The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy

by Jacob Burckhardt

In a few cases, where Dr. Geiger’s view differs from that taken by Dr. Burckhardt, I have called attention to the fact by bracketing Dr. Geiger’s opinion and adding his initials.

THE TRANSLATOR.

CONTENTS.

[PART I. THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART]
[CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.]
	PAGE
Political condition of Italy in the thirteenth century	[4]
The Norman State under Frederick II.	[5]
Ezzelino da Romano	[7]
[CHAPTER II. THE TYRANNY OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.]
Finance and its relation to culture	[8]
The ideal of the absolute ruler	[9]
Inward and outward dangers	[10]
Florentine estimate of the tyrants	[11]
The Visconti	[12]
[CHAPTER III. THE TYRANNY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]
Intervention and visits of the emperors	[18]
Want of a fixed law of succession. Illegitimacy	[20]
Founding of States by Condottieri	[22]
Relations of Condottieri to their employers	[23]
The family of Sforza	[24]
Giacomo Piccinino	[25]
Later attempts of the Condottieri	[26]
[CHAPTER IV. THE PETTY TYRANNIES.]
The Baglioni of Perugia	[28]
Massacre in the year 1500	[31]
Malatesta, Pico, and Petrucci	[33]
[CHAPTER V. THE GREATER DYNASTIES.]
The Aragonese at Naples	[35]
The last Visconti at Milan	[38]
Francesco Sforza and his luck	[39]
Galeazzo Maria and Ludovic Moro	[40]
The Gonzaga at Mantua	[43]
Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino	[44]
The Este at Ferrara	[46]
[CHAPTER VI. THE OPPONENTS OF TYRANNY.]
The later Guelphs and Ghibellines	[55]
The conspirators	[56]
Murders in church	[57]
Influence of ancient tyrannicide	[57]
Catiline as an ideal	[59]
Florentine view of tyrannicide	[59]
The people and tyrannicide	[60]
[CHAPTER VII. THE REPUBLICS: VENICE AND FLORENCE.]
Venice in the fifteenth century	[62]
The inhabitants	[63]
Dangers from the poor nobility	[64]
Causes of the stability of Venice	[65]
The Council of Ten and political trials	[66]
Relations with the Condottieri	[67]
Optimism of Venetian foreign policy	[68]
Venice as the home of statistics	[69]
Retardation of the Renaissance	[71]
Mediæval devotion to reliques	[72]
Florence from the fourteenth century	[73]
Objectivity of political intelligence	[74]
Dante as a politician	[75]
Florence as the home of statistics: the two Villanis	[76]
Higher form of statistics	[77]
Florentine constitutions and the historians	[82]
Fundamental vice of the State	[82]
Political theorists	[83]
Macchiavelli and his views	[84]
Siena and Genoa	[86]
[CHAPTER VIII. FOREIGN POLICY OF THE ITALIAN STATES.]
Envy felt towards Venice	[88]
Relations to other countries: sympathy with France	[89]
Plan for a balance of power	[90]
Foreign intervention and conquests	[91]
Alliances with the Turks	[92]
Counter-influence of Spain	[94]
Objective treatment of politics	[95]
Art of diplomacy	[96]
[CHAPTER IX. WAR AS A WORK OF ART.]
Firearms	[98]
Professional warriors and dilettanti	[99]
Horrors of war	[101]
[CHAPTER X. THE PAPACY AND ITS DANGERS.]
Relation of the Papacy to Italy and foreign countries	[103]
Disturbances in Rome from the time of Nicholas V.	[104]
Sixtus IV. master of Rome	[105]
States of the Nipoti in Romagna	[107]
Cardinals belonging to princely houses	[107]
Innocent VIII. and his son	[108]
Alexander VI. as a Spaniard	[109]
Relations with foreign countries	[110]
Simony	[111]
Cæsar Borgia and his relations to his father	[111]
Cæsar’s plans and acts	[112]
Julius II. as Saviour of the Papacy	[117]
Leo X. His relations with other States	[120]
Adrian VI.	[121]
Clement VII. and the sack of Rome	[122]
Reaction consequent on the latter	[123]
The Papacy of the Counter-Reformation	[124]
Conclusion. The Italian patriots	[125]
[PART II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL.]
