Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Western Civilization
Ideas, Politics, and Society
Tenth Edition
Marvin Perry
Baruch College, City University of New York
Myrna Chase
Baruch College, City University of New York
James R. Jacob
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Margaret C. Jacob
University of California, Los Angeles
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Chapter 3 History 94
The Greek City-State: Democratic Herodotus 95
Politics 48 Thucydides 96
Early Aegean Civilizations 50 The Greek Achievement: Reason, Freedom,
The Rise of Hellenic Civilization 51 Humanism 97
Homer, Shaper of the Greek Spirit 52
Greek Religion 54 Chapter 5
The Evolution of the City-State 54 The Hellenistic Age:
The Break with Theocratic Politics 54 Cultural Diffusion 101
Sparta: A Garrison State 55 Alexander the Great 104
Athens: The Rise of Democracy 56 Hellenistic Society 104
Athenian Greatness 59 Competing Dynasties 104
The Persian Wars 59 Hellenistic Culture 107
The Mature Athenian Democracy 60 Literature, History, and Art 107
Primary Source: Pericles on Athenian Science 108
Greatness 64 Philosophy 109
Pericles: Symbol of Athenian Profile: Polybius 110
Democracy 65
Primary Source: Epicureanism: Living Well 112
The Decline of the City-States 65
The Hellenistic Legacy 115
The Peloponnesian War 65
The Fourth Century 67
Chapter 6
Profile: Demosthenes 68
The Roman Republic: City-State
The Dilemma of Greek Politics 68 to World Empire 117
Evolution of the Roman Constitution 118
Chapter 4
Greek Thought: Roman Expansion to 146 B.C. 122
From Myth to Reason 72 The Uniting of Italy 122
Philosophy 73 Primary Source: Polybius: The Roman
The Cosmologists: A Rational Inquiry Army 123
into Nature 74 Conquest of the Mediterranean World 124
The Sophists: A Rational Investigation Consequences of Expansion 126
of Human Society 77 Culture in the Republic 129
Socrates: The Rational Individual 78 Collapse of the Republic 131
Plato: The Rational Society 81 Crisis in Agriculture 133
Aristotle: A Synthesis of Greek The Gracchan Revolution 133
Thought 85
Profile: Cleopatra 134
Art 87 Rival Generals 135
Poetry and Drama 88 Julius Caesar 136
Profile: Hesiod 90 The Republic’s Last Years 138
Aeschylus 90
Sophocles 91 Chapter 7
Euripides 92 The Roman Empire: A World-State 140
Primary Source: Euripides, Medea 93 Augustus and the Foundations of the Roman
Aristophanes 93 Empire 141
Contents ❖ v
The Pax Romana 145 Primary Source: Saint Benedict of Nursia: The
Profile: Epictetus 146 Christian Way of Life 186
The Successors of Augustus 146 Christianity and the Jews 187
“The Time of Happiness” 148 Saint Augustine: The Christian
Roman Culture and Law During the Pax Worldview 188
Romana 151 Christianity and Classical Humanism:
Primary Source: Aelius Aristides: The Blessings Alternative Worldviews 191
of the Pax Romana 152
Signs of Trouble 157 Part Two
Internal Unrest 157 The Middle Ages: The Christian
Social and Economic Weaknesses 158
Cultural Stagnation and Centuries, 500 to 1400 196
Transformation 158
Chapter 9
The Spread of Mystery Religions 159
The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium,
The Spiritualization of Philosophy 159
Islam, and Latin Christendom 198
The Decline of Rome 161
Byzantine Civilization: The Medieval Christian
Third-Century Crisis 161
East 199
Diocletian and Constantine: The
Imperial Growth and Decline 200
Regimented State 162
The Bequest of Byzantium 204
Tribal Migrations and Invasions 163
Reasons for Rome’s Decline 165 Islamic Civilization: Its Development and
Dissemination 204
The Roman Legacy 168
The Prophet: The Founding of a New
Religion 204
Chapter 8 The Muslim State and Society 206
Early Christianity: A World The Muslim Golden Age 207
Religion 170 Mongol Invasions and Ottoman
The Origins of Christianity 171 Dominance 208
Judaism in the First Century b.c. 172 Art Essay: The Art of the Ancient World and
Jesus: The Inner Person 174 the Middle Ages after 208
Saint Paul: From a Jewish Sect to a World
Religion 176 Latin Christendom: The Rise of Europe 209
Political and Economic
The Spread and Triumph of Transformation 210
Christianity 178 The Waning of Classical Culture 211
The Appeal of Christianity 178
The Church: Shaper of Medieval
Profile: Blandina 180 Civilization 212
Christianity and Rome 180 The Church as Unifier 212
Christianity and Greek Philosophy 181 Monks and the Papacy 213
The Growth of Christian Organization,
The Kingdom of the Franks 215
Doctrine, and Attitudes 183
The Era of Charlemagne 217
The Primacy of the Bishop of Rome 184
Carolingian Renaissance 217
The Rise of Monasticism 184
Scriptural Tradition and Doctrinal Profile: Saint Boniface 218
Disputes 184 The Breakup of Charlemagne’s Empire 219
Christianity and Society 185 Medieval Society 220
vi ❖ Contents
Louis XIV: The Consolidation of French Primary Source: René Descartes: Discourse on
Monarchical Power 378 Method (1637) 413
Primary Source: Louis XIV, Instructions for the The Social Implications of the Scientific
Dauphin 381 Revolution 415
The Growth of Limited Monarchy and The Meaning of the Scientific Revolution 416
Constitutionalism in England 382 Art Essay: Art of the Seventeenth and
The English Parliament and Eighteenth Centuries after 416
Constitution 383 Profile: Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) 417
The Tudor Achievement 385
The English Revolutions, 1640–1660 and Chapter 18
1688–1689 387 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason
Profile: Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Reform 419
(1558–1603) 388 The Formation of a Public and Secular
The Netherlands: A Bourgeois Republic 391 Culture 422
Salons 423
The Holy Roman Empire: The Failure to Unify Freemasons 423
Germany 392 Scientific Academies 425
The Emergence of Austria and Prussia 394 Alternatives to Orthodoxy 425
Austria 394 Christianity Under Attack 425
Prussia 394 Skeptics, Freethinkers, and Deists 425
Russia: Great Nobles and Starving Primary Source: The Treatise of the Three
Peasants 396 Impostors 427
The State and Modern Political Voltaire the Philosophe 427
Development 396 Political Thought 429
Locke 430
Chapter 17
Montesquieu 431
The Scientific Revolution: The
Rousseau 431
Universe Seen as a Mechanism 399
Social Thought 432
Medieval Cosmology 401 Epistemology and Education 432
A New View of Nature 402 Profile: Mary Wollstonecraft 433
Renaissance Neo-Platonism 402 Humanitarianism 434
Magic, Alchemy, and the Search for
Nature 403 Economic Thought 438
The Copernican Revolution 403 The High Enlightenment 439
The Laws of Planetary Motion: Tycho and European Political and Diplomatic
Kepler 405 Developments 442
Galileo: Experimental Physics 405 Warfare 442
The Newtonian Synthesis: Experiment, Enlightened Despotism 443
Mathematics, and Theory 408 The Enlightenment in Eastern Europe 444
Biology, Medicine, and Chemistry 409 The American Revolution 446
Bacon and Descartes: Prophets of the New The Enlightenment and the Modern
Science 410 World 449
Bacon 411
Descartes 412 Index I-1
Maps
1.1 Mesopotamian and Egyptian 10.1 The Kingdom of France,
Civilizations 10 1180–1314 237
1.2 Kingdoms and Peoples of the Ancient 10.2 The Holy Roman Empire, c. 1200 243
World 23 10.3 The Routes of the Crusades 245
1.3 The Assyrian and Persian 11.1 Medieval Centers of Learning 256
Empires 25 13.1 Italian City-States, c. 1494 296
2.1 Hebrews and Other Peoples of the 13.2 The Growth of Printing in
Ancient Middle East 35 Europe 308
3.1 Greek Colonization of the Mediterra- 14.1 The Protestant and Catholic
nean Basin 53 Reformations 332
3.2 The Aegean Basin 61 14.2 Inner Austria and Adjacent
5.1 The Division of Alexander’s Territories 333
Empire and the Spread of 15.1 Portuguese and Spanish Empire
Hellenism 106 Building, 1415–1635 347
6.1 Roman Conquests During the 15.2 Industrial Centers in the Sixteenth
Republic 128 Century 358
7.1 The Roman Empire Under Augustus 16.1 Spain from the Ninth to the Sixteenth
and Hadrian 144 Century 373
7.2 Incursions and Migrations, c. a.d. 16.2 Europe, 1648 384
300–500 164 16.3 The Growth of Austria and
8.1 The Journeys of Saint Paul 176 Brandenburg-Prussia,
8.2 The Spread of Christianity 182 c. 1650–1750 395
9.1 The Byzantine Empire 201 18.1 European Expansion, 1715 440
9.2 The Expansion of Islam, 18.2 Europe, 1789 445
622–732 209 18.3 Trade Routes between the Old and New
9.3 The Carolingian World 216 Worlds 448
Chronologies
1.1 The Near East 6 12.1 The Late Middle Ages 275
2.1 The Hebrews 33 13.1 The Renaissance 294
3.1 The Greek City-State 50 14.1 The Reformation 317
6.1 The Roman Republic 119 15.1 The Commercial Revolution 342
7.1 The Roman Empire 142 16.1 The Rise of Monarchical
8.1 Early Christianity 172 Sovereignty 370
9.1 The Rise of Europe 200 18.1 The Enlightenment 421
10.1 The High Middle Ages 229
ix
Preface
Western civilization is a grand but tragic drama. commitment to these ideals will diminish. With-
The West has forged the instruments of reason that out knowledge of history, the West cannot fully
make possible a rational comprehension of physi- comprehend or adequately cope with the prob-
cal nature and human culture, conceived the idea of lems that burden its civilization and the world.
political liberty, and recognized the intrinsic worth In attempting to make sense out of the past,
of the individual. But the modern West, though it the authors have been careful to avoid superficial
has unraveled nature’s mysteries, has been less suc- generalizations that oversimplify historical events
cessful at finding rational solutions to social ills and arrange history into too neat a structure.
and conflicts between nations. Science, the great But they do strive to interpret and to synthesize
achievement of the Western intellect, while improv- in order to provide students with a frame of ref-
ing conditions of life, has also produced weapons of erence with which to comprehend the principal
mass destruction. Though the West has pioneered events and eras in Western history.
in the protection of human rights, it has also pro-
duced totalitarian regimes that have trampled on
individual freedom and human dignity. Although CHANGES IN THE TENTH EDITION
the West has demonstrated a commitment to
human equality, it has also practiced brutal racism. For the tenth edition, every chapter has been
Despite the value that Westerners have given to reworked to some extent. The hundreds of care-
reason and freedom, they have shown a frighten- fully selected modifications and additions signifi-
ing capacity for irrational behavior and a fasci- cantly enhance the text. Some changes deepen the
nation for violence and irrational ideologies, and book’s conceptual character while others provide
they have willingly sacrificed liberty for security useful and illustrative historical detail. In several
or national grandeur. The world wars and totali- chapters the concluding essays, which strive for
tarian movements of the twentieth century have meaning and significance, have been enlarged and
demonstrated that Western civilization, despite its improved. We have been particularly careful to
extraordinary achievements, is fragile and perish- strengthen chapters dealing with intellectual his-
able. Yet the West has also shown the capacity to tory, the text’s distinguishing feature. Each chap-
reassert its best values and traditions. ter continues to contain a profile of a significant
Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Soci- historical figure. The most significant addition in
ety examines the Western tradition—those unique the previous edition was the insertion in every
patterns of thought and systems of values that con- chapter of a primary source that illuminates the
stitute the Western heritage. While focusing on key narrative. These primary sources are retained in
ideas and broad themes, the text also provides a bal- the tenth edition, and we have added questions
anced treatment of economic, political, and social for analysis of the documents. The Geography
history for students in Western civilization courses. of Europe essay at the beginning of the book has
The text is written with the conviction that been updated. In order to strengthen the organiza-
history possesses profound meaning. Without tion of the book, we have combined two chapters
a knowledge of history, men and women can- of the previous edition, reducing the total number
not fully know themselves, for all human beings of chapters from thirty-four to thirty-three.
have been shaped by institutions and values In Chapter 1, “The Ancient Near East,” we intro-
inherited from the past. Without an awareness duced Sargon’s daughter, Enheduanna, the world’s
of the historical evolution of reason and free- oldest known poet. The sections dealing with Egypt
dom, the dominant ideals of Western civilization, now contain a discussion of Egyptian literature
x
Preface ❖ xi
and Rameses II. In Chapter 2, “The Hebrews,” understanding of nature. It addresses the relation-
we expanded the discussion of Hebrew law and ship between the new science and the Industrial
strengthened the concluding section, “The Legacy of Revolution that began late in the eighteenth cen-
the Ancient Jews.” Several short insertions strengthen tury. Chapter 18, “The Age of Enlightenment,”
and clarify the narrative in both Chapters 3 and puts more stress on the importance of the book
4—“The Greek City-State” and “Greek Thought.” trade for making the new ideas accessible and
A section on women has been inserted in Chapter 5, internationally available and highlights what is
“The Hellenistic Age.” The most notable changes in now called the Radical Enlightenment.
Chapter 6, “The Roman Republic,” are fuller discus- For this edition we have combined the chapters
sions of the battle of Cannae, the Roman response on the French Revolution and Napoleon into one
to the disaster, and the military accomplishments of chapter. The new Chapter 19, “The French Revolu-
Julius Caesar. In Chapter 7, “The Roman Empire,” tion,” contains additional material on the Terror in
we have strengthened the sections on Pax Romana the Vendée; providing examples of the elements of
and the problems of the Late Roman Empire. total war in the Napoleonic wars enhances the end
Chapter 8, “Early Christianity,” now includes the piece, “The Meaning of the French Revolution.” In
views of Early Christian theorists towards various Chapter 20, “The Industrial Revolution,” the dis-
sexual concerns. The most noteworthy additions cussion of the major social and economic changes
to Chapter 9, “The Heirs of Rome,” are expanded resulting from industrialization and urbanization
discussions of the iconoclast struggle in Byzantium, has been strengthened. A generation of scholarship
the Islamic concept of jihad, Muslim acquisition tracing technological and entrepreneurial change
of Greek learning, and the waning of classical cul- together with the resulting impact on the lives of
ture in the West. In Chapter 10, “The High Middle social and national groups has been incorporated.
Ages,” more attention is given to the revival of trade In Chapter 22, “Revolution and Counterrevolu-
and the extermination of the Cathars. Added to tion,” we have upgraded the treatment of both the
Chapter 11, “The Flowering of Medieval Culture,” Revolution of 1830 and the revolutions of 1848.
is a profile of Maimonides, medieval Judaism’s most Strengthening the section “Religion in a Secular
outstanding scholar. The treatment of the Black Age” is the most significant change in Chapter 23,
Death in Chapter 12, “The Late Middle Ages,” has “Thought and Culture in the Mid-Nineteenth
been expanded and upgraded. Century.” The treatment of anti-Semitism has been
In Chapter 13, “The Renaissance,” a section improved in Chapter 24, “The Surge of Nation-
has been added that explores the debt the Euro- alism.” In Chapter 25, “The Industrial West,” we
pean Renaissance owed to the Islamic civilization provide expanded treatment of the complex rela-
that developed in the Mediterranean beginning tionship between the advance of industry and the
in the eighth century and that flourished in cities political developments in the major European pow-
stretching from Baghdad and Cairo in the Near ers and the United States up to the outbreak of the
East to Cordoba in Moorish Spain. Chapter 14, first World War. In Chapter 26, “Imperialism,” we
“The Reformation,” introduces the most recent have improved the discussion of the expansionist
thinking on the Reformation, and in particular program of Western states in terms of the impact it
the role of the major reformers, and continues its would have on their foreign and domestic policies
coverage into Eastern Europe. Chapter 15, “Euro- as well as the impact it has had on political devel-
pean Expansion,” adds to the discussion of the opments in the non-Western world. Also improved
preconditions within Europe for global overseas is the discussion of Freud’s theory of human nature
expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. in Chapter 27, “Modern Consciousness.”
Chapter 16, “The Rise of Sovereignty,” lays more The principal changes in Chapter 28, “World
emphasis on institutions of state and continues an War I,” are a telling example of the enthusiasm
emphasis upon the Dutch Republic, traditionally displayed in Germany when war broke out, a
left out of most accounts of the building of the deeper analysis of Germany’s last offensive, and
nation-state. Chapter 17, “The Scientific Revo- some additional material on the problems of the
lution,” supplies new perspectives on alchemy Provisional Government in Russia. In Chapter 29,
and its contribution to the formation of a new “An Era of Totalitarianism,” we have expanded
xii ❖ Preface
the treatment of the Russian Civil War and both DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
Stalin’s and Hitler’s dictatorships. In Chapter 30,
“Thought and Culture in an Era of World Wars and The text contains several pedagogical features.
Totalitarianism,” the section on Existentialism has Chapter outlines and introductions provide com-
been restructured and abridged, and a new profile prehensive overviews of key themes and give a
on Albert Camus has been inserted. In Chapter 31, sense of direction and coherence to the flow of
“World War II,” several topics have been expanded history. Many chapters contain concluding essays
and deepened, particularly the collapse of France that treat the larger meaning of the material. Facts
in 1940, Germany’s recovery and resilience in the have been carefully selected to illustrate key rela-
months following its defeat in France in 1944, the tionships and concepts and to avoid overwhelm-
Battle of the Bulge, and the Holocaust. Two signifi- ing students with unrelated and disconnected
cant improvements have been inserted in the con- data. Appropriate quotations, many not com-
cluding section, “The Legacy of World War II”: new monly found in texts, have been integrated into
material on the significance of the war for women the discussion. Each chapter contains notes and an
and a deeper discussion of the impact of the war on annotated bibliography. Each chapter also begins
Western consciousness. Chapter 32, “Europe After with focus questions to aid students’ reading of
World War II,” has been significantly restructured, the chapter. A glossary is provided online.
and greater attention is now given to both the ori- Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Soci-
gins and demise of the Cold War. In Chapter 33, ety is available in both one- and two-volume
“The Troubled Present,” the coverage of Europe editions, and in a third edition, From the 1400s.
contains new material on Europe’s current eco- From the 1400s (twenty-two chapters) has been
nomic problems and a new section, “New and Old prepared for those instructors whose courses
Threats: Muslim Immigration and the Resurgence begin with the Renaissance or the Reformation.
of Anti-Semitism.” The treatments of the wars in Volume I of the two-volume edition covers
Afghanistan and Iraq and the threat from al Qaeda the period from the first civilizations in the Near
have been updated. Also added to the chapter are East through the Age of Enlightenment in the
the revolts that rocked the Arab world in 2011. eighteenth century (eighteen chapters). Volume II
The text represents the efforts of several authors. covers the period from the growth of national
Marvin Perry, general editor of the project, wrote states in the seventeenth century to the contempo-
Chapters 1–12, 19, 21–24, 27–31, much of the new rary age (nineteen chapters). Because some instruc-
material in Chapters 32 and 33, and the Epilogue. tors start the second half of their course with the
James R. Jacob is the author of Chapters 13 and 15. period prior to the French Revolution, Volume II
Margaret C. Jacob wrote Chapters 14 and 16–18. incorporates the last three chapters of Volume I:
Myrna Chase is the author of Chapters 20, 25, and “The Rise of Sovereignty,” “The Scientific Revolu-
26. The late Theodore H. Von Laue wrote the sec- tion,” and “The Age of Enlightenment.” Volume II
tions on Russia and the Soviet Union in Chapters 28 also contains a comprehensive introduction that
and 29 and was largely responsible for Chapters 32 surveys the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and
and 33. Since Von Laue’s death in 2000, Marvin the opening centuries of the modern era; the intro-
Perry has reworked the sections on the Russian duction is designed particularly for students who
Revolution in Chapter 28 and the Communist did not take the first half of the course. From the
regime in Chapter 29 and Myrna Chase has revised 1400s also contains an introduction that covers
the section on tsarist Russia in Chapter 26. For sev- the ancient world and the Middle Ages.
eral editions Marvin Perry and Angela Von Laue
have reworked substantially Chapters 32 and 33. I
regret that Angela Von Laue, who had added her
literary and research skills to the project after her ANCILLARIES
husband’s death, opted for a too-early retirement.
I missed working with her on the tenth edition. We are pleased to introduce an expanded ancil-
Over the years Marvin Perry and George Bock have lary package that will help students in learning
edited the manuscript for continuity and clarity. and instructors in teaching.
Preface ❖ xiii
exactly and only the material you want your stu- textbook map with an aerial view of the loca-
dents to work with. Each selection can be listened tion today. It’s an ideal resource for study, review,
to (using the “Listen” button) to accommodate and research. In addition to this map feature, the
varied learning styles. Additionally, an instructor resource center also provides blank maps for stu-
can choose to add his or her own notes to read- dent review and testing.
ings to direct students’ attention or ask them ques-
tions about a particular passage. Each primary Rand McNally Historical Atlas of Western
source is accompanied by an introduction and Civilization, 2e. This valuable resource features
questions to help students understand the reading. over forty-five maps, including maps that high-
CourseReader: Western Civilization is the perfect light classical Greece and Rome; maps document-
complement to any class. ing European civilization during the Renaissance;
maps that follow events in Germany, Russia, and
Italy as they led up to World Wars I and II; maps
Student Resources that show the dissolution of Communism in 1989;
maps documenting language and religion in the
Companion Website. This website provides a Western world; and maps describing the unifica-
variety of resources, prepared by Jeffrey Webb, tion and industrialization of Europe.
to help you review for class. These study tools
include glossary, crossword puzzles, short quiz- Document Exercise. Prepared by Donna
zes, essay questions, critical thinking questions, Van Raaphorst, Cuyahoga Community College,
primary sources links, and weblinks. Document Exercise is a collection of exercises based
around primary sources, available in two volumes.
WebTutor on Blackboard or WebCT. Web-
Tutor offers real-time access to an interactive Music of Western Civilization. Available free
eBook and a full array of study tools, including to adopters, and for a small fee to students, this
animations and videos that bring the book’s top- CD contains a broad sampling of many important
ics to life, plus chapter outlines, summaries, learn- musical pieces of Western civilization.
ing objectives, glossary flashcards (with audio),
practice quizzes, and weblinks. Writing for College History, 1e. Prepared by
Robert M. Frakes, Clarion University, this brief
CourseMate. The more you study, the better the handbook for survey courses in American His-
results. Make the most of your study time by access- tory, Western Civilization/European History,
ing everything you need to succeed in one place. and World Civilization guides students through
Read your textbook, take notes, review flashcards, the various types of writing assignments they
watch videos, and take practice quizzes online with encounter in a history class. Providing examples
CourseMate. In addition, you can access the His- of student writing and candid assessments of
tory Resource Center, a “virtual reader” that pro- student work, this text focuses on the rules and
vides you with hundreds of primary sources. conventions of writing for the college history
course.
Wadsworth Western Civilization Resource
Center. Wadsworth’s Western Civilization The History Handbook, 1e. Prepared by
Resource Center gives you access to a “virtual Carol Berkin of Baruch College, City University
reader” with hundreds of primary sources includ- of New York, and Betty Anderson of Boston Uni-
ing speeches, letters, legal documents and tran- versity, this book teaches students both basic and
scripts, poems, maps, simulations, timelines, and history-specific study skills such as how to read
additional images that bring history to life, along primary sources, research historical topics, and
with interactive assignable exercises. A map fea- correctly cite sources. Substantially less expensive
ture including Google Earth coordinates and exer- than comparable skill-building texts, The History
cises will aid in your comprehension of geography Handbook also offers tips for Internet research
and use of maps. You can compare the traditional and evaluating online sources.
Preface ❖ xv
Doing History: Research and Writing in the The Modern Researcher, 6e. Prepared by
Digital Age, 1e. This book was prepared by Jacques Barzun and Henry F. Graff of Columbia
Michael J. Galgano, J. Chris Arndt, and Raymond University, this classic introduction to the tech-
M. Hyser of James Madison University. Whether niques of research and the art of expression is
you’re starting down the path as a history major used widely in history courses but is also appro-
or simply looking for a straightforward and sys- priate for writing and research methods courses
tematic guide to writing a successful paper, you’ll in other departments. Barzun and Graff thor-
find this text to be an indispensible handbook oughly cover every aspect of research, from the
to historical research. This text’s “soup to nuts” selection of a topic through the gathering, anal-
approach to researching and writing about history ysis, writing, revision, and publication of find-
addresses every step of the process, from locating ings, presenting the process not as a set of rules
your sources and gathering information to writing but through actual cases that put the subtleties
clearly and making proper use of various citation of research in a useful context. Part One covers
styles to avoid plagiarism. You’ll also learn how the principles and methods of research; Part Two
to make the most of every tool available to you— covers writing, speaking, and getting one’s work
especially the technology that helps you conduct published.
the process efficiently and effectively.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the following Cengage Learning, her replacement, Brooke Barbier,
instructors for their critical reading of sections has immediately identified with the project—and
of the manuscript: Gregory Brown, University of for this we are also grateful. In addition, we would
Nevada, Las Vegas; James Carter, Saint Joseph’s like to thank Cate Barr, Senior Art Director, for her
University; David Flaten, Tompkins Cortland creativity and artistic vision in updating the cover
Community College; Stephen Gibson, Allegany and interior design for this edition. Three people
College of Maryland; Sylvia Gray, Portland Com- not part of the Cengage Learning staff made valu-
munity College; Ann Kuzdale, Chicago State able contributions to the project. A special thanks
University; William Landon, Northern Kentucky to Karunakaran Gunasekaran at PreMediaGlobal,
University; Joseph McMahon, Bridgewater State who managed the overall production with skill and
College; Anne Rodrick, Wofford College; Ronald dedication. Wendy Granger from the Bill Smith
Schechter, The College of William and Mary; and Group, the photo researcher, deserves praise for
Jeffrey Webb, Huntington University. Several of her fine eye and enthusiasm for the project. So, too,
their suggestions were incorporated into the final does Daniel Nighting, the copy editor, for his care-
version. ful eye for detail.
We are grateful to the staff of Cengage Learn- Unfortunately, Angela Von Laue, who had
ing who lent their considerable talents to the proj- assisted me since the death of her husband, The-
ect. In particular, we would like to thank Associate odore Von Laue, in 2000, has taken a too-early
Editor Adrienne Zicht for her conscientiousness retirement from the book. I miss her literary and
and superb administrative skills, and Jane Lee, research skills. I would like to express my per-
Senior Content Project Manager, for her careful sonal gratitude to my good friend George Bock,
supervision. This edition rests substantially on the whose creative insights in previous editions
editorial talents of Freda Alexander, who worked continue to contribute to the text’s distinguish-
closely with us on earlier editions of the text. Over ing character—a concern for crucial concepts
the years, both Jean Woy, Senior Consulting Edi- and essential relationships. Our often heated
tor, who has been affiliated with the text since the but always fruitful discussions demonstrate to
first edition published in 1981, and Nancy Blaine, me the intrinsic value of the Socratic dialogue.
Senior Sponsoring Editor, who has worked with us And, as always, I am grateful to my wife, Phyl-
for ten years, continued to recognize and support lis Perry, for her encouragement and computer
what we are trying to do—and for this we remain expertise, which have saved me much time and
grateful. Although Nancy Blaine is no longer with frustration.
xvi
Geography of Europe
The map on the following pages features the continent of Europe and parts of
North Africa and the Middle East. Like most maps, it contains a selected com-
bination of physical and political information. The physical part pertains to the
natural world—the shapes of landmasses, mountains, and bodies of water—and
serves as a kind of background or screen onto which the political information is
projected. Categories of political information commonly featured on historical
maps include the location and names of important cities and states, the changing
borders of countries and empires, and the routes people traveled as they explored,
migrated, traded, and fought with one another.
Europe is one of seven continents; the others are Africa, Asia, North America,
South America, Australia, and Antarctica. Europe is bounded in the north by the
Arctic Sea, in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, in the south by the Mediterranean
Sea, and in the southeast by the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Off the mainland
but traditionally considered a part of Europe are thousands of islands, from those
of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Iceland in the northwest, to Crete, Sicily, and
Sardinia in the southeast.
Europe is quite distinctive in shape. The first thing to notice is that there is
no natural border between Europe and Asia. The traditional eastern boundary is
the Ural River, but looked at from a purely geographic standpoint, Europe might
simply be called western Asia. The second thing to notice is how much of Europe
is made up of peninsulas. In fact, Europe itself is one gigantic peninsula, with a
coastline equal in distance to one and a half times around the equator (37,877
miles).
North Americans are often surprised to discover the small size of the European
continent. The geographic area of France, for example, is less than that of Texas;
Britain is similar in size to Alabama. The distance from London to Paris is about
the same as from New York to Boston, while the distance from Berlin to Moscow
is comparable to that of Chicago to Denver.
MAJOR PENINSULAS AND ISLANDS There are six major European peninsulas: the
Iberian (comprising Portugal and Spain); the Apennine (Italy); the Balkan (Slo-
venia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Greece,
Bulgaria, and Macedonia); the Anatolian (Turkey); the Scandinavian (Norway,
Sweden, and Finland); and the Jutland or Danish peninsula. The islands of Iceland,
Ireland, and the United Kingdom lie to the Atlantic west, while to the east lie some
of the major islands of the Mediterranean, such as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete,
and Cyprus.
SEAS, LAKES, AND RIVERS Europe’s irregular coastline encloses large areas of water
into bays, gulfs, and seas. Moving from west to east in the Mediterranean, we have
the Tyrrhenian Sea (between Italy and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica),
the Adriatic (between Italy and the nations of the western Balkan peninsula), the
Ionian (between Italy and Greece), and the Aegean (between Greece and Turkey).
The Baltic Sea is bordered on the east (moving clockwise from the north) by Fin-
land, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and Sweden. It is con-
nected by narrow channels to the North Sea, which lies (moving clockwise from
the north) between Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium in
the east and south, to the United Kingdom in the north and west. The English Chan-
nel separates England and France; the Bay of Biscay lies between southwestern
30˚W 20˚W 10˚W 10˚E 20˚E
0˚
Elevation Reykjavik
Reyy
Re
Meters Feet
4,000 13,120 ICELAND
2,000 6,560
500 1,640 Arctic
Circle
200 656
Sea level Sea level
Below sea level Below sea level
Oslo
NORTHERN Stockholm
IRELAND
Edinburgh North
Belfast
Sea
IRELAND DENMARK
a
Dublin Copenhagen Se
UNITED ti c LITHUANIA
KINGDOM Bal
Kaliningrad
NETHERLANDS (RUSSIA)
Cardiff Hamburg Gdansk
Elb
London e
Amsterdam PO LA ND
R.
A T L A N T I C G E RM A N Y
Berlin
English Channel
V is
Brussels Warsaw
O C E A N
tu l
Bonn Leipzig
BELGIUM
a R.
Frankfurt
Se
Paris Prague
in
Luxembourg
eR
L o ir e R. LUX. CZECH
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R. Stuttgart ARPATHIAN
Bay REPUBLIC C
e
SLOVAKIA
Rhi n
Munich
of FRANCE Zurich LIECH. Vienna
Bratislava
Biscay Bern Budapest
Geneva Vaduz
AUSTRIA
SWITZ. A L P S HUNGARY
Lyons Ljubljana
R.
Porto PY Po R.
CROATIA
RE SAN
NE San MARINO Belgrade
Monaco BOSNIA &
PORTUGAL ES
SPAIN Marino
Ad
ria
Ta gu s Se Pris̆tina
R. Barcelona Corsica MONT.
NI
(Fr.) a
Rome
NE
Podgorica
S
˚N
70˚N 40˚E
60
U
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M
TS
.
FINL AND Astana ˚N
50
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R U S S I A
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St. Petersburg
Tallinn
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Riga Moscow
R.
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BELARUS Ara l
Brest Sea
Kiev Kharkov
UZBEKISTAN
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UKRAINE . Donetsk
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Dnepropetrovsk 40
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Chisinau
T U RK M ENI S T A N
s
p
Odessa
ia
ROMANIA CAUCASUS M
n
Ashgabat
TS .
Bucharest GEORGIA
S
Tbilisi Baku
e
S e a
D an u b e R.
a c k
a
AZERBAIJAN
B l ARMENIA
Yerevan
Sofia
B ULGARIA
Bosporus
Istanbul AZER.
ANATOLIA
Ankara Tehran
n
IRAN
Dardanelles
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Ae
T U R K E Y TS
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an
GR
S
RU
Se
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Athens
TA M
SY RI A T
S
Nicosia Baghdad
.
Crete IRA Q N
(Gr.) CYPRUS Beirut 30˚
LEBANON Damascus
France and northern Spain. The Black Sea, on the southern border of Russia and
Ukraine, is connected by two straits—the Bosphorous and the Dardanelles—to the
Aegean Sea. The Caspian Sea, bordered in the north by Russia and Kazakhstan, is
the world’s largest saltwater lake and, at 92 feet below sea level, the lowest point
in Europe.
Several of Europe’s major rivers flow across the Russian plain. At 2,194 miles,
the Volga is the longest river in Europe. Linked by canals and other river sys-
tems to the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Baltic Sea in the south, the Volga
originates west of Moscow and empties into the Caspian Sea after flowing some
2,194 miles. At 1,777 miles, the Danube is Europe’s second longest river and the
principal waterway in the central part of the continent. It originates in south-
ern Germany and flows through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and
Montenegro, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania, before reaching the
Black Sea. The Rhine river comes next, at 766 miles, winding its way from the
Swiss Alps to the Netherlands and the North Sea. Other prominent riverways
in Europe include the Elbe (678 miles), which originates in the Czech Republic
and passes through Germany before it, too, empties into the North Sea, and the
Rhône (505 miles), which runs from Switzerland, through France, and into the
Mediterranean Sea. The proximity of most areas of the European landmass to
the coastline and to major river systems greatly affected the Continent’s history.
LAND REGIONS Despite its relatively small size, the European continent presents a
wide range of landforms, from rugged mountains to sweeping plains. These can be
separated into four major regions: the Northwest Mountains, the Great European
Plain, the Central Uplands, and the Alpine Mountain System. The mountains of
the Northwest Region cover most of the region, running through northwestern
France, Ireland, northern Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, northern Finland, and
the northwest corner of Russia. The Great European Plain covers almost all of the
European part of the former Soviet Union, extending from the Arctic Ocean to
the Caucasus Mountains. This belt stretches westward across Poland, Germany,
Belgium, the western portion of France, and southeastern England. The Central
Uplands is a belt of high plateaus, hills, and low mountains. It reaches from the
central plateau of Portugal, across Spain, the central highlands of France, to the
hills and mountains of southern Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
The Alpine Mountain System is made up of several mountain ranges, including
the Pyrenees between Spain and France, the Alps in southeastern France, northern
Italy, Switzerland, and western Austria, and the Apennine range in Italy. Also
included are the mountain ranges of the Balkan Peninsula, the Carpathian Moun-
tains in Slovakia and Romania, and the Caucasus Mountains between the Black
and Caspian Seas.
When studying the map of Europe, it is important to notice the proximity of
Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Interaction with the peoples and
cultures of these regions has had a profound impact on the course of European
history.
Western Civilization
Ideas, Politics, and Society
3000
B.C.
2000
B.C.
Part One
1000
B.C.
The Ancient
World:
500
Foundation B.C.
of the West
to A.D. 500
100
B.C.
A.D.
200
Politics and Society Thought and Culture
Rise of civilization in Sumer (c. 3200) Cuneiform writing in Sumer; hieroglyphics
Union of Upper and Lower Egypt (c. 2900) in Egypt
Rise of Minoan civilization (c. 2600)
Political violence and civil wars in Rome Roman philosophers during the Republic:
(88–31) Lucretius, Cicero (1st cent. B.C.)
Assassination of Julius Caesar (44) Rise and spread of Christianity: Jesus
Octavian takes the title Augustus and (d. A.D. 29); Paul’s missionary activity
becomes first Roman emperor (27) (c. 34–64)
Greco-Roman Age (30 B.C.–c. A.D. 500) Gospel According to Mark (c. 66–70)
Pax Romana—the height of Roman Empire Roman historians, poets, and philosophers
(27 B.C.–A.D. 180) during the Pax Romana: Livy, Tacitus,
Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Juvenal, Seneca,
Marcus Aurelius
With the body of a lion and the face of a man, the Sphinx watches over Giza as a testament to
the divine kingship of the pharaohs. (dgmata/Shutterstock.com.)
■
■
■
Prehistory
The Rise to Civilization
Mesopotamian Civilization
C ivilization was not inevitable; it was an act
of human creativity. The first civilizations
emerged about five thousand years ago, in
the Near Eastern river valleys of Sumer and Egypt.
Before that time stretched the vast ages of prehis-
■ Egyptian Civilization tory, when our ancestors did not dwell in cities
and knew nothing of writing; some 99 percent of
■ Empire Builders human history took place before the creation of
■ The Religious Orientation civilization. Today, when human beings have the
capacity to destroy civilization, we might reflect
of the Near East on humanity’s long and painful climb to a civi-
lized state.
ability. Hunters had to study and analyze the hab- discovered in caves, it is certain that Paleolithic
its of their prey, judge weather conditions, recall people had domesticated fire about 500,000 years
the location of dens and watering places, and ago. Some evidence points to fire use as far back
make better tools and weapons. The physically as 1.5 million years.
weak and mentally deficient, unable to track ani- Like toolmaking and the control of fire, lan-
mals and to cope with new problems, did not sur- guage was a great human achievement. Language
vive long. Individuals with superior intelligence enabled individuals to acquire and share with one
and physical attributes lived longer and had more another knowledge, skills, experiences, and feel-
opportunities to produce offspring, passing on ings. Thus, language was the decisive factor in the
their characteristics and gradually improving the development of culture and its transmission from
human species. one generation to the next. Language helped par-
Although human progress was very slow during ents teach their children rules of conduct and re-
the long centuries of the Paleolithic Age, advances ligious beliefs, as well as how to make tools and
occurred that influenced the future enormously. light fires.
Paleolithic people developed spoken language and Most likely, our Paleolithic ancestors developed
shaped bone, wood, and stone tools that corre- mythic-religious ideas to explain the mysteries of
sponded to ideas in their minds. They preserved nature, birth, sickness, and death. They felt that
their creations and taught other people how to living powers operated within and beyond the
use them. Succeeding generations improved on world that they experienced, and they sought to
what they had learned from their ancestors. With establish friendly relations with these powers. To
these simple but useful tools, Paleolithic human primitive peoples, the elements—sun, rain, wind,
beings dug up roots; peeled the bark off trees; thunder, and lightning—were alive. The natural el-
trapped, killed, and skinned animals; made cloth- ements were spirits; they could feel and act with a
ing; and fashioned fish nets. They also discovered purpose. To appease these forces of nature, hunt-
how to control fire, which allowed them to cook ers and gatherers made offerings to them. Gradu-
their meat. By killing microbes, fire made meat ally, there emerged shamans, medicine men, and
safer to eat. Fire also provided warmth and pro- witch doctors, who, through rituals, trances, and
tection against predators—lions and leopards, chants, seemed able to communicate with these
for example—that feared fire. From evidence spirits. Paleolithic people also began the practice
6
Prehistory ❖ 7
of burying their dead, sometimes with offerings, whatever nature made available to them, Neo-
which suggests belief in life after death. Corpses lithic farmers altered their environment to sat-
were sometimes dusted with red ocher, which isfy human needs. Instead of spending their time
represented blood, a source of life. Another belief searching for grains, roots, and berries, women
is revealed in the many small statues of women, and children grew crops near their homes; in-
made between forty thousand and twenty- five stead of tracking animals over great distances,
thousand years ago, that have been found by ar- men could slaughter domesticated goats or sheep
chaeologists in Europe and Asia. Fashioned from nearby. (Later, horses, camels, and donkeys were
ivory, wood, and clay and often marked by huge tamed, providing people with a means of trans-
breasts and distended stomachs, these fertility fig- portation.) Since farmers had to live near their
urines represent a mother goddess who gave life, fields and could store food for the future, farm-
food, and protection. ing led to the rise of permanent settlements. Vil-
Between thirty thousand and twelve thousand lages containing as many as two hundred or three
years ago, Paleolithic people sought out the dark hundred people had occasionally emerged in late
and silent interior of caves, which they probably Paleolithic times, before the discovery of agricul-
viewed as sanctuaries, and, with only torches for ture. Hunter-gatherers built such villages in areas
light, they painted remarkably skillful and percep- that had an abundant, stable food supply—near a
tive pictures of animals on the cave walls. Even river or lake well stocked with fish, or in a valley
prior to civilization, human beings demonstrated with plenty of wild wheat and barley and herds
artistic talent, an esthetic sense. When these pre- of gazelles or goats. The development of farm-
historic artists drew an animal with a spear in its ing greatly speeded the shift to villages. It is likely
side, they probably believed that this act would that trade also impelled people to gather in vil-
make them successful in hunting; when they drew lage communities. Herdsmen, hunters, and food
a herd of animals, they probably hoped that this gatherers living in regions rich in salt (needed for
would cause game to be plentiful. This belief that preserving food), volcanic glass (used for mirrors,
something done to an image of an animal or a blades, and spearheads), or hematite (an iron ore
person will produce the same effect on the being that was a source of red coloring for pottery)
itself is called sympathetic magic. Hunting socie- formed trading settlements, which exchanged raw
ties that endured into the modern world still en- materials for food.
gage in rituals designed to protect the hunter and Villages changed the patterns of life. A food
to ensure a kill. surplus freed some people to devote part of their
Some ten thousand years ago, the New Stone time to sharpening their skills as basket weav-
Age, or Neolithic Age, began in the Near East. ers or toolmakers. The demand for raw materi-
During the Neolithic Age, human beings discov- als and the creations of skilled artisans fostered
ered farming, domesticated animals, established trade, sometimes across long distances, and the
villages, polished stone tools, made pottery, and formation of trading settlements. An awareness
wove cloth. So important were these achieve- of private property emerged. Hunters had accu-
ments that they are referred to as the Neolithic mulated few possessions, since belongings pre-
Revolution. sented a burden in moving from place to place.
Agriculture—the deliberate planting and cul- Villagers, however, acquired property and were
tivation of crops—first developed in the hilly determined to protect it from one another and
regions of the Near East, where rainfall was plen- from outsiders—nomadic herdsmen who might
tiful and wheat and barley grew abundantly in raid the village. Hunting bands were egalitarian;
the wild. People there also began to domesticate generally, no one member had more possessions
the sheep and wild goats that roamed the hills. In or more power than another. In farming villages,
other parts of the world, farming and the domes- a ruling elite emerged that possessed wealth and
tication of animals developed independently. wielded power.
Agriculture and the domestication of animals No doubt farming also affected our emotional
revolutionized life. Whereas Paleolithic hunt- development. Human beings who had evolved
ers and food gatherers had been forced to use as hunters and foragers, enjoying considerable
8 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
leisure, personal freedom, independence, and the population increased. Families that acquired
equality, were now forced to adjust to a differ- wealth gained a higher social status and became
ent tempo of life—unending toil, stifling routine, village leaders. Religion grew more formal and
and the need to obey the commands of the elites. structured; nature spirits evolved into deities,
Scholars ponder the psychological dimensions of each with specific powers over nature or human
this shift from the hunter’s way of life to seden- life. Altars were erected in their honor, and cer-
tary farming. emonies were conducted by priests, whose power
In recent years, archaeologists have uncovered and wealth increased as people gave offerings to
several Neolithic villages, the oldest of which was the gods. Neolithic society was growing more or-
established before 8000 b.c. Among the most ganized and complex; it was on the threshold of
famous of these sites are Çatal Hüyük in Anato- civilization.
lia (Turkey), Jericho in Palestine, and Jarmö in
eastern Iraq. Scholars disagree on whether these
communities were just highly developed villages THE RISE TO CIVILIZATION
or the first cities. The traditional view is that cit-
ies arose about 3000 b.c. in Sumer, the home of What we call civilization arose some five thou-
the earliest civilization. Some scholars argue that sand years ago in the Near East (in Mesopota-
five thousand years before the Sumerian cities mia and Egypt) and then later in the Far East (in
Jericho’s two thousand inhabitants had created India and China). The first civilizations began in
urban life by engaging in trade and embarking cities, which were larger, more populated, and
on public works. Jericho’s walls were six feet six more complex in their political, economic, and
inches thick at the base and in some places twenty social structure than Neolithic villages. Because
feet high. Their construction required cooperation the cities depended on the inhabitants of adjacent
and a division of labor beyond the capacity of an villages for their food, farming techniques must
agricultural village. Similar communities, or prim- have been developed sufficiently to produce food
itive cities, spread throughout much of the Near surpluses. Increased production provided food for
East in late prehistoric times. urban inhabitants who engaged in nonagricultural
Neolithic people made great strides in technol- occupations; they became merchants, craftsmen,
ogy. By shaping and baking clay, they made pot- bureaucrats, and priests.
tery containers for cooking and for storing food The invention of writing enabled the first civili-
and water. The invention of the potter’s wheel zations to preserve, organize, and expand knowl-
enabled them to form bowls and plates more edge and to pass it on to future generations; it also
quickly and precisely. Stone tools were sharpened allowed government officials and priests to con-
by grinding them on rock. The discoveries of the duct their affairs more efficiently. Moreover, civi-
wheel and the sail improved transportation and lized societies possessed organized governments,
promoted trade, and the development of the plow which issued laws and defined the boundary
and the ox yoke made tilling the soil easier for lines of their states. On a scale much larger than
farmers. Neolithic communities, the inhabitants erected
The Neolithic period also marked the begin- buildings and monuments, engaged in trade and
ning of the use of metals. First used was copper, manufacturing, and used specialized labor for
which was easily fashioned into tools and weap- different projects. Religious life grew more orga-
ons. Copper implements lasted longer than those nized and complex, and a powerful and wealthy
made of stone and flint, and they could be recast priesthood emerged. These developments—cities,
and reshaped if broken. In time, artisans discov- specialization of labor, writing, organized govern-
ered how to make bronze by combining copper ment, monumental architecture, and a complex
and tin in the proper ratio. Bronze was harder religious structure—differentiate the first civiliza-
than copper, a characteristic that made a sharper tions from prehistoric cultures.
cutting edge possible. Religion was the central force in these pri-
During the Neolithic Age, the food supply mary civilizations. It provided satisfying expla-
became more reliable, village life expanded, and nations for the workings of nature, helped ease
Mesopotamian Civilization ❖ 9
the fear of death, and justified traditional rules Civilization also had its dark side. Epidemic
of morality. Law was considered sacred, a com- disease thrived in urban centers, where people
mandment of the gods. Religion united people in lived close together in unsanitary conditions,
the common enterprises needed for survival—for drinking contaminated water and surrounded by
example, the construction and maintenance of rotting garbage. Slavery was an essential and ac-
irrigation works and the storage of food. Reli- cepted feature of early civilizations. The author-
gion also promoted creativity in art, literature, ity wielded by rulers and their officials and the
and science. In addition, the power of rulers, habits of discipline acquired by the community’s
regarded as gods or their agents, derived from members made possible the construction of ir-
religion. rigation works, but they were also harnessed for
The emergence of civilization was a great cre- destructive conflicts between states. Such warfare,
ative act and not merely the inevitable develop- which involved managing large numbers of com-
ment of agricultural societies. Many communities batants, was far more lethal than the sporadic
had learned how to farm, but only a handful made and generally disorganized acts of violence that
the leap into civilization. How was it possible for occurred in Neolithic times. A hostile and aggres-
Sumerians and Egyptians, the creators of the earli- sive attitude toward members of alien groups has
est civilizations, to make that breakthrough? This plagued human beings since the rise of civiliza-
question has intrigued and baffled historians, and tion. Warfare fascinated the people who created
no single explanation is entirely convincing. Most the first civilizations: scribes recounted battle af-
scholars stress the relationship between civiliza- ter battle, warrior-kings boasted of their military
tions and river valleys. Rivers deposited fertile silt conquests, and military heroes were held in the
on adjoining fields, provided water for crops, and highest esteem. Cultural historian Lewis Mum-
served as avenues for trade. But environmental ford observes:
factors alone do not adequately explain the emer-
gence of civilization. What cannot be omitted is War was not a mere residue of more com-
the human contribution: capacity for thought and mon primitive forms of aggression. . . . In all
cooperative activity. its typical aspects, its discipline, its drill, its
Both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Meso- handling of large masses of men as units, in its
potamia and the Nile River in Egypt deposited destructive assaults en masse, in its heroic sac-
fertile soil when they overflowed their banks. rifices, its final destructions, exterminations,
But before these rivers could be of any value in seizures, enslavements, war was rather the
producing crops, swamps around them had to special invention of civilization: its ultimate
be drained; jungles had to be cleared; and dikes, drama.1*
reservoirs, and canals had to be built—activities
that required the cooperation of large numbers of
people. Learning to work together for the good of MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION
the community was an indispensible requirement
for civilization. In the process of constructing and Mesopotamia is the Greek word for “land be-
maintaining irrigation networks, people learned to tween the rivers.” It was here, in the valleys of the
formulate and obey rules and developed adminis- Tigris and Euphrates rivers, that the first civiliza-
trative, engineering, and mathematical skills. The tion began. The first to develop an urban civiliza-
need to keep records stimulated the invention of tion in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) were the
writing. These creative responses to the challenges Sumerians, who colonized the marshlands of the
posed by nature spurred the early inhabitants of lower Euphrates, which, together with the Tigris,
Sumer and Egypt to make the breakthrough to flows into the Persian Gulf. The Sumerians’ origin
civilization, thereby altering the course of human is obscure, although scholars speculate that they
destiny. By the time the Hebrews and the Greeks, migrated from the East, perhaps northern India.
the spiritual ancestors of Western civilization, ap-
peared on the stage of history, civilizations had *Numbered source notes appear at the end of each chapter,
been in existence for some two thousand years. along with suggested readings.
10 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
C AU
C AS
B l a ck S ea US
MT
S.
.
C a s p ia n
aR
ly Sea
Ha Araxes R.
Aeg
ANATOLIA
ea
n
GREECE
ea
S
Catal Hüyük Ti
ME
gr
Euph SOPO
is
Rhodes rat
es TA
R.
SYRIA Jarmö
Crete Cyprus
M
IRAN
R.
ASSYRIA
IA
ZA
G
RO
M e d i t e r ra n e a n S e a PHOENICIA AK SM
KA GU
TI T S.
Babylon
D
HYKSOS EL
AMORITES AM
NILE
PALESTINE ARABIAN SUMER
DELTA Jericho
DESERT Ur
L I B YA N
DESERT Memphis er
P
si
an
ARABIA Gu
LOWER EGYPT
lf
Nil
. Neolithic site
0 200 400 Km.
Re
They spoke a language unrelated to the tongues of and secular literature; varied art forms; codes of
their Semitic neighbors, who had migrated from law; medicinal drugs; and a lunar calendar.
Arabia into Mesopotamia and adjacent regions. The history of Mesopotamia is marked by a suc-
Through constant toil and imagination, the cession of conquests. To the north of Sumer was a
Sumerians transformed the swamps into fields of Semitic city* called Akkad. About 2350 b.c., the peo-
barley and groves of date palms. Around 3000 b.c., ple of Akkad, led by Sargon the Great, the warrior-
their hut settlements gradually evolved into twelve king, conquered the Sumerian cities. Sargon built the
independent city-states, each consisting of a city world’s first empire, which extended from the Persian
and its surrounding countryside. Among the im- Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Establishing a pattern
pressive achievements of the Sumerians were a that future despotic rulers would emulate, Sargon sta-
system of symbol writing (cuneiform), in which tioned garrisons in conquered lands and appointed
pictograms and signs for numbers were engraved governors and officials to administer the territories, as
with a reed stylus on clay tablets to represent well as additional bureaucrats to register and parcel
ideas; elaborate brick houses, palaces, and temples;
bronze tools and weapons; irrigation works; trade *Semites included Akkadians, Hebrews, Babylonians,
with other peoples; an early form of money; reli- Canaanites, Assyrians, and Aramaeans. Hebrew and Arabic
gious and political institutions; schools; religious are Semitic languages.
Mesopotamian Civilization ❖ 11
SUMERIAN ZIGGURAT. This ziggurat of the moon god, Nanna, which included
an impressive temple, dominated the Sumerian city of Ur. (© Charles and Josette Lenars/Corbis.)
out the precious metals, horses, grain, and other com- In succeeding centuries, the Sumerian cities were
modities exacted from conquered peoples. He also incorporated into various kingdoms and empires.
retained a large standing army to quell revolts and The Sumerian language, which was replaced by a
to launch new imperialist ventures. The Akkadians Semitic tongue, became an obscure language known
adopted Sumerian cultural forms, including cunei- only to priests, and the Sumerians gradually disap-
form, and spread them beyond the boundaries of peared as a distinct people. But their cultural achieve-
Mesopotamia with their conquests. Mesopotamian ments endured. Akkadians, Babylonians, Elamites,
religion became a blend of Sumerian and Akkadian and others adopted Sumerian religious, legal, literary,
elements. Illustrating the confluence of Akkadian and and art forms. The Sumerian legacy served as the ba-
Sumerian culture was Sargon’s daughter, Enheduanna, sis for a Mesopotamian civilization that maintained
the world’s oldest known poet. Serving as high priest- a distinct style for three thousand years.
ess in the Sumerian city of Ur, Enheduanna wrote nu-
merous poems and hymns to temple deities. In one of
her hymns to the Sumerian goddess Ianna, she depicts Religion: The Basis of Mesopotamian
Ianna as a fierce warrior; in a second, Ianna emerges Civilization
as an overseer of home and children; and in the third
surviving hymn, the poetess appeals to Ianna to help Religion lay at the center of Mesopotamian
her regain her position as temple priestess after it was life. Every human activity—political, military,
taken from her by a male enemy. social, legal, literary, artistic—was generally
12 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
subordinated to an overriding religious purpose. fields, peasants surrendered part of their crops to
Religion was the Mesopotamians’ frame of refer- the temple. Priests coordinated the city’s economic
ence for understanding nature, society, and them- activity, supervising the distribution of land, over-
selves; it dominated and inspired all other cultural seeing the irrigation works, and storing food for
expressions and human activities. Wars between emergencies. Temple scribes kept records of ex-
cities, for instance, were interpreted as conflicts penditures and receipts. By serving as stewards
between the gods of those cities, and victory ul- of the city’s deities and managing their earthly es-
timately depended on divine favor, not on human tates, the priests sustained civilized life.
effort. Myths—narratives about the activities of The gods and goddesses, invisible to human
the gods—explained the origins of the human eyes but omnipresent, controlled the entire uni-
species. According to the earliest Sumerian myths, verse and everything in it. The moon, the sun,
the first human beings issued forth from the earth the storm, the city, the irrigation works, and the
like plant life, or were shaped from clay by divine fields—each was directed by a god. Mesopota-
craftsmen and granted a heart by the goddess mians saw gods and demons everywhere in na-
Nammu, or were formed from the blood of two ture. There was a god in the fire and another in the
gods sacrificed for that purpose. river; evil demons stirred up sandstorms, caused
The Mesopotamians believed that people were disease, and endangered women in childbirth. To
given life so that they could execute on earth the shield themselves from hostile forces, Mesopo-
will of the gods in heaven. No important deci- tamians wore charms and begged their gods for
sions were made by kings or priests without first help. Each Mesopotamian offered prayers and
consulting the gods. To discover the wishes of the sacrifices to a personal god or goddess, who pro-
gods, priests sacrificed animals and then examined vided protection against evil spirits.
their livers; or the priests might find their answers Mesopotamians believed that they were ma-
in the stars or in dreams. nipulated by divine beings. When misfortune be-
The cities of Mesopotamia were sacred com- fell them, people attributed it to the gods. Even
munities dedicated to serving divine masters, and success was not due to their own efforts but to
people hoped that appeasing the gods would bring the intervention of a god who had taken a special
security and prosperity to their cities. The Sumer- interest in them. Compared with the gods, an in-
ians erected ziggurats—huge multilevel mounds— dividual was an insignificant and lowly creature.
on which temples were built. The ziggurat in Ur Uncertainty and danger filled life in Mesopo-
measured 205 feet by 140 feet at the base and was tamia. Sometimes, the unpredictable waters of the
about 70 feet high; staircases connected its levels rivers broke through the dikes, flooding fields, ru-
and led to the top platform, on which stood a ma- ining crops, and damaging cities. At other times,
jestic temple. an insufficient overflow deprived the land of wa-
The ziggurat was surrounded by low walls en- ter, causing crops to fail. Great windstorms left
closing offices and houses for the priests and shops the countryside covered with a layer of sand, and
where potters, weavers, carpenters, and tanners heavy thunderstorms turned fields into a sea of
performed their crafts. The temple was the reli- mud that made travel impossible. Unlike Egypt,
gious and economic heart of the city. A particular which was protected by vast deserts, Mesopo-
city belonged to a god, who was the real owner of tamia had no natural barriers to invasion. Feel-
the land and the real ruler of the city; often a vast ing themselves surrounded by unfathomable and
complex of temples was built for the god and the often hostile forces, Mesopotamians lived in an
god’s family. In the temple, the god was offered atmosphere of anxiety, which permeated their
shelter, food, clothing, and the homage of dutiful civilization.
servants. Temple priests collected rents, operated Contributing to this sense of insecurity was
businesses, and received contributions for festi- the belief that the gods had little love for hu-
vals. Most inhabitants of the city worked for the manity. They had created a “savage, ‘man’ shall
temple priests as tenant farmers, agricultural la- be his name . . . [who] shall be charged with the
borers, or servants. Anxious to curry favor with service of the gods that they might be at ease.”2
the gods and goddesses who watched over the Toward humans the gods behaved capriciously,
Mesopotamian Civilization ❖ 13
maliciously, and vindictively, and it was difficult They believed that they would either be confined
to please them. to a dreary underworld whose rulers would inflict
What do the gods demand of me? Is it ever pos- pain on them or be transformed into spirits, flying
sible to please them? To these questions Mesopo- about and tormenting the living.
tamians had no reassuring answers, for the gods’
behavior was a mystery to mere human beings.
Government, Law, and Economy
What is good for oneself may be offense to
one’s god, Kingship, bestowed on a man by the gods, was
What in one’s own heart seems despicable the central institution in Mesopotamian society.
may be proper to one’s god. Unlike Egyptian pharaohs, Mesopotamian kings
Who can know the will of the gods in saw themselves not as gods but rather as great
heaven? men selected by the gods to represent them on
Who can understand the plans of the earth. Gods governed through the kings, who re-
underworld gods? ported to the gods about conditions in their land
Where have humans learned the way of a (which was the gods’ property) and petitioned the
god? gods for advice.
He who was alive yesterday is dead today.3 The king administered the laws, which came
from the gods. Like everyone else in the land, the
A Mesopotamian man or woman hoped to ex- king had to obey divine laws. These laws provided
perience the good life by being obedient to his or Mesopotamians with a measure of security. The
her older brother, father, foreman, priest, and king principal collection of laws in ancient Mesopota-
and to a personal deity, who could influence the mia was the famous code of Hammurabi (c. 1792–
decisions of the other gods. The rewards for obe- c. 1750 b.c.), the Babylonian ruler. Unearthed by
dience were long life, health, and worldly success. French archaeologists in 1901–1902, the code has
Nevertheless, the feeling persisted that happiness provided invaluable insights into Mesopotamian
was either transitory or beyond reach—a pessi- society. The laws were inscribed on a stone slab
mism that abounded in Mesopotamian literature. (stele), near the top of which Hammurabi was
A mood of uncertainty and anxiety, an aware- depicted, standing reverently before the throne
ness of the cosmos as unfathomable and mys- of Shamash, the sun god and patron of justice.
terious, a feeling of dread about the fragility of In typical Mesopotamian fashion, Hammurabi
human existence and the impermanence of hu- claimed that his code rested on the authority of
man achievement—these attitudes are as old as the gods; to violate it was to contravene the di-
the first civilization. The Epic of Gilgamesh, the vine order.
finest work of Mesopotamian literature, master- The code reveals social status and mores in
fully depicts this mood of pessimism and despair. that area and time. Men were the heads of the
The epic deals with a profound theme: the hu- family, although efforts were made to protect
man protest against death. The death of his close women and children from mistreatment and pov-
friend causes Gilgamesh to face the reality of his erty. Thus, if a man divorced his wife because she
own death. “Despair is in my heart. What my did not bear him a son, he had to provide her
brother is now that shall I be when I am dead. . . . with money. Punishments were generally severe—
I am afraid of death.”4 Gilgamesh yearns for eter- “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The
nal life, but he learns that when the gods created code prescribed death for housebreaking, kid-
human beings, they allotted to them only death. napping, aiding the escape of slaves, receiving
“Where is the man who can clamber to heaven? stolen goods, and bearing false witness; however,
Only the gods live forever . . . but as for us men, it allowed consideration of extenuating circum-
our days are numbered, our occupations are a stances. Being forgiven by the wronged party
breath of wind.”5 could also mitigate the penalty. For example, a
And in contrast to the Egyptians, the Mesopo- wife who committed adultery could be spared
tamians had little to look forward to after death. execution if pardoned by her husband. Class
14 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
distinctions were expressed in the code. Penal- Sumerian students practiced their lessons have
ties varied with the status of both the wrongdoer been discovered, testifying to the years of disci-
and the victim. For instance, a person received plined and demanding work required to master
a harsher punishment for harming a noble than the scribal art. Virtually all scribes were men, but
for harming a commoner. Government officials female scribes are at times mentioned in Mesopo-
engaging in extortion or bribery were punished tamian writings. Noble women in particular were
severely. The code’s many provisions relating to literate.
business transactions show the importance of To assist their pupils, teachers prepared text-
trade to Mesopotamian life. books of word lists and mathematical problems
The economy of Mesopotamian cities de- with solutions. In translating Sumerian words
pended heavily on foreign and domestic trade. into the Akkadian language, they compiled what
Whereas trade in Egypt was conducted by the was probably the world’s first dictionary. Stu-
state bureaucracy, in Mesopotamia there was dents who completed the course of study success-
greater opportunity for private enterprise. Be- fully were employed as archivists, secretaries, or
sides merchants, temple priests engaged in trade accountants by the temple, the palace, the law
because they possessed surplus produce col- courts, or merchants. The Sumerian system of cu-
lected as rents from farmers using temple land. neiform writing spread to other parts of the Near
Early in Mesopotamian history, merchants East.
were subservient to the king and the temple The Mesopotamians made some impressive
priests. Over the centuries, however, merchants advances in mathematics. They devised mul-
began to behave as professionals—not just as tiplication and division tables, including even
agents of the palace or temple, but as private cubes and cube roots. They determined the
entrepreneurs. area of right-angle triangles and rectangles, di-
Because of trade’s importance to the life of the vided a circle into 360 degrees, and had some
city, governments instituted regulations to prevent understanding of the principles that centuries
fraud. Business transactions had to be recorded in later would be developed into the Pythago-
writing, and severe punishments were imposed for rean theorem and quadratic equations. But the
dishonesty. A system of weights and measures fa- Babylonians, who made the chief contribution
cilitated trade, and efforts were made to prevent in mathematics, barely advanced to the level of
excessive interest rates for loans. theorizing; they did not formulate general prin-
Mesopotamians imported resources not found ciples or furnish proofs for their mathematical
at home—stone, silver, and timber. In exchange, operations.
they exported textiles, fine handicrafts, and (less By carefully observing and accurately record-
often because of difficulty in transporting them by ing the positions of planets and constellations
donkey) agricultural products. They also imported of stars, Babylonian sky watchers took the first
copper from the Persian Gulf, precious metals steps in developing the science of astronomy, and
from Afghanistan, ivory from Africa and the west they devised a calendar based on the cycles of the
coast of India, and cedar and cypress woods, oils, moon. As in mathematics, however, they did not
and essences from the Mediterranean coastal ar- form theories to coordinate and illuminate their
eas. Enterprising businessmen set up trading out- data. Believing that the position of the stars and
posts in distant lands, making the Mesopotamians planets revealed the will of the gods, astronomers
pioneers in international trade. did not examine the heavens to find what we call
cause- and-effect connections between the phe-
nomena. Rather, they sought to discover what the
Writing, Mathematics, Astronomy, gods wanted. With this knowledge, people could
and Medicine organize their political, social, and moral lives in
accordance with divine commands and escape the
The Sumerians established schools, which trained terrible consequences that they believed resulted
the sons of the upper class in the art of cu- from ignoring the gods’ wishes. Thus, despite its
neiform writing. Hundreds of tablets on which impressive achievements, Babylonian astronomy
Egyptian Civilization ❖ 15
Books of Instruction, Egyptians were urged to tell their deceased relatives would intercede with the
the truth and to treat others fairly. In one Book gods in their behalf. They wrote letters to these
of Instruction prepared at the end of the second spirits, petitioning them for help for such prob-
millennium, the author, in a high ethical tone, en- lems as infertility, inheritance of property, and
joined Egyptians to express compassion for the family quarrels. Widows and widowers placed let-
poor, widows, and the handicapped. ters in the tomb of a deceased spouse in which
Egyptian polytheism took many forms, includ- they expressed their grief, often with great tender-
ing the worship of animals, for the Egyptians be- ness. To the Egyptians, the other world contained
lieved that gods manifested themselves in animal the same pleasures as those enjoyed on earth—
shapes. Certain gods were conceived by the Egyp- friends, servants, fishing, hunting, paddling a
tians as taking various forms. Thoth, for example, canoe, picnicking with family members, entertain-
was represented as the moon, a baboon, an ibis, ment by musicians and dancers, and good food.
and an ibis-headed man. The god Amon was de- However, because earthly existence was not fun-
picted both in human form and as a ram. To the damentally unhappy, Egyptians did not yearn for
Egyptians, these different representations were not death. Unlike early Christians, they did not reject
contradictory, for they did not seek logical consis- this world or willingly endure martyrdom in order
tency in religion. The Egyptians also believed great to enter a higher and better world. The following
powers in nature—sky, sun, earth, the Nile—to be song, inscribed in a pharaoh’s tomb, reveals the
gods or the abodes of gods. Thus, the universe was Egyptians’ relish for life.
alive with divinities—there were about two thou-
sand gods in the Egyptian pantheon—and human Enjoy yourself while you live,
lives were tied to the movements of the sun and put on fine linen
the moon and to the rhythm of the seasons. In the anoint yourself with wonderful ointments,
heavens the Egyptians found answers to the great multiply all your fine possessions on earth,
problems of human existence. In their temples, follow your heart’s command on earth
Egyptians prayed and dedicated offerings to their be joyful and make merry.7
gods. During temple rituals, women chanted and
played musical instruments.
A crucial feature of Egyptian religion was the Divine Kingship
afterlife. Through pyramid-tombs, mummifica-
tion to preserve the dead, and funerary art, the “What is the king of Upper and Lower Egypt? He
Egyptians showed their yearning for eternity and is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father
their desire to overcome death. Mortuary priests and mother of men, alone by himself, without an
recited incantations to ensure the preservation of equal.”8 Divine kingship was the basic institu-
the dead body and the continuity of existence. In- tion of Egyptian civilization. Perhaps the require-
scribed on the pyramids’ interior walls were so- ments of the Egyptian environment helped forge
called pyramid texts, written in hieroglyphics—a the idea of the pharaoh as a living god because a
form of picture writing in which figures such as ruler with supernatural authority, held in favor by
crocodiles, sails, eyes, and so forth represented the gods, could hold together the large kingdom
words or sounds that would be combined to form and draft the mass labor required to maintain
words. The texts contained fragments from myths, the irrigation system. Both the priesthood and a
historical annals, and magical lore and provided standing army answered to the pharaoh and en-
spells to assist the king in ascending to heaven. hanced his authority.
At first, the Egyptians believed that only the Through the pharaoh, the gods made known
pharaoh and the royal family were immortal. their wishes for the Egyptian people. As kingship
In time, the nobility and then the commoners was a divine, not a manmade, institution, it was
claimed that they, too, could share in the blessings expected to last for eternity. The Egyptians re-
of the “other world.” Prayers hitherto reserved for joiced in the rule of an all-powerful, all-knowing
the pharaoh were, for a fee, recited by priests at god-king who controlled the Nile, bringing fertil-
the burial of commoners. Egyptians believed that ity to the land, and could intercede in their behalf
18 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
preservation must be the central object of human Surgical Papyrus (named after the nineteenth-
activity—the guiding norm of the state and the century American Egyptologist who acquired it),
standard by which individuals conducted their the writer omitted all references to divine inter-
lives. Those who did Ma’at and spoke Ma’at vention in his advice for treating wounds and
would be justly rewarded. Could anything be fractures. He described fractures in a matter-of-
more reassuring than this belief that divine truth fact way and recommended healing them with
was represented in the person of the pharaoh, splints and casts. In another papyrus document
who guaranteed and defended the sacred order (papyrus is a writing material made from the
of the universe? stalks of the papyrus plant), the writer identified
the various snakes, analyzed the effects of their
bites, and listed treatments, including the use of
Science and Mathematics specific drugs—and he did so with only minimum
references to magical incantations.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians made
practical advances in mathematics and science.
They demonstrated superb engineering skills in Egyptian Literature
building pyramids. For example, the pyramid of
Khufu, still the largest stone building ever con- Generally only a small percentage of the popula-
structed, contains 2.3 million stone blocks, each tion, the elite, was literate. Egyptian literature took
averaging 2.5 tons. The Egyptians fashioned an a wide variety of forms: hymns and other religious
effective system of mathematics, including geom- texts; love poems; tales of adventure, romance,
etry for measurements, that enabled them to solve and fantasy; and collections of maxims prepared
relatively simple problems. by elderly sages for the benefit of young rulers.
Controlling the floodwaters of the Nile re- Containing hymns, litanies and other reli-
quired careful planning. Therefore, it was vital gious texts, the Book of the Dead was written
to know when the Nile would begin to overflow. to guide the deceased person safely between this
Noting that the Nile flooded after the star Sirius world and the afterlife. In the Judgment Hall,
appeared in the sky, the Egyptians developed a before Osiris and other gods who assisted him
calendar by which they could predict the time of in the judgment of souls, deceased individuals
the flood. Eventually, they fashioned a calendar of proclaimed that they did not commit any of the
twelve months, each having thirty days. To com- following sins:
plete the solar year, they added a separate period
of five days after the last month. The Egyptian 2. I have not robbed with violence.
calendar based on the sun was more accurate than 3. I have not done violence [to any
the Babylonian lunar calendar. man].
In the area of medicine, Egyptian doctors were 5. I have not slain a man or a woman.
more capable than their Mesopotamian counter- 11. I have not uttered evil words.
parts. They were able to identify illnesses; they 41. I have not increased my wealth,
recognized that uncleanliness encouraged conta- except with such things as are [justly]
gion; they had some knowledge of anatomy and mine own possessions.11
performed operations—circumcision and per-
haps the draining of abscessed teeth. Sick people
were instructed to recite an incantation designed The New Kingdom and the Decline
to free their body from the demon’s hold and to of Egyptian Civilization
perform a ritual act such as being burned with
hot irons. Although the progress of medicine was The New Kingdom began in 1570 b.c. with the
handicapped by the belief that supernatural forces war of liberation against the Hyksos. This war
caused illnesses, nevertheless, there is evidence gave rise to an intense militancy, which found ex-
that some Egyptian doctors examined the body pression in empire building. Aggressive pharaohs
in a scientific way. In a scroll, the Edwin Smith conquered territory that extended as far east as
Profile
Hatchepsut rule Egypt. “Come to me in peace, daughter of
my loins, . . . thou art the king who takes pos-
Hatchepsut, daughter of Thutmose I (1493– session of the diadem [crown] on the Throne of
1482 B.C.), was an exceptional figure in Egyp- Horus of the Living, eternally.”*
tian history—a female pharaoh. As the wife of Hatchepsut came to be depicted with male
her half brother, Thutmose II, she did not pro- attire and a male body. Apparently, by casting
duce a male heir. When Thutmose II died after off her female appearance, she aimed to be seen
a three-year reign, his infant son by a second- as a king, the equal of all other pharaohs, and
ary wife inherited the throne. But because of not as a queen, who was not regarded as divine.
his tender years, Hatchepsut served as regent. Hatchepsut, says Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley,
By the seventh year of the regency, Hatchepsut “needed to make a sharp and immediately obvi-
had assumed the royal title of king of Egypt. Al- ous distinction between her former position as
though females were not officially barred from queen regent and her new role as pharaoh. The
becoming pharaohs, it was an unchallenged tra- change of dress was a clear sign of her altered
dition that this revered position was reserved state.Ӡ
for men. To legitimize her rule, Hatchepsut had During her twenty- year reign, from about
a sequence of pictures carved on the porch of 1479 to 1458, Hatchepsut promoted extensive
her mortuary temple that told the story of her building projects, including her royal tomb, and
divine birth. She was conceived when the god trading expeditions, particularly to the land
Amon-Re, disguised as Thutmose I, visited her of Punt, in present- day Eritrea and Djibouti.
mother’s boudoir. Amon indicated that he in- From Punt the Egyptians obtained myrrh and
tended to father a female, who one day would frankincense, precious resins used for making
the Euphrates River. From its subject states, Egypt disk. Amenhotep took the name Akhenaton (“Ser-
acquired tribute and slaves. Conquests led to the vant of Aton”) and moved the capital from Thebes
expansion of the bureaucracy, the creation of a to a newly constructed holy city called Akhetaten
professional army to protect the new territorial (“Horizon of Aton,” which is near present-day
acquisitions, and the increased power of priests, Tell el-Amarna). The city had palaces, administra-
whose temples, which grew larger and more lav- tive centers, and a temple complex honoring Aton.
ish, shared in the spoils. Foreign slaves acquired Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti, who played a
from imperial conquests provided much of the la- prominent role in his court, dedicated themselves
bor for the construction of new shrines and tem- to Aton—the creator of the world, the maintainer
ples. The formation of the empire ended Egyptian of life, and the god of love, justice, and peace.
isolation and accelerated commercial and cultural Akhenaton (or Ikhnaton) also ordered his officials
intercourse with other peoples. During this pe- to remove the names and images of other gods from
riod, Egyptian art, for example, showed the influ- temples and monuments. With awe, Akhenaton cel-
ence of foreign forms. ebrated Aton’s power and magnificence.
A growing cosmopolitanism was paralleled by a
movement toward monotheism during the reign of How manifold are thy works!
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (c. 1369–1353 b.c.). Amen- They are hidden from man’s sight.
hotep sought to replace traditional polytheism with O sole god, like whom there is no other.
the worship of Aton, a single god of all people, a Thou hast made the earth according to thy
supreme force in nature represented as the sun desire.12
20
the vision of a great prophet? But the most signifi-
cant historical questions concerning Akhenaton
are these: First, was Akhenaton’s religion genuine
monotheism, which pushed religious thought in a
incense that was burned in temple rituals and new direction? And second, if this was the case,
perfumes and for the mummification of bodies. did it influence the ancient Hebrews who, accord-
It was an arduous journey to Punt; the return ing to the Old Testament, left Egypt about a cen-
of the expeditions with these treasures must tury later?
have greatly increased the prestige of the fe- These two questions have aroused contro-
male pharaoh. versy among historians. The principal limita-
After Hatchepsut’s death, her monuments tion on the monotheistic character of Atonism is
were mutilated and her name and image deleted that there were really two gods in Akhenaton’s
in a deliberate attempt to obliterate her memory. religion—Aton and the pharaoh himself, who was
The campaign was probably initiated by Thut- still worshiped as a deity. Egyptologist John A.
mose III, but his motivation is not clear. Was he Wilson sheds light on this notion. Because Egyp-
demonstrating hatred for his stepmother, who tians could not break with the central idea of their
had relegated him to a subordinate role for so civilization, divine kingship, “one could say that it
many years? Did he try to erase the memory of was the closest approach to monotheism possible
Hatchepsut in order to prevent the succession in within the thought of the day. That would still fall
the future of still another female pharaoh in the short of making it a belief in and worship of only
belief that such a situation was a grave violation one god.”13 Regarding the relationship of Atonism
of tradition and Ma’at? to a later Hebrew monotheism, Wilson says, “The
mechanism of transmission from the faith of
*Quoted in Joyce Tyldesley, Hatchepsut: The Female Akhenaton to the monotheism of Moses is not ap-
Pharaoh (New York: Penguin Books, 1998), 105. parent.”14 Moreover, the Hebrews never identified
†Ibid., 133. God with the sun or any other object in nature.
Reigning almost 67 years from 1279 b.c. to
1213 b.c., Ramesses II is considered one of Egypt’s
greatest pharaohs. He campaigned to the south
in Nubia, to the west in Libya, and to the east in
Canaan and Syria against the Hittite empire. His
Akhenaton’s monotheism had little impact on inconclusive struggles with the Hittites resulted
the masses of Egyptians, who remained devoted in the signing of a peace treaty, copies of which
to their traditional gods and ancient beliefs, and survive both in hieroglyphics and cuneiform. In
was resisted by priests, who resented his changes. order to honor Ramesses II, the Egyptian version
The new religion could not survive the death of of the treaty falsely claims that the Hittites had
its founder. Akhenaton’s successor, Tutankhamen begged for peace. Ramesses II is most noted for
(1352–1344 b.c.), abandoned the capital at the construction of numerous huge monuments,
Amarna and returned to Thebes. Tutankhamen statues of himself, and temples whose walls con-
was succeeded by an elderly relative, who reigned tain extravagant glorifications of his person and
briefly. In 1340, Horemheb (1340–1315 b.c.), an achievements. Two pairs of colossal statutes of
army commander, seized power and had the mon- Ramesses flank the entrance to a temple at Abu
uments to Aton destroyed, along with records and Simbel in Lower Nubia.
inscriptions bearing Akhenaton’s name. The great Late in the thirteenth century b.c., Libyans,
visionary was vilified as “The Blasphemer.” probably seeking to settle in the more fertile land
Historians are not certain why Akhenaton of Egypt, attacked from the west, and the Peoples
made such a radical break with tradition by of the Sea, as unsettled raiders from the Aegean
propagating the worship of a single god. Was he Sea area and Asia Minor were called, launched
trying to strike at the priests, whose wealth and a series of strikes at Egypt. A weakened Egypt
prestige had increased considerably with Egypt’s abandoned its empire. In the succeeding centuries,
conquests? Did the break stem essentially from Egypt came under the rule of Libyans, Nubians,
21
22 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
Assyrians, Persians, and finally Greeks, to whom well-trained army. Mass attacks by light, horse-
Egypt lost its independence in the fourth century drawn chariots demolished enemy lines, while
b.c. Egyptian civilization had flourished for nearly foot soldiers made effective use of the battle-ax
two thousand years before it experienced an al- and a short curved sword.
most one-thousand-year descent into stagnation, The Hittites borrowed several features of Meso-
decline, and collapse. During its long history, the potamian civilization, including cuneiform, legal
Egyptians tried to preserve its ancient forms, re- principles, and literary and art forms. Hittite religion
vealed to them by their ancestors and representing blended the beliefs and practices of Indo-Europeans,
for all time those unchanging values that they be- native inhabitants of Asia Minor, and Mesopota-
lieved to be the way of happiness. mians. The Hittites were probably the first people
to develop a substantial iron industry. Initially, they
apparently used iron just for ceremonial and ritual
EMPIRE BUILDERS objects and not for tools and weapons. However, be-
cause iron ore was more readily available than cop-
The rise of an Egyptian empire during the New per or tin (needed for bronze), after 1200 b.c. iron
Kingdom was part of a wider development in weapons and tools spread throughout the Near East,
Near Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emer- although bronze implements were still used. Around
gence of international empires. Empire building 1200 b.c., the Hittite empire fell, most likely to Indo-
led to the intermingling of peoples and cultural European invaders from the north.
traditions and to the extension of civilization well
beyond the river valleys.
One reason for the growth of empires was the Small Nations
migration of peoples known as Indo-Europeans.
Originally from a wide area ranging from south- During the twelfth century b.c., a temporary lull
eastern Europe to the region beyond the Caspian in empire building permitted a number of small
Sea, Indo- Europeans embarked, around 2000 nations in Syria and Palestine to assert their
b.c., on a series of migrations, which eventu- sovereignty. Three of these peoples—the Phoeni-
ally brought them into Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, cians, the Aramaeans, and the Hebrews*—were
Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. From a core originally Semitic desert nomads. The Phoenicians
Indo-European tongue emerged the Greek, Latin, were descendants of the Canaanites, a Semitic
Germanic, Slavic, Persian, and Sanskrit languages. people who had settled Palestine about 3000 b.c.
The Canaanites who had migrated northwest into
what is now Lebanon were called Phoenicians.
Hittites Settling in the coastal Mediterranean cities
of Tyre, Byblos, Berytus (Beirut), and Sidon, the
Several peoples established strong states in the Phoenicians were naturally drawn to the sea. These
Near East around 1500 b.c.—the Hurrians in daring explorers established towns along the coast
northern Mesopotamia, the Kassites in southern of North Africa, on the islands of the western
Mesopotamia, and, most important, the Hittites Mediterranean, and in Spain, and they became the
in Asia Minor. greatest sea traders of the ancient world. Phoeni-
Penetrating Asia Minor, Indo-Europeans co- cian merchants exported lumber, glass, copper
alesced with native Hattic-speaking peoples to and bronze utensils, and the purple dye produced
create the Hittite empire (1450–1200 b.c.). The from the murex, a mollusk that was plentiful in
Hittites ruled Asia Minor and northern Syria, the coastal waters. The Phoenicians (or their Ca-
raided Babylon, and challenged Egypt for control naanite forebears) devised the first alphabet—a
of Syria and Palestine. monumental contribution to writing. Since all
The Hittites wanted to control the trade routes words could be represented by combinations of
that ran along the Euphrates River into Syria. In letters, it saved memorizing thousands of diagrams
the 1300s, the Hittite empire reached its peak and aided the Phoenicians in transmitting the cul-
and included much of Asia Minor and northern
Syria. The Hittites succeeded because of their *The Hebrews are discussed in Chapter 2.
Empire Builders ❖ 23
Black Sea
CA
UC
ASU
S MTS
ARMENIA .
C aspian
Sea
A eg
ASIA MINOR
ea
n
ea HITTITES S. MITTANI
GREECE MT
S
R US
TAU Nineveh
IRAN
Rhodes ASSYRIA
SYRIA
Crete Cyprus KASSITES ZA
IA N S
AMORITES G
Byblos BA GU R
ME BY TI
SO
NIC
O
Berytus K LO
P
S
Med i t e r r a n e a n S e a
A
Sidon KA OT N
OE
M
Tyre D A
TS
IA
PH
Babylon
.
IA
EL
Jerusalem SUMER
AM
PALESTINE Ur
ARABIAN
DESERT
Memphis Pe
rs
ARABIA ia
n
SAHARA EGYPT
Nil
eR
.
0 200 400 Km.
Re
Thebes
dS
tural achievements of the Near East to the west- region around the upper Tigris River. The Assyri-
ern Mediterranean. Adapted by the Greeks, who ans carefully planned their military campaigns and
added vowels, the phonetic alphabet became a excelled in siege weapons—battering rams built
crucial component of European languages. on massive wheeled frames—which pulverized city
The Aramaeans, who settled in Syria, Palestine, walls that had hitherto resisted attackers. Their
and northern Mesopotamia, performed a role soldiers wore armor and wielded iron swords,
similar to that of the Phoenicians. As great cara- and charging chariots terrorized the foe’s infantry,
van traders, they carried both goods and culture which generally consisted of farmer-soldiers armed
to various parts of the Near East. The Hebrews with little more than bows and arrows.
and the Persians, for example, acquired the Phoe- Although they had made forays of expansion
nician alphabet from the Aramaeans. in 1200 and 1100 b.c., the Assyrians began their
march to “world” empire three centuries later. In
the eighth and seventh centuries, the Assyrians
Assyria became a ruthless fighting machine that stormed
through Babylonia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.
In the ninth century b.c., empire building resumed Assyrian kings believed that their gods com-
with the Assyrians, a Semitic people from the manded them to conquer and assisted them in
24 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
their campaigns. At its height, the Assyrian empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire
extended from the Iranian plateau in the east to
the Egyptian city of Thebes. The destruction of the Assyrian empire made pos-
How did the Assyrians administer such a vast sible the rise of a Chaldean empire, which included
empire? An Assyrian king, who was the representa- Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine. Under
tive and high priest of the god Ashur, governed ab- Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled from 604 to 562 b.c.,
solutely. Nobles appointed by the king kept order the Chaldean, or Neo-Babylonian, empire reached
in the provinces and collected tribute, which they its height. A talented general and statesman and a
probably used for building palaces, temples, and brilliant administrator, Nebuchadnezzar had Baby-
canals. The Assyrians improved roads, established lon rebuilt. The new Babylon that arose on the
messenger services, and engaged in large-scale ir- shore of the Euphrates had magnificent procession-
rigation projects to facilitate effective adminis- ways that led to palaces and temples. On his pal-
tration of their conquered lands and promote ace grounds, Nebuchadnezzar created the famous
prosperity. To keep their subjects obedient, the Hanging Gardens for his Median wife, according to
Assyrians resorted to terror and to deportation of legend. The 350-foot building was a series of vaulted
troublesome subjects from their home territories. terraces and was surrounded by a moat of flowing
(It is also likely that masses of people were moved water. Trees, shrubs, and flowers decorated each ter-
around for economic reasons—to replenish a di- race. In the interior, vaulted halls were stocked with
minishing labor supply.) Assyrian kings boasted of vessels, fabrics, ornaments, and wines gathered from
their ruthlessness toward rebellious subjects. different regions of the empire. Here guests reclined
on divans and were attended by slaves.
13,000 of their warriors I cut down with the
sword. Their blood like the water of a stream
I caused to run through the squares of their Persia: Unifier of the Near East
city. The corpses of their soldiers I piled in
heaps. . . . [The Babylonian king’s] royal bed, After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, the Chaldean
his royal couch, the treasure of his palaces, empire was torn by civil war and threatened by
his property, his gods and everything from his a new power—the Persians, an Indo- European
palace without number, I carried away. His people who had settled in southern Iran. (Ira-
captive warriors were given to the soldiers nians today are descendants of the ancient Per-
of my land like grasshoppers. The city I de- sians.) Under Cyrus the Great and his son and
stroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire.15 successor, Cambyses, the Persians conquered all
lands between the Nile in Egypt and the Indus
Despite an almost all-consuming concern for River in India. This conquest took twenty- five
war, the Assyrians maintained and spread the cul- years, from 550 to 525 b.c. The Near Eastern
ture of the past. They copied and edited the liter- conception of absolute monarchy justified by
ary works of Babylonia, adopted the old Sumerian religion reached its culminating expression in
gods, and used Mesopotamian art forms. The As- the person of the Persian king, who, with di-
syrian king Ashurbanipal (669–626 b.c.) main- vine approval, ruled a vast empire, “the four
tained a great library, which contained thousands quarters of the earth.” Persian kings developed
of clay tablets. an effective system of administration—based in
“The king knows that all lands hate us,” wrote part on an Assyrian model—which gave stabil-
an official to King Esarhaddon (680–669 b.c.).16 ity and a degree of unity to their extensive ter-
After a period of wars and revolts weakened As- ritories. In so doing, they performed a creative
syria, a coalition of Medes, or Indo-Europeans act of statesmanship. The Persian empire was
from Iran, and the Semitic Chaldeans, or Neo- divided into twenty provinces (satrapies), each
Babylonians, sacked the Assyrian capital of administered by a governor (satrap) respon-
Nineveh in 612 b.c. The conquerors looted and sible to the emperor. To guard against subver-
destroyed the city, and the surviving Assyrians sion, the king employed special agents—“the
fled. Assyrian power was broken. eyes and ears of the emperor”—who supervised
Empire Builders ❖ 25
Ca
sp Ox
CAUC i us R.
ASUS
an
MTS.
Se
Da
a
nub
e R. Black Sea ARMENIA
THRACE R.
MACEDONIA lya
PHRYGIA Ha
GREECE LYDIANS MEDES
ASIA MINOR Nineveh
Tig
ASSYRIA
R.
ris
SYRIA
s
INDIA
Indu
Rhodes PHOENICIA uph BA .
E
R
BY
M e d Crete Cyprus Byblos rates R. LO
iterr Tyre NI
anea Sidon Babylon A
n Sea PERSIA
PALESTINE CHALDE
Jerusalem AN Pe
S rsi
LIBYA JUDAH ARABIAN an
DESERT Gul
Memphis
f
A R A B I A
EGYPT Arabian Sea
SAHARA Ni
Red Assyrian empire at its height, c. 650 B.C.
le Sea
Thebes Persian empire, c. 494 B.C.
R.
Map 1.3 THE ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN EMPIRES In the last part of the sixth
century b.c., the Persians established the greatest empire of the ancient Near
East, conquering all the lands between the Nile in Egypt and the Indus River in
India. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
the activities of the governors. Persian kings Besides providing impressive political and
allowed the provincials a large measure of administrative unity and promoting interna-
self- rule. They also respected local traditions, tional trade, the Persians fused and perpetu-
particularly in matters of religion, as long as ated the various cultural traditions of the Near
subjects paid their taxes, served in the royal East. Persian palaces, for example, boasted the
army, and refrained from rebellion; and they terraces of Babylon, the colonnades of Egypt,
deliberately tried to win the goodwill of priests the winged bulls that decorated Assyrian pal-
in conquered lands. But they also were brutal, ace gates, and the craftsmanship of Median
impaling and mutilating opponents. goldsmiths.
The empire was bound together by a uniform The political and cultural universalism of the
language, Aramaic (the language of the Aramae- Persian empire had its counterpart in the emer-
ans of Syria), which was used by government gence of an ethically oriented religion, Zoro-
officials and merchants. Aramaic was written astrianism. Named for its founder, the Persian
in letters based on the Phoenician alphabet. By prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek), who
making Aramaic a universal language, the Per- probably lived in the sixth century b.c. (some
sians facilitated written and oral communication scholars place him much earlier), this religion
within the empire. The empire was further uni- taught belief in Ahura Mazda—the Wise Lord—
fied by an elaborate network of roads, an effi- god of light, the embodiment of justice, wisdom,
cient postal system, a common system of weights goodness, and immortality. In addition to the
and measures, and an empire- wide coinage, Wise Lord, there also existed Ahriman, the spirit
based on an invention of the Lydians from west- of darkness, who was evil and destructive. Ahri-
ern Asia Minor. man was in conflict with Ahura Mazda. People
26 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
were free to choose whom they would follow. By magic, polytheism, and blood sacrifices and in-
choosing Ahura Mazda, they chose good over stead stressed ethics.
evil. To serve Ahura Mazda, one had to speak Persia unified the nations of the Near East
the truth and be good to others; the reward for into a world- state, headed by a divinely ap-
such behavior was life eternal in paradise, the pointed king, and synthesized the region’s cul-
realm of light and goodness. Followers of the tural traditions. Soon it would confront the
evil spirit could be cast into a realm of darkness city-states of Greece, whose political system and
and torment. In contrast to the traditional reli- cultural orientation differed from that of the
gions of the Near East, Zoroastrianism rejected Near East.
The Religious Orientation of the Near East ❖ 27
❖ ❖ ❖
29
30 ❖ 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations
The Hebrews:
A New View of God
and the Individual
A sculptured relief from the triumphal Arch of Titus showing Jewish captives
bearing the menorah and vessels from the holy temple burned by the Romans at the
end of the Jewish revolt, first century A.D. (Vanni/Art Resource, N.Y.)
■
■
Outline of Hebrew History
God: One, Sovereign,
Transcendent, Good
A ncient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the
birthplace of the first civilizations, are
not the spiritual ancestors of the West.
For the origins of the Western tradition, we must
turn to the Hebrews and the Greeks. Both the
■ The Individual and Moral Greeks and the Hebrews, of course, absorbed
Autonomy elements of the civilizations of Mesopotamia
and Egypt, but even more significant is how
■ The Covenant and the Law they transformed this inheritance and shaped
■ The Hebrew Idea of History worldviews that differed markedly from the out-
looks of these first civilizations. As Egyptologist
■ The Prophets John A. Wilson writes,
■ The Legacy of the Ancient Jews The Children of Israel built a nation and a
religion on the rejection of things Egyptian.
Not only did they see God as one, but they as-
cribed to him consistency of concern for man
Focus Questions and consistency of justice to man. . . . Like the
Greeks, the Hebrews took forms from their
1. In what ways did the Hebrew view of great neighbors; like the Greeks, they used
God mark a revolutionary break with those forms for very different purposes.1
Near Eastern thought?
In this chapter, we examine one source of the
2. How did Hebrew religious thought Western tradition, the Hebrews, whose conception
promote the ideas of moral autonomy? of God broke with the outlook of the Near East and
3. What were the distinguishing features of whose ethical teachings helped fashion the Western
Hebrew law? idea of humanity and the dignity of the individual.
4. What were the unique achievements of
the Hebrew prophets? OUTLINE OF HEBREW HISTORY*
5. Why are the Hebrews regarded as a
principal source of the Western tradition? The Hebrews (Israelites or Jews) originated in
Mesopotamia and migrated to Canaan, a portion
of which was later called Palestine. The Hebrew
patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so promi-
nently depicted in the Old Testament—were chief-
tains of seminomadic clans that roamed Palestine
and occasionally journeyed to Mesopotamia and
Egypt. The early Hebrews absorbed some features
of Mesopotamian civilization. For example, there
are parallels between biblical law and the Meso-
potamian legal tradition. Several biblical stories,
including the Garden of Eden and the Flood,
derive from Mesopotamian sources.
The biblical account tells us that some evidence of Asiatic slaves toiling in Egypt, some of
Hebrews journeyed from Canaan to Egypt to be whom might have been Hebrews. Moreover, assert
herdsmen and farmers, but they eventually be- these scholars, ancient Hebrew scribes would not
came forced laborers for the Egyptians. Fearful of have concocted and faithfully preserved such an
remaining permanent slaves of the pharaoh, the inglorious history of enslavement unless the bibli-
Hebrews yearned for an opportunity to escape. In cal account contained a core historical truth along
the early thirteenth century b.c., an extraordinary with legend, folklore, and mythic imagery.
leader rose among them, called Moses, who came
to his people as a messenger of God. Leading
the Hebrews in their Exodus from Egypt, Moses The Israelite Kingdom
transformed them during their wanderings in the
wilderness of Sinai into a nation, welded together The wandering Israelites returned to Canaan to
and uplifted by a belief in Yahweh, the one God. rejoin other Hebrew tribes that had not migrated
Arguing that there is no extrabiblical evidence to Egypt. The colonization of Canaan, a gradual
for the Exodus or even for the presence of Jews in process, took many generations. Threatened by
Egypt, some scholars dismiss the Exodus as fiction; the Philistines, originally from the islands of the
although numerous Egyptian hieroglyphics detail Aegean Sea and the coast of Asia Minor, and
events at the time, none of them refer specifically from whom the name Palestine derives, the twelve
to Israelites in Egypt. Certainly, say these scholars, tribes united under the leadership of Saul, a char-
the flight of thousands of foreigners would have ismatic hero, whom they acclaimed as their first
attracted notice. Moreover, it is highly unlikely king. Under Saul’s successor, David, a gifted war-
that an escape by a large group of slaves could rior and a poet, the Hebrews (or Israelites) broke
have succeeded when Egypt was at the peak of the back of Philistine power and subdued neigh-
its power. The biblical account says that Israelites boring peoples.
wandered in the Sinai desert for forty years, but David’s son Solomon erected a royal palace in
archaeologists, who have excavated a number of Jerusalem and beside it a splendid temple honor-
sites in the Sinai mentioned in the book of Exodus, ing God. Under Solomon, Israel experienced a cul-
have uncovered no traces of Israelite campsites. tural flowering: some magnificent sections of the
These scholars, known as biblical minimalists, Old Testament took form, and music flourished.
deny the Exodus from Egypt ever occurred. Other Under Solomon, ancient Israel was at the height
scholars reject this position, holding that there is of its power and prosperity. However, opposition
33
34 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
to Solomon’s tax policies and his favored treat- Assyrian empire. These transported Hebrews—the
ment of the region of Judah in the south led to so-called ten lost tribes—merged with neighbor-
the division of the kingdom after his death in 922 ing peoples and lost their identity as the people
b.c. The tribes loyal to Solomon’s son belonged who had made a covenant with God. By 586 b.c.,
to the kingdom of Judah, whereas the other tribes the Chaldeans had conquered Judah, destroyed
organized the northern kingdom of Israel. Both Solomon’s temple, devastated the land, and de-
second-rate powers, neither Judah nor Israel could ported several thousand Hebrews to Babylon.
hold on to earlier conquests. The prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah
declared that the destruction of Judah was a
punishment that the Hebrews had brought on
Conquest, Captivity, and Restoration themselves by violating God’s laws. This time was
the darkest moment in the history of the Hebrews.
In 722 b.c., Israel fell to the Assyrians, who de- Their state was gone, neighboring peoples had
ported many Hebrews to other parts of the overrun their land, and their holy temple was in
Outline of Hebrew History ❖ 35
ASIA MINOR
HITTITES
ASSYRIANS
Nineveh
Eup
hra
t
M .
es
ES
T igris
Cyprus
R
O
PO
IANS
TA
M
RIA IA
R.
NIC
Byblos SY
OE
ARAMEANS
Mediterranean Sea Sidon
PH
Damascus
Tyre
REW NES
ISRAEL
CANAAN (PALESTINE) Babylon
STI
S
Jerusalem
a H ILI
JUDAH
G
EGYPTIANS
0 100 200Km.
.
ruins. Thousands had died in battle, had been ex- permitted the exiles to return to Judah, now a
ecuted, or had fled to Egypt and other lands, and Persian province, and to rebuild the temple. The
thousands more were in exile in Babylon. This ex- majority of Judeans preferred to remain in pros-
ile is known as the Babylonian Captivity. perous and cosmopolitan Babylon. But some of
Still, in what is a marvel of history, the Hebrews them did return to Judah, and in 515 b.c. the He-
survived as a people. Although many of the exiles brews, now commonly called Jews, dedicated the
in Babylon assimilated Babylonian ways, some re- second temple at Jerusalem.
mained faithful to their God Yahweh and the Law
of Moses and longed to return to their homeland.
Priests struggled to understand the misfortunes The Hebrew Scriptures
that had befallen their people and to prevent the
erosion of faith in a foreign environment. They In the following centuries, the Jews would lose
codified ancient traditions, records, and practices, their independence to Rome and become a dis-
particularly laws, and in the process created the persed people. But they never relinquished
Torah (see below). Thus, their faith enabled them their commitment to God and his Law as re-
to endure conquest and exile. When the Persians corded in the Hebrew Scriptures. Called Tanak
conquered Babylon, King Cyrus, in 538 b.c., by Jews (and Old Testament by Christians), the
36 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
A DEAD SEA SCROLL, JUDEA, SECOND CENTURY B.C. God’s law, as recorded
in the Holy Scriptures, still remains a unifying force among Jews. Many ancient
Hebrew scrolls were found in caves near the west bank of the Dead Sea beginning
in the late 1940s. The scroll depicted here contains the earliest existing copy of
a complete Hebrew text of the book of the prophet Isaiah. It barely differs from
more modern manuscripts. (© John Trevor, Ph.D., courtesy of the Trevor family; photo provided by the Ancient Biblical
Manuscript Center, Claremont, Calif.)
Hebrew Scriptures consist of thirty-nine books* The Hebrew Scriptures represent Jewish oral
by several authors who lived in different cen- and written tradition dating from about 1250 to
turies. Jews call the first five books of the Old 150 b.c. Compiled by religious devotees, not re-
Testament—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Num- search historians, they understandably contain
bers, and Deuteronomy—the Torah (which origi- factual errors, imprecisions, discrepancies, legends,
nally meant “teaching” or “instruction”). Often, and folklore. However, there are also passages that
the Torah is referred to as the Pentateuch, a Greek offer reliable history, and historians find the Old
word meaning “five books.” Testament an indispensable source for studying the
ancient Near East. Literary scholars study it for its
poetry, legends, and themes, all of which are an in-
*In ancient times, the number of books was usually given
as twenty-four. Certain books are now divided into two tegral part of the Western literary tradition. But it is
parts, and the twelve works by the minor prophets are now as a work of religious inspiration that the Hebrew
counted as individual books. Scriptures attain their most profound importance.
God: One, Sovereign, Transcendent, Good ❖ 37
The Old Testament is the record of more than forbidden to approach [other deities] as
a thousand years of ancient Jewish history. Con- gods. . . . The gods were thus rendered
taining Jewish laws, wisdom, hopes, legends, and irrelevant, driven from the field. . . . To
literary expressions, it describes an ancient peo- Israel only the one God was God. . . . The
ple’s efforts to comprehend the ways of God. The other gods, allowed neither part in creation,
Old Testament emphasizes and values the human nor function in the cosmos, nor power over
experience; its heroes are not demigods but events. . . . were robbed of all that made them
human beings. It depicts human strength as well gods and rendered non-entities, in short, were
as weakness. Some passages exhibit cruelty and “undeified.” Though the full implications of
unseemly revenge against the enemies of Israel monotheism were centuries in being drawn, in
and apostates, while others express the highest the functional sense Israel believed in but one
ethical values. As set forth in the Hebrew Scrip- God from the beginning.3
tures, the Hebrew idea of God and his relation-
ship to human beings is one of the foundations of The Hebrew view of the one God marked
the Western tradition. a profound break with Near Eastern religious
thought. The gods of other Near Eastern peoples
were not truly free; their power was not without
GOD: ONE, SOVEREIGN, limits. Unlike Yahweh, Near Eastern gods were
not eternal but were born or created; they issued
TRANSCENDENT, GOOD from some prior realm. They also were subject to
biological conditions, requiring food, drink, sleep,
The Hebrew view of God evolved through the and sexual gratification. Sometimes they became
history and experiences of the Hebrew people. ill or grew old or died. When they behaved wick-
In the days of the patriarchs, before the sojourn edly, they had to answer to fate, which demanded
in Egypt, the Hebrews most likely were not punishment as retribution; even the gods were
monotheists. They probably devoted themselves subject to fate’s power.
to the god of their particular clan and expressed The Hebrews regarded God as fully sovereign.
no hatred for the idolatrous beliefs of neighbor- He ruled all and was subject to nothing. Yah-
ing peoples. The chief of each clan established weh’s existence and power did not derive from a
a special attachment to the god of his fathers, preexisting realm, as was the case with the gods
hoping that the deity would protect and assist of other peoples. The Hebrews believed that no
the clan. realm of being preceded God in time or surpassed
Some historians say that Moses’ religion was him in power. They saw God as eternal and om-
not pure monotheism because it did not rule nipotent, the source of all in the universe, and
out the existence of other gods. According to having a supreme will. He created and governed
this view, not until the prophets, centuries later, the natural world and shaped the moral laws that
did the Hebrews explicitly deny that other gods govern human beings. He was not subservient to
existed and proclaim that Yahweh stood alone. fate but determined what happened.
Other scholars believe that Moses proclaimed a Whereas Near Eastern divinities dwelt within
monotheistic idea, that this idea became the cen- nature, the Hebrew God was transcendent, above
tral force in the life of the Hebrews at the time of nature and not a part of it. Yahweh was not iden-
the Exodus from Egypt, and that it continues to tified with any natural force and did not dwell
be central today. John Bright, an American bibli- in a particular place in heaven or on earth. Na-
cal scholar, suggests a judicious balance. The reli- ture was God’s creation but was not itself divine.
gion of Moses “did not deny the existence of other Therefore, when the Hebrews confronted natu-
gods,” says Bright, but it “effectively denied them ral phenomena, they experienced God’s magnifi-
status as gods.”2 The Hebrews could serve only cent handiwork, not objects with wills of their
Yahweh and “accorded all power and authority own. All natural phenomena—rivers, mountains,
to Him.” Consequently, Israel was storms, stars—were divested of any supernatural
38 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
quality. The stars and planets were creations of religious revolution that separated them entirely
Yahweh, not divinities or the abodes of divinities. from the worldview held by the other peoples of
The Hebrews neither regarded them with awe nor the ancient Near East.
worshiped them. This removal of the gods from
nature is a necessary prerequisite for scientific
thought. THE INDIVIDUAL AND
The Hebrews demythicized nature, but con-
cerned as they were with religion and morality, MORAL AUTONOMY
they did not create theoretical science. As testi-
mony to God’s greatness, nature inspired people This new conception of God made possible a
to sing the praises of the Lord; it invoked worship new awareness of the individual, who was seen
of God, not scientific curiosity. When Hebrews as the culmination and centerpiece of God’s cre-
gazed at the heavens, they did not seek to discover ation. Created in the image of God, the human
mathematical relationships but admired God’s being is unique, qualitatively different from the
handiwork. The Hebrews did not view nature as a rest of animate nature. Only the human being
system governed by natural law. Rather, they saw has the power of volition, the power to make
the rising sun, spring rain, summer heat, and win- choices. The Hebrews believed that God, who
ter cold as God intervening in an orderly manner possessed total freedom himself, had bestowed on
in his creation. The Hebrews, unlike the Greeks, his people moral freedom—the capacity to choose
were not philosophers. They were concerned with between good and evil. Thus, in confronting God,
God’s will, not with the human intellect; with the the Hebrews developed an awareness of self, or I;
feelings of the heart, not the power of the mind; the individual became conscious of his or her own
with righteous behavior, not abstract thought. person, moral autonomy, and personal worth.
Unlike the Greeks, the Hebrews did not specu- Fundamental to Hebrew belief was the insis-
late about the origins of all things and the opera- tence that God did not create people to be his
tions of nature; they knew that God had created slaves. The Hebrews regarded God with awe and
everything. For the Hebrews, God’s existence was humility, with respect and fear, but they did not
based on religious conviction, not on rational in- believe that God wanted people to grovel be-
quiry; on revelation, not reason. It was the Greeks, fore him; rather, he wanted them to fulfill their
not the Hebrews, who originated systematic ra- moral potential by freely choosing to follow or
tional thought. But Christianity, born of Judaism, not to follow God’s Law. Thus, in creating men
retained the Hebrew view of a transcendent God and women in his own image, God made them
and the orderliness of his creation—concepts that autonomous and sovereign. In God’s plan for the
could accommodate Greek science. universe, human beings were the highest creation,
The Hebrews also did not speculate about subordinate only to God. Of all his creations,
God’s nature. They knew only that he was good only they had been given the freedom to choose
and that he made ethical demands on his people. between righteousness and wickedness, between
Unlike Near Eastern gods, Yahweh was not driven “life and good, and death and evil” (Deuteronomy
by lust or motivated by evil but was “merciful and 30:15). But having the power to choose freely,
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- men and women must bear the responsibility for
ness and truth . . . forgiving iniquity and trans- their choice.
gression and sin” (Psalm 145:8).4* In contrast to God demanded that the Hebrews have no other
pagan gods, who were indifferent to human be- gods and that they make no images “nor any
ings, Yahweh was attentive to human needs. manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven
By asserting that God was one, sovereign, above, or that is in the earth beneath, . . . thou
transcendent, and good, the Hebrews effected a shalt not bow down unto them nor serve them”
(Exodus 20:4–5). Breaking in a revolutionary way
*The Bible passages in this chapter are quoted from The
with their pagan surroundings, the Hebrews held
Holy Scriptures (published by the Jewish Publication Soci- that the one true God, both omnipotent and invis-
ety of America). ible, could not be represented in statues or other
The Covenant and the Law ❖ 39
human creations. The Hebrews believed that the that man was created in God’s image to mean that
worship of idols deprived people of their free- each human being has a divine spark in him or
dom and dignity; people cannot be fully human her, giving every person a unique dignity, which
if they surrender themselves to a lifeless idol. cannot be taken away.
Hence, the Hebrews had to destroy images and By devotion to God, the Hebrews asserted the
all other forms of idolatry. A crucial element of dignity and autonomy of human beings. Thus, the
Near Eastern religion was the use of images—art Hebrews conceived the idea of moral freedom,
forms that depicted divinities—but the Hebrews that each individual is responsible for his or her
believed that God, the Supreme Being, could not own actions. These concepts of human dignity
be represented by pictures or sculpture fashioned and moral autonomy, which Christianity inher-
by human hands. The Hebrews rejected entirely ited, are at the core of the Western tradition.
the belief that an image possessed divine powers
that could be manipulated for human advantage.
Ethical considerations, not myth or magic, were THE COVENANT AND THE LAW
central to Hebrew religious life.
By making God the center of life, Hebrews Central to Hebrew religious thought and decisive
could become free moral agents; no person, no in Hebrew history was the covenant, God’s spe-
human institution, no human tradition could cial agreement with the Hebrew people.
claim their souls. Because God alone was the su-
preme value in the universe, only he was worthy And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord
of worship. Thus, to give ultimate loyalty to a called unto him out of the mountain saying:
king or to a general violated God’s stern warn- “Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob
ing against the worship of false gods. The first and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen
concern of the Hebrews was supposed to be righ- what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I
teousness, not power, fame, or riches, which were bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you
only idols and would impoverish a person spiritu- unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will hearken
ally and morally. unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant,
There was, however, a condition to free- then ye shall be Mine own treasure from all
dom. For the Hebrews, people were not free to peoples; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall
create their own moral precepts or their own be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy
standards of right and wrong. Freedom meant nation.” (Exodus 19:3–6)
voluntary obedience to commands that origi-
nated with God. Evil and suffering were not By this act, the Israelites as a nation accepted
caused by blind fate, malevolent demons, or God’s lordship.
arbitrary gods; they resulted from people’s dis- The Hebrews came to see themselves as a
regard of God’s commandments. The dilemma unique nation, as a “chosen people,” for God had
is that in possessing freedom of choice, human given them a special honor, a profound oppor-
beings also are free to disobey God, to commit tunity, and (as they could never forget) an awe-
a sin, which leads to suffering and death. Thus, some responsibility. The Hebrews did not claim
in the Genesis story, Adam and Eve were pun- that God had selected them because they were
ished for disobeying God. better than other peoples or because they had
For the Hebrews, to know God was not to done anything special to deserve God’s election.
comprehend him intellectually, define him, or They believed that God, in a remarkable man-
prove his existence; to know God was to be right- ner, had rescued them from bondage in Egypt
eous and loving, merciful and just. When men and had selected them to receive the Law so
and women loved God, the Hebrews believed, that their nation would set an example of right-
they were uplifted and improved. Gradually, they eous behavior—“a light to the nations,” said the
learned to overcome the worst elements of human prophet Isaiah—and ultimately lead other peo-
nature and to treat other people with respect and ples to acknowledge God, his greatness, and his
compassion. The Jews came to interpret the belief moral commands.
40 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
ordering the slaughter of the enemy in war, the have a similar awareness of the uniqueness of a
stoning to death of one’s family members who given event: to them, today’s incident merely re-
chose to serve other gods, and the execution of produced events experienced by their ancestors.
homosexuals. It is unknown to what extent these To the Jews, the Exodus and the covenant at
prescriptions were actually carried out, and over Mount Sinai were singular, nonrepetitive occur-
the centuries, there arose an oral and interpretive rences, decisive in shaping their national history.
tradition that made the written law less rigid and This historical uniqueness and importance of
enabled the Hebrews to adapt to changing cul- events derived from the idea of a universal God
tural conditions. profoundly involved in human affairs—a God
Hebrew law regulated all aspects of daily life, who cares, teaches, and punishes.
including family relationships. The father had su- The Jews valued the future as well as the past.
preme authority in the family, and this authority Regarding human history as a process leading
extended to his married sons and their wives if to a goal, they envisioned a great day when God
they remained in his household. Although polyg- would establish on earth a glorious age of peace,
amy was permitted, monogamy was the general prosperity, happiness, and human brotherhood.
rule; adultery was punishable by death. This utopian notion has become deeply embedded
As in other Near Eastern societies, the Jews in Western thought.
placed women in a subordinate position. The hus- The Hebrews saw history as the work of God;
band was considered his wife’s master, and she it was a divine drama filled with sacred meaning
often addressed him as a servant or subject would and moral significance. Historical events revealed
speak to a superior. A husband could divorce his the clash of human will with God’s commands.
wife, but she could not divorce him. Only when Through history’s specific events, God’s pres-
there was no male heir could a wife inherit prop- ence was disclosed and his purpose made known.
erty from her husband or a daughter inherit from When the Hebrews suffered conquest and exile,
her father. Women were not regarded as compe- they interpreted these events as divine retribu-
tent witnesses in court and played a lesser role tion for violating the covenant and the Law, sinful
than men in organized worship. acts that brought down the wrath of God upon
On the other hand, the Jews also showed re- them. For the Hebrews, history also revealed
spect for women. Wise women and prophetesses God’s compassion and concern. Thus, the Lord
such as Judith and Deborah were respected by liberated Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea
the community and were consulted by its leaders. and appointed prophets to plead for the poor and
Prophets compared God’s love for the Hebrews the oppressed. Because historical events revealed
with a husband’s love for his wife. Jewish law God’s attitude toward human beings, these events
regarded women as persons, not as property. possessed spiritual meaning and were worth re-
Even female captives taken in war were not to cording, evaluating, and remembering.
be abused or humiliated. The law required a hus-
band to respect and support his wife and never to
strike her. One of the Ten Commandments called THE PROPHETS
for honoring both father and mother.
Jewish history was marked by the emergence of
spiritually inspired individuals called prophets
THE HEBREW IDEA OF HISTORY who felt compelled to act as God’s messengers.
The prophets believed that God had commanded
Their idea of God made the Hebrews aware of the them to speak and had legitimated their words.
crucial importance of historical time. Holidays The prophets cared nothing for money or posses-
commemorating specific historical events such as sions, feared no one, and preached without invita-
the Exodus from Egypt, the receiving of the Ten tion. Often emerging in times of social distress and
Commandments on Mount Sinai, and the de- moral confusion, the prophets pleaded for a return
struction of Solomon’s temple kept the past alive to the covenant and the Law. Speaking in God’s
and vital. Egyptians and Mesopotamians did not name, they exhorted the entire nation to make
42 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
Social Justice
The flowering of the prophetic movement—the
age of classical, or literary, prophecy—began in the
eighth century b.c. In attacking oppression, cru-
elty, greed, and exploitation, the classical proph-
ets added a new dimension to Israel’s religious
development. These prophets were responding to
problems emanating from Israel’s changed social
structure. The general lack of class distinctions
characterizing a tribal society had been altered by
the rise of Hebrew kings, the expansion of com-
merce, and the growth of cities. By the eighth
century, there was a significant disparity between
the wealthy and the poor. Small farmers in debt to
moneylenders faced the loss of their land or even
bondage; the poor and their families were often
dispossessed and enslaved by the greedy wealthy.
To the prophets, these social evils were religious
sins that would bring ruin to Israel. Amos, a
mid- eighth- century prophet, felt a tremendous
compulsion to speak out against these injustices.
In the name of God, he denounced the pomp of
the heartless rich and the hypocrisy of pious Jews
who worshiped God in the prescribed manner but
neglected their social obligations to their neigh-
WA L L PA I N T I N G F RO M T H E S Y N A G O G U E I N
bors, and he demanded that the Hebrews
D URA-EUROPOS, ROMAN SYRIA, EARLY THIRD
C ENTURY A . D . This painting shows a Hebrew
Hate the evil and love the good,
prophet reading from an open scroll. (Art Resource, N.Y.)
And establish justice in the gate. (Amos 5:15)
The prophets’ insistence that rituals were not the remove the evil of your doings
essence of the Law and their passion for righ- from before my eyes;
teousness are voiced in the Scriptures by Isaiah cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
of Jerusalem, who lived in the mid-eighth century
B.C. Scholars agree that Isaiah of Jerusalem did not seek justice,
write all sixty-six chapters that make up the book of correct oppression;
Isaiah. Some material appears to have been writ- defend the fatherless,
ten by his disciples and interpreters, and Chapters plead for the widow.
40 to 55, which were composed two centuries later, (Isaiah 1)
are attributed to a person given the name Second
Isaiah. The following verses come from Isaiah of Isaiah denounces the rich and the powerful for
Jerusalem. exploiting the poor.
13The LORD has taken his place to contend,
11“What to me is the multitude of your
he stands to judge his people.
sacrifices? 14The LORD enters into judgment
says the LORD;
with the elders and princes of his people:
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
and the fat of the fed beasts;
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of 15What do you mean by crushing my people,
lambs, or of he-goats. . . .
13Bring no more vain offerings; by grinding the face of the poor?”
says the Lord God of hosts.
incense is an abomination to me.
(Isaiah 3)
New moon and sabbath and the calling of
assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn Question for Analysis
assembly.
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts 1. Discuss the following statement: For Isaiah,
ethical conduct was preferable to ritual acts
my soul hates;
as a way to worship God.
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread forth your hands, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of
the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971, National Council
I will hide my eyes from you; of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.
even though you make many prayers, All rights reserved.
43
Profile
Jeremiah he said, was fulfilling God’s purpose. God im-
posed the Babylonian yoke on Judah to provide
In 597 B.C., the Babylonians, under King Nebu- the people with an opportunity for true con-
chadnezzar, captured Jerusalem, looted the trition and spiritual renewal. To oppose Baby-
temple, removed many leading citizens to Baby- lon was to contravene God’s plan and bring
lon, and placed Zedekiah on the throne of David down his wrath on Judah. Jeremiah told King
as a puppet ruler. In 589 B.C., Zedekiah, ignor- Zedekiah: “Why should you and your people die
ing the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah (born by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as
c. 645 B.C.), rebelled against Babylonian rule. the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that
Jeremiah began prophesying when still in will not serve the king of Babylon?” (27:12).
his teens, exhorting the Hebrews to avoid the Jeremiah’s political advice angered royal offi-
evils of idol worship and mistreatment of their cials and popular prophets, who urged a war of
fellows. If the people did not change their ways, liberation. When Zedekiah rebelled, Nebuchad-
he warned, a “foe from the north”—clearly, he nezzar responded with force. The enemies of
meant the Babylonians—would devastate the Jeremiah demanded his execution as a traitor,
land and even destroy the temple. After the Bab- and he was left to die in a deep cistern. How-
ylonian conquest, Jeremiah warned Zedekiah to ever, Zedekiah allowed the prophet to be res-
accept Babylonian dominion. Nebuchadnezzar, cued but placed him under court arrest. Shortly
Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, the mistreatment of others; and that the commu-
Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. nity has a moral responsibility to assist the un-
(Isaiah 1:17) fortunate. The prophets held out the hope that
life on earth could be improved, that poverty and
Prophets also denounced people whose princi- injustice need not be accepted as part of an unal-
pal concern was the accumulation of possessions terable natural order, and that the individual was
and wealth. These objects are only transient, said capable of elevating himself or herself morally.
Isaiah, “but the word of God will stand forever”
(Isaiah 40:8).
Prophets stressed the direct spiritual-ethical Universalism
encounter between the individual and God. Their
concern was the inner person rather than the Hebrew thought displayed two tendencies: paro-
outer forms of religious activity. They criticized chialism and universalism. Parochial-mindedness
priests whose commitment to rites and rituals stressed the special nature, destiny, and needs
was not supported by a deeper spiritual insight of the chosen people—a nation set apart from
or matched by a zeal for morality in daily life. To others—for from among all the nations, God
the prophets, an ethical sin was far worse than a had chosen to give it his Law, the Torah.
ritual omission. This narrow, tribal outlook was offset by universal-
The prophets thus helped shape a social con- ism, a concern for all humanity, which found ex-
science that has become part of the Western tra- pression in the prophets who envisioned the unity
dition. This revolutionary social doctrine states of all people under God. Those prophets told of
that everyone has a God-given right to social jus- a great day when God, for whom all people were
tice and fair treatment; that each person has a equally precious, would establish everlasting justice
religious obligation to denounce evil and oppose and peace among all nations.
44
shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning-hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against
nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.
afterward, the Babylonians poured through
(Isaiah 2:4)
Jerusalem’s breached walls; they burned the
city, destroyed the temple, slaughtered nobles,
These prophets maintained that when people
and forcibly removed many people to Babylon.
glorify force, they dehumanize their opponents,
King Zedekiah met a dreadful end. After being
brutalize themselves, and dishonor God. When
forced to watch the execution of his sons, he
violence rules, there can be no love of God and no
was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon.
regard for the individual.
For Jeremiah’s support, Nebuchadnezzar
ordered his release from prison. Remaining in Je-
rusalem, the prophet sent out a message of hope to Individualism
the survivors. God had punished you, he told them,
because “your guilt is great, because your sins are The prophets’ universalism was accompanied by
so numerous” (30:15). But God, who loved the peo- an equally profound awareness of the individual
ple of Israel “with an everlasting love” (31:3) and and his or her worth to God. Before Moses and
also recognized his abiding commitment to them, the later prophets, virtually all religious tradi-
will one day “restore the fortunes of my people” tion had been produced communally and anony-
(30:3). The exiles will be returned, Jerusalem re- mously. The prophets, however, spoke as fearless
built, and the temple restored, he prophesied. individuals who, by affixing their signatures to
their thoughts, fully bore the responsibility of
their religious inspiration and conviction. The
prophets’ emphasis on the individual’s responsi-
bility for his or her own actions is a key com-
In that day shall there be a highway out of ponent of Western thought. In coming to regard
Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come God’s Law as a command to conscience, an ap-
into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and peal to the inner person, the prophets height-
the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. ened the awareness of the human personality.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt They enjoined individuals to be introspective, to
and with Assyria. . . . For that the Lord of examine their inner selves—their thoughts and
hosts hath blessed him saying: “Blessed be feelings. They indicated that the individual could
Egypt My people and Assyria the work of not know God by merely following edicts and
My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.” by performing rituals; the individual must ex-
(Isaiah 19:23–24) perience God. Precisely this I-Thou relationship
could make the individual fully conscious of self
and could deepen and enrich his or her personal-
Israel was charged with a sacred mission: to ity. During the Exodus, the Hebrews were a tribal
lead in the struggle against idolatry and to set people who obeyed the Law largely out of awe
an example of righteous behavior for all and group compulsion. By the prophets’ time,
humanity. the Jews appeared to be autonomous individuals
The prophets were not pacifists, particularly who heeded the Law because of a deliberate, con-
if a war was being waged against the enemies of scious inner commitment.
