MMW 13 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mehmed The Conqueror, Black Death, Medici Bank
1 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The print revolution led to an unprecedented production of books and the
establishment of printing house in Europe.
Fall of Constantinople
1453
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Fall of byzantine empire to ottoman Turks
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End of medieval period
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Start of early modern period? 1492 -height of renaissance
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1453: ottomans takeover Constantinople
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Mehmed II
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Shifts in control of trade networks
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---black sea only ottoman merchants could use
---Venice -- stronger monopoly
---genoa -- alternate routes
Trade post 1453
Wars for afro-Eurasian commerce:
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Ottomans
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Mamluk Egypt
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Sultanate
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Venice
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Renaissance
Renewed interest & diffusion of classical heritage Greece/ Rome in Europe
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Greek scholars flight from Constantinople
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Tradition had continued in Islamic world
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Preserved and diffused this tradition
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Reworking of heritage into Christian world
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Shift in values from corporate to individual -- "The Birth of Venus"
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Secular
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Renaissance changes:
Consumption patterns
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Nature of authority
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Trading networks
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Consumption patterns Latin Christendom
Frugality of medieval Christian Europe
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Replaced by ostentatious displays
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By 1500 Italy standard of taste/fashion
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Trade
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Commodities
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Wealth
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Economic reorientations
Italian city-states hit hard by black death
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Profits from trade declined
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Many Italian merchants abandoned commerce in favor of banking and industry
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Monarchs of Europe growing stronger -have larger armies
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---Borrow money to pay armies
---Italian bankers
Roman church using bankers to borrow money
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Medici bank in Florence -- "it" bank
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---Christian value remained, but displayed wealth and individual
Trade reorientations
Pre 1400
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Luxury commodities consumed by Christian Mediterranean from Islamic world
and China
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Italian reorientations
After 1400, Italy primary purveyor of luxury goods to Latin Christendom (some
areas of eastern Mediterranean)
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Impact on Islamic middle east
Depressed industrial economies of Egypt and Syria
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Raw materials
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Transformation in values
Conspicuous consumption
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built fabulous church
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Civic pride
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Spending often motivated by civic pride and inter-urban competition
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Personal status
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House as palace takes hold
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---filled with luxury items
Medici in Florence
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---built "urban palace" (instead of a rural one), because closed to business
Lavished on religious art
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---more for private, individual patrons; not for public display
Lec11 Rise of Italian States
Friday, April 27, 2018
11:01 AM
