Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 12, Lesson 3: Renaissance Life (pp. 325-328)
I. The Renaissance City
B. Although extremely prosperous, the city of Florence also faced occasional riots, feuds, and assassinations.
II. From Peasant to Patrician
B. The lower class might make up to three-fourths of the population of a city-state and was comprised of laborers and peasants.
C. Middle class or commercial people, such as shopkeepers and artisans, could move up in society, but it was not easy.
D. Patricians, or nobles, at the top of the social ladder, were mostly merchants and business people who ran major guilds. Patricians felt it was their duty to sponsor artists and scholars and create good works for the public good.
III. The Importance of Family
B. Patrician boys learned the family business and were often married for political or business reasons.
C. Patrician women were not allowed to achieve the Renaissance ideal of individual betterment.
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. In the 1400s, Florence was one of the largest cities in Europe.
A. City residents belonged to many different social classes.
A. The extended family was the center of patrician life.
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