Yahweh. But some prophets denounced war as The ideals proclaimed by the prophets helped
obscene and looked forward to its elimination. sustain the Jews throughout their long and often
In a world where virtually everyone glorified the painful historical odyssey, and they remain a vital
warrior, the prophets of universalism envisioned force for Jews today. Incorporated into the teach-
the day when peace would reign over the earth, ings of Jesus, these ideals, as part of Christianity,
when nations are embedded in the Western tradition.
45
46 ❖ 2 The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual
THE LEGACY OF THE Scriptures as the Word of God, are numerous and
strong. The historical Jesus cannot be understood
ANCIENT JEWS without examining his Jewish background, and
his followers appealed to the Hebrew Scriptures in
For the Jews, monotheism had initiated a process order to demonstrate the validity of their beliefs.
of self-discovery and self-realization unmatched For these reasons, we talk of a Judeo-Christian
by other peoples of the Near East. The great tradition as an essential component of Western
value that Westerners give to the individual and civilization.
to human dignity derives in part from the ancient The Hebrew vision of a future messianic age,
Hebrews, who held that man and woman were a golden age of peace and social justice, is at the
created in God’s image and possessed free will root of the Western idea of progress—that people
and a conscience answerable to God. Inherited by can build a more just society, that there is rea-
Christianity, the prophets’ teachings constitute the son to be hopeful about the future. This way
core principles of Western morality, and their com- of perceiving the world has greatly influenced
mand to the power structure not to abuse their modern reform movements. People longing to
authority but to pursue justice continues to inspire escape from oppression—African Americans in
reformers. particular—have found inspiration in the He-
Throughout the centuries, the Jewish Bible, brews’ deliverance from bondage in Egypt, the
with its view of God, human nature, divine pun- theme of Exodus.
ishment, the pursuit of righteousness, and so- In seeking to comprehend their relationship to
cial justice, has played a pivotal and profound God, the writers of the Hebrew scriptures pro-
role in Jewish life. Moreover, its significance has duced a treasury of themes, stories, and models of
transcended the Jewish experience; it is also a cor- literary style and craftsmanship that have been a
nerstone of Western civilization. source of inspiration for Western religious think-
Christianity, the essential religion of Western ers, novelists, poets, and artists to the present day.
civilization, emerged from ancient Judaism, and Historians and archaeologists find the Hebrew
the links between the two, including monotheism, Scriptures a valuable resource in their efforts to
moral autonomy, prophetic values, and the Hebrew reconstruct ancient Near Eastern history.
❖ ❖ ❖
An archeologist explores the controversies re- Heschel, Abraham, The Prophets, 2 vols. (1962).
garding biblical accounts of the origins of the A penetrating analysis of the nature of prophetic
Israelites. inspiration.
Finkelstein, Israel, and Neil Asher Silberman, The Metzger, Bruce M., and Michael D. Coogan, eds.,
Bible Unearthed: Archeology’s New Vision of The Oxford Companion to the Bible (1993).
Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts A valuable reference work.
(2001). Challenges several assumptions derived Shanks, Hershel, ed., Ancient Israel (1999). The re-
from biblical accounts. vised and expanded edition contains authorita-
Grant, Michael, The History of Ancient Israel (1984). tive essays on various phases of the history of
A lucid account. ancient Israel. Highly recommended.
■
Early Aegean Civilizations
The Rise of Hellenic
Civilization
T he Hebrew conception of ethical mono-
theism, with its stress on human dignity,
is one principal source of the Western tra-
dition. The second major source is ancient Greece.
Both the Hebrews and the Greeks absorbed the
■ The Evolution of the City-State achievements of Near Eastern civilizations, but
■ Athenian Greatness they also developed their own distinctive view-
points and styles of thought that set them apart
■ The Decline of the City-States from the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. The great
achievements of the Hebrews lay in the sphere of
■ The Dilemma of Greek Politics religious-ethical thought; those of the Greeks lay
in the development of rational thought. As Greek
society evolved, says British historian James Shiel,
there
Focus Questions
was a growing reliance on independent rea-
1. What were the basic features and son, a devotion to logical precision, progress-
limitations of Greek democracy? ing from myth to logos [reason]. Rationalism
permeated the whole social and cultural devel-
2. How did the Greek city-state differ from opment. . . . Architecture. . . . developed from
Near Eastern governments? primitive cultic considerations to sophisticated
3. How did Greek political life demonstrate mathematical norms; sculpture escaped from
both the best and the worst features of temple image to a new love of naturalism
freedom as well as both the capabilities and proportion; political life proceeded from
and the limitations of reason? tyranny to rational experiments in democ-
racy. From practical rules of thumb, geometry
4. Why is the Greek political experience moved forward in the direction of the impres-
crucial to the shaping of the Western sive Euclidian synthesis. So too philosophy
tradition? made its way from “sayings of the wise” to
the Aristotelian logic, and made men rely on
their own observation and reflection in facing
the unexplained vastness of the cosmos.1
49
Chronology 3.1 ❖ The Greek City-State
1700–1450 B.C.* Height of Minoan civilization
1400–1230 Height of Mycenaean civilization
1100–800 Dark Age
750–550 Age of Colonization
c. 700 Homer
621 Draco’s code of law
594 Solon is elected chief executive
546–527 Under Pisistratus, tyranny replaces oligarchy
507 Cleisthenes broadens democratic institutions
499 Ionians revolt against Persian rule
490 Athenians defeat Persians at battle of Marathon
480 Xerxes of Persia invades Greece; Greek naval victory at Salamis
479 Spartans defeat Persians at Plataea, ending Persian Wars
478–477 Formation of Delian League
431 Start of Peloponnesian War
429 Death of Pericles
413 Athenian defeat at Syracuse
404 Athens surrenders to Sparta, ending Peloponnesian War
399 Execution of Socrates
387 Plato founds a school, the Academy
359 Philip II becomes king of Macedonia
338 Battle of Chaeronea: Greek city-states fall under the dominion
of Macedonia
335 B.C. Aristotle founds a school, the Lyceum
*Some dates are approximations.
50
The Rise of Hellenic Civilization ❖ 51
Greek mainland and the islands of the Aegean Sea from Crete. The Mycenaeans were traders, too,
for much of the second millennium b.c. exchanging goods with the peoples of Egypt,
In 1900, Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, Phoenicia, Sicily, southern Italy, Macedonia, and
made an equally extraordinary discovery. Ex- the western coast of Asia Minor.
cavating on the island of Crete, southeast of the At the apex of Mycenaean society was the
Greek mainland, he unearthed a civilization even king, who headed the armed forces, controlled
older than that of the Mycenaean Greeks. The production and trade, and was the highest judicial
Cretans, or Minoans, were not Greeks and did authority. Assisting the king were aristocrats, who
not speak a Greek language, but their influence were officers in the army and held key positions
on mainland Greece was considerable and endur- in the administration. The priestesses and priests
ing. Minoan civilization lasted about 1,350 years were also in the upper echelons of the society;
(2600 to 1250 b.c.) and reached its height during they supervised sanctuaries and other properties
the period from 1700 to 1450 b.c. of the gods. Farmers, stockbreeders, and crafts-
The centers of Minoan civilization were mag- men constituted the bulk of the free population.
nificent palace complexes whose construction At the bottom of the social pyramid were the
was evidence of the wealth and power of Minoan slaves—mostly foreign prisoners of war.
kings. That the architects of these palaces and the Mycenaean civilization, which consisted of sev-
artists who decorated the walls were sensitive to eral small states, each with its own ruling dynasty,
beauty is shown in the ruins uncovered at various reached its height in the period from 1400 to 1230
Cretan sites. The palaces housed royal families, b.c. Following that, constant warfare between the
priests, and government officials and contained Mycenaean kingdoms (and perhaps foreign inva-
workshops that produced decorated silver vessels, sions) led to destruction of the palaces and the
daggers, and pottery for local use and for export. abrupt disintegration of the Mycenaean civiliza-
Numerous Cretan artifacts have been found in tion about 1100 b.c. But to the later Greek civi-
Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, attesting to lization the Mycenaeans left a legacy of religious
a substantial export trade. forms, pottery making, metallurgy, agriculture,
Judging by the archaeological evidence, the language, a warrior culture and code of honor im-
Minoans seemed peaceful. Minoan art did not mortalized in the Homeric epics, and myths and
generally depict military scenes, and Minoan pal- legends, which offered themes for Greek drama.
aces, unlike the Mycenaean ones, had no defensive
walls or fortifications. Thus, the Minoans were
vulnerable to the warlike Mycenaean Greeks, THE RISE OF
who invaded and conquered Knossos, the Minoan
capital. The Minoans never recovered from this HELLENIC CIVILIZATION
blow, and within two centuries Minoan civiliza-
tion faded away. From 1100 to 800 b.c., the Greek world passed
Who were these Mycenaeans? Around 2000 through the Dark Age, an era of transition be-
b.c., Greek- speaking tribes moved southward tween a dead Mycenaean civilization and a still
into the Greek peninsula, where, together with unborn Hellenic civilization. The Dark Age saw
the pre- Greek population, they fashioned the the migration of Greek tribes from the barren
Mycenaean civilization. In the Peloponnesus, the mountainous regions of Greece to more fertile
Mycenaeans built palaces that were based in part plains, and from the mainland to Aegean islands
on Cretan models. In these palaces, Mycenaean and the coast of Asia Minor. One group of invad-
kings conducted affairs of state, and priests and ers, the Dorians, penetrated the Peloponnesian
priestesses performed religious ceremonies; pot- peninsula in the south and later founded Sparta.
ters, smiths, tailors, and chariot builders practiced Another group, the Ionians, settled in Attica,
their crafts in the numerous workshops, much like where Athens is located, and later crossed to Asia
their Minoan counterparts. Mycenaean arts and Minor. During this period, the Greeks experienced
crafts owed a considerable debt to Crete. A script insecurity, warfare, poverty, and isolation. The bu-
that permitted record keeping probably also came reaucratic system of Mycenaean government had
52 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
disappeared, extensive trade had ceased, the art of behavior. Homer was a poetic genius who could
writing had been forgotten, the palace workshops reveal a human being’s deepest thoughts, feelings,
no longer existed, and art had reverted to primi- and conflicts in a few brilliant lines. His charac-
tive forms. ters, complex in their motives and expressing pow-
After 800 b.c., however, town life revived. erful human emotions—wrath, vengeance, guilt,
Writing again became part of the Greek culture, remorse, compassion, and love—would intrigue
this time with the more efficient Phoenician script. and inspire Western writers down to the present.
(Other borrowings from the Near East included ar- The Iliad deals, in poetic form, with a small
tistic imagery and motifs, religious practices, craft segment of the tenth and last year of the Tro-
skills, and mythological tales that were adapted jan War, which had taken place centuries before
and transformed by Greek poets.) The population Homer’s time, during the Mycenaean period. At
increased dramatically, there was a spectacular rise the very beginning, Homer states his theme.
in the use of metals, and overseas trade expanded.
Gradually, Greek cities founded settlements on The Wrath of Achilles is my theme, that fatal
the islands of the Aegean, along the coast of Asia wrath which, in fulfillment of the will of
Minor and the Black Sea, and to the west in Sic- Zeus, brought the Achaeans [Greeks] so much
ily and southern Italy. These colonies, established suffering and sent the gallant souls of many
to relieve overpopulation and land hunger, were noblemen to Hades, leaving their bodies as
independent, self-governing city-states, not posses- carrion for the dogs and passing birds. Let us
sions of the homeland city-states, although close begin, goddess of song, with the angry parting
ties were maintained between the two. During the that took place between Agamemnon King of
two hundred years of colonization (750–550 b.c.), Men and the great Achilles Son of Peleus.2
trade and industry expanded, the pace of urban-
ization quickened, and a new class emerged: the The story goes on to reveal the cause and tragic
merchants, whose wealth derived from goods and consequences of this wrath. In depriving “the
money rather than from land. In time, this middle swift and excellent” Achilles of his rightful war-
class would challenge the landholding aristocracy. prize (the captive young woman Briseis), King
Agamemnon has insulted Achilles’ honor and
has violated the solemn rule that warrior heroes
Homer, Shaper of the Greek Spirit treat each other with respect. His pride wounded,
Achilles refuses to rejoin Agamemnon in battle
The poet Homer lived during the eighth century against Troy and plans to affirm his honor by
b.c., just after the Dark Age. His great narrative demonstrating that the Achaeans need his valor
epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey,* helped shape and military prowess. Not until many brave
the Greek spirit and Greek religion. Homer was men have been slain, including his dearest friend
the earliest molder of the Greek outlook and Patroclus, does Achilles set aside his quarrel with
character. For centuries, Greek youngsters grew Agamemnon and enter the battle.
up reciting the Homeric epics and admiring the Homer employs a particular event, the quarrel
Homeric heroes, who strove for honor and faced between an arrogant Agamemnon and a revenge-
suffering and death with courage. Greek thinkers ful Achilles, to demonstrate a universal principle:
quoted Homer to illustrate moral truths. that “wicked arrogance” and “ruinous wrath” will
In contrast to earlier works of mythology, cause much suffering and death. Homer grasps that
Homer dealt not just with a hero’s actions but there is an internal logic to existence. For Homer,
also with what the hero thought and felt about his says British classicist H. D. F. Kitto, “actions must
have their consequences; ill-judged actions must
*Although scholars agree that Homer composed the have uncomfortable results.”3 People, and even the
Iliad, some of them hold that the Odyssey was probably gods, operate within a certain unalterable frame-
the work of an unknown poet who lived sometime after
Homer; some say that Homer composed both epics, most
work; their deeds are subject to the demands of
likely utilizing oral poetic traditions already in circulation, fate, or necessity. With a poet’s intuition, Homer
in their earliest forms and that others altered them. sensed what would become a fundamental attitude
The Rise of Hellenic Civilization ❖ 53
GAUL
PS CRIMEA
C AUC
AL ASUS MTS.
Da
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ilia R. Black Sea
ss ETRUSCANS
PY
a
M
RE BA m
Eb NE LKA tiu
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A TS. yz
IT
Corsica LY
o
B
Tha
R.
R.
Corcyra o LYDIA Euphra
Gades Sardinia Messana Ionian Miletus tes R
ea
.
S tr a its ta r Sea Corinth Megara
o f G i b r al Sicily Syracuse Paros SYRIA
Rhodes
Carthage Crete Sidon Babylon
Malta Cyprus
Tyre
NORTH AFRICA Mediterranean Sea PHOENICIA
Cyrene
Naucratis A RA BIA N
0 200 400 Km.
LIBYA Memphis
D E SE RT
0 200 400 Mi.
EGYPT
Greek colonization
Re
SAHARA Se
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Phoenician colonization R. a
of the Greek mind: there is a universal order to heroism and glory: “So now I meet my doom. Let
things. Later Greeks would formulate Homer’s po- me at least sell my life dearly and have a not inglo-
etic insight in philosophical terms. rious end, after some feat of arms that shall come
Although human life is governed by laws of ne- to the ears of generations still unborn.”4
cessity, the Homeric warrior expresses a passionate Heroism, the pursuit of glory and fame, and
desire to assert himself, to demonstrate his worth, war’s exhilaration are central to the Iliad, but
to gain the glory that poets would immortalize in Homer is also sensitive to the suffering caused by
their songs—that is, to achieve areteˉ, excellence. war. Battlefields littered with dead and maimed
In the Iliad, Hector, prince of Troy, does battle warriors fill soldiers with tears, and the grief of
with Achilles, even though defeat and death seem widows, orphans, and parents is unremitting.
certain. He fights not because he is a fool rush- Homer grasped war’s tragic character: it confers
ing madly into a fray nor because he relishes com- honor and dignity on the victorious, but suffering,
bat, but because he is a prince bound by a code of grief, enslavement, and death on the defeated. And
honor and conscious of his reputation and of his one day, the hero, who had been lauded for his
responsibility to his fellow Trojans. In the code of courage and prowess and had brought glory to his
the warrior-aristocrats, cowardice brought unbear- family and city, will also perish by the sword. This
able shame, and honor meant more than life itself. is his destiny. Homer’s insights into life’s tragic
When Hector knows that he is going to be slain by nature instructed the great Greek dramatists (see
Achilles, he expresses this overriding concern with Chapter 4) and future Western writers.
54 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
In the warrior- aristocrat world of Homer, formed the basis of the Olympian religion accepted
areteˉ, was principally interpreted as bravery and throughout Greece. The principal gods were said
skill in battle. Homer’s portrayal also bears the to reside on Mount Olympus in northern Greece,
embryo of a larger conception of human excel- and on its highest peak was the palace of Zeus,
lence, one that combines thought with action. the chief deity. Although all Greeks recognized the
A man of true worth, says the wise Phoenix to Olympian gods, each city retained local gods and
the stubborn Achilles, is both “a speaker of words rituals that had been transmitted through genera-
and a doer of deeds.” In this passage, we find the tions by folk memory.
earliest statement of the Greek educational ideal: Many Greeks found an outlet for their reli-
the molding of a man who, says classicist Werner gious feelings in the sacred ceremonies of mystic
Jaeger, “united nobility of action with nobility of cults. Devotees of the cult of Dionysus, the god of
mind,” who realized “the whole of human po- wine and agricultural fertility, engaged in ecstatic
tentialities.”5 Thus, in Homer we find the begin- dances and frenzied prayers for abundant har-
nings of Greek humanism—a concern with the vests. Participants in the Eleusinian cult felt puri-
individual and his achievements. fied and reborn through their rituals and believed
To Mesopotamian and Egyptian minds, the gods in a happy life after death. The Orphic cult, which
were primarily responsible for the good or evil that was popular in the sixth century b.c., taught the
befell human beings. In Homer’s work, the gods unimportance of earthly life and the need to pre-
are still very much involved in human affairs, but pare for life after the grave. The Orphics believed
Homer also makes the individual a decisive actor in that the soul, which once had enjoyed a happy
the drama of life. Human actions and human per- existence in another world, was imprisoned in
sonality are very important. Homer’s heroes demon- the body for an unknown fault, and that if the in-
strate a considerable independence of will. Human dividual controlled his or her bodily desires, the
beings pay respect to the gods but do not live in soul would be liberated after death.
perpetual fear of them; they choose their own way, In the early stages of Greek history, most people
at times even defying the gods. As British classicist sought to live in accordance with the wishes of the
C. M. Bowra notes, “the human actors . . . pursue gods. Through prayer, offerings, and ritual purifica-
their own aims and deal their own blows; the gods tion, they tried to appease the gods and consulted
may help or obstruct them, but success or failure re- oracles to divine the future. Although religion per-
mains their own. The gods have the last word, but in vaded daily life, the Greeks had no official body of
the interval men do their utmost and win glory for priests who ruled religious matters and could inter-
it.”6 Homer’s view of the eternal order of the world vene in politics. Instead, religious ceremonies were
and his conception of the individual striving for ex- conducted by citizens chosen to serve as priests.
cellence form the foundations of the Greek outlook. Nor was there an official creed with established
doctrines. Religion was more social than spiritual;
that is, it was more a way of expressing attachment
Greek Religion to the community than finding inner peace through
personal communion with a higher reality. In time,
During the Dark Age, Greek religion was a mixture traditional religion would be challenged and un-
of beliefs and cults of gods and goddesses inherited dermined by a growing secular and rational spirit.
from the Mycenaean past and from an even older
Indo-European past imported from Asia Minor
and from the early civilizations of the Near East. THE EVOLUTION
The Greeks had no prophets or works of scripture OF THE CITY-STATE
like the Hebrews, but Homer’s epics and Hesiod’s
poetry (see profile in next chapter) gave some clar- The Break with Theocratic Politics
ity and structure to Greek religion. They were not
intended to have any theological significance, but From 750 b.c. to the death of Alexander the
their treatment of the gods had important religious Great in 323 b.c., Greek society consisted of in-
implications for the Greeks. In time, Homer’s epics dependent city- states. The city- state based on
The Evolution of the City-State ❖ 55
tribal allegiances was generally the first political and statesmen, at times, were not beyond consult-
association during the early stages of civiliza- ing omens and oracles before making decisions,
tion. Moreover, Greece’s many mountains, bays, and considerable public revenue went to the con-
and islands—natural barriers to political unity— struction of temples and the observance of reli-
favored this type of political arrangement. gious festivals. The Greeks were careful to show
The scale of the city-state, or polis, was small; respect for the gods, for many believed that these
most city-states had fewer than 5,000 male citi- deities could aid or harm a city. Paying homage to
zens. Athens, which was a large city-state, had the god of the city remained a required act of pa-
some 35,000 to 40,000 (some estimates are as triotism, to which Greeks unfailingly adhered.
high as 55,000) adult male citizens; the rest of its Thus, the religious-mythical tradition never died
population of 350,000 consisted of women, chil- in Greece but existed side by side with a growing
dren, resident aliens, and slaves, none of whom rationalism. As Greek rationalism gained influence,
could participate in lawmaking. The citizens of traditional religious beliefs and restrictions either
the polis, many of whom were related by blood, were made to comply more with the demands of
knew one another well, and together they engaged reason or grew weaker through neglect and disuse.
in athletic contests and religious rituals. The polis When Athenian democracy reached its height in
gave individuals a sense of belonging, for its citi- the middle of the fifth century b.c., religion was no
zens were intimately involved in the political and longer the dominant factor in politics. For many
cultural life of the community. Athenians, religion had become largely ceremonial,
In the fifth century b.c., at its maturity, the Greeks a way of expressing loyalty to the city. They had
viewed their polis as the only avenue to the good come to rely on human reason, not divine guid-
life—“the only framework within which man could ance, in their political and intellectual life.
realize his spiritual, moral, and intellectual capaci- Greek political life was marred by violent party
ties,” in the words of Kitto.7 The mature polis was conflicts, demagoguery, intercity warfare, and
a self-governing community that expressed the will the exploitation of weak states by stronger ones.
of free citizens, not the desires of gods, hereditary Nevertheless, the Greek political achievement was
kings, or priests. In the theocracies of the Near East, extraordinary. What made Greek political life dif-
religion dominated political activity, and to abide by ferent from that of earlier Near Eastern civiliza-
the mandates of the gods was the ruler’s first respon- tions, and also gave it enduring significance, was
sibility. The Greek polis also had begun as a religious the Greeks’ gradual realization that community
institution, in which the citizens sought to maintain problems are caused by human beings and require
an alliance with their deities. But gradually the citi- human solutions. Thus, the Greeks came to under-
zens deemphasized the gods’ role in political life and stand law as an achievement of the rational mind
based government not on the magic powers of di- rather than as an edict imposed by the gods; law
vine rulers, but on human intelligence as expressed was valued because it expressed the will and needs
through the community. Seers, purported to have of the community, not out of fear of the divine.
supernatural skills, might offer advice but could not The Greeks also valued free citizenship. An abso-
override the rulings of the Assembly. The great in- lute king, a tyrant who ruled arbitrarily and by de-
novation introduced by the Greeks into politics and cree and who was above the law, was abhorrent.
social theory, says classicist Mason Hammond, was The ideals of political freedom are best exem-
“the view that law did not emanate from gods, or plified by Athens. Before turning to Athens, how-
divine rulers, but from the human community.”8 The ever, let us examine another Greek city, which
evolution of the Greek polis from a tribal-religious followed a different political course.
institution to a secular-rational institution was only
a part of the general transition of the Greek mind
from myth to reason. Sparta: A Garrison State
The emergence of rational attitudes did not, of
course, spell the end of religion, particularly for Situated on the Peloponnesian peninsula, farther
the peasants, who remained devoted to their an- inland than most Greek cities, Sparta had been
cient cults, gods, and shrines. Greek commanders settled by Dorian Greeks. The Greek city-states
56 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
dealt with overpopulation and the need for new to those of any other combination of Greek cit-
agricultural land by founding colonies. Sparta, ies. Sparta, though, was concerned with protecting
however, established only one colony, Tarentum, its position, not with expansion. Cautious by tem-
in southern Italy. Sparta’s chief means of expan- perament and always fearful of a helot uprising,
sion was to conquer, in the eighth century b.c., Spartans viewed the Peloponnesian League as an
its neighbors on the Peloponnesian peninsula, instrument for defense rather than aggression.
including Messenia. Instead of selling the Mes-
senians abroad, the traditional Greek way of
treating a defeated foe, the Spartans kept them as Athens: The Rise of Democracy
state serfs, or helots. Helots were owned by the
state rather than by individual Spartans. Enraged The contrast between the city- states of Athens
by their enforced servitude, the Messenians, also and Sparta is striking. Whereas Sparta was a land
a Greek people, desperately tried to regain their power and exclusively agricultural, Athens, lo-
freedom. After a bloody struggle, the Spartans cated on the peninsula of Attica near the coast,
suppressed the uprising, but the fear of a helot possessed a great navy and was the commercial
revolt became indelibly stamped on Spartan leader among the Greeks. Reluctant to send sol-
consciousness. diers far from home, where they were needed to
To maintain their dominion over the Mes- control the helots, Sparta’s leaders pursued an
senians, who outnumbered them ten to one, the isolationist foreign policy. The daring and ambi-
Spartans—with extraordinary single-mindedness, tious Athenians, on the other hand, endeavored
discipline, and loyalty—transformed their own so- to extend their hegemony over other Greek cities.
ciety into an armed camp. Agricultural labor was Finally, Athenians and Spartans differed in their
performed by helots; trade and crafts were left to concept of freedom. To the Spartans, freedom
the perioikoi, conquered Greeks who were free meant preserving the independence of their father-
but were not citizens and had no political rights. land; this overriding consideration demanded or-
The Spartans learned only one craft, soldiering, der, discipline, and regimentation. The Athenians
and were inculcated with only one conception of also wanted to protect their city from enemies, but,
excellence: fighting bravely for their city. unlike the Spartans, they valued political freedom
The Spartans were trained in the arts of war and sought the full development and enrichment
and indoctrinated to serve the state. Military of the human personality. Thus, while authoritar-
training for Spartan boys began at age seven; they ian Sparta became culturally sterile, Athens, with
exercised, drilled, competed, and endured physical its relatively free and open society, emerged as the
hardships. Other Greeks admired the Spartans for cultural leader of Hellenic civilization.
their courage, obedience to law, and achievement Greek city- states generally moved through
in molding themselves according to an ideal. Spar- four stages: rule by a king (monarchy), rule by
tan soldiers were better trained and disciplined landowning aristocrats (oligarchy), rule by one
and were more physically fit than other Greeks. man who seized power (tyranny), and rule by
But the Spartans were also criticized for having a the people (democracy). During the first stage,
limited conception of areteˉ. monarchy, the king, who derived his power from
Before Sparta converted itself into a military the gods, commanded the army and judged civil
state, its cultural development had paralleled that cases.
of the other Greek cities. By isolating itself eco- Oligarchy, the second stage, was instituted in
nomically and culturally from the rest of Greece, Athens during the eighth century b.c. when aris-
however, Sparta became a closed provincial town tocrats (aristocracy is a Greek word meaning “rule
and did not share in the cultural enlightenment of the best”) usurped power from hereditary kings.
that pervaded the Greek world. Sparta paid a In the next century, aristocratic regimes experi-
heavy price for its militaristic outlook. enced a social crisis. There was tension between
By 500 b.c., Sparta had emerged as the leader of the land-holding nobles, who dominated the gov-
the Peloponnesian League, an alliance of southern ernment, and the newly rich and ambitious mer-
Greek city-states whose land forces were superior chants, who wanted a share in governing Athens.
The Evolution of the City-State ❖ 57
ZEUS, C. 460 B.C. This bronze statue was found off the Greek coast in 1926.
Although his face is still stylized, his athletic body pulsates with life, capturing the
essence of Zeus as the omnipotent ruler of the gods. (The Art Archive/National Archeological Museum Athens/
Gianni Dagli Orti.)
Furthermore, peasants who borrowed from the no relief for the peasants’ economic woes. As the
aristocracy, pledging their lands as security, lost poor began to organize and press for the cancella-
their property and even became enslaved for non- tion of their debts and the redistribution of land,
payment of their debts. Merchants and peasants Athens was moving toward civil war.
also protested that the law, which was based on
oral tradition and administered exclusively by Solon, the Reformer. In 594 b.c., Solon (c.
aristocrats, was unjust. The embittered and rest- 640–559 b.c.), a traveler and poet with a reputa-
less middle and lower classes were granted one tion for wisdom, was elected chief executive. He
concession. In 621 b.c., the aristocrats appointed maintained that the wealthy landowners, through
Draco to draw up a code of law. Although Dra- their greed, had disrupted community life and
co’s code let the poor know what the law was and brought Athens to the brink of civil war. Solon
reduced the possibilities of aristocratic judges be- initiated a rational approach to the problems of
having arbitrarily, penalties were extremely severe society by deemphasizing the gods’ role in human
(hence the word draconian), and the code provided affairs and attributing the city’s ills to the specific
58 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
behavior of individuals; he sought practical rem- or rejected legislation proposed by a new Coun-
edies for these ills; and he held that written law cil of Four Hundred. He also opened the high-
should be in harmony with Dikeˉ, the principle of est offices in the state to wealthy commoners,
justice that underlies the human community. The who had previously been excluded from these
concept of a just city, a unifying principle of So- positions because they lacked noble birth. Thus,
lon’s reforms, became a formative ideal of Greek Solon undermined the traditional rights of the
political thought. At the same time, he wanted to hereditary aristocracy and initiated the transfor-
instill in Athenians of all classes a sense of work- mation of Athens from an aristocratic oligarchy
ing for the common good of the city. into a democracy.
Solon aimed at restoring a sick Athenian so- Solon also instituted ingenious economic re-
ciety to health by restraining the nobles and im- forms. Recognizing that the poor soil of Attica
proving the lot of the poor. To achieve this goal, was not conducive to growing grain, he urged the
he canceled debts, freed Athenians enslaved for cultivation of grapes for wine and the growing of
debt, and brought back to Athens those who had olives, whose oil could be exported. To encourage
been sold abroad; however, he refused to con- industrial expansion, he ordered that all fathers
fiscate and redistribute the nobles’ land as the teach their sons a trade and granted citizenship to
extremists demanded. He permitted all classes foreign craftsmen who were willing to migrate to
of free men, even the poorest, to sit in the As- Athens. These measures and the fine quality of
sembly, which elected magistrates and accepted the native reddish- brown clay allowed Athens
Athenian Greatness ❖ 59
to become the leading producer and exporter of introduced) the practice of ostracism. Once a year,
pottery. Solon’s economic policies transformed Athenians were given the opportunity to inscribe
Athens into a great commercial center. However, on a fragment of pottery (ostracon) the name of
Solon’s reforms did not eliminate factional dis- anyone who, they felt, endangered the state. An
putes among the aristocratic clans or relieve much individual against whom six thousand votes were
of the discontent of the poor. cast was ostracized, that is, forced to leave Athens
for ten years.
Pisistratus, the Tyrant. In 546 b.c., Pisistratus Cleisthenes firmly secured democratic govern-
(c. 605–527 b.c.), an aristocrat, took advantage ment in Athens. The Assembly, which Solon had
of the general instability to become a one-man opened to all male citizens, was in the process of
ruler, driving into exile those who had opposed becoming the supreme authority in the state. But
him. Tyranny thus replaced oligarchy. Tyranny the period of Athenian greatness lay in the future;
occurred frequently in the Greek city-states. Al- the Athenians first had to fight a war of survival
most always aristocrats themselves, tyrants gen- against the Persian empire.
erally posed as champions of the poor in their
struggle against the aristocracy. Pisistratus sought
popular support by having conduits constructed ATHENIAN GREATNESS
to increase the Athenian water supply; like tyrants
in other city-states, he gave to peasants land con- The Persian Wars
fiscated from exiled aristocrats and granted state
loans to small farmers. In 499 b.c., the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor re-
Pisistratus’ great achievement was the promotion belled against their Persian overlord. Sympathetic
of cultural life. He initiated grand architectural to the Ionian cause, Athens sent twenty ships to
projects, encouraged sculptors and painters, aid the revolt, an act that the Greek historian
arranged for public recitals of the Homeric epics, Herodotus said “was the beginning of trouble not
and founded festivals, which included dramatic only for Greece, but for the rest of the world as
performances. In all these ways, he made culture, well.”9 Bent on revenge, Darius I, king of Persia,
formerly the province of the aristocracy, available sent a small detachment to Attica. In 490 b.c., on
to commoners. Pisistratus thus launched a policy the plains of Marathon, the citizen army of Ath-
that eventually led Athens to emerge as the cultural ens defeated the Persians—for the Athenians, one
capital of the Greeks. of the finest moments in their history. Ten years
later, Xerxes, Darius’ son, organized a huge inva-
Cleisthenes, the Democrat. Shortly after sion force—some 250,000 men and more than
Pisistratus’ death, a faction headed by Cleisthenes, 500 ships—with the aim of reducing Greece to
an aristocrat sympathetic to democracy, assumed a Persian province. Setting aside their separatist
leadership. By an ingenious method of redistrict- instincts, many of the city-states united to defend
ing the city, Cleisthenes ended the aristocratic their independence and their liberty. Herodotus
clans’ traditional jockeying for the chief state po- viewed the conflict as an ideological clash be-
sitions, which had caused much divisiveness and tween Greek freedom and Asian despotism.
bitterness in Athens. Cleisthenes replaced this The Persians crossed the waters of the Hel-
practice, rooted in tradition and authority, with a lespont (Dardanelles) and made their way into
new system that was rationally planned to ensure northern Greece. Herodotus describes their en-
that historic allegiance to tribe or clan would be counter at the mountain pass of Thermopylae
superseded by loyalty to the city as a whole. with three hundred Spartans, who were true to
Cleisthenes hoped to make democracy the their training and ideal of areteˉ and “resisted to
permanent form of government for Athens. The the last with their swords if they had them, and
power to govern Athens, he believed, should rest if not, with their hands and teeth, until the Per-
with male citizens acting as a body and not with sians, coming on from the front over the ruins
aristocratic factions or a tyrant. To safeguard of the wall and closing in from behind, finally
the city against tyranny, he utilized (or perhaps overwhelmed them.” 10 Northern Greece fell to
60 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
the Persians, who continued south, pillaging and and prosperity required subduing, exploiting,
burning a deserted Athens. and enslaving others, and they adhered to the
When it appeared that the Greeks’ spirit had principle that strong states had a natural right
been broken, the Athenian statesman and gen- to dominate weaker ones. They relished the em-
eral Themistocles (c. 527–460 b.c.), demonstrat- pire that gave them wealth, power, and glory.
ing in military affairs the same rationality that Moreover, the Athenians claimed that the other
Cleisthenes had shown in political life, lured the city- states benefited from Athenian hegemony.
Persian fleet into the narrowest entry to the Bay Athens forbade member states to withdraw,
of Salamis. In this cramped space, the Persians crushed revolts, and stationed garrisons on the
were unable to deploy their more numerous ships. territory of confederate states. It used both trib-
Excelling in ramming maneuvers and knowing ute from members and the league’s treasury to
what was at stake, the Athenian crews picked off finance public works in Athens.
the jammed Persian ships in a decisive victory. Although member states did receive protection,
In 479 b.c., a year after the Athenian naval vic- were not overtaxed, and enjoyed increased trade,
tory at Salamis, the Spartans defeated the Per- they resented Athenian domination. As the Per-
sians in the land battle of Plataea. The inventive sian threat subsided, hatred for Athenian imperi-
intelligence with which the Greeks planned their alism grew. In converting the Delian League into
military operations and a fierce desire to preserve an instrument of Athenian imperialism, Athens
their freedom—which, the war made them realize, may have lost an opportunity to perform a great
was their distinguishing attribute—enabled them creative act—forming a broad voluntary confeder-
to defeat the greatest military power the Mediter- ation that might have forestalled the intercity war-
ranean world had yet seen. fare that gravely weakened Hellenic civilization.
The Persian Wars were decisive in the history
of the West. Had the Greeks been defeated, it is
very likely that their cultural and political vital- The Mature Athenian Democracy
ity would have been aborted. The confidence and
pride that came with its astonishing victory, how- Athenian imperialism was one consequence of
ever, propelled Athens into a golden age, which the Persian Wars; another was the flowering of
became marred by the Athenian urge for domi- Athenian democracy and culture. The Athenian
nance in Greece. state was a direct democracy, in which the citi-
The Persian Wars ushered in an era of Athe- zens themselves, not elected representatives,
nian imperialism, which had drastic consequences made the laws. In the Assembly, which was open
for the future. Immediately after the wars, more to all adult male citizens and that met some
than 150 city-states organized a confederation, forty times a year, Athenians debated and voted
the Delian League (named after its treasury on the on key issues of state; they declared war, signed
island of Delos), to protect themselves against a treaties, and spent public funds. All decisions
renewed confrontation with Persia. Because of its were arrived at after public discussion, in which
wealth, its powerful fleet, and the restless energy all citizens had a right to speak. It is likely that
of its citizens, Athens assumed leadership of the on most occasions farmers did not journey into
Delian League. Largely thanks to the Athenian the city to attend a meeting of the Assembly. By
fleet, the league was able to drive both pirates and the middle of the fifth century b.c., the will of the
Persians from the Aegean Sea. people, as expressed by a majority vote in the
Although it had been conceived as a volun- Assembly, was supreme. Rejecting the arbitrary
tary association of independent Greek states rule of tyrants and domination by a small circle
seeking protection against Persia, the league of nobles, the Athenians conceived the idea of
gradually came under the domination of Ath- isonomy—equality of political rights for citizens
ens. The Athenians, seeing no contradiction of the polis, that is, the right to vote, to speak
between imperialism and democracy, also ma- before and submit motions to the Assembly, to
nipulated the league for their own economic hold the highest public positions, and to receive
advantage. They believed that their freedom equal treatment before the law.
Athenian Greatness ❖ 61
MACEDONIA
Byzantium
IT
AL
Thasos
Y
CHALCIDICE
Aegean
Sea Lesbos
Thermopylae ASIA MINOR
Chaeronea
A
Delphi TI Euboea
n OEO Thebes
e l ic o B Plataea Chios
M t. H A Marathon
C
TI IO LYDIA
AT
AR
Corinth Athens
PE
AD
N
Ioni an Sea Mycenae Salamis
C
LO
PO
IA
Olympia IA Samos
NN Argos
ES
US
MESSENIA Delos
Sparta Paros
LACONIA
Melos
Rhodes
Map 3.2 THE AEGEAN BASIN This map shows major battle sites. Note also
the Hellespont, where Xerxes’ forces crossed into Greece, and Ionia, the coast of
Asia Minor, where Greek philosophy was born. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
The Council of Five Hundred (which had The introduction of pay for government offi-
been established by Cleisthenes to replace Solon’s cials marked a great democratic advance. It meant
Council of Four Hundred) managed the ports, that an average person could afford to leave his
military installations, and other state properties job for a year in order to serve on the Council
and prepared the agenda for the Assembly. Be- of Five Hundred, on a commission overseeing the
cause its members were chosen annually by lot administration of the city, or in the law courts.
and could not serve more than twice in a lifetime, Athens has been aptly described as a govern-
the Council could never supersede the Assembly. ment of amateurs. There were no professional civil
Chosen at random, its membership could not servants, no professional soldiers and sailors, no
become a cabal of the most powerful and ambi- state judges—all legal cases were decided by juries
tious citizens. Some 350 magistrates, also chosen chosen by lot—and no elected lawmakers. The
by lot, performed administrative tasks: collecting duties of government were performed by ordinary
fines, policing the city, repairing streets, inspect- citizens. Such a system rested on the assumption
ing markets, and so forth. Because of the special that the average citizen was capable of participat-
competence that their posts required, the ten gen- ing intelligently in the affairs of state and that he
erals who led the army were, for obvious reasons, would, in a spirit of civic patriotism, carry out his
not chosen by lot but were elected annually by the responsibilities to his city. In fifth-century Athens,
Assembly. excellence was equated with good citizenship—a
62 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
concern for the good of the community that out- Athenian women were another group denied
weighed personal aspirations. Indeed, to a sur- legal or political rights. Most Greeks, no doubt,
prisingly large number of Athenians, politics was agreed with Aristotle, who said: “[T]he male
an overriding concern, and they devoted consider- is by nature superior, and the female inferior;
able time and thought to civic affairs. Those who and . . . the one rules and the other is ruled.”11
allowed private matters to take precedence over A girl usually was married at fourteen to a man
the needs of the community were denounced as twice her age, and the marriage was arranged by a
useless people living purposeless lives. male relative. The wedding day might be the first
Although Athens was a democracy in form, time that the young bride saw her future husband.
in practice aristocrats continued to dominate po- Although either spouse could obtain a divorce,
litical life for most of the fifth century. Generals the children remained with the father after the
came from noble houses, as did the leading voices marriage was dissolved. Wives did not dine with
in the Assembly. This situation was not surprising, their husbands and spent much of their time in
for aristocrats took for granted a responsibility to the women’s quarters.
exercise leadership and acquired the education, Athenian women were barred from holding
particularly in public speaking and debate, needed public office and generally could not appear in
to perform this role. The economic expansion court without a male representative. They could
after the Persian Wars produced a wealthy class of not act in plays, and, when attending the theater,
tradesmen, who eventually challenged aristocratic they sat in the rear, away from the men. Greek
dominance in the Assembly during the last third women received no formal education, although
of the fifth century b.c. some young women learned to read and write at
Judged by modern standards, Athenian democ- home. Training in household skills was considered
racy undoubtedly had its limitations and weak- the only education a woman needed. Since it was
nesses. Modern critics point out that resident believed that a woman could not act independently,
aliens were almost totally barred from citizenship she was required to have a guardian—normally her
and therefore from political participation. Slaves, father or husband—who controlled her property
who constituted about one-fourth of the Athenian and supervised her behavior. Convinced that finan-
population, enjoyed none of the freedoms that cial dealings were too difficult for women and that
Athenians considered so precious. The Greeks they needed to be protected from strangers, men,
regarded slavery as a necessary precondition for not women, did the marketing. When a woman left
civilized life; for some to be free and prosperous, the house, she was usually accompanied by a male.
they believed, others had to be enslaved. The large The Athenian wife was treated as a minor; in ef-
number of slaves available for labor, they believed, fect, she was her husband’s ward.
permitted free citizens to devote themselves to Modern critics also point out the failure of
civic affairs and to fight for the city when needed. Hellenic Greeks to arrive at a conception of what
Slaves usually did the same work as Athenian seventeenth- and eighteenth-century liberal think-
citizens: farming, commerce, manufacturing, do- ers were to call natural or inalienable rights and
mestic chores. Some slaves—the three hundred what are now generally known as human rights.
Scythian archers who made up the police force The Greeks limited rights to members of a par-
and those sufficiently educated to serve the state ticular community; they had no awareness of the
as clerks—enjoyed a privileged position. How- modern idea that all individuals possess as a birth-
ever, slaves, including preadolescent children, right basic rights that government must respect.
who toiled in the mines suffered a grim fate. In Ancient critics, too, attacked Athenian de-
Athens, some slaves were Greeks, but most were mocracy. Having no confidence in the ability of
foreigners. Slaves were generally prisoners of war the common people to govern, these aristocratic
and captives of pirates. Sometimes they were for- critics equated democracy with mob rule. In a de-
eign children sold by their parents or abandoned mocracy, they said, the envious, volatile, and in-
infants left to die, a not uncommon practice in competent poor tyrannize the rich; make unwise,
ancient Greece and Rome. A person finding the impetuous decisions; and are easily manipulated
infant might eventually sell the child into slavery. by clever demagogues. A political system that
Athenian Greatness ❖ 63
64
The Decline of the City-States ❖ 65
protected against. Rather, they saw it as a moral vitality and independence. But the creation of a
association, a second family, which taught proper Pan-Hellenic union would have required a radical
conduct and enabled them to fulfill their human transformation of the Greek character, which for
potential. Given this orientation, they were not hundreds of years had regarded the city-state as
much interested in universal human rights. the only suitable political system.
Strengthened by financial support from Persia and the courts; both resorted to bribery and at times
by the defection of some Athenian allies, Sparta even assassinated opponents. During the Pelo-
moved to end the war. Finally, with its navy deci- ponnesian War, in many cities, including Athens,
mated and its food supply dwindling, besieged these party conflicts erupted into savage civil war
Athens surrendered in 404 b.c. Sparta dissolved marked by fanaticism and vengeance. The moral
the Delian League, left Athens with only a handful basis of Hellenic society was wrecked. In the
of ships, and forced the city to pull down its long words of Thucydides,
walls— ramparts designed to protect it against
siege weapons. But the Spartans refused to mas- Love of power, operating through greed and
sacre Athenian men and enslave the women and through personal ambition, was the cause of
children, as some allies had urged. all these evils. To this must be added the vio-
The Peloponnesian War shattered the spiritual lent fanaticism which came into play once the
foundations of Hellenic society. During the course struggle had broken out. Leaders of parties in
of the long war, men became brutalized—cities were professing to serve the public interest . . . were
sacked and captives murdered—selfish individualism seeking to win the prizes for themselves. In their
triumphed over civic duty, moderation gave way to struggle for ascendancy nothing was barred;
extremism, and politics degenerated into civil war. terrible indeed were the actions to which they
The deterioration of Greek political life was committed themselves, and in taking revenge
exemplified by conflicts between oligarchs and they went further still. Here they were deterred
democrats. Oligarchs, generally from the wealth- neither by the claims of justice nor by the inter-
ier segments of Greek society, wanted to concen- ests of the state. . . . Thus neither side had any
trate power in their own hands by depriving the use for conscientious motives; more interest was
lower classes of political rights. Democrats, gen- shown in those who could produce attractive
erally from the poorer segment of society, sought arguments to justify some disgraceful action. As
to preserve the political rights of adult male for the citizens who held moderate views, they
citizens. Strife between oligarchs and democrats were destroyed by both the extreme parties. . . .
was quite common in the Greek city-states even As the result of these revolutions, there was a
before the Peloponnesian War. Both sides sought general deterioration of character throughout
to dominate the Assembly and to manipulate the Greek World.15
The Decline of the City-States ❖ 67
Athens shared the political problems of the The political history of the fourth century
Greek world during the war. Pericles had pro- can be summed up briefly. Athens, the only state
vided Athenians with effective leadership in the that might have united the Greek world, had
three decades prior to the war; when the Assem- lost its chance. A culturally sterile, provincial-
bly seemed to support unwise policies, he had minded, and heavy-handed Spartan government
won it over with sound arguments. After his death lacked the talent to govern the Greeks. In many
in 429 b.c., the quality of leadership deteriorated. cities, Sparta replaced democratic governments
Succeeding statesmen were motivated more by with pro- Spartan oligarchies under the super-
personal ambition than by civic devotion; instead vision of a Spartan governor. But Spartan he-
of soberly examining issues, they supported poli- gemony was short-lived; before long, the Greek
cies that would gain them popularity. Without city-states had thrown off the Spartan yoke. The
Pericles’ wise statesmanship, the Assembly at quarrelsome city- states formed new systems of
times acted rashly, as it did in the case of the Sicil- alliances and persisted in their ruinous conflicts.
ian expedition. Some Greek thinkers, recognizing the futility of
Taking advantage of the decline in morale constant war, argued that peace should be the
after the failure of this expedition, oligarchs goal of Greek politics. However, their efforts
gained control of Athens in 411 b.c.; a body of were in vain.
citizens, known as the Four Hundred, wielded In addition to wars between city- states,
power. Seeking to deprive the lower classes of fourth- century Greece experienced a new out-
political influence, the Four Hundred restricted break of civil wars between rich and poor. Ath-
citizenship to four thousand men. But the crews ens largely escaped these ruinous conflicts, but
of Athenian ships, loyal to democracy, chal- they engulfed many other cities. With good rea-
lenged the authority of the Four Hundred, who son, Greek thinkers regarded social discord as
were forced to flee. the greatest of evils.
After the defeat of Athens in 404 b.c., oligarchs While the Greek cities battered one another
again gained control, this time with the support in fratricidal warfare, a new power was ris-
of Sparta. A ruling council of thirty men, the so- ing in the north— Macedonia. To the Greeks,
called Thirty Tyrants, held power. Led by Critias, the Macedonians, a wild mountain people
an extreme antidemocrat, the Thirty trampled on who spoke a Greek dialect and had acquired
Athenian rights, confiscating property and con- a sprinkling of Hellenic culture, differed little
demning many people to death. In the winter from other non- Greeks, whom they called bar-
of 404–403 b.c., returned exiles led an uprising barians. In 359 b.c., at the age of twenty-three,
against the Thirty, who were unseated. Philip II (382– 336 b.c.) ascended the Mace-
donian throne. Having spent three years as a
hostage in Thebes, Philip had learned the lat-
The Fourth Century est military tactics and had witnessed firsthand
the weaknesses of the warring Greek states. He
The Peloponnesian War was the great crisis of converted Macedonia into a first- rate military
Hellenic history. The golden age of Athenian power and began a drive to become master of
culture came to an end, and the city-states never the Greeks.
fully recovered from their self- inflicted spiri- Patient, deceitful, clever, and unscrupulous,
tual wounds. The civic loyalty and confidence Philip gradually extended his power over the
that had marked the fifth century b.c. waned, Greek city-states. The Greeks did not correctly
and the fourth century was dominated by a new assess Philip’s strength and were slow to organize
mentality, which the leaders of the Age of Peri- a coalition against Macedonia, despite the efforts
cles would have abhorred. A concern for private of Demosthenes (c. 384– 322 b.c.), the Athe-
affairs superseded devotion to the general good nian orator and patriot, who urged the Greeks
of the polis. Increasingly, professionals, rather to unite against this threat to their freedom. In
than ordinary citizens, administered the tasks of 338 b.c., at Chaeronea, Philip’s forces inflicted a
government, and mercenaries began to replace decisive defeat on the Greeks, and all of Greece
citizen soldiers. was his. The city-states still existed, but they had
Profile
Demosthenes constantly until he perfected his enunciation
and delivery.
Debates in the Assembly stimulated the devel- Demosthenes’ fame rests mainly on his
opment of oratory as an art form in Athens and Philippics—speeches delivered over a ten-year
other city-states. Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.), period warning Greeks of the threat posed by
the greatest of the Greek orators, earned his Philip of Macedon. He urged the city-states of
reputation through disciplined effort, for he was Greece to unite against the common enemy and
not a naturally gifted speaker. When he first lamented the deterioration of the Greek charac-
addressed the Assembly, wrote Plutarch, the ter since the heroic struggle against Persia.
second-century biographer, he was “derided for
his strange and uncouth style, which was cum- And we, the Greek community . . . instead of send-
bered with long sentences and tortured with for- ing embassies to one another about [the danger]
mal arguments to a most harsh and disagreeable and expressing indignation, are in such a miser-
excess. Besides, he had, it seems, a weakness in able state, so intrenched in separate towns, that to
his voice, a perplexed and indistinct utterance this day we can attempt nothing that interest or
and a shortness of breath, which by breaking necessity requires; we cannot combine, or form any
and disjointing his sentences, much obscured association for succour and alliance; we look
the sense and meaning of what he spoke.”* But unconcernedly on the man’s growing power, . . .
the very determined Demosthenes practiced not caring or striving for the salvation of Greece.†
lost their independence. The world of the small, well- being, and protect the Greek world from
independent, self-sufficient polis was drawing to hostile states. Because they could not respond
a close, and Greek civilization was taking a dif- creatively to this challenge, the city- states ul-
ferent shape. timately lost their independence to foreign
conquerors.
THE DILEMMA OF The waning of civic responsibility among the
citizens was another reason for the decline of
GREEK POLITICS the city-states. The vitality of the city-state de-
pended on the willingness of its citizens to put
Philip’s conquest of the city-states points to fun- aside private concerns for the good of the com-
damental weaknesses of Greek politics. Despite munity. However, although Athens had recov-
the internal crisis and persistent warfare, the ered commercially from the Peloponnesian War,
Greeks were unable to fashion any other politi- its citizens had suffered a permanent change
cal framework than the polis. The city-state was in character; the abiding devotion to the polis,
fast becoming an anachronism, but the Greeks which had distinguished the Age of Pericles,
were unable to see that, in a world moving to- greatly diminished during the fourth century. The
ward larger states and empires, the small city- factional strife, the degeneration of politics into
state could not compete. An unallied city-state, personal ambition, the demagoguery, and the fa-
with its small citizen army, could not withstand naticism that Thucydides had described persisted
the powerful military machine that Philip had into the fourth century and were aggravated by
created. A challenge confronted the city-states: the economic discontent of the poor. The Peri-
the need to shape some form of political union, clean ideal of citizenship dissipated as Athenians
a Pan- Hellenic federation, that would end the neglected the community to concentrate on pri-
suicidal internecine warfare, promote economic vate affairs or sought to derive personal profit
68
A passionate patriot, Demosthenes warned 323 B.C., Demosthenes helped organize Greek
his fellow citizens that Philip, an autocratic resistance to Macedonian rule. The Greeks were
king, wanted to conquer Athens and put an end defeated the following year, and Antipater, the
to Athenian democracy. Macedonian governor of Greece, ordered the ex-
ecution of Demosthenes and other orators who
There is nothing which [Philip] strives and plots had urged war. The aging orator and passionate
against so much as our constitution, nothing in patriot took poison.
the world he is so anxious about, as its destruc- Demosthenes’ speeches served as a model for
tion. . . . First then you must assume that he is subsequent orators, including Cicero, Rome’s
an irreconcilable enemy of our constitution and greatest orator. In modern times, patriots and
democracy; secondly, you must be convinced lovers of freedom have evoked Demosthenes’
that all his operations and contrivances are de- devotion to his city and its free institutions.
signed for the injury of our state.‡
*Plutarch, The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans,
Demosthenes negotiated an alliance between trans. John Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough (New York:
Thebes and Athens, but the two were defeated Modern Library, n.d.), 1025.
by Philip at Chaeronea in 338 B.C. Demosthenes, †Demosthenes’ Orations, intro. by John Warrington
who witnessed the battle, delivered a funeral (London: Dent, Everyman’s Library, 1954), Third
oration for the Greek dead, but the speech is Philippic, 195–196.
‡Ibid.,
lost. After the death of Alexander the Great in Fourth Philippic, 209.
from public office. The decline in civic responsi- brutally toward political opponents. More-
bility could be seen in the hiring of mercenaries over, Greek democracy, which valued freedom,
to replace citizen soldiers and in the indifference was unable to overcome a weakness that has
and hesitancy with which the Athenians con- afflicted despotic rulers: an incautious attitude
fronted Philip. The Greeks did not respond to toward power that causes the state to over-
the Macedonian threat as they had earlier ral- reach itself. Such an attitude demonstrated a
lied to fight off the Persian menace because the self- destructive hubris, excessive pride or ar-
quality of citizenship had deteriorated. rogance, that Greek moralists warned against.
Greek political life demonstrated the best This is how Thucydides interpreted Athens’s
and the worst features of freedom. On the one disastrous Sicilian expedition during the Pelo-
hand, as Pericles boasted, freedom encouraged ponnesian War. Driven by a mad passion to
active citizenship, reasoned debate, and gov- possess what was beyond their reach, the Athe-
ernment by law. On the other hand, as Thucy- nians brought ruin to their city.
dides lamented, freedom could degenerate The Athenians, who saw no conflict between
into factionalism, demagoguery, unbridled imperialism and democracy, considered it natu-
self- interest, and civil war. Because monarchy ral for stronger states to dominate weaker ones,
deprives people of freedom and self- rule, the an attitude that helped precipitate the destruc-
Greeks regarded monarchy as a form of gov- tive Peloponnesian War. A particularly egregious
ernment appropriate for uncivilized barbar- example of this outlook occurred during that
ians. Nevertheless, their political experience war when Athenians decided to invade the island
showed that free men in a democracy are sus- of Melos despite the assurances of the Melians
ceptible to demagogues, will base political de- that they represented no threat to Athens. As
cisions on keyed- up emotions rather than on reported by Thucydides, the Athenian envoys
cool reasoning, and are capable of behaving told the Melians that “the strong do what they
69
70 ❖ 3 The Greek City-State: Democratic Politics
have the power to do, and the weak accept what respect for the law diminished, weakening the
they have to accept.” 16 When the Melians re- foundations of the society. The results were party
sisted, the Athenians slaughtered the men, en- conflicts, politicians who scrambled for personal
slaved the women and children, and colonized power, and moral uncertainty. Recognizing the
the territory. danger, conservatives insisted that law must
Greek politics also revealed both the capa- again be conceived as issuing from the gods and
bilities and the limitations of reason. Originally, that the city must again treat its ancient tradi-
the polis was conceived as a divine institution in tions with reverence. Although the Greeks orig-
which the citizen had a religious obligation to inated the lofty ideal that human beings could
obey the law. As the rational and secular outlook regulate their political life according to reason,
became more pervasive, the gods lost their au- their history, marred by intercity warfare and
thority. When people no longer regarded law as internal violence, demonstrates the extreme dif-
an expression of sacred traditions ordained by the ficulties involved in creating and maintaining a
gods but saw it as a merely human contrivance, rational society.
❖ ❖ ❖
Ober, Joseph, The Athenian Revolution (1996). Stockton, David, The Classical Athenian Democ-
Thoughtful essays on Greek democracy and politi- racy (1990). The evolution and nature of Greek
cal theory. democracy.
Greek Thought:
From Myth to Reason
■
■
Philosophy
Art
Poetry and Drama
T he Greeks broke with the mythopoeic
outlook of the Near East and conceived
a new way of viewing nature and human
society, which is the basis of the Western scientific
and philosophical tradition. After an initial period
■ History of mythical thinking, by the fifth century b.c. the
Greek mind had gradually applied reason to the
■ The Greek Achievement: physical world and to all human activities. This
Reason, Freedom, Humanism emphasis on reason marks a turning point for hu-
man civilization.
The development of rational thought in Greece
was a process, a trend, not a finished achievement.
Focus Questions The process began when some thinkers rejected
mythical explanations for natural phenomena. The
nonphilosophical majority never entirely elimi-
1. How did the Pre-Socratic thinkers make
nated the language, attitudes, and beliefs of myth
the transition from myth to reason? from their lives and thought. For them, the world
2. How did the Sophists and Socrates remained controlled by divine forces, which were
advance the tradition of reason and appeased through cultic practices. Even in the ma-
humanism? ture philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, mythical
modes of thought persisted. What is of immense
3. Why is Plato’s Republic considered a
historical importance, however, is not the degree
milestone in the emergence of political to which the Greeks successfully integrated the
thought? norm of reason, but the fact that they originated
4. What do Plato and Aristotle have in this norm, defined it, and consciously applied it to
common? How do they differ? their intellectual and social life.
5. How did Greek drama, art, and
historiography contribute to the PHILOSOPHY
tradition of reason and humanism?
The first theoretical philosophers in human history
emerged in the sixth century b.c., in the Greek cit-
ies of Ionia in Asia Minor. Curious about the es-
sential composition of nature and dissatisfied with
earlier creation legends, the Ionians sought physi-
cal, rather than mythic-religious, explanations for
natural occurrences. In the process, they arrived
at a new concept of nature and a new method
of inquiry. They maintained that nature was not
manipulated by arbitrary and willful gods, nor
was it governed by blind chance. The Ionians said
that there is an intelligible pattern to nature; that
nature contains a hidden structure—principles of
order or general laws—that governs phenomena;
and that these fundamental rules were ascertain-
able by the human mind. They implied that the
origin, composition, and structure of the world
can be investigated rationally and systematically.
Thus, in seeking to account for rainbows, earth-
quakes, and eclipses, the Ionians posited entirely
73
74 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
The Ionians have been called matter philoso- religious thought, including Christian theology, in
phers because they held that everything issued the ancient world.
from a particular material substance. Other sixth- Democritus (c. 460–370 b.c.), from the Greek
century b.c. thinkers tried a different approach. mainland, renewed the Ionians’ concern with the
Pythagoras (c. 580–507 b.c.) and his followers, world of matter and reaffirmed their confidence
who lived in the Greek cities in southern Italy, in knowledge derived from sense perception—
found the nature of things not in a particular and the senses indicated that change did occur
substance but in mathematical relationships. The in nature, in contrast to Parmenides’ view. But
Pythagoreans discovered that the intervals in the Democritus also retained Parmenides’ reverence
musical scale can be expressed mathematically. for reason. His model of the universe consisted
Extending this principle of structure and propor- of two fundamental realities: empty space and an
tion found in sound to the universe at large, they infinite number of atoms. Eternal, indivisible, and
concluded that the cosmos also contained an in- imperceptible, these atoms moved in the void.
herent mathematical order and harmony. Thus, All things consisted of atoms, and combinations
the Pythagoreans shifted the emphasis from mat- of atoms accounted for all change in nature. In
ter to form, from the world of sense perception to a world of colliding atoms, everything behaved
the logic of mathematics. The Pythagoreans were according to mechanical principles. (Of course,
also religious mystics who believed in the immor- Democritus’ atomic theory did not derive from
tality and transmigration of souls. Consequently, any empirical evidence of atoms but was purely
they refused to eat animal flesh, fearing that it speculative.)
contained former human souls. Concepts essential to scientific thought thus
Parmenides (c. 515–450 b.c.), a native of the emerged in embryonic form with Greek philoso-
Greek city of Elea in southern Italy, argued that phers: natural explanations for physical occur-
the fundamental view of the Ionians that the uni- rences (Ionians), the mathematical order of nature
verse underwent change and development over (Pythagoras), logical proof (Parmenides), and the
time was utterly mistaken. In developing his po- mechanical structure of the universe (Democri-
sition, Parmenides applied to philosophical ar- tus). By giving to nature a rational, rather than
gument the logic used by the Pythagoreans for a mythical, foundation and by holding that theo-
mathematical thinking. In putting forth the prop- ries should be grounded in evidence and that one
osition that an argument must be consistent and should be able to defend them logically, the early
contain no contradictions, Parmenides became Greek philosophers pushed thought in a new di-
the founder of formal logic. rection. This new approach allowed a critical
Despite appearances, asserted Parmenides, analysis of theories, whereas myths, accepted un-
reality—the cosmos and all that is within it—is conditionally on faith and authority, did not pro-
one, eternal, and unchanging. It is made known mote discussion and questioning. Greek thinkers
not through the senses, which are misleading, but established the crucial principle that a proposition
through the mind; not through experience, but is not considered true unless it can be supported
through reason. Truth could be reached through by logic or empirical evidence. For the most part,
abstract thought alone. Parmenides’ concept of the early Greek philosophers rejected the old
an unchanging reality apprehended by thought mythical explanations of nature. Nevertheless,
alone influenced Plato and is the foundation of when they proclaimed the unity and orderliness
metaphysics—the branch of philosophy that at- of nature and asserted that an ultimate reality un-
tempts to define ultimate reality, or Being. derlies the finite world, they were also expressing
Parmenides’ thought also had religious im- ideas integral to religious thought.
plications. Although he did not refer to True Be- These early philosophers made possible the-
ing as God, he did ascribe to it the attributes of oretical thinking and the systematization of
oneness, transcendence, permanence, and perfec- knowledge—as distinct from the mere observa-
tion. Such a description of Being abounds with tion and collection of data. The systematiza-
religious meaning. Particularly as developed by tion of knowledge extended into several areas.
Plato, the quest for Being would greatly influence Greek mathematicians, for example, organized
76 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
the Egyptians’ practical experience with land not for a religious purpose; rather, they sought to
measurements into the logical and coherent sci- discover the geometrical laws that govern the mo-
ence of geometry, in which each statement fol- tions of heavenly bodies.
lowed logically from given assumptions. They A parallel development occurred in medicine.
established mathematics as a body of theoretical No Near Eastern medical text explicitly attacked
knowledge, an ordered system based on funda- magical beliefs and practices. In contrast, Greek
mental premises and necessary connections, and doctors, because of the philosophers’ work, were
they developed logical procedures for arriving able to distinguish between magic and medicine.
at mathematical proofs. Both Babylonians and The school of the Greek physician Hippocrates
Egyptians had performed fairly complex math- (c. 460–c. 377 b.c.), located on the island of Cos,
ematical operations, but unlike the Greeks, they off the Asia Minor coast, was influenced by the
made no attempt to prove underlying mathemati- thought of the early Greek cosmologists. Hippo-
cal principles—to demonstrate that certain con- cratic physicians recorded in detail their obser-
clusions must flow from certain hypotheses. In vations of ill patients, classified symptoms, and
another area, Babylonian priests observed the predicted the future course of the disease. They
heavens for religious reasons, believing that the also ruled out supernatural and magical expla-
stars revealed the wishes of the gods. The Greeks nations and cures. The following tract from the
used the data collected by the Babylonians, but school of Hippocrates on epilepsy, which was
Philosophy ❖ 77
considered a sacred disease, illustrates the devel- the Sophists who examined, at times with great
opment of a scientific approach to medicine. insight, political and ethical concerns, cultivated
the minds of their students, and invented formal
I am about to discuss the disease called secular education.
“sacred.” It is not, in my opinion, any more The Sophists answered a practical need in Ath-
divine or sacred than any other disease, but ens, which had been transformed into a wealthy
has a natural cause, and its supposed divine and dynamic imperial state after the Persian Wars.
origin is due to men’s inexperience, and to Because the Sophists claimed that they could
their wonder at its peculiar character. Now . . . teach political areteˉ—the skill to formulate the
men continue to believe in its divine origin right laws and policies for cities and the art of elo-
because they are at a loss to understand it. . . . quence and persuasion needed for success in pub-
My own view is that those who first attributed lic life—they were sought as tutors by politically
a sacred character to this malady were like the ambitious young men, especially in Athens.
magicians, purifiers, charlatans, and quacks Traditionally, the Greeks had drawn a sharp
of our own day; men who claim great piety distinction between Greeks, the bearers of an
and superior knowledge. Being at a loss, and enlightened civilization, and uncivilized and im-
having no treatment which would help, they moderate non-Greeks, whom they called barbar-
concealed and sheltered themselves behind ians, and held that some people were slaves by
superstition, and called this illness sacred, in nature. The dramatist Euripides expressed these
order that their utter ignorance might not be sentiments: “It is natural for Hellenes to rule bar-
manifest.2 barians and not . . . for barbarians to rule Hellenes.
They are a slave race, Hellenes are free.”3 Some
Sophists in the fourth century b.c. arrived at a
The Sophists: A Rational Investigation broader conception of humanity. They asserted
of Human Society that slavery was based on force or chance, that
people were not slaves or masters by nature, and
In their effort to understand the external world, indeed that all people, Greek and non-Greek, were
the cosmologists had created the tools of reason. fundamentally alike.
These early Greek thinkers were developing a new The Sophists were philosophical relativists—
and profound awareness of the mind’s capacity that is, they held that no truth is universally valid.
for theoretical thinking. And equally important, Protagoras, a fifth-century Sophist, said that “man
they were establishing the mind’s autonomy—its is the measure of all things.” By this he meant that
ability to inquire into any subject, relying solely good and evil, truth and falsehood, are matters of
on its own power to think. Greek thinkers then community and individual judgment; there are no
turned away from the world of nature and at- universal standards that fit all people at all times.
tempted a rational investigation of people and Human laws and ethical beliefs have evolved ac-
society, dismissing efforts to explain the social cording to a particular community’s needs; they
world through inherited beliefs about the gods. are simply human contrivances and conven-
The Sophists exemplified this shift in focus. They tions, not objective truths or standards written
were professional teachers who wandered from into nature. While not based on moral absolutes,
city to city teaching rhetoric, grammar, poetry, hopefully the city’s laws derive from the judgment
gymnastics, mathematics, and music. The Sophists of wise and good men.
insisted that it was futile to speculate about the In applying reason critically to human affairs,
first principles of the universe, for such knowl- the Sophists challenged the traditional religious
edge was beyond the grasp of the human mind. and moral values of Athenian society. Some Soph-
Instead, they urged that individuals improve ists taught that speculation about the divine was
themselves and their cities by applying reason useless. Others went further, asserting that reli-
to the tasks of citizenship and statesmanship. gion was just a human invention to ensure obe-
The Western humanist tradition owes much to dience to traditions and laws. Thus, the Sophist
78 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
Critias (c. 480–403 b.c.) argued that to deter peo- Socrates: The Rational Individual
ple from committing “open crimes of violence, . . .
a wise and clever man invented fear (of the gods) In attempting to comprehend nature, the cosmolo-
for mortals, that there might be some means of gists had discovered theoretical reason. The Soph-
frightening the wicked, even if they do anything ists then applied theoretical reason to society. In
or say or think it in secret. Hence he introduced the process, they created a profound problem for
the Divine (religion), saying that there is a God Athens and other city-states: the need to restore
flourishing with immortal life, . . . who will hear the authority of law and a respect for moral val-
everything said among mortals, and will be able ues. Conservatives argued that the only way to do
to see all that is done.”4 so was by renewing allegiance to the sacred tradi-
The Sophists also applied reason to law, with the tions that the Sophists had undermined.
same effect: the undermining of traditional authority. Socrates, one of the most extraordinary fig-
The laws of a given city, they asserted, did not derive ures in the history of Western civilization, took
from the gods; nor were they based on any objective, a different position. Born in Athens, probably in
universal, and timeless standards of justice and good, 469 b.c., about ten years after the Persian Wars,
for such standards did not exist. Each community he was executed in 399 b.c., five years after the
determined for itself what was good or bad, just or end of the Peloponnesian War. His life spanned
unjust. Beginning with this premise, some Sophists the glory years of Greece, when Athenian culture
simply urged that laws be changed to meet new cir- and democracy were at their height, as well as
cumstances. Some radical Sophists argued that law the tragic years of the lengthy and shattering war
was merely something made by the most powerful with Sparta.
citizens for their own benefit. (Or they said that law Both the Sophists and Socrates continued the
was a clever invention of the weak in order to check tradition of reason initiated by the cosmolo-
the strong, who benefited from natural advantages.) gists, but unlike the cosmologists, both felt that
This view had dangerous implications: first, law did knowledge of the individual and society was more
not need to be obeyed since it rested on no higher important than knowledge of nature. For both,
principle than might; and second, the strong should the old mythological traditions, which had served
do what they have the power to do, and the weak as a foundation for religion and morality, were no
must accept what they cannot resist. Both interpre- longer valid. Socrates and the Sophists endeavored
tations were disruptive of community life, for they to improve the individual and thought that this
stressed the selfish interests of the individual over could be accomplished through education. De-
the general welfare of the city. spite these similarities, Socrates’ teaching marks a
Some Sophists combined this assault on law profound break with the Sophist movement.
with an attack on the ancient Athenian idea of Socrates attacked the Sophists’ relativism,
sophrosyne— moderation and self- discipline— holding that people should regulate their behavior
because it denied human instincts. Instead of in accordance with universal values. As he saw it,
moderation, they urged that individuals should the Sophists taught skills but had no insights into
maximize pleasure and trample underfoot the tra- questions that really mattered: What is the pur-
ditions that restricted them from fully expressing pose of life? What are the values by which man
their desires. As these radical Sophists saw it, the should live? How does man perfect his character?
concept of sophrosyne was invented by the weak Here the Sophists failed, said Socrates; they taught
to enslave nobler natures. the ambitious to succeed in politics, but persua-
In subjecting traditions to the critique of rea- sive oratory and clever reasoning do not instruct
son, the radical Sophists triggered an intellectual a man in the art of living. He felt that the Soph-
and spiritual crisis. Their doctrines encouraged ists had attacked the old system of beliefs but had
loss of respect for authority, disobedience to law, not provided the individual with a satisfactory
neglect of civic duty, and selfish individualism. replacement.
These attitudes became widespread during and Socrates’ central concern was the perfection of
after the Peloponnesian War, dangerously weak- individual human character, the achievement of
ening community bonds. moral excellence. Moral values, for Socrates, did
Philosophy ❖ 79
not derive either from a transcendent God, as they made them aware of their ignorance. It compelled
did for the Hebrews, or from an inherited mythic- them to examine their thoughts critically; con-
religious tradition. They were attained when the front illogical, inconsistent, dogmatic, and impre-
individual regulated his life according to objective cise assertions; and express their ideas in clearly
standards arrived at through rational reflection: defined terms.
that is, when reason became the formative, guid- Dialectics affirmed that the acquisition of
ing, and ruling agency of the soul. For Socrates, knowledge was a creative act. The human mind
true education meant the shaping of character ac- could not be coerced into knowing; it was not a
cording to values discovered through the active passive vessel into which a teacher poured knowl-
use of reason. edge. The dialogue compelled the individual to
Socrates wanted to subject all human beliefs play an active role in acquiring ideas and values
and behavior to the scrutiny of reason and in this by which to live. In a dialogue, individuals became
way remove ethics from the realm of authority, thinking participants in a quest for knowledge.
tradition, dogma, superstition, and myth. He be- Through relentless cross-examination, Socrates
lieved that reason was the only proper guide to induced his partner in discourse to explain and
the most crucial problem of human existence: the justify his opinions rationally, for only thus did
question of good and evil. Socrates taught that ra- knowledge become a part of one’s being.
tional inquiry—a questioning mind—was a price- Dialogue implied that reason was meant to
less tool, allowing one to test opinions, weigh be used in relations between human beings and
the merit of ideas, and alter beliefs on the basis that they could learn from each other, help each
of knowledge. To Socrates, when people engaged other, teach each other, and improve each other.
in critical self-examination and strove tirelessly It implied further that the human mind could and
to perfect their nature, they liberated themselves should make rational choices. To deal rationally
from prevailing opinions and conventions and with oneself and with others is the distinctive
based their conduct on convictions that they could mark of being human. Through the dialectical
rationally defend. Socrates believed that people method, people could make ethical choices, im-
with questioning minds could not be swayed by pose rules on themselves, and give form to their
sophistic eloquence or delude themselves into existence.
thinking that they knew something when they re- For Socrates, the highest form of excellence
ally did not. was taking control of one’s life and shaping it ac-
Socrates’ fundamental premise was that wrong cording to ethical values reached through reflec-
thinking resulted in wrongdoing and, conversely, tion. The good life, the moral life, is attained by
that knowledge of what is right gave one the the exercise of reason and by the development of
strength of will to do what is right. Critics, in- intelligence—this precept is the essence of Socratic
cluding religious thinkers, have castigated this as- teaching. Socrates made the individual the center
sumption as naïve, arguing that Socrates credited of the universe, reason central to the individual,
others with his own extraordinary inner strength and moral worth the central aim of human life.
and underestimated the immense power of instinct In Socrates, Greek humanism found its highest
and passions, which drive people, even those who expression.
know better, to do what is wrong.
Condemned to Death. Socrates devoted much
Dialectics. In urging Athenians to think ration- of his life to what he believed was his mission:
ally about the problems of human existence, pricking the conscience of complacent Athenians
Socrates offered no systematic ethical theory, no and persuading them to think critically about
list of ethical precepts. What he did supply was a how they lived their lives. “No greater good can
method of inquiry called dialectics, or logical dis- happen to a man than to discuss human excel-
cussion. As Socrates used it, a dialectical exchange lence every day,”5 he said. Always self-controlled
between individuals (or with oneself), a dialogue, and never raising his voice in anger, Socrates en-
was the essential source of knowledge. It forced gaged any willing Athenian in conversation about
people out of their apathy and smugness and his values. Unlike the Sophists, who were paid
80 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
professional teachers, Socrates never accepted For many years, Socrates challenged Athenians
a fee for his instruction. Through probing ques- without suffering harm, for Athens was gener-
tions, he tried to stir people out of their compla- ally distinguished by its freedom of speech and
cency and make them realize how directionless thought. In the uncertain times during and im-
and purposeless their lives were. mediately after the Peloponnesian War, however,
Philosophy ❖ 81
Socrates made enemies. Several of the young men Plato: The Rational Society
close to him were antidemocrats still mistrusted
by some as a threat to the recently restored de- Plato (c. 429–347 b.c.) used his master’s teachings
mocracy. When Socrates was seventy, he was ac- to create a comprehensive system of philosophy,
cused of corrupting the youth of the city and of which embraced both the world of nature and
82 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
the social world. But Plato had a more ambitious through knowledge of the Ideas, not the imperfect
goal than Socrates’ moral reformation of the in- reflections of the Ideas perceived with the senses.
dividual. He tried to arrange political life accord- A champion of reason, Plato aspired to study
ing to rational rules and held that Socrates’ quest human life and arrange it according to univer-
for personal morality could not succeed unless the sally valid standards. In contrast to Sophist rela-
community was also transformed on the basis of tivism, he maintained that objective and eternal
reason. In effect, Plato wanted to establish stan- standards do exist. Although Plato advocated the
dards of thought and behavior for a city torn by life of reason and wanted to organize society ac-
moral and intellectual uncertainty. Many of the cording to rational rules, his writing also reveals a
problems discussed by Western philosophers for religious-mystical side. At times, Plato seems like
the past two millennia were first raised by Plato. a mystic seeking to escape from this world into a
We focus on two of his principal concerns, the higher reality, a realm that is without earth’s evil
theory of Ideas and the theory of the just state. and injustice.
Because Platonism is a two-world philosophy,
Theory of Ideas. Socrates had taught that uni- which believes in a higher world as the source of
versal standards of right and justice exist and are values and in the soul’s immortality, it has had an
arrived at through thought. Building on the in- important effect on religious thought. Christian
sights of his teacher Socrates and of Parmenides, (as well as Jewish and Muslim) thinkers could
who said that reality is known only through the harmonize Plato’s stress on a higher nonmaterial
mind, Plato postulated the existence of a higher reality and an immortal soul with their faith. In
world of reality, independent of the world of subsequent chapters, we examine the influence of
things that we experience every day. This higher Platonic otherworldliness on later philosopher-
reality, he said, is the realm of Ideas, or Forms— mystics and Christian thinkers.
unchanging, eternal, absolute, and universal
standards of beauty, goodness, justice, and truth. The Just State. In adapting the rational legacy
To live in accordance with these standards con- of Greek philosophy to politics, Plato constructed
stitutes the good life; to know these Forms is to a comprehensive political theory. What the Greeks
grasp ultimate truth. had achieved in practice—the movement away
Truth resides in this world of Forms and not from mythic and theocratic politics—Plato ac-
in the world made known through the senses. complished on the level of thought: the fashioning
For example, a person can never draw a perfect of a rational model of the state.
square, but the properties of a perfect square exist Like Socrates, Plato attempted to resolve the
in the world of Forms. Also, a sculptor observes problem caused by the radical Sophists: the un-
many bodies, and they all possess some flaw; in dermining of traditional values. Socrates tried to
his mind’s eye, he tries to penetrate the world of dispel this spiritual crisis through a moral trans-
Ideas and to reproduce with art a perfect body. formation of the individual, whereas Plato wanted
Again, the ordinary person only forms an opinion the entire community to conform to rational prin-
of what beauty is from observing beautiful things; ciples. Plato said that if human beings are to live
the philosopher, aspiring to true knowledge, goes an ethical life, they must do so as citizens of a just
beyond what he sees and tries to grasp with his and rational state. In an unjust state, people can-
mind the Idea of beauty. Similarly, the ordinary not achieve Socratic wisdom, for their souls will
individual has only a superficial understanding of mirror the state’s wickedness.
justice or goodness; a true conception of justice Plato had experienced the ruinous Peloponne-
or goodness is available only to the philosopher, sian War and the accompanying political turmoil.
whose mind can leap from worldly particulars to He saw Athens undergo one political crisis after
an ideal world beyond space and time. another; most shocking of all, he had witnessed
Plato saw the world of phenomena as unstable, Socrates’ trial and execution. Disillusioned by
transitory, and imperfect, whereas his transcen- the corruption of Athenian morality and poli-
dent realm of Ideas was eternal and universally tics, Plato refused to participate in political life.
valid. For him, true wisdom was to be obtained He came to believe that under the Athenian
Philosophy ❖ 83
constitution neither the morality of the individual As liberty leads to license, Plato continued, the
Athenian nor the good of the state could be en- democratic society will deteriorate morally.
hanced and that Athens required moral and po-
litical reform founded on Socrates’ philosophy. The parent falls into the habit of behaving like
Like Socrates, and in contrast to the Sophists’ rel- the child, and the child like the parent: the
ativism, Plato sought permanent truth and moral father is afraid of his sons, and they show no
certainty. fear or respect for their parents, in order to
In his great dialogue, The Republic, Plato assert their freedom. . . . To descend to smaller
devised an ideal state based on standards that matters, the schoolmaster timidly flatters
would rescue his native Athens from the evils his pupils, and the pupils make light of their
that had befallen it. The Republic attempted to masters. . . . Generally speaking, the young
analyze society rationally and to reshape the state . . . argue with . . . [their elders] and will not
so that individuals could fulfill the best within do as they are told; while the old, anxious not
themselves and attain the Socratic goal of moral to be thought disagreeable tyrants, imitate
excellence. For Plato, the just state could not be the young and condescend to enter into their
founded on tradition (because inherited attitudes jokes and amusements.8
did not derive from rational standards) or on the
doctrine of might being right (a principle taught As the democratic city falls into disorder, a
by radical Sophists and practiced by Athenian fourth weakness of democracy will become evi-
statesmen). A just state, for Plato, conformed dent. A demagogue—often a wealthy, handsome
to universally valid principles and aimed at the war hero of noble birth with an ability to stir the
moral improvement of its citizens, not at increas- multitude with words—will be able to gain power
ing its power and material possessions. Such a by promising to plunder the rich to benefit the
state required leaders distinguished by their wis- poor. Increasingly, the tyrant throws off all con-
dom and virtue, rather than by sophistic clever- straints and uses his authority to satisfy his desire
ness and eloquence. for power and possessions. To retain his hold over
Fundamental to Plato’s political theory as the state, the tyrant
formulated in The Republic was his criticism of
Athenian democracy. An aristocrat by birth and begins by stirring up one war after another, in
temperament, Plato believed that it was foolish order that the people may feel their need of a
to expect the common man to think intelligently leader, and also be so impoverished by taxa-
about foreign policy, economics, or other vital tion that they will be forced to think of noth-
matters of state. Yet the common man was per- ing but winning their daily bread, instead of
mitted to speak in the Assembly, to vote, and to plotting against him.9
be selected, by lot, for executive office. A second
weakness of democracy was that leaders were Because of these inherent weaknesses of democ-
chosen and followed for nonessential reasons, racy, Plato insisted that Athens could not be
such as persuasive speech, good looks, wealth, saved by more doses of liberty. He believed that
and family background. Athens would be governed properly only when
A third danger of democracy was that it could the wisest people, the philosophers, attained
degenerate into anarchy, said Plato. Intoxicated power.
by liberty, the citizens of a democracy could lose
all sense of balance, self-discipline, and respect for Unless either philosophers become kings in
law. their countries or those who are now called
kings and rulers come to be sufficiently in-
The citizens become so sensitive that they spired with a genuine desire for wisdom;
resent the slightest application of control as unless, that is to say, political power and
intolerable tyranny, and in their resolve to philosophy meet together . . . there can be
have no master they end up by disregarding no rest from troubles . . . for states, nor yet,
even the law, written or unwritten.7 as I believe, for all mankind.10
84 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
Plato rejected the fundamental principle of this conception of justice was Plato’s response to
Athenian democracy: that the average person is the radical Sophists, who taught that justice con-
capable of participating sensibly in public affairs. sisted of the right of the strong to rule in their
People would not entrust the care of a sick person own interest or that justice was doing whatever
to just anyone, said Plato, nor would they allow one desired.
a novice to guide a ship during a storm. Yet in In The Republic, philosophers were selected by
a democracy, amateurs were permitted to run the a rigorous system of education open to all children.
government and to supervise the education of Those not demonstrating sufficient intelligence or
the young. No wonder Athenian society was dis- strength of character were to be weeded out to be-
integrating. Plato felt that these duties should be come workers or warriors, depending on their nat-
performed only by the best people in the city, phi- ural aptitudes. After many years of education and
losophers, who would approach human problems practical military and administrative experience,
with reason and wisdom derived from knowledge the philosophers were to be entrusted with politi-
of the world of unchanging and perfect Ideas. cal power. If they had been properly educated, the
Only these possessors of truth would be compe- philosopher-rulers would not seek personal wealth
tent to rule, said Plato. Whereas Socrates believed or personal power; their only concerns would be
that all people could base their actions on reason pursuing justice and serving the community. To
and acquire virtue, Plato maintained that only a prevent the philosopher-rulers from pursuing their
few were capable of philosophical wisdom and own interests rather than the good of the commu-
that these few were the state’s natural rulers. nity, they would not be permitted to own property
The organization of the state, as formulated or to have families. Since the children they sired
in The Republic, corresponded to Plato’s concep- would come from a community of wives, no one
tion of the individual soul, of human nature. Plato would know which child was his.
held that the soul had three major capacities: The philosophers were to be absolute rulers.
reason (the pursuit of knowledge), spiritedness Although the people would lose their right to par-
(self-assertion, courage, ambition), and desire (the ticipate in political decisions, they would gain a
“savage many-headed monster” that relishes food, well-governed state, whose leaders, distinguished
sex, and possessions). In the well-governed soul, by their wisdom, integrity, and sense of respon-
spiritedness and desire are guided by reason and sibility, would seek only the common good. Only
knowledge—standards derived from the world of thus could the individual and the community
Ideas. achieve well-being.
Plato divided people into three groups: those Plato repudiated the fundamental principles
who demonstrated philosophical ability should be of a free community: the right to participate in
rulers; those whose natural bent revealed excep- government, equality before the law, and checks
tional courage should be soldiers; and those driven on leaders’ power. Even freedom of thought was
by desire, the great masses, should be producers denied the great mass of people in Plato’s state.
(tradespeople, artisans, or farmers). In what was Philosopher-rulers would search for truth, but the
a radical departure from the general attitudes of people were to be told clever stories—“noble lies,”
the times, Plato held that men and women should Plato called them—to keep them obedient. How-
receive the same education and have equal access ever, the philosopher-rulers, said Plato, would not
to all occupations and public positions, including be seekers of power or wealth. It would not be
philosopher-ruler. in their character as wise and virtuous people, the
Plato felt that the entire community must rec- best products of polis education, to behave like
ognize the primacy of the intellect and sought to ruthless tyrants.
create a harmonious state in which each individ- The purpose of The Republic was to warn
ual performed what he or she was best qualified Athenians that without respect for law, wise lead-
to do and preferred to do. This would be a just ership, and proper education for the young, their
state, said Plato, for it would recognize human in- city would continue to degenerate. Plato wanted
equalities and diversities and make the best possi- to rescue the city- state from disintegration by
ble use of them for the entire community. Clearly, re-creating the community spirit that had vitalized
Philosophy ❖ 85
the polis—and he wanted to re-create it not on back from Plato’s higher world to the material
the basis of mere tradition but on a higher level, world. Possessing a scientist’s curiosity to under-
with philosophical knowledge. The social and po- stand the facts of nature, Aristotle appreciated
litical institutions of Athens, Plato thought, must the world of phenomena, of concrete things. He
be reshaped according to permanent and unalter- respected knowledge obtained through the senses,
able ideals of truth and justice, and this could be as the following selection from his observations
done only when power and wisdom were joined. of a hen’s embryo shows:
He aimed to fashion a just individual and a just
state by creating conditions that permitted rea- With the common hen after three days and
son to prevail over the appetites, self-interest, and three nights there is the first indication of the
class and party loyalties. embryo. . . . Meanwhile the yolk comes into
being . . . and, the heart appears, like a speck
of blood, in the white of the egg. This point
Aristotle: A Synthesis beats and moves as though endowed with
of Greek Thought life.11
Aristotle (384–322 b.c.) stands at the apex of Greek Aristotle retained Plato’s stress on universal
thought because he achieved a creative synthesis principles, but he wanted these principles to derive
of the knowledge and theories of earlier thinkers. from human experience with the material world.
Aristotle studied at Plato’s Academy for twenty To the practical and empirically minded Aristo-
years. Later, he became tutor to young Alexander tle, the Platonic notion of an independent and
the Great, the son of Philip of Macedon. Returning separate world of Forms beyond space and time
to Athens after Alexander had inherited his father’s seemed contrary to common sense. To compre-
throne, Aristotle founded a school, the Lyceum. hend reality, said Aristotle, one should not escape
The range of Aristotle’s interests and intel- into another world. For him, Plato’s two-world
lect is extraordinary. He was the leading expert philosophy suffered from too much mystery, mys-
of his time in every field of knowledge, with the ticism, and poetic fancy; moreover, Plato under-
possible exception of mathematics. Even a partial valued the world of facts and objects revealed
listing of his works shows the universal character through sight, hearing, and touch, a world that
of his mind and his all-consuming passion to un- was important to Aristotle. Like Plato, Aristotle
derstand the worlds of nature and of humankind: desired to comprehend the essence of things and
Logic, Physics, On the Heavens, On the Soul, On held that understanding universal principles is the
the Parts of Animals, Metaphysics, Nicomachean ultimate aim of knowledge. But unlike Plato, he
Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric, and Poetics. did not turn away from the world of things to ob-
Aristotle undertook the monumental task of tain such knowledge.
organizing and systematizing the thought of the For Aristotle, the Forms were not located in a
Pre-Socratics, Socrates, and Plato. He shared with higher world outside and beyond phenomena but
the natural philosophers a desire to understand existed in things themselves. He said that through
the physical universe; he shared with Socrates and human experience with such things as men, horses,
Plato the conviction that reason was a person’s and white objects, the essence of man, horse, and
highest faculty and that the polis was the pri- whiteness can be discovered through reason; the
mary formative institution of Greek life. Out of Form of Man, the Form of Horse, and the Form
the myriad of Aristotle’s achievements, we discuss of Whiteness can be determined. These univer-
only three: his critique of Plato’s theory of Ideas, sals, which apply to all men, all horses, and all
his ethical thought, and his political thought. white things, were for both Aristotle and Plato the
true objects of knowledge. For Plato, these Forms
Critique of Plato’s Theory of Ideas. Like existed independently of particular objects; the
Democritus before him, Aristotle renewed con- Forms for men or horses or whiteness or triangles
fidence in sense perception, for which Plato had or temples existed, whether or not representations
little respect; he wanted to swing the pendulum of these Ideas in the form of material objects were
86 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
made known to the senses. For Aristotle, however, he defined as the mean between two extremes. For
universal Ideas could not be determined without example, in one extreme, some people “become
examination of particular things. Whereas Plato’s angry at the wrong things, more than is right, and
use of reason tended to stress otherworldliness, longer, and cannot be appeased until they inflict
Aristotle tried to bring philosophy back to earth. vengeance or punishment.” In the other extreme,
By holding that certainty in knowledge comes foolish and slavish people endure every insult
from reason alone and not from the senses, without defending themselves. Between these ex-
Plato was predisposed toward mathematics and tremes is “the man who is angry at the right thing
metaphysics—pure thought, which transcends the and with the right people, and, further as he ought,
world of change and material objects. By stressing when he ought, and as long as he ought. . . . The
the importance of knowledge acquired through good-tempered man tends to be unperturbed and
the rational examination of sense experience, not to be led by passion.”12 “Nothing in excess” is
Aristotle favored the development of empirical the key to Aristotle’s ethics.
sciences—physics, biology, zoology, botany, and Aristotle believed that the contemplative life
other disciplines based on the observation and in- of the philosopher would yield perfect happiness.
vestigation of nature and the recording of data. The pursuit of philosophical wisdom and beauty,
Aristotle maintained that theory must not conflict he stated, offered “pleasures marvelous for their
with facts and must make them more intelligible purity and their enduringness.”13 But Aristotle did
and that it was the task of science to arrange facts not demand more from an individual than hu-
into a system of knowledge. man nature would allow. He did not set impos-
sible standards for behavior, recognizing that all
Ethical Thought. Like Socrates and Plato, persons cannot pursue the life of contemplation,
Aristotle believed that a knowledge of ethics was for some lack sufficient leisure or intelligence.
possible and that it must be based on reason, for However, by applying reason to human affairs, all
this is what distinguishes human beings from individuals could experience a good life.
other forms of life. For him, ethical thought de-
rived from a realistic appraisal of human nature Political Thought. Aristotle’s Politics comple-
and a commonsense attitude toward life. In Nico- ments his Ethics. To live the good life, he said,
machean Ethics, he offered this appraisal, as well a person must do so as a member of a political
as a practical guide to proper conduct. The good community. Only the polis would provide people
life, for Aristotle, was the examined life; it meant with an opportunity to lead a rational and moral
making intelligent decisions when confronted existence, that is, to fulfill their human potential.
with specific problems. Individuals could achieve With this assertion, Aristotle demonstrated a typi-
happiness when they exercised the distinctively cally Greek attitude. At the very moment when
human trait of reasoning, when they applied their his pupil Alexander the Great was constructing a
knowledge relevantly to life, and when their be- world-state that unified Greece and Persia, Aristo-
havior was governed by intelligence and not by tle defended the traditional system of independent
whim, tradition, or authority. city- states. Indeed, his Politics summed up the
Aristotle recognized that people are not en- polis-centered orientation of Hellenic civilization.
tirely rational, that the human personality reveals Also in typically Greek fashion, Aristotle did
a passionate element, which can never be eradi- not want women to participate in the political life
cated or ignored. Aristotle held that surrendering of the city. Unlike Plato, who, in The Republic,
completely to desire meant descending to the level gave women an equal opportunity with men to
of beasts, but that denying the passions and liv- become philosopher-rulers, Aristotle, in his Poli-
ing as an ascetic was a foolish and unreasonable tics, put women in an inferior category and main-
rejection of human nature. He maintained that tained that the free male should rule over women.
by proper training people could learn to regulate Though Aristotle taught that all human beings
their desires. They could achieve moral well-being, share in a rational soul, he felt that women, along
or virtue, when they avoided extremes of behavior with children and slaves, shared in it to a lesser
and rationally chose the way of moderation, which degree.
Art ❖ 87
Although the parts of the soul are present in constitution. [To live as one pleases] is contra-
all of them, they are present in different de- dictory to the true interests of the state. . . .
grees. For the slave has no deliberative faculty Men should not think it slavery to live
at all; the woman has, but it is without author- according to the rule of the constitution, for
ity, and the child has, but it is immature. . . . it is their salvation.16
Clearly, then, moral virtue belongs to all of
them; but the temperance of a man and of a
woman, or the courage and justice of a man Aristotle held “that the best political com-
and of a woman, are not, as Socrates main- munity is formed by citizens of the middle class
tained, the same; the courage of a man is [those with a moderate amount of property], and
shown in commanding, of a woman in obey- that those states are likely to be well-administered
ing. . . . All classes must be deemed to have in which the middle class is large and stronger if
their special attributes, as the poet says of possible than the other classes [the wealthy and
women, “Silence is a woman’s glory,” but this the poor].” Both the rich, who excel in “beauty,
is not equally the glory of man.14 strength, birth, [and] wealth,” and the poor, who
are “very weak or very much disgraced, [find it]
Like Plato, Aristotle presumed that political life difficult to follow rational principles. Of these
could be rationally understood and intelligently di- two the one sort grow into violence and great
rected. In Politics, as in Ethics, he adopted a com- criminals, the other into rogues and petty rascals.”
monsense, practical attitude. He did not aim at The rich are unwilling “to submit to authority . . .
utopia but wanted to find the most effective form for when they are boys, by reason of the luxury in
of government for most men in normal circum- which they are brought up, they never learn even
stances. Exemplifying the polis outlook, Aristotle at school, the habit of obedience.” Consequently,
held that enhancing the good of the community the wealthy “can only rule despotically.” On the
is nobler and more virtuous than doing good for other hand, the poor “are too degraded to com-
oneself, however worthy the act. mand and must be ruled like slaves.”17 Middle-
Aristotle emphasized the importance of the class citizens are less afflicted by envy than the
rule of law. He placed his trust in law rather poor and are more likely than the rich to view
than in individuals, for they are subject to unruly their fellow citizens as equals.
passions. Aristotle recognized that at times laws
should be altered, but he recommended great cau-
tion; otherwise, people would lose respect for law ART
and legal procedure.
The classical age of Greek art spans the years
For the law has no power to command from the end of the Persian Wars (479 b.c.) to
obedience except that of habit, which can only the death of Alexander the Great (323 b.c.).
be given by time, so that a readiness to change During this period, standards were established
from old to new laws enfeebles the power that would dominate Western art until the
of the law.15 emergence of modern art in the late nineteenth
century.
Tyranny and revolution, Aristotle said, can Greek art coincided with Greek achievement
threaten the rule of law and the well- being of in all other areas. Like Greek philosophy and
the citizen. To prevent revolution, the state must politics, it too applied reason to human experi-
maintain ence and made the transition from a mythopoeic-
religious worldview to a world perceived as
the spirit of obedience to law, more especially orderly and rational. It gradually transformed
in small matters; for transgression creeps in the supernatural religious themes with which
unperceived and at last ruins the state. [This it was at first preoccupied into secular human
cannot be done] unless the young are trained themes. Classical art was representational—that
by habit and education in the spirit of the is, it strove to imitate reality, to represent the
88 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
objective world realistically, as it appeared to the was Sappho, a woman who lived around 600 b.c.
human eye. on the island of Lesbos. Sappho established a
Artists carefully observed nature and human school to teach music and singing to well-to-do
beings and sought to achieve an exact knowl- girls and to prepare them for marriage. With great
edge of human anatomy; they tried to portray te nderness, Sappho wrote poems of friendship
accurately the body at rest and in motion. They and love: “Some say the fairest thing on earth is a
knew when muscles should be taut or relaxed, troop of horsemen, others a band of foot-soldiers,
one hip lower than the other, the torso and neck others a squadron of ships. But I say the fairest
slightly twisted—in other words, they succeeded thing is the beloved.”18 And of her daughter Cleïs,
in transforming marble or bronze into a human she wrote:
likeness that seemed alive. In addition to being
realistic and naturalistic, Greek art was also ide-
alistic, aspiring to a finer, more perfect represen-
tation of what was seen, depicting the essence
Text not available due to copyright restrictions
and form of a thing more truly than it actually
appeared. Thus, a Greek statue resembled no
specific individual but revealed a flawless human
form, without wrinkles, warts, scars, or other
imperfections. Sappho’s love poetry, addressed also to
In achieving an accurate representation of women, indicates that she was bisexual. This
objects and in holding that there were rules of form of sexual behavior was tolerated in an-
beauty that the mind could discover, the Greek cient Greece, says classicist Lyn Hatherly Wilson,
artist employed an approach consistent with “because it was not procreative, because it did
the new scientific outlook. The Greek temple, not alter a woman’s virginal status, or affect her
for example, is an organized unity obeying na- entry into marriage and male/female relations,
ture’s laws of equilibrium and harmony; classi- except in ways that were considered positive.”20
cal sculpture captures the basic laws that govern Sappho was the most prominent female poet in
life in motion. Such art, based on reason, which the ancient world. She was depicted on coins and
draws the mind’s attention to the clear outlines in art, and Plato praised the beauty of her lyric
of the outer world, also draws attention to the poetry. Sometimes, however, she was treated in
mind itself, making human beings the center of an uncomplimentary way by comic playwrights
an intelligible world and the masters of their own who thought it inappropriate for a woman to
persons. write poetry. Her influence endured for centuries:
Greek artists, just like Greek philosophers, the Roman poets Catullus, Horace, and Ovid al-
proclaimed the importance and creative capacity luded to her.
of the individual. They exemplified the human- Pindar (c. 518–438 b.c.) was another Greek
ist spirit that characterized all aspects of Greek lyric poet. In his poem of praise for a victori-
culture. Classical art placed people in their natu- ous athlete, Pindar expressed the aristocratic
ral environment, made the human form the fo- view of excellence. Although life is essentially
cal point of attention, and exalted the nobility, tragic—triumphs are short-lived, misfortunes are
dignity, self-assurance, and beauty of the human many, and ultimately death overtakes all—man
being. must still demonstrate his worth by striving for
excellence.
He has in his heart what is better than wealth orchestra (“dancing place”), which encircled an
But brief is the season of man’s delight. altar. Their costumes consisted of goat skins (only
Soon it falls to the ground; later did the costumes become elaborate), larger-
Some dire decision uproots it. than-life masks, and elevated shoes.
—Thing of a day! such is man: a shadow in Because of the grandeur of the dramatists’
a dream. themes, the eminence of their heroes, and the
Yet when god-given splendour visits him loftiness of their language, Greek spectators felt
A bright radiance plays over him, and how intensely involved in the lives portrayed. What
sweet is life!21 they were witnessing in a tragedy went beyond
anything in their ordinary lives, and they experi-
The high point of Greek poetry is drama, an enced the full range of human emotions.
art form that originated in Greece. The Greek A development parallel to Socratic dialectics—
dramatist portrayed the sufferings, weaknesses, dialogue between thinking individuals—occurred
and triumphs of individuals. Just as a Greek in Greek drama. Through the technique of dia-
sculptor shaped a clear visual image of the human logue, early dramatists first pitted human be-
form, so also a Greek dramatist brought the inner ings against the gods and destiny. Later, by
life of human beings, their fears and hopes, into placing characters in conflict with one another,
sharp focus and tried to find the deeper meaning dramatists arrived at the idea of individuals as
of human experience. Thus, both art and drama active subjects responsible for their behavior and
evidenced the growing self- awareness of the decisions, which were based on their own feel-
individual. ings and thoughts. Greek tragedy evolved as a
Drama originated in the religious festivals hon- continuous striving toward humanization and
oring Dionysus, the god of wine and agricultural individualization.
fertility. A profound innovation in these sacred Like the natural philosophers, Greek drama-
performances, which included choral songs and tists saw an inner logic in the universe and called
dances, occurred in the last part of the sixth cen- it Fate or Destiny. When people were stubborn,
tury b.c. when Thespis, the first actor known to narrow-minded, arrogant, and immoderate, when
history, stepped out of the chorus and engaged it their “word and deed” showed no respect for jus-
in dialogue. By separating himself from the choral tice, when they dishonored the gods, they were
group, Thespis demonstrated a new awareness of punished. The order in the universe required it,
the individual. said Sophocles.22
With only one actor and a chorus, however, In being free to make decisions, the dramatist
the possibilities for dramatic action and human says, individuals have the potential for greatness,
conflicts were limited. Then Aeschylus introduced but in choosing wrongly, unintelligently, they
a second actor in his dramas, and Sophocles a bring disaster on themselves and others. Also like
third. Dialogue between individuals thus became philosophy, Greek tragedy entailed rational reflec-
possible. The Greek actors wore masks, and by tion. Tragic heroes were not passive victims of
changing them, each actor could play several roles fate. They were thinking human beings who felt
in the same performance. This flexibility allowed a need to comprehend their position, explain the
the dramatists to depict the clash and interplay reasons for their actions, and analyze their feel-
of human wills and passions on a greater scale. ings. The audience was prodded to think, for a
By the middle of the fifth century b.c., tragedies tragedy depicted a clash of viewpoints that, as in
were performed regularly as civic festivals. The the Assembly, the audience had to analyze before
audience sat on wooden bleachers in an open- choosing sides.
air, hillside theater (theatron). The acoustics of The essence of Greek tragedy lies in the tragic
these stone theaters were so superb that a clear hero’s struggle against cosmic forces and insur-
voice projected from the front could be heard, mountable obstacles, which eventually crush him.
without amplification, in the last row. In the stag- But what impressed the Greek spectators (and
ing of these tragedies, the all-male chorus gener- impresses today’s readers and viewers of Greek
ally danced and sang in a circular area called the drama) was not the vulnerability or weaknesses
Profile
Hesiod for philosophical thought, the concept of natural
law that Hesiod expressed in mythical-religious
The poet Hesiod (eighth century B.C.) lived on terms was explicitly formulated in the rational
a farm in Boetia, in central Greece, and wrote categories of philosophy by Greek thinkers after
two major poems. Theogony deals with the for- Hesiod.
mation of the universe, and Works and Days de- Whereas Homer’s epics concentrate on he-
picts the life of peasants. roes striving to win honor as defined by a chi-
Theogony is replete with mythical imagery, valric aristocratic ideal, Hesiod’s later poem,
but for several reasons scholars regard it as a Works and Days, describes the daily ordeal of
precursor of Greek philosophy. First, in explain- common folk struggling to feed their families.
ing the origins of the world through the gene- A man of the soil, Hesiod maintains that honest
alogy of the gods, Hesiod produced an ordered labor promotes the good life.
and structured mythology that can be inter- Although he was generally pessimistic, He-
preted as nascent rational speculation. Second, siod believed that human beings could improve
the gift of law bestowed by Zeus on humanity their lot if they embraced justice, which “is
can be viewed as an early expression of natu- proved the best thing they have.” An awareness
ral law—the recognition of both a physical and of justice is what distinguishes human beings
a moral order inherent in the universe. Crucial from other creatures.
of human beings, but their courage and determi- ambition to become master of Asia and Greece
nation in the face of these forces. conflicted with the divine order of the universe.
For this hubris, Xerxes and his fellow Persians
must pay.
Aeschylus
A single stroke has brought about the ruin of
Aeschylus (525– 456 b.c.), an Athenian noble- great
man, had fought in the battle of Marathon. He Prosperity, the flower of Persia fallen and
wrote more than eighty plays, of which only seven gone.23
survive. They have common themes. As an Athe-
nian patriot, Aeschylus urged adherence to tra- The suffering of Xerxes should make people
ditional religious beliefs and moral values. Like aware of what they can and cannot do.
Solon, the statesman, he believed that the world
was governed by divine justice, which could not And heaps of corpses even in generations
be violated with impunity; when individuals hence
evinced hubris (overweening pride or arrogance), Will signify in silence to the eyes of men
which led them to overstep the bounds of mod- That mortal man should not think more than
eration and to set themselves above the gods, they mortal thoughts.
must be punished. Another principal theme was For hubris blossomed forth and grew a crop
that through suffering came knowledge: the ter- of ruin,
rible consequences of sins against the divine order And from it gathered in a harvest full of tears.
should remind all to think and act with modera- In face of this, when Xerxes, who lacks good
tion and caution. sense, returns
Aeschylus’ play The Persians dealt with an Counsel him with reasoning and good advice,
actual event, the defeat of the Persian emperor To cease from wounding God with
Xerxes by the Greeks. Xerxes’ intemperate overboastful rashness.24
90
You, Perses, should store away in your mind all which safeguards society, and hubris (exces-
that I tell you, sive pride), which destroys it. Honoring justice
and listen to justice, and put away is what distinguishes a civilized society from a
all notions of violence. state of savagery.
Here is the law, as Zeus established it Throughout Theogony and Works and Days,
for human beings; Hesiod used the language and imagery of
as for fish, and wild animals, and the flying myth to express curiosity about the genesis of
birds, the universe, concern for justice, and aware-
they feed on each other, since there is no idea of ness of a universal moral order. In succeeding
justice among them; centuries, Greek thinkers would discuss these
but to men he gave justice, and she in the end is issues using the language and categories of
proved the best thing philosophy.
they have. If a man sees what is right and
is willing to argue it, *Hesiod, Works and Days, in Hesiod, trans. Richard
Zeus of the wide brows grants him prosperity.* Lattimore (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1973), 51.
Human beings are faced with the choice
between diké (straight judgment and justice),
Whereas Aeschylean drama dealt principally world and human activities obey laws, said
with the cosmic theme of the individual in conflict Sophocles, and human beings cannot violate
with the moral universe, later dramatists, while these laws with impunity.
continuing to use patterns fashioned by Aeschy- Whereas Aeschylus concentrated on religious
lus, gave greater attention to the psychology of matters and Euripides (see the next section) dealt
the individual. with social issues, Sophocles wrote about the pe-
rennial problem of well-intentioned human be-
ings struggling valiantly, but unwisely and vainly,
Sophocles against the tide of fate. His characters, bent on
some action fraught with danger, resist all appeals
Another outstanding Athenian dramatist was
to caution and inescapably meet with disaster.
Sophocles (c. 496– 406 b.c.). His greatness as
In Oedipus Rex, first performed about 429
a playwright lay in both the excellence of his
b.c., Sophocles probes deeply into the human
dramatic technique and the skill with which
psyche. Oedipus is warned not to pursue the
he portrayed character. The people that he
mystery of his birth but insists on searching for
created possessed violent passions and ten-
the truth about himself: “Nothing will move me.
der emotions; they were noble in their nature,
I will find the whole truth.” (He had unsuspect-
though their actions showed human frailty.
ingly killed his father and married his mother.*)
Sophocles consciously formulated a standard
of human excellence: individuals should shape *Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of the Oedipus story has
their character in the way a sculptor shapes a had a profound impact on psychoanalytic theory: “[Oe-
form, according to laws of proportion. Sopho- dipus’] destiny moves us only because it might have been
cles felt that when these principles of harmony ours. . . . It is the fate of all of us, perhaps, to direct our
were violated by immoderate behavior, a per- first sexual impulse towards our mother and our first
hatred and . . . murderous wish against our father. Our
son’s character would be thrown off balance dreams convince us that this is so” (The Interpretation of
and misfortune would strike. The physical Dreams).
91
92 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
Euripides
The rational spirit of Greek philosophy perme-
ated the tragedies of Euripides (c. 485–406 b.c.).
Like the Sophists, Euripides subjected the problems
of human life to critical analysis and challenged
human conventions. It was this critical spirit that
prompted the traditionalist Aristophanes (see the
next section) to attack Euripides for introducing
the art of reasoning into tragedy. The role of the
gods, women’s conflicts, the horrors of war, the
power of passion, and the prevalence of human
suffering and weakness were carefully scrutinized
in Euripides’ plays. Euripides blends a poet’s in-
sight with a psychologist’s probing to reveal the
tangled world of human passions and souls in
torment. Thus, in Medea, he presents the deepest
feelings of a Greek woman (see Primary Source
box).
Euripides recognized the power of irrational,
demonic forces that seethe within people—what
he called “the bloody Fury raised by fiends of
S OPHOCLES. The great Athenian dramatist wrote Hell.”25 A scorned Medea, seeking revenge against
123 tragedies, only seven of which have survived. (The her husband by murdering their children, says:
Granger Collection, New York—All rights reserved.)
Euripides regarded as mindless savagery. The persisted in continuing the disastrous Peloponne-
Trojan Women, performed a year later, warned sian War.
Athenians:
93
94 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
of traditional Athenian values. Behind Aris- ridiculous, a man who walks on air, contem-
tophanes’ sharp wit lay a deadly seriousness, for plates the sun, and teaches such absurd things
there was much in Athens during the Peloponne- as “Heaven is one vast fire extinguisher” or
sian War that angered him. As an aristocrat, he “How many feet of its own a flea could jump.”
was repelled by Cleon, the common tanner who The Sophists in the play teach only how “to
succeeded Pericles. As an admirer of the ancient succeed just enough for my need and to slip
values of honor, duty, and moderation, he was through the clutches of the law.” A student of
infuriated by corruption, which he attributed to these Sophists becomes “a concocter of lies . . .
the Sophists. As a man of common sense, he rec- a supple, unprincipled, troublesome cheat.” 30
ognized that the Peloponnesian War must end. To Aristophanes, Socrates was a subversive
In the process of serving as a social critic, Aris- who caused Athenians to repudiate civil moral-
tophanes wrote some of the most hilarious lines ity and to speculate about nonsense questions.
in world literature. Clearly, Aristophanes admired the Athens that
In Lysistrata, an antiwar comedy, the women had bested the Persians at the battle of Mara-
of Greece agree to abstain from having sexual re- thon and feared the rationalism that Euripides,
lations with their husbands to compel the men to the Sophists, and Socrates had injected into
make peace. Lysistrata reveals the plan. Athenian intellectual life.
In the same spirit, British philosopher and histo- histories of these societies. Much of his informa-
rian R. G. Collingwood states: tion was derived from posing questions to natives
of the lands he visited. Interested in everything,
The Greeks quite clearly and consciously Herodotus frequently interlaced his historical
recognized both that history is, or can be, narrative with a marvelous assortment of stories
a science, and that it has to do with human and anecdotes.
actions. Greek history is not legend, it is The central theme of Herodotus’ Histories
research; it is an attempt to get answers to is the contrast between Near Eastern despotism
definite questions about matters of which one and Greek freedom and the subsequent clash of
recognizes oneself as ignorant. It is not theo- these two worldviews in the Persian Wars. Cer-
cratic, it is humanistic; the matters inquired tain of their superiority, the Greeks considered
into are not of gods, they are of men. More- the non- Hellenic world to be steeped in igno-
over, it is not mythical. The events inquired rance and darkness. Herodotus, however, was
into are not events in a dateless past, at the generally free of this arrogance. A fair-minded,
beginning of things; they are events in a dated sympathetic, and tolerant observer, he took joy
past, a certain number of years ago. This is in examining the wide range of human character
not to say that legend, either in the form of and experience.
theocratic history or in the form of myth, was Though Herodotus found much to praise in
a thing foreign to the Greek mind. . . . But the Persian empire, he was struck by a lack of
what is remarkable about the Greeks was freedom and by what he considered barbarity.
not the fact that their historical thought con- Herodotus emphasized that the mentality of the
tained a certain residue of elements which we free citizen was foreign to the East, where men
should call non-historical, but the fact that were trained to obey the ruler’s commands ab-
side by side with these, it contained elements solutely. Not the rule of law but the whim of
of what we call history.32 despots prevailed in the East. When a Persian
official urged some Greeks to submit to Xerxes,
In several respects, however, the Greeks were Herodotus wrote that the Greeks said: “You un-
unhistorical. To them, history moved in cycles; derstand well enough what slavery is, but free-
events and periods repeated themselves. Unlike dom you have never experienced, so you do not
the Hebrews, they had little awareness of histori- know if it tastes sweet or bitter. If you ever did
cal uniqueness and progression. Nor was history come to experience it, you would advise us to
as vital to the Greeks as it was to the Hebrews. fight for it not with spears only, but with axes
Greek philosophers preferred fixing their minds too.” 34 Of all the Greek city-states, Herodotus
on eternal and changeless truths rather than on the admired Athens most. Freedom had enabled Ath-
vicissitudes of history. Aristotle said that poetry ens to achieve greatness, said Herodotus, and
(which also included drama) is “more philosophic it was this illustrious city that had rescued the
and of greater import than history, since its state- Greek world from Persia.
ments are of the nature of universals,” whereas Another theme evident in Herodotus’ work
histories deal only with particular events.33 was punishment for hubris. In seeking to become
king of both Asia and Europe, Xerxes had acted
arrogantly; although he behaved as if he were su-
Herodotus perhuman, “he too was human, and was sure to
be disappointed of his great expectations.”35 Like
Often called “the father of history,” Herodotus the Greek tragedians, Herodotus drew universal
(c. 484–c. 424 b.c.) wrote a history of the Persian moral principles from human behavior.
Wars. Herodotus valued the present and recog- In several ways, Herodotus was a historian
nized that it is not timeless but has been shaped rather than a teller of tales. First, he recognized
by earlier happenings. To understand the conflict that there is value in studying and preserv-
between Persia and Greece, the most important ing the past. Second, he asked questions about
event during his lifetime, he first inquired into the the past, instead of merely repeating ancient
96 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
legends; he tried to discover what had hap- searched for the truth underlying historical events
pened, analyzed the motivations behind actions, and attempted to present it objectively. From
and searched for cause- and- effect connections. the Sophists, Thucydides learned that the mo-
Third, he demonstrated at times a cautious and tives and reactions of human beings follow pat-
critical attitude toward his sources, refusing to terns. Therefore, a proper analysis of the events
rely on legends based on little or no objective of the Peloponnesian War would reveal general
evidence. principles that govern human behavior and rela-
tions between states. He intended his history to be
The course of my story now leads me to a source of enlightenment for future ages, a pos-
Cyrus: who was this man who destroyed the session for all time, because the kinds of behavior
empire of Croesus, and how did the Persians that caused the conflict between Sparta and Ath-
win their predominant position in Asia? ens would recur regularly throughout history, for
I could, if I wished, give three versions of human nature is unchanging and predictable.
Cyrus’ history, all different from what follows;
but I propose to base my account on those Of the events of the war I have not ventured
Persian authorities who seem to tell the simple to speak from any chance information, nor
truth about him without trying to exaggerate according to any notion of my own; I have de-
his exploits.36 scribed nothing but what I either saw myself,
or learned from others of whom I made the
Fourth, rising above inherited prejudices and a most careful and particular inquiry. The task
narrow parochialism, he attempted to examine dis- was a laborious one, because eyewitnesses of
interestedly and critically the histories of both the the same occurrences gave different accounts
Greeks and the Persians. Fifth, although the gods of them, as they remembered or were [partial
appeared in Herodotus’ narrative, they played a to] one side or the other. And very likely the
far less important role than they did in Greek pop- strictly historical character of my narrative
ular mythology. Still, by retaining a belief in the may be disappointing to the ear. But if he who
significance of dreams, omens, and oracles and by desires to have before his eyes a true picture
allowing divine intervention, Herodotus fell short of the events which have happened, and of the
of being a thoroughgoing rationalist. Herodotus’ like events which may be expected to happen
writings contain the embryo of rational history; hereafter in the order of human things shall
Thucydides brought it to maturity. pronounce what I have written to be use-
ful, then I shall be satisfied. My history is an
everlasting possession, not a prize composition
Thucydides which is heard and forgotten.37
Thucydides (c. 460–c. 400 b.c.) also concentrated In Thucydides’ history, there was no place for
on a great political crisis confronting the Hellenic myths, for legends, for the fabulous—all of which
world: the Peloponnesian War. Living in Periclean were hindrances to historical truth. He recognized
Athens, whose lifeblood was politics, Thucydides that a work of history was a creation of the ra-
regarded the motives of statesmen and the acts of tional mind and not an expression of the poetic
government as the essence of history. He did not imagination. The historian seeks to learn and to
just catalogue facts but also sought those general enlighten, not to entertain.
concepts and principles that the facts illustrated. Rejecting the notion that the gods interfere in
His history was the work of an intelligent mind history, Thucydides looked for the social forces
trying to make sense of his times. and human decisions behind events. Undoubtedly,
Thucydides applied to the sphere of politi- he was influenced by Hippocratic doctors, who
cal history a rationalist empiricism worthy of frowned on divine explanations for disease and
the I onian natural philosophers. He strove for distinguished between the symptoms of a disease
factual accuracy and drew conclusions based and its causes. Whereas Herodotus occasionally
on a critical analysis of events and motives. He lapsed into supernatural explanations, Thucydides
The Greek Achievement: Reason, Freedom, Humanism ❖ 97
wrote history in which the gods were absent, and they often violated their ideals. But their achieve-
he denied their intervention in human affairs. ment was unquestionably of profound historical
For Thucydides, history was the work of human significance. Western thought essentially begins
beings, and the driving force in history was men’s with the Greeks, who first defined the individ-
will to power and domination. ual by the capacity to reason. It was the great
In addition to being a historian, Thucydides was achievement of the Greek spirit to rise above
also an astute and innovative political thinker with magic, miracles, mystery, authority, and custom
a specific view of government, statesmen, and in- and to discover the procedures and terminology
ternational relations. He warned against the dan- that permit a rational understanding of nature
gers of extremism unleashed by the strains of war, and society. Every aspect of Greek civilization—
and he believed that when reason was forsaken, the science, philosophy, art, literature, politics, his-
state’s plight would worsen. He had contempt for torical writing—showed a growing reliance on
statesmen who waged war lightly, acting from im- human reason and a diminishing dependence on
pulse, reckless daring, and an insatiable appetite for the gods.
territory. Consequently, he regarded the decision to In Mesopotamia and Egypt, people had no
attack Syracuse in Sicily, which cost so many lives, clear conception of their individual worth and no
as a gross political blunder. Although Thucydides understanding of political liberty. They were not
admired Athens for its democratic institutions, rule citizens but subjects who marched to the com-
of law, sense of civic duty, and cultural achieve- mand of a ruler whose power originated with the
ments, he recognized an inherent danger in democ- gods. Such royal power was not imposed on an
racy: the emergence of demagogues, who rise to unwilling population but was religiously accepted
power by stirring up the populace and abuse their and obeyed.
power when in office. He extended to international Unlike in the Near East, monarchs were inci-
relations the Sophists’ insight that people tend to dental to Greek political history, a development
act out of self-interest; national interest, he main- that enabled the Greeks to create both civic poli-
tained, was the motivating force in relations be- tics and political freedom. They saw the state
tween states. Further, he explicitly formulated the as a community of free and equal citizens who
principle of balance of power as a basic formula made laws that served the common good. Dis-
governing international relations. What caused the putes between citizens were decided by a jury of
Peloponnesian War, he said, was the sudden and one’s peers, not by the whims of a ruler or his
spectacular increase of Athenian power and the officials. The citizens had no other masters but
Spartans’ fear that this would upset the balance. themselves. Denouncing arbitrary rule, they ar-
Finally, Thucydides left us with an enduring insight: gued that power should be regulated by law and
war unleashes terrible passions among ordinary justice. The Greeks held that men are capable of
people that culminate in slaughter and misery. governing themselves, and they regarded active
Political scientists, historians, and statesmen participation in public affairs as a duty. For the
still turn to Thucydides for insights into the re- Greeks, the state was a civilizing agent that per-
alities of power politics, the dangers of political mitted people to live the good life. Greek politi-
fanaticism, the nature of imperialism, the methods cal thinkers arrived at a conception of the rational
of demagogues, and the effects of war on demo- or legal state, in which law was an expression
cratic politics. of reason, not of whim or divine commands; of
justice, not of might; of the general good of the
community, not of the self-interest of a particular
THE GREEK ACHIEVEMENT: class or individuals. At the beginning of the fourth
century b.c., an Athenian orator eloquently cap-
REASON, FREEDOM, HUMANISM tured the meaning of his city’s political achieve-
ment. The Athenians, he said, “deemed that it was
Like other ancient peoples, the Greeks warred, the way of wild beasts to be held subject to one
massacred, and enslaved; they could be cruel, another by force, but the duty of men to delimit
a rrogant, contentious, and superstitious; and justice by law, to convince by reason, and to serve
98 ❖ 4 Greek Thought: From Myth to Reason
these two by submitting to the sovereignty of law not approve of living without restraints; they
and the instruction of reason.”38 The ideas and aimed at creating a higher type of man. Such a
terminology of this statement were totally alien man would mold himself according to worthy
to the political experience of the ancient Near standards; he would make his life as harmoni-
East and remain an integral component of the ous and flawless as a work of art. This aspira-
Western democratic tradition. An offshoot of the tion required effort, discipline, and intelligence.
