The Alpine Renaissance

In some ways, the lands of the Alpine arc were at the crossroads of the Renaissance, as humanists, artists, armies, diplomats, and merchants passed between Italy, Germany, France, the Balkans, and points beyond. In other ways, the Alps have remained very much peripheral to historical scholarship on the Renaissance, figuring as barely distinguishable background features on canvases that foreground other narratives. This paper will take a magnifying glass to the mountains in the picture, investigating recent research on Alpine territories to determine whether the Alps had a history during this period and, if so, what can be learned from it. The nexus between political culture and territory, a constant theme in the work of John Marino, will guide this investigation into mobility and Alpine trade, military developments, Alpine humanists and artists, kinship, and ‘good government’  What kinds of histories are being written about the Alps during the Renaissance, and how might these help to revitalize our understanding of the period?