Jubilee year in Rome

Heidi Wyman

10/24/07

Looking at certain historic events in history you think how did this happen? Most events have many underlying factors that play into them. One might also consider how these factors may relate to each other. An example would be Leo Battista Alberti, an artist, the aqueducts of Rome, a scientific invention and Pope Nicholas V, a political figure. What impact did these three factors create? Pope Nicholas V was the first pope of the Renaissance, who rebuilds Rome. Leo Battista Alberti was an architect, musician, painter and sculptor. The Roman aqueducts gave a consistent source of clean water for Rome. These three factors brought Rome to its Jubilee year, during this time there were many artist and inventors who flocked to Rome producing art, literature, inventions galore.

A strong political figure from the Renaissance is Pope Nicholas V; he was named the first pope of the Renaissance. Nicholas was born at Sarzana, Liguria in 1397. He earned a degree in theology in 1422 and was taken into the service by Bishop Niccolo Albergati. This let Nicholas travel through Germany, France and England. During these trips Nicholas was able to collect books for his personal collection. These books would later be the start of the Vatican library built in 1448. After his service, Nicholas was appointed Bishop of Bologna. In 1447, when Pope Eugene IV died, Nicholas was elected Pope. He reigned for eight years until his death in 1455. During his reign Nicholas introduced a “fresh spirit to the Renaissance ”, he made Rome worthy of being the capital of the world at that time. Nicholas reinforced Rome’s defenses, paved main streets, rebuilt the city, the Vatican and the Borgo district and St. Relers Basilica. Also among Nicholas’ achievements would be his success with the rebuilding of the Aqueducts of Rome. Nicholas supported all of these plans by raising funds during the Jubilee year.

A scientific recreation, the Roman aqueducts were originally constructed around 312 B.C by Agrippa to create a constant supply of water for Rome. These aqueducts put together are estimated to be between 420 and 500 km long, but only 29 miles of aqueduct were above ground. The aqueducts had a sophisticated construction; they were built on a gradient that let gravity bring the water into the city. After some success during building, the constructors started to experiment with arches and Inverted syhons to accommodate for valleys and plains. Chorobats were used to flatten the terrain for the aqueducts and gromas were used to measure right angles for the aqueducts. The use of the underground aqueducts helped prevent disease from getting into the water. The aqueducts being underground also protected them from enemies destroying them. These aqueducts lasted for 500 years; their downfall came in the sixth century when they were wrecked by invaders. After this the Romans had to depend on water wells and/or the water from the yellow Tiber, until Nicholas repaired the aqueducts to working order. Again providing Rome with a safe and clean fresh water supply and improving the living conditions in Rome.

Leo Battista Alberti was an architect, musician, painter and sculptor, all of these qualities give Alberti the name of an artist. Alberti completed his education at the University of Bologna, where law was the base for his study. Alberti get his doctorate in Canon law and was appointed canon of the Florentine Cathedral. Alberti then went to Rome where he was hired by Pope Nicholas V. Alberti was to do all of the art work for Pope Nicholas V. This included restoring the aqueducts, designing the church of Saint’ Andrea and the church of San Francesco. Leo Battista Alberti was a very accomplished artist, who helped Nicholas V improve Rome in a variety of ways.

This political man, artist and scientific recreation worked together to make a huge impact on Rome and the citizens of the world during the Renaissance. The impact created by these three aspects, was Rome becoming the capital of the world and Rome having its Jubilee year. This year produced many new pieces of art, city improvements, literature and increased the power of the papacy. It took all three aspects, the artist, the political figure and the scientific invention, to achieve this impact.

The Pope Nicholas created plans to reconstruct the fresh water supply to Rome by repairing the aqueducts. The Roman aqueduct reconstruction was the base of why Nicholas V wanted the Jubilee year. The Pope took this reconstruction plan and found a way to earn funds for it. He wanted Rome to become the capital of the world. The activities planned for the Jubilee year would bring pilgrims and their money to Rome. The money acquired would then be use to further Nicholas' plan to repair the aqueducts and other projects. The Roman aqueducts were the motivation for Nicholas V to plan Rome's Jubilee year.

Leo Battista Alberti plans for the aqueducts also influenced the creation of the Jubilee year. Alberti was the architect who made the plans for the reconstruction of the aqueducts. His relationship with Nicholas and architectural skills helped Nicholas create plans to improve Rome by securing a clean water supply and eventually

beautifying Rome with fountains added to the aqueduct system. To fund these plans, projects and architecture Nicholas and Alberti created the Jubilee year.

Leo Battista Alberti and Pope Nicholas V worked together to create the jubilee year. This artist and political man had many influences on the culture of Rome. Nichols V hired Alberti to be his architect. Alberti was to create plans to reconstruct the Roman aqueducts to bring the fresh water supply back to Rome. These two men then created plans to bring Rome to its jubilee year, where pilgrims would come to Rome to support the funding for the aqueducts. This jubilee year would not only fund the aqueducts but many more artistic plans created by Nicholas V and Alberti.

Leo Battista Alberti, Pope Nicholas V and the aqueducts funneled together to create the Jubilee year. What is the Jubilee year? This year is 1450, the year in Rome where pilgrims came to Rome in flocks to visit churches, see architecture, read literature, and create art, to celebrate the Renaissance and Rome. This brought an abundance of money to Rome; this money was used by Nicholas V to rebuild the Roman aqueducts to provide a continuous clean supply of water for Rome. Why are these events and their impact so significant? The Jubilee year did not just fund the rebuilding of the aqueducts, which was a major achievement, it also brought about many new pieces of artwork, city improvements, literature and increased the power of the papacy.

