Victorian Certificate of Education
2013
SUPERVISOR TO ATTACH PROCESSING LABEL HERE
STUDENT NUMBER
Letter
Figures
Words
HISTORY: Renaissance Italy
Written examination
Friday 15 November 2013
Reading time: 3.00 pm to 3.15 pm (15 minutes)
Writing time: 3.15 pm to 5.15 pm (2 hours)
QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK
Structure of book
Section
Number of
questions
Number of questions
to be answered
A
B
C
D
2
5
2
3
2
5
1
3
Number of
marks
20
20
20
20
Total 80
• Students are permitted to bring into the examination room: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers,
sharpeners and rulers.
• Students are NOT permitted to bring into the examination room: blank sheets of paper and/or white
out liquid/tape.
• No calculator is allowed in this examination.
Materials supplied
• Question and answer book of 22 pages. There is a detachable insert for Section D in the centrefold.
• Additional space is available at the end of the book if you need extra paper to complete an answer.
Instructions
• Detach the insert from the centre of this book during reading time.
• Write your student number in the space provided above on this page.
• All written responses must be in English.
Students are NOT permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any other unauthorised electronic
devices into the examination room.
© VICTORIAN CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY 2013
2013 HISTREN EXAM
2
SECTION A
Instructions for Section A
Answer both questions in the spaces provided. Both questions focus on Unit 3 Outcome 1: The Italian
peninsula and the Renaissance.
Question 1 (10 marks)
Describe five examples of how one specific city-state interacted politically and/or economically with at least
two others on the Italian peninsula.
SECTION A – Question 1 – continued
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SECTION A – continued
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Question 2 (10 marks)
Explain how the ideas and values of the classical past contributed to changes in Renaissance painting and
sculpture.
SECTION A – Question 2 – continued
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END OF SECTION A
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SECTION B
Instructions for Section B
Examine the following written material and answer all five questions in the spaces provided. All
questions focus on Unit 3 Outcome 2: Renaissance Florence.
Source 1 – Excerpt from ‘The Ricordi of Gino di Neri Capponi’, written in his old age in 1420, just
before he died
‘When I was a child and I finished grammar school, about 1363, I remember that grammar-school children,
upon leaving the classroom, shouted “Long live the caps,” that is, “Long live the worthy and gentle folk,”
and “Death to the hoods,” which meant the unskilled artisans1 and citizens of low estate. In 1378 the saying
was reversed.
They were shouting “Long live the hoods and death to the caps.”… The government which followed was a
government of tradesmen and journeymen2; no party won unless it was the party of a wool weaver or of a
spice dealer … In a few days the Alberti family, who were tradesmen, became aristocrats, and the Ricasoli’s
and others of gentlemanly rank were forced to low condition.
Concluding my thoughts on government, I say that you must get along with those in power and give your aid
to the rulers, because it is far better to have a powerful state than a series of pointless popular leaders.’
‘The Ricordi of Gino di Neri Capponi’ in Renzo Sereno, ‘Research Notes – The Ricordi of Gino di Neri Capponi’,
in The American Political Science Review, vol. 52, no. 4, December 1958, p. 1122
http://journals.cambridge.org/
1artisans
– workers who make things by hand
– skilled workers who are employed by others
2journeymen
Source 2 – Excerpt from Vespasiano’s biography of Palla Strozzi, written in the 15th century
‘… the war with Lucca was the beginning of the civil discords1 and the cause of all the evils which befell
Florence; and Nicolo da Uzzano spake2 truly when he declared that the first man who should propose a
public assembly would be digging a grave for himself; therefore, as a wise man of weight3, he opposed all
changes in the state, foreseeing the evils which would follow.
After these troubles, Nicolo being dead, the Balia of 1433 was formed. Palla vehemently4 opposed its
enactments, being certain they would lead to disaster, but the movement was too strong for him to withstand.
It was set going by the great crowd of ignorant and turbulent5 citizens.’
