes, let us honor the originality of Galileo, but let us never forget the great debt that he and we owe to the Middle Ages.
On the contrary, Einstein was quite aware that experimental results of subatomic particles contradicted his theory of relativity. This distressed him greatly. That is why he spent the last 30 years of he life trying to reconcile relativity and quantum mechanics. They can't both be true. And perhaps they are both false. At any rate he failed to find the unified field theory he was looking for.
This contradiction between relativity and quantum mechanics still lies at the heart of physics. Whether string theory or some of the other related theories have resolved the contradiction is not yet clear. I guess we will have to wait and see if physicists have discovered the Theory of Everything.
Oh, yes, now I remember. Benjamin Franklin invented electricity at the end of a kite.
“This did not, however, keep the wars themselves from being bloody, as soldiers on all sides had no problems with pillaging and killing civilians.”
“The whole system collapsed pretty thoroughly in 1494 with the French invasion. The condottieri fell apart when faced with a real army that fought for keeps.”
- What keeps:D?
Furthermore; when the French, a people already insane by nature, enter another nation which also is out of their minds, but in a different way (like Italians are) the French automatically adopt the insanity of that particular nation - on top of their original insanity.
This explains the development of that particular epoque of Italian history in a quite satisfying manner.
Anyhow, good ol’ Luca reports that the French troops behaved very well while staying visiting Florence. According to Landucci, no citizen told of anything like a French soldier being overly drunk in the street or having harassed a Florentine girl.
- I apologize if I wasn't all that clear in my earlier remark. I meant he initially set sail for a “clinical” theory, disregarding the eventuality of certain particles not wishing to collaborate while he was there, on the job.
Perhaps I ought to take Einstein more seriously.
(Or maybe you haven't had a real drink yet this weekend, fellow freeper:D? - Just joking).
Actually, this, rather well known dilemma of Monsieur Einstein is exactly what I was aiming at in my comment.
My impression too is he was, at least somewhat, distressed by the problems he faced.
However, to genuine theorists like Einstein this problem could easily be done away with.
Like the surveyor's credo states;
“If the terrain doesn't fit the map, the terrain has to go.”
Part of the reason for the renaisance was the rediscover of ancient thought.
There are more scientists alive now than ever.
In the last 100 years technology has exploded (sometimes literally)
We have whole new art media.
We are no longer confined to be born, live and die in a 50 mile area.
we are hadly finished.
Looks like one of the obstacles in the latest installment of ‘Ninja Warrior’.
Is there a big pool of nasty muddy water somewhere beneath it?
Not altogether surprising, as Florence was an ally of the French, and had been for centuries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.