Cultural and Intellectual Developments

1450-1750
Early Modern Period

1. Cultural and Intellectual Developments
   1. Cultural/Intellectual thought before 1450
      1. Life before
         1. Dominated by Christianity for 1000 years
         2. Feudal system dominated political/social structure for 500 years
            1. Dominated by concern for local issues
               1. salvation
               2. territorial disputes
               3. Black Death
               4. lack of education outside monasteries
               5. small-scale trade
         3. Greece/Rome essentially forgotten
      2. What influenced shift
         1. Crusades exposed Christians to advanced Islamic Civilization
         2. Countries unified under centralized world
         3. Increased trade fueled contacts with other worlds
         4. Universities became centers of learning
         5. Scholasticism – exposed to rest of world and Europe’s past
         6. Byzantine and Islamic empires preserved the past
            1. added to knowledge of math and science
      3. Four major movements – Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment
      4. Shift in thought
         1. No longer backward, isolated, self-involved region on edge of major civilizations
         2. the dominant civilization in the world
         3. shift in exploration and expansion caused and caused by shifts in thought
         4. Not quick, broad or in equal proportions
            1. long time to penetrate into all circles
            2. people with power jealously guarded it
            3. peasant class didn’t participate
               1. not educated
               2. not in position to learn about
   2. Renaissance
      1. Why the Renaissance?
         1. Black Death subsides – populations increase
         2. People move to cities
         3. Demand for products
         4. Middle Class emerges – bankers, merchants, traders
         5. Huge influx of money
         6. Interactions with Muslim world
            1. preservation of Greco-Roman learning by Muslims occupying Spain
         7. Weakening Byzantine Empire
            1. Allowed for more interactions between Muslim/European traders
         8. Northern Italian city-states getting rich
            1. wealthy from supplying goods to Crusaders
            2. transporting goods to Crusaders
            3. Byzantines no longer dominating trade
            4. Italy a patchwork of feudal domains
         9. Scholars uncovering long-forgotten Roman and Greek written works
         10. Location on site of former ruins - Italy
      2. Humanism – focus on human endeavor
         1. Life useless, goal salvation – suck it up and hopefully you’ll die and go to heaven
         2. Revisited texts from past
            1. Role of humanity – personal accomplishments, personal happiness
            2. Literature/history of Greece/Rome has tons of examples
         3. Shift from afterlife to here and now
         4. Impact – focus on individuals means less of a focus on institutions – i
         5. Church
         6. Renaissance Man – multifaceted, multitalented – da Vinci – artist, scientist, musician, architect, engineer
      3. Characteristics of Renaissance Art
         1. themes before primarily religious, now more secular
         2. subjects = monarchs, popes, merchants, Greek/Roman deities, contemporary events, ordinary
