Wednesday, January 2, 2008
STUDY GUIDE FOR CHAPTER IN HALE BOOK
Please write a 500-word report on your assigned chapter in the Hale book. The point of this is to help all of you when studying for the exam in Oxford. You may share a book with others. In fact, you probably don't want to carry it with you to Oxford, since it's quite thick. Post your report to this blog.
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I've forgotten which Hale chapter I've been assigned... help?
Chapter 5 (pages 189-202)
The time immediately following the medieval period began a revitalization of the classics. The medieval period was basically a time in which the sciences, art, and literature were frozen in time. Not many people took the time to study those subjects and the writings of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle fell by the wayside. The beginning of the renaissance era began a period of enlightenment as people began studying the works and beginning to understand them as generations before had not. It is in this period of the renaissance in which people began to teach others about the secular human condition, such as grammar, history, poetry, and moral philosophy. “While the body was to be kept fit by exercise, lessons were to shape the pupil’s character and prepare him for a life of useful service” (194). This basically means that a person was not to live just a physically fit life, but also a mentally and morally fit life as well. This idea spread across Europe as schools were started in places such as Spain, Italy and other places throughout the continent. These schools were different from medieval schools in the way that medieval schools were meant to prepare boys to be merchants and to go on to university. At university, in medieval times, they would go on to study and become priests, lawyers and doctors. One of the major things that changed as the renaissance era began was the idea of the humanistic approach to teaching. There would be changes in syllabuses and the teaching methods in order to allow for this. They would also go on to teach not only the secular literature, but literature as it pertained to Christianity. A particular method in which the renaissance era changed teaching was in the teaching style itself. Medieval times restricted the emphasis of training to be on the mind without affecting the heart. The renaissance era also concentrated on the teachings of Christianity and condemned the teaching of pagan gods. “Humanist moral teaching emphasized the obligations of honourable individual conduct and the pursuit of the collective good in terms that contradicted neither the Ten Commandments nor the Sermon on the Mount” (198). This was also a time in which languages saw a reemergence. Latin, Hebrew and Greek fell out of use through the medieval period and scholars thought that by the grace of God that the languages were allowed to survive. It was also deemed that the Vatican obelisk, the obelisk being a symbol of paganism, could be exorcised of its pagan significance if the Catholics place a fragment of the true cross on top of it. The removal of pagan and other non-Christian teachings became a symbol of the renaissance era and allowed for Catholicism and other Christian teachings to rank supreme. The renaissance era also saw a great transformation as grand cathedrals and palaces were built in Rome and elsewhere throughout Europe. This could have been a way in which Catholics were to draw in attendance through the beauty of the cathedrals and palaces.
Chapter 3 (The Divisions of Europe)
The chapter begins with Philippe de Commines (advisor to Charles VIII of France on foreign affairs). It quotes him on talking about mutual hostility being the norm all over the world. He talks about how Europe is doomed to be effected by the hostility.
The chapter continues with stories of war between different European countries.
To sum up the end of the chapter. It is written about how all the wars in Europe have come together into one single war.
Chapter 3
The Divisions of Europe
This chapter is broken up into 3 parts; wars, creeds and ideals of Amity. Each section, though unique, are all interrelated by the conflicts within Europe during the Renaissance.
Wars
The chapter begins discussing Philippe de Commines, and Sir Philip Sydney. There are so many people during this period that reigned, fought and conquered. Most have been forgotten in time, except in books like this one. One important person was Emperor Charles V of the Netherlands who supported his son’s fight against the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. Emperor Charles V, as he saw it, took over the responsibilities of protection for Catholic Europe from the evil Protestants. The main actors in Europe at this time were: France (Catholic), Spain (Catholic), Italy (Catholic), Netherlands (Catholic), England (Protestant), Germany (they were under a religious revolution of their own with the rise of Martin Luther) and Venice (Catholic). There was a continuous shifting of alliances and territories, but the objective for most of the countries of Europe was to eradicate the Protestant faith and its ruler. However, everyone was suspicious of everyone else and there were conflicts between almost every country within Europe. At this time Ambassadors and diplomats became very important in international relations and treaty making. A monarch of a country would put their full faith in an Ambassador to represent their interest and desires (and some even acted as spies). Over time, the people of Europe began to be worn down by the tireless war mongering; and they began to move towards more peaceful ideas. Karel von Mander in 1604 reminded the artists of the time that “peace brings about livelihood, livelihood wealth, wealth pride, pride strife, strife war, war poverty, poverty humility, humility peace” (Hale, 98). The French noble men also began to conform to the idea that life was more than war and battles, but in farming, agriculture, literature and art. It is said that ‘gentlemen who were wont to addict themselves to wars are now grown good husbands, and well know how to improve their lands’, so people who were former knights began to take up the pen and hoe. However, while many people were turning pacifist, the leaders were not fighting for a genuine long-term peace settlements. While the artist of Europe called for peace, Ulrich von Hutten said that war was necessary in order to get youths out of the country and keep the population down. People of this time believed that war was necessary in order to gain anything in the long run. In the 1400’s the Christians of Europe were able to rally behind a common goal, the Turkish Empire.
Religion
This was the major problem within Europe at the time of the Renaissance. King Henry VIII turned against the Catholic Church after the Church refused to give him a divorce to his first wife Catherine of Aragon. He broke away from the Church and created his own, with him as the head of it. Thus the Protestant Reformation began and the Protestant religion was born. The change in religion was not so much a change in faith, but a change in structure. The many Catholic countries of Europe did not like this and allied themselves against Henry and vowed to end him. Thus also many of the reasons for the wars within Europe at the time were spawned. By breaking away from the Church Henry broke treaties, alliances, and other documents that bound him to other countries with Europe. Rome to Europe at the time was not just a religious centre, but also the centre of diplomacy. As the church was dealing with the dissention of King Henry, they also were fighting the new religious teachings of Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a German priest who would fund the Lutheran sect of Christianity. He disputed the teachings of the Pope and believed that the Bible was the most important guide to life and the Christian faith. He also preached that God was the only one who could offer forgiveness, mercy and entrance into heaven, which directly contradicted the ideals of the Catholic Church who used those things as tools to control people. During the renaissance there was much discussion and dissention within Europe about religion, because religion was the focus of most people’s lives. People had hard, short lives and basically their only refuge from their lives was that one day they could go to heaven.
(Another religious revolution going around at this time was the Calvinist idea)
Ideals of Amity (Ideals of Peace)
This is the same ideas as being discussed in the earlier paragraph about the people wanting to move towards a more peaceful and united Europe. The rulers of the time did not have an idea on the horrors and the human toll that war had, but slowly as money and moral of the armies began to shrink, the rulers began to find an end to their war mongering. While many of the wars among the European states were about religion, they also fought about another important thing: trade routes. In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed which declared that the line of latitude 46 and 37’ west of Greenwich as it ran round the globe, should define the hemispheres of Spanish and Portuguese settlement and conquest overseas. Also as previously stated in Creeds, the Catholic Church was the place where disagreeing countries went to arbitrate treaties and to get a fair decision when a problem arose, however with the protestant reformation this turned on its head. A startling fact, during the Turkish wars there were Papal pleas for peace, but was brushed aside by warring states. A treaty created during the time of the Renaissance called the Treaty of London was designed to settle permanently the problems in Europe and to cut back the emphasis on Europe’s Christian mission, of ridding Israel of the Turkish invaders. Today we have many supranational organizations used to maintain world peace, but did you know that this idea of a peace-keeping organization began in 1455 Italy with the organization through the Catholic Church called The Most Holy League. It stated that for 25 years the signers would respect their and their neighbors’ borders and would consult before taking military or diplomatic initiatives. While it seemed like there was tons of wars during the Renaissance, however there were many people and countries that tried to advocate for peace within Europe.
Chapter VI: Transmissions
The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
Bretanne Ostberg
‘Th’intertraffique of the minde’:
In 1494, Konrad Celtics, the first German laureate, urged his students to expand their horizons and to think new thoughts, “For they belonged not only to Germany, but to the commonwealth of letters”. At this time, personal attitudes toward leaning and self expression were growing. Similar attitudes were growing as well in France, England and the Netherlands. Although ideas were being broadened, some still faced repression. In 1508, Erasmus, the self proclaimed leader of a commonwealth that served as a support system for like minds, had his works banned in Catholic countries. Despite these bans, Erasmus’s ideas proved to be too intriguing to be kept quiet. Also at this time, it was very popular to travel abroad for the sake of education. Scholars from all over were crisscrossing Europe in search of greater knowledge. This practice of studying abroad created the habit of keeping in touch with foreign friends and teachers, thus spreading the new ideas and theories that were being learned. The new ideas and the new ways of learning spread quickly despite the fact that political and religious intolerance made this difficult. Some countries went so far as to ban leaving to study at foreign universities, but these laws were largely ignored. The ability to print books and reproduce the works of the masters made it possible for their word to travel far and wide, but this did not diminish the want to travel and personally study with the master himself.
