ABSTRACT
One critical development during the Middle Ages was that Venice and Genoa, later joined by other Italian states such as Florence and Milan, were responsible for the birth of the earliest forms of European capitalism. Italian cities themselves began to specialize in the manufacture of luxury textiles, including silk, that were much in demand elsewhere, and the merchant classes, in particular, experienced rising levels of wealth, prestige, and political power. Medieval and Renaissance Italians developed new sorts of business practices and institutions that greatly facilitated capital investment, such as banking, accounting, stock exchanges, credit, and insurance. One of the defining elements of the Northern Renaissance, then, was an intellectual movement known as Christian humanism. As opposed to the traditional medieval view of life on earth as full of trials and tribulations, humanism came to recognize and celebrate the value of human existence and promote an appreciation of the surrounding natural world.
