Speaker 1: Hello, and Welcome to Western SIEV. Early Modern overview three.
Speaker 1: Politics and culture. Early modern Europe is usually seen as
Speaker 1: the period in European history that sees the development of
Speaker 1: the nation state. That is, true, patchwork kingdoms gave way
Speaker 1: to more settled boundaries between fourteen fifty and sixteen fifty,
Speaker 1: and those boundaries normally contained a population with a shared
Speaker 1: language and culture that by definition is a nation state. Still,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of Europeans even by sixteen hundred, were
Speaker 1: not literate. Thus they didn't likely understand these various translations
Speaker 1: outside of their village or town. Religion was likely the
Speaker 1: only thing that gave them a sense of belonging to
Speaker 1: their state or kingdom. Even language was not a cohesive
Speaker 1: force by sixteen hundred, as there were many different dialects
Speaker 1: throughout most of the kingdoms of Europe. The number one
Speaker 1: factor by far that led to more nation states in
Speaker 1: Europe by sixteen fifty was war, specifically the changing nature
Speaker 1: and growing cost of war. Only kings and queens could
Speaker 1: afford large standing armies by sixteen hundred. In the fifteenth century,
Speaker 1: the deadliest type of fighter was a cavalryman wearing full
Speaker 1: place armor and carrying a lance and sword. Met at
Speaker 1: arms were always members of the nobility, and their primary
Speaker 1: function in battle was frontline troops. They charged information at
Speaker 1: a steady center with lances drawn against the enemy's front line,
Speaker 1: hoping essentially to shock it into a retreat. Heavy cavalry
Speaker 1: were regarded as the most important arm of the military
Speaker 1: in the fifteenth century, but their invincibility was increasingly being
Speaker 1: challenged during the later stages of the One Hundred Years War,
Speaker 1: which ended in fourteen fifty three. English foot soldiers armed
Speaker 1: with longbows were very effective against heavily armored French knights,
Speaker 1: and in other fifteenth century wars soldiers used steel crossbows.
Speaker 1: Pikes were even deadlier than bows. Foot soldiers armed with
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen foot long pikes standing very close to
Speaker 1: one another with all their pikes facing outward, an arrangement
Speaker 1: called the Swiss Fans were able to defend against a
Speaker 1: cavalry charge so long as they held their position. Horses
Speaker 1: simply wouldn't charge into the wall of pikes, no matter
Speaker 1: how hard they were spurred. Gradually, pikemen were reinforced by
Speaker 1: foot soldiers carrying firearms. The first reasonably portable firearm was
Speaker 1: the arquebus, a short metal tube attached to a wooden
Speaker 1: handle loaded down the muzzle with powder and a round bullet.
Speaker 1: The powder was initially lit by a slow burning wick
Speaker 1: called a match cord, through a touchstone in the barrel,
Speaker 1: a firing mechanism that was called a matchlock. Around fifteen hundred,
Speaker 1: wheel lock firing mechanisms in which iron pyrite caused sparks
Speaker 1: by being scraped along a metal wheel, was developed, producing
Speaker 1: the first ever self igniting firearm. The wheel lock was
Speaker 1: safer to the gunner than the matchlock because you didn't
Speaker 1: have to use an open flame, but the arcubus was
Speaker 1: heavy and it took so long to reload that two
Speaker 1: pipemen stood on either side to defend this man against
Speaker 1: a cavalry charge. Now the musket is really what starts
Speaker 1: to change everything. It was developed in the fifteen twenties
Speaker 1: and was much lighter and easier to reload than the arcubus.
Speaker 1: Muskets also originally used matchlocks or wheelocks to fire, but
Speaker 1: in the early seventeenth century the French invented a flint
Speaker 1: lock firing mechanism in which flint strikes a piece of
Speaker 1: steel to make sparks. Which ignite powder and an attached flashpan.
Speaker 1: In this in turn, if it all goes according to plan,
Speaker 1: ignites the main charge in the barrel. Flint Lock weapons
Speaker 1: quickly replaced other types and remained the most common portable
Speaker 1: firearm in Europe and European colonies all the way to
Speaker 1: the middle of the nineteenth century. Musket Balls could easily
Speaker 1: pierce armor, though plate armor got thicker. This thickness resulted
Speaker 1: in increased weight, making horses so slow that they were
Speaker 1: even more vulnerable. A nobleman had to figure he would
Speaker 1: lose his horse every single time he went into battle.
