WEEK 1 Introduction: Europe in the World ca. 1500
Approaching the early modern period
● Notables: focused on descent and role as feudal lord.
● Ordinary people fostered ties of kinship and neighborliness.
● Women were subordinate to men.
● The poor depended on charity.
● Farmers had a hard time making ends meet.
● Church: important position in everyone's life.
● Historical developments in this period:
○ Mediterranean sailors discover new sailing routes.
○ Intellectuals are rediscovering the works of Antiquity that go against it image
that was created in the Middle Ages.
○ Workers and small farmers benefited from the higher wages and prices in this
period after the Black Death.
○ Invention of the printing press: a first tool of mass communication in Europe.
● Periodization of the early modern period is difficult: complex mix between continuity
and change. The name "early modern" was not given to this period until the mid-
twentieth century. There are different views about the periodization, the start and end
point, of this period:
○ England: early 1485, when the Tudors came to power. The late seventeenth
century as the end of the period.
○ Germanic speaking countries: start with the Reformation in the early 1500s.
The end of the early modern period with the end of the Holy Roman Empire in
1806.
○ Other interpretations: beginning with the Renaissance, or with Columbus'
transatlantic voyage of 1492.
■ most historians now perceive a broad transitional phase between the
medieval and early modern periods c.1450-1550 → the book also
operates with similar starting date
● Important developments between approx. 1500-1800:
○ Scientific Revolution around 1600.
○ New system of international relations created by the Treaty of Westphalia
1648
○ The Enlightenment from around 1700.
● The early modern period ends around 1800:
○ Industrial revolution - eg. England
○ 1789: French Revolution - proclamation of new principles “liberty, equality,
fraternity”
○ Advent of railways in 19th century
● New "modern" elements from the early modern period:
○ Competition
, ○ Printed media
○ Increasing (social) mobility
○ Expanding the power of states.
● Continuity of Medieval developments:
○ Political inequality
○ Religious intolerance
○ Dominance of agricultural culture
→ this gave gradually way to an era shaped by individual rights, mechanization and
expansion of mass communication
● Greatest developments from the early modern period:
○ Early modern tendencies towards centralization (of political power)
○ Bureaucratisation (of governments)
○ Codification (of laws)
○ Confessionalization (religion)
○ Disciplining (of human behavior)
● Max Weber (1864-1920): German sociologist. Related long-term processes of
rationalization and disenchantment to the ascetic character of Protestantism.
● Marxist historians: interpret the early modern period as a transitional phase between
feudalism and capitalism, focus on material and socio-economic factors.
○ However, there is no one way to interpret the early modern period. Danger of
generalization.
The spatial setting
→ continent under examination is diverse - different kinds of socioeconomic regimes
→ historians reject environmental determinism but human agency was formed by natural
conditions
→ Question: Was there an idea of "Europe" during the early modern period?
● People were mainly involved in local affairs and dealt with regional ones powers
instead of ideas that emphasized unity on the European continent. Yet there are
cultural similarities in Europe during this period:
○ Religious network through Christianity.
○ Ongoing legacy of the Roman Empire: such as laws based on Roman Law.
○ Latin as the lingua franca among intellectuals and scholars.
○ Many cities and the autonomy of those cities.
● The contact with other cultures that emerged during the voyages of discovery
strengthened the idea of Europe as a meaningful entity. Little involvement with other
cultures, the idea of a European superiority.
● Europe: large intercontinental network with representatives of other cultures within
the borders: Jews, who have lived in European cities since the Middle Ages. They
had faced periodic outbreaks of periods of persecution.
● In southeastern Europe, the Ottomans conquered the capital of the Habsburg Empire
twice: in 1529 and 1683.
, ● Trade relations and diplomatic contacts, but also the fear of the Ottomans were
another reason for the emergence of European identity.
● The handbook focuses on Europe as a continent.
Objectives of The European World
Four objectives of this handbook:
○ To portrey the early modern period in its own right. It appeared as an era with
its own and contrasting characteristics.
○ Pay attention to all social layers. Individuals and groups underwent and
influence early modern processes in their own way. Therefore not only the
focus on the traditional elites.
○ To give an impression of the available quantity, richness and diversity of
sources from the early modern period. For the early modern period there is
the advantage that there is no shortage, but also no abundance of resources.
There are still several challenges such as unequal distribution across regions
and the bias towards men in early modern society, but the source base is
generally varied.
○ Emphasize the plurality in the approaches of the early modern period. There
are different angles to study the early modern period.
Thematic structure
● Book: thematic structure. Division into "society and economy", "religion", "Culture"
and "politics". In addition, also "starting points" and "transition points".
● Topics: Renaissance, Reformation, state building, absolutism, international
relationships, the rise of trade and European expansion.
Assessment - early modern Europe
● Structures and processes we can identify as defining this particularly European form
of early modern:
○ Socially: hierarchical and patriarchal structure with households, estates and
corporations. Growing emphasis on the merits of the middle class.
○ Economically: largely agricultural system. Existence of early forms of
industrial production. Increasing importance of global trade networks due to
increased consumer demand.
○ Religiously: the differentiation of the Christian from different currents.
○ Culturally: broadening the spatial horizon, movement of received knowledge
to experiments. Friction between social discipline and popular customs.
Information is increasingly passed on in writing, rather than orally.
Communication over longer distances.
○ Politically: greater warfare. Formation of states. Shifting power to the center,
through negotiation.
■ Early modern centuries: dynamic. Individuals and communities
combined elements mentioned above to meet and overcome the
challenges of their time.
QS:
, - Why is historical periodization a difficult task?
- Where can historians find information on the early modern period?
- Did the Europeans have an awareness of being “European”?
Europe in 1500:
→ distinction between the Middle Ages and the Early modern period can point to the
extraordinary changes that occurred in the 16th Century and 17th Century although Europe
underwent significant changes (political, social, economical) during the Middle Ages.
Political structures
● Monarchy in Europe: most common form of government among the Christian
communities. The monarchy had become a feature of the European climate.
○ Between 1250 and 1350, most city-states in Italy had been changed from
republican government to one-man government, the signore.
○ In France and Germany many cities were self-governed, but at the end of the
15th century most of these cities were under the rule of a king or prince.
● Monarchy: not only in the secular world. The Catholic Church was also a monarchy,
headed by the Pope.
○ The Pope claimed to be the earthly successor of Peter, who was to care for
the church of Christ.
○ The Pope claimed to have the right to intervene in the government of secular
kingdoms if he deemed it necessary and even to depose those in power if
they acted sinfully.
● Not all monarchies became more powerful: the Holy Roman Empire lost power. The
king there was a lot less powerful in 1500 than Frederick Barbarossa had been in the
12th century.
○ In Italy, the power of the king of the Holy Roman Empire had diminished
because the Papacy had first allied with a powerful group of the Italian
communes, and they also had an alliance with the House of Anjou since the
second half of the 13th century.
○ Germany: the men elected by the king gained more and more power. In
addition, the German princes performed all tasks of a government within their
own areas.
● Papacy: Also lost power in the 14th and 15th centuries, forcing it to compromise on
the governance of the clergy: notably on taxes, benefit arrangements and a number
of legal matters. During the Great Schism, a movement emerged within the Catholic
Church that focused on organizing Councils to discuss matters within the Church.
This movement organized the Council of Constance, at which the Great Schism was
resolved by the election of a new Pope. This movement was eventually defeated by
the Popes, but they could only do so by concessing secular rulers in order to gain
their support against the Council movement.
● A monarchy that disappeared was the Byzantine Empire, the last surviving part of the
Roman Empire. In 1453, the capital, Constantinople, was conquered by the
