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Influence of the Protestant Reformation
Influence of the Protestant Reformation
Influence of the Protestant Reformation
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During the 16th century, European global reach expanded rapidly, greatly enriching several nations while also facilitating the trade of goods and knowledge. Within Europe, general population growth and the Protestant reformation helped create widespread turmoil. Following in the footsteps of people such as Martin Luther and Bartolome De Las Casas, Montaigne’s writing also breaks from traditional European cultural and intellectual attitudes, addressing the lack of European self criticism and analysis, while challenging the ideas of exceptionalism and that have existed in European society since it’s inception. The essays of Montaigne reflect the growing pains of a maturing Europe.
Exposure to the new world gave Europeans a strong dose of “different”,
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In the travels of sir John Mandeville, Mandeville describes the, “people of evil customs” (Mandeville 3) he encounters in a fairly respectful and unmenacing way. The use of the word evil may only stem from the hostility and superiority felt towards anything different than the European way of life. In the 16th century, Bartolome de las Casas’s more direct and reality-based observations continued in the same vein of Mandeville’s, humanizing the savages despite their clear differences compared to Europeans. He states,“God made all of the peoples of this area, many and varied as they are, as open an innocent as can be imagined”(Casas 9). Montaigne carries an almost appreciative tone throughout much of his writing on the cannibals and the,“amazing gulf between their souls and ours”(Montaigne 239). His astonished thoughts on their way of war, and aspects of their life such as polygamy, are the result of seeing such a refreshing contrast to the confines of European civilization. Montaigne declares, “Those people,then, seem to me to be …show more content…
Montaigne’s writings on the lame and on conscience reflect an increased willingness to examine the way and reasons we act the way we do, amidst the conflict and chaos in Europe. Europe was entering an age of self-reflection. As Luther butted heads with the “lamb in the midst of wolves”(Luther 3), Pope Leo X, and helped force the church to look at their own problems with corruption and their teachings, people were introduced to the possibility of choice. The longstanding idea of Rome as the sole religious power had been thrown off by the Reformation, in the same way that the discovery of the new world had disturbed our understanding of humans. With increasingly unstable circumstances, humans had to think more about why they were even in the situation they were in. Montaigne takes this task very seriously as he examines the ability of people to believe things even with a lack of facts. He notes, “It is hard to stiffen your judgement against widely held opinions”(Montaigne 1163). Amongst the accusations of witches and religious turmoil, Montaigne helps illustrate that sometimes the way Europeans act is not perfectly reasonable or justified. To burn someone based on opinion is certainly giving our opinions a lot of weight. However, Montaigne is
...such as extreme spiritual austerities can hold their place in history because they mattered to the people who practiced them, not necessarily because they were an agent for driving change. Bynum rejects morally absolutist reconstructions of the past in favour of a more relativistic reading which delves into the imagination and subconscious of the medieval writers themselves. She meets them, as much as possible, in their own milieu rather than projecting modern constructions (such as ‘anorexia nervosa’) into the past where they serve little use in our understanding of the medieval mind. Despite her close work with the Annalist School, Bynum makes no attempt toward ‘l’Histoire Totale’ or some grand narrative of the past, and in this regard the work is most honest, thought-provoking, and definitive for 21st century scholars studying the medieval mind and its times.
Question #1: In chapter one, does Zinn portray Bartolome de las Casas as an adversary of Indians?
In the events preceding the selected passage of Des Cannibales, Montaigne gives several situations of events in which man’s honour has been tested and proven, citing the example of the Hungarian’s merciful attitude towards their captured enemies, whom they released unharmed after having defeated them in battle. The classical reference to Seneca with the quote, “Si succiderit, de genu pugnat” foreshadows the passage in question, in which the captured Brazilians refuse to surrender or feel fear, but rather taunt their captors and remain defiant until their last breath. The passage then develops into an observation of the polygamous culture of the New World, which Montaigne praises and later goes onto defend as natural, arguing that it was customary in Biblical times and therefore should not be condemned by supposedly superior and cultured Europeans.
More broadly, it is possible to see the opposition between "guilt" and "shame" as representative of a larger tension in early modern thought between Christian and p...
In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas vividly describes the brutality wrought on the natives in the Americas by the Europeans primarily for the purpose of proclaiming and spreading the Christian faith. Las Casas originally intended this account to reach the royal administration of Spain; however, it soon found its way into the hands of many international readers, especially after translation. Bartolomé de Las Casas illustrates an extremely graphic and grim reality to his readers using literary methods such as characterization, imagery, amplification, authorial intrusion and the invocation of providence while trying to appeal to the sympathies of his audience about such atrocities.
