Download Alan Hebert

Alan Hebert
Eric Grimm
Allen Lin
Mrs.Connor
AP European History Period 2
9 December 2009
Compare and contrast the cultural values of the Enlightenment with those of
the 16th-century Northern Renaissance. (1982 - #3)
During the 16th through 18th centuries two major cultural movements occurred, the Northern
Renaissance and the Enlightenment, with the former heavily influencing the latter. The Northern
Renaissance was the debut of a new type of philosopher called the humanist, who believed in the great
potential of mankind, much like the philosophes of the Enlightenment, who attempted to design systems
of government by which this potential could be reached. Humanists focused on the dignity and potential
of mankind, respecting religious doctrine in the process, and in fact looking to Scripture as guidelines
for their goals, and also pursued knowledge through scholasticism. Enlightenment philosophes sought to
remove the inefficient and oppressive feudal system of government and replace it with one based on
logic, at the same time placing pursuit of knowledge at the top of their list of goals, while religion began
to be criticized and questioned for its participation in starting unnecessary wars. In this respect it could
be said that the Renaissance began with ideas and the Enlightenment went on to implement them as an
actual system. Additionally, both movements were driven by small groups of talented individuals with a
large deal of influence. These two movements were heavily connected in some ways, but utterly
different in others. The Renaissance was a great deal more religious than the Enlightenment, with the
majority of works of art, architecture and literature being heavily influenced by religion and depicting
religious scenes, while the Enlightenment was largely secular, even possessing a new religion involving
the acceptance of the existence of God, but maintaining that God would generally not affect the Earth.
The classes that could participate in the Renaissance were more limited those could participate in the
Enlightenment, affecting the cultural values of the two movements. The Enlightenment was certainly
more populist due to this effect, as lower classes were increasingly educated.
I.
Similarities
a. Cultural Similarities
i. Origination
1. The Northern Renaissance was based off of importation of Italian
learning, and therefore had many cultural values of the Italian
Renaissance.
2. The Northern Renaissance began in the Netherlands, bringing the
cultural values of the Protestant and somewhat capitalist region to the
movement. This is comparable to Deism and the capitalist movement
started by Adam Smith that existed during the Enlightenment.
3. The northern humanists tended to come from diverse social
backgrounds and to be more devoted to religious reforms than their
Italian counterparts. This resulted in the Northern Renaissance being a
heavily religious movement with much religious artwork created and
many prominent thinkers referring to Scripture in their political
beliefs. The Enlightenment also held a great deal of concern about
religion, but was more concerned about the negative effects that
religion had on the world. Philosophes were typically members of the
middle class, able to afford an education and luxurious lifestyle, but
unable to influence the political decisions that impacted their lives.
This class in France was called the bourgeoisie.
4. The Enlightenment began in North-West Europe, just as the
Renaissance did, and picked up many of the Protestant cultural beliefs
of Britain and other North-Western countries.
5. The Enlightenment occurred in the majority of the same countries that
the Northern Renaissance did, inheriting the same cultural values of
local nobles and members of the middle class as the Renaissance did.
The wealthy and educated would end up driving both of these
movements, as these movements emphasized their cultural values.
ii. Similar Cultural Values in the Northern Renaissance and Enlightenment
1. Pursuit of Knowledge
a. There was a strong movement during the Renaissance,
deeply steeped in Protestant influence, to print the Bible
and other significant works in the vernacular in order that a
larger portion of society could become educated. This was
largely inherited from the Italian Renaissance, and the style
of education favored by humanists came to be known as
studia humanitatis or a liberal arts education.
b. During the Enlightenment, there was a strong movement by
the philosophes to give rights to the press, in other words,
freedom of the press, to print what they wished to. They
believed that this would help educate the populace and
make them more aware of political life.
2. Virtue
a. The Renaissance version of virtue was heavily based off of
the Roman virtues, emphasizing honor, human worth, and
the pursuit of self-improvement. Renaissance thinkers
believed that this virtue allowed man to reach greater
potential than anyone believed.
b. Similar beliefs in the Enlightenment grew to influence their
political ideas. Important concepts such as the Tabula Rasa,
the idea that men were born virtuous, encouraged the
concept that man did not need a king to govern himself
from his negative desires but could rather govern himself.
3. Religion
a. The Renaissance was highly based off of Protestant ideas
due to the fact that many Renaissance humanists held
stances that contradicted with the Catholic Church’s
interpretation of Scripture, leading the humanists to agree
with the Protestant belief that the Scripture could be
interpreted by an individual as well as a clergyman.