Migrating Styles:
The phrase “International Gothic” best describes the events that were taking place in Europe at this time. This phrase describes the transmission of artistic ideas from one center to another. Much like the trend of traveling scholars, the visual artists of the time were invited to travel to foreign lands to share their works. Europe became a relatively sealed world of its own, and this exclusivity added eagerness to the migrations of styles within it. Some artists travel just for the sake of learning from foreign masters. Others were hired to travel abroad. The artists that traveled for knowledge were the ones who helped to move from the Gothic style to the styles more associated with the Renaissance.
Not to be left out, many musicians and composers followed suit and did a lot of traveling in order to learn and spread new ideas about music. Since composers and singers are not bound to their workshops, like many visual artists, it was much easier for them to travel, therefore making music the more popular art form of the time.
The Vagaries of Genius:
In spite of the influence of artists from the Netherlands from the early fifteenth century, Italy is traditionally seen as the country that best represents the cultural tone of the Renaissance in Europe. From the 1530s, the distinctiveness of Germanic art began to crumble. Political invigilation took away the freedom of interpretation from artists, which was the driving force behind the Germanic impulse to sculpt and paint.
Chapter VII: Civility
Study Guide by Ashley Thea Lueck
Starting in the medieval times, the three main castes in societies shifted. The three main castes were at the bottom laborers, then warriors, followed by clergymen. The laborers were differentiated based on activity and social status. The clerical caste became far less defined with the Reformation, and the warrior estate became blurred by marriages between “blood and wealth.” ‘Castes’ or ‘Estates’ changed, even if the people themselves did not contribute to it. This led to the Three Estates becoming formal and archaic. Out of this was born the Parliamentary concepts of Bishops, Lords, and Commoners. The modern term ‘estate’ came to be known as a person’s social position rather than which Estate he belonged to.
Whereas this attempted to section off society, the two-tiered separation of people as ‘civilized’ or ‘barbarian’ seems to better suit our contemporary society. Aristotle declared that, “just as some are by nature free, so there are by nature slaves, and for these latter the condition of slavery is both beneficial and just.” The term ‘Barbarian’ also changed meanings. Greeks and Romans used to refer to any outside their politico-cultural worlds as barbarians. It came to be known later as one who lacked discipline and tameness. Literacy and education (especially in the ‘liberal arts’) became very firmly associated with civility.
With developments in universities, hospitals, town halls, sewage, and water supply, ‘urbanity’ became strongly associated with civility. Civility came to also mean the taming of morals, education, manners, and politics. Things that are subversive and foolish are thought of as uncivilized. In the 14th century, the demand of manufactured goods led to the industrial base of Europe to broaden. Learning and commerce vanquished over Ignorance and Barbarism. A connection formed between commerce and ‘civility.’ In the mid 14th century, financial enterprise started to be known as a civilizing agent.
The Renaissance brought capitalists more so than capitalism. There were few very rich. Throughout the 16th Century, respect for holidays kept the working year at 265 days/year. War finance came to produce more opportunities in Italy, France, and Spain. It was very hard to tell who was and wasn’t noble at this time- as outward appearances/dress convinced others of social standings. There was an increase in mercantilism as a whole- although they were resented (especially if they were Jewish.) This is reflected in paintings of the era, especially Dürer’s. There were two classes of merchants- one class were seen as gentleman and the other were the commonality.
At this time large wealth could dissipate over only a few generations, it was an extremely volatile time. Learning, even more now became associated with social and political status. Ambition for self improvement led to increased competition for job opportunities. The result of this gain in education was the improved literacy of Europe. Half of Londoners were literate. If one was convicted of a crime they could claim ‘benefit of clergy’ and prove their knowledge/literacy in order to be granted a lighter sentence.
Cities became more prosperous and law-abiding; allowing people to be more carefree and dignified. Urban architecture and aristocratic houses came to be known as the ‘civilized’ way of life. Architects were thought of as very prominent and skillful, although architects had no formal apprenticeship or training. As far as the arts go, artists were concerned that they would be classified under the ‘mechanical’ category; they didn’t want their art to go unappreciated or underrated. Music, poetry and architecture were seen as embellishments to Europe’s political, religious and economic civility.
The pursuit of gain caused resentments and riffs in society. Utopian books were being written left and right. When More’s Utopia was published in the early 1500’s, his portrayal of a devout, organized and stable society was more of a warning than a goal that was supposed to make one rethink their morals/values. Things that were important to society at the time were ignored by society in Utopian books. For Utopians, to imagine an ideal society safe from dangers in the real world it was necessary to limit the role of learning, the arts, and literature to keep civility from becoming too civil for its own good.
Chapter 7: Civility
Chapter 7 Study Guide by Tim Norton
This Chapter is broken up into four sections: The Norms, Under Mercury, The Status of Learning and the Arts, and The Retreat to Utopia. Between the different sections, that main idea that connects them is two questions. What constitutes civility? The second being, what is the process in gaining civility?
The Norms
“To civilize, in the sense of extending the values of civility to those not irredeemably barbarous, was acceptable as a verb, but the process had not gone so far that civilization could be used of society as a whole” Civilization was not allowed to be included in Boswell’s fourth edition of his Dictionary, because being civility was more socially narrow only including those that are not barbarous; where as civilization included everyone, and not everyone was thought of as being included together in the same group as others of lower classes. The medieval view of European society was classified as the “model of the Three Estates”. Where, “the masses of the Third laboured for the Second Estates of warrior leaders who protected them, and for the clerical members of the First, who prayed on behalf of both.” This model became strained during the mid-fifteenth century because the proportion of well-off commoners grew with commercial prosperity, and the power of the government grew as well. The First estate of the clergy became less defined, by the reformation, and by their loss of the monopoly of teaching. An example of how divided the “Three Estates” were comes from an Augsburg ordinance in 1537 stating, “must wear clothing suitable to their station in order ‘to be recognized for whome he or she is’”. This “Three Estates” model was good in theory but did not reflect the true Christian society, so an older two-tier model became more widely used; the split in the two-tier model comes from whether one subscribed to “civility” or not. Not ever city lived under these different models, for example the Romans, “represented the art of observing the highest ethical standards while living usefully and enjoyably within a large community.” So not every culture was split and rigid when it came to classifying its’ citizens. The difference between the Christian views to citizen classification and the majority of other cultures is summed up nicely, “commonsense observation of contemporary power structures made it easier to see the point of the classical emphasis on cities as the models for what should be valued in human development even while the Christian bias continued to assert itself.” Not only Christian thoughts about classification was questionable in today’s standards, as Aristotle says, referenced to Matienzo’s remark in 1567 about the native of Peru, “nature has given stronger bodies and less understanding to those born to serve, while those who are free have less physical force and greater understanding.” Also it’s not like the servers for the upper classes were limited to a select few outcasts, eighty to ninety per cent of European mankind were peasants and urban labourers. Climbing up the ladder between the different classes was attainable, and merchants were a prime example. “By the mid-fifteenth century the merchants to whom we shall turn had become exemplary representatives of how civilized status could be attained by those who come neither from the First or Second Estates.” The question on whether or not you were considered civil didn’t come into question all that much unless you came from the European fringes and you were non-European. Those were the people that the test of civility was most generously applied to. Over-civilizing became a problem in the mid-fifteenth century, but being civil wasn’t/isn’t always better. A quote from Montaigne says, “I find Rome to have been most valiant when it was least learned”
Under Mercury
The growth of the European economy grew but it was the purchase and distribution of these raw good and materials and the economy was characterized. Merchants became more important that ever with the ever growing economy but with the growth of economy the importance to civility of financial enterprise became important and understood. Mercury (commerce) became one of the determining factors in whether a culture was considered, ‘civil’. Currency and trade also came to the forefront of problems needing resolution in respective countries. In the 1620’s, “governments remained locked in a quasi-Ptolomaic stage of economic theory: free trade was dangerous, a country’s wealth depended on the precious metal coins entering or circulating within it.” Mercantilism became a real idea during the later sixteenth century with the mercantilist notion that governments should regulate commerce and manufacturing in the interest of the national economy as a whole, simply put, “mercantilism both in theory and practice sharpened the attention paid to the processes of getting and spending.” Money was a big factor in which class you belonged. “Today it is no different in Nuremberg than elsewhere in the world: one who has money advances, while one who has nothing gets little in addition. People observe that one has nothing; they do not ask who one is.” The work that we know today was shaped throughout the sixteenth century, and the capitalistic ideals that we know began to spawn during that time. The mercantile community was very important to Europe. “Their skills were needed; they were a crucial part of the interconnectedness of Europe.” The lack of a middle class began to arise along with the trouble in defining the classes that were so notable years past. In the early fifteenth century people played multi-roles in society which led to a jumbled mess in the defining of classes, for example, the role “merchant” meant different things in different places. The loss of a middle class, ‘merchants’, came from three reasons, lose your family name over time, over-space (which means you are considered a merchant in Paris but not in Venice), and a lose of your fortune. “Under Mercury, to mingled admiration and alarm, Queen Money rode alongside Queen Europe.” Which simply means, under commerce, money flourished and became important in Europe.