Although there were many significant impacts from these events, two stand out as significant and lasting effects. The first is Leo Battista Alberti's De re aedificatoria (Ten Books on Architecture). These books were written by Alberti and dedicated to Pope Nicholas V in 1452. These books are not revisions of a previous writer, but ten completely new books by Alberti. These books made advances upon the engineering knowledge and the stylistic principles of classic art. Another is the reconstruction of the aqueducts and adding to them with ornate fountains. These fountains increased the beauty of Rome bringing more and more people to Rome. Alberti designed the base of the famous Trevi Fountain in 1453, this fountain would not have been built if the Jubilee year never came and Rome never got the money from the pilgrims. These two significant impacts left a lasting effect on Rome and the people of the world.

Looking at this impact you can see that it was caused by Pope Nicholas V, Leo Battista Alberti and the aqueducts. Parts of this impact are still seen today. We still see the Trevi fountain of which Alberti built the base. This is now a major tourist attraction in Rome for its beauty and structure. Other structures that still stand in Rome are the aqueducts; these can be seen all over Rome. A piece of literature that is still seen today is Leo Battista Alberti's Ten Books of

Architecture. These books are seen as the "bible of Renaissance architecture". Another structure that we still see today is the Vatican Library; this library was the first public library in Rome. The library currently holds around 75,000 manuscripts and 1.1 million printed books; the library also has a secret collection of Vatican Archives including 150,000 items. As you can see the impact left by Nicholas V, Leo Battista Alberti and the aqueducts have found their way into today’s life. They teach us of the art, science and politics of the Renaissance.

Leo Battista Alberti Pope Nicholas V Roman Aqueducts

Time Line

Heidi Wyman

Revolution

10/15/07

To have revolution you must have all of the aspects of p.e.r.s.i.a. (politics, economics, religion, society, intellect and aesthetics). Though a revolution must have all of the aspects one can be more causative. In the Renaissance revolution, religion was the main cause. During the Renaissance revolution the main cause religion affected all of the other aspects of p.e.r.s.i.a.

The main cause of the renaissance revolution is religion. The biggest issue was the corruption in the church. This causes people to fight and want chance in the church. First, the church made laws against usury. However the popes and the hierarchy of the church condoned or took part in the usury. For example, Parks describes instances where the popes, bishops and cardinals would not only condone usury but commit usury themselves. Parks stated, "when a bishop, or a cardinal, or the pope himself had money to put in a bank and wanted to pay investor rather than borrower, he was egger to get something in return." (p.23) and "There were those priests who denounced sin and screamed foul and promised damnation. And there were those who studied canon law to find the loopholes in it." (p.23). This condoning and use of usury by the hierarchy of the church created frustration within the followers of the church. This led to a division in the church and revolution. This corruption in the church led Martin Luther to address the corruption of the church thought writing down all the aspects of the church which he and others felt were corrupt. One example of an aspect that Luther thought was corrupt was the use of money and building for the church as a way of getting into heaven. The corruption of the church led to major frustration from the followers leading to reformation.

The religious preferences of the people had an effect on the society. When people had “unum sanctrum”, one church, there was one society and no separation. The church did not like people to challenge them as Martin Luther did in fear of separation. Luther’s actions led to the reformation of the church, splitting it into more the one religion and a split society. Secondly, some in society questioned the morality of buying privileges such as legitimacy for your child from the church. Parks shows that Cosmo had an illegitimate son and used his influences to have him in the church and later on the Bishop of Prato. This was another area of frustration to the followers of the church. This increased the desire for church reformation, hence leading to the Renaissance revolution.

The church had a huge influence on the economy of Florence. The church collected tithes from all over Italy. “The church demanded its tributes from all over Christendom” (p20), they believed that if you didn’t pay you would go to hell. This cause a major amount of the money to go to the church verses the government/ general economy. The government wanted to collect more taxes and have so mot the income that went to the church again feeding into the revolution. Secondly, the church believed that all being children of God the people should want to help each other therefore not charging each other interest. “Give, without hoping for gain”. (p.11). Business people and bankers were aggravated because this was stopping the earning of money. They had to work around church rules and attempt to elect popes that would ignore usury. All of these issues feed into the revolutionary movement.

The intellect of the people was affected by the spread of knowledge through religion. Luther spread his knowledge of corruption by posting 95 theses. These theses were then taken down and copied by a member of the printing press and then distributed. This spread the knowledge of the corruption in the church, therefore causing the splitting of the church. The intellect of the people was also affected by the translation of the Bible. The Bible was translated from Greek to Latin and then into German by Luther. The translation of the bible provided knowledge of religion for more people. These actions affected the intellect of church followers changing their views and adding to the move for revolution.

The church’s law of no usury effected politics. Business men and government leaders worked to make sure there was a pope who condoned usury. Parks shows this with the government in Florence banding any type of practice close to usury. They then worked to get Cosmo into political power so he could revoke the law against usury. If the political power had the support of the church they would have more power. The church has a lot of power and at this time they were not in complete agreement with they political leaders causing more desire for change.

As you can see, Religion is the strongest cause of the renaissance revolution. In and of itself religion is a strong motivation for reformation. It also ties into all of the other areas of p.e.r.s.i.a. causing more motivation for change.