THE LATE RENAISSANCE: THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

24 March 2010

OUTLINE

Atmosphere of Anxiety

Christian Humanism Erasmus Thomas More

Reformation Martin Luther

95 theses Huldrych Zwingli John Calvin Anabaptists

Council of Trent Counter-Reformation

reform Council of Trent

decrees

ATMOSPHERE OF ANXIETY

Apocalyptic Fears Search for comfort and meaning

Internal Corruption weakens Church sale of indulgences overemphasis on relics Nepotism Simony lack of professionalism

Urban, middle-class desire for more meaningful religious experience

Albrecht Durer, The Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513)

ATMOSPHERE OF ANXIETY Signs of religious crisis:

Pilgrimages Shrines built Prayer books in vernacular Private ritual for healing and salvation

Scandals and abuse of authority Basel, Switzerland 1510 Primacy of behavior over spiritual intentions Confession Indulgences

CHRISTIAN HUMANISM

Emphasis on classical learning and Christian piety

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) Reform through education Emphasis on charity and

good works—not ceremony Modesty, humility, poverty

are true Christian virtues Translation of New Testament

from the original Greek—why?

CHRISTIAN HUMANISM Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

Utopia (1516) “no place” “best place” “They despise and laugh at auguries, and the

other vain and superstitious ways of divination, so much observed among other nations; but have great reverence for such miracles as cannot flow from any of the powers of nature, and look on them as effects and indications of the presence of the Supreme Being, of which they say many instances have occurred among them; and that sometimes their public prayers, which upon great and dangerous occasions they have solemnly put up to God, with assured confidence of being heard, have been answered in a miraculous manner.

They think the contemplating God in His works, and the adoring Him for them, is a very acceptable piece of worship to Him.”

From OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS

Sir Thomas More

MARTIN LUTHER Martin Luther (1483-1546)

middle-class pursued the law until early adulthood Religious awakening

As Augustinian monk he faced religious crisis Anger with a punishing God Primacy of faith

Frustrated by sale of indulgences Johann Tetzel Funding programs

Did not intend public reform; sought theological debate

MARTIN LUTHER’S “95 THESES” 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said,

"Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.

4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.

MARTIN LUTHER’S “95 THESES”

18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow in love.

19. Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be entirely certain of it.

20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the words "plenary remission of all penalties," does not actually mean "all penalties," but only those imposed by himself.

24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.

MARTIN LUTHER’S “95 THESES” 41. Papal indulgences must be preached with

caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love.

42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.

43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.

44. Because love grows by works of love, man thereby becomes better. Man does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is merely freed from penalties.

45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God's wrath.

HULDRYCH ZWINGLI, 1484-1531

Influenced by Christian Humanism

1520 declared self reformer: criticized Church practices

Centered in Zurich sought theocracy Eucharistic differences with

Luther: actual body of Christ or symbolically present?

OTHER REFORMERS

John Calvin, 1509-1564 Key reform: predestination

Who is saved versus who is not? Gains widespread following

France, Netherlands, England

Anabaptists Reject notion of infant baptism—

why? Middle and lower-class movement Pacifists Persecuted early on

develops into Mennonite movement in northwest Europe

Henry VIII’s “Great Matter”

Henry VIII marries Catherine of Aragon, 11 June 1509

By 1527, Henry VIII wants divorce Why?

In love with Anne Boleyn Needed male heir Sin of incest

Catherine of Aragon

The “Great Matter”

Fails to secure papal dispensation for divorce Julius II annulled Catherine’s

first marriage Clement VII won’t annul

another one. Henry appoints

Protestants to key political/religious positions They push legislation to

break London from Rome’s control.

Everyone must take Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry’s new role

Marries Anne Boleyn late 1532 19 May 1536

COUNCIL OF TRENT, 1545-1563 Catholic response to

Reformation Emphasized sacraments,

salvation, and Biblical canon Standardized the practice of

mass Eliminated local variations

Reaffirmed Catholic traditions

Reaffirmed doctrine of transubstantiation

COUNCIL OF TRENT’S “DECREES” DECREE ON REFORMATION. CHAPTER I.

Cardinals and all Prelates of the churches shall be content with modest furniture and a frugal table: they shall not enrich their relatives or domestics out of the property of the Church.

It is to be wished, that those who undertake the office of a bishop should understand what their portion is; and comprehend that they are called, not to their own convenience, not to riches or luxury, but to labours and cares for the glory of God. For it is not to be doubted, that the rest of the faithful also will be more easily excited to religion and innocence, if they shall see those who are set over them, not fixing their thoughts on the things of this world, but on the salvation of souls, and on their heavenly country…as that others may thence be able to derive examples of frugality, modesty, continency, and of that holy humility which so much recommends us to God.