[CHAPTER I. THE ITALIAN STATE AND THE INDIVIDUAL.]
The mediæval man	[129]
The awakening of personality	[129]
The despot and his subjects	[130]
Individualism in the Republics	[131]
Exile and cosmopolitanism	[132]
[CHAPTER II. THE PERFECTING OF THE INDIVIDUAL.]
The many-sided men	[134]
The universal men	[136]
[CHAPTER III. THE MODERN IDEA OF FAME.]
Dante’s feeling about fame	[139]
The celebrity of the Humanists: Petrarch	[141]
Cultus of birthplace and graves	[142]
Cultus of the famous men of antiquity	[143]
Literature of local fame: Padua	[143]
Literature of universal fame	[146]
Fame given or refused by the writers	[150]
Morbid passion for fame	[152]
[CHAPTER IV. MODERN WIT AND SATIRE.]
Its connection with individualism	[154]
Florentine wit: the novel	[155]
Jesters and buffoons	[156]
Leo X. and his witticisms	[157]
Poetical parodies	[158]
Theory of wit	[159]
Railing and reviling	[161]
Adrian VI. as scapegoat	[162]
Pietro Aretino	[164]
[PART III. THE REVIVAL OF ANTIQUITY.]
[CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.]
Widened application of the word ‘Renaissance’	[171]
Antiquity in the Middle Ages	[172]
Latin poetry of the twelfth century in Italy	[173]
The spirit of the fourteenth century	[175]
[CHAPTER II. ROME, THE CITY OF RUINS.]
Dante, Petrarch, Uberti	[177]
Rome at the time of Poggio	[179]
Nicholas V., and Pius II. as an antiquarian	[180]
Antiquity outside Rome	[181]
Affiliation of families and cities on Rome	[182]
The Roman corpse	[183]
Excavations and architectural plans	[184]
Rome under Leo X.	[184]
Sentimental effect of ruins	[185]
[CHAPTER III. THE OLD AUTHORS.]
Their diffusion in the fourteenth century	[187]
Discoveries in the fifteenth century	[188]
The libraries	[189]
Copyists and ‘Scrittori’	[192]
Printing	[194]
Greek scholarship	[195]
Oriental scholarship	[197]
Pico’s view of antiquity	[202]
[CHAPTER IV. HUMANISM IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.]
Its inevitable victory	[203]
Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio	[205]
Coronation of the poets	[207]
[CHAPTER V. THE UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.]
Position of the Humanists at the Universities	[211]
Latin schools	[213]
Freer education: Vittorino da Feltre	[213]
Guarino of Verona	[215]
The education of princes	[216]
[CHAPTER VI. THE FURTHERERS OF HUMANISM.]
Florentine citizens: Niccoli and Manetti	[217]
The earlier Medici	[220]
Humanism at the Courts	[222]
The Popes from Nicholas V. onwards	[223]
Alfonso of Naples	[225]
Frederick of Urbino	[227]
The Houses of Sforza and Este	[227]
Sigismodo Malatesta	[228]
[CHAPTER VII. THE REPRODUCTION OF ANTIQUITY. LATIN CORRESPONDENCE AND ORATIONS.]
The Papal Chancery	[230]
Letter-writing	[232]
The orators	[233]
Political, diplomatic, and funeral orations	[236]
Academic and military speeches	[237]
Latin sermons	[238]
Form and matter of the speeches	[239]
Passion for quotation	[240]
Imaginary speeches	[241]
Decline of eloquence	[242]
[CHAPTER VIII. LATIN TREATISES AND HISTORY.]
Value of Latin	[243]
Researches on the Middle Ages: Blondus	[245]
Histories in Italian; their antique spirit	[246]
[CHAPTER IX. GENERAL LATINISATION OF CULTURE.]
Ancient names	[250]
Latinised social relations	[251]
Claims of Latin to supremacy	[252]
Cicero and the Ciceronians	[253]
Latin conversation	[254]
[CHAPTER X. MODERN LATIN POETRY.]