Greek democratic experience was the emergence Fundamental to the Greek humanist outlook
of political thought. Greek thinkers’ discussions was the belief that human beings could master
of justice, power, freedom, and the strengths and themselves. Although people could not alter the
weaknesses of democracy are the foundation of course of nature, for there was an order to the
Western political theory. universe over which neither human beings nor
The Greeks also gave to Western civilization gods had control, Greek humanists believed that
a conception of inner, or ethical, freedom. People people could control their own lives. Contem-
were free to choose between shame and honor, porary humanists continue to derive inspiration
cowardice and duty, moderation and excess. The and guidelines from the literary, artistic, and
heroes of Greek tragedy suffered not because philosophical creations of ancient Greece.
they were puppets manipulated by higher pow- Despite their lauding of the human being’s cre-
ers but because they possessed the freedom of ative capacities, the Greeks were not naïve about
decision. The idea of ethical freedom reached its human nature. Rather, intensely aware of the in-
highest point with Socrates, who shifted the fo- dividual’s inherent capacity for evil, Greek think-
cus of thought from cosmology to the moral life. ers repeatedly warned that without the restraining
To shape oneself according to ideals known to the forces of law, civic institutions, moral norms, and
mind, to develop into an autonomous and self- character training, society would be torn apart by
directed person, became for the Greeks the high- the savage elements within human nature.
est form of freedom. By discovering theoretical reason, defining po-
Underlying everything accomplished by the litical freedom, and affirming the worth and po-
Greeks was a humanist attitude toward life. The tential of human personality, the Greeks broke
Greeks expressed a belief in the worth, signifi- with the past and founded the rational and hu-
cance, and dignity of the individual. They called manist tradition of the West. “Had Greek civiliza-
for the maximum cultivation of human talent, tion never existed,” wrote poet W. H. Auden, “we
the full development of human personality, and would never have become fully conscious, which
the deliberate pursuit of excellence. In valuing is to say that we would never have become, for
human personality, the Greek humanists did better or worse, fully human.”39
❖ ❖ ❖
of Homer, the early Greek philosophers, and the Levi, Peter, The Pelican History of Greek Literature
Sophists in volume 1 is masterful. (1985). Sound insights into Greek writers.
Jones, W. T., A History of Western Philosophy, vol. 1 Romm, James, Herodotus (1998). A study of He-
(1962). Clearly written; contains useful passages rodotus the historian and story teller.
from original sources.
Kitto, H. D. F., Greek Tragedy (1954). A valuable in-
troduction to Greek drama.
Alexander the Great on Horseback. In conquering the lands from Greece to India,
Alexander the Great displayed a military genius that would fascinate
commanders from Caesar to Napoleon. (Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)
■
■
■
Alexander the Great
Hellenistic Society
Hellenistic Culture
G reek civilization, or Hellenism, passed
through three distinct stages: the Hellenic
Age, the Hellenistic Age, and the Greco-
Roman Age. The Hellenic Age began about 800
b.c. with the early city-states, reached its height in
■ The Hellenistic Legacy the fifth century b.c., and endured until the death
of Alexander the Great in 323 b.c. At that time,
the ancient world entered the Hellenistic Age,
which ended in 30 b.c., when Egypt, the last major
Hellenistic state, fell to Rome. The Greco-Roman
Focus Questions Age lasted five hundred years, encompassing the
period of the Roman Empire up to the collapse
1. What are the basic differences between of the Empire’s western half in the last part of the
the Hellenic and the Hellenistic Ages? fifth century a.d.
2. How did Alexander the Great contribute Although the Hellenistic Age absorbed the
to the shaping of the Hellenistic Age? heritage of classical (Hellenic) Greece, its style
of civilization changed. During the first phase of
3. Why are the terms individualism,
Hellenism, the polis was the center of political
universalism, and cosmopolitanism used life. The polis gave Greeks an identity, and only
to characterize the Hellenistic Age? within the polis could Greeks live a good and civi-
4. What prescriptions did each of the lized life. With the coming of the Hellenistic Age,
Hellenistic philosophies offer for this situation changed. Kingdoms and empires
achieving happiness? eclipsed the city-state in power and importance.
Cities retained a large measure of autonomy in
5. What is the enduring significance of domestic affairs but lost their freedom of action
Stoicism for the modern world? in foreign affairs. Dominated by monarchs, cit-
ies were no longer self-sufficient and independent
communities as they had been in the Hellenic
period. Monarchy— the essential form of gov-
ernment in the Hellenistic world—had not been
admired by the Greeks of the Hellenic Age. They
agreed with Aristotle that monarchy was suitable
only for non-Greeks, who lacked the capacity to
govern themselves.
As a result of Alexander the Great’s conquests
of the lands between Greece and India, tens of
thousands of Greek soldiers, merchants, and ad-
ministrators settled in eastern lands. Their en-
counters with the different peoples and cultures
of the Near East widened the Greeks’ horizon and
weakened their ties to their native cities. Because
of these changes, the individual had to define a
relationship not to the narrow, parochial society
of the polis, but to the larger world. The Greeks
had to examine their place in a world more com-
plex, foreign, and threatening than the polis. They
had to fashion a conception of a community that
would be more comprehensive than the city-state.
Hellenistic philosophers struggled with these
problems of alienation and community. They
102
The Hellenistic Age: Cultural Diffusion ❖ 103
sought to give people the inner strength to en- to the oikoumene (the inhabited world); paro-
dure in a world where the polis no longer pro- chialism gave way to cosmopolitanism and uni-
vided security. In this new situation, philosophers versalism as people began to think of themselves
no longer assumed that the good life was tied as members of a world community. Philosophers
to the affairs of the city. Freedom from emo- came to regard the civilized world as one city,
tional stress— not active citizenship and social the city of humanity. This new concept was their
responsibility—was the avenue to the good life. response to the decline of the city-state and the
This pronounced tendency of people to withdraw quest for an alternative form of community.
into themselves and seek emotional comfort By uniting the diverse nationalities of the Med-
helped shape a cultural environment that contrib- iterranean world under one rule, Rome gave po-
uted to the spread and triumph of Christianity in litical expression to the Hellenistic philosophers’
the Greco-Roman Age. longing for a world community. But the vast and
In the Hellenic Age, Greek philosophers impersonal Roman Empire could not rekindle the
had a limited conception of humanity, divid- sense of belonging, the certainty of identity, that
ing the world into Greeks and barbarians. In the came with being a citizen of a small polis. In time,
Hellenistic Age, the intermingling of Greeks and a resurgence of the religious spirit, particularly
peoples of the Near East—the fusion of different in the form of Christianity, helped overcome the
ethnic groups and cultures scattered over great feeling of alienation by offering an image of com-
distances—caused a shift in focus from the city munity that stirred the heart.
104 ❖ 5 The Hellenistic Age: Cultural Diffusion
(223–187 b.c.) defeated the Ptolemaic forces and converse, but some had libraries and halls where
established Seleucid control over Phoenicia and public lectures and competitions of orators and
Palestine. Taking advantage of Egypt’s defeat, poets were held. Hellenistic kings brought books,
Macedonia seized several of Egypt’s territories. paintings, and statues from Greece to their cities.
Rome, a new power, became increasingly Hellenistic cities, inhabited by tens of thousands
drawn into the affairs of the quarrelsome Helle- of people from many lands and dominated by
nistic kingdoms. By the middle of the second cen- a Hellenized upper class, served as centers and
tury b.c., it had imposed its will on them. From agents of Hellenism, which non-Greeks adopted.
that time on, the political fortunes of the west- The ruling class in each Hellenistic city was united
ern and eastern Mediterranean were inextricably by a common Hellenism, which overcame na-
linked. tional, linguistic, and racial distinctions. Koine (or
Hellenistic society was characterized by a shared language), a form of spoken Greek spread
growing cosmopolitanism—a mingling of peoples, by soldiers, administrators, merchants, teachers,
an interchange of cultures, and a broad outlook. and others, became a common tongue throughout
Greek traditions spread to the Near East, while much of the Mediterranean world. Greek was the
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Persian language both of government and culture.
traditions—particularly religious beliefs—moved Hellenistic cities engaged in economic activity
westward. A growing cosmopolitanism replaced on a much greater scale than the classical Greek
the parochialism of the city-state. Although the city-states. Increased trade integrated the Near
rulers of the Hellenistic kingdoms were Macedo- East and Greece into a market economy, and
nians and their high officials and generals were business methods became more developed and
Greeks, the style of government was modeled refined. The middle and upper classes enjoyed
after that of the ancient Middle Eastern king- homes, furniture, and jewelry more elegant than
doms. In the Hellenic Age, the law had expressed those of Periclean Athenians, and some people
the will of the community, but in this new age of amassed great fortunes. In contrast to the ideal of
monarchy, the kings laid down the law. To pro- citizenship, which distinguished the fifth-century
mote loyalty, the Macedonian rulers encouraged polis, many Greeks who settled in Egypt, Syria,
the Near Eastern cultic practice of worshiping the and other eastern lands ran roughshod over civil
king as a god or as a representative of the gods. law and moral values and engaged in competitive
In Egypt, for example, the priests conferred on struggles for wealth and power.
the Macedonian king the same divine powers and The greatest city of the time and the one most
titles traditionally held by Egyptian pharaohs. In representative of the Hellenistic Age was Alexan-
accordance with ancient tradition, statues of the dria, in Egypt, founded by Alexander. Strategically
divine king were installed in Egyptian temples, located at one of the mouths of the Nile, it became
suffusing political power with supernatural au- a hub of commerce and culture. The most popu-
thority, in marked contrast to the democratic lous city of the Mediterranean world, Alexandria
spirit of the Greek Assembly. had about 300,000 inhabitants fifty years after its
Following Alexander’s lead, the Seleucids founding. At the beginning of the Christian era,
founded cities in the east patterned after the city- it contained perhaps a million people: Macedo-
states of Greece. The cities, which were often nians, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Syrians, Ethiopians,
founded to protect trade routes and as fortresses and Arabs.
against hostile tribes, adopted the political institu- Alexandria was an unrivaled commercial
tions of Hellenic Greece, including a popular as- center; goods from the Mediterranean world,
sembly and a council. Hellenistic kings generally eastern Africa, Arabia, and India circulated in
did not intervene in the cities’ local affairs. Thou- its marketplaces. Two handsome boulevards,
sands of Greeks settled in these cities, which were squares, fountains, and great temples added to the
Greek in architecture and contained Greek schools, city’s beauty. Its library, created by the first two
temples, theaters where performances of classical Ptolemies, had about half a million books. The
plays were staged, and gymnasia. Gymnasia were library was part of a larger complex, the museum,
essentially places to exercise, train in sports, and which contained an astronomical observatory
106 ❖ 5 The Hellenistic Age: Cultural Diffusion
Seleucid monarchy
0 400 800 Km.
Pergamene monarchy
0 200 800 Mi.
Ptolemaic monarchy
Antigonid monarchy
Jaxar
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Aral R
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Alexandria Eschata
Ca
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BALK
CAU
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a
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TS
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GREECE Pergamum
Eu Ecbatana
Sardis ph
Athens T
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INDIA
Indu
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ris
SAHARA
Sea
and botanical and zoological gardens. Some of Danube. In Egyptian and Syrian cities, a native
the greatest poets, philosophers, physicians, and elite emerged who spoke Greek, wore Greek-style
scientists of the Mediterranean world utilized clothes, and adopted Greek customs.
these facilities. Athens and other classical Greek Cultural exchange permeated all phases of
cities seemed like provincial towns compared to cultural life. Sculpture showed the influence of
Alexandria. many lands. Historians wrote world histories,
Aside from the proliferation of Greek urban not just local ones. Greek astronomers worked
institutions and ideas, Hellenistic cosmopolitan- with data collected over the centuries by the
ism expressed itself in an increased movement of Babylonians. Like other Near Eastern people,
peoples, the adoption of common currency stan- the Jews—both those in Judea and the Diaspora
dards, and an expansion of trade. International (Jews who lived outside Palestine)—came under
trade was made easier by improvements in navi- the influence of Hellenism. Some Jewish schol-
gation techniques, better port facilities, the exten- ars, admiring Greek learning, expressed Jewish
sion of the monetary economy at the expense of religious ideas in philosophical terms; God was
barter, and the rapid development of banking. identified with reason, and Moses’ Law with
The makeup of Hellenistic armies also reflected the rational order of the universe. They wanted
the cosmopolitanism of the age. Serving the Hel- to show that Mosaic Law, revealed by God, was
lenistic kings were men from lands stretching compatible with the truth discovered by natural
from India to the little-known areas north of the reason. The Hebrew Scriptures were translated
Hellenistic Culture ❖ 107
“on the threshold of the modern world. When sions flowed logically and flawlessly from given
modern science began in the sixteenth century, it assumptions— are a profound witness to the
took up where the Greeks left off.”2 power of the rational mind.
Although Alexandria was the principal center Alexander’s expeditions had opened the eyes
of scientific research, Athens still retained some of Mediterranean peoples to the breadth of the
of its former luster in this area. After Aristotle earth and had stimulated explorations and geo-
died in 322 b.c., he was succeeded as head of graphic research. Eratosthenes (c. 275–194 b.c.),
the Lyceum by Theophrastus and then by Strato. an Alexandrian geographer, sought a scientific
Both wrote treatises on many subjects— logic, understanding of this enlarged world. He divided
ethics, politics, physics, and botany. Theophras- the planet into climatic zones, declared that
tus systematized knowledge of botany in a man- the oceans are joined, and with extraordinary
ner similar to Aristotle’s treatment of animals. ingenuity and accuracy measured the earth’s
Strato is most famous for his study of physics. circumference.
It is likely that Strato, in his investigation of Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287–212 b.c.), who
physical problems, did not rely on logic alone studied at Alexandria, was a mathematician, a
but performed a series of experiments to test his physicist, and an ingenious inventor. His mechani-
investigations. cal inventions, including war engines, dazzled his
Because of its library, the finest in the an- contemporaries. However, Archimedes dismissed
cient world, and its state- supported museum, his practical inventions, preferring to be remem-
Alexandria attracted leading scholars and su- bered as a theoretician. In one treatise, he estab-
perseded Athens in scientific investigation. The lished the general principles of hydrostatics, a
museum was really a research institute—the first branch of physics that deals with the pressure and
institution in history specifically established for equilibrium of liquids at rest.
the purpose of scientific research—in which some
of the best minds of the day studied and worked.
Alexandrian doctors advanced medical skills. Philosophy
They improved surgical instruments and tech-
niques and, by dissecting bodies, added to ana- Hellenistic thinkers preserved the rational tra-
tomical knowledge. Through their research, they dition of Greek philosophy. Like their Hellenic
discovered organs of the body not known until predecessors, they regarded the cosmos as
then, made the distinction between arteries and governed by universal principles intelligible to
veins, divided nerves into those comprising the the rational mind. For the philosophers of both
motor and the sensory system, and identified the ages, a crucial problem was the achievement of
brain as the source of intelligence. Their inves- the good life. Also, both Hellenic and Hellenistic
tigations advanced knowledge of anatomy and thinkers sought rules for human conduct that ac-
physiology to a level that was not significantly corded with rational standards; both believed that
improved until the sixteenth century a.d. individuals attain happiness through their own
Knowledge in the fields of astronomy and efforts, unaided by the gods. In the tradition of
mathematics also increased. Eighteen centuries Socrates, Hellenistic thinkers taught a morality of
before Copernicus, Alexandrian astronomer self-mastery. But although they retained the inher-
Aristarchus (310–230 b.c.) said that the sun was itance of the classical age, they also transformed
the center of the universe, that the planets re- it, for they had to adapt thought to the require-
volved around it, and that the stars were situated ments of a cosmopolitan society.
at great distances from the earth. But these revo- In the Hellenic Age, the starting point of phi-
lutionary ideas were not accepted, and the belief losophy was the citizen’s relationship to the city;
in an earth-centered universe persisted. In geom- in the Hellenistic Age, the point of departure
etry, Euclid, an Alexandrian mathematician who was the solitary individual’s relationship to hu-
lived around 300 b.c., creatively synthesized ear- manity and the individual’s personal destiny in
lier developments. Euclid’s hundreds of geometric a larger and more complex world. Philosophy
proofs, derived from reasoning alone—his conclu- tried to deal with the feeling of alienation—of not
Profile
Polybius historical events. Like Thucydides, he believed
that there are lessons to be learned from a study
Rome’s expansion from a city-state to a world of history and that his work would instruct cur-
empire that embraced many different na- rent and future officials regarding the proper
tionalities and the extension of citizenship course of action under given circumstances. But
to non- Romans exemplified the universalism whereas Thucydides wrote about the Pelopon-
and cosmopolitanism of the Hellenistic Age. nesian War, which involved the Greek city-states,
So too did Polybius’ Histories, which sought Polybius, reflecting the spirit of the Hellenistic
to account for Rome’s unprecedented ac- Age, took the entire Mediterranean world as his
complishment. subject. His aim was to recount how “the Romans
In 168 B.C. at the battle of Pynda, the Romans succeeded in less than fifty-three years in bring-
defeated Macedonia, which ruled Greece, end- ing under their rule the whole inhabited world,
ing its independence. After the battle, Polybius, an achievement which is without parallel in
along with a thousand other Greeks who had human history.”* No question was of greater im-
shown sympathy for Macedonia, was deported portance, he said, than to understand how Rome
to Rome to be questioned. Protected by an influ- acquired this supremacy. Polybius stated ex-
ential Roman family, no harm came to him. plicitly that, unlike his predecessors who wrote
In the tradition of Thucydides, Polybius specialized narrow studies dealing with aspects
believed that a historian had a duty to teach of Greek or Persian history, he was attempting
moral lessons and to enlighten by pointing a unique project—a systematic world history
to general principles governing the course of that “examine[s] the general and comprehensive
belonging—resulting from the weakening of the soul”—to conquer fear and anxiety and to achieve
individual’s attachment to the polis and to arrive at happiness—said Hellenistic philosophers, people
a conception of community that corresponded to must not allow themselves to be troubled by cares
the social realities of a world grown larger. Unlike and concerns that are ultimately trivial.
Plato and Aristotle, Hellenistic philosophers were In striving for tranquility of mind and relief
moralists, not great speculators and theorists. The from conflict, Hellenistic thinkers reflected the
Hellenistic schools of philosophy, in contrast to general anxiety that pervaded their society. They
their predecessors, were far less concerned with the retained respect for reason and aspired to the ra-
scientific understanding of nature. Also in contrast tional life, but by stressing peace of mind and the
to earlier Greek thinkers, they were less concerned effort to overcome anxiety, they were performing
with political organization. Philosophy was now a quasi-religious function. Philosophy was trying
chiefly preoccupied with providing the individual to provide comfort for the individual suffering
with practical guidelines for living; it tried to al- from feelings of loneliness and insignificance. This
leviate spiritual uneasiness and loss of security. It attempt indicated that Greek civilization was un-
aspired to make people ethically independent so dergoing a spiritual transformation. (We examine
that they could achieve happiness in a hostile and the full meaning of this transformation in Chap-
competitive world. As the philosopher Epicurus ters 7 and 8.) The gravitation toward religion in
said: “Empty are the words of that philosopher an effort to relieve despair gathered momentum
who offers no therapy for human suffering. For in the centuries that followed. Thus, Hellenistic
just as there is no use in medical expertise if it does philosophies helped prepare people to accept
not give therapy for bodily disease, so too there is Christianity, which promised personal salvation.
no use in philosophy if it does not expel the suf- Ultimately, the Christian answer to the problems
fering of the soul.”3 To “expel the suffering of the of alienation and the need for community would
110
hate or love, desires that distress the soul. A wise
person would also try to live justly, for one who
behaves unjustly is burdened with troubles. Nor
could there be happiness when one worried about
dying or pleasing the gods.
scheme of events.Ӡ Such a study, he held, was
To Epicurus, dread that the gods punished
an avenue to a wisdom closed to historians who
people in this life and could inflict suffering after
write monographs on parochial, insignificant,
death was the principal cause of anxiety. To re-
and obscure topics.
move this source of human anguish, he favored
Among the reasons Polybius gave for Rome’s
a theory of nature that had no place for super-
success was its political system, which bal-
natural intervention in nature or in people’s lives.
anced aristocratic and democratic elements: the
Therefore, he adopted the physics of Democritus,
Senate, representing the aristocracy, wielded
which taught that all things consist of atoms in
great power, but the Assembly, representing the
motion. In a universe of colliding atoms, there
commoners, also played an important role in
could be no higher intelligence ordering things;
political life. Polybius held that such a political
there was no room for divine activity. Epicurus
balance promoted loyalty and effective govern-
taught that the gods probably did exist but that
ment. Polybius was greatly impressed with the
they could not influence human affairs; hence,
Roman army. The discipline and dedication of
it was pointless to worry about them. Individu-
citizen soldiers, he said, help explain Rome’s
als should order their lives without considering
success in creating a world empire.
the gods. Epicurus embraced atomism, not as a
disinterested scientist aspiring to truth, but as a
*Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, trans. Ian moral philosopher seeking to liberate emotional
Scott-Kilvert (New York: Penguin Classics, 1979), 41. life from fear of the gods.
†Ibid., People could achieve happiness, said Epicurus,
44.
when their bodies were “free from pain” and their
minds “released from worry and fear.” Although
Epicurus wanted to increase pleasure for the in-
dividual, he rejected unbridled hedonism. Be-
cause he believed that happiness must be pursued
predominate over the Greco-Roman attempt at rationally, he thought that the merely sensuous
resolution. pleasures with unpleasant aftereffects (such as
The Hellenistic world gave rise to four prin- overeating and excessive drinking) should be
cipal schools of philosophy: Epicureanism, Sto- avoided. In general, Epicurus espoused the tradi-
icism, Skepticism, and Cynicism. tional Greek view of moderation and prudence.
Most important for achieving the good life, said
Epicureanism. In the tradition of Plato and Ar- Epicurus, was the company of friends.
istotle, Epicurus (342–270 b.c.) founded a school By opening his philosophy to men and women,
in Athens at the end of the fourth century b.c. slave and free, Greek and barbarian, and by sepa-
He broke with the attitude of the Hellenic Age in rating ethics from politics, Epicurus fashioned
significant ways. Unlike classical Greek philoso- a philosophy adapted to the post- Alexandrian
phers, Epicurus, reflecting the Greeks’ changing world of kingdoms and universal culture.
relationship to the city, taught the value of pas-
sivity and withdrawal from civic life. To him, Stoicism. Around the time of the founding
citizenship was not a prerequisite for individual of Epicurus’ school, Zeno (335– 263 b.c.) also
happiness. Wise persons, said Epicurus, would re- opened a school in Athens. Zeno’s teachings, called
frain from engaging in public affairs, for politics Stoicism, became the most important philosophy
is marred by clashing factions and treachery that in the Hellenistic world. Epicurus backed away
deprive individuals of their self-sufficiency, their from civic participation and political life as snares
freedom to choose and to act. Nor would wise that deprived the individual of self-sufficiency.
individuals pursue wealth, power, or fame, as Stoics, however, developed a new formula for the
the pursuit would only provoke anxiety. For the individual’s membership in a political community.
same reason, wise persons would not surrender to By teaching that the world constituted a single
111
Text not available due to copyright restrictions
society, Stoicism gave theoretical expression to At the core of Stoicism was the belief that
the world-mindedness of the age. By arriving at the universe contained a principle of order, vari-
the concept of a world-state, the city of human- ously called Divine Reason (Logos), the Divine
ity, Stoicism offered an answer to the problem of Fire, or God—more the fundamental force of the
community and alienation posed by the decline universe than a living being. This ruling principle
of the city-state. By stressing gaining control over underlay reality and permeated all things; it or-
one’s inner life in dealing with life’s misfortunes, dered the cosmos according to law. The Stoics
Stoicism offered an avenue to individual happi- reasoned that, being part of the universe, people
ness in a world fraught with uncertainty. too shared in the Logos that operated throughout
112
Hellenistic Culture ❖ 113
the cosmos. Inherent in every human soul and dis- citizens of a cosmopolis, a world community.
covered through reason, the Logos enabled people Thus, the Stoics, like the Hebrews, arrived at the
to act virtuously and intelligently and to compre- idea of a common humanity subject to the same
hend the principles of order that governed nature. moral obligations.
This natural law provides human beings with an Pericles had spoken of the Athenians’ obliga-
awareness of what is and is not correct behavior, tion to abide by the laws and traditions of their
especially when dealing with other human beings. city; Stoics, viewing people as citizens of the
Living in accordance with natural law is the av- world, emphasized the individual’s duty to un-
enue to both virtue and happiness. Natural law derstand and obey the natural law that governed
alone commands our ultimate obedience. the cosmos and applied to all. Socrates had taught
Since reason was common to all, human beings a morality of self- mastery— reason exercising
were essentially brothers and fundamentally equal. control over feelings; the Stoics spread Socrates’
Reason gave individuals dignity and enabled them philosophy beyond Athens, beyond Greece, and
to recognize and respect the dignity of others. To enlarged it, offering it as a way of life for all. Like
the Stoics, all people, Greek and barbarian, free Socrates, the Stoics believed that a person’s dis-
and slave, rich and poor, were fellow human be- tinctive quality was the ability to reason and that
ings, and one law, the law of nature, applied to all happiness came from the disciplining of emotions
of them. What people had in common as fellow by the rational part of the soul. Also like Socrates,
human beings far outweighed differences based the Stoics maintained that individuals should
on culture. All rational human beings were fellow progress morally, thus perfecting their character.
114 ❖ 5 The Hellenistic Age: Cultural Diffusion
trouble; therefore, individuals should follow the Cynics wandered shoeless from place to place, wear-
crowd. The life of the mind—metaphysical specu- ing dirty and ragged clothes and carrying staffs. To
lation inquiring into the origin of things, and clever show their disdain for society’s customs, Cynics
reasoning—did not bring truth or happiness, so grew long scraggly beards, used foul language, and
why should one bother with it? Suspending judg- cultivated bad manners. Diogenes supposedly said:
ment, recognizing the inability to understand, not “Look at me, . . . I am without a home, without a
committing oneself to a system of belief—by these city, without property, without a slave; I sleep on the
means one could achieve peace of mind. Instead of ground; I have neither wife nor children, no misera-
embracing doctrines, said the Greek writer Lucian, ble governor’s mansion, but only earth, and sky, and
individuals should go their way “with ever a smile one rough cloak. Yet what do I lack? Am I not free
and never a passion.”4 This was the position of from pain and fear, am I not free?”5
those Skeptics who were suspicious of ideas, par- In their attack on inherited conventions, Cyn-
ticularly all encompassing rational systems, and ics strove for self-sufficiency and spiritual secu-
hostile to intellectuals. rity. Theirs was the most radical philosophical
The more sophisticated Skeptics did not run quest for meaning and peace of soul during the
away from ideas but pointed out their limitations; Hellenistic Age.
they did not avoid theories but refuted them. In
doing so, they did not reject reason. Rather, they
focused on a problem of reason: whether indeed THE HELLENISTIC LEGACY
it could arrive at truth. Thus, Carneades of Cyrene
(213–129 b.c.) insisted that all ideas, even mathe- The Hellenistic Age encompassed the period
matical principles, must be regarded as hypotheses from the death of Alexander to the formation of
and assumptions, not as absolutes. Just because the the Roman Empire. During these three centuries,
universe showed signs of order, Carneades argued, Greek civilization spread eastward as far as India
one could not assume that it had been created by and westward to Rome. As Greeks settled in the
God. Since there was never any certainty, only Near East and intermingled with Egyptians, Syr-
probability, morality should derive from practical ians, Persians, and others, the parochialism of the
experience rather than from dogma. Greek polis gave way to a new cosmopolitanism,
an interest in the culture of other ethnic groups,
Cynicism. The Cynics were not theoretical phi- and to universalism, an awareness that people
losophers but supreme individualists who rebelled were members of a world community that tran-
against established values and conventions— scended citizenship in one’s native city. Both phi-
against every barrier of society that restrained losophy and the arts reflected these new concerns.
individuals from following their own natures. Rome, conqueror of the Mediterranean world
Cynics regarded laws and public opinion, private and transmitter of Hellenism, inherited the uni-
property and employment, and wives and children versalist tendencies of the Hellenistic Age and em-
as hindrances to the free life. Extreme individu- bodied them in its law, institutions, and art. So too
alists, the Cynics had no loyalty to family, city, did Christianity, which welcomed converts from
or kingdom and ridiculed religion, philosophy, every ethnic background and held that God loved
and literature. They renounced possessions and all people and that Christ died for all humanity.
showed no respect for authority. When Diogenes, The Stoic idea of natural law that applies to all
a fourth-century b.c. Cynic, met Alexander the human beings and its corollary that human beings
Great, he is supposed to have asked only that the are fundamentally equal were crucial to the for-
great conqueror get out of his light. mulation of the modern idea that the individual is
Cynics put their philosophy into practice. They endowed with natural rights that no government
cultivated indifference and apathy and scorned can violate. A parallel can be drawn between the
wealth, fame, and noble birth. To harden themselves Hellenistic Age, in which Greek civilization spread
against life’s misfortunes, they engaged in strenuous to the Near East, and our own age, in which the
exercise, endured cold and hunger, and lived asceti- ideas, institutions, and technology of Western civi-
cally. Not tied down by property or employment, lization have been exported throughout the globe.
116 ❖ 5 The Hellenistic Age: Cultural Diffusion
❖ ❖ ❖
■
Evolution of the Roman
Constitution
Roman Expansion to 146 B.C.
R ome’s great achievement was to transcend
the narrow political orientation of the
city-state and to create a world-state that
unified the different nations of the Mediterranean
world. Regarding the polis as the only means to
■ Culture in the Republic the good life, the Greeks had not desired a larger
■ Collapse of the Republic political unit and had almost totally excluded for-
eigners from citizenship. Although Hellenistic phi-
losophers had conceived the possibility of a world
community, Hellenistic politics could not shape
one. Rome overcame the limitations of the city-
Focus Questions state mentality and developed an empire- wide
system of law and citizenship. The Hebrews were
1. What was the significance of the conflict distinguished by their prophets and the Greeks
between plebeians and patricians? by their philosophers. The Romans produced no
2. What factors enabled the city-state Amos or Isaiah, and no Plato or Aristotle; their
of Rome to conquer Italy and the genius found expression in law and government
and in the transmission of the Greek cultural
Mediterranean world?
achievement.
3. What was the significance of Roman Historians divide Roman history into two
expansion? broad periods: the period of the Republic began
4. What were the reasons for the collapse of in 509 b.c. with the overthrow of the Etruscan
the Roman Republic? monarchy; the period of the Empire began in
27 b.c., when Octavian (Augustus) became in ef-
fect the first Roman emperor, ending almost five
hundred years of republican self-government. By
conquering the Mediterranean world and extend-
ing Roman law and, in some instances, citizenship
to different nationalities, the Roman Republic tran-
scended the parochialism typical of the city-state.
The Republic initiated the trend toward political
and legal universalism, which reached fruition in
the second period of Roman history, the Empire.
EVOLUTION OF THE
ROMAN CONSTITUTION
By the eighth century b.c., peasant communities
existed on some of Rome’s seven hills near the
Tiber River in central Italy. To the north stood
Etruscan cities and to the south Greek cities. The
more advanced civilizations of both Etruscans and
Greeks were gradually absorbed by the Romans.
The origin of the Etruscans remains a mystery,
although some scholars believe that they came
from Asia Minor and settled in north- central
Italy. From them, Romans acquired architectural
styles and skills in road construction, sanitation,
118
Chronology 6.1 ❖ The Roman Republic
509 B.C. Expulsion of the Etruscan monarch
450 Law of Twelve Tables
287 End of the Struggle of the Orders
264–241 First Punic War: Rome acquires provinces
218–201 Second Punic War: Hannibal is defeated
149–146 Third Punic War: destruction of Carthage
133–122 Land reforms by the Gracchi brothers; they are murdered by the Senate
88–83 Conflict between Sulla and the forces of Marius; Sulla emerges as dictator
79 After restoring rule by Senate, Sulla retires
73–71 Slave revolt is led by Spartacus
58–51 Caesar campaigns in Gaul
49–44 Caesar is dictator of Rome
31 B.C. Antony and Cleopatra are defeated at Actium by Octavian
hydraulic engineering (including underground view law as an expression of the public will and
conduits), metallurgy, ceramics, and portrait not as the creation of god-kings, priest-kings, or a
sculpture. Symbols of authority and rule—purple priestly caste.
robes, ivory-veneer chariots, thrones for state of- The impetus for the growth of the Roman
ficials, and a bundle of rods and an ax held by constitution came from a conflict— known as
attendants—were also borrowed from the Etrus- the Struggle of the Orders—between the patri-
cans. Etruscan words and names entered into the cians and the commoners, or plebeians. At the
Latin language, and Roman religion absorbed beginning of the fifth century b.c., the patrician-
Etruscan gods. dominated government consisted of two annually
The Etruscans had expanded their territory in elected executives called consuls, the Centuriate
Italy during the seventh and sixth centuries b.c., Assembly, and the Senate. Patricians owned most
and they controlled the monarchy in Rome. How- of the land and controlled the army. The two con-
ever, defeated by Celts, Greeks, and finally Ro- suls, who came from the nobility, commanded
mans, the Etruscans had ceased to exercise any the army, served as judges, and initiated legisla-
political power in Italy by the third century b.c. tion. To prevent either consul from becoming an
Rome became a republic at the end of the sixth autocrat, decisions had to be approved by both
century b.c.—the traditional date is 509 b.c.— of them. In times of crisis, the consuls were au-
when the landowning aristocrats, or patricians, thorized by the Senate to nominate a dictator; he
overthrew the Etruscan king. In the opening phase would possess absolute powers during the emer-
of republican history, religion governed the peo- gency, but these powers would expire after six
ple, dictated the law, and legitimized the rule of months. The consuls were aided by other annually
the patricians—aristocrats by birth who regarded elected magistrates and administrators. The Cen-
themselves as the preservers of sacred traditions. turiate Assembly was a popular assembly but, be-
Gradually, the Romans loosened the ties between cause of voting procedures, was controlled by the
religion and politics and hammered out a consti- nobility. The Assembly elected consuls and other
tutional system that paralleled the Greek achieve- magistrates and made the laws, which also needed
ment of rationalizing and secularizing politics and Senate approval. The Senate advised the Assembly
law. In time, the Romans, like the Greeks, came to but did not itself enact laws; it controlled public
119
120 ❖ 6 The Roman Republic: City-State to World Empire
finances and foreign policy. Senators either were defend the interests of poor plebeians. By us-
appointed for life terms by the consuls or were ing bribes, the ruling oligarchy of patricians and
former magistrates. The Senate was the principal wealthy plebeians maintained control over the
organ of patrician power. Assembly, and the Senate remained a bastion of
The tension between patricians and common- aristocratic power.
ers stemmed from plebeian grievances, which A patron–client relationship extending back to
included enslavement for debt, discrimination in the days of the monarchy reinforced upper-class
the courts, prevention of intermarriage with pa- rule. In early Rome, a plebeian seeking protection
tricians, lack of political representation, and the for himself and his family in the courts looked
absence of a written code of laws. Resenting their to a patrician for assistance. In return, the plebe-
inferior status and eager for economic relief, the ian gave his patrician patron both military and
plebeians organized and waged a struggle for po- political support. Enduring over the centuries,
litical, legal, and social equality. They had one de- the patron– client relationship assured power-
cisive weapon: their threat to secede from Rome, ful nobles of their commoner clients’ support in
that is, not to pay taxes, work, or serve in the the Assembly, and it provided clients with food,
army. Realizing that Rome, which was constantly money, and protection.
involved in warfare on the Italian peninsula, could Thus, from beginning to end, an upper
not endure without plebeian help, the pragmatic class— sometimes expanded to allow entry of
patricians begrudgingly made concessions. Thus, new talent and wealth— governed the Roman
the plebeians slowly gained legal equality. Republic. This aristocracy’s view of liberty al-
Early in the fifth century, the plebeians won ways remained elitist: freedom for Rome’s best
the right to form their own assembly (the Plebe- men to achieve virtue (virtus), dignity (dignitas),
ian Assembly, which was later enlarged and called and fame (fama) by competing with one another
the Tribal Assembly). This Assembly could elect for political power and privilege. Cicero (see be-
tribunes, officials who were empowered to pro- low), himself a member of the ruling elite, aptly
tect plebeian rights. As a result of plebeian pres- summed up its outlook: “the safety of the State
sure, in about 450 b.c., the first Roman code of depends upon the wisdom of its best men, espe-
laws was written. Called the Twelve Tables, the cially since Nature has provided not only that
code gave plebeians some degree of protection those men who are superior in virtue and in spirit
against unfair and oppressive patrician officials, should rule the weaker, but also that the weaker
who could interpret customary law in an arbi- should be willing to obey the stronger.” 1 Like
trary way. Other concessions gained later by the others of the upper class, Cicero held that “the
plebeians included the right to intermarry with perversity and rashness of popular assemblies”
patricians; access to the highest political, judicial, precluded them from governing effectively. 2
and religious offices in the state; and the elimina- In the Greek cities, tyrants had succeeded in
tion of slavery as payment for debt. In 287 b.c., breaking aristocratic dominance, thereby clear-
a date generally recognized as the termination of ing a pathway for democratic government. But
the plebeian-patrician struggle, laws passed by the in the Roman Republic, the nobility maintained
Tribal Assembly no longer required Senate ap- its tight grip on the reins of power until the civil
proval. Now the plebeians had full civil equality wars of the first century b.c.
and legal protection, and their assembly had full Deeming themselves Rome’s finest citizens, the
power to enact legislation. ruling oligarchy led Rome during its period of
Despite these reforms, Rome was still ruled by expansion and demonstrated a sense of respon-
an upper class. The oligarchy that now held power sibility and a talent for statesmanship. In noble
consisted of patricians and influential plebeians families, parents and elders prepared the young
who had joined forces with the old nobility. Mar- for public service. They recounted the glorious
riages between patricians and politically power- deeds of ancestors who had served Rome, and
ful plebeians strengthened this alliance. Generally they reminded youngsters of their responsibility
only wealthy plebeians became tribunes, and they to bring additional honors to the family by win-
tended to side with the old nobility rather than ning distinction as a commander, orator, or jurist.
Evolution of the Roman Constitution ❖ 121
the patrician– plebeian conflict from turning Rome’s conquest of Italy stemmed in part
into a fight to the death. At the time of the class from superior military organization, grueling
struggle, Rome was also engaged in the extension training, and iron discipline. From the Greeks
of its power over the Italian peninsula. Without they acquired the most advanced methods of
civic harmony and stability, Rome could not have siegecraft. Also copying the Greeks, the Romans
achieved expansion. organized their soldiers into battle formations;
in contrast, their opponents often fought as dis-
organized hordes, which were prone to panic
ROMAN EXPANSION TO 146 B.C. and flight. Fighting as part of a unit strength-
ened the courage and confidence of the Roman
By 146 b.c., Rome was the dominant state in the soldier, for he knew that his comrades would
Mediterranean world. Roman expansion occurred stand with him. Roman soldiers who deserted
in three main stages: the uniting of the Italian their posts or fled from battle were punished
peninsula, which gave Rome the forces that trans- and disgraced, an ordeal more terrible than fac-
formed it from a city-state into a great power; ing up to the enemy. The promise of glory and
the collision with Carthage, from which Rome rewards also impelled the Roman soldier to dis-
emerged as ruler of the western Mediterranean; tinguish himself in battle.
and the subjugation of the Hellenistic states, Ultimately, Rome’s success was due to the
which brought Romans in close contact with character of its people and the quality of its
Greek civilization. As Rome expanded territori- statesmanship. The Roman farmer-soldier was
ally, its leaders enlarged their vision. Instead of dedicated, rugged, persevering, and self-reliant.
restricting citizenship to people having ethnic He could march thirty miles a day laden with
kinship, Rome assimilated other peoples into arms, armor, and equipment weighing sixty
its political community. Just as Roman law had pounds. In the face of danger, he remained reso-
grown to cope with the earlier grievances of the lute and tenacious, obedient to the poet Virgil’s
plebeians, so too it adjusted to the new situations maxim: “Yield you not to ill fortune, but go
resulting from the creation of a multinational against it with more daring.” Romans willingly
empire. The city of Rome was evolving into the made sacrifices so that Rome might endure. In
city of humanity—the cosmopolis envisioned by conquering Italy, they were united by a moral and
the Stoics. religious devotion to their city strong enough to
overcome social conflict, factional disputes, and
personal ambition.
The Uniting of Italy Despite its army’s might, Rome could not
have mastered Italy without the cooperation of
During the first stage of expansion, Rome ex- other Italian peoples. Like other ancient peo-
tended its hegemony over Italy, subduing in the ples, Rome plundered, enslaved, and brutalized,
process neighboring Latin kinsmen, semicivilized at times with great ferocity. But it also endeav-
Italian tribes, the once-dominant Etruscans, and ored, through generous treatment, to gain the
Greek city-states in southern Italy. At the begin- loyalty of those it had conquered. Some defeated
ning, Roman warfare was principally motivated Italian communities retained a measure of self-
by the hunger for more farmland. As Rome ex- government but turned the conduct of foreign
panded and its territory and responsibilities affairs over to Rome and contributed contin-
increased, it was often drawn into conflict to pro- gents to the army when Rome went to war.
tect its widened boundaries and its allies. Also fu- Other conquered people received partial or full
eling Roman expansion was an aristocratic ethos, citizenship. In extending its dominion over Italy,
which placed the highest value on glory and repu- Rome displayed a remarkable talent for convert-
tation. Demonstrating prowess in war, aristocrats ing former enemies into allies and eventually
believed, was the finest way to win the esteem of into Roman citizens. No Greek city had ever en-
fellow Romans, bring honor to their families, and visaged integrating nonnatives into its political
enhance their own political careers. community.
Primary Source
Polybius: The Roman Army who has wounded one of the enemy, a spear;
to one who has killed and stripped an enemy, a
cup if he is in the infantry, or horse-trappings if
The discipline and dedication of the citizen soldiers in the cavalry—originally the gift was simply a
help explain Rome’s success in conquering a world lance. These presentations are not made to men
empire. In the following account, Polybius (see who have wounded or stripped an enemy in the
Profile in Chapter 5) tells how the commanders en- course of a pitched battle, or at the storming of a
forced obedience and fostered heroism. city, but to those who during a skirmish or some
similar situation in which there is no necessity
A court-martial composed of the tribunes im- to engage in single combat, have voluntarily and
mediately sits to try him [a soldier], and if he is deliberately exposed themselves to danger.
found guilty, he is punished by beating (fustuar- At the storming of a city the first man to
ium). This is carried out as follows. The tribune scale the wall is awarded a crown of gold. In the
takes a cudgel and lightly touches the con- same way those who have shielded and saved
demned man with it, whereupon all the soldiers one of their fellow-citizens or of the allies are
fall upon him with clubs and stones, and usually honoured with gifts. . . . The men who receive
kill him in the camp itself. But even those who these trophies not only enjoy great prestige in
contrive to escape are no better off. How indeed the army and soon afterwards in their homes,
could they be? They are not allowed to return to but they are also singled out for precedence
their homes, and none of their family would dare in religious processions when they return. On
to receive such a man into the house. Those who these occasions nobody is allowed to wear dec-
have once fallen into this misfortune are com- orations save those who have been honoured
pletely and finally ruined. The optio [lieutenant] for their bravery by the consuls, and it is the
and the decurio [sergeant] of the squadron are li- custom to hang up the trophies they have won
able to the same punishment if they fail to pass in the most conspicuous places in their houses,
on the proper orders at the proper moment to and to regard them as proofs and visible sym-
the patrols and the decurio of the next squad- bols of their valour. So when we consider this
ron. The consequence of the extreme severity of people’s almost obsessive concern with military
this penalty and of the absolute impossibility of rewards and punishments, and the immense
avoiding it is that the night watches of the Ro- importance which they attach to both, it is not
man army are faultlessly kept. . . . surprising that they emerge with brilliant suc-
The Romans also have an excellent method cess from every war in which they engage.
of encouraging young soldiers to face danger.
Whenever any have especially distinguished
themselves in a battle, the general assembles
the troops and calls forward those he considers Question for Analysis
to have shown exceptional courage. He praises 1. How did the Romans ensure good discipline
them first for their gallantry in action and for and promote bravery among their soldiers?
anything in their previous conduct which is
particularly worthy of mention, and then he Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, trans. Ian Scott-
distributes gifts such as the following: to a man Kilvert (New York: Penguin Books, 1984), 332–334.
The Italian Confederation formed by Rome revolutions within city-states, and protected the
was a unique and creative organization that con- Italians from barbarians (Gallic invaders from
ferred on Italians a measure of security and order the north). In the wars of conquest outside Italy,
previously unknown. Rome prevented internecine a share of the glory and plunder fell to all Italians,
wars within the peninsula, suppressed internal another benefit of the confederation.
123
124 ❖ 6 The Roman Republic: City-State to World Empire
By 264 b.c., Rome had achieved two striking The two powers had stumbled into a collision,
successes. First, it had secured social cohesion by the First Punic War (264–241 b.c.), that neither
redressing the grievances of the plebeians. Sec- had deliberately sought. Although Rome suf-
ond, it had increased its military might by con- fered severe losses—including the annihilation of
quering Italy, thus obtaining the human resources an army that had invaded North Africa and the
with which it would conquer the Mediterranean destruction of hundreds of ships in battle and
world. storms—the Romans never considered anything
but a victor’s peace. Drawing manpower from
loyal allies throughout Italy, Rome finally pre-
Conquest of the Mediterranean World vailed over Carthage, which had to surrender Sic-
ily to Rome. Three years later, Rome seized the
When Rome finished unifying Italy, there were islands of Corsica and Sardinia from a weakened
five great powers in the Mediterranean area: the Carthage. With the acquisition of these territories
Seleucid monarchy in the Near East, the Ptole- beyond Italy, which were made into provinces,
maic monarchy in Egypt, the kingdom of Mace- Rome had the beginnings of an empire.
donia, Carthage in the western Mediterranean, Carthaginian expansion in Spain in order to
and the Roman- dominated Italian Confedera- recoup wealth—Spain was rich in metals—and to
tion. One hundred twenty years later, by 146 b.c., obtain manpower for the depleted Carthaginian
Rome had subjected the other states to its forces precipitated the Second Punic War (218–
dominion—“an event for which the past affords 201 b.c.). Coming from Spain, the Carthaginian
no precedent,” said the contemporary Greek his- army was commanded by Hannibal (247– 183
torian Polybius. b.c.), whose military genius astounded the an-
Roman expansion beyond Italy did not proceed cients. Hannibal led a seasoned army, complete
according to predetermined design. Indeed, some with war elephants for charging enemy lines,
Roman leaders considered involvement in foreign through passes in the Alps so steep and icy that
adventures a threat to both Rome’s security and men and animals sometimes lost their footing and
its traditional way of life. But it is difficult for a fell to their deaths. Some twenty- six thousand
great power not to get drawn into conflicts as its men survived the crossing into Italy; fifteen thou-
interests grow, and, without planning it, Rome ac- sand more were recruited from Gallic tribesmen of
quired an overseas empire. the Po valley. At the battle of Cannae (216 b.c.),
Shortly after asserting supremacy in Italy, 50,000 Carthaginian mercenaries, principally
Rome engaged Carthage, the other great power Libyans, Numidians, Gauls, and Spaniards, faced
in the western Mediterranean, in a prolonged some 60,000 Roman citizen-soldiers. In a brilliant
conflict. Founded about 800 b.c. by Phoenicians, encircling maneuver, the Carthaginian forces com-
the North African city of Carthage had become pletely destroyed the largest army Rome had ever
a prosperous commercial center. Its wealth was put into the field. The butchering by hand of the
derived from a virtual monopoly of trade in the trapped Roman soldiers lasted for hours.
western Mediterranean and along the western Romans were in a state of shock. Mixed with
coasts of Africa and Europe. The Carthaginians grief for the dead was the fear that Hannibal
(Poeni in Latin) had acquired an empire compris- would crown his victory with an attack on Rome
ing North Africa and coastal regions of southern itself. To prevent panic, the Senate ordered women
Spain, Sardinia, Corsica, and western Sicily. and children indoors, limited mourning to thirty
War between the two great powers began be- days, and prepared to raise a new army. Adding to
cause Rome feared Carthage’s designs on the Rome’s distress was the defection of many south-
northern Sicilian city of Messana. Rome was ap- ern Italian allies to Hannibal.
prehensive about the southern Italian city-states These were the Republic’s worst days. Nev-
that were its allies, fearing that Carthage would ertheless, says the Roman historian Livy, the
use Messana either to attack them or to interfere Romans did not breathe a word of peace. Han-
with their trade. Rome decided that the security nibal could not follow up his victory at Cannae
of its allies required intervention in Sicily. with a finishing blow, for Rome wisely would
Roman Expansion to 146 B.C. ❖ 125
C AST M ADE FROM TRAJAN ’ S C OLUMN . Emperor Trajan (a.d. 98– 117)
constructed a column to commemorate his campaigns. One of the reliefs depicts
a Roman fleet landing at the port of Acona. During the First Punic War, Rome had
become a naval power able to counter Carthage’s fleet. (© DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, N.Y.)
not allow its army to be lured into another ma- even enlisting seventeen- year olds and promis-
jor engagement. Nor did Hannibal possess the ing freedom to slaves and amnesty to criminals
manpower to capture the city itself, with its who volunteered to serve. To finance the army,
formidable fortifications. In addition, most of taxes were doubled and women surrendered
Rome’s Italian allies remained loyal, although their jewelry to the state. Most important, the
many south Italian cities went over to Hannibal. Roman fleet prevented supplies from reaching
Rome quickly raised and equipped new legions, the Carthaginians.
126 ❖ 6 The Roman Republic: City-State to World Empire
When Rome invaded North Africa, threaten- province of Africa. Rome’s savage and irrational
ing Carthage, Hannibal was forced to withdraw behavior toward a helpless Carthage was an early
his troops from Italy in order to defend his home- sign of the deterioration of senatorial leadership;
land. Hannibal, who had won every battle in Italy, there would be others.
was defeated by Scipio Africanus at the battle Rome had not yet reached the limits of its ex-
of Zama in North Africa in 202 b.c., ending the pansion, but there was no doubt that by 146 b.c.
Second Punic War. Carthage was compelled to the Mediterranean world had been subjected to
surrender Spain and to give up its elephants and its will. No power could stand up to Rome.
its navy. Sheer determination, its vast reserves of
manpower, and the state’s willingness to garner
its wealth to strengthen its legions explain Rome’s Consequences of Expansion
victory.
The Second Punic War left Rome as the sole As a result of Rome’s eastern conquests, thou-
great power in the western Mediterranean; it also sands of Greeks came to Rome; many were edu-
hastened Rome’s entry into the politics of the Hel- cated persons who had been enslaved because of
lenistic world. In the year after Cannae, during the conquests. This influx accelerated the process
Rome’s darkest ordeal, Philip V of Macedonia of Hellenization—the adoption of Greek culture—
formed an alliance with Hannibal. Fearing that the which had begun earlier with Rome’s contact with
Macedonian ruler might have intentions of invad- the Greek cities of southern Italy.
ing Italy, Rome initiated the First Macedonian War A crucial consequence of expansion was Ro-
and won it in 205 b.c. To end Macedonian influ- man contact with the legal experience of other
ence in Greece, which Rome increasingly viewed peoples, including the Greeks. Roman jurists,
as a Roman protectorate, the Romans fought two demonstrating the Roman virtues of pragma-
other wars with Macedonia. Finally, in 148 b.c., tism and common sense, selectively incorporated
Rome created the province of Macedonia. into Roman law elements of the legal codes and
Intervention in Greece led to Roman involve- traditions of these nations. Thus, Roman jurists
ment in the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Near East empirically fashioned the jus gentium, the law of
and Asia Minor—Seleucia, Egypt, and Pergamum. nations, or peoples, which gradually was applied
The Hellenistic states became client kingdoms of throughout the Empire (see “Law,” in Chapter 7).
Rome and consequently lost their freedom of ac- Rome’s conquests also contributed to the rise of
tion in foreign affairs. a business class, whose wealth was derived from
Roman imperialism is a classic example of a trade, army supply contracts, construction, and
great power being snared into overseas adven- tax collecting in the provinces. Rome had no pro-
tures. To achieve security, Rome protected its al- fessional civil service, and the collection of public
lies, prevented endemic warfare, and thwarted revenues was open to bidding—the highest bid-
any would-be conquerors of Italy. In the course der receiving a contract to collect customs duties,
of these actions came considerable spoils of war, rents on public lands, and tribute in the provinces.
but Rome’s principal motives for expansion were The collector’s profit came from milking as much
strategic and political, not economic. tax money as he could from the provincials. These
In 146 b.c., the same year that Rome’s he- financiers belonged to a group called the Equites,
gemony over the Hellenistic world was assured, which also included prosperous landowners. Gen-
Rome concluded an unnecessary Third Punic War erally, the interests of the Equites paralleled those
with Carthage. Although Carthage was by then of the ruling oligarchy. At times, however, they did
a second-rate power and no longer a threat to support generals—notably Julius Caesar—who
Rome’s security, Rome had launched this war of challenged senatorial rule.
annihilation against Carthage in 149 b.c. The Ro- The immense wealth brought to Rome from
mans were driven by old hatreds and the traumatic ransacked eastern cities and overworked Span-
memory of Hannibal’s near conquest. Rome sold ish silver mines gave the upper classes a taste for
Carthaginian survivors into slavery, obliterated luxury. The rich built elaborate homes, which
the city, and turned the territory into the Roman they decorated with fine furniture and works of
Roman Expansion to 146 B.C. ❖ 127
art and staffed with servants, cooks, and tutors. subdued. In 73 b.c., gladiators led by Spartacus
They delighted in sumptuous banquets, which broke out of their barracks and were joined by
contained all types of delicacies. Wealthy matrons tens of thousands of runaways. Spartacus aimed
wore fancy gowns and elaborate hairstyles. These to escape from Italy to Gaul and Thrace, the
excesses prompted Roman moralists to castigate homelands of many slaves. The slave army, which
the people for violating traditional values. Moral- grew to some 150,000, defeated Roman armies
ists lamented that the new prosperity produced a and devastated southern Italy before the superior
deterioration in the Roman character. might of Rome prevailed. Some 6,000 of the de-
Roman conquerors had transported to Italy feated slaves were tortured and crucified on the
hundreds of thousands of war captives, includ- road from Capua to Rome.
ing Greeks, from all over the Empire. The en- Republican Rome treated the people in overseas
slavement and deportations would continue in lands differently from its Italian allies. Italians were
the first century b.c. (Julius Caesar, for example, drafted into the Roman army, but provincials as a
enslaved some one million Gauls.) It is estimated rule served only in emergencies, for Rome was not
that between 80 and 8 b.c. more than two million certain of their loyalty or of their readiness to meet
enslaved aliens were transported to Italy. By the Roman standards of discipline. Whereas Rome had
middle of that century, slaves constituted about been somewhat generous in extending citizenship
one-third of Italy’s population, compared with to Italians, provincials were granted citizenship
about 10 percent before the Second Punic War. only in exceptional cases. All but some favored
The wars of conquest (and piracy) had made the communities were required to pay taxes to Rome.
slave trade a vast and lucrative commercial ven- Roman governors, lesser officials, and businessmen
ture. Like the Greeks, Romans considered slavery found the provinces a source of quick wealth; they
indispensable for the preservation of civilized life. were generally unrestrained by the Senate, which
Roman jurists and intellectuals regarded the divi- was responsible for administering the overseas ter-
sion of humanity into masters and slaves as a rule ritories. Exploitation, corruption, looting, and ex-
of nature and viewed the slave as an animate tool, tortion soon ran rampant. “No administration in
an object that produced and served; like other history has ever devoted itself so whole-heartedly
forms of property, slaves could be sold or rented to fleecing its subjects for the private benefit of its
out by their masters. The more fortunate or more ruling class as Rome of the last age of the Repub-
capable slaves worked as domestic servants, ar- lic,” concludes E. Badian.3 The Roman nobility
tisans, bookkeepers, scribes, and administrators; proved unfit to manage a world empire.
the luckless and more numerous, branded and Despite numerous examples of misrule in the
chained, toiled from dawn to dusk on the grow- provinces, Roman administration had many posi-
ing number of plantations or died early laboring tive features. Rome generally allowed its subjects
in mines under inhuman conditions. So brutal a large measure of self-government and did not
was their existence that they begged for death, interfere with religion and local customs. Usually,
reported a Roman observer. Except for the very the Roman taxes worked out to be no higher, and
poor, every free Roman owned at least one slave. in some instances lower, than those under previ-
Roman masters often treated their slaves bru- ous regimes. Most important, Rome reduced the
tally: torture was common, and masters sexually endemic warfare that had plagued these regions.
exploited both male and female slaves for their Essentially, Rome used its power for con-
own pleasure or compelled them to work as pros- structive ends: to establish order; to build roads,
titutes. But strong personal bonds between mas- aqueducts, and public buildings; and to promote
ter and slave also existed—for example, there are Hellenism. When Rome destroyed, it rebuilt cre-
accounts of slaves enduring torture and death to atively; when it conquered, it spread civilization
protect their masters from enemies. and maintained peace. But no doubt its hundreds
Although slave uprisings were not common, of thousands of prisoners of war, uprooted, en-
their ferocity terrified the Romans. In 135 b.c., slaved, and degraded, did not view Roman con-
slaves in Sicily revolted and captured some key quest as beneficial; nor did the butchered Spanish
towns, defeating Roman forces before being tribesmen or the massacred Carthaginians.
128
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Culture in the Republic ❖ 129
To these hapless victims, Rome appeared as an came to Rome and introduced Romans to Hel-
evil oppressor, not as the creator of a cosmopolis lenic cultural achievements. As they conquered the
that brought order and security. eastern Mediterranean, Roman generals began to
ship libraries and works of art from Greek cities
to Rome. Roman sculpture and painting imitated
CULTURE IN THE REPUBLIC Greek prototypes. In time, Romans acquired from
Greece knowledge of scientific thought, philoso-
One of the chief consequences of expansion was phy, medicine, and geography. Roman writers and
increased contact with Greek culture. During the orators used Greek history, poetry, drama, and
third century b.c., Greek civilization started to ex- oratory as models. The Elder Pliny (a.d. 23–79),
ercise an increasing and fruitful influence on the who wrote on many topics but is most famous for
Roman mind. Greek teachers, both slave and free, Natural History, refers to Homer’s poetry as “the
most valuable work of the human mind.”4 Cicero,
Rome’s greatest orator, tells us that ambitious
young men eager to learn the art of oratory but
◀ Map 6.1 ROMAN CONQUESTS DURING THE unaware of the existence of any “course of train-
REPUBLIC The conquest of Italy gave Rome the ing or any rules of art . . . attain[ed] what skill
manpower to expand throughout the Mediterranean they could by means of their natural ability. . . .
world. In the Second Punic War, Rome defeated its But later, having heard the Greek orators, gained
greatest rival, Carthage. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.) acquaintance with their literature and called in
130 ❖ 6 The Roman Republic: City-State to World Empire
Greek teachers, our people were fired with a re- Hurried here, hurried there—
ally incredible enthusiasm for eloquence.”5 Torn asunder, I am blind
Adopting the humanist outlook of the Greeks, With a cloud upon my mind.6
the Romans came to value human intelligence and
eloquent and graceful prose and poetry. Wealthy Terence (c. 185–159 b.c.), another playwright,
Romans retained Greek tutors, poets, and phi- was originally from North Africa and was brought
losophers in their households and sent their sons to Rome as a slave. His owner, a Roman senator,
to Athens to study. By the late Republic, educated provided the talented youth with an education
Romans could speak and read Greek. Thus, Rome and freed him. Terence demonstrated humane-
creatively assimilated the Greek achievement and ness, a quality that can be seen in his attitude to-
transmitted it to others, thereby extending the ward child rearing.
orbit of Hellenism. To be sure, some conserva-
tive Romans were hostile to the Greek influence, I give—I overlook; I do not judge it necessary
which they felt threatened traditional Roman to exert my authority in everything. . . . I think
values that had accounted for Roman greatness. it better to restrain children through a sense
Cato the Elder (234–149 b.c.) and other Roman of shame and liberal treatment than through
moralists denounced Socrates for undermining fear. . . . This is the duty of a parent to ac-
respect for Athenian law and warned that Greek custom a son to do what is right rather of his
philosophy might lure Roman youth into similar own choice, than through fear of another.7
subversive behavior. Moreover, said these moral-
ists, Greek philosophy, with its endless discussions Catullus (c. 84–c. 54 b.c.) is generally regarded
of abstract themes, contrasted with the virtue as one of the greatest lyric poets in world litera-
most cherished by Romans—gravitas, or serious- ture. He was a native of northern Italy whose
ness, which enabled Romans to conduct public af- father had provided him with a gentleman’s ed-
fairs effectively. Philosophy seemed designed for ucation. In his early twenties, Catullus came to
a life of leisure and inaction, whereas a virtuous Rome and fell in love with Clodia; she was the
Roman was actively involved in practical civic wife of the governor of Cisalpine Gaul, who was
matters. But the tide of Hellenism could not be away at the time. For the older Clodia, Catullus
stemmed. was a refreshing diversion from her many other
Plautus (c. 254– 184 b.c.), Rome’s greatest lovers. Tormented by Clodia’s numerous affairs,
playwright, adopted features of fourth- and third- Catullus struggled to break away from passion’s
century Greek comedy. His plays had Greek char- grip.
acters and took place in Greek settings; the actors
wore the Greek style of dress. His characters I look no more for her to be my lover
resembled those found in Menander’s comedies: a As I love her. That thing could never be.
cunning slave, a lovesick youth, a foolish old man, Nor pray I for her purity—that’s over.
a braggart soldier. The plots often consisted of a Only this much I pray, that I be free.
struggle between two antagonists over a woman Free from insane desire myself, and guarded
or money, or both. The plays usually had the end- In peace at last. O heaven, grant that yet
ing desired by the audience: the “good guy” won, The faith by which I’ve lived may be
and the “bad guy” received a fitting punishment. rewarded.
The pains of love were a common theme. Let me forget.8
Not the throes of all mankind Lucretius (c. 96–c. 55 b.c.), the leading Roman
Equal my distracted mind. Epicurean philosopher, was influenced by the civil
I strain and I toss war fostered by two generals, Marius and Sulla,
On a passionate cross; which is discussed later in this chapter. Distraught
Love’s goad makes me reel, by the seemingly endless strife, Lucretius yearned
I whirl on Love’s wheel, for philosophical tranquility. Like Epicurus, he
In a swoon of despair believed that religion prompted people to perform
Collapse of the Republic ❖ 131
evil deeds and caused them to experience terrible wrong, and our gift of reason enables us to abide
anxiety about death and eternal punishment. In by its commands. Thus, knowledge and virtue are
his work On the Nature of Things, Lucretius ex- closely linked. Cicero adopted the Stoic belief that
pressed his appreciation of Epicurus. Like his men- the law of the state should conform with the ra-
tor, Lucretius denounced superstition and religion tional and moral norms embodied in natural law,
for fostering psychological distress and advanced for adherence to such rationally formulated law
a materialistic conception of nature, one that left creates a moral bond among citizens.
no room for the activity of gods— mechanical He also shared the Stoic view that because
laws, not the gods, governed all physical happen- natural law applies to all, we are all citizens of a
ings. To dispel the fear of punishment after death, single commonwealth and belong to a society of
Lucretius marshaled arguments to prove that the humanity. As he expressed it,
soul perishes with the body. He proposed that the
simple life, devoid of political involvement and there is no difference in kind between man
excessive passion, was the highest good and the and man; for Reason, which alone raises us
path that would lead from emotional turmoil to above the level of the beasts and enables us
peace of mind. Epicurus’ hostility to traditional to draw inferences, to prove and disprove, to
religion, disparagement of politics and public ser- discuss and solve problems, and to come to
vice, and rejection of the goals of power and glory conclusions, is certainly common to us all, and
ran counter to the accepted Roman ideal of virtue. though varying in what it learns, at least in the
On the other hand, his glorification of the quiet capacity to learn it is invariable. . . . In fact,
life amid a community of friends and his advice there is no human being of any race who, if he
on how to deal with life’s misfortunes with seren- finds a guide, cannot attain virtue.9
ity had great appeal to first-century Romans like
Lucretius, who were disgusted with civil strife. In the eighteenth century, the Founding Fathers
Rome’s finest orator, as well as a leading of the United States praised Cicero’s natural law
statesman, Cicero (106–43 b.c.) was an unsur- philosophy, which coincided with their belief in
passed Latin stylist and a student of Greek phi- inalienable rights; his condemnation of tyranny;
losophy. His letters, more than eight hundred of and his advocacy of liberty, republicanism, and
which have survived, provide modern historians constitutional government.
with valuable insights into the politics of the late
Republic. His Senate speeches have been models
of refined rhetoric for all students of the Latin COLLAPSE OF THE REPUBLIC
language. Cicero’s discussion of such topics as re-
publicanism, citizenship, friendship, virtue, duty, In 146 b.c., Roman might spanned the Mediterra-
and justice had an enduring influence on Western nean world. After that year, the principal concerns
moral and political thought. Dedicated to repub- of the Republic were no longer foreign invasions
licanism and public-spiritedness, Cicero sought to but adjusting city- state institutions to the de-
prevent one-man rule and in his writings exhorted mands of empire and overcoming critical social
fellow Romans to serve their city. and political problems at home. The Republic was
Cicero was drawn to Stoicism, the most influ- unequal to either challenge. Instead of developing
ential philosophy in Rome. Stoicism’s stress on a professional civil service to administer the con-
virtuous conduct and performance of duty co- quered lands, Roman leaders attempted to govern
incided with Roman ideals, and its doctrine of a an empire with city- state institutions that had
natural law that applies to all nations, regardless evolved for a different purpose. The established
of ethnicity or culture, harmonized with the re- Roman administration proved unable to govern
quirements of a world empire. Cicero admired the the Mediterranean world. In addition, Rome’s
Stoic goal of the self-sufficient sage who sought to ruling elites showed little concern for the welfare
accord his life with standards of virtue inherent of their subjects, and provincial rule worsened as
in nature. Natural law commands people to do governors, tax collectors, and soldiers shamelessly
what is right and deters them from doing what is exploited the provincials.
132 ❖ 6 The Roman Republic: City-State to World Empire
During Rome’s march to empire, all its classes willingness to sacrifice personal interests for the
had demonstrated a magnificent civic spirit in good of Rome. But the riches flowing into Rome
fighting foreign wars. With Carthage and Macedo- from the plundered provinces caused these vir-
nia no longer threatening Rome, this cooperation tues to decay, and rivalry for status and a fren-
deteriorated, as Cato the Elder had forewarned: zied pursuit of wealth overrode civic patriotism.
“What was to become of Rome, when she should This “perverted greed” and “lack of principle,”
no longer have any state to fear?”10 Internal dis- said the poet Horace (65–8 b.c.), had caused “im-
sension tore Rome apart as the drive for domi- pious slaughter, . . . intestine [domestic] fury, . . .
nation formerly directed against foreign enemies and lawless licence.”11 And the masses, landless
turned inward against fellow Romans. Civil war and afflicted with poverty and idleness, withdrew
replaced foreign war. their allegiance from the state.
The Romans had prevailed over their op- In this time of agony, both great and self-
ponents partly because of their traditional vir- seeking individuals emerged. Some struggled to
tues: resoluteness, simplicity of manners, and restore the social harmony and political unity that
Collapse of the Republic ❖ 133
had prevailed in the period of expansion. Others, of slaves was unprecedented in Roman history.
political adventurers, attacked the authority of the Farmers who had formerly increased their mea-
Senate to gain personal power. The Senate, which ger incomes by working for wages on neighbor-
had previously exercised leadership creatively and ing large estates were no longer needed. Sinking
responsibly, degenerated into a self-serving oligar- ever deeper into poverty and debt, farmers gave
chy that resisted reform and fought to preserve its up their lands and went to Rome, seeking work.
power and privilege. The dispossessed peasantry found little to do in
Neither the Senate nor its opponents could re- Rome, where there was not enough industry to
juvenate the Republic. Eventually it collapsed, a provide them with employment and where much
victim of class tensions, poor leadership, power- of the work was done by slaves. Congregated in
hungry demagogues, and civil war. Underlying all rundown, crime-ridden slums and chronically un-
these conditions were the breakdown of social employed, the urban poor faced a daily struggle
harmony and the deterioration of civic patriotism. for survival. The once sturdy and independent
The Republic had conquered an empire only to Roman farmer, who had done all that his coun-
see the character of its citizens decay. In a high try had asked of him, was becoming part of a
moral tone, the historian Sallust (c. 86–34 b.c.) vast urban underclass—destitute, embittered, and
condemned the breakdown of republican values. alienated. The uprooting of a formerly self-reliant
peasantry was Hannibal’s posthumous revenge
Growing love of money, and the lust for on Rome; severing the civic bond, it would prove
power which followed it, engendered every even more deadly than Cannae.
kind of evil. Avarice destroyed honor, integrity,
and every other virtue, and instead taught men
to be proud and cruel, to neglect religion, and The Gracchan Revolution
to hold nothing too sacred to sell. Ambition
tempted many to be false. . . . At first these In 133 b.c., Tiberius Gracchus (163–133 b.c.),
vices grew slowly and some times met with who came from one of Rome’s most honored
punishments; later on, when the disease had families, was elected tribune. Distressed by the in-
spread like a plague, Rome changed: her gov- justice done to the peasantry and recognizing that
ernment, once so just and admirable, became the Roman army depended on the loyalty of small
harsh and unendurable.12 landowners, Tiberius made himself the spokes-
man for land reform. He proposed a simple and
moderate solution for the problem of the land-
less peasants: implementing an old law barring
Crisis in Agriculture any Roman from using more than 312 acres of
the state-owned land obtained in the process of
The downhill slide of the Republic began with an uniting Italy. For many years, the upper class had
agricultural crisis. During the long war with Han- ignored this law, occupying vast tracts of public
nibal in Italy, each side had tried to deprive the land. By reenacting the law, Tiberius hoped to free
other of food supplies; in the process, they ruined land for distribution to landless citizens.
farm land, destroyed farmhouses and farm equip- Rome’s leading families viewed Tiberius as
ment, and slaughtered animals. With many Ro- a revolutionary threatening their property and
man soldier-farmers serving in the army for long political authority. They thought him a danger-
stretches of time, fields lay neglected. Returning ous democrat who would undermine the Senate,
veterans with small holdings lacked the wealth to the seat of aristocratic power, in favor of the As-
restore their land. They were forced to sell their sembly, which represented the commoners. When
farms to wealthy landowners at low prices. Tiberius sought reelection as a tribune, a violation
Another factor that helped to squeeze out the of constitutional tradition, the senators were con-
owners of small farms was the importation of vinced that he was a rabble-rouser who aimed to
hundreds of thousands of slaves to work on large destroy the republican constitution and become
plantations called latifundia. This massive use a one-man ruler. To preserve the status quo, with
Profile
Cleopatra Caesar was the father, and in the next year she
followed Caesar to Rome. Three years after Cae-
Cleopatra (69–30 B.C.), the Greek queen of Egypt, sar’s assassination, she became Mark Antony’s
belonged to the Ptolemaic family, the Macedo- lover and bore him twins. She worked closely
nian Greeks who ruled Egypt during the Hel- with Antony, who competed with Octavian for
lenistic Age. Cleopatra spoke Greek, received a control of the Roman world. At the naval battle
Greek education, and viewed herself as Greek, of Actium in 31 B.C., Antony and Cleopatra es-
but in contrast to her Ptolemaic predecessors, caped to Egypt, where Octavian pursued them.
she also learned to speak the Egyptian tongue. When Antony’s forces either surrendered to Oc-
Aspiring to revive Ptolemaic power, which had tavian without a fight or fled, Cleopatra barri-
once extended into Palestine and Lebanon, caded herself inside her mausoleum. Thinking
she had the political good sense to realize that that she had killed herself, Antony plunged a
this could not be accomplished by antagoniz- sword into his body. A messenger told the dying
ing Rome, which dominated the Mediterranean Antony that Cleopatra was still alive and wished
world. to see him. Slaves carried him to her. Because
Cleopatra became Julius Caesar’s mistress the mausoleum’s doors were sealed, he had to
when the Roman leader stopped at Alexan- be hoisted with great difficulty to an opening in
dria. In 47 B.C., she bore a son, declaring that the wall by Cleopatra and her female servants.
wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a destruction of the Republic. Though the Senate
few hundred families, senatorial extremists killed considered itself the guardian of republican lib-
Tiberius and some three hundred of his followers, erty, in reality it was expressing the determination
dumping their bodies into the Tiber. of a few hundred families to retain their control
The cause of land reform was next taken up over the state. This is a classic example of a once-
by Gaius Gracchus (153– 121 b.c.), a younger creative minority clinging tenaciously to power
brother of Tiberius. An emotional and gifted long after it has ceased to govern effectively or
speaker, Gaius won the support of the city poor to inspire allegiance. The Senate, which had led
and was elected tribune in 123 b.c. A more astute Rome to world dominance, became a self-seeking,
politician than his brother, Gaius increased his unimaginative, entrenched oligarchy that was
following by favoring the Equites, the new class dragging the Republic and the Mediterranean
of plebeian businessmen, and by promising full world into disaster.
citizenship to all Italians. He aided the poor by Rome in the first century b.c. was very differ-
reintroducing his brother’s plan for land distribu- ent from the Rome that had defeated Hannibal.
tion and by enabling them to buy grain from the Entranced by luxuries flowing into Rome from
state at less than half the market price. But like his its eastern conquests and determined to retain
brother, Gaius aroused the anger of the senatorial oligarchic rule, the senatorial families neglected
class, which ordered his murder. After his death, their responsibility to the state. Many upper-class
three thousand of his followers were executed Romans, burning to achieve the dignity and glory
without trial. that would mark them as great men, tried to climb
By killing the Gracchi, the Senate had sub- onto the crowded stage of Roman politics, but the
stituted violence for reason and made murder a best roles were already reserved for members of
means of coping with troublesome opposition. the senatorial families. With so few opportunities,
Soon the club and the dagger became common aspirants to political power stopped at nothing.
weapons in Roman politics, hurling Rome into Roman politics in the century after the Grac-
an era of political violence that ended with the chi was bedeviled by intrigues, rivalries, personal
134
Plutarch, the ancient biographer, described the would parade her in a victory celebration at
scene: Rome. To avoid such a humiliation, the proud
Cleopatra poisoned herself, ending the Ptole-
Those that were present say that nothing was maic dynasty in Egypt. In a last letter, she re-
ever more sad than this spectacle, to see Ant- quested to be buried beside Antony.
ony, covered all over with blood and just expir- Cleopatra’s life and death have intrigued his-
ing, thus drawn up, still holding up his hands torians; writers, including Shakespeare; and Hol-
to her, and lifting up his body with the little lywood producers. Her true character remains
force he had left. . . . When she had got him up, elusive. She had sufficient allure to attract both
she laid him on the bed, tearing all her clothes, Caesar and Antony and sufficient ruthlessness
which she spread upon him; and beating her to murder her younger brother, and co-ruler, in
breast with her hands, lacerating herself, and order to make her son co-ruler. No doubt her
disfiguring her own face with the blood from determination and ambition made her an equal
his wounds, she called him her lord, her hus- partner with Antony in their political quest.
band, her emperor.*
*Plutarch, The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans,
Antony died shortly afterward. Captured by trans. John Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough (New York:
the Romans, Cleopatra feared that Octavian The Modern Library, n.d.), 1148.
became a private possession of generals. Seeing its legal sanction and with cold- blooded cruelty,
authority undermined by generals appointed by Sulla marked his opponents for death; the state
the Assembly, the Senate was forced to seek army seized their property and declared their children
commanders who would champion the cause of and grandchildren ineligible for public office.
senatorial rule. In time, Rome would be engulfed Sulla resolved to use his absolute power to re-
in civil wars as rival generals used their troops to vive the Senate’s rule and make it permanent. He
strengthen their political affiliations and to fur- believed that only rule by an aristocratic oligarchy
ther their own ambitions. could protect Rome from future military adven-
Meanwhile, the Senate continued to deal in- turers and assure domestic peace. Therefore, he
effectively with Rome’s problems. When Rome’s restored the Senate’s right to veto acts of the As-
Italian allies—who had provided the manpower sembly, limited the power of the tribunes and the
needed to conquer the Empire—pressed for citi- Assembly, and, to prevent any march on Rome,
zenship, the Senate refused to make concessions. reduced the military authority of provincial gov-
The Senate’s shortsightedness plunged Italy into a ernors. To make the Senate less oligarchic, he in-
savage war known as the Social War. As it ravaged creased its membership to six hundred. Having
the peninsula, the Romans reversed their policy put through these reforms, Sulla retired.
and conferred citizenship on the Italians. The un-
necessary and ruinous rebellion petered out.
While Rome was fighting its Italian allies, Julius Caesar
Mithridates, king of Pontus in northern Asia
Minor, invaded the wealthy Roman province of The Senate failed to wield its restored authority
Asia. In 88 b.c., he incited the local population to effectively. The Republic was still menaced by mil-
massacre eighty thousand Italian residents of the itary commanders who used their troops for their
province, a devastating blow to Rome’s economy own political advantage, and underlying problems
and prestige. Mithridates and his forces crossed remained unsolved. In 60 b.c., a triumvirate, a
into Greece and occupied Athens and other cit- ruling group of three—consisting of Julius Caesar
ies. Faced with this crisis, the Senate entrusted (c. 100–44 b.c.), a politician; Pompey, a general;
command to Sulla (138–78 b.c.), who had dis- and Crassus, a wealthy banker—conspired to take
tinguished himself in the Social War. But support- over Rome. The ablest of the three was Caesar.
ers of Marius, through intrigue and violence, had Descended from an ancient noble family, Caesar
the order rescinded and the command given to had first gained public recognition for his demon-
Marius. stration of conspicuous bravery in Rome’s assault
Sulla refused to accept his loss of command, on the rebellious Greek city of Mytilene. Upon
which deprived him of honor and opportunity for returning to Rome, he distinguished himself as
riches; with his loyal troops, he proceeded to the an orator—his star was rising.
capital. This was a fateful moment in Roman his- Recognizing the importance of a military com-
tory: the first march on Rome by a Roman legion, mand as a prerequisite for political prominence,
the first prolonged civil war, and the first time Caesar gained command of the legions in Gaul in
a commander and his troops defied the govern- 59 b.c. The following year he began the conquest
ment. The competition for honor, the overriding of the part of Gaul not under Roman control,
concern of Roman aristocrats, had taken Rome bringing the future France into the orbit of Greco-
down a perilous path. Sulla won the first round. Roman civilization. The campaign was brilliantly
But when Sulla left Rome to fight Mithridates described in his Commentaries, although, to be
in Greece, Marius and his troops retook the city sure, the work was a deliberate attempt to ap-
and, in a frenzy, lashed out at Sulla’s supporters. prise the Roman public of his military prowess.
The killing lasted for five days and nights. The successful Gallic campaigns and the invasion
Marius died shortly afterward. Sulla, on his of Britain revealed Caesar’s exceptional talent for
return, quickly subdued Marius’s supporters and generalship: he acted decisively, moved troops
became dictator of Rome. He instituted a terror rapidly, and had excellent rapport with his men.
that far surpassed Marius’s violence. Without By plundering Gaul, he also acquired a fortune
Collapse of the Republic ❖ 137
Our tyrant deserves his death, [for his] was The Roman Republic, which had amassed
the blackest crime of all. [Caesar was] a man power to a degree hitherto unknown in the an-
who was ambitious to be king of the Roman cient world, was wrecked not by foreign inva-
people and master of the whole world. . . . The sion but by internal weaknesses: the personal
man who maintains that such an ambition is ambitions of power seekers; the degeneration
morally right is a madman, for he justifies the of senatorial leadership and the transformation
destruction of law and liberty.13 of political rivalry into violence and terror, in
which opponents were condemned to death and
their property confiscated; the formation of pri-
The Republic’s Last Years vate armies, in which soldiers gave their loyalty
to their commander rather than to Rome; the
The assassination of Julius Caesar did not restore transformation of a self- reliant peasantry into
republican liberty but plunged Rome into renewed an impoverished and demoralized city rabble;
civil war. Thousands more died in battle or were and the deterioration of the ancient virtues that
killed in the proscriptions—lists of Roman citizens had been the source of the state’s vitality. Before
declared by their political enemies to be outlaws. 146 b.c., the threat posed by foreign enemies,
Those proscribed had their property confiscated particularly Carthage, had forced Romans to
and could be executed. Two of Caesar’s trusted work together for the benefit of the state, and
lieutenants, Mark Antony and Lepidus, joined with the equilibrium achieved during the patrician–
Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son, and defeated the plebeian struggle was maintained. This social
armies of Brutus and Cassius, two conspirators cohesion broke down when foreign danger di-
in the plot against Caesar. After Lepidus was minished. In the ensuing century of turmoil,
forced into political obscurity, Antony and Octa- the apparatus of city-state government failed to
vian fought each other, with control of Rome as function effectively.
the prize. In 31 b.c., at the naval battle of Actium Thus, the high point of Roman rule was not
in western Greece, Octavian crushed the forces achieved under the Republic. The city-state con-
of Antony and his wife, Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra stitution of the Republic was too limited to gov-
(who had earlier borne Julius Caesar’s son). Octa- ern an immense empire. Rome first had to surpass
vian emerged as master of Rome and four years the narrow framework of city-state government
later became, in effect, the first Roman emperor. before it could unite the Mediterranean world
The Roman Republic, whose death throes had in peace and law. The genius of Augustus (Octa-
lasted for decades and kept the Mediterranean vian), the first emperor, made this development
world in turmoil, had finally perished. possible.
❖ ❖ ❖
7. Terence, The Brothers, trans. H. T. Riley (Lon- Christ, Karl, The Romans (1984). A good survey.
don: Henry G. Bohn, 1853), 202–203. Crawford, M., The Roman Republic (1982). A re-
8. Catullus, quoted in E. A. Havelock, The Lyric liable survey, with many quotations from original
Genius of Catullus (New York: Russell and Rus- sources.
sell, 1929), 63. Dupont, Florence, Daily Life in Ancient Rome
(1989). Everyday private and public lives of Ro-
9. Cicero, De Legibus, trans. C. W. Keyes (Cam-
man citizens.
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Loeb
Errington, R. M., The Dawn of Empire: Rome’s Rise
Classical Library, 1928), 329–330.
to World Power (1972). A study of Rome, the re-
10. Quoted in Eli Sagan, The Honey and the Hem- luctant imperialist.
lock (New York: Basic Books, 1991), 25. Grant, Michael, History of Rome (1978). A synthe-
11. Horace, The Odes and Epodes, trans. C. E. Ben- sis of Roman history by a leading classical scholar;
nett (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University valuable in regard to both the Republic and the
Press, 1988), ode 24, pp. 255–256. Empire.
12. Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline, trans. S. A. Holland, Tom, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Ro-
Handford (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963), man Republic (2003). Well-written and intelligent.
181–182. McGeouch, Kevin M., The Romans (2004). A com-
prehensive analysis of Roman society and culture
13. Cicero, De Officiis, trans. Walter Miller (Cam- in the Republic and the Empire.
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Loeb Ogilvie, R. M., Roman Literature and Society (1980).
Classical Library, 1913), 357. An introductory survey of Latin literature.
Wood, Neal, Cicero’s Social and Political Thought
(1988). An important work for understanding an-
SUGGESTED READING cient thought and Cicero’s impact on later Western
Boren, H. C., Roman Society (1977). A social, eco- political philosophy.
nomic, and cultural history of the Republic and
the Empire, written with the student in mind.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (161–180) In this relief, Marcus rides through the Roman
Forum in ceremonial triumph after defending the Empire against barbarian incursions.
(Alfredo Dagli Orti/© The Art Archive/Corbis.)
■
■
Augustus and the Foundations
of the Roman Empire
The Pax Romana
R ome’s republican institutions, designed
for a city-state, proved incapable of cop-
ing with the problems created by the con-
quest of a world empire. Invincible against foreign
enemies, the Republic collapsed from within. But
■ Signs of Trouble after Octavian’s brilliant statesmanship brought
■ The Decline of Rome order out of chaos, Rome entered its golden age
under the rule of emperors. For more than two
■ The Roman Legacy hundred years, from 27 b.c. to a.d. 180, the Med-
iterranean world enjoyed unparalleled peace and
stability. The Roman world-state, erected on a
Hellenic cultural foundation and cemented with
Focus Questions empirewide civil service, laws, and citizenship,
gave practical expression to Stoic cosmopolitan-
ism and universalism. Yet even this impressive
1. What is the historical significance of
monument had structural defects, and in the third
Augustus? century a.d. the Empire was wracked by crises
2. Why is the Pax Romana regarded as one from which it never fully recovered. In the fifth
of the finest periods in world history? century, Germanic tribesmen overran the western
What continuity is there between the Pax half of the Empire, which had by then become a
Romana and the Hellenistic Age? shadow of its former self.
During its time of trouble, Rome also experi-
3. How did Roman law evolve? How did it enced an intellectual crisis. Forsaking the rational
incorporate Stoic principles? and secular values of classical humanism, many
4. Why is the third century regarded as an Romans sought spiritual comfort in Near Eastern
age of crisis? religions. One of these religions, Christianity, won
out over its competitors and was made the official
5. What are the reasons for the decline of
religion of the Empire. With the triumph of Chris-
the Roman Empire? tianity in the Late Roman Empire, Western civili-
6. What is Rome’s legacy to Western zation took a new direction. Christianity would
civilization? become the principal shaper of the European civi-
lization that emerged from the ruins of Rome.
Roman ruling class, whose assistance and goodwill government of law, not one of lawless despotism
Octavian desired. so hateful to the Roman mentality. In keeping
Octavian demonstrated his political genius by with his policy of maintaining the appearance of
reconciling his military monarchy with republi- traditional republican government, Octavian re-
can institutions: he held absolute power without fused to be called king or even, like Caesar, dic-
abruptly breaking with a republican past. Mag- tator; instead, he cleverly disguised his autocratic
istrates were still elected, and assemblies still rule by taking the inoffensive title princeps (first
met; the Senate administered certain provinces, citizen). The Senate also honored Octavian by
retained its treasury, and was invited to advise conferring on him the semireligious and revered
Octavian. With some truth, Octavian could claim name of Augustus. (The rule of Augustus and his
that he ruled in partnership with the Senate. By successors is referred to as the principate.)
maintaining the facade of the Republic, Octavian The reign of Augustus signified the end of the
camouflaged his absolute power and contained Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman
senatorial opposition, which already had been Empire—the termination of senatorial rule and
weakened by the deaths of leading nobles in bat- aristocratic politics and the emergence of one-man
tle or in the purges that Octavian had instituted rule. The old Roman aristocracy, decimated by war
against his enemies. Moreover, Octavian’s control and the proscriptions employed by Antony, Lepidus,
over the armed forces made resistance futile, and and Octavian, had to adjust to a political situation
the terrible violence that followed Caesar’s assas- in which they no longer predominated. As the his-
sination made senators amenable to change. torian Tacitus recognized, Augustus accomplished a
In 27 b.c., Octavian shrewdly offered to sur- profound revolution in Roman political life: “The
render his power, knowing that the Senate, purged country had been transformed, and there was noth-
of opposition, would demand that he continue to ing left of the fine old Roman character. Political
lead the state. By this act, Octavian could claim equality was a thing of the past; all eyes watched for
to be a legitimate constitutional ruler leading a imperial commands.”1 Under Augustus, who ruled
142
Augustus and the Foundations of the Roman Empire ❖ 143
from 27 b.c. to a.d. 14, the power of the ruler was traditionally regarded as divine, the person of
disguised; in ensuing generations, however, emper- Augustus was worshiped as a god. In Italy, where
ors would wield absolute power openly. As Rome the deification of leaders was alien to the republi-
became more autocratic and centralized, it took on can spirit, divine honors were granted to Augustus’s
the appearance of an oriental monarchy. genius, or spirit of leadership; once deceased, Au-
Augustus introduced the practice of emperor gustus and his successors were deified. The impe-
worship. In the eastern provinces, where Mid- rial cult, with its ceremonies, processions, temples,
dle Eastern and Hellenistic monarchs had been and statues, strengthened the bonds of loyalty that
144
North Sea
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The Pax Romana ❖ 145
tied subjects to the emperor. By the third century, In Italy, Augustus had roads repaired, and he
Italians and other peoples in the western territories fostered public works. He arranged for Italians to
generally viewed the living emperor as a god-king. play a more important role in the administration
Despite his introduction of autocratic rule, Au- of the Empire. For the Italians’ security, his army
gustus was by no means a self-seeking tyrant, but suppressed brigandage, which had proliferated in
a creative statesman. Heir to the Roman tradition the countryside during the preceding century of
of civic duty, he regarded his power as a public agony, and he guarded the northern borders from
trust delegated to him by the Roman people. He barbarian incursions.
was faithful to the classical ideal, which required By ending the civil wars and their accom-
that the state should promote the good life by panying devastation and by ruling out forced
protecting civilization from barbarism and igno- requisition of supplies and extortion of money,
rance; he sought to rescue a dying Roman world Augustus earned the gratitude of the provin-
by restoring political order and reviving the moral cials. Also contributing to his empirewide popu-
values and civic spirit that had contributed to larity were his efforts to correct tax abuse and
Rome’s greatness. to end corruption through improving the quality
To prevent a renewal of civil war and to safe- of governors and enabling aggrieved provincials
guard the borders of the Empire, Augustus re- to bring charges against Roman officials. An
formed the army. As commander in chief, he imperial bureaucracy, which enabled talented
could guard against the reemergence of ambitious and dedicated men to serve the state, gradually
generals like those whose rivalries and private evolved. In addition, Augustus continued the
armies had wrecked the Republic. Augustus main- sensible practice of not interfering with the tra-
tained the loyalty of his soldiers by ensuring that ditional customs and religions of the provinces.
veterans, on discharge, would receive substantial During his forty-year reign—the longevity itself
bonuses and land in Italy or in the provinces. By was a stabilizing factor—Rome overcame the
organizing a professional standing army made chaos of the years of revolution. The praise be-
up mostly of volunteers who generally served for stowed on him by grateful provincials was not
twenty-five years, Augustus was assured a well- undeserved. One decree from the province of
trained and loyal force capable of maintaining Asia called Augustus
internal order, extending Roman territory, and
securing the frontier. the savior of all mankind in common whose
For the city of Rome, Augustus had aque- provident care has not only fulfilled but even
ducts and water mains built, which brought surpassed the hopes of all: for both land and
water to most Roman homes, and he beautified sea are at peace, the cities are teeming with
the city by restoring ancient monuments and the blessings of concord, plenty, and respect
temples and building new ones. He created a for law, and the culmination and harvest of all
fire brigade, which reduced the danger of great good things bring fair hopes for the future and
conflagrations in crowded tenement districts, contentment with the present.2
and he organized a police force to contain vio-
lence. He improved the distribution of free grain
to the impoverished urban masses and financed THE PAX ROMANA
the popular gladiatorial combats out of his own
funds. The brilliant statesmanship of Augustus inaugu-
rated Rome’s greatest age. For the next two hun-
dred years, the Mediterranean world enjoyed the
blessings of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace.
◀ Map 7.1 THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER The ancient world had never experienced such a
AUGUSTUS AND HADRIAN During the Pax long period of peace, order, efficient administra-
Romana, the Roman Empire expanded beyond the tion, and prosperity. Although both proficient and
Rhine and Danube Rivers, the imperial boundary inept rulers succeeded Augustus, the essential fea-
during the reign of Augustus. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.) tures of the Pax Romana persisted.
Profile
Epictetus inner contentment that produces happiness.
For Epictetus, happiness did not depend on
Born a slave, Epictetus (c. A.D. 55–135) belonged material possessions, status, reputation, or the
to an official (himself a former slave) who served affection others have for us. By pursuing these
the emperors Nero and Domitian. Even before externals, he said, we become subject to the
he was given his freedom, Epictetus received people who are needed to procure them for
a good education from his master. In A.D. 89, us: “If you are absorbed in externals, you must
Domitian, fearful that philosophers would cast necessarily be tossed up and down, according
doubt on the emperor’s divinity, banished all to the inclination of your master. Who is your
philosophers from Rome and Italy. Epictetus master? Whosoever controls those things which
moved to Epirus in Greece, where he attracted you seek.”*
students. One student recorded and organized Epictetus maintained that to achieve happi-
Epictetus’s thoughts into eight books, four of ness we must reduce desires, shun things that
which were lost. Epictetus presented his views are beyond our power to control, and deliber-
in the form of maxims: admonitions from a ately strive for inner dignity and moral integ-
teacher to his students to pursue the moral life. rity. Human beings, said Epictetus, can shield
His ideas greatly influenced Marcus Aurelius, themselves from life’s uncertainties and mis-
the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. fortunes, even slavery, by taking control of the
Like other Stoic philosophers, Epictetus was part of themselves that belongs to no one else:
concerned with attaining peace of mind—an their minds. Epictetus defined man as a rational
The Successors of Augustus two emperors, and the suicide of another, Vespa-
sian gained the principate. Vespasian’s reign (a.d.
The first four emperors who succeeded Augus- 69–79) marked the beginning of the Flavian dy-
tus were related either to him or to his third nasty. By rotating commanding officers and sta-
wife, Livia. They constituted the Julio-Claudian tioning native troops far from their homelands,
dynasty, which ruled from a.d. 14 to 68. Al- Vespasian improved discipline and discouraged
though their reigns were marked by conspira- mutiny. By having the great Colosseum of Rome
cies, summary executions, and assassinations, constructed for gladiatorial contests, he earned
the great achievements of Augustus were pre- the gratitude of the city’s inhabitants. Vespasian
served and strengthened. The Senate did not also had nationalist uprisings put down in Gaul
seek to restore republicanism and continued to and Judea.
assist the princeps; the imperial bureaucracy In Judea, Roman rule clashed with Jewish
grew larger and more professional; the army, religious-national sentiments. Recognizing the te-
with some exceptions, remained a loyal and naciousness with which Jews clung to their faith,
disciplined force. the Roman leaders deliberately refrained from
The Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end interfering with Hebraic religious beliefs and
in a.d. 68, when the emperor Nero committed practices. Numerous privileges, such as exemp-
suicide. Nero had grown increasingly tyranni- tion from emperor worship because it conflicted
cal and had lost the confidence of the people, with the requirements of strict monotheism, were
the senatorial class, and the generals, who rose extended to Jews not only in Judea but through-
in revolt. In the year following his death, anar- out the Empire. Sometimes, however, the Romans
chy reigned as military leaders competed for the engaged in activities that outraged the Jews. For
throne. After a bloody civil war, the execution of example, Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator in
146
terrible punishment on the Jews, Roman armies
captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple,
the central site and focus of Jewish religious life.
After the conquest of Jerusalem, some fortresses,
including Masada on the western side of the
being. It is reason that distinguishes man from
Dead Sea, continued to resist. The defenders of
wild beasts and cattle. He wrote:
Masada withstood a Roman siege until a.d. 73;
Take care, then to do nothing like a wild beast; refusing to become Roman captives, they took
otherwise you have destroyed the man; you their own lives.
have not fulfilled what your nature promises. Vespasian was succeeded by his sons Titus (a.d.
Take care too, to do nothing like cattle; for thus 79–81) and Domitian (a.d. 81–96). The reign
likewise the man is destroyed. In what do we act of Titus was made memorable by the eruption of
like cattle? When we act gluttonously, lewdly, Mount Vesuvius, which devastated the towns of
rashly, sordidly, inconsiderately, into what are Pompeii and Herculaneum. After Titus’s brief time
we sunk? Into cattle. What have we destroyed? as emperor, his younger brother Domitian became
The rational being. When we behave conten- ruler. Upon crushing a revolt led by the Roman
tiously, injuriously, passionately, and violently, commander in Upper Germany, a frightened
into what we have sunk? Into wild beasts. . . . By Domitian executed many leading Romans. These
all these means the nature of man is destroyed.† actions led to his assassination in a.d. 96, ending
the Flavian dynasty. The Flavians, however, suc-
*Epictetus, Discourses, based on translation of ceeded in consolidating and extending the borders
Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter of the Empire.
J. Black, Classics Club, 1944), bk. 2, chap. 2, p. 92. The Senate selected one of its own, Nerva, to
†Ibid., bk. 2, chap. 9, pp. 106–107. succeed the murdered Domitian. Nerva’s reign
(a.d. 96–98) was brief and uneventful. But he
introduced a wise practice that would endure
until a.d. 180: he adopted as his son and des-
ignated as his heir a man with proven ability,
Trajan, the governor of Upper Germany. This
Judea from a.d. 26 to 36, at one point ordered adoptive system assured a succession of compe-
a Roman army unit into Jerusalem with banners tent rulers.
bearing the image of the emperor. The entire Jew- During his rule (a.d. 98–117), Trajan eased the
ish nation was aroused. To the Jews, this display burden of taxation in the provinces, provided for
of a pagan idol in their holy city was an abomi- the needs of poor children, and had public works
nation. Realizing that the Jews would die rather built. With his enlarged army, he conquered Dacia
than permit this act of sacrilege, Pilate ordered (parts of Romania and Hungary), where he seized
the banners removed. Another explosive situation vast quantities of gold and silver. He made the ter-
emerged when the emperor Caligula (a.d. 37–41) ritory into a Roman province, adding to the large
ordered that a golden statue of himself be placed frontier Rome had to protect. The settlement of
in Jerusalem’s temple. Again, the order was re- the region by many of Trajan’s veterans led to its
scinded when the Jews demonstrated their readi- Romanization.
ness to resist. Trajan’s successor, Hadrian (a.d. 117–138),
Relations between the Jews of Judea and the abandoned what remained of Trajan’s eastern
Roman authorities deteriorated progressively in conquests. He strengthened border defenses in
succeeding decades. Militant Jews, who rejected Britain and fought the second Hebrew revolt in
Roman rule as a threat to the purity of Jewish Judea (a.d. 132–135). After initial successes, in-
life, urged their people to take up arms. Feeling a cluding the capture of Jerusalem, the Jews were
religious obligation to reestablish an independent again defeated by superior Roman might. The
kingdom in their ancient homeland and unable majority of Palestinian Jews were killed, sold as
to reconcile themselves to Roman rule, the Jews slaves, or forced to seek refuge in other lands.
launched a full-scale war of liberation in a.d. 66. The Romans renamed the province Syria Pales-
In a.d. 70, after a five-month siege had inflicted tina; they forbade Jews to enter Jerusalem, except
147
148 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
once a year, and encouraged non-Jews to settle the the east, and subdued the few uprisings that oc-
land. Although the Jews continued to maintain a curred. Nerva’s adoptive system of selecting em-
presence in Palestine, they had become a dispos- perors provided Rome with internal stability and
sessed and dispersed people. a succession of emperors with exceptional ability.
After Hadrian came another ruler who had a These Roman emperors did not use military force
long reign, Antoninus Pius (a.d. 138–161). He needlessly but fought for sensible political goals;
introduced humane and just reforms. He set lim- generals did not wage war recklessly but tried to
its on the right of masters to torture their slaves limit casualties, avoid risks, and deter conflicts by
to obtain evidence, and he established the prin- a show of force.
ciple that an accused person be considered in-
nocent until proven guilty. During the reign of Constructive Rule. Roman rule was construc-
Antoninus, the Empire remained peaceful and tive. The Romans built roads—some fifty-three
prosperous. thousand miles of roads, from Scotland to the
Marcus Aurelius (a.d. 161–180), the next Euphrates—improved harbors, cleared forests,
emperor, was also a philosopher whose Medita- drained swamps, irrigated deserts, and cultivated
tions eloquently expressed Stoic thought. Fre- undeveloped lands. The aqueducts they con-
quent strife marked his reign. Roman forces structed brought fresh water for drinking and
had to fight the eastern kingdom of Parthia. The bathing to large numbers of people, and the ef-
Roman legions were victorious in this campaign fective sewage systems enhanced the quality of
but brought back from the East an epidemic that life. Goods were transported over roads made
decimated the population of the Empire. Mar- safe by Roman soldiers and across a Mediterra-
cus Aurelius also had to deal with Germanic nean Sea swept clear of pirates. A wide variety of
incursions into Italy and the Balkan Peninsula— goods circulated throughout the Empire. A stable
incursions far more serious than any faced by currency, generally not subject to depreciation,
previous emperors. contributed to the economic well-being of the
From the accession of Nerva in a.d. 96 to Mediterranean world.
the death of Marcus Aurelius in a.d. 180, the Scores of new cities sprang up, and old ones
Roman Empire was ruled by “the Five Good grew larger and wealthier. Although these mu-
Emperors.” During this period, the Empire was nicipalities had lost their power to wage war
at the height of its power and prosperity, and and had to bow to the will of the emperors,
nearly all its peoples benefited. The four em- they retained considerable freedom of action in
perors preceding Marcus Aurelius had no liv- local matters. Imperial troops guarded against
ing sons, so they had resorted to the adoptive civil wars within the cities and prevented war-
system in selecting successors, which served fare between cities—two traditional weak-
Rome effectively. But Marcus Aurelius chose nesses of city life in the ancient world. Some
his own son, Commodus, to succeed him. With two thousand municipalities served as centers
the accession of Commodus—a misfit and a of Greco-Roman civilization, which spread to
megalomaniac—in a.d. 180, the Pax Romana the farthest reaches of the Mediterranean, con-
came to an end. tinuing a process initiated during the Hellenis-
tic Age. Regions of North Africa, Gaul, Britain,
and South Germany, hitherto untouched by
“The Time of Happiness” Hellenism, were brought into the orbit of
Greco-Roman civilization. Barriers between
The Romans called the Pax Romana “the Time Italians and provincials broke down as Span-
of Happiness.” They saw it as the fulfillment of iards, Gauls, Africans, and other provincials
Rome’s mission: the creation of a world-state rose to high positions in the army and in the
that provided peace, security, ordered civilization, imperial administration and even became em-
and the rule of law. Roman legions defended the perors. Citizenship, generously granted, was fi-
Rhine–Danube river frontiers from incursions by nally extended to virtually all free people by an
Germanic tribesmen, held the Parthians at bay in edict of a.d. 212.
The Pax Romana ❖ 149
Improved Conditions for Both Slaves and B ASALT B UST OF L IVIA . Octavian’s third wife,
Livia (58 b.c.–a.d. 29), was admired for her wisdom
Women. Conditions improved for those at the
and dignity, and the emperor valued her counsel.
bottom of society, the slaves. At the time of Au-
(Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)
gustus, slaves may have accounted for a quarter
of the population of Italy. But their numbers de-
clined as Rome engaged in fewer wars of con-
quest. The freeing of slaves also became more During the Republic, slaves had been terri-
common during the Empire. Urban slaves, who bly abused; they were often mutilated, thrown
were often skilled artisans, could be induced to to wild beasts, crucified, or burned alive. Sev-
work more effectively if there was the hope of eral emperors issued decrees protecting slaves
manumission. Often, nobles liberated and set up from cruel masters. Claudius forbade masters
in business skilled and enterprising slaves in re- to kill sick slaves; Vespasian forbade masters
turn for a share of the profits. Freed slaves became to sell slaves into prostitution. Domitian pro-
citizens, with most of the rights and privileges of hibited the castration of slaves, and Hadrian
other citizens; their children suffered no legal dis- barred the execution of slaves without a judi-
abilities. (The poet Terence, the Stoic philosopher cial sentence.
Epictetus, and the father of the poet Horace were The status of women had been gradually im-
all freed slaves.) proving during the Republic. In the early days
150 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
of the Republic, a woman lived under the ab- seventy million people with differing native
solute authority first of her father and then languages, customs, and histories were united
of her husband. By the time of the Empire, a by Roman rule into a world community. Un-
woman could own property and, if divorced, like officials of the Republic, when corruption
keep her dowry. A father could no longer force and exploitation in the provinces were notori-
his daughter to marry against her will, although ous, officials of the Empire felt a strong sense
upper-class marriages were usually based on po- of responsibility to preserve the Roman peace,
litical and social considerations. Women could institute Roman justice, and spread Roman
make business arrangements and draw up wills civilization.
without the consent of their husbands. Roman In creating a stable and orderly political
women, unlike their Greek counterparts, were community with an expansive conception of
not secluded in their homes but could come and citizenship, Rome resolved the problems posed
go as they pleased. Upper-class women of Rome by the limitations of the Greek city-state: civil
had far greater opportunities for education than war, intercity warfare, and a parochial atti-
did those of Greece, and some formed groups tude that divided people into Greek and non-
that read and discussed poetry. Greek. Rome also brought to fruition an ideal
Supervising the household remained the prin- of the Greek city-state—the protection and
cipal responsibility of Roman women. The Ro- promotion of civilized life. By constructing a
mans regarded marriage as a sacred civic duty. world community that broke down barriers
Seeking to restore traditional values, Augustus between nations, by preserving and spreading
issued decrees encouraging Romans to marry. Greco- Roman civilization, and by develop-
Romans greatly admired the woman who loved ing a ra tional system of law that applied to all
only one man and had only one husband, but humanity, Rome completed the trend toward
in reality promiscuity, adultery, divorce, and universalism and cosmopolitanism that had
remarriage were quite common. A wife could emerged in the Hellenistic Age. The Roman
obtain a divorce just as easily as her husband, world-state was the classical mind’s response
but as a rule children remained with their fa- to the problem of community posed by the de-
ther. Despite the frequency of divorce, there is cline of the city-state in the era of Alexander
evidence that husbands and wives held genuine the Great. Aelius Aristides, a second-century
affection for each other. rhetorician, although Greek, proudly consid-
The history of the Empire, indeed Roman his- ered himself a Roman and glowingly extolled
tory in general, was filled with talented and in- the Roman achievement.
fluential women. Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius
and Gaius Gracchus, influenced Roman politics Neither sea nor any intervening distance
through her sons. The historian Sallust said that on land excludes one from citizenship.
Sempronia, the wife of a consul and the mother of No distinction is made between Asia and
Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, was Europe in this respect. Everything lies
“well-educated in Greek and Latin literature. . . . open to everybody; and no one fit for
She could write poetry, crack a joke, and converse office or a position of trust is an alien. . . .
at will. . . . She was in fact a woman of ready wit You have made the word “Roman” apply
and considerable charm.” 3 Livia, the dynamic not to a city but to a universal people. . . .
wife of Augustus, was often consulted on impor- You no longer classify peoples as Greek or
tant government matters, and during the third barbarian. . . . You have redivided mankind
century there were times when women controlled into Romans and non-Romans. . . . Under
the throne. this classification there are many in each
city who are no less fellow citizens of
An Orderly World Community. From Brit- yours than those of their own stock,
ain to the Arabian Desert, from the Danube though some of them have never seen
River to the sands of the Sahara, some fifty to this city. 4
The Pax Romana ❖ 151
BAS-RELIEF FROM CONSTANTINE’S ARCH. Emperor For other peoples will, I do not doubt,
Marcus Aurelius dispenses aid to needy citizens. still cast their bronze to breathe with softer
(Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)
features,
or draw out of the marble living lines, plead
causes better,
Roman Culture and Law trace the ways of heaven with wands and tell
During the Pax Romana the rising
constellations; but yours will be the rulership
During the late Roman Republic, Rome had cre- of nations,
atively assimilated the Greek achievement (see remember, Roman, these will be your arts:
Chapter 6) and transmitted it to others who had to teach the ways of peace to those you
little or no contact with Hellenism. Rome had conquer, to spare
acquired Greek scientific thought, philosophy, defeated peoples, to tame the proud.5
Primary Source
Aelius Aristides: The the seas nor expanse of land bars citizenship;
Asia and Europe are not differentiated. Careers
Blessings of the Pax Romana are open to talent. . . . Rich and poor find con-
tentment and profit in your system; there is no
other way of life. Your polity is a single and all-
In the following reading, Aelius Aristides (A.D. 117–
embracing harmony. . . .
187), a Greek intellectual, glowingly praises the Pax
. . . “[You] established cities in diverse parts.
Romana in an oration that was probably delivered
The cities you filled with colonists; you intro-
in Rome. In the tradition of Roman orators, Aris-
duced arts and crafts and established an orderly
tides used hyperbole and exaggeration. Neverthe-
culture. . . . Your military organization makes all
less, the oration does capture the universalism and
others childish. Your soldiers and officers you
cosmopolitanism that characterized the Roman
train to prevail not only over the enemy but
Empire.
over themselves. The soldier lives under disci-
pline daily, and none ever deserts the post as-
signed him.
“But the most marvelous and admirable “You alone are, so to speak, natural rulers.
achievement of all, and the one deserving our Your predecessors were masters and slaves
fullest gratitude, is this. . . . You alone of the in turn; as rulers they were counterfeits, and
imperial powers of history rule over men who reversed their positions like players in a ball
are free. You have not assigned this or that re- game. . . . You have measured out the world,
gion to [unscrupulous governors]. . . . Just as bridged rivers, cut roads through mountains,
citizens in an individual city might designate filled the wastes with posting stations, intro-
magistrates, so you, whose city is the whole duced orderly and refined modes of life. . . .
world, appoint governors to protect and pro- “Be all gods and their offspring invoked to
vide for the governed, as if they were elective, grant that this empire and this city flourish for-
not to lord it over their charges. As a result, so ever and never cease until stones float upon the
far from disputing the office as if it were their sea and trees forbear to sprout in the springtide.
own, governors make way for their successors May the great Ruler and his sons be preserved
readily when their term is up, and may not to administer all things well.”
even await their coming. Appeals to a higher
jurisdiction are as easy as appeals from parish
to county. . . .
“But the most notable and praiseworthy fea-
ture of all, a thing unparalleled, is your mag- Question for Analysis
nanimous conception of citizenship. All of your 1. What did Aristides find so admirable in
subjects (and this implies the whole world) you Rome’s imperial system?
have divided into two parts: the better endowed
and more virile, wherever they may be, you Moses Hadas, ed., A History of Rome: From Its Origins to
have granted citizenship and even kinship; the 529 A.D. as Told by the Roman Historians (Garden City, N.Y.:
rest you govern as obedient subjects. Neither Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956), 143–145.
152
The Pax Romana ❖ 153
In his History of Rome, the historian Livy woman’s love; Book III advises women about
(59 b.c.–a.d. 17) also glorified Roman virtues, men. To the man who wants to win a woman,
customs, and deeds. He praised Augustus for Ovid gave this counsel:
attempting to revive traditional Roman mo-
rality, to which Livy felt a strong attachment. First of all, be quite sure that there isn’t a
Modern historians criticize Livy for failing to woman who cannot be won, and make up
utilize important sources of information in this your mind that you will win her. Only you
work, for relying on biased authorities, and for must prepare the ground.
allowing fierce patriotism to warp his judg-
ment. Although Livy was a lesser historian than You must play the lover for all you’re worth.
Thucydides or Polybius, his work was still a Tell her how you are pining for her.
major achievement, particularly in its depiction
of the Roman character, which helped make
Never cease to sing the praises of her face, her
Rome great.
hair, her taper fingers, and her dainty foot.
An outstanding poet, Horace (65–8 b.c.)
was the son of a freed slave. He broadened his
Tears too are a mighty useful resource in the
education by studying literature and philoso-
matter of love. They would melt a diamond.
phy in Athens, and Greek ideals are reflected
Make a point, therefore, of letting your
in his writings. Horace enjoyed the luxury of
mistress see your face all wet with tears.
country estates, banquets, fine clothes, and
courtesans, along with the simple pleasures
Women are things of many moods. You must
of mountain streams and clear skies. His po-
adapt your treatment to the special case.7
etry touched on many themes—the joy of good
wine, the value of moderation, and the beauty
of friendship. Desiring to blend reason and The writers who lived after the Augustan age
emotion, Horace urged men to seek pleasurable were of a lesser quality than their predecessors, al-
experiences but to avoid extremes and to keep though the historian Tacitus (a.d. 55–c. 118) was
desire under rational control. He also reminded an exception. Sympathetic to republican institu-
Romans of the terrible civil wars that had ru- tions, Tacitus denounced Roman emperors and
ined the Republic. the imperial system in his Histories and Annals.
In Germania, he turned his sights on the habits of
What plain is not enriched with Latin blood, the Germanic peoples. He described the Germans
to bear witness with its graves to our unholy as undisciplined but heroic, with a strong love of
strife. . . . What pool or stream has failed to freedom.
taste the dismal war! What sea has Italian The satirist Juvenal (a.d. c. 55–138) attacked the
slaughter not discolored! What coast knows evils of Roman society, such as the misconduct of em-
not our blood!6 perors, the haughtiness of the wealthy, the barbaric
tastes of commoners, and the failures of parents. He
Unlike Virgil, Livy, or Horace, Ovid (43 b.c.– also described the noise, congestion, and poverty of
a.d. 17) did not experience the civil wars during the capital, as well as its criminal element.
his adult years. Consequently, he was less inclined
to praise the Augustan peace. His poetry showed But these aren’t your only terrors. For you can
a preference for romance and humor, and he is never restrain
best remembered for his advice to lovers con- The criminal element. Lock up your house,
tained in his most famous work, The Art of Love. put bolt and chain
Written when Ovid was fifty years old, the work On your shop, but when all’s quiet, someone
deals with the art of seduction. Book I tells how will rob you or he’ll
to attract a woman who is the object of a man’s Be a cutthroat perhaps and do you in quickly
desire; Book II explains how a man can keep a with cold steel.8
154 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
In addition, Juvenal expressed venomous views he sought the strength to overcome the burdens of
toward women. He describes the humiliations ruling an empire, the fear of death, and the injus-
husbands must face—infidelity, poisonings, public tices and misdeeds committed by his fellows.
harlotry, and being ignored, intimidated, and
dominated. All of this, says Juvenal, is a conse- Hour by hour resolve firmly, like a Roman and
quence of a wife’s failure to live up to the obli- a man, to do what comes to hand with cor-
gations of the married state—being silent, loyal, rect and natural dignity, and with humanity,
obedient, respectful of her husband, and caring independence, and justice. Allow your mind
for the children. freedom from all other considerations. This
you can do, if you will approach each action as
Philosophy. Stoicism was the principal philos- though it were your last, dismissing the way-
ophy of the Pax Romana, and its leading expo- ward thought, the emotional recoil from the
nents were Seneca, Epictetus (a.d. c. 60–c. 117), commands of reason, the desire to create an
and the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Perpetuat- impression, the admiration of self, the discontent
ing the rational tradition of Greek philosophy, with your lot. See how little a man needs to
Roman Stoics saw the universe as governed by master, for his days to flow on in quietness and
reason, and they esteemed the human intellect. piety: he has but to observe these few counsels,
Like Socrates, they sought the highest good in and the gods will ask nothing more.10
this world, not in an afterlife, and envisioned no
power above human reason. Moral values were
obtained from reason alone. The individual was Science. The two most prominent scientists
self-sufficient and depended entirely on rational during the Greco-Roman age were Ptolemy, the
faculties for knowing and doing good. Stoics mathematician, geographer, and astronomer, who
valued self-sufficient persons who attained vir- worked at Alexandria in the second century a.d.,
tue and wisdom by exercising rational control and Galen (a.d. c. 130–c. 201), who investigated
over their lives. Roman thinkers also embraced medicine and anatomy. Ptolemy’s thirteen-vol-
the Stoic doctrine that all people, because of ume work, Mathematical Composition—more
their capacity to reason, belong to a common commonly known as the Almagest, a Greek-
humanity. Arabic term meaning “the greatest”—summed
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 b.c.–a.d. 65), a up antiquity’s knowledge of astronomy and be-
student of rhetoric and philosophy, served the came the authoritative text during the Middle
emperor Nero. After Nero accused him of par- Ages. In the Ptolemaic system, a motionless,
ticipating in a conspiracy against the throne, round earth stood in the center of the universe,
Seneca was forced to commit suicide. Seneca’s and the moon, sun, and planets moved about the
Stoic humanitarianism was expressed in his de- earth in circles, or in combinations of circles. The
nunciation of the gladiatorial combats and in Ptolemaic system was built on a faulty premise,
his concern for slaves. He urged Romans “to as modern astronomy eventually showed. How-
consider, that he whom you call your slave, is ever, it did work—that is, it did provide a model
sprung from the same origin, enjoys the same of the universe that adequately accounted for
climate, breathes the same air, and is sub- most observed phenomena. The Ptolemaic system
ject to the same condition of life and death as would not be challenged until the middle of the
yourself.”9 sixteenth century.
The emperor Marcus Aurelius, the last of the As Ptolemy’s system dominated astronomy, so
great Stoics, also had to deal with serious prob- the theories of Galen dominated medicine down to
lems confronting the Empire. While commanding modern times. By dissecting both dead and living
troops engaged in fighting plundering tribesmen animals, Galen attempted a rational investigation
in the Balkans, he wrote in Greek the Medita- of the body’s working parts. Although his work con-
tions, a classic work of Stoic thought. In Stoicism, tains many errors, he made essential contributions
The Pax Romana ❖ 155
to the knowledge of anatomy. Thanks to Arab over Italy. The Twelve Tables, drawn up in the
physicians who preserved his writings during the early days of the patrician–plebeian struggle
Middle Ages, Galen’s influence continued in the (described at the beginning of Chapter 6), es-
West into early modern times. tablished for the Roman state written rules of
criminal and civil law that applied to all citizens.
Art, Architecture, and Engineering. Romans Over the centuries, the civil law was expanded
borrowed art forms from other peoples, particu- by statutes enacted by the assemblies, by the
larly the Greeks, but they borrowed creatively, legal decisions of jurisdictional magistrates, by
transforming and enhancing their inheritance. the rulings of emperors, and by the commentar-
Roman portraiture continued trends initiated ies of professional jurists, who, aided by famil-
during the Hellenistic Age. Imitating Hellenistic iarity with Greek logic, engaged in systematic
models, Roman sculptors realistically carved ev- legal analysis.
ery detail of a subject’s face: unruly hair, promi- During the period of the Republic’s expansion
nent nose, lines and wrinkles, a jaw that showed outside Italy, contact with the Greeks and other
weakness or strength. Sculpture also gave ex- peoples led to the development of the second
pression to the imperial ideal. Statues of em- branch of Roman law, jus gentium, which com-
perors conveyed nobility and authority; reliefs bined Roman civil law with principles selec-
commemorating victories glorified Roman might tively drawn from the legal tradition of Greeks
and grandeur. and other peoples. Roman jurists identified the
The Romans most creatively transformed jus gentium with the natural law (jus naturale)
the Greek inheritance in architecture. The of the Stoics. The jurists said that a law should
Greek temple was intended to be viewed from accord with rational principles inherent in na-
the outside; the focus was exclusively on the ture: uniform and universally valid standards
superbly balanced exterior. By using arches, that can be discerned by rational people. Serv-
vaults, and domes, the Romans built structures ing to bind different peoples together, the law
with large, magnificent interiors. The vast in- of nations harmonized with the requirements of
terior, massive walls, and overarching dome a world empire and with Stoic ideals, as Cicero
of the famous Pantheon, a temple built in the pointed out.
early second century, during the reign of Had-
rian, symbolizes the power and majesty of the True law is right reason in agreement
Roman world-state. with nature; it is of universal application,
The Romans excelled at engineering. They built unchanging and ever lasting. . . . And there
amphitheaters, public baths, and aqueducts that will not be different laws at Rome and at
carried water to Roman cities—some still survive. Athens or different laws now and in the
Roman engineers with an eye for natural barriers future, but one eternal and unchangeable law
and drainage problems carefully selected routes will be valid for all nations and all times.11
and designed great embanked roads, the finest in
the ancient world. The law of nations came to be applied through-
out the Empire, although it never entirely sup-
Law. Expressing the Roman yearning for planted local law. In the eyes of the law, a citizen
order and justice, law was Rome’s great leg- was not a Syrian or a Briton or a Spaniard but
acy to Western civilization. Roman law passed a Roman. In effect, through jus gentium, an in-
through two essential stages: the formation of ternational law, Rome transformed what was a
civil law (jus civile) and the formation of the theoretical principle for the Stoics into a political
law of nations (jus gentium). The basic features reality.
of the civil law evolved during the two-hun- After the fall of the western Roman Empire,
dred-year Struggle of the Orders, at the same Roman law fell into disuse in Europe. Gradually
time that Rome was extending its dominion reintroduced in the twelfth century, it came to
156 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
form the basis of the common law in all Western The guilt or punishment of a father can
European lands except Britain and its dependen- impose no stigma upon the son, for every
cies. Some provisions of Roman law are readily individual is subjected to treatment in
recognizable in modern legal systems, as the fol- accordance with his own action, and no one is
lowing excerpts illustrate: made the inheritor of the guilt of another.
In inflicting penalties, the age . . . of the guilty
Justice is a constant, unfailing disposition to party must be taken into account.12
give everyone his legal due.
No one suffers a penalty for what he thinks.
In the case of major offenses it makes a Entertainment. Despite its many achieve-
difference whether something is committed ments, Roman civilization presents a para-
purposefully or accidentally. dox. On the one hand, Roman culture and law
Signs of Trouble ❖ 157
evidence high standards of civilization. On the I am greedier, more aggressive and . . . more cruel
other hand, the Romans institutionalized bar- and inhuman.”13
baric practices: battles to the death between
armed gladiators and the tormenting and slaugh-
tering of wild beasts.