The Status of Learning and the Arts
‘Fine arts’ was not considered a part of the evolution of man from barbarism to civility. Learning, intellectually, constituted reading, writing, and arithmetic, the basis of knowledge for a ‘civil’ man. Books became more readily available, with printing, cheaper books, and more of them. Also the establishment of the first copyright library in 1537 was set up by law in France, which made learning opportunities to those not noble more readily available. Schooling also became more important to attend and education became more important to acquire because most guilds would not accept an apprentice ‘unless he can write and read’. Competitive job opportunities pushed commoners to acquire a lot of self ambition to learn to read and write on their own to compete in the ever-growing job market. Visual arts became more interconnected in ‘intellectual’ learning with help from Vasari and his colleague who pressed for the idea of an art academy. Learning to draw began to be included in plans for becoming ‘intellectual’ while in schooling.
The Retreat to Utopia
“However tongue in cheek Utopias might be, however consciously Utopianists fed on their predecessors of willfully tuned their stringencies still higher, all saw the need for a drastic tinkering with the dangerous messiness of a civility flawed by historical accidents, conflicting beliefs and personal idiosyncrasies. The norms of civilization needed rewriting on a clean slate. Life was to be cheerful, active, healthy, egalitarian, co-operative – and invigilated.” Life was ruled by money. Under Mercury (commerce) civility was being corrupted. Getting back to a life without corruption and money ruling all was being sought but would not succeed. Civility was being challenged, and something needed to be done, but the way of life before commerce was not to be seen.
Chapter II "The Countries of Europe"
By Toni Hinsz
Chapter II is broken down into two sections Antipathies and Loyalties.
Antipathies
Travel became more frequent allowing people to learn more about those outside their country. Even though people were able to travel and learn more about those outside their country there was still many prejudices and stereotypes between the countries. Even the well educated men were struck by the stereotyping plague. Ulrich von Hutten in 1517 wrote 'I send you more salutations than there are thieves in Poland, heretics in Bohemia, boors in Switzerland...pimps in Spain, drunkards in Saxony , horlots in Bamberg, children of Sodom in Florence and so on.' People that obtained positions of being a leader and that should have remained flexible were also struck by the stereotyping flu at some point in their career.
Along with the stereotypes there were observations in how people greeted one another. Erasmus described the differences in the ways in which people bowed when they greeted one another.
Carlos Garcia, a Spanish writer of all work, wrote, 'the Spanish and French didn't get along because they were different in every possible way.' Garcia even went as far to write, 'that the differences are so distinct that he often wished that he had interviewed midwives in both countries to see if anything could be deduced from the ways in which the two nations' babies were delivered.' In 1574 Stefano Guazzo said, "But you must...think that every nation, and country, by the nature of the place, climate of the heaven, and the influence of the stars hath certain virtues and certain vices which are proper, natural, and perpetual." The antipathies between the countries led to violence in such ways as in 1517 in London’s May Day xenophobic riot which involved a two thousand strong mob assaulting foreigners and looting their shops. This extreme of violence was rare but continued to surface. The stereotypes didn't just relate to whole countries but to states of countries. In the 1570s Italy was generalized into distinct states which all were found to be very different. Travelers to Italy generalized what they found at each of the different states which included, "'Milan the Great', to 'Genoa the Proud', 'Florence the Fair', 'Bologna the Learned', 'Venice the Rich' and so on." These stereotypes were not just the case in Italy, but also in Germany's cities. Many people thought these stereotypes and antipathies were the cause increase travel between the east and west; with the west taking the blame for being the main producer of the stereotypes.
Many of the stereotypes persisted more than just a few years. In 1606 a French scholar, Joseph Scaliger wrote 'the Dutch are tall and slow. They wash the streets, but are dirty in their eating and drinking. Scaliger did admit there are some good people, and commended the fact the country people, men and women, and almost all the servant girls can read and write.' In 1496 an Italian description of England noted that whenever an Englishmen saw a handsome foreigner, they say, "he looks like an Englishmen," and that "it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishman." Almost a century later in 1598 the same comments were described as being present in England.
Loyalties
In a popular school textbook of 1542, the "Cosmographic Rudiments" of Johann Honter, the maps showed rivers, mountains, and major cities but no borders, and the place names were all in Latin which reflected the provinces of the Roman and Medieval worlds rather than a contemporary political survey. As early as 1492 people began realizing to unite as a country they needed to have a common mode of speech. Antonio de Nebrija presented the first grammar of the Spanish language to Queen Isabella because he thought language to be the "instrument of empire." Finding a common language was not just suggested to help unite a country, but in the case of England it was suggested for entrepreneurial reasons.
Even so becoming united was slow to evolve because people only worked together when they were forced to such as when other countries tried to invade. Also rulers had a hard time gaining the respect of their subjects. Rulers would marry foreigners for political support against their enemies or to add new territory to theirs and this caused their subjects to lose faith in their ruler.
Hale Essay Chapter 8
My chapter in the Hale book was chapter 8 entitled “Civility in Danger.” The chapter starts by discussing the changing definitions of civilization in the fifteenth century. Orderliness of civilization was becoming more important, as was the distinction between disciplined and irrational behavior. Undisciplined human nature, which included “violence, sexual license, and disrespect for religion” were what endangered the orderliness of civility. The most habitual threat was instinctive violence. The book goes on here to describe several occasions where acts of violence and murders occurred at taverns, during business dealings, and to avenge family wrongs, whether they were real wrongs or imagined. The book states that “it is reasonable to accept that most men passed through a phase in which violent behavior was taken for granted. In an English statute of 1563, it states that “until a man grow unto the age of twenty-four years he…is wild, without judgment and not of sufficient experience to govern himself.”
Beside violence, there was also a danger to public order that arose from man’s animalistic sexual urges. During the Elizabeth I times, there was a new alertness to the nature of sexuality itself due to scrutiny of morals by Catholic clergy and strenuous demands made by Protestantism on sexual content. One in seven locals was accused of adultery, incest, buggery, fornication, bigamy or bestiality.
Despite the sexual alertness, demand for literature with erotic content heightened. Changes in the technique of pictorial descriptions permitted artists to produce more sexual imagery. Leonardo da Vinci claimed that ‘the painter can even induce men to fall in love with a picture.’ Where to hang such pictures was a matter of serious concern to the early seventeenth-century author, Giulio Mancini. Mildly lavish ones, he concluded, should be put in rooms not usually visited by guests, and really erotic works in extremely private ones.
Sexual activity among the civilization lead to what most considered a problem, reproduction. Five percent of mothers died in childbirth and conception for those who were not well off was a problem. Abortion was widely practiced, but more commonly infants were left on the steps of charitable foundations. The strain reproduction put on marriage was usually high, and for this reason marriage was often postponed to ages twenty-three to twenty-five for women and twenty-eight to thirty for men. This postponement may have stabilized marriage, but the high percentage of moral problems raised by illicit sex and the publicity surrounding it was a definite cause of the postponement.
The effects on order by violence and sexuality were thought to be compounded by another aspect of human nature that caused alarm, which was man’s inclination to be idle. As the population of Europe rose, there were many years in which agricultural productivity and distribution were far from being able to keep pace. Food shortage effects were drastic, and population growth contributed to price inflation by increasing demand. To pay for wars, diplomacy, and courts governments increased taxes.
Fear for civility was contributed to many factors, and as Johann Agricola wrote in 1528, “each must do what is right and proper for one of his estate and order. If this is not done we shall become no better than beasts or irrational animals.”
Carissa Chase
Hale Study Guide Assignment
Hale Chapter 11: “The Countries of Europe”
“The people of Spain are vital and active.
The French we see as bold warriors.