Epic poems on ancient history: The ‘Africa’	[258]
Mythic poetry	[259]
Christian epics: Sannazaro	[260]
Poetry on contemporary subjects	[261]
Introduction of mythology	[262]
Didactic poetry: Palingenius	[263]
Lyric poetry and its limits	[264]
Odes on the saints	[265]
Elegies and the like	[266]
The epigram	[267]
[CHAPTER XI. FALL OF THE HUMANISTS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
The accusations and the amount of truth they contained	[272]
Misery of the scholars	[277]
Type of the happy scholar	[278]
Pomponius Laetus	[279]
The Academies	[280]
[PART IV. THE DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD AND OF MAN.]
[CHAPTER I. JOURNEYS OF THE ITALIANS.]
Columbus	[286]
Cosmographical purpose in travel	[287]
[CHAPTER II. NATURAL SCIENCE IN ITALY.]
Empirical tendency of the nation	[289]
Dante and astronomy	[290]
Attitude of the Church towards natural science	[290]
Influence of Humanism	[291]
Botany and gardens	[292]
Zoology and collections of foreign animals	[293]
Human menagerie of Ippolito Medici	[296]
[CHAPTER III. THE DISCOVERY OF NATURAL BEAUTY.]
Landscapes in the Middle Ages	[299]
Petrarch and his ascents of mountains	[301]
Uberti’s ‘Dittamondo’	[302]
The Flemish school of painting	[302]
Æneas Sylvius and his descriptions	[303]
Nature in the poets and novelists	[305]
[CHAPTER IV. THE DISCOVERY OF MAN.—SPIRITUAL DESCRIPTION IN POETRY.]
Popular psychological ground-work. The temperaments	[309]
Value of unrhymed poetry	[310]
Value of the Sonnet	[310]
Dante and the ‘Vita Nuova’	[312]
The ‘Divine Comedy’	[312]
Petrarch as a painter of the soul	[314]
Boccaccio and the Fiammetta	[315]
Feeble development of tragedy	[315]
Scenic splendour, the enemy of the drama	[316]
The intermezzo and the ballet	[317]
Comedies and masques	[320]
Compensation afforded by music	[321]
Epic romances	[321]
Necessary subordination of the descriptions of character	[323]
Pulci and Bojardo	[323]
Inner law of their compositions	[324]
Ariosto and his style	[325]
Folengo and parody	[326]
Contrast offered by Tasso	[327]
[CHAPTER V. BIOGRAPHY.]
Advance of Italy on the Middle Ages	[328]
Tuscan biographers	[330]
Biography in other parts of Italy	[332]
Autobiography; Æneas Sylvius	[333]
Benvenuto Cellini	[333]
Girolamo Cardano	[334]
Luigi Cornaro	[335]
[CHAPTER VI. THE DESCRIPTION OF NATIONS AND CITIES.]
The ‘Dittamondo’	[339]
Descriptions in the sixteenth century	[339]
[CHAPTER VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE OUTWARD MAN.]
Boccaccio on Beauty	[344]
Ideal of Firenzuola	[345]
His general definitions	[345]
[CHAPTER VIII. DESCRIPTIONS OF LIFE IN MOVEMENT.]
Æneas Sylvius and others	[349]
Conventional bucolic poetry from the time of Petrarch	[350]
Genuine poetic treatment of country life	[351]
Battista Mantovano, Lorenzo Magnifico, Pulci	[352]
Angelo Poliziano	[353]
Man, and the conception of humanity	[354]
Pico della Mirandola on the dignity of man	[354]
[PART V. SOCIETY AND FESTIVALS.]
[CHAPTER I. THE EQUALISATION OF CLASSES.]
Contrast to the Middle Ages	[359]
Common life of nobles and burghers in the cities	[359]
Theoretical criticism of noble birth	[360]
The nobles in different parts of Italy	[362]
The nobility and culture	[363]
Bad influence of Spain	[363]
Knighthood since the Middle Ages	[364]
The tournaments and the caricature of them	[365]
Noble birth as a requisite of the courtier	[367]
[CHAPTER II. OUTWARD REFINEMENT OF LIFE.]
Costume and fashions	[369]
The toilette of women	[371]
Cleanliness	[374]
The ‘Galateo’ and good manners	[375]
Comfort and elegance	[376]
[CHAPTER III. LANGUAGE AS THE BASIS OF SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.]
Development of an ideal language	[378]
Its wide diffusion	[379]
The Purists	[379]
Their want of success	[382]
Conversation	[383]
[CHAPTER IV. THE HIGHER FORMS OF SOCIETY.]
