Chapter 9
Transformations in European Culture
Growing Wealth and Royal
Power
• Louis XIV-ruler of France during the 17th
century who became a ruler with absolute
power over his people
• Maria Theresa-monarch of Austria who
turned Vienna into a center for the arts
• Catherine the Great-ruler in Russia who led
Russia to become a strong power in Europe
English Civil War
• Charles I-son of James I who asserted that kings
had divine right (appointed by God) and fought
against Parliament
• These disagreements led both the king and
Parliament to form armies resulting in the English
Civil War.
• Oliver Cromwell led the Parliament army to
victory and had Charles I executed
• Cromwell ruled England until his death
English Rulers
• After Cromwell’s death, Charles II (son of
Charles I) became king. He continued the
policies of his father and also had the
support of France
• James II-brother of Charles II who became
ruler of England after his brother’s death
Revolution of 1688
• James II was a strong supporter of the Catholic Church, an issue that
upset the English
• Parliament responded by inviting the son-in-law and daughter of James
II to rule England
• William of Orange and his wife Mary accepted and came to England
with a small army
• This event was called the Glorious Revolution because there was no
war
• Parliament made William and Mary sign the English Bill of Rights to
show their loyalty and limit their power
• This led to a more representative government. A cabinet system of
government soon developed (members of the cabinet answered less to
the king and more to Parliament as time went on)
The Scientific Revolution
• Age of Reason-name given to the 17th and
18th centuries in Europe when men learned
about many things by studying the world
around them and basing this study on
reason, the ability to think clearly and
logically
Contributions from the Past
• Greeks
– Hippocrates-Father of Medicine from Greece who
rejected the popular idea that disease was a punishment
by the gods. He taught that every illness as a natural
cause
– Euclid-the Father of Geometry who formed a school in
Alexandria, Egypt. He developed mathematic principles
and a textbook that formed the basis for all geometry
textbooks
– Eratosthenes-Greek astronomer and geographer who
determined the distance around the earth using Euclid’s
geometry and then created lines of latitude and
longitude
Medieval Science
• Albert the Great-Dominican friar who
played an important role in introducing
Muslim documents about science to
medieval universities
• Roger Bacon-Englishman who made great
contributions in physics, geography and
optics
Astronomical Discoveriers
• Copernicus-presented the idea that the earth revolved
around the sun, not the sun around the earth
• Galileo Galilei-astronomer who used the telescope to
conduct research that led him to support Copernicus’s
ideas
• Sir Isaac Newton-discovered concepts that have become
known as the laws of gravity and motion that said that
gravity keeps the planets in their orbits
• Edmond Halley-English astronomer who recorded the
position and motions of stars. Halley came up with a
theory that helped him predict the appearance of a comet
• Sir William Herschel-astronomer who built a 40 foot long
telescope that allowed him to see the moons around Saturn
Discoveries in Medicine
• Paracelsus-scientist who stated that the body is mostly
chemicals and should be treated with chemicals
• Andreas Vesalius-learned more about the human body by
dissecting human bodies
• William Harvey-discovered that blood is pumped by the
heart, travels through the body in blood vessels and returns
to the heart
• Edward Jenner-discovered a way to stop people from
getting smallpox, a disease that killed many.
• Jenner did this by creating a vaccine, or weaker form of a
disease known as cowpox
Discoveries in Chemistry
• Robert Boyle-scientist who contributed to
chemistry with his work on gases that
produced Boyle’s law
• Antoine Lavoisier-known as the Father of
Modern Chemistry who named oxygen and
hydrogen
The Enlightenment
• Rene Descartes-philosopher who felt that
everything that could not be proven as fact should
be doubted
• Rationalism-type of learning taught by Descartes
that focused on reason as the only path to truth
• Spinoza-Dutch philosopher who applied
Descartes’ teaching to the Bible and doubted that
it was true
The Enlightenment
• John Locke-philosopher who believed that
rationalism was insufficient. Locke taught
empiricism, the belief that the best way to
find true knowledge was through experience
rather than through human reason
• Many of these philosophers were focused
on a society that practiced secularism, a
society free from religion