The Fifteenth Century was a period of import in art, philosophy, political thought, and literature as the Renaissance developed power and altered the way man was viewed against the backdrop of the universe. Much of what began in the Fifteenth Century would flower in the Sixteenth Century. Many artists were born in the Fifteenth Century and would produce their great works in the Fifteenth and the Sixteenth centuries, having been shaped by the Fifteenth and the forces then developing. The century was a time of contrasts between the richest and the poorest.
<Tab/>Florence, in the fifteenth century, was a city state ruling Florence and much surrounding area. The peasants were not serfs but partly small proprietors, mostly tenant farmers, who lived in houses of crude cemented stone much as today, and chose their own village officials to govern them in local affairs. …