The English are braggarts with false hearts.
The Italians [Lombardos] are cowards, the Germans thieves.” – Poem of Alexander (a poem of Spanish folklore, dating to the early 1500’s.)
At the time that I began working on reading Hale’s eleventh chapter, entitled “The Countries of Europe,” I had just returned from a three day long diversity conference. Within even the first few sentences of this chapter, I struck with awe. Perhaps I was naïve to have expected a factual and historical analysis of the many unique nations which constitute the continent of Europe, but this was in fact what I expected to uncover as I began reading Chapter 11. To my dismay, what I uncovered in Chapter 11 was an incredibly in-depth comparison and historical explanation of the cultural stereotypes which each European nation views its neighbors through… according to Hale at least.
This chapter outlined the historical development of various European stereotypes. For instance, Hale argues, that while in the 1530’s as numerous European professionals, “bohemians”, and artists had began to travel across the continent of Europe, economic and political rivalries began to emerge. At the very beginning of Chapter 11, Hale makes an interesting point as to why stereotypes exist. Mentioning the antipathies of Europe, Hale says, “… While those of one country came to learn more of those of others through increased travel and reading, there was a counter-tendency at work: to know was necessarily to like. Information opened minds; it also fed prejudices.”
With diligent veiling, I trudged forward until I had read the entirety of this chapter. It must be said however, that I felt highly compelled to disregard a good deal of the information presented in this chapter. While I do place tremendous value on learning about both the people and history of a culture before travel, I do not feel that it is necessary for one to read fifty pages on the prejudicial stereotypes which some, select members of that culture may believe. My thought is that one of the greatest aspects to travel is to encourage oneself to learn, accept, and begin to cherish the beautiful variety of cultures which our world beholds. By clinging on to prehistoric stereotypes, we are merely counteracting this acceptance of difference.
Chapter Three:
The Divisions of Europe
Europe was an unstable place to be in the Renaissance. European states were in a constant state of tension. Most rulers believed war was their inheritance, and sometimes their duty. War was thought of by many people as a way of getting rid of beggars and peasants, and a way to control populations. There were some exceptions, like Emperor Charles V for example, who wrote a long letter to his son Philip warning against war and offering advice to keep everyone happy and in check. In 1604, Karel Von Mander reminded artists about, “The common saying about the circular course of the world’s way: Peace brings livelihood, livelihood wealth, wealth pride, pride strife, strife war, war poverty, poverty humility, humility peace”. Political theorists thought in terms of militaristic ‘reasons of state’. In Machiavelli’s The Prince, written in 1513, he stressed the importance of being ready for war among other responsibilities of a ruler.
Works by English writers in the early 16th century could be considered an international peace movement. Diplomatic correspondence and peace treaties often showed men of affairs took notice in the writers’ works and made genuine attempts to find peace. Sadly, this movement didn’t last long, being hindered by wars in the late 1520’s that seem unstoppable. The initial effort of starting a war often created a momentum that made it equally hard to stop. An example is Spain’s war with the rebellious provinces in the Netherlands. It took 42 years for their first campaign to settle to a mere truce. These times of war, however, led to the development of the Democratic method. Strategic planning, the search for, maintenance of, and switching among alliances, and the contracting of large bodies of foreign mercenaries were all tasks that lent a helping hand.
The Protestant Reformation in the 1520’s brought about a huge change in religion across Europe. Christian beliefs were split in two at a time when every person believed he or she played a personal role in God’s divine plan. Iconic imagery was everywhere, and belief in a higher power was not questioned at all. A priest was seen as a middle man, used to communicate between God and man in times of despair. The Theologians argued about such things as predestination and personal immorality, a sign of the reformation in action. The attitude of some people toward the Catholic Church showed an acceptance of its beliefs, but a mockery of its personnel. In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the castle church door of Wittenburg in Saxony. Eventually, these theses were printed and circulated. He called for the reformation of the churches most sacred and holy doctrinal positions. For Luther, “God was moved to offer his grace, his forgiveness to a man born to sin only in response to the intensity of individual faith in his mercy. Man’s justification of a wish to be saved at the Day of Judgment was reliant on what he had offered God in his heart.” Towards 1500, mass panic spread because people believed that a year ending in two final zeros would bring about Judgment day.
Because of Luther’s new view of Christianity, the whole system sort of wasn’t needed. Apart from baptism and communion, everything else fell away. Priests were no longer needed as middle men and without them, the whole hierarchy from the Pope to the lowest friar was completely unnecessary. By 1555, Charles V accepted the fact that he couldn’t suppress Lutheranism in Germany by force and allowed independent cities and territorial princes to choose between Catholic and Lutheran.
Another try for peace came about in multi-international treaties. They were developed and designed to settle wars and also to maintain peace. Unfortunately, they lasted only for a short time. Europe was just too large and too angry for the treaties to last. A man named Maximilien de Bethune, Duc de Sully started a project to promote a peaceful Europe. The Government would be split into 15 units with fixed boundaries and separated religions. Each unit was to have a peace-keeping force that would operate in its own territory. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t work out, as one country after another became drawn into an international conflict. Europe during the Renaissance was a rocky place to be. Conflicts about religion and land were constantly happening, stunting Europe’s growth into a peaceful place.
Study Guide for The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
Epilogue: 'Our Age'
Renaissance period characterized by a great feeling of optimism by most people, some still pessimistic.
Literary wording contrasted ancient with modern, old with new – change was thought to be good.
Artists and scholars strive to match the great works of the old world (before the fall of Rome).
Renewed interest in several areas of study: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpting, architecture, music.
Considered pre-Renaissance era to be barbaric, uncivilized.
Used the words modern, rebirth to describe the enlightenment of the renaissance era.
Scholars felt that since they had learned from the best of the ancient thinkers, they could improve upon the knowledge of the ancient world.
Praised inventions such as artillery, printing press, improved ship design as evidence of the advancement of civilization. (allowed Magellan's voyage to circumnavigate the globe)
Furthermore, wheel clocks, gunpowder, etc would have amazed Greek and Romans of old world.
Others looked to events, rather than inventions, such as the Protestant Reformation as a sign of change/advancement.
History was divided into three time periods: 'ancient, medieval, and modern times'; before this there was no sense of a dark period that separated 15th/16th century Europe from the Greeks and Romans. This encouraged comparing and contrasting the various time periods as they became better refined and understood.
Better understanding of history caused many scholars to preserve knowledge of the Renaissance time period in order to teach later generations. There was a desire to 'leave a stamp on times that were new and passing'.
Chapter II “The Countries of Europe”
By: Emily Wallin
Chapter II is split into 2 parts
Antipathies
Through traveling and reading many started to many started to learn more about others. But “to know was not necessarily to like.” The information that opened the minds of so many also opened their minds to prejudices. Some national characteristics started to be stereotyped for different European countries. Ulrich von Hutten’s wrote about these stereotypes back in 1517. He wrote “the English and the Scots are proud, the Greeks cautious and subtle, the Italians wary, the French bold.” His map of stereotypes represented the cartography of insults he set forth in his writing.
In 1617 a remarkable work was published by the Spanish writer, Carlos Garcia. His piece was mostly written to urge closer rapprochement between France and Spain. The two greatest powers at that time were bound to dislike each other but the devil turned dislike into loathing. Farther into his book Garcia goes in depth about the way “people walk, hold their bodies, speak, and react to women.” Garcia got even more extreme in his idea of even asking “midwives to see if anything could be reduced from the ways in which the two nation’s babies were delivered.” Garcia went on to point out the intellectual stereotypes that linked to the Spanish and the French.
Garcia pointed out the stereotypes linked to posture and intellectuality, but there were many stereotypes pointed out by other philosophers. They explained that the reason why habitants of one country are so different from habitants of another country was mainly because of their geographical setting. Steffano Guazzo explained that there was no help for it. For it was by nature that these stereotypes came about. But he explained that “every nation, land and country, by the nature of the place, the climate of the heaven, and the influence of the stress hath certaine vertues and certaine vices which are proper, naturall, and perpetuall.”
The antipathies between different nations eventually brought violence and disruption of peace among the people. The Evil May Day in London during 1517 led to xenophobic riots that involved two thousand people assaulting foreigners and looting shops. The violence continued to surface against real or imagined offences. After all the fighting and prejudices there was a turn starting to take place. The increase in traffic across Europe among diplomats, merchants, scholars and artists led to a mutual understanding. But still in the 1570’s it was noted that characterizations of Italians were still very prominent. After many years of reformation Italy finally became an ally of England’s, France’s, and the Netherlands. But Italy wasn’t the alone in this world of stereotypes, Germany added in that they too had slogans differentiating characteristics of German cities. The stereotypes were seen as the result of interaction between the east and the west, with the west being blamed for being the prime producer of the stereotypes.