Speaker 1: Military commanders generally arranged their troops with pipemen to one
Speaker 1: to two every two musketeers, though the later invention and
Speaker 1: finally adoption of the bayonets, which is a dagger attached
Speaker 1: to the end of the gun, made the same soldier
Speaker 1: both musketeer and pipemen. Infantry troops on foot finally became
Speaker 1: the heart of early modern armies, which is a change
Speaker 1: that hadn't struck Europe since the Roman legions. In the
Speaker 1: medieval period, foot soldiers had been the lowest rung on
Speaker 1: the totem pole. These had been exclusively peasants, but gunpowder
Speaker 1: changed all that. In fact, gunpowder was a major factor
Speaker 1: in the declining role of the nobility in the making
Speaker 1: of war. Pistols were invented around fifteen to ten, and
Speaker 1: during several battles of the Habsburg Valois Wars in the
Speaker 1: fifteen fifties, German mounted pistol users called writers humiliated heavily
Speaker 1: armored French cavalry armed with lances. Writers were generally members
Speaker 1: of the lesser nobility. They had to be able to
Speaker 1: afford a horse, and their weapons were slowly adopted by
Speaker 1: nobles elsewhere who abandoned lances and instead had three or
Speaker 1: four pistols along with their swords. Pistols took a long
Speaker 1: time to reload, by the way, so these pistoliers or
Speaker 1: writers charged with several of them already loaded. Cavalry Firing
Speaker 1: pistols were used by military commanders against other cavalry or
Speaker 1: to break up large masses of foot soldiers. While handheld
Speaker 1: weapons transformed actual pitched battles, large artillery weapons completely transformed
Speaker 1: military tactics. Early cannons fired rocks, which were not uniform
Speaker 1: in size intended to shatter on impact. By the middle
Speaker 1: of the fifteenth century armies were using balls made of
Speaker 1: cast iron and cannons that could be disassembled for easier movement,
Speaker 1: which were much more expensive but much more effective. Cannon
Speaker 1: balls blasted holes in high castle or city walls, and
Speaker 1: defensive fortifications changed accordingly, becoming low, thick, earthen ramparts that
Speaker 1: stood up to artillery quite easily. In the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: cities increasingly built more complex fortifications with outlying bastions in
Speaker 1: which they could place cannons, making it very difficult to
Speaker 1: take a city by four sieges grew longer. Starvation was
Speaker 1: now by large the most important tactic in forcing a
Speaker 1: city into submission. Undermining a city's walls became essentially antiquated overnight.
Speaker 1: All this new military technology led to the growth of
Speaker 1: standing armies that could make better use of them. This
Speaker 1: benefited the crowned heads of Europe, who now had a
Speaker 1: monopoly over these new model armies. These new armies were
Speaker 1: also much larger than the medieval counterparts. Spain had less
Speaker 1: than twenty five thousand total men under arms circa fifteen hundred,
Speaker 1: but by sixteen hundred Spain was fielding a total military
Speaker 1: of two hundred thousand men. Spread throughout Europe and the Americas.
Speaker 1: Other European states saw their numbers increase proportionally. In the
Speaker 1: Middle Ages, powerful nobles might field private armies roughly equal
Speaker 1: to those commanded by the sovereign, hence the Wars of
Speaker 1: the Roses. But by sixteen hundred, even the most powerful
Speaker 1: of nobles, like Robert Dudley in England, who could still
Speaker 1: maintain a private army, could not maintain armies of thousands
Speaker 1: or tens of thousands of men. Military campaigns had been
Speaker 1: traditionally fought from March to October, when food was available
Speaker 1: for men and animals, and then the soldiers were simply
Speaker 1: sent home for the winter. This was no longer advisable,
Speaker 1: with the standing army going home meant likely that they
Speaker 1: would desert, but governments could not afford to build barracks
Speaker 1: for the troops. They were thus housed with civilian families,
Speaker 1: with the family expected to provide a place for a
Speaker 1: certain number of soldiers to sleep and keep warm. In theory,
Speaker 1: the soldiers were supposed to pay for their food, but
Speaker 1: as their pay itself often remained theoretical, they simply took
Speaker 1: what they needed by force. The relationship between civilians and
Speaker 1: soldiers was therefore often very hostile. Neither group had enough
Speaker 1: to eat. The Spanish army, fighting in Flanders in the
Speaker 1: late sixteenth century, was the first to contract directly with
Speaker 1: local people to feed and clothe the troops. Technology changed
Speaker 1: fighting at sea as well. In the Middle Ages, naval
Speaker 1: combat was essentially non existent. Armies, not navies, fought over
Speaker 1: the control of ports to an extent. That's still true
Speaker 1: in the early modern period, but now navies also fought
Speaker 1: over the control of the waterways themselves. Often states did
Speaker 1: this in conjunction with merchants, since they were the ones
Speaker 1: who owned the ships. Few states had standing navies until
Speaker 1: the seventeenth century. Now, obviously, all these new militaries had
Speaker 1: to be paid for. Hence, the growth of the state's
Speaker 1: military led to a growth of its tax system and bureaucracy.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you wouldn't be able to keep up with your neighbor.