The major forms of entertainment in both the
SIGNS OF TROUBLE
Republic and the Empire were chariot races, wild
The Pax Romana was one of the finest periods in
animal shows, and gladiatorial combat. Chariot
ancient history. But even during the Time of Hap-
races were gala events in which the most skill-
piness, signs of trouble appeared that would grow
ful riders and the finest and best-trained stallions
to crisis proportions in the third century.
raced in an atmosphere of extreme excitement.
The charioteers, many of them slaves hoping
that victory would bring them freedom, became
popular heroes. The rich staked fortunes on the Internal Unrest
races, and the poor bet their last coins.
The Romans craved brutal spectacles. One The Empire’s internal stability was always subject
form of entertainment pitted wild beasts against to question. Were the economic foundations of
each other or against men armed with spears. the Empire strong and elastic enough to endure
Another consisted of battles, sometimes to the hard blows? Could the Roman Empire retain
death, between highly trained gladiators. The the loyalty of so many diverse nationalities, each
gladiators, mainly prisoners of war and con- with its own religious and cultural traditions?
demned criminals, learned their craft at schools Were the mass of people committed to the val-
run by professional trainers. Some gladiators ues of Greco-Roman civilization, or would they
entered the arena armed with a sword, others withdraw their allegiance and revert to their na-
with a trident and a net. The spectators were tive traditions if imperial authority weakened?
transformed into a frenzied mob that lusted Most people in the Mediterranean world
for blood. If they were displeased with a losing welcomed Roman rule and could not conceive
gladiator’s performance, they would call for his of a world without the Empire that brought
immediate execution. them peace and security, Nevertheless, during
Over the centuries, these spectacles grew more the Pax Romana, dissident elements did surface,
bizarre and brutal. Hundreds of tigers were set particularly in Gaul, Egypt, and Judea. Separat-
against elephants and bulls; wild bulls tore apart ist movements in Gaul were crushed by Roman
men dressed in animal skins; women battled in forces. To provide free bread for Rome’s poor,
the arena; dwarfs fought each other. One day in Roman emperors exploited the Egyptian peas-
the Colosseum, which could seat fifty thousand antry. Weighed down by forced labor, heavy
people, three thousand men fought one another; taxes, requisitions, and confiscations, Egyptian
on the day the Colosseum opened in a.d. 80, nine peasants frequently sought to escape from farm
thousand beasts were slaughtered. In fact, much work. And the Romans suppressed two upris-
of the African trade was devoted to supplying ani- ings by the Jews of Judea.
mals for the contests. The unrest in Egypt, Gaul, and Judea demon-
Few Romans questioned these barbarities, strated that not all people at all times welcomed
which became a routine part of daily life. Occa- the grand majesty of the Roman peace and that
sionally, however, thoughtful Romans had strong localist and separatist tendencies persisted in a
doubts. After watching a public spectacle, the universal empire. In the centuries that followed, as
Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote in disgust: “There Rome staggered under the weight of economic, po-
is nothing more harmful to one’s character than litical, and military difficulties, these native loyal-
attendance at some spectacle, because vices more ties reasserted themselves. Increasingly, the masses,
easily creep into your soul while you are being and even the Romanized elite of the cities, with-
entertained. When I return from some spectacle, drew their support from the Roman world-state.
158 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
Social and Economic Weaknesses and shared little in the political and cultural life
of the city. The privileged classes bought off the
A healthy world-state required empirewide trade urban poor with bread and circuses, but occasion-
to serve as an economic base for political unity, ally mass discontent expressed itself in mob vio-
expanding agricultural production to feed the cit- lence. Outside the cities, the peasantry—still the
ies, and growing internal mass markets to stimu- great bulk of the population—was exploited to
late industrial production. But the economy of the provide cheap food for the city dwellers.
Empire during the Pax Romana had serious de- Such a parasitical, exploitative, and elitist so-
fects. The means of communication and transpor- cial system might function in periods of peace and
tation were slow, which hindered long-distance tranquility, but could it survive crises? Would the
commerce. Roman roads, built for military rather impoverished people of town and country—the
than commercial purposes, were often too narrow overwhelming majority of the population—remain
for large carts and in places were too steep for loyal to a state whose benefits barely extended to
any vehicles. Consequently, transporting goods by them and whose sophisticated culture, which they
land, even short distances, necessitated huge price hardly comprehended, virtually excluded them?
increases that hampered trade. Many nobles, con-
sidering it unworthy for a gentleman to engage in
business, chose to squander their wealth rather Cultural Stagnation
than invest it in commercial or industrial enter- and Transformation
prises. Lacking the stimulus of capital investment,
the economy could not expand. Perhaps the most dangerous sign for the future
Limited employment opportunities resulted was the spiritual paralysis that crept over the or-
from the Greco-Roman civilization’s failure to dered world of the Pax Romana. A weary and
improve its technology substantially and from sterile Hellenism underlay the Roman peace. The
reliance on slave labor. Also, because manual la- ancient world was undergoing a transformation
bor was considered degrading, fit only for a slave, of values that foreshadowed the end of Greco-
there was little incentive for innovation that might Roman civilization.
have triggered economic growth and expanded During the second century a.d., Greco-Roman
employment opportunities. Because of these fac- civilization lost its creative energies, and the val-
tors, millions of people simply did not engage in ues of classical humanism were challenged by
productive labor. Moreover, scarce employment mythic-religious movements. No longer regarding
left the masses with little purchasing power; this reason as a satisfying guide to life, the educated
too adversely affected business and industry. Many elite subordinated the intellect to feelings and
unemployed inhabitants of Italian towns lived on an unregulated imagination. No longer finding
free or cheap grain provided by the state. To feed the affairs of this world to have purpose, people
this unemployed underclass, the government kept placed their hope in life after death. The Roman
the price of grain artificially low. This practice dis- world was undergoing a religious revolution and
couraged farmers from planting more crops and seeking a new vision of the divine.
expanding grain production and forced many of The application of reason to nature and society,
them to seek other livelihoods. As more farmers as we have seen, was the great achievement of the
left the countryside, the towns became increas- Greek mind. Yet despite its many triumphs, Greek
ingly swollen with an impoverished proletariat. rationalism never entirely subdued the mythic-
Rural areas eventually faced a serious shortage of religious mentality, which draws its strength from
laborers due to this population migration. human emotion. The masses of peasants and slaves
Ultimately, only a small portion of the urban remained attracted to religious forms. Ritual,
population—landlords whose estates were outside mystery, magic, and ecstasy never lost their hold on
the city, merchants, and administrators—reaped the ancient world—nor, indeed, have they on our
the benefits of the Roman peace. They basked in own scientific and technological society. During
luxury, leisure, and culture. The urban poor, on the Hellenistic Age, the tide of rationalism gradu-
the other hand, derived few of the economic gains ally receded, and the nonrational, an ever-present
Signs of Trouble ❖ 159
undercurrent, showed renewed vigor. This resur- Asia Minor. The various mystery cults possessed
gence of the mythical mentality could be seen in the many common features. Converts underwent ini-
popularity of the occult, magic, alchemy, and astrol- tiation rites and were bound by oath to secrecy.
ogy. Feeling themselves controlled by heavenly pow- The initiates, in a state of rapture, attempted to
ers, burdened by danger and emotional stress, and unite with the deity after first purifying them-
fearing fate as fixed in the stars, people turned for selves through baptism (sometimes with the blood
deliverance to magicians, astrologers, and exorcists. of a bull), fasting, having their heads shaved, or
They also became devotees of the many Near drinking from a sacred vessel. Communion was
Eastern religious cults that promised personal salva- achieved by donning the god’s robe, eating a sa-
tion. More and more people felt that the good life cred meal, or visiting the god’s sanctuary. This
could not be achieved by individuals through their sacramental drama propelled initiates through
own efforts; they needed outside help. Philosophers an intense mystical experience of exaltation and
eventually sought escape from this world through rebirth. Cultists were certain that their particular
union with a divine presence greater than human savior-god would protect them from misfortune
power. Increasingly, the masses, and then even the and ensure their soul’s immortality.
educated elite, came to believe that the good life Of special significance was the cult of Mithras,
could be found not on earth but only in a world be- which had certain parallels with early Christian-
yond the grave. Seeing themselves as isolated souls ity and was its principal competitor. Originating
wandering aimlessly in a social desert, people sought in Persia, Mithraism spread westward into the
refuge in religion. Reason had been found wanting; Roman Empire. Because it stressed respect for the
the time for faith and salvation was at hand. masculine virtues of bravery and camaraderie, it
The Roman Empire had imposed peace and became particularly popular with the army. The
stability, but it could not alleviate the feelings of god Mithras, whose birth date was celebrated on
loneliness, anxiety, impotence, alienation, and December 25, had as his mission the rescuing of
boredom that had been gaining ground in the humanity from evil. He was said to demand high
Mediterranean world since the fourth century b.c. standards of morality, to judge souls after death,
A spiritual malaise descended on the Greco-Roman and to grant eternal life to his faithful followers.
world. Among the upper classes, the philosophical The popularity of magic and mystery demon-
and scientific spirit withered; rational and secular strates that many people in Roman society either
values were in retreat. Deprived of the excitement did not comprehend or had lost faith in the ra-
of politics and bored by idleness and pleasure, the tional and secular values of classical humanism.
best minds, says historian Michael Rostovtzeff, Religion proved more comforting to the spirit.
People felt that the gods could provide what rea-
lost faith in the power of reason. . . . Creative son, natural law, and civic affairs could not: a sure
genius dwindled; science repeated its previous way of overcoming life’s misfortunes and discour-
results. The textbook took the place of re- agements, a guarantee of immortality, a sense of
search; no new artistic discoveries were made, belonging to a community of brethren who cared,
but echoes of the past were heard. . . . [Writers] an exciting outlet for bottled-up emotions, and a
amuse[d] the mind but [were] incapable of sedative for anxiety at a time when dissatisfac-
elevating and inspiring it.14 tion with the human condition showed itself in all
phases of society and life.
H ADRIAN ’S WALL . Between a.d. 122 and 127, the Romans constructed an
elaborate defensive system in Britain consisting of a wall of solid masonry and a
series of forts. Built on high ground, Hadrian’s Wall extended from the estuary of
the Solway to that of the Tyne, a distance of seventy-three miles. (© Patrick Ward/Corbis.)
about the earthly state. From trying to understand a major and a minor key. The major key stressed
nature and individuals’ relationships to one an- a rational interpretation of the human community
other, the philosophers more and more aspired to a and called for reforming the polis on the basis of
communion with a higher reality. Like the mystery knowledge, whereas the minor key urged the soul
religions, philosophy reached for something be- to rise to a higher world of reality. Plotinus was
yond this world in order to comfort the individual. intrigued by Plato’s otherworldliness.
In Neo-Platonism, which replaced Stoicism as the What Plotinus desired was union with the One,
dominant school of philosophy in the late Roman or the Good, sometimes called God—the source of
Empire, religious yearnings were transformed into all existence. Plotinus felt that the intellect could
a religious system that transcended reason. neither describe nor understand the One, which
Plotinus (a.d. c. 205–c. 270), the most influen- transcended all knowing, and that joining with
tial spokesman of Neo-Platonism, went far beyond the One required a mystical leap, a purification
Marcus Aurelius’s natural religion; in aspiring to of the soul that dispensed with logic, evidence,
the ecstatic union of the soul with God, he subor- and proof. This vision, which induced the soul to
dinated philosophy to mysticism and the occult. return to its true home, was for Plotinus some-
Plato’s philosophy, we have seen, contained both thing greater and more compelling than reason.
The Decline of Rome ❖ 161
For Plotinus, philosophy became a religious expe- Empire was plunged into military anarchy, raided
rience, a contemplation of the eternal. His succes- by Germanic tribes, and burdened by economic
sors held that through acts of magic the soul can dislocations. During these critical times, effective
unite with the One. Compared with this union leadership was lacking, for the adoptive system
with the divine One, of what value was knowl- abandoned by Marcus Aurelius was not restored.
edge of the sensible world or a concern for human The degeneration of the army was a prime
affairs? For Plotinus, the principal goal of life was reason for the third-century crisis. During the
not comprehension of the natural world or ful- great peace, the army had remained an excel-
fillment of human potential or betterment of the lent fighting force, renowned for its discipline,
human community but attaining spiritual truth— organization, and loyalty. In the third century
knowledge of the One—through a transrational a.d., however, there was a marked deterioration
experience. Neo-Platonism, concludes historian of in the quality of Roman soldiers. Lacking loy-
philosophy W. T. Stace, “is founded upon . . . the alty to Rome and greedy for spoils, soldiers used
despair of reason.” It seeks to reach the Absolute their weapons to prey on civilians and to make
not through reason but through “spiritual intoxi- and unmake emperors. Fearful of being killed by
cation.” This marks a radical transformation of their unruly troops who wanted spoils or of being
philosophical thinking. murdered by a suspicious emperor, generals were
driven to seize the throne. Once in power, they
For philosophy is founded upon reason. It is had to buy the loyalty of their soldiers and guard
the effort to comprehend, to understand, to against assassination by other generals. From a.d.
grasp the reality of things intellectually. There- 235 to 285, military mutiny and civil war raged
fore it cannot admit anything higher than as legion fought legion. During this period, there
reason. To exalt intuition, ecstasy, or rapture, were twenty-six soldier-emperors, twenty-five of
above thought—this is the death of philoso- whom died violently. The once stalwart army ne-
phy. . . . In Neo-Platonism, therefore, ancient glected its duty of defending the borders against
philosophy commits suicide. This is the end. barbarian incursions and disrupted the internal
The place of philosophy is taken henceforth life of the Empire.
by religion.15 Perhaps the degeneration of the army can be
explained by the liberal granting of citizenship.
By the time of the late Roman Empire, mys- In a.d. 212, citizenship was extended to virtually
tery religions intoxicated the masses, and mystical all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire. Previously,
philosophy beguiled the educated elite. Classical many army recruits had been drawn from among
civilization was being transformed. Philosophy provincials, who were attracted by the promise of
had become subordinate to religious belief; secu- citizenship and its advantages. These recruits gen-
lar values seemed inferior to religious experience. erally were men of a high caliber who were in-
The earthly city had raised its eyes toward heaven. terested in bettering themselves and their families’
The culture of the Roman world was moving in a lot. With citizenship no longer an inducement for
direction in which the quest for the divine was to enlistment, says Edward T. Salmon,
predominate over all human enterprises.
recruits were now only too likely to be drawn
from the lowest and most primitive elements . . .
THE DECLINE OF ROME men of the rough and reckless type, who were
joining the army chiefly in order to get weap-
Third-Century Crisis ons in their hands with which they would be
able to extort for themselves an even greater
At the death of Marcus Aurelius in a.d. 180, the share of the Empire’s collective wealth . . . men
Empire was politically stable, economically pros- who knew little and cared less about Rome’s
perous, and militarily secure. In the third century, mission and who, when not preying upon the
the ordered civilization of the Pax Romana ended. civilians, had not the slightest compunction
Several elements caused this disruption. The Roman about preying upon one another.16
162 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
During the third century, Rome also had to commitment to classical civilization, which had
deal with a revived Persian Empire that forced made little headway against native languages, reli-
the Romans to shift large contingents of legions gions, and manners.
eastward. Taking advantage of the weakened bor- During the third century a.d., the spiritual
ders and military anarchy, Germanic tribesmen crisis intensified as the rational foundations of
crossed the Rhine–Danube frontier to loot and Greco-Roman civilization eroded further. People
destroy. The Goths raided coastal cities of Asia turned increasingly to the mystery cults, which
Minor and Greece and even burned much of Ath- offered relief from earthly misery, a sense of be-
ens. In the Western Empire, other Germanic tribes longing, and a promise of immortality. In philoso-
penetrated Gaul, Spain, and Italy and engaged the phy, creative energies were directed not toward
Romans in a full-scale battle near Milan. At the a greater understanding of nature or society but
same time that the European defense lines were toward a knowledge of the divine, which, taught
being breached, a reborn Persian Empire, led by the philosophers, was the path to happiness. Hel-
the Sassanid dynasty, attacked and for a while lenism was breaking down.
conquered Roman lands in the east. Some sec-
tions of the Empire, notably in Gaul, attempted
to break away; these moves reflected an assertion Diocletian and Constantine:
of local patriotism over Roman universalism. The The Regimented State
“city of mankind” was crumbling.
These eruptions had severe economic repercus- The emperors Diocletian (a.d. 285–305) and
sions. Cities were pillaged and destroyed, farm- Constantine (a.d. 306–337) tried to contain the
land ruined, and trade disrupted. To obtain funds awesome forces of disintegration. At a time when
and supplies for the military, emperors confiscated agricultural production was steadily declining,
goods, exacted forced labor, and devalued the cur- they had to feed the city poor and an expanded
rency by reducing the gold and silver content of army of more than 500,000, strung out over the
coins and adding base metals: zinc, tin, and lead. Empire. They also had to prevent renewed out-
Cheap money caused a ruinous inflation, leading breaks of military anarchy, drive the Germans
many people to turn to barter as a medium of ex- back across the Danube frontier, and secure the
change. These measures led many citizens to with- eastern region against renewed aggression from
draw their loyalty from Rome. Persia. Their solution was to weaken municipal
Repeated invasions, civil war, pillage by Ger- institutions, tighten the reins of central govern-
manic tribes and by Roman soldiers, soaring ment, and extort more taxes and requisitions
prices, a debased coinage, declining agricultural from the citizens. In the process, they transformed
production, disrupted transportation, and the Rome into a bureaucratic, regimented, and mili-
excessive demands of the state caused economic tarized state, which some historians refer to as
havoc and famine in the cities. Compounding the “a vast prison.”
problem was a great plague that spread across Ruling like a Near Eastern despot, Diocletian
North Africa and the Balkans in midcentury. completed a trend that had been developing for
Driven to desperation by famine and plague, by generations. He imitated the pomp of the East,
invading barbarians and plundering Roman sol- wore magnificent robes and jewels, and de-
diers, and by the extortions and requisitions of manded that subjects prostrate themselves in his
government officials, many people fled the cities. presence. Cities lost their traditional right of lo-
The urban centers of the ancient world, creators cal self-government—a loss that also culminated
and disseminators of high civilization, were caught an earlier trend. To increase the size of the army,
in a rhythm of breakdown. As cities decayed, the Diocletian drafted prisoners of war and hired
center of life gravitated back to the countryside. German mercenaries. He also established, on va-
Large, fortified estates, or villas, owned by the cant or deserted Roman lands, colonies of Ger-
emperor or wealthy aristocrats, provided ref- mans from which soldiers could be recruited. To
uge for the uprooted and destitute of town and ensure continuous production of food and goods,
country. In the countryside, people had no deep as well as the collection of taxes, the state forced
The Decline of Rome ❖ 163
unskilled workers and artisans to hold their jobs Tribal Migrations and Invasions
for life and to pass them on to their children. For
the same reasons, peasants were turned into vir- Nearly two centuries after Diocletian’s reign, the
tual serfs, bound to the land that they cultivated. Roman historian Zosimus described the emper-
An army of government agents was formed to or’s accomplishment.
hunt down peasants who fled the land to escape
crushing taxes and poverty.
By the foresight of Diocletian the frontiers
Also frozen into their positions were city of-
were everywhere studded with cities and forts
ficials, or curiales. They often found it necessary
and towers, and the whole army stationed
to furnish from their own pockets the difference
along them. It was thus impossible for the
between the state’s tax demands and the amount
barbarians to break through, since at every
that they could collect from an already over-
point they encountered an opposing force
taxed population. This system of a hereditary
strong enough to repel them.17
class of tax collectors and of crippling taxes to
pay for a vastly expanded bureaucracy and mili-
tary establishment enfeebled urban trade and in- By imposing some order on what had been ap-
dustry. Such conditions killed the civic spirit of proaching chaos, Diocletian and Constantine
townspeople, who desperately sought escape. By prevented the Empire from collapsing. Rome
overburdening urban dwellers with taxes and was given a reprieve. A long period of peace
regulations, Diocletian and Constantine helped might have brought economic recovery, but
shatter the vitality of city life, on which Roman misfortune continued to burden Rome, and
prosperity and civilization depended. During the the process of breakdown and disintegration
Pax Romana, municipal authorities had enjoyed resumed.
considerable autonomy; now the state bureau- In the last part of the fourth century, the prob-
cracy extended its often onerous and rapacious lem of guarding the frontier grew more acute.
power everywhere. The Huns, a nomadic people from central Asia,
Rome was governed by a despotism charac- swept across the plains of Russia. With their
teristic of the Near East—a highly centralized formidible cavalry—the Huns were expert rid-
monarchy regimenting the lives of its subjects. ers and archers—they subdued the Ostrogoths,
Whereas Augustus had upheld the classical ideal a Germanic tribe that had established itself in
that the commonwealth was a means of foster- Ukraine, and forced the Germanic Visigoths,
ing the good life for the individual, Diocletian who had migrated along the Danube in what is
adopted the Eastern attitude that the individual now Romania, to seek refuge within the eastern
lives for the state. The absolutism inherent in the Roman Empire. Enraged by their mistreatment
concept of the principate had eclipsed the repub- at the hands of Roman officials, the Visigoths
lican elements that had endured in the Augustan took up arms. In 378, Goths and Romans fought
political settlement. each other in a historic battle at Adrianople.
To guard against military insurrection, Diocle- The Visigoths’ cavalry cut to pieces the Roman
tian appointed a loyal general as emperor to gov- forces, largely tribal mercenaries, and killed
ern the western provinces of the Empire while and captured perhaps as many as two-thirds of
he ruled the eastern regions; although both em- the Roman army. Emperor Valens perished in
perors bore the title Augustus, Diocletian re- what was Rome’s worst defeat since Cannae
mained superior. (Each emperor then chose an in the war with Hannibal. The Visigoths were on
heir-designate, who received his own territory to Roman territory to stay. The battle of Adriano-
govern. For a time, the Empire was a tetrarchy— ple signified that Rome could no longer defend
a government by four.) By building an imperial its borders. Since it was the Visigoth cavalry that
capital, Constantinople, at the Bosporus, a strait prevailed over a Roman army composed mainly
where Asia meets Europe, Constantine furthered of foot soldiers, the battle also signified that cav-
this trend of dividing the Empire into eastern and alry had begun to supersede infantry as a princi-
western halves. pal instrument of warfare.
164 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
a
Se
JUTLAND 0 200 400 Mi.
lti
c
North Sea
IRELAND Ba
BRITAIN
3 76– 50 0
ANGLO-
SAXONS 0
45
Rh
Dniep
ine
e
0
42 40
rR
R.
Paris 40
7 358
.
0– 0
486 50 34
FRANKS
Reims 406 0
A TL A N T I C
L 451 451
OC E A N
375
oire
OSTROGOTHS
4
45
R.
454
Milan
Da a
568 452 nu b 375 ck Se
409 Ravenna e R. B la
489
Lerins 410 397
Adrianople 378
Corsica
VISIGOTHS Constantinople
Rome
Nicaea
418 Monte
Sardinia Cassino
395 BYZANTINE EMPIRE
455
426 VANDALS
42
9 Hippo Sicily
Carthage
439 M e di
Major battle Visigoths terranea
n Sea
Monastery Franks
Huns Lombards
Vandals Angles, Saxons, Jutes
Ostrogoths FRANKS Colored type shows AFRICA
where tribes settled
Map 7.2 INCURSIONS AND MIGRATIONS, C. A.D. 300–500 In the fifth century,
Germanic tribes, seeking land and desperate to escape the Huns, overran the
weakened Roman borders. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
Other Germanic tribes increased their pres- slaughtering, destroying, and plundering. Saint
sure on the Empire’s borders. Attracted by the Jerome lamented: “Who could believe that Rome,
warmer climate, riches, and advanced civilization built upon the conquest of the whole world,
of the Roman Empire, they were also looking for would fall to the ground? that the mother herself
new lands to farm and were frightened by the ad- would become the tomb of her peoples?”18
vent of the Huns. The borders finally collapsed at Economic conditions continued to deteriorate.
the very end of 406 as Vandals, Alans, Suebi, and Cities in Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Spain lay
other tribes joined the Goths in devastating and abandoned. Other metropolises saw their popula-
overrunning the Empire’s western provinces. In tions dwindle and production stagnate. The great
408–409, the Visigoths, led by Alaric, besieged network of Roman roads was not maintained, and
Rome itself, extorting huge sums in return for per- trade in the West almost disappeared or passed
mitting food to enter the city. Then, in 410, they into the hands of Greeks, Syrians, and Jews from
rampaged through the city, which for eight hun- the East. Everywhere famine, the extortion of
dred years had remained free of foreign attack, taxes by government officials, the proliferation of
The Decline of Rome ❖ 165
marauding outlaws (many of them driven from The Role of the Germanic Tribes. Was Rome’s
their homes by the excessive financial demands fall suicide or murder? Did the Germans walk
of the state bureaucracy), and murderous war- over a corpse, or did they contribute substantially
fare added to the misery of the Roman populace to Rome’s decline and fall? Undoubtedly, an em-
and the decomposition and fragmentation of the pire enfeebled by internal rot succumbed to the
Empire. Germanic migrations. Perhaps a stronger Rome
In 451, Attila (c. 406–453), who had united might have secured its borders, as it had done
Mongol tribes, led his Huns into Gaul, where he during the Pax Romana. But the Germanic attacks
suffered his only defeat at the hands of a coali- occurred mainly in the west, and the western Em-
tion of Germans and the remnants of the Roman pire, poorer and less populated than the eastern
army. He died two years later, having come within portion, reeled under these increasingly numerous
a hairsbreadth of turning Europe into a province and more severe barbarian onslaughts. The pres-
of a Mongolian empire. But Rome’s misfortunes sures exerted by the Germans along an immense
persisted. In 455, Rome was again pillaged, this frontier also aggravated Rome’s internal prob-
time by the Vandals. Additional regions fell un- lems. The barbarian attacks left border regions
der the control of Germanic chieftains. Germanic depopulated and impoverished, as expenditures
soldiers in the pay of Rome gained control of the for the military drained the western Empire’s re-
government and dictated the choice of emperor. sources. The Empire imposed high taxes and labor
In 476, Germanic officers overthrew the Roman services on its citizens in order to strengthen the
emperor Romulus and placed a fellow German, armed forces, causing the overburdened middle
Odoacer, on the throne. This act is traditionally and lower classes to hate the imperial government
regarded as the end of the Roman Empire in the that took so much from them.
West. By the end of the fifth century, the western Moreover, as more and more territory fell to
empire had fragmented into separate Germanic the barbarian invaders, the Roman state was de-
kingdoms. prived of badly needed tax revenues. Containing
the threat from a revived Persian Empire made it
more difficult for Rome to deal with the Germanic
Reasons for Rome’s Decline invaders: it necessitated stationing a large force on
the eastern frontier that could have been deployed
What were the underlying causes of the decline in the west, and it imposed a heavy financial bur-
and fall of the Roman Empire in the West? Surely, den on the Empire, preventing it from funding
no other question has intrigued the historical larger armies against the barbarians.
imagination more than this one. Implicit in the
answers suggested by historians and philosophers Spiritual Considerations. The classical men-
is a concern for their own civilization. Will it suf- tality, once brimming with confidence about the
fer the same fate as Rome? potentialities of the individual and the power of
To analyze so monumental a development as the intellect, suffered a failure of nerve. The urban
the fall of Rome, some preliminary observations upper class, on whom the responsibility for pre-
are necessary. First, the fall of Rome was a pro- serving cosmopolitan Greco-Roman culture tra-
cess lasting hundreds of years; it was not a single ditionally rested, became dissolute and apathetic
event that occurred in a.d. 476. Second, only and no longer took an interest in public life. The
the western half of the Empire fell. The eastern aristocrats secluded themselves behind the walls
half—wealthier, more populous, less afflicted of their fortified country estates; many did not
with civil wars, and less exposed to barbarian in- lift a finger to help the Empire. The townspeople
vasions—survived as the Byzantine Empire until demonstrated their disenchantment by avoiding
the middle of the fifteenth century. Third, no public service and by rarely organizing resistance
single explanation suffices to account for Rome’s forces against the barbarian invaders. Hounded
decline; multiple forces—internal problems and by the state and persecuted by the army, many
external threats—operated concurrently to bring farmers viewed the Germans as liberators. The
about the fall. great bulk of the Roman citizenry, disillusioned
166 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
and indifferent, simply gave up, despite the fact During the Pax Romana, superior training and
that they overwhelmingly outnumbered the Ger- organization, rigorous discipline, a professional
manic invaders. system of command, and a network of walls and
forts enabled the Roman legions to protect the
Political and Military Considerations. The frontiers against incursions. The Roman soldier,
Roman government itself contributed to this spiri- for whom discipline was a deeply ingrained tra-
tual malaise through its increasingly autocratic dition, knew that his comrades would not desert
tendencies, which culminated in the regimented the field, no matter how hard the fighting—
rule of Diocletian and Constantine. The insatiable an attitude that usually meant certain victory
demands and regulations of the state in the late against untrained barbarian hordes. However, in
Roman Empire sapped the initiative and civic the Late Roman Empire, the quality of Roman
spirit of its citizens. The ruined middle and lower soldiers deteriorated, and the legions failed to de-
classes withdrew their loyalty. For many, the state fend the borders, even though the Germanic in-
had become the enemy, and its administration was vaders were fewer numerically. During the third
hated and feared more than the barbarians. Salvi- century, the army consisted predominantly of
anus of Marseilles (c. a.d. 400–470), a monk from the provincial peasantry. These nonurban, non-
Gaul, described the disaffection toward Rome that Italian, semicivilized soldiers, often the dregs of
led many to welcome the barbarians as liberators. society, were not committed to Greco-Roman
civilization. They had little comprehension of
Meanwhile the poor are being robbed, wid- Rome’s mission and at times used their power to
ows groan, orphans are trodden down, so that attack the cities and towns and to prey on hap-
many, even persons of good birth, who have less citizens. The emperors also recruited large
enjoyed a liberal education, seek refuge with numbers of Germans into the army—barbarians
the enemy to escape death under the trials of had been used as auxiliary troops since Julius
general persecution. They seek among the bar- Caesar—to fill depleted ranks. Ultimately, the
barians the Roman mercy, since they cannot army consisted predominantly of barbarians, as
endure the barbarous mercilessness they find both legionnaires and officers. Although these
among the Romans. . . . So you find men pass- Germans made brave soldiers, they too had little
ing over everywhere, now to the Goths . . . , loyalty to Greco-Roman civilization and to the
or whatever other barbarians have established Roman state. This deterioration of the Roman
their power anywhere. . . . Hence the name of army occurred in part because many young citi-
Roman citizen, once . . . much valued . . . , zens evaded conscription. No longer imbued
is now voluntarily repudiated and shunned, with patriotism, they considered military service
and is thought not merely valueless, but even a servitude to be shunned.
almost abhorrent.19 The deterioration of the Roman army is seen
also on the level of tactics. Roman soldiers con-
Related to the political decline was the gov- tinued to fight in organized units, but the training
ernment’s inability to retain the allegiance of its and discipline required for fighting in close-order
armies and to control ambitious military com- formations had lapsed. Barbarian units serving
manders, who used their troops to seize the throne with the Roman army under their own command-
and its immense power. The internal security and ers did not easily submit to traditional discipline.
stability of the Empire was thus constantly imper- Thus, Rome lost the tactical superiority that it
iled by army leaders more concerned with gran- had once enjoyed over the barbarians.
diose personal dreams than with defending the
Empire’s borders. These civil wars imposed ter- Economic Considerations. Contributing to
rible financial burdens on the Empire and gravely the decline of the Roman Empire in the west were
weakened the frontier defenses—compounding population decline, the lack of technological ad-
the problem of forces spread thinly over thou- vance, the heavy burden of taxation, and eco-
sands of miles and presenting an invitation to the nomic decentralization, which abetted political
Germans to increase their pressure. decentralization.
The Decline of Rome ❖ 167
During the late Roman Empire, the popula- but did not produce. Provided with food and
tion shrank. The epidemic during the reign of entertainment—“bread and circuses”—the unpro-
Marcus Aurelius, which might have been the bu- ductive city dwellers, driven out of the labor force
bonic plague, lasted fifteen years. A second plague by slavery and economic stagnation, were a heavy
struck the Empire during the reign of Commo- burden for the state. The towns were dominated
dus, Marcus Aurelius’s son. Other plagues in the by landlords whose estates lay beyond the city and
middle of the third century and constant warfare whose income derived from grain, oil, and wine.
further reduced the population. The birth rate did Manufacturing was rudimentary, confined essen-
not rise to compensate for these losses. Worsening tially to textiles, pottery, furniture, and glassware.
economic conditions and lack of hope in the fu- The methods of production rarely improved; the
ture apparently discouraged people from increas- market was limited; the cost of transportation,
ing the size of their families. particularly by land, was high; and agricultural
The decline in population adversely affected productivity was low—the labor of perhaps nine-
the Empire in at least three important ways. First, teen peasants was required to support one towns-
at the same time that the population was declin- man. Such a fundamentally unhealthy economy
ing, the costs of running the Empire were spiral- could not weather the dislocations caused by un-
ing, a situation that created a terrible burden for interrupted warfare and the demands of the mili-
taxpayers. Second, fewer workers were available tary and a mushrooming bureaucracy.
for agriculture, the most important economic With the barbarians pressing on the borders,
activity of the Empire. Third, population decline the increased military expenditures overstrained
reduced the manpower available for the army, the Empire’s resources. To pay for the food, uni-
forcing emperors to permit the establishment of forms, arms, and armor of the soldiers, taxes were
Germanic colonies within the Empire’s borders to raised, growing too heavy for peasants and towns-
serve as feeders for the army. This situation led to people, particularly since the large landowners
the barbarization of the army. did not pay their fair share. The state also requisi-
The Roman peace brought stability, but it failed tioned wood and grain and demanded that citizens
to discover new and better ways of producing maintain roads and bridges. The government often
goods and agricultural products. To be sure, some resorted to force to collect taxes and exact services.
advances in technology did take place during the Crushed by these demands, many peasants simply
Hellenistic Age and the Pax Romana: rotary mills abandoned their farms and sought the protection
for grain, screw presses, and improvements in of large landowners or turned to banditry.
glass-blowing and field-drainage methods. But the Making the situation worse was the adminis-
high intellectual culture of Greece and Rome rested trative separation of the Empire into eastern and
on a meager economic and technological founda- western parts, undertaken by Diocletian and Con-
tion. The widespread use of slave labor probably stantine. As a result, western emperors could no
precluded a breakthrough in technology, for slaves longer rely on financial aid from the wealthier
had little incentive to invent more efficient ways of east to pay for the defense of the borders. Slow
producing. The upper classes, identifying manual communications and costly transport continued
labor with slavery, would not condescend to en- to hamper the empirewide trade, which was re-
gage in the mechanical arts. This failure to improve quired to sustain political unity. Meanwhile, in-
the level of technology limited employment oppor- dustries gravitated outward, to search for new
tunities for the masses. Because the masses could markets in the frontier army camps and for new
not increase their purchasing power, business and sources of slaves in border regions. This disper-
industry were without a mass internal market that sion further weakened the bonds of economic
might have acted as a continual stimulus for the ac- unity. Gradually, trade became less international
cumulation of capital and for economic expansion. and more local, and provincial regions grew more
Instead of expanding industry and trade, towns self-sufficient. The strife of the third century inten-
maintained their wealth by exploiting the country- sified the drift toward economic self-sufficiency in
side. The Roman cities, centers of civilized life the provinces, a condition that promoted localism
and opulence, lacked industries. They spent and separatism.
168 ❖ 7 The Roman Empire: A World-State
Contributing to the economic decentralization government never died. In the centuries follow-
was the growth of industries on latifundia, the ing the collapse of Rome, people continued to
large, fortified estates owned by wealthy aristo- be attracted to the idea of a unified and peaceful
crats. Producing exclusively for the local market, world-state. By preserving and adding to the phi-
these estates contributed to the impoverishment losophy, literature, science, and arts of ancient
of urban centers by reducing the number of cus- Greece, Rome strengthened the basic founda-
tomers available to buy goods made in the cities. tions of the Western cultural tradition. Latin,
As life grew more desperate, urban craftsmen and the language of Rome, lived on long after Rome
small farmers, made destitute by the state, sought perished. The Western church fathers wrote in
the protection of these large landlords, whose es- Latin, and during the Middle Ages, Latin was the
tates grew in size and importance. The growth of language of learning, literature, and law. From
latifundia was accompanied by the decline of cit- Latin came Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese,
ies and the transformation of independent peas- and Romanian. Roman law, the quintessential
ants into virtual serfs. expression of Roman genius, influenced church
These great estates were also new centers of law and formed the basis of the legal codes of
political power, which the imperial government most European states. Finally, Christianity, the
could not curb. A new society was taking shape core religion of the West, was born within
in the late Roman Empire. The center of gravity the Roman Empire and was greatly influenced by
shifted from the city to the landed estate, from the Roman law (the church’s canon law owed much
imperial bureaucrat to the local aristocrat. These to Roman jurisprudence) and organization (the
developments epitomized the decay of ancient civ- pope, head of the church and ruling from Rome,
ilization and presaged a new era, the Middle Ages. was the counterpart of the Roman emperor, and
bishoprics were established in regions that coin-
cided with the Empire’s administrative structure).
THE ROMAN LEGACY The ideal of a single Christian society embracing
many different nationalities, so dear to medieval
Rome left the West a rich heritage, which en- thinkers, was superimposed on the model of the
dured for centuries. The idea of a world em- Roman Empire.
pire united by a common law and effective
❖ ❖ ❖
11. Cicero, De Republica, trans. Clinton Walker Clarke, M. L., The Roman Mind (1968). Studies
Keyes (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University in the history of thought from Cicero to Marcus
Press, Loeb Classical Library, 1994), 211. Aurelius.
12. Excerpted in Lewis and Reinhold, eds., Roman Ferrill, Arther, The Fall of the Roman Empire: The
Civilization, Sourcebook II: The Empire, 535, Military Explanation (1986). Examines the dete-
539, 540, 547, 548. rioraton of the Roman Army.
Galinsky, Karl, Augustan Culture (1996). Weaves
13. Seneca, The Epistles, vol. 1, epistle 7.
together the history and culture of the period.
14. Michael Rostovtzeff, Rome (New York: Oxford Goldsworthy, Adrian, How Rome Fell (2009). An
University Press, 1960), 322. important recent study of Rome’s decline, paying
15. W. T. Stace, A Critical History of Greek Philoso- special attention to Rome’s frequent internal wars
phy (London: Macmillan, 1924), 377. starting in the third century.
16. Excerpted in Mortimer Chambers, ed., The Fall Grant, Michael, The Fall of the Roman Empire
of Rome (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Win- (1990). A clearly written synthesis.
ston, 1963), 45–46. Heather, Peter, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A
New History of Rome and the Barbarians (2006).
17. Quoted in Stephen Williams, Diocletian and the Ro- A readable, thoughtful analysis.
man Recovery (New York: Methuen, 1985), 101. Jenkyns, Richard, ed., The Legacy of Rome: A New
18. Excerpted in James Harvey Robinson, ed., Readings Appraisal (1992). Essays on Rome’s influence upon
in European History (Boston: Ginn, 1904), 45. later centuries.
19. Salvian, On the Government of God, trans. Southern, Pat, Augustus (1998). A helpful bio-
Eva M. Sanford (New York: Octagon, 1966), graphy.
141–142. White, Lynn, ed., The Transformation of the Roman
World (1973). A useful collection of essays on the
transformation of the ancient world and the emer-
SUGGESTED READING gence of the Middle Ages.
Early Christianity:
A World Religion
Christ Gives the Law to Saints Peter and Paul, fifth century, Santa Costanza, Rome. This
mosaic portrays a haloed, beardless Christ bestowing the law in the manner of an emperor
delivering an edict. (Vanni/Art Resource, N.Y.)
■
■
The Origins of Christianity
The Spread and Triumph
of Christianity
A s confidence in human reason and hope
for happiness in this world waned in the
last centuries of the Roman Empire, a
new outlook began to take hold. Evident in phi-
losophy and in the popularity of Eastern religions,
■ The Growth of Christian this viewpoint stressed escape from an oppres-
Organization, Doctrine, and sive world and communion with a higher reality.
Attitudes Christianity evolved and expanded within this
setting of declining classicism and heightening
■ Saint Augustine: The Christian otherworldliness. As one response to a declining
Worldview Hellenism, Christianity offered a spiritually dis-
illusioned Greco-Roman world a reason for living:
■ Christianity and Classical the hope of personal immortality. The triumph of
Humanism: Alternative Christianity marked a break with classical antiq-
Worldviews uity and a new stage in the evolution of the West,
for there was a fundamental difference between
the classical and the Christian concepts of God,
the individual, and the purpose of life.
Focus Questions
THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY
1. How did Saint Paul transform a Jewish
sect into a world religion? A Palestinian Jew named Jesus was executed by
2. What factors contributed to the triumph the Roman authorities during the reign of Tibe-
of Christianity in the Roman Empire? rius (a.d. 14–37), who succeeded Augustus. At
the time, few people paid much attention to what
3. How was early Christianity influenced proved to be one of the most pivotal events in
by Judaism, Greek philosophy, and world history. In the quest for the historical Jesus,
Hellenistic mystery religions? scholars have stressed the importance of both his
4. What factors contributed to Christian Jewishness and the religious ferment that pre-
anti-Judaism? What is the historical vailed in Palestine in the first century b.c. Jesus’
ethical teachings are rooted in the moral outlook
significance of the negative image of Jews
of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus, who prayed
and Judaism taught by early Christians? as a Jew, taught as a Jew to fellow Jews, and val-
5. What are the core features of Saint ued Jewish law and prophetic teachings, could
Augustine’s theology? only conceive of himself as a Jew. Hans Küng, the
6. What do the worldviews of Christianity prominent Swiss student of religion, elaborates on
this point.
and Greco-Roman humanism have
in common? Why are they essentially Jesus was a Jew, a member of a small, poor,
different? politically powerless nation living at the
periphery of the Roman Empire. He was
active among Jews and for Jews. His mother
Mary, his father Joseph, his family, his
followers were Jews. His name was Jewish
(Hebrew Yeshu’a). . . . His Bible, his worship,
his prayers were Jewish. In the situation at
that time he could not have thought of any
proclamation among the gentiles. His message
was for the Jewish people, but for this people
171
Chronology 8.1 ❖ Early Christianity
c. A.D. 29 Crucifixion of Jesus
c. 34–64 Missionary activity of Saint Paul
c. 66–70 The Gospel According to Mark is written
250–260 A decade of brutal persecution of Christians by the Romans
313 Constantine grants toleration of Christianity
c. 320 First convent is founded
325 Council of Nicaea rules that God and Christ are of the same substance,
coequal and coeternal
391–392 Theodosius I prohibits public acts of pagan worship and the public profession
of pagan religion; during his reign, Christianity becomes the state religion
430 Death of Saint Augustine
451 Council of Chalcedon rules that Christ is truly God and truly man
529 Saint Benedict founds monastery at Monte Cassino
in its entirety without any exception. From they held that God meted out rewards and pun-
this basic fact it follows irrevocably that with- ishments on earth. Challenging the aristocratic
out Judaism there would be no Christianity. Sadducees, the Pharisees adopted a more liberal
The Bible of the early Christians was the “Old attitude toward Mosaic Law. They allowed dis-
Testament.” The New Testament Scriptures cussion on varying interpretations of the Law
became part of the Bible only by being ap- and granted authority to oral tradition—an
pended to the Old. The gospel of Jesus Christ “oral Torah,” which was communicated from
everywhere quite consciously presupposes the one generation to another—as well as to written
Torah and the Prophets.1 Scripture. Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees be-
lieved in life after death. The concept of personal
immortality is barely mentioned in the Hebrew
Judaism in the First Century b.c. Scriptures. A later addition to Hebrew religious
thought, probably acquired from Persia, the idea
In the first century b.c., four principal social- had gained wide acceptance by the first century
religious parties, or sects, existed among the a.d. The Pharisees had the support of most of
Palestinian Jews: Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, the Jewish people. All later forms of Judaism de-
and Zealots. Composed of the upper stratum of veloped from the Pharisees.
Jewish society—influential landed gentry and Besides the afterlife, another widely recognized
hereditary priests, who controlled the temple idea in the first century b.c. was the belief in a
in Jerusalem—the religiously conservative Sad- Messiah, a redeemer chosen by God to liberate
ducees insisted on a strict interpretation of Mo- Israel from foreign rule. In the days of the Mes-
saic Law (Torah) and the perpetuation of temple siah, it was predicted, Israel would be free, the ex-
ceremonies. Claiming to be the descendants of iles would return, and the Jews would be blessed
Sadok, the high priest of Solomon, Sadducees with peace, unity, and prosperity. The Messiah, in
believed that they were maintaining the ancient contrast to wicked Roman rulers, would govern
Hebrew teachings concerning the Torah, which justly and righteously.
they interpreted literally. Rejecting the concepts The third religious party, the Essenes, estab-
of the resurrection of the dead and of an afterlife, lished a semimonastic community near the Dead
172
The Origins of Christianity ❖ 173
Sea. Like the Sadducees, they considered them- particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, and the
selves to be the true descendants of Sadok, but teachings of the Essenes’ Teacher of Righteous-
they rejected the temple priests as corrupt. Only ness, some modern scholars have suggested that
those priests affiliated with their sect were deemed Jesus may have been a member of the Essene com-
pure. In 1947, leather scrolls in hermetically sealed munity. These scholars argue that the teachings
cylinders were found near the Essene community of Jesus concerning the imminent coming of the
of Qumran, about fourteen miles from Jerusalem, kingdom of God parallel the messianic expecta-
close to the Dead Sea. Dated from between c. 200 tions of the Essenes.
b.c. and a.d. 66–70, the Wady Qumran Manu- The fourth sect, the Zealots, demanded that the
scripts, commonly called the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jews neither pay taxes to Rome nor acknowledge
contain the oldest extant Hebrew manuscripts and the authority of the Roman emperor. Devoted pa-
also documents that are unique to the sect of the triots, the Zealots engaged in acts of resistance
Essenes, founded by a man they refer to as “the to Rome, which culminated in the great revolt of
Teacher of Righteousness.” The Essenes believed a.d. 66–70, discussed in Chapter 7.
in the physical resurrection of the body, like the Jesus (c. 4 b.c.–c. a.d. 29) practiced his minis-
Pharisees, but gave this doctrine a more compel- try within this context of Jewish religious-national
ling meaning by tying it to the immediate coming expectations and longings. The hopes of Jesus’
of God’s kingdom. Certain that the Messiah was early followers encompassed a lower-class dissat-
about to come, the Essenes saw themselves as the isfaction with the aristocratic Sadducees; a Phari-
first generation of God’s people. see emphasis on prophetic ideals and the afterlife;
By adding to our knowledge of Palestinian Ju- an Essene preoccupation with the end-of-days, the
daism in the first century, the scrolls shed light nearness of God, and the need for repentance; and
on the period in which Christianity arose and a conquered people’s yearning for a Messiah who
the New Testament was written. Because of the would liberate their land from Roman rule and
similarity between many of the teachings of Jesus, establish God’s reign.
174 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
Jesus: The Inner Person would gain entrance into the kingdom. People had
to radically change their lives. They had to eliminate
Historians are able to speak with greater certainty base, lustful, hostile, and selfish feelings; stop pursu-
about social-religious developments in Judea at the ing wealth and power; purify their hearts; and show
time of Jesus than they can about Jesus himself. In their love for God and their fellow human beings.
reconstructing what Jesus did and believed, the his- Most likely Jesus’ early followers perceived
torian labors under a handicap, for the sources are him as a prophet. Like the Hebrew prophets,
few. Jesus himself wrote nothing, and nothing was Jesus saw ethics as the core of Mosaic Law: “So
written about him during his lifetime. In the genera- whatever you wish that men would do to you, do
tions following his death, both Roman and Jewish so to them; for this is the law and the prophets”
historians paid him scant attention. Consequently, (Matthew 7:12). Like the prophets, he denounced
virtually everything known about Jesus derives injustice and oppression, urged mercy and com-
from the Bible’s New Testament, which was written passion, and expressed a special concern for the
decades after Jesus’ death by devotees seeking to poor and downtrodden.
convey a religious truth and to propagate a faith. Jesus did not intend to lead his fellow Jews,
Modern historians in quest of the historical who called him rabbi, away from their ancestral
Jesus have rigorously and critically analyzed the religion: “‘Think not that I have come to abol-
New Testament; their analyses have provided ish the law and the prophets; I have come not to
some insights into Jesus and his beliefs. Neverthe- abolish them but to fulfil them’” (Matthew 5:17).
less, much about Jesus remains obscure. Very little Although Jesus did not negate the Law, some of
is known about his childhood. Like other Jewish his interpretations offended Jewish leaders.
youths, he was taught Hebrew religious-ethical While not seeking to break with his past or to
thought and the many rules that governed daily reject Jewish law, Jesus was distressed by the Juda-
life. At about the age of thirty, no doubt influ- ism of his day. Following the prophets, the rabbis
enced by John the Baptist, who likely was once taught the Golden Rule, as well as God’s love and
part of the Essene community, Jesus began to mercy for his children, but it seemed to Jesus that
preach the coming of the reign of God and the these ethical considerations were being undermined
need for people to repent—undergo moral by an exaggerated rabbinical concern with ritual,
transformation—so that they could enter God’s restrictions, and the fine points of the Law. Jesus be-
kingdom. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus lieved that the center of Judaism had shifted from
came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, prophetic values to obedience to rules and prohibi-
and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom tions regulating the smallest details of daily life. (To
of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gos- Jewish leaders, of course, these detailed regulations
pel [good news]’” (Mark 1:14–15).2* This apoca- governing eating, washing, Sabbath observance,
lyptic vision that the existing world was coming family relations, and so forth were God’s commands
to an end and would be replaced by God’s perfect intended to sanctify all human activities.) To Jesus,
kingdom had been preached by John the Baptist such a rigid view of the Law distorted the mean-
and other religious thinkers before him. ing of prophetic teachings. Rules dealt only with an
For Jesus, the coming of the kingdom was im- individual’s visible behavior; they did not engage
minent; the process leading to the establishment the person’s inner being and lead to a moral trans-
of God’s kingdom on earth had already begun. formation based on love, compassion, and selfless-
A new order would soon be established in which ness. Observing the Lord’s command to rest on the
God would govern his people righteously and mer- Sabbath—for example, by not eating an egg laid on
cifully. Hence, the present moment became criti- Saturday or by not lifting a chair on that day—did
cal for him—a time for spiritual preparedness and not purify a person’s heart.
repentance—because an individual’s thoughts, goals, For Jesus, the best way to realize the true
and actions would determine whether he or she meaning of Jewish law was through moral pu-
rity, which finds expression in a love for one’s
*The biblical quotations in this chapter are taken from the fellows. The inner person concerned Jesus, and
Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible. it was an inner change that he sought: “For
The Origins of Christianity ❖ 175
from within, out of the heart of man, come and executed Jews suspected of inciting unrest
evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adul- against Roman rule. Inscribed on the cross on
tery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentious- which he was crucified were the words “King of
ness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these the Jews,” a seemingly clear indication of why
evil things come from within, and they defile Pilate ordered his death. Although it is question-
a man” (Mark 7:21–23). To Jesus, the spirit of able if Jesus ever intended to challenge Roman
Mosaic Law was more important than the let- authority, Pilate was taking no chances. He
ter of the Law; for him, right living and a pure wanted to eliminate this popular leader before he
loving heart were Judaism’s true essence. With might ignite a popular uprising.
the fervor of a prophet, he urged a moral trans- Some Jews, believing that Jesus was an in-
formation of human character through a direct spired prophet or even the long-awaited Mes-
encounter between the individual and God. By siah, had become his followers; the chief of these
preaching active love for others and genuine were the Twelve Disciples. At the time of Jesus’
compassion for sufferers and by stressing a per- death, Christianity was not a separate religion but
sonal and intimate connection between the indi- a small Hebrew sect with dim prospects for sur-
vidual and God, Jesus associated himself more vival. What established the Christian movement
with the Hebrew prophetic tradition than with and gave it strength was the belief of Jesus’ fol-
the Hebrew rituals, rules, and prohibitions that lowers that he was raised from the dead on the
served to perpetuate a national and cultural tra- third day after he was buried. The doctrine of
dition of a distinct people. the resurrection enabled people to regard Jesus
It was inevitable that Jewish scribes and as more than a superb ethical soul, more than a
priests, guardians of the faith, would regard Je- righteous rabbi, more than a prophet, more than
sus, who had become a popular preacher, as a the Messiah; it made possible belief in Jesus as a
threat to ancient traditions. To Jewish leaders, divine savior-god who had come to earth to show
he was a troublemaker and a subversive. They people the way to heaven. For early Christians,
accused him of associating with social outcasts, Jesus’ death and belief in his resurrection took on
sinners, and imperial tax collectors; undermining greater importance than his life. For these believ-
respect for the Sabbath by violating God’s strict ers, Jesus the savior-god became the center of their
command prohibiting any form of labor on this emerging church.
holy day; proclaiming spiritual truth in his own There is no evidence that Jesus, who never
name and on his own authority; and claiming preached to Gentiles, intended to establish a new
that he, above all other men, had a special and in- church; this was accomplished by his followers.
timate relationship with God and that by associ- In the years immediately following the crucifix-
ating with him a sinner would be forgiven. Stated ion, the religion of Jesus was confined almost ex-
succinctly, Jewish leaders believed that Jesus was clusively to Jews, who could more appropriately
setting the authority of his person over Mosaic be called Jewish-Christians. The word Christian
Law—an unpardonable blasphemy in their eyes. came from a name given Jesus: Christ (the Lord’s
They saw Jesus as a false prophet who was lead- Anointed, the Messiah). Missionaries of this dis-
ing the people astray. senting Christian movement within Judaism were
The Romans, who ruled Palestine, had little called Apostles—those sent out to preach the gos-
interest in Jewish intrareligious disputes. They pel about Christ. They addressed themselves to
feared Jesus as a political agitator, as a charis- Jews and to converts to Judaism who, because
matic leader who could ignite Jewish messianic they did not adhere fully to Mosaic Law, were not
expectations into a revolt against Rome. After wholly accepted by the Jewish community.
Jewish leaders turned Jesus over to the Roman Before this new Jewish messianic movement
authorities, the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, could realize the universal implications of Jesus’
sentenced him to death by crucifixion, a custom- teachings and become a world religion, as distinct
ary punishment for someone guilty of high trea- from a reformist Jewish sect, it had to separate
son. Jesus’ execution was consistent with Roman itself both ideologically and socially from the
policy in Judea, for the Romans routinely arrested corporate body of Judaism. Instrumental in this
176 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
. Black Sea
D an u b e R
R O
M A
Corsica Rome N
Constantinople Chalcedon
Monte Beroea Nicaea E M
Cassino P I
Sardinia GREECE R
E u ph r a t e s
Troas
ASIA MINOR E
Antioch
Athens
R.
Ephesus
Corinth Tarsus
Hippo Sicily
Antioch
Syracuse
SYRIA
Carthage
Malta Crete Damascus
NUMIDIA Cyprus
Sidon
Tyre
Nazareth
Mediterranean Sea Caesarea Jordan R.
PALESTINE
Jerusalem Dead Sea
Bethlehem
NORTH AFRICA
R.
0 250 500 Km. ARABIA
Nile
Route taken by Saint Paul 0 250 500Mi.
development was the work of a Hellenized Jew the Diaspora were often favorably impressed
named Saul, known to the world as Saint Paul. by Hebrew monotheism, ethics, and family life.
Some Gentiles embraced Hebrew monotheism but
refused to adhere to provisions of the Law requir-
Saint Paul: From a Jewish Sect ing circumcision and dietary regulations. Among
to a World Religion these Gentiles and non-Palestinian Jews who were
greatly influenced by the Greco-Roman milieu,
Saint Paul (a.d. c. 5–c. 67) came from the Greek Jesus’ Apostles would find receptive listeners.
city of Tarsus in southeastern Asia Minor. Origi- Reared in Tarsus, a stronghold of Greek culture,
nally called Saul, he belonged to the Diaspora, or Saul knew Greek well, but it is unlikely, despite a
the “Dispersion”—the millions of Jews living out- respectable writing style, that he had great knowl-
side Palestine. Though the Jews of the Diaspora re- edge of Greek literature, philosophy, and science.
tained their ancient faith, they were also influenced Trained in the outlook of the Pharisees, the young
by Greek culture. An example is the Alexandrian Saul went to Jerusalem to study with Rabban Ga-
Jew Philo (c. 20 b.c.–c. a.d. 50), who tried to dem- maliel, an outstanding Pharisee teacher. In Jerusa-
onstrate that Hebrew Scriptures could be explained lem, Saul persecuted Jesus’ followers in the time
and justified in terms of Greek philosophy. after his crucifixion, but then Saul underwent a
Non-Jews, or Gentiles (from Latin gens, or spiritual transformation and became a follower
“nation”), who came into contact with Jews of of Jesus. Serving as a zealous missionary of Jewish
The Origins of Christianity ❖ 177
Christianity and the mystery cults should not the new avenue to God and salvation. The follow-
be overstressed since the differences are more ers of Jesus fulfilled Hebrew history; they were
profound. the new Israel.
Unlike the cultic gods, Jesus had actually lived To Paul, the new Christian community was the
in history. Hence, people could identify with him, true fulfillment of Judaism: it was the means to
which enormously increased the appeal of this moral transformation and eternal life. The Jews
new religion. Moreover, the deities of the mystery regarded their faith as a national religion, bound
religions were killed against their will by evil pow- inseparably with the history of their people. Paul
ers. In Jesus, it was said, God had become a man saw the new Christian community not as a nation
and suffered pain and death out of compassion but as an oikoumene, a world community. Jesus
for human beings, to show a floundering human- fulfilled not only the messianic aspirations of the
ity the way that would lead from sin to eternal Jews but also the spiritual needs and expectations
life. This suffering Savior evoked from distressed of all peoples. To this extent, Christianity shared
human beings deep feelings of love and loyalty. in the universalism of the Hellenistic Age.
Adherents of the mystery cults were not required In preaching the doctrine of a risen Savior and
to undergo a profound moral transformation. insisting that Mosaic Law had been superseded,
Christian converts, however, felt a compelling ob- Paul (whatever his intentions) was breaking with
ligation to make their behavior, in the words of his Jewish roots and transforming a Jewish sect
Paul, “worthy of the God who calls you” (Thes- into a new religion. Separating Christianity from
salonians 2:12) and to obey Jesus’ command: “Be Judaism enormously increased its appeal for
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mat- non-Jews, who were attracted to Hebrew ethi-
thew 5:48). Finally, Christians, with their Jewish cal monotheism but repelled by practices such as
heritage, would tolerate no other divinity but circumcision, dietary regulations, and other strict
God. Pagans, on the other hand, often belonged requirements of Mosaic Law. Paul built on Jesus’
to more than one cult, or at least recognized the appeal for individual spiritual renewal and his
divinity of gods in other cults. empathy for all humanity (both also concerns of
the ancient Hebrew prophets) to create a religion
The Break with Judaism. In attempting to intended not for a people with its own particular
reach the Gentiles, Paul had to disentangle Chris- history, culture, and land, but for all humankind.
tianity from a Jewish sociocultural context. Thus,
he held that neither Gentile nor Jewish followers
of Jesus were bound by the hundreds of rituals THE SPREAD AND TRIUMPH
and rules that constitute Mosaic Law.* Paul saw
no distinctive difference between Jew and Gentile; OF CHRISTIANITY
in his view, the ministry of Jesus was intended
for all. As a consequence of Jesus’ coming, Paul By establishing Christianity’s independence from
maintained, Mosaic regulations hindered mission- Judaism and its practices, Paul made the new reli-
ary activity among the Gentiles. For Paul, not the gion attractive to the Greco-Roman world. Origi-
Law of Moses but love of and faith in Christ was nating in the first century, Christianity took firm
root in the second, grew extensively in the third,
and became the official religion of the Roman
*Paul’s understanding of Mosaic Law is a matter of con- Empire at the end of the fourth century.
troversy. Some scholars argue that he regarded the Law as
obsolete and broke with his ancestral faith. Other scholars,
arguing that Paul did not forsake the Law, point to a fa-
mous passage: “Do we then nullify the law by this faith? The Appeal of Christianity
Not at all! Rather we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31).
Paul, who continually described himself as a Pharisee, The triumph of Christianity was related to a cor-
lived an observant life and celebrated Jewish festivals. For
these scholars, Paul never stopped revering the Torah but
responding decline in the vitality of Hellenism
taught that Jesus, the Messiah, fulfilled the Torah’s higher and a shift in cultural emphasis—a movement
purpose—the biblical prophecy of the Messiah’s coming. from reason to emotion and revelation. Offering
The Spread and Triumph of Christianity ❖ 179
comforting solutions to the existential problems enslaved were attracted to the personality, life,
of life and death, religion demonstrated a greater death, and resurrection of Jesus, his love for all,
capacity than reason to stir human hearts. Helle- and his concern for suffering humanity. They found
nism had invented the tools of rational thought, spiritual sustenance in a religion that offered a
but the power of mythical thought was never en- hand in love and taught that a person need not be
tirely subdued. By the Late Roman Empire, sci- well-born, rich, educated, or talented to be worthy,
ence and philosophy were unable to compete with that God draws no distinction between the lowly
mysticism, myth, and the divine. poor and enslaved and the mightiest aristocrats. To
This deterioration of the classical outlook was people burdened with misfortune and terrified by
demonstrated by the growing popularity of East- death, Christianity held the promise of eternal life,
ern religions and the spiritualization of philosophy. a kingdom of heaven where they would be com-
Mystery cults, which promised personal salvation, forted by God the Father. Thus, Christianity gave
were spreading and gaining followers. Astrology to the common person what the aristocratic val-
and magic, which offered supernatural explanations ues of Greco-Roman civilization generally did not:
for the operations of nature, were also popular. Sto- hope, a sense of dignity, and inner strength. By and
icism and Epicureanism were performing a religious large, classical philosophy offered little compas-
function by trying to help individuals overcome sion for the sufferer, but the cardinal principle of
emotional stress, while Neo-Platonists yearned for Christianity was that Jesus had endured earthly
a mystical union with the One. This recoil from ra- torments because of his love for all human beings
tional and worldly values helped prepare the way and that even the lowliest could be redeemed.
for Christianity. In a culturally stagnating and spiri- Christianity succeeded not only through the
tually troubled Greco-Roman world, Christianity appeal of its message but also through the power
gave new meaning to life and offered new hope to of its organization. To retain the devotion of the
disillusioned men and women. faithful, win new converts, protect itself from op-
During the Hellenistic Age, the individual had ponents, and administer its services, Christianity
struggled with the problems of alienation and lack developed an organized body of followers. This
of community. With the decline of the independent body became the Christian church, which grew
city-state, the individual searched for a new frame into a strong organization uniting the faithful.
of reference, a new form of attachment. The Ro- To city dwellers—lonely, alienated, disillusioned
man Empire represented one possible allegiance. with public affairs; stranded mortals groping for
But for many people, it was not a satisfying rela- a sense of community—the church that called its
tionship; the individual found it difficult to be de- members “brother” and “sister” filled an elemen-
voted to a political organization so vast, remote, tal need of human beings to belong. Another at-
and impersonal. The Christian message of a divine traction for Christian converts was the absence of
Savior and a concerned Father, as well as of broth- painful or expensive initiation rites, such as those
erly love, inspired men and women who were required for entrance into Mithraism, a leading
dissatisfied with the world of the here and now— rival (see “The Spread of Mystery Religions” in
who felt no attachment to city or empire, derived Chapter 7). Unlike Mithraism, the church also wel-
no inspiration from philosophy, and suffered from comed women converts, who were often the first
a profound sense of loneliness. Christianity of- to join and who brought their menfolk after them.
fered the individual what the city and the Roman Among the reasons that the church drew women
world-state could not: an intensely personal rela- was its command to husbands to treat their wives
tionship with God, an intimate connection with a kindly, remain faithful, and provide for the chil-
higher world, and membership in a community of dren. Moreover, in the eyes of God, women were
the faithful who cared for one another. spiritually equal with men. The church also won
Stressing the intellect and self-reliance, Greco- new converts and retained the loyalty of its mem-
Roman thought did not provide for the emotional bers by furnishing social services for the poor and
needs of many people. Christianity addressed itself infirm; welcoming slaves, criminals, sinners, and
to this deficiency in the Greco-Roman outlook. other outcasts; and offering community and com-
Particularly those who were poor, oppressed, or fort during difficult times.
Profile
Blandina themselves beaten—they could think of noth-
ing else to do to her. They were amazed that
During the reign of the emperor Marcus Au- she was still breathing, for her whole body
relius, a number of Christians in Lyons, Gaul, was mangled and her wounds gaped; they
including Blandina, a frail young slave, were declared that torment of any one kind was
imprisoned and accused of engaging in can- enough to part soul and body, let alone a suc-
nibalism and incest. The Roman authorities cession of torments of such extreme severity.
tortured Blandina, hoping that she would impli- But the blessed woman, wrestling magnifi-
cate the Christian community in these abhor- cently, grew in strength as she proclaimed
rent crimes. Despite the torments inflicted on her faith, and found refreshment, rest, and
her, Blandina would not speak falsely against insensibility to her sufferings in uttering the
her fellow Christians. The historian Eusebius words: “I am a Christian: we do nothing to be
described her terrible ordeal: ashamed of.”
Blandina was filled with such power that For several days Blandina had to watch
those who took it in turns to subject her to other Christians being whipped, roasted,
every kind of torture from morning to night and set upon by wild beasts in the
were exhausted by their efforts and confessed amphitheater. Finally, after surviving
The ability of an evolving Christianity to assimi- original followers of Christ, traveled throughout
late elements from Greek philosophy and even from the Empire over roads and across seas made safe by
the mystery religions also contributed in no small Roman arms. The common Greek dialect, Koine,
measure to its growth. By becoming infused with spoken in most parts of the Empire, facilitated the
Greek philosophy, Christianity could present itself missionaries’ task. Had the Mediterranean world
in terms intelligible to those versed in Greek learn- been fractured into separate and competing states,
ing and thus attract educated people. Philosophers the spread of Christianity might well have faced
who converted to Christianity proved to be able de- an insurmountable obstacle. The universalism of
fenders of their newly adopted faith. Because some the Roman Empire, which made citizenship avail-
Christian doctrines (the risen savior-god, the virgin able to peoples of many nationalities, prepared the
and her child, life after death, communion with the way for the universalism of Christianity, which
divine), practices (purification through baptism), welcomed membership from all nations. Early
and holy days (December 25 was the birth date of Christians grafted onto Rome’s imperial mission a
the god Mithras) either paralleled or were adopted spiritual, evangelical cause: “Go ye therefore and
from the mystery religions, it became relatively easy teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
to win converts from these rivals. As the number of Christians increased, Roman
officials began to fear the Christians as subversives,
preaching allegiance to God and not to Rome, and
Christianity and Rome as a self-absorbed sect that did not want to fit into
the Empire. To many Romans, Christians were dis-
At first, the Roman government, which was gen- loyal citizens, strange people who would not ac-
erally tolerant of religions, did not interfere much cept the state gods, would not engage in sacrifices
with the Christian movement. In fact, Christianity to Roman divinities, scorned gladiatorial contests,
benefited in many ways from its association with stayed away from public baths, glorified nonvio-
the Roman Empire. Christian missionaries, among lence, refused to honor deceased emperors as gods,
them some of the Twelve Disciples, who were the and worshiped a crucified criminal as Lord. Romans
180
Unable to crush Christianity by persecution,
Roman emperors decided to gain the support of
the growing number of Christians within the Em-
pire. In a.d. 313, Constantine, probably genuinely
attracted to Christianity, issued the Edict of Milan,
similar torments, she was “dropped into a
granting toleration to Christians. By allowing
basket and thrown to a bull. Time after time
the free flow of Christian teachings and institut-
the animal tossed her, but she was indiffer-
ing legislation favorable to the church, Constan-
ent now to all that happened to her, because
tine and his successors accelerated the growth
of her hope and sure hold on all that her
of Christianity and the Christianization of the
faith meant, and of her communing with
Empire. By a.d. 392, Theodosius I had made
Christ. Then she, too, was sacrificed, while
Christianity the state religion of the Empire and
the heathen themselves admitted that never
declared the worship of pagan gods illegal. With
yet had they known a woman suffer so
Christianity in power, persecution did not end, but
much or so long.”*
its target shifted to pagans, Jews, and Christians
with unorthodox views. The polytheistic religions
of the Roman world did not claim to possess an
exhaustive truth—they did not assert that a par-
ticular god or a particular form of worship should
*Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to prevail over all others and that wrongful religious
Constantine, trans. G. A. Williamson (New York: New expressions should be rooted out. People were rel-
York University Press, 1966), 196, 202. atively free to select their own credo and engage
in their own acts of worship. Christianity, in
contrast, possessing an exclusive attitude toward
truth, felt compelled to cleanse society of false
gods and beliefs. Such an outlook often led Chris-
tians to view nonbelievers as enemies of God de-
ultimately found in Christians a scapegoat for the serving of punishment. Thus, mobs, often driven
ills burdening the Empire, such as famines, plagues, by fanatic clergy, hurled non-Christian writings
and military reverses. Were not these afflictions di- into bonfires, destroyed pagan altars and sacred
vine punishment for Christians’ refusal to honor an- images, and squelched pagan rites and festivals.
cestral gods and traditions? In an effort to stamp out Emperors, often pushed by the clergy, passed
Christianity, emperors occasionally resorted to perse- decrees calling for fining, imprisoning, torturing,
cution. Christians were imprisoned, beaten, starved, and executing adherents of pagan cults.
beheaded, burned alive, torn apart by wild beasts in
the arena for the amusement of the Romans, and
crucified. The authorities freed accused Christians Christianity and Greek Philosophy
who agreed to renounce their faith. But many Chris-
tians embraced the opportunity for martyrdom; they Christianity synthesized both the Hebrew and
believed they were reenacting the passion of Jesus, the Greco-Roman traditions. Having emerged
who had sacrificed himself for humanity. from Judaism, Christianity assimilated Hebrew
However, the early persecutions, beginning monotheism and prophetic morality and re-
with those incited under Emperor Nero in a.d. tained the Old Testament as the Word of God.
64, were local, did not cause much loss of life, and Without this Hebraic foundation, Christian-
were too sporadic to impede the growth of Chris- ity cannot be understood. As the new religion
tianity. The persecutions in the mid-third century evolved, it also assimilated elements of Greek
and during Diocletian’s rule caused the brutal philosophy. The ability to combine a historic
deaths of many Christians but did not last long Judaic monotheism, which had many admirers
enough to seriously threaten the new religion. in the Gentile world, with Greek rational phi-
Actually, they strengthened the determination of losophy was a crucial reason for Christianity’s
most of the faithful and won new converts, who triumph in the Roman Empire. But there was
were awed by the extraordinary courage of the a struggle between conservatives, who wanted
martyrs willingly dying for their faith. no dealings with pagan philosophy, and those
181
182 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
BRITAIN Volg
Canterbury a R.
Cologne Dn
Aachen
iep
AT L A N T I C GERMANY
ine R.
er
Ca
sp
R.
OCEAN Paris Reims
ian
Danube
Tours Rh R.
S
ea
GAUL C AU C
ASU
Lyons S M
R. Milan TS.
k Sea
e
Rhôn
Blac ARMENIA
Narbonne Sinope
Eb Marseilles THRACE
r
SPAIN Corsica
o
R.
Constantinople
Tarragona Rome
Toledo Naples ASIA MINOR Tigri
Sardinia s
R.
Cordoba Ephesus
Euphra
Corinth Athens Antioch tes R
Caesarea Sicily .
Hippo Seleucia-
Carthage Syracuse Crete Ctesiphon
Cyprus Damascus
Jerusalem
Cyrene
Conv Alexandria
erted
to I slam
Extent of Christianity, c. 300 , 7th Memphis 0 200 400 Km.
cen
Areas Christianized, 300–600 tury
0 200 400 Mi.
EGYPT
Areas Christianized, 600–800 NORTH AFRICA
Re
ile
N
dS
R.
ea
Map 8.2 THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY Aided by dedicated missionaries,
Christianity expanded throughout the Mediterranean world and later into
Germanic lands. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
believers who recognized the value of Greek wives, and did not the dramatists treat violent
thought to Christianity. passions?) and promote heresy (was not classical
To conservative church fathers—early Chris- literature replete with references to pagan gods?).
tian writers whose works are accepted as au- For these church fathers, there could be no com-
thoritative by the church—classical philosophy promise between Greek philosophy and Chris-
erred completely because it did not derive from tian revelation. For them, faith was more reliable
divine revelation. As the final statement of than all the demonstrations of human reason.
God’s truth, Christianity superseded both pa- “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”
gan philosophy and pagan religions. Accord- asked Tertullian (a.d. 150–225). “With our faith,
ing to the church fathers, the simple peasant we desire no further belief. For this is our faith
who accepted Christ possessed more knowledge that there is nothing which we ought to believe
than the most learned philosopher who did not. besides.”3
These conservatives feared that studying classi- Some church fathers, including several who had
cal authors would contaminate Christian mo- a Greek education, resisted this anti-intellectualism.
rality (did not Plato propose a community of Defending the value of studying classical literature,
The Growth of Christian Organization, Doctrine, and Attitudes ❖ 183
they maintained that such literature, if properly could be assimilated by Christian revelation. Par-
taught, could aid in the moral development of ticularly in Platonism, which drew a distinction
children because it presented many examples of between a world perceived by the senses and a
virtuous deeds. Some church fathers claimed that higher order—a transcendent world that should be
Greek philosophy contained a dim glimmer of the central concern of human existence—Christian
God’s truth, a pre-Christian insight into divine wis- thinkers found a congenial vehicle for expressing
dom. Christ had corrected and fulfilled an insight Christian beliefs. The perfect and universal Forms,
reached by the philosophical mind. Knowledge or Ideas, which Plato maintained were the true goal
of Greek philosophy, they also contended, helped of knowledge and the source of ethical standards,
Christians explain their beliefs logically and argue were held by Christians to exist in God’s mind.
intelligently with pagan critics of Christian teach- That Greek philosophy had a strong hold on
ings. Thus, Clement of Alexandria (c. a.d. 150– church doctrine was immensely important, for it
220) brought reason to the support of faith in his meant that rational thought, the priceless achieve-
attempt to make Christianity more intellectually ment of the Greek mind, was not lost. But Greek phi-
respectable in his world. losophy had to sacrifice its ability to think freely to
the needs of Christian revelation: reason had to serve
Rather, philosophy is a clear image of truth, a faith. And in any conflict between reason and faith,
divine gift to the Greeks. Before the advent of faith would prevail. Although Christianity made
the Lord, philosophy helped the Greeks to attain use of Greek philosophy, Christian truth ultimately
righteousness, and is now conducive to piety, it rested on faith, not reason. As Tertullian stated, it is
supplies a preparatory teaching for those who precisely because faith in a crucified Lord contra-
will later embrace the faith. God is the cause of dicted all human logic that he would believe: “And
all good things: some given primarily in the form the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed,
of the Old and the New Testament; others are because it is absurd. And He was buried, and rose
the consequence of philosophy. Perchance too again; the fact is certain because it is impossible.”5
philosophy was given to the Greeks primarily
till the Lord should call the Greeks to serve him.
Thus philosophy acted as a schoolmaster to the
Greeks, preparing them for Christ, as the laws THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIAN
of the Jews prepared them for Christ.4 ORGANIZATION, DOCTRINE,
Utilizing the language and categories of Greek AND ATTITUDES
philosophy, Christian intellectuals transformed
Christianity from a simple ethical creed into a Early in its history, the church gradually devel-
theoretical system, a theology. Greek philosophy oped along hierarchical lines. Those members of
enabled Christians to explain rationally God’s ex- the Christian community who had the authority to
istence and revelation in order to show that Chris- preside over the celebration of the Mass—breaking
tian teachings did not violate the laws of logic. bread and offering wine as Christ had done in the
Christ was depicted as the divine or incarnate Lo- Last Supper—were called either priests or bishops.
gos (reason) in human form. Educated believers Gradually, the designation bishop was reserved for
could argue that the fundamental principles that the one clergyman in the community with the au-
Greek philosophers maintained operated in the thority to resolve disputes over doctrines and prac-
universe were established by God the Father. The tices. Regarded as the successors to Jesus’ Twelve
Stoic teaching that all people are fundamentally Disciples, bishops supervised religious activities
equal because they share in universal reason could within their regions. The most influential bish-
be formulated in Christian terms: all are united in ops ministered to the leading cities of the Empire:
Christ. Christians could interpret the church to Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Milan. In creat-
be the true fulfillment of the Stoic idea of a pol- ing a diocese that was supervised by a bishop and
ity embracing the entire world. Stoic ethics, which had its center in a leading city, the church adapted
stressed moderation, self-control, and brotherhood, Roman administrative techniques.
184 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
The Primacy of the Bishop of Rome the East. Basil required monks to refrain from bodily
abuses and to engage in manual labor. Through
The bishop of Rome, later called the pope (“father”), farming, weaving, and construction, monks could
claimed primacy over the other bishops, maintain- make a monastery self-supporting and have the
ing that the Apostle Peter founded the Roman see means to assist the needy. Aware of the lure of ma-
(official seat of authority) and that both Peter and terialism and selfishness, Basil forbade his monks to
Paul were martyred in Rome. Moreover, as the tra- own personal property other than clothing and in-
ditional capital of the Empire, Rome seemed the sisted that they spend much of their time in silence.
logical choice to serve as the center of the church. The monastic ideal spread from east to west.
In developing the case for their supremacy over The principal figure in the shaping of monasticism
the church organization, bishops of Rome increas- in the West was Saint Benedict (c. 480–c. 543),
ingly referred to the famous New Testament pas- who founded a monastery at Monte Cassino,
sage in which Jesus says to his disciple Simon (also Italy, in 529. The Rule of Saint Benedict (see Pri-
called Peter): “‘And I tell you, you are Peter, and on mary Source box) required the monks to live in
this rock I will build my church’” (Matthew 16:18). poverty and to study, labor, and obey the abbot,
Because Peter in Greek means “rock” (petra), it was the head of the monastery. They had to pray of-
argued that Christ had chosen Peter to succeed him ten, work hard, talk little, and surrender private
as ruler of the universal church. It was commonly property. In imposing discipline and regulations,
accepted that Saint Peter had established a church Benedict eliminated the excessive and eccentric
in Rome and was martyred there, so it was argued individualism of the early monks. Benedict dem-
further that the Roman bishop inherited the power onstrated the same genius for administration that
that Christ had passed on to Peter. Thus, the argu- the Romans had shown in organizing and govern-
ment continued, the bishop of Rome held a unique ing their empire. Benedict’s rule became the stan-
office: of all the bishops, only he had inherited the dard for monasteries throughout Western Europe.
powers originally granted by Christ to Peter. Be-
cause the Apostles had been subordinate to Peter,
so too must the bishops defer to Peter’s successor. Scriptural Tradition and
Doctrinal Disputes
The Rise of Monasticism The earliest surviving Christian writings are Paul’s
Epistles, written some twenty-five to thirty years
Some devout Christians committed to living a per- after the death of Jesus. Jesus’ sayings were pre-
fect Christian life were distressed by the wicked- served by word of mouth. Sometime around
ness of the world about them, including the moral a.d. 66–70, about forty years after the crucifix-
laxity of those clergy who chased after wealth and ion, Saint Mark formulated the Christian message
pomp. Seeking to escape from the agonies and from this oral tradition and perhaps from some
corruptions of this world, some ardent Christians material that had been put in writing earlier. Later,
withdrew to deserts and mountains in search of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke, relying heavily on
solitude and spiritual renewal. In their zeal to em- Mark’s account, wrote somewhat longer Gospels.
ulate Jesus’ self-denial, they sometimes practiced The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke are
extreme forms of asceticism: self-flogging, wear- called synoptic because their approach to Jesus
ing spiked corsets, eating only herbs, or living for is very similar. The remaining Gospel, written by
years atop a column high above the ground. Saint John around a.d. 110, varies significantly
Gradually, colonies of these hermits sprang up, from the synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John uses
particularly in Egypt and Syria; in time, the lead- the Stoic concept of Logos to present Jesus as the
ers of these monastic communities drew up written divine being. John identifies Jesus with the eternal
rules for prayer and work. Saint Basil (c. 329– word, or Logos, which became the incarnate Son
c. 379), a Greek who was bishop of Caesarea in of God: “In the beginning was the Word and the
Cappadocia (eastern Asia Minor), established the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . .
rules that became the standard for monasteries in And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us”
The Growth of Christian Organization, Doctrine, and Attitudes ❖ 185
(John 1:1, 14). The synoptic Gospels; the Gospel Influenced by passages in the New Testament
According to Saint John; Acts of the Apostles; the that condemned acts of revenge and the shedding
twenty-one Epistles, including those written by of blood, and concerned only with the heavenly
Saint Paul; and Revelation constitute the twenty- kingdom, some early Christians refused mili-
seven books of the Christian New Testament. tary service. Others, however, held that in a sin-
Christians also accepted the Old Testament of the ful world, defense of the state was necessary, and
Hebrews as God’s Word. The New Testament was without concealment or apology they served in
written not by historians with the critical spirit of the army. With the barbarians menacing the bor-
a Thucydides or a Polybius but by men moved by ders, Christian officials could not advocate non-
the fervor of faith. Under these circumstances, it violence. Christian theorists began to argue that
is understandable that it contains discrepancies, under certain circumstances—to punish injustice
some nonhistorical legends, and polemics. or to restore peace—war was just. But even such
The early Christians had a Bible and a clergy wars must not entail unnecessary violence.
to teach it. But the Holy Writ could be interpreted Christians denounced the gladiatorial combats
differently by equally sincere believers, and con- and contests between men and beasts as blood-
troversies over doctrine threatened the loose unity lust and murder, and regarded attendance at these
of the early church. The most important contro- spectacles as tantamount to participating in mur-
versy concerned how people viewed the relation- der. Nevertheless, these spectacles persisted even
ship between God and Christ. Arius (250–336), after the majority of the population had con-
a Greek priest in Alexandria, led one faction; he verted to Christianity. When the games finally
denied the complete divinity of Christ, one of the ended, it was probably due more to the growing
basic tenets of the church. To Arius, Christ was poverty of the western Empire than to the Chris-
more than man but less than God; the Father and tian conscience.
the Son did not possess the same nature, or es- Numerous women joined the Christian move-
sence. Arius said that there was no permanent ment and a number suffered martyrdom, but posi-
union between God and Christ; the Father alone tions of authority were reserved for men, including
is eternal and truly God. ordination as priests. The early Christian view of
The Council of Nicaea (325), the first assembly, women was rooted in the patriarchal tradition of
or ecumenical council, of bishops from all parts of Jewish society. Paul subjected the wife to her hus-
the Roman world, was called to settle the contro- band’s authority. “Wives, be subject to your hus-
versy. The council condemned Arius and ruled that bands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of
God and Christ were of the same substance, coequal the wife as Christ is the head of the church” (Ephe-
and coeternal. The position adopted at Nicaea be- sians 5:22–23). Paul wanted women to remain quiet
came the basis of the Nicene Creed, which remains at church meetings. “If there is anything they desire
the official doctrine of the church. Although Arian- to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For
ism, the name given the heresy of Arius, won con- it is shameful for a woman to speak in church”
verts for a time, it eventually died out, helped along (1 Corinthians 14:35). But Paul also held that all
by persecution. This meant that the Catholic church are baptized in Christ: “There is neither Jew nor
alone would shape the distinctive character of the Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
new civilization that emerged in the Middle Ages. male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”
(Galatians 3:28). Consequently, both sexes were
subject to divine law, and both possessed moral au-
Christianity and Society tonomy. The early church held to strict standards
on sexual matters. It condemned adultery and es-
Although salvation was their ultimate aim, Chris- teemed virginity pledged for spiritual reasons.
tians still had to dwell within the world and deal Christians waged no war against slavery, which
with its imperfections. In the process, Christian was widely practiced and universally accepted in
thinkers challenged some of the mores of Greco- the ancient world. Paul commanded slaves to obey
Roman society and formulated attitudes that their masters, and many Christians, including lead-
would endure for centuries. ers of local churches, were slave owners. Although
Primary Source
Saint Benedict of Nursia: and impute it to himself. To fear the day of
judgment, to dread hell, to desire eternal life
The Christian Way of Life with all spiritual longing, to have the expec-
tation of death every day before his eyes. To
watch over his actions at all times, to know
In the following selection from his monastic book of
certainly that in all places the eye of God is
rules, Saint Benedict of Nursia advises his monks
upon him; those evil thoughts which come
on the attitudes and conduct necessary to live a vir-
into his heart to dash to pieces on Christ, and
tuous Christian life.
to make them known to his spiritual senior. To
keep his lips from evil and wicked discourse,
not to be fond of much talking, not to speak
What Are the Instruments vain words or such as provoke laughter, not to
of Good Works? love much or violent laughter. To give willing
In the first place, to love the Lord God with the attention to the sacred readings, to pray fre-
whole heart, whole soul, whole strength, then quently every day, to confess his past sins to
his neighbor as himself. God, in prayer, with tears and groanings; from
Then not to kill, not to commit adultery, thence forward to reform as to those sins.
not to steal, not to covet, not to bear false Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh, to hate
witness, to honor all men, and what anyone his own will, in all things to obey the com-
would not have done to him, let him not do mands of the abbot, even though he himself
to another. To deny himself, that he may fol- (which God forbid) should do otherwise, re-
low Christ, to chasten the body, to renounce membering our Lord’s commands: “What they
luxuries, to love fasting. To relieve the poor, say, do; but what they do, do ye not.” Not to
to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to bury desire to be called a saint before he is one, but
the dead, to help in tribulation, to console the first to be one that he may be truly called one;
afflicted. every day to fulfill the commands of God in his
To make himself a stranger to the affairs deeds, to love chastity, to hate no one, not to
of the world, to prefer nothing before the have jealousy or envy, not to love contention,
love of Christ, not to give way to anger, not to avoid self-conceit; to reverence seniors, to
to bear any grudge, not to harbour deceit in love juniors, to pray for enemies in the love of
the heart, not to forsake charity. Not to swear, Christ, to be reconciled with his adversary, be-
lest haply he perjure himself, to utter truth fore the going down of the sun, and never to
from his heart and his mouth. Not to return despair of the mercy of God. . . .
evil for evil, not to do injuries, but rather to
bear them patiently, to love his enemies, not
to curse against those that curse him, but Question for Analysis
rather to bless them, to endure persecution
1. According to Saint Benedict, how should a
for righteousness’ sake. Not to be proud, not
Christian lead a virtuous life?
given to wine, not gluttonous, not addicted to
sleep, not slothful, not given to murmur, not
a slanderer. To commit his hope to God; when
he sees anything good in himself to attribute Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., Library of Original Sources
it to God, and not to himself, but let him al- (Milwaukee: University Research Extension, 1907),
ways know that which is evil is his own doing; 4:133–134.
186
The Growth of Christian Organization, Doctrine, and Attitudes ❖ 187
Christians did not try to alter the legal status of proclaimed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
slaves, they did teach that slaves, too, were children and on other occasions. For example, “Thou shalt
of God; they sought their conversion; they urged love thy neighbor as thyself” was the motto of the
owners not to treat slaves harshly; and they con- Jewish sage Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus, who
sidered it a virtue for owners to free slaves. In the founded a school. The great value that the Torah
modern world, the Christian teaching that all per- gives to charity was inherited by Christianity. Jesus’
sons are spiritually equal before God would arouse use of parables to convey his teachings, the concept
some Christians to fight for the abolition of slavery. of the Messiah, respect for the Sabbath, and con-
Christian theorists condemned sex outside of gregational worship also stem from Judaism. More-
marriage, adultery, prostitution, homosexual- over, Christians viewed the Hebrew Scriptures as
ity, and abortion, and insisted that the sex drive God’s Word. In addition, a deep understanding of
should be confined to reproduction, as Clement the New Testament requires knowledge of the Old
of Alexandria wrote: “Yet marriage in itself mer- Testament, for its thought and language permeate
its esteem and the highest approval, for the Lord the Christian Gospels.
wished men to ‘be fruitful and multiply.’ He did However, over the years, particularly after more
not tell them, however, to act like libertines, nor and more non-Jews became followers of Christ,
did He intend them to surrender themselves to Christians forgot or devalued the Jewish roots of
pleasure as though born only to indulge in sexual their faith, and some thinkers began to show hos-
relations. . . . To indulge in intercourse without tility toward Judaism and Jews that had tragic con-
intending children is to outrage nature.”6 sequences in later centuries. Several factors fueled
this anti-Judaism: resentment against Jews for their
refusal to embrace Jesus; the polemics of the Jew-
Christianity and the Jews ish establishment against followers of Jesus; the
role in Jesus’ death ascribed to Jews by the New
Increasingly, Christians identified opponents—Jews, Testament; resentment against those Christians
pagans, and heretics—with Satan, the fallen angel, who Judaized, that is, continued to observe Jewish
and viewed conflicts in a moral context: a struggle festivals and the Jewish Sabbath, regard the syna-
between God’s faithful and Satan’s servants. Over gogue as holy, and practice circumcision; and anger
the centuries, the view that they were participants that Judaism remained a vital religion, for this un-
in a cosmic struggle between good and evil led dermined the conviction that Christianity was the
Christians to demonize adversaries, a practice that fulfillment of Judaism and the one true faith.
exacerbated hatred and justified mistreatment and What made Christian anti-Judaism particularly
even massacre. Christian attitudes and behavior to- ominous was the effort of some theologians to de-
ward Jews poignantly illustrate this point. monize the Jewish people. The myth emerged that
Numerous links connect early Christianity and the Jews, murderers of the incarnate God who em-
Judaism. Jesus himself and his earliest followers, in- bodied all that was good, were a cursed people, chil-
cluding the Twelve Disciples, were Jews who were dren of the Devil, whose suffering was intended by
faithful to Jewish law. Jesus attended synagogue God. Thus, Origen (c. 185–c. 251) maintained that
and frequently quoted the Hebrew Scriptures, “the blood of Jesus [falls] not only upon those who
which to him and his disciples was the authorita- lived then but also upon all generations of the Jew-
tive word of God, to support a particular view- ish people following afterwards until the end of the
point. Jesus’ message was first spread in synagogues world.”7 In the late fourth century, John Chrysostom
throughout the Roman Empire. Early Christianity’s described Jews as “inveterate murderers, destroyers,
affirmation of the preciousness of the human be- men possessed by the Devil. . . . [T]hey murder their
ing, created in God’s image; its belief that God rules offspring and immolate them to the devil.” The syn-
history; its awareness of human sinfulness; its call agogue, he said, was “the domicile of the devil as is
for repentance; and its appeal to God for forgive- also the soul of the Jews.” Their rites are “criminal
ness are rooted in Judaism. The Christian reference and impure,” and their religion is “a disease.” For the
to God as a “merciful Father” derives from Jewish “odious assassination of Christ,” there is “no expia-
prayer. Also rooted in Judaism are the moral norms tion possible, . . . no pardon.” Jews will live “under
188 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
the yoke of servitude without end.”8 Since the Devil As a youth, Saint Jerome (c. 340–420) studied
was very real to early and medieval Christians, the Latin literature in Rome. Throughout his life, he
Jew became identified with evil. Christians devel- remained an admirer of Cicero, Virgil, Lucretius,
oped a mindset, concludes the Reverend Robert A. and other great Latin writers, and he defended the
Everett, that was “unable to see anything positive in study of classical literature by Christians. Criti-
Judaism. . . . Judaism and the Jewish people came to cized for attacking the luxurious living and lax-
have no real value for Christians except as a negative ness of the clergy, he left Rome and established
contrast to Christianity.”9 Because of this “teaching a monastery near Bethlehem, where he devoted
of contempt” and the “diabolization of the Jew,” the himself to prayer and study. His greatest achieve-
Christian ethic of love did not extend to Jews. ment was the translation of the Old and New
Testaments from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.
Once it is established that God has cursed Jerome’s text, the common, or Vulgate, version of
the Jews, how can one argue that Christians the Bible, became the official edition of the Bible
should love them? If Jews have been fated by for the Western church.
God to have . . . a long history of suffering, Saint Ambrose (340–397), bishop of Milan, It-
who are Christians to alter their history by aly, urged clerics not to pursue wealth but to prac-
doing anything to relieve Jewish suffering? tice humility and avoid favoring the rich over the
The theology of victimization thus precludes poor. Ambrose sought to defend the autonomy of
Christian love as a basis of relating to Jews.10 the church against the power of the state. Emper-
ors are not the judges of bishops, he wrote. His
The diabolization of the Jew, which bore no dictum that “the Emperor is within the church,
relationship to the actual behavior of Jews or to not above it” became a cardinal principle of the
their highly ethical religion, and the “theology of medieval church.
victimization,” which held that the Jews were col- The most important Christian theoretician
lectively and eternally cursed for denying Christ, in the Late Roman Empire was Saint Augustine
became powerful myths, which, over the centuries, (354–430), bishop of Hippo, in North Africa.
poisoned Christians’ hearts and minds against Born in the North African province of Numidia,
Jews, spurring innumerable humiliations, persecu- Augustine attended school at Carthage, where he
tions, and massacres by Christians who believed studied the Latin classics. Struggling to find mean-
that their actions were pleasing to God. Alongside ing in a world that abounded with evil, Augustine
this hatred of Jews and antipathy to their suffering, turned to Manichaeism, an Eastern religious phi-
there also evolved the belief that the Jews, faithless losophy whose central doctrine was the struggle
and perfidious though they were, should be per- of the universal forces of light and good against
mitted to survive, for their dispersal among the na- those of darkness and evil. But Augustine still felt
tions was evidence of divine punishment and the spiritually restless. In Milan, inspired by the ser-
truth of Christianity. Moreover, one day the Jews mons of Ambrose, he abandoned Manichaeism
would see the light and convert to the true faith. and devoted his life to following Christ’s teach-
ings. After serving as a priest, he was appointed
bishop of Hippo in 395. At the turn of the fifth
SAINT AUGUSTINE: THE century, when the Greco-Roman worldview was
disintegrating and the Roman world-state was
CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW collapsing, Augustine wrote his greatest and most
influential work, The City of God. He became the
During the early history of Christianity, learned chief architect of the Christian outlook that suc-
fathers of the church explained and defended ceeded a dying classicism.
church teachings. Most of the leading early fathers In 410, when Augustine was in his fifties,
wrote in Greek, but in the middle of the fourth Visigoths sacked Rome—a disaster for which the
century, three great Latin writers—Saint Jerome, classical consciousness was unprepared. Through-
Saint Ambrose, and Saint Augustine—profoundly out the Empire, people panicked. Non-Christians
influenced the course of Christianity in the West. blamed the tragedy on Christianity, saying that the
Saint Augustine: The Christian Worldview ❖ 189
Christians had predicted the end of the world and Christianity belonged to the realm of the spirit
by refusing to offer sacrifices to ancient gods had and could not be identified with any state. The
turned those deities against Rome. Even Chris- collapse of Rome did not diminish the greatness
tians expressed anxiety. Why were the righteous of Christianity because the true Christian was a
also suffering? Where was the kingdom of God on citizen of a heavenly city that could not be pil-
earth that had been prophesied in the Scriptures? laged by ungodly barbarians but would endure
Augustine’s City of God was a response to the forever. Compared with God’s heavenly city,
crisis of the Roman Empire, just as Plato’s Repub- Rome and its decline were unimportant. What re-
lic had been a reaction to the crisis of the Athe- ally mattered in history, Augustine said, was not
nian polis. Whereas Plato expressed hope that a the coming to be or the passing away of cities and
state founded on rational principles could remedy empires, but the individual’s spiritual destiny, his
the abuses of Athenian society, Augustine main- or her entrance into heaven or hell.
tained that the worldly city could never be the Yet Augustine remained a man of this world.
central concern of a Christian. The ideal state, he Although the earthly city was the very opposite
wrote, could not be realized on earth; it existed of the heavenly city, he insisted that people must
only in heaven. The misfortunes of Rome, there- still deal with this earthly abode. Christians could
fore, should not distress a Christian unduly, for not reject their city entirely but must bend it to fit
190 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
a Christian pattern. The city that someday would stood for sin and corruption, the other for God’s
rise from the ruins of Rome must be based on truth and perfection. For Augustine, the highest
Christian principles. Warfare, economic activity, good was not of this world but consisted of eter-
education, and the rearing of children should all be nal life with God.
conducted in a Christian spirit. The church could Augustine’s distinction between this higher
not neglect the state but must guide it to protect world of perfection and a lower world of corrup-
human beings from their own sinful natures. The tion remained influential throughout the Middle
state must employ repression and punishment Ages. But the church, rejecting Augustine’s doc-
to restrain people, who were inherently sinful, trine that only a limited number of people are pre-
from destroying one another. But the earthly city destined for heaven, emphasized that Christ had
would never know tranquility, said Augustine, for made possible the salvation of all who would em-
it would always be inhabited predominantly by brace the precepts and injunctions of the church.
wretched sinners. People should be under no illu- Leading Protestant reformers of the sixteenth cen-
sion that it could be transformed into the City of tury, however, accepted Augustine’s position.
God. Because human beings are infected with sin, Augustine repudiated the distinguishing feature
everywhere in human society we see of classical humanism: the autonomy of reason.
For him, ultimate wisdom could not be achieved
love for all those things that prove so vain through rational thought alone. Reason had to be
and . . . breed so many heartaches, troubles, guided by faith. Without faith, there could be no
griefs, and fears; such insane joys in discord, true knowledge, no understanding. Philosophy
strife, and war; such wrath and plots of en- had no validity if it did not first accept as abso-
emies . . . such fraud and theft and robbery; lutely true the existence of God and the authority
such perfidy . . . homicide and murder, cruelty of his revelation. Valid ethical standards could not
and savagery, lawlessness and lust; all the be formulated by reason alone but were revealed
shameless passions of the impure—fornication to people by the living God. Christian truth did
and adultery . . . and countless other unclean- not rest on theoretical excellence or logical con-
nesses too nasty to be mentioned; the sins sistency; it was true because its source was God.
against religion—sacrilege and heresy . . . the Augustine’s belief contrasts with that of
iniquities against our neighbors—calumnies Socrates, who insisted that through rational reflec-
and cheating, lies and false witness, violence to tion each individual could arrive at standards of
persons and property . . . and the innumerable good and evil. For the humanist Socrates, ultimate
other miseries and maladies that fill the world, values were something that the individual could
yet escape attention.11 grasp through thought alone and could defend
rationally. For Augustine, reason alone could not
Augustine did not hold that Christ, by his sac- serve as a proper guide to life. He maintained that
rificial death, had opened the door to heaven for individuals, without divine guidance, lacked the
all. Most of humanity remained condemned to capacity to comprehend ultimate truth or to regen-
eternal punishment; only a handful were blessed erate themselves morally. Without God, they could
with the gift of faith and the promise of heaven. not attain wisdom or liberate themselves from a
Whereas the vast majority of people, said Augus- wicked and sinful human nature: “the happiness
tine, were citizens of a doomed earthly city, the of man can come not from himself but only from
small number endowed with God’s grace consti- God, and . . . to live according to oneself is sin.”12
tuted the City of God. These people lived on earth Thus, in contrast to the classical view that as-
as visitors only, for they awaited deliverance to serted the primacy of reason, Augustine argued
the Kingdom of Christ, where together with the for the primacy of faith. He denied the classical
good angels and God they would know perfect view that reason alone could attain wisdom or
happiness. But the permanent inhabitants of the could instruct people how to live. The wisdom
earthly city were destined for eternal punishment that Augustine sought was Christian wisdom,
in hell. A perpetual conflict existed between the God’s revelation to humanity. The starting point
two cities and between their inhabitants; one city for this wisdom, he said, was belief in God and
Christianity and Classical Humanism: Alternative Worldviews ❖ 191
There are striking parallels between Christian that, without God as the starting point, knowledge
and Stoic ethics. Both Christians and Stoics be- is formless, purposeless, and prone to error. Classi-
lieved that there is an essential “brotherhood of cism, unlike Judaism or Christianity, possessed no
man,” that all human beings are related and pos- truths or moral precepts revealed by a divine power.
sess a fundamental dignity. Both urged suppressing Rather, classicism held that ethical standards were
wild passions, expressing concern for others, living expressions of universal reason, laws of nature,
simply, and heeding the inner voice of conscience which the human mind could discover. Through
that commands human beings to do what is right. reason, individuals could discern the norms by
But Christianity and classical humanism also which they should regulate their lives. Reason
represent two essentially different worldviews. The would enable them to govern desires and will; it
triumph of the Christian outlook signified a break would show where their behavior was wrong and
with the essential meaning of classical humanism; teach them how to correct it. Because individuals
it pointed to the end of the world of antiquity and sought what was best for themselves, they would
the beginning of an age of faith, the Middle Ages. obey the voice of reason. Christianity, on the other
With the victory of Christianity, the ultimate goal hand, maintains that ethical standards emanate
of life shifted. Life’s purpose was no longer to from the personal will of God. Without submis-
achieve excellence in this world through the full sion to God’s commands, people remain wicked
and creative development of human capacities, but forever; the human will, essentially sinful, can-
to attain salvation in a heavenly city. A person’s not be transformed by the promptings of reason.
worldly accomplishments amounted to very little Only when individuals turn to God for forgiveness
if he or she did not accept God and his revelation. and guidance can they find the inner strength to
The Christian ideal of the isolated and contempla- overcome their sinful nature. People cannot per-
tive monk, who rejected the world in order to serve fect themselves through scientific knowledge; it
God, was alien to the spirit of classical humanism, is spiritual insight and belief in God that they re-
which valued active citizenship and active partici- quire and that must serve as the first principle of
pation in worldly activities. Equally foreign to the their lives. For classicism, the ultimate good was
Greco-Roman mind was another idea introduced sought through independent thought and action;
by Christianity: the need to escape from a sinful for Christianity, the ultimate good comes through
human nature, a consequence of Adam and Eve’s knowing, obeying, and loving God.
defiance of God. This view of a corrupt human Although some Christian thinkers dismissed
nature and an unclean human body, particularly Greek philosophy as erroneous and useless, others
in Augustine’s formulation, became deeply embed- respected the Greek intellectual tradition and re-
ded in the European mind during the Christian jected attempts to eradicate it. Rather, they sought
centuries—the Middle Ages. to fit it into a Christian framework—that is, ra-
In the classical view, history had no ultimate tional inquiry must be guided by and never con-
end, no ultimate meaning; periods of happiness flict with Christian teachings. By holding that the
and misery repeated themselves endlessly. In the mind is limited in its capacity to think for itself
Christian view, history is filled with spiritual and must be guided by faith and clerical author-
meaning. It is the profound drama of individuals ity, Christianity contributed to the waning of the
struggling to overcome their original sin in order classical tradition in the Late Roman Empire. For
to gain eternal happiness in heaven. History began centuries, articles of faith would predominate over
with Adam and Eve’s fall and would end when empirical observation and logic. Nevertheless, by
Christ returns to earth, evil is eradicated, and preserving the Greek philosophical tradition—
God’s will prevails. For the Christian, Christ on even if it remained subordinate to the Christian
the cross was both the central event and a turning outlook—Christian thinkers performed a task of
point in world history. immense historical significance.
Classicism held that there was no authority Christianity inherited the Hebrew view of the
higher than reason, that individuals had within overriding importance of God for humanity: God,
themselves, through unaided reason, the ability to who is both lawgiver and judge, makes life intel-
understand the world and life. Christianity teaches ligible and purposeful. For the Christian, God is a
Christianity and Classical Humanism: Alternative Worldviews ❖ 193
living being, loving and compassionate, in whose belief in other gods was an abomination, and
company one seeks to spend eternity; one knows that nonbelievers (or infidels) and heretics were
God essentially through faith and feeling. Although wicked sinners hated by God. Over the centuries,
the Greek philosophers had a conception of God, it this outlook sanctioned fanaticism, persecution,
was not comparable to the God of the Hebrews and and holy war, with accompanying massacres—
Christians. For the Greeks, God was a logical ab- a terrible legacy that constitutes the dark side of
straction, a principle of order, the prime mover, the monotheism. Unlike the monotheistic faiths—
first cause, the mind of the universe, pure thought, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—Greek and
the supreme good, the highest truth; God was a Roman polytheism had no concepts of martyrdom
concept, impersonal, unfeeling, and uninvolved for the true faith and holy war against the infi-
with human concerns. The Greeks approached God del and consistently tolerated many different reli-
through the intellect, not the heart; they neither gious beliefs and practices as long as they did not
loved nor worshiped God. In addition, because reli- threaten the state.
gion was at the periphery, not the center, of classical In the classical world, the political community
humanism, the idea of God did not carry the same was the avenue to justice, happiness, and self-
significance as it did for Christianity. realization. In Christianity, the good life was iden-
Christianity maintained that there was a pre- tified not with worldly achievement but with life
scribed way to worship the one true God, that eternal, and the ideal commonwealth could only
194 ❖ 8 Early Christianity: A World Religion
be one that was founded and ruled by Christ. It In the Late Roman Empire, when classical
was entrance into God’s kingdom that each person values were in decay, Christianity was a dy-
must make the central aim of life. Christian think- namic and creative movement. Possessing both
ers viewed the state as an inferior community to institutional and spiritual strength, Christianity
their own—the church of Christ, which had ties survived the fall of Rome. Because it retained el-
to the spiritual realm, the highest good. There- ements of Greco-Roman civilization and taught
fore, they held that secular power should submit a high morality, Christianity served as a civiliz-
to ecclesiastical authority. For the next thousand ing agent in the centuries that followed Rome’s
years, this distinction between heaven and earth, collapse. Indeed, Christianity was the essential
this otherworldly, theocentric outlook, would de- shaper of the European civilization that emerged
fine the Western mentality. in the Middle Ages.
❖ ❖ ❖
———, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (1993). A (1994). Useful essays on Jesus, Paul, the Dead Sea
clear and thorough examination of the milieu in Scrolls, and early Christian anti-Judaism.
which Christianity was born. Walsh, Michael, The Triumph of the Meek: Why
Le Beau, Bryan F., Leonard Greenspoon, and Dennis Early Christianity Succeeded (1986). An informed
Hamm, S. J., eds., The Historical Jesus Through and clearly written account of a major scholarly
Catholic and Jewish Eyes (2000). A collection of concern.
perceptive essays on Jesus’ Jewish background. Wills, Garry, What Jesus Meant (2006). A fresh and
Perkins, Pheme, Reading the New Testament (1978). intriguing reading of the gospels by an eminent
Introduces the beginning student to the New Catholic intellectual.
Testament. ———, What Paul Meant (2006). An interpretation
Perry, Marvin, and Frederick M. Schweitzer, eds., of Paul’s writings that sheds light on Jesus and his
Jewish-Christian Encounters Over the Centuries followers.
600
Part Two
700
The Christian
Centuries,
900
500 to 1400
1000
1100
1200
1300
Politics and Society Thought and Culture
Germanic kingdoms established on former Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy (523)
Roman lands (5th and 6th centuries) Law code of Justinian (529)
Saint Benedict founds monastery at Monte Byzantine church Hagia Sophia (532–537)
Cassino (529) Cassiodorus establishes a monastic library
Pope Gregory I sends missionaries to at Vivarium (540)
convert Anglo-Saxons (596)
Charles Martel defeats Muslims at Tours Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English
(732) People (c. 700)
Muslim Golden Age (700s and 800s)
Split between the Byzantine and Roman Romanesque style in architecture (1000s
churches (1054) and 1100s)
Norman conquest of England (1066)
Start of First Crusade (1096)
Philip Augustus expands central authority Flowering of medieval culture (12th and
in France (1180–1223) 13th centuries): universities, Gothic
Development of common law and jury architecture, scholastic philosophy,
system in England (1100s) revival of Roman law
Pontificate of Innocent III: height of papal
power (1198–1216)
■
Byzantine Civilization:
The Medieval Christian East
Islamic Civilization:
T he triumph of Christianity, the decay of
the Roman Empire, and the establish-
ment of Germanic kingdoms on once-
Roman lands constituted a new phase in Western
history: the end of the ancient world and the be-
Its Development and
ginning of the Middle Ages, a period that spanned
Dissemination a thousand years. In the ancient world, the locus
■ Latin Christendom: The Rise of Greco-Roman civilization had been the Medi-
terranean Sea; the heartland of Western medieval
of Europe civilization gradually shifted to the north, to re-
■ The Church: Shaper of Medieval gions of Europe that Greco-Roman civilization
Civilization had barely penetrated. Latin Christendom (West-
ern and Central Europe) was only one of three
■ The Kingdom of the Franks new civilizations based on religion that emerged
after the decline of the Roman Empire; Byzantium
■ Medieval Society and Islam were the other two. Both of these East-
ern civilizations influenced the emerging Europe
in important ways.
Focus Questions
BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION:
1. How did Latin Christendom blend
Christian, Greco-Roman, and Germanic THE MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN EAST
traditions?
Although the Roman Empire in the West fell to
2. In what ways were Greco-Roman ideas the Germanic tribes, the eastern provinces of the
and institutions alien to Germanic Empire survived. They did so because they were
traditions? richer, more urbanized, and more populous and
3. What was Byzantium’s long-term because the main thrust of the Germanic and Hun-
nish invaders had been directed at the western re-
influence on world history?
gions. In the eastern parts, Byzantine civilization
4. What does Islam have in common with took shape. Its religion was Christian, its culture
Christianity? How do they differ? Greek, and its machinery of administration Ro-
5. What was the significance of medieval man. The capital, Constantinople, was built on
Muslim intellectual life? the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, on
a peninsula in the Straits of Bosporus—the divid-
6. What conditions led to the rise of ing line between Asia and Europe. Constantinople
feudalism and manorialism? was a fortress city perfectly situated to resist at-
tacks from land and sea.
During the Early Middle Ages (500–1050),
Byzantine civilization was economically and cul-
turally far more advanced than the Latin West.
At a time when few westerners (Latin Christians)
could read or write, Byzantine scholars studied
the literature, philosophy, science, and law of
ancient Greece and Rome. Whereas trade and
urban life had greatly declined in the West, Con-
stantinople was a magnificent Byzantine city of
schools, libraries, open squares, and bustling
markets.
199
Chronology 9.1 ❖ The Rise of Europe
496 Clovis adopts Roman Christianity
523 Boethius writes Consolation of Philosophy
540 Cassiodorus establishes a monastic library at Vivarium
596 Pope Gregory I sends missionaries to convert the Anglo-Saxons
717 Charles Martel becomes mayor of the palace under a weak Merovingian king
732 Charles Martel defeats the Muslims at Tours
751 Pepin the Short, with papal support, deposes the Merovingian ruler and
becomes king of the Franks
755 Pepin donates to the papacy lands taken from the Lombards
768 Charlemagne becomes king of the Franks
774 Charlemagne defeats the Lombards
782 Alcuin of York heads Charlemagne’s palace school
c. 799 Charlemagne subdues the Saxons
800 Charlemagne is crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III
814 Charlemagne dies and is succeeded by his son, Louis the Pious
840 Death of Louis the Pious: the empire is divided among his sons
c. 840s Height of Viking attacks
c. 890 Magyars invade central Europe
Over the centuries, many differences devel- Political and cultural differences widened the
oped between the Eastern church and the Roman rift between Latin Christendom and Byzantium.
church. The pope in Rome resisted domination by Latin Christians refused to recognize that the Byz-
the Byzantine emperor, and the Byzantines denied antine emperors were, as they claimed, successors
the pope’s claim to authority over all Christians. to the Roman emperors. In the Byzantine Empire,
The two churches quarreled over ceremonies, Greek was the language of religion and intellec-
holy days, and the display of holy images or icons. tual life; in the West, it was Latin.
Fearing that some of his subjects were actually
worshipping these images, in 726, Emperor Leo
III ordered the destruction of all images of Christ, Imperial Growth and Decline
the Virgin, and the saints and persecuted monks
who continued to venerate them. This decree Byzantine emperors were absolute rulers who held
greatly angered many Christians and the pope, that God had chosen them to rule and to institute
who excommunicated Leo III. After a storm of divine will on earth. As successors to the Roman
protest convulsed the empire, the Empress Irene emperors, they claimed to rule all the lands once
in 787 and the Empress Theodora in 843 restored part of the Roman Empire. The first great Byzan-
the images. The iconoclastic struggle contributed tine ruler was Justinian, who reigned nearly forty
to the rift between Byzantium and the papacy. years, from 527 to 565. Justinian often relied
The final break came in 1054 when the Chris- on the advice of his wife, Theodora. Theodora’s
tian church split into the Roman Catholic church background was unusual for an empress; she was
in the West and the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox not from the nobility but was the daughter of a
church in the East. bear trainer in the circus and had been an actress,
200
Byzantine Civilization: The Medieval Christian East ❖ 201
Dn
iep
er
ATLANTIC
R.
OCEAN
GAUL AVARS
P S LOMBARDS CAUCA
SUS
AL M TS.
Venice BULGARS
Sea
Ravenna B lack
Eb ITALY Danube R.
Ad
r ia
r
ti
o
c Straits of Bosporus
R.
Corsica Se
SPAIN a Constantinople
Rome PERSIANS
Nicaea
VISIGOTHS Naples
Sardinia BALKAN ASIA MINOR
Córdoba Balearics PENINSULA Nineveh
Athens
Antioch
Sicily
Carthage Cyprus SYRIA
Crete
Damascus
Medit
VANDALS
erranean
Sea PALESTINE
Jerusalem
Alexandria
Re
le DESERT
Ni
d
R
Se
Byzantine Empire under Justinian, A.D. 565 . a
Map 9.1 THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE In the centuries after Justinian regained
lands in the western Mediterranean that had been lost to Germanic invaders, the
Byzantines faced attacks from Avars, Bulgars, Lombards, Persians, Arabs, Latin
Christians, Seljuk Turks, and the Ottoman Turks, who captured Constantinople
in 1453. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
a profession most people considered degrading. Justinian sought to regain the lands in the
In a number of crises, the strong-willed and as- western Mediterranean that had been conquered
tute Theodora gave Justinian the courage to act by Germanic invaders. During his reign, Byzantine
decisively. forces retook North Africa from the Vandals, part
Justinian’s most lasting achievement was the of southern Spain from the Visigoths, and Italy
appointment of a commission of scholars to from the Ostrogoths, establishing a western capi-
collect and codify Rome’s ancient laws and the tal at Ravenna.
commentaries of learned jurists. The result was Besides draining the treasury, the long and
the Corpus Juris Civilis, which became the offi- costly wars led to the neglect of defenses in the
cial body of law of the Byzantine Empire. In the Balkan Peninsula and the Near East. The Balkans
twelfth century, it was gradually reintroduced into were invaded by Slavic tribes from the Black Sea
Western Europe, where it became the basis of civil region and by Avars and Bulgars, originally from
law in many European lands. Central Asia; Syria was ravaged by the Persians.
202 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
Nor were the conquered territories in the west se- Desert seeking to propagate Islam, their new faith
cure. The Germanic Lombards, who had moved (discussed later in this chapter).
into northern Italy in the late sixth century, con- By 642, the Arabs had stripped the Byzantine
quered much Byzantine territory that had been Empire of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and by the
recently recovered from the Ostrogoths. By 629, beginning of the eighth century, they had taken
the Visigoths had driven the Byzantines from North Africa. Near the end of the seventh century
Spain. and again in 717, the Muslims besieged Constan-
In the early seventh century, the Byzantines tinople. But the Byzantine fleet was armed with
faced a renewed threat from the Persians, who a new weapon, “Greek fire”—a fiery explosive
seized the Byzantine provinces of Syria, Palestine, liquid shot from tubes—which set enemy ships
and Egypt. In an all-out effort, however, Emperor aflame and made blazing pools on the water’s sur-
Heraclius (610–641) regained the provinces and face. Thus, the light Byzantine ships were able to
in 627 crushed the Persians near the ruins of the repulse the better-built Arabian ships.
ancient city of Nineveh. But the exhausted Byzan- The Arabs’ failure to take Constantinople was
tine Empire had become vulnerable to the Muslim crucial not only for the Byzantine Empire but also
Arabs, who had moved swiftly out of the Arabian for the history of Christianity. Had this Christian
Byzantine Civilization: The Medieval Christian East ❖ 203
fortress fallen in the eighth century, the Arabs would Seeking to exploit Seljuk weakness and to re-
have been able to overrun the Balkan Peninsula gain lost territories, the Byzantines appealed to
and sail up the Danube River into the European Latin Christians for help. Although European
heartland. After this defeat, however, Islamic armies Christians had little love for the Byzantines, they
largely concentrated their conquests outside Europe. did want to free Christian holy places from the
But soon new enemies threatened. By 1071, the Muslims. For this purpose, they undertook a se-
Normans from France had driven the Byzantines ries of Crusades, beginning in the late eleventh
from Italy. In the same year, the Seljuk Turks, a century (see Chapter 10). In 1204, during the
people from Central Asia who had adopted Islam, Fourth Crusade, Latin Christian knights—greedy
defeated the Byzantines in Asia Minor and subju- for riches—and Venetian merchants—eager
gated most of the peninsula, the heart of the Byz- to gain control of the rich Byzantine trade—
antine Empire. Internal dissension, however, led decided to take Constantinople rather than fight
to the breakup of the Seljuk Empire. the Muslims.
204 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
The Latin Christians looted the city, destroying of Europe to near chaos: and they maintained this
sacred books, vandalizing churches, and carry- high degree of civilization until Western Europe
ing huge amounts of gold, jewels, Christian relics, gradually emerged and began to take form.” 1
and works of art back to Western Europe. They Byzantium exerted an important religious, cul-
also set up kingdoms on Byzantine lands and tried tural, and linguistic influence on Latin Roma-
to force Latin forms of Christianity on the Byzan- nians, eastern Slavs (Russians and Ukrainians),
tine Greeks. Not until 1261 were the westerners and southern Slavs (Serbs and Bulgars). From
driven from Constantinople. The Byzantine Em- Byzantium, the Slavs acquired legal principles,
pire regained its independence, but its power was art forms, and an alphabet (the Cyrillic, based on
disastrously weakened. Crushing taxes, decreasing the Greek) for writing their languages. (On the
agricultural production, declining trade, and civil other hand, the western Slavs—Poles, Czechs,
war continued to sap the tottering empire. and Slovaks—came under the influence of Latin
The deathblow to the empire was dealt by an- Christianity and Latin culture.)
other group of Turks from central Asia. The Ot-
toman Turks had accepted Islam and had begun
to build an empire. They drove the Byzantines ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION:
from Asia Minor and conquered much of the Bal- ITS DEVELOPMENT AND
kans. By the beginning of the fifteenth century,
the Byzantine Empire consisted of only two small DISSEMINATION
territories in Greece and the city of Constantino-
ple. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks broke through The Prophet: The Founding
Constantinople’s great walls and plundered the of a New Religion
city. After more than ten centuries, the Byzantine
Empire came to an end. The second Eastern civilization to arise after
Rome’s fall was based on the vital new religion
of Islam, which emerged in the seventh century
The Bequest of Byzantium among the Arabs of Arabia. Its founder was Mu-
hammad (c. 570–632), a prosperous merchant in
During its thousand years, Byzantium made a Mecca, a trading city near the Red Sea. At times
significant impact on world history. First, it pre- the introspective Muhammad withdrew from
vented the Muslim Arabs from advancing into worldly affairs and devoted himself to meditation.
Eastern Europe. Had the Arabs broken through He began to experience visions, which he inter-
Byzantine defenses, much of Europe might have preted as messages from God. When Muhammad
been converted to the new faith of Islam. A far- was about forty, he believed that he was visited in
reaching accomplishment was the codification of his sleep by the angel Gabriel, who ordered him
the laws of ancient Rome under Justinian. This to “recite in the name of the Lord!” Transformed
monumental achievement preserved Roman law’s by this experience, Muhammad came to believe
principles of reason and justice. Today’s legal that he had been chosen as a prophet, the carrier
codes in much of Europe and Latin America trace of God’s revelation.
their roots to the Roman law recorded by Justin- Although most desert Arabs worshiped tribal
ian’s lawyers. The Byzantines also preserved the gods, many Arabs, including Muhammad, in the
philosophy, science, mathematics, and literature towns and trading centers were familiar with Ju-
of ancient Greece. daism and Christianity, and some had accepted
Contacts with Byzantine civilization stimu- the idea of one God. Rejecting the many deities of
lated learning in both the Islamic world to the the tribal religions, Muhammad offered the Arabs
east and Latin Christendom to the west. Spe- a new monotheistic faith, Islam, which means
ros Vryonis, a student of Byzantine civilization, “surrender to Allah (God).”
states: “The Byzantines carried the torch of civili- Islamic standards of morality and rules gov-
zation unextinguished at a time when the barba- erning daily life are set by the Koran, the holy
rous Germanic and Slav tribes had reduced much book that Muslims believe contains the words of
Islamic Civilization: Its Development and Dissemination ❖ 205
unfamiliarity with the Hebrew Scriptures and the assured a place in paradise. A desire to escape
learned writings of the rabbis. To a large extent, from the barren Arabian Desert and to exploit
political considerations determined Muhammad’s the rich Byzantine and Persian lands was another
attitude toward Jews, who sided with his Meccan compelling reason for expansion. In the east, Is-
enemies. He expelled several thousand Jews from lam’s territory eventually extended into India and
Medina, seized Jewish property, beheaded some to the borders of China; in the west, it encom-
six hundred Jewish men, and enslaved women and passed North Africa and most of Spain. The Mus-
children. Later, he permitted the Arabian Jews the lims’ northward push lost momentum and was
free exercise of their religion and guaranteed the halted in 717 by the Byzantines at Constantinople
security of their property. In 630, Mecca surren- and in 732 by the Franks at the battle of Tours, in
dered to a Muslim army virtually without a fight. central France.
