Identify and explain the major changes that occured in Europe between the years c.1400 and 1650 ?
Arguably, the period between 1400 to 1650, an age that encapsulates the majority of the Renaissance, was unparalleled concerning the extent of change that took place in the European continent. Indeed, the continent started the era, as described by Francesco Petrarch, in a Dark Age, yet ended the era with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia, the creation of the nation-state, and the unequalled technological supremacy of the continent. Such a transformation indicates immense transformation in the political, religious, economic, cultural, and scientific order of Europe. The illegitimacy of quattrocento northern Italian princes prompted them to seek legitimacy by surrounding themselves with the talent of poets, scholars, and artists, thereby leading to the creation of the modern state as a product of human reflection. Indeed, as indicated by Jacob Burckhardt, the Swiss historian who rediscovered the Renaissance, the political climate of northern Italy in the 1400s compelled Italian princes to present themselves as legitimate sovereigns by creating courts that became beacons of academia, and the arts. It was the prevalence of humanists which in turn formed reflective courts, and according to Burkhardt, modern states. The northern Italian mode of governance would come to influence the entire continent as ideas formulated in the peninsula diffused northwards, most prominently with the marriage of Catherine de’ Medici to Henry II of France in 1533. She brought with her a collective of advisors that possessed the necessary skills to spread the Italian model of statehood to France. Thus, throughout the Renaissance the medievalist political order of feudalism began to be replaced with stronger and more centralized courts. An example of such a transformation is seen in England, where the ascension of the Tudor dynasty to the throne was marked with the decimation of the English nobility and the erosion of the medieval way of life, at the hands of Henry VII. Indeed, Henry VII would come to give up claims in mainland France with the Peace of Etaples, thereby lacerating the political ties between England and France, truly initiating English statehood and commencing a true sense of English nationalism. Moreover, the decimation of the English nobility during the Wars of the Roses allowed Henry VII to reforge the structure of England according to his own plans, strengthening the monarchy, and ending seigneurial preoccupations like the complex hierarchy of subsidiary feudal authorities, thereby further forging the concept of the English nation. Later Tudor princes would continue such a trend. Henry VII’s granddaughter, Elizabeth I would come to personify the state of England, the queen who sacrificed her family line for the good of the state, using her virginity as a political tool. Hence, modern Monarchy and statehood was forged in the Renaissance. The importance of religion dwindled during the Renaissance when compared to the Middle Ages, as the era saw a shift in the focus of one’s identity to more secular concepts like place of birth and political allegiance. Indeed, in the Medieval Age, as depicted in St. Augustine’s City of God, the prevalent model of existence was based on two worlds, the city of man, defined by inevitable suffering, a result of humanity’s collective fallen nature, and the city of God, the ultimate goal of the Christian, unity with Christ, and eternal peace from earthly torments. Hence, surrounded by pain and suffering one would solely pray and follow the teachings of the Catholic Church to secure salvation. Such an attitude was adapted by humanists like Pico della Mirandola who, in his 900 Theses, presents a hierarchy with God on one end and flora and fauna on the other, humans are capable of understanding and thus possess reason and can decide what part of the hierarchy they will fall into. Such a concept introduced the idea that man can change society, work for the benefit of fellow man, leading to the concepts of civic humanism. Thus, more Europeans began to emphasize the importance of the state and its involvement to better the common good. Such a change in attitude is seen in the survival of Martin Luther and Reformation thought. Indeed, if it was not for socio-political concerns in the Holy Roman Empire, Luther and his ideas would have been crushed like the countless heresies that presented themselves centuries prior. When elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony protected Martin Luther, no Imperial force dared to harm him because Maximilian I had died in 1519, meaning the Habsburgs, specifically the soon to be Charles V, sought to ensure the votes of the electors in order to become Emperors. Indeed, it appears that for Charles his political victory was more important to him than the defense of his faith, the Catholic Church, from Luther’s heresies. Moreover, the same theme of princes triumphing politics over faith is seen in England where, perhaps the most Renaissance of English monarchs, Elizabeth I, sought to create a moderate religious settlement and established the Church of England in 1559. Her church was one that appeared to be Catholic, with ornate vestments and the use of incense, but was theologically protestant, ridding the papacy and believing in consubstantiation. Hence, Elizabeth I pursued a policy that stabilized English society, not one that adhered to strict Protestant or Catholic principles. Clearly the role of religion, changed in the Renaissance, remaining an important part of a European’s identity but making space for the seemingly more important political adherence. The political and religious developments in the Renaissance initiated new ways for Europeans to deal with money, thereby placing economics in a position of vital importance. In the Middle Ages the topic of handling money was not commonly discussed. Indeed, usury was a sin. Such a belief severely limited the ability of Christendom to take part in large exchanges of money, as charging interests on loans would be damaging to the soul. However, by the sixteenth century, the visual benefits of making unethical monitory exchanges became too much to bear. Indeed, one can look upon the immense success of the thalassocratic city-states of Italy