Focus: Classical texts and ideas from Romans and Greeks
Background: These ideas were forgotten in the Middle Ages until contact between Muslims and Europeans during the Crusades.
Muslim Influence: Muslims translated texts and had close relations with Europe, leading to the Renaissance.
Philosophy: Focuses on the unlimited potential of human beings.
Individualism: Emphasis on the individual.
Humanism
Core Thought: Individualism
Cicero: Supported the Roman Republic.
Julius Caesar: His influence was a model for the Latin language for Petrarch.
Petrarch's View: Liked Cicero's support of the Roman Republic and disliked Julius Caesar's power.
Philological Study: Study of the history and development of languages.
Lorenzo Valla: Philological headlines.
Discovery: Revealed an authoritative RCC document as a forgery.
Constantine: Actually written by Constantine, contained different Latin standards.
Shift: From religious to secular authority.
Focus Shift: Away from church dogmas and the bible to science and individualism.
Audience: Initially mainly for elite individuals until the printing press.
Challenge: Challenged the institutional powers of the university and higher officials.
Religious views: Many Renaissance thinkers were still Christian, but they put less emphasis on theological questions.
Humanities: Emphasized history, emotion, and unlimited potential through classical texts.
Education: Shifted to include humanities, not just theology (study of God).
Civic Humanism
Machiavelli: "The Prince" - The prince must use whatever means necessary to rule, while avoiding having hate from people
Naturalism: More realistic, portraying the world as it was.
Expansion: Expanded the unlimited potential on human beings.
Castiglione: "The Courtier" - How to be a gentleman (mentally awake, physically strong, skilled in all disciplines).
Italian City States
Influence: Humanistic ideas worked their way into Italy.
Political Involvement: Educated men should be active in local politics.
Leonardo Bruni: Argued that republicanism in ancient Rome is the best form of government.
Shift: From feudalism to rule by enlightened individuals.
Ruler's Function: Maintained power at all costs (tyranny, benevolence).
Balance: Rulers must use enlightened balance, not biblical wisdom only, and avoid actions that incite hatred.
Power Maintenance: Use whatever ways, even selfish ones, to maintain power, even if it disregards ethical and moral beliefs.
Fear vs. Love: Better to be feared than loved.
Middle Ages vs. Renaissance: In the Middle Ages, it was most important to be wise and rule off of the bible.
Art
Previous Style: Used to be flat and exclusive to bible and symbolism.
New Focus: Not just bible/christianity based.
Italian Renaissance Art: More idealistic.
Northern Renaissance Art: Scenes of everyday life.
Techniques: Geometric perspective for more realistic portrayal.
Themes: Personal, political, and classical themes.
Michelangelo: David - "Perfect specimen of a human man" as a greek god; features of his face, muscular figure exhibiting naturalism and idealism.
Raphael: The School of Athens - Classical themes in the Renaissance; geometric perspective for realism.
Brunelleschi: Church of San Lorenzo in Florence - Less gothic, more arches and roman styles, built to stand on its own without any outside support through advanced engineering.
Patronage
Wealthy Patrons: Artists were mostly patronized by wealthy people.
Motivation: Emphasis changed; more to enhance public prestige than religious or secular focus.
Examples: Medici family.
Johannes Gutenberg: Made "In Praise on Polly", Dome on the florence cathedral
Printing Press
Impact: Ideas of the Renaissance spread outside of Italy and north.
Northern Renaissance: Humanism remained the same, but focuses changed.
Focus: Human-centered people than art
Christian Humanism
Definition: Combined humanist thought with textual evidence from scriptural authority.
Goal: Led to social reform.
Erasmus: Believed education from classics and the bible is the foundation of society with an emphasis on Christ.
Renewal: Should be made from undermined political social institutions and criticize other higher religious authorities through satire
Peter Bruegel the Elder: Ordinary people with less naturalism (e.g., "The Peasant’s Wedding").
Printing Press cont.
Previous Method: Used to be copied by hand through monks.
Availability: Less books available (for wealthy only).
Language: In latin, so only some people could read.
Innovation: “Moveable type” technique.
Impact: Able to mass print things quickly and cheaply.
Example: “Gutenberg Bible” 1456.
Result: Many books published across Europe allowed ideas to spread more quickly.
Consequence: Protestant Reformation.
New Monarchies
Authority Change: Kings wanted more power and taking power from the nobility, at the time they had less power than nobles but wanted it back.
Tactics: Top-down religious and moral reforms.
Henry VIII of England: Hated the protestant reformation, had trouble with the Catholics and RCC.
Divorce: Was denied an annulment for his current wife, married Anne Boeyln because she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella who helped make sure he couldn’t get an annulment
Treason Act: Punishable by death to refuse to recognize church as england as the supreme power and state religion
Many english people remained Catholics, so Henry put out the:
Bloody Mary: Wanted to restore catholicism
Elizabeth I: Steered england back to Anglicanism in a top-down manner.
