Europe, 15 -18 Centuries: Th Th

Europe, th th 15 -18 centuries A social, economical, political, scientific and religious picture.

Index 1. 2. 3. 4.

Society in Modern Times Europe Economy Political situation Scientific Revolution of the 17th century 5. Religious climate: the Protestant Reformation and the division of the Christian World

1. Society in Modern Times Europe

a. Terms and vocabulary b. Main characteristics: the States of the Realm c. Different groups: Aristocracy, Clergy and Peasants d. The old institutions remain: guilds e. The growing of the bourgeoisie

a. Terms and vocabulary • Aristocracy: are people considered to be in the highest social class in society, who traditionally have land, money, and power. They are often members of a hereditary nobility.

• Estates of the Realm: were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners recognized in the Middle Ages and later. • Peasant: is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground.

• Privilege: is a special entitlement or immunity granted by a government or other authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. • The privileged social groups were the aristocracy and the clergy

b. Main characteristics: the States of the Realm • Hierarchical society characterized by: – aristocratic elites with inherited legal privileges; – established churches closely associated with the state and the aristocracy; – urban labor force usually organized into guilds; – rural peasantry subject to high taxes and feudal dues. • Tradition, Hierarchy, Privilege, Corporate feeling

c. Different groups: Aristocracy • 1–5 % of population • most social, political, economic power • wealth based on land • manual labor considered beneath them • interest in economic growth, innovation (like commercial classes)

Different groups: Peasants • lives of economic and social dependency, exploitation, vulnerability • all household members worked; work products went to family, not individual • farming major occupation, but rarely adequate— one or more family members might work elsewhere and send wages home

d. The old institutions remain: guilds • Guilds: – The guild was at the centre of European handicraft organization into the sixteenth century. – The guilds also maintained funds in order to support infirm or elderly members, as well as widows and orphans of guild members

e. The growing of the bourgeoisie • They were a part of the merchant classes of European feudalism • Their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those whose power came from being born into an aristocratic family of land owners. • The bourgeoisie emerged from late feudal and early modern towns, through the control of long distance trade and petty manufacture.

2. Economy • Mercantilism: economic theory that holds that the prosperity of a nation is dependent upon its supply of capital. • Mercantilism suggests that the ruling government should advance these goals by playing a protectionist role in the economy; by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, notably through the use of tariffs and subsidies.

• Mercantilist ideas were the dominant economic ideology of all of Europe in the early modern period

Mercantilism helped create trade patterns such as the triangular trade in the North Atlantic, in which raw materials were imported to the metropolis and then processed and redistributed to other colonies.

3. Political situation

4.

Scientific Revolution of the 17th century

From mid 16th to the beginning of the 18th Century, a revolution in science would challenge how Europeans perceived themselves and the universe Isaac Newton formulated his Three Laws of Motion William Harvey – his human blood circulation discoveries challenged the accepted belief that the heart worked by divine intervention

 The 17th Century saw a rise in systematic skepticism, experimentalism, and reasoning based on observed facts and mathematical laws  Francis Bacon – direct observation was essential to ascertain truth  Rene Descartes – applied mathematical methods and reasoning to philosophy

e. Religious climate: the Protestant Reformation and the division of the Christian World

• The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.

Why? • Many western Catholics were troubled by what they saw as false doctrines and malpractices within the church: • the teaching and sale of indulgences. • the practice of buying and selling church positions (simony) • considerable corruption within the church's hierarchy. This corruption was seen by many at the time as systemic, even reaching the position of the Pope.

Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses • were points for debate that criticized the church and the Pope. • The most controversial points were focused on the practice of selling indulgences and the church's policy on purgatory.

The expansion of the Reformation

• Calvinism (Switzerland) • Anglicanism (UK)

Wars in Europe since 1540

The Counter-Reformation • denotes the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648. • The way the Catholic Church tried to find bridges with the new Protestants. • It failed ant it built an even closer Church. • This meant the broke of the Christian World.