At the end of the first part of the chapter on antipathies it spoke of the stereotypes of the Dutch and how stereotypes persisted for many more years. But through these many years each country started to change, mainly because the stereotypes for once were becoming part of the people. Too many tried to weld loyalties and patriotic sentiments into nationhood, in the end they had to look to each country for their differences as being what makes them who they are.
Loyalties
“Foreigner” has a double meaning: it could refer to an alien from another country or an outsider from a surrounding town. Johann Honter wrote a popular geography textbook in 1542 that was revised many times. It contained a map that “showed rivers, mountains and major cities but no borders, and the place names were all in Latin, it reflected the provinces of the Roman and medieval worlds rather than a contemporary political survey.” The importance of speech quickly came about as early as 1492. It would bring coherence to a country. Within the next few years after 1492 many European countries started to find their form of language that best suited their country. Even though the European countries had different languages from one another they still paid dutiful homage form time to time to proceed with the idea of “the public weal.”
Even though many countries had started to evolve, many countries had set backs to the earlier days of harsh stereotypes. This was mainly caused by the fact that people didn’t work together like they should; there were too many assumptions about government’s functions that affected their lives, negatively. Rulers struggled to get the support of their subjects. The reason why rulers may have struggled to get support was because of restrictions on the ruler’s space and security of his subjects and vice versa for the subjects of the ruler. The attempts of unifying the divisions of Europe became more prominent and the need for obedience and income became a factor in if a country would become nationhood or not.
Epilogue: 'Our age'
This portion of the book just talks about how the renaissance was the start of everything new and good. It was looked at as a turning point in history. It was a time when such things as: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, were restored after almost becoming extinct.
It also elaborates on how most view the renaissance as starting in southern Europe, mainly Italy and Greece, and worked its way north over time. Although many northerners would argue that fact.
A quote, "What did the Greeks and Romans ever invent that can be compared with the printing press....Let us pass on to the compass and to the nautical chart...what glory is owed to him who taught the Portuguese to navigate to an unknown pole, from on horizon to another?...What invention so tremendous was ever imagined that cold match that of our artilleries?...What would the Greeks and Latins have said of the brilliant invention of wheel clocks that strike and show the hours in a perpetual round, as well as the motions of the planets? The telescope alone, with which you can see things fifteeen or twenty miles away as though they were right in front of you, and which discovers invisible stars in the sky, surpasses by far any Latin and Greek inventions that were discovered in the whole of their so-much celebrated course of years."
Many people would argue that none of those things would have been attainable if not for the start of the renaissance and a new way of thinking.
All in all it was an interesting chapter, alot of info with a lot of names, too many to memorize. But it just kind of gave a synopsis of the renaissance from beginning to end and it did it in seven pages.
Matt Johnson
European article project
Joining the European Union involves perks, expectations, and now skepticism. According to Newsweek reporter William Underhill, after joining the EU just over two years ago, Latvians have experienced a booming 13 percent in economic growth with foreign investment doubling, trade broadening, and employment opportunities multiplying. Yet, polls have shown that as EU members Latvians are leading critics. At an October 2007 summit in Brussels, Latvia reported economic benefits, but also “a public distaste for the EU” itself. How ironic? What might be the cause?
According to Nigel Farge, of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom, a similar phenomenon is in Slovenia, where people are saying, “We jumped out of the Soviet frying pan into the fire – an organization that wants just as much control over how we run our lives.” Essentially, these new EU countries do not see the benefits outweighing the burdens of EU expectations. Countries such as Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia are still on the lower end of the EU’s standard of living measurements. They have not experienced the “economic revolution” they expected with EU membership. However, revolutions rarely happen instantly.
Part of the disillusionment may also be caused by the fact that previous member states could be doing more to embrace their new economic partners. In wrangling over EU budget cuts, a message of unwelcome was sent when promised aid to new members was considered as one of the cutbacks. Another example is when the EU interpretations of eurozone rules disadvantaged new members. Being an EU member in name alone isn’t enough to constitute full membership. The citizens of new EU member countries are expecting as they should to be regarded as full members, but they see disconnects in policies that send mixed signals.
The question is: how will the EU avoid disillusioning future new members, if current new members are reacting in this way? According to “EU Politics Today”, the current EU candidate countries are Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and the long shot – Turkey. The founding EU member countries have a responsibility to consider the process of expanding EU membership.
Works Cited
Underhill, William. "New Europe: Eastern Disillusion."(October 16, 2007.) http://www.newsweek.com/id/52406/output/print (accessed March 1, 2008).
“EU Politics News By Country.” E.U. Politics Today. http://eupolitics.einnews.com/all_countries.php (accessed March 1, 2008).
Matt Johnson
Easter Break Tour
For Easter break I am proposing a trip to Wales. Wales is one of the four parts of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Collectively England, Scotland, and Wales constitute Great Britain, the largest of the British Isles. There are numerous sites to travel to including many abbeys, monasteries, castles, museums and other historic places to visit. Travel logistically would be rather simple because we would either be able to coach bus our way over, or we could take the train. Taxi is also an option for a small group.
The history of Wales is plagued with struggle. It is a tribute to the people of Wales who survived against generations of oppression. Struggle is reflected not only in its castle-dominated landscape and its surviving Celtic language, but also in its literary history. Created in a time when the flood of Germanic invaders from the continent threatened to destroy Christian Celtic civilization in Britain, its history continued through occupation of the Vikings, the invasion of the Normans, the oppression of the powerful Marcher Lords, and the ever-present power of the English people and the English language.
One of the distinctive features of Wales that makes it so appealing is that it is the home of castles. There are actually more castles in Wales than any other place else in the world. An excellent resource that includes a castle index, maps to the castles in Wales, and a link to important castle terminology is http://www.castlewales.com/ .
Wales has a variety of castles. Essentially a structure is categorized as a castle if it meets three basic criterions: function, structure, and time and place. For function, if a building were a castle it would have served as a fortress or garrison that protected the inhabitants. Often the castle was also the residence of a lord. For structure, as a castle it would have been built as a large and defensive shelter, often surrounded by a wall with a fighting platform and towers. For time and place, the structure is categorized as a castle if it was constructed in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods.
Beaumaris Castle, is the most sophisticated of all the castles built during the Renaissance age. It would have taken a genius to design the structure that keeps this castle intact to this day. This is undoubtedly the ultimate "concentric" castle, built with an almost geometric symmetry. Its high inner ring of defense is surrounded by an outer circuit of walls, which creates an impressive level of strength. Before the age of cannons, the attacker would have been faced with an impenetrable fortress. Yet, construction was never completed, and Beaumaris Castle saw little action apart from the Civil War in the 17th century.
Built for a wealthy family using Welsh slate and Jamaican sugar profits, Penrhyn Castle is a luxurious example of early 19th century neo-Norman architecture. Buried within its walls are an earlier castle and a medieval hall. Still buried within are Welsh princes, a pirate and an Archbishop.
Harlech Castle was created during King Edward I's second campaign in north Wales. It was part of an "iron ring" of castles intended to prevent the region from falling to insurrection and as a last stand of resistance. The castle's remarkable feature is the "Way from the Sea," a gated and fortified stairway dropping almost 200 ft down to the foot of the castle rock. Once this provided access to supplies from the sea, but the tide has since receded, leaving Harlech isolated upon the rock.
I would also suggest visiting the museums located throughout Wales. The link for information about these museums is http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/ . The National Museum Cardiff explores the natural history and early origins of Wales. Currently this museum is undergoing major refurbishments, but there are still several galleries open to the public. Another museum worth visiting is the National Waterfront Museum which connects Wales past to its future in technology and science. This museum is free to the public and appears to offer many interactive exhibits.
For the outdoor type, Wales has 750 miles of coastline, breathtaking landscapes and a vast countryside. There are three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokshire Coast.
Mount Snowdon in Wales is a famous location for tourists seeking beauty and professional climbers training. Winter skiing and snowboarding may be a possibility for those who enjoy these winter outdoor sports, but it is not a for sure that they will be available to us depending on weather conditions. Shopping as well is available, including numerous bars and pubs for those who are interested in the nightlife of this travel adventure. For an extensive list of attractions and accommodations see the Wales Tourist Guide website at http://www.walestouristguide.com/index.asp .
How to get around.
