Four Causes of the Rennaissance
Rennaissance
of
English
character:
new
nationalism,
self
questioning, self conscious maturity.
Away from medieval
Scholasticism, more toward Greeks, theology, logic, philosophy.
Scholasticism:
knowledge as
Aristotle and his commentators.
got
from
Church
fathers,
and
Humanism
Printing
Protesant Reformation
Tudors
skepticism, New World's wealth
Humanism
Rebirth began in Italy in 13-14the centuries, moving north thru
France, Spain, up North Europe, skip to England.
Hits England late 15th, early 16:
2 centuries from Italy to England.
Rebirth of Classical learning
discovery of manuscripts:
Aristotle from Arabs/Crusades
some Plato
Rediscovery of Sextus Empericus
Letters of Cicero
Petrarch's boast: he owned a greek manuscript
1490's:
Greek chair, John Collet, in Oxford
Humanism pervaded 16th
what is? Contemporary,
Old Historical
Old Historical Humanism
New philosophy of man. Old medieval contempt of man replaced with
confidence in men's powers, of his mind.
Dedicated to serving
World.
Kristeller redefines age:
1. rebirth of education. Middle Ages logic based on middle
aged texts, ie, symbolic logic. In Rennaissance, this is forsaken
for Cicero, Aristotle, and Plato.
2. Anti Scholastic: Scholastics were late middle ages church
empire theologians and logicians. Reformers were all clerics, but
emphasis on study of Grammar and rhetoric, classical, moral
philosophy, and history.
In England: 1512:
St Paul's School in London, run by
More, Lyly, Erasmus.
A Humanist
approach.
Henry VIII made it a model for public education; a liberal arts
curriculum.
All his schools put together for purpose of civic
duty, not contemplative.
New Historians
S. Greenblatt
Marxism: art not an end in itself, but always political.
Humanism involved new sense of selves and the world; politics
in sense that people saw themselves as works of art, to be
fashioned; being sincere not the key. Self was the mode of art.
Creates self conscioussness without rarefication.
New Historians generally pessimistic on period, emphasize pamphlet
politics, dissillusionmeny in the arts.
American intellectuals such as Greenblatt are dissillusioned,
unlike Kristeller and Inge, who were more optimistic.
Effects of Humanism
Wyatt, More..all humanist educations
1.
literature:
wonderfull;
education to understand and
write
literary works, rhetoric explored, style, encouraged
patronage of the arts, valued translation, Latin,
English.
Latin is standard schoolboy mode.
2.
increased interest in the sciences [great dissemination of
information because of printing.]
3. occasion for Tudor New Men development; government came
to
be run by humanist, secualr men, not medieval
churchmen.
Switch: Cardinal Wolsey [first half Henry VIII's]
to
Thomas More
Meant a New Class Mobility
First time mobility possible outside of church
Mobility even for some women
Protestant Tutors for Edward, Elizabeth, were humanists [Ascham]
Cathoic Tutors for Catherine of Aragon's daughter humanist.
4.
texts of our courses:
As Rennaissance rediscovered old manuscripts, found
they were different [Plato, Bible] Textual Editing born.
this first used on the bible, then on philosophical work.
Printing
Wyatt:
printing not a part of life during his time.
He was a
manuscript poet.
did not read much.
40 years later, printing
fashionable.
Printing began by Gutenberg in 14th century, William Caxton in
15th, in England.
first printed materials;
gutenberg Bible, Papal materials,
psalters, missiles, Alamanacs, Latin grammar, Latin dictionary.
Books of scripture organized to calander of monastic devotion.
Marshal McLuhan:
The Gutenberg Cosmos
Print Culture, unlike Oratorical:
1. Possiblity of mass education [economical paperbooks]
2. More class mobility based on education
3. Reaction against mobility caused through education
4.
60% in town, 30% in court, were literate, though often
could not write, by end of century.
5. Religion moved from a ritual to a reading "as means" of
witnessing the bible.
6. From outloud to silent reading.
7.
intellectual change based on spread of knowledge.
Dynamic change.
8. Makes possible Scientific change.
9. accuracy, distribution of technology.
10. Politics, a new propoganda tool [Tudors loved it].
11. also lead to heavey cencorship, then subversion.
The Familists, the Family of Love, printed at night;
printer by day [French].
Dickens, A.G.
Spitts, Lewis
court
Protestant Reformation
1517 Luthers 95 thesis in Wittenberg offering to argue [when you
got an M.A. in the middle ages, you offered to debate.]
important Reformation thesis:
1. bible open to interpretation
2. Religious experience to be set on personal faith, not
by number of works. Faith, not works. This in reaction
to materialism of late middle ages.
Luther the first generation of Protestantism.
Calvin, Jean [Humanist education, did M.A. thesis on Ovid]:
France, then Geneva.
Takes Luther's tenets and extends them.
Calvin behind American Puritanism.
1. grace and faith, not works.
2. God determines our Faith.
3. Exponent of Theocracy: Geneva becomes Theocracy.
further, with Geneva Bible:
Election: what we do is wrong, save thru God.
Right for Monarch to lead church correctly.
Catholic Customs [substantiation, confession] considered
Satanic. No transubstantiation, no celebacy.
Geneva Experiment influences Scotland [John Knox] warrior
monarchs. In England, translations of the Bible:
1527: William Tyndale published New Testament in English. He
was declared a heretic by Henry VIII.
1534:
Henry VIII broke with Catholic Church, brought in
Coverdale and Matther Bible in mid 30's.
Henry VIII ordered, in 1539, the Great Bible.
Bible becomes political tool, so passages reflect your doctrine:
Bishops or Elders?
Edward VI:
Protestant, reforms other church material;
Anglican Service, and First Articles of Church.
Mary:
meantime,
1558:
back to Catholicism,
Bible This the main
Aristocarats left
translated
the
caused publication of the Geneva
base for the King James Version.
England for Geneva, and in
Bible.
Elizabeth and Moderate Protestantism
Geneva Bible too radical. Elizabeth changes to Bishops bible.
The Golden Age then [Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser] would have
agreed with Liz's settlement.
1.
Results
Europe in Religious Wars throughout the 16th.
German city states
Spain fights Netherlands
French internal Wars.
2.
Protestanism re-inforced Rennaissance.:
going back to early church fathers.
going back to sources [Augustine wrote classical
latin,
a
humanist
perspect.]
3.
Protestantism increases literacy, if Bible saves, you
must read, even women allowed.
4.
Bible
and
translation
developed
common
literacy
language. Bible read allover; helped create language.
Translation the "midwife to great literature."
5.
Caused Catholics to establish censorship. Science studies
moved to Protestant countries.
Copernicus a Protestan
hero. Reformation and Science linked.