Muhammad demonstrated leniency and forgive-
ness toward his former enemies and persecutors, a
wise decision that helped gain him the support of The Muslim State and Society
the Meccans. Soon Bedouin tribes all over Arabia
embraced Islam and recognized the authority of After the death of Muhammad, Muslims sought
the Prophet Muhammad. authoritative guidance on religious, social, and
In a little more than two decades, Muham- moral questions that the Koran did not specifi-
mad united the often feuding Arabian tribes into a cally address. The most important source for such
powerful force dedicated to Allah and the spread- guidance was the Hadith—a collection of say-
ing of the Islamic faith. After Muhammad’s death ings, stories, and actions of the Prophet on a wide
in 632, his friend and father- in-law, Abu Bakr, range of topics. The Koran coupled with the Ha-
became his successor, or caliph. Regarded as the dith provided directions for a complete way of life
defender of the faith, whose power derived from for Muslims.
Allah, the caliph governed in accordance with The Islamic state was a theocracy: government
Muslim law as defined in the Koran. Islam gave and religion were inseparable; there could be no
the many Arab tribes the unity, discipline, and or- distinction between secular and spiritual author-
ganization to succeed in their wars of conquest. ity. Muslims viewed God as the source of all
Under the first four caliphs, who ruled from 632 law and political authority and the caliph as his
to 661, the Arabs, with breathtaking speed, over- earthly deputy. Divine law regulated all aspects of
ran Persia’s empire, seized large parts of the Byz- human relations. The ruler who did not enforce
antine Empire, and invaded Europe. Koranic law failed in his duties. Thus, Islam was
Muhammad had conveyed to his followers more than a religion; it was also a system of gov-
their religious obligation to perform jihad, liter- ernment, society, law, and thought that bound its
ally striving in the path of God. Jihad is a com- adherents into an all-encompassing community.
plex term whose two essential meanings are an Muslim jurists called for the creation of a single
internal striving by the individual for moral self- society governed by Islamic law. And this world-
improvement and a collective military struggle to state had a religious obligation to subdue the non-
defend Islam against its enemies and to extend Muslim world. This goal, to be achieved by jihad,
Muslim power over other lands so that all people endured in the Muslim mind over the centuries
will be subject to God’s laws as revealed to Mu- and is a principal aim of Muslim extremists today.
hammad. Historically the doctrine of jihad held The separation of church and state, which became
that the Islamic community (umma), the recipi- firmly rooted in the West in modern times, still
ent of Allah’s revelation was commanded to make remains an alien concept in much of the Muslim
Allah’s directives supreme over the whole world. world.
Either by conversion or conquest, infidels were Over the centuries, many Christians and Jews
destined to submit to Islamic jurisdiction. living in Muslim lands, for a variety of reasons,
Muslim warriors believed that they were en- some of them economic and social, converted to
gaged in a holy war to spread Islam to nonbe- the new faith. Those who retained their ancestral
lievers and that those who died in the jihad were faith had to accept a subordinate status—they
Islamic Civilization: Its Development and Dissemination ❖ 207
could not bear arms, were assessed a special tax, preserved and studied ancient Greek works. In
at times were barred from testifying in court the eighth and ninth centuries, under the Abbasid
against a Muslim, and were required to wear a caliphs based in Baghdad, Muslim civilization en-
distinguishing mark on their clothing, a sign of tered its golden age. Islamic civilization creatively
their humiliation. Nevertheless, as “people of the integrated Arabic, Byzantine, Persian, and Indian
book,” Jews and Christians were protected com- cultural traditions. During the Early Middle Ages,
munities, and despite instances of loss of prop- when learning was at a low point in Western Eu-
erty and life, including massacres, the two groups rope, the Muslims forged a high civilization.
generally went about their business and prac- Muslim science, philosophy, and mathematics,
ticed their religions relatively free of persecution. based largely on the achievements of the ancient
Generally Jews were physically safer in Muslim Greeks, made brilliant contributions to the sum
than in Christian lands. of knowledge at a time when Latin Christendom
Muslims perceived themselves as members of had lost much of Greco-Roman thought and cul-
a single community of the faithful, but the emer- ture. The Muslims had acquired Greek learning
gence of sects ruptured the unity of Islam. The from the older Persian and Byzantine civilizations,
principal division—one that still incites bitter which had kept alive the Greek inheritance. By
animosity—was between the Sunnis and the Shi- translating Greek works into Arabic and com-
ites. The Sunnis, who were in the majority, followed menting on them, Muslim scholars performed
traditional teachings and established practices as the great historical task of preserving the philo-
defined by the consensus of the Muslim commu- sophical and scientific heritage of ancient Greece.
nity. The Shiites (Shia means “Party”) maintained Muslim scholars, often affiliated with impressive
that not the existing caliphs but the descendants of universities, also creatively interpreted these Greek
Muhammad, starting with Ali, cousin and son-in- works and in some areas, particularly mathemat-
law of Muhammad and the fourth caliph, were the ics, pushed the frontiers of knowledge beyond
rightful rulers of the Islamic community. what the Greeks had achieved. This intellectual
Ali had been murdered in 661; his older son, heritage was passed on to Christian Europe, a
in 669. The massacre in 680 of Ali’s younger son, transmission of immense historical significance,
Husayn, and some of Husayn’s followers and rela- as the historian W. Montgomery Watt explains:
tives gave rise to passionate devotion to the house
of Ali, which is still expressed in processions, When one becomes aware of the full extent of
poetry, and self-mortification. To Shiites, the an- Arab experimenting, Arab thinking and Arab
niversary of Husayn’s death remains the most im- writing, one sees that without the Arabs Euro-
portant religious holiday in the Muslim calendar. pean science and philosophy would not have
Suffering and martyrdom are central to Shia. developed when they did. The Arabs were no
Shiites viewed Ali and his descendants as mere transmitters of Greek thought, but genu-
imams, holy men, innocent of all sin, the most ine bearers, who both kept alive the disciplines
excellent of beings, selected by God to inherit they had been taught and extended their
Muhammad’s spiritual and political powers. The range. When about 1100, Europeans became
imams linked the new generation with Muham- seriously interested in . . . science and philoso-
mad’s original inspiration. Shiites believed that phy . . . [they] had to learn all they could from
without the imams’ guidance, the true meaning of the Arabs before they themselves could make
Islam could not be grasped. further advances.3
The balanced, rhythmical composition of considered one of his finest works. Little is
classical sculpture and architecture is another known of Praxiteles himself, but much has been
element that has influenced later artists. Earlier written about his art.
works—from the Greek Archaic period (sixth The Hermes statue has many of the attri-
century b.c.) as well as from ancient Egypt and butes that distinguish the best classical sculp-
Mesopotamia—are solid, blocklike, and devoid ture. The stance is relaxed: an S-curve takes
of any sense of movement. Classical sculptors, the weight off one leg and shifts it to the op-
by contrast, were able to bring the stone alive posite hip. This contrapposto, or counterbal-
with innovative poses, luxuriant drapery, and anced, pose draws attention to every part of the
a careful balancing between relaxation and god’s body. The turned and slightly tilted head
tension. is a departure from the fully frontal works of
The works of Praxiteles embody the ideal of earlier periods. The drapery is a careful, three-
classical sculpture and offer visual proof that dimensional rendering of drapery in vase paint-
the Greeks’ search for beauty and truth ex- ing from the same period. It is realistic and so
tended beyond their literature and philosophy. fluid that viewers might forget they are looking
Praxiteles (fl. 375–330 b.c.) is renowned at marble.
for the quality of his marble sculpture, such A roughly contemporary work, the Venus
as Hermes with Young Dionysus (Figure 1), de Milo (Figure 2) by an unidentified artist,
embodies many of the same principles as the
Hermes figure. Venus puts her weight on one
leg, tensing some muscles and relaxing others.
Drapery loosely covers her waist and has the
look of soft cotton.
A contemporary of Praxiteles, Lysippos (fl.
fourth century b.c.), is credited with changing
the “canon of proportions” established by his
predecessor Polyclitus. The canon of propor-
tions rules that earlier sculptors followed in
carving their masterpieces, assured a certain
uniformity in the rendering of the human form.
Heads were always a certain proportion of the
whole, eyes were placed at a certain level within
the face, and so on. But the work of Lysippos is
notably different.
One of Lysippos’ best- known works, the
Apoxyomenos (Scraper) (Figure 3), shows a
youthful athlete cleaning himself with a strigyl
(scraper) after exercising. What distinguishes
this work from the works of other artists
are the proportions. Lysippos’ youth has a
smaller head and a more slender body. Al-
though he stands with his weight on one foot, 4. Hellenistic Sculpture. The Laocoön Group, sec-
his hips are not as sharply angled as the hips ond century b.c. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)
of other classical figures, in which the S-curve
is more clearly pronounced. Even the face
of the athlete foretells a new era in art. Un- wrest himself from the serpent’s grasp. Lao-
like the serene, perfect faces of other classi- coön’s children are depicted as smaller than
cal figures, the Apoxyomenos’ expression their father yet as fully mature men.
seems thoughtful and dreamy, not remote and Many historians have described the art of
dispassionate. Rome as unoriginal and deriving from classi-
Distinguished by its portrayal of emotion cal Greek works. The Romans did make mul-
and drama, The Laocoön Group (Figure 4) is tiple copies of many Greek prototypes, but they
one of the most famous works of Western art. also excelled in areas of the decorative arts in
Dated to the second century b.c., the work de- which we have no evidence of Greek virtuos-
picts the death of Laocoön, a priest of the god ity. The Romans developed distinctive styles in
Apollo, and his twin sons, killed by sea serpents wall painting (fresco), mosaic, and minor metal
because they tried to prevent the entry into Troy arts; their contributions to architecture are also
of the huge wooden horse in which Greek war- noteworthy.
riors were concealed. The sculptors, Agesander, Frescoes are made by painting directly on
Atheodorou, and Polydoros of Rhodes, convey wet or damp plaster. Some fresco painters limit
the violence and intensity of events through the their work to small scenes; others cover entire
exaggeration of facial features, musculature, walls with landscapes, people, and architectural
and pose. elements. Roman fresco painters were adept at
This work from the Hellenistic period dif- reproducing the look of marble and other mate-
fers from its classical predecessors in its emo- rials. The trompe l’oeil (literally “fool the eye”)
tionality and exaggeration of the human form. style of Roman fresco painters demonstrates
Laocoön’s face shows anguish over the loss of their skill at reproducing the world around
his sons, and his muscles bulge as he strains to them.
the head, however, that sets this work apart
from its forebears. The face of Augustus is a
lifelike representation of the emperor, if we
assume that the great number of coins bear-
ing Augustus’s image offer an accurate like-
ness. Unlike Greek sculpture, which idealized
the human form, this Roman work presents
an image that would be recognized by all who
viewed it.
Roman works such as the Augustus statue
also served as illustrations of contemporary
events. Carvings on the breastplate in Augustus
of the Prima Porta portray the Romans’ vic-
tory over the Parthians. Pictorial narratives of
other Roman achievements were sculpted on
freestanding columns and triumphal arches, as
well as on the walls of buildings. In this way,
Roman rulers were able to transmit news and
information throughout their vast empire to
5. Detail of a Pompeian Wall Fresco, Lady Playing people who could not read or who did not
the Cithera, first century b.c. (© The Art Gallery Collection/Alamy.) speak Latin.
The art and architecture of the Byzantine era
and the Middle Ages show a transformation in
As can be seen in Figure 5, Roman paint- subject matter. Christianity, with its theme of
ers were able to convincingly present three- resurrection and salvation, dominated the pe-
dimensional objects on a two- dimensional riod. Both Latin and Greek churches used art
surface. This first- century b.c. fresco, Lady to spread Christian teachings and to buttress
Playing the Cithera (a harplike musical instru- their authority. Because few people could read
ment), from a villa at Boscoreale, near Pompeii, or write, both churches relied on sculpture,
is an excellent example of the fresco painter’s painting, and drawing to convey the essence of
art. Though painted on a flat surface, the chair Christianity.
is set at an angle and projects outward toward Figure 7, the mosaic The Court of Jus-
the viewer. The chair’s three- dimensionality tinian, from the Church of San Vitale in the
is further emphasized by the placement of the Italian city of Ravenna, shows the emperor
young attendant, who stands behind it, holding Justinian and his attendants and dates to
on to its back. c. a.d. 547. The emperor stands in the cen-
Roman sculptors tended to follow closely ter of the scene and is flanked by officials
the classical Greek and Hellenistic traditions. and local clergy. The contrast between this
Some art historians assert that originality in work and the Boscoreale fresco (Figure 5) is
Roman sculpture is evident only in lifelike por- noteworthy. Here, the emphasis is on two-
trait busts of the emperors, often planted firmly dimensionality and the vertical. All of the fig-
on the necks of copies of Greek or Hellenistic ures face front; there is little attempt to show
gods and heroes. To an extent, this is the case depth or three- dimensionality, except for
with the life-size Augustus of the Prima Porta the somewhat unsuccessful overlapping of
(Figure 6), a work probably completed dur- figures. These Byzantine figures, with small
ing the reign of Augustus (27 b.c.–a.d. 14) or heads, tiny feet, and disproportionate arms,
shortly after his death and deification. Many are elongated and slender, unlike the figures
elements of this work are direct borrowings of the Roman painting or the Greek sculp-
from classical and Hellenistic prototypes. It is tures shown earlier.
As political and spiritual ruler of the Byz-
antine Empire, Justinian is flanked by twelve
companions, drawing a parallel between him
and Jesus Christ. His golden halo brings to
mind the one usually shown around Christ’s
head; the attributes of Christianity, includ-
ing a cross, a censer (incense burner), and a
shield bearing a symbolic version of Jesus’
name, remind viewers of Justinian’s dual
roles.
Easily recognized symbols and images such
as the halo became part of a common lan-
guage for transmitting the message of Christ
and the church. This is exemplified by the En-
throned Madonna and Child, from the Byzan-
tine school (Figure 8) in the thirteenth century,
in which the Madonna is shown in what now
seems to be a conventional pose—seated on an
elaborate chair or throne, facing front, hold-
ing the child on her left knee, and supporting
him with her left hand. The Madonna is heav-
ily robed, but the artist was able to depict the
clothes with the fluidity of the painter respon-
sible for the Boscoreale fresco (Figure 5).
The Enthroned Madonna and Child’s origins
are Eastern—the Byzantine school having devel-
oped in Byzantium, the capital of the eastern Ro-
man Empire. Byzantium (renamed Constantinople
in a.d. 330) had a certain sphere of influence in the
West, attested to by the Ravenna mosaic (Figure 7),
and, as a result, a fusion of Eastern and Western
styles is evident in works such as the Enthroned
Madonna. What is typically Byzantine about this
work is the richness of color and the use of gold— 6. Augustus of the Prima Porta. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)
in the background and in the Madonna’s robes.
The faces of the figures owe more to Western art,
however. Soft modeling and careful shading make
them look almost as if they were superimposed by the basis for the Christian sacrament of the
another artist at another time. Eucharist.
The Last Supper of the thirteenth-century The painting is two-dimensional. There is no
Magdalen Master (Figure 9) preserves the aus- depth, no background, and no foreground. The
tere and otherworldly emphasis of the Eastern table does not recede into the picture. The ob-
style exhibited by such works as the Ravenna jects on its surface seem stacked vertically one
Mosaic. It captures a pivotal moment, when on top of another. The tablecloth lacks texture.
Christ announces to his disciples that he will The figures seated at the table are immobile,
be betrayed by one of them, and instructs them rigid, lifeless, expressionless, severe, and mo-
to commemorate him by consuming bread notonously spaced. There is a prevailing imper-
and wine as his body and blood. (Compare sonality in the composition.
with da Vinci’s Last Supper, Figure 5 in the art The painting perfectly exemplifies the charac-
essay “The Renaissance.”) This event becomes teristic style of Eastern and medieval art, which
7. Mosaic. The Court of Justinian, c. a.d. 547. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)
9. Studio of Magdalen Master. The Last Supper, late thirteenth century. (Reunion des
Musées Nationaux, Art Resource, N.Y.)
11. Giotto di Bondone. Kiss of Judas, c. 1305,
Scrovengi Chapel, Padua, Italy. (Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)
Aral
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Under Muhammad, 622–632 YEMEN
632–661
0 400 800 Km.
661–732
0 400 800 Mi.
Map 9.2 THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM, 622–732 From 632 to 661, the Arabs,
with breathtaking speed, overran the Persian Empire, seized some of Byzantium’s
provinces, and invaded southern Europe. Their northward momentum was
halted in 717 by the Byzantines at Constantinople and in 732 by the Franks at
the battle of Tours in central France. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
Turkish conquest of much of Hungary in the 1520s the major breakthroughs in science, technology,
and the siege of Vienna (1529) spread panic in Eu- philosophy, economics, and political thought
rope. The Ottomans developed an effective system that gave rise to the modern world. That pro-
of administration but could not restore the cultural cess was the singular achievement of Europe.
brilliance, the thriving trade, or the prosperity that During the Middle Ages, a common European
the Muslim world had known under the Abbasid civilization—Latin Christendom—evolved. It
caliphs of Baghdad. The vitality that had kept the integrated Christian, Greco- Roman, and Ger-
Muslim world more advanced than Western Eu- manic elements. Christianity was at the center
rope for most of the Middle Ages dissipated. of medieval civilization, Rome was the spiritual
capital and Latin the language of intellectual
life, and Germanic customs pervaded social and
LATIN CHRISTENDOM: legal relationships.
During the Early Middle Ages (500–1050),
THE RISE OF EUROPE Latin Christendom was culturally far behind
the two Eastern civilizations and did not catch
The centuries of cultural greatness of the Islamic up until the twelfth century. In succeeding cen-
and the Byzantine civilizations enriched the turies, however, it produced the movements that
Western world. They did not, however, produce ushered in the modern age: the Renaissance, the
210 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Age old Roman lands in Western Europe showed a
of Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the marked decline in central government, town life,
Industrial Revolution. commerce, and learning. Though vigorous and
brave, the Germanic invaders were essentially a
rural and warrior people, tribal in organization
Political and Economic Transformation and outlook. Their native culture, without cities
or written literature, was primitive compared with
From the sixth to the eighth century, Europeans the literary, philosophical, scientific, and artistic
struggled to overcome the disorder created by achievements of the Greco- Roman world. The
the breakup of the Roman Empire and the dete- Germans were not equipped to reform the decay-
rioration of Greco-Roman civilization. In the pro- ing Roman system of administration and taxation
cess, a new civilization, with its own distinctive or to cope with the economic problems that had
style, took root. It grew out of the intermingling burdened the Empire. Nor could they maintain
of Greco-Roman civilization, the Christian out- roads and irrigation systems, preserve skills in the
look, and Germanic traditions, although centuries arts of stoneworking and glassmaking, or breathe
would pass before it would come to fruition. new life into the dying humanist culture.
In the fifth century and after, Germanic in- Roman ideas of citizenship and the legal state
vaders founded kingdoms in North Africa, Italy, were totally alien to Germanic tradition. The Ger-
Spain, Gaul, and Britain—lands formerly be- mans gave loyalty to their kin and to a tribal chief,
longing to the Roman Empire. Even before the not to an impersonal state that governed citizens
invasions, these Germanic tribes had acquired of many nationalities. The king viewed the land
some knowledge of Roman culture and were at- he controlled as a private possession that could be
tracted to it. Therefore, the new rulers sought not divided among his sons after his death—a custom
to destroy Roman civilization but to share in its that produced numerous and devastating civil wars
advantages. For example, Theodoric the Great and partitions. Unlike the Romans, the Germanic
(474–526), the Ostrogoth ruler of Italy, retained invaders had no trained civil servants to administer
the Roman Senate, civil service, and schools; and the state and no organized system of taxation to
rich aristocratic Roman families continued to provide a secure financial base for government.
hold high government offices. The Burgundians The Germans also found Roman law strange,
in Gaul and the Visigoths in Spain maintained although the Germanic kingdoms did make at-
Roman law for their conquered subjects; and the tempts to retain Roman law codes. Roman law in-
Frankish ruler Clovis (c. 466–511) wore Roman corporated elements of Greek philosophy and was
imperial colors and took Roman titles. All the written, whereas Germanic law at the time of the
Germanic kingdoms tried to maintain Roman sys- invasions consisted of unwritten tribal customs.
tems of taxation; furthermore, Latin remained the Roman law applied to all people throughout the
official language of administration. Empire, regardless of nationality; a German could
However, torn by warfare, internal rebellion, be judged only by the law of his own tribe. Roman
and assassination, the Germanic kingdoms pro- judges investigated evidence and demanded
vided a poor political base on which to revive a proof; Germanic courts, in the absence of clear
decadent and dying classical civilization. Most of evidence, relied on trial by ordeal. In a typical
the kingdoms survived for only a short time and ordeal, a bound defendant was thrown into a
had no enduring impact. An exception to this river. Sinking meant innocence; floating was inter-
trend occurred in Gaul and south- central Ger- preted as divine proof of guilt, because the pure
many, where the most successful of the Germanic water had “rejected” the evildoer. Although primi-
kingdoms was established by the Franks—the tive by Roman standards, Germanic law did help
founders of the new Europe. lessen blood feuds between families. Before long,
The Roman world was probably too far gone the Germanic kingdoms began to put customary
to be rescued, but even if it had not been, the Ger- tribal law, which had absorbed and continued to
mans were culturally unprepared to play the role absorb elements from Roman law, into writing.
of restorer. By the end of the seventh century, the Replacing Roman law and spreading throughout
Latin Christendom: The Rise of Europe ❖ 211
Europe, Germanic law became an essential ele- old Roman upper classes abandoned their heri-
ment of medieval society. tage and absorbed the ways of their Germanic
The distinguishing feature of classical civiliza- conquerors, the Roman schools closed, and Ro-
tion, its vital urban institutions, had deteriorated in man law faded into disuse. Aside from clerics,
the Late Roman Empire. The shift from an urban few people could read and write Latin, and even
to a rural economy accelerated under the kingdoms learned clerics were rare. Europeans’ knowl-
created by Germanic chieftains. Although the Ger- edge of the Greek language was almost totally
manic kings retained Roman cities as capitals, they lost, and the Latin rhetorical style deteriorated.
did not halt the process of decay that had overtaken Many literary works of classical antiquity were
urban centers. These rulers settled their people in the either lost or unread. Raids by Germanic tribes
countryside, not in towns; they did not significantly and later by Muslims, Magyars, and Vikings
utilize cities as instruments of local government; (see below) devastated libraries. Many works
and they failed to maintain Roman roads. Although by great authors were lost forever. For example,
towns did not vanish altogether, they continued to only seven of the one hundred dramas written
lose control over the surrounding countryside and by Sophocles have survived. Gone were attempts
to decline in wealth and importance. They were the to understand the natural world through reason;
episcopal seats (sees) of bishops, rather than centers magic and the occult prevailed among both pa-
of commerce and intellectual life. Italy remained an gans and Christians. The literature of the seventh
exception to this general trend. There, Roman ur- century, concerned principally with the lives of
ban institutions persisted, even during the crudest saints, was devoid of the humanist themes that
period of the Early Middle Ages. Italian cities kept had motivated Greek and Roman poets and dra-
some metal currency in circulation and traded with matists. European culture was much poorer than
one another and with Byzantium. the high civilizations of Byzantium, Islam, and
Shrinking commerce during the Early Middle ancient Rome.
Ages was part of the process of decline begun During this period of cultural poverty, the few
in the Late Roman Empire. Although commerce persons who were learned generally did not en-
never wholly disappeared, it was predominantly gage in original thought but salvaged and trans-
localized. Furthermore, it was controlled by colo- mitted remnants of classical civilization. Given
nies of Jews, Syrians, and Greeks—a sign of the the context of the times, this was a considerable
economic inertia of Latin Christians. From the last achievement. These individuals retained respect
decade of the fifth century to the middle of the for the inheritance of Greece and Rome while re-
seventh century, Byzantine merchants established maining devoted to Christianity. In a rudimentary
themselves in the western lands and exchanged way, they were struggling to create a Christian
papyrus, spices, and textiles for European slaves. culture that combined the intellectual tradition of
Then, in the second half of the seventh century, Greece and Rome with the religious teachings of
this trade dropped off greatly; as Muslim power the Christian church.
expanded to control the Mediterranean, Byzan- An important figure in the intellectual life
tine merchants had to turn eastward for markets. of this transitional period was Boethius (480–
Thus, the bonds between East and West weak- c. 525), a descendant of a noble family. Boethius
ened, and Europe shifted its axis northward, away had received a classical education at the Platonic
from the Mediterranean. Few goods exchanged Academy at Athens before Emperor Justinian
hands, and few coins circulated; people produced closed it in 529. He was the last Latin-speaking
for themselves what they needed. scholar of the Roman world to have mastered the
Greek language and to have intimate knowledge
of Greek philosophy. Later, Boethius served the
The Waning of Classical Culture Ostrogoth Theodoric I, who ruled Italy. Recog-
nizing that Greco-Roman civilization was dying,
Greco-Roman humanism, in retreat since the Late Boethius tried to rescue the intellectual heritage of
Roman Empire, continued its decline in the cen- antiquity. He translated into Latin some of Aristo-
turies immediately following Rome’s demise. The tle’s treatises on logic and wrote commentaries on
212 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
Aristotle, Cicero, and Porphyry (a Neo-Platonist of a monastic library containing Greek and Latin
philosopher). He also wrote treatises on theol- manuscripts and his advocacy of higher educa-
ogy and textbooks on arithmetic, astronomy, and tion to improve the quality of the clergy. In his
music. A sudden turn of fortune deprived him of educational writings, he justified the importance
power, prestige, and possessions and confronted of studying secular literature as an aid to under-
him with imminent death when Theodoric or- standing sacred writings. Even though his works
dered him executed in 524 or 525 for allegedly were not original, they did rescue some ideas of
participating in a plot against the throne. the ancients from oblivion; these ideas would bear
While in prison awaiting execution, Boethius fruit again in later centuries. Cassiodorus’s plans
wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which is re- for founding a university in Rome modeled after
garded as one of the masterpieces of world litera- the one in Alexandria did not materialize; in fact,
ture. In it, Boethius pondered life’s meaning: “Think six hundred years would elapse before universities
you that there is any certainty in the affairs of man- would arise in Latin Christendom. Leaving po-
kind when you know that often one swift hour can litical office, Cassiodorus retired to a monastery,
utterly destroy a man?”4 Alone in his dungeon, he where he helped initiate the monastic practice
turned for guidance and consolation to the philo- of copying ancient texts. Without this tradition,
sophical training of his youth. He derived comfort many key Christian and Greco- Roman works
from Lady Philosophy, who reassured him, in the would undoubtedly have perished.
tradition of Socrates and the Stoics, that “if then In Spain, Isidore of Seville (c. 576–636) compiled
you are master of yourself, you will be in possession an encyclopedia, Etymologiae, covering a diversity
of that which you will never wish to lose, and which of topics, from arithmetic and God to furniture.
Fortune will never be able to take from you.”5 No Isidore derived his information from many secular
tyrant can “ever disturb the peculiar restfulness and religious sources. Quite understandably, his
which is the property of a mind that hangs together work contained many errors, particularly in its ref-
upon the firm basis of its reason.”6 In the life and erences to nature. For centuries, though, the Ety-
thought of Boethius, the classical tradition lived on. mologiae served as a standard reference work and
He was a bridge between a classical civilization too was found in every monastic library of note.
weakened to be revived and a Christian civilization The translations and compilations made by
still in its embryonic stage. Boethius, Cassiodorus, and Isidore, the books col-
Until the twelfth century, virtually all that lected and copied by monks and nuns, and the
Latin Christendom knew of Aristotle came from schools established in monasteries (particularly
Boethius’s translations and commentaries. Simi- those in Ireland, England, and Italy) kept intellectual
larly, his work in mathematics, which contains frag- life from dying out completely in the Early Middle
ments from Euclid, was the principal source for the Ages. Amid the deterioration of political authority,
study of that discipline in the Early Middle Ages. In the stagnation of economic life, and the decline in
his theological writings, he strove to demonstrate learning, a new civilization was emerging. Germanic
that reason did not conflict with orthodoxy—an and Roman peoples intermarried, and Roman, Ger-
early attempt to attain a rational comprehension of manic, and Christian traditions intermingled. But it
belief, or, as he expressed it, to join faith to reason. was the church more than anything else that gave
Boethius’s effort to examine Christian doctrines form and direction to the emerging civilization.
rationally, a principal feature of medieval philoso-
phy, would grow to maturity in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. Writing in the sixth century, THE CHURCH: SHAPER
Boethius was a forerunner of this movement. OF MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION
Cassiodorus (c. 490–575), a contemporary of
Boethius, was born in southern Italy of a good The Church as Unifier
family; he served three Ostrogoth kings. Al-
though Cassiodorus wrote the twelve- volume Christianity was the integrating principle and
History of the Goths and some theological trea- the church was the dominant institution of the
tises, his prime legacies were the establishment Middle Ages. During the Late Roman Empire,
The Church: Shaper of Medieval Civilization ❖ 213
as the Roman state and its institutions decayed, began the conversion of the Irish to Christian-
the church gained power and importance; its or- ity. In Ireland, Latin became firmly entrenched as
ganization grew stronger, and its membership in- the language of both the church and scholars at
creased. Unlike the Roman state, the church was a time when it was in danger of disappearing in
a healthy and vital institution. The elite of the many parts of Europe. Irish monks preserved and
Roman Empire had severed their commitment to cultivated Latin and even kept some knowledge
the values of classical civilization, whereas church of Greek alive. Irish scholars engaged in biblical
leaders were intensely devoted to their faith. analysis, and, besides copying manuscripts, they
During the invasions of the fifth and sixth cen- decorated them, with an exquisite eye for detail.
turies, the church, retaining an effective adminis- In England, the Anglo-Saxons, both women and
trative system, assumed many political functions men, who converted to Christianity mainly in the
formerly performed by the Roman state and con- seventh century, also established monasteries that
tinued to convert the Germanic tribes. By teaching kept learning alive. Double monasteries existed,
a higher morality, the church tamed the warrior in which monks and nuns obeyed a common rule
habits of the Germanic peoples. By preserving and one superior, sometimes an abbess. The Ven-
some of the high culture of Greece and Rome, it erable Bede (673–735) wrote commentaries on
opened Germans’ minds to new ideas. A unifying Scripture and translated the fourth Gospel (Saint
and civilizing agent, the church provided people John’s) into Anglo-Saxon. Bede is best known for
with an intelligible and purposeful conception of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
life and death. In a dying world, the church was one of the finest medieval historical works.
the only institution capable of reconstructing civi- In the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish and
lized life. Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns built monasteries
Thus, the Christian outlook, rather than the in continental Europe and converted people in the
traditions of the Germanic tribes, was the founda- surrounding areas. They became the chief agents
tion of medieval civilization. During the course of in Christianizing people in northern Europe. Thus,
the Middle Ages, people came to see themselves as monks and nuns made possible a unitary Euro-
participants in a great drama of salvation. There pean civilization based on a Christian foundation.
was only one truth: God’s revelation to human- By copying and preserving ancient texts, they also
ity. There was only one avenue to heaven, and it kept alive elements of ancient civilization.
passed through the church. God had established During the Early Middle Ages, when cities
the church to administer the rites through which were in decay, monasteries, whose libraries con-
his love was bestowed on people. The church had tained theological works and ancient Latin clas-
the awesome responsibility of caring for human sics, were the main cultural centers; they would
souls. Without the church, it was believed, people remain so until the rebirth of towns in the High
would remain doomed sinners. To the medieval Middle Ages. Monks instructed peasants in supe-
mind, society without the church was inconceiv- rior methods of farming and were partly respon-
able. Membership in a universal church replaced sible for the reclamation of lands that had been
citizenship in a universal empire. Across Europe, neglected or devastated during the great invasions
from Italy to Ireland, a new society centered on and for the clearing of new lands. Monasteries
Christianity was forming. also offered succor to the sick and the destitute
and served as places of refuge for travelers. To the
medieval mind, the monks’ and nuns’ selfless de-
Monks and the Papacy votion to God, adoption of apostolic poverty, and
dedication to prayer and contemplation repre-
Monks helped construct the foundations of medi- sented the highest expression of the Christian way
eval civilization. During the seventh century, intel- of life; it was the finest and most certain path to
lectual life on the European continent continued salvation. It was not uncommon for both men and
its steady decline. In the monasteries of Ireland women, with old age or even death approaching,
and England, however, a tradition of learning to take the vows so that they might die as monks
persisted. Early in the fifth century, Saint Patrick or nuns. Regarding the monks as soldiers in the
214 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
war against paganism, unorthodoxy, and heresy, organize and administer papal property in Italy,
the popes protected monasteries and encouraged Sicily, Sardinia, Gaul, and other regions. The pa-
their spread. pacy owned huge estates worked by serfs. It also
The Early Middle Ages was a formative pe- owned timberlands and mines, which provided
riod for the papacy, as well as for society in gen- the income for maintaining the clergy, churches,
eral. The status of the papacy was closely tied to monasteries, hospitals, and orphanages in Rome
events in Italy. In the late sixth century, the pa- and other places. Because of Gregory’s efforts,
pacy was compelled to protect Rome and the sur- the papacy became the leading financial institu-
rounding territory from the Lombards, the last tion of the day.
Germanic people to settle in once-Roman lands. Gregory tried to strengthen the pope’s au-
At this critical stage, Gregory I, the Great (590– thority within the church, insisting that all bish-
604), became pope. A descendant of a prominent ops and the Byzantine church in Constantinople
Roman family and a monk, Gregory turned out were subject to papal authority. Establishing
to be one of the ablest medieval popes. He used monasteries, he tightened the bonds between
Roman methods of administration effectively to the monks and the papacy, and it was he who
The Kingdom of the Franks ❖ 215
dispatched Benedictine monks to England to win the papacy required the political and military sup-
over the Anglo- Saxons. The newly established port of a powerful kingdom to protect it from its
Anglo-Saxon church looked to Rome for leader- enemies, especially the Lombards. Accordingly,
ship. Gregory realized that to lead Christendom he set his sights on an alliance with the Franks.
effectively the papacy must exercise authority Finally materializing 150 years later, this alliance
over churches outside Italy—a policy adopted by between the papacy and Frankish kings helped
popes who succeeded him. shape medieval history.
He was also an intellectual who wrote com-
mentaries on the books of the Bible and authored
many works dealing with Christian themes: the THE KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS
duties of bishops, the lives of saints and monks,
miracles, and purgatory. Because of his many From their homeland in the Rhine River valley,
writings, Gregory is regarded as a father of the the Frankish tribes had expanded into Roman
Latin church. An astute diplomat, he knew that territory during the fourth and fifth centuries.
216 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
North
IRELAND Sea
NORTHUMBRIA DANISH MARCH
York
NORTH WALES
MERCIA
EAST
ATLANTIC OCEAN ANGLIA
WEST WALES ESSEX
WESSEX
SAXONY
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SUSSEX
Frankish kingdom, 768 Aachen
Areas conquered by Rouen AUSTRASIA
S
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Charlemagne Mainz
BRITTANY
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BURGUNDY
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Milan ISTRIA
PA
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1 CH A
UMAYYAD KINGDOM PAPAL
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Balearic Is.
BYZANTINE EMPIRE
M edite rr anean Se
a
Sicily
0 200 400 Km.
Map 9.3 THE CAROLINGIAN WORLD Resting more on the personal qualities of
Charlemagne than on any firm economic or political foundation, the Carolingian
empire did not survive the emperor’s death in 814. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
The ruler Clovis united the various Frankish tribes Clovis’s successors could not maintain control
and conquered most of Gaul. In 496, he converted over their lands, and power passed to the mayor
to Roman Christianity. Clovis’s conversion to of the palace, the king’s chief officer. Serving as
Catholicism was an event of great significance. mayor of the palace from 717 to 741, Charles
A number of other Germanic kings had adopted Martel subjected all Frankish lands to his rule. In
the Arian form of Christianity, which the church addition, at the battle of Tours in 732, he defeated
had declared heretical. By embracing Roman the Muslims. Although the Muslims continued to
Christianity, the Franks became a potential ally of occupy the Iberian Peninsula, they would advance
the papacy. no farther north into Europe.
The Kingdom of the Franks ❖ 217
Charles Martel was succeeded by his son, Pe- the Romans. The initiative for the coronation
pin the Short, who in 751 deposed the king. With probably came from the papacy, not from Char-
the approval of the papacy and his nobles, Pe- lemagne. The meaning of this event has aroused
pin was crowned king by Boniface, a prominent conflicting opinions among historians, but certain
bishop. Two years later, Pope Stephen II anointed conclusions seem justified. The title signified that
Pepin again as king of the Franks and appealed to the tradition of a world empire still survived de-
him to protect the papacy from the Lombards. Pe- spite the demise of the western Roman Empire
pin crossed into Italy, defeated the Lombards, and three hundred years earlier. But because it was
turned over captured lands to the papacy. This fa- the pope who crowned Charlemagne, this meant
mous Donation of Pepin made the pope ruler of that the emperor had a spiritual responsibility to
the territory between Rome and Ravenna, which spread and defend the faith. Thus, Roman univer-
became known as the Papal States. salism was fused with Christian universalism.
The Frankish Empire, of course, was only a
dim shadow of the Roman Empire. The Franks
The Era of Charlemagne had no Roman law or Roman legions; there were
no cities that were centers of economic and cul-
The alliance between the Franks and the papacy tural activity; and officials were not trained civil
was continued by Pepin’s successor, Charlemagne servants with a world outlook, but uneducated
(Charles the Great), who ruled from 768 to 814. war chieftains with a tribal viewpoint. Yet Char-
Charlemagne continued the Carolingian policy of lemagne’s empire did embody the concept of a
expanding the Frankish kingdom. He destroyed universal Christian empire, an ideal that would
the Lombard kingdom, added Bavaria to his king- endure throughout the Middle Ages.
dom, and, after long, terrible wars, compelled The crowning of a Germanic ruler as emperor
the Saxons to submit to his rule and convert to of the Romans by the head of the church repre-
Christianity—thousands were beheaded when sented the merging of Germanic, Roman, and
they were slow to choose between baptism or ex- Christian traditions, which is the essential charac-
ecution. He also conquered a region in northern teristic of medieval civilization. This blending of
Spain, the Spanish March, which served as a buf- traditions was also evident on a cultural plane, for
fer between the Christian Franks and the Muslims Charlemagne, a Germanic warrior-king, showed
in Spain. respect for classical learning and Christianity,
Immense difficulties arose in governing the ex- both non-Germanic traditions.
panded territories. Size seemed an insuperable ob-
stacle to effective government, particularly since
Charlemagne’s administrative structure, lack- Carolingian Renaissance
ing trained personnel, was primitive by Islamic,
Byzantine, or Roman standards. The empire was Charlemagne felt that it was his religious duty to
divided into about 250 counties administered raise the educational level of the clergy so that
by counts—nobles personally loyal to the ruler. they understood and could properly teach the
Men from powerful families, the counts served as faith. To do so required overcoming the illiteracy
generals, judges, and administrators, implement- or semiliteracy of clergymen and preparing sacred
ing the king’s decisions. To supervise the counts, Scriptures that were uniform, complete, and free
Charlemagne created missi dominici (royal of errors. Charlemagne also fostered education
messengers)—generally two laymen and a bishop to train administrators who would be capable of
or abbot—who made annual journeys to the dif- overseeing his empire and the royal estates; such
ferent counties. The purpose of the missi dominici men had to be literate. He himself learned Latin
was to prevent counts and their subordinates and spoke it fluently.
from abusing their power and undermining Char- To achieve his purpose, Charlemagne gathered
lemagne’s authority. some of the finest scholars in Europe. Alcuin of
On Christmas Day in Rome in the year 800, York, England (735–804), was given charge of
Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the palace school attended by Charlemagne and
Profile
Saint Boniface Gospel and are not ashamed or afraid to call them-
selves deacons—nay rather, entering upon the
Of the many English monks and nuns who con- priesthood, they continue in the same vices, add
verted inhabitants of the Netherlands and Ger- sin to sin, declare that they also have a right . . .
many, none was more important than Saint to celebrate mass.”* He also denounced “any
Boniface (c. 680–754). In 716, Boniface, then a layman, be he emperor, king, official, or count
monk called Wynfrid who had earned a reputation [who] may capture a monastery from the power
as a Latin scholar, left England for Frisia in order of a bishop, an abbot, or an abbess and begin to
to restore the churches that had been destroyed hold property bought by the blood of Christ—the
when the Frisians revolted against Frankish rule ancient fathers called such a man a robber, sacri-
and Christian proselytizing. Consecrated bishop legious, a murderer of the poor, a devil’s wolf en-
in 722, he extended his missionary activity into tering the sheepfold of Christ, to be condemned
Bavaria and Thuringia. Working closely with the with the ultimate anathema before the judgment
papacy, he founded monasteries, including the of Christ.Ӡ
famous Abbey of Fulda; converted pagans; and Boniface maintained a correspondence with
imposed Christian standards of behavior on both his cousin Lioba, an English-born nun, who be-
clergy and laypeople. For example, he prohibited came abbess of the convent Boniface founded
idol worship and the selling of slaves to heathens at Tauberbischofsheim, near the Main River.
for sacrifices. In a letter to Pope Zacharias, he ex- Shortly before his death, Boniface visited with
pressed his displeasure with deacons who “have Lioba at her convent. He urged her not to
four or five concubines in their beds, still read the “forsake the land of your pilgrimage. . . . Hold
his sons and daughters, high lords, and youths independent philosophical speculation or search
training to serve the emperor. Throughout France, for new knowledge, nor did they achieve that
Alcuin expanded schools and libraries, promoted synthesis of faith and reason that would be con-
the copying of ancient manuscripts, and imposed structed by the great theologians of the twelfth
basic literary standards on the clergy. and thirteenth centuries. The Carolingian Renais-
The focus of the Carolingian Renaissance was sance did, however, reverse the process of cultural
predominantly Christian: an effort to train cler- decay, which had characterized much of the Early
gymen and improve their understanding of the Middle Ages. Learning would never again fall to
Bible and the writings of the church fathers. This the low level it had reached during the centuries
process raised the level of literacy and improved following the decline of Rome.
the Latin style. Most important, monastic copy- During the era of Charlemagne, a distinct Eu-
ists continued to preserve ancient texts, which ropean civilization took root. It blended the Ro-
otherwise might never have survived; the oldest man heritage of a world empire, the intellectual
surviving manuscripts of many ancient Greek and achievement of the Greco-Roman mind, Chris-
Roman works are Carolingian copies. tian otherworldliness, and the customs of the
Compared with the Greco-Roman past, with Germanic peoples. This nascent civilization of
the cultural explosion of the twelfth and thir- Latin Christendom differed from Byzantine and
teenth centuries, or with the great Italian Renais- Islamic civilizations, and Latin Christians were
sance of the fifteenth century, the Carolingian growing conscious of the difference. But the new
Renaissance seems slight indeed. Although it did medieval civilization was still centuries away
rediscover and revive ancient Roman works and from its high point, which would be reached in
adopt Roman architecture and artistic forms, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
it did not recapture the worldly spirit of Greece Charlemagne’s empire also engendered the
and Rome. Carolingian scholars did not engage in ideal of a unified Latin Christendom: a single
218
Louis died in 840, the empire was divided among
the three surviving sons.
The Treaty of Verdun in 843 gave Louis the
German the eastern part of the empire, which
marked the beginning of Germany; to Charles the
bravely to your course, carry on the good work
Bald went the western part, which was the start
day by day, and heed not the body’s weakness.
of France; and Lothair received the Middle King-
Time is not long, suffering is not hard, if your
dom, which extended from Rome to the North
eyes are set upon eternity.”‡
Sea. The Middle Kingdom would become a source
When Boniface died, Archbishop Cuthbert
of conflict between France and Germany into the
of Canterbury praised him for bringing “savage
twentieth century. As central authority waned,
peoples from their long and devious wander-
large landowners increasingly exercised authority
ings in the wide abyss of eternal perdition into
in their own regions. Simultaneous invasions from
the glorious pathways of the heavenly father-
all directions furthered this movement toward lo-
land by the inspiration of his holy words and by
calism and decentralization.
the example of his pious and gentle life.Ӥ When
In the ninth and tenth centuries, Latin Chris-
Lioba died in 780, she was buried at Fulda to be
tendom was attacked on all sides. From bases
joined with Boniface.
in North Africa, Spain, and Sicily, Muslims rav-
aged regions of southern Europe, even as far as
*The Letters of Saint Boniface, trans. Ephraim Emerton the suburbs of Rome. They deported shiploads
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1940), 80. of Christians to North Africa to be sold in slave
†Ibid., 140. markets. The Magyars, originally from western
‡Quoted in Eleanor Duckett, The Wandering Saints of Asia and linguistically related to Finns and Turks,
the Early Middle Ages (New York: Norton, 1959), 227. crossed the Carpathian Mountains in the ninth
§The
century and established themselves on the plains
Letters of Saint Boniface, 184.
of the Danube; their horsemen launched light-
ning raids into northern Italy, western Germany,
and parts of France. Defeated in Germany in 933
and again in 955, the Magyars withdrew to what
Christian community under one government. This is now Hungary; they ceased their raids and ad-
new collectivity would supersede the separate opted Christianity.
Germanic tribal units. Over the centuries, the pur- Still another group of invaders, the Northmen,
suit of this ideal of a Christian world-state, Chris- or Vikings, sailed from Scandinavia in their long,
tendom, would inspire many people, both clergy open, wooden ships to raid the coasts and river
and laity. valleys of Western Europe. Superb seamen, the
Vikings crossed the North Atlantic and settled in
Iceland and Greenland; from there, they almost
The Breakup of Charlemagne’s Empire certainly traveled to and landed on the coast of
North America. In addition to their conquests and
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, his son, Louis explorations, the Vikings also produced rich po-
the Pious, inherited the throne. Louis aimed to etry, excelled at crafts, and contributed greatly to
preserve the empire, but the task was virtually the revival of trade in the High Middle Ages.
impossible. The empire’s strength rested more on In pursuit of slaves, jewels, and precious met-
the personal qualities of Charlemagne than on als hoarded in monasteries, the Viking invaders
any firm economic or political foundation. In par- plundered, destroyed, raped, and murdered. Vil-
ticular, it never developed an empirewide system lages were devastated, monasteries were looted
of taxation, such as the one that had supported and their libraries set ablaze, ports were ruined,
the Roman Empire for centuries. Moreover, the and the population was decimated. Trade was at
empire was simply too large and consisted of too a standstill, coins no longer circulated, and farms
many diverse peoples to be governed effectively. were turned into wastelands. The European econ-
Besides Frankish nobles, who sought to increase omy, already gravely weak, collapsed; the political
their own power at the emperor’s expense, Louis authority of kings disappeared; and cultural life
had to deal with his own rebellious sons. After and learning withered.
219
220 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
These terrible attacks heightened political in- Feudalism was built on an economic founda-
security and accelerated anew the process of de- tion known as manorialism. Although pockets
centralization that had begun with the decline of of free peasantry remained, a village community,
Rome. During these chaotic times, counts came to or manor, consisting of serfs bound to the land
regard as their own the land that they adminis- became the essential agricultural arrangement
tered and defended for their king. At a time when for much of the Middle Ages. The manorial vil-
monarchs could no longer guarantee the safety of lage was the means of organizing an agricultural
their subjects, the inhabitants of a district looked society with limited markets and money. Neither
on the count or local lord, frequently a former lords nor priests performed economically produc-
Carolingian official, as their ruler, for his men and tive work. Their ways of life were made possible
fortresses protected them. In their regions, nobles by the toil of serfs.
exercised public power formerly held by kings, an Manorialism and feudalism presupposed a
arrangement later designated as feudalism. stable social order: clergy who prayed, lords who
Wherever great lords failed to protect their ter- warred, and serfs who toiled. People believed that
ritories from neighboring counts or from invaders, society functioned smoothly when individuals ac-
political power was further fragmented. In other ar- cepted their status and performed their proper
eas, local nobles chipped away at a count’s author- role. In the words of an eleventh-century cleric,
ity in his county. In his region, the local lord, aided
by warrior-knights, exercised virtually supreme au- Mankind, since the beginning of time has been
thority; people turned to him for protection and for divided in three, those who pray, those who
the administration of justice. Europe had entered an cultivate, those who fight, and each of the
age of feudalism, in which the essential unit of gov- three is comforted on either side by the two
ernment was not a kingdom but a local region, and others. He who, forsaking the world, gives
political power lay in the hands of local lords. himself to a life of prayer owes it to the war-
riors that he is able to carry out his holy task
in safety, while he owes his bodily nourish-
MEDIEVAL SOCIETY ment to the farmers. Similarly, the farmers
ascend to God through the prayers of the
Arising during a period of collapsing central au- ecclesiastics and are defended by the weapons
thority, invasion, scanty public revenues, and of the warriors. So also, the warriors are fed
declining commerce and town life, feudalism at- by the produce of the fields and benefit from
tempted to provide some order and security. Feu- the income therefrom, while the holy prayers
dalism was not a planned system devised logically of the pious whom they protect will expiate
from general principles but rather an improvised the crimes which they commit in battle.7
response to the challenge posed by ineffectual cen-
tral authority. Feudal practices differed from local- A person’s rights, duties, and relationship to
ity to locality and in some regions barely took root. law depended on his or her ranking in the social
Although it was only a stopgap means of govern- order. To change position was to upset the or-
ment, feudalism did bring some order, justice, and ganic unity of society. And no one, serfs included,
law during an era of breakdown, localism, and should be deprived of the traditional rights asso-
transition. It would remain the predominant po- ciated with his or her rank. This arrangement was
litical arrangement until kings reasserted their au- justified by the clergy.
thority in the High and Late Middle Ages.
Feudalism made an enduring impact on Western God himself has willed that among men, some
civilization. It contributed to Western notions about must be lords and some serfs, in such a fashion
honor, the deportment of gentlemen, and roman- that the lords venerate and love God, and that
tic love (see Chapter 11). Most important, feudal the serfs love and venerate their lord following
traditions laid the groundwork for the principle of the word of the Apostle; serfs obey your tem-
limiting a king’s power and for the practice of par- poral lords with fear and trembling; lords treat
liamentary government (see Chapters 10 and 12). your serfs according to justice and equity.8
Primary Source
Bishop Adalbero of Laon: the peasants are occupied, of their journeys on
foot, of their hard labours? The serfs provide
The Tripartite Society money, clothes, and food, for the rest; no free
man could exist without serfs. Is there a task to
be done? Does anyone want to put himself out?
Medieval thinkers came to see their society divided
We see kings and prelates make themselves the
into three different but complementary groups:
serfs of their serfs; [but in truth] the master,
clergy, lords, and serfs. Each group had its own re-
who claims to feed his serf, is fed by him. And
sponsibilities—priests guided the souls of the faith-
the serf never sees an end to his tears and his
ful; lords protected society from its enemies; and the
sighs. God’s house, which we think of as one, is
serfs’ toil provided sustenance for everyone. Written
thus divided into three; some pray, others fight,
in about 1020, the following statement by Bishop
and yet others work. The three groups, which
Adalbero of Laon, France, illustrates the tripartite
coexist, cannot bear to be separated; the ser-
nature of medieval society.
vices rendered by one are a precondition for the
labours of the two others; each in his turn takes
The community of the faithful is a single body,
it upon himself to relieve the whole. Thus the
but the condition of society is threefold in or-
threefold assembly is none the less united, and
der. For human law distinguishes two classes.
it is thus that law has been able to triumph, and
Nobles and serfs, indeed, are not governed by
that the world has been able to enjoy peace.
the same ordinance. . . . The former are the
warriors and the protectors of the churches.
They are the defenders of the people, of both
great and small, in short, of everyone, and at Question for Analysis
the same time they ensure their own safety. 1. According to Bishop Adalbero, what was the
The other class is that of the serfs. This luck- virtue of the triparite society?
less breed possesses nothing except at the cost
of its own labour. Who could, reckoning with an Jacques Le Goff, Medieval Civilization, trans. Julia Barrow
abacus, add up the sum of the cares with which (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), 255.
221
222 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
C HESS P IECES. These grim and foreboding chessmen depict the medieval
nobility’s concern with combat. (© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, N.Y.)
for treachery. If found guilty, he could lose his fief Feudalism would decline when kings converted
and perhaps his life. Sometimes disputes between their theoretical powers into actual powers. The
vassals and lords erupted into warfare. Because a decline of feudalism was a gradual process; con-
vassal often held land from more than one lord and flict between the crown and the aristocracy would
sometimes was himself a lord to vassals, situations persist, with varying degrees of intensity, for sev-
frequently became awkward, complex, and confus- eral centuries, but the future belonged to the cen-
ing. On occasion, a vassal had to decide to which tralized state being shaped by kings, not to feudal
lord he owed liege homage (prime loyalty). fragmentation.
As feudalism evolved, the king came to be re-
garded as the chief lord, who had granted fiefs to
the great lords, who in turn had divided them into Feudal Law
smaller units and regranted them to vassals. Thus,
all members of the ruling class, from the lowliest Feudal law, which incorporated many features of
knights to the king, occupied a place in the feu- traditional Germanic law, differed markedly from
dal hierarchy. In theory, the king was the highest Roman law. Roman law was universal, having
political authority and the source of land tenure, been enacted by a central government for a world
but in actual fact he was often less powerful than empire. It was also rational, for it sought to be in
other nobles of the realm. accord with natural law that applied to all; and it
Medieval Society ❖ 223
was systematic, for it offered a framework of stan- In time, the church interjected a religious ele-
dards that applied to individual cases. Feudal law, ment into the warrior culture of the feudal knight.
in contrast, was local, covering only a small region. It sought to use the fighting spirit of the feudal
Moreover, it was personal. In the Roman view, the class for Christian ends: knights could assist the
individual as a citizen owed obligations to the clergy in enforcing God’s will. Thus, to the Ger-
state, whereas under feudalism, a vassal owed loy- manic tradition of loyalty and courage was added
alty and service to a lord according to the terms of a Christian component. As a Christian gentleman,
a personal agreement made between them. a knight was expected to honor the laws of the
In the feudal view, lords and kings did not church and to wield his sword in the service of
make law; rather, they were guided by tradition God. He was supposed to protect women, chil-
and precedent. They discovered and confirmed dren, and the weak and to defend the church
law by examining ancient customs. Therefore, against heretics and infidels. The very ceremony of
feudal patterns of landownership, military service, knighthood was placed within a Christian frame-
and wardship came to be regarded as an expres- work. A priest blessed the future knight’s arms
sion of ancient, unchanging, and inviolable cus- and prayed that the knight would always “defend
tom. Consequently, if the vassal believed that his the Just and Right.”
lord had violated the feudal agreement, that is, Regarding the private warfare of lords as law-
had broken faith with him and had transgressed less violence that menaced social life, the church,
tradition, the vassal would demand restoration of in the eleventh century, imposed strictures called
customary rights before an audience of his fellow the Peace of God and the Truce of God. These re-
vassals. Often lords battled one another, believing strictions limited feudal warfare to certain days
that they were defending their rights. Similarly, of the week and certain times of the year. Thus,
lords claimed the right to resist kings who did not the church tried to regulate warfare according to
honor their feudal agreements. moral principles. Although only partially effec-
tive, these religious restraints did offer Christian
society some respite from plundering and inces-
Feudal Warriors sant warfare.
Early Middle Ages, especially during the invasions a wife for his serf and force him to marry her.
of Northmen, Magyars, and Muslims in the ninth Sometimes a serf, objecting to the lord’s choice,
and tenth centuries. Peasants continued to sacri- preferred to pay a fine: “Thomas of Oldbury came
fice their freedom in exchange for protection, or, on summons and was commanded to take Agatha
in some cases, they were too weak to resist the of Halesowen to wife; he said he would rather be
encroachments of local magnates. Like feudalism, fined.”10 These rules also applied to serfs’ chil-
manorialism was not an orderly system but con- dren, who inherited their parents’ obligations.
sisted of improvised relationships and practices In addition to working their allotted land, the
that varied from region to region. serfs had to tend the fields reserved for the lord.
A lord controlled at least one manorial vil- Other services exacted by the lord included dig-
lage; great lords might control hundreds. A small ging ditches, gathering firewood, building fences,
manor included a dozen families; a large one, as repairing roads and bridges, and sewing clothes.
many as fifty or sixty. The manorial village was Probably somewhat more than half of a serf’s
never completely self-sufficient because salt, mill- workweek was devoted to these labor obligations.
stones, and metalware were generally obtained Serfs also paid a variety of dues to the lord, most
from outside sources; it did, however, constitute notably for using the lord’s mill, bake-oven, and
a balanced economic setting. Peasants grew grain winepress.
and raised cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs; black- Serfs did derive some benefits from manorial
smiths, carpenters, and stonemasons built and relationships. They received protection from rov-
repaired dwellings and implements; the village ing brigands and warring nobles, and they pos-
priest cared for the souls of the inhabitants; and sessed customary rights, which the lord generally
the lord defended the manor and administered the respected, to cottages and farmland. But in a world
customary law. periodically threatened with famine and epidem-
The serf and his family lived in a dismal, one- ics, serfs faced an unrelenting struggle to survive,
room cottage that they shared with chickens and a struggle made all the more difficult by the con-
pigs. In the center burned a small fire, the smoke tempt lords had for them. Medieval literature of-
escaping through a hole in the roof. In cold ten depicted peasants as repulsive creatures—ugly,
weather when the fire was strong, the room filled dirty, cowardly, and uncouth.
with smoke. When it rained, water came through If a lord demanded more services or dues than
the thatched roof and turned the earthen floor were customary, or if he interfered with their right
into mud. The odor from animal excrement was to cottages or strips of farmland, the peasants
ever present. might demonstrate their discontent by refusing to
Poor roads, few bridges, and dense forests work for the lord. Up to the fourteenth century,
made travel difficult; thieves and warring knights however, open rebellion was rare because lords
made it unsafe. Peasants generally lived, worked, possessed considerable military and legal power.
and died on the lord’s estate and were buried in The manorial system promoted attitudes of depen-
the village churchyard. Few had any contact with dency and servility among the serfs; their hopes
the world beyond the village of their birth. When a for a better life were directed toward heaven.
manor was attacked by another lord, the peasants Medieval agriculture suffered from several defi-
found protection inside the walls of their lord’s ciencies. Among them was the short supply of fer-
house. In many places, by the twelfth century, this tilizer; farmers depended solely on animal manure.
building had become a well-fortified stone castle. Inadequate wooden plows and primitive methods
In return for protection and the right to culti- of harnessing draft animals resulted in low yields.
vate fields and to pass these holdings on to their Yet as the Middle Ages progressed, important im-
children, serfs owed obligations to their lord, and provements in agriculture (discussed in Chapter 10)
their personal freedom was restricted in a variety took place and had wide ramifications for medi-
of ways. Bound to the land, they could not leave eval economic and social life. In the High Middle
the manor without the lord’s consent. Before Ages, the revival of an urban economy and the re-
serfs could marry, they had to obtain the lord’s emergence of central authority would undermine
permission and pay a fee. The lord could select manorial (and feudal) relationships.
226 ❖ 9 The Heirs of Rome: Byzantium, Islam, and Latin Christendom
❖ ❖ ❖
■
■
Economic Expansion
The Rise of States
The Growth of Papal Power
B y the end of the eleventh century, Europe
showed many signs of recovery and vital-
ity. The invasions of Magyars and Vikings
had ended, and powerful lords and kings imposed
greater order on their territories. Improvements
■ Christians and Jews in technology and the clearing of new lands in-
creased agricultural production. More food, the
fortunate absence of plagues, and the limited
nature of feudal warfare contributed to a popu-
lation increase. The revival of long-distance trade
Focus Questions and the emergence of towns were other visible
signs of economic expansion. Offensives against
1. What were the signs of vitality and the Muslims—in Spain, in Sicily, and (at the end
recovery in European economic, political, of the century) in the Holy Land—demonstrated
and religious life during the High Middle Europe’s growing might and self-confidence. So
Ages? too did the German conquest and colonization
2. What factors contributed to the rise of of lands on the northeastern frontier of Latin
towns? What was the significance of the Christendom.
medieval town? Reform movements strengthened the bonds
between the church and the people and increased
3. Why was there a conflict between church the power of the papacy. During the High Middle
and state during the Middle Ages? Ages (1050–1300), the pope, as Christ’s deputy,
4. What prompted lords and commoners to sought to direct, if not rule, all Christendom.
heed the papacy’s call for a crusade? European economic and religious vitality was
paralleled by a cultural flowering in philosophy,
5. What conditions led to the rise of states? literature, and the visual arts. The civilization of
What were the essential differences Latin Christendom had entered its golden age.
characterizing the development of
medieval England, France, and Germany?
6. What factors led to the rise of anti- ECONOMIC EXPANSION
Semitism during the Middle Ages? How
A period of economic expansion, the High Middle
does anti-Semitism demonstrate the
Ages witnessed an agricultural revolution, a com-
power of mythical thinking? mercial revolution, the rebirth of towns, and the
rise of an enterprising and dynamic middle class.
Agricultural Revolution
During the Middle Ages, important advances
were made in agriculture. Many of these innova-
tions occurred in the Early Middle Ages but were
adopted only gradually and were not used every-
where. In time, however, they markedly increased
production. By the end of the thirteenth century,
medieval agriculture had reached a technical level
far superior to that of the ancient world.
One innovation was a heavy plow that cut
deeply into the soil. This new plow enabled farm-
ers to work more quickly and effectively. As a
228
Chronology 10.1 ❖ The High Middle Ages
910 Founding of the Abbey of Cluny
962 Otto I crowned emperor of the Romans, beginning the Holy Roman Empire
987 Hugh Capet becomes king of France
1054 Split between the Byzantine and the Roman churches
1061–1091 Norman conquest of Sicily
1066 Norman conquest of England
1075 Start of the Investiture Controversy
1096 First Crusade begins
c. 1100 Revival of the study of Roman law at Bologna
1163 Start of the construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame
1198–1216 Pontificate of Innocent III: height of the church’s power
1267–1273 Saint Thomas Aquinas writes Summa Theologica
c. 1321 Dante completes Divine Comedy
result, they could cultivate more land, including oats and vegetables, and the last third remained
the heavy, moist soils of northern Europe, which fallow. The advantages of the three-field system
had offered too much resistance to the light plow. were that two-thirds of the land were farmed and
Another important advance in agricultural tech- only one-third was left unused and that the diver-
nology was the invention of the collar harness. sification of crops made more vegetable protein
The old yoke harness worked well with oxen available.
but tended to choke horses, which, because they Greater agricultural production reduced the
move faster and have greater stamina than oxen, number of deaths caused by starvation and
are more valuable for agricultural work. The in- dietary disease and thus contributed to a popu-
troduction of the horseshoe to protect the soft lation increase. Grain surpluses also meant that
hooves of horses added to their ability to work draft animals and livestock could survive the
on difficult terrain. The widening use of the water winter. The growing numbers of animals pro-
mill by the tenth century and the introduction of vided a steady source of fresh meat and milk and
windmills in the twelfth century replaced ancient, increased the quantity of manure for fertilizer.
less effective hand-worked mills for grinding Soon the farmland of a manorial village could
grain. not support the growing village population. Conse-
The gradual emergence of the three-field sys- quently, peasants had to look beyond their immedi-
tem of managing agricultural land, particularly in ate surroundings and colonize trackless wasteland.
northern Europe, increased production. In the old, Lords vigorously promoted this conversion of
widely used two-field system, half the land was uncultivated soil into agricultural land because it
planted in autumn with winter wheat, while the increased their incomes. Monastic communities
other half was left fallow to restore its fertility. In also actively engaged in this enterprise. Almost
the new three-field system, one-third of the land everywhere peasants were draining swamps, clear-
was planted in autumn with winter wheat, a sec- ing forests, and establishing new villages. Their en-
ond third was planted the following spring with deavors during the eleventh and twelfth centuries
229
230 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
brought vast areas of Europe under cultivation for the increase in population freed people to work
the first time. New agricultural land was also ac- at nonfarming occupations, making possible the
quired through expansion, the most notable exam- expansion of trade and the revival of town life.
ple being the organized settlement of lands toward
the east by German colonists.
The colonization and cultivation of virgin The Revival of Trade
lands contributed to the decline of serfdom.
Lords owned vast tracts of forests and swamps Expanding agricultural production, the end of
that would substantially increase their incomes if Viking attacks, greater political stability, the growth
cleared, drained, and farmed. But serfs were often of a considerable money supply, and an increas-
unwilling to move from their customary homes ing population produced a revival of commerce.
and fields to do the hard labor needed to cultivate During the Early Middle Ages, Italians and Jews
these new lands. To lure serfs away from their vil- kept alive a small amount of long-distance trade
lages, lords promised them freedom from most or between Catholic Europe and the Byzantine and
all personal services. In many cases, the settlers Islamic worlds. In the eleventh century, sea forces
fulfilled their obligations to the lord by paying of Italian trading cities cleared the Mediterranean
rent rather than by performing services or provid- of Muslim fleets, which had blocked trade. As in
ing foodstuffs, thus making the transition from Roman times, goods could circulate once again
serfs to freemen. In time, they came to regard the from one end of the sea to the other. The expanding
land as their own. As a result of these changing population of northern Europe provided a market
economic conditions, the percentage of French for Eastern silks, sugar, spices, and dyes, and Italian
peasants who were serfs fell from 90 percent in merchants were quick to exploit this demand.
1050 to about 10 percent in 1350. By the start of the eleventh century, the Euro-
The improvement in agricultural technology pean economy showed unmistakable signs of re-
and the colonization of new lands altered the covery from the disorders of the previous century.
conditions of life in Europe. Surplus food and During the next two centuries, local, regional, and
Economic Expansion ❖ 231
long-distance trade gained such momentum that north to the markets of Spain, the Netherlands,
some historians describe the period as a commercial and England. On return voyages, they brought
revolution that surpassed the commercial activity of back wool and unfinished cloth, which in turn
the Roman Empire during the Pax Romana. A class stimulated the Italian textile industry. Because
of traders emerged, many of them former serfs who individual merchants often lacked sufficient capi-
had started trading by taking to the road as humble tal for these large-scale enterprises, groups of
peddlers. Gradually they acquired business contacts merchants formed partnerships. By enabling mer-
in other lands, know-how, and ambition. chants to pool their capital, reduce their risks, and
Crucial to the growth of trade were interna- expand their knowledge of profit-making oppor-
tional fairs, where merchants and craftspeople set tunities, these arrangements furthered commerce.
up stalls and booths to display their wares: swords, Increased economic activity led to other advances
leather saddles, tools, rugs, shoes, silks, spices, furs, in business techniques. The development of bank-
fine furniture, and other goods. Each fair lasted ing and credit instruments made it unnecessary for
about three to six weeks; then the merchants would merchants to carry large amounts of cash. The inter-
move on to another site. The Champagne region in national fairs not only were centers of international
northeastern France was the great center for fairs trade but also served as capital markets for interna-
because the count of Champagne provided protec- tional credit transactions. The arrangements made
tion for merchants from thieves both en route to by fair-going merchants to settle their debts were
and at the fair, judges to guarantee the enforcement the origin of the bill of exchange, which allowed
of contracts, and the necessary equipment, includ- one currency to be converted into another. The
ing covered stalls and accurate scales. invention of double-entry bookkeeping gave mer-
The principal arteries of trade flowed between chants an overview of their financial situation: the
the eastern Mediterranean and the Italian cities; value of their goods and their ready cash. Without
between Scandinavia and the Atlantic coast; be- such knowledge, no large-scale commercial activity
tween northern France, Flanders, and England; could be conducted on a continuous basis. Another
and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black improvement in business techniques was the forma-
Sea and Constantinople via Russian rivers. The tion of commercial law, which defined the rules of
fine woolen cloth manufactured in Flanders pro- conduct for debts and contracts. Finally, a system of
vided the main stimulus for commerce along the insurance emerged to provide protection for mer-
Atlantic coast, and Flemish merchants prospered. chants whose goods were in transit. For a fee, a syn-
In exchange for Flemish cloth, Scandinavians dicate of brokers—the risk was too great for a single
traded hunting hawks and fur; the English traded broker—would compensate the merchant whose
raw wools; and the Germans traded iron and tim- cargo was lost at sea due to storms or piracy.
ber. A wine trade also flourished between French
vineyards and English wine merchants. Progress
in navigation, including the use of the compass The Rebirth of Towns
borrowed from the Arabs, and improvements in
sails greatly aided long-distance commerce. In the eleventh century, towns emerged anew
Because of their strategic position, Italian throughout Europe, and in the next century, they
towns acted as intermediaries between the trade became active centers of commercial and intellec-
centers of the eastern Mediterranean and those of tual life. Towns were a revolutionary force—socially,
Latin Christendom. In Egyptian and North Afri- economically, and culturally. Because they provided
can ports, Italian merchants established enclaves new opportunities, other than food production, for
where they set up permanent residence and con- commoners, towns contributed to the decline of ma-
ducted business. Luxury goods from as far away norialism. A new class of merchants and craftspeople
as India and China were transported to Italy by came into being. This new class—the middle class—
Italian ships and then taken overland to parts comprised those who, unlike the lords and serfs,
of Germany and France. In addition, the Italians were not affiliated with the land. The townsperson
extended their trade and increased their profits by was a new type of person, with a value system dif-
sailing westward into the Atlantic Ocean and then ferent from that of the lord, the serf, or the cleric.
232 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
LOCAL MARKET IN FLORENCE. The birth of towns in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries was a revolutionary development. Towns gave rise to a middle class that
moved away from the outlook of traditional medieval society—clergy, lords, and
peasants. This picture depicts the commercial vitality of a market in Florence.
(Reunion des Musees Nationaux/Art Resource, N.Y.)
What spurred town growth was the increased who might have business transactions with
food supply resulting from advances in agricul- the count, who often came there. Houses and
tural technology. Surplus farm production meant inns were erected for their accommodation,
that the countryside could support an urban pop- since there was not room for them within the
ulation of artisans and professionals. Expanding chateau. These habitations increased so rap-
trade also fostered urbanization. Towns emerged idly that soon a large ville came into being.1
in places that were natural for trade: seacoasts,
riverbanks, crossroads, and market sites. They Medieval towns were protected from outside
also sprang up outside fortified castles and mon- attack by thick, high walls, towers, and draw-
asteries and on surviving Roman sites. The colo- bridges. Most towns had a small population. The
nies of merchants who gathered at these locations larger ones—Florence, Ghent, and Paris—had
were joined by peasants skilled in crafts or will- between fifty thousand and a hundred thousand
ing to work as laborers. From a medieval record inhabitants by the start of the fourteenth century;
comes this description of a town taking shape: Venice and Milan had somewhat more than a hun-
dred thousand. Covering only small areas, these
After this castle was built, certain traders walled towns were crowded with people. Booths
began to flock to the place in front of the gate and wares of merchants and artisans lined the
to the bridge of the castle, that is merchants, narrow and crooked streets, which were strewn
tavernkeepers, then other outsiders drifted with refuse—animal blood and bones dumped by
in for the sake of food and shelter of those butchers, rotten fish discarded by fishmongers,
Economic Expansion ❖ 233
and human waste thrown from windows. Such towns ruled by bishops, these communities at
unsanitary conditions were a breeding ground for first came under feudal authority. In some in-
contagious disease. stances, lords encouraged the founding of towns,
During the day, the streets were jammed with for urban industry and commerce brought wealth
merchants hawking their goods, women carrying to the region. However, tensions soon developed
baskets, men carting produce and merchandise, between merchants, who sought freedom from
beggars pleading, children playing, and thieves feudal restrictions that interfered with their pur-
lurking. A festive occasion, such as a procession suit of financial gain, and lords and bishops, who
honoring a patron saint, sometimes brought traffic wanted to preserve their authority over the towns.
to a standstill. A hanging—in Paris decomposing Townspeople, or burghers (a burg is a fortified
corpses on gallows were a permanent fixture—a town), refused to be treated as serfs bound to a
beheading, or the burning of a heretic was looked lord and liable for personal services and custom-
upon as another festive occasion and always at- ary dues. The burghers wanted to travel, trade,
tracted a huge crowd. At night, the streets were marry, and dispose of their property as they
deserted; few people ventured forth because the pleased; they wanted to make their own laws and
few elderly watchmen were no match for the nu- levy their own taxes. Sometimes by fighting, but
merous thieves. Even greater danger came from more often by payments of money, townspeople
fires, which raged through overcrowded streets obtained charters from the lords giving them the
lined with wooden houses. Quarrels between indi- right to set up their own councils. These assem-
viduals or groups were often settled violently. blies passed laws, collected taxes, and formed
Merchants and craftspeople organized guilds to courts, which enforced the laws. Towns became
protect themselves from outside competition. The more or less self- governing municipalities, the
merchant guild in a town prevented outsiders from first since Greco-Roman days.
doing much business. Craftsmen new to a town The leading citizens of the towns, the patri-
had to be admitted to the guild of their trade be- cians, were members of the merchant guilds who
fore opening a shop. Competition between mem- engaged in commerce, industry, and banking.
bers of the same guild was discouraged. To prevent Some patricians in the prosperous Italian towns
any one member from making significantly more enjoyed great wealth, owned considerable real es-
money than another, a guild required its members tate, and conducted business transactions involv-
to work the same number of hours, pay employees ing large sums. These people generally dominated
the same wages, produce goods of equal quality, town politics; often they obtained country estates
and charge customers a just price. These rules were and intermarried with the feudal aristocracy. Suc-
strictly enforced. Guilds also performed social and cessful doctors and lawyers also belonged to the
religious functions. Guild members attended meet- urban elite. Below them on the social scale were
ings in the guildhall, celebrated holidays together, master craftsmen in the more lucrative crafts
and marched in processions. The guilds cared for (goldsmiths, for example) and large retailers. Then
members who were ill or needy and extended help came small retailers, masters in the less profitable
to widows and children of deceased members. crafts, and journeymen training to be masters. At
Women took an active part in the economic life the bottom were the laboring poor—the bulk of
of towns, working with men, usually their hus- the population—who had no special skills and
bands, in the various crafts—as cobblers, tailors, were subject to unemployment.
hatters, bakers, goldsmiths, and so forth. Women In virtually every medieval city, the church was
brewed beer; made and sold charcoal; sold veg- the largest property owner. Because the church
etables, fish, and poultry; and ran inns. In many frowned on the pursuit of wealth, many busi-
towns, the wives and widows of master craftsmen nessmen had guilt pangs, particularly in old age,
were admitted to guilds. These guildswomen had about the way they had earned their livelihood.
many of the privileges of a master, including the Compounding their guilt and fear of hellfire was
right to train apprentices. an awareness of having violated the church’s strict
Because many towns were situated on land prohibitions against practicing usury. To allay
belonging to lords or on the sites of old Roman these concerns about the destiny of their souls,
234 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
businesspeople often bequeathed money and While feudalism fostered a Europe that was split
property to the church. These bequests helped into many local regions, each ruled by a lord,
to finance hospitals and schools, which were the the church envisioned a vast Christian common-
church’s responsibility. wealth, Respublica Christiana, governed by an
In a number of ways, towns loosened the hold emperor who was guided by the pope. During the
of lords on serfs. “City air makes a man free,” went High Middle Ages, the ideal of a universal Chris-
a medieval proverb. Seeking freedom and fortune, tian community seemed close to fruition. Never
serfs fled to the new towns, where, according to again would Europe possess such spiritual unity.
custom, lords could no longer reclaim them after But other forces were propelling Europe in a
a year and a day. Enterprising serfs earned money different direction. Aided by educated and trained
by selling food to townspeople. When the serfs officials who enforced royal law, tried people in
acquired a sufficient sum of money, they bought royal courts, and collected royal taxes—all of
their freedom from lords, who needed cash to pay which served to reduce the power of local lords—
for goods bought from merchants. Lords increas- kings expanded their territory and slowly fash-
ingly began to accept fixed cash payments from ioned strong central governments. Gradually,
serfs in place of labor services or foodstuffs. As subjects began to transfer their prime loyalty from
serfs met their obligations to lords with money, the church and the lords to the person of the king.
they gradually became rent-paying tenants and, in These developments laid the foundations of Euro-
time, were no longer bound to the lord’s land. The pean states. Not all regions followed the same
manorial system of personal relations and mutual pattern. Whereas England and France achieved
obligations was disintegrating. a large measure of unity during the Middle Ages,
The activities of townspeople made them a the areas that later became Germany and Italy
new breed; they engaged in business and had remained divided, with numerous independent
money and freedom. Their world was the market territories.
rather than the church, the castle, or the manor.
Townspeople were freeing themselves from the
prejudices both of feudal aristocrats, who con- England
sidered trade and manual work degrading, and
of the clergy, who cursed the pursuit of riches as After the Roman legions abandoned England in
sordid and shameful and an obstacle to salvation. the fifth century, the Germanic Angles and Sax-
They revived the Greco-Roman ideal of active ons invaded the island and established several
citizens devoted to their city. Processions, celebra- small kingdoms. In the ninth century, the Danes—
tions, and feasts commemorating holy days or one group of the Northmen who raided Western
memorable events in the town’s history strength- Europe—conquered most of Anglo-Saxon Eng-
ened civic bonds. An emerging secular civic life, land. But the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, ruled
combined with the new value given to business by Alfred the Great (871–899), survived. To re-
and the need for some secular education in order sist the Danes, Alfred strengthened his army and
to handle business transactions, produced a spiri- built a fleet. To stem the decline of learning that
tual counterforce to Christian otherworldliness accompanied the Danish invasions, Alfred, like
that would gain momentum in succeeding centu- Charlemagne, founded a palace school, bringing to
ries. The townspeople were critical, dynamic, and it scholars from other areas. Alfred himself studied
progressive—a force for change. Latin and translated a work of Pope Gregory I into
Anglo-Saxon. He also had other works translated
into Anglo-Saxon, including Boethius’s Consola-
THE RISE OF STATES tion of Philosophy. Alfred’s descendants gradually
regained land from the Danes and reestablished
The revival of trade and the burgeoning of towns Anglo-Saxon control over the island.
signaled a growing vitality in Latin Christendom. In 1066, the Normans—those Northmen who
Another sign of strength was the greater order had first raided and then settled in France—
and security provided by the emergence of states. defeated the Anglo-Saxons in the battle of Hastings
The Rise of States ❖ 235
and became masters of England. Normans replaced and the legal systems of lands settled by English
the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and ecclesiastical hi- people, including the United States.
erarchy. Determined to establish effective control Henry II made an early form of trial by jury
over his new kingdom, William the Conqueror a regular procedure for many cases heard in the
(1027–1087), duke of Normandy (in western king’s court, laying the foundations of the modern
France), kept one-sixth of conquered England for judicial system. Twelve men familiar with the facts
himself. In accordance with feudal practice, he dis- of the case appeared before the king’s justices and
tributed the rest among his Norman nobles, who were asked under oath if the plaintiff’s statement
swore an oath of loyalty to him and provided him was true. The justices based their decisions on the
with military assistance. But William made cer- answers. Henry II also ordered representatives
tain that no feudal baron had enough land or sol- of a given locality to report under oath to visit-
diers to threaten his power. The Norman conquest ing royal judges any local persons who were sus-
strengthened the king’s position as never before. pected of murder or robbery. This indictment jury
To tighten royal control, William retained some was the ancestor of the modern grand jury.
Anglo-Saxon administrative practices. The land The growth of an efficient financial adminis-
remained divided into shires (counties) adminis- tration paralleled the development of a strong ju-
tered by sheriffs (royal agents). This structure gave dicial system. The Exchequer, the royal accounting
the king control over local government. To deter- office, was formed during the early years of Henry
mine how much money he could demand, William I’s reign. Its officials saw to the collection of all
ordered a vast census taken of people and prop- revenues owed the king. Like the judges, these of-
erty in every village. Census data, compiled in the ficials formed a class of professional administra-
Domesday Book, indicated the number of tenants, tors who were personally loyal to the king.
cattle, sheep, and pigs and the quantities of farm King John (1199–1216) inadvertently precipi-
equipment throughout the realm. Thus, better than tated a situation that led to another step in the po-
any other monarch of his day, William knew what litical development of England. Fighting a costly
the assets of his kingdom were. Because William and losing war with the king of France, John had
conquered England in one stroke, his successors coerced his vassals into giving him more and more
did not have to travel the long, painful road to na- revenue; he had also punished some vassals without
tional unity that French monarchs had to take. a proper trial. In 1215, the angry barons rebelled
Crucial to shaping national unity was the de- and compelled John to fix his seal to a document
velopment of common law. When Henry I became called Magna Carta, or Great Charter. Magna
king in 1100, England had conflicting baronial Carta is celebrated as the root of the uniquely Eng-
claims and legal traditions, which were a barrier lish respect for basic rights and liberties. Although
to unity. These legal traditions included Anglo- essentially a feudal document directed against
Saxon law, feudal law introduced by the Normans a king who had violated feudal barons’ rights,
from France, church law, and the commercial law Magna Carta stated certain principles that eventu-
emerging among the town businesspeople. During ally could be interpreted more widely.
the reigns of Henry I (1100–1135) and Henry II Over the centuries, these principles were ex-
(1154–1189), royal judges traveled to different panded to protect the liberties of the English
parts of the kingdom. Throughout England, im- against governmental oppression. Magna Carta
portant cases began to be tried in the king’s court stated that no unusual feudal dues “shall be im-
rather than in local courts, thereby increasing posed in our kingdom except by the common
royal power. The decisions of royal judges were consent of our kingdom.” In time, this right came
recorded and used as guides for future cases. In to mean that the king could not levy taxes with-
this way, a law common to the whole land gradu- out the consent of Parliament, the governmental
ally came to prevail over the customary law of a body that represents the English people. Magna
specific locality. Because common law applied to Carta also provided that “no freeman shall be
all England, it served as a force for unity. It also taken or imprisoned . . . save by the lawful judg-
provided a fairer system of justice. Common law ment of his peers or by the law of the land.” The
remains the foundation of the English legal system barons who drew up the document had intended
236 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
France
In the 150 years after Charlemagne’s death, the
WOMEN WORKERS. At times noble ladies fought side western part of his empire, which was destined
by side with men when their castle was attacked. to become France, faced terrible ordeals. Charle-
Here women hurl rocks and shoot arrows at the magne’s heirs fought one another for the crown;
attackers. (Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique.) the Vikings raided everywhere their ships would
carry them; Muslims from Spain plundered the
southern coast; and strong lords usurped power
it to mean that they must be tried by fellow bar- for themselves. With the Carolingian family
ons. As time passed, these words were regarded as u nable to maintain the throne, the great lords
a guarantee of trial by jury for all men, a prohibi- bestowed the title of king on one of their own. In
tion against arbitrary arrest, and a command to 987, they chose Hugh Capet (987–996), the count
dispense justice fully, freely, and equally. Implied of Paris. Because many great lords held territories
in Magna Carta is the idea that the king cannot far larger than those of Hugh, the French king
rule as he pleases but must govern according to did not seem a threat to noble power. But Hugh
the law: not even the king can violate the law of strengthened the French monarchy by having the
the nation. Centuries afterward, when the English lords also elect his son as his co-ruler. This prac-
sought to limit the king’s power, they would inter- tice continued until it became understood that the
pret Magna Carta in this way. crown would remain with the Capetian family.
Anglo-Saxon England retained the Germanic With the accession of Louis VI (1108–1137),
tradition that the king should consider the advice a two-hundred-year period of steadily increasing
of the leading men in the land. William the Con- royal power began. Louis started this trend by suc-
queror continued this practice by seeking the opin- cessfully subduing the barons in his own duchy.
ions of leading nobles and bishops. In the thirteenth A decisive figure in the expansion of French royal
century, it became accepted custom that the king sway was Philip Augustus (1180–1223). Philip
should not decide major issues without consulting struck successfully at King John of England (of
these advisers, who assembled together as the Great Magna Carta fame), who held more territory as
Council. Lesser nobility and townspeople also began feudal lord in France than Philip did. When Wil-
to be summoned to meet with the king. These two liam, duke of Normandy, conquered England in
groups were eventually called the House of Lords 1066, he became ruler of England and Normandy;
The Rise of States ❖ 237
Bruges
Calais FLANDERS Ghent
WESSEX Ypres
.
ARTOIS eR
us
Me
Arras
English Channel
Amiens
VERMANDOIS
HO
Rouen Soissons
Reims
L
Sein
YR
eR
.
NORMANDY
OM
Paris CHAMPAGNE
AN
Chartres
EM
ÎLE-DE-FRANCE Troyes
PI R
BRETAGNE MAINE (Royal Domain)
E
Orléans
BURGUNDY
ANJOU Tours BLOIS
Nantes
Loire R. TOURAINE
Bourges
ATLANTIC
OCEAN Cluny
Poitiers
BOURBON
POITOU
Crown lands in 1180
Added by Philip Augustus, Clermont
Lyons
1180 –1223
Added 1223–1314
R h ô ne R
AQUITAINE
.
Bordeaux
Ga
ne
R.
LANGUEDOC PROVENCE
GASCONY
TOULOUSE Montpellier
Toulouse Marseilles
William’s great-grandson Henry II acquired much Philip trebled the size of his kingdom and became
of southern France through his marriage to Eleanor stronger than any French lord.
of Aquitaine (c. 1122–1204) in 1152. Thus, as a Louis IX (1226–1270)—pious, compassion-
result of the Norman Conquest and intermarriage, ate, and conscientious and a genuine lover of
the destinies of France and England were closely peace—was perhaps the best-loved French mon-
intertwined until the end of the Middle Ages. By arch of the Middle Ages. Departing from feudal
stripping King John of most of his French terri- precedent, Louis issued ordinances for the entire
tory (Normandy, Anjou, and much of Aquitaine), realm without seeking the consent of his vassals.
238 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
The Emergence of
Representative Institutions THE GROWTH OF PAPAL POWER
One great contribution of the Middle Ages to the In the High Middle Ages, a growing spiritual vital-
modern world was the representative institution. ity accompanied economic recovery and increas-
Representative assemblies, or parliaments, had their ing political stability. It was marked by several
beginnings at the end of the twelfth century in the developments. The common people were showing
Spanish kingdom of León. In the thirteenth century, greater devotion to the church. Within the church,
they developed in other Spanish kingdoms—Castile, reform movements were attacking clerical abuses,
Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia—as well as in and the papacy was becoming more powerful. A
Portugal, England, and the Holy Roman Empire. holy war against the Muslims was drawing the
In the fourteenth century, parliaments formed in Christian community closer together. During this
France and the Netherlands. period, the church tried with great determination
Kings generally came to accept the principles to make society follow divine standards: it tried
that parliamentary consent was required for levying to shape institutions and cultural expressions ac-
taxes and that the king should consult parliament cording to a comprehensive Christian outlook.
about important laws and obtain its approval. By
and large, the parliaments had grown out of royal
dependence on the nobility for military support. Be- The Sacraments
cause of this dependence, monarchs considered it
wise to listen to the opinions of the lords. Conse- As the sole interpreters of God’s revelation and the
quently, it became customary for the king to sum- sole ministers of his sacraments—sacred rites—
mon councils to discuss matters of war and peace the clergy imposed and supervised the moral out-
and other vital questions. Since the high clergy look of Christendom. Divine grace was channeled
constituted an important group in the realm, they through seven sacraments, which could be admin-
too were consulted. As towns gained in wealth istered only by the clergy, the indispensable inter-
and significance, townspeople were also asked to mediary between individuals and God. On persons
royal councils. Leading nobles came to represent who resisted its authority, the church could impose
the nobility as an order of society; members of the the penalty of excommunication—expulsion from
upper clergy—archbishops, bishops, and abbots— the church and denial of the sacraments, without
represented the entire clergy; and deputies from the which there could be no salvation.
towns represented the townspeople. An important The seven sacraments involved the church in
tradition had been established: the duty of the mon- the lives of individuals from birth to death. Bap-
arch to seek advice and consent on issues of concern tism cleansed individuals—usually infants—of the
to his subjects. Perhaps the practice of representative stain of original sin. Confirmation granted addi-
government was influenced by those church lawyers tional grace to previously baptized young adults.
who held that the pope should seek the guidance Matrimony made marriage a holy union. Extreme
of the Christian community as expressed in church unction, administered to the dying, was intended
councils—meetings of representatives of the clergy. to remove the remains of sin. The sacrament of
To be sure, in succeeding centuries, parlia- the Eucharist, derived from Gospel accounts of
ments would be either ignored or dominated by Christ’s Last Supper, took place within a liturgical
kings. Nevertheless, the principle of constitutional service, the Mass. In a solemn ceremony, bread and
240 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
wine were miraculously transformed into the sub- In 1059, a special synod, convened by the reform-
stance of the body and blood of Christ, which the minded Pope Nicholas II, moved to end the inter-
priest administered, allowing believers to partake ference of Roman nobles and German Holy Roman
of Christ’s saving grace. The sacrament of penance Emperors in choosing the pope. Henceforth, a se-
required sinners to show sorrow for their sins, to lect group of clergymen in Rome, called cardinals,
confess them to a priest, and to perform an act of would be responsible for picking a new pontiff.
contrition: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, or a pilgrim- The reform movement found its most zealous
age to a holy shrine. Through the priest, the sin- exponent in the person of Hildebrand, who be-
ner could receive absolution and be rescued from came Pope Gregory VII in 1073. Gregory insisted
spending eternity in hell. This sacrament enabled that human society was part of a divinely ordered
the church to enforce its moral standards through- universe, governed by God’s universal law, and as
out Latin Christendom. The final sacrament, ordi- the supreme spiritual leader of Christendom, the
nation, consecrated men to serve as clergy. pope was charged with the mission of establishing
a Christian society on earth. As successor to Saint
Peter, the pope had the final word on matters of
Gregorian Reform faith and doctrine. All bishops came under his au-
thority; so too did kings, whose powers should be
By the tenth century, the church was Western used for Christian ends. Disobeying the pope, God’s
Europe’s leading landowner, owning perhaps a third viceroy on earth, constituted disobedience to God
of the land in Italy and vast properties in other lands. himself. The pope was responsible for instructing
However, the papacy was in no position to exercise rulers in the proper use of their God-given pow-
commanding leadership over Latin Christendom. ers, and kings had the solemn duty to obey these
The office of pope had fallen under the domination instructions. If the king failed in his Christian duty,
of aristocratic families; they conspired and on occa- the pope could deny him his right to rule. Respon-
sion murdered in order to place one of their own on sible for implementing God’s law, the pope could
the wealthy and powerful throne of Saint Peter. As never take a subordinate position to kings.
the papacy became a prize for Rome’s leading fami- Like no other pope before him, Gregory VII
lies, it was not at all unusual for popes themselves made a determined effort to assert the preemi-
to be involved in conspiracies and assassinations. nence of the papacy over both the church hierar-
Also weakening the authority of the papacy were chy and secular rulers. This determination led to
local lords, who dominated churches and monaster- a bitter struggle between the papacy and the Ger-
ies by appointing bishops and abbots and by col- man monarch and future Holy Roman Emperor
lecting the income from church taxes. These bishops Henry IV. The dispute was a dramatic confronta-
and abbots, appointed by lords for political reasons, tion between two competing versions of the rela-
lacked the spiritual devotion to maintain high stan- tionship between secular and spiritual authority.
dards of discipline among the priests and monks. Through his reforms, Gregory VII intended
What raised the power of the papacy to un- to improve the moral quality of the clergy and
precedented heights was the emergence of a to liberate the church from all control by secular
reform movement, particularly in French and authorities. He forbade priests who had wives
German monasteries. High-minded monks called or concubines to celebrate Mass, deposed clergy
for a reawakening of spiritual fervor and the elim- who had bought their offices, excommunicated
ination of moral laxity among the clergy. They bishops and abbots who had received their estates
particularly denounced the concern for worldly from a lay lord, and expelled from the church lay
goods, the taking of mistresses, and the diminish- lords who invested bishops with their office. The
ing commitment to the Benedictine rule. Of the appointment of bishops, Pope Gregory insisted,
many monasteries that took part in this reform should be controlled entirely by the church.
movement, the Benedictine monks of Cluny, in This last point touched off the conflict, called
Burgundy, France, were the most influential. the Investiture Controversy, between King Henry
In the middle of the eleventh century, popes and Pope Gregory. Bishops served a dual func-
came under the influence of the monastic reformers. tion. On the one hand, they belonged to the
The Growth of Papal Power ❖ 241
spiritual community of the church; on the other Similar settlements had been reached with the
hand, as members of the nobility and holders of kings of France and England several years earlier.
estates, they were also integrated into the feudal The conflict between the papacy and the Ger-
order. Traditionally, emperors had both granted man rulers continued after the Concordat of
bishops their feudal authority and invested them Worms—a contest for supremacy between the
with their spiritual authority. In maintaining that heir of Saint Peter and the heir of Charlemagne.
no lay rulers could confer ecclesiastical offices on German monarchs wanted to control the papacy
their appointees, Pope Gregory threatened Hen- and the prosperous northern Italian cities. When
ry’s authority. Frederick I (1152–1190), known as Frederick
In earlier times, seeking allies in the conflict Barbarossa (Red Beard), tried to assert authority
with feudal nobility, German kings had made vas- over these cities, they resisted. In 1176, the armies
sals of the upper clergy. In return for a fief, bish- of an alliance of Italian cities, supported by the
ops had agreed to provide troops for a monarch in pope, trounced Frederick’s forces at the battle of
his struggle against the lords. But if kings had no Legnano. The Italian infantry showed that it could
control over the appointment of bishops—in ac- defeat knights on horseback, and Frederick was
cordance with Pope Gregory’s view—they would compelled to recognize the independence of the
lose the allegiance, military support, and financial Italian cities. His numerous expeditions to Italy
assistance of their most important allies. To Ger- weakened his authority. German princes strength-
man monarchs, bishops were officers of the state ened themselves at the expense of the monarchy,
who served the throne. Moreover, if they agreed thereby continuing to preclude German unity.
to Gregory’s demands, German kings would lose
their freedom of action and be dominated by the
Roman pontiff. Henry IV regarded Gregory VII The Crusades
as a fanatic who trampled on custom, meddled
in German state affairs, and challenged legitimate Like the movement for spiritual renewal associated
rulers established by God, thereby threatening to with the Cluniac reformers, the Crusades—wars
subordinate kingship to the papacy. to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims—were
With the approval of the German bishops, an outpouring of Christian zeal and an attempt
Henry called for Pope Gregory to descend from by the papacy to assert its preeminence. Along
the throne of Saint Peter. Gregory in turn excom- with the renewal of commerce and the growth of
municated Henry and deposed him as king. Ger- towns, the Crusades were a sign of vitality and
man lands were soon embroiled in a civil war as self-confidence in Western Europe. The victims of
German lords used the quarrel to strike at Henry’s earlier Muslim attacks, Latin Christians now took
power. Finally, Henry’s troops crossed the Alps, the offensive. Furthermore, the Crusades were
successfully attacked Rome, and installed a new part of a general movement of European expan-
pope, who crowned Henry emperor of the Ro- sion during the High Middle Ages. Latin Chris-
mans. Gregory died in exile in 1085. tians were venturing forth as pioneers to open
In 1122, the papacy and Emperor Henry V new lands to cultivation and as conquerors to ex-
reached a compromise. Bishops were to be elected pand the borders of Christendom.
exclusively by the church and invested with the By the middle of the eleventh century, forces
staff and the ring—symbols of spiritual power— from the cities of Genoa and Pisa had driven the
by the archbishop, not the king. This change signi- Muslims from Sardinia. By 1091, Normans had
fied that a bishop owed his role as spiritual leader taken Sicily from the Muslims and southern Italy
to the church only. But the king would grant the from Byzantium. With the support of the papacy,
bishop the scepter, to indicate that the bishop Christian knights engaged in the long struggle
was also the recipient of a fief and the king’s vas- to drive the Muslims from Spain; by 1248, after
sal, owing feudal obligations to the crown. This more than two centuries of conflict, only the
compromise, called the Concordat of Worms, rec- small southern kingdom of Granada remained
ognized the dual function of the bishop as a spiri- in Muslim hands. Germans conquered and colo-
tual leader in the church and a feudal landowner. nized lands south of the Baltic coast inhabited by
242 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
Ba
DENMARK Republic of Venice
North Sea
Holy Roman Empire, c. 1200
IA
0 200 400 Km.
AN
M ER
PO 0 200 400 Mi.
A
ENGLAND SI
RI
SAXONY LUSATIA POLAND
F
LOWER T H U R IN G I A
LORRAINE
FRANCONIA
BOHEMIA IA
Worms AV
AT L A N T I C OR
UPPER M
OCEAN LORRAINE
IA
SWABIA
R
AUSTRIA
VA
BA
ES
FRANCE HUNGARY
RL
s
on
-A
Ly
Clermont
DY
UN
LOMBARDY
G Venice
R
BU
RE
LEÓN
Zara
PU
Avignon i
CE LI
AT sis
B
L EN C C o ns
S T As
ES
V TUSCANY OF ta n
PR O tin
A
VE
BULGARIA op
G
NI l
U
CE
Ad
RT
ARAGON
e
L
NIA P ria
A
PA
PO
KINGDOM OF SICILY
VAL
M e d i t erra n ea n S ea
Sicily
243
244 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
l tic
North Sea 0 200 400 Mi.
Ba
ENGLAND
London
Rh
HOLY ROMAN
ine
D
AT L A N T I C EMPIRE
R.
ni
ep
OCEAN
er
Paris Metz
R
Ratisbon (Regensburg)
.
Loire R. Vezelay Vienna
LATIN
FRANCE CHRISTIAN
Clermont HUNGARY
Lyons
Milan Belgrade
Venice Black Sea
Toulouse Fre R.
d eric Danube
Marseilles Florence Zara
k Bar
baro
Pisa ssa Manzikert
Constantinople 1071
1204
ed Corsica Rome SELJUK TURKS
Lisbon SPAIN e art Durazzo
-H Nicaea
on Ph
ip
i
eL
Dorulaeum
il
Au Brindisi
gu
th
Sardinia 1097
stu GREEK
ard
s Iconium Edessa
ch
GRANADA
Antioch
Messina 1097
Lou
Sicily is V
Ric II
hard
Tunis the L
io Tripoli
ISLAMIC
n-Hearted Cyprus
Co
nra Damascus
d III
ISLAMIC Crete Candia
Acre
Philip Augustus 1191
HOLY LAND
Mediterranean Sea
Jerusalem
First Crusade, 1096–1099 Ascalon 1099, 1189
Damietta 1099
Second Crusade, 1147–1149 Alexandria
Third Crusade, 1189–1192
Fourth Crusade, 1202–1204 NORTH AFRICA KINGDOM OF THE
Crusader kingdoms in the East
ISLAMIC EGYPTIAN FATAMIDS
Ni
le
245
R . Sea
Profile
Saladin and thirst-crazed Franks suffered terrible losses
when, in desperation, they threw themselves at
Salah al-Din Yusuf (1137–1193), known to the the prepared Muslim lines, which blocked the
Western world as Saladin, recaptured Jerusa- Franks from reaching Lake Tiberias and its life-
lem from the Franks in 1187. Born into a promi- giving water. After the victory at Hittin, Sala-
nent Kurdish family, Saladin served the emir din’s forces took several Christian strongholds,
of Syria, whose troops invaded Egypt in 1167. most of which surrendered without a fight.
Rising quickly, Saladin was appointed vizier of Then Saladin turned on Jerusalem.
Egypt and then confirmed as sultan of Egypt Living up to his reputation as a man of honor
and Syria. After extending his authority over and magnanimity, Saladin made the Christian in-
Muslim-controlled territories of Egypt, Syria, habitants of Jerusalem a generous proposal. If the
and Palestine, Saladin, deeply committed to Franks surrendered, Christians would be free to
jihad, turned against the Franks. In particu- leave the city with their property, and Christian
lar, he vowed to liberate Islamic holy places in pilgrims would not be harmed. But the Frankish
Jerusalem from Christian control. lords would not surrender without a fight the city
In 1187, Saladin lured the Franks into an where Jesus had been crucified. On September
engagement at Hittin, near Tiberias, in north- 20, 1187, Saladin’s soldiers besieged Jerusalem
ern Palestine. Marching all day, the exhausted and began battering its walls. A Muslim historian
Edessa, Pope Eugenius II called for the Second Cru- both the crusading zeal of Christendom and the
sade (1147–1149), which was a complete failure. moral authority of the papacy. It also left a legacy
After 1174, Saladin, a brilliant commander, of bitterness and distrust that still taints rela-
became the most powerful leader in the Muslim tions between the Eastern Orthodoxy and other
Near East. In 1187, he invaded Palestine, annihi- Christians.
lated a Christian army near Nazareth, and recap- Other Crusades followed, including even
tured Jerusalem. In contrast to Christian knights the Children’s Crusade in 1212. Stirred by Stephen
of the First Crusade, who filled Jerusalem with of Cloyes, a young shepherd boy who claimed that
blood and corpses, Saladin permitted no slaugh- Christ had communicated with him, thousands of
ter. The capture of Jerusalem led to the Third French peasant children, accompanied by priests,
Crusade (1189–1192), in which some of Europe’s marched to Marseilles, where they expected the
most prominent rulers participated—Richard I, Mediterranean Sea to part, permitting them to
the Lion-Hearted, of England; Philip Augustus continue their march to the Holy Land. When the
of France; and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. miracle did not occur, the children boarded seven
The Crusaders captured Acre and Jaffa, but Jeru- ships offered to them by William the Pig and
salem remained in Muslim hands. Hugo the Iron, two seemingly pious townsmen.
Pope Innocent III, who called the Fourth Cru- Two of the ships were lost in a terrible storm, and
sade (1202–1204), was enraged by the actions of the other five were captured by Muslim pirates,
the Crusaders. They had first attacked the Chris- with whom William and Hugo had worked out a
tian port of Zara, which was controlled by the deal. The children were sold into slavery in North
king of Hungary, and then looted and defiled Africa, and as far as is known, none ever returned
churches and massacred Byzantines in Constan- (one priest eventually did).
tinople. This shameful behavior, along with the Despite other crusades, the position of the
belief that the papacy was exploiting the cru- Christian states in the Near East continued to de-
sading ideal to extend its own power, weakened teriorate. In 1291, almost two centuries after Pope
246
Christian spirit and unleashing religious intol-
erance and fanaticism—including the massacre
of Jews in the Rhineland and of Muslims and
Jews in Jerusalem—which would lead to strife
in future centuries. The Crusades remain a cru-
noted: “Then began the fiercest struggle imagin-
cial component of the ideology of contemporary
able; each side looked on the fight as an absolute
Islamic extremists.
religious obligation. There was no need for a
superior authority to drive them on.”* On Octo-
ber 2, the Muslims rushed through the breached
walls and captured the city. In stark contrast to
Dissenters and Reformers
the Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, Freedom of religion is a modern concept; it was
Saladin permitted no massacre and no plunder- totally alien to the medieval outlook. Regard-
ing. The Franks could escape enslavement by ing itself as the possessor and guardian of di-
paying a moderate ransom, and in an extraordi- vine, and therefore ultimate, truth, the church
nary display of tolerance, Saladin guarded Chris- felt a profound obligation to purge Christendom
tian holy places from Muslims seeking revenge of heresy—beliefs that challenged Christian or-
for earlier Frankish brutalities. thodoxy. To the church, heretics had committed
treason against God and were carriers of a deadly
infection. Heresy was the work of Satan; lured by
*Excerpted in Francesco Gabriel, ed., Arab Historians false ideas, people might abandon the true faith
of the Crusades (Berkeley: University of California and deny themselves salvation. The church could
Press, 1969), 130. never create a Christian world community if here-
tics rebelled against clerical authority and created
divisions among the faithful. In the eyes of the
church, heretics not only obstructed individual
salvation but also undermined the foundations of
Urban’s appeal, the last Christian strongholds in society. The church believed that it had a sacred
the Near East fell. duty to eradicate this moral defect.
The Crusades had some immediate effects on To compel obedience, the church used its
Latin Christendom. They may have contributed power of excommunication. An excommunicated
to the decline of feudalism and the strengthen- person could not receive the sacraments or at-
ing of monarchy because many lords were killed tend church services—fearful punishments in an
in battle or squandered their wealth financing age of faith. In dealing with a recalcitrant ruler,
expeditions to the Holy Land. The Crusades the church could declare an interdict on his terri-
did foster trade between Latin Christendom and tory, which in effect denied the ruler’s subjects the
the East, but the revival of trade had already sacraments (although exceptions could be made).
begun and would have proceeded without the The church hoped that the pressure exerted by
Crusades. The Crusades sparked an interest in an aroused populace would compel the offending
geography and travel; introduced Westerners to ruler to mend his ways.
new foods, clothing, and architecture; and be- The church also conducted heresy trials. Be-
came a theme in literature. Nevertheless, they fore the thirteenth century, local bishops were re-
did not significantly influence European intel- sponsible for locating heretics and putting them
lectual progress. The Crusaders had no contact on trial. Gregory IX (1227–1241) started to use
with Muslim centers of learning in the Near Franciscans and Dominicans (see page 249) as of-
East; it was through Spain and Sicily that Mus- ficial investigators, in effect creating a permanent
lim learning penetrated Latin Christendom and tribunal, the Inquisition, directly under the pope’s
helped stimulate the cultural awakening of the authority. An inquisitor and his staff established
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Over the cen- themselves in a region suspected of heresy. After
turies, some have praised the Crusades for in- taking testimony, often in secret, the inquisitors
spiring idealism and heroism. Others, however, summoned suspects to answer accusations made
have castigated the movement for corrupting the against them. The accused were not told the
247
248 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
names of their accusers, nor could they have legal where opposition to the worldliness and wealth
defense or examine evidence of witnesses. They of the clergy was already strong.
were tortured (torture had been sanctioned by Cathari tenets differed considerably from those
Roman law), and those who persisted in their be- of the church. The Cathari believed in an eternal
liefs might be turned over to the civil authorities conflict between the forces of the god of good
to be burned at the stake. and those of the god of evil. Because the evil god,
Religious dissent in the Middle Ages was often whom they identified with the God of the Old
reformist in character. Inspired by the Gospels, Testament, created the world, this earthly home
reformers criticized the church for its wealth and was evil. The soul, spiritual in nature, was good
involvement in worldly affairs. They called for a but was trapped in wicked flesh. Because sexual
return to the simpler, purer life of Jesus and the activity was responsible for imprisoning the
Apostles. Reform movements drew support from spirit in the flesh, the Cathari urged abstinence to
the new class of town dwellers; the church often avoid the birth of still another wicked human be-
rebuked the way of life in towns and only slowly ing. They also abstained from eggs, cheese, milk,
adjusted to the townspeople’s spiritual needs. and meat because these foods were the products
of sexual activity. (This rigorous asceticism was
The Waldensians. In their zeal to emulate the demanded only of a select few, the perfecti [per-
moral purity and material poverty of the first fol- fect ones]; simple believers could marry, and their
lowers of Jesus, reform-minded dissenters attacked diets were not restricted.) The Cathari taught that,
ecclesiastical authority. The Waldensians, follow- since the flesh is evil, Christ would not have taken
ers of Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, were a human form; hence, he could not have suffered
a case in point. Peter was greatly moved by a pas- on the cross or have been resurrected. Nor could
sage in Matthew: “If thou wilt be perfect go sell God have issued forth from the evil flesh of the
what thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt Virgin. According to Catharism, Jesus was not
have treasure in heaven” (19:22). In the 1170s, God but an angel. In order to enslave people, the
Peter distributed his property to the poor and evil god created the church, which demonstrated
attracted both male and female supporters. Like its wickedness by pursuing power and wealth.
their leader, they committed themselves to poverty They saw themselves as the true church, the suc-
and to preaching the Gospel in the vernacular, or cessors of Jesus’ apostles. Repudiating the existing
native tongue, rather than in the church’s Latin, church, the Cathari organized their own ecclesi-
which many Christians did not understand. The astical hierarchy. People were impressed with the
Waldensians considered themselves true Chris- ascetic and moral lifestyle of the perfecti.
tians, faithful to the spirit of the apostolic church. The center for the Catharist heresy was southern
Repelled by Waldensian attacks against the im- France, where a strong tradition of protest existed
morality of the clergy and by the fact that these against the moral laxity and materialism of the
laypeople were preaching the Gospel without the clergy. When the Cathari did not submit to peace-
permission of ecclesiastical authorities, the church ful persuasion, Innocent III called on kings and
condemned the movement as heretical. Despite lords to exterminate Catharism with the sword be-
persecution, however, the Waldensians continued fore the infection spread throughout Christendom.
to survive as a group in northern Italy. Lasting from 1208 to 1229, the war against the
Cathari was marked by brutality and fanaticism.
The Cathari. Catharism was the most radical An army of crusading knights led by a papal leg-
heresy to confront the medieval church. This be- ate assembled in northern France; it headed south,
lief represented a curious mixture of Gnosticism massacring heretics in the belief they were doing
and Manichaeism—Eastern religious movements the work of God. Soon command of the crusading
that had competed with Christianity in the days army passed to Simon de Montfort, a minor baron
of the Roman Empire—and of doctrines con- with great ambition. De Montfort slaughtered sus-
demned as heretical by the early church. Carried pected heretics throughout the county of Toulouse,
to Italy and southern France by Bulgarian mis- and for a short time he held the title of count of
sionaries, Catharism gained followers in regions Toulouse. The crusading knights had effectively
The Growth of Papal Power ❖ 249
broken the power of the nobles who had protected the Brothers owning churches, houses, and lands
the heretics. Innocent III sent legates to the region corporately. His desire to keep the movement a lay
to arrest and try the Cathari. Under his successor, order was abandoned when the papacy granted the
Dominican and Franciscan inquisitors completed Brothers the right to hear confession. Francis’s op-
the task of exterminating them virtually to the last position to formal learning as irrelevant to preach-
person, a horrendous slaughter that some refer to ing Gospel love was rejected when the movement
as medieval genocide. began to urge university education for its members.
Those who protested against these changes as a re-
The Franciscans and the Dominicans. Driven pudiation of Francis’s spirit were persecuted, and a
by a zeal for reform, devout laypeople condemned few were even burned at the stake as heretics.
the clergy for moral abuses. Sometimes their pi- The Dominican order was founded by Saint
ety and resentment exploded into heresy; at other Dominic (c. 1170–1221), a Spanish nobleman
times, it was channeled into movements that served who had preached against the Cathari in southern
the church. Such was the case with the two great or- France. Believing that those well versed in Chris-
ders of friars, the Franciscans and the Dominicans. tian teaching could best combat heresy, Dominic,
Like Peter Waldo, Saint Francis of Assisi unlike Francis, insisted that his followers engage
(c. 1181–1226) came from a wealthy merchant fam- in study. In time, the Dominicans became some
ily. After undergoing an intense religious experience, of the leading theologians in the universities. Like
Francis abandoned his possessions and devoted his the Franciscans, they went out into the world to
life to imitating Christ. Dressed as a beggar, he wan- preach the Gospel and to proselytize. Dominican
dered into villages and towns preaching, healing, friars became the chief operators of the Inquisi-
and befriending. Unlike the monks who withdrew tion. For their zeal in fighting heresy, they were
into walled fortresses, Francis proclaimed Christ’s known as “hounds of the Lord.”
message to the poor of the towns. Like Peter Waldo,
he preached a religion of personal feeling; like Jesus,
he stretched out a hand of love to the poor, to the Innocent III: The Apex of Papal Power
helpless, to the sick, and even to lepers, whom ev-
eryone feared to approach. The saintly Francis soon During the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–
attracted disciples, called Little Brothers, who fol- 1216), papal theocracy reached its zenith. More
lowed in the footsteps of their leader. than any earlier pope, Innocent made the papacy
To suspicious churchmen, the Little Brothers the center of European political life. In the tra-
seemed to be another heretical movement pro- dition of Gregory VII, he forcefully asserted the
testing against a wealthy and worldly church. theory of papal monarchy. As head of the church,
However, Francis respected the authority of the Vicar of Christ, and successor of Saint Peter, In-
priesthood and the validity of the sacraments. nocent claimed the authority to intervene in the
Recognizing that such a popular movement could internal affairs of secular rulers when they threat-
be useful to the church, Innocent III allowed ened the good order of Christendom. Accord-
Francis to continue his mission. Innocent hoped ing to Innocent, the pope, “lower than God but
that the Franciscans would help keep within the higher than man . . . judges all and is judged by
church those members of the laity who had deep no one.”3
religious feelings but were dissatisfied with the Innocent applied these principles of papal su-
leadership of the traditional hierarchy. premacy in his dealings with the princes of Europe.
As the Franciscans grew in popularity, the pa- When King Philip Augustus of France repudiated
pacy exercised greater control over their activities; Ingeborg of Denmark the day after their wedding
in time, the order was transformed from a sponta- and later divorced her to marry someone else,
neous movement of inspired laymen into an orga- Innocent placed an interdict on France to compel
nized agent of papal policy. The Franciscans served Philip to take Ingeborg back. For two decades,
the church as teachers and missionaries in Eastern Innocent III championed Ingeborg’s cause until
Europe, North Africa, the Near East, and China. she finally became the French queen. When King
The papacy set aside Francis’s prohibition against John of England rejected the papal candidate for
Primary Source
Pope Innocent III: “Royal as it were, nights). These dignities are the pontifi-
cal authority and the royal power. Furthermore,
Power Derives Its Dignity the moon derives her light from the sun, and is
from the Pontifical in truth inferior to the sun in both size and qual-
ity, in position as well as effect. In the same way
Authority” the royal power derives its dignity from the pon-
tifical authority; and the more closely it cleaves
In the tradition of Gregory VII, Innocent III to the sphere of that authority the less is the
(1198–1216), the most powerful of medieval popes, light with which it is adorned; the further it is re-
asserted the claim for papal supremacy. moved, the more it increases in splendour.
The Creator of the universe set up two great Question for Analysis
luminaries in the firmament of heaven; the greater 1. Why were papal claims likely to stir a con-
light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the flict with royal rulers?
night. In the same way for the firmament of the
universal Church, which is spoken of as heaven,
he appointed two great dignities; the greater to Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, Documents of the
bear rule over souls (these being, as it were, days), Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press,
the lesser to bear rule over bodies (those being, 1999), 123.
archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, Inno- Roman Catholic church, prohibited the state from
cent first laid an interdict on the country. Then he taxing the clergy, and declared laws detrimental to
excommunicated John, who expressed his defiance the church null and void. The council made bish-
by confiscating church property and by forcing ops responsible for ferreting out heretics in their
many bishops into exile. However, when Innocent dioceses and ordered secular authorities to pun-
urged Philip Augustus of France to invade Eng- ish convicted heretics. Insisting on high standards
land, John backed down. He accepted Innocent’s of behavior for the clergy, it also required each
nominee for archbishop, returned the property to Catholic to confess his or her sins to a priest at least
the church, welcomed the exiles back, and, as a once a year and to perform the prescribed penance.
sign of complete capitulation, turned his kingdom Through this directive, the church tightened its con-
over to Innocent to receive it back as a fief. Thus, trol over the conscience of Europe. The council also
as vassals of the papacy, John and his successors decreed that in the sacrament of the Eucharist the
were obligated to do homage to the pope and to body and blood of Christ are actually present in the
pay him a feudal tribute. Innocent also laid inter- bread and wine used in the sacrament. This meant
dicts on the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and León that the priest at the altar was God’s agent in the
and on Norway and strove to make the Holy Ro- performance of a wondrous miracle.
man Emperor subservient to the papacy.
Innocent called the Fourth Crusade against the
Muslims and a crusade against the heretical Cathari. CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
The culminating expression of Innocent’s suprem-
acy was the Fourth Lateran Council, summoned in In their relations with heretics, pagans, and Mus-
1215. Comprising some twelve hundred clergy and lims, medieval Christians demonstrated a narrow
representatives of secular rulers, the council issued and hostile attitude that ran counter to the Gospel
several far-reaching decrees. It maintained that the message that all human beings were children of
Eastern Orthodox church was subordinate to the God and that Christ had suffered for all humanity.
250
Christians and Jews ❖ 251
Muslims were seen, in the words of Pope Urban II, during the Middle Ages, at times fomented by
as a “vile breed,” “infidels,” and “enemies of God.” clergy.
While the clergy denounced war among Christians, Viewing the Jews as possessions to be ex-
they considered it a duty to wage holy war against ploited, kings and lords taxed and fined them
non-Christians. And knights regarded fighting the relentlessly and periodically expelled Jews from
Muslims in Spain and the Holy Land as a heartfelt their territories in order to confiscate their prop-
expression of their Christian ideals. erty. In 1290, Jews were expelled from England,
Medieval Christians also showed hatred for and in 1306, from France. Between 1290 and
Jews—a visibly alien group in a society dominated 1293, expulsions, massacres, and forced conver-
by the Christian worldview. The First Crusade was sions led to the virtual disappearance of a centu-
a turning point for medieval Jews. Until then, there ries-old Jewish community life in southern Italy.
were few instances of organized violence against In Germany, savage riots periodically led to the
Jewish communities. If we are warring against God’s torture and murder of Jews. In 1348–1349, when
enemies, reasoned zealous Crusaders, why not an- the Black Death (see page 275) raged across Eu-
nihilate the Lord’s enemies living in our midst? In rope, Jews were accused of spreading the plague
1096, bands of Crusaders, proclaiming that they by poisoning well water; thousands of them
were seeking vengeance against “Christ-killers,” were burned alive in Basel, Freiburg, Strasbourg,
slaughtered Jews in French and German towns. The Mainz, and other towns.
Crusaders were often aided by townspeople driven Several factors contributed to anti-Jewish feel-
by hateful images of Jews and eager to seize Jew- ings during the Middle Ages. To medieval Chris-
ish property. The efforts of bishops to protect the tians, the Jews’ refusal to embrace Christianity
Jews proved largely unsuccessful. In the German was an act of wickedness, particularly since the
city of Mainz, more than a thousand Jews lost their church taught that the coming of Christ had been
lives. Some, in an act of martyrdom, chose to kill prophesied by the Old Testament. Related to this
themselves and their children rather than submit to prejudice was the portrayal of the crucifixion in
forced baptism or face a crueler death at the hands the Gospels. In the minds of medieval Christians,
of the Crusaders. One contemporary wrote: the crime of deicide—the killing of God—eternally
stained the Jews as a people; medieval Christians
I know not whether by a judgment of the saw Jews as dangerous, criminal people rejected
Lord, or by some error of mind, they rose in a by God and deserving of ceaseless punishment.
spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scat- Christian theologians taught that they were to
tered throughout these cities and slaughtered remain forever in subjection to Christians. It was
them without mercy, . . . asserting it to be just such a view that led town magistrates and
their duty against the enemies of the Christian princes periodically to confiscate Jewish property,
faith. . . . The Jews of [Mainz], knowing of the at times after burning the helpless Jews alive in a
slaughter of their brethren, . . . fled in hope public spectacle. The flames of hatred were fanned
of safety to Bishop Rothard. . . . He placed by the absurd allegation that Jews, made blood-
the Jews in the very spacious hall of his own thirsty by the spilling of Christ’s blood, tortured
house, [but the Crusaders] attacked the Jews and murdered Christians, particularly children, to
in the hall with arrows and lances. Break- obtain blood for ritual purposes. Although some
ing the bolts and doors, they killed the Jews, popes condemned the charges as groundless, this
about seven hundred in number, who in vain blood libel was widely believed by the credulous
resisted the force and attack of so many thou- masses and incited numerous riots, which led to
sands. They killed the women, also, and with the torture, burning alive, and expulsion of count-
their swords pierced tender children of what- less Jews and the pillaging of their property.
ever age and sex.4 The role of Jews as moneylenders also pro-
voked animosity toward them. Jews were increas-
This venomous hatred of Jews unleashed by the ingly excluded from international trade and most
First Crusade triggered numerous other massacres professions and were barred from the guilds and
252 ❖ 10 The High Middle Ages: Vitality and Renewal
ANTI-SEMITISM. Holding the Jews responsible for the Black Death, Christians
committed mass murder. In Basel, several hundred Jews were herded into a
wooden house and burned to death. Some six thousand Jews were burned
alive in Mainz. Flames consumed another two thousand in a huge pyre outside
Strasbourg, and their property was distributed to the local townspeople. In
this picture depicting the slaughter of the Jews of Strasbourg, the townspeople
evidently enjoy the spectacle. (Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique.)
in some areas from landholding as well. Hence, degradation. Christian art, literature, and religious
virtually the only means of livelihood open to instruction depicted the Jews in a derogatory man-
them was moneylending—in reality an important ner, often identifying them with the Devil, who was
activity in an expanding economy. This activ- very real and very terrifying to medieval Christians.
ity, which was in theory forbidden to Christians, Such people deserved no mercy, reasoned medieval
aroused the hatred of the individual peasants, Christians. Indeed, nothing was too bad for them.
clergy, lords, and kings who did the borrowing. Because Jews were seen as evil allies of Satan en-
The policy of the church toward the Jews was gaged in a diabolical plot against God and Chris-
that they should not be harmed, and several medi- tendom, Jew-hatred was regarded as an expression
eval popes sought to protect Jewish life and prop- of Christian virtue, a message routinely spread by
erty from wanton violence. But the church also preachers. Deeply etched into the minds and hearts
wanted Jews to live in humiliation, a fitting punish- of Christians, the distorted image of the Jew as a
ment for their act of deicide and continued refusal contemptible creature persisted in the European
to embrace Christianity. Thus, the Fourth Lateran mentality into the twentieth century.
Council barred Jews from public office, ordered Despite their precarious position, medieval Jews
them to remain off the streets during Christian maintained their faith, expanded their tradition of
festivals, and required them to wear a distinguish- biblical and legal scholarship, and developed a
ing badge on their clothing, a symbol of their flourishing Hebrew literature. The work of Jewish
Suggested Reading ❖ 253
translators, doctors, and philosophers contrib- name Maimonides (see profile in Chapter 11.) In
uted substantially to the flowering of medieval both Muslim and Christian lands Maimonides
culture in the High Middle Ages. The foremost achieved fame during his lifetime as a philosopher,
Jewish scholar of the Middle Ages was Moses ben theologian, mathematician, and physician.
