These letters give clear examples of what Renaissance society consist for the ordinary citizen. The lives of these men and woman were highlighted and their names were one thing that stood out to me when reading the letters. Long and elegant full names were given to identify each person. The family name is built on all those who came before and after rolling into a current and living representation that must be upheld. The last name holds to a higher meaning that is a marker for a man and family’s legacy honor and worth. This is not just a way to label one another. The sure name needs to be protected and respected over any one (especially female) member of the family.
Human emotions are treated as inconveniences and no matter what you are feeling
…show more content…
A reception party with gifts take place among a festive gathering of friends and family.
Always these contracts are presented with an understanding of each’s family’s expectations. They have a poisonously stiff and refined manner when dealing with others. Both partners in these contracts bring their own mask of politeness and pleasantries to cover the undertones of smug and destined entitlement towards the other. Only when something that appears to not go as planned is when rawer emotions burst through.
What I found most interesting about these letters were the individuals who make up the society. I found is a little difficult to determine if the wants of an individual were not only caused by the pressures to go along with society. When I look back onto early cultures, it is nice to have reminders like this collection of letters. No matter how unfamiliar early Florence society appears, it is still easy to find the similarities that are embedded within my own. These letters provide needed examples of an average life in the Renaissance, from a nontraditional historian's perspective. Ideas like strict tradition, religion, and societal norms breakthrough from the words of actual Florence citizens. I feel that the early Renaissance society comes to life so vividly because it is told from the perspective Bartolomeo
Giovanni and Lusanna by Gene Brucker is an organized depiction of the two Florentine lovers, Giovanni della Casa and his lover Lusanna. The story of these two lovers begin on their secret 12 year affair, but ends in calamity when Lusanna’s brother Benedetto Girolamo files a lawsuit against Giovanni claiming he had broken his marriage vows by marrying an aristocratic woman Marietta. The book goes into full detail with notaries, archbishops, deceiving witnesses, and slut shaming. A scandal that breaks social norms in 15th century Florence, this book was written with expressiveness, intellect and interest that is surely able to keep the reader intrigued.
Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence by Gene Brucker provides a unique look into the life of commoners in the 15th century. This book follows the 1455 court case surrounding the alleged marriage between Giovanni della Casa and Lusanna, the daughter of Maestro Benedetto di Girolamo. Throughout this trial testimonies, from witnesses with a vast array of socioeconomic backgrounds are presented. These were people whose voices would likely have never been heard if not for this case. This particular cross-section of people creates a very clear picture of the hierarchical system in place during the renaissance. Throughout this book, it becomes clear that each person had his or her place within society.
Through the study of the records of courts, both secular and ecclesiastical, which exists in thousands of European and American archives and libraries, a patient and careful researcher can reconstruct particular images of “the world we have lost” and of the people who inhabited that world. From this vast, largely untapped repository of judicial records, Gene Brucker uses the notarial protocols of Ser Filippo Mazzei, which contains the transcripts of the litigation in the archiepiscopal court and the catasto records, which provides information about Florentine households, to piece together the dossier of Giovanni and Lusanna. The story of Giovanni and Lusanna explores the love and marriage in renaissance Florence and uncovers the gradation of the city’s social hierarchy and the role of women in society.
In the next paragraph Alessandra mentions that she saw Mona Lucrezia di Piero had sent him a nice letter for thanking him for the flax that he sent to her. Alessandra then says she should reward him with kind words about Filippo to Piero. This is basically saying that Alessandra thinks Mona should put in a good word for Filippo. This shows us just how much power the Medici family had during this period. In the last paragraph, Alessandra mentions that two
Baldassare Castiglione’s book, The Book of the Courtier, was one of the most influential works of the Renaissance period. In his book, Castiglione illustrates the ideal man of the Renaissance. He describes the qualities that need to be possessed in order to become a perfect courtier. Furthermore, he examines the role of both men and women in society, and offers a rather progressive viewpoint on women. The book offers the readers comparison on the ideals of society then and now.
Other accessories for this special occasion might be: flower bouquet, cake decoration, cake server set, champagne glasses, the last doll, guest book, photo album, invitations/ reception cards, ceremony pillows, and guest favors.
