HISTORY (XI)-THEME 7 CHANGING CULTURAL TRADITIONS (LESSON NOTES)

 

HISTORY (XI)-THEME 7

CHANGING CULTURAL TRADITIONS

(LESSON NOTES)

_______________________________________________________

 

v INTRODUCTION

Ø From 14 century there were drastic changes occurred in the cultural tradition of Europe. During this time many cities were developed due to trading activities. These cities become the centre of art and learning. Many new innovation and technology not only changed the life style of people but also change their ideology, thinking and skills etc.

 

Ø Modern historians refereed these changes as Renaissance. In this lesson we will come to know about renaissance, its impact, causes and changes occurred. We also know the different scholars who played an important role in these changes.

v SOURCES

Ø There is a lot of material in the form of documents, printed books, paintings, sculptures, buildings, textiles etc.

Ø These are preserved in archives, art galleries and museums in Europe and America.

v RENAISSANCE

Ø The word renaissance is taken from the French word which means rebirth. So, renaissance referred as the changing cultural tradition occurred in Europe from Italy during 14 to 17^th century in sphere of art, literature, architecture, and created awareness among the people.

Ø A Swiss scholar – Jacob Burckhardt describe these changes in his book 'The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy'.

v CHNAGES OCCURRED IN EUROPE

Ø During 14 to 17^th century number of towns had grown in different countries. It developed the urban culture.

Ø The people of towns started to think that they were more civilised than the people of villages. The rich and aristocratic class began to patronise artists and writers in the towns.

Ø These towns developed as centres of art and education such as Florence, Venice and Rome of Italy.

 Ø Books and prints were available to many people due to the invention of printing in this time.

Ø The developments in science and geography broke all the traditional notions of church like earth was the centre of solar system and Mediterranean Sea was the centre of the world.

v RENAISSANCE FROM ITALY

Ø CONDITION OF ITALY

§  After the fall of Roman Empire western Europe was reshaped by feudal bonds and eastern Europe under Byzantine empire.

§  Further west there was an Islamic land.

§  In this time Italy was weak and fragmented and many towns were fell into ruin.

 

§  There was no unified government.

§  Pope was sovereign in his state (Rome) but was not A strong political figure.

Ø THE REVIVAL OF ITALIAN CITIES

§  This condition of Italy also helped in the revival of the Italian culture.

§  Developments of trade between the Byzantine empire and the Islamic countries help the ports on the Italian coast to developed.

§  Italian cities played a vital role in the trading with china and Europe.

§  These cities kept their identity as independent city states as Venice, Milan, Genoa, Rome. Florence and Venice were among the republics.

§  The administration of most of these cities were in the hands of rich merchants and bankers. They were free from the control of clergy or feudal lords and this helped the idea of citizenship.

§  By 15th century, Florence (Hometown of Petrarch) became famous as trade and education centre.

Ø EDUCATIONAL CENTER

§  In Europe, earlier universities were established in Italian towns, which played a very important role in the renaissance.

§  The universities of Padua and Bologna were the centre of legal studies from 11th century. The development of trade and commerce increase the demand of lawyers, solicitor and notaries.

§  But from 14^th century there was a change now law was studied in the context of earlier Roman culture.

§  Francisco Petrarch represented this change and stressed the significance of a deep reading of ancient authors.

§  It developed the idea of humanism.

Ø HUMANISM

§  Humanism is a philosophical term that emphasizes the value of human beings, individually and collectively. The Latin word humanities had been used by Roman lawyer Cicero (106-43 BCE) which means culture.

§  As you know that in the medieval time Church had complete control over men’s mind, so that time is referred as Dark age by the historian. But the ancient Greek and roman culture emphasis on the person’s skill.

§  The term humanist began to be applied in early 15th century for masters who could teach grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and philosophy. These subjects had no connection with religion.

§  They were developed through discussions and debates of individuals. These ideas influenced other universities also especially in newly established university in Florence, the home town of Petrarch.

v FEATURES OF HUMANISTIC IDEAS

Ø The control of religion over human life become weak.

Ø  Italians remained religious though they were attracted by material wealth, power and glory.

Ø A humanist from Venice, Francesco Barbaro wrote pamphlet in defence of the possession of the wealth and called it a virtue.

Ø Lorenzo Valla who thought that the study of history leads a man to attempt for a life of perfection, in his book On Pleasure he condemned the Christian restriction against pleasure.

Ø There was a concern over good manners that how one should speak politely and dress properly.

Ø Humanism stressed that individuals were able of shaping their own lives through resources rather than the mere search of power and money.

