Lecture notes, lecture 11 - Northern Humanism PDF

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History Lecture — Northern Humanism: October 14 • • • • •

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The Renaissance allowed Florence to define themselves and also to create a meaningful culture They were heavily influenced on Cicero and his example and how he contributed to the state and was a great orator — role model Gave rise to whole new way of interpreting reality The ideas developed in Italy could form a point of contact with a very different society north of the Alps At the end of the Italian Renaissance, the development of ideas (like Machiavelli’s The Prince, Castiglione’s The Courtier) made society more aristocratic and more like the Alps Northern Europe was full of kingdoms that had hierarchies that were based on the monarchy and aristocracy of land The greatest status was still held from people in feudal families, who had great estates The rise of long-distance trade, the need for a system for this to happen, the need for adjudication and a legal system The goods that came from the East were sold to the north Northern towns and cities began to grow and develop due to the mercantile economy based on a money economy that grew rich on trade and commerce The towns provided money for the King The King gave them charters so they could rule themselves They grew and they prospered Because of the feudal structure in the North, and long distance trade in the dark ages stopped, there was no tradition of secular education Their education was directed to the clergy, the first estate The clergy had to be educated, had to be literate Education was almost completely the monopoly of the church Education was driven towards revealing religion There needed to be a revolution in the north as well They developed humanism How? They adopted it with very few changes, there was no real difference except the difference of the text that was written but the difference in culture and social structure required that the text was read in different ways All ideas are revolutionary — you can never hide things from a society, they will find out We begin to see a growth of humanist scholars that were Christian Christian humanists

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They were interested in Christian texts They want the production of a better, fairer and more beautiful society but with Christian ideals There had to be a connection between this world and Heaven so it would have true value Desiderius Erasmus • Illegitimate son of a priest • Went to a school dedicated to humanist scholarship • Erasmus developed reading and writing skills and deep piety for salvation in his community • He was employed by a powerful cleric and became a monk after university • He then became a priest • He hated the application of Aristotle’s philosophy like Petrarch • He thought was too hierarchical, all that you need is the New Testament, you don’t need all of this commentary about religion, just get back to basics • A real revolution with Erasmus — desire to get back to the ancient world • Some of his greatest writings were satirical • “The Folly of Man” made people wonder if the church was good or bad • Erasmus said that if we’re going to really get back to the apostolic church, what Christ really said and what the apostles really did, we need to go back to simple times • Translated the New Testament, Novum Instrumentum • Huge revolution, especially in the Church because he reinterpreted certain words that had huge implications and pointed out the previous translator’s errors • The reinterpretation of certain words was important • The Novum Instrumentum made a huge number, and the most influential people, to be critical of the institution of the Catholic Church • They remembered the Babylonian captivity and the schism and all of the other problems • The revolution began and Erasmus became the most popular writer of Northern Europe Thomas More • Erasmus’ closest friend, a lawyer, then became Lord Chancellor • A great scholar, a humanist, heavily influenced by Church • Devoutly religious • Looking for a way for the simple element of Christianity to operate without the heavy hand of the institution • Wrote a book, Utopia

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An island of Utopia where everyone lives rationality, no private property, no violence, everyone was reading, or developing their soul through their hobbies, choice in marriage was encourage, the government existed for the benefit of the community • Book 2 of Utopia is a description of all of the problems of England under Thomas the 8th — violence, death, warfare • Created model of a better world with Christian values • Had hope for Europe to do this For the first time in Europe, people started thinking about unknown worlds The Northern Renaissance and the creation and a new set of attitudes could now be questioned This was the foundation for the Scientific Revolution You had to change the perspectives first of the people so they will accept the answers The year after the Novum Instrumentum, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church This didn’t come out nowhere — people were now able to question With these questions, Europe became a very different place A very different dynamic, wouldn’t accept anything as true unless it could be proven • Johan Gutenberg — 1450, Printing Press...