14th through Mid-17th Centuries

New Discoveries
Humanism and Education
Shift in Social Order

Global Effects:
Led to the Age of

Imperialism, where
European powers
dominated the planet
Indigenous people in
North and South
America and Africa
were enslaved and
exploited;

Communal knowledge
possible

Scientists could form

distant communities

Who wrote it becomes

Page numbering and

indexes invented and
used
Standardization in form

and spelling

Reading moves from

communal to private
activity;

Authorship becomes
more important and
profitable.

important
Early copyright and
intellectual property laws
established

Decline of Latin and

move towards
vernacular language
use

Contributed to growing

nationalism

Describes the school of

philosophical, intellectual,
and literary thought from
1400-1650:
Emphasis

on human
freedom and
responsibility;
Return to the pagan
classics;
Reliance on God and
faith weakened;
Fortuna (chance)

replaces Providence.
The world as it is
becomes an end
rather than a
preparation for
Heaven

 Learn

through
imitation;
Mimesis
Imitatio

Emphasis

classics;

on the

Especially

ancient Greece
and Rome

Belief

that a welleducated person

knows a little about
everythinga
Renaissance
Man.

Reason rules
emotions, just as
A king rules his

subject;
A parent rules a child;
The sun governs the
planets.

Humans are between

beasts and angels;
To behave without

reason is beast-like;
To go above ones
proper place invites
disaster.

The right of kings to

rule comes directly
from God;
Royalty is answerable

only to God;
Disobedience to
royalty is disobedience
to God.
Political absolutism

Causes:
The Renaissance, with

its emphasis on
humanism and
individuality;
The printing press,
with the wider access
to printed works and
rise in literacy
The rise of powerful
nation-states, headed
by monarchs

Anger at church
corruption:
Simonythe selling of

church offices;
Indulgencesgiving
money to the church in
exchange for ones
soul spending less
time in Purgatory
Increasingly poorly
educated clerics.

Luther denounced the

selling of indulgences;
Argued that the secular
govt had the right to
reform the church;
Same thought echoed later

in Hobbes social contract

theory

Attacked the sacraments;

Baptism, Confirmation,

Eucharist, Penance,
Anointing of the Sick, Holy
Orders, Matrimony

Argued to man can be

saved by faith alone

Pope Leo X issued a

Bull demanding that
he recant;
Luther publicly burned

it;

Decreased the
sacraments from
seven to 2
Only left baptism and

communion

Because the Pope

refused to grant
Henry an annulment
from his first wife, he
cut ties with the
Catholic church and
began the Church of
England, which he,
as king, was head.

Son of Henrys third

wife;
Assumed the throne
at age 9;
English replaced
Latin in Church ritual;
Died at age 15

Restored England to
Catholicism;
Restored the Popes
authority over the
English Church;
Married her cousin
Phillip, making England
appear to be an
appendage of Spain.
Ordered the deaths of
300 Protestants

Bloody Mary

Best monarch since

William the
Conqueror;
Had a Renaissance
education;
Patron of the arts;
Restored the Church
of England, but was a
politique