Transformations in Europe, 1500-1750

Culture and Ideas Social and Economic Life Political Innovations

Learning Objectives: After reading and studying this chapter you should be able to discuss: 1. Be able to show how the religious reformation and dynastic rivalries further divided the people of Europe at a time when greater unity seemed desirable. 2. Be able to describe how royal centralization increased the unity and power of Spain, France, and England.

3. Understand how state policies with regard to economic growth and military reorganization, warfare, and diplomacy enabled northern European countries to move ahead of Spain. 4. Be able to analyze the relationships between climate change, human-induced environmental change, and social change in Europe. 5. Understand the ways in which witch-hunts, the Scientic Revolution and the Enlightenment reected different European views of the natural world and of human society.

Focus and Essential Questions: What were the objectives and major accomplishments of the voyages of exploration undertaken by Chinese, Polynesians, and other non-Western peoples? In this era of long-distance exploration, did Europeans have any special advantages over other cultural regions? What were the different outcomes of European interactions with Africa, India, and the Americas?

Culture and Ideas

Art ourished in early modern Europe to an extent that can scarcely be overestimated The growth of powerful states extracted a terrible price in death and destruction. The Reformation brought greater individual choice in religion but widespread religious persecution

Theological controversies broke the religious unity of the Latin Church and contributed to violent wars The inuence of classical ideas from Greco-Roman antiquity increased among better-educated people, but some thinkers challenged the authority of the ancients

Religious Reformation
The papacy was simultaneously gaining stature and suffering from corruption and dissent The jewel of the building projects was the magnicent new Saint Peters Basilica in Rome Pope Leo X (r. 1513-1521) Indulgenceraised funds for the construction of the basilica

Martin Luther (1483-1546) objected to the way the new indulgence was preached Indulgence preachers appeared to emphasize giving money more than the faith behind act Through his rejection of Indulgences, Luther led the Protestant Reformation

Luther insisted that the only way to salvation was through faith in Jesus Christ Luthers use of the printing press to promote his ideas won him the support of powerful Germans John Calvin (1509-1564), a well-educated Frenchman led the second wave of Reformation

The Institutes of the Christian Religion masterful synthesis of Christian teachings Calvin denied that even human faith could merit salvation. Salvation is predestined Calvinists displayed simple dress, life, and worship Rejected statues, most musical instruments, stained-glass windows, incense, and vestments

Shaken by the intensity of the Protestant Reformers appeal, the Catholic Church undertook its own reforms The council also reafrmed the supremacy of the pope and called for a number of reforms The Society of Jesus, Jesuits, 1540 Ignatius of Loyola

Traditional Thinking and Witch-Hunts

Pre-Christian beliefs remained powerful *witch-hunts folklore about magic and forest spirits passed down orally from pre-Christian times Biblical teachings of the Christian and Jewish scripture miracles, saints, and devils mixed with folklore

Natural events could have supernatural causes: Earthquakes and ooding They blamed unseen spirits A Jesuit charged it scandalous to pretend that the earthquake was just a natural event Some hundred thousand people, 3/4 of whom are women, were tried for witchcraft

Scientific Revolution

Scientic Advance from Copernicus to Newton Origins of the Scientic Revolution The Importance of Antiquity Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galen Natural philosophers

The Inuence of Magical Beliefs Alchemist Astrology Paracelsus Neoplatonism Cabala Pythagoras

Observations, Experiments, and Instruments Telescope Vacuum pump Thermometer Barometer Microscope

The Breakthroughs Vesalius The Structure of the human Body Used dissections to produce anatomical description He pointed out errors in the work of Galen

Copernicus (1473-1543) On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Ptolemys model was too complex Theory of a sun-centered solar system Epicycles Gregorian calendar

Theories in Conict Tycho Brahe Conict over knowledge

Kepler and Galileo Address the Uncertainties The Laws of Planetary Motion: Three Orbits, regularity, distance He conrms heliocentric theory

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Physics, Observation, and mathematics: Connection between planetary motion and motion on Earth Correction of the Aristotelian view of motion: objects must be pushed constantly

Telescope Inertia Friction and motion

A New Astronomy
Jupiter has Satellites and the Moon has mountains Challenges to perfect heavens and corrupted earth Light from the Moon is a reection Does the Earth Move ?

