HEGRCIPE1U From the Vatican to the Battlefield: Power, Politics, and Patronage in the Renaissance

In this research-based course, we will focus on selected political, religious, and cultural aspects of late 15th and early 16th century Italian and European Renaissance as embodied by prominent figures such as Cesare & Lucrezia Borgia, Machiavelli, Pope Julius II (the Warrior Pope), Leonardo da Vinci or the Medici. We will investigate how these rulers, politicians, warriors, popes, patrons and artists shaped the late Italian Renaissance into a period that left a lasting legacy.

Through Cesare Borgia’s life and his actions, as well as the lives of his famous contemporaries, we will seek to understand how this transformative period marked a departure from the feudal system and the dominance of the Catholic Church, setting the stage for nation-states, capitalism, individualism and global exploration. We will walk through the Vatican of the infamous Renaissance Popes to find the roots of Luther’s Reformation, analyze the masterpieces of artists (da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Pinturicchio, Rafael etc.) and explain the motivation of their powerful patrons to finance them. We will discuss Machiavelli and his The Prince to gain insight into political power and statecraft, and raise the question whether he truly deserves his infamous reputation as a symbol of deception. We will learn about the brutal evolution of warfare leading to the Italian wars. We will use Cesare Borgia’s ambition to unify Italy as a case study to understand the political dynamics of the period. Finally, we will explore how contemporary films and television series reimagine the late Italian Renaissance and how these reimagined stories shape and distort our interpretation of history.

This course is  designed for students of literature, history, theology, social sciences, cultural studies, media & communication and philosophy; it is open for BA, MA, and Open University students.