1 Euro = 1.52 U.S. dollars
Railroad ticket prices http://www.fairbournerailway.com/
Single Day Rovers
Family Ticket(2 adults and up to 3 children) £11.80 £18
Single Parent Family Ticket(1 adult and up to 3 children) £8.00 £12.50
ADULT £4.60 £7.20
SENIOR CITIZENS £4.00 £5.80
CHILD £2.70 £4
DOG Free Free
http://www.northwalesvehiclerental.com/hire.htm
The above site offers car, van, and minibus travel; the only issue is that 23 years of age is the minimum for driving the vehicles. Another thing to take into consideration that is that the amount of people going needs to be a suitable number compared to the amount of vehicle space that’s available. Some of the vehicles only seat up to three people.
So in conclusion, I believe that Wales not only could prove to be the most worthwhile Easter break trip since everyone can find something there that has entertaining value, but also this trip is rather inexpensive compared to leaving the island of Great Britain all together, which we will do on other occasions on the trip anyway.
Matt Kirchoff
Chapter 1
The Discovery of Europe
The Word and the Myth
The Map
The Parts and the Whole
Us and Them
In 1623 Francis Bacon first used the term Europeans. By doing so he assumed that we as readers already knew what or who Europeans were or are. During the years that the book places focus on, 1450-1620, was the time period where the phrase ‘Europe’ was used to describe a geographic area. In part to distinguish it from Africa and Asia, which were already common in maps and in writing. Hale says that during this time Europe’s identity was ‘emotional.’ An Us vs. Them mentality, Us being Christian believers and Them being the ‘Godless’ outsiders.
The locals who inhabited the area known as Europe had little knowledge of the outside world. In fact most could not even read, in order to find out about the outside world. The local people gained their knowledge of the world through myths, and stories, most likely handed down from generation to generation. Those responsible for generating these myths and legends were usually the clergymen associated with the Catholic Church.
In early 1471 astronomer Johannes Muller proclaimed modern day Nuremburg the ‘middle point of Europe.’ During this time period the English monarchy recognized ‘mans desire to fight,’ and to control more and more. What better way to conquer the local peoples who were different than to proclaim a Christian ‘holy war,’ against the ‘infidels.’ Sound familiar?
Englishman Sir John Smythe, a well traveled squire, referred to Europe as, the countries of Christendom of the East and the strange lands of the West. Beginning with the Turkish dominated Balkan area, whose capital was Constantinople, present day Istanbul. Many scholars during this time period expressed a certain ‘relief,’ when returning from the western regions of Europe. This through time developed into ‘normal’ in the east and ‘unusual’ in the west.
In 1439 a conference of Religious and Governmental leaders took place in Florence Italy. This was the first time that the striking differences between Catholic and Greek Orthodox based Christianity was realized and thus a division was born. In the early 16th century Russian propaganda was proclaiming that Moscow was the ‘Third Rome,’ and that the Tsar was the true leader and protector. This drew attention to the ‘weirdness’ of the Russian version of Orthodoxy. This brought about an abrupt change in European view as the movement of Greek Orthodox moved westward. This was in large part to the successful invasion of the western civilizations, specifically the take over of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire; Thus the beginning of the separation of Catholicism in the East and Greek Orthodoxy in the West.
Chapter 6(The American Revolution)
In the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous thinkers and writers,that is the intellectuals developed and expressed new ideas, which had a significant effect upon the modern world. These changes thought the foundation for the overthrow of the political and social institutions of a feud. The intellectuals were supported by the members of the privileged classes, the nobility, the higher clergy, the wealthy, basically the snooty people. The change of outlook brought about was so great that it could be regarded as an Intellectual Revolution. This revolution also grew owing to the encouragement given by the monarchs who ruled Europe during the 18th Century. Causes of the American Revolution
The Colonies enjoyed some form of political control which gave them the experience and the urge to fight for self-rule.
England did not bother to maintain good relationships with her colonies.
"No Taxation without Representation" was an important slogan.
The enterprising and independent population did not feel the need to depend on a mother country.
The most memorable cause to all of this, The Boston Tea Party for the intense hatred for all the colonists.Significance of the American Revolution
It gave emphasis to the idea of the ‘right to revolution’ and self-govern.
Poor classes were encouraged to fight against high rulers.
It started a whole new system of government and introduced a written constitution which became the framework and basis for the entire structure of the evolution of the country's government.
Chapter 10 pages (509-583) Emily Schubert
The Land:
- A curiosity was expressed by the investigative mood of the chorographers, and by the artists no longer content with careful studies of individual details, a Lilly, or a deer. It went deeper. For example Leonardo who wrote of the painter’s need to study the changes in atmospheric conditions
- This wanting to know was to reinforce the separateness of those who studied nature and those who simply lived in it.
- Along with the intellectual impulse to explore nature was the economically –based desire to exploit it.
- While gardeners turned eagerly to new botanical knowledge (and by doing so, further stimulated it) the notion grew towards the middle of the sixteenth century that a carefully designed garden represented a
- The three natures
o First nature- the wanting to know more of nature besides individual details
o Second nature- The man’s ability to tame natural nature by agriculture
o Third nature- as the design of gardens became a matter of fashion and pride nature was made to co-operate not just with man’s needs but with his idea of beauty; plans made for flower beds, and walks.
Two new stimuli produced the a new character the naturalist
- Pride in reveling ancient error and a zest for absorbing fresh information
From the mid-sixteenth century collections of rare, valuable or merely strange objects from the natural world became common throughout western and central Europe
The Body
- an understanding of the physiology of the human body an the consequential approach to diagnosing and curing its ailments was derived with little change from the medial knowledge of classical antiquity.
- Doctors high status at the time was not equal to their ability to heal
- Europeans where less vulnerable to their own infectious and contagious diseased than were the peoples they encountered overseas. Greatest alarm was plague (had a role in tautening the division between those who did and did not represent civility.
- The gap between medial knowledge and cure was hardly narrowed and this gap prolonged the vitality of the old remedies against the advances of the new medicine. When doctors were available they were expensive and their operations hurt.
The cosmos
- Throughout the sixteenth century, technological processes were improved by trial and error among craftsmen responding to market demand
- The sixteenth century was an essential prelude to the science of the Newtonian century that followed
- Astrologers if they got the complex planetary computations right it could explain past and present events and forecast those to come. And there were skeptics The gaps between learned prediction and mere fortune –telling between astrology and magic were embarrassingly small
- Recognized as true science = Copernicus, Munoz, Brahe, Kepler and Gailieo. While magic could investigate phenomena it could not demonstrate its findings
- Never had so many men looked down to wonder at the puzzles set by nature as they did from the bridge linking the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth century.
Chapter 1
THE WORD AND THE MYTH
Scholars in the middle ages knew they lived in Europe and the used this term to distinguish them from Africa and Asia. In as early as 1471 a scholar named Johannes Muller claimed that Nuremberg as the center of Europe. A conservative but traveled person, in the year 1590, named Sir John Smythe alternated between calling the western part of Europe and calling it Christendom. In 1588 the Spanish ambassador in London described Europe as the “sick man of Europe.” The most striking example of Europe’s shift from Christendom came in 1559 when a French scholar Louis Le Roy pleaded for the end of Christian rulers. Europe became the only continent with a name linked to a Greek myth, Europa. In the fourth century Lactantius tried to discredit the myth by saying Europa was just a name of a ship. Later Joves (from the myth) transformation into the bull was liked to God becoming man in order to carry souls. Whether Christianized, remythologized, or swept like a sugar plum, there was no question that Europeans thought of themselves as owing anything material to this Europa. The first map of Europe was in the shape of a woman’s body. Her head was the Iberian peninsula, France and Germany were her chest, Italy and Denmark were her arms and the rest of the countries forming her torso. Another way the nations of Europe are described is by masculine signs. Mars, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, and Taurs so the countries of Europe were now associated with strength, also being used were the toughest planets, and the most dominate continental queens.
THE MAP
Medieval maps of the world were not all the accurate. They were made with the idea that god created a world represented by a circle of lands whose center was Jerusalem. In the earliest sixteenth century, thanks to new mathematical interests, takes the world into new more accurate maps. These maps had a better understanding of the earth’s surface, and allowed Europeans to see the geographical space in which they lived. This allowed more map makers (both real and amateurs) to create maps for people. In 1597 the first complete national compilation of regional maps were completed by Christopher Saxton. People were now using these map makers to find property lines, and geographical boundaries. The people wanted to keep the other people out of their area. Now the big question was: was Moscow in Germany or in Europe?
