Summary: This is the 7th & Last episode in our series The Long Road to Reform. In Italy, the Renaissance was a time of both prosperity & upheaval. We moderns of the 21st C are so accustomed to thinking of Italy as one large unified nation it’s difficult to conceive of it as it was throughout MOST of its history; a patchwork of various regions at odds with each other. During the Middle Ages & a good part of the Renaissance, Italy was composed to powerful city states like Florence & Venice who endlessly vied with each other. Exacerbating the turmoil was the interference of France and Germany who sought to influence affairs in Italy to their advantage. It was within this mix of prosperity, intrigue, and emerging Renaissance ideals the papacy carried on during the last decades before the Reformation. (more…)
