Bell Ringer
• What idea did John Locke come up with
and how did it leave a lasting impact?
• Natural Rights, influenced the American
Colonies to rebel.
Agenda/Objectives
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Spread of ideas:
- How were ideas spread?
Art and Literature
Enlightenment and the Monarchy
Reading: Enlightenment and the
Revolution
• Video: Revolution (The American
Revolution)
The Spread of
Enlightenment Ideas
A World of Ideas
• Ideas were often spread in salons
• Salons = large drawing rooms where women
entertained philosophers, writers, artists, and
intellects met to discuss ideas and enjoy artistic
performances
• MarieTherese Geoffrin
Most influential
Salon hostess
Other ways Ideas spread • Diderot’s Encyclopedia – first book
where leading scholars of Europe put
articles and essays
• Encyclopedia annoyed the Catholic
Church – the Church found
Enlightenment ideas corrupt and
immoral
• Ideas also spread through music,
newspapers, and pamphlets
Emergence of middle class helps
ideas spread • There is Denis
Diderot, working on
his scandalous
encyclopedia -
• New middle class has more
time to read and appreciate
art
Art and Literature in the Age of
Reason
• Baroque = grand and ornate style that
preceded the Enlightenment
• Two famous Baroque musicians = Bach
and Handel
• Eventually leads to classical music with
famous composers like Mozart, Hadyn
and Beethoven
• New style – more elegant and original
Art and Culture during the
Enlightenment • Mozart started
composing when he
was five!
• Birth of modern novel;
complex and carefully
crafted plots. Daniel Defoe
wrote Robinson Crusoe about
a family stranded on a desert
island
• Below is Defoe’s quote – what
do YOU think it means?
• Wherever God erects a
house of prayer the Devil
always builds a chapel there;
And 'twill be found, upon
examination, the latter has
the largest congregation
http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/az/wolfgangamadeus-mozart/audiosamples/
– Daniel Defoe
Enlightenment and the Monarchy
• Enlightened despots = monarchs who
embraced the Enlightenment and
allowed reform
• Wanted ONLY to strengthen own
countries, did NOT want to give up
power
Enlightened Monarchs
• Frederick the Great:
committed to reforming
Prusisia
• Reforms included:
– Allowing more religious
freedom
– Improving education
– Reduced censorship
– Reformed the criminal
justice system and
eliminated torture
– Called himself “The First
Servant of the State” –
main goal was to serve
and strengthen the state
Joseph II of Austria
• 1780 – 1790
• Introduced legal
reforms and freedom of
the press
• Religious tolerance –
even for Jews and
Protestants!
• Got rid of serfdom and
insisted that peasants
get $
Catherine the Great
• She had a horrible
marriage and
eventually had her
husband (Joseph
III, the czar of
Russia) killed in
order to take over
the country
• Ruled Russia from
1762 - 1796
Catherine the Great cont.
• Ruled Russia with absolute authority, but also
modernized and reformed the country
• Influenced by Beccaria, Montesquieu and Voltaire
• Never helped the Russian peasants and eventually
gave the nobles absolute authority over their serfs
• Also expanded Russia – fought for years for access to
the Baltic Sea and the navigation routes in the Black
and Mediterranean seas. Also took over much of
Poland.
• Catherine enlarged Russia and Russia soon became an
international power.
More Catherine…
• “I like to praise and reward
loudly, to blame quietly.”
• “It is better to be subject to
the Laws under one Master,
than to be subservient to
many.”
• “What is the true End of
Monarchy? Not to deprive
People of their natural
Liberty; but to correct their
Actions, in order to attain
the supreme Good. “
– Catherine the Great