BNCF mindmap-Sheet 1

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Arguments

Pagan gods' enduring prominence due to their becoming representations as metaphors/ guides to understanding nature of divinity and man's purpose. Pagan myths serve as vehicle for philosophical/ humanistic thoughts of the Renaissance (as argued by Seznec); "Concealing truth behind the mantle of myth"

Continuation or break from Medieval tradition? (i.e. paradigm shifts) / Tradition vs nnovaton

How do ideas work in a culture? How are they disseminated? Content vs approach. mostly oral tradition) Whats the cacapacity of the audience to receive the message? What have they heard/ what what are they reading? How has their culture influenced their ability to understand/ learn?

Depends on which aspects we're analysing:

social structure = needs more research

political organisation = break (from feudal system)

cultural legacy = mixed?

Scholastic legacy = break

Seznec argues that mythological tradition= continuation

Constantly changing culture

metrics for changing political culture, values and expectations?

Disconnection between ideological, mythical beliefs and daily social interactions and behaviour

BNCF

OTHER PRIMARY DOCUMENTS TO SUPPORT READING OF THIS DOCUMENT

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

What is the text missing?

What does this absence of further info tell us?

Significance to writers/ readers

Religious

Scholastic

Social/ cultural

mythology's role in role in nourishing contemporary culture

In political terms

Characters

Patristic

Origen

Historical

Horace

Petrarch

Founder of Humanism

Often treated with almost religious reverence

Magi of Egypt

Ovid

Aeschylus

Homer

Stoics

St Thomas Aquinas

Known for introducing philosophies as dialogues

Dante

Plato

Cicero

Virgil

Artistotle

Contemporary

Neoplatonists

Cosimo de Medici

Some of his close friends:

Naldo Naldi, Alessandro Braccesi, Niccolò Michelozzi, and Angelo Poliziano.

Edited works of Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus

Saw all mythologies through their interpretations (which he and his students held in high esteem)

Biblical

Mythological

Egyptian

Roman

Greek

Themes

Magic/ witchcraft

natural vs spiritual demonic

Natural magic Practised by Pico and Ficino

Time

Reconciling Christianity with paganism

Christian hostility to paganism

Practices

Specific beliefs

Belief that knowledge of natural history= essential to accurate reading of Scripture/ understanding of the Divine

magicians

angels

demons (friendly and unfriendly)

Astrology

Fatalism vs free will

Science vs superstition

Astronomy

Romance of Euhemerism

parallels drawn with the biblical tales

Parallels between deities and saints (both purpose oriented)

History of paganism under Christian rule

Development from gods as benefactors to all humanity to specific subsets of people

Theological/ scholastic/ cultural difference between the Middle Ages and Renaissance- a schism or a continuation? A. Both, depending on the category and lens

How was it able to develop so completely when posing threat to the church?

development of mythologies' origins

Recent wars/ battles/ upheavals

Significance for current culture

Legacy of ancient philosophy

how that affects current culture

Civil life

Micro vs macrocosmic thinking

Man's purpose

Divinity of the soul

The universe/ world

Nature

Editorial Notes

Tropes

Devices

Moralising tools

Allegory

Parable

Structure

Text's plotline/ narrative (general summary)

FLORENTINE SOCIETY

Who were the humanists?

Core group of exceptional humanists

men and women outside core group of humanists= primary audience for humanist and classical books. Most part of higher society. (amateur/ professionals)

Lauro Martines:very few humanists were wandering scholars who used letters for subsistence and languished outside the halls of political power. Rather, humanists were members of wealthy and powerful political groups within Florentine society.

Resources

Philosophical issues/ questions

Man's place in the cosmos

Behaviour

Moral ideologies

Civic humanism

ideal of the active life of a citizen.8

Cultural influences

Scholastic trends

how were ideas disseminated?

INTRO

Introducing the text

Text's main argument

Text's summary

Significance of text's format (see p.56 on of Edelheit)

Individuals involved in production of text

Author

What is prerogative/ agenda of author? To what extent is his work scholastic, religion- oriented, pandering to what he believes patron wants to hear? How do we determine this? See Maxson- literary patronage

Lorenzo de Medici

Why would he commission the piece?

diplomatic efforts

Personal interest

Supporting development of humanism

attempted to merge Plato's ideas with Christianity

Poliziano

Ficino

Pico de Mirandola

Expanding Laurentian library

Del Nero

Setting the Scene

Scholastic movements/ trends

Influence of noteworthy works

John Ridewall's work (mid 15th century)

Notes on style/ conventions f humanistic writing

cicero considered "purest model of prose" (Burckhart, 2014)

How humanistic thought may have influenced structure/ emphasis of specific themes

importance of beauty of expression/ prose

beauty of nature

emphasis on natural sciences

Social Setting

Advent of printing

Civic vs country culture- "two city model"

codependent / symbiotic relationship between the plebians and patricians

Limited social mobility

Political Setting

Political Crisis

Crusades

Translation of Latin docs by Jews

Increased popularity of astronomy

Accessibility to Arabic philosophy

Economic Setting

Religious Setting

Influence of other religions: 'Oriental' (Babylonian, Persian, Chaldean etc), Islam, Judaism)

Spiritual Crisis

Edelheit: sparked by Black Death

Historiography

Historiographical interpretations of humanism

Hans Baron

pointed to the ideal of the active life, particularly in the context of a republic, as the defining aspect of humanist thought

Margery Ganz, Arthur Field, Mark Jurdjevic, and others have convincingly argued that this ideal of “civic humanism” continued even after many Florentine intellectuals began focusing on metaphysical questions

Eugenio Garin

focused on the philosophical writings of the humanists and argued that they shared an advocacy for the active life and a rudimentary form of historicism

Paul Oskar Kristeller

argued that humanists focused on the five subjects of the studia humanitatis – history, poetry, grammar, rhetoric, and moral philosophy

Ronald Witt

argued that the style of humanist Latin set humanists apart from previous thinkers and authors. This style gradually moved across literary genres and culminated in changes in oratory in the early fifteenth century