MACHIAVELLI CONTEXT

MACHIAVELLI CONTEXT

1. LIFESTYLE

   • Political life was open to some but opportunities for nobles to have meaningful impact on politics declined as princes and kings gained more and more power
   • Noble men spent time at court, at war or managing their country estates
   • Each region had distinct languages, ethnic makeup and geographic factors that shaped everyday life
   • Early stages of renaissance around 1450 Europe was recovering from population losses and economic depression that followed the black death
   • As population began to recover people became more prosperous and workers wages bought more and better food
   • Distinctive social classes

2. POLITICS

   • Some cities governed by a republic or ruler
   • Political instability
   • During Renaissance Italy became central due to its location for trade
   • Renaissance started in Italy
   • The political authority of the Catholic Church had diminished due to internal conflicts
   • conflict between central and local power within rising “states
   • Political battles, internal to Europe, were now increasingly played out on the international stage

3. RELIGION

   • new theories were seen as radical and revolutionary in a religious perspective
   • Religion had an important role in people’s lives and the church had until then been the authoritative source of information about heaven and earth
   • Renaissance was a period of questioning and discovery
   • As more and more advancements were made in the arts and sciences, the Catholic Church began to lose the power and influence it had once held over people's beliefs about the world

4. IDEOLOGY

   • During this period there was a cultural birth
   • Birth of philosophy and humanism
   • Humanism rejected the belief of fate
   • The ideas of humanism reflected ethical philosophy and rationalism
   • Highlighted importance of humans
   • Questioning of traditional practices
   • Shifts in ways of thinking allowed for change