Rules and statutes	[384]
The novelists and their society	[384]
The great lady and the drawing-room	[385]
Florentine society	[386]
Lorenzo’s descriptions of his own circle	[387]
[CHAPTER V. THE PERFECT MAN OF SOCIETY.]
His love-making	[388]
His outward and spiritual accomplishments	[389]
Bodily exercises	[389]
Music	[390]
The instruments and the Virtuosi	[392]
Musical dilettantism in society	[393]
[CHAPTER VI. THE POSITION OF WOMEN.]
Their masculine education and poetry	[396]
Completion of their personality	[397]
The Virago	[398]
Women in society	[399]
The culture of the prostitutes	[399]
[CHAPTER VII. DOMESTIC ECONOMY.]
Contrast to the Middle Ages	[402]
Agnolo Pandolfini (L. B. Alberti)	[402]
The villa and country life	[404]
[CHAPTER VIII. THE FESTIVALS.]
Their origin in the mystery and the procession	[406]
Advantages over foreign countries	[408]
Historical representatives of abstractions	[409]
The Mysteries	[411]
Corpus Christi at Viterbo	[414]
Secular representations	[415]
Pantomimes and princely receptions	[417]
Processions and religious Trionfi	[419]
Secular Trionfi	[420]
Regattas and processions on water	[424]
The Carnival at Rome and Florence	[426]
[PART VI. MORALITY AND RELIGION.]
[CHAPTER I. MORALITY.]
Limits of criticism	[431]
Italian consciousness of demoralization	[432]
The modern sense of honour	[433]
Power of the imagination	[435]
The passion for gambling and for vengeance	[436]
Breach of the marriage tie	[441]
Position of the married woman	[442]
Spiritualization of love	[445]
General emancipation from moral restraints	[446]
Brigandage	[448]
Paid assassination: poisoning	[450]
Absolute wickedness	[453]
Morality and individualism	[454]
[CHAPTER II. RELIGION IN DAILY LIFE.]
Lack of a reformation	[457]
Relations of the Italian to the Church	[457]
Hatred of the hierarchy and the monks	[458]
The mendicant orders	[462]
The Dominican Inquisition	[462]
The higher monastic orders	[463]
Sense of dependence on the Church	[465]
The preachers of repentance	[466]
Girolamo Savonarola	[473]
Pagan elements in popular belief	[479]
Faith in reliques	[481]
Mariolatry	[483]
Oscillations in public opinion	[485]
Epidemic religious revivals	[485]
Their regulation by the police at Ferrara	[487]
[CHAPTER III. RELIGION AND THE SPIRIT OF THE RENAISSANCE.]
Inevitable subjectivity	[490]
Worldliness	[492]
Tolerance of Mohammedanism	[492]
Equivalence of all religions	[494]
Influence of antiquity	[495]
The so-called Epicureans	[496]
The doctrine of free will	[497]
The pious Humanists	[499]
The less pronounced Humanists	[499]
Codrus Urceus	[500]
The beginnings of religious criticism	[501]
Fatalism of the Humanists	[503]
Their pagan exterior	[504]
[CHAPTER IV. MIXTURE OF ANCIENT AND MODERN SUPERSTITIONS.]
Astrology	[507]
Its extension and influence	[508]
Its opponents in Italy	[515]
Pico’s opposition and influence	[516]
Various superstitions	[518]
Superstition of the Humanists	[519]
Ghosts of the departed	[522]
Belief in dæmons	[523]
The Italian witch	[524]
Witches’ nest at Norcia	[526]
Influence and limits of Northern witchcraft	[528]
Witchcraft of the prostitutes	[529]
The magicians and enchanters	[530]
The dæmons on the way to Rome	[531]
Special forms of magic: the Telesmata	[533]
Magic at the laying of foundation-stones	[534]
The necromancer in poetry	[535]
Benvenuto Cellini’s tale	[536]
Decline of magic	[537]
Special branches of the superstition	[538]
[CHAPTER V. GENERAL DISINTEGRATION OF BELIEF.]
Last confession of Boscoli	[543]
Religious disorder and general scepticism	[543]
Controversy as to immortality	[545]
The pagan heaven	[545]
The Homeric life to come	[546]
Evaporation of Christian doctrine	[547]
Italian Thei	[548]

PART I.
THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.