COUNCIL OF TRENT’S “DECREES” CHAPTER III.

The sword of excommunication is not to be rashly used: when an execution can be made on property or person, censures are to be abstained from: the civil magistrates shall not interfere herein.

Although the sword of excommunication is the very sinews of ecclesiastical discipline, and very salutary for keeping the people in their duty, yet it is to be used with sobriety and great circumspection; seeing that experience teaches, that if it be rashly or for slight causes wielded, it is more despised than feared, and produces ruin rather than safety.

COUNCIL OF TRENT’S “DECREES”

DECREE CONCERNING INDULGENCES. Whereas the power of conferring Indulgences was

granted by Christ to the Church; and she has, even in the most ancient times, used the said power, delivered unto her of God; the sacred holy Synod teaches, and enjoins, that the use of Indulgences, for the Christian people most salutary, and approved of by the authority of sacred Councils, is to be retained in the Church; and It condemns with anathema those who either assert, that they are useless; or who deny that there is in the Church the power of granting them. In granting them, however, It desires that, in accordance with the ancient and approved custom in the Church, moderation be observed; that, after having been reviewed by the opinions of the other bishops also, they may forthwith be referred to the Sovereign Roman Pontiff, by whose authority and prudence that which may be expedient for the universal Church will be ordained;

EUROPE AFTER THE REFORMATION

SUMMARY Reformation politics and wars split Europe between

Protestant (mainly Lutheran and Calvin) in the north and Catholic in the south (Mediterranean and France, some of southern Germany)

The 30 Years War (1618-1648) upset the balance of power in Europe shifted continental dominance to France, England, and the

Dutch Republic and away from Spain and Hapsburg Austria Thinkers began positing nonreligious theories of

political authority and scientific explanations for natural phenomena

The wars of religion spilled over into the realm of international politics and efforts to capture new means of trade and a whole new population of converts in the New World

RENAISSANCE EUROPE & THE CREATION OF A COLONIAL WORLD: THE MOVE FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

Part II:

OUTLINE Exploration and

Expansion Connecting Europe

to the world Portuguese Spanish

Columbus Spanish and the

Americas End of American

Empires: Aztecs and Incas

Europe, 1320

Europe, 1500

CROSSING THE SEAS: EXPLORATION

The exploration for new trade routes expands European contacts and “world history” Europe is largely disconnected from the rest of the world

▪ Dates back to fall of Roman Empire Continuation of commercial, religious and political

expansion inside Europe taking place since at least 1,000 C.E.

Trade and manufacturing had increased wealth among Europeans, leading to interest in expansion overseas

zealous religious sentiments (Crusades) reinforced (but sometimes conflicted) with economic reasons for expansion

Ottoman control in the East forces Europe to look for new options▪ Lack of cultural unity also causes a deadlock in European trade

Early Voyages

PORTUGUESE VOYAGES Portuguese explorers built on the efforts of

Mediterranean trade exploration

Portugal has history of Atlantic fishing and anti-Muslim sentiment

After 1415 capture of Moroccan coastline Portuguese head down coasts of east and west Africa in the search for wealth in gold

Henry relied on church religious societies to help defray the cost in exchange for the right to promote Christianity in newly discovered lands

Such participation of church – and later private – interests accelerated the process of exploration

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)

encouraged exploration, funding

technology and voyages

SPANISH VOYAGES

Christopher Columbus

Believed he could reach East Asian trading ports, esp. Japanese, by heading west instead of east

In 1492, Columbus convinced the king and queen of Spain to allow him to test his theory

SPANISH VOYAGES

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Spain would build large

colonial empires in the Americas

The Portuguese would continue to explore

THE AMERICAS AND THE SPANISH

The first Native Americans that Columbus encountered were the Arawak.