Maimon (1135–1204), also called by the Greek
❖ ❖ ❖
The Flowering
of Medieval Culture:
The Christian Synthesis
■
■
The Revival of Learning
The Medieval Worldview
Philosophy-Theology
E urope in the High Middle Ages showed
considerable vitality. The population grew,
long- distance trade revived, new towns
emerged, states started to take shape, and papal
power increased. The culminating expression
■ Science of this recovery and resurgence was the cultural
flowering in philosophy, the visual arts, and lit-
■ The Recovery of Roman Law erature. Creative intellects achieved on a cultural
■ Literature level what the papacy accomplished on an institu-
tional level: the integration of life around a Chris-
■ Architecture tian viewpoint. The High Middle Ages saw the
restoration of some of the learning of the ancient
world, the rise of universities, the emergence of an
original form of architecture (the Gothic), and the
Focus Questions erection of an imposing system of thought, called
scholasticism. Medieval theologian-philosophers
fashioned Christian teachings into an all-
1. What conditions contributed to the
embracing philosophy, which represented the
revival of learning during the High spiritual character of medieval civilization. They
Middle Ages? perfected what Christian thinkers in the Roman
2. What were scholastic philosophers trying Empire had initiated and what the learned men of
to accomplish? the Early Middle Ages were groping for: a synthe-
sis of Greek philosophy and Christian revelation.
3. How does the medieval view of the
universe differ from the modern view?
4. How did religion pervade much of THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING
medieval philosophy, science, literature,
art, and architecture? In the late eleventh century, Latin Christendom
began to experience a cultural revival; all areas
of life showed vitality and creativeness. In the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a rich civilization
with a distinctive style united the educated elite
in the lands from England to Sicily. Gothic cathe-
drals, an enduring testament to the creativeness
of the religious impulse, were erected throughout
Europe. Universities sprang up in several cities.
Roman authors were again read, and their style
was imitated. The quality of written Latin—the
language of the church, learning, and education—
improved, and secular and religious poetry, both
in Latin and in the vernacular, abounded. Roman
law emerged anew in Italy, spread to northern
Europe, and regained its importance (lost since
Roman times) as worthy of study. Some key works
of ancient Greece were translated into Latin and
studied in universities. Employing the rational
tradition of Greece, men of genius harmonized
Christian doctrines and Greek philosophy. Dur-
ing this period, the status and influence of learned
men grew considerably.
255
SCOTLAND
St. Andrews
a
North
Se
Glasgow
DENMARK
tic
Jarrow Sea
al
B
IRELAND Durham Co
pe
Rivaulx nhagen
York
ENGLAND
Peterborough Bury
St. Edmunds
Oxford Ca
mb Magdeburg
Salisbury rid g e
ATLANTIC
W
Canterbury Leipzig
ch Cologne
OCEAN in es
ter Louvain
es
Fulda
èg
i
Mont St. M m
Ju Mainz
ich
el St.- Laon Bamberg Prague Kraków
Le Bec Denis Heidelberg
a m e Reims
Savigny D Lorch
tre Paris Regensburg
No Chartres Hirsau Vienna
University Orléans Clairvaux
Fleury HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
Monastery school
Tours Basel
Citeaux St.-Gall
Cathedral school Poitiers
Bourges
Cluny
FRANCE Pécs
Padua
Grenoble Piacenza
Bordeaux
Cahors Pavia
Bologna
Toulouse Avignon
Florence
Montpellier Vallombrosa
Valladolid Perugia
Salamanca
Coimbra Corsica Rome
Monte Cassino
Toledo
Lisbon Naples Salerno
SPAIN
Sardinia
Seville
Sicily
Several conditions contributed to this cul- opportunities for travel and communication. The
tural explosion, known as the Twelfth-Century revival of trade and the growth of towns cre-
Awakening. As attacks of Vikings, Muslims, and ated a need for literacy and provided the wealth
Magyars ended and kings and great lords imposed required to support learning. Increasing contact
more order and stability, people found greater with Islamic and Byzantine cultures in Spain
256
The Medieval Worldview ❖ 257
and Sicily led to the translation into Latin of studied grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, ge-
ancient Greek works preserved by these Eastern ometry, astronomy, music, medicine, and, when
civilizations. By preserving Greek philosophy and ready, church law and theology, which was con-
science—and by commenting creatively on these sidered queen of the sciences. The curriculum re-
classical works—Islamic civilization acted as a lied heavily on Latin translations of ancient texts,
bridge between antiquity and the cultural revival chiefly the works of Aristotle. In mathematics
of the High Middle Ages. The Twelfth-Century and astronomy, students read Latin translations
Awakening was also kindled by the legacy of the of Euclid and Ptolemy, while students of medi-
Carolingian Renaissance, whose cultural lights cine studied the works of two great medical men
had dimmed but never wholly vanished in the of the ancient world, Hippocrates and Galen.
period of disorder after the dissolution of Charle- But sometimes students followed other
magne’s empire. pursuits. Instead of studying, they turned to
In the Early Middle Ages, the principal educa- drinking, gambling, and fighting. At Oxford
tional centers were the monastic schools. During University, it was reported that students “went
the twelfth century, cathedral schools in towns through the streets with swords and bows and
gained importance. Paid a stipend by a local arrows and assaulted all who passed by.” 1 Fa-
church, their teachers taught grammar, rhetoric, thers complained that their sons preferred
and logic. But the chief expression of expanding “play to work and strumming a guitar while
intellectual life was the university, a distinct cre- the others are at their studies.”2 Students often
ation of the Middle Ages. faced financial problems, and they knew whom
The origins of the medieval university are ob- to ask for help: “Well- beloved father, to ease
scure and varied. The first universities were not my debts . . . at the tavern, at the baker’s, with
planned but grew spontaneously. They developed the doctor . . . and to pay . . . the laundress and
as students eager for knowledge and skills needed the barber, I send you word of greetings and of
for high positions in government gathered around money.”3
prominent teachers. The renewed importance of Universities performed a crucial function in
Roman law for business and politics, for example, the Middle Ages. Students learned the habit of
drew students to Bologna to study with acknowl- reasoned argument. Universities trained profes-
edged masters. sional secretaries and lawyers, who adminis-
The university was really a guild or corpora- tered the affairs of church and state and of the
tion of masters or students who joined together growing cities; these institutions of learning also
to defend their interests against church or town produced theologians and philosophers, who
authorities or the townspeople. A university shaped the climate of public opinion. Since the
might emerge when students united because curriculum and the texts studied were essentially
of common needs, such as protection against the same in all lands, the learning disseminated
townspeople who overcharged them for rooms by universities tightened the cultural bonds that
and necessities. Organized into a body, students united Christian Europe. Medieval universities
could also make demands on their instructors. established in the West a tradition of learning
At Bologna, professors faced fines for being ab- that has never died; there is direct continuity be-
sent or for giving lectures that drew fewer than tween the universities of our own day and the
five students; they were required to leave behind medieval ones.
a deposit as security to ensure their return if
they took a journey. A corporation of students
formed the University at Bologna. The Univer- THE MEDIEVAL WORLDVIEW
sity of Paris, which evolved from the Cathedral
School of Notre Dame, was the creation of a cor- A distinctive worldview, based essentially on
poration of masters. Christianity, evolved during the Middle Ages. This
University students attended lectures, pre- outlook differed from both the Greco-Roman and
pared for examinations, and earned degrees. They the modern scientific and secular views of the
258 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
existed in a world apart; they were made of the Being, without limitation, and the source of all
divine ether and followed celestial laws, which did existence. God’s revelation reached down to hu-
not apply to earthly objects. Whereas earthly bod- manity through the hierarchical order. From God,
ies underwent change—ice converting to water, a revelation passed to the angels, who were also ar-
burning log converting to ashes—heavenly objects ranged hierarchically. From the angels, the truth
were incorruptible, immune to all change. Unlike reached men and women, grasped first by proph-
earthly objects, they were indestructible. ets and apostles and then by the multitudes. Thus,
Heavenly bodies also followed different laws of all things in the universe, from angels, men, and
motion than earthly objects. Aristotle said that it women to the lowest earthly objects, occupied a
was natural for celestial bodies to move eternally place peculiar to their nature and were linked by
in uniform circles, such motion being considered God in a great, unbroken chain.
a sign of perfection. According to Aristotle, it Medieval individuals derived a sense of secu-
was also natural for heavy bodies (stone) to fall rity from this hierarchical universe, in which the
downward and for light objects (fire, smoke) to human position was clearly defined. Although
move upward toward the celestial world; the fall- they were sinners who dwelt on a corruptible
ing stone and the rising smoke were finding their earth, at the bottom of the cosmic hierarchy, they
natural place in the universe. This view of the uni- could ascend to the higher world of perfection
verse would be shattered by the Scientific Revolu- above the moon. As children of God, they en-
tion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. joyed the unique distinction that each human soul
was precious; all Christians commanded respect,
unless they were heretics. (A heretic forfeited dig-
The Individual: Sinful but Redeemable nity and could be justly executed.)
Medieval thinkers also arranged knowledge in
At the center of medieval belief was the idea of a a hierarchical order: knowledge of the spiritual
perfect God, who had conceived and created the uni- surpassed all worldly knowledge, that is, all the
verse, and wretched and sinful human beings. God sciences. Therefore, the true Christian understood
had given Adam and Eve freedom to choose; rebel- that the pursuit of worldly knowledge could not
lious and presumptuous, they had used their freedom proceed properly unless guided by divine revela-
to disobey God. In doing so, they made evil an intrin- tion. To know what God wanted of the individual
sic part of the human personality. But God, who had was the summit of self-knowledge and permitted
not stopped loving human beings, showed them the entry into heaven. Thus, God was both the source
way out of sin. God became man and died so that and the end of knowledge. The human capacity
human beings might be saved. Men and women to think and to act freely constituted the image of
were weak, egocentric, and sinful. With God’s grace, God within each individual; it ennobled man and
they could overcome their sinful nature and gain sal- woman and offered them the promise of associat-
vation; without grace, they were utterly helpless. ing with God in heaven.
The medieval individual’s understanding of self True, human nobility derived from intelligence
stemmed from a comprehension of the universe as and free will. But if individuals disobeyed God,
a hierarchy instituted by and culminating in God. they brought misery on themselves. To challenge
On earth, the basest objects were lifeless stones the divine will with human will constituted the
devoid of souls; higher than stones were plants, sin of pride, contempt for God, and a violation
endowed with a primitive type of soul, which al- of the divine order. Such sinful behavior invited
lowed for reproduction and growth. Still higher self-destruction.
were animals, which had the capacity for motion In the medieval view, neither nature nor the
and sensation. The highest of the animals were human being could be understood apart from
human beings; unlike other animals, they could God and his revelation. All reality emanated from
grasp some part of universal truth. Far superior God and was purposefully arranged in a spiritual
to them were the angels, for they apprehended hierarchy. Three great expressions of this view of
God’s truth without difficulty. At the summit of life were scholastic philosophy, The Divine Com-
this graduated universe was God, who was pure edy of Dante, and the Gothic cathedral.
260 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
261
Profile
Maimonides at sea with the family’s fortune, Maimonides,
who had read widely in Arabic translations of
Moses ben Maimon, also called by the Greek Greek and Muslim medical works, became a
name Maimonides (1135– 1204), was recog- physician. Gaining a reputation, he served as
nized as the foremost Jewish sage of his day. court physician to Saladin and the Egyptian
His works were also read and respected by royal family.
Muslim and Christian thinkers, including During his lifetime, Maimonides achieved
Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great. Born in fame as a philosopher, theologian, mathemati-
Córdoba, Spain, then under Muslim rule, his cian, and physician. Maimonides was intimately
family was forced to flee the country when the familiar with the works of Arab philosophers
Almohads, a fanatical fundamentalist group and Arabic translations of ancient Greek phi-
from North Africa, conquered Córdoba and losophy, particularly Aristotle. Like Christian
demanded that Jews and Christians convert scholastics and Muslim philosophers, Maimo-
or face death. Maimonides’ family went into nides tried to harmonize faith with reason, to
exile, moving about Spain and then emigrat- reconcile the Hebrew Scriptures and the Tal-
ing to Morocco and later to a suburb of Cairo. mud (Jewish biblical commentary) with the
When his brother David, a merchant, perished teachings of Aristotle.
romances in Western literature. Héloise had a child Abelard believed that it was important to apply
and entered a nunnery; Abelard was castrated on reason to faith and that careful and constant ques-
orders of Canon Fulbert, Héloise’s guardian, and tioning led to wisdom. Since all knowledge derives
sought temporary refuge in a monastery. After from God, said Abelard, it is good to pursue learn-
resuming his career as a teacher in Paris, Abelard ing. In Sic et Non (Yes and No), he took 150 theo-
again had to seek refuge, this time for writing an logical issues and, by presenting passages from the
essay on the Trinity that church officials found Bible and the church fathers, showed that there
offensive. After further difficulties and flights, he were conflicting opinions. He suggested that the di-
again returned to Paris to teach dialectics. Not long vergent opinions of authorities could be reconciled
afterward, his most determined opponent, Bernard through proper use of dialectics (see Primary Source
of Clairvaux, accused Abelard of using the method box). But like Anselm before him, Abelard did not
of dialectical argument to attack faith. To Bernard, intend to refute traditional church doctrines. Reason
a monk and a mystic, subjecting revealed truth to would buttress, not weaken, the authority of faith.
critical analysis was fraught with danger. After his condemnation in 1141, Abelard wrote:
The deepest matters become the subject of un- I will never be a philosopher, if this is to speak
dignified wrangling. . . . Virtues and vices are against St. Paul, I would not be an Aristotle
discussed with no trace of moral feelings, the if this were to separate me from Christ. . . .
sacraments of the Church with no evidence of I have set my building on the cornerstone on
faith, the mystery of the Holy Trinity with no which Christ has built his Church. . . . I rest
spirit of humility or sobriety: all is presented in upon the rock that cannot be moved.5
a distorted form, introduced in a way different
from the one we learned and are used to.4
The Recovery of Aristotle
Hearkening to Bernard’s powerful voice, the During the Early Middle Ages, scholars in the
church condemned Abelard and confined him to Muslim world translated the works of Aristotle
a monastery for the rest of his days. into Arabic and wrote commentaries on them.
262
At various times in the first half of the thirteenth
century, the teaching of Aristotle’s scientific works
was forbidden at the University of Paris. How-
ever, because the ban did not apply throughout
Christendom and was not consistently enforced
Reflecting the value that Jews gave to edu-
in Paris, Aristotle’s philosophy continued to be
cation, Maimonides insisted that every Jewish
studied.
man, whether he be rich or poor, old or young,
healthy or unhealthy, and even if burdened with
family responsibilities, was obliged to study daily
the Hebrew Scriptures. Drawing on the deeply Thomas Aquinas: The Synthesis
ingrained Jewish tradition calling for care for the of Faith and Reason
poor, Maimonides listed eight degrees of alms-
giving. The highest was to help a needy person Rejecting the position of conservatives, who in-
become self-supporting. Just below was giving sisted that philosophy would contaminate faith,
charity in such a way that both the donor and Saint Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225– 1274) upheld
the recipient are unknown to each other. the value of human reason and natural knowl-
In his numerous medical writings, Maimo- edge. He set about reconciling Aristotelianism
nides displayed a scientific bent in treating the with Christianity. Aquinas taught at Paris and at
sick, and to preserve health he urged drink- various institutions in Italy. His greatest work,
ing clean water, breathing fresh air, and eating Summa Theologica, is a systematic exposition of
healthy foods. Christian thought and the crowning expression of
the medieval attempt to integrate Aristotle with
Christianity. As a devout Catholic and member
of the Dominican order, he of course accepted the
The preservation of ancient Greek thought was a truth of revelation. He never used reason to un-
major contribution of Islamic civilization. During dermine faith.
the High Middle Ages, these works were trans- Aquinas divided revealed truth into two cat-
lated into Latin by learned Europeans. egories: beliefs whose truth can be demonstrated
The introduction into Latin Christendom of by reason and beliefs that reason cannot prove to
the major works of Aristotle created a dilemma be either true or false. For example, he believed
for religious authorities. Aristotle’s comprehensive that philosophical speculation could prove the
philosophy of nature and man, a product of hu- existence of God and the immortality of the hu-
man reason alone, conflicted in many instances man soul but could not prove or disprove the
with essential Christian doctrine. For Aristotle, doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the
God was an impersonal principle that accounted Redemption because those articles of faith wholly
for order and motion in the universe, the unmoved surpassed the capacity of human reason. This fact,
mover. For Christianity, not only was God respon- however, did not detract from their certainty. Doc-
sible for order in the physical universe, but he was trines of faith did not require rational proof to be
also a personal being—a loving Father concerned valid. They were true because they originated with
about the deeds of his children. Whereas Chris- God, whose authority is unshakable.
tianity taught that God created the universe at a Can the teachings of faith conflict with the
specific point in time, Aristotle held that the uni- evidence of reason? For Aquinas, the answer was
verse was eternal. Nor did Aristotle believe in the emphatically no. He said that revelation could not
personal immortality of the soul, another cardinal be the enemy of reason because revelation did not
principle of Christianity. For Aristotle, it was im- contradict reason and reason did not corrupt the
possible for the soul to exist independently of the purity of faith. Revelation supplemented and per-
body. fected reason. If there appeared to be a conflict
Some church officials feared that the dissemi- between philosophy and faith, it was certain that
nation of Aristotle’s natural philosophy would en- reason had erred somewhere, for the doctrines
danger faith. Would the teachings of Christ and of faith were infallible. Since both faith and rea-
the church fathers have to answer to pagan phi- son came from God, they were not in competi-
losophy? Would Athens prevail over Jerusalem? tion with each other but, properly understood,
263
264 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
Aquinas gave new importance to the empiri- it was impossible to refute these propositions by
cal world and to scientific speculation and human natural reason alone—that is, without recourse to
knowledge. The traditional medieval view, based faith. For example, by reason alone Aristotle had
largely on Saint Augustine, drew a sharp distinc- demonstrated that the world was eternal and that
tion between the higher world of grace and the the processes of nature were unalterable. The first
lower world of nature, between the world of spirit doctrine conflicted with the Christian belief that
and the world of sense experience. Knowledge de- God created the universe at a point in time; the
rived from the natural world was often seen as an second conflicted with the belief that God could
obstacle to true knowledge. Aquinas altered this work miracles.
tradition by affirming the importance of knowl- But these teachers did not take the next step
edge of the social order and the physical world. and argue that Aristotle was correct and faith
He gave human reason and worldly knowledge a wrong. They maintained only that Aristotle’s ar-
new dignity. Thus, the City of Man was not merely guments could not be refuted by natural reason
a sinful place from which people tried to escape in and that philosophers—as philosophers, not as
order to enter God’s city; it was worthy of investi- Christians—should base their judgments on ra-
gation and understanding. But Aquinas remained tional arguments only, not on miracles and rev-
a medieval thinker, for he always maintained that elation. These strict Aristotelians did not deny
secular knowledge should be supervised and cor- the truths of faith, but they did assert that natu-
rected by revealed truth, and he never questioned ral reason could construct conclusive proofs for
the truth of the medieval Christian view of the propositions that the church had explicitly stated
world and the individual. As historian Steven to be false.
Ozment explains, In 1277, the bishop of Paris condemned 219
propositions, many of them taught by these exposi-
Aquinas brought reason and revelation to- tors of Aristotle at the University of Paris. Included
gether, but strictly as un-equals. . . . In this in the condemnation were some propositions held
union, reason, philosophy, nature, secular man by the great Aquinas. This move attempted to
and the state ultimately had value only in sub- prevent Aristotle’s philosophical naturalism from
servience to the higher goals of revelation, the- undermining Christian beliefs. Consequently, the
ology, grace, religious man, and the church. . . . condemnation was a triumph for conservative
Thomist theology was the most sophisticated theologians, who had grown increasingly worried
statement of the medieval belief in the second- about the inroads made by Aristotelianism. To
ary significance of the lay and secular world, them, even the Christian Aristotelianism of Aqui-
a congenial ideology for a church besieged by nas was suspect, for it could lead people astray,
independent and aggressive secular political endangering their salvation.
powers.7 Condemnations generally hinder the pursuit of
knowledge, but, ironically, the condemnation of
1277 may have had the opposite effect. It led some
Strict Aristotelianism: thinkers to examine critically and reject elements
of Aristotle’s natural philosophy. This develop-
The Challenge to Orthodoxy ment may have served as a prelude to modern sci-
Some teachers in the Faculty of Arts at Paris, rely- ence, which, born in the sixteenth and seventeenth
ing heavily on the commentaries of Averroës, the centuries, grew out of a rejection of Aristotelian
great Muslim thinker (see page 208), found Aqui- physics.
nas’s approach of Christianizing or explaining
away Aristotle unacceptable. Unlike Aquinas, they
did not seek to reconcile Aristotle’s philosophy SCIENCE
with Christian dogma. They held that certain
Aristotelian propositions contradicting faith During the Early Middle Ages, few scientific
were philosophically true, or at least could not works from the ancient world were available to
be proven false. These teachers maintained that Western Europeans. Scientific thought was at its
266 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
lowest ebb since its origination more than a thou- Showing a modern-day approach, Albert ap-
sand years earlier in Greece. By contrast, both proved of inquiry into the material world, stressed
Islamic and Byzantine civilizations preserved the value of knowledge derived from experience
and, in some instances, added to the legacy of with nature, sought rational explanations for
Greek science. In the High Middle Ages, how- natural occurrences, and held that theological de-
ever, many ancient texts were translated from bates should not stop scientific investigations. He
Greek and Arabic into Latin and entered Latin pointed to a new direction in medieval thought.
Christendom for the first time. The principal Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175–1253), chancellor
centers of translation were Spain, where Chris- of Oxford University, was also a scholar of the sci-
tian and Muslim civilizations intersected, and entific movement. He declared that the roundness
Sicily, which had been controlled by Byzantium of the earth could be demonstrated by reason. In
up to the last part of the ninth century and then addition, he insisted that mathematics was neces-
by Islam until Christian Normans completed the sary in order to understand the physical world,
conquest of the island by 1091. Often learned and he carried out experiments on the refraction
Jews, who knew both Arabic and Latin, served of light.
as translators. These translations of ancient Another Englishman, the monk and philoso-
Greek scientific works and of Arabic commen- pher Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294), foreshadowed
taries stimulated interest in nature. the modern attitude of using science to gain mas-
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a tery over nature. He recognized the practical ad-
genuine scientific movement did occur. Impressed vantages that might come and predicted these
with the naturalistic and empirical approach of great changes.
Aristotle, some medieval scholars spent time ex-
amining physical nature. Among them was the Machines for navigation can be made without
Dominican Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus). rowers so that the largest ships on rivers or
Born in Germany, Albert (c. 1206–1280) studied seas will be moved by a single man in charge
at Padua and taught at the University of Paris, with greater velocity than if they were full of
where Thomas Aquinas was his student. To men. Also oars can be made so that without
Albert, philosophy meant more than employing animals they will move with unbelievable
Greek reason to contemplate divine wisdom; it rapidity. . . . Also flying machines can be con-
also meant making sense of nature. Albert devoted structed so that a man sits in the midst of the
himself to mastering, editing, and commenting on machine revolving some engine by which arti-
the vast body of Aristotle’s works. ficial wings are made to beat the air like a fly-
While retaining the Christian stress on God, ing bird. Also a machine small in size can be
revelation, the supernatural, and the afterlife, made for walking in the sea and rivers, even
Albert (unlike many earlier Christian thinkers) to the bottom without danger.9
considered nature a valid field for investigation.
In his writings on geology, chemistry, botany, and Bacon valued the study of mathematics and
zoology, Albert, like Aristotle, displayed respect read Arabic works on the reflection and refrac-
for the concrete details of nature, utilizing them as tion of light. Among his achievements were ex-
empirical evidence. periments in optics and the observation that light
travels much faster than sound. His description
I have examined the anatomy of different spe- of the anatomy of the vertebrate eye and optic
cies of bees. In the rear, i.e. behind the waist, nerves was the finest of that era, and he recom-
I discovered a transparent, shining bladder. If mended dissecting the eyes of pigs and cows to
you test this with your tongue, you find that obtain greater knowledge of the subject.
it has a slight taste of honey. In the body there The study of the ancient texts of Hippocrates
is only an insignificant spiral-shaped intestine and Galen and their Islamic commentators, par-
and nerve fibers which are connected with ticularly Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine, which
the sting. All this is surrounded with a sticky synthesized Greek and Arabic medicine, elevated
fluid.8 medicine to a formal discipline. Although these
The Recovery of Roman Law ❖ 267
texts contained numerous errors and contradic- In the fourteenth century, Jean Buridan, a pro-
tions, they had to be mastered, if only to be chal- fessor at the University of Paris, rejected Aristotle’s
lenged, before modern medicine could emerge. theory. Buridan argued that the bowstring trans-
In addition, medieval doctors dissected animals mits to the arrow a force called impetus, which
and, in the late fourteenth century, human bod- keeps the arrow in motion. Whereas Aristotle at-
ies. From practical experience, medieval doctors, tributed the arrow’s motion to the air, which was
monks, and laypeople added to the list of plants external to the arrow, Buridan found the motive
and herbs that would ease pain and heal. force to be an agent imparted to the arrow by
Medieval scholars did not make the break- the bowstring. Though still far from the modern
through to modern science. They kept the belief theory of inertia, Buridan’s impetus theory was an
that the earth was at the center of the universe advance over Aristotle’s air-engine. In the impetus
and that different sets of laws operated on earth theory, a moving body requires a cause to keep it
and in the heavens. Although some medieval in motion. In the theory of inertia, as noted above,
thinkers explicitly urged seeking natural ex- once a body is in motion, no force is required to
planations to account for physical occurrences, keep it moving in a straight line.
medieval science was never wholly removed Late medieval physics went beyond Aristotle
from a theological setting. Modern science self- in other ways as well, particularly in the impor-
consciously seeks the advancement of specifically tance given to expressing motion mathematically.
scientific knowledge, but in the Middle Ages The extent to which late medieval thinkers influ-
many questions involving nature were raised enced the thinkers of the Scientific Revolution is
merely to clarify a religious problem. a matter of debate. Some historians view modern
Medieval scholars and philosophers, how- science as a child of the Middle Ages. Other his-
ever, did advance knowledge about optics, the torians believe that the achievements of medieval
tides, and mechanics. They saw the importance science were slim and that modern science owes
of mathematics for interpreting nature, and they very little to the Middle Ages.
performed some experiments. By translating and
commenting on ancient Greek and Arabic works,
medieval scholars provided future ages with ideas THE RECOVERY OF ROMAN LAW
to reflect on and to reject and surpass, a neces-
sary precondition for the emergence of modern During the Early Middle Ages, Western European
science. law essentially consisted of Germanic customs,
Medieval thinkers also developed an anti- some of which had been written down. Although
Aristotelian physics, which some historians of some elements of Roman law endured as custom,
science believe influenced Galileo, the creator of the formal study of Roman law disappeared. The
modern mechanics, more than two centuries later. late eleventh and the twelfth centuries saw the
To explain why heavy objects do not always fall revival of Roman law, particularly in Bologna,
downward— why an arrow released by a bow Italy. Irnerius lectured on the Corpus Juris Civilis,
moves in a straight line before it falls—Aristotle Roman laws and judicial commentaries codified
said that when the arrow leaves the bow, it sepa- by Byzantine jurists in the sixth century by order
rates the air, which then moves behind the arrow of the emperor Justinian. He made Bologna the
and pushes it along. Aristotle, of course, had no leading center for the study of Roman law. Irne-
comprehension of the law of inertia, which, as rius and his students applied to the study of law
formulated by Isaac Newton in the seventeenth the methods of organization and logical analysis
century, states that a body in motion will continue that scholastic theologians used in studying philo-
in a straight line unless interfered with. Unable to sophical texts.
imagine that being in motion is as natural a con- Unlike traditional Germanic law, which was
dition as being at rest, Aristotle concluded that essentially tribal law, Roman law assumed the
an outside force must maintain continual contact existence of universal principles, which could be
with the moving object. Hence, the flying arrow grasped by the human intellect and expressed in the
requires the “air-engine” to keep it in motion. law of the state. Roman jurists had systematically
268 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
and rationally structured the legal experience of Poor or errant students who had given up their
the Roman people. The example of Roman law studies roamed the roads as free spirits. These
stimulated medieval jurists to organize their own vagabonds sometimes composed poetry that ridi-
legal tradition. Intellectuals increasingly came to culed clerics and sang the praises of wine, gam-
insist on both a rational analysis of evidence and bling, and women.
judicial decisions based on rational procedures.
Law codes compiled in parts of France and Ger- Down the highway-broad I walk,
many and in the kingdom of Castile were influ- Like a youth in mind,
enced by the recovery of Roman law. Implicate myself in vice,
Roman law also influenced church law, which Virtue stays behind,
was derived from the Bible, the church fathers, Avid for the world’s delight
church councils, and the decisions of popes. In the More than for salvation,
last part of the eleventh century, church scholars Dead in soul, I care but for
began to codify church (or canon) law and were Body’s exultation.12
helped by the Roman legal tradition.
Vernacular literature emerged in the High Middle
Ages. The French chansons de geste—epic poems of
LITERATURE heroic deeds that had first been told orally—were
written in the vernacular of northern France. The
Medieval literature was written both in Latin and poems dealt with Charlemagne’s battles against the
in the vernacular—the normal spoken language, Muslims, with rebellious nobles, and with feudal
as distinct from the language of learning. Much warfare. The finest of these epic poems, The Song of
of medieval Latin literature consisted of religious Roland, expressed the feudal ethic: loyalty to one’s
hymns and dramas depicting the life of Christ and lord and devotion to Christianity were the highest
saints. virtues and treachery an unpardonable crime.
Medieval university students, like their modern The Nibelungenlied, the best expression of the
counterparts, lampooned their elders and social heroic epic in Germany, is often called “the Iliad
conventions, engaged in drinking bouts, and re- of the Germans.” Like its French counterpart, it
belled against the rigors of study. They put their dealt with heroic feats.
feelings into poetry written in Latin. For them,
youth and study did not mix. In stories of our fathers, high marvels we are
told
Let’s away with study, Of champions well-approved in perils
Folly’s sweet. manifold.
Treasure all the pleasure of our youth: Of feasts and merry meetings, of weeping and
Time enough for age of wail,
To think of Truth. And deeds of gallant daring I’ll tell you in my
So short a day, tale.13
And life so quickly hasting
And is study wasting The roman—a blending of old legends, chival-
Youth that would be gay!10 ric ideals, and Christian concepts—combined love
with adventure, war, and the miraculous. Among
And, of course, their thoughts turned to romance. the romans were the tales of King Arthur and his
Round Table. Circulating by word of mouth for
All I care for is to play, centuries, these tales spread from the British Isles
Gaze upon my treasure, to France and Germany.
Now and then to touch her hand, Another form of medieval poetry, which flour-
Kiss in modest measure; ished particularly in Provence, in southern France,
But the fifth act of love’s game, dealt with the romantic glorification of women.
Dream not of that pleasure!11 Sung by troubadours, many of them nobles, the
Literature ❖ 269
courtly love poetry expressed a changing atti- Ladies demanded that knights treat them with
tude toward women. Although medieval men gentleness and consideration and that knights
generally regarded women as inferior and sub- dress neatly, bathe often, play instruments, and
ordinate, courtly love poetry ascribed to noble compose (or at least recite) poetry. To prove wor-
ladies superior qualities of virtue. To the noble- thy of his lady’s love, a knight had to demonstrate
man, the lady became a goddess worthy of devo- patience, charm, bravery, and loyalty. It was be-
tion, loyalty, and worship. He would honor her lieved that a knight would ennoble his character
and serve her as he did his lord; for her love, he by devoting himself to a lady.
would undergo any sacrifice. Troubadours sang Courtly love involved not a husband–wife rela-
love songs that praised ladies for their beauty tionship but a noble’s admiration and yearning for
and charm and expressed both the joys and the another woman of his class. Among nobles, mar-
pains of love. riages were arranged for political and economic rea-
sons. The rituals of courtly love, it has been suggested,
I sing of her, yet her beauty provided an outlet for erotic feelings condemned by
is greater than I can tell, the church. They also enhanced the skills and refined
with her fresh color, lively eyes, the tastes of the noble. The rough warrior acquired
and white skin, untanned wit, manners, charm, and a facility with words. He
and untainted by rouge. was becoming a courtier and a gentleman.
270 ❖ 11 The Flowering of Medieval Culture: The Christian Synthesis
ARCHITECTURE
T H E V I S I T A T I O N , WE S T P O R T A L , R E I M S
C ATHEDRAL , C . 1225–1245. The reflection Two styles of architecture evolved during the
of Roman art exhibited by these statues of the Middle Ages: Romanesque and Gothic. The
expectant mothers (Mary and Elizabeth) of Jesus Romanesque style dominated the eleventh century
and John the Baptist suggests that the sculptor was and the greater part of the twelfth. In imitation
well versed in the classical tradition. The carving of ancient Roman structures, Romanesque build-
of the draperies and the poses of the figures reveal ings used massive walls to support stone barrel-
classical traits, but instead of being idealizations, and- groin vaults with rounded arches. Thick
the figures display human warmth. (Scala/Art Resource/N.Y.) walls were needed to hold up the great weight
of the roofs. Because the walls had few spaces
for windows, little light entered the interior of
Romanesque buildings.
The greatest literary figure of the Middle Ages The development of the pointed arch permitted
was Dante Alighieri (1265– 1321) of Florence. supports that lessened the bearing pressure of the
Dante appreciated the Roman classics and wrote roof on the walls. This new style, called Gothic,
not just in Latin, the traditional language of intel- allowed buildings to have lofty, vaulted ceilings
lectual life, but also in Italian, his native tongue. and huge windows, which permitted sunlight to
In this respect, he anticipated the Renaissance. flood the interior. Whereas Romanesque build-
In the tradition of the troubadours, Dante wrote ings produced an impression of massive solidity,
poems to his beloved Beatrice. Gothic buildings created an illusion of lightness
Notes ❖ 271
and upward motion. The Gothic cathedral gave Only in an age of intense religious faith could
visual expression to the medieval conception of a such energy have been spent to glorify God. These
hierarchical universe. As the historian Joan Gadol vast building projects, many of them in northern
puts it, “Inside and out, the Gothic cathedral is France, were made possible by economic prosper-
one great movement upward through a mount- ity. Funds were raised from a variety of sources.
ing series of grades, one ascent through horizon- Cathedrals owned income-producing properties,
tal levels marked by arches, galleries, niches, and such as farmland, mills, and forests, and received
towers. . . . [T]he material ascends to the spiritual, donations from pilgrims visiting the relics of
the natural is assumed into the supernatural—all famous saints. Clerics also collected tolls and taxes
in a graduated rise.”16 This illusion of upward on goods shipped to fairs through their region.
reach to the heavens is created by the tall and nar- The Gothic style was to remain vigorous until
row proportions of the interior spaces, the spring- the fifteenth century, spreading from France to
ing pointed arches, and the marching patterns of England, Germany, Spain, and beyond. Revived
closely spaced columns and colonnettes. from time to time thereafter, it has proved to be
The magnificently designed stained-glass win- one of the most enduring styles in Western art and
dows and complex sculptural decoration of Gothic architecture.
cathedrals depicted scenes from the Bible and the Not too long ago, some intellectuals viewed
lives of saints, as well as scenes from daily life, for the Middle Ages as a period of ignorance and su-
the worshipers, many of whom were illiterate. The perstition, an era of cultural sterility that stood
reduction of wall space, which allowed these mas- between the high civilizations of ancient Greece
sive glass illustrations, was made possible by the and Rome and the modern West. This view of the
flying buttresses on the buildings’ exteriors. These Middle Ages as a dark age has been abandoned,
great arcs of masonry carry the weight and thrust and quite properly so, for the High Middle Ages
of the stone vaults out to the exterior walls. The saw the crystallization of a rich and creative civi-
light cage of buttresses surrounding the cathedral lization. To be sure, its religious orientation sets
makes the exterior silhouette appear as airy and it apart both from classical civilization and from
diffuse as the interior spaces. The architects and our own modern secular and scientific civiliza-
builders thought only of honoring God, not them- tion. But the Summa Theologica of Aquinas, The
selves; their identity remains a mystery. Divine Comedy of Dante, and the Gothic cathe-
Gothic cathedrals took many decades to com- dral all attest to the creativeness and genius of the
plete and required donations from the devout. medieval religious spirit.
❖ ❖ ❖
■
■
An Age of Adversity
The Decline of the Papacy
The Breakup of the Thomistic
B y the start of the fourteenth century, Latin
Christendom had experienced more than
250 years of growth. On an economic
level, agricultural production had expanded, com-
merce and town life had revived, and the popula-
Synthesis tion had increased. On a political level, kings had
■ The Middle Ages and the become more powerful, bringing greater order
and security to large areas. On a religious level,
Modern World: Continuity and the papacy had demonstrated its strength as the
Discontinuity spiritual leader of Christendom, and the clergy
had been reformed. On a cultural level, a unified
worldview, blending faith and reason, had been
forged.
Focus Questions During the Late Middle Ages, roughly the
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, medieval
1. Why is the fourteenth century described civilization was in decline. The fourteenth century,
an age of adversity, was marked by crop failures,
as an age of adversity?
famine, population decline, plagues, stagnating
2. What led to the decline of the medieval production, unemployment, inflation, devastating
papacy? What is the historical warfare, and abandoned villages. Violent rebel-
significance of this development? lions by the poor of the towns and countryside
3. What is the significance of thinkers who were ruthlessly suppressed by the upper classes.
The century witnessed flights into mysticism, out-
challenged the Thomistic synthesis?
breaks of mass hysteria, and massacres of Jews; it
4. What is the legacy of the Middle Ages to was an age of pessimism and general insecurity.
the modern world? The papacy declined in power, heresy proliferated,
5. How does the characteristic outlook of and the synthesis of faith and reason, erected by
the Middle Ages differ from that of the Christian thinkers during the High Middle Ages,
began to disintegrate. These developments were
modern age?
signs that the stable and coherent civilization of
the thirteenth century was drawing to a close.
But all was not decline and gloom. On the pos-
itive side, representative institutions developed,
and thinkers showed a greater interest in the
world of nature. And in Italy, the dynamic forces
of urbanism and secularism were producing a pe-
riod of cultural and humanistic flowering known
as the Renaissance.
AN AGE OF ADVERSITY
Economic Problems, the Black Death,
and Social Tension
In the Late Middle Ages, Latin Christendom was
afflicted with severe economic problems. The ear-
lier increases in agricultural production did not
continue. Limited use of fertilizers and limited
knowledge of conservation exhausted the topsoil.
274
Chronology 12.1 ❖ The Late Middle Ages
1303 The French attack papal summer palace at Anagni
1309–1377 Babylonian Captivity: the popes, all French, reside at Avignon and are
influenced by the French monarchy
1323–1328 Peasants’ Revolt in Flanders
1328 End of France’s Capetian dynasty; Edward III of England tries to gain the
French throne
1337–1453 Hundred Years’ War between England and France
1346 Battle of Crécy: the English defeat the French
1347–1351 Black Death reaches Italian ports and ravages Europe
1356 Battle of Poitiers: the English defeat the French
1358 Jacquerie, the French peasants’ revolt
1377 Pope Gregory XI returns papacy to Rome
1378 Florentine laborers revolt
1378–1417 Great Schism: Christendom has two and then three popes
1381 English peasants revolt
1382 Weavers revolt in Ghent
1415 Battle of Agincourt: Henry V of England defeats the French; Jan Hus,
a Bohemian religious reformer, is burned at the stake
1429 Joan of Arc liberates Orléans
1431 Joan of Arc is condemned as a witch
1453 The English are driven from France, except Calais: end of the Hundred
Years’ War
1460 Pope Pius II condemns the Conciliar Movement as heretical
As more grazing land was converted to the in sinking deeper shafts in mines, led to the de-
cultivation of cereals, animal husbandry decreased, basement of coins and spiraling inflation, which
causing a serious shortage of manure needed hurt the feudal nobility in particular. Prices for
for arable land. Intermittent bouts of prolonged manufactured luxury goods, which the nobility
heavy rains and frost also hampered agriculture. craved, rose rapidly. At the same time, the dues
From 1301 to 1314, there was a general shortage that the nobility collected from peasants dimin-
of food, and from 1315 to 1317, famine struck ished. To replace their revenues, lords and knights
Europe. People subsisted by scavenging. On roads turned to plunder and warfare.
and in villages, people died of starvation, and the Compounding the economic crisis was the
dead remained unattended. Throughout the cen- Black Death, or bubonic plague, a bacillus carried
tury, starvation and malnutrition were widespread. by fleas on black rats. The disease probably first
In Bruges, for example, two thousand of the town’s struck Mongolia in 1331–1332, and from there
thirty-five thousand inhabitants died of starvation. it crossed into Russia. Carried back from Black
Other economic problems abounded. Sea ports, the plague reached Sicily in 1347 and
A shortage of silver, caused by technical problems then spread swiftly throughout much of Europe
275
Primary Source
John Wycliff: Concerning the this, from the time that he is made pope to
the time of his death, covets worldly wealth
Pope’s Power and tries in many shrewd ways to gain riches.
Christ was a most meek man and urged that
John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384), a respected English we learn from Him, but people say that the
theologian challenged the church’s core doctrine pope is the proudest man on earth, and he
that salvation was attainable only by adhering makes lords kiss his feet, whereas Christ
to its sacraments as administered by the clergy. washed His apostles’ feet. Christ was a
Anticipating the Protestant Reformation of the most unpretentious man in life, deeds, and
sixteenth century, Wycliffe maintained that in- words. People say that this pope is not like
spiration from Scripture, not obedience to the Christ in this way, for whereas Christ went
church, was the path to salvation. He specifically on foot to cities and little towns alike, they
rejected the church doctrine that the clergy were say this pope desires to live in a castle in a
indispensable intermediaries between human grand manner. Whereas Christ came to John
beings and God. In calling for a return to the the Baptist to be baptized by him, the pope
spiritual purity of the early Christians, he summons people to come to him wherever he
attacked the luxurious life style of bishops and might be, yea, as though Christ Himself, and
the pope. The following text, originally written in not the pope, had summoned them to Him.
Middle English, was rendered into Modern Eng- Christ embraced young and poor in token of
lish by Alfred J. Andrea. his humility; people say that the pope desires
to embrace worldly prestige and not good
Christ was a very poor man from His birth people for the sake of God, lest he dishonor
to His death and forswore worldly riches himself. Christ was busy preaching the Gos-
and begging . . . but Antichrist, in contrast to pel, and not for worldly prestige or for profit;
through human contact. Some historians contend frenzied forms of religious life. Confidence in the
that the Black Death may have consisted of two church declined as many priests fled, depriving the
diseases, the bubonic plague and anthrax, which sick of spiritual comfort and the dying of last rites.
was transmitted by eating meat from diseased Organized bands of flagellants marched from
cattle. The first crisis lasted until 1351, and other region to region beating themselves and one an-
serious outbreaks occurred in later decades. The other with sticks and whips in a desperate effort to
crowded cities and towns, where sewage made appease God, who, they believed, had cursed them
rats more fecund, had the highest mortality rate— with the plague. Expressing the pervasive gloom
as much as sixty percent. Perhaps twenty million and pessimism of these times, art concentrated on
people—about one-quarter to one-third of the Eu- morbid scenes of decaying flesh, open graves laden
ropean population—perished in the worst disaster with worm- eaten corpses— even the Madonna
in recorded history caused by natural forces. Con- was represented as a corpse being eaten by snakes
temporaries viewed the disaster as divine punish- and frogs—dances of death, and the torments of
ment for humanity’s sins. hell. Sometimes this hysteria was directed against
Overwhelmed by terror, people abandoned their Jews, who were accused of causing the plague by
sick children, spouses, and parents. Panic-stricken poisoning wells. Terrible massacres of Jews, often
people drifted into debauchery, lawlessness, and by mass burnings, occurred despite the pleas of the
276
people say that the pope allows this, but he acts contrary to this. His life is not an exam-
would gladly make laws to which he gives ple of how other people should live, for no
more prestige and sanction than Christ’s law. one should live like him, inasmuch as he acts
Christ so loved His flock that He laid down in a manner that accords to his high state. In
his life for them and suffered sharp pain and every deed and word, Christ sought the glory
death in order to bring them to bliss. People of God and suffered many assaults on His
say that the pope so loves the prestige of this manhood for this goal; people say that the
world that he grants people absolution that pope, to the contrary, seeks his own glory in
guarantees a straight path to Heaven so that every way, yea, even if it means the loss of
they might perform acts that redound to his the worship of God. And so he manufactures
honor. And so this foolishiness could be the many groundless gabblings.
cause of the death, in body and soul, of many If these and similar accusations are true of
thousands of people. And how does he follow the pope of Rome, he is the very Antichrist
Christ in this way? Christ was so patient and and not Christ’s vicar on earth.
suffered wrongs so well that He prayed for
His enemies and taught His apostles not to
take vengeance. People say that the pope of
Questions for Analysis
Rome wishes to be avenged in every way, by 1. Why was John Wycliffe critical of the church?
killing and by damning and by other painful 2. Why did the church regard his teachings as
means that he devises. Christ taught people a serious threat to its mission?
to live well by the example of His own life
and by His words, for He did what He taught Source: From Alfred Andrea, The Medieval Record, 1E. © 1997
and taught in a manner that was consonant Wadsworth, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc. Reproduced by
with His actions. People say that the pope permission. www.cengage.com/permissions.
papacy. Whole Jewish communities in Germany 1349 required peasants to work for lords at fixed
and Switzerland were exterminated. Invited by wages. Similar regulations of wages in German,
Duke Casimir II, who hoped they would stimulate Spanish, and Portuguese principalities aggravated
economic activity, many Jews fled to Poland. tensions between peasants and nobles.
The millions of deaths caused production of Economic and social tensions, some of them
food and goods to plummet. However, depopula- antedating the Black Death, escalated into rebel-
tion was a boon for surviving artisans, who found lions. Each rebellion had its own specific causes,
opportunities and higher wages in depopulated but a general pattern characterized the uprisings
towns desperate for skilled workers. A dimin- in the countryside. When kings and lords, break-
ishing labor pool also benefited peasants, who ing with customary social relationships, imposed
were able to attain lighter burdens from strapped new and onerous regulations, the peasants rose
lords, and free peasants who toiled as laborers de- in defense of their traditional rights. No doubt
manded higher wages. The combination of lower their revolt was also fueled by an instinctive ha-
agricultural prices and increasing wages hurt aris- tred for the haughty lords, who, for centuries,
tocratic landowners. As their agricultural income had treated peasants with contempt. In 1323,
lessened, nobles tried to make peasants bear the the lords’ attempt to reimpose old manorial ob-
brunt of the crisis. A law decreed in England in ligations infuriated the free peasants of Flanders,
277
278 ❖ 12 The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Dissolution
and imprisoned by the English, and in 1431 she If the earthly power errs, it shall be judged by
was condemned as a heretic and a witch by a the spiritual power . . . but [the pope] can be
hand-picked church court and was burned at the judged only by God not by man. . . . Whoever
stake. Inspired by Joan’s death, the French drove therefore resists this power so ordained by God
the English from all French territory except the resists the ordinance of God. . . . Therefore, we
port of Calais. declare, state, define, and pronounce that it is al-
During the Hundred Years’ War, French kings together necessary to salvation for every human
introduced new taxes, which added substantially creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.2
to their incomes. These monies furnished them
with the means to organize a professional army But in trying to enforce this idea of papal suprem-
of well-paid, loyal troops. By evoking a sense of acy on proud and increasingly powerful kings,
pride and oneness in the French people, the war Boniface suffered defeat and humiliation.
also contributed to a growing, but still incomplete, Philip IV of France (1285– 1314) taxed the
national unity. The English, too, emerged from the church in his land to raise revenue for war. In doing
war with a greater sense of solidarity, and Parlia- so, he disregarded the church prohibition against
ment, because it had to finance the war, gained the taxing of its property without papal permis-
in stature. However, the war had horrendous con- sion. In 1296, in the bull Clericis Laicos, Pope
sequences for the French peasants. Thousands of Boniface VIII decreed that kings and lords who
farmers were killed, and valuable farmland was imposed taxes on the clergy and the clergy who
destroyed by English armies and marauding bands paid them would be excommunicated. Far from
of mercenaries. In a portentous development, the bowing to the pope’s threat, Philip acted forcefully
later stages of the Hundred Years’ War saw the to assert authority over the church in his kingdom.
use of gunpowder and heavy artillery. Boniface backed down from his position, declar-
ing that the French king could tax the clergy in
times of national emergency. Thus, the matter was
THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY resolved to the advantage of the state.
A second dispute had more disastrous conse-
The principal sign of breakdown in the Late quences for Boniface. Philip tried and imprisoned
Middle Ages was the waning authority and pres- a French bishop despite Boniface’s warning that
tige of the papacy. In the High Middle Ages, this was an illegal act and a violation of church
the papacy had been the dominant institution law and tradition, which held that the church, not
in Christendom, but in the Late Middle Ages, the state, must judge the clergy. Philip summoned
its power disintegrated. The medieval ideal of a the first meeting of the Estates General to gain the
unified Christian commonwealth guided by the backing of the nation. Shortly afterward, Boniface
papacy was shattered. Papal authority declined threatened to excommunicate Philip. The out-
in the face of the growing power of kings, who raged monarch raided the papal summer palace
championed the parochial interests of states. The at Anagni in September 1303 and captured the
papacy’s prestige and its capacity to lead dimin- pope. Although Boniface was released, this shock-
ished as it became more embroiled in European ing event proved too much for him, and a month
politics. Many pious Christians felt that the pope later he died.
behaved more like a secular ruler than like an Boniface’s two successors, Benedict XI (1303–
Apostle of Christ. Political theorists and church 1304) and Clement V (1305–1314), tried to con-
reformers further undermined papal authority. ciliate Philip. In particular, Clement decided to
remain at Avignon, a town on the southeastern
French frontier, where he had set up a temporary
Conflict with France residence.
From 1309 to 1377, a period known as the
Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) vigorously upheld Babylonian Captivity, the popes were all French
papal claims to supremacy over secular rulers. In the and resided in Avignon, not Rome. During this
famous bull Unam Sanctam (1302), he declared: time, the papacy, removed from Rome and
280 ❖ 12 The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Dissolution
reformers who questioned the function and THE BREAKUP OF THE THOMISTIC
authority of the entire church hierarchy. These
heretics in the Late Middle Ages were forerun- SYNTHESIS
ners of the Protestant Reformation. The two
principal dissenters were the Englishman John In the Late Middle Ages, the papacy lost power
Wycliffe (c. 1320– 1384) and the Czech Jan as kings, political theorists, and religious dis-
Hus (c. 1369–1415). senters challenged papal claims to supreme
By stressing a personal relationship between leadership. The great theological synthesis
the individual and God and by claiming that the constructed by the scholastic theologians of
Bible itself, rather than church teachings, is the the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was also
ultimate Christian authority, Wycliffe, a respected breaking down. The process of fragmentation
English theologian teaching at the University of evident in the history of the church took place
Oxford, challenged the fundamental position of in philosophy as well.
the medieval church: that the avenue to salvation Saint Thomas Aquinas’s system culminated the
passed through the church alone. He argued that scholastic attempt to show the basic agreement of
Scripture, which was the final authority, needed philosophy and religion. In the fourteenth century,
no further development by church authorities a number of thinkers cast doubt on the possibility
and that the sacraments are not necessary for of synthesizing Aristotelianism and Christianity,
salvation. He denounced the wealth of the higher that is, reason and faith. Consequently, philoso-
clergy and sought a return to the spiritual pu- phy grew more analytical and critical. Denying
rity and material poverty of the early church. To that reason could demonstrate the truth of Chris-
Wycliffe, the wealthy, elaborately organized hier- tian doctrines with certainty, philosophers tried to
archy of the church was unnecessary and wrong. separate reason from faith. Whereas Aquinas had
The splendidly dressed and propertied bishops said that reason proved or clarified much of rev-
bore no resemblance to the simple people who elation, fourteenth-century thinkers asserted that
first followed Christ. Indeed, these worldly bish- the basic propositions of Christianity were not
ops, headed by a princely and tyrannical pope, open to rational proof. Whereas Aquinas had held
were really anti-Christians, the “fiends of Hell.” that faith supplemented and perfected reason,
Wycliffe wanted the state to confiscate church some philosophers were now proclaiming that
property and the clergy to embrace poverty. By reason often contradicted faith.
denying that priests changed the bread and wine Duns Scotus (1265–1308), a Scottish Francis-
of Communion into the substance of the body can, held that human reason cannot prove that
and blood of Christ, Wycliffe rejected the special God is omnipotent, that he forgives sins, that he
powers of the clergy. rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked,
In Bohemia, Wycliffe’s ideas were enthusiasti- or that the soul is immortal. These Christian doc-
cally received by Czech reformers led by Jan Hus. trines, which scholastic philosophers believed
Like Wycliffe, Hus advocated vernacular trans- could be proven by reason, were for Scotus the
lations of the Bible, which would be accessible province of revelation and faith, not reason.
to common people, and he upbraided the upper To be sure, this new outlook did not urge
clergy for their luxury and immorality. abandoning faith in favor of reason. Faith had to
Both movements were declared heretical. The prevail in any conflict with reason because faith
church deprived the Lollards—an order of poor rested on God, the highest authority in the uni-
priests that spread Wycliffe’s teachings—of their verse. But the relationship between reason and
priestly functions. In the early fifteenth century, revelation was altered. Articles of faith, it was now
some of Wycliffe’s followers were burned at the held, had nothing to do with reason; they were to
stake, as was Jan Hus. Nevertheless, the church be believed, not proved. Reason was not an aid
could not crush the dissenters’ followers or eradi- to theology but a separate sphere of activity. This
cate their teachings. To some extent, the doctrines new attitude snapped the link between reason
of the Reformation would parallel the teachings and faith that Aquinas had so skillfully forged.
of Wycliffe. The scholastic synthesis was disintegrating.
The Middle Ages and the Modern World: Continuity and Discontinuity ❖ 283
The chief proponent of the new outlook was writings of Greek and Arabic thinkers, medieval
William of Ockham (c. 1285–1349). In contrast scholars preserved a priceless intellectual heritage
to Aquinas, Ockham insisted that natural reason without which the modern mind could never have
could not prove God’s existence, the soul’s immor- evolved. In addition, numerous strands connect
tality, or any other essential Christian doctrine. the thought of the scholastics and that of early
Reason could say only that God probably exists modern philosophers.
and that he probably endowed humankind with Feudal traditions lasted long after the Middle
an immortal soul. But it could not prove these Ages. Up to the French Revolution, for instance,
propositions with certainty. The tenets of faith French aristocrats enjoyed special privileges and
were beyond the reach of reason, said Ockham; exercised power over local government. In Eng-
there was no rational foundation to Christianity. land, the aristocracy controlled local government
For Ockham, reason and faith did not necessarily until the Industrial Revolution transformed Eng-
complement each other as they did for Aquinas; lish society in the nineteenth century. Retaining
it was neither possible nor helpful to join reason the medieval ideal of the noble warrior, aristo-
to faith. Ockham, however, sought not to under- crats continued to dominate the officer corps of
mine faith—only to disengage it from reason. European armies through the nineteenth century
In the process of proclaiming the authority of and even into the twentieth. Aristocratic notions
theology, Ockham furthered the use of reason to of duty, honor, loyalty, and courtly love have en-
comprehend nature. His approach, separating dured into our own day.
natural knowledge from religious dogma, made During the Middle Ages, Europeans began to
it easier to explore the natural world empirically take the lead over the Muslims, the Byzantines,
without fitting it into a religious framework. Thus, the Chinese, and all other peoples in the use of
Ockham is a forerunner of the modern mentality, technology. Medieval technology and inventive-
which is characterized by a separation of reason ness stemmed in part from Christianity, which
from religion and an interest in the empirical in- taught that God had created the world specifi-
vestigation of nature. cally for human beings to subdue and exploit.
Consequently, medieval people tried to employ
animal power and labor-saving machinery to re-
THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE lieve human drudgery. Moreover, Christianity
MODERN WORLD: CONTINUITY taught that God was above nature, not within it,
so the Christians faced no spiritual obstacle to ex-
AND DISCONTINUITY ploiting nature—unlike, for instance, the Hindus.
In contrast to classical humanism, the Christian
Medieval civilization began to decline in the four- outlook did not consider manual work degrading;
teenth century, but no “dark age” comparable to even monks combined it with study.
the three centuries following Rome’s fall descended The Christian stress on the sacred worth of the
on Europe; its economic and political institutions individual (each person had an immortal soul that
and technological skills had grown too strong. In- was God’s concern), on human equality (differ-
stead, the waning of the Middle Ages opened up ences in rank and birth were of no account to God
possibilities for another stage in Western civiliza- on Judgment Day), and on the higher law of God
tion: the modern age. (divine precepts had a greater pull on conscience
The modern world is linked to the Middle than did the state’s laws) has never ceased to in-
Ages in innumerable ways. European cities, the fluence Western civilization. Even though in mod-
middle class, the state system, English common ern times the various Christian churches have not
law, universities— all had their origins in the often taken the lead in political and social reform,
Middle Ages. During medieval times, important the ideals identified with the Judeo- Christian
advances were made in business practices, includ- tradition have become part of the Western heri-
ing partnerships, systematic bookkeeping, and the tage. As such, they have inspired social reformers
bill of exchange, which paved the way for modern who may no longer identify with their ancestral
banking. By translating and commenting on the religion.
284 ❖ 12 The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Dissolution
In structuring canon (church) law into a coher- is as different from that of the modern age as it
ent and rational system, church jurists provided was from the outlook of the Greco-Roman past.
a model for legal systems in emerging European Religion—often expressing a disdain of earthly
states. Moreover, specific elements of canon law pursuits and a preoccupation with the world to
have become an integral part of modern Western come—was the integrating feature of the Middle
law. Medieval jurists, for example, argued for the Ages, whereas science and secularism—a preoccu-
replacement of trials by ordeals of fire or wa- pation with worldly life—determine the modern
ter, which were central to ancient Germanic folk outlook. The period from the Italian Renaissance
law, with rational trial procedures and insisted of the fifteenth century through the eighteenth-
that marriages based on fraud or duress could be century Age of Enlightenment saw a gradual
invalidated. breaking away from the medieval worldview—a
Believing that God’s law was superior to state rejection of the medieval conception of nature, the
or national decrees, medieval philosophers pro- individual, and the purpose of life. The transition
vided a theoretical basis for opposing tyrannical from medieval to modern was neither sudden nor
kings who violated Christian principles. The idea complete, for there are no sharp demarcation lines
that both the ruler and the ruled are bound by a separating historical periods. Although many dis-
higher law would, in a secularized form, become a tinctively medieval ways endured in the sixteenth,
principal element of modern liberal thought. seventeenth, and even eighteenth centuries, these
Feudalism also contributed to the history of centuries saw as well the rise of new intellectual,
liberty. According to feudal custom, the king, as political, and economic forms, which marked the
a member of the feudal community, was duty- emergence of modernity.
bound to honor agreements made with his vassals. Medieval thought began with the existence of
Lords possessed personal rights, which the king God and the truth of his revelation as interpreted
was obliged to respect. Resentful of a king who by the church, which set the standards and de-
ran roughshod over customary feudal rights, lords fined the purposes for human endeavor. The me-
also negotiated contracts with the crown, such as dieval mind rejected the fundamental principle of
Magna Carta (1215), to define and guard their Greek philosophy: the autonomy of reason. With-
customary liberties. To protect themselves from out the guidance of revealed truth, reason was
the arbitrary behavior of a king, feudal lords initi- seen as feeble. Philosophical inquiry was permissi-
ated what came to be called government by con- ble only if the mind arrived at clerically approved
sent and the rule of law. conclusions.
During the Middle Ages, then, there gradually Scholastics engaged in genuine philosophical
emerged the idea that law was not imposed on in- speculation and demonstrated impressive signs
feriors by an absolute monarch but required the of logical thinking, but they did not allow phi-
collaboration of the king and his subjects; that the losophy to challenge the basic premises of their
king, too, was bound by the law; and that lords faith. For them, the dissemination of views that
had the right to resist a monarch who violated contradicted church doctrine had to be prohibited
agreements. A related phenomenon was the rise lest they corrupt the mind of the faithful. Unlike
of representative institutions, with which the king either ancient or modern thinkers, medieval schol-
was expected to consult on the realm’s affairs. The ars ultimately believed that reason alone could
most notable of such institutions was the Brit- not provide a unified view of nature or society.
ish Parliament; though subordinate to the king, A rational soul had to be guided by a divine light.
it became a permanent part of the state. Later, For all medieval philosophers, the natural order
in the seventeenth century, Parliament would depended on a supernatural order for its origin
successfully challenge royal authority. Thus, conti- and purpose. To understand the natural world
nuity exists between the feudal tradition of a king properly, it was necessary to know its relationship
bound by law and the modern practice of limiting to the higher world. The discoveries of reason
the authority of the head of state. had to accord with Scripture as interpreted by the
Although the elements of continuity are clear, church. In medieval thought, says the historian-
the characteristic outlook of the Middle Ages philosopher Ernst Cassirer,
The Middle Ages and the Modern World: Continuity and Discontinuity ❖ 285
neither science nor morality, neither law nor The medieval philosopher understood both
state, can be erected on its own foundations. nature and society to be a hierarchical order. The
Supernatural assistance is always needed to heavens were qualitatively superior in purpose
bring them to true perfection. . . . Reason is and substance to the earthly realm. God was
and remains the servant of revelation; within the source of moral values, and the church was
the sphere of natural intellectual and psycho- responsible for teaching and upholding these
logical forces, reason leads toward, and pre- ethical norms. Kings acquired their right to rule
pares the ground for, revelation.4 from God. The entire social structure consti-
tuted a hierarchy: the clergy, the highest order,
In the modern view, both nature and the hu- guided society according to Christian standards;
man intellect are self-sufficient. Nature is a math- lords defended Christian society from its ene-
ematical system that operates without miracles or mies; and serfs, lowest in the social order, toiled
any other form of divine intervention. To compre- for the good of all. In the hierarchy of knowl-
hend nature and society, the mind needs no divine edge, a lower form of knowledge derived from
assistance; it accepts no authority above reason. the senses, and the highest type of knowledge,
The modern mentality finds it unacceptable to theology, dealt with God’s revelation. To the me-
reject the conclusions of science on the basis of dieval mind, this hierarchical ordering of nature,
clerical authority and revelation or to ground society, and knowledge had a divine sanction.
politics, law, or economics on religious dogma. It Rejecting the medieval division of the uni-
refuses to settle public issues by appeals to reli- verse into higher and lower realms and superior
gious belief, which is now seen as a strictly private and inferior substances, the modern view pos-
concern. tulated the uniformity of nature and of nature’s
Profile
Joan of Arc have Charles anointed king of France at Rheims.
Joan the maid, as she was called, attracted follow-
A crucial phase in the Hundred Years’ War oc- ers who believed that Joan was sent by God to
curred in 1415 when England inflicted an over- rescue Orléans from the English.
whelming defeat on the French at Agincourt. Demonstrating great resolve, Joan, dressed
The victorious English imposed on the French in men’s clothing and accompanied by believers
the Treaty of Troyes (1420). Its terms stipulated in her mission, made the arduous journey to the
that the daughter of Charles VI, the French mon- dauphin’s castle. Charles reluctantly granted an
arch, would marry the English ruler, Henry V, audience to Joan, whom some of his counselors
and that their future son would reign over the considered mad. After listening to Joan detail
dual monarchy of England and France. This her divine mission, Charles had her examined
provision deprived Charles VI’s only living by his clerks and sages, who reported that the
son, the dauphin Charles, from succeeding to uneducated, but devout, peasant girl was nei-
the throne. From Bourges in central France, ther a heretic nor a sorceress. With the mili-
the dauphin continued the struggle against the tary position worsening, the desperate dauphin
English invaders and their Burgundian allies. In provided Joan with an army—perhaps this reli-
1428, the English besieged Orléans in prepara- giously inspired maid had indeed been sent by
tion for an attack on Bourges. The dauphin’s po- God. Wearing a full set of armor and wielding
sition seemed hopeless. a lance, Joan demonstrated remarkable leader-
At this critical moment, Joan of Arc appeared ship and courage, which inspired her troops.
on the scene. Born to a peasant family in northern She also showed a facility for military planning.
France, Joan very early demonstrated extreme pi- To the inhabitants of Orléans, it seemed that
ety. At age thirteen, she experienced revelations— God had provided them with a deliverer. When
voices from angels and saints who guided her she entered the city, crowds pressed to touch
behavior. When she was about sixteen, her voices her. Aided by the citizens of Orléans, Joan’s
instructed her to raise the siege of Orléans and army attacked the English fortifications. Hit by
laws: the cosmos knows no privilege of rank; The outlook of the modern West also broke
heavenly bodies follow the same laws of nature with the rigid division of medieval society into
as earthly objects. Space is geometric and homo- three orders: clergy, nobles, and commoners. The
geneous, not hierarchical, heterogeneous, and intellectual justification for this arrangement, as
qualitative. The universe was no longer conceived expressed by the English prelate John of Salis-
as finite and closed but as infinite, and the opera- bury (c. 1115–1180), has been rejected by modern
tions of nature were explained mathematically. westerners: “For inferiors owe it to their superiors
The modern thinker studies mathematical law to provide them with service, just as the superiors
and chemical composition, not grades of perfec- in their turn owe it to their inferiors to provide
tion. Spiritual meaning is not sought in an exami- them with all things needful for their protection
nation of the material world. Roger Bacon, for and succor.”5 To be sure, Christian theorists also
example, described seven coverings of the eye and maintained that as God’s children, all human
then concluded that God had fashioned the eye beings are in principle equal in God’s eyes. Op-
in this manner in order to express the seven gifts posing the feudal principle that an individual’s
of the Spirit. This way of thinking is alien to the obligations and rights are a function of his or her
modern outlook. So too is the medieval belief that rank in society, the modern view stressed equality
natural disasters, such as plagues and famines, are of opportunity and equal treatment under the law.
God’s punishments for people’s sins. It rejected the idea that society should be guided
286
an arrow above the breast, Joan had the wound humor, which often exasperated the inquisitors.
dressed and immediately returned to the fray. The inquisitors asked Joan if she would defer
In a decisive encounter, the maid grabbed her to the church when told that her voices were
standard from a squire and led a successful as- illusions; Joan replied that her voices had not
sault on an English fortress. Soon after, the Eng- commanded her to disregard the church but
lish abandoned the siege: the maid’s forces had she served the Lord first, a rebellious act that
liberated the city. Several months later, Joan amounted to heresy.
achieved her greatest victory, an open- field When the judges accused her of lying and
battle at Patay, which caught the English by threatened to inflict torture unless she altered
surprise. Following the battle, the dauphin was her statements, Joan replied: “Truly, though
crowned Charles VII at Rheims. you were to have my limbs torn off and send
Meanwhile, in the ongoing conflict with the the soul out of my body, I should not say oth-
English and Burgundians, Joan could not es- erwise; and if I did tell you otherwise, I should
cape a Burgundian siege and was taken pris- always thereafter say that you had made me
oner. Charles VII made no effort to ransom speak so by force.”*
Joan; he simply abandoned her. Purchasing the After the judges ruled that she had been do-
now-famous prisoner from the Burgundians, the ing the work of the Devil, Joan was declared
English organized a show trial in Rouen, con- a heretic and condemned to burn at the stake.
ducted by learned but hostile French clerics, to The sentence was carried out on May 30, 1431,
prove that the despised Joan was a heretic and a and her ashes were thrown into the Seine. In
witch. The proceedings took about five months. 1456, the church nullified the condemnation,
During that time, Joan wore leg irons; at night and in 1920 Joan was declared a saint.
in her dungeon, her jailers chained the leg irons
to the foot of the bed. During the interroga- *Quoted in Régine Pernoud, Joan of Arc: By Herself
tion, Joan displayed remarkable self-control, and Her Witnesses, trans. Edward Hyans (Lanham,
dignity, cleverness, and even eloquence and Md.: Scarborough House, 1994), 206.
by clergy who were deemed to possess a special In the modern world, the individual’s re-
wisdom, by nobles who were entitled to special lationship to the universe has been radically
privileges, and by monarchs who were thought to transformed. Medieval people lived in a geocen-
receive their power from God. tric universe that was finite in space and time.
The modern West also rejected the personal and The universe was small, enclosed by a sphere
customary character of feudal law. As the modern of stars, beyond which were the heavens. The
state developed, law assumed an impersonal and universe, it was believed, was some four thou-
objective character. For example, if the lord de- sand years old, and, in the not- too- distant fu-
manded more than the customary forty days of ture, Christ would return and human history
military service, the vassal might refuse to comply would end. People in the Middle Ages knew
because he would see the lord’s request as an un- why they were on earth and what was expected
pardonable violation of custom and agreement, of them; they never doubted that heaven would
as well as an infringement on his liberties. In the be their reward for living a Christian life. Prep-
modern state, with a constitution and a represen- aration for heaven was the ultimate aim of life.
tative assembly, if a new law increasing the length J. H. Randall Jr., a historian of ideas, eloquently
of military service is passed, it merely replaces the sums up the medieval view of a purposeful uni-
old law. People do not refuse to obey it because the verse in which the human being’s position was
government has broken faith or violated custom. clearly defined.
287
288 ❖ 12 The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Dissolution
The world was governed throughout by the In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
omnipotent will and omniscient mind of God, Christian thinkers lamented the waning of faith.
whose sole interests were centered in man, his Distressed by all- consuming secularism, crude
trial, his fall, his suffering and his glory. Worm materialism, and vicious class and national an-
of the dust as he was, man was yet the central tagonisms, these thinkers attributed the ills of the
object in the whole universe. . . . And when his modern West to a diminishing commitment to
destiny was completed, the heavens would be Christianity and called for spiritual renewal. Some
rolled up as a scroll and he would dwell with of them, looking back nostalgically to the Middle
the Lord forever. Only those who rejected Ages, when life had an overriding religious purpose
God’s freely offered grace and with hardened and few doubted the truth of Christian teachings,
hearts refused repentance would be cut off contended that the modern West would benefit
from this eternal life.6 from a reaffirmation of those Christian concerns
and values that had energized medieval society.
This comforting medieval vision is alien to The modern outlook developed gradually in
the modern outlook. Today, in a universe some the period from the Renaissance to the eighteenth-
thirteen to fourteen billion years old, in which century Age of Enlightenment. Mathematics ren-
the earth is a tiny speck floating in an endless dered the universe comprehensible. Economic and
cosmic ocean, where life evolved over tens of political thought broke free of the religious frame
millions of years, many westerners no longer of reference. Science became the great hope of the
believe that human beings are special children future. The thinkers of the Enlightenment wanted
of God; that heaven is their ultimate goal; that to liberate humanity from superstition, ignorance,
under their feet is hell, where grotesque demons and traditions that could not pass the test of reason.
torment sinners; or that God is an active agent They saw themselves as emancipating culture from
in human history. To many intellectuals, the theological dogma and clerical authority. Rejecting
universe seems unresponsive to the religious the Christian idea of a person’s inherent sinfulness,
supplications of people, and life’s purpose is they held that the individual was basically good
sought within the limits of earthly existence. and that evil resulted from faulty institutions, poor
Science and secularism have driven Christianity education, and bad leadership. Thus, the concept
and faith from their central position to the pe- of a rational and free society in which individuals
riphery of human concerns. could realize their potential slowly emerged.
❖ ❖ ❖
of medieval society in the High and Late Middle Ozment, Steven E., The Age of Reform, 1250–1550
Ages. (1980). An intellectual and religious history of late
Cantor, Norma F., In the Wake of the Plague: The medieval and Reformation Europe.
Black Death and the World It Made (2001). A read- Pegg, Mark Gregory, A Most Holy War: The Albi-
able and current synthesis of latest scholarship. gensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom
Holmes, George, Europe: Hierarchy and Revolt, (2008). A gripping narrative of medieval mass
1320–1450 (1975). A good survey of the period. murder.
Lerner, Robert E., The Age of Adversity (1968). Russell, Burton Jeffrey, Witchcraft in the Middle
A short, readable survey of the fourteenth century. Ages (1972). Describes the development of a phe-
Nirenberg, David, Communities of Violence: Perse- nomenon that is deeply rooted in the nonrational.
cution of Minorities in the Middle Ages (1996). Spinka, M., John Hus and the Czech Reform (1941).
Focuses on medieval beliefs that triggered violent A reliable work on Hus and the Hussite wars.
attacks on minorities.
1400
Part Three
1700
Politics and Society Thought and Culture
Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) Italian Renaissance begins (c. 1350)
The Renaissance:
Transition to the
Modern Age
The School of Athens, by Raphael (1483–1520). The ancient Greek philosophers, with Plato
and Aristotle at the center, are depicted here, assembled in classical grandeur. Painted to
decorate the Vatican, the papal palace in Rome, the picture exudes the Renaissance reverence
for classical antiquity and reflects the widely held view that ancient philosophy represented a
foreshadowing of Christianity and was essentially in harmony with it. (Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)
■
■
Italy: The Birthplace of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance Outlook:
F rom the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth
century through the Age of Enlightenment
of the eighteenth century, the outlook and
institutions of the Middle Ages disintegrated and
distinctly modern forms emerged. The radical
Humanism and Secular Politics
change in European civilization could be seen on
■ The Spread of the Renaissance every level of society. On the economic level, com-
merce and industry expanded greatly, and capital-
■ The Renaissance and the ism in some countries largely replaced medieval
Modern Age forms of economic organization. On the political
level, central government grew stronger at the ex-
pense of feudalism. On the religious level, the rise
of Protestantism fragmented the unity of Chris-
Focus Questions tendom. On the social level, middle-class towns-
people, increasing in number and wealth, were
1. What conditions gave rise to the Italian playing a more important role in economic and
cultural life. On the cultural level, the clergy lost
Renaissance?
its monopoly on learning, and the otherworldly
2. What is the historical significance of orientation of the Middle Ages gave way to a secu-
Renaissance humanism? lar outlook in literature and the arts. Theology, the
3. How did Machiavelli’s political thought queen of knowledge in the Middle Ages, surren-
mark a break with the medieval outlook? dered her crown to science. Reason, which in the
Middle Ages had been subordinate to revelation,
4. What were the effects of the printing asserted its independence.
press on European civilization? Many of these tendencies manifested them-
selves dramatically during the Renaissance. The
word renaissance means “rebirth,” and it is used
to refer to the attempt by artists and thinkers to
recover and apply the ancient learning and stan-
dards of Greece and Rome. In historical terms,
the Renaissance is both a cultural movement and
a period. As a movement, it was born in the city-
states of northern Italy and spread to the rest of
Europe. As a period, it ran from 1350 to 1600.
Until the late fifteenth century, the Renaissance
was restricted to Italy. What happened there in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries sharply
contrasts with civilization in the rest of Europe,
which, until the end of the fifteenth century, still
belonged to the Late Middle Ages.
The nineteenth-century historian Jacob Burck-
hardt in his classic study The Civilization of the
Renaissance in Italy (1860) held that the Renais-
sance was the point of departure for the modern
world. During the Renaissance, said Burckhardt, in-
dividuals showed increasing concern with worldly
life and self-consciously aspired to shape their
destinies—attitudes that are the key to modernity.
Burckhardt’s thesis has been challenged, partic-
ularly by medievalists, who view the Renaissance
293
Chronology 13.1 ❖ The Renaissance
1200–1300 Bologna, Padua, and Ravenna become centers of legal studies
1300–1450 Republicanism reigns in northern Italian city-states
1304–1374 Petrarch, “father of humanism”
1378 Ciompi revolt in Florence
c. 1407–1457 Lorenzo Valla, author of Declamation Concerning the False Decretals
of Constantine
c. 1445 Johann Gutenberg invents movable metal type
1454 Peace of Lodi is signed
1494 Charles VIII of France invades northern Italy; Pope Julius II commissions
frescoes by Michelangelo for the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel
1513 Machiavelli writes The Prince
1528 The Book of the Courtier, by Baldesar Castiglione, is published
1535 Sir Thomas More, English humanist and author of Utopia, is executed
for treason
as an extension of the Middle Ages, not as a sud- the secular spirit of antiquity. In the process, they
den break with the past. These critics argue that broke with medieval artistic and literary forms.
Burckhardt neglected important links between They valued the full development of human talent
medieval and Renaissance culture. One distin- and expressed fresh excitement about the possi-
guishing feature of the Renaissance, the revival bilities of life in this world. This outlook repre-
of classical learning, had already emerged in the sented a new trend in European civilization.
High Middle Ages to such an extent that histori- The Renaissance, then, was an age of transition
ans speak of “the renaissance of the twelfth cen- that saw the rejection of certain elements of the
tury” and the “Twelfth-Century Awakening.” The medieval outlook, the revival of classical cultural
Renaissance owes much to the legal and scholastic forms, and the emergence of distinctly modern at-
studies that flourished in the Italian universities of titudes. As mentioned earlier, this rebirth began
Padua and Bologna before 1300. Town life and in Italy during the fourteenth century. It gradu-
trade, hallmarks of Renaissance society, were also ally spread north and west to Germany, France,
a heritage from the Middle Ages. England, and Spain during the late fifteenth and
To be sure, the Renaissance was not a com- sixteenth centuries.
plete and sudden break with the Middle Ages.
Many medieval ways and attitudes persisted. ITALY: THE BIRTHPLACE
Nevertheless, Burckhardt’s thesis that the Renais-
sance represents the birth of modernity has much OF THE RENAISSANCE
to recommend it. Renaissance writers and artists
themselves were aware of their age’s novelty. They The city-states of northern Italy that spawned the
looked back on the medieval centuries as “the Renaissance were developed urban centers where
Dark Ages” that followed the grandeur of ancient the elite had the wealth, freedom, and inclina-
Greece and Rome, and they believed that they tion to cultivate the arts and to enjoy the fruits
were experiencing a rebirth of cultural greatness. of worldly life. In Italy, moreover, reminders of
Renaissance artists and writers were fascinated ancient Rome’s grandeur were visible everywhere.
by the cultural forms of Greece and Rome; they Roman roads, monuments, and manuscripts in-
sought to imitate classical style and to capture tensified Italians’ links to their Roman past.
294
Italy: The Birthplace of the Renaissance ❖ 295
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296
Italy: The Birthplace of the Renaissance ❖ 297
Aside from Venice, the city-states in northern fell back on the feudal idea of honor and devel-
Italy were not only internally unstable but also oped elaborate codes. These codes differed in sig-
constantly warring with one another. By the mid- nificant ways from their medieval antecedents.
dle of the fifteenth century, however, five major First came a depreciation (though never a com-
powers had emerged from the fighting: the king- plete elimination) of birth as a basis of merit and
dom of Naples and Sicily in the south; the Pa- a corresponding emphasis on effort, talent, and
pal States, a papacy-controlled territory running (in the case of the artist) creative genius. Second,
across the center of the Italian peninsula; and the honor was no longer defined in narrow, largely
city-states of Florence, Venice, and Milan in the military terms; it was expanded to include both
north. In 1454, these five powers, largely through the civic and courtly virtues of the worthy citizen
the efforts of Cosimo de’ Medici, concluded the and courtier and the artistic achievement of the
Peace of Lodi. For the next forty years, they were painter, sculptor, architect, and poet.
relatively peaceful, until the French king Charles The new code, however, did remain elitist and
VIII invaded northern Italy in 1494. even aristocratic. Indeed, the new oligarchs of the
The Peace of Lodi endured so long thanks to Renaissance, because of their newness and insecu-
diplomacy. The essential techniques of modern rity, were all the more anxious to adopt the aris-
diplomacy were worked out and applied in the tocratic outlook of the old nobility. The nouveaux
second half of the fifteenth century in Italy. The riches (newly rich) aped the feudal aristocracy in
practices of establishing embassies with ambassa- dress and manners, even as they accommodated
dors, sending and analyzing intelligence reports, the code of knightly chivalry to the demands of a
consulting and negotiating during emergencies, new urban and commercial culture. Renaissance
and forming alliances all developed during this pe- society was a highly unstable compound of old
riod. Some historians also see this time in Italian and new.
history as the seedbed for the notion of balance
of power, which eventually became fundamental Marriage and Family Life. City life profoundly
to the diplomacy of all Europe. Later, in the early altered family structures, marriage patterns, and
modern period, European governments formed relations between the sexes. Elsewhere in Europe,
alliances so that no single state or group of allied most people still lived on the land and tended to
states could dominate the Continent. Some ele- marry early in order to produce large families to
ments of this balance of power were anticipated work the fields. But in cities, early marriage could
in the struggles among the Italian city-states. be a liability for a man who was attempting to
make his fortune. The results were that older men
married young brides and that wives usually out-
Renaissance Society lived their husbands. Because a widow inherited
her husband’s property, she was not pressed to re-
The new way of life in the city-states paralleled marry and was likely to bring up her children in
developments in relations among them. Prosper- a single-parent household. According to the histo-
ous merchants played a leading role in the politi- rian David Herlihy, the fact that so many women
cal and cultural life of the city. With the growth of were responsible for nurturing their children may
commerce and industry, the feudal values of birth, have encouraged the development of the Renais-
military prowess, and a fixed hierarchy of lords sance ideal of a gentleman, which emphasized
and vassals decayed in favor of ambition and civility, courtliness, and an appreciation of art, lit-
individual achievement, whether at court, in the erature, and the feminine graces.
counting-house, or inside the artist’s studio. The The large number of single, relatively prosper-
old feudal chivalric code was not destroyed but ous, and leisured adults probably explains why
transformed to serve different purposes. Renaissance cities were reputed for sodomy, pros-
The new urban, commercial oligarchies could titution, and triangles involving an older husband,
not justify their power in the old way, through he- a young wife, and a young lover. Such sexual be-
redity. Moreover, they had to function within the havior was encouraged by the relative anonymity
inherently unstable political climate of the city- of the large cities and by the constant influx of
states. Faced with this dual problem, the oligarchs young men of talent from the country districts.
The Renaissance Outlook: Humanism and Secular Politics ❖ 299
Whatever the effect on their sons, upper-class Secularism. Renaissance society was marked
women enjoyed greater freedom in greater num- by a growing secular outlook. Intrigued by the ac-
bers than they had since the fall of Rome. If they tive life of the city and eager to enjoy the worldly
were married, they had the income to pursue pleasures that their money could obtain, wealthy
pleasure in the form of clothes, conversation, and merchants and bankers moved away from the
romance. If a well-to-do husband died while his medieval preoccupation with salvation. Although
wife was still young, she had no financial reasons they were neither nonbelievers nor atheists, for
to remarry and was free, to a degree previously them religion increasingly had to compete with
unknown, to go her own way. worldly concerns. Consequently, members of the
urban upper class paid religion less heed or at
Patronage of the Arts. Members of the urban least did not allow it to interfere with their quest
upper class became patrons of the arts, provid- for a full life. The challenge and pleasure of living
ing funds to support promising artists and writ- well in this world seemed more exciting than the
ers. Urban patricians, whose wealth was based promise of heaven. This outlook found expression
on commerce and banking, not land, had become in Renaissance art and literature.
dominant in both republican Florence and des-
potic Milan. Unable to claim power by birth or Individualism. Individualism was another
to rely on traditional loyalties, they looked to hallmark of Renaissance society. Urban life re-
culture to provide the trappings and justification leased people of wealth and talent from the old
of power. constraints of manor and church. The urban elite
For the newly rich, art could serve a politi- sought to assert their own personalities, discover
cal function. In its sheer magnificence, art could and express their individual feelings, and dem-
manifest power. Art, like literature, could also onstrate their unique talents. They strove to win
serve as a focus of civic pride and patriotism. fame and glory and to fulfill their ambitions. This
Just as insecure rulers contended on the battle- Renaissance ideal was explicitly elitist. It applied
field, they competed for art and artists to bol- only to the few, entirely disregarding the masses,
ster their egos. Art became a desirable political and it valued what was distinctive and superior
investment, especially when, in the fifteenth cen- in an individual, not what was common to all.
tury, economic investments were not offering as Concerned with the distinctions of the few, it did
much return as they had a century or two before. not consider the needs or rights of the many. Indi-
The popes invested in art as well. Having lost vidualism became deeply embedded in the West-
the battle for temporal dominion in Europe, the ern soul and was expressed by artists who sought
papacy concentrated on increasing its direct do- to capture individual character, by explorers who
minion in Italy by consolidating and expanding ventured into uncharted seas, by conquerors who
the Papal States. As an adjunct to this policy, the carved out empires in the New World, and by
popes heaped wealth on artists to enhance papal merchant-capitalists who amassed fortunes.
prestige. Indeed, the popes became the most lav-
ish patrons of all, as the works of Michelangelo,
Botticelli, and Raphael testify. THE RENAISSANCE OUTLOOK:
The result of this new patronage by popes and
patricians was an explosion of creativity. The HUMANISM AND SECULAR
amount, and especially the nature, of this patron- POLITICS
age also helped shape both art and the artist. For
the first time since antiquity, portraiture became Humanism
a separate genre and was developed much further
than ever before. Patrician rivalry and insecurity The most characteristic intellectual movement of
of status, fed by the Renaissance ethic of achieve- the Renaissance was humanism, an educational
ment and reward, produced a scramble for honor and cultural program based on the study of an-
and reputation. This fostered the desire to be cient Greek and Roman literature. The humanist
memorialized in a painting, if not in a sculpture. attitude toward antiquity differed from the atti-
A painter like Titian was in great demand. tude of medieval scholars, who had taken pains to
Primary Source
Leonardo Bruni: Study of whom such glorious things are spread abroad,
and speak with them and be instructed in their
of Greek Literature and admirable teaching, wilt thou desert and rob
a Humanist Educational thyself? Wilt thou neglect this opportunity so
divinely offered? For seven hundred years, no
Program one in Italy has possessed Greek letters; and yet
we confess that all knowledge is derived from
Leonardo Bruni (1374–1444) was a Florentine hu- them. How great advantage to your knowledge,
manist who extolled both intellectual study and ac- enhancement of your fame, increase of your
tive involvement in public affairs, an outlook called pleasure, will come from an understanding of
civic humanism. In this excerpt from his History this tongue? There are doctors of civil law every-
of His Own Times in Italy, Bruni expresses the where; and the chance of learning will not fail
humanist’s love for ancient Greek literature and thee. But if this one and only doctor of Greek
language. letters disappears, no one can be found to teach
thee.” Overcome at length by these reasons, I
gave myself to Chrysoloras, with such zeal to
learn, that what through the wakeful day I gath-
Love for Greek Literature ered, I followed after in the night, even when
Then first came a knowledge of Greek, which asleep.
had not been in use among us for seven hun-
dred years. Chrysoloras the Byzantine,* a man
of noble birth and well versed in Greek letters, Questions for Analysis
brought Greek learning to us. When his coun- 1. Why was it so important to Leonardi Bruni
try was invaded by the Turks, he came by sea, to learn to read Greek?
first to Venice. The report of him soon spread, 2. Who are the ancient Greek thinkers whom
and he was cordially invited and besought and Bruni singles out for special praise?
promised a public stipend, to come to Florence
and open his store of riches to the youth. I was *Chrysoloras (c. 1355–1415), a Byzantine writer and teacher,
†
then studying Civil Law, but . . . I burned with introduced the study of Greek literature to the Italians, help-
love of academic studies, and had spent no little ing open a new age of Western humanistic learning.
†Civil Law refers to the Roman law as codified by Emperor
pains on dialectic and rhetoric. At the coming
of Chrysoloras I was torn in mind, deeming it Justinian in the early sixth century A.D. and studied in me-
dieval law schools.
shameful to desert the law, and yet a crime to
‡Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.) was an Athenian statesman
lose such a chance of studying Greek literature;
and orator whose oratorical style was much admired by
and often with youthful impulse I would say
Renaissance humanists.
to myself: “Thou, when it is permitted thee to
gaze on Homer, Plato and Demosthenes,‡ and Henry Osborn Taylor, Thought and Expression in the Sixteenth
the other [Greek] poets, philosophers, orators, Century (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1930), 1:36–37.
fit classical learning into a Christian worldview. not be provided by medieval writing: for instance,
Renaissance humanists did not subordinate the how to live well in this world and how to perform
classics to the requirements of Christian doc- one’s civic duties. For the humanists, the classics
trines; rather, they valued ancient literature for its were a guide to the good life, the active life. To
own sake—for its clear and graceful style and its achieve self-cultivation, to write well, to speak
insights into human nature. From the ancient clas- well, and to live well, it was necessary to know
sics, humanists expected to learn much that could the classics. In contrast to scholastic philosophers,
300
The Renaissance Outlook: Humanism and Secular Politics ❖ 301
who used Greek philosophy to prove the truth of f ollowers set up schools to inculcate the new
Christian doctrines, Italian humanists used clas- Ciceronian educational ideal.
sical learning to nourish their new interest in a Implicit in the humanist educational ideal was a
worldly life. radical transformation of the medieval (Augustin-
Whereas medieval scholars were familiar with ian) view of humanity. According to this view, since
only some ancient Latin writers, Renaissance human beings were completely subject to divine
humanists restored to circulation every Roman will, not only were they incapable of attaining ex-
work that could be found. Similarly, knowledge cellence through their own efforts and talents, but
of Greek was very rare in Latin Christendom dur- it was also wrong and sinful for them even to try.
ing the Middle Ages, but Renaissance humanists In contrast, the humanists, recalling the classical
increasingly cultivated the study of Greek in order Greek concept of arête, made the achievement of
to read Homer, Demosthenes, Plato, and other an- excellence through individual striving the end not
cients in the original. only of education but also of life itself. Moreover,
Although predominantly a secular move- because individuals were capable of this goal, it
ment, Italian humanism was not un-Christian. was their duty to pursue it as the end of life, al-
True, humanists often treated moral problems though the pursuit was not effortless and indeed
in a purely secular manner. Yet in dealing with demanded extraordinary energy and skill.
religious and theological questions, they did People were deemed capable of excellence in
not challenge Christian belief or question the every sphere and duty-bound to make the effort.
validity of the Bible. They did, however, attack This emphasis on human creative powers was
scholasticism for its hair-splitting arguments one of the most characteristic and influential doc-
and preoccupation with trivial questions. They trines of the Renaissance. A classic expression of
stressed instead a purer form of Christianity, it is found in the Oration on the Dignity of Man
based on direct study of the Bible and writings (1486) by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–
by the church fathers. 1494). Man, said Pico, has the freedom to shape
The early humanists, sometimes called the fa- his own life. Pico has God say to man: “We have
thers of humanism, were Petrarch (1304–1374) made you a creature” such that “you may, as the
and Boccaccio (1313–1375). Petrarch, Boccac- free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion
cio, and their followers carried the recovery of yourself in the form you may prefer.”2
the classics further by making a systematic at- Pico also spelled out another implication of
tempt to discover the classical roots of medieval man’s duty to realize his potential: through his
Italian rhetoric. Petrarch’s own efforts to learn own exertions, man can come to understand and
Greek were largely unsuccessful, but by encour- control nature. One of the new and powerful
aging his students to master the ancient tongue, Renaissance images of man was as the magus,
he advanced humanist learning. Petrarch was the magician. The vision of the mastery of nature
particularly drawn to Cicero, the ancient Roman would continue to inspire experimentalists, such
orator. Following the example of Cicero, Petrarch as Francis Bacon, and natural philosophers, such
insisted that education should consist not only of as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, until at least
learning and knowing things but also of learning the early eighteenth century. A major psychologi-
how to communicate one’s knowledge and how to cal driving force of the Scientific Revolution, this
use it for the public good. Therefore, the empha- vision stemmed in large part from the philosophy
sis in education should be on rhetoric and moral of Italian humanists such as Pico.
philosophy, wisdom combined with eloquence. As The attack on the medieval scholastics was
Bartolommeo della Fonte (1446–1513), professor implicit in the humanist educational ideal. From
of rhetoric at Florence, said, such a program of the humanist perspective, scholasticism failed not
instruction would fit a man for effective rule: that only because its terms and Latin usage were bar-
is, “to punish the wicked, to care for the good, to barous but also because it did not provide useful
embellish his native land and to benefit all man- knowledge. This humanist emphasis on the uses
kind.”1 Thus, Petrarch helped make Ciceronian of knowledge offered an additional stimulus to
values dominant among the humanists. His science and art.
302 ❖ 13 The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age
But the new humanist and heroic image of hu- Some aristocratic women patronized humanist
man beings was deeply compromised and con- scholars. Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), mother
flicted in one major area: the subject of women and of an English king, founded two colleges that fos-
gender relations. During the Renaissance, there tered the new learning in England. Catherine of
were a few powerful female rulers, such as Eliza- Aragon (1485–1536), the first wife of Henry VIII,
beth I, queen of England (1558–1603), and Cath- king of England (1512–1547), surrounded herself
erine de’ Medici, who became the regent (ruler) of with leading humanists, such as Desiderius Eras-
France after her husband Henri II’s untimely death mus (1466–1536) and Juan Vives (1492–1540).
in 1559. However, they were the exceptions. Poli- The latter wrote for her a book entitled The In-
tics and especially monarchical rule were always struction of a Christian Woman (1523), which
considered a male monopoly from which women summarized humanist teaching on the subject.
should be excluded because they were inferior be- Vives insisted that women should be educated
ings unsuited to holding such power. so that they could read serious books on religion
The Renaissance Outlook: Humanism and Secular Politics ❖ 303
and philosophy. But for him, like so many others, her ground but fell back on the deep-seated preju-
the goals of female education should be very lim- dices of her time. She said that men and women
ited. Men, he said, must be educated to act in the from time immemorial have played distinctly dif-
world and to govern. In contrast, women should ferent roles in society, and so it should ever be:
be taught virtue—that is, devotion to home and men are ordained to rule; women, to follow and
family—and cheerful obedience to their husbands. obey. This is God’s will. Thus, with the plausible
In particular, women, according to Vives, should exception of Agrippa, there were no modern femi-
never be taught rhetoric, which was thought to nists in the Renaissance, even at its most radical.
be the key discipline in training men to become The Renaissance humanists may have been over-
strong and effective leaders. Such rhetorical train- whelmingly antifeminist, but they were also, at
ing would be wasted on women because their least in Florence and Venice, staunch republican
place was in the home and not in public life. political idealists.
Such split thinking was repeated over and over In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century republican
again throughout the Renaissance. For example, Florence, at least until the Medicis took control,
Erasmus, the foremost European humanist, ad- Petrarchan humanism was not meant for a court
vocated female education, not so that educated elite. Humanism was a civic idea: to educate and
women could act in the world but because read- inform citizens so that they could contribute to
ing was a way to banish idleness at home and was the common good to the greatest possible extent.
preferable to such tasks as knitting and sewing. In this sense, humanism was put in the service of
Erasmus’s friend Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) republican values and the republican cause, and
insisted on educating his daughters to a high level, the mixture of the two is what has come to be
not so that they could cut a figure on the public called civic humanism by recent historians. This
stage, but to make them better wives and daugh- civic ideal developed furthest in the Florentine
ters, that is, more virtuous and obedient. As female republic.
humanists in England and Italy, if not elsewhere, By the second half of the fifteenth century, as
said at the time, men were jealous of educated the Medicis gained increasing control, the civic
women and afraid of losing control over them. ideal was being replaced by an ideal more fit-
There were, however, a very few exceptions ting to the times, the ideal of princely rule. This
to this cramped and hostile view of female po- ideal borrowed much from civic humanism, even
tential. The German physician Heinrich Corne- though it was directed toward princes and court-
lius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535), for iers and not toward citizens. The emphasis on the
instance, wrote On the Nobility and Excellence pursuit of virtue and honor continued. Like the
of Women in 1529. In this work, he held that ideal gentleman, the ideal prince would evolve
although women are biologically different from through humanistic education, which would so
men, they are not intellectually inferior to them. prepare him for the struggle between virtue and
He went on to argue for the full equality of the fortune that virtue would prove victorious.
sexes, a radical claim very far from mainstream, The similarities between the civic and princely
and even educated, opinion. Long before Agrippa, ideals, however, were not as important as the dif-
Christine de Pizan (1364–c. 1430), an extraordi- ferences. The aim of princely rule was not liberty
nary French female humanist, attacked the an- but peace and security, and the best means to
cient prejudice that men are by nature not only this end was not a republic but hereditary mon-
stronger but also wiser than women. As she said archy. This new princely ideal was reflected in a
in her great book, The City of Ladies, written in new spate of advice books, the most influential
1404, “[N]either the loftiness nor the lowliness of of which was The Book of the Courtier, written
a person lies in the body according to sex, but in between 1513 and 1518 by Baldesar Castiglione
the perfection of conduct and virtues.”3 In other (1478–1529). These books promoted the notion
words, a person’s worth is not about gender but that the ideal ruler should be universally tal-
about behavior. Despite this brilliant insight, ented and skillful, equally commanding on the
which breaks through to an almost modern view battlefield, at court, and in the state and virtu-
of gender equality, even de Pizan could not hold ous throughout. These advice books, especially
304 ❖ 13 The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age
Politics, Machiavelli argued, requires the rational is no . . . inducement to keep them on the field
deployment of force, as well as, and even prior to, apart from the little they are paid, and this is not
the exercise of virtue. enough to make them want to die for you.” And
On this point, Machiavelli’s advice is quite they are dangerous because their leaders, the infa-
specific. He wrote The Prince in part as a plea. mous condottieri, “are anxious to advance their
Since 1494, Italy had fallen prey to France and own greatness” at the expense of the city-state.
Spain. Their great royal armies overpowered Reliance on mercenaries was the sole cause of
the mercenary armies of the city-states and pro- “the present ruin of Italy,” and the cure lay in the
ceeded to lay waste to Italy in their struggle for creation of a national militia, led by a prince.5
domination of the peninsula. To prevent this, Ma- This prince had to be both wily and virtuous,
chiavelli said, the Italians should unite behind a not just virtuous (as humanists had said): “The
leader—the prince—whose first act would be to fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in
disband the mercenaries and forge a new citizen every way necessarily comes to grief among so
army worthy of the glorious Roman past and many who are not virtuous.” So Machiavelli scan-
capable of repelling the “barbarian” invasion. dalized Christian Europe by asserting that “if a
“Mercenaries,” Machiavelli claimed, “are useless prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn
and dangerous.” They are useless because “there how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or
The
Renaissance
Brunelleschi was the first to develop a system in The illusion of spatial depth is created by the ar-
which all parallel lines of a scene converge in one chitectural parameters of an overarching barrel-
central point on the horizon; other artists adopted vaulted ceiling divided into squares diminishing in
his scheme and carried it further. size.
The Holy Trinity (Figure 3), a fresco by Ma- Masaccio here provides a point of departure
saccio (1401–1428), a brilliant young artist who for subsequent art. Henceforth, artists will in-
died at the age of twenty-seven, advanced further creasingly portray visual space within the three-
Brunelleschi’s experiments with linear perspective. dimensional perspectival format suggested by
Masaccio takes a central Christian spiritual idea, Masaccio, and human beings as real people, solid
the Trinity—God the Father, the Son, and the in form and realistic in anatomy, bones, muscles,
Holy Spirit—and materializes and humanizes it. and expressions.
He depicts a crucified Christ on the cross with Pietro Perugino’s The Delivery of the Keys
God the Father standing behind him, and the (1481) (Figure 4), a fresco from the Sistine
Holy Spirit descending as a dove on Christ’s head. Chapel in the Vatican, illustrates the enthusiasm
The figures of Christ, the onlooking Madonna, with which other artists achieved perspective.
St. John, even the figure of God the Father, stand- Note that all the parallel lines in the foreground
ing behind Christ on an elevated platform, are hu- converge at the church in the center of the
man, material figures in a three-dimensional space. background. The viewer’s eye is drawn into the
5. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, c. 1495–1498. (© The Gallery Collection/Corbis.)
painting, and figures seem real, not flat. Compare precision, and he asserted his spiritual and intel-
this portrayal with the flat and linear rendering lectual freedom to do so. Through his art, Leon-
of Justinian and his retinue in the mosaic from ardo helped lay the foundations for modern
Ravenna. There, the effect is two-dimensional, science.
and the viewer does not expect to see beyond the Leonardo’s The Last Supper (Figure 5) affords
layer of figures. In the Perugino, by contrast, the a stark contrast to that of the Magdalen Master
figures are full and exist in a three- dimensional (compare with Figure 9 in the first art essay), pro-
space. viding a basis for gauging the distance traversed
The works of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)— by Western art from the Middle Ages to moder-
his drawings, paintings, sculpture, innumerable nity. Leonardo’s version is explosive, and the
inventions, and copious writings—exemplify the scene is depicted vibrantly. The figures, in agitated
Renaissance spirit. He expands the idea of three- motion, arranged in three-dimensional space,
dimensional, perspectival space to include the huddled into four groups, exhibit a wide range
living form of things, their mathematical propor- of postures, attitudes, and individual reactions
tions. He announced a new way of looking at to Christ’s pronouncement that someone among
nature and the individual. For Leonardo, visual them would betray him.
art offered a means of arriving at nature’s truths. Leonardo has transformed medieval and East-
Truth was attained when the artist brought both ern two-dimensional space into the full-volumed
human reason and creative capacity to bear on three-dimensional space of the modern world and
the direct experience of the senses. Leonardo ex- the lifeless, impersonal forms of medieval and
amined objects in all their diversity and repre- Eastern art into unique individual personalities,
sented them realistically. He visually delineated their feelings captured at the very instant of their
the natural world with unprecedented scientific reaction to Christ’s announcement.
6. Michelangelo Buonarroti, Creation of Adam, 1510. (Sistine Chapel Ceiling: Creation of Adam, 1510 (fresco) (post restoration), Buonarroti, Michelangelo
(1475–1564)/Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library International.)
By the end of the fifteenth century, Renaissance through a celestial landscape and depict the bibli-
art in Italy had reached its height. The High cal story of creation.
Renaissance flowered in the visual arts as well But the artists of the Renaissance looked to
as in other areas of culture. Michelangelo, Titian, the classical past not only for technique; they also
and Giorgione are among the best-known artists borrowed and adapted subject matter. Unlike the
of this era. art of the Middle Ages, which concentrated on
The works of Michelangelo Buonarroti Christian themes, Renaissance paintings also il-
(1475–1564)—paintings, sculpture, literature, lustrated the myths of ancient Greece and Rome.
and architecture—epitomize the Renaissance. The Venetian artist Titian (1488/90–1576) was
Looking at his paintings—for instance, Creation well known for his use of both mythology and
of Adam (1510) (Figure 6) on the ceiling of the biblical themes. His Bacchus and Ariadne (1523)
Vatican’s Sistine Chapel—a viewer is struck by (Figure 7) illustrates his independence from the
the extent to which he learned from the art of the stylistic conventions of other High Renaissance
ancient world. Nevertheless, Michelangelo’s reli- schools. Titian offers a sensual rendering of the
ance on the classical is subordinate to his Renais- classical tale, in which the young Ariadne marries
sance vantage point. Here, the figures float freely Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of wine, after being
7. Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1523. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)
abandoned by the Greek king Theseus. Titian’s uses line and motion as Titian did. But the image
use of chiaroscuro (alternating areas of light and he presents, although it contains many elements
dark) is pronounced. The general feeling of the of the old style, looks ahead to the future.
work is much looser and freer than the feelings Brueghel had spent almost two years studying
of the carefully constructed canvases produced by in Italy, where he developed a technique for deal-
his contemporaries. The painting also has a rough- ing with the problem of landscape. In his treat-
ness, as though it were unfinished—a quality that ment of objects in three-dimensional space, he
marks a departure from the meticulously realistic created a recessional movement that dominates
works of other High Renaissance artists. the painting. The viewer’s eye is drawn into the
As the artistic styles of the Italian Renaissance painting at an angle from the foreground to the
spread northward, they were adapted and super- background through myriad intermediate, dimin-
imposed on a different set of political and religious ishing shapes—dogs, human figures, trees, houses,
circumstances, resulting in a fusion of Renais- a flying bird—all unified by one sweeping, slop-
sance method and local themes. Pieter Brueghel ing, downward motion. Brueghel thus achieves a
the Elder’s (1525/30–1569) Hunters in the Snow perspectival depth that is entirely new, relying not
(1565) (Figure 8) exemplifies this trend. The artist on the correlation of stratified forms from left to
8. Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow, 1565. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)
right, but on the recession of foreshortened forms. Luxembourg), Germany, France, England, and
In this painting, the artist has surpassed the me- Spain. These styles were not exported wholesale;
dieval representation of space in two dimensions rather, elements of the Renaissance fused with
and has produced a boundless three-dimensional local traditions to produce new styles and vari-
space that belongs to the modern age. ants of the Italian themes. What is consistent from
By the late fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries, one country to the next, however, is the extent to
the styles of the Renaissance spread from Italy to which Renaissance art really was a rebirth—a de-
the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, and parture from the style of the medieval period.
The Spread of the Renaissance ❖ 305
not according to his need.”6 Even more shocking, Low Countries. For example, the Brethren of the
the prince must know how to dissemble, that is, to Common Life was a lay movement emphasizing
make all his actions appear virtuous, whether they education and practical piety. Intensely Christian
are so or not. In ironic parody of conventional and at the same time anticlerical, the people in
advice-book wisdom, Machiavelli argued that a such lay movements found in Renaissance culture
ruler must cultivate a reputation for virtue rather tools for sharpening their wits against the clergy—
than virtue itself. In this connection, Machiavelli not to undermine the faith but rather to restore it
arrived at a fundamental political truth: politics to its apostolic purity.
(and especially the relationship between the ruler Thus, northern humanists were profoundly de-
and the ruled) being what it is, the road to success voted to ancient learning, just as the humanists in
for the prince lies in dissimulation (the art of ap- Italy had been. But nothing in northern human-
pearance and cover-up). As he put it, “Everyone ism compares to the paganizing trend associated
sees what you appear to be, few experience what with the Italian Renaissance. The northerners were
you really are. And those few dare not [contra- chiefly interested in the problem of the ancient
dict] the many who are backed by the majesty of church and, in particular, the question of what con-
the state.”7 Here again the Renaissance arrived at stituted original Christianity. They sought a model
modernity. in the light of which they might reform the cor-
Machiavelli broke with both the medieval rupted church of their own time.
and the humanist traditions of political thought. Everywhere, two factors operated to acceler-
He was a secularist who tried to understand and ate the spread of Renaissance culture after 1450:
explain the state without recourse to Christian growing prosperity and the printing press. Pros-
teachings. Influenced by classical thought, espe- perity, brought on by peace and the decline of
cially the works of Livy, he rejected the prevail- famine and plague, led to the founding of schools
ing view that the state is God’s creation and the and colleges. The sons (women were excluded)
ruler should base his policies on Christian moral of gentlemen and merchants were sent to school
principles. For Machiavelli, religion was not the to receive a humanistic education imported from
foundation for politics but merely a useful tool in Italy. The purpose of such education was to pre-
the prince’s struggle for success. The prince might pare men for a career in the church or the civil
even dissemble, if he thought he had to, in matters service of the expanding state and for acceptance
of faith, by appearing pious, whether he was or into higher social spheres.
not, and by playing on and exploiting the piety of Printing with movable type, which was in-
his subjects. vented in the middle of the fifteenth century,
quickened the spread of Renaissance ideas. Back
in the Late Middle Ages, the West had learned,
THE SPREAD OF through the Muslims from the Chinese, of print-
ing, paper, and ink. However, in this block print-
THE RENAISSANCE ing process, a new block had to be carved from
wood for each new impression, and the block was
The Renaissance spread to Germany, France, discarded as unusable as soon as a slightly differ-
England, and Spain in the late fifteenth and the ent impression was needed. About 1445, Johann
sixteenth centuries. In its migration northward, Gutenberg (c. 1398–1468) and other printers in
Renaissance culture adapted itself to conditions Mainz in the Rhineland invented movable metal
unknown in Italy, such as the growth of the mo- type to replace the cumbersome blocks. It was
narchical state and the strength of lay piety. In possible to use and reuse the separate pieces of
England, France, and Spain, Renaissance culture type—as long as the metal in which they were cast
tended to be court centered and hence antirepub- did not wear down—simply by arranging them in
lican, as it was, for instance, under Francis I in the desired order.
France and Elizabeth I in England. In Germany With the advent of the printing press, the
and the Rhineland, no monarchical state existed, book-publishing industry began to develop.
but a vital tradition of lay piety was present in the The first printed books were religious: Bibles,
Profile
A Renaissance Man three years of his life in the pay of the French
king Francis I (1515–1547), living in luxury at
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is a supreme ex- the French court and advising his patron on a
ample of the so-called “universal man,” some- variety of building projects.
one wonderfully gifted who could excel in any Leonardo was a quick study and took advan-
number of fields. Because he was born illegiti- tage of opportunities for learning wherever he
mate, he was disqualified from being trained in found them. At the Milanese court of the Sforzas,
a learned profession such as law or medicine. he met Luca Pacioli (1445–1517), the foremost
But recognizing his immense talent, his father Renaissance mathematician, who taught him
saw to it that he was apprenticed to Andrea del geometry and the power of numbers to explain
Verrocchio (1435–1488), the esteemed Floren- the world. Leonardo became committed to the
tine painter and sculptor, who carefully devel- view that mathematics provides the basis for
oped Leonardo’s skills in the visual arts. Once true understanding in every field, not only in
Leonardo had been fully trained, it is said, Ver- the physical and biological sciences but in paint-
rocchio was so struck by the beauty of his pupil’s ing and music as well. Leonardo had a large li-
work that he decided never to paint again. brary and read widely, but he also believed that
Given Leonardo’s restless energy and insa- there was no substitute for studying nature first-
tiable curiosity, his genius could not be chan- hand and making experiments in order to obtain
neled in only one or a few directions. He quickly true and certain knowledge of things.
gained a reputation for tremendous skill in both Leonardo was deeply interested in every-
science and art and was highly sought after. thing, and no subject was off limits. He stud-
Florence was ruled by the Medicis, and Milan ied human sexuality and, in his unpublished
was ruled by the Sforzas. Leonardo worked for notebooks, made scientific drawings of a
both, and briefly for the Medici pope Leo X human fetus in the womb, male erections, and
(1513–1521) in Rome as well. He spent the last a couple having sex. One of his main fields of
sermons, and prayer books. But other kinds among women and the poor, but the clerical and
soon followed because there was a ready mar- genteel monopoly on reading had been broken.
ket for books on a great variety of secular More and more books were also published in
subjects. The market was enormous and con- the vernacular (rather than Latin), which helped
tinued to expand during the sixteenth century. standardize written language and stimulated the
Printed books were much cheaper than the ear- development of national literatures all across
lier hand-copied ones, and many more people Europe. Printing, moreover, provided a surer ba-
could now afford to buy them. Publishers ca- sis for scholarship and prevented the further cor-
tered to every taste in reading—learned and ruption of texts through hand copying. By giving
popular, technical and imaginative, serious and all scholars the same text to work from, it made
light. Books became big business, driven by progress in critical scholarship and science faster
both consumer demand and the profit motive. and more reliable.
Fifteen or twenty million books had already But in early modern Europe, printing was
been published by 1500, and another 150 mil- not an unmixed blessing. Elite opinion was of-
lion more a century later. ten divided, or at least ambivalent, on the issue.
Not only were books cheaper and more numer- Printing was an obvious boon; the authorities,
ous, but printing also made it easier to learn to however, saw the need for censorship, for impos-
read. Literacy rates were still very low, especially ing controls on what was published. Today, ours
306
investigation was human anatomy, both for which was not successful, he collaborated with
how it could inform his painting and for what another famous Florentine, Machiavelli (see the
it could tell him about the aging process. Once section “A Revolution in Political Thought”).
he discovered a one-hundred-year-old man in a The list of Leonardo’s ideas for new me-
hospital in Florence and waited expectantly for chanical devices is staggering. He made some
his death so that he could examine his blood four hundred detailed drawings of machines.
vessels. By comparing the corpses of the very A short list of his proposals gives a hint of the
young and the very old, he was the first to de- range of his inventiveness. He came up with
scribe the disease known as arteriosclerosis, suggestions for a robot, a lifting fork, various
the hardening of the arteries. At this time, the cranes, machinery for making cloth, improve-
church took a dim view of the carving up of ments on the printing press, a prototype of a car
human remains. powered by springs and gears, a bicycle, and a
Much of Leonardo’s effort was spent on flying machine. And then there were his ideas
practical design projects, large and small. In the for weapons, including armored tanks, battering
prosperous and warring Italian city-states, there rams, scaling ladders, cannons, catapults, cross-
was always a need for industrial machinery, mili- bows, and a submarine.
tary fortifications, and weapons, and he received For all his inventive energy, Leonardo was
as many commissions for engineering work as notorious for procrastinating and sometimes
he did for works of art. In 1502, he served as a never finishing his commissions for artworks and
military engineer to the commander of the papal building projects, so the number of his surviving
army, the ruthless Cesare Borgia (d. 1507). The paintings is very small. This meager output has
next year the Florentine government hired him to always been looked on as a great loss because his
divert the course of the River Arno in order to cut finished work sets such a high standard, includ-
off access to the sea by the city-state of Pisa, with ing such incomparable paintings as The Last Sup-
which Florence was then at war. On this project, per, Mona Lisa, and St. John the Baptist.
is a pluralistic society that values new ideas and this atmosphere: the tension between the power
a variety of opinions, even differences of opinion, of print and the desire to control opinion.
at least up to a point. Early modern Europeans
were not so tolerant; in fact, they were suspicious
of intellectual novelty and variety and sometimes Erasmian Humanism
downright hostile to heterodox thinking. For cen-
turies, leaders in church and state had tried to To Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) belongs
build unity by enforcing Christian orthodoxy and the credit for making Renaissance humanism an
punishing heresy. The motto of the French monar- international movement. He was educated in the
chy aptly sums up the point: “One king, one law, Netherlands by the Brethren of the Common Life,
one faith.” The Catholic church established an In- which was one of the most advanced religious
dex of Prohibited Books in the mid-sixteenth cen- movements of the age, combining mystical piety
tury, and books such as Machiavelli’s The Prince with rigorous humanist pedagogy. Erasmus trav-
were put on the list. Protestant authorities also eled throughout Europe as a humanist educator
set up machinery for regulating the book trade. and biblical scholar. Like other Christian human-
Printers of “dangerous” books were punished, ists, he trusted the power of words and used his
sometimes executed, and their book stocks con- pen to attack scholastic theology and clerical
fiscated. All intellectual life would be stifled by abuses and to promote his philosophy of Christ.
307
308 ❖ 13 The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age
N O RWAY
SWEDEN
Stockholm
1483
Major printing centers
with date of establishment
SCOTLAND 15th century
Edinburgh 16th century
1507 North Baltic
Sea Copenhagen
Sea Political boundaries
1493 in 1490
AN
DENMARK
EL
Dublin
IR
1551
ENGLAND Hamburg
Emden 1491
Amsterdam 1554 Berlin Warsaw
Oxford 1523 Deventer 1477 1540 1578
1478 London Utrecht 1472
1480 Antwerp Leipzig POLAND
1470 Cologne 1466 1481
Brussels Bonn 1543
1474 Frankfurt 1478 Prague 1478
ATLANTIC Mainz Bamberg 1460
1448 HOLY Nuremberg
OCEAN Paris R O M A N 1470 Vienna
1470 E M P I R E Augsburg 1468 1482
Strasbourg
1460 Munich MOLDAVIA
R hine 1482
FRANCE Basel 1462 Zurich H U N G A RY
Bern
D an u b e
Cluny 1525 1508
1483 Geneva
Lyon 1478 Venice
1473 Milan V 1469
1470 E Belgrade
N 1552
Rhône
I
Florence C
PAPAL E
NAVARRE 1471
STATES OTTOMAN Constantinople
AL
EMPIRE 1488
UG
Madrid 1515
1499 1475 NAPLES
Lisbon
1489 CASTILE
Map 13.2 THE GROWTH OF P RINTING IN E UROPE The printing press was
invented in the mid-fifteenth century, and its use had spread across Europe in
less than a century. Even by 1500, some twenty million books had already been
printed using the new technology. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
His weapon was satire, and his Praise of Folly are naturally capable of both apprehending what
and Colloquies won him a reputation for acid wit is good as set forth in the Scriptures and living
vented at the expense of conventional religion. in accordance with it. Perfect harmony between
True religion, Erasmus argued, does not de- human nature and true religion allows humanity
pend on dogma, ritual, or clerical power. Rather, to attain, if not perfection, at least the next best
it is revealed clearly and simply in the Bible and thing, peace and happiness in this life.
therefore is directly accessible to all people, from This clear but quiet voice was drowned out by
the wise and great to the poor and humble. Nor the storms of the Reformation (see Chapter 14),
is true religion opposed to nature. Rather, people and the weight Erasmus gave to the individual’s
The Spread of the Renaissance ❖ 309
French Humanism
German and French humanists pursued Chris-
tian humanist aims. They used humanist scholar-
ship and language to satirize and vilify medieval
scholastic Christianity and to build a purer, more
scriptural Christianity. These northern humanists
had great faith in the power of words. The dis-
covery of accurate biblical texts, it was hoped,
would lead to a great religious awakening. Protes-
PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS (1523) BY HANS HOLBEIN
tant reformers, including Martin Luther, relied on
THE YOUNGER. Erasmus was the leading early
humanist scholarship.
sixteenth-century Christian humanist. He insisted
French thinkers of the next generation ex-
that all Christians should strive to think rationally
ploited and carried the humanist legacy in more
and to live peacefully with one another, despite their
radical directions. Among them, two were out-
differences. (© INTERFOTO/Alamy.)
standing: Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
and François Rabelais (c. 1494–1553). Both
thought and wrote in reaction to the religious reason cannot be relied on, especially in matters
wars resulting from the Reformation. In the face of religion.
of competing religious dogmatisms—Catholic, Montaigne was not a systematic philosopher
Protestant, and sectarian—Montaigne advanced but devoted himself to what he could learn by
a skepticism in which he maintained that one Socratic self-examination, the results of which he
can know little or nothing with certainty. He set down in his Essays. In their urbane and caustic
therefore advocated political quietism and ac- wit and their intense self-absorption, the Essays
ceptance of Christianity on faith. This skepti- betray a crucial shift in humanist thought, which
cism also entailed tolerance. An individual was became more pronounced in the next century.
not fully responsible for his or her beliefs, given Gone is the optimism and emphasis on civic vir-
that they were the product of frail reason and tue of the High Renaissance. In their place come
force of circumstance. Thus, Montaigne argued, skepticism and introspection, the attempt to base
people should not be punished for their beliefs, morality on the self rather than on public values.
and the only ones who deserved to be severely As Montaigne says, “Let us learn to be no more
dealt with were the dogmatists in religion. avid of glory than we are capable of it.”8 This
These people deserved to be punished because shift, produced by the increasing scale and vio-
their certainty and self-righteousness flew in the lence of religious war, represented a retreat from
face of a fundamental epistemological fact: that the idealism of Renaissance humanism.
310 ❖ 13 The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age
Spanish Humanism
PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS MORE (1527) BY HANS
Spanish humanism represents a special case. The H OLBEIN THE YOUNGER. In England, More and
church hierarchy gained such a tight grip in Spain Erasmus were close friends and colleagues, united
during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth cen- in their devotion to humanistic scholarship and a
turies that it monopolized humanist learning and Christian idealism that preached rational religion
exploited it for its own repressive purposes. In con- and life lived in service to the larger community.
trast to Germany, France, and England, there was (The Art Archive/Frick Collection, New York/Superstock)
little or no room for a dissenting humanist voice.
The mastermind behind this authoritarian Spanish
humanism was Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cis-
neros (1436–1517). Jiménez founded the University Cervantes assigned the role of pointing up the inan-
of Alcalá, not far from Madrid, for the instruction ity of his master’s quest by always acting prudently
of the clergy. He also sponsored and published the and judging according to common sense. Despite
Complutensian Polyglot Bible, with Hebrew, Latin, his earthy realism, however, Panza must share
and Greek texts in parallel columns. Jiménez, like his master’s misfortunes—so much for realism in
Christian humanists elsewhere, sought to enlighten a world run by men full of illusions. Cervantes’s
the clergy through a return to the pure sources of satire is very gentle. That knightly valor was still a
religion, and he saw his Polyglot Bible as one of the valid subject for satire indicates how wedded Spain
chief means of realizing that goal. was even in the early seventeenth century to the
A century after Jiménez, Miguel de Cervantes conservative values of its crusading past.