         3. human figure shown more realistically – study of anatomy
         4. use perspective – three dimensional
         5. use of tempera replaced with oil paints
      4. Rebirth in the arts
         1. Powerful families in city-states – Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome
            1. Medici – other families became patrons
            2. Competed to show off who had the latest/best artists
         2. Human figure is realistic
            1. Not flat, two-dimensional, not proportional to surroundings
            2. Light, shadow
            3. autopsies
         3. Linear perspective
            1. Nearby objects drawn bigger
            2. Focal point
         4. Roman Church embraces
            1. Art adorns palaces/cathedrals
            2. Huge domes from architects
         5. Spread North
            1. More religious – colors/symbols
            2. Famed portraitists
         6. Compared to before
            1. Religious vs. religious and secular
            2. Art in cathedrals vs. public plazas/homes
            3. Flat and stiff vs. realistic, softer, human, 3-D
            4. Not worldly vs. of this world
            5. Greater variety of colors
      5. Writing
         1. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press
            1. Invented by Song Dynasty centuries earlier
            2. Printing books now easier
               1. Before…too expensive…left to monasteries
               2. Before…printed in Latin
            3. Growing middle class starts buying books
            4. papermaking flourishes – from Arabs, from Chinese
            5. People more educated – demanded more books
            6. helped spread Protest Reformation views
         2. First books practical or political
            1. Machiavelli – The Prince – maintain power – end justifies the means
               1. Self-interest more important than morals
         3. Books became printed for Middle Class
            1. Goal then merely for entertainment
            2. Focus on daily lives of people
         4. Fluorished in England and Low Countries – Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium
            1. Erasmus – In Praise of Folly – satirizes politics
            2. Sir Thomas More – Utopia – ideal society – shared wealth/common interests
            3. William Shakespeare
               1. Humanism focus
                  1. Human faults
                  2. Strengths/faults comedy/tragedy
               2. Works explored classical world – Julius Caesar, etc.
   3. Protestant Reformation
      1. Power of the Church under feudalism
         1. Prince and emperors didn’t like sharing power with pope
            1. But…power increased if sanctioned by pope
         2. One unifying force
            1. Undisputed control on otherworldly issues
            2. But…also had huge sway over worldly issues
         3. Could only get to heaven if you do it the Church’s way
         4. Power of Eastern Orthodox Church falls with fall of Constantinople in 1453
            1. Official religion for only Russia and easternmost parts of Europe
               1. And even some of these were controlled by Turkish rule
      2. Church gets into trouble
         1. Sells indulgences
            1. Needs to finance patrons – Renaissance artists
            2. Reduces time in purgatory for self, family members already there
            3. Generates income – maintains power over masses
         2. Controls huge blocks of land
         3. Doesn’t pay taxes
         4. Loses legitimacy when there are two popes for awhile
            1. France 7 decade transfer of papacy to Avignon
            2. Two popes claiming allegiance from Catholics
         5. Church too concerned with wealth power
         6. Clergy not well-trained/spiritual
            1. Some appointed for political purposes, not spiritual
            2. Corrupt – spiritually bankrupt
         7. Early attempts at reform
            1. John Wycliffe – Oxford University – Church should return to spiritual values
               1. body burned and followers persecuted
            2. Jan Hus – Bohemian - urged reform
               1. Burned at the stake
               2. Led to decades-long war throughout Holy Roman Empire
            3. Savonarola – Dominican friar – clergy
               1. used violence to fight Church
      3. Martin Luther
         1. Frustrations
            1. Selling of indulgences
            2. Worldly nature of Rome
            3. Church services not in vernacular
            4. Salvation by God through grace, not indulgences or through Church
            5. Don’t need Church as intermediary – go right to Bible
         2. Diet at Worms – saved by prince, not killed – refused to recant
      4. Christianity Splits
         1. Consequences
            1. Luther’s followers – Lutheran
            2. New leaders with other Biblical interpretations
               1. John Calvin – predestination – the Elect
                  1. Later Huguenots in France, Pilgrims in U.S.
            3. England – Henry VIII creates Anglican Church
               1. Because Pope refused annulment
               2. Allows King to confiscate Church property – pass out to nobles
         2. Philosophical consequence
            1. If firmest institution – the Church – could be questioned, anything is fair game
            2. Nature of universe
            3. Role of government
            4. Foundation for future revolutions
         3. Protestant Beliefs
            1. Originally – favored institutional simplicity
               1. Believed the Catholic Church too concerned with politics, bureaucracy
               2. But…when Protestant Church got larger…guess what happened?
            2. Less emphasis on rituals/sacraments
            3. Opposed veneration of Mary/Saints
            4. Only grace of God can save sinful man/woman – not pope, priest, ritual
            5. Reading the Bible and interpreting for selves
               1. Led to higher literacy rates
            6. More lenient about divorce
            7. Allowed clergy to marry
            8. rejected transubstantiation – communion – wine and bread = blood and body
      5. Counter-Reformation – Catholic Reformation
         1. Gained credibility
            1. Stopped selling indulgences
            2. Trained Priests/Bishops
            3. Encourage clerics to live Christian life
               1. Jesuits – stricter training
         2. Reconfirmed absolute authority – didn’t budge