THE PARTS AND THE WHOLE
Ortelius explained that he wanted to publish his map was for every European to see his or her own country. All this new map making had determined is that no country could stand to be only divided by a lake or a river. Mountains were there to be climbed and this allowed passage into different countries which no one wanted. This idea created Europe in to a catchphrase. Good maps, Bad maps and the in-between all changed how we were looking at maps at the time.
US AND THEM
Christendom still played a major part of Europe. All the different countries also had their own ideas of cleanness. Some countries were dirty on the outside and clean when you got into the people’s houses, while others were not so clean no matter where you went. This was the idea when you would travel to Asia. While on the other side, Africa, they had the problem of slavery. Their skin was a different color and this made it easy for the Europeans to pick them out of a crowd. This lead way to missionaries traveling between the colonies and trying to convert them to their religion. All of these factors lead to a new Europe.
Matt Johnson
Ch 8 from Hale Book
My chapter in the Hale book was titled Civility in Danger. The ability to keep the people in line and out of complete and desolate and unbearable human wasteland was the task at hand The amount of violence and uninhibited violence was rune muck. Tempers were short and those fuses that controlled them seemed to be twice as short. Rage was the thing that was keeping this sort of commune from keeping a somewhat orders some society, with murders being such a consistent and almost normalcy to that day. Keeping of weapons off of the streets was one of the key issues in to keeping the violence to a minimum, but there’s still no chance of stopping someone who is so unstable that they must run around choking others until things are seen in a different sort of light.
As well as all the cumbersome violence, there was also a danger to public order that arose from man’s renegade like pit’s against his own wit’s. Elizabeth I times, there was a new alertness to the nature of sexuality itself due to scrutiny of morals by Catholic clergy and strenuous demands made by Protestantism on sexual content. One in seven of the locals were going to be regularly accustomed to the accusations of adultery, incest, buggery, fornication, bigamy or bestiality.
Sexual promiscuity was considered a problem, since many of the elders were barbaric in what the had done to go about gaining one’s mean, didn’t that not account for what the children were taught, that rage and heartlessness to the feelings of others did not matter. Not to deny the fact that others (people) were just seen as another means to an end and not cherished as individuals with any sorts of differences, (besides for those in sexual reproductive ness) the lifestyle for all seemed to be freelance, and was literallyt destroying the population. Not only was this a time of complete desolation, but of that of great poverty which in fact was not benefical even for those who had the means, since the peasants who did the hard work, were in some terms slaves because of the wages and the hardships that they fell under when it came to royalties. For stealing you could either be beaten in public or possibly even head your head dismounted from the top of your body. The times were grim and animistic in nature themselves, permercuious behavior was normal and wars raged without end and sometimes without true necessity behind them, except in means of chivalry and building up ones empire of their religions, protestant, and or Catholicism. With all the wars going on it made it also difficult for the peasants to have means to get the work done, with this at the forefront it led to worse and worse producation and supply for the upper classes who pretty much started tocave in because their base had been pulled out from under them, and sincerely it was their own fault because the left their own people for dirt, not to say that it was not just discouraging times as well with illness and poor raising of the youth with entrusting right responsibility, but the fact remains that the ruling class failed to rule and keep even themselves inline, while catastrophies run rampant
Chapter 9
The Control of Man
Pages 464-508
The Disciplines of State and Church
This chapter seemed to skip around a lot to me. It hit many different concepts such as the population rise during this time, the gap between prices and wages, and the challenges to spiritual self-confidence. However, one concept was central to this chapter and that was the agitation and rebellion of the time. The majority of the rebellions were between the resentful have-nots and the defensive haves and the more you looked or listened throughout Europe for rebellion the more you found for it ran ramped. General causes for uprisings were living conditions and standards as well as religion, yet past these two causes there really was no general pattern to the chaos. You would find not-so-isolated circumstances of rebellion that just didn’t make sense, such as hunger riots being led by men who had never went hungry or even came close for that matter.
Also at this time Shakespeare had the theme right in his 1595 when Henry IV said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” For at that time there were many threats at the Royals of the age including Robert Deueraux Earl of Essex and once of Queen Elizabeth’s affections. You also saw a lot of change in that less of the army was patrolling the lands and more protecting their king or queen. This also dawned a time in which there were almost infinite numbers of spies employed by the crown that would listen for such rebellions or assassination attempts, report them, and the problem would then be dealt with by means of killing the person who had thoughts against the crown. In France in the 1570 a new word was even created, ‘Monarchomachi’ which meant “king-killer” which were people that wrote about or spoke of killing their ruler. Spain from this time up until 1614 led a campaign to kill all traitors to the king and/or Christ that was said to number a death toll of around 270,000.
As prices continued to soar and taxes were further increased these became benchmark indicators of social unfairness which triggered even more riots such as that of the southern Low Countries in 1579 in which the goal was to ‘seize the wealth of the rich.’
Churches and states began to team up more than ever to try and keep the countries religions monolithic. Germany became the first (but shortly followed) country to start censorship of newspapers by giving Bishops authorization to excommunicate and fine authors of works not approved before printing. In 1521 Charles V prohibited any of Martin Luther or Machiavelli’s works to be printed, as well as discouraged any protestant writings at all from being published and/or circulated. In 1564 Pope Alexander VI extended this further by creating the Tridentate Index which was a list of books that was forbidden for any Christian to read if they valued their body and soul. The next to meet the censorship ax was any paintings or even theatre productions. With timeless paintings or sculptures suddenly having their nudity covered up, painted over, destroyed, or put in storage. It is also interesting to note that at this time luxury cloth became available suddenly making people slaves to daring fashions that exposed breasts, used cod-pieces, and became symbols for status. The church and state even tried to limit this with the use of price control that was overall ineffective.
This time was overall marked by social unrest, political as well as religious limitations and perhaps persecution, rebellion but with no real desire or plan to change things just a longing for the past or for all men to be equal, censorship that lead to a wealthy black market and perhaps increasing popularity among ‘listed’ books that probably wouldn’t have earned a second glance had they not been forbidden, travesty upon works of art, and for the first time a real fear was instilled in the royalty as to what would really happen to them if their royalty was challenged and their ‘divine right’ proven to be nothing more than a false ideal that everyone had chosen to follow.
So Ashley Dressen and I had chapter 4, and she took the first half because this chapter was 43 pages long, so here is the second half of chapter 4 entitled "Goods And Men".
-The high point of large migrations to Europe and the Holy Lands were in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
-Very few people took touristic approaches to traveling. Most traveling was done for a pupose.
-In the late 1500's piracy in the Mediterranean led Venice to no longer ship goods to pilgrims that had migrated, thus leading to a lack of migrations during the latter part of the 16th century, and early 17th century.
-Durring the 16th century there was a mass migration of over 240,000 people to the Americas, most of which were Spaniards and men.
-Most of the body of the second part of the chapter was about how the Jews migrated to over 15 different locations, were exhiled from all of those locations, and then years after were allowed back into those countries. This all was within the 16th century.
-The Jews were looking for more opportunities, and less criticism in every place they looked. Their ability to learn and speak new languages easily was valued throughout europe, but their religious views through them out of the picture.
-During this time Europe's population was increasing. This increase stimulated trade, primarily with goods such as textiles, leather, food, wood, fuel, whale and seal oil, beers and wines. Also military weapons were shipped along with these goods.
-In the late 16th century, very exotic things were being traffic'd. In 1597 Thomas Platter recorded that he saw Rhubarb, medications, monkeys, other strange animals, oranges, and lemons coming off of a ship. All which were new and strange to europeans.
-In the late 16th century again was the great international trade fairs of late medieval commercial recovery gave the european economy a great boom, and attracted merchants from all over the world.
-Durring the 16th century, there was no system of passports, so there was no threat of being held out of a country. You could literally travel to wherever you wanted.
-In the early 17th century warfare had changed. But the wars, and religious barriers did not affect international traffic at all.
-By the end of the 16th, and early 17th centuries traveling was more for the the schollars and diplomats, and a "self-educative tour became more than ever a luxury for the privileged."
Chapter 6
Transmissions
This chapter is begins with introducing a German poet from 1492 named Konrad Celtis. He had given an opening lecture to the audience at the newly founded University of Ingolstadt, and “urged them to learn new things and think new thoughts, for they belonged not just to Germany, but, as he said, to ‘the commonwealth of letters.’” (Hale 282)
Throughout this chapter we are also introduced to several other important Europeans who have been great influences on the changes of arts, studies, universities, texts, and overall cultural change during the time of the renaissance.
Two other important members of this movement were Ferrer Bassa and Simone Martini. They both became familiar with the style of ‘International Gothic,’ which “implies the transmission of artistic ideas from one center to another.” (Hale, 294) Artists whose fame voyaged the diplomatic and clerical networks were given invites to the international gothic era.
