Culture and Power in Renaissance Europe - MHIS322
In the city of Rome on 20 May 1347, a low-born notary called Cola di Rienzo declared the re-foundation of the ancient Roman Republic, pronouncing himself Tribune of the People. In distant Avignon, the Italian poet Petrarch hailed Cola as a hero for a re-newed era of Italian cultural and political greatness. His actions, and Petrarch's response, represent one of the first moments of the Renaissance--a political and cultural movement that idealized classical antiquity and looked to the past for answers to to questions about identity, the nature of a moral life, the virtues of civil society, and human relationships with both the natural world and the divine. This re-birth of classical ideas and styles produced many of the most beautiful and enduring works of art and literature in the Western European canon. But the tensions between the ideals of classical antiquity and the realities of late medieval Europe also resulted in warfare, violence, and social and cultural upheaval. This unit explores why and how late medieval Europeans turned to the ancient world for answers and what happened when they attempted to re-create the classical point-of-view in the very different society of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
| Credit Points: | 3 |
| When Offered: | 2019 - Next offered in 2019 |
| Staff Contact(s): | Dr Nicholas Baker |
| Prerequisites: |
39cp at 100 level or above or (6cp in MHIS or HIST or POL at 200 level including 3cp in MHIS) |
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| Assessed As: | Graded |
| Offered By: | Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations Faculty of Arts |
Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
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