History - 1 Answers
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In the 16th century, italy was divided up into a number of different states, some ruled over by dukes, or by princes, or in the case of Florence by the extremely wealthy Medici family, who were merchants. Italians would ahve thought of themselves as citizens of particular cities, rather than members of the Italian nation. The great cities were thriving merchantile cities, and a lot of people would have been involved in trade and commerce. Businesses in those days tended to be family affairs, with wives and children participating in the family trade. Wives would often be left to run a business while their hsubands were away. A lot of people of course did not live in cities and would be peasant farmers, working on the land. Often merchant families in the cities would also own farms which would provide them with their own produce, wheat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, wine, and of course olive oil, which was important in Italy then as it is now. In the early 16th century, some of the most famous Italian artists were at thee height of their powers, like Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, and Michaelangelo. It was a period of major creativity. In 1527, the brutal sacking of Rome by the holy Roman emperor Charles V, was the beginning of a long period when Italy was mostly ruled by Austria. Pope Clement VII crowned Charles emperor in Bologna. The mid-16th century wsa the era of the counter-Reformation, when Catholics sought to counter the threat from Protestantism by making reforms in the Catholic church. New religious orders like the Jesuits were formed to spread the Catholic religion overseas.
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