What sources created during the Renaissance (primary sources) does Gene Brucker use to write his book and what do these sources show us about who had power in Florence during the Renaissance?
This paper should be three to four pages double spaced.
Pick ONE of the following prompts:
1. What sources created during the Renaissance (primary sources) does Gene Brucker use to write his book and what do these sources show us about who had power in Florence during the Renaissance?
2. How are Giovanni and/or Lusanna portrayed by their supporter and detractors? What do these depictions tell us about gender expectations of the period?
3. Judging from the way this trial proceeded, what kinds of people or institutions have the most power in Renaissance Florence?
4. Consider the different people who surface in this book, what do their lives and testimonies tell us about everyday life in Renaissance Florence?
5. Pick a person from this book (not Giovanni nor Lusanna). Pretend that person either wrote a diary entry about this case or gossiped with a friend about it. Write that diary entry or record that conversation (no more than a page an a half). Then write a short essay about what this person’s view shows us about expectations people held in Renaissance Florence (this should be long enough to take the whole assignment to at least three pages).
Helpful Hints:
1. To find out the sources Brucker had to rely on look at the discussion about “References”
at the end of the book (mainly pgs 123-125) and at how they are discussed in the text.
2. Be sure to have a thesis statement in the introduction that tells your reader what the
argument for the paper is and how you will approach it. It should tell me exactly what to
expect from the coming paragraphs.
3. Your topic sentence for each body paragraph should tell me exactly what that paragraph
will cover. It should not be descriptive (ex: Lusanna and Giovanna were from Florence),
but rather argument based (ex: The descriptions of Lusanna show us that women were
expected to be pure and not sexually active outside of marriage).
4. Historians LOVE examples. Specific examples form the evidence you need to prove your
point. You should probably have at least two quotes or specific examples in each body
paragraph.
5. Cite all your evidence. If I can write “How do we know?” in the margin of the paper it
means you should cite something – in the paper you can ONLY cite Brucker’s book or
lecture. In-text citations are fine: For example (Brucker, 12).
6. Do not search the Internet. We want you to just use Brucker and maybe lecture for this
paper. If you include other sources without checking with your TA you will be penalized.
7. When I read papers, this is what I look for: That the introduction paragraph tells me
specifically what this paper is going to do. Then I examine each topic sentence to find
out what the main point of that paragraph is and if there is evidence to support it that is
cited. You should be able to write the main point of each paragraph in the margin next
to it (this is what I do with my own work). For the conclusion, I look to see if the ideas
are reiterated and used to show what your points reveal about the period.