The Italian Renaissance | Florence - The Creation of the Republic (Lecture 7)

Lecture 7: Florence was the cradle of Humanism and the Renaissance. By the mid-13th century, the city had become a rich, expanding center for the production of high-quality woolen cloth and a growing international banking industry. Huge new fortunes were being made by men whose families had only recently emigrated from the countryside. Florence also witnessed a complete victory of the Guelf faction over the Ghibellines, making it a leading pro-papal city.

However, despite their wealth and influence, these merchants were largely excluded from any role in the government of the commune, which was dominated by old aristocratic landed families (magnates) or old established mercantile families (grandi) who had earlier merged with the magnates. Moreover, the traditions of urban violence and family feuding made commerce difficult. The result was a bourgeois revolution in 1293, which established a republic founded on guild membership and shared responsibility. This republican constitution institutionalized mercantile ambitions and disenfranchised the magnate and grandi families and became the context for the Florentine Renaissance.

Primary Source Texts:
Kenneth R. Bartlett, “Florence in the Renaissance,” pp. 33–70, in The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance.

Secondary Sources:
Gene A. Brucker, Renaissance Florence.

Supplementary Reading:
John M. Najemy, Corporatism and Consensus in Florentine Electoral Politics, 1280–1400.
Iris Origo, The Merchant of Prato.

Lecture 8: https://rumble.com/v4xertl-the-italian-renaissance-florence-and-civic-humanism-lecture-8.html