Ø This belief was linked with view that human nature was many-sided which went against the three separate orders that feudal society believed in. Machiavelli in his book The Prince told that 'all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature partly because of the fact that human desires are insatiable'.

Ø CONTRIBUTION OF ARABS

§  The monks and clergymen were familiar with the works of Greek and Roman scholars from the 'middle Ages' but they did not left them get known to other people.

§  By 14th century many scholars started to read the translation of Greek writers like Plato and Aristotle. They were translated and preserved by Arab translators.

§  Some Europeans read Greek works in Arabic translation and the Greek translated Arabic and Persian scholars work in European languages.

§  These works were on natural science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and chemistry.

§  The Almagest of Ptolemy was the work of 140 CE on astronomy in Greek language and was translated into Arabic. It carried in Arabic alphabet 'al' which shows connection with Arabs.

§  Ibn Sina, an Arb physician and philosopher of Bukhara and al-Razi the author of medieval encyclopaedia were considered as men of knowledge in Italian states.

§  The Christian thinkers adopted the method of Arab philosopher of Spain (Ibn Rushd) who tried to resolve the tension between philosophical knowledge and religious faith.

v ARTISTS AND REALISM

Ø Humanism was not only propagated through education but also by art, architecture and books. The artists were inspired by studying the works of the past.

Ø The material remains including fragments of art found on the ruins of ancient Rome and other deserted cities. Italian sculptors were influenced with perfectly proportioned male and female figures.

 

Ø  Donatello initiated the new ground with his life like statues. The artists were helped by the scientists by making accurate human figures. The artists went to laboratories of medical schools for studying bone structures.

Ø A professor of medicine Andreas Vesalius at the university of Padua first dissected the human body, which was the beginning of modern physiology.

Ø Painters did not get any older work. So they painted as realistically and their pictures had a three-dimensional effect due to the use of light effect of colours.

 

Ø The use of anatomy, geometry and physics together with logic of 'what is beautiful' created a quality called realism introduced in Italian art which continued up to the 19^th century.

PLACES	PERSONLITIES	BOOK/PAINTING	REMARK
Geerks	Ptolemy	Almagest
Roman	Cicero (106-43 BCE)	Roman lawyer
Writer from Italy	Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)	The divine  Comedy
	Franceso Petrarch (1304-78)
	Giovanni pico della Mirandalo	On the dignity of Man
	Cardinal Gasparo Contarini	The commonwealth and the government of Venice
Printing Machine	Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1458)	First printing Press in 1454
Architects	Michelangelo	The Pieta and Dome of st peter church
	Filippo Brunelleschi (1337-1446)	Duomo of Florance
Artists	Giotto (1267-1337)	Child Jesus	Life like Portraits
	Albrecht Durer	Praying Hands
	Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)	The Last Supper(1495) The Monalisa
	Donatello (1386-1466)		Life like statues
	Andreas Vesalius (1514-64)	Professor of Medicine

 

v ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENTS

Ø From 15^th century Popes become politically stronger and they actively encouraged study of Rome’s history. The ruins in Rome were carefully excavated by archaeologists.

Ø This architecture style which was the revival of the imperial Roman style – now called as new classical Style.

Ø The wealthy merchants, popes and aristocrats engaged those architects who were familiar with classical architecture. 

Ø Artists and sculptors began to decorate buildings with paintings, sculptures and reliefs. Several persons were expert equally as painters, sculptors and architects.

Ø Michael angelo Buonarroti is remembered for his immortal work in Rome such as the painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the sculpture called 'The Pieta' and the design of the dome of St. Peter's Church.

 

Ø Filippo Brunelleschi started his career as a sculptor but became famous for designing the Duomo of Florence. By this time artists were famous individually, by their name instead being a member of a group or a guild.

v DEVELOPMENT OF PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

Ø The European people come to know about printing technology from Chinese and Mongol rulers, as they were familiar with those like firearms, the compass and the abacus. Earlier texts were found in hand written form.

Ø Johannes Gutenberg, a German, made first printing press and printed 150 copies of the Bible in 1455 in the same time when a monk take to write a single copy of the Bible.

Ø After that by 1500 all classical texts in Latin had been printed in Italy. There is large impact on this printing technology

§  With the availability of printed books, the dependency of students over lecture notes was ended.

§  The ideas, opinions and information spread widely and rapidly. The printed books promoted new views rapidly.

§  This made it possible for individuals to read books, as it was possible to buy a copy for oneself.

