1270 Renaissance DBQ

Document 1  

Francesco Petrarch. Il Canzoniere, a collection of original vernacular poetry, 1374

Virgin, so lovely, clothed in the sun's light

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and crowned with the starts, so pleased the highest Sun

that inside you He chose to hide his light: 

love urges me to speak in to you in verse...

Virgin so pure and perfect in all ways, 

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mother and daughter both of your own child,

who brightens this life and adorns the other; 

through you your Son, Son of the highest Father

(O shining, lofty window of the Heavens)

came down to save us in the final days, 

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and you among all earthly dwelling places

He chose - and only you. 

Document 2
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man, a public philosophical discourse, 1486

God the Father, the Mightiest Architect, had already raised, according to the precepts of His hidden wisdom, this world we see, the cosmic dwelling of divinity, a temple most august. He had already adorned the supercelestial region with Intelligences, infused the heavenly globes with the life of immortal souls and set the fermenting dung-heap of the inferior world teeming with every form of animal life. But when this work was done, the Divine Artificer still longed for some creature which might comprehend the meaning of so vast an achievement, which might be moved with love at its beauty and smitten with awe at its grandeur. When, consequently, all else had been completed (as both Moses and Timaeus* testify), in the very last place, He bethought Himself of bringing forth man. . . .
At last, the Supreme Maker decreed that this creature, to whom He could give nothing wholly his own, should have a share in the particular endowment of every other creature. Taking man, therefore, this creature of indeterminate image, He set him in the middle of the world. . .

* Moses was generally believed to have been the author of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and Timaeus was a work by Plato that addressed the creation of the earth.

Document 4
Sir Thomas More, English humanist and Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, Utopia, a fictional account of a traveler’s experience on an undiscovered island, 1516

Those among them that have not received [the Christian] religion do not fright any from it, and do not hold anything against those who have converted to it, so that all the while I was there one man was only punished on the basis of religion. This man, being newly baptized. . . debated others publicly concerning the Christian religion, with more zeal than discretion, and with so much heat, that he not only preferred our worship to theirs, but condemned all other religious practices as profane, and cried out against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned to everlasting burnings. Upon his having frequently preached in this manner he was seized, and after trial he was condemned to banishment, not for having disparaged their religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition; for this is one of their most ancient laws, that no man ought to be punished for his religion.

Document 5
Erasmus, Education of a Christian Prince, 1516

Follow what is right, do violence to no one, plunder no one, sell no public office, be corrupted by no bribe. As you would rather stand for an injury than avenge it at great loss to the state, perchance you will lose a little something of your empire.  Bear that, consider that you have gained a great deal, because you have brought hurt to fewer than you otherwise would have done.  If you cannot defend your realm without violating justice, without wanton loss of human life, without great loss to religion, give up and yield to the importunities of the age!  A good prince is a living likeness of God, who is at once good and powerful.  His goodness makes him want to help all; his power makes him able to do so.  On the other hand, an evil prince, who is like a plague to his country, is the incarnation of the devil, who has great power joined with his wickedness.  A good prince is one who holds the life of each individual dearer than his own; who works night and day for just one end; to be the best he can for everyone.  For so much does he want to be of real help to his people, that if necessary he would not hesitate to look out for their welfare at great risk to himself, who is ever on watch, so that everyone may sleep deeply, who grants no leisure to himself, who worries himself with continual cares, so that his subjects may have peace and quiet.  He does everything and allows everything that will bring everlasting peace to his country, for he realizes that war is the source of all misfortunes in the state.  

Document 6 
Niccolò Machiavelli, Florentine humanist and political theorist, The Prince, 1532

Everyone admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not to be crafty or deceptive. Nevertheless, our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have broken their promises and have known how to outsmart people by being crafty, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word. . . it is necessary for a prince to understand how to behave like both a beast and a man. This has been figuratively taught to princes by ancient writers, who describe how Achilles and many other princes of old were given to the Centaur Chiron to nurse, who brought them up in his discipline; which means solely that, as they had for a teacher one who was half beast and half man, so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is not durable. A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about.