Flowering of the Renaissance - Softcover

At the end of the fifeteenth century Christain humanism came under attack from within, when Savanarola denounced it as a pagan way of life, a travesty of the Gospels, and from within, when the French invasion of Italy, showed up the political and military weakness of Florence. Rome succeeded Florence as the political and intellectual leader of Italy, a development symbolized when, at the Pope's bidding, the figures of Romulus and remus were added to the ancient bronze statue of the suckling She-Wolf. The Popes strengthened Rome politically and made it the most civilized city in Europe. This was disliked by many particularly the Germans. a largely German army sacked Rome and plunged Italy into a crisis: intellectual, theological, moral and artistic. Could the Italians summon up an answer to the Lutherans. The answers lie in the texture of Italian life and civilization during this period. This book examines how the crisis was resulted in Venice emerging as the chief centre of Christan humanism.