Europe on the Eve of the Reformation (AD 1400-1550).

The basic reality: Chauvigny; Carcassone. Major concern is for security in the here and now and in the hereafter.

1. The political configuration: despite the apparently unified nature of western Europe in respect to Christianity, the continent was deeply divided politically. Important implications for what we will now observe.
   1. a map exercise: europe in 1360 and in 1600.
   2. Italy; Spain; France, Germany, Hanseatic League.
   3. Implications: deep political divisions; tho some tendency toward centralization esp in England and France.
   4. Europeans, despite their lack of political unity, were transcendent in Mediterranean (not just the crusaders, but also in trade).
2. Population: an overview; details .
3. Economy : probably 90% of the population engaged in agriculture or the processing of agricultural and pastoral projects. Landholding:
   1. Church holdings, e.g., France
   2. Feudal lords: their limited education; the prevalence of violence through 1050, then gradual improvement with the export of violence (the crusades).
   3. Trade
4. Higher culture:
   1. A universal language: Latin...will continue well into the modern period
   2. Universities. But primarily for the study of theology, philosophy, law, medicine --all directed at the support and/or service of ecclesiastical and civil authorities. The barbarian warrior class had been to some degree pacified (an achievement of the Church); with peace and the beginnings of centralization of authority (a key to the formation of "national states") states required bureaucrats (lawyers, public health officials, teachers, etc.). Vesalius: nerves; muscles; arteries
   3. An Aristotelian world order...as revised by Thomas Aquinas. We should not underestimate Aristotle's achievement or impact.
      1. Focus on the study of the realities of the observable kosmos (something that Plato and St Augustine had rejected).
      2. Invented the notion of science as a collective and organized enterprise
      3. His method --in two elements:
         1. basic: define the issue, review the generally accepted views about the subject (thanks to this element we know something about atomism and other "deviant" schemes), present own arguments and conclusions
         2. the dialectic: arguing from first principles (and these might be wrong! movement of planets must be circular) and empiricism (what we can observe and test).
      4. Most importantly his notion of the four "causes" (material, formal, efficient [agent] and final) meant that everything in nature has been crafted for a particular function; this perspective lent itself well to providing a philosophical basis for Christianity. Not only could the prime mover [variously the efficient and/or final cause] be identified with God, but the terminology was consistent with Christian belief about Creation.
      5. The important point here is that the re-discovery of Aristotle (and of Greek science in general) in the 12th Century was a powerful stimulus to intellectual development all across Europe.
         1. The most important aspect of this problem was simply the translation from Greek and Arabic of all of the Greek texts on science, culture and law.
         2. The major consequence was Aristotle gained the status of a virtual saint in the Church. To dispute Aristotle (something the ancients had done) came to be construed as "heresy".
   4. As the universities were under the control of the church, and as most university faculty were also clerics, it became increasingly difficulty to discuss new ideas within the context of the university. Fear of division and of heresy eventually led to the Inquisition.
   5. With the Reformation the political divisions of Europe were now matched by and intellectual division. In this context, dissenting scholars could always find a place to pursue their enterprises. Many enterprises were (by our standards) bogus, but some were not.
   6. The most important source for such activity were the new academies (after 1650).