During the Italian renaissance, the notion of cultural change loomed the society. Elites maintained the mentality everything needed to change to show how advanced and civilized the people lived compared to the medieval years. In the beginning of the Italian renaissance, architecture and the fine arts became severely important and consequently developed as the focus for the societies. Additionally, the renaissance asserted the focus towards one’s ability to shape the world, thus improving the culture and area where someone lived. Although, the notion of change and progression applied to males who obtained property, who followed the Christian faith, and those over a certain age, this dogma of change unfortunately did not apply to the female population. …show more content…
Society perceived men as being more intelligent, physically strong, and professionally savvy. Professionalism ran rampant throughout the male population, causing females to fall short when it pertained to expressing their need to be economically independent. During this time period, the male dominance led to women having little to no activity outside of the home. Woman’s work meant to be in the household, while the males tackled the dirty work of the outside world. Although society tried to confine women into the households where they were expected to raise children, women broke down the walls and made space for themselves . In the beginning of females fighting against the social chains, a way into the economic world was having more involvement with the church and religion. Women began to have monasteries predominantly occupied by females, but this type of activity did not last long due to the need for economic stability. Once the women needed money, they grew more dependent on the opposite gender . If women could not get involved with the monasteries, many women would turn to prostitution. Prostitution was always a way to make quick and easy money, but inevitably, the occupation was dominated by male needs and …show more content…
The wife was expected to raise the children, take care of the animals, maintain the order of the household, and assist the husband whenever he requested . Rural wives did not receive the same opportunities which the city dweller had, the rural families had to follow the strict gender oriented occupations to avoid getting hurt. As a result, the females in the countryside most important contribution to the family’s economic standing was producing and training the children . Children were seen as another mean of obtaining more money for the family. Both boys and girls would work for neighboring families and complete small tasks for an allowance, thus contributing to the revenue flow. Although the family had the children working to assist in stabilizing the economic trouble, many rural females sought other means of making money. Females, if they felt desperate enough, would steal crops from neighbors, kill cows for their insides, or commit other crimes to ensure their well-being . The pressures the females had in the rural areas matched that of the females in the city. Both groups needed money, but making money as a female was difficult and a rarity. Laziness was never an option because appeasing the strong patriarchal society required a lot of energy and the work women had to do was seen has weak or nothing compared to the grinding jobs men occupied
Women were auctioned off as “merchandise” to the best suitor they could get in town. Beauty, though important, was not as important as the dowry the woman possessed, because it was the dowry the family provided that could exalt a man’s societal status to all new heights. Once married, women were expected to have son’s for their husbands in order to take over the family business. A barren woman was not an option and could have easily been rushed to the nearest convent to take her vows of a nun, for no honor could be brought otherwise. No woman could run from the societal and legal pressures placed upon them. Rather than run, some chose to accept their place, but, like Lusanna, some chose to fight the status quo for rights they believed they
In the traditional political history of Italy the people outside of the ruling class of the society were rarely studied. Only with the use of social history did the issues of class and gender begin to be debated by scholars. Numerous recent articles have done a great job of analysing particularly men of high status. In this paper I will look at the lower classes of Renaissance Florence. More specifically, I will center my focus on the lives of women during this era, how they were treated and viewed by people of other classes and how women were viewed and treated by men.
Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
The early Renaissance, which had begun in Quattrocento Italy, was sparked by the beginnings of the Humanist movement. Considered a return to classical ideals, harkening to an early time when art, philosophy and architecture focused more on men’s achievements rather than entirely concern with his salvation, which dominated the Middle Ages. Although piety was still a predominant part of everyday life, the nostalgia, which became inspiration during this period, initiated a rediscovery of the ideals from the classical Roman and Greek eras. Whose art and architecture could be seen throughout Italy and Sicily. Thus, higher education became the predominant theme among influential families. From this an immergence of forgotten manuscripts and treatise
The Renaissance can be considered an artistic period between the end of the Middle Age and the start of the Modern Age. The cultural movement touched every part of Europe but its origin and development are in Florence. This period is a synonym, a symbol of “change” in all the aspect of the humankind: it is the celebration of
Historians and scholars often overlook the part that women played in the Renaissance. Did women have a Renaissance? The period did not occur in a male only vacuum; women played an important part in the changes taking place across Europe. No matter a woman’s station in the class system, women, were still considered the sinful daughter of Eve, the downfall of man. Into this world stepped Isabella d’Este, one of the great women of the Renaissance.
Across Europe, between 1400 and 1650, there were women present in all major styles of time. They worked along side of great artists and were developing new techniques and styles. Women also played a very important role in the Renaissance. Although not as well documented as their male counterparts, women worked along with the other great masters, were just as innovating, and were key in developing new techniques.