Speaker 1: This led to an increase in power for the sovereign.
Speaker 1: After fourteen fifty, the size of European bureaucracies exploded as
Speaker 1: kings issued more and more laws and gradually took over
Speaker 1: the administrative powers being vacated by the Catholic Church. Because
Speaker 1: almost all European monarchies were also hereditary. That also meant
Speaker 1: that marital strategy was just as important as martial strategy.
Speaker 1: We've already seen recently what happens when two dynasties, the
Speaker 1: valoaw and the tutor run out of airs. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: in addition to great nation states, it's worth considering government
Speaker 1: and power at the local level. The Italian city states
Speaker 1: are the most visible example of politics at the level
Speaker 1: where it had the greatest impact on most people's day
Speaker 1: to day lives. Their history reminds us that in all
Speaker 1: of Europe, underneath the highest layer of in marrying hereditary dynasties, cities, villages, parishes,
Speaker 1: so on, and so forth, many other governmental small units
Speaker 1: all had authority over people in their families, just as
Speaker 1: national and territorial rulers did. These lower levels of government
Speaker 1: demanded taxes, developed bureaucracies, and issued ordinances. They created and
Speaker 1: maintained courts that set punishments for those who did not
Speaker 1: pay their taxes, abbey officials, or follow ordinances. Though most
Speaker 1: men could not hope to become an official for a
Speaker 1: national or territorial ruler, many could gain positions as village constables, gatekeepers,
Speaker 1: or even market overseers. Some of these more local institutions
Speaker 1: of government were run by the Church. Christians throughout Europe
Speaker 1: paid taxes to their local parish and were under the
Speaker 1: authority of church courts for matters involving marriage, morality, and
Speaker 1: a variety of other issues. By fourteen fifty, villages in
Speaker 1: many parts of Europe become what were called communes, with
Speaker 1: institutions of self governance, such as councils or courts that
Speaker 1: regulated planting and harvesting, and might represent the village as
Speaker 1: a whole to outside political authorities. In some places, such
Speaker 1: groups could issue ordinances and make legal decisions, either in
Speaker 1: conjunction with the local lord or on their own. The
Speaker 1: towns and cities that won their independence from local lords
Speaker 1: and gained charters had even stronger institutions of governance. In
Speaker 1: Germany and Italy, they might be under the jurisdiction of
Speaker 1: only the emperor or of no higher political authority at all.
Speaker 1: But even in areas in which national monarchies developed, cities
Speaker 1: collected taxes, passed and enforced ordinances, built and maintained walls
Speaker 1: and fortifications. They established courts, hospitals, orphanages, and often even
Speaker 1: surprisingly municipal brothels. In his Lives of the most eminent painter, sculptors,
Speaker 1: and Architects, a series of biographies of artists published in
Speaker 1: fifteen fifty, Giorgio Vasari wrote as follows quote, the great
Speaker 1: ruler of Heaven looked down, and, seeing the presumptuous opinion
Speaker 1: of man, more removed from truth than light from darkness,
Speaker 1: resolved to send to earth a genius universal in each art,
Speaker 1: so that the world should marvel at the singular eminence
Speaker 1: of his life and works, and all his actions, seeming
Speaker 1: rather divine than earthly end quote. He also published a
Speaker 1: new word to describe the new types of art made
Speaker 1: by this singular genius. He was talking about Michelangelo, and
Speaker 1: he called them Renaissance artists. Writers and thinkers of the
Speaker 1: fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries such as Petrarch and Lorenzo Valla,
Speaker 1: had already seen themselves as reinvigorating the classical past, but
Speaker 1: Vasari thought that rebirth had gone beyond the original. He
Speaker 1: wrote as follows quote, many works today are more perfect
Speaker 1: and better finished than were those of the great masters
Speaker 1: of the past end quote. These creators were, in the
Speaker 1: eyes of Asari and many now simply highly skilled and
Speaker 1: highly trained artisans. These were rare men of genius who
Speaker 1: needed to take credit for their work now, as we've
Speaker 1: already seen in previous episodes, scholars still debate whether the
Speaker 1: Renaissance should be viewed as the beginning of the modern
Speaker 1: era or as a transition to the mod Personally, I
Speaker 1: think it's the latter, but again I'm not a historian. Now, look,
Speaker 1: not everyone could participate in this cultural rebirth, even had
Speaker 1: they been aware of it and wanted to. Social class, gender,
Speaker 1: and especially geographic location all influenced the chance that one
Speaker 1: might be able to join in a community of scholars
Speaker 1: and artists in a world where few could read or write.