Uniformity pass: Subjects had to attend the church of england (Anglican Church) or they’d be fined
Unification: Spain was unified, consolidating monarchical power.
Actions: Drove muslims and jews out of Spain from the Iberian peninsula.
Religion: Catholicism as the official religion of Spain.
Bureaucracy: Formed a bureaucracy
Peace of Augsburg 1555
Significance:
Curio Regio, Curios Religio
The HRE, the prince can choose the religion of their area, whether Catholic or Luthern
Gave the power to choose religion consolidate power
Gold, God, Glory:
Gold: Mercantilism
National Taxes: In France, taxes and bureaucracy increased.
Concordat of Bologna: Agreement between Pope Leo X and Francis I, granting the Pope the right to collect income from the French Catholic Church and France the right to appoint French Catholic Church leaders, consolidating power for the king.
Commercial and Professional Groups: Gained power, especially merchants and bankers.
Medici Family: Banking industry in Italy.
Fugger Family: Banking in Augsburg.
Effects of Banking: Increased political power in their areas of influence and the rise of money and economy.
Age of Exploration
Motivations: God = Europeans wanted to convert others through European very spicy about their religion– Wanted to find other places to live and trade
Spain: Spain wanted to spread Catholicism to the world (ex. reconquista) & Jesuit missionaries to convert the indigenous people
Labor: Seen as “lesser humans” so more suitable for forced labor
Bartolome de las casas: Fought for the people in the Americas and that they are people too–NOT everyone believed that they were seen as lesser humans and only for labor purposes
Mercantilism: Only a certain amount in the world – measured in gold in silver measured in gold in silver & Each nation wants to get the most gold in the world
Goal: MORE exports than imports, the most gold wins
Necessity: Establishment of colonies are very necessary, especially through the mother country
Benefits: Lands could provide minerals, raw materials, and gold and silver
Mercantilism
Jean Baptiste Colbert: Advocated that wealth should serve the state.
French Industry: Focused on creating everything the country needed to reduce imports.
Colonial Ambitions: Wanted as much as North America as possible (ex. Louisiana territory).
Asian Goods: Desire for luxury goods from Asia.
Ottoman Control: Ports for these goods were owned by the Ottoman’s empire (between Europe and Asia).
Naval Efforts: Ships were sent to find alternative routes.
European Rivalry: Path to dominance led to rivalry between European countries.
Navigational Technology
Cartography/Map Making: Became widely accessible through printing press.
Ships: Caravel with lateen sail taking wind from multiple sides, unlike the square sail
Features: Much faster and easier to manuver
Compass and Astrolabe: Helped navigation
Colonial Empires
Portugal: First to actively seek a sail route to Africa, establishing trading posts all across the cost of Africa - "Trading Post Empire” & Made their way to the Indian Ocean–dominated trade all the way to south-eastern asia
Spain: Columbus (commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella); landed in the bahamas, took much of it - Caribbean, central america, north america, etc, Able to get more due to small pox and other diseases
France: Mostly dominated Canada and North America, interested mostly in trading, not as much colonial settlements
English: Sailed Canada, Caribbean, parts of NA
Colonial Tensions
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Example of Spain and Portugal dividing territories.
Balance of Power: At stake for all European nations.
Columbian Exchange: Affected conquest (e.g., Hernan Cortes defeating the Aztec Empire due to smallpox) & Settler Colonies = wanted people to make a new life and built homes, not just trading
Netherlands: Dutch mainly wanted trade, establishing some colonies in the Americas, but focused on dominating trade in southeast asia
Solutions:
Diplomacy and Negotiation: Both parties divided the Americas by the Line of Demarcation (Spain = Left, Portugal = Right). Led to some armed conflict later
Coercion and War: e. War of Spanish Succession - Over colonial succession over colonies in the new world
Over the Treaty of Tordesillas
Not one European power to have everything, people should have even amounts
Columbian Exchange
Definition: The global exchange of goods, flora, fauna, cultural practices, and disease between the old and the new world.
Impact: Transformed society, economy, and the environment.
Five Major Exchanges:
Disease: Europeans wanted to remake the Americas into their own images, Africans, Europeans, and Asians were isolated from the Americas so they had no immunity to the diseases and germs - When Christopher Colombus arrived, 300,000 died by smallpox
Food:
Americas to Europe and Africa: Cacao, potatoes, tomatoes, maize - High-yielding and nutrient packed food
Europe and Africa to Americas: Rice, wheat, soybeans, oranges, rye, oats, lemons (especially grains) - Diversified their diet and led to longer lifespans
Animals - Europeans introduced pigs, cattles, and horses to Native Americans (diet, farming and warfare)
Minerals (gold and silver) - After Aztec Empires were conquered, Spain was wealthy from their land - Wanted their gold and silver Colonies large amounts of European colonizers to their land
People - Millions of Africans removed from their land and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean and worked on plantations of European colonies
Transformation of Europe
Economic Growth: Lots of economic, social, and political growth.
