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How Far Did The Italian Influence The Economy Of The Renaissance

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During the Middles Ages there was constant war and little progress politically, economically, culturally, or socially. However, after the three major crisis signaled the end of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the rebirth of classical arts, literature, and learning throughout Europe, began and created a prosperous time period for the 1300s - 1600s AD, which began in Italy. Although Italy was the first country to be hit by the bubonic plague and have 60% of its population die, Italy was also the starting country of the Renaissance for three main reasons, its large city-states, its wealthy merchant class, and its heritage to the Classical civilizations.

The first reason and the catalyst of the Renaissance is wealthy merchants that fueled the economy, adopted and proliferated the values of the Renaissance, and studied the Classical influence and heritage. For example, the merchants before the Renaissance often rose through social ranking through their own wit and merit, unlike people who had heritage, …show more content…

Once the merchants became powerful to govern a city-state, they often patronized artists and architects to attract more people to their city and overall have a better relationship with the citizens. This results in a symbiotic relationship, a relationship in which both elements benefit from being related to each other. Specifically, the city becoming more prosperous, urbanized, and developed whereas the merchants become more powerful, influential, and wealthy. In addition, the city-states that are influenced by merchants who have studied the Classical civilizations are cities that lead Europe through the Renaissance and often provided the standards for life and work. This advantage generally relates to city-states in Italy as Italy has the majority of the Classical

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