Speaker 1: Those skills served as the initial gatekeeper. In the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: reformers started calling for the opening of schools that would
Speaker 1: teach in the vernacular. This was especially true after the Reformation.
Speaker 1: By sixteen hundred, there were hundreds of laws and ordinances
Speaker 1: requiring such schools throughout Germany, but in reality there were
Speaker 1: very few actual schools. Interestingly, it was the Catholic counter
Speaker 1: Reformation and the establishment of Catechism schools that actually made
Speaker 1: more ground in spreading basic literary skills throughout Europe. The
Speaker 1: Jesuits were particularly effective there. It's worth noting that in
Speaker 1: the early modern period, reading and writing were not taught
Speaker 1: at the same time. You had to master reading before
Speaker 1: you could learn to write. To an extent, this was
Speaker 1: just about cost. Teaching reading was a lot cheaper, but
Speaker 1: it was also about pedagogy. Authors believed the most important
Speaker 1: function of education was to teach children the ideas of others,
Speaker 1: not for them to express their own thoughts and opinions.
Speaker 1: Hence writing was simply considered less important. Now, it's very
Speaker 1: hard to measure literacy in early modern Europe. If we
Speaker 1: consider the ability to sign one's name as an indicator,
Speaker 1: then around fifteen eighty, about forty nine percent of male
Speaker 1: tradesmen and six percent of women residing in East Anglia,
Speaker 1: England could do so looking at that same county, by
Speaker 1: sixteen eighty, so one hundred years later those numbers had risen,
Speaker 1: but only to fifty six percent and sixteen percent, respectively,
Speaker 1: a much less dramatic increase in a century than I
Speaker 1: think we might have expected. Now smash forward to seventeen fifty.
Speaker 1: By then, almost all upper class men and women could read,
Speaker 1: but still only a small fraction of male or female
Speaker 1: peasants could. Once a boy learned root a menory literacy skills,
Speaker 1: he might be sent to a Latin grammar school and
Speaker 1: eventually university, assuming his parents could afford it. The Protestant
Speaker 1: Reformation increased the number of basic grammar schools considerably. Scholars
Speaker 1: believe there are around four hundred such schools in England
Speaker 1: in fifteen hundred, and that that number had doubled by
Speaker 1: sixteen hundred. Latin grammar schools were typically only open to Christians.
Speaker 1: Converted Jews, for example, were forbidden to teach. In Spain
Speaker 1: after the year fifteen seventy three, universities offered the highest
Speaker 1: level of education in Europe. By the early sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: there were over fifty such universities in Europe. Paris and
Speaker 1: Salamanca were the biggest, with thousands of students each. Most
Speaker 1: were much smaller, with several hundred students, coming largely from
Speaker 1: the surrounding area. Over the sixteenth century, most universities adopted
Speaker 1: some form of humanist education. The Protestant Reformation and then
Speaker 1: Catholic Counter Reformation both influenced university education in a large degree.
Speaker 1: Pope Pious the Fourth, for example, required all professors and
Speaker 1: students seeking degrees in Catholic Europe to swear allegiance to
Speaker 1: the Catholic Faith. In fifteen sixty four, Queen Elizabeth the
Speaker 1: First required students and faculty in England to swear to
Speaker 1: the Elizabethan Articles of Religion several times throughout the tumultuous
Speaker 1: fifteen eighties. Another major change in the early modern period
Speaker 1: came via political theory, which had largely been fixed throughout
Speaker 1: the Middle Ages. With the advent of the Reformation, most
Speaker 1: political theory began to concern the proper relationship between church
Speaker 1: and state. Over the course of several hundred years, from
Speaker 1: roughly fifteen twenty to seventeen hundred, the balance of thought
Speaker 1: shifted in favor of those who supported a more secular government.
