The Medici’s Influence: Revival of Political and Financial Thought in Europe

Abstract

The history of the European Renaissance has been written in many versions. The move from medieval to Renaissance period in world history shows clashes between empires and human nature. The contemporary scholars have many variants of history to choose from and form their own views about what actually transpired during the historical period. The most significant role of the Medici family was in the new era of European history that witnessed the art of administration on the Medici Bank in Florence/Italy. This paper portrays the point of view of the influence of IslamicArab scholars as scribes in the re-introduction of Greek-Aristotelian philosophies to Renaissance Europe. This view is being increasingly challenged. The Islamic-Arab scholars such as Averroes and Avicenna were not mere scribes. Better translations of Arabic and Persian historical treasures reveal that the Islamic-Arab scholars during the golden age of Islam were globally accepted literary giants who made profound changes to the ideological shaping of Renaissance Europe.

Keywords

• Medici Bank
• Medieval Europe
• Averroes
• Avicenna

Medici’nin Etkileri: Avrupa’da Siyasi ve İktisadi Düşüncenin Canlanması

Abstract

Avrupa Rönesansı'nın tarihi birçok farklı şekilde yazılmıştır. Dünya tarihinde Orta Çağ’dan Rönesans dönemine geçiş, imparatorluklar ve insan doğası arasındaki çatışmaları yansıtmaktadır. Çağdaş bilim adamlarının, tarihsel dönemde gerçekte neyin meydana geldiğine dair kendi görüşlerini yansıtabilecekleri ve oluş-turabilecekleri çeşitli türde tarih yazımı vardır. Medici ailesinin en önemli rolü, onların İtalya’nın Floransa şehrindeki Medici Bankası’nda yönetme sanatına tanıklık eden Avrupa tarihinin, yeni çağında ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu araştırma, Yunan-Aristoteles felsefesinin Rönesans Avrupası’na aktarımında İslam-Arap bilim adamlarının etkisine ilişkin bakış açısını ele almaktadır. Bu görüş, giderek daha fazla sorgulanır ve araştırılır hale gelmektedir. İbn Rüşd ve İbn-i Sina gibi İslam-Arap alimleri salt tarih yazıcıları değillerdi. Arapça ve Farsça yazılmış tarihi hazinelerin daha iyi tercüme edilmesi; İslam'ın altın çağı sırasında İslam-Arap alimlerinin, Rönesans Avrupası’nın ideolojik şekillenmesinde köklü değişiklikler yapan, dünya çapında kabul gören edebi devlet olduklarını ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

• Medici Bankası
• Orta Çağ Avrupası
• İbn Rüşd
• İbn-i Sina

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