like Venice and Genoa, as well as the rising Renaissance banking families like the Fugger family of Augsburg and the Medici of Florence which used their wealth to gather immense political power. Furthermore, as explained by Max Weber, the Calvinist work ethic promoted capitalism. Indeed, capitalism too found its beginnings in Renaissance Italy, where merchants developed double-entry bookkeeping as well as maritime insurance and commercial banks. However, as the Renaissance spread northwards, such practices became more prominent and developed into a form of primordial capitalism. Calvinism specifically was the Reformation heresy that adopted and utilized capitalism the most. Indeed, according to Weber, the Calvinist work ethic compelled many to engage in secular and economic work, developing private enterprises and businesses, thereby leading to the accumulation of wealth, which in turn would be invested, true capitalism. Hence, it is clear that the Renaissance was an age of immense economic progress, progress that was fueled by both political and religions innovations. The creation of the Burckhardtian state paved the road for the ascension of primordial nationalism, a state identity that presented itself in the cultural lives of Europeans. Indeed, humanist thinker and paragon of civic humanism Leonardo Bruni proliferated the studia humanitatis and the concept of public engagement. As a staunch republican and a proud Florentine citizen, he demanded that his fellow citizens should serve the state as he did and as their forefathers did. The concept of referring to the past to fully understand the contemporary role of citizenship is a concept that creates a united culture. Indeed, Florence, along with other northern Italian states, were the first to develop a Pericles-like form of love for the state during the early Renaissance. To present common cultural identity, Renaissance states emphasized the importance of architecture, to show fellow citizens and outsiders the wealth, talent, identity, and values held dear by the city. Such a concept is civic design, defining a particular space. Renaissance Italian states held competitions to define spaces in cities more beautifully. One such competition was held in 1401 for the artists of Florence to design doors for the north side of the Cathedral’s baptistery, a competition won by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The competition was created in order to celebrate Florence’s safety from recent plagues. An example of community and shared sufferings and festivities that existed among Renaissance cultures. The abundance of artists also ensured that an abundance of competitiveness existed and defined the art culture of the era. Rampant competitiveness is seen when Filippo Brunelleschi, after losing to Ghiberti in the baptistery competition, came to devote his life to the construction of the dome for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Il Duomo in Florence, the largest contemporary dome to have been built. Such an achievement was not only undertaken for the glory of God, but the glory of Florence itself. Hence, it is clear, that a unique sense of cultural identity followed the rise of humanist thought and civic humanism in Renaissance Europe. A cultural identity that made a triumph of the arts. Even renowned murders and sinners, like Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, a condottiero and lord of Rimini, who despite being canonized to hell, was a patron for the construction of the façade of the St. Francis Cathedral of Rimini. Such a public piece of art further shows the importance of architecture for cultural identity in the era. The abundance of scientific discoveries that took place in the Renaissance deconstructed the aura of supremacy possessed by classical texts, thereby paving the way for the rise of the scientific method and the enlightenment. Undoubtably, classical texts inhabited a space of holiness among Medieval and early Renaissance academia. Indeed, the father of humanism, Petrarch would come to praise texts of antiquity, initiating the wave of humanists that rediscovered many historic texts that had been forgotten. In particular, the physics described in Aristotle’s Corpus Aristotelicum came to define the model of nature Europeans adhered to, including concepts like the geocentric universe. However, the Renaissance was an age of exploration, initiated by the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Indeed, Ottoman control of the Bosporus compelled Genoese and Venetian merchants to abandon their Black Sea colonies and seek careers in the newly formed Iberian states of Portugal and Spain, which had recently kicked the Moors out of Iberia, with Grenada falling in 1492. The prevalence of Italian merchants, navigators, cartographers, along with the wealth, unity, and power accumulated by the monarchies of Portugal and Spain following their victories over the Muslim forces, meant that such states could fund explorations to reach the Indies in a route that did not require interactions with the Ottomans. Such explorations widened the minds of Europeans, allowing for the understanding that the Greek natural philosophers were fallible. Indeed, classical texts had claimed that there was a land bridge that connected the tip of Africa with Antarctica, thus there was no way of reaching the Indies through Africa, yet Portuguese sponsored Vasco da Gama was able to sail through the Cape of Good Hope and reached India in 1498, proving the ancients wrong. Moreover, Amerigo Vespucci, sailing under the union throne of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, would come to realize that the Americas were a separate continent the Greek had never known about. Thus, the scientific discoveries of the Renaissance proved that modern man can discover truth about nature himself, without a font of so-called infallible knowledge, a necessary precondition for the creation of modern science. Thus, the Renaissance transformed Europe’s approach to politics, religion, economics, culture, and science drastically. The age modernized the continent to the extent that by the end of the Thirty Years War the world undoubtably entered an age of European global domination, an age that would end three hundred years later, after two consecutive world wars devastated the Empires of Europe.
