S0404 The Society of Renaissance Venice

A. General framework: the main developments that marked Venetian history during the Renaissance: the expansion seawards and landwards; the cultural transformations of the Italian Renaissance; military confrontations in the Mediterranean and in Italy; global economic changes related to the Age of Discoveries; the rise of the modern state.
B. Venice\'s institutional development.
C. Definitions: Renaissance, social group, class, family, clan, caste, citizenship, republic, oligarchy.
D. Social groups in Venetian society:
1. The patriciate, its main social characteristics. The patrician clan and family, the brotherhood (fraterna), economic activities, political functions and social strategies.
Patrician women – their role within their families and in building family alliances.
2. The cittadini (citizens) – their social and economic role, their relations with the patriciate and their functions as civil servants.
3. The popolani: artisans, servants, seamen, arsenal workers, women, and slaves. The social and economic roles of the guilds and the religious fraternities; migration and naturalization.
4. Foreigners: Greeks and their place in Venetian society; Jews: the institution of the Ghettos and its significance; other minorities (Slavs, Albanians, Armenians).
E. General issues:
1. The religion of the Venetians: patterns of devotion, institutional and popular devotion; Church and State relations; the role of monasteries in Venetian society; the organization and functions of parishes.
2. The transformation of Venice\'s economy and their social significance: trade, industry, finance and agriculture.
3. Venetian elites and Renaissance culture