Women throughout history have fought very hard to earn a respectable place in society, despite a patriarchal society and male dominance that remains. The roles of women have developed widely over time. Women frequently fall inferior to men politically, socially, and intellectually. This intellectual gap restricted many women to the role of a domestic caretaker. For others, an education was the foundation to discover new ideas and new ways of thinking. While many Renaissance women had access to an education, a small group of writers captured the attention of others. As Laura Cereta, a humanistic writer noted, “knowledge is not given as a gift, but is gained with diligence.” Humanistic writers fostered ideas of intellectual growth, independence,
The question of women’s agency, in moving history holds a long history dating back to the ancients, then turning away from that in small degrees during the Renaissance. Most notable in this change comes from the capital of education, the Italianate states. Home to rife differences in attitudes towards women, it also hosts the origins of the discussion around women’s purpose. The current field largely finds inspiration from writers during the American 1970s women’s rights movement, and it shows in the modern origins and their influence. However, the field’s creation date loom farther back than such a recent movement, easily dating back to Plato and Aristotle. Beginning with a negative view of the female sex as inferiority, the study of women and their rights progressed to Giovanni Boccaccio’s creation of female biography in 1374, and further developed with a female voice in 1405 under the pen of Christine de Pizan. Clearly, none of the prestigious scholars could have predicted the alterations and growth of the discussion surrounding a people group often considered subhuman.
Women “were expected to bear children, stay home, cook and clean, and take care of the children” (Cobb 29). They were expected to be weak, timid, domestic, emotional, dependent, and pure. Women were taught to be physically and emotionally inferior in addition morally superior to men. During this time, women were ostracized for expressing characteristics and wants that contradicted those ideals. For women, the areas of influence are home and children, whereas men’s sphere includes work and the outside world” (Brannon 161).
From 1789 to 1799, a period of radical social and political upheaval in France, named as “French Revolution”, that profoundly affected French and modern history. Before 1789, France was under the rule of the aristocracy and the church. The ideas of the Enlightenment were start to make the common people want more authority. They could see that the American Revolution had formed a country in which people had supremacy, instead of a king. This period is the bloodiest period in the Europe history. French people was very frustrated with the king because of his lack of ability to deal with the declining living situations, financial circumstances, shortages of food and few religious intolerances. As people become angrier because of the power of privileged few, they wanted change,
The Italian Renaissance included some of the greatest artists we have ever seen from Leonard Da Vinci, to Michelangelo, and Raphael. The Renaissance took place from the late thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and is know as the ‘rebirth’. The idea that the rebirth of the arts after being asleep for a thousand years is an amazing thing to grasp. This time brought back light to liberal arts, which were on the brink of being extinct. (Murray 2) What is also interesting about art during this time was that most of the art had Christian in its roots, for example, Botticelli’s The Allegory of Spring (Faure 1) is said to have had a Christian interpretation. (Murray) “Every Italian artist, willingly took the title of architect, sculptor, and painter” (Faure 2). At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Italian painters had asked the Flemish painters for their secret techniques because the Italians felt like the language of painting was one that was always meant for them. (Faure 4) The sculptors claimed their inspiration from ancient works. Lastly the Renaissance introduced idea of individualism, which helped the Italians get away from everything that was going on during that time. Art during the Renaissance included painting, sculpting and architecture, all of which were an important part in expressing the idea of individualism and making art what is is today.
The Renaissance was a time when people began to think and see things differently. It was a time for new innovations. People wanted to study the past and learn more about culture. People began to see important in human emotion, and they began to see that there was much more rather than just religion. Europe was facing many problems like the Black Death. But the problems caused a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. During the early 1400’s, Europe witnessed a major rebirth of fine art painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. Early Renaissance art had its birth of creativity and development in Florence, Italy, which eventually spread to Western Europe. Italy contained the status of being the richest trading nation with both Europe and the Orient, Italy was fortunate to be left with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. In almost every town and city, examples of Roman architecture and sculpture, including copies of sculptures from Ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The decline of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire caused many Greek scholars to go to Italy, bringing knowl...
The term Renaissance has, over the years, become synonymous with ideas of expanding civilisation, rebirth, and cultural expansion. The most renowned example of a country’s cultural renaissance was that of the Italians; however this is only one example of such a cultural and philosophical paradigm. To begin with, a “renaissance” is a revolution of the rebirth of ideals within a country’s individuals: self-awareness, art, architecture, religion and science, to name a few. For it is these ideas that have given civilisations the drive and perseverance to rise from a period wrought with fallow and of social, cultural, and economical regression. Many prominent world powers today, and subsequently in the past, have went through a period of renaissance, which was preceded by what many call a dark age; it is through this time of upheaval that the ideas and socio-political philosophies flourished, paving the way towards each nations’ renaissance. To this, the Renaissance should not only be seen as an essential part of European history, but its ideals should also be credited philosophically for improving and influencing different developing societies through the ages.
Society changes with time and the role of each integrant also changes. The role of women, for instance, has changed a lot over the years, from pre-history to the present day function of the female figure is changing more and more. Previously, the division of labor began to distinguish the role of men and women in society, mainly because of agricultural activity. In pre-capitalist stage the world of work and domestic world were similar and the woman began to be subordinate to man, mainly because of her function as a reproducer, and this kind of the women was being considered more fragile and unable to assume leadership or direction of a family group.