Spanish Colonial “Method”: Establish contact Settle disputes by force and

exploit Run colony/settlement

according to Spanish custom and law

“They brought us barrels of cotton thread and parrots and other little things which it would be tedious to list, and exchanged everything for whatever we offered them... I kept my eyes open and tried to find out if there was any gold, and I saw that some of them had a little piece hanging from a hole in their nose. I gathered from their signs that if one goes south, or around the south side of the island, there is a king with great jars full of it, enormous amounts. I tried to persuade them to go there, but I saw that the idea was not to their liking... They would make fine servants... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” --Columbus

THE AMERICAS AND THE SPANISH

The Spanish established a vast territorial empire in the Americas

Long isolation made Native Americans vulnerable

The Spanish used much of their tactics developed during the Reconquista as a model for conquest in the New World

CORTES AND THE AZTECS; PIZARRO AND THE INCAS

Cortes launched an assault on the Aztec Empire and imprisoned the Aztec leader – Mocetezuma

Pizarro kidnapped the Inca Emperor and had him killed

CORTES DESCRIBES THE NEW WORLD, 1520

This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets and other places for buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. There are also exposed for sale wrought and unwrought stone, bricks burnt and unburnt, timber hewn and unhewn, of different sorts. There is a street for game, where every variety of birds in the country are sold, as fowls, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, widgeons, turtledoves, pigeons, reed-birds, parrots, sparrows, eagles, hawks, owls, and kestrels; they sell likewise the skins of some birds of prey, with their feathers, head, beak, and claws. There are also sold rabbits, hares, deer, and little dogs [i.e., the chihuahua], which are raised for eating. There is also an herb street, where may be obtained all sorts of roots and medicinal herbs that the country affords. There are apothecaries' shops, where prepared medicines, liquids, ointments, and plasters are sold; barbers' shops, where they wash and shave the head; and restaurateurs, that furnish food and drink at a certain price. There is also a class of men like those called in Castile porters, for carrying burdens. Wood and coal are seen in abundance, and braziers of earthenware for burning coals; mats of various kinds for beds, others of a lighter sort for seats, and for halls and bedrooms.

CHRONICLES OF THE INCAS, 1540

It is told for a fact of the rulers of this kingdom that in the days of their rule they had their representatives in the capitals of all the provinces, for in all these places there were larger and finer lodgings than in most of the other cities of this great kingdom, and many storehouses. They served as the head of the provinces or regions, and from every so many leagues around the tributes were brought to one of these capitals, and from so many others, to another. This was so well-organized that there was not a village that did not know where it was to send its tribute. In all these capitals the Incas had temples of the Sun, mints, and many silversmiths who did nothing but work rich pieces of gold or fair vessels of silver; large garrisons were stationed there, and a steward who was in command of them all, to whom an accounting of everything that was brought in was made, and who, in turn, had to give one of all that was issued. ...The tribute paid by each of these provinces, whether gold, silver, clothing, arms and all else they gave, was entered in the accounts of those who kept the quipus and did everything ordered by the governor in the matter of finding the soldiers or supplying whomever the Inca ordered, or making delivery to Cuzco; but when they came from the city of Cuzco to go over the accounts, or they were ordered to go to Cuzco to give an accounting, the accountants themselves gave it by the quipus, or went to give it where there could be no fraud, but everything had to come out right. Few years went by in which an accounting was not made....

THE COLUMBIAN “EXCHANGE”

Isolation of Amerindian people left them vulnerable to European diseases The African slave trade brought even more foreign

diseases, as did the transfer of Old World plants and animals

STATE AND CHURCH

The Council of the Indies was set up to be the supreme governing body of Spain's colonies in America (1524–1834).

The Church concentrated on conversion in the

earliest periods

STATE AND CHURCH: CORTES

Three halls are in this grand temple, which contain the principal idols; these are of wonderful extent and height, and admirable workmanship, adorned with figures sculptured in stone and wood; leading from the halls are chapels with very small doors, to which the light is not admitted, nor are any persons except the priests, and not all of them. In these chapels are the images of idols, although, as I have before said, many of them are also found on the outside; the principal ones, in which the people have greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from their pedestals, and cast them down the steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which they had stood, as they were all polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the place of these I put images of Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in Moctezuma and the inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known throughout the country, the people would rise against me; for they believed that their idols bestowed on them all temporal good, and if they permitted them to be ill-treated, they would be angry and without their gifts, and by this means the people would be deprived of the fruits of the earth and perish with famine. I answered, through the interpreters, that they were deceived in expecting any favors from idols, the work of their own hands, formed of unclean things; and that they must learn there was but one God, the universal Lord of all, who had created the heavens and earth, and all things else, and had made them and us; that He was without beginning and immortal, and they were bound to adore and believe Him, and no other creature or thing.

COLONIAL ECONOMIES

Silver mines and sugar plantations dominate New World economies

Portuguese sugar plantations were the first to use slave labor

SOCIETY IN COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA The European population of Latin America was

diverse

Spanish settlers were always a smaller minority

Encomenderos were people who had received encomiendas new social hierarchy