THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEST, 1450 - 1750

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THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEST, 1450 - 1750

• An Era of Revolutions

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TWO RENAISSANCES

• Italian Renaissance
• Renaissance, or rebirth of art and learning,
  1350-1600
• Aristocrats, popes, nobles became wealthy patrons
  and vied to outdo one another
• City-states sponsored innovations in art and
  architecture
• Macaccio, Leonard) used linear perspective to
  show depth
• Sculptors (Donatello and Michelangelo) created
  natural poses
• Renaissance architecture
• Simple, elegant style, inherited from classical
  Greek and Roman
• Magnificent domed cathedrals
• Brunelleschi's cathedral of Florence
• St. Peters in Rome
• Humanists or Man is the Measure of All Things
• Drew inspiration from classical models especially
  Greece, Rome
• Leading scholars included Dante, Petrarch
• Scholars interested in humane letters
• Literature, history, and moral philosophy
• Called humanists
• Recovered and translated many classical works
• Attention to political and social issues and
  graces, too

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PROTESTANT REFORMATION

• Precursors to Luther
• Great Schism
• 2/3 popes at same time undermined authority of
  the church
• Church councils rule/attempt to overrule popes
• Jan Hus in Holy Roman Empire and Wycliffe in
  England
• Both attacked aspects of church corruption,
  wealth, practices
• Both condemned by Church
• Hus executed, but Wycliffe protected by King of
  England
• Wycliffe had Bible translated into English
• Martin Luther (1483-1546)
• Attacked the sale of indulgences, 1517
• Attacked corruption in Catholic Church called
  for reform
• Argument reproduced with printing presses and
  widely read
• Enthusiastic response from lay Christians,
  princes, many cities
• By mid-16th century, half Germans adopted
  Lutheranism
• Reform spread outside Germany
• Protestant movements popular in Swiss cities,
  Netherlands
• Scandinavian kings like movement as it removes
  Church as a rival
• English Reformation sparked by King Henry VIII's
  desire for divorce

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CATHOLIC REFORMATION

• Early Attempts to Reform
• Catholic cardinals, bishops call council in early
  15th century
• Council of Constance deposes rival popes
• Attempts to assert authority over pope, initial
  reforms
• Catholic intellectuals attack Church corruption
• Emperor Sigismund attempts to reform church in
  Germany
• Church reaction to Luther, Protestants
• Charles V, Church condemn, excommunicate Luther
• King Henry VIII condemns Luther
• Inquisition unleashed against Protestants
• Spanish use wealth to fund anti-Protestants
• The Council of Trent, 1545-1563
• Directed reform of Roman Catholic Church
• Attacked corruption
• Reaffirmed tradition, Bible as co-equal
• The Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
• Founded 1540 by Ignatius Loyola
• High standards in education
• Combat Protestants with logic, faith, hard work

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RELIGIOUS CONFLICT

• Religious wars
• Between Protestants, Catholics during 16TH
  century
• Wars as much social, political as religious
• Neither side is innocent of conflict
• Civil war in France
• Between Huguenots (French Calvinists), Catholic
  League
• Monarchy often a pawn of both sides and nobles
• Lasted thirty-six years (1562-1598)
• Ended with new dynasty
• Spanish Armada
• War between Catholic Spain, Protestant England,
  1588
• Spill over from conflict in the Netherlands
• Question of heir to English throne Catholic
  Scottish Queen or Protestant Elizabeth
• Protestant provinces of the Netherlands revolted
  against rule of Catholic Spain
• Originally began as a revolt of all Netherlands
  against Spain
• Eventually split country into Catholic south
  (Belgium) and Protestant north (Holland)
• The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)
• The most destructive European war up to WWI
• Began as a local conflict in Bohemia eventually
  involved most of Europe

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NEW RELIGIOUS MAP
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STATE BUILDING

• Italian city-states
• Flourished with industries and trade
• Each with independent administration and army
• Levied direct taxes on citizens
• More powerful absorbed smallest
• France and England
• Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
• Fought for control of French lands
• Imposed direct taxes to pay the costs of war
• Central government over feudal nobility
• English War of the Roses leads to Tudor Dynasty
• Louis XI reduces powers of feudal aristocracy
• Spain united
• By marriage of Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of
  Castile
• Sales tax supported a powerful standing army
• Conquered Granada from Muslims
• Seized southern Italy in 1494
• Sponsored Columbus's quest for western route to
  China
• Competition among European states

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NEW MONARCHS

• New Monarchs
• Taxes, armies as instruments of national
  monarchies by late fifteenth century
• Used feudal powers but added new powers to become
  dominant in society
• Developing towards divine right monarchs
  answerable only to God, not people
• Henry VII of England and Louis XI of France are
  two best examples
• France, England and Spain
• All three united after long wars
• Kings have new, broad powers
• Nobles often weakened new nobles created out of
  middle classes
• Enhanced royal, centralized powers
• Wealthy treasuries by direct taxes, fines, and
  fees
• State power enlarged and more centralized
• Standing armies in France and Spain
• Professional bureaucrats loyal only to monarch,
  not church
• Nobility status often sold to wealthy merchants
  to raise funds
• Reformation increased royal power
• Kings confiscate wealth, land of the Church
• Kings sell off lands to middle class, making them
  loyal to state
• Even Catholic monarchs tended to follow this
  trend