§  The printed books were the chief factor to spread humanist culture quickly across the Alps by the end of 15th century.

v THE ASPIRATION OF WOMEN(CONDITION OF WOMEN)

Ø The new ideas like individuality and citizenship regarding human beings excluded women.

Ø Men from aristocratic families led the public life and were the decision-makers of their families.

Ø The sons were provided with education to lead a family business or public life. Women had no say in business matters though their dowries were invested in family business, marriages were a means to support business alliances.

Ø Those girls whose dowry was not arranged were sent to convents to lead the life of nuns. The women were looked upon as keeper of households only.

Ø The condition of women in families of merchants was in contrast to that of aristocratic families. They assisted their husbands in running the business.

Ø The wives of merchants and bankers looked after their business when they were away. The early death of a merchant forced his widow to play a bigger public role rather than the women of aristocratic family.

Ø Several women were intellectual humanists .Venetian Cassandra Fedele was one of them. She was known for her proficiency in Greek and Latin language and was invited to deliver lectures at the University of Padua. Her works focus the general regard for education. Fedele was among those women who criticised the republic for creating a highly limited definition of liberty that favoured the wishes of men over those of women.

Ø Another outstanding woman was the Marches of Mantua, Isabella d'Este. She ruled the state in the absence of her husband and the court of that small state got fame for its intellectual vividness. The writings of women of that period revealed their confidence that they should have economic power, property and education to get individuality in a world dominated by men.

v DEBATES WITHIN THE CHRISTIANITY

Ø From 15^th century onward the humanistic ideas also spread in North Europe. They wanted to change in the Christianity as

§  They directed the Christians to follow the religion mentioned in ancient texts of Greek and Roman.

§  They also discarded the meaningless rites which they considered as later additions.

§  The Christian humanists like Thomas More of England and Erasmus of Holland assumed that the church in their respective country had become a centre of greed and extortion money forcibly from common men.

§  They condemned the selling of 'indulgence' document which become the method to obtain money. The Indulgences promised the people to free them from the sins committed by them in the past.

§  The printed Bible in local languages disclosed the Christians that their religion did not allow such practises.

§  The peasants, commons and the princes began to rebel against taxes imposed by the Church and their increasing interference in the work of the state.

Ø PROTESTANT REFORMATION

§  In 1517, Martin Luther, a German monk, started the protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church.

 

§  He said that a person did not need priest to set up contact with God. That led to the break-up of German and Swiss Churches with the Pope and Catholic Church.

§  In Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli and Jean Calvin followed Martin Luther's ideas. These reformers had greater popular support in towns and rural areas.

§  Other German reformers like Anabaptists were more radical. They blended the idea of salvation to all kinds of social oppression. They argued that God has created all men as equals and therefore, they are not expected to pay tax and have the right to choose their priests.

§  These ideas influenced the feudal oppressed peasantry and they revolted. Martin Luther opposed radicalism and asked the German rulers to suppress the rebellions in 1525.

§  In England, the rulers broke the connection with the Pope. The King or queen was the head of the church from then onwards.

§  In Spain, Ignatius Loyola organised the Society of Jesus in 1540.His followers were called Jesuits. The aim of the society was to serve poor and to widen their knowledge of other cultures.

v THE SCIENCITIFIC REVOLUTION

Ø The scientists had questioned the Christian notion of man as a sinner. The Christians believed that the Earth was a place of sin and the burden of sin made it stationary. The earth was centre of universe around which celestial planets moved.

Ø Copernicus developed a theory that earth together with other planets revolved around the sun.

Ø He handed over his manuscript De revolutionibus (The Rotation) to his disciple Joachim Rheticus before his death. People took time to accept the truth.

Ø Johannes Kepler popularised the theory that earth is a part of sun-centred solar system. In his Cosmographical Mystery, he demonstrated that planets revolved around the sun not in circle but in eclipses.

Ø Galileo Galilee in his work 'The Motion' proved the notion of dynamic world.

Ø The revolution in science reached its climax with the theory of gravitation by Isaac Newton.

Ø  The works of extended rapidly into the forms of physics, chemistry and biology. Historians termed this new approach to the knowledge of man and nature as the Scientific Revolution.

Ø EFFECT OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

§  Due to the scientific revolution sceptics and non-believers started to think that Nature is a source of creation instead of God.

§  The believers of God said that their God did not directly control the act of living in the world.

§  A new scientific culture came into existence as several scientific societies popularised distant God's idea.

§  The scientific societies were formed like the Royal Society of London in 1662 and the Paris Academy in 1670.

§  They held lectures and carried out experiments for public viewing.