1. The economic, political and cultural revival of Italian Renaissance society Engels once commented on this era, "This is the greatest progressive change that mankind has never experienced. Italy is the cradle of this great era. The Renaissance, which originated in Italy, took the lead in breaking the silence and calm in medieval Europe. Renaissance is one of the most important social transformation periods in human history.
From a cultural point of view, the Renaissance is usually divided into three periods:1the early Renaissance in the 4th century and the early Renaissance in 15 and16th century. The characteristics and contents of this period are not the focus of this paper. If this paper focuses on the political, economic, cultural and social life in Italy during the period of literature and art, it will analyze the influence of different social classes on women in different stages of life under this background.
2. Why did the status of Italian women decline during the Renaissance 1. The influence of the political situation
On the whole, Renaissance Italy was in a state of disintegration and unrest. Medieval Italy was just a geographical term. The central part was ruled by the old papal state, the southern part was ruled by France and Spain, and the northern part was controlled by feudal countries such as Savoy and Filiuri. In addition, there are several city republics.
By the Renaissance, five forces with similar strength appeared on the Italian peninsula, namely Milan, Venice, Florence, the Pope and the Kingdom of Naples. As Rana said, "Italy in the14th century is not a political unit, but only a cultural concept. At that time, the greatest representative of Italy did not regard Italy as a country, but only as a province of the Roman Empire. These city-states have different forms of government. However, Florence is not peaceful at home, and the subordinate cities have rebelled from time to time.
Venice is a relatively stable aristocratic city-state. Milan's country is not stable, and the aristocratic factions in the city often quarrel. No matter what kind of government these cities implement, whether they are monarchies or republics, they often do not have feudal legitimacy.
At the same time, the rulers of these city-States, whether individuals or one party, are unstable in their ruling position and are easy to die in the struggle of the city-States. In this way, the illegality and temporality of power require these rulers to deal with the various situations they face objectively and realistically, rely on strength and flexibility, and use various means to seek the survival of the country and the stability of their own rule.
During the Italian Renaissance, the city-state government actively carried out reforms and formulated a general plan for governing the country, which was a remarkable feature of this period. From Machiavelli's cunning and fierce monarch image to Buckhart's description that "political work became an art", it shows that the monarch who ruled the city-state in this period was not entirely a monarch in the sense of feudal society.
On the one hand, they used violence and power politics in the process of gaining, maintaining and losing political power. On the other hand, from foreign military diplomacy to the social stability of the city-state, their ruling policies are flexible and changeable, they handle affairs with a new spirit and are keen on change. This new political spirit is embodied in all aspects and determines the implementation of various policies and the formulation of legal principles in the polis.
At the end of 14 and the beginning of 15, Italy was a neighboring city-state, and a large number of new administrative posts and rules and regulations were implemented, especially the management and supervision of marriage affairs were strengthened. The city-state government actively promoted the formation of marriage for the following reasons: avoiding sexual humiliation that disturbed social order. There are few honors that women can lose, but the occurrence of such lost honors will endanger the interests of society and families.
On the one hand, rape, adultery, adultery and other sexual crimes related to women harm the interests of male authority. On the other hand, it undermines the stability of social order and is not conducive to social development. Therefore, in maintaining social stability, the government actively promotes the implementation of the marriage policy.
Therefore, the Italian society after the Black Death paid attention to the continuation of male lineage, and childbirth was regarded as the primary purpose of marriage. Participate in minor marital affairs to strengthen the connection between the government and the family. During the Renaissance, in order to maintain the stability of political rule, the Italian city-state government gradually explored family affairs and strengthened the management of individuals and families in social relations and public life.
Marriage is the basis of forming a family and the place where family affairs are relatively concentrated, so the government has strengthened the supervision and management of marriage affairs. The government penetrated into family affairs by formulating a series of norms and principles, and marriage became a field connecting men and women, families and individuals in the city-state. Florence established a dowry fund system in 1424-25, providing families with government-guaranteed investment to help them prepare their daughters' dowry. The city-state government used this system to explore family affairs.
2.？ Economic life affects the status of women.
13 century is a period of rapid economic development in Europe, with outstanding urban economic development. During this period, the urban economy of Italy developed rapidly. The development of Italian urban economy is closely related to its geographical location. Italy is close to the Mediterranean Sea and is in the center of the Mediterranean sea route.
The Mediterranean Sea has always been the main sea passage for trade between Western Europe and the East. Bari, Naples and amalfi in southern Italy have all conducted maritime trade with the East and become important hubs for the development of trade between the East and the West. "At that time, it was a superior market for large-scale maritime trade products." ? This superior geographical environment provides convenient conditions for the development of overseas trade in northern Italian cities, the most important of which is Venice.
Venice has become a huge maritime empire including Crete, and its maritime trade is very active. Venetian gold coin Duckett was a common currency form in the regional market at that time.
However, Italy's economic development at this time was not smooth sailing, and it was hit hard by the epidemic plague that broke out in 1348. The outbreak of the epidemic plague, the Black Death, interrupted the continuity of the original economic life, and the most direct impact was the sharp drop in population. The sharp drop in population has caused a shortage of labor, a large number of social vacancies and social and economic chaos. In order to change this situation, the city-state government actively promoted the formation of marriage to supplement the population shortage caused by the epidemic.
In addition, Italians who survived the plague also had a new understanding of the value of life and property. Europeans' experience of this kind of death is unprecedented. They think about their established way of life ... On the other hand, survivors arouse their desire for happiness in their own lives from the fear of others' death, and cherish their right to life in all aspects.
With the raging of the Black Death and the change of life, people pay more attention to property. In the ten years after the Black Death, the number of wills increased sharply, and the phenomenon of women making wills gradually increased. First, single women, nuns and other different groups of women can write wills during this period, especially pregnant mothers with wills.
They are deeply afraid of the impermanence of life caused by pregnancy, childbirth and plague, and are worried about dying without a will. Most of their wealth is their dowry. A dowry husband who marries a woman only has the right to dominate her, but has no ownership, and distributes the wealth in her hands when they make a will.
In their wills, their wealth distribution is different from that of men, and they are more driven by feelings, taking into account different lineages, including their children, husbands and other lineages in their father's family. The phenomenon of women making wills and the way others distribute wealth show that women with certain wealth have the right to dispose of wealth in this period, which reflects the gradual expansion of women's social influence.
Conclusion The dowry that runs through women's life has a profound influence on women's marriage, occupation, identity construction and property status. Although women's right to dowry is guaranteed by law, they are not active participants in a series of dowry activities.
They will consider members of different lineages when dealing with family relations, so that relatives of different lineages can gain economic benefits and strengthen the consolidation and stability within the family and society. Women's possession of dowry enables them to acquire part of the property of their father's family. Although they can't enjoy the same inheritance rights as men, it protects women and provides the necessary economic foundation for them to remarry after divorce or widowhood.
Moreover, in the social background of the Black Death, Italians paid more attention to property, and women also had the opportunity to make wills, which showed that Italian women's right to control wealth was recognized to a certain extent at that time, and women's influence in society gradually increased. However, when the city-state formulated policies and laws on dowry and the father decided to marry his daughter, women had little say.
Fathers provide dowries for their soon-to-be-married daughters, and the polis cares about women's dowries mainly to protect family property and honor, maintain social stability, and thus strengthen the ruling authority of male groups over the whole society. Therefore, although Italian women in the Renaissance were protected by the dowry system to some extent, they still could not get rid of the control and influence of patriarchy.