Italy: Notable Organizations and Movements (inc. Notable Banking Families)

900s - 1810 - Bardi (All Facts)

• Notable banking family in the Republic of Florence that started their namesake family banking super-company in the 1300s

• Upon introducing gold currencies to Florence in the wake of the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, they flourished

• They went bankrupt following their collapse to King Edward III of England repudiating his debts to them

• They played a notable role in financing some of the early voyages of discovery to the Americas including those by Christopher Columbus and John Cabot

1000s - 1300s - Peruzzi (All Facts)

• Notable banking family in the Republic of Florence

• They went bankrupt in 1343 following their collapse to King Edward III of England repudiating his debts to them

1088 - University of Bologna (All Facts)

• Established during the reign of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Holy Roman Italy

• It secured its first privileges from the Holy Roman Empire in 1158

1099 - Pazzi Family (All Facts)

• Italian Banking family in Florence and rival of the Medici Family

1100s - 1400 - Guelphs (All Facts)

• Political faction in the Italian city-states of Central and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages (Italy) that can be distinguished from its counterpart and opposing faction in that its members supported the Papacy / Pope

  • Its rivalry with its opposing faction dominated political life across Italy at the time

  • It emerged out of the Concordant of Worms

• They were based in the Republic of Florence

• They were defeated by their opposing faction in the Battle of Montaperti

  • However, once supported by Pope Urban IV, they returned to power in Tuscany

• They then defeated their opposing faction in the Battle of Benevento with the help of Charles of Anjou

• By the 1300s, they split into two factions of their own - the extreme “Blacks” and the moderate “Whites” in the Republic of Florence

  • When Charles of Valois of France and his French troops arrived, called in by the pope, the leading “Whites” fled

1100s - 1400 - Ghibellines (All Facts)

• Political faction in the Italian city-states of Central and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages (Italy) that can be distinguished from its counterpart and opposing faction in that its members supported the Holy Roman Empire / Holy Roman Emperor

  • Its rivalry with its opposing faction dominated political life across Italy at the time

  • It emerged out of the Concordant of Worms

• They were based in the Republic of Siena

• They defeated their opposing faction in the Battle of Montaperti

  • However, once opposed by Pope Urban IV, they lost power in Tuscany

• They were defeated by their opposing faction, but were helped by King Manfred of Sicily, in the Battle of Benevento

1167 - 1250 - Lombard League (All Facts)

• Alliance of cities that worked together to counter the attempts by the Holy Roman Emperors of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty to establish direct royal administrative control over the cities of the Kingdom of Italy (of the Holy Roman Empire) after many decades of de facto (albeit, not de jure) local self-governance

  • Alliance established in northern Italy in opposition to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, especially after Milan was seized and destroyed by Barbarossa

• Alliance which eventually grew to be supported by the papacy, first by Pope Alexander III

  • It founded a new town in Italy in honor of Pope Alexander III, Alessandria

  • Moreover, its location gave it command of the routes of western Lombardy within Italy

• They eventually allied with Henry, the son and vice-regent of Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire, in his revolt against his father, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

• They were initially defeated by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his forces

• They eventually defeated Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his forces in the Battle of Legnano

1222 - University of Padua (All Facts)

• Established during the reign of Emperor Frederick II of Holy Roman Italy

1230 - 1700s - Medici (All Facts)

• Notable banking family in the Republic of Florence

• Its bank was founded by Giovanni of the namesake, the father of Cosimo of the namesake, in 1397

1240 - University of Siena (All Facts)

• Established during the reign of Emperor Frederick II of Holy Roman Italy

1300s - 1500s - Italian Renaissance (All Facts)

• Movement in which the cities of northern Italy were not in competition only for wealth and power, but also in an artistical revival in which their richest families vied with one another as patrons of art and learning

  • Movement centered in (The Republic of) Florence, whose patron was the banker Cosimo de Medici

• Art Movement characterized by

  • depicting themes and subjects associated with Humanism and the Classical Antiquities (Ancient Greece & Rome or Greco-Roman Mythology & Philosophy) for the first time in Art, and as exhibited by other fields of study and art during the namesake movement overall

  • an interest in the human experience and naturalistic depictions of subjects

    • In other words, religious & mythological figures in a earthly setting or with human form- rather than in heaven or in the sky; for the first time

  • a deeper understanding and appreciation for the human body and its potential (Anatomical Observation)

    • depiction of graceful, complex Movement

  • Linear Perspective / Mathematical Precision (Anatomical Proportion)

    • heavy use of Horizontal and Vertical Lines

  • Depth (or illusion of it with figures jumping out at the viewer and landscapes with less colors in the background)

  • Emotion, which is usually displayed among figures in their faces for the first time

  • figures being displayed from many different points of view for the first time

  • figures being interrelated in complex ways, including being depicted at different times while in the same location

  • Uninterrupted Contours that convey a Less-Guided Focus

  • works typically being presented as Fresco or Fresco Cycle Paintings, Altarpiece Paintings, Engravings, and Sculpture

  • in painting, figures appear to take up 3D space although it is in 2D plane for the first time

  • a variety of traits including subjects that are Distant, Calm, Immortal, Serene, and Stable

• Movement of Artists Including:

  1) Leonardo Da Vinci (Polymath)

  2) Michelangelo (Painter, Sculptor)

  3) Raphael (Painter)

  4) Titian (Painter)

  5) Donatello (Sculptor)

  6) Masaccio (Painter)

  7) Pietro Petrugino (Painter)

  8) Sandro Botticelli (Painter)

  9) Giotto (Painter)

  10) Andrea Mantegna (Painter)

  11) Pierro della Francesca (Painter)

  12) Fra Angelico (Painter)

  13) Fra Filippio Lippi (Painter)

1400s - Florentine Platonic Academy (All Facts)

• Academy which had no buildings or teachers but was formed around Italian Scholar and Priest Marsilio Ficino

• It consisted of a small group of men with a common respect for Ficino, their teacher, and a common interest in Plato, the namesake school’s philosopher

• It exercised a major influence over Italian philosophical thought and made a significant contribution to the intellectual humanism of the Italian Renaissance

1407 - 1805 - Bank of St. George (All Facts)

• Private Banking Company formed by the Republic of Genoa

• It was formed after Genoa realized it could not compete with Venice

• It was founded to consolidate the public debt of Genoa, which had been escalating due to the war with Venice for trading and financial dominance in the War of Chioggia

1454 - 1494 - Italic League (All Facts)

• Alliance made between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Treaty of Lodi that lasted for forty years and ended once the Italic Wars began

• Alliance formed due to the need to unify due to the pressures of the growing Habsburg and French Empires

• Alliance which agreed to

  • recognize and maintain the position of the major states as they existed at that moment

  • protect each other against outside aggression

  • recognize that there were common interests between its members

  • recognize that “Italy” was a geographical entity, despite being divided by

    • trade rivalry (the most formidable barrier to further agreement between the Italian city-states)

    • countless dialects

    • the lack of a generally-accepted written Italian language, as most business by that time was still conducted in Latin

    • fierce loyalty to city-state rather than a non-existent Italian state