Renaissance humanists still held a great deal of respect for
Christianity, with the majority of artwork produced in the
Renaissance revolving on religious scenes from the Bible.
However, relative to artwork produced in the medieval time
period, the artwork was bold and innovative on its new
focus on the individual.
b. The Enlightenment held a similar somewhat derogatory
view of how religion had affected history and stirred
fanaticism in the hearts of men. Philosophes often criticized
the special privileges held by the clergy, and the
disproportional political power of the clergy. The
Enlightenment took the idea of individual interpretation
one step further, by possessing political stances that could
not be directly interpreted from Scripture.
4. Reform
a. Renaissance reform of education and religion was crucial to
the humanists. The majority of their books would revolve
around these two subjects, criticizing corruption in the
church and a lack of education in the general populace.
b. The Enlightenment philosophes also focused heavily on the
idea of reform, attempting to restrict the power and excise
corruption in religion, and attempting to change the
political system to one that was more equitable. Their
books and writings would criticize the actions and stances
of both religions and political leaders. Philosophes were
greatly concerned with the need for reform in political and
economic systems.
iii. Beliefs of Persons that drove the Renaissance and Enlightenment
1. Beliefs and influence of Renaissance humanists
a. Desiderius Erasmus
i. Erasmus was the most famous of the northern
humanists, even earning himself the title “the prince
of the humanists”.
ii. Erasmus aspired to unite the classical ideas of
humanity and civic virtue with the Christian ideals
of love and piety.
iii. He held the belief that disciplined study of the
classics and the Bible was the best way to reform
both individuals and society
iv. He used his books and writings to back his beliefs,
using them as satire against corruption in the clergy,
causing them to later be tools of reform.
b. Thomas More
i. Thomas More was a close friend of Erasmus, and
England’s best known humanist.
ii. Thomas More was greatly concerned about political
reform, writing his most famous book Utopia, on
the subject, in which a perfect society based on
reason and tolerance existed, involving the holding
of all goods in common.
iii. This book became a powerful weapon for reform,
aiding the Protestant Reformation of England, and
influencing political writers for generations to
come.
c. Albrecht Durer
i. Durer as the greatest German painter of the
Renaissance, learning under the great Italian artists
of Venice.
ii. Durer’s most famous painting would be his Self
Portrait, which in actuality was a work that
presented an imagined image of Christ, if he had
looked like Durer. Durer’s description of the
portrait was “I, Albrecht Durer, divinely inspired
artist.” This remarkable portrait was strongly
religious but at the same time focused on the allimportant individual. This focus on the individual
was a central cultural belief of the Renaissance,
much like individual rights would be in the
Enlightenment.
d. Peter Bruegel
i. Bruegel was a famous Renaissance artist who was
unusual in the two primary focuses of his artwork,
landscapes and the often ignored peasantry.
ii. These unusual paintings of the simple pains and
infrequent joy in the life of peasants would greatly
influence the cultural belief that all men had great
potential. His artwork alone was revolutionary in its
style, but the political influence in the sympathy it
raised in humanists for the peasants and serfs was
unmatched.
2. Beliefs and influence of Enlightenment philosophes (and rulers)
a. Rousseau
i. He was very hated by his colleagues.
ii. Rousseau believed in a vote for all.
iii. Conversely, Rousseau believed women were
incapable of working as effectively as men in the
same fields.
iv. This concept of democracy was based off of the
Enlightenment belief that man was capable of
governing himself successfully, which reflected the
Enlightenment’s belief in human virtue which was
related to the Renaissance belief in the potential of
man.
b. Montesquieu
i. Montesquieu was a noble, lawyer, and member of
Parliament.
ii. Montesquieu wrote The Persian Letters to satirize
contemporary institutions.
iii. Visited England and admired their education
institutions, using his influence to advocate the
English system of education in France. This
Enlightenment movement that pursued knowledge
was close to the Renaissance pursuit of knowledge.
c. Frederick II of Prussia
i. Frederick II was considered one of the three
Enlightened rulers.
ii. Frederick sought to improve Prussia’s economy by
use of state supervision .
iii. Frederick II ran a religiously tolerant country
allowing Jews and Muslims to have rights.
iv. Frederick II helped cause religious toleration to be a
major foundation of the Enlightenment, due to the
fact that Prussia was one of the cradles of the
Enlightenment and also religiously tolerant.
