The Transformation of the West 1450 - 1750

Chapter 16

A New Era

• 1450-1750 = Early Modern Period

• Science important• More secular, less

religious• Nation-states begin to

evolve

• Sequence of developments:

1. Renaissance2. Protestant Reformation3. absolute monarchy4. Enlightenment

Renaissance• Challenged medieval

values & styles• Largely an artistic

movement• Began in Italy• New ideas of political

organization• More commercialized

economy• 2 phases: southern &

northern

• 15th century Italians in the Renaissance:

• Michelangelo• Leonardo da Vinci• Raphael• Donatello• Niccolo Machiavelli:

THE PRINCE

Da Vinci

Michelangelo

Raphael

Humanism & Change

• Humanism: focus on humanity as center of intellectual & artistic endeavors

• Northern humanists focused more on religion than southern (Italian) humanists

• Merchants improved banking techniques

• Became more capitalist• Experimented with new

political forms & functions

• Exchange of ambassadors & diplomacy between city-states

New Tools, Practices

• Gutenberg invented movable type (in the west)

• German • “Gutenberg Bibles”• Spread ideas of the

Reformation and scientific discovery

• Agriculture:• New technology• Better stock-breeding

methods• Higher production• Rapidly growing

population

European Population Density, c. 1600

Family

• Nuclear families• Late marriage ages• Age of marriage

determined by access to real property

• By 1500s, most Europeans married at age 28-29

• Freer movement, greater interaction for young children came from ideas of the Enlightenment

Protestant Reformation• Martin Luther, German

priest• Protested sale of

indulgences• Salvation through faith• Bibles in local languages

necessary• Against required celibacy

• Support by German princes increased independence from control by the emperor

• Could control local churches

• Could seize church lands• Common people

supported Lutheranism• Sanctioned money-

making (Catholicism did not)

New Protestant Churches

• Henry VIII – English monarch

• Established Anglican church

• Religious/political turmoil for/by his children

• Created new colonies in the Americas for religious freedom

• Jean (John) Calvin – predestination

• Wanted participation of all believers in church administration = wider access to government

Western Europe in the Renaissance and Reformation

Aftermath of Reformation

• Catholic Reformation• Jesuits = new religious

order

• Edict of Nantes = France 1598

• Granted tolerance to Protestants

• Helped end French civil wars of religion

• Wars helped gain acceptance of the idea of religious pluralism

War

• Thirty Years War• Reduced German power

& prosperity & population

• Political independence in the Protestant Netherlands

• Territorial toleration established

• Spain lost power after religious wars

Commercial Revolution• More imports of

American bullion• Formation of great

trading companies• Growing manufacturing,

especially household production of textiles & metal products (by rural workers, besides farming)

• Higher prices/inflation• New goods on the market

• Average western peasant or artisan owned about 5 times more “things” than easterners

• Produced a group without access to producing property: proletariat

Science

• Copernicus: used observation & calculation to determine order of the universe, different from Hellenistic theory

• Harvey: circular movement of blood

• Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica

• Deists: possibility of god, but set natural laws in motion & left it

Rulers, Government

• Absolute monarchy:• Had a pro army• Stopped parliamentary

governments; used councils for advice

• Growing bureaucracy• Constant warfare

among monarchs• Louis XIV of France• Also in Prussia

• Britain did not follow absolute monarchy (though king had power through divine right) & kept Parliament

• Frederick the Great of Prussia: enlightened despotism

Europe under Absolute Monarchy, 1715

Merchantilism

• Mercantilism: government should promote the internal economy to improve tax revenues & should limit imports

New Ideas in the 18th Century• Enlightenment: new

intellectual movement of 18th century

• Caused by Scientific Revolution (caused by Renaissance)

• Focus on improvements in material, social life

• Religious toleration• Humans are naturally good,

could be better• Humans behave by natural

laws, based on reason• Humans do not respond to

control

• Adam Smith: advocated that governments should avoid regulation in favor of the operation of individual initiative and market forces