Explicate the following: ‘To preserve the state, a prince often has to do things against his word, against charity, against humanity, against religion. Thus he has to have a mind ready to shift as the winds of firtune and the varying circumstances of life may dictate. He should not depart from the good if he can hold to it, but he should be ready to enter on evil if he has to.’
In this excerpt of The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli argues that a virtuoso prince must have the gumption to cross Christian morality to hold his power, should circumstance demand it. In other words, a prince can only possess the virtu to govern if he could read the ever-changing situation and respond to it appropriately (reminiscent of the humanist’s “fox and lion” metaphor). Of course, a “good” and charitable ruler would preserve influence over his loyal subjects with more ease—but the idea of “good” changes with circumstance. In some cases, Fortuna may call for the prince to resort to wholly “evil” methods (un-Christian-like, against religion) as the only option for preserving dominance over his retinue. The virtu of a ruler lies in knowing when and how to administer evil, with both skill and technique. Written in 1513, the excerpt carries a shadow of Machiavelli’s diplomatic understanding of the turbulent Italian Wars (1494-1559). Vying for European hegemony, the Hapsburgs and the Valois turned Italy into their proxy-battleground. Until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), Spain and France (the crowns of the two warring families) competed to control the papacy, arm mercenaries, and employ the forces of regional ruling families. As a result, Italy was tearing itself into shambles. In part, such conditions created themselves thanks to complex diplomatic machines in regional courts. Supported by an army of sly courtiers, major families constantly formed and betrayed alliances, arranged diplomatic marriages, planned assassinations, and sacked enemy cities. Due to such infighting, Italy became a convenient playground for the two crowns of Europe. Appealing to the Classics and Petrarch’s call for Italian nationalism, Machiavelli saw the hope of unifying his country under the brewing hegemony of Lorenzo de’ Medici. The humanist believed that, should Lorenzo perceive and adapt to the diplomatic situation with classical virtu, he would have the dexterity to kick out the “barbarians” and build a third European crown. Such a quasi-nationalist sentiment brings to mind the modern nationalist movements in many Cold War-era proxy-battlegrounds, as well as in some parts of the Middle East. Machiavelli’s attitude about the relationship between the prince and his subjects proves reminiscent of balanced (“good”) parenting. It is no secret that a dutiful parent would prefer and attempt to be kind and generous to their children. However, should the children start misbehaving, a proper parent would have to resort to punishment (“evil”) to preserve their influence. A loose and spoiled child—usually one that had never been spanked—would become uncontrollable. Thus, in certain circumstances, entering evil territory proves inevitable, both in state-building and in family affairs.
Explicate the following: While I was thus dividing my thoughts, it occured to me to look into my copy of St. Augustine’s Confessions… I opened the compact little volume…. My brother, waiting to hear something of Augustine’s from my lips, stood attentive. I call him to witness that where I first fixed my eyes it was written: ‘and men go about to wonder at the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wid sweep of rivers, an dthe circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not.’ I closed the book, angry with myself that I should be admiring earthly things who might long ago have learned from even pagan philosophers that nothing is wonderful but the soul. Then I turned by inward eye upon myself, and from that time not a syllable fell from my lips until we reached the bottom.
In this excerpt of The Ascent of Mount Ventoux, Petrarch acknowledges the importance of man as God’s creation and the philosophical dominance of Greek and Roman classics over the medieval worldview and epistemology. In other words, compared to natural phenomena, the human soul is vastly undervalued and underexplored. Instead of admiring themselves and their minds as God’s eternal masterwork, men look outside of themselves for any divine traces. Instead of considering their internal lives to admire the beauty of creation within, God’s children remove themselves from the world and ponder about the afterlife. By ignoring their divinely-made earthly existence, Medieval men almost insult the glory and importance of God’s creation—and one that is significantly more important than mere natural phenomena. In that sense, according to the first humanist, even the pagan ancient philosophers admired the supreme beauty of the human soul, forming a more sophisticated worldview. It follows, then, that the medievalistic views of the time could learn, evolve, and even benefit from the more developed pagan philosophies. Written in 1336, the excerpt marks a paradigm-shifting realization, attributed to the start of the Renaissance and the birth of humanism. Predominantly dictated by the medieval Catholic church, the era’s philosophy centered around earthly withdrawal, the eternal relationship with God, and post-mortem absolution. Spearheading such an approach stood the order of Benedictine monks, who lived an isolated quasi-hermetical life, devoid of any exploration and filled only with ora et labora. Around the time, classics from the Antiquity started being rediscovered in old monastery libraries. Previously pushed away, censored, and forgotten by pious clergymen, the works began regaining popularity with scholars like Petrarch. Seeing a vastly superior and more developed level of philosophical thought in the classics, the first humanist dutifully studied the Greco-Roman works and internalized their doctrines. Petrarch deciphered the importance of man’s mind and soul, not just after the Final Judgement but specifically during one’s time on earth. He tore the veil of naive medieval understanding to reveal the beauty and mastery of God’s favored creation. He rediscovered the philosophy of proactive introspection that would shape the meaning behind scholarship to the modern day. Most importantly, the first humanist opened a portal to a world of deep thought, high culture, and advanced civilization with which the European society could resurrect itself, from quasi-barbarian warriors to socially active, sophisticated thinkers. Petrarch’s previous nature-oriented attitude resembles that of a little child who is ungrateful for his Christmas present. Instead of playing with and enjoying the toy his parents gifted him (in Petrarch’s case, the soul), the child only cares for and admires the presents his siblings received. By ignoring his inner self, Petrarch neglects his parent’s (God’s) otherworldly generosity. By extension, the first humanist’s Mount Ventoux moment happens when the “child” realizes the care that his parents have for him, acquires respect and gratitude, and finally grows up.
