#2
Machiavelli in the context of the Renaissance
1) Machiavelli, The Prince (1513) - recapitulation
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) wrote this essay as an empirical guide to the practice of politics.It is based upon his experience as a Florentine diplomat, but also and especially upon his many years of study of contemporary public affairs and of ancient history.Machiavelli believed that such study provides us with models for dealing successfully with political problems.At the same time, it teaches us that no two political situations are exactly the same.There is no predetermined law of history, nor preordained fate to which political leaders must resign themselves.If they are wise, they may be able to fashion their own destiny.To do so they must understand the variables in any political situation as a basis for judging the best course of action.Politics, therefore is a calculus of variables, among them:
a) human nature - Machiavelli took a dim view of the human condition.He concluded that most men are base and selfish. Human emotions are protean and human loyalties fickle.Yet leaders of unusual strength of character (virtu) will understand these traits of human nature and use them to their advantage.
Machiavelli's notion of virtu included such qualities as: manliness, courage, a willingness to take risks, decisiveness, and prudence.By prudence, he meant the rational assessment and planning of a prince's course of action.He must act with foresight.
This notion of virtu has some affinities with the Greek conception of hubris.It is similar in that it exalts pride.It is different in that its goal is mastery of one's circumstances.The prince who displays virtu is aware of, not blind to, his actions and their consequences.Virtu is calculated pride aimed at success, not self-destruction.
b) context (ordini) - one must understand the laws and rules governing life.A successful prince will take into consideration in his calculations the particular traditions, customs, and laws of the people with whom he is dealing.
c) opportunity (occasione) - the prince must be observant and farsighted.He must take advantage of favorable circumstances as they present themselves.
d) luck (fortuna) - a variable over which even the most capable prince has no control.Even if he takes all the necessary measures, his success depends to some degree upon luck.
2) the geo-politics of Renaissance Italy (late 15th-early 16th century)
a) the rivalry among the Italian city states:
Milan (duchy)Venice (republic)
Florence (duchy)
the papal states (ecclesiastical principality)
Naples (kingdom)
b) the political power of the papacy
-acting directly as a prince
-acting indirectly through factions loyal to him within the Italian city-states (Guelphs)
c) the influence of the (German) Holy Roman Emperor (an elected monarch), acting indirectly through factions loyal to him within the Italian city-states (Ghibellines)
d) the politics of families - esp. the influence of the powerful noble families of Rome (the Orsini and the Colonna)
d) the miliary intervention of the new European monarchies (France and Spain)
3) The Renaissance - a few basic considerations
The term applies especially to the cultural renewal of Europe in the 15th and 16ths centuries.Its center was in Italy, more specifically in the palaces of the princes and merchants of the Italian city-states.
Jacob Burckhardt, a famous 19th-century Swiss historian, defined the Renaissance broadly to include the outlook of both the merchant-princes and the scholars and artists whom they patronized.Both of these elites displayed the quality of "virtu," a capacity for daring individual initiative, a passion for power, and a quest for self-mastery.Burckhardt interpreted this mentality as a rebirth of the outlook of the ancient Romans after a thousand years of a Christian culture that taught humility, social dependence, and passivity.
Today there is a tendency to define the Renaissance more narrowly, identifying it only with the scholars and artists that the merchant princes sponsored.They were enthusiastic about the high culture of ancient Greece and Rome and noted its differences from medieval culture. But they were not hostile to Christianity.These scholars devoted themselves to the critical analysis of the ancient texts of Scripture in order to deepen, not to challenge faith.
This was a tiny elite, and while its legacy for posterity is great, it had little impact upon the vast majority of the contemporary population, which remained uneducated and pursued a traditional way of life in the rural world.One might note, however, that this sort of intellectual and artistic endeavor could not have existed but for the rising prosperity of the Italian city-states, whose wealth was generated by growing economic productivity and broader and denser networks of trade throughout Italy, the Mediterranean world, and even northern Europe.
4) the enduring legacy of the middle ages
a) the medieval Christian world-view
-medieval people thought in terms of hierarchies.In the divine order humans occupied a middling place in a great chain of being emanating from God and descending via spiritual (angels) to material beings.
-this view stressed man's dependence upon God as a created being, one with a body and a soul that were in conflict with one another.There was a tendency to say that the soul was good and the body bad.
-man was viewed as a sinful being, which was understood in two ways:
-original sin - the sin of Adam, which had corrupted human nature, making man subject to weakness of the flesh and subject to death;
-one's own sins - human beings were viewed as inherently depraved.They were "concupiscent beings," i.e., by nature prone to accede to evil ways.
-given this dependence, humans were in need of two things:
-strong authority in all spheres of life, so that they would be prevented from yielding to their passions;
-God's grace, understood as a gift of sanctification that gave them the hope of spiritual perfection. That spiritual salvation was to be achieved through a mix of God's sanctifying grace and of man's own capacity to do good works.