            1. Sunday mass mandatory
            2. Concil of Trent – 1545>1563 – defined rules
               1. How to get salvation
               2. Latin
               3. punished heretics
            3. Succeeds in winning back converts
      6. Results – European conflict
         1. Southern Europe + France and S. Germany are Catholic
         2. England, N. Germany, Scandinavia, Calvin – Protestant, Anglican, or Calvinist
      7. Effects of Reformation
         1. Luther’s insistence on Bible being translated to German/vernacular spread literacy
         2. support of German princes led to increased nationalism
         3. But…Thirty Years War – German princes – Lutheranism vs. Catholicism
            1. Germany can’t become unified nation
         4. Religious wars freed Netherlands (Calvinism) from Spain
         5. Henry VIII – separated from Church
            1. Head of Church of England (Anglican Church)
            2. Act of Supremacy – stripped Roman Catholic Church of land > gave to some nobles
         6. End of medieval way of life where Catholic Church sole source of stability
         7. Anticlericalism
            1. dismay over corruption of clergy
            2. Luther’s teachings say priests not necessary
         8. Growth of middle class – good works/material success a confirmation of salvation
         9. Created middle class that eventually established European democracies
         10. Increased questioning of political authority
         11. strengthening the power of monarchs as papal power decreased
         12. Encouraged education – Protestants wanted children to be able to read/interpret the Bible
         13. improved the status of women within marriage – writers encouraged love between man/wife
         14. created new Protestant churches
   4. Scientific Revolution
      1. Previous beliefs
         1. Aristotle – Earth center of universe
            1. Scientific thought built on this fallacy, tried to explain
         2. Church/political structure inhibited scientific thought
            1. Church – focus on salvation
            2. Feudal system – focus on daily, mundane tasks and military conquest
         3. Changed by
            1. Growth of universities
            2. Exposure to scientific successes of Islam
      2. Scientific Advances
         1. Copernicus – heliocentric theory
         2. Galileo – logically explained heliocentric theory – banned book, heretic
         3. Scientific method
            1. Reason alone not good enough
            2. Prove what mind concluded
            3. Demonstrate it to others
            4. Open it to experimentation
            5. Prove with mathematical equations
            6. Use scientific instruments to prove
         4. Brahe – observatory
         5. Bacon – inductive reasoning
         6. Kepler – planetary motion
         7. Newton – calculus to prove theories
      3. Science for practical uses
         1. Labor saving devices
         2. Power sources from water/wind
      4. Long term effects
         1. People questioning Church even more
         2. Some become Atheists – no god
         3. Deists – great clockmaker in the sky – set the world going, then hands off
         4. people stop relying on supernatural explanations
         5. People think they can explain other elements of the world through scientific method/questions
            1. Empirical research – based on observation and carefully obtained data
         6. Gave rise to Enlightenment/Age of Reason
      5. Different than East Asia
         1. Chinese dealt with specific facts that were practical in nature
         2. Europeans formulated general laws
   5. Enlightenment
      1. Life before Enlightenment
         1. Monarchs gain power
            1. Centralize authority
            2. Nationalism for people
            3. Promote exploration/colonization
            4. Rule with absolute authority
            5. Claim Divine Right – God supported what monarch chose
         2. Divine Right vs. Mandate of Heaven
            1. Mandate – emperors divinely chosen, rule as long as pleased heaven
               1. Didn’t rule justly, responsibly – heaven would take away
            2. Divine Right – rule however you want – God chose you
      2. Enlightened philosophes discussed
         1. Nature of political structures
            1. Social contracts – gov’ts exist for people, people give up power
            2. Conflicting Ideas
               1. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan – people evil – enlightened despot – China
               2. John Locke – born free w/ inalienable rights – need consent of people
               3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – humans free to obey laws – if just
               4. Montesquieu – separation of powers – legislative, executive, judicial
               5. Adam Smith – Wealth of Nations – laissez faire economics
                  1. Government regulation minimal to allow for free operation of supply and demand
         2. Nature of social structures
            1. Voltaire – religious toleration
            2. Deism – god who created earth then let run on natural law – great clockmaker
         3. Created encyclopedia – Denis Diderot’s Encyclopedie
            1. Included scientific and social scientific knowledge
      3. Effects
         1. Seeds of revolution
            1. Questioning of traditional authority
         2. Some leaders became Enlightened Monarchs/Despots
            1. Joseph II - Austria
            2. Frederick II – Prussia
         3. Basis of modern technology and political liberalism
      4. Characteristics of Enlightened thinkers
         1. science/natural law governs human nature
         2. power of human reason/rationalism to discern principles of natural law
         3. once determined, people should live by these laws
         4. living by these laws would lead to society’s economic, political and social problems
         5. this would lead to human progress
      5. Challenges of Enlightenment
         1. find an end to injustice, inequality, and superstition
         2. toleration for all religions
         3. breaking down of institutions (Church) that were corrupt and not based on natural law/reason
   6. Comparative Global Causes of Cultural Change
   7. Comparative Global Impacts of Cultural Change
   8. Changes and continuities in Confucianism
   9. Major developments and exchanges in the arts