Conict with the Church Protestantism, Science, and Jesuit Orders Inquisition against Galileo and Copernicanism

The Book and the Trial Ban from teaching heresy Dialogue on the Two Great Systems Italian vs. Latin House Arrest and lost his eyesight

Galileos Legacy discouragement in the scientic community Scientic advancements move to England, Dutch, and French

By 1630, all major astronomers believed in the Copernican theory

Assurance Spreads Advancements in anatomy The English doctor, William Harvey identied the function of the heart and the circulation of blood

The Climax of the Scientic Revolution Isaac Newton (1642-1727) He united physics and astronomy He Established the basic laws of modern physics

The Principia
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1697 The laws: 1. In the absence of force, motion continues in a straight line 2. the rate of change of the motion is determined by the forces acting on it 3. action and reaction between two bodies are equal and opposite

He mathematically demonstrated that these laws govern the motion of the planets Gravity, the Moon, and the Earths pull

The Inuence of Newton

The demigod, Newton The slowing of science The symbol of the scientic revolution One man, in a line of thinkers

The Enlightenment

Many believed that human behavior and institutions could be studied rationally, like Newtons universe They called this the Enlightenmentpursuit of reason, tolerance, and virtue (apart from religion) Paristhe focal point Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau

The Broadening Reverberations of Science Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton cared little for social institutions Remained practicing Christians Their legacy, however, led to the unfolding of Christianity in west

The Popularization of Science Non-scientists applied the methodologies of Descartes, Newton, and Locke to other realms of human thought fusion of methodological doubt and naturalist explanationsscientic and mathematical spirit Writers translated the discoveries into amusing reading

Voltaire, the most famous of Enlightenment thinkers, wrote science through literature and criticism The Elements of the Philosophy of Newtona freeing of the mind from dogma and religion

Popularizations of scientic method stimulated public interest in science, mathematics, etc. Mesmerism healing magnetic elds

Natural History *natural history the science of the earths developmenta combination of geology, zoology, and botany G. L. Buffon, keeper of the French Botanical Gardens

Natural History of the Earth An exploration of the development of the earth completely ignored the religious tradition of Genesis

Beyond Christianity

The erosion of biblical revelation as a source of authority The elimination of superstitious imagery that could make religion seem ridiculous The devil could be considered a category of moral evil rather than horned creature

The deemphasizing of miracles and an emphasis on the moral teachings of the Bible This kind of thinking ultimately diminished the authority of religion

Toleration French critic Pierre Bayle emphasized the idea of toleration Critical and Historical Dictionary (1697)put the claims of religion to the test Christianity as myth and fairy tale resulting in fanaticism and persecution

The Spanish Inquisition and Louis XIV became examples of why religion is immoral Complete toleration the allowance of any person or any creed or faith as long as they are moral Habsburg emperor Joseph II

Deism Voltaire became the Enlightenments most vigorous anti-religious polemicist and dedicated to the destruction of Christianity linfame (the infamous thing) Every sensible man, every honorable man must hold [Christianity] in horror

The Philosophical Dictionary (1764) Published anonymously and burned by Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands Organized religion is not simply false but pernicious and destructive leading to fanaticism and persecution

Voltaire hoped that educated Europeans would abandon Christianity in favor of *deism Morality without the threat of damnation Private contemplation rather than public worship

The Philosophies

Science and secularism became the rallying points of a group of French intellectuals known as the *philosophes They saw themselves as bring the Enlightenment to the masses Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson

Intellectual Freedom

Exposing assumptions and institutions to reason, experience, and utility Reason vs. faith and religion A return to the GrecoRoman rational The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776)

The Philosophies laid claim to Newton and Locke and used their theories to expand their enlightenment agenda They placed human beings and human reason (literally, much more than the humanist) at the center of thought and reason

Persecution and Triumph Religious traditionalist and the apparatus of censorship threatened intellectual freedom A few were forced into exile, jail, making public confessions, and the burning of books

Pioneering in the Social Sciences Voltaire and history Social Sciencea collection of disciplines to understand the past, not just triumphal political history Analyzed the past with questions of morality and ethics

Political Liberty The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by the French magistrate Montesquieu Comparative study of governments and societies Introduced the perspective of relativism: climate, religion, and commerce of various countries

Montesquieu argued that a government needed checks on those who hold power The various powers (executive, legislative, Judicial) must be separated

Diderot and the Encyclopedia The French philosphes collectively generated a work enlightenment thoughtthe Encyclopedie Denis Diderot, a popular publisher of novels, plays, and mathematics, was the primary writer

Advocate of the natural man Two of Diderots books were condemned by the authorities as contrary to religion, the state, and morals

The Encyclopedia The ultimate purpose of the work was to change the general way of thinking Religion was treated with artful satire or relegated it to a philosophical or historical principle Science stood at the core

The Encyclopedias Impact

The vomit of hell Attorney general of FranceThere is a project formed, a society organized to propagate materialism, to destroy religion, to inspire a spirit of independence, and to nourish the corruption of morals

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Obsessed with the issue of moral freedom, Rousseau found society far more oppressive than most philosophes would admitand they were part of the problem Idleness and the dissolution of morals The basis of morality was conscience, not reason

Rousseaus Concept of Freedom

The Social Contract Popularized after the French Revolution He denied the almost universal idea that some people are meant to govern and others to obey Governments should follow the consensus as to the best interests of all citizens