Speaker 1: Civic humanism was also important, and learned men believed it
Speaker 1: was crucial to be active in the political affairs of
Speaker 1: their city. One of the more interesting developments in the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century was the argument over women's sovereigns. Until the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century, there just weren't very many. But then from
Speaker 1: the death of Henry the Athonward we get first Mary
Speaker 1: then Elizabeth, who rule for a long time if we
Speaker 1: put their rules together. And then in France, of course
Speaker 1: we have Catherine de Medici, whose queen in all but
Speaker 1: name for decade after decade, authorities were very much divided
Speaker 1: over whether women could overcome the quote unquote limitations of
Speaker 1: their sex and successfully rule. The most extreme opponents of
Speaker 1: female rule were Protestants, who went into exile on the
Speaker 1: continent during the reign of Mary Tudor, of whom the
Speaker 1: Scottish reformer John Knox is best known. In his work
Speaker 1: The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment
Speaker 1: of Women, written in fifteen fifty eight, Knox compared Mary
Speaker 1: Stewart and Mary Tudor to Jezebel, arguing that female rule
Speaker 1: was unnatural, unlawful, monstrous, and contrary to scripture. Females had
Speaker 1: a condition they just couldn't overcome, and subjects of female
Speaker 1: rulers needed no further justification for rebelling against their monarch
Speaker 1: other than their sex. Knox's work was published just as
Speaker 1: Elizabeth the First assumed the throne. Jeanne Bondi, who wrote
Speaker 1: between fifteen thirty and fifteen ninety six, was a French
Speaker 1: jurist and a political theorist, He returned to scripture and
Speaker 1: natural law in his opposition to female rule. In his
Speaker 1: Six Books of the Republic, published fifteen seventy six. He
Speaker 1: also stressed what would become in the seventeenth century. The
Speaker 1: most frequently cited reason against it that the state was
Speaker 1: like a household, and just as in the household, the
Speaker 1: husband or father has the authority and power over all others,
Speaker 1: so in the state the man should always rule. The
Speaker 1: writer Robert Filmer carried this even further in his work Patriarchia,
Speaker 1: asserting that rulers derived all legal authority from divinely sanctioned
Speaker 1: fatherly power of Adam, just did all other fathers. Male
Speaker 1: monarchs used husband lean paternal imagery to justify their assertion
Speaker 1: of power over their subjects. James the First made the
Speaker 1: following statement to Parliament. Quote I am the husband, and
Speaker 1: the whole isle is my lawful wife. By the law
Speaker 1: of nature, the king becomes the natural father to all
Speaker 1: his lieges at his coronation. A king is a newly
Speaker 1: parenis parai, the political father of his people. End quote.
Speaker 1: Yet even for Gian Baldin, political authority came directly from God. Thus,
Speaker 1: whether the ruler was a man or a woman. Resistance
Speaker 1: to their rule was both treason and sin. So in
Speaker 1: the early modern period, even though there was this preference
Speaker 1: for a male sovereign. But everyone really wanted, and what
Speaker 1: we've already learned in this show, they wanted was stability.
Speaker 1: If a female ruler brought stability, then she was generally
Speaker 1: fine by them. Intellectually, the fall of Constantinople and the
Speaker 1: treasure trove of Greek and Latin texts that came west
Speaker 1: as a result, had a profound impact on Europe. Plato
Speaker 1: was virtually unknown in Western Europe until fourteen fifty three.
Speaker 1: As a result, particularly in Florence and other Italian cities,
Speaker 1: intellectuals became increasingly interested in the ideas of Plato and Cicero.
Speaker 1: Most prominent amongst these early Greek scholars was Marsilio Ficino.
Speaker 1: His translations of many of Plato's works made Greek learning
Speaker 1: much more available to a wider Western audience. Visinio, he
Speaker 1: would eventually become an ordained priest, regarded Plato as a
Speaker 1: divinely inspired precursor to Christ An attempted to synthesize Christian
Speaker 1: and Platonic teachings Plato's emphasis on the spiritual and eternal
Speaker 1: over the material and transient fitted perfectly with Christian teachers.
Speaker 1: He believed Platonic ideas about love, the highest form of
Speaker 1: love was spiritual desire for pure, perfect beauty, could easily
Speaker 1: be interpreted as Christian desire for the perfection of God.
Speaker 1: Visinio and his brilliant student Pico de la Mirandola found
Speaker 1: such ideas not only in Christian Platonic writers, but also
Speaker 1: it works that they regarded it as even more ancient
Speaker 1: and now rediscovered, such as Hebrew mystical texts called the Kabbala,
Speaker 1: metaphysical and astrological works attributed to the shadowy writer Hermes Trisagamus.
Speaker 1: These are called the Hermetic texts mostly in the West,
Speaker 1: and a number of mysticism from the pre Platonic Greek
Speaker 1: philosopher Pythagoras. Pizino and Pico understood all these texts to
Speaker 1: be teaching the same truth that the universe was a
Speaker 1: hierarchy of beings, from God down through spiritual beings and
Speaker 1: all the way to the material. All this rediscovery, in
Speaker 1: turn led to a rise in humanism, and by the
Speaker 1: middle of the sixteenth century, the most prominent university scholars,
Speaker 1: and certainly the headmasters of most Latin grammar schools were humanists.
