Transcript Letters of Obscure Men - hylan

• Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe
• after 1450 the emergence of truly sovereign rulers set into
motion a shift from divided feudal monarchy to unified national
monarchies
– the Hundred Years War, Black Plague and Great Schism weakened the
nobility and church; new between king and town broke the bonds of
feudal society
– powers of taxation, war making, and law enforcement were concentrated
with the monarch; these matters were no longer just regional
– only as monarchs became able to act independently of the nobility and
representative assemblies could they overcome the decentralization that
impeded nation building
•
although the many were never
totally subjugated to the one the
rulers demonstrated that the law
was their creature
–
•
civil servants enforced laws for the
ruler
monarchs also began to create
standing national armies full of
paid soldiers; infantry and
artillery became the backbone of
the royal armies
–
in order to raise money the
monarch would tax rents on royal
lands, have a sales tax, tax goods,
directly tax peasants, sell public
offices, and sell government bonds
•
privileged classes remained the
monarchs creditors and competitors
• The Northern Renaissance
• was stimulated by the importation
of Italian learning; had its own
distinct culture separate from Italy
– came from more diverse social
backgrounds and was more devoted
to religious reform; wrote for lay
audiences as well as strict
intellectuals
• The Printing Press
– Johann Gutenberg invented printing
with movable type in mid 15th
century in the German city of Mainz
– became the center of printing for
Western Europe
– increased literacy created a less
credulous and less docile laity; tool
of political and religious propaganda
•
Erasmus
–
–
–
–
Colloquies – dialogues that
were anticlerical and satires
on religious dogma and
superstition
Adages – book of Proverbs
philosophia Christi – change
the individual and society with
a simple ethical piety in
imitation of Christ
he was an idealist who
expected more from the
people than the age’s
theologians believed them
capable of doing; “Erasmus
laid the egg that Luther
hatched”
•
•
Humanism and Reform
Germany
– Rudolf Agricola – “father of
German Humanism”
– Conrad Celtics and Ulrich
von Hutten united humanism,
German nationalism and
Luther’s religious reforms
– Reuchlin affair – Johann
Reuchlin led a fight against
Pfefferkorn who tried to
suppress Jewish writings
•
Letters of Obscure Men –
attack on scholastics and
monks
•
England
– Thomas More –
best known English
humanist
– Utopia –
conservative
criticism of
contemporary
society
– Henry VIII’s most
trusted diplomat;
repudiated the Act
of Supremacy
•
France
–
–
•
Guillaume Bude and Jacques
Lefevre d’Etaples were leaders
of French humanism –
influenced Martin Luther
Guillaume Briconnet and
Marguerite d’Angouleme
influenced John Calvin
Spain
–
–
German, English and French
humanists prepared the way for
the Reformation; Spanish
humanists served the Catholic
Church
Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros
was the “Grand Inquisitor”
•
completed the Computensian
Polygot Bible – put Hebew, Greek
and Latin versions of the bible in
parallel columns
• Voyages of Discovery and the
New Empires in the East and West
• The Portuguese Chart the Course
– Prince Henry “the navigator” began
the Portuguese exploration of the
African coast; first for gold and slaves
then to connect Europe to Asia’s
spice market
– Bartholomew Dias pioneered the
eastern Portuguese empire
– Vasco de Gama pushed the eastern
empire to India allowing Portugal to
challenge the Muslim/Venetian spice
trade
•
•
•
•
The Spanish Voyages of
Columbus
Christopher Columbus
landed in San Salvador in
the Eastern Bahamas; he
met friendly native peoples
known as the Taino Indians
Amergio Vespucci and
Ferdinand Magellan
explored the coastline of
South America and onto the
Pacific Ocean
Magellan’s crew was the
first to circumnavigate the
globe
•
intended and unintended
consequences
•
•
•
Spanish had a zeal for
conquering and converting
non-Christian peoples
the trading bloc created
enriched Spain and gave
them a commanding role in
the religious and political
wars of the 16th and 17th
centuries along with fueling a
Europe wide economic
expansion
Columbian Exchange –
movement of food, animals,
disease, goods, and slaves
from the Old World to the
New World and back
•
The Spanish Empire in the New World
– the Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica
•
•
from their capital at Tenochtitlan they ruled a vast
wealthy empire; policies of demanding heavy tribute
from subservient people led to butter resentment
Hernan Cortes ended the Aztec empire and declared it
New Spain
– Inca Empire in Peru – second largest empire in
the Americas; conquered by Francisco Pizarro
•
a small organized
military force with
advanced weapons
were able to destroy
two great empires
–
•
new European diseases
(especially smallpox)
also helped Europeans
conquer and dominate
South America
besides the conquest
of the Incas and Aztecs
being two of the most
brutal events in human
history it marked a
fundamental turning
point in the New World
in which South America
became Latin America
•
The Church in Spanish
America
– early clergy sought to
not only convert native
peoples but to bring
them European
learning an civilization
•
•
Bartolome de la Casas
spoke out against
Spanish conquest of
native peoples
“Black Legend” –
exaggerated the harsh
treatment of native
peoples by the Spanish;
romanticized native
peoples
•
The Economy of
Exploitation
– forced labor was needed to
profit from mining,
agriculture, and shipping
•
•
mining focused on gold and
silver; the Spanish crown
received 1/5 of all mining
revenues
agriculture built around the
hacienda – large landed
estate owned by
Peninsulares or Creoles and
worked on by laborers
– subordinate to mining
– large plantations existed on the
islands of the Caribbean
•
labor servitude
–
–
–
–
encomienda – right to
the labor of native
peoples
repartimiendo – a
labor tax requiring
native peoples to work
so many days
annually
debt peonage – “free
workers” were
required to purchase
all materials from mine
owners
black slavery – used
on sugar plantations in
the West Indies and
Brazil
•
the Impact on Europe
–
–
–
–
Columbus’s discovery
demonstrated the folly of relying
on any fixed body of presumed
authoritative knowledge; opened a
new age of communication and
globalization
influx of bullion into European
economies led to inflation
new government wealth led to
sponsoring research and
expansion in printing, shipping,
mining, textiles, and the weapons
industry
rise in capitalism – intended to
permit the free and efficient
accumulation of wealth
•
new wealth aggravated the traditional
social divisions between varying
social groups paving the way for the
Reformation