Religious toleration was prevalent during the
Renaissance as well, as most countries of the
Northern Renaissance were seeking this type of
religious toleration to back the Protestant
movement.
d. Joseph II of Austria
i. He lived an austere and humorless lifestyle.
ii. Joseph prided himself on a narrow, passionless,
rationality, showing his Enlightenment trait of
belief in logic.
iii. He was one of the few rulers who supported the
cultural values of living a life based on logic, which
was central to the Enlightenment movement, which
was similar to the logic demonstrated by
Renaissance humanists, for example Erasumus in
his book Adages.
e. John Locke (Pre-Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution)
i. John Locke, while not part of the Enlightenment,
was one of the major influences in the
Enlightenment.
ii. He invented the idea of the Tabula Rasa, or blank
slate, which means people are born naturally good.
iii. His idea of natural rights greatly influenced the
Enlightenment and brought about its cultural values
regarding justice, fair trials, and human rights. This
idea reflected the idea of human potential that was
born out of the Renaissance.
f. Isaac Newton (Pre-Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution)
i. Newton encouraged Europeans to use direct
observation to discover the laws of the world, which
affected the Enlightenment beliefs concerning a
rational universe and concrete evidence. This
increased the power of the cultural value of logic
during the Enlightenment. This is comparable to the
intellectual movement of the Renaissance, which
was also aided by individuals who believed in logic
over dogma.
iv. British Toleration during the Enlightenment
a. The domestic stability of Great Britain after the Revolution
of 1688 furnished a living example of a society in which, to
many contemporaries, enlightened reforms appeared to
function for the benefit of all.
b. People saw this and wanted less regulation.
c. England was actually more stable because of its freedoms,
not less.
II.
Differences
a. Reforms
1. Reform due to the Renaissance
a. The Northern humanists applied their ideas to church
practices and became the first major group to call for the
reform of the church. This lead to the abandonment of the
indulgence systems and new requirements preventing
wealthy individuals from simply buying church positions in
locations which they did not live and cared little for.
2. Reform due to the Enlightenment
a. England, while not reformed during the Enlightenment,
was the source of inspiration for political reformers in the
rest of Europe. It demonstrated the cultural values of logic
and toleration through how successfully these values had
been implemented.
b. The philosophes would reform France in the French
Revolution, making France the first major European
Republic since the Roman Republic.
c. The philosophes would also pass the Chapelier law in
France, which was innovate in its advocacy of free trade by
banning guilds and the right to strike. Unfortunately, it did
not cover issues of monopoplies and trusts by business
owners, and was repealed in 1864 by Napoleon III, a close
relation to the famous French Emperor.
b. Renaissance and Enlightenment
1. Religion in the Enlightenment
a. Many philosophes felt that the church stood in the
way of rationality and that fanaticism killed any
attempts at thought. Because of original sin, even
many well-lived lives were considered to have been
worthless.
b. Religion and science were brought into conflict in this
era with the philosophes claiming that religion
impeded thought. The philosophe Voltaire said,
“Crush the infamous thing.” in regards to religion.
c. Though religion was looked to as a source of
inspiration in the Renaissance, it was heavily
criticized in the Enlightenment.
c. Differences in Education
i. Enlightenment
a. The amount of printed material skyrocketed during this
time period, greatly reducing the cost of books and other
reading material, such as pamphlets.
b. Many newspapers began appearing in this cultural
movement, both educating and manipulating the political
views of the populace in equal measure.
ii. Renaissance
1. Renaissance humanists wished humanity as a whole to have a liberal
arts degree in order that mankind reach a state closer to perfection, and
be more well-rounded.
2. These humanists believed all men should be educated in order that
they be prepared to do their civic duty and live virtuously.
3. During the Renaissance, thought the populace was in the process of
becoming more educated, books were still too expensive for common
people to become literate.
4. The Printing Press was invented during the Renaissance in Northern
Germany by Johann Gutenberg, but would not enter widespread usage
in the form of hundreds of newspapers and print shops for decades.
5. Only priests, nobles, and the wealthy were capable of being educated.
However, many humanists, such as Erasums, supported education of
women and lower classes, this type of education would not be
widespread among women and the poor during the Renaissance. Due
to this, though the cultural values espoused by the literature in the two
movements were similar, they were a lot less widespread during the
Renaissance.
6. As a result the lower classes were often traditional and less supportive
of reform in the Renaissance than they were in the Enlightenment.
Bibliography
Brians, Paul. "The Enlightenment." Syllabus for Humanities 303. 18 5 2000. Paul Brians, Web. 9
Dec 2009. <http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/enlightenment.html>.
Kagan, Donald; Ozment, Steven; Turner, Frank. The Western Heritage. Eighth Edition. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.
McKay, Jon; Hill, Bennett; Buckler, John. A History of Western Society. Seventh Edition.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Print.