Speaker 1: In fact, by the middle of the sixteenth century, it
Speaker 1: was no longer for students of humanism necessary to travel
Speaker 1: to Italy as they once had in order to simply
Speaker 1: get the basics. The Dutch humanist Desidrius Erasmus, the most
Speaker 1: famous scholar of his time in all of Europe, who
Speaker 1: lived from roughly fourteen sixty seven to fifteen thirty six,
Speaker 1: did not go to Italy until he was in his forties.
Speaker 1: He then spent his time primarily at the print shop
Speaker 1: of a Venetian printer publisher, working alongside these scholars as
Speaker 1: he collected Greek and Latin sayings for all of his work.
Speaker 1: His major work, The Adages, presented and explained over three
Speaker 1: thousand classical sayings, serving as a guide to classical learning
Speaker 1: and a source of quotations for centuries. Sir Thomas Moore,
Speaker 1: the most famous English humanist, learned Greek and Latin in
Speaker 1: England and in fact never traveled daily. Moore was a
Speaker 1: lawyer who held a number of positions in the city
Speaker 1: of London and at court before the surprise elevation to
Speaker 1: the most senior legal position in all of the Realm,
Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor, in fifteen twenty nine. We know that didn't
Speaker 1: end particularly really well for him. Unfortunately, Moore was in
Speaker 1: touch with Europe's leading humanists, and many of his Latin
Speaker 1: compositions and translations were read across the continent. He's most
Speaker 1: famous for a controversial dialogue titled Utopia. Utopia, a word
Speaker 1: more invented from the Greek word for nowhere, describes a
Speaker 1: state somewhere beyond Europe, in which problems that plagued Moore's
Speaker 1: fellow citizens, such as poverty hunger, have been solved by
Speaker 1: a beneficent government, but in which dissent and disagreement were
Speaker 1: never tolerated. Whether this followed in the humanist transition of
Speaker 1: satire or represented Moore's own views was unclear to his contemporaries,
Speaker 1: and has continued to be a matter of scholarly debate
Speaker 1: ever since. Increasingly, notably through Erasmus and more, humanist scholars
Speaker 1: became more interested in reforming the then Catholic Church, in
Speaker 1: a movement that became known as Christian humanism. In fifteen sixteen,
Speaker 1: Erasmus published a new Latin translation of the New Testament.
Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, the Protestant Reformation is generally accepted as the
Speaker 1: end of humanism that no longer served a purpose. Thus,
Speaker 1: in Northern Europe, at least, Christian humanism was a relatively
Speaker 1: short lived phenomenon. Both the expansion of education and the
Speaker 1: religious controversies of the sixteenth century created a larger and
Speaker 1: more avid reading public for vernacular works. The best selling
Speaker 1: works between the invention of the printing press and seventeen
Speaker 1: hundred were all religious. Between fifteen eighteen and fifteen twenty five,
Speaker 1: one third of all books printed in Germany were by
Speaker 1: luther Printed religious works varied from expensive leather bound bibles
Speaker 1: to eight page pamphlets or chapters with paper covers, or
Speaker 1: even single sheet broadsides, usually illustrated. The same qualities could
Speaker 1: be found in other popular non fiction printing works. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of travel literature, accounts of recent events
Speaker 1: or sometimes biographies. There were also early modern how to
Speaker 1: manuals that sold very well. Baldassarre's Costiglioni's famous The Book
Speaker 1: of the Courtier, which sets out proper behavior for courtiers
Speaker 1: and court ladies, sold very well in its original Italian.
Speaker 1: It was ultimately translated into Spanish, French, English, German, and
Speaker 1: even Polish. The personal qualities Costiglione praises, reserved discretion, good manners.
Speaker 1: All those things became ideals for people much further down
Speaker 1: the social scale than his original audience. Both middle class
Speaker 1: people and courtier's read poetry in prose fiction, along with
Speaker 1: religious works and instruction manuals. A circle of poets grew
Speaker 1: up in Florence at the court of Lorenzo de Medici,
Speaker 1: who patronized writing an Italian as well as humanist scholarship
Speaker 1: in Latin. Lorenzo himself famously wrote love lyric sonnets and
Speaker 1: all kinds of odes. Humanist similar groups and other European
Speaker 1: cities offered people an opportunity to discuss and share works
Speaker 1: written in the vernacular as well as Latin. Though most
Speaker 1: of these groups were made up only of men because
Speaker 1: they were less formal than universities or academies, sometimes women
Speaker 1: could participate. Italian was the first modern European language to
Speaker 1: be transformed into a literary language. Dante began the process
Speaker 1: in the early fourteenth century when he decided to write
Speaker 1: his Divine Comedy in Italian. France was not far behind
Speaker 1: the epics Romances and lyric poetry of medieval trovadors. Traveling
Speaker 1: French poets laid the foundation of modern friends, and by
Speaker 1: the sixteenth century, authors such as Maghari to de Anglume
Speaker 1: were combining chivalric theme with Platonic and Christian ideals. A
Speaker 1: circle of seven poets at the French Court defended the
Speaker 1: use of French as a literary medium, writing in what
Speaker 1: they saw as the new style that combined classic Italian
Speaker 1: and French forms. Humanism was also a boon for the stage.
