The end of the Middle Ages (11th-14th centuries)

The 11th century signed the end of the darkest period in the middle ages. Trade slowly picked up, especially on the seas, where the four Italian cities of Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice became major powers. The papacy regained its authority, and started a long struggle with the empire, about both ecclesiastical and secular matter. The first episode was the Investiture controversy.

Meanwhile, the South and Sicily were invaded by Normans, who eventually conquered the Byzantines (in the mainland) and the Arabs (who had conquered Sicily in 846). However, the eastern empire was not defeated yet, and for the south of Italy the middle ages ended as they had begun, with a Byzantine invasion.

Byzantine Invasion

In 1155 the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus attempted to invade southern Italy. The Emperor sent his generals Michael Palaeologus and John Ducas with Byzantine troops and large quantities of gold to invade Apulia (1155). The two generals were instructed to enlist the support of German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, since he was hostile to the Normans of Sicily and was south of the Alps at the time, but he declined. Nevertheless, with the help of disaffected local barons including Count Robert of Loritello, Manuel's expedition achieved astonishingly rapid progress as the whole of southern Italy rose up in rebellion against the Sicilian Crown. There followed a string of spectacular successes as numerous strongholds yielded either to force or the lure of gold.

The City of Bari, which had been the capital of the Byzantine Catapanate of Southern Italy for centuries before the arrival of the Normans, opened its gates to the Emperor's army, and the overjoyed citizens tore down the Norman citadel as a hated symbol of Norman oppression. Encouraged by the success, Manuel dreamed of restoration of the Roman Empire at cost of union between Orthodox and Catholic Church, a prospect which would frequently be offered to the Pope during negotiations and plans for alliance. Negotatiations were hurriedly carried out, and an alliance was formed between Manuel and Pope Adrian IV. The future looked bleak for the Sicilians.

However, the invasion soon stalled. Michael was recalled to Constantinople. Although his arrogance had slowed the campaign, he was a brilliant general in the field, and his loss was a major blow to the campaign. The turning point was the Battle for Brindisi, where the Sicilians launched a major counter attack by both land and sea. At the approach of the enemy, the mercenaries that had been hired with Manuel's gold demanded impossible rises in their pay. When this was refused, they deserted. Even the local barons started to melt away, and soon John Ducas was left hopelessly outnumbered. The naval battle was decided in the Sicilians' favour, and John was captured. The defeat at Brindisi put an end to the restored Byzantine reign in Italy, and by 1158 the Byzantine army had left Italy.

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe from the end of the 14th century to about 1600. Although its origins trace back to the earlier part of the 14th century, many aspects of Italian culture were largely Medieval and the Renaissance did not come into full swing until the end of the century. The word renaissance (rinascimento in Italian) literally means “rebirth”, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labelled the Dark Ages. These changes, while significant, were concentrated in the elite, and for the vast majority of the population life was little changed from the Middle Ages.

The Italian Renaissance began in Tuscany, centred in the city of Florence and Siena. It then spread south, having an especially significant impact on Rome, which was largely rebuilt by the Renaissance popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the late 15th century as foreign invasions plunged the region into turmoil. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance and English Renaissance.

The Italian Renaissance is best known for the cultural achievements during the period. This includes works of literature by such figures as Petrarch, Castiglione, and Machiavelli, artists such as Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and great works of architecture such as The Duomo in Florence and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. At the same time, present-day historians also see the era as one of economic regression and of little progress in science.

Northern Italy in the High Middle Ages

By the late Middle Ages, central and southern Italy, once the heartland of the Roman Empire, was far poorer than the north. Rome was a city largely in ruins, and the Papal States were a loosely administered region with little law and order. Partially because of this, the Papacy had relocated to Avignon, France. Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia had for some time been under foreign domination.

The north was far more prosperous, with the states of northern Italy among the wealthiest in Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, and the Fourth Crusade had done much to destroy the Byzantine Empire as a commercial rival to the Italians. The main trade routes running from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, and silks were imported to Italy and then resold throughout Europe. Moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po River valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining and agriculture. Thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper. Florence became one of the wealthiest cities of Northern Italy, due mainly to its textile production. Wool was imported from Northern Europe and Spain, [1] and dyes from the east were used to make high quality clothing.

The Italian trade routes that covered the Mediterranean and beyond were also major conduits of culture and knowledge. From Constantinople, recently Christianized Spain, and the Arab lands came much of the preserved ancient learning of the classical era. The Crusades led to some European contact with classical learning, preserved by Arabs, but more important in this regard was the Spanish Reconquista of the fifteenth century and the resulting translations of Arabic-language works by the Arabists of the School of Salamanca. From Egypt and the Levant, the scientific, philosophical, and mathematical thinking of the Arabs entered Northern Italy. The region also was sitting just to the north of the remnants of the heart of the Roman civilization, and if one looked carefully, ancient manuscripts could be found, architectural principles observed, and artistic styles examined.

European economy

In the thirteenth century, Europe in general was experiencing an economic boom. The trade routes of the Italian states linked with those of the Hanseatic League to create a unified European economy. The city-states of Italy expanded greatly during this period and grew in power to become de facto fully independent of the Holy Roman Empire. During this period, the modern commercial infrastructure developed with joint stock companies, an international banking system, a systematized foreign exchange market, insurance, and government debt. [2] Florence became the centre of this financial industry and the Florin became the main currency of international trade.

This produced a new class of aristocrats who won their positions through financial skill, overturning the feudal model that had dominated Europe in the Middle Ages. Northern Italy, with the exception of the region around Milan, had long been less feudal than the rest of Europe. In much of the region the landed nobility was consistently weaker than the urban patriarchs. The increase in trade during the early Renaissance enhanced this characteristic. The decline of feudalism and the rise of cities influenced each other; for example, the demand for luxury goods led to an increase in trade, which led to greater numbers of tradesmen becoming wealthy, who, in turn, demanded more luxury goods. This change also gave the merchants almost complete control of the governments of the Italian city-states, again enhancing trade. One of the most important effects of this political control was security. Those that grew extremely wealthy in a feudal state ran constant risk of running afoul of the monarchy and having their lands confiscated, as famously occurred to Jacques Coeur in France. The northern states also kept many medieval laws that severely hampered commerce, such as those against usury, and prohibitions on trading with non-Christians. In the city-states of Italy, these laws were repealed or rewritten.