By the fifteenth century, more of these artists became more and more visible to the public eye and more collections were being assembled. In laments terms, “Europe was drawing on itself.” (Hale, 295) There were influences coming from all over Europe, from Byzantine in Italy, Turkish advances, and Southern Spanish architecture.
Rodrigo Borgia, who later became Pope Alexander VI, brought Italian Fresco painters to work in the cathedral of Valencia in 1472.
However, many of these famous artists never even had to leave there home for their work to prosper. Artists like Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bellini, Caravaggio, and Jean Fouquet all stayed at home and let the foreign agents come to them.
In the early fifteenth century, it was Italy that had been traditionally seen as the representation of the cultural tone of Europe. There, scholars put the present day life in touch with the life of classical antiquity. Literature achievements in the arts were more intentionally seen as a re-emergence of long-buried talent. At that time, Europeans were very different of their medieval forefathers, but it even came to be posterity’s approbation for the creativity of Italian artists and thinkers that first grabbed on the Vasari’s reference to the rebirth of the arts, which then extended it to characterize Italian culture as a whole and finally applied the term “Renaissance” to a period of European history.
Much of the art that was erupting over Europe in this new Renaissance period was very religious based themes. Hans Baldung painted Mourning over the Dead Christ in 1513; Mathias Grunewald painted Crucifixion in 1515. ; Albrecht Durer created Four Holy Men in 1526, which many people think are four apostles; and Urban Gortschacher painted Christ shown to the People in 1508. However, many German churches banned arts that had to deal with religious politics, which lead to the partial downfall of the Renaissance age.
During this time, Shakespeare was also making his contribution to the age of Renaissance with his notorious plays that are still embraced today, like As You Like It, Julius Caesar, and the Comedy of Errors.
It was these as well as many other important people, events, and beliefs that took place over the years that lead to the rise and fall of the Renaissance and the arts and culture that it brought to Europe during it’s time. The Renaissance sparked the peak of national creative achievement
Chapter 9 - The Control of Man
The Disciplines of State and Church -
This first section was covered by Sam Rich very nicely. I will discuss it also but I'll focus more on the other two sections. The Disciplines of State and Church discusses the many measures a nation would take to keep society in check. Hundreds of riots and rebellions took place. Some because the shortage of food and the unfairness of treatment, many because of religious differences, and a few just for the sake of rebellion (hunger riots led by men who didn't go hungry.) Although most rebellions were shut down in their early stages by government soldiers, King Henry IV was not so lucky. Henry was stabbed to death by a religious freak. Because of this and other rebellions, many Kings and Queens lived in fear of being overthrown.
This section mainly focused on religious unrest, especially between the Catholics and the Protestants. When "the print" was invented many religious articles would be published, such as those by Luther. But because freedom of press wasn't a right back then, all of his stories (and others) were banned. Soon art would be censored and freedom to express oneself was being taken away. This had to do with the monarchy being affraid. What I found interesting was Hale makes a reference to the Ottoman Empire and how Europeans didn't understand how a society could live so freely and so happily under a man (Sultan) with all the power. This also has to do with religion. And later, the Ottoman Empire would be known as the "Sick Man of Europe."
Later in the section Hale writes of the outfits people would wear. The rich wore beautiful dress and extravigant outfits to make themselves look better than the poor (I like to think of them as a BMW driver today). Leonardo da Vinci would later make fun of these people saying the wind is their only enemy for it might move a hair out of place.
Communal and Self-Control
This section was short and discussed the learning of manners by society, it was entertaining. The Courtier was a book written by Castiglione and was considered to be an etiquette book. Many more books would derive from this, all discussing manners. Such manners as "the belch, the hawking up of phlegm, the noisy expulsion of intestinal gases," and "don't sneeze in other people's faces."
Holiday
This section first talked about prostitution. At first prostitution was accepted for they "immobilized roaming trouble makers for whole evenings at a time," or, they seemed to have kept criminals off the streets. Later, however, many people like Luther saw them to be unChristian and wrong. Prostitution places were called Brothels. Some were owned by pimps and were public while others were owned by the prostitute herself and had usually had the same customers over and over. The public brothels made more money. Eventually almost all nations banned brothels.
Next was the eating habits and diets of citizens. The poor commonly ate bread with thin vegetable soup. The average family would eat meat only 12 times out of the year. The more rich folk tended to have meat once a day but were viewed as having gluttony. However meat was hard to come by during this period. Livestock was hard to take care of and small in numbers. Fish needed to be fresh so it was only found in coastal cities. However, fishing rights were held to those with power, such as landlords. Eventually medieval feasts became more civilized in the late 16th century when forks, knives, table-cloths, and napkins were introduced.
The final part of this section was about the different festivities that went on at different times of the year. These festivities were for people to forget their troubles and "turn the world upside down" for only a few days. Celebrations such as Corpus Christi, St. John's Eve, or St. Bartholomew's Day. People of all kinds could come together and sing and dance like they normally could not. Men would dress as women and vice versa. People ran around wearing masks screaming at the top of their lungs. It seemed as if the rich and poor were all rich and could forget theiry worries.
Like Chris Svihla stated, we split chapter four into two parts and I took the first half. My half was titled, Traffic-borders and languages.
People traveling across European borders in proportion to population was popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For unknown or undocumented reasons, Europe's population increased from sixty million in 1500, to about eighty million in 1600. Also during that stretch of time:
-Germany increased from twelve to sixteen million
-France increased from sixteen to over nineteen million
-England and Southern Italy may have doubled in population.
The economy during all of these population increases by 1500, had spread into undesirable swampy, badly soiled, mountainous regions. This mkoved all the goods and marketing into small restricted areas making job oppertunities rare.
Cities, including Lisbon, Seville, Venice, Nuremberg, Paris, Lyon, and Antwerp complained that labor, both foreign and native was wrecking welfare services that dealt with their own problems such as:
-the elderly
-mentally unstable
-unwanted babies
-unemployed(p.144)
The increasing population and the need for work created movements from one country to another. Governments were short staffed so they couldn't effectively interfere with men crossing borders. Merchants, and other travelers with good intentions had to deal with some inconvenience but in return they were allowed to stay in towns with good inns and horses for transportation use. (p.144)
Passports given to the men crossing borders had several descriptions on them including: the name of the traveling party, number of horses, amount of currency being carried, and in times of war or tension there was a time limit set on the trip and a list of countries one could not enter. (p.145)
Thomas Platter, a student, and his friends who were all Protestant traveled into Catholic territories with fake passports and they paid officials to let them pass. A travel guide in 1610 states that it was easy passing through customs with the right bribe. The staff of corrupt officials at the borders caused undesired immigration into the cities which eventually pushed some of them to be bordered with walls that would close at dusk. Once the gates were closed, not even a resident could get back in which moved some of the best inns and monasteries outside of the cities(p.145). Innkeepers then had to send in reports on the guests staying, to the authorities. Other people kept track of immigrants coming and going and these "informants" were chosen if they had a knowledgable reputation. Many of the chosen were: literate artisans, diplomatic agents, students, musicians, and men with letters(p.146).
The process fo traveling had not changed much since the middle ages even with the introduction of the map. The map may have made trips more clear but roads that couldn't be traveled were not always updated. Once a route was established there were basically two ways to travel, by horse or foot. One day on horse averaged fifty to seventy kilometers of distance. Rivers were sometimes used because they were convenient for boats to travel downstream but once the destination was reached, the boats had to be destroyed or sold because it was too hard for them to return upstream (p.147).
The population increase and travel soon created crime on the major streets being used. During the sixteenth century, escorts were hired or people waited to form groups (p.148).
There are no records of women traveling because they were required to stay at home and manage the household. The only form of travel in which women participated was those who were either gypsies or army camp followers (p.148).
Foreign communities began to grow and new ones were born. The increased travel across the western and north-western European seaboards as well as across oceans. What once was thought of as the edge of the world, through discovering the Indies, was switched to be described as the middle of the Earth (p.150). Members of foreign communities tended to keep to themselves, with the exception of those who were wealthy or those who had connections with the locals (p.152).
With merchants coming into towns and people being required to coexist with multiple religions, language became the next barrier. The seperation of language brings on the seperation of habits and culture. The most prestigious language of Europe at the time of all of this was Latin. Latin was the language scholars used to communicate their expertise (p.152). However, the value of written Latin and its practicality for everyday use and communication became very different with passing decades(p.152). Rarely, diplomats used Latin to communicate with their governments because it was a confusing language to negotiate with and there were many local ways of pronouncing it which skewed meanings(p.154).
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