Speaker 1: Humanists rediscovered old classical plays, which were much more engaging
Speaker 1: and developed compared to the old medieval morality plays where
Speaker 1: somebody would actually take the stage and declare themselves to
Speaker 1: be the representation of sin. Plays of all types were
Speaker 1: very popular in England, were writing in the vernacular, developed
Speaker 1: out of a dialect spoken in the city of London
Speaker 1: and the nearby court at Westminster. Before the One Hundred
Speaker 1: Years War, English kings and nobles, many of them descendants
Speaker 1: of the Gnomans, had spoken French, but the war had
Speaker 1: made the use of English a national source of pride.
Speaker 1: The writings of Jeffrey Chaucer, who was a diplomat and
Speaker 1: royal official in addition to famous writer, especially his Canterbury Tales,
Speaker 1: solidified this language while still incorporating classical models. Later English
Speaker 1: poets such as Edmund Spencer, who wrote in the sixteenth century,
Speaker 1: and Sir Philip Sidney wrote alongside him, built on this base,
Speaker 1: composing in English but blending him classical structures and conventions.
Speaker 1: Christopher Marlowe, who wrote a little bit later, began to
Speaker 1: use blank verse for his plays as well as his poems,
Speaker 1: often centering a plot around a figure whose life is
Speaker 1: destroyed by his own character. And of course, William Shakespeare
Speaker 1: wrote some of the greatest plays throughout all of English history.
Speaker 1: Shakespeare dominates English literature today in a way that no
Speaker 1: single writer dominates any other European literature, not even Dante.
Speaker 1: Shakespeare came from a middle class background in a medium
Speaker 1: sized town, probably attended a Latin grammar school, but had
Speaker 1: no further former education. We know he was married and
Speaker 1: traveled to London, where he became an actor and a
Speaker 1: playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company of professional actors.
Speaker 1: He later became part owner in several London theaters and
Speaker 1: spent most of the rest of his life in London.
Speaker 1: Shakespeare's talent was so great that some have doubted whether
Speaker 1: someone from such a simple background could actually have written
Speaker 1: the plays, but his use of classical and historical sources,
Speaker 1: and of both humanist and medieval forms of language, demonstrate
Speaker 1: just how widely humanism and humanist education had finally spread
Speaker 1: by the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: most of Europe remained illiterate, and oral culture continued to evolve,
Speaker 1: just like the spoken word, often involving music. Plays included music,
Speaker 1: particularly interludes called intermediate between scenes. Fairs, marketplaces, and inns
Speaker 1: provided a place for performers to both perf for people
Speaker 1: to listen. Vocal music was the center of musical composition,
Speaker 1: with the basic compositional technique the counterpoint, which independent melodic
Speaker 1: lines usually four, were combined in a polyphonic so multi
Speaker 1: voiced harmony. Secular music was usually sung by small groups,
Speaker 1: but sacred music was now increasingly sung by large choirs,
Speaker 1: which is a major influence of the Reformation. Now, Roman
Speaker 1: and Greek art served as the model for humanist writers, sculptors,
Speaker 1: and painters, but no one had any idea how classical
Speaker 1: music sounded. Music itself was a hotly debated topic during
Speaker 1: the Reformation. Luther thought music was good and lifted the spirit.
Speaker 1: Calvinists opposed music in the liturgy. Ironically, while some Protestant
Speaker 1: churches refused to allow organ music during service, they were
Speaker 1: forced to hold concerts of the same music on Sunday
Speaker 1: afternoons because it was so popular. Artists and their patrons
Speaker 1: view the purpose of art as the imitation of nature,
Speaker 1: which they recognized meant creating an illusion of reality rather
Speaker 1: than copying it. Bileticelli, for example, worked on contre pasto,
Speaker 1: the shape of the body when the weight is mostly
Speaker 1: on one foot, and the way that fabrics were draped.
Speaker 1: For years. Leonardo da Vinci both theorized about and in
Speaker 1: his actual paintings, statues and buildings, experiment the effects of
Speaker 1: light on different sort of surfaces, systems of proportion based
Speaker 1: on the human body, and compositional structures. In architecture, Filippio
Speaker 1: Bruniskeuelli designed a new hospital for orphans set up by
Speaker 1: the Silk Workers Guild in Florence, in which all proportions
Speaker 1: of the windows, height, floor plan and covered walkway with
Speaker 1: a series of rounded arches were carefully thought out to
Speaker 1: achieve a sense of balance and harmony. Brunus Gelli later
Speaker 1: turned his talents to designing and constructing a dome for
Speaker 1: Florence Cathedral, based to some degree on Roman domes, but
Speaker 1: hire and more graceful. In the fifteenth century, Florence became
Speaker 1: the center of new art for Italy, but in the
Speaker 1: early sixteenth century this shifted to Rome, where wealthy cardinals
Speaker 1: and popes wanted visual expression of the church, owned families,
Speaker 1: power and piety. All of this was a dramatic change
Speaker 1: from the medieval past, in which none of these questions
Speaker 1: were even considered. And it wasn't all just the Florence
Speaker 1: and Rome show. Venice in the sixteenth century became a
Speaker 1: center for art. The Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus hired Italian
Speaker 1: and French architects to rebuild and remodel his palace in
Speaker 1: the classical style. In the Netherlands, the Dukes of Burgundy
Speaker 1: patronized goldsmiths and sculptors. In Germany, wealthy cities like Cologne
Speaker 1: and Nuremberg became centers for artistic creation. The famous wood
Speaker 1: carver and engraver Albrex Durer worked in Nuremberg, and one
Speaker 1: thing I do want to point out, though, is that
Speaker 1: these men, and they were mostly men, were not necessarily
Speaker 1: seen as artistic geniuses as many writers would have loved
Speaker 1: them to be seen. Artistic genius is a modern idea.
Speaker 1: These were artisans who had acquired their skills through years
Speaker 1: and years of training and work. No one believed you
Speaker 1: could just be a gifted artist and skip the years
Speaker 1: of training with an older master in a workshop. Artistic
Speaker 1: works themselves were normally commissioned by a private individual, guild,
Speaker 1: or religious organization, and it showed like literally. In Boncelli's
Speaker 1: painting The Adoration of the Magi, you can see three
Speaker 1: members of the Medici family looking on as baby Jesus
Speaker 1: receives his gifts, and to my knowledge, no one from
Speaker 1: that family was there. As I mentioned, nearly all of
Speaker 1: the most prolific Renaissance artists were male. Only one female sculptor,
Speaker 1: Propecia de Rossi, is known. Women were not allowed to
Speaker 1: study the male nude, which was viewed as essential if
Speaker 1: one wanted to paint large history paintings with many figures,
Speaker 1: so they generally painted portraits, smaller paintings with only a
Speaker 1: few subjects, or by the seventeenth century still life's and
Speaker 1: interior scenes. Neither did women learn the technique of fresco,
Speaker 1: in which colors are applied directly to wet past or walls,
Speaker 1: because such works had to be done in public, which
Speaker 1: was judged inappropriate for women. Concerns about the propriety and
Speaker 1: morality thus limited the media that women could use. In
Speaker 1: In addition to their subject matter, worries about morality shaped
Speaker 1: far more than the works of female artists as the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century progressed. Though Catholic writers defended the veneration of
Speaker 1: religious images against Protestants who wanted to do away with them,
Speaker 1: they also called for decorum and decency in all portrayals
Speaker 1: of the human form. They were particularly scandalized by nudity,
Speaker 1: even that of the infant Jesus or saints being martyred,
Speaker 1: and debated painting over certain body parts in naked figures
Speaker 1: of Michelangelo's The Last Supper. Such moral concerns have often
Speaker 1: been seen as the product of the Protestant Reformation culminating
Speaker 1: and of course, but we traditionally think of when we
Speaker 1: hear the word Puritan. In fact, worries about order and
Speaker 1: morality predated the Protestant Reformation, especially among those in the cities,
Speaker 1: and would eventually be just as powerful among Catholics as
Speaker 1: among Protestants. It's week in our fourth and final installments
Speaker 1: of this overview series. I'm going to take a broad
Speaker 1: look at some religious change, though not much because we've
Speaker 1: already talked about it to a large extent, and really
Speaker 1: focus in on economic and technological change from roughly fourteen
Speaker 1: fifty to the year seventeen hundred. If you've enjoyed the show,
Speaker 1: please consider leaving a rating or review. It's the easiest
Speaker 1: way to help other people find the podcast, and if
Speaker 1: you're interested, there's a link in the show notes to
Speaker 1: Western CIV two point zero, another way to support all
Speaker 1: that we do.