Reformation Europe
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Europe in the 16 Cent.
The implications of a division in
Christian Europe
First, given the division between Catholics
and the many Protestant sects, it was not
as easy to control dogma. That does not
mean that both Catholics and Protestants
did not have dogma, they did; moreover,
religious toleration was not a feature of
Reformation Europe. What was important
here is that the monolithic structure of
Christianity was destroyed, and that ipso
facto allowed for greater individual freedom
to pursue research in areas that challenged
the status quo.
On the Catholic Church
Bear in mind that the Church was not
completely hostile to science. Consider the
work done (admittedly to determine the date
of Easter) that required considerable care
and insight, namely using cathedrals to
measure the sun. The device; the orb of the
sun ; and the system; and how it looks .
On the protestants
Even tho there is a clear movement toward
adopting a new cosmological perspective,
consider this comment from Luther: in one of
his Advent sermons . . . said, "The heathen
write that the comet may arise from natural
causes, but God creates not one that does
not foretoken a sure calamity." Again he
said, "Whatever moves in the heaven in an
unusual way is certainly a sign of God's
wrath." What conclusions do you come to?
What was different was the
following:
• The development of national, secular and
centralized states whose structure was
legitimized by the appeal to reason (rather than
religious belief).
• The growth of commerce and trade empowered
a bourgeoisie that needed education to run its
affairs, was more comfortable with "scientific"
thinking, and rejected excessive intrusions of
religious belief.
The monopoly on knowledge by the
priestly caste was broken
• Governments found they could legitimize
themselves by supporting high culture. This led
to the foundation of academies of science (very
elitist) and eventually (after the French
Revolution) to the reorganization of universities
on a more secular basis.
• Reinforced by the discovering of Roman law
and of scientific treatises (even of the twit
Aristotle) of the Greco-Roman period. Such
materials were secular in character and, by
virtue of their antiquity provided an alternative to
church authority.
Europe did not become "liberal" in
our sense of the word
• Some areas (predominantly those with
maritime and commericial establishments)
were more receptive to new ideas than
were others (where agriculture dominated
and feudalism persisted); scholars moved
to where they were valued.
• Invention of the printing press gave new
meaning to "open/public, sustained selfconscious reflection“.
Higher Education
• Universities remained very underfunded
and very much under the control of clerics,
both protestant and catholic.
• Tho there were some exceptions (Padua
had both Galileo and Vaselius as
professors), they remained under the
control of theologians of all faiths.
But there was competition
The Jesuits and the Counterreformation
Science was then supported primarily in the
new Jesuit stations (like the Collegio
Romano and on the square. Note the role of
Jesuits in education between 1550 and
1615. Wherever the Jesuits went both in
Europe and to the East, they stressed
education and astronomy. But the end of
the17th Cent the court astronomer of China
was a Jesuit.
And the Academies
“Academies of science" that were founded
everywhere; first in Florence and the
throughout Europe.