Tema32. La cultura renacentista. Los enfrentamientos políticos-religiosos del siglo XVI.

1. CAMBIOS Y TRANSFORMACIONES POLÍTICAS, ECONÓMICAS Y SOCIALES EN EL SIGLO XVI

• The Renaissance emerged from the crisis of the 14th-15th centuries, a period marked by:
  • Famines
  • Plagues.
  • Wars
  • Social conflicts
  • Economic decline
• Emergence of modern elements during this crisis:
  • New structures of thought
  • Sociopolitical and economic organization.
• Theories questioning the unity of reason and faith, influenced by William of Ockham (1287-1347).
• Musical transformation in the 14th century known as Ars Nova.
• Key factors in the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age:
  • Development of a monetary economy linked to long-distance trade, which:
    • Formed the basis of capitalism
  • Growth of the bourgeoisie class
  • Establishment of authoritarian monarchies

1.1. TRANSFORMACIONES POLÍTICAS

• Decline in authority of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy during the Middle Ages.
• Emergence of feudal monarchies evolving into modern states with political autonomy.
• Feudovasallatic agreements defined the Middle Ages, leading to conflicts between monarchs and the feudal nobility.
• Monarchies aimed to remove the nobility and clergy from government affairs, centralizing power within the royal territories.
• Strengthening of monarchies through increased control over economic, judicial, and military power.
• Shift in the monarch's status from primus inter pares to an unquestionable superior.
• Administrative organization was reliant on assistance of licensed individuals from European universities, prioritizing skills of writing and eloquence.
• The model of state became the authoritarian monarchy, characterized by:
  • Bureaucracy
  • Diplomacy
  • Permanent army
  • Treasury
• Political ideal expressed as Rex est imperator in regno suo, reinforcing the bond between the crown and the common people, who shifted from vassals to subjects of a national entity.
• Impact: Progressive limitation of actions the aristocracy could take against the central power.
• Usage of the term "State" started to be used with the rise of humanistic and Renaissance ideas.
• The State matured alongside the concept of sovereignty, which implied the ruler's indisputable authority.
• Nicolás Maquiavelo (1469-1527) was the founder of modern political thought, advocating for the creation of the modern State.
• There were different forms of political organization depending on the dominant forces:
  • Authoritarian monarchies emerged where kings triumphed (Spain, Portugal, France, England).
  • Division of central power in regions where the nobility maintained power (Germany).
  • Independent city-states formed where urban structures and oligarchies prevailed (Italy).

1.2. TRANSFORMACIONES ECONÓMICAS

• The deep crisis of the 14th century had long-lasting effects through the 15th century.
• Economic recovery occurred gradually from the 15th century onward.
• The plague occurred in 1348, and there was agrarian stagnation, an imbalance between population and resources, and wars.
• Commercial routes consolidated, including: Land routes linked northern Italy with Flanders through Burgundy and Renania; the Hansa or Hanseatic League established maritime routes connecting the Baltic and the North Sea.
• Fluvial routes fostered the growth of cities like Hamburg, Lübeck, and Danzig.
• In the Mediterranean, trade was dominated by Italian cities like Genoa and ports like Marseilles, Barcelona, and Valencia.
• Incipient commercial capitalism grew, characterized by:
  • Increase in monetary economy
  • Banking, including credit, loans, insurance, and bills of exchange.
  • Usury.
• Florence became a hub for banks in the 15th century.
• The emergence of merchant and banker professionals transformed society.

1.3. TRANSFORMACIONES SOCIALES

• Improved conditions for the peasantry following famines, epidemics, and bad harvests.
• The nobility improved their economic situation through increased income but had their political influence decreased due to the rise of authoritarian monarchies.
• Cities became centers of wealth creation and development for bankers, merchants, and artisans, forming a distinct social group: the bourgeoisie.
• The bourgeoisie pressured political powers for economic liberalization of cities, reduced taxes, and ensured security and trade regulation.
• Demands for centralized administration of justice and equal regulatory standards.
• Cities that embraced trade and greater freedom of movement experienced increased wealth and prosperity.
• Concentration of political power around families like the Albizzi, Strozzi, or Médicis in Italy.
• The Catholic view of women remained unchanged.
• In the Protestant Reformation, there was:
  • Greater awareness among women.
  • Revaluation of married women
  • Increased freedom for educated women.
• Women involved in the Reformation, with some influencing politics and legislation.
• The 16th century marked the beginning of a class-based society that eventually abolished the privileges of the nobility.