During the Renaissance time period, each man and woman needed to strive to meet the “ideal” image that was expected by society. If this image was not met, the person would be judged by society. Both males and females had different goals that they needed to meet in education, as well as in their lives. While there was an “ideal” image, some people disagreed with them. There was always a distinct role for both women and men, but within those roles, there could be controversy. The most controversy could occur over the education that the males and females were getting, there were clear roles and ideals for men and women in the beginning of the Renaissance time period, but as time went on, people became more skeptical of the
The early Renaissance created an ideal environment for the response of these compositions and the ideas they expressed. As mentioned earlier, the early Renaissance in Italy lead to an insurgence in humanist philosophy. Following the Middle Ages, a period of intellectual stagnation, the Renaissance provided an outlet for intellectuals to freely think. Marinella and Cereta intentionally targeted their audience by using the letter format. Letters were popularized at the time of the Renaissance by dominant male writers and allowed for ideas to be easily dispersed to a receptive audience. The Nobility and Defense of Liberal Instruction for Women manipulate the stylistic strategies of letters as rhetorical device that plays off the works of men at the time; a feminist stand within itself, utilizing letters elevated the works of Marinella and Cereta to their male counterparts (Ross, 8-16). Because the authors used letters, their works were widely circulated and
I found this book very interesting and well written because the author did a good job of incorporating pervious events and background information with main events and interesting facts about Brunelleschi. This book restated how serious the arts were in the Renaissance, how people lived then, how much changed took place, and the Florence was a main place in the Renaissance. Another thing I noticed was that the author supported the subject of the book very well, he didn't only state facts strictly about Brunelleschi, but also about the different sides and how life was during that time. Because of that I found the book to be very interesting and enjoyable because it made me want to keep on reading to find out what Brunelleschi had to go through and what his inspirations were to do this. I also think that the author incorporated a lot of
Savonarola claims to have accepted the challenge to write this treatise because he refuses to reject a task that is “extremely relevant to the city, its people, and my office.” The main objective of his work, “Treatise of the Florentine Government” was to establish a new government for the city of Florence and support how his ideas are accurate with “natural reason and with Church
The Courtier, originally written as a “courtesy book”, can now be considered to provide significant insight into the norms and practices associated with courtship and gender during the Renaissance era. The book’s third volume is a particularly insightful window into 16th century romantic ideals. Throughout Book Three, Baldassare Castiglione builds an elaborate perspective on what makes the perfect court lady, what sexual and social behavior is acceptable, and how an ideal couple (both courtier and court lady) should function.
Women had to remain with their husbands because they were forced to marriage by their fathers, society also didn’t allow them to have a higher education than men leaving women to have to suffer for how their lives are. In this city the family was the basic unit and so were blood ties as the most powerful cause of marriage. Many fathers had their daughters marry certain men that would help strengthen their position in the community. Marrying into my family had been an honor because we were the wealthiest and most respected citizens. Women who had lived here in Florence were the most educated women in Europe at the time even though they were not allowed to work for the government, they also could not teach at universities, or to make books on their view of
The purpose of the book Women of the Renaissance by Margaret King is to explain the various roles of that women occupied during the renaissance. She mainly focusses on women of western Europe between 1350 and 1650. In the chapter titled “Daughters of Eve: Women in the Family” King writes about the positions of women in the family. In the part of the chapter that we were assigned, she depicts the role of mother. She explains the importance having children, the differences between healthy and lower class mothers, and the relationship between these mothers and their children. During the renaissance, motherhood was an extremely important job, and many women were defined by it.
Negotiations are a part of daily life whether we are aware of them occurring or not. In everything that we do there are preferred end results and the end results are likely to affect more than one person. The goal in this however, is to ensure that all parties are equally benefited from the actions and reactions that occur to create that end result. While some dealings are done in a more subtle manner without a great deal of negotiation per say there are other situations that would warrant more vocalized mutually acceptable compromises. The purpose of this paper will be to effectively explain a situation of which required negotiation on the part of both parties that almost all of us have endured and that would be the process of buying a
A critical point in European history was the Renaissance period, which took place between 1300-1700. The term Renaissance stands for ‘rebirth’, and in this context refers to the increased interest that was taken in learning from Greek and Roman classical writing. Recent exploration by historians into the Renaissance period has seen a fixation on the discussion of the role of gender during the Renaissance. A variety of historians, such as Joan Kelly and Merry E. Weisner, believe that women didn’t experience any form of a Renaissance during this period. It can be widely acknowledged that during this period society did experience a ‘rebirth’, especially in terms of the role of the men in Europe. Women, on the other hand, weren’t as fortunate.