The early modern era in Western Europe was a dangerous place for women with the rise of so called “witches” populating towns and country sides. With the peak of these witch trials happening between 1560 and 1640 in England (the making of the west 499). This caused the people of Europe to live in fear of the devil and his counterparts on earth. Over 80 percent of victims of these witch trials were women and thousands upon thousands of trials taking place all across Europe and the North American Colonies at the time as well (motw 500). Seeing that women are mostly accused of witches, it raises the questions as to why that is. Upon examining 2 specific cases in this essay, those being of Walpurga Hausmannin from Dillingen, Germany and Francatte Camont from Lorraine, France; one can see that both these cases are very similar in many aspects despite the fact that both these women were trialed in different countries in Western Europe. In this essay, the reader will explore the motivations, visions and the targets of these witch trials with specific evidence and focus on the trials of both Walpurga and Francatte. The reader will also be able see connections between both trials throughout as well.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been founded within agreement there remains interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective,” share various opinions while developing their own theories. The comparison of these observations will focus upon why the witch trials occurred when they did, why did they stop when they did, why did the witch trials occur when they did, and who was persecuted and who was responsible for the identification and punishing of witches.
A. “The Church in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution”. Verbal Conscience. March 2012. Web. The Web.
Proving to be the paramount of the conflict between faith and reason, the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century challenged each of the traditional values of that age. Europeans were changing, but Europe’s institutions were not keeping pace with that change.1 Throughout that time period, the most influential and conservative institution in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, was forced into direct confrontation with these changing ideals. The Church continued to insist that it was the only source of truth and that all who lived beyond its bounds were damned; it was painfully apparent to any reasonably educated person, however, that the majority of the world’s population were not Christians.2 In the wake of witch hunts, imperial conquest, and an intellectual revolution, the Roman Catholic Church found itself threatened by change on all fronts.3 The significant role that the Church played during the Enlightenment was ultimately challenged by the populace’s refusal to abide by religious intolerance, the power of the aristo champions of reform and print culture, the philosophers, who shared a general opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. By the end of the seventeenth century, the fanatical witch hunts of Western Europe led by the Church had begun to die away.4 Although "witches" were still tried by the clergy and clergy-controlled governments, the massive witch hunts of the Middle Ages had been abandoned in search of more reasonable and plausible explanations of the unknown.
The European witch hunts began shortly after the Renaissance, which started in Florence Italy in mid 12th century and was the move from magical and spiritual answers to rational and scientific answers to reality. This was ultimately the rejection of the dominance of the church. During this time there were new patterns of thought, different literature, a flourishing of art, science, and the formation of skepticism and secular thinking (Butler The Flow Of History). Many new thinkers and philosophers such as Leonardo Da Vinci became prominent and influenced the thought during this time. Although it appeared that during this time the changes made had been new and gave Europe a fresh face it was in fact, “paradoxically, somewhat out of date. On the Continent, fashion had turned the clock back to imitate the antique styles of ancient Greece and Rome. The Renaissance was not a new, fresh start, - it was backward looking and conservative.” (Jones Gendercide Watch: European Witch...
Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron is a series of tales written during the Late Middle Ages that is meant to entertain the reader. While the entertainment value of Boccaccio’s work in undeniable, the Decameron also provides the reader with information about society at the time, and Boccaccio’s own worldview. One of the most prevalent themes throughout the Decameron is the portrayal of clergymen and members of religious communities as negative influences on those around them, constantly behaving in a manner unfit for those who are supposed to be moral and spiritual exemplars. Throughout the tales told by the lieta brigada, many priests, and friars are portrayed as being extremely lustful and greedy, frequently indulging in sex (often with the wives of other men), and living lives more befitting of a minor lord than a monk. Those clergymen who are not portrayed as out rightly immoral are usually stupid, and are unable to stop others from acting immorally because of their ignorance. Despite this, a few of the clergymen in the story are shown as ultimately having good intentions, or improving in morality through the actions of another. To understand all of these criticisms of the clergy, we must look at them through a historical lens, and observe the behavior of members of the Church in the Late Middle Ages. Finally, these analyses of the Decameron’s portrayal of clergymen may give us insight into Boccaccio’s own faith, and allow us to understand the motives of the author. In this essay, I will analyze the portrayal of clergymen and members of religious communities in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. I will focus on the licentiousness, greed, and stupidity of these members of the Church, while also evaluating the few portrayals of good me...
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
The destruction that the French Revolution had exacted on the European consciousness was evident in the attitudes of the people most touched by the tumult of the era – people who came to realize that absolution was no longer a pertinent intellectual goal. The cold rationale of the Enlightenment was no longer adequate to explain the significance of life in a society where everything had so recently been turned upside down. Romanticism was the expression of this society’s craving for answers and fulfillment. Everywhere, people embraced life passionately and lived as... ... middle of paper ... ...