Vespasiano, Renaissance Princes, Popes, and Prelates – The Vespasiano Memoirs: Lives of Illustrious Men of the XVth Century,
trans. W George and E Waters, Harper Torchbooks/The Academy Library, New York, 1963, p. 239
1discords
– lack of agreement or harmony
– the past tense of speak, like spoke
3weight – importance
4vehemently – done forcefully, passionately or intensely
5turbulent – not calm, unstable, confused
2spake
SECTION B – continued
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2013 HISTREN EXAM
Question 1 (1 mark)
What was the difference between the ‘caps’ and the ‘hoods’?
Question 2 (3 marks)
Explain what Capponi meant by ‘popular leaders’. What were two dangers that Capponi saw in rule by
‘popular leaders’?
Question 3 (2 marks)
Explain one way in which the views expressed in Source 2 are similar to those expressed in Source 1.
SECTION B – continued
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Question 4 (4 marks)
Using your own knowledge, explain one short-term and one long-term effect of the Ciompi Revolt of 1378.
Question 5 (10 marks)
What were the most important means by which two Medici rulers maintained their regimes?
In your response, you must support your comments with reference to primary sources and historians’
opinions.
SECTION B – Question 5 – continued
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END OF SECTION B
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SECTION C
Instructions for Section C
Choose one of the following essay topics which focus on Unit 4 Outcome 1: Social life in Renaissance
Italy.
Question 1 (20 marks)
Florence
Due to copyright restriction,
this material is not supplied.
A Richard Turner, The Renaissance in Florence – The Birth of a New Art, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, London, 1997, p. 13
1la
terra di mercantatia – the land of merchants
To what extent did economic factors shape the distinct social and political structures of 15th-century
Renaissance Florence?
OR
Question 2 (20 marks)
Venice
‘The merchant of Venice was the master of Venice. The founders of Venice were merchants or, rather, they
were forced to trade in order to survive. The doges themselves engaged in trade. So there is the curious
anomaly that the earliest nobility of the city were wholly involved with commerce; there was no hierarchy
of birth, dependent upon a feudal system of honour, but a social framework entirely fashioned1 out of
commercial speculation.’
Peter Ackroyd, Venice – Pure City, Chatto & Windus, London, 2009, p. 103
1fashioned
– made
To what extent did economic factors shape the distinct social and political structures of Renaissance Venice?
SECTION C – continued
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Question No.
SECTION C – continued
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SECTION C – continued
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SECTION C – continued
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SECTION C – continued
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SECTION C – continued
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END OF SECTION C
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SECTION D
Instructions for Section D
Remove the insert from the centre of this book before answering this section.
Answer the following three questions in response to the visual representation.
All questions focus on Unit 4 Outcome 2: Renaissance Venice.
‘Porta della Carta, the grand entrance to the Palazzo Ducale designed after 1438 by Bartolomeo Bon.’
Question 1 (4 marks)
Explain the way in which this architectural feature shows four elements of the Myth of Venice.
SECTION D – continued
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Question 2 (6 marks)
Using the visual representation or your own knowledge, identify one specific sacred legend, and explain its
development and how it contributed to the Myth of Venice.
Question 3 (10 marks)
How did imperial expansion and contraction impact on the development of the Myth of Venice from the
14th to the 16th century?
Refer to a range of events and visual and/or written primary sources, as well as secondary texts by historians,
when explaining your observations.
SECTION D – Question 3 – continued
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END OF QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK
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Extra space for responses
Clearly number all responses in this space.
20
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A script book is available from the supervisor if you need extra paper to complete your answer. Please
ensure you write your student number in the space provided on the front cover of the script book. At the
end of the examination, place the script book inside the front cover of this question and answer book.
Insert for Section D
Please remove from the centre of this book during reading time.
TURN OVER
Due to copyright restriction,
this material is not supplied.
‘Porta della Carta, the grand entrance to the Palazzo Ducale designed after 1438
by Bartolomeo Bon.’
Giandomenico Romanelli (ed.), Venice: Art & Architecture, Könemann,
Cologne, 1997, p. 130
END OF INSERT FOR SECTION D