2. EL NUEVO PENSAMIENTO RENACENTISTA: EL HUMANISMO

2.1. THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DEBATE ON THE RENAISSANCE

• The concept of the Renaissance is based on the works of early humanists.
• Giovanni Villani understood the end of the Roman Empire as the prologue to the new era.
• Petrarca affirmed virtus romana remained, allowing for a rebirth.
• Leonardo Bruni, Flavio Biondo, and Maquiavelo followed the same pattern.
• Giorgio Vasari used the term "Renaissance" to describe a movement that revived the spiritual and aesthetic values of classical antiquity.
• Paulo Giovio stated literature could be considered reborn in Boccaccio's time.
• All these writers shared the idea of a Renovatio and sense of historical periodicity like:
  • A long period of decline in Western culture between classical antiquity and their own time
  • A renewal and resurgence occurring after this decline
  • The experience of living through this Renaissance
• In the 17th century, writers understood the Renaissance as a transition between the Middle Ages and the modern world.
• Pierre Bayle linked the work of Italian humanists with the rebirth of letters.
• The French encyclopedia recognized the notion of a brilliant Ancient Age, a decadent Middle Age, and the resurgence of culture in the Modern Age.
• Romantic writers of the 19th century paid little attention to the Renaissance, viewing it as pagan and materialistic.
• Jules Michelet recognized the originality of the period and named it "Renaissance" in his Historia de Francia (1840).
• The concept of the Renaissance acquired its current meaning around 1860 with Jacob Burckhardt's Die Kultur der Renaisance in Italien.
• Burckhardt's definition characterized the Renaissance as a revolution in the culture of the 14th and 15th centuries.
  • Period of rupture with medieval obscurantism
  • Renewal of art and letters
  • Restoration of antiquity
  • Novel use of reason in all fields of knowledge.
• Historiography followed Burckhardt, focusing on identifying the chronological and geographical limits of the Renaissance.
• Some historians argued for earlier limits, citing the proposals of San Francisco de Asís (13th century).
• The existence of other renaissances was claimed, such as that of Carlomagno (8th-9th centuries) and Otón I (10th century).
• Armando Sapori argued the true Renaissance began in the mid-12th century with the foundations of Italian capitalism.
• National historiographies emphasized their countries' contributions to the Renaissance, challenging its exclusively Italian character.
• Wallace Klippert Ferguson viewed the Renaissance as a transition between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era.
• Eugenio Garin, Erwin Panofsky and Roland Mousnier contributed by dating the Renaissance between the 14th century and the second half of the 15th century.

2.2. THE RENAISSANCE THOUGHT

• Burckhardt distinguished the Renaissance by:
  • The emergence of a new model of State
  • The discovery of art, literature, philosophy of antiquity
  • The ideological renovation of the world and man through knowledge.
  • The revaluation of individualism
  • The full development of personality and individual freedom
  • The aesthetics of nature
• The characteristics of Renaissance thought:
  • Valuation of classical antiquity:
    • Classical world provided models to follow.
    • Goal of reinterpreting rather than merely imitating the classics.
    • Search for idealized naturalism and beauty.
    • Thematic irruption of mythology.
  • Exaltation of nature:
    • Nature became the focus of observation
    • Construction of villas in the countryside, creation of beautiful gardens, desire to explore new worlds.
  • Antropocentric vision of the world:
    • Man becomes the center of the universe.
    • Renaissance men aspired to individualization, glory, and fame
    • Importance of both physical and spiritual development.
    • The development of rational knowledge vs. theological knowledge.
  • Development of the scientific spirit:
    • Emphasis on learning through experimentation
    • The emergence of the figure of the multifaceted genius.
    • Practical application of knowledge
    • Development of new instruments and the language of geometry.
    • Inventions such as the printing press, compass, and clock.
    • Advancements in mining through the application of hydraulic pumps.
    • Advances in metallurgy through the use of mineral carbon
    • Advances in chemistry through chemical analysis.
    • Scientists like Paracelsus (1493-1541) and Andrés Vesalio (1514-1564).
    • Astronomer Nicolás Copérnico (1473-1543) proposed the heliocentric theory.

2.3. HUMANISM

• Humanism was a cultural process associated with literary formation, language, education, and the development of intelligence through beauty.
• It restored the importance of the human being as the most important creation.
• It Spread and consolidated thanks to the printing press.
• Gained ground over scholasticism in universities.
• In Italy, Petrarca synthesized classicism and Christianity.
• His work was continued by intellectual figures like Coluccio Salutate, Nicolás de Cusa, and Leonardo Bruni.
• Lorenzo Valla highlighted immorality in sectors of the clergy in his work.
• Florence became the center of the Renaissance with the development of neoplatonism by Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499).
• The Catholic Church defended scholasticism, the philosophy developed by Santo Tomás de Aquino, in universities.
• Intellectuals in Rome attempted to synthesize Petrarca and Lorenzo Valla, but Paulo II ended this Roman humanist movement by closing the Academia del Quirinal.
• In Germany, humanism originated in the cities of Renania and Nuremberg.
• The University of Lovaina was the first in Europe to accept humanistic education.
• Erasmo de Róterdam advocated for the:
  • Renewal and criticism of medieval institutions
  • Tolerance
  • Pacifism.
• In England, humanism appeared in Oxford with Guillermo Crocyn (1466-1519).
• Tomás Moro harmonized anti-ecclesiastical doctrines with Catholic sentiment.
• In Spain, Cardinal Cisneros enabled the emergence of Catholic humanists like Antonio de Nebrija (1444-1522).
• Juan Luis Vives was a European eminence in Erasmism.

3. ENFRENTAMIENTOS POLÍTICOS Y RELIGIOSOS. LA REFORMA PROTESTANTE

• The need for reform in the Catholic Church had been felt since the Late Middle Ages.
• Figures like John Wycliffe and Jan Hus had become heretical movements due to their disagreement with the theories of the Catholic Church.
• The causes of the Reformation include:
  • Corruption
  • Ignorance
  • Relaxation of clergy customs
  • Economic factors with the Catholic Church as a bulwark of the feudal order.
• The historiography leans toward changes in the collective mentality linked to the Renaissance and humanism.
  • Rise of individualism
  • Secularization
  • Need for new social models
  • Scientific advances
  • The success of capitalism.
  • Consolidation of the modern State.
  • Exhaustion of scholasticism
  • The birth of a new philosophical theory –humanism– and the excessive connection of the Church to temporal interests
• Reformers were formed theologians and humanist who believed they were:
  • Restoring the original doctrine of Christianity
  • Renewing the corrupted ecclesiastical structures.
• Reformers sought the bases for justifying their proposals in sources of Christian antiquity such as the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers such as San Agustín.
• The doctrines of the Protestant branches defended a direct personal relationship between the individual and God, with the Bible as the ultimate authority.

3.1. EL LUTERANISMO

• Martín Lutero (1483-1546) was an Augustinian monk and theology professor at the University of Wittenberg.
• His theses were related to:
  • Faith
  • Original sin
  • The impotence of human will and actions in the face of inclination to evil
  • The belief that salvation can only be achieved through faith in Christ.
• His doctrine was accepted by humanists and part of the German nobility.
• Luther's theses were also welcomed by peasants, who saw the Reformation as an opportunity to escape the payment of tithes to the Church.
• Luther's reformist ideas spread through: the German principalities, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the northern Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungría, and Transylvania and even parts of Sevilla, Valladolid, and Nápoles.
• In 1521, the Diet of Worms was convened.
• Charles V wanted Martín Lutero to retreat his theses, but instead protested even further.
• As a consequence, the immediate response was the condemnation and arrest of Lutero, as well as the prohibition of the reading and possession of his writings through the Edict of Worms.
• Frederick III organized a simulated kidnapping and gave him protection and asylum in the castle of Wartburg, where he translated the Bible to German.
• In 1530, Charles V convened the Diet of Augsburg, where the Lutherans presented the Confessio Augustana.
• No agreement was reached, and the Catholics reaffirmed the condemnation of the Protestants.
• The Lutheran response was the formation of the Schmalkaldic League, integrated by the German princes, and the beginning of the Schmalkaldic War (1546-1547).
• The League was defeated by Charles V in the battle of Mühlberg (1547). However, the emperor could not take advantage of his victory because of disagreements with the Papacy.
• The Interim of Augsburg (1548) established a temporary solution to the conflict, but the hostilities resumed in 1552, in the war of the Princes.
• With the Peace of Augsburg, the Empire recognized the power of the German princes to choose the religion they wanted to impose on their subjects.
  • Cuius regio, eius religio.
  • Subjects could assume the doctrine imposed by their ruler or migrate to a State that professed a confession akin to their beliefs.

3.2. EL ANABAPTISMO

• The line of the religious was based in the theories of Zwinglio.
• Anabaptists reproved infant baptism and demanding a rethinking of this sacrament
• Thomas Münzer led a peasant uprising (1524-1525).
• The anabaptist sect prospered in regions of Holand, Germany, and Switzerland.

3.3. EL CALVINISMO

• The Calvinism was expanded through German territory.
• The main aspects of the doctrine include:
  • Sola scriptura.
  • Predestination.
• War of the Huguenots
  • A total of eight wars in all.
  • Conflicts that occurred in France, between Catholics and Calvinists, names Huguenots, in France from 1562 to 1598.
  • Discrepancies between the noble houses, the Borbones on the Huguenot side, and the Guisa on the Catholic side.
• War of the Eighty Years (1568-1648).
  • There was continued conflict between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch independentists of the Netherlands.
  • Political differences and religious interests were mixed.
  • Felipe II sent the Duke of Alba, who defeated the sublevados in 1568.
  • Eventually the Tratado de Westfalia was signed in 1648, and it was recognized that the independence of the Provincias Unidas.

3.4. LA REFORMA ZUINGLIANA

• Ulrich Zwinglio (1484-1531) initiated another of the main currents of Protestantism, whose center was located in the Swiss city of Zurich.
• He drafted 67 theses, in which he affirmed the independence of the Bible with respect to the Church of Rome.
• Affirming that Christ was the only way to salvation of man.
• The reform initiated by Zwinglio extended to other regions of Switzerland and soon led to armed conflict in the so-called Kappel wars (1529 and 1531).

3.5. LA REFORMA ANGLICANA

• During the government of Enrique VIII (1509-1547), advised by Tomás Moro, opposed Lutheranism
• Named Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) archbishop of Canterbury, who carried out a reformist work.
• With the promulgation of the Act of Supremacy, in 1534, the Anglican Church was born presents a pseudocatólica doctrine, but without a pope.
• Tras la muerte del hijo del monarca, Eduardo VI [reinado 1547- 1553], gobernó María I [reinado 1553-1558] –hija de Enrique VIII y Catalina de Aragón–, que restauró el catolicismo.
• Was succeeded by Isabel I [reinado 1558-1603] –hija de Enrique VIII y Ana Bolena–, que recuperó la Iglesia anglicana mediante la Segunda Acta de Supremacía, en 1559
• In 1563, the Thirty-Nine Articles were defined.

4. LA CONTRARREFORMA: LA RESPUESTA CATÓLICA

• Half a century before Lutero published the 95 theses on indulgences that initiated the rupture of Catholicism, the Catholic Reformation began in the Pope Paulo III
• The Contrarreforma was promoted in the Concilio de Trento, where: Maintain and recover for the catholic cult, as much as the faith as possible; stop the diffusion of protestantism in Europe; Redefine and fix christian and catholic doctrine; Reorganize the internal discipline of the Catholic Church and acabar con la corrupción presente entre las altas jerarquías de la Iglesia..
• The ejecutor of Trento was the company of Jesús, created by Ignacio de Loyola (1491-1556).
• Along with that the tribunal of the Inquisicion reached a great relevancia.

5. REPERCUSIONES DE LOS CONFLICTOS RELIGIOSOS DEL SIGLO XVI

• A lot of repercusiones after the Reforma protestante and the Consecuente reaccion catolica, from a religious, political, socioeconomic, and cultural point of view.
• The religius unity that existed in Europe was broken in a definitive matter.
• Another consequence was the development of the religion wars, that asolaron Europe during the 16th and 17th century.
• Developed from there a laico movement for Europe.
• The Reforma reduced considerably the power that the Iglesia had in many fields of the life.
• There was a separation of politics and religion, and made way for the genesis of the model of State fomentado por Lutero (Balderas, 2007).

CONCLUSION

• Between 1350 and 1550, the European society knew a real spiritual revolution and a deep transformation of the economic, political, social, filosoficos, religiosos and esthetic values.
• The expansion from protestantismo made way to the rupture of the christian unity in the western, at mid a scenario of the wars of religion in Europe, that lasted most part of the Modern age.