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ATTEMPTED REVIVAL OF EMPIRE

• Charles V
• Reigned 1519-1556
• Holy Roman Emperor
• Austria
• Czech lands, Silesia
• Hungary, Slovakia,
• Slovenia, Croatia
• Netherlands
• Eastern France
• Milan, Northern Italy
• King of Spain
• Castile
• Navarre
• Catalonia
• Two Sicilies
• Spanish American Empire, Philippines
• Inherited a vast empire of far-flung holdings
  through marriage
• Unable to establish a unified state
• Disputes with German nobles, France, and Ottoman
  Empire

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CONTITUTIONAL AND ABSOLUTE MONARCHS

• Constitutional states of England and the
  Netherlands
• Divine Right Monarchs limited by war, nobles,
  wealthy
• Characterized by
• Powers limited by constitutions, bills of right,
  convention
• No one is above the law, property is protected by
  law
• Representative institutions rights of oversight,
  taxation, review, veto
• Prominent merchant classes enjoyed unusual
  prosperity
• Commercial empires overseas with minimal state
  interference
• Dutch constitutional monarchy evolved out of
  religious wars
• Englands road to rights
• Constitutional monarchy in England evolved out of
  a civil war
• English Glorious Revolution 1688
• English Bill of Rights 1689
• Absolutism in France, Spain, Austria, and Prussia
  
• Based on the theory of the divine right of kings
• Relied often on bureaucrats, professional armies
• Great trappings of power especially palaces,
  images
• Restricted power of aristocracy, legislatures and
  church
• Relied on mercantilism to generate taxable wealth
  

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LOUIS XIV OF FRANCE

• King of France
• Called the Sun King
• Planets revolve around the sun
• Sun gives light, warmth of the solar system
• Reigned 1643-1715
• Bureaucracy
• Used middle class for professional bureaucrats
• Established intendants tp carry out wishes
• Model of royal absolutism the court at
  Versailles
• Nobles reduced to serving king, state
• Became generals, diplomats, ministers
• Lived at Versailles where king spied on them
• Large professional standing army
• Well trained, well paid, well equipped
• Kept, enforced order
• Mercantilism and Colonies
• Minister Colbert was mastermind behind wealth
• Promoted economic development roads, canals
• Promoted industry, and exports especially
  luxuries

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EUROPEAN STATE SYSTEM

• The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
• Ended the Thirty Years' War
• Began system of independent sovereign states
• Abandoned notion of religion unity
• Did not end war between European states
• The balance of power
• No state allowed to dominate others
• Diplomacy based on shifting alliances
• No permanent alliances
• Only permanent interests
• Religion unimportant to determining alliances
• Destroy no nation
• Make no permanent enemies
• Military development costly and competitive
• New armaments (cannons and small arms)
• New military tactics
• Extremely intricate fortifications
• Professional navies with modern warships, weapons
  
• China, India, and the Islamic states did not keep
  apace

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THE NATION-STATE

• Nation-State
• Ethnic group with common language, culture
• Shared history, traditions
• Shared institutions (faith, politics)
• Occupying a common territory
• Ruled by a common government
• Governments job
• Insure domestic tranquility and happiness
• Assumed many of the Churchs old social roles
• Multiple ethnic groups destroy nation-state
• Belief in Nation-state became new popular
  ideology
• Love of your nation above others is nationalism
• Originated as an elite idea of the aristocracy,
  educated elite
• Loyalty to state, king more important than
  loyalty to church, pope
• Martin Luther addresses the German People
• King James, Wycliffe translate Bible into English
• French have Joan of Arc fighting for France
  against English
• Scotsmen, English resent Catholic Romish
  influence
• Dutch, Portuguese, Catalans revolt against
  foreign Spanish rule

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WAR AND PEACE
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POPULATION GROWTH

• Population growth
• American foods improved European nutrition, diets
  
• Increased resistance to epidemics after 1650s
• Life spans increased
• Infant deaths decrease
• Population growth
• American food crops improved Europeans' nutrition
  and diets
• Increased resistance to epidemic diseases after
  the mid-seventeenth century
• European population increased from 81 million in
  1500 to 180 million in 1800
• Urbanization
• Rapid growth of major cities Paris from 130,000
  in 1550 to 500,000 in 1650
• Cities increasingly important as administrative
  and commercial centers
• Most dramatic in Ireland, England, Poland,
  France, Netherlands
• Urbanization
• Rapid growth of major cities
• For example, Paris from 130,000 (1550) to 500,000
  (1650)
• London, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Lyons
• Cities increasingly important administrative,
  commercial, intellectual centers

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EARLY CAPITALISM

• Profits and ethics
• Medieval theologians considered profit making to
  be selfish and sinful
• Renaissance merchants supported changes, arts
  becoming influential in society
• Protestant Reformation saw profit, success as
  signs of Gods Favor
• Early capitalism
• Led to increased influence for urban middle
  classes
• Altered rural society
• Improved material standards
• Increased independence of rural workers
• Capitalism generated deep social strains
• Bandits, muggers, witch-hunting
• Began to impoverish urban workers
• Pricing Revolutions were common
• Impoverished aristocrats, peasants
• Too much money chasing too few goods
• The Price Revolution
• Use of money replaced barter
• Imports of gold, silver led to trade imbalances
• Mercantilism demanded payments in gold, silver

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GRAPHS OF THE DISASTER
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COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION

• The nature of capitalism
• Private parties sought to take advantage of free
  market conditions
• Economic decisions by private parties, not by
  governments or nobility
• Forces of supply and demand determined price
• New managerial skills and banking arrangements
  arose
• Supply and demand
• Merchants built efficient transportation and
  communication networks
• New institutions and services banks, insurance,
  stock exchanges
• Joint-stock companies
• Dutch East Indies, English East/West Indies
  Companies
• Organized commerce on a new scale
• Authorized to explore, conquer, colonize distant
  lands
• Rise of Manufacturing
• Colonial markets, population stimulated
  manufacturing
• Putting-out system of 17th and 18th centuries
• Entrepreneurs bypassed guilds
• Moved production to countryside
• Rural labor cheap, cloth production highly
  profitable
• Capitalism actively supported by governments

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MORE CHANGES

• Mass Culture Arises
• Nationalism, national faiths arise embracing all
• Use of some luxuries becomes common
• Rise of leisure time even for poorer peoples
• Rise of professional entertainment
• Immigration by commoners to colonies
• Agriculture changes
• New technologies applied to farming
• Draining swamps, animal breeding
• New tools to increase productivity
• Introduction of new world crops, i.e. potato
• Manufacturing
• Mass produced items common textiles, metal
  products
• Capitalism stimulates production as profitable
• New jobs caused people to move into manufacturing
  from agriculture
• New Social Classes
• Rise of entrepreneurial class with great wealth
• Rise of a technological managerial class

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SOCIAL CHANGE, SOCIAL PROTEST

• Rise of urban, rural working class
• Referred to as proletariat
• Paid low wages in horrible conditions
• At mercy of price revolutions
• Many peasants reduced to paid wages
• Population growth
• Urbanization increased tensions
• Growth increased poverty
• Social Tensions
• Peasant revolts especially during Reformation
• In France, Germany rose against landlords
• Many sought more radical forms of Protestantism
• Urban citizens also tended towards Protestantism
• Persecution of witches
• Elite and Mass Culture
• Prior to Reformation, there were two cultures,
  elite and common
• Two rarely intermixed or cooperated
• Mass culture such as entertainment
• Faith often became elite culture

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GENDER ISSUES

• Renaissance saw expansion of womens rights
• Books written for women
• Education of women allowed
• Women could enter public arena as intellectuals
• Artesmia Gentileschi was a painter
• Reformation took back many of the rights
• Many reformers were women
• Many threatened males traditional roles
• Margaritte of Navarre, Elizabeth of England
• Protestants emphasized family role of women
• Witch-hunts in Europe
• Theories, fears of witches intensified in 16th
  century
• Reformation fed hysteria about witches and devil
  worship
• About sixty thousand executed, 95 percent of them
  women
• Commercial, Capitalist Revolution
• Women needed often to support family by outside
  work
• Many women merchants very successful
• Women assumed new economic roles
• Education and Women

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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS

• The reconception of the universe
• The Ptolemaic universe
• A motionless earth surrounded by nine spheres
• Could not account for observable movement of the
  planets
• Compatible with Christian conception of creation
• The Copernican universe
• Copernicus suggested sun was center of universe,
  1543
• Implied that the earth was just another planet
• The Scientific Revolution
• Science becomes the new authority and challenges
  faith for control
• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) demonstrated
  planetary orbits elliptical
• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
• With a telescope saw sunspots, moons of Jupiter,
  mountains of the moon
• Theory of velocity, falling bodies anticipated
  modern law of inertia
• Tried by Inquisition as his ideas challenged
  Papal infallibility
• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
• Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in
  1686
• Mathematical explanations of laws govern
  movements of bodies
• Newton's work symbolized the scientific
  revolution

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ENLIGHTENMENT

• Enlightenment
• Thinkers called philosophes
• Sought natural laws that governed human society
• Center of Enlightenment was France
• Theory of progress was ideology of philosophes
• Apply reason/science to society, government, law
• Voltaire (1694-1778)
• Champion of religious liberty and individual
  freedom
• Prolific writer father of Enlightenment
• John Locke
• All human knowledge comes from sense perceptions
• Life, Liberty and Property 1689 English Bill of
  Rights
• Allowed persons to revolt against an oppressive
  ruler
• Adam Smith laws of supply and demand determine
  price
• Montesquieu checks, balances, balanced
  government
• Deism
• Popular among thinkers of Enlightenment
• Accepted existence of a god
• Denied supernatural teachings of Christianity