End of Feudalism: Influx of mineral wealth caused an end to this system (used to be Feudalism), peasants lived and worked on the land of a noble in exchange for protection; lords and serfs.
Rise of Capitalism: Replaced with early form of Capitalism, private ownership and free and open exchange of goods between property owners.
Effects of Columbian Exchange
Economic Shift: Influx of mineral wealth shifted the economic center to the Mediterranean to the Atlantic States due to its central location to Spanish, portuguese, English, and french’s trading routes.
Amsterdam Replaces Antwerp - Used to be concentrated in the Italian states, now much more north
Encomienda System: Subjugation of people–new societal structure in the Americas.
Colonizers: Leading men were granted a portion of land, and natives who lived on that land became unpaid labors (did farming/mining)
Justification: “Justified” on religious grounds (remember, a huge motivation was the spread of Christianity) Basic for the Encomienda system, and granted the spanish monarchs authority to claim lands
Protection: Priests have the protection of the crown
African Slave Trade
Encomienda System - Good services, wages, and investments were in cash, not gold and silver The Commercial Revolution - So, there became a rise of great banking centers to support the rise of the money economy
Requerimiento - If natives submitted to this system, they were also granted protection (if not, they could be killed/subjugated) Connected to the encomiendas system
Labor - Natives of America subjected to forced labor on spanish plantations
Colonial Wealth - When colonies were established, in the Americas, colonizers immediately began looking for mineral wealth
Planting: In caribbean, north america, etc - Planting became a much more prominent source of wealth
Sugar and COffee - Sugar, coffee, became more accessible and less of a luxury, so more cheaper to the middle class, Therefore, demands for these goods (therefore labor) spiked
Natives' Issues: 1. Natives were able to escape harsh conditions, because they knew the land 2. Natives kept dying in large numbers from European Diseases & Caused a spike in demand for African labor in the Americas, because they already had some immunity. - Also, didn't know the land as well so they were less likely to escape
The Middle Passage: Life was extremely hard - More “goods” (people) they can pack onto the ship–more money
Ship Conditions: Africans died of disease/ being packed on these ships
Triangular Trade
Definition: Trading system between Africa, the Americas, and Europe.
Process: Europeans brought goods to Africa in exchange for slaves, which were then brought to the Americas.
Abolishment: Abolished later in the 19th century.
Impact: Replaced mercantilism with capitalism (the beginnings of recession) - The great increase in global commerce during this period, changing the face of economics in Europe & The Commercial Revolution
Commercial Revolution: Changes in Banking and Finance
Subsistence Agriculture vs. Cash Crop - The Commercial Revolution - People now made most of their resources - Double Entry Bookkeeping - Way to keep debits equal to credits - The need for such a system like this indicated that lots of money were being handled in these banking centers
Inflation: Subsistence agriculture = grew what they needed to survive & Opposed to cash crop system = only one mass produced crop (for exporting and mercantilist use) Cause by the food and necessities to rise – inflation
Enclosure Movement: “The Enclosure Movement” - Caused a massive migration movement to urban places and cities to look for work – Urbanization
Joint-Stock Company: Join-Stock Company - Investors bought stock, and profits raising large amounts of capital Private enterprise, not state driven mercantilist enterprise Ex, the Dutch East India Company to finance trade in Asia
Social Changes
Feudalism: Tendons of feudalism still remained, Nobles employed the peasants & Life was largely oriented around the “manor”/village under the nobles control
Crop Rotation: Had to produce LOTS of different crops & Therefore, soil exhaustion was constantly a threat.
2 Field System vs. 3 Field System - When the same thing is being planted on soil year after year, the nutrients decline greatly - Solution = Crop Rotation - Used to be the two-field system - One field was used for crops and the other wasn’t- Now, the three field system - Crops were planted in different times in different seasons, so only 2/3rds are being used at a time and then they rotate from one to another - Helps replenish nutrients
The Commons and Aristocratic Wealth: Critical in the commercialization of agricultureLarge landowners had the desire to increase the land to increase more crop use.“The Commons” in England
Commons’ Impact: Being taken over by the wealthy landowners, now available to be purchased, Critical piece of land for the peasantry & Only place they could bring their livestock to graze The commons were being taken over by these landowners who were making lots of money off of taking their land
Commoners' Loss: Unfortunately, many peasants lost their land and life, leading to increased poverty Shrunk the “common” land smaller and smaller Nobles came to these places, leading to resentment of urban merchant classes
Urbanization Issues: Problem of housing was very bad.