Explicate the following: “If we dismiss as out of the question and absurd everything which the perverse customs of men have made to seem unusual, we shall have to set aside most of the commandments of Christ even in a community of Christians…. Most of Christ’s teachings differ more radically from the common customs of mankind than my discourse did. But preachers, like the crafty fellows they are, have found that men would rather not change their lives to conform to Christ’s rule, and so, just as you suggest, they have accommodated his teaching to the way men live, as if it were a leaden yardstick. At least in that way they can get the two things to correspond on one level or another. The only real thing they accomplish that I can see is to make men feel a littl emore secure in their consciences about doing evil.’
In this excerpt of Utopia, Thomas Moore (through the voice of Raphael Hythloday) identifies certain trends in the moral degradation of the Catholic church and stipulates that the crowd-pleasing behavior of preachers only serves to promote un-Christian (“evil”) behavior. In other words, the laxity of the clergy towards the “perverse” social customs of More’s time simply cleared men’s consciences about straying from the teachings of Christ. Since the “modern” behavior of men strayed away from the Commandments, a preacher’s job should have been to “reel in” his flock and lead them along the Christian path. Instead, the clergy perverted divine law itself to conform it to social norms—something innately weak-willed, sinful, and heretical. In a way, rather than standing with God, the preachers became agents of the Devil (perhaps somewhat reminiscent of Martin Luther’s life-long struggle with Satan). Given that More wrote the excerpt in the voice of Hythloday (while the latter was debating More), one could ponder about why the English humanist attributed such a stipulation to his purported opponent. Perhaps, the author attempted to debate himself. Part of More hoped that, in publicly serving a corrupted system, he could make the “evil” a bit less “evil”. Another part cynically realized that half-measures were impossible: the humanist would have to choose between succumbing to or opposing the decrepit social order—and his choice would terminate in his execution (1535). The excerpt reflects More’s concerns about the virtue of the Catholic clergy. Europe’s main religious institution found itself at the height of the Renaissance papacy, full of corruption, nepotism, and poor education. In 1516 (when Moore wrote Utopia), Pope Leo X (a Medici pope) headed one of the most notorious indulgence programs. As a result, church-members sinned at will and simply paid for another religious artistic or architectural project, clearing their conscience. The situation became even worse in England, where important church positions largely became signs of favoritism and nepotism, without other considerations. Consequently, most clergy members were not only impious but also completely uneducated—both in Scripture and in simple literacy. The men supposed to serve as pillars of faith could not even prevent themselves from sinning, let alone set others on the Christian path. More’s disappointment with his pupil Henry VIII only added to the former’s disillusionment about English piousness. In a sense, the excerpt could even be seen as a trend towards the opposition of Catholic institutions. Within a year after the publishing of Utopia, Martin Luther would officiate the movement as the Protestant Reformation; although a pioneer, More would never go that far. More’s attitude about clergymen evokes a few metaphors. The humanist implies that the nature of a “good” preacher should be similar to that of a dexterous fisherman. A pious church leader must know when and how to “catch” his flock. He must grasp at his fishing rod and tug against the wrestling fish, reeling it in with force and willpower. Should he stop the pressure, the fish would simply break free from the divine law and swim away. Meanwhile, More’s mention of corrupt preachers is wholly reminiscent of some modern politicians. Rather than holding to their proposed policies, public sell-outs simply center their campaigns around crowd-pleasing and vote-coaxing. As a result, there is no plan, no agenda, and no effectiveness once they get elected into office. Governed by the voice of the masses, they make uninformed, impulsive decisions, destroy the economic situation, but still manage to grasp onto a lowly form of codependent “power”.
European History 