Temaomtale HIS113

Tema: The Civilisation of Renaissance Italy 

Ansvarlig: Stephan Sander-Faes

Almost everyone enjoys travelling to Italy, home to about a third of the archaeological sites open to the public, and marvel at its masterpieces. Way fewer, though, enquire about the history of the Apennine peninsula from the Waning of the Middle Ages (Johan Huizinga, 1919/24) to the Birth of the Modern World (Christopher Bayly, 2004) these days. Yet it was precisely in Renaissance Italy—for the purposes of this course, understood as the period from around 1400 to the late eighteenth century—that many features of our world first emerged. 

To contemporaries and later scholars alike, the accomplishments of Renaissance Italy continue to speak to us, and the history, historiography, and enduring legacy of this era and civilisation are the themes explored in this course. This course, then, is designed for both newcomers and those who are already familiar with the time and place to a certain degree; this course will take place in English due to the vast amount of literature (sources and scholarly publications), but knowledge of any other relevant language (e.g., Italian, French, German, South-Slavic, Greek) is certainly helpful. 

The course will pursue the following three core objectives: 

• Provide an overview of the major events and developments with a focus on the Apennine peninsula and its place in European-Mediterranean history 

• Discussion of the main historiographic threads by taking into account the emergence of “modern” scholarship during the Italian Renaissance and the fascination of bourgeois intellectuals and later scholars with the era (e.g., Jacob Burckhardt; Fernand Braudel) 

• We will furthermore explore the enduring legacy of the civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy across various forms, media, and influences, ranging from architecture to opera to diplomacy and international relations 

In all these three core objectives, a mixture of primary sources (in English translation or the Latin/Italian originals, if desired) and secondary literature is used; we shall furthermore touch upon the commercial rivalry between the maritime republics (esp. Genoa, Venice) and their commercial-colonial enterprises that underwrote the later Atlantic ventures; as well as Europeans’ encounters with “the Other”, be they in the Levant or, later, in the “New World”. 

Upon fulfilling the required assignments (which include active participation in class), you will have gained an understanding of the subject (area), the various themes we explore, and the various historiographic concepts used to study these times and places. 

Interest and English skills are required, knowledge of other relevant languages is certainly helpful; you may fulfil all course requirements in English or any of the three Scandinavian languages (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish).