Bassani 1

Alessandra Bassani

Mr. White

AP European History

20 February 2017

The Secular Influence on the Intellectual Revolution Between the 14th and 18th Century

“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the more often

and the more seriously reflection concentrates upon them: the starry heaven above me and the

moral law within me” (Kant). Immanuel Kant was a philosopher that emerged during the

Enlightenment, and at a time where the church's power was declining, he still acknowledged the

significance that both the church and the new discoveries had on his life. However, throughout

the Late Middle Ages, religion dominated most aspects of everyday European life, serving as the

essential foundation of European feudal society and giving the Roman Catholic Church the

power to influence the thoughts and actions of the continent. But following the Black Death, the

Hundred Years’ War, and the Great Schism, people began to lose faith in the Roman Catholic

Church, prompting a period of exploration of Ancient Greece and Rome, known as the

Renaissance. With this new desire for education and societal advancement, the once clear ties

with God began to further dissolve causing the Reformation. Due to this increase in secularism

as a result of the gradual decline of the church’s power, Europe experienced the birth of

humanistic and individualistic thought, leading to freer ideas and advanced discoveries during

the 18th century, and therefore causing the downfall of feudal society.

During the Late Middle Ages, the papacy exerted both spiritual and political authority

over the European population. According to Pope Innocent III, “the empire derives its origin and

its final authority from the papacy” because the “emperor is raised to his position by the pope
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who blesses him, crowns him, and invests him with the empire,” therefore giving them the power

to anoint kings (Innocent III). The papacy was worshipped in the Late Middle Ages and

considered superior above the rest of the population, as the Europeans were taught to believe that

“spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power” (Boniface VIII).

However, with the Black Plague and the crises that would follow, the Roman Catholic Church’s

power would start to weaken.

The Black Plague struck Europe with tremendous force in 1347, which convinced people

that God had sent it upon them due to their wickedness. Many believed it was “disseminated by

the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon us mortals by God in His just wrath by way of

retribution for our iniquities” (Boccaccio). For example, flagellants were religious radicals, and

they believed God was punishing them, so they began to repent their sins. Although people

believed God was the cause for the Black Plague, they became confused when priests contracted

this disease as well. However, most people still assumed God created the Black Plague to punish

the population, leading to the progression of secularism.

The relationship that citizens had with the Roman Catholic Church gradually weakened

with the Hundred Years’ War, which was fought between England and France. It began political

centralization in Europe, however it allowed for the birth of a secular nation state and challenged

the Divine Right of Kings. The Divine Right of Kings stated “the king was ordained by God to

rule over his people” and how “the Pope is an earthly representative of the Christ” that has

“authority over the monarchy in addition to the church” (Newman). Instead of the papacy

choosing a leader that would efficiently rule the French state, Edward III of France assumed he

was the successor to the throne. This was the first time that there were challenges to both secular
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and spiritual authority. However, these such challenges to the authority of the Roman Catholic

Church would only progressively worsen due to the Great Schism.

The greed and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church continued to grow due to

personal devotionals, which were used by priests to escape their vows. This left the people with

no one to give out the sacraments, and weakened their relations with the church. However, this

only got worse with the Great Schism and the election of a French pope by the Avignon Papacy,

which went against traditions. As a result, the College of Cardinals elected an Italian pope, and

another pope was elected to overpower the other two. Petrarch states that he saw “nothing more

hideous than this place on the shores of the wild Rhone,” illustrating the disgust Europeans were

beginning to feel toward the Avignon Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church (Petrarch). He

also describes the clergymen as “loaded with gold and clad in purple, boasting of the spoils of

princes and nations,” for “they have strangely forgotten their origin,” signifying how the papacy

had grown to concentrate on its own personal greed over Christianity (Petrarch). Starting with

the Avignon Papacy, people who have worshipped the church now focused on the wealth they

could acquire, weakening the trust between the church and citizens. Due to the Great Schism,

people began to no longer focus on religion as the foundation of their life, but instead moved

towards individual accomplishments which led to the Italian Renaissance.

After the Fall of Constantinople, Greek scholars brought their “many books and

manuscripts” to Italy, sparking the rebirth of intellectualism and a restored appreciation for the

arts during a period known as the Italian Renaissance (Impact on the Renaissance). Influenced by

the competing despot families, such as the Florentine Medici’s, the diverse Italian middle class,

and a growing resentment toward the papal states, the Italian Renaissance focused around civic

humanism, the belief that men should become educated in order to contribute to the betterment
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of society. Petrarch and Dante are known as the fathers of humanism, as their controversial

criticisms and secular views of the church allowed humanism to spread. The Europeans came to

prioritize the study of the Ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, history, civics, and

rhetoric as opposed to the religious teachings of the church. The idea of the Renaissance Man

portrayed man as “the centre of the universe” with no limits “in his capacities for development,”

and encouraged people to “embrace all knowledge and develop their own capacities as full as

possible” (Renaissance Man). Additionally, Europe witnessed the emergence of the Greco-

Roman art style, with Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael, whose art “showed joy

in human beauty and life’s pleasures” and was “more lifelike than in the art of the Middle Ages”

(Dowling). Instead of the focus of art being mainly religious, it was centered around intellectual

ideas, which can be seen with Raphael’s The School of Athens. This painting contains both Plato

and Aristotle to portray the shift towards the appreciation for Ancient Greek and Roman culture.

These humanistic ideas also expanded to northern Europe, laying the foundation for the Northern

Renaissance. Whereas the Italian Renaissance focused mainly on civic humanism, the Northern

Renaissance was characterized by religious humanism, the desire to find purity in religion,

explore the ancient church, and reform the existing Roman Catholic Church.

The Northern Renaissance was influenced by print culture and Gutenberg’s printing

press, which allowed these secular and humanistic ideas to spread more rapidly. It also resulted

in the rise of an educated and critical public, which led them to have stronger opinions about the

Roman Catholic Church. Erasmus was a northern humanist, and he illustrated the importance of

the printing press, while encouraging the Reformation to occur. He wanted “public and private

business of mankind [to be] governed,” but “without whose help all that herd of gods”

(Erasmus). Also during the Northern Renaissance there was a religious movement called Modern
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Devotion, which consisted of the meshing of humanism and Christianity, so people could build a

relationship with God. To accomplish this, it supported the studying of the scripture and focused

on the church's earliest writings. Although humanistic ideas were spreading throughout the

continent, the Northern Renaissance focused on strengthening the relationship that citizens had

with the Roman Catholic Church by fixing its corruption and criticism, and this would continue

into the Reformation.

Sparked by the Northern Renaissance, the Reformation was a religious movement that

focused on reforming the Roman Catholic Church. It started with Martin Luther, a believer in the

teachings of Modern Devotion. He attacked the idea of indulgences, since he “grieve[ed] over

the wholly false impressions which the people... conceived from them” and how people felt “sure

of their salvation” if they “purchased letters of indulgence” (Luther). To spread his beliefs

rejecting the Roman Catholic Church, he created the 95 Theses in 1517, and nailed it to the

church door for everyone to see in Wittenberg. Another reformer was Ulrich Zwingli, and

believed in infant baptism and a symbolic eucharist, which was the idea behind

consubstantiation. This led him to also believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. One of the

most significant reformers was John Calvin, and he believed in a symbolic transubstantiation,

along with Zwingli, and in predestination. As a result of Calvin’s beliefs, he reformed Geneva,

which became a safe haven for Protestants. As a result of the Reformation, the Peace of

Augsburg was created which recognized Lutheranism and Catholicism as official religions.

Lutherans were able to “enjoy their religious belief, liturgy and ceremonies as well as their

estates and other rights and privileges” (The Peace of Augsburg). The birth of new religions

weakened the power of the Roman Catholic Church, since Europeans were given more options
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as to what they believed in, however the Counter-Reformation would follow with the Roman

Catholic Church trying to maintain its power.

The Counter-Reformation was directed by the Roman Catholic Church, as a response to

the Reformation occurring throughout Europe. Its initial response was to ignore the Reformation

and stay away from it, but the church later began excommunicating, killing, and burning people

who did not believe in it. There were no spiritual reforms, but the clergy returned to dioceses and

they no longer sold benefices. There were also new church orders, which were Jesuits, who

decreased the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church did benefit in some ways

however, since some Protestants turned back to Catholics. St. Ignatius Loyola was the founder of

the Jesuit Order, and he described how Christians must have their “mind ready and prompt to

obey, in all, the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our holy Mother the Church

Hierarchical” (Loyola). The Counter-Reformation responded to the reforms of the Reformations

occurring throughout Europe with the hope of preserving the authority of the Roman Catholic

Church, however its power would decline due to religious toleration for Lutheranism, and

Calvinism after 1648.

The Age of Religious Wars started with the French Wars of Religion, where the House of

Conde and Kingdom of Navarre fought against the Roman Catholic House of Guise in order to

achieve religious toleration of Huguenots. This war consisted of many Protestant casualties as

Catherine de Medici tried to maintain Catholicism as the only religion within France. However,

the war resulted in the establishment of the Edict of Nantes signed by King Henry IV, which

stated that “those of the Reformed Religion” have the ability to “dwell in all the Cities and places

of this our Kingdom and Countreys under our obedience”, which recognized Calvinism. (“Edict

of Nantes.”). The Eighty Years’ War was fought for the Netherland’s independence from Spain,
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under the rule of Philip II, and resulted in the United Provinces of the Netherlands. After many

years of fighting, Spain recognized the Dutch as an independent state, and religious toleration

came with the Treaty of Westphalia that also ended the Thirty Years’ War. Spain, being a strictly

Catholic country, no longer had the same religious influence over the Netherlands, enabling them

to practice the religion of their choice. The Thirty Years’ War was the most significant of the

religious wars, which occurred in four different phases between Protestant and Catholic states.

As a result, the Treaty of Westphalia recognized Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism as

official religions, which led to freedom of worship, and declared independence of all nations.

The Roman Catholic Church no longer had the same authority that it did, and people were able to

practice their religions without the punishments that once existed. Due to religious toleration,

there were secular views that allowed the sciences to emerge, since before its studies were

condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Scientific Revolution occurred during the 16th century in Europe, where people

questioned old knowledge and assumptions, and there was gradual replacement of religious and

superstitious presumptions. This led to a rise in science and reason, which originated with the

Renaissance, and resulted in the weakening of the Roman Catholic Church. People began to

believe in empiricism, where one had to experience something in order to attain knowledge.

These ideas were influenced by the astronomers and mathematicians that emerged during time,

who better understood science and reason and applied it to society. Unlike the previous belief

that “other heavenly bodies were not even brought into existence until the fourth day of creation”

so “the creation of the earth was distinct from that of any other heavenly body” and was thus the

center of the solar system, scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and John Kepler

advocated for the ideology of heliocentrism, which rejected geocentrism and instead placed the
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sun as the center of the solar system (Aardsma). This was because they “believed that the earth

was not a particularly fit object to be the center of the universe but that the sun was a more divine

object and thus more fit for the center” and they “disliked the concept the equant”

(“Heliocentrism.”). Although it did not completely replace old astronomy, this theory allowed

people to think about the structure of the universe with a different and more secular mindset.

One of the most controversial figures of the Scientific Revolution was Galileo Galilei,

who constructed the first functional telescope and described the motion of the heavenly bodies.

He observed physical evidence that the motions of the planets required a Copernican

interpretation of the heavens, and became an advocate for Copernicanism. However, his

discoveries created major controversies with the Roman Catholic Church, since they felt that he

interpreted the “scriptures according to [his] own meaning” which was a sensitive matter during

the time (The Crime of Galileo: Indictment and Abjuration of 1633). Isaac Newton also dealt

with the issues of planetary motion, and created the law of Universal Gravitation, which

combined laws of planetary and earth motion. Although there were many disagreements over the

motion of the planets, it was stilled based around religion as Galileo was convicted of heresy for

going against the scripture.

Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes created new scientific reasoning during the Scientific

Revolution, but also realized the importance of religion in these studies. Francis Bacon believed

that studying nature was just as important as studying the bible, and people should use inductive

reasoning, which requires working from practical to general conclusions. He did this through

empiricism and the scientific method. Rene Descartes believed in the opposite, which was

deductive reasoning, and it required people to work from general assumptions and work

backwards. He used Cartesian Dualism, which was the division of reality into “thinking
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substance” and “extended substance.” Both of these philosophers influenced later discoveries

and the ways people thought about the world, including Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke.

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were two of the most influential political philosophers,

and they are best known for their views on human nature that challenged the original Roman

Catholic philosophy. Thomas Hobbes applied empiricism to society, and had a negative view of

human nature, since "his main concern [was] the problem of social and political order: how

human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict”

(Williams). He believed “the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ... The condition

of man ... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone,” which convinced him that a

strong sovereign was necessary to control conflicting desires (Hobbes). Due to this, he developed

the social contract theory, which described how people create government for protection. John

Locke, on the other hand, had a more positive view of nature, and explained human psychology

in terms of experience. Locke rejected the Christian doctrine that sin permanently flawed

humans, and believed in a tabula rasa, or that humans are born as a blank slate, and that

personality is the product of the things in the external world that impact an individual. He also

believed people entered a social contract so the government could protect the “uncontrolled

enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature, equally with any other man”

(Locke). Despite Hobbes and Locke’s contradicting ideas against the Roman Catholic Church,

Locke’s views would become the foundation for the Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment originated from theology, and the attempt to explain God’s destiny by

reference to his work in nature not primarily through his biblical world. This was influenced by

new emerging religious beliefs of the time, including deism and pantheism. Deism was the belief

in the existence of a God or supreme being, but a denial of revealed religion basing one’s belief
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on the light of nature and reason, and Pantheism was the the belief that God and nature are one

and the same. As a result of this, highly educated Protestants and Catholics thought more about

God’s work as revealed subjects.

Philosophes were enlightened individuals and publicists of new thinking, who analyzed

society’s evils and advanced reforms. Marquis de Condorcet believed every individual guided by

reason should enjoy true independence, so he advocated for a free and equal education,

constitutionalism, and equal rights for women. Immanuel Kant introduced the concept of

transcendentalism, where some things are known by methods other than empirically, which

included a non-rational way to understand things. Voltaire had views that pertained to both the

government and the state, and he was the most influential philosophe. He believed there was a

need for rational reform of judicial processes, but he also questioned the truthfulness of priests

and the mortality of the Bible. He became a voice attacking religious persecution and advocating

for toleration. The Baron de Montesquieu thought there should only be three types of

government; a monarchy, a republic, and despotism, and a separation of political powers ensured

freedom and liberty. Jean Jacques Rousseau on the other hand, believed in the concept of the

“general will,” where only citizens who make their own laws are free. However he also believed

that as civilizations progress they move away from morality, since technology and art create

false desires. Even though these philosophes had differing views about rational thought, they all

had changing attitudes about religion allowing this new logic to spread and secularism to

progress throughout society.

Reading during the Enlightenment increased dramatically, with a literacy rate of 80% for

men and 60% for women, since it was the way people communicated information and ideas. As a

result, there was an increase in the printed material throughout Europe, which was mostly
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secular, since people were expected to be familiar with books and secular ideas, especially in

aristocrat and middle-class societies. Due to this, secular ideas were able to further spread

throughout the continent, and an increased percentage of the population was able to familiarize

with them.

Although it once existed as the most powerful institution in Europe, the three crises of the

Late Middle Ages caused the power of the Roman Catholic Church to steadily decline. Instead of

being focused on how one could benefit the church, there was a renewed desire for education and

the individual achievements one could make within society during the Renaissance. People still

wanted religion to maintain important in life, however without the restrictions it had before,

causing religious reformers to advocate for tolerance for Protestant religions. Due to this, the

Roman Catholic Church lost some power and society grew more secular, allowing individuals to

understand the world through more scientific and rational mindsets and make new discoveries.

Therefore, because of the growing turn towards secular thought from the 14th to the 18th

century, the Roman Catholic Church would never again be as powerful as it was in the Late

Middle Ages, thus undermining traditional feudal society that dominated Europe from the birth

of Christ.
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