Major Problems in the History of the Italian Renaissance (Major Problems in European History) [Did women have a renaissance?- The plage and public health- The plague strikes Orvieto- Medical reputations and the Black Death- Sexuality and medicine in the Middle Ages- luxury consumption- Women's work in Renaissance Tuscany- rise of the Medici- Machiavelli's world- Petrarch and the discovery of human nature- Giovanni Caldiera- Maternity, widowhood, and dowry in Florence- Wives and husbands in late medieval Venice- Art and pageantry in Renaissance Venice- Clerics and laymen]

xiv, 456 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm. ; ISBN 9780669280029, 066928002X OCLC 31890473 LCCN 94076841 LC DG533 .M27 1995 Dewey 945/.05 ; color pictorial stiff paper wrappers ; This collection of readings offers the best of contemporary Italian Renaissance scholarship, classic studies, and excerpts from a great variety of important primary sources in a single volume. Unique to this text is the presentation of conflicting interpretations of major issues in Renaissance history ; Contents: Pt. 1. The Renaissance problem -- 1. The Renaissance problem -- The culture of the Italian Renaissance / Jacob Burckhardt -- Did women have a renaissance? / Joan Kelly -- pt. II. The material world -- 2. The plage and public health -- The plague strikes Orvieto / Elisabeth Carpentier -- Medical reputations and the Black Death / Nancy G. Siraisi -- Sexuality and medicine in the Middle Ages / Danielle Jacquart and Claude Thomasett -- 3. The economy of city and countryside -- Landed property and trade in medieval Siena / Giuliano Pinto -- The preconditions for luxury consumption / Richard A. Goldthwaite -- Women's work in Renaissance Tuscany / Judith C. Brown -- 4. Urban needs and opportunities -- The Italian urban experience / Marvin B. Becker -- Social mobility in Florence / David Herlihy -- The urban territory of a Florentine merchant, 1400 / Christiane Klapisch-Zuber -- pt. III. Political forms -- 5. Renaissance Venice and Florence emerge -- Guild republicianism in Trecento Florence / John M. Najemy -- The Venetian aristocracy takes control / Frederic C. Lane -- 6. Forms of government in Renaissance Italy -- Communes and despots in late-medieval Italy / P.J. Jones -- The rise of the Medici / Dale Kent -- 7. Machiavelli's world -- The prince : political science or political satire? / Garrett Mattingly -- Machiavelli's advice to princes / Quentin Skinner Pt. IV. Humanism -- The beginnings of humanism / Ronald G. Witt -- Petrarch and the discovery of human nature / Hans Baron -- 9. Humanism serves the state -- In defense of civic humanism / Hans Baron -- The significance of civic humanism / Albert Rabil, Jr -- The moral philosophy of a Venetian humanist, Giovanni Caldiera / Margaret L. King -- 10. Schools of humanism -- Humanism and scholasticism in the Italian Renaissance / Paul Oskar Kristeller -- Antiquity versus modernity / Charles Trinkaus -- pt. V. Urban society and culture -- Maternity, widowhood, and dowry in Florence / Christiane Klapisch-Zuber -- Wives and husbands in late medieval Venice / Stanley Chonjnacki -- 12. Conspicuous consumption -- The building of Renaissance Florence / Richard A. Goldwaite -- Sumptuary law and social relations in Renaissance Italy / Diane Owen Hughes -- 13. Spirituality and ritual -- Ritual behavior in Renaissance Florence / Richard Trexler -- Art and pageantry in Renaissance Venice / Edward Muir -- 14. The end of the Renaissance? -- Changing assumptions in later Renaissance culture / William J. Bouwsma -- Clerics and laymen in Italian literature / Carlo Dionisotti ; FINE.…