This theological hierarchy of a great chain of being was mirrored in the hierarchies of life, to wit:
b) a social hierarchy, based on three social "estates":
1st: clergy (they pray); 2d: nobility (they fight); 3d: commoners (they work).
You should note three other factors about the social hierarchy:
-there was little social mobility among its echelons. You stayed in the way of life into which you were born.
-until the late middle ages in western Europe, and the modern era in eastern Europe, some commoners were consigned to a condition of serfdom.Serfs were bound to the land on which they had been born.They could not be bought or sold, but they had few rights, many onerous obligations, and could leave the land only with the permission of their social overlord.
-as a theoretical model, the society of estates reflected the realities of the rural world and made no provision for the bourgeoisie, town dwellers who engaged in industry or commerce.But in Italy in the late middle ages these were the people with wealth and economic power. Until the 18th century, the most successful among them bought or married their way into the nobility.Over the long run, their increasing numbers and rising power would prepare the way for a new model of society based on class.
-family hierarchies reflected those in society at large.Families were conceived as kin networks ruled by authoritarian fathers.In the late middle ages, the family was primarily a genealogical and economic community, and not yet a unit of affection.
c) a political hierarchy, inherited from the medieval system of feudalism.Feudalism was a political network designed to meet the needs of a society in which power was decentralized.It was based upon a contractual relationship between lord and vassal.The lord provided protection.The vassal promised service and personal loyalty.Vassals, in turn, might have their own subvassels.In this way, a feudal pyramid, i.e., a hierarchy of political dependence, came into being:
king<---dukes<---counts<---viscounts<---barons
The notion of kingship also emerged during the middle ages.At first, kings were thought of simply as first among nobles.By the high middle ages, however, they were beginning to command greater awe and authority.In the middle ages, it was understood that kings shared their political power with their "estates," leading representatives of the collective interests of the realm (clergy, nobles, commoners) assembled in parliaments.The rivalry between the political claims of kings and their estates continued through the early modern period.In the 17th century, kings claimed absolute powers, and appeared to have the predominant power.But over the long run, the estates fared better, as they were transformed into legislative institutions from the late 18th century.
d) a religious hierarchy.The Christian Church, too, was integrated into this hierarchical society.Theoretically, the clergy was a social estate apart.But the church hierarchy mirrored that in society at large.Nobles received the high ecclesiastical appointments; commoners the menial ones.
You should note that membership in the clergy provided a refuge from the violence of society.It was also the vocation best suited for intellectuals, as it had a near monopoly on literacy.
There were two kinds of clergy:
-regular: members of religious orders.They lived in monasteries and convents.For the most part, they followed an ordered regimen (the rule of St. Benedict) that prescribed austere, contemplative living, though there were some orders, particularly those formed during the Reformation, that did teaching and performed works of charity. Their hierarchy was:
abbot (abbess)<---prior<---priests<---lay brothers
-secular: clergy that ministered to the people.Their hierarchy was:
pope<---college of cardinals<---archbishops<---bishops<---cathedral canons<---archpriests<---priests<---curates
While the pope claimed supreme authority over the church, he was challenged by two opposing authorities:
-kings, who claimed the right to appoint bishops and abbots within their own realms (the investiture controversies)
-bishops, who claimed that they shared the right to decide theological issues when they gathered in council (the conciliar movement)
4) the changing nature of society in the transition from the medieval to the early modern era (14th--->17th centuries)
a) a changing outlook on the world. The social and cultural elite of the Renaissance presented a new outlook on life that favored creativity and individual initiative, especially autonomy in politics and in artistic endeavor.
One area in which Renaissance learning did not have much influence was upon the valuation of economic enterprise.More people were participating in commerce and industry than ever before.Indeed, this prosperity was a necessary precondition of the flourishing of learning and the arts during the Renaissance.But these merchants continued to have moral compunctions about it, particularly if they were successful!The Christian ideal of poverty and asceticism remained a powerful notion, and wealth was identified with moral degeneracy.In this economic sphere, there was a profound divergence between the attitudes merchants claimed to hold and their actual practice. They strove to make money all their lives, but sometimes repudiated their life work on their deathbeds.This profound psychological conflict was not resolved until the protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when John Calvin gave commercial activity a religious justification.
b) a changing society.The society of estates was being challenged by an emerging society of class, signified by the rise of cities and the entrepreneurs who came to dominate them.
The family as an extended kin network was beginning to diminish into ever smaller units.During this transition, the family, traditionally a genealogical unit, was reconceived as a unit of affection, based upon companionate marriage and the preparation of children for adult life.
c) a changing politics. Kings acquire more power, and aspired to create more centralized states.They promised peace and stability, but not yet the improvement of society.
d) an emerging religious crisis.While nearly everyone continued to believe in the medieval conception of the human condition, an intense controversy arose over the relationship between faith and ethics in the quest for eternal salvation. That controversy would precipitate the Reformation of the 16th century, a civil war within Christendom.