Download The Spread of the Enlightenment

The Spread of the
Enlightenment
KEY IDEA Enlightenment ideas
spread through the Western world,
and influenced the arts and
government.
A World Of Ideas: The
Paris Salons
 In the 1700s, Paris was the cultural
center of Europe. People came there
from other countries in Europe and from
the Americas to hear the new ideas of
the Enlightenment.
 Writers and artists gathered in the
homes of wealthy people to talk about
ideas.
Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin
 A woman named Marie-
Thérèse Geoffrin became
famous for hosting these
discussions. She also
supplied the money for one
of the major projects of the
Enlightenment.
 With her funds, Denis
Diderot and other thinkers
wrote and published a huge
Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin
set of books called the
Denis Diderot’s Encyclopedia
 In creating the
encyclopedia,
their aim was to
gather together
all that was
known about the
world.
Denis Diderot’s
Reaction to Diderot’s
Encyclopedia
 The French government and officials in
the Catholic Church did not like many of
the ideas that were published in the
Encyclopedia.
 They banned the books at first, but later
they revoked the ban.
The Middle Class Responds
 Through the meetings in homes and works
like the Encyclopedia, the ideas of the
Enlightenment spread throughout Europe.
 The ideas also spread to the growing middle
class. This group of people was becoming
wealthy but had less social status than nobles
and had very little political power.
 Ideas about equality sounded good to them.
 The middle class was eager for news, ideas,
and entertainment.
 They readily purchased popular magazines
that began to circulate in the 18th century.
 One of the most famous of these publications
The Spectator, offered essays on love,
marriage and literature.
 Many of these publications were published for
a female audience.
 By the 1780s, there were more than 150
magazines in publication.
The Enlightenment and
the Arts
 Art moved in new directions, inspired by the
Enlightenment ideas of order and reason.
The Baroque style had dominated the art
and architecture throughout Europe for two
hundred years.
 Artists and architects worked to show
balance and elegance by creating a refined
style based on the classic Greek and Roman
art and architecture. This style is called
Baroque Art and Architecture
Neo-classic Art and
Architecture
Enlightenment and Music
 Composers wrote music of great appeal
for their creative richness.
Mozart
Beethoven
Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 Mozart began composing
music at age 5 and gave
concerts throughout
Europe when he was only
12 years old.
 Mozart died at age 35 but
in his short life, he had
composed over 500 works.
 Some of his most famous
works include:
 The Marriage of Figaro
 Don Giovanni
 The Magic Flute
Wolfgang van Beethoven
 A deaf Beethoven
wrote piano music,
string quartets and
symphonies.
 He began his work
in the classical style
but later developed
a more romantic
style.
The Life and Times of
Beethoven
 Beethoven became the first important
composer to earn a successful living while
forsaking employment in the church or court.
 Physically, he was short and unattractive,
and he grew increasingly eccentric with age.
His increasing deafness from about 1795 led
to near-suicidal depression. From 1819 he
was totally deaf.
 For his last 15 years he was unrivaled as
the world's most famous composer.
Franz Joseph Haydn
 Haydn was important in
developing new musical
forms such as the Sonata
and Symphony
 He spent most of his adult
life as musical director for
wealthy princes.
 A trip to England
introduced him to a world
where musicians wrote for
public concerts rather
than for wealthy patrons.
Art and Literature in the
Age of Reason
 In this period, the novel became a popular
form of literature. This new form told lengthy
stories with many twists of plot that explored
the thoughts and feelings of characters.
 These novels were written in everyday
language so they appealed to the middle
class.
Authors of the Enlightenment
 Samuel Richardson:
Pamela- England’s first novel
 Henry Fielding:
Tom Jones
Daniel Defoe:
Robinson Crusoe
Enlightenment and Monarchy
 Some Enlightenment thinkers believed that
the best form of government was a monarchy.
In it, a ruler respected the rights of people.
 They tried to influence rulers to rule fairly.
 Rulers followed these ideas in part but were
unwilling to give up much power.
Enlightened Despots
Catherine The Great
Frederick II
Joseph II
 The enlightened despots were motivated by
two things.
1. They wanted to make their countries
stronger.
2. They wanted to make their rule more
effective.
These monarchs supported the ideas of the
despots because most of them advocated
the need for a strong absolute monarchy,
however, the despots had no real intention
of giving up any of their power.
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick Implemented
the following reforms:





Granted religious
freedom
Reduced censorship
Improved education
Reformed the justice
system
Abolished torture
Frederick the Benevolent
Servant
 Frederick had a unique attitude about
his position as king. He called himself
“the first servant of the state”.
 From the very beginning of his reign, he
made it clear that his goal was to serve
and strengthen his country.
Joseph II of Austria
 Joseph was the son of
Maria Theresa.
 In 1765 he was
appointed co-regent by
his mother.
 In the beginning he had
very little power and
could do almost nothing
without her approval.
Joseph’s Reforms
 While a co-regent, he composed a list of
radical reforms that he wanted to implement
including:

mandatory military service for young nobles,
 religious toleration,
 an end to government spying on private affairs,
 limiting the power of the nobles and
 using the military for public works projects
These reforms conflicted with his mother;’s
conservative style. It was not until her death that
he was able to put these reforms into affect.
Additional Reforms
 Other reforms implemented by Joseph II
include:
 Legal
reforms
 Freedom of the press
 Freedom of worship
 Abolished serfdom
 Ordered that peasants be paid for their
work in cash
After his death, most of his reforms were
repealed.
Catherine the Great
 Catherine the
Great of Russia
was another of the
rulers influenced
by Enlightenment
ideas.
 She tried to reform
Russia’s laws but
met resistance.
Catherine’s Reforms
 She based her reforms on the ideas of
Montesquieu and Becarria. These
proposals are as follows:
 Religious
toleration
 Abolition of torture and capital punishment
 Improve the lives of peasants
She hoped to end serfdom, but a bloody
peasants’ revolt convinced her to change her
mind. Instead, she gave the nobles even more
Catherine Expands Russia
 Catherine did manage to gain new land for
Russia.
 Her armies gained control of a port on the
Baltic Sea and gained control of the northern
coast of the Black Sea from the Ottoman
Turks.
 She also gained control of the Bosporus
Straits that connected the Mediterranean Sea
and the Black Sea.
Partition of Poland
 Russia, Prussia,
and Austria
agreed to divide
Poland among
themselves.
 As a result,
Poland
disappeared as a
separate nation
Partitions of Poland