Saavedra (1547–1616) produced his great novel,
Don Quixote, in which he satirized the ideals of English Humanism
knighthood and chivalry. Don Quixote, the victim
of his own illusions, roams the countryside look- Christian humanism in England sharply con-
ing for romance and an opportunity to prove his trasted with that in Spain. It was developed by
knightly worth. To Quixote’s servant Sancho Panza, secular men in government as much as by clerics,
The Renaissance and the Modern Age ❖ 311
and its objectives were often opposed to authority July 1535, More was executed for treason for re-
and tradition. Various Italian humanists came to fusing to swear an oath acknowledging the king’s
England during the fifteenth century as bishops, ecclesiastical supremacy.
merchants, court physicians, or artists. English- William Shakespeare (1564–1616), widely
men also studied in Italy, especially in Florence, considered the greatest playwright the world has
and introduced the serious humanistic study of ever produced, gave expression to conventional
the classics at Oxford University toward the end Renaissance values: honor, heroism, and the strug-
of the century. gle against fate and fortune. But there is nothing
The most influential humanist of the early Eng- conventional about Shakespeare’s treatment of
lish Renaissance was Sir Thomas More (1478– characters possessing these virtues. His great-
1535), who studied at Oxford. His impact arose est plays, the tragedies (King Lear, Julius Caesar,
from both his writing and his career. Trained as and others), explore a common theme: men, even
a lawyer, he became a successful civil servant and heroic men, despite virtue, are able only with the
member of Parliament. His most famous book is greatest difficulty, if at all, to overcome their hu-
Utopia, the major utopian treatise to be written man weaknesses. What fascinated Shakespeare
in the West since Plato’s Republic and one of the was the contradiction between the Renaissance
most original works of the entire Renaissance. image of nobility, which is often the self-image of
Many humanists had attacked private wealth Shakespeare’s heroes, and man’s capacity for evil
as the source of pride, greed, and human cruelty. and self-destruction. Thus, Ophelia says of Ham-
But in Utopia, More went further. He argued that let, her lover, in the play of the same name:
an acquisitive society is by nature both unjust and
unprosperous. “For, when everyone is entitled to O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!
get as much for himself as he can, all available The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye,
property . . . is bound to fall into the hands of tongue, sword;
a small minority, which means that everyone else The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
is poor.” The unscrupulous few win out over the The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
many who remain honest and decent. For More, The observ’d of all observers, quite, quite down!
the conclusion was inescapable: “I am quite con- [And] I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
vinced that you will never get a fair distribution That suck’d the honey of his music vows,
of goods . . . until you abolish private property Now see that noble and most sovereign
altogether.”10 But to balance things out, he stated reason,
the economic case against communism as well. Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
In the absence of a profit motive, “there would That unmatch’d form and feature of blown
always tend to be shortages because nobody youth
would work hard enough. . . . Then when things Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me,
really got short, the . . . result would be a series T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!12
of murders and riots.”11 But More accused those
who took this view of lacking the imagination to The plays are intensely human—so much so that
conceive of a truly just society. In Utopia, he set humanism fades into the background. Thus, art
out to make up for this deficiency by inventing transcends doctrine to represent life itself.
an ideal society in which private ownership was
abolished and poverty eliminated because every-
one had to work in order to eat. Such a system THE RENAISSANCE AND
even produced surpluses, which allowed people
the leisure for instruction and recreation. THE MODERN AGE
More succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as lord chan-
cellor under Henry VIII. But when the king broke The Renaissance, then, marks the birth of
with the Roman Catholic church, More resigned, modernity—in art, in the idea of the individual’s
unable to reconcile his conscience with the king’s role in history and nature, and in society, poli-
rejection of papal supremacy. Three years later, in tics, war, and diplomacy. Central to this birth is
312 ❖ 13 The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age
learning. In the tenth century, the great library in exchanged, but also information, books, and
Muslim Córdoba already had a collection of be- knowledge. Much further west, scholars, Italian
tween 400,000 and 600,000 items, thus dwarfing and otherwise, rushed to Spain, and especially
the holdings of any library in Christian Europe to Córdoba, to use its great library and to get to
at the time. As in Europe, much of this Muslim know the works of antiquity, Aristotle especially
scholarship was based on ancient Greek and (see pp. 85–87 and pp. 207–208).
Latin manuscripts that were carefully preserved, During the Renaissance European scholars
translated into Arabic, and copied. But this edu- could draw upon texts, translations and scholar-
cational tradition never died in Muslim lands as it ship made available to them over the centuries
had in Christian Europe. So when Europeans, led by contact between Europeans and Muslims,
by the northern Italian city-states, rediscovered both through trade and by direct intellectual ex-
ancient literature and philosophy, they did not change. This is not to detract from the European
have to rely upon themselves alone but could also Renaissance and its achievements, from which,
draw on Muslim sources for this ancient learning, after all, so much of the modern world emerged,
where it was still being used and taught. including the very idea of modernity itself. This
The Mediterranean was a “lake” in which was in large part the invention of the northern
goods like grain, oil, and wine were traded be- Italian city-states, but it happened with consider-
tween Europeans in the north and Muslims in able support from Muslim sources. To acknowl-
the south. Venice and Bologna in Italy estab- edge this complicates matters somewhat and
lished themselves as two of the principal hinges makes for a still unfinished, and less Eurocentric,
in this trade. Not only were goods and money story.
❖ ❖ ❖
Goody, Jack, The Eurasian Miracle (2010). Takes the King, Margaret L., Women of the Renaissance
long view and traces the origins of modernity back (1991). A useful survey of a burgeoning field of
to the Bronze Age, offering food for thought. scholarship.
Hale, John, The Civilization of Europe in the Schiffman, Zachary S., ed., Humanism and the
Renaissance (1995). An informed and entertaining Renaissance (2002). Excellent selection of brief
survey, full of interesting illustrations. historical interpretations of a big subject.
The Reformation:
The Shattering of
Christian Unity
■
■
The Medieval Church in Crisis
The Lutheran Revolt
The Spread of the Reformation
B y the early sixteenth century, the only
European institution that transcended
geographic, ethnic, linguistic, and national
boundaries was under severe attack from reform-
ers. For centuries, the Catholic church, with its
■ The Catholic Response center in Rome, had extended its influence into
every aspect of European society, culture, and
■ The Reformation and the politics. Reformers said that the church’s desire
Modern Age to amass wealth and power appeared to outweigh
its commitment to the search for holiness in this
world and salvation in the next. Preoccupied by
wealth, addicted to international power, and pro-
Focus Questions tective of their own interests, the clergy, from the
pope down, took a battering from the church’s
critics. Humanists, made self-confident by the new
1. What is a Protestant?
learning and historical knowledge gathered during
2. Why did the Protestant Reformation the Renaissance, called for reform and renewal,
occur when it did? setting the stage for the Protestant Reformation.
3. What are the differences among a Eventually, though, the Reformation deviated sig-
Lutheran, a Calvinist, and an Anglican? nificantly from what the Renaissance humanists
had in mind. It brought into being a new form of
4. What were the characteristics of the Christianity, Protestantism, rather than reform of
Radical Reformation? the Catholic church from within.
5. Did Catholics and Protestants approach Schooled in new critical techniques, humanists
the modern world differently? used them to undermine the authenticity of docu-
ments that supposedly justified papal authority.
Lorenzo Valla, for instance, disproved the valid-
ity of the Donation of Constantine (see “Human-
ism,” in Chapter 13). But the fraud that especially
vexed the humanists lay not on parchment but in
the very practices by which the clergy governed
the faithful.
The Protestant Reformation did not originate
in elite circles of humanistic scholars. It began in
German-speaking Europe with Martin Luther, an
obscure monk and a brilliant theologian. Luther
rejected the church’s claim that it was the only
vehicle for human salvation, and he defied the
pope’s right to silence, reprimand, and excommu-
nicate any Christian who rejected papal authority
or denied the truth of certain church teachings.
After much soul-searching, in 1517 Luther pro-
claimed his Ninety-Five Theses. This set of short
propositions started a public rebellion against
the church’s authority that in less than one
decade shattered irrevocably the religious unity
of Christendom. This rebellion also worked a
quiet revolution in the lives of men and women.
Marriage rather than celibacy for the clergy be-
came an ideal, as did preaching, Bible-reading,
316
Chronology 14.1 ❖ The Reformation
1381 English peasants revolt and support John Wycliffe, an early reformer
1414–1418 Council of Constance
1415 Hus burned at the stake
1431–1449 Council of Basel
1517 Martin Luther writes the Ninety-Five Theses, and the Reformation begins;
thousands of printed copies circulate
1520 Pope Leo X excommunicates Luther
1524–1526 German peasants revolt
1526 Hungary falls to the Ottoman Turks, and its Diet is dissolved; it is powerless
to stop the spread of Lutheranism
1529 English Parliament accepts Henry VIII’s Reformation
1534 Henry VIII is declared head of the Church of England; Francis I of France
declares Protestants heretics; Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus;
Anabaptists, radical reformers, capture Münster in Westphalia
1536 John Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion
1536–1564 Calvin leads the Reformation in Geneva with William Farel
1545–1563 Council of Trent
1553–1558 Mary, Catholic queen of England, persecutes Protestants; many flee to
Geneva
1555 Peace of Augsburg
1561 Scotland turns Presbyterian under John Knox
1562–1598 French wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants are settled by the
Edict of Nantes in 1598; in the same period the Dutch revolt against Spain
1640–1660 English Revolution; rise and defeat of the Puritans
and education. People felt less intimidated by of Western Christendom. They argued that the
clerical authority but may have privately ques- church had become inefficient and corrupt, and
tioned and chastised themselves. For help they they blamed the papacy in Rome. Some reform-
turned to the Bible. Pitted against the church, ers sought to wrest power from the pope and
the Reformation and then the Catholic response give it to a general council of the church’s hier-
dominated European history throughout much of archy. Before 1480, this was one of the aims of
the sixteenth century. the Conciliar Movement. However, the Councils
of Constance and of Basel failed to leave a mean-
ingful inheritance to the church, largely because
THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN CRISIS the special interests of kings and the papacy un-
dercut the councils’ authority. By 1500, the failure
By the Late Middle Ages, the church had en- of the Conciliar Movement meant that reforming
tered a time of crisis. Theologians and political the church from within would be very difficult. A
theorists rejected the pope’s claim to supremacy broader reformation required defiant action and
over kings and to spiritual sovereignty over all outreach to the faithful. The recent invention of
317
318 ❖ 14 The Reformation: The Shattering of Christian Unity
printing gave literate people access to the writings under secular control failed. Partly because he re-
of the reformers and their Catholic adversaries. tained strong supporters and was more interested
in scholarship than leadership, Wycliffe survived
the failure of his movement and died a natural
Wycliffe and Hus death. His ideas remained alive in popular reli-
gious beliefs, and his followers, called Lollards,
Prior to Luther, the two most significant at- have been credited with laying a foundation on
tempts to reform the church occurred first in which Protestant reformers of the sixteenth cen-
the thirteenth century and then again in the late tury could build.
fourteenth century in England and Bohemia. In A harsher fate awaited the Bohemian (Czech)
France, Waldo (d. 1218) led a band of reformers, reformer Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415): he was
the Waldensians, who wanted the Bible to be read burned at the stake in 1415. Partly influenced by
in French and who laid emphasis on inner spiri- Wycliffe’s writings, Hus, in his native Prague, at-
tuality. As late as the 1680s, the French church, tacked the sacramental system of the church, as
aided by the army, attempted to stamp out what it well as its wealth and power. A popular preacher,
regarded as a form of Protestantism. In the four- he argued for Bohemian independence at a time
teenth century, the leaders of two new movements, when the Holy Roman Emperor sought to con-
John Wycliffe in England and Jan Hus in Bohe- tinue his control over that territory. After Hus’s
mia, were theologians who attacked vital church execution, his followers broke with the Ro-
doctrines and practices. Wycliffe and Hus made man Catholic church. The Bohemian church
heresy intellectually respectable. The influence of became independent from Rome, and the Hus-
Wycliffe’s and later Hus’s movements also con- sites prepared the ground for the success of the
tributed to the long-term success of Protestantism Protestant Reformation. Until well into the sev-
in England and to its short-term success in por- enteenth century, Bohemia remained a battle-
tions of Eastern Europe. Hus laid the ground for ground of popular Protestantism against the
the conversion of the Hungarian nobility. Even official church.
without access to printing, both Wycliffe and Hus
appealed for mass support, prefiguring the popu-
list quality of the Reformation. Mysticism and Humanism
John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384), a master at
Oxford University, attacked the church’s author- Wycliffe’s and Hus’s reform attempts coincided
ity by arguing simply that the worldly church with a powerful new religiosity. Late medieval
did not control eternal destiny or the soul’s ac- mystics sought to have immediate and personal
cess to grace. He said that salvation came only communication with God and to renew the
to those who possess faith, a gift freely given by church’s spirituality. Many late medieval mystics
God and not contingent on the church’s rituals or were women who, by virtue of their sex, were de-
sacraments. This position downgraded the clergy. prived of a clerical role in governing the church.
Wycliffe attacked the church’s wealth and argued First mysticism and then Protestantism offered
that all true believers in Christ were equal and, in women a way of expressing their independence in
effect, Christ’s priests. To make faith accessible to religious matters.
them, Wycliffe and his followers translated por- The church hierarchy had a deep distrust of
tions of the Bible into English. Wycliffe’s preach- mysticism. If people could experience God di-
ings foreshadowed the teachings of Luther and rectly, they would have little need for the church
the practices of the English Reformation. and its rituals. In the fourteenth century, mysti-
Wycliffe received staunch support from some cal movements seldom became heretical. But in
members of the English nobility. However, when the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, radical
his ideas were taken up by articulate peasants reformers, some of them women preachers, often
during an abortive peasants’ revolt in 1381, found in Christian mysticism a powerful alter-
Wycliffe lost many powerful backers. In the end, native to the control and consolation offered by
his attempt to reform the church by bringing it priests and the sacraments.
The Medieval Church in Crisis ❖ 319
salvation. These biblical passages said to him those who sinned excessively but had the good
that faith, freely given only by God through fortune to repent before death. Naturally, people
Christ, gives salvation and that human beings, worried about how long they might have to suf-
powerless because of their fallen and sinful na- fer in purgatory. Indulgences were intended to
ture, are rescued by divine mercy. Neither the remit portions of that time and punishment and
pope nor the sacraments give what only God were granted by the church to those who prayed,
can provide—salvation. attended Mass, and performed acts of charity—
The concept of salvation by faith alone sat- including making monetary offerings to the
isfied Luther’s spiritual quest. Practicing good church itself. Could the church be selling and peo-
works such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimages, and ple buying admittance to heaven?
receiving the sacraments would not in themselves In the autumn of 1517, a friar named Tetzel
lead to grace. No amount of good works, how- was selling indulgences near Wittenberg. Some
ever necessary for Christian unity, would bring of the money went to rebuilding Saint Peter’s
salvation. Through reading the Bible and through Basilica in Rome, and the rest was for paying
faith alone, the Christian could find the purpose off debts incurred by a local archbishop when
of earthly existence. For Luther, the true Christian he purchased his office from the pope. Although
was a courageous figure who faced the terrify- Luther did not know about the purchase, he was
ing quest for salvation armed only with the hope incensed both by Tetzel’s crude manner and by
that God had granted the gift of faith. The new his flagrant exploitation of the people’s igno-
Christian served others, not to bargain with good rance and what Luther deemed his misuse of
works for salvation, but solely to fulfill the de- their money. Luther launched his attack on Tetzel
mands of Christian love. Nuns left their convents and the selling of indulgences by tacking on the
and married in the belief that their faith and ser- door of the Wittenberg castle church his Ninety-
vice to the community would save them. Priests Five Theses.* He also sent a copy to the local
also left the church to become, like Luther, leaders archbishop. Luther’s theses (propositions) chal-
of their own churches. Luther’s odyssey laid out lenged the entire notion of selling indulgences
a new Protestant piety that embraced activity in not only as a corrupt practice but also because it
the world. rested on a theologically unsound assumption—
Pursuing his theological and biblical studies, namely, that salvation could be bought and sold,
Luther became a professor at the nearby university that is, earned by the good work of supporting
at Wittenberg, in Saxony, and a preacher in that the church. Luther was blunt with the church’s
city’s church. He shared his personal struggle with hierarchy and, in particular, with the papacy: he
his students and his congregations. At the Univer- challenged its sole authority to save souls and to
sity of Wittenberg and in the province of Saxony guard entrance into heaven. By his logic, indul-
in general, Luther found an audience receptive to gences were worthless.
his views, and his popularity and reputation grew. Luther’s argument in all his writings rested on
Before 1517, he was considered a dynamic and the belief that Christian salvation through per-
controversial preacher, whose passionate interest sonal piety requires contrition for sins and trust
lay in turning Christians away from their worldly in God’s mercy and grace. He also believed that
pleasures and from reliance on good works while no good work earned salvation. The church, in
focusing their attention on Christ and the truth contrast, held that both faith and good works
contained within Scripture. After 1517, Luther were necessary for salvation. Luther further in-
became internationally famous; eventually the sisted that every individual could discover the
church deemed him a heretic. meaning of the Bible unaided by the clergy. The
The Reformation began in 1517 with Luther’s church maintained that only the clergy could read
attack on the church’s practice of selling indul-
gences. The church taught that some individuals
go directly to heaven, some go directly to hell, and *Some scholars debate whether this public display ever
others go to heaven after spending time in pur- occurred, but the document itself was soon printed and
gatory. Punishment in purgatory is necessary for widely circulated.
Primary Source
Martin Luther: Disputation 6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by
declaring that it has been remitted by God
of Doctor Martin Luther on and by assenting to God’s remission; though,
the Power and Efficacy of to be sure, he may grant remission in cases
reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant
Indulgences (1517) remission in such cases were despised, the
guilt would remain entirely unforgiven.
Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring 7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does
it to light, the following propositions will be not, at the same time, humble in all things
discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency and bring into subjection to His vicar, the
of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master priest.
of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer 8. The penitential canons are imposed only on
in Ordinary on the same at that place. Where- the living, and, according to them, nothing
fore he requests that those who are unable to should be imposed on the dying.
be present and debate orally with us, may do so
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is
by letter.
kind to us, because in his decrees he always
In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
makes exception of the article of death and
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ . . . willed of necessity.
that the whole life of believers should be 10. Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those
repentance. priests who, in the case of the dying, reserve
2. This word cannot be understood to mean canonical penances for purgatory.
sacramental penance, i.e., confession and 11. This changing of the canonical penalty to
satisfaction, which is administered by the the penalty of purgatory is quite evidently
priests. one of the weeds that were sown while the
3. Yet it means not inward repentance only; bishops slept.
nay, there is no inward repentance which
does not outwardly work divers mortifica-
tions of the flesh. Questions for Analysis
4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues
1. What does it mean to say that the pope can-
so long as hatred of self continues; for this
not remit our guilt? If not through the pope,
is the true inward repentance, and contin-
then how will humans be forgiven?
ues until our entrance into the kingdom of
heaven. 2. What is Luther’s view of the clergy?
5. The pope does not intend to remit, and can-
not remit any penalties other than those Works of Martin Luther, trans. and ed. Adolph Spaeth,
which he has imposed either by his own L. D. Reed, Henry Eyster Jacobs, et al. (Philadelphia:
authority or by that of the Canons. A. J. Holman, 1915), 1:29–38.
and interpret the Bible properly. Luther argued and God: Christians reached eternal salvation
that in matters of faith there was no difference be- through the church and its clergy. For Luther, no
tween the clergy and the laity; indeed, each person priest, no ceremony, no sacrament, and certainly
could receive faith directly and freely from God. no confinement in convents or monasteries could
The church held that the clergy and the sacra- bridge the gulf between the Creator and his crea-
ments were intermediaries between individuals tures, and the possibility of personal damnation
322
The Lutheran Revolt ❖ 323
and well-wishers from Eastern Europe as well as about the meaning of his personal experience as
Germany flocked to Wittenberg. a Christian. In The Freedom of a Christian Man
At this point, politics intervened. Recognizing (1520), he called on Germans to strive for true
that his life might be in danger if he continued spiritual freedom through faith in Christ, to dis-
to preach without a protector, Luther appealed cipline themselves, to obey legitimate political
for support to Prince Frederick, the elector of authority, and to perform good works accord-
Saxony. The elector was a powerful man in in- ing to the dictates of Christian love. In these
ternational politics—one of the seven lay and treatises, Luther made his political conservatism
ecclesiastical princes who chose the Holy Roman clear: he wanted to present no threat to legiti-
Emperor. Frederick’s support for his most famous mate authority, that is, to the power of German
university professor convinced church officials, princes.
including the pope, that this friar had to be han- In 1521, Charles V, the Holy Roman Em-
dled cautiously. peror and a devout Catholic, summoned Luther
The years 1518 and 1519 were momentous to Worms, giving him a pass of safe conduct. In
ones for the Holy Roman Empire. Before his that imperial city Luther faced the charge of her-
death in 1519, the Holy Roman Emperor Maxi- esy, both an ecclesiastical and a civil offense. As
milian I wanted to see his grandson Charles, king he traveled to Worms, crowds of well-wishers
of Spain, elected to succeed him. The papacy at cheered his way. Then standing before the em-
first opposed Charles’s candidacy, even looking peror and his court, Luther was supposed to re-
to Frederick of Saxony as a possible alternative. cant. His careful and defiant reply became his
Frederick wisely declined. However, because he most famous statement: “Unless I am convinced
was one of the seven electors, the contenders— of error by the testimony of Scripture or by clear
Charles, Francis I of France, and Henry VIII of reason . . . I cannot and will not recant anything,
England—counted on him for his vote. Charles for it is neither safe nor honest to act against one’s
bribed the electors and won the title. Therefore, conscience. God help me.”
during this crucial period and for years afterward, Shortly after this confrontation with the em-
he had to proceed cautiously on issues that might peror, Luther went into hiding to escape arrest.
offend powerful German princes. In that one-year period, he translated the New
These political considerations explain the delay Testament into German. With it, he offered lit-
in Luther’s official condemnation and excommu- erate Germans the opportunity to take the same
nication by the pope. When in late 1520 the pope arduous spiritual odyssey that he had undergone
finally acted, it was too late; Luther had been and to join him as a new type of Christian. These
given the time needed to promote his views. He followers, or Lutherans, were eventually called
proclaimed that the pope was the Antichrist and Protestants, those who protested against the
that the church was the “most lawless den of rob- established church, and the term became generic
bers, the most shameless of all brothels, the very for all supporters of the Reformation.
kingdom of sin, death and Hell.”1 When the papal
bull excommunicating him was delivered, Luther
burned it. Religious Reform or
Luther and his followers established con- Social Revolution?
gregations for Christian worship throughout
Germany. To find protectors, in 1520 Luther Luther looked to every level of German society
published the Address to the Christian Nobility for support. In a country of many small towns
of the German Nation. In it, he appealed to the with printing presses, the literate urban popula-
German princes to cast off their allegiance to the tion responded dramatically to his call. Led by
pope, who, he argued, had used taxes and politi- city fathers and preachers, individuals converted
cal power to exploit them for centuries. His ap- to the new Protestant churches or turned their
peal tapped into the resentment against foreign own Catholic church into a Protestant one. The
papal intervention that had long festered in Ger- new faith made men and women bold. When
many. Luther also wrote to the German people a teenage boy married of his own will without
The Lutheran Revolt ❖ 325
consulting his family in Nuremberg, he defended Germans who supported Martin Luther believed
his actions by saying that God “ordained that it that they were freeing German Christians from
happen this way by his divine will.”2 Priests were foreign control. The same spirit motivated the
now expected to marry. Even though Protestants nobility in France, the Low Countries, Poland,
insisted that women marry and be silent and obe- and Lithuania.
dient, a Swiss Protestant woman who refused First and foremost, however, Lutheranism
marriage justified her wanting to remain “mas- was a popular evangelical movement. Its bat-
terless” by saying: “Those who have Christ for a tle cry became “The Word of God”; faith and
master are not masterless.” the Bible were its hallmarks. Luther turned his
Luther was a brilliant preacher, and clearly his wrath on the “detestable tyranny of the clergy
message could inspire people to be defiant as well over the laity; [the clergy] almost look upon
as devout. Protestantism came to be seen not only them as dogs, unworthy to be numbered in the
as a source of personal revitalization and salva- Church along with themselves. . . . They dare to
tion but also as a force that could renew society command, exact, threaten, drive, and oppress, at
and government. their will.”3
The same issues that moved Germans to leave Those were fighting words—but uttered by a
the church appealed to people in towns and cities political conservative, who hesitated to challenge
in Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, and secular authority. To Luther, the good Christian
Switzerland. Even in Paris and London, as well as must be an obedient citizen. The freedom of the
in northern Italy by the late 1520s, followers or Christian lay inward, a spiritual freedom. Yet
readers of Luther could easily be found, and lives Luther could not stop his ideas from spreading
changed profoundly. Katharina von Bora, who to the poor and the peasantry, often by word of
married Martin Luther, was so devoted to the Lu- mouth. The population of Germany was about 16
theran cause that Luther called her his “Moses.” million, of which probably no more than 400,000
There were thousands of devout and defiant could read. For the illiterate and largely rural peo-
Katharinas throughout Europe. ple, Lutheranism came to mean not only religious
Despite repression by the Catholic church and reform but also an evangelical social movement
the weight of habit and tradition, in 1550 Protes- that would address their poverty. In addition,
tants were probably in the majority in some Ger- the peasants believed that the end of the world
man towns, in much of Hungary and Bohemia, in was near and that God would soon impose jus-
Sweden, and in various Swiss cantons. In France, tice. Millenarianism and poverty inspired social
more than a million people converted to Calvin’s revolution.
version of Protestantism. Dutch city dwellers Although Luther had spoken forcefully about
turned to it as well, much to the horror of their Christians’ discontent with their church, he
Spanish king. How could this have happened in never understood that to the poor and socially
one generation? oppressed, the church’s abuses were visible signs
In the sixteenth century, any new religious or of the poverty and exploitation they encountered
political movement needed the support of the in their daily lives. The wealthy feudal lords who
nobility. Early on, Luther appealed to them, and dominated every aspect of their existence, as well
they responded. Their motives ranged from piety as the prosperous townspeople who bought their
to political ambition. The Reformation provided labor for the lowest possible wages, seemed no
the nobility with the unprecedented opportu- different from the venal clergy; indeed, in some
nity to confiscate church lands, eliminate church cases the lord was also a local bishop.
taxes, and gain the support of their subjects by In the early sixteenth century, a rapid popula-
serving as leaders of a popular and dynamic reli- tion explosion throughout Europe had produced
gious movement. The Reformation also gave the severe inflation, high unemployment, and low
nobles a way to resist the Catholic Holy Roman wages. The poor got poorer. The peasantry in
Emperor Charles V, who wanted to extend his Germany was probably worse off than the peas-
authority over the German princes. Resenting antry in England and the Low Countries. In 1524,
Italian domination of the church, many other long-suffering peasants openly rebelled against
Profile
Katharina von Bora Two years later, Katharina and Martin were
married. Their marriage became a love match
Katharina von Bora (1499–1552) and Martin that lasted all of their lives. Katharina and Mar-
Luther had a marriage that, though imperfect, tin became role models for other Protestant
well represents the Protestant model. Although clergy. Protestant doctrine taught women that
Katharina came from a noble background, her marriage and child-rearing, combined with obe-
family was not well-off. After a few years of dience to one’s husband, led to holiness. Katie,
religious education, she entered a nunnery— as Martin called her, ran a household with more
a common choice for women without dowries than forty rooms, in addition to buying and run-
for marriage. Katharina and other women in ning a farm. She raised six children and was
the convent soon became disillusioned with the a devoted Protestant wife. Her last recorded
cloistered life. Somehow, Martin Luther learned words are “I will stick to Christ as a burr to a
of their plight and decided to help. In April 1523, topcoat.” Beginning with Katharina and Martin,
he aided eleven nuns—among them Katharina— Protestant ministers married, raised families,
in their escape from the cloister. Legend has it and served their congregations who supported
that they hid in empty smoked herring barrels. them.
their lords. The peasants’ revolt spread to more religious reform, not social revolution or even
than one-third of Germany; some 300,000 people social reform, and it became increasingly an
took up arms against their masters. They were urban phenomenon.
inspired by Luther’s successful confrontation with
the church. Had he not chastised the nobles for
failing to care for the poor as commanded in the THE SPREAD OF
Gospel?
Luther, however, had no intention of asso- THE REFORMATION
ciating his movement with a peasant uprising
and thereby alienating the nobility from the Lutheranism spread in waves and in every direc-
Reformation. Luther virulently attacked the re- tion out from Wittenberg, the training ground for
bellious peasants, urging the nobility to become Luther’s clergy. In northern Europe, cut off from
“both judge and executioner” and to “knock the south by the Alps and the Pyrenees, the Refor-
down, strangle, and stab . . . and think nothing mation spread rapidly. In southern Europe, where
so venomous, pernicious, Satanic as an insur- the church and the Inquisition were strongest, the
gent. . . . Such wonderful times are these that a Reformation made fewer inroads in Italy or Spain.
prince can merit heaven better with bloodshed Thus, the spread of Protestantism had a pattern.
than another with prayer.” 4 By 1525–1526, It grew strong in northern Germany, Scandinavia,
the peasants had been put down by the sword. the Netherlands, Scotland, and England but failed
Thousands died or were left homeless, and in Ireland and the Romance countries, though not
many were permanently alienated from Luther- without a struggle in France.
anism. Because of the failure of the revolt, the Protestantism also appeared simultaneously in
German peasantry remained relatively back- different places—a sure indication of its popular
ward and oppressed well into the nineteenth roots. For example, in the Swiss city of Zurich, the
century. In Germany, the Reformation meant priest and reformer Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)
326
The Spread of the Reformation ❖ 327
ICONOCLAST FURY. In the sixteenth century, reformers tore out the statues and
stained glass in Protestant churches, arguing that decoration distracts from the
Bible and the Word of God. To this day, Protestant churches remain less decorated
than Catholic ones. (The Granger Collection, New York.)
preached faith and not good works and saw the and the major reform movement of the next gen-
Bible as the key to divine will and law. Like Luther, eration, Calvinism, benefited from Zwingli’s re-
he looked for an alternative to the doctrine of forms. Both forms of the Reformation spread into
transubstantiation—the priest’s transformation Eastern Europe.
of Communion bread and wine into the substance In Germany, the strife created by the Refor-
of Christ’s body and blood. It gave enormous mation was settled, though not to everyone’s
power to the priesthood. But the two reform- satisfaction, by the Peace of Augsburg (1555). It
ers differed bitterly over the form and meaning decreed, by the famous dictum cuius regio, eius
of the ceremony. Zwingli radically altered the religio (“whoever rules, his religion”), that each
Communion service, and it became solely a com- territorial prince should determine the religion of
memoration of the Last Supper. Their quarrel his subjects. Broadly speaking, northern Germany
highlights that the reformers, as predicted by the became largely Protestant, and Bavaria and other
Catholic church, could not agree on the mean- southern territories remained in the Roman Cath-
ing of the Bible or on the ritual expressions they olic church. The victors were the local princes.
would give their new versions of Christianity. Toward the end of his life, Charles V expressed
Zwingli died on the battlefield in a war to de- bitter regret for not intervening more forcefully in
fend the Reformation. His teachings laid the foun- those early years. The decentralization of the em-
dation for a thorough reformation in Switzerland, pire and its division into Catholic and Protestant
328 ❖ 14 The Reformation: The Shattering of Christian Unity
areas blocked German unity until the last part of Within a year, young Calvin abandoned his
the nineteenth century. In Eastern Europe, both literary studies to become a preacher of the
forms of Christianity showed hostility to Islam, Reformation. Calvin explained his conversion
and it was returned in kind. as an act of God: “He subdued and reduced my
heart to docility, which, for my age, was over-
much hardened in such matters.”5 Calvin empha-
Calvin and Calvinism sized the power of God over sinful and corrupt
humanity; his God thundered and demanded
The success of the Reformation outside Ger- obedience, and the terrible distance between God
many and Scandinavia derived largely from the and the individual was mediated only by Christ.
theological rigor of John Calvin (1509–1564), In his search for spiritual order and salvation,
a French scholar and theologian. By the 1530s, Calvin spoke to his age. His anxiety was widely
Lutheran treatises circulated widely in Paris. shared. He feared disorder and ignorance, sin-
Some university students, including the young fulness, and simply the unpredictable quality of
John Calvin, seized upon Luther’s ideas. human existence. The only solution to anxiety
Calvin was born into a French family of bour- lay in unshakable faith in God, knowledge of
geois status; his father, somewhat like Luther’s, his laws, and absolute adherence to righteous
was self-made and ambitious. A lawyer and ad- conduct. We must see God’s order everywhere,
ministrator, the elder Calvin served ecclesiastical especially in nature, in “the symmetry and regu-
authorities until a dispute led to his excommu- lation” of the universe.6 Faith in God is so ob-
nication. He desired prosperous careers for his viously our salvation that, according to Calvin,
sons. John first studied to be a priest and then, only the damned, the reprobate, would turn their
at his father’s insistence, took up the study of back on him and live in disorder. Calvin assured
law at the University of Orléans. Unlike the re- his congregations that God “will give a good re-
bellious Luther, Calvin waited until his father’s sult to everything we do. . . . God will cause our
death to return to Paris and resume his theologi- enterprises to prosper when our purpose is right
cal studies. Even more so than Luther, Calvin and we attempt nothing except what he wills.”7
was trained as a humanist. He knew the ancient With Calvin, the doctrine of predestination be-
languages, as well as philosophy and theology, came the centerpiece of Protestant theology:
and he knew the Bible. From all those sources, some people are saved, others damned at birth;
Calvin fashioned the most logically compel- inward belief and outward righteousness and in-
ling version of Protestantism to come out of the tegrity may signal a person’s fate, but God alone
Reformation. knows what the future holds.
Sometime in 1533 or 1534, Calvin met French The social and political implications of predes-
followers of Luther and became convinced of the tination were immediate: Calvinists became mili-
truth of the new theology. He took to the streets tant Protestants capable of ruling their towns or
to spread his beliefs, and within a year he and his cities with the same iron will they used to control
friends were in trouble with the authorities. Calvin their unruly passions. Like Luther, Calvin always
was arrested but released because of insufficient stressed that Christians should obey legitimate
evidence. political authority. But Calvinists were individuals
King Francis I, a bitter rival of the Holy Roman who assumed that unfailing dedication to God’s
Emperor, could countenance Protestantism in law could signal salvation; their obedience to
Germany but would never permit disruptive re- human laws would always be contingent on their
ligious divisions in France. Riots had already inner sense of righteousness. Thus, Calvinism
broken out in Paris between Catholics and sup- made for stern followers, active in their churches
porters of the Reformation. In 1534, the French and willing to suppress vice in themselves and
church, backed by a royal decree, declared the others. Calvinism also could produce revolution-
Protestants heretics and subjected them to arrest aries willing to defy any temporal authorities seen
and execution. to violate God’s laws. Obedience to Christian law
The Spread of the Reformation ❖ 329
became the dominating principle of Calvin’s life. stay to continue the work of the Reformation.
Rigorous enforcement of the law ensured obe- Together, they became leaders of the Protestant
dience to God’s law; the local Calvinist church movement in Geneva. After many setbacks, Cal-
became an alternative to the power of the Catho- vin emerged as the most dynamic agent of reform
lic church. in the city. Until his death in 1564, his beliefs and
The political situation in France forced Cal- actions ruled Geneva’s religious and social life.
vin to leave. After his flight from Paris, he finally Calvin established an unofficial Calvinist
sought safety in Geneva, a small, prosperous Swiss theocracy—a society in which Calvinist elders
city near the French border. It was a logical choice. regulated citizens’ personal and social lives and
Before Calvin’s arrival, Geneva’s citizens were in did so through church courts that were inde-
revolt against their Catholic bishops. The French- pendent of state institutions. Older, pious, male
born reformer William Farel implored Calvin to members of the community governed the city.
330 ❖ 14 The Reformation: The Shattering of Christian Unity
These elders of the Calvinist church imposed Huguenots, became a well-organized underground
strict discipline in dress, sexual mores, church movement that attracted nobles, city dwellers,
attendance, and business affairs; they severely some peasants, and especially women. Huguenot
punished irreligious and sinful behavior. This churches, often under the protection of powerful
rigid discipline contributed to Geneva’s prosper- nobles, assumed an increasingly political character
ity; indeed, Calvin instituted the kind of social in response to the monarchy-sponsored persecu-
discipline that some of the merchants had al- tion. By 1559, French Protestants had organized
ways wanted. Prosperous merchants, as well as and challenged their persecutors, King Henry
small shopkeepers, saw in Calvinism a series of II and the Guise—one of the foremost Catholic
doctrines that justified the self-discipline they families in Europe, tied by marriage and convic-
already exercised in their own lives and wished tion to the Spanish monarchy and its rigorous
to impose on the unruly masses. They particu- form of Catholicism. Guise power in the French
larly approved of Calvin’s economic views, for court meant that all Protestant appeals for lenient
Calvin, unlike the Catholic church, saw nothing treatment went unheeded, and in 1562 civil war
sinful in commercial activities and even gave his erupted between Catholics and Protestants. What
assent to the practice of charging interest. followed was one of the most brutal religious
Geneva became the center of international wars in the history of Europe. In 1572, an effort
Protestantism. Calvin trained a new generation of at conciliation through the marriage of a Protes-
Protestant reformers of many nationalities who tant leader into the royal family failed when Cath-
carried his message back to their homelands. Cal- olics, urged on by the queen mother, Catherine de’
vin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), Medici, murdered the assembled Protestant wed-
in its many editions, became (after the Bible) the ding guests. Over the next week, a popular upris-
leading textbook of the new theology. In the sec- ing left thousands of Protestants dead; the streets,
ond half of the sixteenth century, Calvin’s theol- according to eyewitness accounts, were stained
ogy of predestination spread into France, England, red with blood. These murders and the ensuing
Scotland, the Netherlands, and parts of the Holy slaughter, known as the Saint Bartholomew’s Day
Roman Empire. Massacre, inspired the pope to have a Mass said
Calvin opposed violence against the legitimate in thanksgiving for a Catholic “victory.” Such was
authority of magistrates. Yet when monarchy be- the extent of religious hatred in late-sixteenth-
came a persecutor, his followers felt compelled to century Europe.
respond. Calvinist theologians became the first After nearly thirty years of brutal fighting
political theoreticians of modern times to publish throughout France, victory went to the Catholic
cogent arguments for opposition to monarchy side—but just barely. Henry of Navarre, the Prot-
and eventually for political revolution. In France estant bridegroom who in 1572 had managed to
and later in the Netherlands, Calvinism became a escape the fate of his supporters, became King
revolutionary ideology, complete with an under- Henry IV, but only after reconverting to Catholi-
ground organization of dedicated followers who cism. He established a tentative peace by granting
challenged monarchical authority. (In the seven- Protestants limited toleration. In 1598, he issued
teenth century, the English version of Calvinism— the Edict of Nantes, the first document in any
Puritanism—performed the same function.) In nation-state that attempted to institutionalize a
certain circumstances, Calvinism supplied the degree of religious toleration. In the seventeenth
moral force to support the individual against century, the successors of Henry IV (he was as-
the claims of the monarchical state. sassinated by a priest in 1610) gradually weak-
ened the edict and then in 1685 revoked it. The
foundations of toleration, in theory and practice,
France remained tenuous in early modern France. Every
French king of the seventeenth century tried to
Although Protestantism was illegal in France after decrease the number of Protestants. In 1685,
1534, its persecution was halfhearted and never more than 150,000 fled to the Protestant areas of
systematic. The Calvinist minority in France, the Europe or the American colonies.
The Spread of the Reformation ❖ 331
0 200 400Mi.
E N
E D2 7
NORWAY S W 1 5
1536
SCOTLAND
ATLA NTI C 1567
Sea
O CE A N
lt i c
Edinburgh
Ba
LITHUANIA
North Sea DENMARK
IRELAND 1536
Dublin PRUSSIA
Safe havens
for Protestants ENGLAND Hamburg
Jesuit 1534 BRANDENBURG
Amsterdam
S
establishments Oxford
ND
A Berlin Warsaw
RL Münster Wittenberg
Areas won back London
T HE
from the Reformation NE HOLY POLAND
WESTPHALIA Leipzig
Lutheran Brussels
Noyon ROMAN
Calvinist (Reformed) SAXONY Prague
Paris Worms BOHEMIA
Nuremberg
Church of England EMPIRE MORAVIA
Orléans Strasbourg Augsburg Vienna
Roman Catholic Nantes TRANSYLVANIA
Munich AUSTRIA Pest
B ay of Basel BAVARIA Buda
Huguenot centers
B iscay Zurich
Spread of Calvinism FRANCE SWITZERLAND HUNGARY
Geneva Trent
Bordeaux Milan Bl ack Sea
Venice
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ITALY ia TO
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AL
SPAIN Se AN
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Madrid EM
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Lisbon PIR
Naples E
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Mediterranean Sea
The Spread of the Reformation ❖ 333
AUSTRIA
The Italian Inquisition had the backing of the Salzburg
CARNIOLA Zagreb
but there, too, the authorities, both lay and cleri-
cal, quickly and thoroughly stamped out Protes- Fiume CROATIA
the nobility, already immensely powerful, took up The radicals said, as did the Bible, that the
Protestantism. When the church, led by the Jesu- poor shall inherit the earth, which is ruled at
its, fought back, it easily triumphed in those areas present by the Antichrist, and that the end of
where the Reformation lacked popular support. the world had been proclaimed by Scripture.
Very slowly, Poland was brought back into the The saint’s task was to purge this earth of evil
church; in Lithuania, by the late sixteenth century, to make it ready for Christ’s Second Coming.
Protestantism had all but disappeared. The Cath- For the radicals, the faith-alone doctrine meant
olic version of reformation had demonstrated its certain salvation for the poor and lowly, and the
considerable appeal. Scriptures became an inspiration for social revo-
lution. The doctrine could also inspire quietism,
retreat from this world in anticipation of a bet-
The Radical Reformation ter world to come. Luther, Calvin, and the other
reformers vigorously condemned the social doc-
The mainstream of the Protestant Reformation trines preached by the radical reformers, whether
can be described as magisterial because the lead- activist or quietist.
ing reformers generally supported established The largest group in the Radical Reformation
political authorities, whether they were terri- prior to 1550 has the general name of Anabap-
torial princes or urban magistrates. For the re- tists. On receiving the inner light—the message
formers, human freedom was a spiritual, not a of salvation—the Anabaptist felt born anew and
social, concept. Yet the Reformation did help yearned to be rebaptized. This notion had a revo-
trigger revolts among the artisan and peasant lutionary implication: the first infant baptism—
classes of Central and then Western Europe. thought to ensure allegiance to an established
Indications are that church doctrine had not church (Protestant or Catholic)—did not count.
made great inroads into the folk beliefs of large The Anabaptist was a new Christian led by the
segments of the European masses. For example, light of conscience to seek the reform and renewal
some peasants held the very un-Christian be- of all institutions in preparation for the Second
liefs that Nature was God or that witches had Coming of Christ. Millenarian doctrines about
as much spiritual power as priests did. By the the end of the world provided a sense of time and
1520s, several radical reformers arose, often urgency.
from the lower classes of European society, and In 1534, Anabaptists captured the city of
they channeled popular religion and folk be- Münster in Westphalia, near the western border
liefs into a new version of reformed Christianity of Germany. They seized the property of non-
that spoke directly to the temporal and spiritual believers, burned all books except the Bible, and
needs of the oppressed. in a mood of jubilation and sexual excess openly
Some beliefs constituted what may be called practiced a repressive (as far as women were con-
the Radical Reformation. Appealing to the poor cerned) polygamy. All the while, the Anabaptists
and oppressed, the radicals argued that ordinary proclaimed that the Day of Judgment was close
men and women, even if illiterate, have certain at hand. The radical leaders at Münster were men
knowledge of their salvation through an inner totally unprepared for power. They were defeated
light, a direct communication from God to his by the army led by a Lutheran prince, Philip of
chosen “saints”—men and women predestined Hesse, and the local Catholic bishops brutally
for salvation. That knowledge makes the saint suppressed them. In early modern Europe, Mün-
free. For the radicals, spiritual freedom paral- ster became a byword for dangerous revolution.
leled their demands for social and economic In Münster today, the cages still hang from the
freedom and equality. Protestantism, radically church steeple where the Anabaptist leaders were
interpreted, proclaimed the righteousness and tortured and left to die as a warning to all would-
the priesthood of all believers. It said that all be imitators.
people can have faith if God wills it and that By the late sixteenth century, many radi-
God would not abandon the wretched and hum- cal movements had either gone underground
ble of the earth. or grown quiet. But a century later, during the
The Catholic Response ❖ 335
English Revolution of 1640 to 1660, the beliefs territories. They developed a pragmatic theol-
and political goals of the Radical Reformation ogy that permitted “small sins” in the service of
resurfaced, threatening to push the political an ultimately just cause. In this way, the Jesuits,
revolution in a direction that its gentry lead- by the seventeenth century, became the greatest
ers desperately feared. Although the radicals teachers in Europe and also the most contro-
failed in England, they left a tradition of demo- versial religious group within the church. Were
cratic and antihierarchical thought. The radi- they the true voice of a reformed church, or did
cal assertion that saints, who have received the they have nefarious intentions, as their critics
inner light, are the equal of anyone, regardless claimed? Did they seek political power of their
of social status, helped shape modern demo- own, making themselves the Machiavellian ser-
cratic thought. vants of princes? It was a controversy that con-
tinued well into the eighteenth century. Urged
on by Catholic reformers, the church finally
THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE convened a council at Trent. It tackled corrupt
practices and renewed Catholic spirituality
As late as the 1530s, the Catholic church hesi- throughout the West.
tated, uncertain that the Protestant Reformation As a result of the Catholic revival, new schools
would gain strength or attract so many power- and universities appeared, as did newly designed
ful noble families. Initially, the energy for re- churches. The revival even fostered a distinct
form came from ordinary clergy, as well as from style of art and architecture: cherubic angels
laypeople such as Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), grace the ornate decor of Counter-Reformation
rather than from the hierarchy or the established churches; heaven-bound saints beckon the peni-
religious orders. Clergy and especially the laity tent. This baroque style, so lavish and emotive,
gave renewed energy to Catholicism. Trained as sought to move the heart, just as Protestant
a soldier, the Spanish reformer Loyola created preachers sought to move the intellect. The ba-
a new religious order. He fused the intellectual roque constituted a powerful response to the
rigor of humanism with a reformed Catholi- Protestant message that religion is ultimately a
cism, forming a renewed spirituality with wide private, psychological matter; instead, religion
appeal. Founded in 1534, the Society of Jesus, should move the emotions and inspire devotion
commonly known as the Jesuits, became the to God and the church.
backbone of the Catholic Reformation (also By the 1540s, the Counter-Reformation was
called the Counter-Reformation) in southern well under way. The attempt to reform the church
and Western Europe. from within combined several elements—some be-
The Jesuits strove to bypass local corrup- nign, others bellicose. The leaders of this Catholic
tion and appealed to the papacy to lead a truly movement attacked many of the same abuses that
international movement to revive Christian Luther targeted, but they avoided a break with
universalism. The Jesuits saw most clearly the the doctrinal and spiritual authority of the pope
bitter fragmentation produced by the Reforma- and the clergy.
tion. Moreover, they perceived one of the cen- At the same time, the Counter-Reformation
tral flaws in Protestant theology. Predestination also turned aggressive and hostile toward Prot-
offered salvation to the literate and prosperous estants. The church tried to counter the popular
laity and, at least in theory, to the poor as well. appeal of Protestantism by offering dramatic,
However, it also included the possibility of de- emotional, and even sentimental piety to the
spair for the individual and a life tormented by faithful. For individuals who were unmoved
the fear of inescapable damnation. In response, by this appeal to sentiment or by the church’s
the Jesuits offered hope: a religious revival based more traditional spirituality, and for those who
on ceremony, tradition, and the priestly power to allied themselves with Protestant heresy, the
offer forgiveness. church resorted to sterner measures. The In-
Jesuits became confessors to princes and quisition expanded its activities, and wherever
urged them to strengthen the church in their Catholic jurisdiction prevailed, unrepentant
336 ❖ 14 The Reformation: The Shattering of Christian Unity
THE INQUISITION. This image of the Inquisition came from a French Protestant
engraver who had been forced to flee France because of his religion. Clearly he
saw the practices of the Inquisition as part of a continuous pattern of religious
persecution by authorities with far too much power. (© Bettmann/Corbis.)
heretics—Protestants, especially Jews, and even olic humanists as well as those of Protestants. The
Muslims—were subject to death or imprison- Index of Prohibited Books became an institu-
ment. Catholics did not hold a monopoly on tional part of the church’s life. Over the centuries,
persecution: wherever Protestantism obtained the works of many leading European thinkers
official status—in England, Scotland, Ireland, were placed on the Index, which was abolished
and Geneva, for instance—Catholics or religious only in 1966.
radicals also faced persecution. Calvin, for ex- The Counter-Reformation policies of educa-
ample, approved the execution in 1563 of the tion, vigorous preaching, church building, and
naturalist and skeptic Michael Servetus, who self-reform but also torture, persecution, and
opposed the doctrine of the Trinity. (In 1600, censorship all succeeded in bringing thousands
the Catholic church in Italy burned Giordano of people, Germans and Bohemians in particular,
Bruno for similar reasons.) back into the church. Furthermore, the church
Aside from torture and imprisonment, one of implemented concrete changes in policy and doc-
the Catholic church’s main tools was censorship. trine. In 1545, the Council of Trent met to re-
By the 1520s, the impulse to censor and burn form the church and strengthen it so as to better
dangerous books intensified as the church tried confront the Protestant challenge. Over the years,
to prevent the rapid spread of Protestant ideas. the council modified and unified church doctrine;
In the rush to eliminate heretical literature, the abolished many corrupt practices, such as the
church condemned the works of reforming Cath- selling of indulgences; and vested final authority
The Reformation and the Modern Age ❖ 337
in the papacy, thereby reasserting its power. The the whole of Christian Europe. Even there, how-
Council of Trent invigorated the church and gave ever, religious tensions appear to be waning. The
it doctrinal clarity on such matters as the roles challenge has now become to accept the Muslim
of faith and good works in attaining salvation. It minorities found in every European city, and to
made the church into the final arbiter of the Bible avoid a revival of anti-Semitism.
and demanded that texts be taken literally wher- By strengthening the power of monarchs
ever possible. Galileo Galilei, the Italian physicist and magistrates at the expense of religious au-
and astronomer, was to experience great difficul- thority, the Reformation furthered the growth
ties in the next century because a literally read of the modern state. Protestant rulers com-
Bible implied that the motion of the earth contra- pletely repudiated the pope’s claim to tempo-
dicted Scripture. ral power and extended their authority over
After Trent the church sought to offer a clear Protestant churches in their lands. In predomi-
voice amid the babble of Protestant tongues. nantly Catholic lands, the church reacted to
All compromise with Protestantism was re- the onslaught of Protestantism by supporting
jected (not that Protestants were anxious for it). the monarchies, but at the same time it pre-
The Reformation had split Western Christendom served a significant degree of political inde-
irrevocably. pendence. Protestantism did not create the
modern secular state; it did, however, help free
the state from subordination to religious au-
THE REFORMATION AND thority. Such autonomy is an essential feature
of modern and secular political life.
THE MODERN AGE Indirectly, Protestantism contributed to the
growth of political liberty: another ideal, though
At first glance, the Reformation would seem not always a reality, in the modern West. To be
to have renewed the medieval stress on other- sure, neither Luther nor Calvin championed
worldliness and reversed the direction toward political freedom. Nevertheless, tendencies in
a secularized humanism that the Renaissance the Reformation provided a basis for challeng-
had taken. Yet a careful analysis shows deci- ing monarchical authority. During the religious
sively modern elements in Reformation thought, wars, both Protestant and Catholic theorists
as well as antiauthoritarian tendencies in its supported resistance to monarchs whose edicts,
political history. The Reformation shattered they believed, defied God’s Law. Moreover, the
the religious unity of Europe, the cornerstone Protestant view that all believers—laity, clergy,
of medieval culture, and further weakened lords, and kings—were masters of their own
the principal authority in medieval society, the spiritual destiny eroded hierarchical authority
church. The political power of the church waned and became compatible with emerging constitu-
considerably. To this day, Western Europe re- tional government.
veals both Catholic and Protestant traditions. The Reformation also contributed to the
Although doctrinal rigidity (and, in many places, creation of an individualistic ethic. Protestants
church attendance) has largely disappeared, the sought an unmediated relationship with God
split between the southern Catholic countries and interpreted the Bible for themselves. Facing
and the mostly Protestant north is still visible, if the prospect of salvation or damnation entirely
only in various customs and rituals. In Eastern on their own, without the church to provide sac-
European countries, where the churches, both ramental aid, and believing that God had chosen
Catholic and Protestant, emerged as powerful them to be saved, Protestants developed inner
political forces, governments had to be cautious confidence and assertiveness. This religious indi-
in dealing with them. During the 1980s, German vidualism was the counterpart of the intellectual
Lutheran and Polish Catholic churches became individualism of the Renaissance humanists.
focal points for anti-Soviet activities. Today, The Protestant ethic of the Reformation
Northern Ireland stands as the sole reminder developed concurrently with a new economic
of the religious tensions that had once plagued system. Theorists have argued ever since about
338 ❖ 14 The Reformation: The Shattering of Christian Unity
whether the new individualism of the Protes- capitalists because predestination made them
tants brought on the growth of capitalism or worldly ascetics: Christians forced to find salva-
whether the capitalistic values of the middle tion without assistance and through activity in
class gave rise to the Protestant ethic. In the this world. The reformers had condemned the
middle of the nineteenth century, Karl Marx monastery as an unnatural life; their concomi-
theorized that Protestantism gave expression tant emphasis on human sinfulness established
to the new capitalistic values of the bourgeois: a psychology of striving that could be channeled
thrift, hard work, self-reliance, and rationality. only into worldly activity. The characteristics of
Hence, Marx argued, the success of Protestant- the modern world—individual expression, eco-
ism can be explained by reference to the emer- nomic development, and scientific learning—
gence of Western capitalism. were to become most visibly present in Western
In 1904–1905, the German sociologist Max European Protestant cities, such as London,
Weber argued that Marx had got it backward— Amsterdam, and Geneva. By 1700, both the
that Protestantism enhanced the work ethic of Protestant entrepreneur and the Protestant in-
capitalism, not vice versa. 8 Weber perceived tellectual began to endorse religious toleration,
in the Protestant ethic of the Reformation the freedom in trade as well as learning, and scien-
spirit of a nascent capitalism. He saw the spirit tific investigation.
of capitalism embodied in the entrepreneur, The tension between the Roman church and
the parvenu, the self-made person. Such people Protestantism set the former in the direction of
strive for business success and bring to their opposing modernity. By 1800, the papacy in
enterprises self-discipline and self-restraint. Rome—but by no means all Catholics—viewed
They make profit not for pleasure but for the change with deep suspicion and came to believe
sake of more profit. They bring to their enter- that churches, whether Protestant or Catholic,
prises moral virtues of striving, frugality, and had a right to interfere in the political process in
honesty. For Weber, Protestants made the best order to stem the tide toward irreligion.
❖ ❖ ❖
MacCulloch, D., Reformation: Europe’s House John D. Roth and James M. Stayer, eds. A Compan-
Divided (2003). An excellent, detailed general ion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521–1700
survey. (2007). Useful essays that give a closer look at the
Malcolmson, Christina, Heart-Work: George Her- Anabaptists.
bert and the Protestant Ethic (1999). A story about
the self-fashioning of a devout Protestant.
European Expansion:
Economic and Social
Transformations
The Blacksmith’s Shop, attributed to Antoine Le Nain or Louis Le Nain (both d. 1648) This
is a portrait of a blacksmith at work with his family in his shop and, as such, offers a rare
pictorial glimpse into the lives and work of the skilled men and women who played an impor-
tant role in the early modern European economic expansion, brought on by the increase in
population and rising consumer demand for goods. The painter invests the human subjects of
this group portrait with a quiet dignity that also effectively dignifies the blacksmith’s skill and
craft. Gravity and decorum have been achieved by framing the picture in a robustly neoclas-
sical style that was usually reserved for depictions of the higher levels of society, namely the
church and the aristocracy. (Alfredo Dagli Orti/© The Art Archive/Corbis.)
■
■
■
European Expansion
The Price Revolution
The Expansion of Agriculture
D uring the period from 1450 to 1750,
Western Europe entered an era of over-
seas exploration and economic expan-
sion that transformed society. By 1450, Europe
had recovered from the severe contraction of the
■ The Expansion of Trade and fourteenth century, produced by plague and mar-
Industry ginal agriculture, and was resuming the economic
growth that had been the pattern in the twelfth
■ The Growth of Capitalism and early thirteenth centuries. This new period of
growth, however, was no mere extension of the
■ The Elite and the People earlier one but a radical departure from medieval
■ Economic and Social economic forms.
Overseas exploration changed the patterns of
Transformations economic growth and society. European adventur-
ers discovered a new way to reach the rich trading
centers of India by sailing around Africa. They also
conquered, colonized, and exploited a new world
Focus Questions across the Atlantic. These discoveries and con-
quests brought about an extraordinary increase in
1. What were the new forces for expansion business activity and the supply of money, which
operating in early modern Europe? stimulated the growth of capitalism. People’s values
changed in ways that were alien and hostile to the
2. How did the Spanish and Portuguese
medieval outlook. By 1750, the model Christian
overseas expansion compare in terms of in northwestern Europe was no longer the selfless
the motives, the areas of expansion, and saint but the enterprising businessman. The era of
the character of the two empires? secluded manors and walled towns was drawing to
3. How did slavery in the future United a close. A world economy was emerging in which
States compare with slavery in South European economic life depended on the market
America and the Caribbean? in Eastern spices, African slaves, and American sil-
ver. During this age of exploration and commercial
4. What was the price revolution, what expansion, Europe generated a peculiar dynamism
caused it, and what were its effects on unmatched by any other civilization. A process was
agriculture, trade, and industry? initiated that, by 1900, would give Europe mastery
5. How and why did the traditional over most of the globe and wide-ranging influence
relationship between the people and their over other civilizations.
rulers begin to change in the sixteenth The economic expansion from 1450 to 1650 or
1700 did not, however, raise the living standards
century, and with what result?
of the masses. The vast majority of the people, 80
6. What accounts for the witch craze and its to 90 percent, lived on the land, and their main
subsequent decline? Why were most of its business was the production of primary goods:
victims women? food, especially grain production, and wool. For
7. What were the long-term effects of most of these people, life hovered around the
subsistence level, sometimes falling below subsis-
European expansion during this period?
tence during times of famine and disease. When-
ever the standard of living improved, any surplus
resources were soon taken up by the survival of
more children and hence more mouths to feed.
The beneficiaries of the commercial expansion,
those whose income rose, were the rich, especially
the nouveaux riches (newly rich).
341
Chronology 15.1 ❖ The Commercial Revolution
1394–1460 Henry the Navigator, prince of Portugal, encourages expansion into Africa
for gold and for his anti-Muslim crusade
1430 The Portuguese expand into the Canaries and the Azores
1488 Bartholomeu Dias reaches the tip of Africa
1492 Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean island of Hispaniola on his
first voyage; the Jews are expelled from Spain; Granada, the last Muslim
kingdom in Spain, is conquered, completing the Reconquest
1497 Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) to India
1509 The Portuguese defeat the Muslim fleet at Diu in the Indian Ocean
1513 Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean at the Isthmus of Panama
1519–1521 Hernando Cortés conquers the Aztecs in Mexico
1520–1521 Magellan’s soldiers circumnavigate the globe
1531–1533 Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas in Peru
1545 Silver is discovered by the Spaniards at Potosí, Peru
1552 Silver from the New World flows into Europe via Spain, contributing to a
price revolution
1590s The Dutch develop shipping carriers for grain
1602–1609 Dutch East India Company is founded; Bank of Amsterdam is founded,
expanding credit
1651 Navigation Act is passed in England to accomplish the goals of mercantilism
1694 Bank of England is founded
In these respects, then, early modern Europe expanded in the Baltic region at the expense of
was comparable to an underdeveloped country non-Christian Balts, Prussians, and Slavs. Genoa
today whose society consists of two main eco- and Venice established commercial ports in the
nomic groups: a small, wealthy elite and a large Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea, and the eastern Medi-
and growing population that exists on the margin terranean. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
of subsistence and is racked by recurrent hunger Western Europeans embarked on a second and
and disease. Developments during overseas explo- more lasting movement of expansion, which led
ration and economic expansion should be viewed them onto the uncharted waters of the Atlantic,
in the context of these social conditions. Indian, and Pacific oceans. Combined forces pro-
pelled Europeans outward and enabled them to
dominate Asians, Africans, and American Indians.
EUROPEAN EXPANSION
During the Middle Ages, the frontiers of Europe Forces Behind Expansion
had expanded, even if only temporarily in some
instances. The Crusaders carved out feudal king- The population of Western Europe increased
doms in the Near East. Christian knights pushed rapidly between 1450 and 1600, at all levels of
back the Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula and society. Among the gentry (hereditary landlords),
drove them from Mediterranean islands. Germans population growth was translated into land
342
European Expansion ❖ 343
hunger. As the numbers of those in the landed on the Iberian Peninsula, where a five-hundred-
classes exceeded the supply of available land, the year struggle known as the Reconquest had taken
sons of the aristocracy looked beyond Europe for place to drive out the Muslims. Cortés, for exam-
the lands and fortunes denied them at home. Nor ple, saw himself as following in the footsteps of
was it unnatural for them to do so by plunder and Paladin Roland, a medieval military hero who had
conquest; their ancestors had done the same thing fought to drive back Muslims and pagans. The
for centuries. Exploits undertaken and accom- Portuguese, too, were imbued with the crusading
plished in the name of family, church, and king mission. Prince Henry the Navigator hoped that
were deemed legitimate, perhaps the most legiti- the Portuguese expansion into Africa would serve
mate, ways of earning merit and fame, as well as two purposes: the discovery of gold and the ex-
fortune. So the gentry provided the leadership— tension of Christianity at the expense of Islam. In
Hernando Cortés is an example—for the expedi- this second aim, his imagination was fired by the
tions to the New World. legend of Prester John, which told of an ancient
Merchants and shippers, as well as the sons of Christian kingdom of fabled wealth in the heart
the aristocracy, had reason to look abroad. Trade of Africa. If the Portuguese could reach that land,
between Europe, Africa, and the East had gone on Prince Henry reckoned, the two kingdoms would
for centuries, but always through intermediaries, join in a crusade against Islam.
who increased the costs and decreased the profits Thus, expansion involved a mixture of eco-
on the European end. Gold had been transported nomic, political, and religious forces and motives.
by Arab nomads across the Sahara from the riv- The West had a crusading faith; divided into a
erbeds of West Africa. Spices had been shipped handful of competing, warlike states, it expanded
from India and the East Indies by way of Mus- by virtue of forces built into its structure and
lim and Venetian merchants. Western European culture. But besides the will to expand, the West
merchants now sought to break those monopolies also possessed the technology needed for success-
by going directly to the source: to West Africa for ful expansion. This factor distinguished the West
gold, slaves, and pepper, and to India for pep- from China and the lands of Islam and helps ex-
per, spices, and silks. Moreover, the incentive for plain why the West, rather than the Eastern civili-
such commercial enterprise grew because between zations, launched an age of conquest resulting in
1450 and 1600 the wealth of prosperous Euro- global mastery.
peans increased dramatically. This wealth was Not since the Early Middle Ages had there
translated into new purchasing power and the been such a rapid technological revolution as that
capacity to invest in foreign ventures that would which began in the fifteenth century. Europeans
meet the rising demand for luxury goods among had already learned about gunpowder from the
the prosperous. Chinese in the late thirteenth century, and by the
The centralizing monarchical state also played fifteenth century, its military application had be-
its part in expansion. Monarchs who, like Fer- come widespread. The earliest guns were big can-
dinand and Isabella of Spain, had successfully nons meant to knock holes in the walled defenses
established royal hegemony at home sought op- characteristic of the Middle Ages. In the sixteenth
portunities to extend their control overseas. The and seventeenth centuries, handheld firearms
Spanish rulers looked over their shoulders at their (particularly the musket) and smaller, more mo-
neighbors, the Portuguese, and this competition bile field artillery were perfected. Dynastic and
spurred the efforts of both countries in their drive religious wars and overseas expansion kept de-
to the East. Later, the Dutch, the English, and the mand for armaments high, and as a result, the ar-
French engaged in a century-long rivalry. From mament industry was important to the growth of
overseas empires came gold, silver, and commerce trade and manufacturing.
that paid for ever more expensive royal govern- Another technological development during the
ment at home and for war against rival dynasties period from 1400 to 1650 was the sailing ship.
abroad. The vessels of the ancient world had been driven
Finally, religion helped the expansion. The cru- primarily by oars and human energy. Called gal-
sading tradition was well established, especially leys, they were suitable for the shorter distances,
344 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
calmer waters, and less variable conditions of the Portugal out of Moorish Iberia in the twelfth
Mediterranean and the Black and Red Seas—but century, their descendants were blocked from
not for the Atlantic and other great oceans, which further interior expansion by the presence of the
Europeans began to ply in the early sixteenth cen- strong Christian kingdom of Castile in the east.
tury. Moreover, by the fifteenth century in West- The only other outlet for expansion was the sea.
ern Europe, labor was in short supply, making it Royal policy also favored expansion. The cen-
difficult to recruit or condemn men to the galleys. tral government promoted trading interests, espe-
For these reasons, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and cially after 1385, when the merchants of Lisbon
the English abandoned the galley in favor of the and the lesser ports helped establish a new dy-
sailing ship. nasty in opposition to the feudal aristocracy. In
The sail and the gun were crucially impor- the first half of the fifteenth century, a younger son
tant in allowing Europeans to overcome non- of the king, named Prince Henry the Navigator
Europeans and penetrate and exploit their worlds. (1394–1460) by English writers, sponsored voy-
Western Europeans combined these devices in the ages of exploration and the nautical studies
form of the gunned ship. Not only was the sailing needed to undertake them. In these endeavors,
vessel more maneuverable and faster in the open he spent his own fortune and the wealth of the
seas than the galley, but the addition of guns gave church’s crusading order that he headed. Prince
it another tactical advantage over its rivals. The Henry sought to revive the anti-Muslim crusade,
galleys of the Arabs in the Indian Ocean and the to which Portugal owed its existence as a Chris-
junks of the Chinese were not armed with guns tian state. This connection between the medi-
below deck for firing at a distance to cripple or eval Crusades and the early modern expansion
sink the enemy. In battle, they relied instead on of Europe ran through Portuguese and Spanish
the ancient tactic of coming up alongside the en- history.
emy vessel, shearing off its oars, and boarding to As early as the fifteenth century, the Portuguese
fight on deck. expanded into islands in the Atlantic Ocean. In
The gunned ship gave the West naval superi- 1420, they began to settle Madeira and raise food
ority from the beginning. The Portuguese, for ex- there, and in the 1430s they pushed into the Ca-
ample, made short work of the Muslim fleet sent naries and the Azores in search of new farmland
to drive them out of the Indian Ocean in 1509. and slaves for their colonies. In the middle decades
That victory at Diu, off the western coast of India, of the century, they moved down the West African
indicated that the West not only had found an all- coast to the mouth of the Congo River and be-
water route to the East but also was there to stay. yond, establishing trading posts as they went.
Material and religious motives led Europeans to By the last quarter of the century, they had
explore and conquer; superior technology ensured developed a viable imperial economy among the
the success of their enterprises. ports of West Africa, their Atlantic islands, and
Western Europe— an economy based on sugar,
black slaves, and gold. Africans panned the gold
The Portuguese Empire in the riverbeds of central and western Africa,
and the Portuguese purchased it at its source.
Several reasons account for Portugal’s overseas They paid in cloth and slaves at a profit of at least
success. Portugal’s long Atlantic coastline ensured 500 percent. Then the Portuguese transported the
that its people would look to the sea—initially gold to Europe, where they sold it for even more
for fishing and trade and then for exploration. profit. Slaves figured not only in the purchase of
A sunny climate also spurred seafaring and com- gold but also in the production of sugar. On their
mercial expansion. Portugal was northern Eu- Atlantic islands, the Portuguese grew sugar cane
rope’s closest supplier of subtropical products: and little else by the end of the century, as a cash
olive oil, cork, wine, and fruit. The feudal nobil- crop for European consumption, and slaves were
ity, typically antagonistic to trade and industry, imported from West Africa to do the work. There
was not as powerful in Portugal as elsewhere in was also a lively trade in slaves to Portugal itself
Europe. Although feudal warriors had carved and elsewhere in southern Europe.
European Expansion ❖ 345
The Portuguese did not stop in western Africa. modern diet, but in the era before refrigeration,
By 1488, Bartholomeu Dias had reached the fresh meat was available only at slaughtering
southern tip of the African continent; a decade time, customarily twice a year. The rest of the year
later, Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of the only meat available, for those who could af-
Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to India. ford it at all, was dried, stringy, and tough; spices
By discovering an all-water route to the East, Por- made meat and other foods palatable.
tugal broke the commercial monopoly on Eastern The infusion of Italian, particularly Genoese,
goods that Genoa and Venice had enjoyed. investment and talent contributed to Portuguese
In search of spices, the Portuguese went directly expansion. As Genoese trade with the Near East,
to the source, to India and the East Indies. As they especially the Black Sea, shrank due to the expan-
had done along the African coast, they established sion of the Ottoman Empire, Genoese merchants
fortified trading posts—most notably at Goa, on the shifted more and more of their capital and mer-
western coast of India (Malabar) and at Malacca cantile activities from the eastern to the western
(now Singapore), on the Malay Peninsula. Mediterranean and the Atlantic—that is, to Spain
Demand for spices was insatiable. Pepper and and Portugal and their possessions overseas. This
other spices are relatively unimportant items in the shift is evident in the life of Christopher Columbus
346 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
on
NE MADEIRA b Ceura PERSIA
W St. Augustine 1565 1492 L is 1415 CHINA
S CANARY IS. Ormuz 1507
Macao
PA
Muscat INDIA
Mexico City CUBA HISPANIOLA 1492 CAPE ARABIA
1519 1492 CAPE VERDE Timbuktu
VERDE IS. Goa PHILIPPINES
09
HONDURAS 1445 1510
9
1456 G
15
UI Aden 1513
51
ca
CEYLON
AFRICA
a
Calicut c
1519
Panama MAIN la
en
98 1505
ru
1
ra rta Quito BORNEO 15
15 1
Ve Ca NEW 21
14
Malindi SUMATRA GUINEA
1534
SOUTH
AS
97
15
PERU 1498
CC
22
15 Lima AMERICA JAVA
LU
20 1535 MO
Mozambique
BRAZIL MADAGASCAR
Potosí 1500
Rio de Janeiro
Buenos Aires 1516
2 AUSTRALIA
1535 152
Santiago
0 250 500Km.
ANTARCTICA 0 250 500Mi.
347
Profile
Bartolomé de las Casas people whose behavior and customs, such as
human sacrifice, betrayed them as being less
Bartolomé de las Casas (1474–1566), a Domini- than rational and therefore subhuman. In book
can friar excited in his youth by Columbus’s after book, de las Casas attacked such views. He
discoveries, set out for the New World in 1502 pointed out that the Indians often lived up to a
and spent the rest of his life as a missionary to higher standard of civilized life than supposedly
the American Indians. Not only did he preach civilized European Christians—for example, in
to them and convert them to Christianity, but, sexual conduct, choice of rulers, military disci-
appalled by the cruelty of the Spanish conquest, pline, child-rearing, and (something especially
he also joined others in his order in defending important to a monk) giving relief to the poor.
the Indians against their oppressors. In addition, de las Casas was impressed by the
Some argued that the brutal treatment of the Incas’ feats of engineering, especially the high-
Indians, the confiscation of their lands, and even ways they had built through the Andes, which
their enslavement were justified because the In- excelled anything he had seen that the Romans
dians fit Aristotle’s definition of “natural slaves”: had done.
hostility that the subject tribes of Mexico and followers were hidalgos— lesser gentry whose
Peru felt toward their Aztec and Incan overlords, status depended on the possession of landed es-
a strategy that accounts to some extent for the tates and whose training and experience taught
Spaniards’ success. But the most important rea- that holy war was a legitimate avenue to wealth
son was probably the spread of infectious dis- and power. Their fathers had conquered Granada,
eases among the native population, including the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, in 1492; they
the armies— diseases carried by the Europeans had expelled the Jews the same year and had car-
to which the Indians apparently had little or no ried the Christian crusade across to North Africa.
resistance and that so weakened them that the The conquest and conversion of the peoples of
Spanish forces could win despite being vastly the New World was an extension of the crusading
outnumbered. This is one of the signal examples spirit that marked the five previous centuries of
in world history where a nonhuman biological Spanish history. The rewards were the propaga-
agency brought about a decisive turning point in tion of the true faith, service to the crown, land
the flow of events. grants, and control over the inhabitants, who
For good reasons, the Mexican and Peruvian would work the fields.
conquests became the centers of the Spanish over- The conquerors initially obtained two kinds of
seas empire. First, there were the gold hoards ac- grants from the crown: encomiendas and estan-
cumulated over the centuries by the rulers of these cias. The latter were land grants, either of land
lands for religious and ceremonial purposes. Once formerly belonging to the native priestly and no-
these supplies were exhausted, the Spanish discov- ble castes or of land in remoter and less fertile re-
ered silver at Potosí in Upper Peru in 1545 and at gions. Encomiendas were royal grants of authority
Zacatecas in Mexico a few years later. From the over the natives. Those who received such author-
middle of the century, the annual treasure fleets ity, the encomenderos, promised to give protec-
sailing to Spain became the financial bedrock of tion and instruction in the Christian religion to
Philip II’s war against the Muslim Turks and the their charges. In return, they gained the power to
Protestant Dutch and English. extract labor and tribute from the peasant masses,
Not only gold and silver lured the Spanish who were worked beyond their capacity.
to the New World. The crusading tradition also The royal grants of encomiendas during
acted as a spur. Cortés, Pizarro, and many of their the first generation of Spanish settlement were
348
Black Slavery and the Slave Trade
One group suffered even more than the Indians:
the black slaves originally brought over from
West Africa. During the long period of their domi-
This radical champion of Indian rights also
nance in North Africa and the Middle East (from
dreamed of building a New Jerusalem in the
the seventh to the nineteenth century), the Muslim
New World. He called for the creation of a new
states relied on slave labor and slave soldiers from
kind of empire, in which Philip II would still be
black Africa south of the Sahara. Blacks were
emperor but most of the Spanish colonists would
captured and transported across the Sahara to be
be forced to leave. The missionaries would stay
sold in the slave markets of North Africa. It was
on, protected by a small Spanish army, to guide
common for such slaves, especially soldiers, to be
the Indians toward realizing this millennial vi-
eventually freed by their Muslim masters, a prac-
sion. For his contemporaries, the most extreme
tice sanctioned by the Koran. Thus it was neces-
aspect of the view de las Casas propounded was
sary to replenish the stock of slaves from south of
that the Indians should regain possession of all
the Sahara in every generation. At its height in the
the land the Spanish had taken, including rights
eighteenth century, this trans-Saharan trade may
to all the gold and silver that lay beneath.
have risen to some ten thousand slaves a year.
But this annual traffic was eventually dwarfed
by the slave trade between West Africa and the
European colonies in the New World, which be-
gan in earnest in the early sixteenth century. The
Portuguese dominated the Atlantic slave trade
for a century and a half after 1450; during that
partially responsible for the decimation of the time, it never rose beyond some five thousand
native peoples in the New World within a cen- black slaves a year. The Dutch edged out the Por-
tury of European occupation. Between 1500 and tuguese in the seventeenth century and competed
1600, the number of natives shrank from about with the French and the British for dominance.
twenty million to perhaps no more than two In the eighteenth century, the British gained con-
million. The major cause of this catastrophe, trol of at least 50 percent of the trade. As Roland
however, was not forced labor but the diseases Oliver notes in The African Experience, “By the
introduced from Europe— dysentery, malaria, end of the seventeenth century, stimulated by the
hookworm, and smallpox— against which the growth of plantation agriculture in Brazil and
natives had little or no natural resistance. But the West Indies, Atlantic shipments had increased
syphilis was probably transmitted the other to about thirty thousand a year, and by the end
way, that is, from the New World to the Old. of the eighteenth century they were nearly eighty
Beginning in the 1540s, the position of the na- thousand.”1
tives gradually improved as the crown withdrew Captured in raids by black African slavers, the
grants that gave authority over the natives and victims were herded into specially built prisons on
took increasing responsibility for controlling the the West African coast. Those accepted for sale
Indians. were “marked on the breast with a red-hot iron,
Power and wealth became concentrated in imprinting the mark of the French, English or
fewer and fewer hands. As the Spanish landhold- Dutch companies so that each nation may distin-
ers lost authority over the native population to guish their own property.”2 Across the centuries,
royal officials and their associates, the latter some 11 or 12 million blacks in all were exported
gained substantially in power and privilege. As to the New World. Of these, some 600,000 ended
recurrent depressions ruined smaller landowners, up in the thirteen colonies of British North Amer-
they were forced to sell out to their bigger neigh- ica, forming the basis of the slave population of
bors. On their conversion to Christianity, the the new United States at the end of the American
Indians were persuaded to give more and more Revolution.
land to the church. Thus, Spanish America be- The conditions of the voyage from Africa, the
came permanently divided between the privileged so-called middle passage, were brutal. Crammed
elite and the impoverished masses. into the holds of ships, some 13 to 30 percent
349
Primary Source
Seventeenth-Century or fifteen days, till the sea is still enough to send
them aboard; . . . and when it is so, the slaves
Slave Traders: Buying and are carried off by parcels, in bar-canoes, and put
Transporting Africans aboard the ships in the road. Before they enter
the canoes, or come out of the booth, their for-
mer Black masters strip them of every rag they
Dealing in slaves was a profitable business that have, without distinction of men or women. . . .
attracted numerous entrepreneurs. The following The Blacks of Fida are so expeditious at this
account was written by a slave trader in the seven- trade of slaves that they can deliver a thousand
teenth century. every month. . . . If there happens to be no stock
of slaves at Fida, the factor must trust the Blacks
As the slaves came down to Fida from the in- with his goods, to the value of a hundred and
land country, they are put into a booth, or fifty, or two hundred slaves; which goods they
prison, built for that purpose, near the beach, carry up into the inland, to buy slaves, at all the
all of them together; and when the Europeans markets, for above two hundred leagues up the
are to receive them, they are brought out into a country, where they are kept like cattle [are kept]
large plain, where the surgeons examine every in Europe; the slaves sold there being generally
part of every one of them, to the smallest mem- prisoners of war, taken from their enemies, like
ber, men and women being all stark naked. Such other booty, and perhaps some few sold by their
as are allowed good and sound, are set on the own countrymen, in extreme want, or upon a
one side, and the others by themselves; which famine; so also some as a punishment of heinous
slaves so rejected are called Mackrons, being crimes: tho’ many Europeans believe their par-
above thirty five years of age, or defective in ents sell their own children, men their wives and
their limbs, eyes or teeth; or grown grey, or that relations, which, if it ever happens, is so seldom,
have venereal disease, or any other imperfec- that it cannot justly be charged upon a whole na-
tion. These being so set aside, each of the oth- tion, as a custom and common practice.
ers, which have passed as good, is marked on
the breast, with a red-hot iron, imprinting the
mark of the French, English, or Dutch compa-
nies, that so each nation may distinguish their Questions for Analysis
own, and to prevent their being chang’d by the 1. How, why, and by whom are the slaves
natives for worse, as they are apt enough to do. branded?
In this particular, care is taken that the women, 2. Who are those called “Black masters,” and
as tenderest, be not burnt too hard. what role do they play in the slave trade?
The branded slaves, after this, are returned 3. Where do the slaves come from, and how do
to their former booth, where the factor [agent] they initially come to be enslaved?
is to subsist them at his own charge, which
amounts to about two-pence a day for each of Elizabeth Donnan, ed., Documents Illustrative of the Slave
them, with bread and water, which is all their Trade (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washing-
allowance. There they continue sometimes ten ton, 1935), 1:293–294.
of blacks died on board. On arrival in the New youthfullest, and most beautiful.” 3 The stan-
World, slaves were greased with palm oil to im- dard workload for slaves everywhere was ten or
prove their appearance and paraded naked into eleven hours a day, six days a week. But some
the auction hall for the benefit of prospective distinction must be made between slavery in the
buyers, who paid top prices for “the strongest, American South and elsewhere in the New World.
350
The Price Revolution ❖ 351
In Brazil and the West Indies, slaves were worked were now in place for a deadly arms race, and
to exhaustion and death and then replaced. Slaves the result was “a spiral of mounting violence,”
formed a large majority there and were concen- which could not be broken.4 But from the point
trated on very large plantations. Revolts were of view of the Atlantic trade, this grisly scenario
frequent but were always crushed and savagely guaranteed a steady supply of human cargo to
punished. In the American South, by contrast, satisfy a steeply rising New World demand.
slaves were a minority dispersed over relatively
small holdings; large plantations were few. As a
result, revolts and deadly epidemics were rare. THE PRICE REVOLUTION
After 1808, when the United States abolished the
external slave trade, slaveholders could not ruth- Linked to overseas expansion was another phe-
lessly exploit their slaves if they were to meet the nomenon: unprecedented inflation during the
growing need for workers caused by the increas- sixteenth century, known as the price revolu-
ing industrial demand for raw cotton. By 1830, tion. Evidence is insufficient on the general rise
the slave population of the southern states rose in prices. Cereal prices, however, multiplied by
through natural increase to more than two mil- eight times or more in certain regions during the
lion, which represented more than one-third of all sixteenth century and continued to rise, though
slaves in the New World. more slowly, during the first half of the next cen-
Why had the Atlantic slave trade grown to tury. After 1650, prices leveled off or fell in most
such a large volume by the eighteenth century? places. This pattern continued throughout the
On the American side, economics provide the an- eighteenth century in England and off and on in
swer. In the New World, fields and mines had to France up to the Revolution. Economic historians
be worked, but since the native population had have generally assumed that the prices of goods
been decimated, an enormous labor shortage ex- other than cereals increased by half as much as
isted. Black slaves were imported to satisfy the grain prices. Because people at that time did not
demand. Not only were they plentiful and cheap understand why prices rose so rapidly, inflation
to maintain, but they were also skilled in farm- was not subject to control.
ing and mining and could withstand tropical Like colonization, the price revolution played
heat, insects, and disease, including the infections an enormous role in the commercial revolution
brought over from Europe to which the Indians and may have resulted partially from the silver
had succumbed. mining conducted in New Spain. The main cause
On the African side, how did suppliers con- of the price revolution, however, was population
tinue to meet this large and growing New World growth during the late fifteenth and sixteenth
demand? First, the demand was greater for males centuries.
than for females, and males constituted two- The population of Europe almost doubled
thirds of those transported. Since all African between 1460 and 1620; then it leveled off and
peoples were polygynous (men might take more decreased in some places. The patterns of popu-
than one wife), the women and girls left behind in lation growth and of cereal prices thus corre-
Africa continued to reproduce, so the population spond in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
did not shrink, and there was always a supply Before the middle of the seventeenth century, the
of blacks to be captured and enslaved. Second, number of mouths to feed outran the capacity
by 1700, a new factor was introduced, one that of agriculture to supply basic foodstuffs, causing
proved decisive: guns, imported from Europe, the vast majority of people to live close to sub-
were now commonly traded for slaves. With the sistence. Until food production could catch up
guns, the West African rulers built armies for with the increasing population, prices, especially
capturing other peoples to sell to the Europeans, those of the staple food, bread, would continue
while protecting themselves from being enslaved to rise.
by rival forces. The desire for profit led to the Why population grew so rapidly in the fifteenth
need for more captives to sell for still more fire- and sixteenth centuries is not known, but we do
arms to take still more slaves. All the ingredients know the reasons for the population decline in
352 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
A NEW WORLD S UGAR REFINERY, B RAZIL . Sugar was the main and most
profitable crop of plantation agriculture until the late eighteenth century, when
cotton took the lead, at least in some places. On the plantation, the cane was not
only grown but also processed into a variety of products—sugar, molasses, and
rum—that were exported to Europe to meet a rising demand. Black slaves did
the work under efficient but brutal conditions and often at great profit to the
plantation owners. (The Art Archive/Biblioteca Nacional Madrid/Gianni Dagli Orti.)
the seventeenth century. By then, the population from the New World by way of Spain beginning
had so outgrown the food supply that scarcity in 1552. But as a cause, the influx of silver lies
began to take its toll. Malnourishment, starvation, on shakier ground than the inflationary effects
and disease pushed the death rate higher than the of an expanding population. Increases in pro-
birth rate. With time, of course, prices decreased duction and consumption following the growth
as population and hence demand declined in the in population would, to some degree, have ne-
1600s. cessitated an increase in the money supply to ac-
The other principal cause of the price revolu- commodate the greater number of commercial
tion was probably the flow of silver into Europe transactions. At some point, it is assumed, the
The Expansion of Agriculture ❖ 353
THE HARVESTERS, 1565, BY PIETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER (D. 1569). This
painting shows crops being harvested by peasants in the Netherlands. Agriculture
was the basis of all economic life in early modern Europe, and the Netherlands was
one of the places where advanced farming techniques were applied to maximizing
food production to feed a growing population. (Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art
Resource, N.Y.)
rented enough to produce a marketable surplus, n eighboring yeomen at rates allowing him to
sometimes a substantial one. They emerged as a keep abreast of spiraling prices. Yeomen were
discernible rural group in the High Middle Ages better suited to work the land than the landlord,
and were a product of the unique English inheri- depending on it as they did for their livelihood.
tance custom of primogeniture, observed by peas- One other process growing out of the price
antry and gentry alike. revolution promoted enclosure and the commer-
Because of the rights of primogeniture, the cialization of farming. Rising prices forced less
eldest son inherited his parents’ entire estate, businesslike landlords, who did not take advan-
and younger sons had to fend for themselves. tage of the profits to be made from farming, to
Thus, land remained undivided, and heirs often sell property in order to meet current expenses.
had enough land to produce a surplus for sale. The conditions of the price revolution thus tended
Many a gentleman landowner enclosed his fields, to put an increasing amount of land into more
not to work them himself, but to rent them to productive hands.
The Expansion of Trade and Industry ❖ 355
Provinces were better placed than France and and guns. The seventeenth century saw the foun-
Spain to take advantage of conditions favorable dation of a British colonial empire along the At-
for business expansion. In the United Provinces, lantic seaboard in North America, from Maine to
favorable conditions resulted from the weakness the Carolinas, and in the West Indies, where the
of Dutch feudal culture and values in comparison English managed to dislodge the Spanish in some
with commercial ones, the small land area, and places.
a far larger percentage of urban population than In seventeenth- century England, the central
elsewhere in Western Europe. government increasingly took the side of the capi-
England’s advantage derived from another talist producer. At the beginning of the century, the
source: not the weakness of the landed gentry king had imposed feudal fees on landed property,
but its habits. Primogeniture operated among acted against enclosures, and granted monopolies
the owners of large estates just as it did among the in trade and manufacture to court favorites, which
yeomanry, with much the same effect. Younger restricted opportunities for investment. The king
sons were forced to make their fortunes else- also spent revenues on maintaining an unproduc-
where. Those who did so by going into business tive aristocracy. But by the end of the century,
would often benefit from an infusion of venture because of the revolutionary transfer of power
capital that came from their elder brothers’ landed from the king to Parliament, economic policy
estates. And, of course, capital was forthcom- more closely reflected the interests of big business,
ing from such quarters because of the profitable whether agricultural or commercial. Landowners
nature of English farming. In a reverse process, no longer paid feudal dues to the king. Enclosure
those who made fortunes in trade would typi- went on unimpeded, and in fact was abetted, by
cally invest money in land and rise gradually into parliamentary enactment.
landed society. The skills that had brought wealth The Navigation Act, first passed in 1651, al-
in commerce would then be applied to new es- lowed all English shippers to carry goods any-
tates, usually with equal success. where, replacing the old system that had restricted
trade with certain areas to specific traders. The
England and the Netherlands. In both Eng- act also required that all goods be carried in Eng-
land and the United Provinces, the favorable con- lish ships, enabling merchants, as Christopher
ditions led to large-scale commercial expansion. Hill writes, “to buy English and colonial exports
In the 1590s, the Dutch devised a new ship, the cheap and sell them dear abroad, to buy foreign
fluit, or flyboat, to handle bulky grain shipments goods cheap and sell them dear in England.” 5
at the lowest possible cost. This innovation per- English shippers also gained the profits of the car-
mitted them to capture the Baltic trade, which rying trade, one factor leading to the displacement
became the main source of their phenomenal of the Dutch by the English as the leading power
commercial expansion between 1560 and 1660. in international commerce after 1660.
Equally dramatic was their commercial penetra-
tion of the East. Profits from the European carry- France and Spain. France benefited from com-
ing trade built ships that allowed the Dutch first mercial and industrial expansion, but not to the
to challenge and then to displace the Portuguese same degree as England. The principal reason for
in the spice trade with the East Indies during the the difference was the aristocratic structure of
early seventeenth century. The Dutch chartered French society. Family ties and social intercourse
the United East India Company in 1602 and es- between aristocracy and merchants, such as
tablished trading posts in the islands— the be- existed in England, were largely absent in France.
ginnings of the Dutch empire, which lasted until Consequently, the French aristocracy remained
World War II. contemptuous of commerce. Also inhibiting eco-
The English traded throughout Europe in the nomic expansion were the guilds—remnants of
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially the Middle Ages that restricted competition and
with Spain and the Netherlands. The staples of production. In France, there was relatively less op-
this trade were raw wool and woolens, but in- portunity than in England for merchant-capitalists
creasingly the trade included such items as ships operating outside the guild structures.
358
Towns of 200,000–500,000+ population
Towns of 30,000–100,000+ population
Centers of textile industry
Centers of metal industry
Centers of financial activity
North
ea
Sea
cS
Moscow
lti
Dublin
Ba
Lübeck
Danzig
Haarlem Hamburg
London Amsterdam
ATLANTIC OCEAN Bruges Leyden
Antwerp
Ghent
Cologne
ls
se
Rouen s Liège
Br u
Prague
Paris Nuremberg
0 200 400 Km.
Vienna
Bordeaux Lyon
Milan Verona
Cremona Venice
Valladolid Toulouse Bologna
Genoa
Medina del Belgrade
Campo Marseilles Lucca Black Sea
Florence
Ad
Lisbon Madrid Barcelona
ria
op le
tic
Se t in
a t an
Rome Sofia ns
Co
Valencia
Córdoba Adrianople
Seville
Naples Salonika
Granada
Mediterranean Sea
Palermo
Messina
The Growth of Capitalism ❖ 359
Spain presents an even clearer example of the buy, and sell) are made by private individuals in
failure to grasp the opportunities afforded by the their capacity as owners, workers, or consumers.
price revolution. By the third quarter of the six- Capitalism is also said to be a system of free enter-
teenth century, Spain possessed the makings of prise: the basic decisions are not left only to indi-
economic expansion: unrivaled amounts of capital viduals; these decisions are also made in response
in the form of silver, a large and growing popula- to market forces. People are free, in other words,
tion, rising consumer demand, and a vast overseas to obey the law of supply and demand. When
empire. These factors did not bear fruit because the goods and labor are scarce, prices and wages rise;
Spanish value system regarded business as a form when they are plentiful, prices and wages fall.
of social heresy. The Spanish held in high esteem In the Middle Ages, capitalistic enterprise was
gentlemen who possessed land gained through mil- not widespread because the market was severely
itary service and crusading ardor, which enabled restricted, and, consequently, so was the operation
them to live on rents and privileges. Commerce of market forces. The vast majority of people lived
and industry remained contemptible pursuits. as self-sufficient subsistence farmers (peasants or
Numerous wars in the sixteenth century (with serfs) on the land. There was some trade and a
France, the Lutheran princes, the Ottoman Turks, few small cities, especially in Italy, where capital-
the Dutch, and the English) increasingly strained istic enterprise was conducted, but this commerce
the Spanish treasury, despite the annual shipments accounted for only a tiny fraction of total eco-
of silver from the New World. Spain spent its re- nomic activity. Even in the cities, capitalistic forms
sources on maintaining and extending its imperial of enterprise were hampered by guild restrictions,
power and Catholicism rather than on investing which set limits on production, wages, and prices
in economic expansion. In the end, the wars cost without regard to market forces. In addition, the
even more than Spain could handle. The Dutch economic decay of the fourteenth and early fif-
for a time, and the English and the French more teenth centuries did not predispose those who had
permanently, displaced Spain as the great power. surplus money to gamble on the future.
The English and the Dutch had taken advantage But conditions changed in certain quarters begin-
of the opportunities presented by the price revolu- ning in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, generat-
tion; the Spanish had not. ing the incentive to invest—to take risks for future
profit rather than to consume. This process was due,
more than anything else, to the economic situation
THE GROWTH OF CAPITALISM prevailing in Europe between 1450 and 1600.
What Is Capitalism?
The Fostering of Mercantile Capitalism
The changes described— especially in England
and the Netherlands—represent a crucial stage in Several conditions sustained the incentive to invest
the development of the modern economic system and reinvest—a basic factor in the emergence of
known as capitalism. This is a system of private modern capitalism. One was the price revolution,
enterprise: the main economic decisions (what, stemming from a supply of basic commodities that
how much, where, and at what price to produce, could not keep pace with rising demand. Prices
continued to climb, creating the most powerful
incentive of all to invest rather than to consume.
◀ Map 15.2 I N D U S T R I A L C E N T E RS I N T H E Why spend now, those with surplus wealth must
SIXTEENTH CENTURY This map of Europe (c. 1500) have asked, when investment in commercial farm-
indicates the population of the most important cities ing, mining, shipping, and publishing (to name a
(Naples is the largest). It also shows the centers of three few important outlets) is almost certain to yield
kinds of industry: textiles, metals, and finance. Cloth greater wealth in the future? The price revolu-
making (textile production) was the most important tion reduced the risk involved in investment, thus
industry in Europe in the early modern period. (Copyright helping overcome the reluctance of the wealthy to
© 2013 Cengage Learning.) engage in capitalistic enterprise.
360 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
Another condition that encouraged invest- the early modern period were expanding. Mer-
ment was the distribution of wealth in a way that chants, who supplied governments with every-
promoted investment. Three distinct patterns of thing from guns to frescoes, not only prospered
distribution worked to this effect. First, inflation but reinvested as well because of the constancy
widened the gap between the rich and the poor and growth of government demand. Governments
during the sixteenth century; the rich who chose also sponsored new forms of investment, whether
to invest garnered increasing amounts of wealth, to satisfy the taste for new luxuries at the king’s
which probably added to their incentive to con- court or to meet the requirements of the military.
tinue investing. Because of the growing popula- Moreover, private investors reaped incalculable
tion and the resulting shortage of jobs, employers advantages from overseas empires. Colonies sup-
could pay lower and lower wages; thus, again, plied cheap raw materials and cheap (slave) labor
their profits increased, encouraging reinvestment. and served as markets for exports. They greatly
Merchant-capitalists were an important group of stimulated the construction of ships and harbor
investors who gained from these conditions. As facilities and the sale of insurance.
they grew, they were able to exercise a controlling The second government stimulus comprised
influence in the marketplace because they oper- state policies meant to increase investment,
ated on a large scale, regionally to internationally; which they no doubt sometimes did, though not
thus, they were able to dictate terms of production always. Collectively, these policies constitute
and employment, displacing the local guilds. This what is known as mercantilism: the conscious
displacement was also favorable to investment pursuit by governments of courses of action sup-
and growth. Mercantile capitalism did not ben- posed to augment national wealth and power.
efit everyone equally; in fact, it produced increas- One characteristic expression of mercantilism
ing inequities between rich and poor, owners and was the pursuit of a favorable balance of inter-
workers, and independent merchant-capitalists national payments. According to conventional
and members of local guilds. wisdom, wealth from trade was measured in
The second pattern of wealth distribution that gold and silver, of which there was believed to be
encouraged investment, especially in England, a more-or-less fixed quantity. The state’s goal in
grew out of the practice of primogeniture. The international trade became to sell more abroad
concentration of inherited property in the hands than it bought, that is, to establish a favorable
of the eldest child (usually the oldest son) meant balance of payments. When the amount received
that he had sufficient wealth to be persuaded to for sales abroad was greater than the amount
invest at least part of it. Any younger sons were spent for purchases, the difference would be an
left to make their own way in the world and often influx of precious metal into the state. By this
turned their drive and ambition into profits. logic, mercantilists were led to argue for the goal
Finally, a pattern of international distribution of national sufficiency: a country should try to
of wealth promoted investment in some lands. The supply most of its own needs to keep imports to
classic example is that of Spain in relation, say, to a minimum. This argument, of course, ignored
England. Spain in the sixteenth century devoted the fact that, in international trade, the more
its wealth and energies to religious war and em- a country buys, the more it can sell because its
pire and relied on producers elsewhere for many purchases abroad create purchasing power for
of its supplies. So Spanish treasure was exported its goods overseas.
to England to pay for imports, stimulating invest- Mercantilism did have a positive side. Govern-
ment there rather than in Spain. Capitalism did ments increased economic activity by employing
not develop everywhere at the same pace, and as the poor, subsidizing new industries, and charter-
the Spanish case shows, the very conditions that ing companies to engage in overseas trade. Par-
discouraged it in one place encouraged it some- ticularly valuable were the steps taken by states
where else. to break down local trade barriers, such as guild
Two additional stimuli for investment came regulations and internal tariffs, in an attempt to
from governments. First, governments acted as create national markets and internal economic
giant consumers, whose appetites throughout unity.
The Elite and the People ❖ 361
The English, moreover, saw that mercantilistic rulers, whether kings, nobles, landlords, or clergy.
calculations of national wealth should be made Throughout the Middle Ages, there had always
over the long run. For example, Thomas Mun been two cultures: the elite culture of the royal
(1571–1641) argued that a country might import court, the feudal lords, and the educated clergy,
more than it exported in the short run and still and the popular culture of largely illiterate peas-
come out ahead in the end because raw materials ants and artisans.
that are imported and then reprocessed for export Over the centuries, the common people had
would eventually yield a handsome profit. evolved a distinctive culture, which their rulers
In addition, Mun was one of the first to discern patronized and, to some degree, participated in.
the virtues of consumerism, a phenomenon that is This popular culture consisted of a mosaic of the
still extremely important for achieving sustained customs of various groups of people—shepherds,
economic growth. Speaking of foreign trade, he peasants, cobblers, weavers, miners—each group
maintained that the more English merchants did with its own traditions. Even a youth culture of
to advertise English goods to potential customers, apprentices was to be found in the towns. Fur-
the greater the overseas market for those goods thermore, besides the settled culture of the vil-
would be. In other words, demand can be created. lages and towns, there was a vagabond culture of
Just as there is an urge to invest and make profits, sailors, soldiers, beggars, thieves, and other “mas-
so there is an appetite to consume and enjoy the terless men.”6
products of industry, and both inclinations have The prosperous and the powerful called on
played their part in the growth of capitalism. Nor the services of learned professionals— clergy,
was the message restricted to the foreign market. physicians, and lawyers. Ordinary people had
Between 1660 and 1750, England became the their own humbler and cheaper equivalents—lay
world’s first consumer society: more and more preachers, folk healers, and witches (that is, sor-
people had more and more money to spend, and cerers and fortunetellers). The royal courts, manor
they acquired a taste for conspicuous consump- houses, monasteries, and universities were centers
tion (which previously had always been confined of elite culture. Ordinary people worked, played,
to the aristocracy). Discretionary goods were and worshiped in meaner settings: the village
available—lace, tobacco, housewares, flowers— church, the tavern, the street, and especially the
and consumers wanted them. Concomitantly, just marketplace or village square. In the church and
as today, the stronger the stimulus to buy, the churchyard, they danced, feasted, and performed
harder the consumer worked, which induced fur- religious pageants; in the tavern and street, they
ther growth. gossiped, played games, watched puppet shows,
The price revolution, the concentration of staged cockfights, listened to folk preachers, and
wealth in private hands, and government activity consulted healers, astrologers, and magicians.
combined to provide the foundation for sustained Certain special occasions granted people the
investment and for the emergence of mercantile freedom to express themselves. Beginning in the
capitalism. This new force in the world should thirteenth century, the most important of these
not be confused with industrial capitalism. The occasions was the carnival, the three- to six-day
latter evolved with the first Industrial Revolution festival preceding the onset of Lent. The carni-
in eighteenth- century England, but mercantile val was a time of revelry and ritual processions
capitalism paved the way for it. through church and streets, excessive eating and
drinking, and a sharp increase in sexual activity.
It was also a time during which ordinary people,
THE ELITE AND THE PEOPLE at least in their parades and public displays, en-
gaged in what was called “turning the world up-
Traditional Popular Culture side down.” So, for instance, in a procession a
horse would be made to walk backward with its
Europe’s economic expansion was accompanied rider facing its tail. Popular illustrations of the era
by equally important social and cultural changes show a son beating his father, a pupil beating his
in the relations between ordinary people and their teacher, servants giving orders to their masters, the
362 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
laity preaching to the clergy, the husband minding values: pulling together in a subsistence world,
the baby, and the wife smoking and holding a gun. making sure that everyone had enough for sur-
What does all this mean? Was it a safety valve, vival, and extending relief to those in need. The
allowing the people to blow off the steam gener- emphasis was on communalism, not individual-
ated by an otherwise oppressive and monotonous ism, especially in the countryside.
existence? Perhaps, but it sometimes led to real In the sixteenth century, however, a dras-
violence, and the elite, by the sixteenth century at tic change took place in the attitude of the elite
any rate, looked on such behavior as subversive toward ordinary people. No longer willing to
and fraught with danger. As a noble said on the patronize and foster popular culture, the elite be-
occasion of the carnival at Palermo in 1648, “On came increasingly suspicious of and hostile to it.
the pretext of these assemblies of the people for This shift occurred for two reasons. The first was
these ridiculous spectacles, factious spirits would the elite’s fear of the growing numbers of the poor
be able . . . to encourage some new riot.”7 and fear of the growing numbers of people, some
Nor was the carnival the only occasion for poor and some not, who, inspired by the new re-
this ritual mockery of authority. The calendar ligious movements and the new printed literature,
year was punctuated by the observance of reli- were beginning to question the old authorities and
gious feast days on which similar behavior took sometimes even joined in rebellion against them.
place. So, for instance, in France, on the Feast of Encouraged by the greater accessibility of printed
Fools (the Innocents) on December 28, an abbot books and by the Protestant emphasis on Bible
or bishop of fools was elected, and a mock Mass reading, more and more people became literate,
took place in which the clergy dressed in women’s and a popular literature of religious instruction,
clothes, played cards, ate sausages, sang ribald astrological almanacs, and chivalric romances
songs, and cursed their congregations instead of poured from the presses to meet the growing de-
blessing them. mand. On this score, too, the authorities had their
Among the most prevalent popular traditions misgivings; books of the right sort were accept-
was the ritual mockery of marriage known as the able, even useful, but a little learning was thought
charivari. Only unconventional marriages quali- to be a dangerous thing.
fied for such rude treatment at the hands of one’s The second reason for the shift in elite attitudes
neighbors: an old man and a young wife, a second toward ordinary people was not fear but hope.
marriage, a husband beaten or cuckolded by his Not only were the elite alarmed by the growing
wife. The charivari consisted of a ritual proces- poverty and unrest among the people, but they
sion in which the victim or his effigy would be also thought that they knew how to control the
mounted backward on an ass and drawn through unrest and even perhaps in some measure over-
the streets accompanied by “rough music” (the come it. Just as religion inspired the people, so the
beating of pots and pans). Charivaris were some- Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and the
times conducted at the expense of tax collectors, Christian humanism of the Renaissance inspired
preachers, and landlords. Here then was a kind leaders to reform society and in particular to at-
of popular justice, another version of the world tack popular culture for being both too pagan and
turned upside down. too disorderly. The customs of the people, it was
thought, needed to be purified and made more de-
cent and sober, and the people themselves needed
The Reform of Popular Culture to be disciplined so that they might become obe-
dient subjects of king and church. Society came
Throughout the Middle Ages and until the early to be seen as divided between the godly (among
sixteenth century, elite culture and popular cul- whom the elite included themselves) and the un-
ture existed in more-or-less stable balance. Indeed, godly multitude, who needed to be controlled
the two worlds, high and low, occupied consider- and, if possible, educated for service in the Chris-
able common ground. Landlords and clergy took tian commonwealth.
part in village games and feasts and shared with What followed was a wide- ranging on-
their inferiors an outlook that stressed communal slaught against all forms of traditional popular
The Elite and the People ❖ 363
culture—what one historian has called “the tri- pranks, throwing stones and making floats.”9 A
umph of Lent” over “the world of Carnival.”8 This century later, in England, Phillip Stubbe drew up
reform movement included attacks on popular fes- a comprehensive indictment of May games, Lords
tivals, lay preaching, and “the world turned up side of Misrule, Christmas feasting, church ales, wakes,
down.” The Florentine ruler Girolamo Savonarola, bearbaiting, cockfighting, and dancing. Popular re-
a few days before the carnival of 1496, preached ligious dramas disappeared in northern Italy dur-
a sermon recommending that “boys should col- ing the third quarter of the sixteenth century and
lect alms for the respectable poor, instead of mad in England by the end of that century.
364 ❖ 15 European Expansion: Economic and Social Transformations
The new bureaucratic state joined the clergy The church held that a witch’s “only hope of sal-
in the reforming enterprise. In the sixteenth and vation was to be arrested and to recant before
seventeenth centuries, many forms of behavior her execution. By such reasoning the torment and
that had been thought of as spiritual sins became killing of witches was for their own good as well
secular crimes as well, subject to prosecution and as that of God and society.”10
punishment by the state. These newly criminalized The growth of printed literature on the sub-
activities included adultery, blasphemy, sodomy, ject of witchcraft was especially influential in the
infanticide, and witchcraft. In this period, too, spread of the church’s view that witchcraft in-
public brothels, which had existed for centuries, volved a diabolical plot. In 1486, there appeared
were gradually shut down, a process beginning in a handbook called Malleus Maleficarum (The
Lutheran Germany between 1530 and 1560. The Hammer of Witches) by two German Domini-
state enforced what the new moral puritanism cans who claimed to show what witches did at
decreed. the Devil’s behest. These Dominicans had tried
almost fifty people for witchcraft, all but two of
them women.
Witchcraft and the Witch Craze By the sixteenth century, the linkage of women
to witchcraft had been firmly established. Men
The prosecution of witches constitutes a particu- could also be accused of the crime, but almost ev-
larly important chapter in this attack on popu- erywhere that witches were tried in the sixteenth
lar culture. Although it had always been suspect, and seventeenth centuries, more than 75 percent
witchcraft had been a part of traditional village were women, often elderly widows and spinsters.
culture for centuries. There were two kinds of The so- called witch craze is a phenomenon of
witchcraft, known at the time as black and white. these two centuries, when perhaps as many as
The white variety involved healing and fortune- 110,000 people were prosecuted and 60,000 ex-
telling. Black witchcraft conjured evil powers by ecuted all over Europe.
a curse or by the manipulation of objects, such as Why were most of the accused women? No
the entrails of animals. doubt this pattern reflected an ancient prejudice
The medieval church developed a more theo- that women were less rational and more lustful
logical and sinister interpretation of the phenom- than men and so more susceptible to the Devil’s
enon: that witches conspired with the Devil to wiles. As the authors of The Hammer of Witches
work against God and human society, held secret declared, “Witchcraft comes from carnal lust,
meetings, and had carnal relations with the Devil. which is in woman insatiable.”11
In the late twelfth century, Christian thinkers be- One view of English witch-hunts during the
gan to emphasize the idea of a Devil who roamed period may help explain the predominance of
the world at the head of an army of demons, at- women among the accused. In traditional soci-
tempting to undermine the saving mission of ety, widows and the elderly were objects of local
Christ and tempting people to sin. Witches were charity. An old woman, so the theory goes, would
regarded as those who had succumbed to tempta- beg for alms and be rebuffed by a more prosper-
tion and entered into a pact to worship Satan in ous neighbor; later, some misfortune would befall
place of God. This worship was thought to take the neighbor, and he would blame it on the old
place at secret, nocturnal meetings (the legendary woman, accusing her of witchcraft as a way of
witches’ Sabbats), during which witches and de- assuaging his guilt for having refused her request
mons were supposed to engage in sexual orgies, for help. According to this interpretation, such
sacrifice infants, and desecrate the Eucharist. behavior characterizes a period of rapid transi-
As early as the thirteenth century, bishops tion from communal subsistence to an ethic of
and popes prosecuted witches for heresy. Con- economic individualism that demanded that each
fessions were usually extracted by means of tor- person look out for himself or herself. Just such a
ture. Those found guilty were burned at the stake period in England coincided with the large num-
(on the Continent) or hanged (in England), and ber of witchcraft prosecutions brought against
their property was confiscated by the authorities. poor old women.
Economic and Social Transformations ❖ 365
new lands, Europeans exported Western culture revolution, and convertible husbandry. Out of this
around the globe, a process that accelerated in change emerged the beginnings of a new economic
the twentieth century. system, mercantile capitalism, which in large mea-
The overseas expansion had profound effects. sure provided the economic thrust for European
The native populations of the New World were world predominance and paved the way for the
decimated. To ease the labor shortage, millions of Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nine-
blacks were imported from Africa to work as slaves teenth centuries.
on plantations and in mines. Black slavery would Finally, these economic changes were accom-
produce large-scale effects on culture, politics, and panied by a major shift in relations between the
society, which have lasted to the present day. rulers and the ruled. For centuries, the elite had
The widespread circulation of plant and animal tolerated and even patronized the culture of
life also had great consequences. Horses and cattle the common people. But under the impact of the
were introduced into the New World. (The Aztecs commercial revolution and the Reformation,
were so amazed to see a man on horseback that the authorities became increasingly suspicious of
they thought horse and rider were one demonic the people and undertook to purify and reform
creature.) In return, the Old World sampled such popular culture. The degree to which they suc-
novelties as corn, the tomato, and, most important, ceeded remains an open question. But the gap be-
the potato, which was to become a staple of the tween the elite and the people widened as the elite
northern European diet. Manioc, from which tapi- found less and less in popular culture to identify
oca is made, was transplanted from the New World with and more and more to condemn or try to
to Africa, where it helped sustain the population. undo. The elite distanced themselves from ordinary
Western Europe was wrenched out of the sub- people even as they attempted to impose their will.
sistence economy of the Middle Ages and launched The result was the emergence of two separate cul-
on a course of sustained economic growth. This tures, divorced from and hostile to each other. Only
transformation resulted from the grafting of tradi- in moments of mass hysteria, such as during the
tional forms, such as primogeniture and holy war, witch craze, could the people and their rulers join
onto new forces, such as global exploration, price forces against a common and defenseless victim.
❖ ❖ ❖
■
Monarchs and Elites as State
Builders
The Rise and Fall of Hapsburg
F rom the thirteenth to the seventeenth
century, a new and unique form of politi-
cal organization emerged in the West: the
dynastic, or national, state, which, through taxes
and war, harnessed the power of its nobility and
Spain
the material resources of its territory. The state
■ The Growth of French Power was simply a large territory, generally with peo-
ple speaking the same language who could very
■ The Growth of Limited gradually imagine themselves as part of a com-
Monarchy and Constitutionalism munity. Indeed, the European monarchs encour-
in England aged such thinking. Their right to rule had been
established centuries earlier when a dynasty was
■ The Netherlands: A Bourgeois founded, generally by the most militarily power-
Republic ful nobleman. Under the laws and rights gov-
erning birth, the state became an entity inherited
■ The Holy Roman Empire: The from generation to generation; thus, a dynasty
Failure to Unify Germany was born. The power of the West to explore and
dominate other lands and peoples would have
■ The Emergence of Austria been impossible without the backing provided
and Prussia by the European states. They directed the ener-
gies of merchants and landed elites into national
■ Russia: Great Nobles and service and international competition. A degree
Starving Peasants of domestic stability ensued, and the states en-
■ The State and Modern Political couraged commerce and industry, which could in
turn be taxed. Although they nurtured the aris-
Development tocracy, many states also required that both lord
and peasant serve in national armies bent upon
foreign conquest as well as defense. States need
not have been dynastic; witness, for example, the
Focus Questions emergence of the Dutch Republic, which was led
by elite families. But by the late fifteenth century,
1. How did monarchs build strong states? most of the European states became the inheri-
tance of dynastic kings.
2. What enabled Spain to rise to greatness, Monarchs and their courts became centers
and why was this greatness short-lived? of gravity in the process of state formation. The
3. What were the achievements and failures centralized governments that emerged generally
of Louis XIV’s reign? embraced a system best described as absolutism.
Under the impact of absolutism, kings seemed in-
4. What is the enduring historical
vincible. Out of their courts came the administra-
significance of the English Revolution tion of justice, the power to collect taxes, foreign
of the seventeenth century? How have policy, laws governing the content of books and
historians quarreled about it? the press, and even laws regulating the forms of
5. What were the distinguishing features of dress permitted to various classes and occupa-
Prussia and Russia by the early eighteenth tions. Despite the appeal of such kingly power, one
century? other form of government emerged in early mod-
ern Europe: republican, or constitutional, states.
6. What was the role of the lesser nobility in By 1800, the future lay with this other, more par-
the process of state formation? ticipatory system. Republican government gave
more power to landed or mercantile elites than to
kings and their courts.
369
Chronology 16.1 ❖ The Rise of Monarchical Sovereignty
1469 Ferdinand and Isabella begin their rule of Castile and Aragon
1485 Henry VII begins the reign of the Tudor dynasty in England
1517 The Protestant Reformation starts in Germany
1519 Charles V of Spain becomes Hapsburg emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
1556–1598 Philip II of Spain persecutes Jews and Muslims
1559 Treaty of peace between France and Spain
1560–1609 The Netherlands revolts against Spanish rule
1562–1589 Religious wars in France
1572 Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: Queen Catherine of France thought to
have ordered thousands of Protestants executed
1579 Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, published by Huguenots, justifies regicide; it will
be translated and republished during the English Revolution
1588 English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada
1590s A reaction in Russia against Ivan IV, the Terrible
1593 Henry IV of France renounces his Protestantism to restore peace in France
1598 French Protestants granted limited religious toleration by the Edict of Nantes
1630 King Charles I in England attempts to govern without Parliament
1640–1660 Revolution in England
1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends Thirty Years’ War; guarantees the independence of
the Dutch Republic
1649 Charles I, Stuart king of England, is executed by an act of Parliament
1649–1660 England is co-ruled by Parliament and the army under Oliver Cromwell
1660 Charles II returns from exile and becomes king of England
1683 Turks attack Vienna and are defeated
1685 Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes
1688–1689 Revolution in England: end of absolutism; religious toleration for all
Protestants
1699 Treaty of Karlowitz marks Austrians’ victory over Turks and affirms Austria’s
right to rule Hungary, Transylvania, and parts of Croatia
1701 Louis XIV tries to bring Spain under French control
1702–1714 War of the Spanish Succession establishes a balance of power between
England and France
370
Monarchs and Elites as State Builders ❖ 371
Although kings in some medieval lands had General survived the seventeenth century. They
begun to forge national states, medieval political were not in the monarch’s interest.
forms differed considerably from the systems that Monarchs employed a variety of tools for
developed in the early modern period. During the extending their power. All encouraged the use of
Middle Ages, feudal lords gave homage to their vernacular languages—English, French, or Spanish,
kings but ruled unencumbered over their local for example—to foster a common identity, as well
territories. Medieval representative assemblies, as to counteract the church’s monopoly over the in-
which met occasionally to give advice to kings, at ternational language of the time, Latin. But more
times acted as a brake on the king’s power. City- important than words were arms. The foundations
states enjoyed considerable autonomy. The clergy of monarchical power lay in the standing army and
supported the monarch but governed in separate the taxation that paid for the military. The goal of
spiritual realms. The papacy challenged the au- the monarch was to have independent wealth and
thority of those monarchs who, it believed, did power. In general, only war justified taxes. The rise
not fulfill their duty to rule in accordance with and fall of the great European powers of the early
Christian teachings. In early modern times, pow- modern period—first Spain and then the Dutch
erful monarchs gradually subdued these compet- Republic, as well as France and England—can be
ing systems of local authority and established traced directly in the fortunes of their armies on the
strong central governments. battlefield and the fullness of the king’s or state’s
treasury. Only the rise of the Dutch Republic broke
with the pattern of king–army–taxes as the key to
MONARCHS AND ELITES the creation of a centralized state. The Dutch case
rested on local elites–army–taxes. The rich, urban,
AS STATE BUILDERS Protestant elite lent the state money at interest to
wage a struggle for independence against Spain. In
At first, kings drove the development of states. the process, the Dutch created the first system of
European elites, whether landed or urban, grudg- national bonds and a citizen-financed national debt.
ingly gave allegiance to these ambitious, and at A nation was created, but one without a king or a
times ruthless, authority figures. In general, a single strong central government. Local elites held most of
monarch seemed the only alternative to the even the power, just as they held the state bonds.
more brutal pattern of war and disorder so basic Where early modern monarchs succeeded in
to the governing habits of the feudal aristocracy. subduing, reconstituting, or destroying local aris-
But it was essential that the kings of Europe subor- tocratic and ecclesiastical power systems, strong
dinate the aristocracy to their needs and interests dynastic states emerged. Where the monarchs
and gain firm control over the Christian churches failed, as they did in the Holy Roman Empire and
in their territories. Gradually, religious zeal was Italy, no viable states evolved until well into the
made compatible with, and largely supportive of, nineteenth century. Those failures derived from
the state’s goals rather than with papal dictates or the independent authority of local princes or city-
even universal Christian aspirations. The demise states and, in the case of Italy, from the decentral-
of medieval representative assemblies—with the izing influence of papal authority. In the Holy
notable exception of the English Parliament and Roman Empire, feudal princes found allies in the
the Dutch Estates General—is a dramatic illustra- newly formed Protestant communities, and in
tion of how monarchs subjected to their will all such a situation, religion worked as a decentraliz-
other political authorities, whether local, regional, ing force. Once given the power to determine the
or national. Parliaments gave one representative local religion, many German princes also main-
one vote, whereas Estates General voted by a col- tained their peasants as virtual serfs.
lective process whereby one social estate or one Early modern kings needed to gain control over
province cast only one vote (polling its members religious authorities. They did not separate church
to do so). The actual votes cast could be as few as and state (as was later done in the United States);
three in the French case or seven for the number of rather they linked their subjects’ religious identity
Dutch provinces voting in The Hague. Few Estates with national identity. For example, in England,
372 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
by the late seventeenth century, to be a true Prot- of the most spectacular examples in history of the
estant was to be a true English subject, while in rise and equally dramatic fall of a great power.
Spain the same equation operated for the Catholic The Spanish kings turned a dynastic state into
(as opposed to the Muslim or the Jew, who came an empire. First Spain burst through its frontiers
to be regarded as non-Spanish). Even in the Dutch and encompassed Portugal, part of Italy, the Low
Republic, where a real, if limited, religious tolera- Countries, and enormous areas of the New World.
tion prevailed, all the municipal, regional, and na- Spain became an intercontinental empire—the
tional offices were held by Protestants. first in the West since Roman times. Until 1469,
In the thirteenth century, most Europeans still however, although Spanish was widely spoken
identified themselves with their localities: their vil- on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain did not exist as a
lages, manors, or towns. Their allegiance went to political entity. Then in that year, Ferdinand, heir
their local lord or bishop. They knew little, and to the throne of Aragon, married his more pow-
probably cared less, about the activities of the king erful and prosperous cousin, Isabella, heiress of
and his court, except when the monarch called on Castile. Yet even after the unification of Castile
them for taxes or military service. By the late sev- and the crown of Aragon (encompassing Catalo-
enteenth century, in contrast, aristocrats in many nia, Aragon, and Valencia), relations among the
European countries defined their political power in fiercely independent provinces of Spain were of-
relation to king and court. By then, the lives of very ten tense. Only through dynastic marriage of their
ordinary people had been touched by national sys- offspring to a German-speaking family of central
tems of tax collection, by the doctrines and practices Europe, the Hapsburgs, did the Spanish monarchs
of national churches, and by military conscription. emerge on the international scene. Marriage and
Increasingly, middle-class town dwellers, the inheritance were key pieces in the puzzle of state
bourgeoisie, also realized that their prosperity development.
hinged, in part, on court-supported foreign and
domestic policies. If the king assisted their com-
mercial ventures, urban dwellers supported the Ferdinand and Isabella: Unity and
growth of a strong central state. In only two states, Purity of “Blood” and Religion
England and the Dutch Republic, did landed and
mercantile elites share in the process of governing During their rule (1479–1516), Ferdinand and
by the late seventeenth century. Isabella put in place a dynastic state and laid the
By that time commercial rivalry among states foundation for the Spanish Empire and Spanish
and colonial expansion were directly related to domination of European affairs throughout the
the ability of landed and commercial elites to pro- sixteenth century. Together, they sought to build
tect their interests under the mantle of the state, the army and consolidate the state by waging a
and to the state’s willingness to encourage world campaign to reconquer Spanish territory still held
trade in order to enrich its own treasury. Mon- by the Muslims. At the same time, they strove to
archs and the states they helped create ushered bring the church into alliance with the state and
in the modern world just as surely as did com- forge a Spanish identity based on “blood” ances-
mercial expansion, capitalism, and science. They try as well as religion. A person was considered
also enshrined political power as a masculine and Spanish only if no Jews or non-Spaniards could
familial preserve that could be inherited. be found in the family lineage. The roots of rac-
ism lie deep in European religious and political
history.
THE RISE AND FALL Spanish rulers also had to bring the church’s
interests in line with their own. Whereas other
OF HAPSBURG SPAIN Europeans, partly under the impact of the
Renaissance, questioned the church’s leadership
The Spanish political experience of the sixteenth and attacked its corruption, the Catholic Kings
century exemplifies the interconnectedness of (as Ferdinand and Isabella were called) reformed
king, army, church, and taxation. It was also one the church and made it their servant. The crusade
The Rise and Fall of Hapsburg Spain ❖ 373
FRANCE FRANCE
K. OF
NAVARRE
KINGDOM OF
Oporto ARAGON
Barcelona
KINGDOM KINGDOM
OF
Toledo Is. PORTUGAL OF
Madrid
c Is
.
ric ari
lea Valencia Bale
Ba Toledo
Lisbon
CASTILE
Córdoba ea ea
n S n S
Seville
ra nea Seville
ra nea
Granada
i ter KINGDOM OF
i ter
ed GRANADA ed
M M
0 100 Km.
Map 16.1 SPAIN FROM THE NINTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY Spain became
a nation gradually, and eventually Portugal split away to become a separate state.
(Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
against the Muslims pleased the militant Spanish public ceremonies, was the ultimate penalty. Mus-
church. Popular piety and royal policy led in 1492 lims also bore the pain of persecution: forced con-
to a victory over Granada, the last Muslim-ruled versions, investigations, torture, and executions
territory of Spain. In the same year, the Spanish conducted by the Inquisition and, finally, mass
state expelled the Jews from its territory. expulsion in 1609 through 1614. The Inquisi-
The five-hundred-year struggle for Christian tion represented the repressive side of the Spanish
hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula left the Span- genius for conquest and administration, and its
ish fiercely religious and strongly suspicious of shadow stretched down through the centuries
foreigners. Despite centuries of intermarriage with well into the twentieth, as witnessed by the sup-
non-Christians, by the early sixteenth century, pu- port the Spanish clergy gave to the far-right re-
rity of blood and orthodoxy of faith became nec- gime of Francisco Franco (d. 1975). By contrast,
essary for, and synonymous with, Spanish identity. today Spain is a flourishing democracy.
The Spanish state and church actively engaged in The wars against the Muslims rendered the
persecuting Muslims and Jews, who for centuries Spanish army one of the finest in Europe. With
had contributed substantially to Spanish cultural a superior army, the great magnates pacified, and
and economic life. the church and the Inquisition under monarchi-
In 1492, the crown expelled some 150,000 cal control, the Catholic Kings expanded their
Jews (some estimates are considerably higher). interests and embarked on an imperialist foreign
The thousands of Jews who underwent conver- policy in Europe and the New World. It had extra-
sion were watched by a church tribunal, the ordinary consequences. Ultimately, Spain became
Inquisition, for signs of backsliding. The clerical dominant in the Americas. Intent on expanding
inquisitors employed brutal means of interroga- their territory, Ferdinand and Isabella gambled on
tion and torture, such as waterboarding, to ferret Columbus’s voyage to what he and they thought
out newly converted Christians and their descen- was a new passage to India. The gamble paid off
dants who were suspected of secretly practicing in the discovery of what eventually came to be
Judaism. Death by fire, sometimes in elaborate known as North and South America. Beginning
374 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
in 1519 in Mexico, the conquistador Hernando influence and led to the loss of the northern Low
Cortés, using only six hundred foot soldiers and Countries and the further decentralization of the
sixteen horses, defeated the Aztec nation. This Holy Roman Empire.
feat was partly due to the superiority of Spanish The achievements of Charles V’s reign rested
technology, but also to the condition of the Aztec on the army and bureaucracy. The Hapsburg
nation, which was struggling to maintain a hold Empire in the New World was vast and, on the
over its own people and over scores of other whole, was effectively administered and policed,
Mexican tribes that it had, in some cases, brutally partly by the Catholic clergy. Out of a sprawl-
subdued. Hidalgos, members of the minor aris- ing empire, with its exploited native populations,
tocracy, led the Spanish forces. As younger sons came the greatest flow of gold and silver the world
of impoverished aristocrats, war was their means had ever witnessed. Constant warfare in Europe,
to riches and land. Unlike the great and wealthy particularly in Italy and against the Turks in the
aristocrats, they would serve the crown at home Mediterranean, coupled with the immensity of the
and abroad as soldiers and often as bureau- Spanish administrative network, required a steady
crats. Their loyalty to the king was matched only intake of capital. But in the long run, this easy
by their fierce ambition. The Spanish hidalgos had access to income was detrimental to the Spanish
their counterparts in France and elsewhere. The economy. There was no incentive for the devel-
bureaucracy and army of the early modern states opment of domestic industry, entrepreneurship,
were very important avenues for lesser nobles to or international commerce. Indeed, the influx
obtain and keep elite status. of gold fostered an inflationary spiral. Constant
war perpetuated a social order geared to the ag-
grandizement of a military class rather than to the
development of a commercial class. Although war
The Reign of Charles V: expanded Spain’s power in the sixteenth century,
Hapsburg, King of Spain, it also sowed the seeds for the financial crises of
and Holy Roman Emperor the 1590s and beyond, and for the eventual de-
cline of Spain as a world power.
Through a series of shrewd marriage agreements
for their children, Ferdinand and Isabella laid the
foundation of their dynasty while at the same Philip II
time strengthening their international alliances. As
a result, their grandson, Charles, who ruled from The reign of Philip II (1556–1598) was pivotal and
1516 to 1556, inherited Spain, the Netherlands, exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the Span-
Austria, Sardinia, Sicily, the kingdom of Naples, ish state. Philip II inherited the throne from his
and Franche-Comté. In 1519, the same year as father, Charles V, who left his son with a large em-
the conquest of Mexico, he was also elected Holy pire in both the Old World and the New. Philip II’s
Roman Emperor (partly through bribery). Thus, zeal for Catholicism ruled his private conduct and
he became the most powerful monarch in Europe. infused his foreign policy. With the necessary rev-
But in the course of his reign, problems emerged enue in hand, he launched an offensive against the
that would eventually lead to Spain’s decline Turks and international Protestantism.
and weaken the Hapsburg dynasty, to which he To Philip II, being truly Spanish meant being
had been heir through marriage. Christian in faith and blood; the racist tenden-
Charles’s inheritance was simply too vast to cies already evident in the later fifteenth century
be governed effectively. The Lutheran Reforma- gained full expression during his reign. Increas-
tion in Germany proved to be the first success- ingly, the country came to be ruled by an exclu-
ful challenge to Hapsburg power. It opened the sive class of Old Christians, who claimed to be
first phase in the religious and political struggle untainted because for centuries they had refused
between Catholic Spain and Protestant Europe. to marry Muslims or Jews, even if Jews were con-
That struggle, which dominated the last half of verts to Christianity—New Christians, as they
the sixteenth century, ultimately reduced Spanish were called. The Old Christians controlled the
The Rise and Fall of Hapsburg Spain ❖ 375
church, religious orders, and the Inquisition. Tra- Netherlands, Spain lost its industrial heartland.
dition enabled them to preserve an imperial sys- In 1576 and again in 1585, the Spanish army, in
tem urgently in need of reform. a desperate attempt to defeat the rebels, sacked
Morose and withdrawn, Philip II worked in- Antwerp, the leading commercial and banking city
cessantly without any obvious pleasures. He took in northern Europe. Within ten years, Antwerp’s
a fine comb to his ministers’ reports, yet despite trade and many of its educated and commercial
all the editing, he was strangely indecisive. Some elite went to Amsterdam, a Protestant stronghold.
problems remained unsolved for years; frustrated Amsterdam replaced Antwerp as an international
advisers begged the king to take action. capital and became the center of the new Dutch
In the 1560s, Philip sent the largest land army Republic. Its stock exchange dominated global
ever assembled in Europe into the Netherlands commerce into the late eighteenth century, when
in order to crush Protestant-inspired opposition it was replaced by London.
to Spanish authority. The ensuing revolt of the By the 1580s, Philip’s foreign policy followed
Netherlands lasted until 1609, and in losing the his religious zeal. He intervened in the French
376 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
religious wars on the Catholic side, although his Swedes and Germans nor the Dutch could stop
intervention gave little to Spain in the way of them. Only French participation in the Thirty
power or influence. Philip’s religious fervor also Years’ War on the Protestant side tipped the bal-
led to the disastrous attempt in 1588 to invade ance decisively against the Hapsburgs. In the
England with an armada. course of the war, large portions of what is today
For Philip, an assault on Protestant England Germany were destroyed, and its population fled
constituted a holy crusade against the “heretic or was killed. Spanish aggression brought no vic-
and bastard” Queen Elizabeth; he particularly tories, and with the Peace of Westphalia (1648),
resented English assistance to Protestant rebels Spain officially recognized the independence of
in the Dutch wars. Sailing from Lisbon in May, the Netherlands and cut its ties with the Austrian
the Spanish Armada, twenty-two thousand men branch of the family.
strong, met with humiliating defeat. Its large By 1660, the domination of Europe by the
ships could not negotiate the treacherous English Spanish Hapsburgs had come to an end. The rule
Channel, and the English ships easily outmaneu- of the Protestant princes had been secured in
vered them, breaking their formation by crash- the Holy Roman Empire; the largely Protestant
ing fire ships into them. Moreover, strong winds, Dutch Republic flourished; Portugal and its slave
typical for May, drove the Armada out of striking colony of Brazil were independent of Spain; and
position. dominance over European affairs had passed to
The defeat had a psychological effect through- France. The quality of material life in Spain dete-
out Europe. The Spanish openly pondered what riorated rapidly, and the ever-present gap between
they had done to incur divine displeasure. Protes- the rich and the poor widened. The traditional
tant Europe, however, hailed the victory as a sign aristocracy and the church retained their land
of its election, and the “Protestant wind” stirred and power but failed conspicuously to produce
by divine intervention entered the mythology of effective leadership. With decline came rigidity of
English nationalism. In the rise and fall of nations, institutions and values. Spain remained authori-
self-assurance has played a crucial, if inexplicable, tarian far longer than other European countries.
role. The cultural renaissance associated with the Democratic revolutions did not occur in a country
England of Shakespeare owed its vigor and confi- dominated exclusively by the landed elite and the
dence in part to its pride at being Protestant and church. The commercial elite, which became in-
independent of Spanish influence. creasingly important in England, the Netherlands,
and France, failed to develop in monarchical and
agricultural Spain.
The End of the Spanish Hapsburgs The Spanish experience illustrates two aspects
of the history of state formation. First, the state as
After the defeat of the Armada, Spain gradually empire can survive and prosper only if the domes-
and reluctantly abandoned its imperial ambi- tic economic base continues to expand. Second,
tions in northern Europe. By the first quarter of living off subjugated colonies ultimately means
the seven teenth century, enormous weaknesses economic stagnation and can lead to technologi-
had surfaced in Spanish economic and social life. cal backwardness at home.
From the 1590s onward, bankruptcy reappeared In general, states with a vital and aggressive
while the agricultural economy, at the heart of mercantile class generally prospered in the early
any early modern nation, stagnated. At the height modern period. In such states, the landed elite was
of its power, Spain had never devoted enough at- joined by a commercial elite. The latter comprised
tention to increasing domestic production. those who invested, or even participated, in the
Despite these setbacks, Spain became an aggres- market and manufacturing, whether at home or
sor during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), at abroad. In Spain, however, the old aristocracy and
its heart a religious struggle for mastery over the the church continued to dominate and control so-
Holy Roman Empire. The Austrian branch of the ciety and its mores. They not only despised man-
Catholic Hapsburg family joined forces with ual labor and profit-taking through trade but also
their Spanish cousins, and neither the Protestant showed little interest in science and technology.
The Growth of French Power ❖ 377
the immense power and authority of the Catholic de’ Medici, a member of the powerful Italian
Church in France as sanctioned and overseen by banking family, Henry occupied himself not with
the French kings. By the early sixteenth century, the concerns of government but with the pleasures
religious homogeneity had strengthened the cen- of the hunt. The sons who succeeded Henry—
tral government at the expense of papal authority. Francis II (1559–1560), Charles IX (1560–1574),
This ecclesiastical and religious settlement lay at and Henry III (1574–1589)—were uniformly
the heart of monarchical authority. Consequently, weak. In this power vacuum, their mother, Cath-
by the 1520s, the Protestant Reformation threat- erine, emerged as virtual ruler—a queen despised
ened the very survival of France as a unified state. as an Italian, a woman, and a backstairs intriguer.
Throughout the early modern period, French kings One of the most hated figures of her day, Cath-
assumed that France must be governed by one erine de’ Medici defies dispassionate assessment.
king, one faith, and one set of laws. Any alternative She or her son ordered the execution of Protes-
to that unity offered the aristocracy or the clergy tants by royal troops in Paris—the beginning of
the opportunity to channel religious dissent into the infamous Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
their service at the expense of royal authority. Once (1572). The massacre of more than five thousand
linked, religious and political opposition to any Protestants became both a symbol and a legend
central government could be extremely dangerous. in subsequent European history: a symbol of the
During the decades that followed, partly excesses of religious zeal and a legend of Protes-
through the efforts of the Huguenot (Protestant) tant martyrdom, which gave renewed energy to
underground and partly because the French king the cause of international Protestantism.
and his ministers vacillated in their attempts The civil wars begun in 1562 continued after
at persecution, the Protestant minority grew in the massacre. They dragged on until the death of
strength and dedication. By challenging the au- the last Valois king in 1589. The Valois failure to
thority of the Catholic Church, Protestants were produce a male heir to the throne placed Henry,
also inadvertently challenging royal authority; the duke of Bourbon and a Protestant, in line to suc-
Gallican church and the French monarchy sup- ceed to the French throne. Realizing that the over-
ported each other. Protestantism became the basis whelmingly Catholic population would not accept
for a political movement of an increasingly revo- a Protestant king, Henry (apparently without
lutionary nature. much regret) renounced his adopted religion and
From 1562 to the final peace of 1598, France embraced the church. His private religious beliefs
experienced waves of religious wars; the king may never be known, but outward conformity to
lost control over vast areas of the kingdom. In the religion of the Catholic majority offered peace
1579, extreme Huguenot theorists published the and the reestablishment of political stability.
Vindiciae contra Tyrannos. This anonymous at- Under the reign of Henry IV (1589–1610), a form
tack on the rights of kings, combined with a call of religious toleration returned. Henry granted
to action, was the first of its kind in early mod- it to his Protestant subjects through the Edict of
ern times. It justified rebellion against, and even Nantes (1598), but they were never welcomed in
the execution of, an unjust king. European mon- significant numbers into the royal bureaucracy.
archs might claim power and divinely sanctioned Throughout the seventeenth century, every French
authority, but by the late sixteenth century, their king attempted to undermine the Protestants’
subjects had available the moral justification to regional power bases and ultimately to destroy
oppose their monarch’s will, by force if necessary. their religious liberties.
Significantly, this same treatise was translated
into English in 1648, a year before Parliament
publicly executed Charles I, king of England. Louis XIV: The Consolidation
The French monarchy foundered in the face of of French Monarchical Power
a combined religious and political opposition. The
era of royal supremacy ushered in by Francis I The defeat of Protestantism as a national force
came to an abrupt end during the reign of his suc- set the stage for the final consolidation of the
cessor, Henry II (1547–1559). Wed to Catherine French state under the great Bourbon kings,
The Growth of French Power ❖ 379
THE HALL OF M IRRORS IN THE ROYAL PALACE AT VERSAILLES. Immense and grand,
Versailles was the wonder of the age. Like the person of the king, it said to his subjects: I am
grandeur incarnate. Even by today’s standards, it was an impressive building, both inside and
out. (© Massimo Listri/Corbis.)
Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Louis XIII (1610– cities; and harassed their Huguenot inhabitants.
1643) depended on an efficient and trustworthy Above all, he humbled the great nobles by lim-
bureaucracy, a renewable treasury, and constant iting their effectiveness as councilors to the king
vigilance against the localized claims to power and prohibiting their traditional privileges, such
by the great aristocracy and Protestant cities as using a duel rather than court action to settle
and towns. Cardinal Richelieu, who served as grievances. Reason of state also guided Richelieu’s
the young Louis XIII’s chief minister from 1624 foreign policy. It required that France turn against
to 1642, became the great architect of French Catholic Spain and join the Protestant, and hence
absolutism. anti-Spanish, side in the Thirty Years’ War. This
Richelieu’s political morality rested on one led to a decisive victory for French power on the
principle, embodied in a phrase he invented: rai- Continent.
son d’état, reason of state. Richelieu applied the Richelieu died in 1642, and Louis XIII the fol-
principle as he brought under the king’s control lowing year. Mazarin, a cardinal who had never
the disruptive and antimonarchical elements been ordained a priest and was an Italian by
within French society. He increased the power birth, took charge during the minority of Louis
of the central bureaucracy; attacked the power of XIV (he was five years old when Louis XIII died)
independent, and often Protestant, towns and and continued Richelieu’s policies. Mazarin’s
380 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
out in the south, royal troops crushed it. Thus, (Belgium) and thus a buffer against the possibility
absolutism rested on the complicity of the old of a French overrun of the Low Countries. Most
aristocracy, the self-aggrandizement of govern- dramatically, however, the war created a balance
ment officials, the church’s doctrines, the revenues of power in Europe. Britain emerged as a major
squeezed out of the peasantry, and the power of a force in European affairs, the counterweight
huge military machine. against the French colossus. Anglo-French rivalry
Yet Louis XIV’s system was fatally flawed. dominated the international politics of the eigh-
Without any effective check on his power and on teenth century, creating a fragile balance of power
his dreams of international conquest, no limit was in the Atlantic world.
imposed on the state’s capacity to make war or Louis XIV’s participation in these long wars
spend money. By the 1680s, his domestic and for- emptied the royal treasury. By the late seven-
eign policies turned violently aggressive. In 1685, teenth century, taxes had risen intolerably and
he revoked the Edict of Nantes, and thousands were levied mostly on those least able to pay:
of French Protestants fled or were imprisoned. the peasants. In the early 1700s, the combination
In 1689, he embarked on a military campaign to of taxes, bad harvests, and plague led to wide-
gain territory from the Holy Roman Empire. And spread poverty, misery, and starvation in large
in 1701, he tried to bring Spain under the con- areas of France. Thus, for the great majority of
trol of the Bourbon dynasty. Louis XIV, however, French people, absolutism meant a decline in liv-
underestimated the strength of his northern rivals, ing standards and a significant increase in mor-
England and the Dutch Republic. Their combined tality rates. Absolutism also required surveillance
power, in alliance with the Holy Roman Empire of the population. Royal authorities censored
and the Austrians, defeated Louis XIV’s ambitions books; spied on heretics, Protestants, and free-
and left his treasury empty. In the winter of 1709– thinkers; and even tortured and executed oppo-
1710, famine stalked the land. nents of state policy.
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought By 1715, France was a tightly governed soci-
on the battlefields of northern Europe. Out of it, ety whose treasury was bankrupt. Protestants had
the Austrians acquired the southern Netherlands been driven into exile or forced to convert. Strict
381
382 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
burgesses. Gradually, these lesser-than-noble but was entirely subservient to the crown, but its right
landed and prominent representatives came to to question royal decisions had been established.
regard Parliament as a means of redressing their
grievances. In turn, the later medieval kings saw
Parliament as a means of exercising control and The English Parliament
raising taxes. By 1297, the Lords (the upper and Constitution
house) and the Commons (the lower house) had
obtained the king’s agreement that no direct The medieval English Parliament possessed two
taxes could be levied without their consent. By characteristics that distinguished it from its many
the fourteenth century, Parliament had become a Continental counterparts, such as the various French
permanent institution of government. Its power Estates. The English Parliament was national, not
384
FINLAND
LIVONIA
SCOTLAND
RUSSIA
Se a
ATLANTI C
OCE A N Edinburgh
l t ic
JUTLAND
Ba
DENMARK Vilna
zi g
N or t h Sea
IRELAND Copenhagen
an
SCHLESWIG D PRUSSIA
Dublin Durham
IA
N
RA
MECKLEN- ME
PO
BURG
UNITED Hamburg G
ENGLAND NETHERLANDS BR AND ENB
UR
Berlin Warsaw
Amsterdam
Austrian Hapsburg lands London
A n t werp POLAND
WEST-
Spanish Hapsburg lands NET SPAN Cologne PHALIA SAXONY
SI
HE I LE
English Channel RL HESSE
SI
SH N D
BOHEMIA
Prussian lands Mainz
A
Prague
S
German states Worms
Paris MORAVIA
Swedish lands BAVARIA
TR
AN MOLDAVIA
Boundary of Holy Roman Empire Augsburg Vienna SY
Nantes LV
FRANCHE- AUSTRIA
A
NI
COMTÉ
FRANCE
A
SW IT ZE R L AN D
Geneva
SAVOY IL
ONT
M
AN WALLACHIA
R
E
Bla ck S ea
P Belgrade
EDM
U
B
L
IC
PI
GENOA
O
F
S
FLORENCE VE
E
AT
NIC
E OTTOMAN EMPIRE
ST
CATALONIA
L
PORTUGAL P
A
CASTILE
ARAGON Corsica PA
(to Genoa) Rome
Madrid
Lisbon
NAPLES
SPAIN Naples
A
CI
Sardinia
EN
ANDALUSIA
VAL
Lepanto
Granada Athens
M edi t er ranean Sea Palermo
Sicily
Crete
(To Rep. of Venice)
The Growth of Limited Monarchy and Constitutionalism in England ❖ 385
The Henrican and Protestant Reformation class emerged, and it would demand a greater say
in England was a revolution in royal, as well as in government operations.
ecclesiastical, government. It defeated a main The social and economic changes of the Eliza-
obstacle to monarchical authority: the power of bethan age can be seen, in microcosm, by looking
the papacy. At the same time, the Reformation at the Durham region in northern England. From
greatly enhanced the power of Parliament. Henry 1580 to 1640, a new coal-mining industry devel-
VIII used Parliament to make the Reformation oped there through the efforts of entrepreneurs—
because he knew that he needed the support of gentlemen with minor lands who, with the aid of
the lords, the country gentry, and the merchants. engineers, exploited their mineral resources. The
Parliament’s participation in the Reformation wool trade also prospered in Durham. By 1600,
gave it a greater role and sense of importance social and political tensions had developed. The
than it had ever possessed in the past. Nonethe- wool merchants and the entrepreneurial gentry
less, the final outcome of this administrative rev- were demanding a greater say in governing the re-
olution enhanced monarchical power. By the end gion. They were opposed by the traditional lead-
of his reign, Henry VIII easily possessed as much ers of Durham society: the bishops and the dozen
power as his French rival, Francis I. Indeed, until or so aristocratic families with major landhold-
the early seventeenth century, the history of mo- ings and access to the court in London.
narchical power in England, with its absolutist This split can be described as one between
tendencies, was remarkably similar to the Con- “court” and “country.” In this context, court refers
tinental pattern. No one could imagine the insta- to the traditional aristocratic magnates, the church
bility that lay ahead. hierarchy, and royal officialdom, and country de-
At Henry’s death, the Tudor bureaucracy and notes a loose coalition of merchants and rising
centralized government were strained to the agricultural and industrial entrepreneurs from the
utmost, yet they survived. The government weath- prosperous gentry class, whose economic worth
ered the reign of Henry’s sickly son, Edward VI far exceeded their political power. The pattern
(1547–1553), and the extreme Protestantism of found in Durham was repeated in other parts of
some of his advisers, and it survived the brief and England, generally where industry and commerce
deeply troubled reign of Henry’s first daughter, grew and prospered. The gentry gained social sta-
Mary (1553–1558), who brutally tried to return tus and wealth. In the seventeenth century, these
England to Catholicism. At Mary’s death, England social and economic tensions between court and
stood dangerously close to the religious instability country would help foment revolution. Indeed,
and sectarian tension that would undermine the English historians have argued that one needs
French kings during the final decades of the six- look no further than the new merchant class for
teenth century. the roots of the civil wars of the 1640s.
Henry’s second daughter, Elizabeth I (1558– By the early seventeenth century in England, the
1603), initiated a period of peace and religious descendants of the old feudal aristocracy differed
stability. The Elizabethan period brought a height- markedly from their Continental counterparts.
ened sense of national identity. The English Refor- Isolation from the great wars of the Reformation
mation enhanced that sense, as did the increasing had produced an aristocracy less militaristic and
fear of foreign invasion by Spain. The fear was real more ceremonial and commercial in orientation.
enough and lessened only with the defeat of the Furthermore, the lesser ranks of the landowning
Spanish Armada in 1588. For the English, the vic- aristocracy, gentlemen without titles (the gentry),
tory seemed like that of David over Goliath, and had prospered significantly in Tudor times. In
its value was both symbolic and real. Just as the commercial matters, they were often no shrewder
Spanish agonized about what they had done to of- than the great landed magnates, but they had in
fend God, the English smugly concluded that they Parliament, as well as in their counties, an effec-
had pleased him. In the seventeenth century, the tive and institutionalized means of expressing
English would look back on Elizabeth’s reign as their political interests. The great nobles, in con-
a golden age. It was the calm before the storm. In trast, had largely abandoned the sword as the
the seventeenth century, a prosperous commercial primary expression of their political authority
The Growth of Limited Monarchy and Constitutionalism in England ❖ 387
without putting anything comparable in its place. fused with Puritanism—the English variety of
Gradually, political initiative was slipping away Calvinism—to produce a political-religious vision
from the great lords and into the hands of a gen- with ominous potential. Some historians have ar-
try that was commercially and agriculturally in- gued that, not a new merchant class, but religious
novative as well as fiercely protective of its local tensions account for the civil wars. They add to
base of political power. that argument the errors in judgment made by
At Elizabeth’s accession, male contemporaries Charles I.
worried in print whether she would be up to
the task of ruling and urged her court and Privy
Council to keep her in line. They were in for a
shock as Elizabeth proved to be one of the most The English Revolutions, 1640–1660
able monarchs; she did not hesitate to set policy and 1688–1689
as she saw fit, much to the annoyance of her ad-
visers. Even the earl of Leicester, widely regarded The religious and political forces threatening the
as one of her suitors, said in 1578 that “our con- monarchy were dealt with ineffectively by the
ference with her Majesty about affairs is both sel- first two Stuart kings: James I (1603–1625) and
dom and slender.” Charles I (1625–1649). Like their Continental
Elizabeth faced the possibility of rebellion led counterparts, both believed in royal absolutism.
by her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, and Essentially, these Stuart kings tried to do in Eng-
in the end, Elizabeth saw to her execution. Eliza- land what Louis XIV later did in France: estab-
beth’s greatest test came in 1588 when the Spanish lish crown and court administrators as the sole
king, Philip II, sent his Armada to invade England governing bodies within the state. The Stuarts,
for the purpose of restoring it to Catholicism. however, lacked an adequate financial and in-
Consulting her astrologers but armed for battle, stitutional base for absolutism, not least of all a
Elizabeth rallied the country, and the English fleet standing army. Nor did they possess the vast inde-
got very lucky. A gale-force wind blew the Span- pendent wealth of the French kings.
ish ships out of striking distance of the mouth of Through the established church, the Stuarts
the Thames River, and the Armada was virtually preached the doctrine of the divine right of kings.
destroyed. The wind that blew that day became James I, an effective and shrewd administrator,
known as “the Protestant wind,” and Elizabeth conducted foreign policy without consulting Par-
went down in history as “good Queen Bess.” liament. In a speech before Parliament, he stated
Even more so than her father, Elizabeth se- that “it is sedition in subjects to dispute what a
cured England, though not Ireland, for the Protes- king may do in the height of his power. . . . I will
tant cause. She also gave her name to the age, and not be content that my power be disputed upon.”1
Elizabethan England flourished culturally. During James I made the standard moves toward cre-
her reign, William Shakespeare wrote many of his ating an absolute monarchy: he centralized and
greatest plays and the London theatre blossomed. consolidated the power of the government and
Religion played a vital role in this realignment tried to win over the aristocracy by giving them
of political interests and forces. Many of the old new offices and titles. To merchants, he gave royal
aristocracy clung to the Anglicanism of the Hen- monopolies for everything from soap to coal.
rican Reformation, with bishops and liturgy in- James I did not have a sufficient economic base
tact, and some even clung to Catholicism. The to pay for his largesse. His son and successor,
newly risen members of the gentry found in the Charles I, had the same problem. But Charles sus-
Protestant Reformation a form of religious wor- pended Parliament in 1629 and attempted to rule
ship more suited to their independent spirit. They through his advisers. He had two major goals:
felt that it was their right to appoint their own to rid the nation of Puritans and to root out the
preachers and that the church should reflect local “country” opposition. Charles also tried to collect
tastes and beliefs rather than doctrines and cer- taxes without Parliament’s consent. These policies
emonies inherited from a discredited Catholicism. ended in disaster; by 1640, the Puritans and the
In late Tudor times, gentry and merchant interests gentry opposition had grown closer together.
Profile
Elizabeth I, Queen of Elizabeth watched and waited, knowing that
England (1558–1603) unless assassinated she would someday be
queen. She saw that intervention into the pri-
Born in 1533, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry vate religious beliefs of her subjects would
VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, was lead to turmoil and persecution. She vowed
raised as a Protestant by her father. Fidelity to never to repeat the mistakes especially of
the Anglican Church may have been basic to her half-sister, Mary, who persecuted and ex-
Henry’s interests, but fidelity to his marriage ecuted Protestant leaders.
vows was not. He put Anne Boleyn to death With Elizabeth’s accession to the throne,
on charges of treason. His marriage to her had England and Wales returned to the fold of the
led to England’s break with the Roman Catholic Henrican Reformation, repudiating the efforts
Church, which would not grant him a divorce of Queen Mary to force them to revert to Roman
from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, with Catholicism. Because Mary executed Protestant
whom he had failed to produce a male heir. leaders, she went down in history as “Bloody
When Henry’s second marriage also did not pro- Mary.” Elizabeth recognized that as a woman,
duce the male heir he so deeply desired, he tired she would have to make alliances and never
of Elizabeth’s mother. Hence her tragic end. allow herself to be perceived as weak. Yet the
The church of Rome regarded Elizabeth obvious form of alliance, that of marriage to a
as a bastard and never accepted Henry’s foreign prince, made her hesitate, probably out
self-decreed divorce from his first wife. Not of fear that she too would somehow meet the
surprisingly, in her youth, Elizabeth came sad fate of her mother. Her steady hand gave
to fear marriage and to regard her claim to England an era of relative peace complete with
the English throne as precarious. She be- a flourishing of the arts and letters. By the end
came queen in 1558—after the deaths of her of her reign, many courtiers were discontent,
half sister, Mary, and half brother, Edward, but not the mass of population who had come
each of whom had short, tumultuous reigns. to revere her.
The first English Revolution began in 1640 be- with Parliament in matters of taxation, trial by
cause Charles I needed money to defend the realm jury, habeas corpus, and a truly Protestant church
against a recent Scottish invasion. Being staunch responsive to the beliefs and interests of its laity.
Calvinists, the Scots had rebelled against Charles’s Charles refused these demands, viewing them as
religious policies and thought that his Anglican- an assault on royal authority. He even tried to ar-
ism was a barely concealed Catholicism. More- rest the leaders of Parliament. In 1642, civil war
over, their clan leaders saw rebellion as a way to began. Directed by Parliament and financed by
get back at the Stuart kings, who long had been a taxes and the merchants, the war was fought by
thorn in their side, first when they ruled in Edin- the New Model Army, led by Oliver Cromwell
burgh and now from their base in London. Charles (1599–1658), a Puritan squire with a gift for mili-
had no alternative but to call Parliament, and it tary leadership.
could now dictate the terms: if Parliament received The two English revolutions became part of
no concessions from Charles, then it would raise a constitutional crisis that lasted two genera-
no money to fight the Scots, who were also de- tions. The crisis began in 1640, degenerated into
manding payment for every day they occupied the civil war in 1642, and culminated in regicide in
northern territory. Parliament countered the king’s 1649. After the restoration of monarchy in 1660,
requests with demands for rights: consultations the crisis flared up again in 1679 through 1681
388
The Growth of Limited Monarchy and Constitutionalism in England ❖ 389
and was finally resolved by the revolution of rights for the majority of the male population;
1688–1689—sometimes called the Glorious Rev- and abolition of religious and intellectual elites,
olution. The crisis affected England, Scotland, Ire- whose power and ideology supported the inter-
land, and Wales differently, but in all cases, it led ests of the ruling classes. The radicals rejected
to the consolidation of English power over these Anglicanism and moderate Puritanism; they
territories. Perhaps the native Irish fared worst of opted instead for radical politics and free life-
all as Cromwell drove thousands to the barren styles. They spurned marriage, and the Quakers
western part of the island. even allowed women to preach. They, in ef-
The civil wars of the 1640s generated a new fect, created a revolution within the revolution.
type of military organization. The New Model The radicals terrified devoted Puritans such as
Army was financed by Parliament’s rich support- Cromwell. By 1660, two years after Cromwell’s
ers and led by gentlemen farmers. Its ranks were death, the country was adrift, without effective
filled by religious zealots, along with the usual leadership.
cross section of poor artisans and day laborers. Parliament, having secured the economic in-
This citizen army defeated the king, his aristocratic terests of its constituency (gentry, merchants,
followers, and the Anglican Church’s hierarchy. and some small landowners), chose to restore
After his defeat, Charles refused to compromise court and crown and invited the exiled son of
with his Parliamentary captors. the executed king to return to the kingship. Hav-
In January 1649, Charles I was publicly ex- ing learned the lesson his father had spurned,
ecuted by order of Parliament. During the inter- Charles II (1660–1685) never instituted royal ab-
regnum (time between kings) of the next eleven solutism, although he did try to minimize Parlia-
years, Parliament joined with the army to govern ment’s role in the government. His court was a far
the country as a republic. As power was distrib- more open institution than his father’s had been,
uted between the army and Parliament, Cromwell for Charles II feared a similar death.
proved to be the key player. He had the support of Charles’s brother James II (1685–1688), how-
the army’s officers and some of its rank and file, ever, was a foolishly fearless Catholic and an ad-
and he had been a member of Parliament for many mirer of French absolutism. Having gathered at
years. However, he gained control over the army his court a coterie of Catholic advisers (among
only after it was purged of radical groups. Some of them Jesuits) and supporters of royal prerogative,
these radicals, known as Levellers, wanted to level James attempted to bend Parliament and local
society, that is, to redistribute property by ending government to the royal will. James’s Catholicism,
monopolies and to give the vote to all male citi- modeled on French Gallicanism, was the cru-
zens. In the context of the 1650s, Cromwell was a cial element in his failure. The Anglican Church
moderate republican who also believed in limited would not back him, and political forces simi-
religious toleration for Protestants, yet history lar to those that had gathered against his father,
has painted him, somewhat unjustly, as a military Charles I, in 1640 descended on him. But back in
dictator. the 1650s, the ruling elites had learned their les-
Both English revolutions were led by a loose son: civil war would produce social discontent
coalition of urban merchants and landed gentry among the masses. The upper classes wanted to
imbued with the strict Protestantism of the Con- avoid open warfare and to preserve the monar-
tinental Reformation. In the 1650s, their success chy as a constitutional authority but not as an
was jeopardized by growing discontent from the absolute one. Puritanism, with its sectarian fervor
poor, who made up the rank and file of the army and its dangerous association with republicanism,
and demanded that their grievances be rectified. was allowed to play no part in the second English
The radicals of the first English Revolution—men Revolution of 1688–1689.
such as Gerrard Winstanley, the first theoretician In early 1688, Anglicans, some aristocrats,
of social democracy in modern times, and John and opponents of royal prerogative (members of
Lilburne, the Leveller—demanded redistribution the Whig party, along with a few Tories) formed
of property, even c ommunal property; voting a conspiracy against James II. Their purpose
390 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
their rights as granted by their ancient consti- and naval stores. Flanders, with Antwerp as its
tution and feudal law, of the need to make the capital, was the manufacturing and banking cen-
English church truly Protestant, and, among ter of the Spanish empire.
the radicals, of the right of lesser men to estab- To the north, cities such as Rotterdam and
lish their property. These opponents possessed Amsterdam built and outfitted the Spanish fleet.
an institution—Parliament—through which In The Hague, printers published the Bible in
they could express their grievances. Eventually, Spanish and in Dutch or Flemish (actually the
they also acquired an army, which waged war same language). But in the north, too, Protestant-
to protect property and commercial rights. In ism made significant inroads.
1689, the propertied classes invented limited During the reign of Charles V’s successor,
monarchy and a constitutional system based Philip II, a tightly organized Calvinist minority,
on laws made by Parliament and sanctioned by with its popular base in the cities and its military
the king. Very gradually, the monarchical ele- strategy founded on sea raids, at first harassed
ment in that system would yield to the power and then aggressively challenged Spanish power.
and authority of parliamentary ministers and In the 1560s, the Spanish responded by trying
state officials. 1688–1689 has been called the to export the Inquisition into the Netherlands
“bloodless revolution,” but that vastly under- and sending an enormous standing army there
estimates the level of violence that gripped the under the duke of Alva. It was a classic exam-
country. ple of overkill; thousands of once-loyal Flemish
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Dutch subjects turned against the Spanish
parliamentary institutions would be gradu- crown. The people either converted secretly to
ally and peacefully reformed to express a more Calvinism or aided the revolutionaries. Led by
democratic social reality. The events of 1688 William the Silent (1533–1584), head of the
and 1689 have rightly been described as “the Orange dynasty, the seven northern provinces
year one,” for they fashioned a system of gov- (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Over-
ernment that operated effectively in Britain and ijssel, Friesland, and Groningen) joined in the
could also be adopted elsewhere with modifi- Union of Utrecht (1579) to protect themselves
cation. The British system became a model for against Spanish aggression. Their determined
other forms of representative government that resistance, coupled with the serious economic
were adopted in France and in the former Brit- weaknesses of the over extended Spanish em-
ish colonies, beginning with the United States. It pire, eventually produced unexpected success
was the model that offered a viable alternative for the northern colonies. They also formed the
to absolutism. first state to articulate the notion that the gov-
ernment should leave people to their religious
preferences.
THE NETHERLANDS: By 1609, the seven northern provinces were
effectively free of Spanish control and loosely tied
A BOURGEOIS REPUBLIC together under a republican form of government.
Seventeenth-century Netherlands (that is, the
One other area in Europe developed a system of Dutch Republic) became a prosperous bourgeois
representative government that also survived un- state. Rich from the fruits of manufacture and
til late in the eighteenth century. The Netherlands trade in everything from tulip bulbs to ships—
(the Low Countries, that is, the seven Dutch and, not least, slaves—Dutch merchants ruled
provinces and Belgium) had been part of Haps- their cities and provinces with a fierce pride. By
burg territory since the fifteenth century. When the early seventeenth century, this new, highly
Charles V ascended the Spanish throne in 1516, urbanized nation of only 1.2 million people was
the Netherlands emerged as the economic linch- practicing the most innovative commercial and
pin of the Spanish empire. Spain exported wool financial techniques in Europe.
and bullion to the Low Countries in return for In this fascinating instance, capitalism and
manufactured textiles, hardware, grain, ships, Protestantism fused to do the work of princes;
392 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
the Dutch state emerged without absolute mon- THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE:
archy, and indeed in opposition to it. From that
experience, the ruling Dutch oligarchy retained a THE FAILURE TO UNIFY GERMANY
deep distrust of hereditary monarchy and of cen-
tral government. The exact position of the House In contrast to the English, French, Spanish, and
of Orange remained a vexing constitutional Dutch experiences in the early modern period,
question until well into the eighteenth century. the Germans failed to achieve national unity.
The oligarchs and their party, the Patriots, fa- This failure to unify is tied to the history of the
vored a republic without a single head, ruled by Holy Roman Empire. That union of various cen-
them locally and in the Estates General. The Cal- tral European territories was created in the tenth
vinist clergy, old aristocrats, and a vast section century, when Otto I, in a deliberate attempt to
of the populace—all for very different reasons— revive Charlemagne’s empire, was crowned “em-
wanted the head of the House of Orange to gov- peror of the Romans” by the pope. Later, the title
ern as stadholder of the provinces—in effect, as was changed to “Holy Roman Emperor.” The
a limited monarch in a republican state. These empire consisted of mostly German-speaking
unresolved political tensions between the cen- principalities.
ter and the localities prevented the Netherlands Otto and his medieval successors busied them-
from developing a form of republican govern- selves not with administering their territories but
ment to rival the stability of the British system of with attempting to gain control over the rich Ital-
limited monarchy. The Dutch achievement came ian peninsula and dealing with the challenges
in other areas, particularly in art and technologi- presented by powerful popes. Meanwhile, mem-
cal innovation. bers of the German nobility extended and con-
Calvinism had provided the ideology of revo- solidated their rule over their peasants and over
lution and national identity. Capital, in turn, various towns and cities within the empire. Their
created a unique cultural milieu in the Dutch ur- aristocratic power remained a constant obstacle
ban centers of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, to German unity. Only by incorporating the no-
and The Hague. Wide toleration without a cen- bility into the fabric of the state’s power, court,
tralized system of censorship made the Dutch and army and by sanctioning their oppressive
book trade, which often disseminated works control of the peasants would Holy Roman Em-
by refugees from the Spanish Inquisition and perors very gradually manage to create a unified
later by French Protestants, the most vital in German state.
Europe right up to the French Revolution. By In the medieval and early modern periods, the
1700, half the books published in Europe were Holy Roman Emperors depended on powerful
printed in the Dutch Republic. And the sights noble lords—including archbishops and bishops—
and sounds of a prosperous population, coupled for support because the office of emperor was
with a politically engaged and rich bourgeoi- elective, not hereditary. German noble princes—
sie, fed the imagination, as well as the purses, including the archbishops of Cologne and Mainz,
of various artistic schools. Rembrandt van Rijn, the Hohenzollern ruler of Brandenburg, and the
Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Jan Vermeer, and Jan van duke of Saxony, electors responsible for choosing
de Velde are at the top of a long list of great the Holy Roman Emperor—were fiercely inde-
Dutch artists—many of them also refugees. pendent. All regarded themselves as autonomous
They left timeless images portraying the people powers. These decentralizing tendencies were
of the only republican state to endure in the highly developed by the thirteenth century, and
course of the seventeenth century. By 1650, the the emperors gradually realized that they were
Dutch Republic had become the richest state in losing control of the outer frontiers of the empire.
Europe, possibly in the world. Only after the The French had conducted a successful military
invasion by the French revolutionaries in 1795 incursion into northern Italy and on the western
did the Dutch Republic confront the weaknesses frontier of the empire. Hungary had fallen to the
of highly localized government and the absence Turks, and the Swiss, given their terrain, were
of a constitution. impossible to beat into submission. At the same
The Holy Roman Empire: The Failure to Unify Germany ❖ 393
time, the Hapsburgs maneuvered themselves into within the Holy Roman Empire. Throughout the
a position from which they could monopolize the sixteenth century, the Austrian Hapsburgs barely
imperial elections. managed to control these sprawling and deeply
The Holy Roman Empire in the reigns of the divided German territories. Protestantism, as pro-
Hapsburg emperors Maximilian I (1493–1519) tected by the Treaty of Augsburg, and the pow-
and Charles V (1519–1556) might have achieved erful German nobility continued to prevent the
a degree of cohesion comparable with that in creation of a German state.
France and Spain. Certainly, the impetus of war— The Austrian Hapsburg emperors always
against France and against the Turks—required sought to enhance the power of the Catholic
the creation of a large standing army and the tax- Church and to court the favor of local interests
ation to maintain it. Both could have worked to opposed to the nobility. No Hapsburg was ever
the benefit of a centralized, imperial power. But more fervid in that regard than the Jesuit-trained
the Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517, Archduke Ferdinand II, who ascended the throne
meshed with already well-developed tendencies of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna in 1619. He
toward local independence and destroyed the last immediately embarked on a policy of Catholic
hope of Hapsburg domination and German unity. revival and used Spanish officials as his adminis-
Members of the German nobility used the Refor- trators. His policies provoked within the empire
mation as a vindication of their local power, and a thirty-year-long war that engulfed the whole of
indeed, Martin Luther made just such an appeal Europe.
to their interests. The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) began
At precisely the moment in the 1520s when when the Bohemians attempted to put a Protestant
Charles V had to act with great determination to king on their throne. The Austrian and Spanish
stop the spread of Lutheranism, he was at war Hapsburgs reacted by sending an army into Bohe-
with France over its claims to Italian territory. mia, and suddenly the whole empire was forced to
Charles had no sooner won his Italian territories, take sides along religious lines. The Bohemian no-
in particular the rich city-state of Milan, than he bility, after centuries of enforcing serfdom, failed
had to make war against the Turks, who in 1529 to rally the rural masses behind them, and victory
besieged Vienna. Not until the 1540s was Charles went to the emperor. Bohemia and the German
V in a position to attack the Lutheran princes. By states suffered almost unimaginable devastation;
then, they had solidified their position and united ravaging Hapsburg armies sacked and burned
for mutual protection. three-fourths of each kingdom’s towns and practi-
War raged in Germany between the Protestant cally exterminated its aristocracy.
princes and the imperial army led by Charles V. Until the 1630s, it looked as though the Haps-
In 1551, Catholic France entered the war on the burgs would succeed in enhancing their power and
Protestant side, and Charles had to flee for his life. promoting centralization. But the intervention of
Defeated, Charles later abdicated and retired to a Lutheran Sweden, led by Gustavus Adolphus and
Spanish monastery. The Treaty of Augsburg (1555) encouraged by France, wrecked Hapsburg ambi-
gave every German prince the right to determine tions. The ensuing military conflict devastated
the religion of his subjects. The princes had won vast areas of northern and central Europe. The
their local territories, and a unified German state civilian population suffered untold hardships:
was never constructed by the Hapsburgs. soldiers raped women and pillaged the land,
When Charles V abdicated in 1556, he divided and thousands of refugees fled. Partly because
his kingdom between his son Philip and his brother the French finally intervened directly, the Span-
Ferdinand. Philip inherited Spain and its colonies, ish Hapsburgs emerged from the Thirty Years’
as well as the Netherlands. Ferdinand acquired War with no benefits. At the Treaty of Westpha-
the Austrian territories. The Spanish and Austrian lia (1648), their Austrian cousins reaffirmed their
branches of the Hapsburg family defined their right to govern the eastern states of the kingdom,
interests in common and often waged war ac- with Vienna as their capital. Austria took shape as
cordingly. The enormous international power of a dynastic state, and the German territories in the
the Hapsburgs faltered only in the German states empire remained fragmented by the independent
394 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
Austria
As a result of the settlement at Westphalia, the
Austrian Hapsburgs gained firm control over
most of Hungary and Bohemia, where they in-
stalled a virtually new and foreign nobility. At the
same time, they strengthened their grip on Vienna.
In one of the few spectacular successes achieved
by the Counter-Reformation, the ruling elites in
all three territories were forcibly, or in many cases
willingly, converted back to Catholicism. At long
last, religious predominance could be used as a M ARIA T HERESA AND J OSEPH . By the
force—long delayed by the pull of the Protestant middle of the eighteenth century, the nuclear
Reformation—for the creation of the Austrian dy- family was being valorized even among the
nastic state. monarchs of Europe. Here Maria Theresa and
One severe obstacle remained: the military Joseph pose with their family. (Reunion des Musees
threat posed by the Turks, who sought to con- Nationaux/Art Resource, N.Y.)
trol much of Hungary. In 1683, the Turks again
besieged Vienna, but a Catholic and unified Aus-
trian army, composed of a variety of peoples and throne, but they did become a major force in
assisted by the Poles, managed to defeat the Turks European power politics, later to be challenged by
and recapture the whole of Hungary and Transyl- Prussia. The English and Dutch subdued French
vania and part of Croatia. Austria’s right to gov- ambitions and formed an alliance that lasted for
ern these lands was firmly accepted by the Turks fifty years. In retrospect, we can see the war as the
at the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). Islam had been beginning of England’s rise to the status of a world
beaten back to the frontiers of Eastern Europe. power; ironically, by the 1730s, the Dutch Repub-
The Austrian Hapsburgs and their victori- lic had entered a period of economic decline.
ous army emerged into the larger arena of Euro-
pean power politics. In 1700, at the death of the Prussia
last Spanish Hapsburg, Leopold I sought to place
his second son, Archduke Charles, on the Spanish Prussia was a state within the Holy Roman Em-
throne. But this attempt brought Leopold into a pire, and its territorial ambitions could be checked
violent clash with Louis XIV. Once again, Bourbon by the other princely states or the empire. Although
and Hapsburg rivalry, a dominant theme in early Prussia developed an absolute monarchy like
modern history, provoked a major European war. France’s, its powerful aristocracy acquiesced to mo-
In the War of the Spanish Succession (1702– narchical power only in exchange for guarantees of
1714), the Austrians joined forces with the Eng- their feudal power over the peasantry. In 1653, the
lish and the Dutch against the French. The allies Prussian nobility granted the Hohenzollern ruler of
gained much: Austria acquired what is now Bel- Prussia power to collect taxes for the maintenance
gium as a colony and pieces of Italy, including of a strong army, but only after he issued decrees
Milan. The Austrians did not capture the Spanish rendering serfdom permanent.
The Emergence of Austria and Prussia ❖ 395
Baltic Sea
Od
SAXONY rR Acquired by Prussia by 1688
e
Cologne Leipzig .
SILESIA Acquired by Prussia by 1748
Holy Roman Empire
Prague boundary
BOHEMIA
R.
CA
MORAVIA RP
in e
AT
Rh
HI
AN
BAVARIA A
RI
M
T
BREISGAU ST
S.
AU
Augsburg
Buda Pest
STYRIA
HUNGARY
TYROL AR
C
A
OL
TI
Venice SLAVONIA
A
O
CR
D anube R .
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Ad
ria
cS
ti
The Hohenzollerns, the ruling dynasty of Prus- The most aggressive of these Hohenzollerns
sia, had had a most inauspicious beginning in the was the elector Frederick William (1640–1688),
later Middle Ages. These rulers were little more who played a key role in forging the new Prussian
than dukes in the Holy Roman Empire until 1415, state. Frederick William inherited the territories
when Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund made of the beleaguered Hohenzollern dynasty, whose
one of them an imperial elector with the right main holding, Brandenburg in Prussia, was very
to choose imperial successors. For centuries, the poor in natural resources. Indeed, Prussia barely
Hohenzollerns had made weak claims to territory survived the devastation wreaked by the Thirty
in northern Germany. They finally achieved con- Years’ War, especially the Swedish army’s occupa-
trol over Prussia and certain other smaller prin- tion of the electorate.
cipalities by claiming the inheritance of one wife Distaste for foreign intervention in Prussia, and
(1608) and by single-minded, ruthless aggression. for the accompanying humiliation and excessive
396 ❖ 16 The Rise of Sovereignty: Transition to the Modern State
taxes, prompted the Junker class (the landed Prus- with the administration of central Russia. His fail-
sian nobility) to support national unity and strong ure in war and an irrational policy of repression
central government. However, they would brook (fueled in part by his mental instability) doomed
no threat to their economic control of their lands his attempt to impose absolutism. Much of Ivan’s
and peasants. Frederick William’s policy of foreign state building was undone with his death, which
war, taxes, and military conscription led to an in- launched the Time of Troubles, a period of foreign
crease in the power of the central government. invasion and civil warfare that endured for years.
But in Prussia, in contrast to lands to the west, Order was restored in 1613, when the Roma-
the bureaucracy was entirely military. No clerics novs gained the support of the aristocracy. The
or rich bourgeois shared power with the Junkers. accession of Michael Romanov as tsar marks
The pattern initiated by the Great Elector (Fred- the beginning of the Romanov dynasty and the
erick William) would be continued in the reigns emergence of a unified Russian state. Of that dy-
of his successors: Frederick I (d. 1713), Frederick nasty, by far the most important ruler was Peter
William I, and Frederick the Great. the Great (1682–1725). He journeyed throughout
In the older dynastic states, absolute monarchs Western Europe and sought to imitate its political
tried to dispense with representative institutions and cultural institutions. He ruthlessly suppressed
once the monarchy had grown strong enough. So the independent aristocrats while inventing new
too did Frederick William (1713–1740) finally titles and ranks for his supporters. He reformed
undercut the Prussian provincial assemblies, the the army in accordance with military standards
Landtage, which still had some power over taxa- in Western Europe and he made the peasants into
tion and army recruitment. He was able to do so the personal property of their lords. From 1700
only by integrating the landowning Junker class to 1707, taxes on the peasants multiplied fivefold.
into the government and the army by keeping Predictably, the money went toward the creation
the taxpaying peasants in the status of serfs. A of a professional army along European lines and
military elite with little interest in reform and a toward making war. The preparation led this time
landed nobility supported by the labor of its serfs to victory over the Swedes. Finally, Peter brought
lay at the heart of the Prussian state. the Russian Orthodox Church under the control
of the state by establishing a new office, called the
Holy Synod; its head was a government official.
RUSSIA: GREAT NOBLES He built St. Petersburg in imitation of Western
cities and endowed its cultural institutions.
AND STARVING PEASANTS Peter managed to wed the aristocracy to the ab-
solutist state, and the union was so successful that
Though remote from developments in Western strong Russian monarchs in the eighteenth century,
Europe, Russia in the early modern period pos- such as Catherine the Great, could embrace enlight-
sessed characteristics remarkably similar to those ened reforms without jeopardizing the stability of
of Western European states. It relied on absolute their regimes. Once again, repression and violence
monarchy reinforced by a feudal aristocracy. As in the form of taxation, serfdom, and war led to
in Europe, the power of the aristocracy to wreak the creation of a dynastic state—one that proved
havoc had to be checked and its energies channeled least susceptible to reform and was eventually dis-
into the state’s service. But the Russian pattern of mantled in 1917 by the Russian Revolution.
absolutism broke with the Western model and re-
sembled that adopted in Prussia, where serfdom
increased as the power of centralized monarchy THE STATE AND MODERN
grew. The monarchy secured aristocratic coopera-
tion in the state’s growth by enforcing serfdom. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Late in the sixteenth century, Ivan the Terrible
(1547–1584) sought to impose a tsarist autocracy. By the early seventeenth century, Europeans had
He waged a futile war against Sweden and cre- developed a sophisticated concept of the state: an
ated an internal police force, which he entrusted active political entity to which its subjects owed
The State and Modern Political Development ❖ 397
faltered because of the internal financial pres- and, among others, their Japanese imitators had
sures that warmaking created. Nonetheless, the overtaken vast areas of the world, and the abil-
belief persisted, until 1945, that one state could ity to impose a balance of power became a mat-
dominate Western affairs. In the twentieth cen- ter of world survival. The militarism at the basis
tury, that belief produced not simply war but of globally ambitious state power led into the
world war. By then, the power of Western states nuclear age.
❖ ❖ ❖
The late 18th century poet and engraver, William Blake imaged Newton as the “first man” who
followed the laws of geometry to fashion the world. Here Newton uses the simple compass of
the mason to put his design onto the world. (Tate, London/Art Resource, N.Y.)
■
■
■
Medieval Cosmology
A New View of Nature
The Newtonian Synthesis:
I n the fifteenth century, the medieval view of
the world began to disintegrate. By the late
seventeenth century, educated Europeans no
longer believed in it. Thus, the collapse of medi-
eval institutions such as feudalism and serfdom
Experiment, Mathematics, had an intellectual parallel. No set of ideas were
and Theory as important in shaping the modern worldview
as those associated with Scientific Revolution of
■ Biology, Medicine, and the seventeenth century. They made physical na-
Chemistry ture a valid object for experimental and empiri-
cal inquiry and mathematical calculation. For the
■ Bacon and Descartes: Prophets new science to arise, a philosophical break with
of the New Science the medieval conception of nature had to occur.
■ The Social Implications of the The medieval approach to nature sought to ex-
plain nature’s appearances. To the naked eye, the
Scientific Revolution earth seems to be in the center of our universe.
■ The Meaning of the Scientific Medieval philosophy explained how and why the
earth was in the center, and how and why heavy
Revolution bodies fell toward it and light ones rose away
from it. The philosophical revolution of the sev-
enteenth century demolished such explanations.
At the heart of the Scientific Revolution lay the
Focus Questions assumption that appearances could lie, that truth
depended upon seeing the universe as an abstract
1. What were the basic features of the entity: as matter in motion, as geometrical shapes,
medieval view of the universe? and as weight and number. The universe became a
mechanism.
2. Who were the leading figures of the The Scientific Revolution brought a new,
Scientific Revolution, and what were mechanical conception of nature that enabled
their accomplishments? Westerners to discover and explain the laws of
3. What was the relationship between nature mathematically. Nature came to be com-
science and alchemy during this period? posed solely of matter, whose motion, occurring
in space and measurable by time, is governed by
4. Why was the Scientific Revolution a the push and pull of bodies and by laws of force.
decisive force in the shaping of the This philosophically elegant construction unified
modern approach to industry? nature as composed of atoms, knowable and even
possibly manageable. It led to the formulation of
a unified science of mechanics that could be em-
ployed in an industrial setting.
The new science rested on a distinctive and
replicable methodology. First, it was empirical,
and gradually it became experimental. Because
of successful observations and experiments per-
formed by scientists and natural philosophers
such as Galileo Galilei, William Harvey, Robert
Boyle, and Isaac Newton, science acquired its still-
characteristic methods of observation, experimen-
tation, and replication. By the late seventeenth
century, a serious interest in the physical order re-
quired actually doing—and recording—rigorous
400
Medieval Cosmology ❖ 401
and systematic experiments or, at the least, observ- revolved in circles around the earth. Aristotle
ing the behavior of physical phenomena. Regular- presumed that because the planets were perfectly
ity and order appeared to be embedded in nature, round, always in motion, and seemingly never al-
measurable and quantifiable. tered, the most natural movement for them should
Mathematics increasingly became the language be perfect, that is, circular.
of the new science. For centuries, Europeans had Aristotle could put the earth at the center
used first geometry and then algebra to explain of the universe and make it stationary because
certain physical phenomena. With the Scientific he presumed its absolute heaviness; all other
Revolution came a new mathematics, the in- heavy bodies that he had observed fell toward it.
finitesimal calculus. Even more important, phi- Aristotle believed that everything in motion had
losophers became increasingly convinced that all been moved by another object that was itself in
nature—moving physical objects, as well as invis- motion—a continuing chain of movers and moved.
ible forces—could be described mathematically. By inference, this belief led back to some object or
By the late seventeenth century, even geometry being that began the motion. Christian philoso-
had become so complex that the gifted philoso- phers of the Middle Ages argued that Aristotle’s
pher John Locke (1632–1704), a friend of Isaac Unmoved Mover must be the God of Christianity.
Newton, could not understand the sophisticated Aristotle, a pagan Greek, knew nothing of a per-
mathematics used in the Principia. A new scien- sonal God nor an afterlife of rewards or punish-
tific culture had been born. During the eighteenth- ments. He believed that the universe was eternal
century Enlightenment (Chapter 18), the model rather than created at a specific point in time, and
of nature offered by science implied progress. If he would have found the Christian identification
physical nature could be known, why not human of God as the Mover meaningless.
nature and human institutions? Although Aristotle’s cosmology never gained
the status of orthodoxy among the ancient
Greeks, by the second century a.d. in Alexandria,
MEDIEVAL COSMOLOGY Greek astronomy became codified and then rigid.
Ptolemy of Alexandria produced the Almagest
The unique character of the modern scientific (a.d. 150), a handbook of Greek astronomy based
outlook contrasts sharply with the medieval un- on the theories of Aristotle. The crucial assump-
derstanding of the natural world and its physical tion in the Almagest was that a motionless earth
properties. It rested on Christian thought com- lay at the center of the universe and that the plan-
bined with theories derived from ancient Greek ets moved about it in a series of circular orbits,
writers, such as Aristotle and Ptolemy. interrupted by smaller circular orbits, called epicy-
Aristotle (384– 322 b.c.) had argued that cles. The epicycles explained why at certain times
nature possessed inherent, purposeful tendencies. a planet was visibly closer to the earth. As Ptolemy
A stone falls because it is absolutely heavy; fire put it, if the earth moved, “living things and in-
rises because it is absolutely light. Weight is an dividual heavy objects would be left behind . . .
inherent property of a physical thing; therefore, [and] the earth itself would very soon have fallen
motion results from the properties of bodies, and completely out of the heavens.”1 By the Late Mid-
not from the forces that impinge on them. It fol- dle Ages, Ptolemy’s handbook contained standard
lows (logically but incorrectly) that if the medium astronomical wisdom. As late as the 1650s, more
through which a body falls is taken as a constant, than a hundred years after the Polish astronomer
then the speed of its fall could be doubled if its Nicolaus Copernicus had argued mathematically
weight were doubled. Only rigorous experimenta- that the sun was the center of the universe, edu-
tion refuted this erroneous, but commonsensical, cated Europeans in most universities still believed
concept of motion. that the earth held the central position. By 1750,
Aristotle’s physics complemented his cosmol- the earth-centered universe had fallen to the sta-
ogy, or world picture. The earth, being the heavi- tus of a superstition.
est object, lay stationary and suspended at the In the thirteenth century, mainly through
center of the universe. The sun, planets, and moon the philosophical efforts of Thomas Aquinas
402 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
(1225–1274), Aristotle’s thought was adapted to be explained without recourse to blind faith, or
Christian beliefs, often in ingenious ways. Aqui- worse, magic. Similarly, medieval people believed
nas emphasized that order pervaded nature and that the king’s power resided within him; king-
that every physical effect had a physical cause. ness was part of his essence. Likewise, nobility
Aquinas and his followers, who were called scho- was a quality said to be inherent in the person of
lastics, searched for causes—again, to ask why the nobleman or noblewoman. The mechanical
things move, rather than how they move. Aquinas philosophy of Galileo, Boyle, and Newton, which
insisted that nature proves God’s existence; God was central to the Scientific Revolution, denied
is the First Cause of all physical phenomena. The the very existence of forms. Matter was simply
world picture taught by the scholastics in their composed of tiny corpuscles, or atoms, hard and
schools affirmed the earth and humankind as the impenetrable, governed by the laws of impact
center of the Christian drama of birth, death, and or force. Such a conception of nature threatened
salvation. whole aspects of medieval and even Christian
Medieval thinkers integrated the cosmology of doctrine; ultimately, in social terms, the implica-
Aristotle and Ptolemy into a Christian framework tions of the mechanical and atomic philosophy
that drew a sharp distinction between the world proved to be democratic.
beyond the moon and the earthly realm. Celes-
tial bodies were composed of the divine ether, a
substance too pure and too spiritual to be found A NEW VIEW OF NATURE
on earth; heavenly bodies, unlike earthly bodies,
were immune to all change and obeyed different Renaissance Neo-Platonism
laws of motion. The universe was divided into a
higher world of the heavens and a lower world Italian Renaissance thinkers rediscovered the im-
of earth. Earth could not compare with the heav- portance of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato
ens in spiritual dignity, but God had nevertheless (c. 429–347 b.c.). Plato taught that the philoso-
situated it in the center of the universe. Earth de- pher must look beyond the appearances of things
served this position of importance; only here did to an invisible reality, which is abstract, simple,
Christ live and die for humankind. This concept rational, and best expressed mathematically. For
of the physical universe collapsed under the im- Plato, the greatest achievements of the human
pact of the new science. mind were mathematics and music; both revealed
Also shattered by the new natural philosophy the inherent harmony and order within nature.
was the belief that all reality, natural as well as Renaissance Platonists interpreted Plato from
human, could be described as consisting of matter a Christian perspective, and they believed that
and form. Following Aristotle, the scholastics the Platonic search for truth about nature, about
argued that matter was inchoate, lifeless, and in- God’s work, was but another aspect of the search
distinguishable. Only form gave it shape and iden- for knowledge about God. The Italian universities
tity. A table, for instance, possessed a recognizable and academies became centers where the revival
shape and could be identified as a table because it of Plato flourished among teachers and transla-
possessed the form of tableness. A human being tors, who came to be known as Neo-Platonists.
existed only because the matter of the body was Central to their humanist curriculum was the
given life by the soul, by its form. This doctrine study of philosophy, mathematics, music, Greek
was central to medieval philosophy and theology. and Latin, and in some cases Arabic. Those
Important beliefs were justified by it. For example, languages made available the world of pagan,
the church taught that the priest, when perform- pre- Christian learning and its many different
ing the sacrament of the Eucharist, had the power philosophies of nature. The leading thinkers of
to transform bread and wine into the body and the Scientific Revolution were all influenced by
blood of Christ. This was possible because, theo- Renaissance Neo-Platonism. They revered Plato’s
logians argued, the matter of the bread and wine search for an abstract and mathematically elegant
looked the same, but its form was changed by the truth. They returned to the ancient thinkers for an
power of the priest. Consequently, the Mass could alternative to Aristotle. Some of the ancients had
A New View of Nature ❖ 403
been atomists; a few had even argued that the sun for pain, fevers, infertility, infections, and potions
might be at the center of the universe. They had to poison vermin (not to mention one’s enemies).
also invented geometry. Their practices were suspect to church and state,
With the impulse to mathematize nature came yet they could be found everywhere in Western
the desire to measure and experience it. The redis- and Eastern Europe and the American colonies.
covery of nature found expression in the study of In early modern Europe, the practitioners of
human anatomy, as well as in the study of objects alchemy and astrology could also be mathemati-
in motion. Renaissance art shows the fruits of cians and astronomers, and the sharp distinction
this inquiry, for artists tried to depict the human drawn today between magic and science—between
body as exactly as possible and yet to give it ideal the irrational and the rational—would not have
form. The revival of artistic creativity associated made sense to many of the leading natural philos-
with the Renaissance is linked to an interest in the ophers who lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth
natural world and to Neo-Platonism. centuries.
The Renaissance revival of ancient learning
contributed a new approach to nature, one that
Magic, Alchemy, and the was simultaneously mathematical, experimental,
Search for Nature and magical. Although the achievements of mod-
ern science depend on experimentation and math-
One other body of thought and practice had been ematics, the impulse to search for nature’s secrets
available in European civilization for centuries. presumes a degree of self-confidence best exem-
Derived from Arabic sources, alchemy taught plified and symbolized by the seeker after gold or
a basic pharmacology that depended upon the the elixir of life.
constant distillation of common substances to
produce more pure and powerful remedies. Al-
chemists were needed in the study of minerals, The Copernican Revolution
in agriculture, and of course most importantly in
medicine. Alchemy also had its critics, who were Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473.
irritated by the claim made by some alchemists As a young man, he enrolled at the University
that it was possible to turn base metals into gold. of Kraków, where he may have come under the
Only the truly pious practitioner could unlock influence of Renaissance Platonism, which was
the mysteries of gold or find an elixir of life that spreading outward from the Italian city-states.
would ensure longevity. But critics cast a cold eye Copernicus also journeyed to Italy, and in Bolo-
on such claims. gna and Padua he might have encountered ancient
Isaac Newton for much of his life saw no con- Greek texts containing arguments for the sun be-
tradiction in searching for the mathematical laws ing the center of the universe. We know very little
of nature while practicing alchemy—the search for about his early education.
a way to transform ordinary metals into gold— Copernicus’s interest in mathematics and as-
which was also the origin of modern chemistry. tronomy was stimulated by contemporary dis-
Gradually, the emphasis on the search for gold fell cussions of the need for calendar reform, which
by the wayside, in part because the small amounts required a thorough understanding of Ptolemaic
of gold that could be extracted from a large quan- astronomy. The mathematical complexity of the
tity of earth were irrelevant to the expanding early Ptolemaic system troubled Copernicus, who be-
modern economy. Alchemy, more than any other lieved with the Neo-Platonists that truth was the
natural practice, assumed that matter possessed product of elegance and simplicity. In addition,
a corpuscular structure and that by distillation it Copernicus knew that Ptolemy had predecessors
could be made purer, closer to what we would de- among the ancients who philosophized about a
scribe as a pure element. Alchemists had no need heliocentric universe or who held Aristotle’s cos-
for the scholastic notion of forms, and among all mology and physics in little regard. Thus, a Re-
the natural practitioners in early modern Europe naissance education gave Copernicus not a body
they came closest to delivering useful remedies of new scientific truth, but rather an outlook that
404 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
enabled him to break with traditional astronomi- revolved. He also retained many of Ptolemy’s
cal truth taught in the universities. epicycles—orbits within the circular orbits of the
Copernicus became convinced that the sun was sun and planets. But Copernicus proposed a he-
at the center of the universe. So he began a life- liocentric model of the universe that was math-
long task to work out mathematical explanations ematically simpler than Ptolemy’s earth-centered
of how a heliocentric universe operated. Unwill- universe. His model eliminated some of Ptolemy’s
ing to engage in controversy with the followers of epicycles and cleared up various problems that
Aristotle, Copernicus did not publish his findings had troubled geocentric astronomers.
until 1543, the year of his death, in a work titled Copernicus’s genius lay in the pursuit of an
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Leg- idea—the concept of a sun-centered universe—
end says that his book, which in effect began the and he pursued it with a lifelong dedication as
Scientific Revolution, was brought to him on his well as considerable brilliance in mathematics. By
deathbed. Copernicus died as he lived, a Catholic removing the earth from its central position and
priest, hoping only that his book would be read by giving it motion—that is, by making the earth
sympathetically. just another planet—Copernicus undermined the
The treatise retained some elements of the system of medieval cosmology and made possible
Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system; for example, Co- the birth of modern astronomy.
pernicus kept Aristotle’s basic idea of the perfect Most thinkers of the time were committed to
circular motion of the planets and the existence the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system and to biblical
of crystalline spheres within which the stars statements that they thought supported it, and
A New View of Nature ❖ 405
they rejected Copernicus’s conclusions. They also the physical order, beneath appearances are har-
raised specific objections. The earth, they said, is mony and unity, and the human mind can begin
too heavy to move. How, some of Copernicus’s to comprehend that unity only through gnosis—
colleagues asked, can an object falling from a high a direct and mystical realization of unity—and
tower land directly below the point from which it through mathematics. Kepler believed that both
was dropped if the earth is moving so rapidly? approaches were compatible, and he managed
to combine them. He believed in and practiced
astrology (as did Tycho) and throughout his life-
The Laws of Planetary Motion: time tried to contact an ancient but lost and secret
Tycho and Kepler wisdom.
In the course of his observations of the heav-
Copernicus laid the foundation for the intellectual ens, Kepler discovered the three basic laws of
revolution that gradually overturned the medieval planetary motion. First, the orbits of the planets
conception of the universe and ushered in modern are elliptical, not circular as Aristotle and Ptolemy
cosmology. But it fell to other observers to fill in had assumed, and the sun is one focus of the
the important details. Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) ellipse. Unlike Tycho, Kepler accepted Coperni-
never accepted the Copernican system, but he cus’s theory and provided proof for it. Kepler’s
saw it as a challenge to astronomers. Aided by the second law demonstrated that the velocity of a
king of Denmark, Tycho built the finest observa- planet is not uniform, as had been believed, but
tory in Europe. In 1572, he observed a new star in increases as its distance from the sun decreases.
the heavens. Its existence offered a direct and se- Kepler’s third law—that the squares of the times
rious challenge to the Aristotelian and scholastic taken by any two planets in their revolutions
assumption of unalterable, fixed, and hence per- around the sun are in the same ratio as the cubes
fect heavens. To this discovery of what eventually of their average distances from the sun—brought
proved to be an exploding star, Tycho added his the planets into a unified mathematical system.
observations on the comet of 1577. He demon- Kepler’s work possessed immense significance.
strated that it moved unimpeded through the areas He gave sound mathematical proof to Coperni-
between the planets and passed right through the cus’s theory; forever eliminated the use of epicy-
crystalline spheres. This finding raised the ques- cles, which had saved the appearance of circular
tion of whether such spheres existed, but Tycho motion; and demonstrated that mathematical re-
himself remained an Aristotelian. Although his lationships can describe the planetary system. But
devotion to a literal reading of the Bible led Tycho Kepler left a significant question unresolved: What
to reject the Copernican sun-centered universe, kept the planets in their orbits? Why did they not
he did propose an alternative system, in which fly out into space or crash into the sun? The an-
the planets revolved around the sun but the sun swer would be supplied by Isaac Newton, who
moved about a motionless earth. synthesized the astronomy of Copernicus and
Ultimately, Tycho’s fame rests on his skill as a Kepler with the new physics developed by Galileo.
practicing astronomer. He bequeathed to future
generations precise calculations about the move-
ments of heavenly bodies. These calculations Galileo: Experimental Physics
proved invaluable. They were put to greatest use
by Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), a German who At the same time that Kepler was developing a
collaborated with Tycho during the latter’s final new astronomy, his contemporary, Galileo Galilei
years. Tycho bequeathed his astronomical papers (1564–1642), was breaking with the older phys-
to Kepler, who brought to these data a scientific ics of Aristotle. A citizen of Pisa by birth, Galileo
vision that was both experimental and mystical. lived for many years in Padua, where he con-
Kepler searched persistently for harmonious ducted some of his first experiments on the motion
laws of planetary motion. He did so because he of bodies. Guided by the dominant philosophy
believed profoundly in the Platonic ideal. Ac- of the Italian Renaissance—the revived doctrines of
cording to this ideal, a spiritual force infuses Plato—Galileo believed that beyond the visible
406 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
notoriety and his popularity among the laity, they The church attacked Galileo because he was a
saw a threat to their own power. A secret group Copernican, that is, because he believed the sun to
of priests and academics, named the Liga, formed be at the center of the universe. There were other
with the express purpose of silencing Galileo; they reasons. New evidence from the recently opened
used Aristotle and the Bible to attack him. But Vatican archives suggests that the church also
Galileo was also a courtier with friends in high may have worried about his corpuscular theory
places, so he dared to challenge the clergy and to of matter and his abandonment of the scholastics’
offer his science directly to the laity. He argued view of the relationship between matter and form.
publicly with the theologians. In the early seven- That view went to the heart of the doctrine of the
teenth century, the Catholic Church saw danger Eucharist, and the church saw, rightly, that the
on every front: Protestants in Germany, Jews and new science threatened the philosophical founda-
Muslims in the East, and a laity demanding new tions of certain key doctrines.
schools that would provide practical education In 1632 and 1633, Galileo’s teachings were con-
for their children. Now Galileo offered a view of demned, and he was placed under house arrest. This
the universe that conflicted with certain scriptural act of repression cut short the open pursuit of sci-
texts. He was in a bad place at a bad time. ence in many Catholic countries of the seventeenth
408 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
century. Wherever the Inquisition was strong, the that it emanated from luminous bodies in a way
new science would be viewed as subversive. Cen- that scientists later described as waves.
sorship worked to stifle public intellectual inquiry. Of the two books, both monumental achieve-
By midcentury, science had become an increasingly ments in the history of science, the Principia made
Protestant and northern European phenomenon. the greater impact on contemporaries. Newton
offered universal mathematical laws, as well as a
philosophy of nature that sought to explain the es-
THE NEWTONIAN SYNTHESIS: sential structure of the universe: matter is always
EXPERIMENT, MATHEMATICS, the same; it is atomic in structure, in its essential
nature it is dead or lifeless; and it is acted on by
AND THEORY immaterial forces that are placed in the universe
by God. Newton said that the motion of matter
By 1650, the works of Copernicus and especially of could be explained by three laws: inertia, that a
Galileo had dethroned the physics and astronomy of body remains in a state of rest or continues its
Aristotle and Ptolemy. A new philosophy of nature motion in a straight line unless impelled to change
tied to empirical observation and Neo-Platonism by forces impressed on it; acceleration, that the
had come into existence; its essence lay in the math- change in the motion of a body is proportional
ematical expression of physical laws that describe to the force acting on it; and that for every action
matter in motion. Yet no single overriding law had there is an equal and opposite reaction.
been articulated that would bring together the exper- Newton applied his laws to observable matter
imental successes of the new science, its mathemati- on earth and to the motion of planets in their or-
cal sophistication, and its philosophical revolution. bits. He showed that planets remain in their orbits
This law was supplied by Isaac Newton. not because circular motion is natural or because
Newton was born in 1642, in Lincolnshire, crystalline spheres keep them in place. Rather,
England, the son of a modest yeoman. Because said Newton, planets keep to their orbits because
of his intellectual promise, he obtained a place every body in the universe exercises a force on
at Trinity College, Cambridge, and there he de- every other body, a force that he called universal
voted himself to natural philosophy and math- gravitation. Gravity is proportional to the product
ematics. Newton’s student notebooks survive and of the masses of two bodies and inversely propor-
show him mastering philosophical texts while tional to the square of the distance between them.
also trying to understand the fundamental truths It is operative throughout the universe, whether
of Protestant Christianity as taught at Cam- on earth or in the heavens, and it is capable of
bridge. Combining Christian Neo-Platonism with mathematical expression. Newton built his theory
a genius for mathematics, Newton produced a on the work of other scientific giants, notably
coherent synthesis of the science of Kepler Kepler and Galileo. No one before him, however,
and Galileo, which eventually captured the had possessed the breadth of vision, mathematical
imagination of European intellectuals. genius, and dedication to rigorous observation to
In 1666, Newton formulated the mathemat- combine this knowledge into one grand synthesis.
ics for the universal law of gravitation, and in the The universe now became matter in motion;
same year, after rigorous experimentation, he de- governed by invisible forces that operate every-
termined the nature of light. The sciences of phys- where, both on earth and in the heavens, and
ics and optics were transformed. However, for these forces could be expressed mathematically.
many years, Newton did not publish his discover- The medieval picture of the universe as closed,
ies, perhaps because he feared controversy. Finally, earthbound, and earth centered was replaced by
another mathematician and friend, Edmund a universe seen to be infinite and governed by
Halley, persuaded him to publish under the spon- universal laws. The earth became simply another
sorship of the Royal Society. The result was the moving planet, and bodies in the heavens were
Principia Mathematica of 1687. In 1704, Newton seen to be uniform in composition.
published his Opticks and revealed his theory that Newtonian principles were taught by genera-
light was corpuscular or atomic in nature and tions of Newton’s followers as, in effect, applied
Biology, Medicine, and Chemistry ❖ 409
BIOLOGY, MEDICINE,
SCIENCE AND BLOOD. For centuries, it was believed
AND CHEMISTRY that blood carried character traits as well as nobility.
The English experimenter William Harvey viewed
The spectacular advances in physics and astron- blood as simply a liquid that circulated in the body
omy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a uniform way. Illustrations such as this one made
were not matched in the biological sciences. In- the point graphically. (© Bettmann/Corbis.)
deed, the day-to-day practice of medicine through-
out Western Europe changed little in the period
from 1600 to 1800, for much of medical practice bloodletting, but sweating was also a favorite
relied, as it had since the Middle Ages, on astrol- remedy. Taught devotedly in the medical schools
ogy and on the necessity for bloodletting. of Europe, these methods were often as dangerous
Doctors clung to the teachings of the ancient as the diseases they sought to cure.
practitioners Galen and Hippocrates. In general, Despite the tenacity of Galenic medicine,
Galenic medicine paid little attention to the dis- sixteenth- and seventeenth-century innovators and
covery of specific cures for particular diseases. reformers challenged and eventually overturned
As a follower of Aristotle, Galen emphasized the medical orthodoxy. With an almost missionary
elements that make up the body; he called their zeal, Paracelsus (1493–1541), a Swiss-German
manifestations humors. A person with an excess physician and mystical Neo-Platonist, introduced
of blood was sanguine; a person with too much the concept of diagnostic medicine and relied
bile was choleric. Health consisted of a restora- heavily on alchemy. He argued that particular
tion of balances among these various elements, diseases can be differentiated and are related to
so Galenic doctors often prescribed purges of one chemical, not humorial, imbalances. His treat-
sort or another. The most famous of these was ments relied on chemicals and not on bloodletting
410 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
or the positions of the stars (although he did not trying to bring the methods and philosophy of the
discount such influences), and he proclaimed an new science to medicine, and he pioneered hands-
almost ecstatic vision of human vitality and lon- on medical techniques.
gevity. In most universities, the faculties of medi- Just as Newton applied the theory and method of
cine bitterly opposed his views, but by 1650 in science to the heavens, his contemporaries on both
England and later in that century in France, Para- sides of the English Channel sought to utilize science
celsian ideas had many advocates. Support for to illuminate every object we experience. Protestant-
Paracelsian medicine, often combined with al- ism inspired them to be aggressive in their assault on
chemy, invariably accompanied an attack on the scholasticism. Indeed, the most original experimenter
traditional medical establishment and its profes- of the age, who codified the experimental method as
sional monopoly, and it often signaled an interest we know it, was a devout English Protestant. Robert
in the new science. The struggle between Galenists Boyle (1627–1691) believed that Aristotle’s phys-
and Paracelsians quickly took on a social dimen- ics and the philosophy that supported it promoted
sion; the innovators saw themselves pitted against Catholic teachings and thus amounted to little more
a medical elite, which, in their opinion, had lost than magic. At a time when English Protestants
its commitment to medical research and existed feared a revival of Catholic and absolutist monar-
solely to perpetuate itself. In the eighteenth cen- chy, Boyle wanted to abolish the invisible forces on
tury, Paracelsian ideas, stripped of their alchemi- which Catholic theology rested. He also wished to
cal associations, became commonplace. defeat the magic of what he called “the vulgar,” that
The medical reforms of the eighteenth century is, the beliefs of the populace, whose disorder and
did not rest solely on the Paracelsian approach; tendencies to rebellion he feared.
they also relied heavily on the experimental To accomplish these aims, Boyle urged scien-
breakthroughs made in the science of anatomy. A tists to adopt the zeal of the magicians and alche-
pioneer in this field was the Belgian surgeon An- mists, but without their secretive practices and
dreas Vesalius (1515–1564), who published The their conjuring with spirits. As an alternative to
Structure of the Human Body in 1543. Opposing spirits or scholastic forms, Boyle advocated the
Galenic practice, Vesalius argued for observation atomic explanation of matter: it consists of small,
and anatomical dissection as the keys to knowing hard, indestructible particles that behave with
how the human body works. By the late seven- regularity. According to Boyle, the existence of
teenth century, doctors had learned a great deal these corpuscles explained the changes in gases,
about the body, its structure, and its chemistry. fluids, and solids.
The study of anatomy yielded dramatic results. Boyle pioneered the experimental method with
In 1628, William Harvey (1578–1657) announced such exciting and accurate results that by the time
that he had discovered the circulation of blood. of his death no serious scientist could attempt
Harvey compared the functioning of the heart to chemical experiments without following his guide-
that of a mechanical pump, and once again the lines. Thus, the science of chemistry acquired its
tendency to mechanize nature, so basic to the Sci- characteristic experimentalism; it was also based
entific Revolution in physics, led to a significant on an atomic theory of matter. But only late in
discovery. Yet the acceptance of Harvey’s work the eighteenth century was chemistry applied to
was very slow, and the practical uses of his dis- medical research, particularly in an effort to cure
covery were not readily perceived. tuberculosis.
The experimental method in medicine pro-
duced other innovations, among them systematic
examination not only of corpses but also of pa- BACON AND DESCARTES:
tients. In the late 1600s, the finest doctor of the
age, Herman Boerhaave, taught his students in PROPHETS OF THE NEW SCIENCE
Leiden, in the Dutch Republic, by taking them
on house calls, arguing that nothing in medicine The new science needed prophets and social theo-
can be known without a careful and rigorous ex- rists to give it direction and to assess its implica-
amination of the body. He proclaimed that he was tions. During the early modern period, two major
Bacon and Descartes: Prophets of the New Science ❖ 411
Descartes
René Descartes, a French philosopher, went to
the best French schools run by the Jesuits, and he
knew the mathematics and scholastic philosophy
of his day. Yet in his early twenties, he experienced
a crisis of confidence and came to the conclusion
that everything he had been taught was irrelevant
and meaningless.
Descartes began to search within himself for
what he could be sure was clear and distinct
knowledge. All he could know with certainty was
the fact of his existence, and even that he knew
only because he experienced, not his body, but his
mind: “I think, therefore I am.” From this point of
certitude, Descartes deduced the existence of God
and of nature. He argued that science should be
grounded on the human mind’s ability to arrive
FO N T E N E L L E, PO R T RA I T BY B E R N A RD at clear and distinct ideas, to think for itself and
PICART. Fontenelle understood the new science, but not slavishly follow tradition or doctrine.
most important, he could make it understandable to God exists because Descartes had in his mind
those less learned than himself. He gave a eulogy on an idea of a supreme, perfect being, and, Des-
the death of Newton that was read throughout the cartes reasoned, this idea could have been put
century, and he also worked tirelessly for the French there only by such a being, not by any ordinary
Academy of Sciences. (© Corbis.) mortal. Therefore, God’s existence means that the
physical world must be real, for no Creator would
invent a vast hoax.
allowed a hearing. Science must have human For Descartes, the new science meant confi-
goals: the i mprovement of humanity’s material dence: in his own mind, in the knowability of the
condition and the advancement of trade and in- physical world, and in mathematics and reason.
dustry. Bacon also saw the need for science to Scientific thought meant an alternative to every-
possess an inductive methodology grounded in thing he associated with the medieval: confusion,
experience; the scientist should first of all be a disorder, conflict between church and state, fear
collector of facts. of the unknown, and magic. Turning his back
Although Bacon was rather vague about how on the centuries immediately preceding his own,
the scientist actually works, he knew that pre- Descartes, possibly as a result of knowing Bacon’s
conceived ideas imposed on nature seldom yield ideas for practical science, proclaimed that “it is
positive results. An opponent of Aristotle, Bacon possible to attain knowledge which is very useful
argued that university education should be taken in life, and that, instead of that speculative philos-
out of the hands of the scholastics and based upon ophy which is taught in the schools [that is, scho-
the new learning. A powerful civil servant, he was lasticism], we may find a practical philosophy by
not afraid to attack the guardians of tradition. means of which . . . we can . . . render ourselves
The Baconian vision of progress in science leading the masters and possessors of nature.”4 Descartes
to better lives and the security of the state inspired was among the first to dream about the capacity
much scientific activity in the seventeenth century, of science to control and dominate nature, though
Primary Source
René Descartes: Discourse reasoning; but I did not as yet notice its true use,
and thinking that it only served the mechanical
on Method (1637) arts, I was astonished thereby that its founda-
tions being so firm and so solid, that no one had
built anything lofty upon them. On the other
René Descartes gave a meaning to the new science
hand, I compared the writings of the ancient pa-
that validated human courage to think for one’s
gans that deal with morals and found them to be
self. He grounded everything that could be learned
towering and magnificent palaces with no better
about nature on the individual’s capacity to reason
foundation than sand and mud. They extol the
and to discover truth.
virtues so highly, and make them appear more
valuable than anything in the world. . . .
I revered our theology, and aspired, as much
Part One
as anyone else, to reach heaven; but I came to un-
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most derstand that the way is not less open to the most
equally distributed; for everyone believes himself ignorant than to the most learned, and that the re-
so well provided with it that even those who are vealed truths that guide us there are beyond our
the most difficult to please in everything else, do comprehension. I would not have dared to submit
not usually desire a larger measure of this qual- them to my feeble reasoning, and I thought that
ity than they already have. It is not likely that in order to undertake to examine them and to suc-
they are deceived in this. It indicates rather that ceed in it, one would need to have some extraordi-
the power of judging well, and of distinguishing nary help from heaven and need to be more than
the true from the false, what is properly called a mere man. . . . And finally, considering that all
good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all the same thought that we have when we are awake
men. . . . For it is not enough to have a vigorous can also come to us when we are asleep, without
mind; but the main thing is to apply it well. . . . there being any of them at that time that be true,
I have been brought up on books from my I resolved to feign that all the things that had ever
childhood, and as I was persuaded that by their entered my mind were no more true than the illu-
help a clear and certain knowledge of all that sions of my dreams. But, immediately afterward,
is useful in life might be acquired, I had an ex- I took note that, while I wanted thus to think
treme desire to learn them. But as soon as I had that everything was false, it necessarily had to be
finished the entire course of study, at the close that I, who was thinking this, were something.
of which one is normally admitted into the ranks And, noticing that this truth—I think, therefore
of the learned, I completely changed my opin- I am—was so firm and so assured that all the most
ion. For I found myself so encumbered by doubts extravagant suppositions of the skeptics were not
and errors that it seemed to me I had advanced capable of shaking it, I judged that I could accept
no further in all my attempts at learning, than it, without scruple, as the first principle of the phi-
the discovery at every turn of my own igno- losophy that I was seeking.
rance. And yet I was studying at one of the most
famous schools in Europe, where I thought that
there must be learned men if there were any of Questions for Analysis
them anywhere on earth. I had been taught all 1. Why is Descartes so eager to find a new way
that others learned there; and not contented with of knowing?
the sciences actually taught us, in addition I read 2. What does the statement “I think, therefore
all the books I had been able to get my hands on I am” proclaim?
. . . ones . . . most curious and most rare. . . .
I was especially pleased with mathematics, Margaret C. Jacob, The Scientific Revolution: A Brief History
on account of the certitude and evidence of its with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009)
413
414 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
he never could have imagined its modern poten- thinkers: he argued that God is, as it were, Na-
tial to destroy nature. ture, that matter and spirit in effect are one.
Affirming existence of anything other than To this day, philosophers dispute Spinoza’s
the abstractions of mathematics required that purpose. Was he an atheist who wanted to do
Descartes proclaim the existence of God and the away with the monotheistic conception of God,
physical world. He radically separated matter or was he a mystic who wished to infuse God into
from spirit and mind from nature, and in the pro- Nature? His contemporaries of every religious
cess, he widened a gap in Western thought that persuasion (he was expelled from his Amsterdam
would haunt philosophers for centuries. What synagogue) deemed him an atheist and thought
if a thinker who understood the implications of that he had become one by reading too much sci-
Descartes’s separation of matter from spirit was ence. Their condemnation made “spinozism” a
to argue that only matter existed? Within the me- byword for atheism and freethinking. In the En-
chanical understanding of nature lurked the pos- lightenment, freethinkers and materialists would
sibility of materialism. claim to have been inspired by Spinoza.
Benedict de Spinoza (1632– 1677) brought The thoughts and visions of Bacon, Descartes,
that possibility out into the open. Born in Am- and Spinoza revealed the power and importance
sterdam of recently immigrated Jewish parents, of scientific knowledge. Science could promote
he was trained in classical languages and Hebrew human well- being, as Bacon insisted; it could
thought. His genius drew him to the new science, make human beings and nature the foundation
and he became an early explicator of Descartes’s of all meaningful knowledge, as Descartes as-
philosophy, in which he spied a central weakness: sumed; science could express pantheism or justify
its inability to explain the linkage between mat- a belief in Nature as God, as Spinoza suggested.
ter and spirit or to connect God to nature in any Whichever position educated westerners em-
meaningful way. Spinoza’s solution was radical, braced by the late 1600s, science would be used
logical, and thoroughly heretical to monotheistic to challenge the traditional authority of the clergy,
The Social Implications of the Scientific Revolution ❖ 415
One of the most famous baroque painters Noteworthy, too, in this canvas is the depiction
was Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) of Flanders, of the figures, whose hairstyles and mode of dress
which, prospering from its commercial connec- is contemporary rather than suggestive of biblical
tions, was home to many successful artists and times. This juxtaposition of scenes from the Bible
patrons in this period. To study painting, Rubens with the flavor of everyday life in the seventeenth
traveled to Rome in 1600 and spent many years century reveals much about the connection
visiting other artistic centers in Italy. There he between the artist and his own surroundings.
learned to paint on large-scale canvases and play The baroque style of highly finished, realistic
with the size and weight of his subjects. Despite works is very familiar to us. But we must also re-
the influence of his southern contemporaries, call that baroque artists were skilled draftsmen.
however, his style remained essentially Flemish. As an example, there is Giovanne Benedetto Cas-
In his painting The Betrothal of Saint Cath- tiglione’s Melancholia (mid-seventeenth century)
erine (Figure 1), we immediately sense the energy (Figure 2), a brush drawing in oil with added red
and fullness of the figures typical among Italian chalk. Works on paper do not always survive as
artists. But we also notice that Rubens’s palette well as those on board or canvas. The drawings we
is much lighter than theirs, and consequently, the do have attest to the artistic skill of seventeenth-
figures of Saint Catherine and the saints who sur- century artists, who used line and shadow as well
round her seem to move lightly as well. as did their Renaissance predecessors.
Melancholia is an allegory about the human
dilemma of choosing among the worlds of art, re-
ligion, science, and learning. Symbols from each
of these worlds—scientific tools, musical instru-
ments, a globe, and the like—surround the figure
of Genius, who sits in a contemplative pose.
Although by and large the artists of the ba-
roque period were not well-rounded humanists
like those of the Renaissance, some of them
could work in a variety of art forms. For ex-
ample, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) dis-
tinguished himself as a sculptor as well as an
architect.
Bernini was responsible for the sculptural
program of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
He also completed sculptures in other Roman
churches, including the Cornaro Chapel in the
Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. His The
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1644–1647) (Figure 3)
is a remarkable work that tells a dramatic story.
The heart of Saint Teresa of Avila was said to
have been pierced by an angel’s golden arrow; the
pain was exquisite, for not only was it the pain
of death but also the pleasure of everlasting life
in the arms of God. Bernini skillfully portrays the
exact moment of Saint Teresa’s ecstasy, in a theat-
rical setting using not only sculpture but also the
architectural elements of the chapel.
The saint and the angel are carved of white
marble and seem to be floating on a cloud. The 3. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,
sculpted golden rays, which descend from a point 1644–1647. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)
above the figures, are bathed in light by a win-
dow hidden behind the frame that surrounds the
two figures. Bernini decorated the entire chapel to
follow the theme of Saint Teresa; ceiling frescoes poses of the figures hark back to the Hellenistic
show clouds of angels celebrating the event. period. Compare the positioning of the arms of
While Bernini was gaining fame in Italy, a the women on the left of the canvas with the tor-
French painter—one who spent almost his entire tured stance of Laocoön in the sculpture shown in
career in Rome—was winning an international Figure 4 of the first art essay. Other groups in the
reputation. Nicolas Poussin (1593/4–1665) re- Poussin canvas are also reminiscent of that sculp-
lied strongly on the art of the classical and espe- ture. As another bow to the ancient past, Poussin
cially the Hellenistic periods for his inspiration. paints in the background buildings that are faith-
His The Rape of the Sabine Women (c. 1636–37) ful to Roman prototypes. Such reliance on archae-
(Figure 4), a lavish and richly painted canvas, cap- ology and mythology are typical of his work.
tures action like a carefully posed photograph. While paintings depicting mythological, histor-
Indeed, if Bernini was theatrical in his portrayal ical, or religious themes dominated the major art
of Saint Teresa, one could say that Poussin is markets during the baroque era, patrons in Hol-
cinematographic. land sought paintings that related more to their
The story depicted in The Rape of the Sabine own experience. For that reason, the genre of the
Women is derived from classical mythology; the still life—paintings of flowers, fruit, dishes, food,
4. Nicolas Poussin, The Rape of the Sabine Women, c. 1636–1637. (Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, N.Y. )
and other familiar objects—reached its zenith in turmoil affecting other aspects of life. No matter
that country. what was going on politically, no matter what re-
Willem Kalf (1622– 1693), among the most ligious dispute was being negotiated, people could
skilled of Dutch still-life masters, was able to take find a degree of comfort in being surrounded by
a collection of objects and turn it into an object familiar objects or scenes.
of art. His Still Life (Figure 5) showcases his me- While Kalf distinguished himself as a still-life
ticulous, almost photorealistic style. In particular, painter, another Dutch master, Rembrandt van
it focuses on the way in which glass reflects light Rijn (1606–1669) gained fame for his historical
and on the juxtaposition of different textures. Al- and religious canvases. Rembrandt was influ-
though modern art historians view some still lifes enced in his early years by Italian painters, espe-
as merely ornamental displays of technical skill, cially by their use of light. But that was not his
there was a reason for them. The popularity of still only strength. His reputation as a portrait painter
lifes and of landscapes probably has to do with made him renowned and made his fortune in
the human desire for reassurance that “things are Amsterdam.
as they should be,” that the status quo is being Even more impressive were his self-portraits,
maintained, regardless of the religious or political which he painted not for the commissions of
patrons but entirely for himself in the pursuit of
truth. For an artist to paint as many self-portraits
as Rembrandt did in the seventeenth century was
very unusual. Self-portraits are analogous to auto-
biographies: in both, the artist examines himself
because he believes his own self is worthy of self-
examination.
Rembrandt’s quest for the meaning of the inner
life is compatible with the growing introspective-
ness of the seventeenth century, an age that also
produced Descartes’s dictum that to think is to be,
the soliloquies of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the
hallucinations of Cervantes’ Don Quixote.
Rembrandt produced a series of sixty-two self-
portraits during the course of his lifetime, an ex-
haustive autobiography in pictures in which he
seemed to engage in a dialogue with himself in a
variety of attitudes and poses: vigorous, youth-
ful, heroic, flamboyant, melodramatic, enigmatic,
aging, distraught, struggling with despair, grimly
resolved, disdainful, strong, weak. Rembrandt
completed Self-Portrait at Old Age, 1669 (Figure 6),
the fifty- fifth in a corpus of sixty- two self-
portraits, in the last year of his life. It is among
a cluster of self-portraits in which he appears to 5. Willem Kalf, Still Life, c. 1660. (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)
have “pulled himself together” and defined his
identity. In it, we find Rembrandt staring back
at us with the calm assurance of a man who has
mastered his art and life, and surpassed his time goddess of love and erotic pleasure should have.
and place. Given her appearance and her surroundings,
The later part of the eighteenth century marks Boucher’s Venus looks as though she would have
the beginning of the rococo and neoclassical peri- been comfortable in period dress, supervising the
ods in art history. Especially popular in France, the decor of her boudoir at the palace at Versailles.
rococo and neoclassical movements owed much Clearly, Boucher understood his audience well.
to political and social forces. The term rococo While Boucher exemplified the light and airy
describes a style that is frothy and frivolous and sentiment of the rococo style, Jacques Louis David
compatible with the peripheral concerns of roy- (1748–1825) typified the neoclassical. The neo-
alty. In 1698, King Louis XIV ordered the redeco- classical style represents a return to the rational-
ration of his palace at Versailles with works that ity and harmony of the classical past; many of the
were lighthearted and youthful instead of stodgy works from this period also reflect contemporary
and serious. His dabbling with artistic matters led political events.
to quarrels and esthetic disagreements in the artis- Justice, honor for one’s country, and the need
tic community. to portray inspirational themes were the guide-
An example of the rococo is François Bouch- posts of the neoclassical artists. Their training
er’s (1703–1770) The Toilet of Venus (1751) (Fig- ground was Italy, primarily because it was the
ure 7). Although some art historians describe his source of the classical prototypes from which they
work as slick and artificial, Boucher became the could learn. Jacques Louis David’s The Death
darling of the French court. In his The Toilet of of Marat (1793) (Figure 8) captures the essence
Venus, the goddess is full figured and lush, sur- of that event in a manner that combines the best of
rounded by all the sensual accouterments that the Poussin and Rubens.
6. Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait at Old Age, 1669. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)
The subject matter is important because it il- But David has also appropriated Rembrandt’s
luminates the neoclassical concept of virtue, technique of skillfully juxtaposing light and
represented by the martyrdom of Marat, a revo- shadow. While the neoclassicists sometimes paid
lutionary. The style borrows from Poussin’s abil- homage to the distant past in their subject matter,
ity to capture a scene with photographic stillness, they also showed their reverence for the revolu-
rendering the figures in an almost sculptural way. tionary ideals of their own time.
7. François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, 1751. (Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/
Art Resource, N.Y.)
8. Jacques Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793. (Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, N.Y.)
Profile
Sir Isaac Newton to theology and biblical prophecy as he did to
(1642–1727) experiments. Perhaps most surprising of all
his labors are his alchemical pursuits. Like
Today we know much more about Sir Isaac the magicians of old, he wanted to understand
Newton, about his beliefs and life, than did the secret workings of chemical action, and he
his contemporaries. Newton was very pri- believed that someday the truly pious natural
vate, even secretive. He wanted to appear to philosopher would be able to transform ordi-
the world solely as a natural philosopher in- nary metals into gold. Evidence of the private
terested in local motion and the motions of Newton sits amid his vast manuscript collec-
the heavenly bodies. He said sternly, “I do tions, which are now dispersed all over the
not frame hypotheses,” when asked to explain world. On the Internet, the Newton Project
what universal gravitation actually is. In his has succeeded in putting many of these manu-
heart, he believed it to be the will of God op- scripts online so that everyone can read them.
erating in the universe. This deeply religious Go to http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac
man devoted as many hours of his work-week .uk/prism.php?id=1.
Creator but regarded miracles as limitations on Galileo. The mentality of the Counter-Reformation
nature’s mechanical perfection. Applied to religious enabled lesser minds to exercise their fears against
doctrines, Descartes’s reliance on methodical doubt any idea they regarded as suspicious. Galileo was
and clarity of thought and Bacon’s insistence on caught in this hostile environment, and the Co-
careful observation led thinkers to question the pernican system was condemned by the church in
validity of Christian teachings. Theology became a 1616. In Spain and Poland, it was not officially
separate, and for some an irrelevant, area of intel- taught until the 1770s.
lectual inquiry, not fit for the interests of practical, Gradually, the science of Newton became
well-informed people. Not only Christian doctrines the science of Western Europe: nature mecha-
but also various popular beliefs grew suspect. nized, analyzed, regulated, and mathematized.
Magic, witchcraft, and astrology, still widespread As a result of the Scientific Revolution, learned
among the European masses, were regarded with westerners came to believe more strongly than
disdain by elite culture. Large numbers of people ever that nature could be mastered. Mechanical
remained devoted to some form of traditional science—applied to canals, engines, pumps, and
Christianity, and the uncertainty of a universe gov- levers—became the science of industry. Thus, the
erned by devils, witches, or the stars continued to Scientific Revolution, operating on both intel-
make sense to the poor and oppressed. lectual and commercial levels, laid the ground-
In Catholic countries, where the Scientific work for two major developments of the modern
Revolution began, hostility toward scientific West: the Age of Enlightenment and the Indus-
ideas gathered strength after the condemnation of trial Revolution.
417
418 ❖ 17 The Scientific Revolution: The Universe Seen as a Mechanism
❖ ❖ ❖
■
The Formation of a Public
and Secular Culture
Alternatives to Orthodoxy
T he eighteenth century’s most exciting
intellectual movement is called the En-
lightenment. So powerful was its dedica-
tion to toleration and rational thought that until
quite recently the era was sometimes character-
■ Political Thought ized as the Age of Reason. It is more accurately
■ Social Thought described as an age of criticism, civility, and agita-
tion for reform. What by 1750 came to be known
■ Economic Thought as the Enlightenment began in the late seventeenth
century. Three factors were critically important
■ The High Enlightenment in this new intellectual ferment: revulsion against
■ European Political and monarchical and clerical absolutism, especially as
practiced by Louis XIV in France; a new freedom
Diplomatic Developments of publishing and with it the rise of a new public
■ The Enlightenment in Eastern and a secular culture, especially in England and
Europe the Dutch Republic; and, not least, the impact of
the Scientific Revolution, particularly the excite-
■ The American Revolution ment generated by Newton’s Principia (1687).
When Newton’s great work appeared, censor-
■ The Enlightenment and the ship or imprisonment for ideas disliked by church
Modern World or state was still commonplace. In France in
1685, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes left
Protestants with few choices: they could either
convert to Catholicism, go to prison, or try to find
Focus Questions a way out of the country, an illegal act that of-
ten separated families. More than 150,000 French
Protestants—many of them highly literate and all
1. What does it mean to say that
of them deeply angry—were forced to leave for the
someone in the eighteenth century was Dutch Republic, England, or Geneva or to jour-
“enlightened”? ney to the American colonies. Others languished
2. Who were the Freemasons, and what role in French prisons. In the Dutch Republic, oppo-
did they play in the eighteenth century? nents of the Calvinist clergy who were deemed
heretics could be detained indefinitely; one man
3. What is a freethinker? A deist? An
died after three years in jail without a trial, prob-
atheist? A pantheist? ably a suicide. In England, Oxford University rou-
4. With what economic doctrines do we tinely expelled students whose ideas were seen to
associate Adam Smith? be heretical or unorthodox. In the papal territo-
5. To whom did Adam Smith’s theories ries, Jewish children were still forcibly baptized
and then removed from their homes. By 1750,
appeal? Why?
such extreme measures were rare anywhere north
6. What is the enduring legacy of the of the Alps or in the American colonies. A new set
Enlightenment? What were its political of values had come to prevail.
implications? Rationality and order—imitative of the or-
7. What do we mean by the Radical der found in Newton’s universe—seemed to be
gaining momentum. Proponents of enlightened
Enlightenment?
values sought to impose an ordered freedom
on social and political institutions. They were
prepared to attack in print, though sometimes
anonymously, the attitudes and beliefs that
stood in the way of tolerance, freedom, and
420
Chronology 18.1 ❖ The Enlightenment
1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; persecution of Protestants in France
1687 Publication of Newton’s Principia
1688–1689 Revolution in England: the clergy’s power is weakened and censorship
loosened; James II, a king with absolutist ambitions, is sent into exile in
France
1690 Publication of Locke’s Two Treatises of Government
1695 Publication of Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity
1696 Toland’s Christianity Not Mysterious makes the case for deism
1717 Founding of the Grand Lodge, London; the beginning of organized
Freemasonry
1719 Anonymous publication of the Treatise on the Three Impostors, the most
radical text of the period
1733 Voltaire publishes Letters Concerning the English Nation
1740 Frederick the Great invades Silesia; the War of the Austrian Succession
ensues
1748 Hume publishes An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding;
Montesquieu publishes The Spirit of the Laws
1751 Publication of the first volumes of Diderot’s Encyclopedia in Paris
1756–1763 Seven Years’ War
1762 Rousseau publishes Émile and The Social Contract
1775 American Revolution begins
1776 Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations
1785 Russian Charter of Nobility; the servitude of the peasants is guaranteed
1787 Dutch Revolution begins
1789 French Revolution begins
rationality. As combative intellectuals and pun- ignorance, prejudice, and superstition. Kant went
dits, they earned the name philosophes—simply to the heart of one aspect of the Enlightenment:
the French word for “philosophers”—now used its insistence that each individual should think in-
in many languages to describe the bold and witty dependently, without recourse to the authority of
satirists of clergymen, courtiers, and the pious schools, churches, or clergymen.1
in general. Thinkers as diverse as Voltaire in Being a political moderate and living in au-
France, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson thoritarian Prussia, Kant hoped that the call for
in America, and Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), self-education and critical thought would mean
an abstract philosopher in Germany, may be la- no disruption of the political order, at least at
beled philosophes. home. In his moderation, he was similar to most
Late in the eighteenth century, Kant gave a philosophes. Distrusting the uneducated people,
succinct definition of enlightenment: bringing these intellectual leaders sought a gradual trans-
“light into the dark corners of mind,” dispelling formation of the human condition.
421
422 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
Radicals could also be found amid the enlight- philosophes opposed the old scholastic learning
ened. Often publishing anonymously they advo- of the universities, mocked the clergy, and denied
cated pantheism or materialism, railed against the Christian mysteries. They expressed confi-
the power of the clergy, and attacked the power dence in science and reason, called for humanitar-
of monarchies. Such thinking was visible as early ian treatment of slaves and criminals, and played
as the 1690s. During the late eighteenth century, a cat-and-mouse game with censors. Dedicated to
there were radical thinkers, such as the American freedom of thought and person, they combined
revolutionary Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and these liberal values with a secular orientation and
the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), a belief in future progress. The philosophes helped
who were prepared to endorse an immediate po- shape, if not define, modern beliefs in tolerance,
litical disruption of the traditional authority of human rights, and free speech. They also put into
monarchy, aristocracy, fathers, and churchmen. print some of the most outrageous writings ever
Whether radical or moderate, the philosophes seen in the West; one of these, published in 1719,
were united by certain key ideas. They believed even labeled Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad as the
in the new science, were critical of clergy and all three great impostors.
rigid dogma but tolerant of people’s right to wor-
ship freely, and believed deeply in freedom of the
press. They were also willing to entertain, though THE FORMATION OF A PUBLIC
not necessarily accept, new heresies such as pan-
theism, which equated nature with God; or the AND SECULAR CULTURE
belief that the earth had gradually evolved; or the
view that the Bible was a series of wise stories but In England and the Dutch Republic, by 1700 free-
not the literal word of God. dom of the press was a practical or a legal real-
Philosophes thrived in the major European cit- ity. During the same period, in 1685, Louis XIV
ies, where they clubbed and socialized in literary outlawed Protestants from France. In exile, they
and philosophical societies. By the 1770s, Paris set up journals and newspapers, formed new
was the center of the Enlightenment, but circles clubs, and began a vast international discussion—
of philosophes could be found in Berlin, Moscow, conducted in French, the language of all well-
Budapest, London, The Hague, and, across the educated Europeans—aimed against the injustices
Atlantic, in Philadelphia. Their writings spread of monarchical absolutism and the evils of reli-
far and wide because they adopted a new style for gious persecution. In journals and newspapers, the
philosophical discussion: clear, direct, witty, satiri- reformers endorsed the need for political change,
cal, even naughty and audacious. At times, they the end of clerical privileges, and the wisdom of
were more like journalists, propagandists, writ- Newtonian science.
ers of fiction, even pornographers, who sought At the same time, relative freedom of assem-
to live by their pens. Their success owed much to bly in the cities of Western Europe (even in Paris,
the growing literacy of urban men and women, a which was too big to police) gave rise to a new
new prosperity that made books affordable and public and secular sphere: a zone for social life
a fashionable sociability where new ideas could outside the family but not attached to churches
be discussed. The philosophes’ readers, too, were or courts. The new public sphere, found in salons
fed up with all vestiges of medieval culture. They (gatherings in private homes), coffeehouses, and
resented priestly and aristocratic privileges, mo- Masonic lodges, as well as in academies for scien-
narchical decrees in place of deliberation in rep- tific learning such as the Royal Society of London,
resentative assemblies, and restrictions on who provided the social space wherein the Enlighten-
could manufacture what and where. It also helped ment emerged.
that the printing presses were relatively free to All these autonomous and voluntary groups
publish what they pleased in both England and helped create a new secular and public culture. In
the Dutch Republic. this new and free mental space, what we now call
Appealing to the professional classes, literate civil society, people mingled with strangers, polite-
merchants, and women with leisure to read, the ness and conviviality became norms of behavior,
The Formation of a Public and Secular Culture ❖ 423
and informal learning flourished. Lecturers gave receptions in their drawing rooms. There phi-
scientific demonstrations, ordinary men learned losophes graced the tables of aristocrats and dis-
to vote for their leaders or to debate publicly, and cussed ideas in an atmosphere that was civilized
women met outside the home to discuss novels and open. Originally, the salon was an institution
or politics. Indeed, in some of the Parisian salons, found only in noble homes, where the room des-
women were often the key organizers. By the ignated for leisure activities gave the gathering its
1780s, throughout Western Europe, no town of name. The habits of luxurious feasting and gam-
any size was without a private association, club, ing soon were challenged by serious, if somewhat
and newspaper. In the Dutch Republic in 1785, formal, egalitarian conversation. Salons also de-
the first scientific society founded by and for veloped an international correspondence; letters
women met in the town of Middelburg (located in from all over Europe were read to the assembled
the province of Zeeland and no larger than about guests, many of whom were aristocrats. A new
17,000 souls).2 The women chose a Freemason republic of letters as well as cosmopolitanism
and follower of Voltaire to give scientific demon- were occasionally experienced in the salons. Some
strations, and they set about learning Newtonian salons, however, excluded women, who were at-
mechanics with such dedication that their society tacked as frivolous and gossipy.
lasted for more than a hundred years.
Men and women met at these sociable gather-
ings out of a common interest in politics, science, Freemasons
the new novels, or self-improvement. Members
shared certain characteristics: they were highly As the search for a new religiosity during the En-
literate; they possessed some surplus wealth and lightenment came to mean a striving after alter-
leisure time; and, if titled aristocrats, they were natives to traditional beliefs, private groups with
not opposed to mixing with bourgeois lawyers, a ritual and ethical component began to flourish.
doctors, civil servants, and merchants. Such cos- The most famous of these were the Freemasons, a
mopolitan men and women made the theories fraternity that evolved in the late seventeenth cen-
of the philosophes come alive. The new societies tury in England and Scotland. Originally guilds of
thus became schools where the literate expanded working stonemasons, the Masonic lodges evolved
their universe, learning about peoples of the East into fraternities of middle-class and aristocratic
and the Americas and about the Newtonian heav- men (and some women). By the 1720s, they could
ens. In the words of Kant, they dared to think for be found in London and on the Continent. Keep-
themselves. ing to the ideals of the older stonemasons, they
This training in self-governance, self-education, said that all men should meet “upon the level.” In
and social criticism helped prepare the way for the practice, this meant calling one another “brother,”
liberal revolutions that swept across America and holding elections for their leaders, and living un-
Europe at the end of the eighteenth and during der rules for correct behavior, all codified in a pub-
the first half of the nineteenth century. In the first lished book, Constitutions (1723). In Britain, after
years of the French Revolution, one of the earliest the Revolution of 1688–1689, lodges adhered to
activities of the revolutionaries was to set up clubs constitutional practices, religious toleration, char-
based on equality and fraternity and modeled af- ity, and self-education. The lodges sought to make
ter the clubs and lodges of the Enlightenment. their members virtuous, disciplined, and civilized.
For some men, this experience came to rival that
found in the churches. Philosophes such as Benja-
Salons min Franklin and, late in his life, Voltaire, joined
lodges; in some cities, lodges became cultural cen-
Perhaps the most famous of the many new forms ters. In Vienna, Mozart was a Freemason and wrote
of secular culture were the salons, often run by music for his lodge; in Berlin, Frederick the Great
women and mostly found in Paris. Intellectually cultivated the lodges, which in turn became centers
ambitious women, such as Madame Necker and for the cult of enlightened monarchy. Both George
Madame Geoffrin, organized regular evening Washington and Paul Revere were Freemasons.
424 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
By the middle of the eighteenth century, per- equality for their own lives. Many lodges were
haps as many as fifty thousand men belonged to dominated by the most elite elements in Old Re-
lodges in just about every major European city. gime society (see Chapter 19), who found them-
British constitutionalism, as well as the old fra- selves giving allegiance, and often considerable
ternal ideals of equality and liberty, took on new financial support, to a new system of belief and
meaning in these private gatherings. In France in governance—a system that was ultimately incom-
the 1780s, the national Grand Lodge instituted a patible with the principles of birth and inheri-
general assembly of elected representatives from tance on which their power rested. In 1738, the
the entire country, as well as a monthly payment pope condemned membership in the lodges. At
of charity for impoverished brothers. The lodges the time of the French Revolution, its opponents
for women became places where women and men claimed that the lodges were responsible for the
actually talked about the meaning of liberty and uprising. There was no truth to the claim, but it
Alternatives to Orthodoxy ❖ 425
and in copious footnotes, Bayle discussed the The freethinkers had little use for organized re-
most recent learning of the day and never missed ligion or even for Christianity itself. In 1696, the
an opportunity to ridicule the dogmatic, the su- freethinker John Toland (1670–1722) published
perstitious, or the just plain arrogant. In Bayle’s Christianity Not Mysterious. In it, he argued that
hands, the ancient philosophy of skepticism—the most religious doctrines seemed to contradict
doubting of all dogma—was revived and turned reason or common sense and such beliefs as the
into a tool; rigorous questioning of accepted ideas resurrection of Jesus and the miracles of the Bi-
became a method for arriving at new truths. As ble should be dropped. Toland also attacked the
Bayle noted in his Dictionary “It is therefore clergy’s power; in his opinion, the Revolution of
only religion that has anything to fear from Pyr- 1688–1689 had not gone far enough in under-
rhonism [that is, skepticism].”3 In this same criti- mining the power of the established church and
cal spirit, Bayle, in his dictionary article entitled the king. Toland and his freethinking associates
“David,” compared Louis XIV to Goliath. The wanted England to be a republic governed by
message was clear enough: great tyrants and the “reasonable” people who worshiped, as Toland
clergy who prop them up should beware of self- proposed, not a mysterious God but intelligible
confident, independently minded citizens who are nature. For Toland, Newton’s science made nature
skeptical of the claims of authority made by kings intelligible, and he used it as a stick with which to
and churches and are eager to use their own intel- beat at the doctrines of revealed religion.
lects to search for truth. Combining science with skepticism, freethink-
Bayle’s Dictionary had an enormous impact ing, and anticlericalism, critics found ample rea-
throughout Europe. Its alphabetical format cap- son for abandoning all traditional authority. By
tured the imagination of the philosophes. Here 1700, the works of Bayle, the freethinkers, and
was a way of simply, even scientifically, classifying philosophers such as Descartes provoked a gen-
and ordering knowledge. Partly through Bayle’s eral crisis of confidence in established authority.
writings, skepticism became an integral part of Once started in England and the Netherlands and
an enlightened approach to religion. It taught its broadcast via Dutch and French refugee printers,
readers to question the clerical claim that God’s the Enlightenment quickly became international,
design governs human events—that God “or- with French as the language of choice.
dains” certain human actions. Skepticism dealt a Some of the early advocates of the Enlighten-
serious blow to revealed religion and seemed to ment were atheists. They often published clan-
point in the direction of “natural” religion, that is, destinely. A particularly early and outrageous
toward a system of beliefs and ethics designed by example of their thinking appeared under the title
rational people on the basis of their own needs. The Treatise of the Three Impostors (1719). (See
The religious outlook among the enlightened Primary Source box.) However, most of the phi-
drew heavily on the writings of late-seventeenth- losophes were simply deists, who believed only
and early-eighteenth-century English freethinkers. those Christian doctrines that could meet the test
These early proponents of the unorthodox used the of reason. For example, they considered it reason-
term freethinking to signal their hostility to estab- able to believe in God, for only with a creator, they
lished church dogmas and their ability to think for said, could such a superbly organized universe
themselves. They looked back to the English Revo- have come into being. However, after God set the
lution of 1640–1660 for their ideas about govern- universe in motion, he in effect disappeared. Thus,
ment; many English freethinkers were republicans although deists retained a belief in God the Cre-
in the tradition established in the 1650s. Indeed, ator, they rejected clerical authority, revelation,
the freethinkers of the 1690s and beyond helped original sin, and miracles. They held that biblical
popularize English republican ideas at home and accounts of the resurrection and of Jesus walking
in the American colonies, where in 1776 these on water or raising the dead could not be recon-
views would figure prominently among American ciled with natural law. Deists viewed Jesus as a
revolutionaries. French Protestant refugees also great moral teacher, not as the Son of God, and
translated their writings and made them accessible they regarded ethics, not faith, as the essence of
to all who could read French. religion. Rational people, they said, served God
Primary Source
The Treatise of the Three If the people could understand into what an
abyss ignorance throws them, they would soon
Impostors shake off the yoke of unworthy leaders, for it is
impossible to let reason act without its discover-
ing the truth.
Never before in the Christian West had religion been
These impostors have sensed this so well,
attacked as forcefully as it was in the eighteenth
that to prevent the good effects which it [rea-
century. Of course, there had been polemics among
son] would infallibly produce, they have had the
and between the various creeds, but the following
idea of painting it to us as a monster . . . [and]
document denounces all religion and even labels
they would nevertheless be much annoyed if
the founders of the three monotheistic religions as
the truth were listened to. . . .
impostors. It is openly atheistic and advocates that
Those who are ignorant of physical causes
people come out from under the influence of the
have a natural fear which proceeds from un-
clergy and simply worship Nature. To this day, we
easiness & from the doubt they are in, if there
have only circumstantial evidence as to who wrote
exists a Being or a power which has the capacity
it, but we know the circle in the Dutch Republic
to harm them or to preserve them. Thence the
where it originated. Predictably, it included book
penchant which they have to feign [i.e., invent]
dealers (probably out to make some money) and
invisible causes, which are only the Phantoms
angry French Protestants who had been persecuted
of their imagination, which they invoke in ad-
and forced to flee their native country. Sometimes
versity & which they praise in prosperity. They
anger and persecution beget renunciation and de-
make themselves Gods out of these in the end, &
nunciation, in this case of the very impulse that
this chimerical fear of invisible powers is the
caused such grief—namely, religion in general.
source of the Religions. . . .
. . . One should therefore not be astonished that
the world is filled with vain & ridiculous opin-
ions; nothing is better able to give them cur- Questions for Analysis
rency than ignorance; it is the only source of
1. What does the text say about the origin of
the false ideas which men have of the Divinity,
the human impulse to have a religion?
the Soul, Spirits, & of almost all the other ob-
How does this text belong to the Radical
jects which compose Religion. . . .
Enlightenment?
. . . The partisans of these absurdities have
2. Who are the imposters?
succeed so well that it is dangerous to combat
them. It matters too much to these impostors
that the people be ignorant, to suffer that they Margaret C. Jacob, The Enlightenment: A Brief History with
be disabused. Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009).
best by treating their fellow human beings justly. order might simply be more in our heads than in
Early freethinkers, pantheists and deists in both reality. Hume laid great emphasis on social conven-
England and the Dutch Republic constituted what tions, with which he associated religion. Reason
historians now call the Radical Enlightenment. should best be expressed through skepticism.
David Hume (1711–1776), a Scottish skeptic,
attacked both revealed religion and the deists’ belief
in order and design. He maintained that all religious Voltaire the Philosophe
ideas, including Christian teachings and even the
idea of God, stemmed ultimately from human fears The French possessed a vital tradition of intel-
and superstitions. The universe, said Hume, might lectual skepticism going back to the late six-
very well be eternal, and the seemingly universal teenth century, as well as a tradition of scientific
427
428 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
ideals. As he put it, “This is the country of sects. formulas for achieving that goal. These major
An Englishman, as a free man, goes to Heaven political theorists of the Enlightenment were also
by whatever road he pleases.” 4 Voltaire never aware of the writings of Machiavelli and Hobbes
ceased to ridicule the purveyors of superstition and, though often disagreeing with them, bor-
and blind obedience to religious authority, and rowed some of their ideas. They also made use
in such works as Candide (1759) and Microme- of Spinoza (d. 1677), who argued that God and
gas (1752), he castigated the clergy. his creation are one substance and who deeply
Voltaire, a practical reformer, campaigned for influenced what the freethinker John Toland first
the rule of law, a freer press, religious toleration, called pantheism.
humane treatment of criminals, and a more ef- During the Renaissance, Machiavelli (d. 1527)
fective system of government administration. analyzed politics in terms of power, fortune, and
His writings constituted a radical attack on sev- the ability of the individual ruler; he did not call
eral aspects of eighteenth-century French society. in God to justify the power of princes or to ex-
Yet, like so many philosophes, Voltaire feared the plain their demise. Machiavelli also preferred a
power of the people, especially if goaded by the republican form of government to monarchy, and
clergy. He was happiest in the company of the rich his republican vision did not lose its appeal dur-
and powerful, provided they tolerated his ideas ing the Enlightenment. Very late in the eighteenth
and supported reform. Not surprisingly, Voltaire century, most liberal theorists recognized that the
was frequently disappointed by eighteenth-century republican form of government, or at least the vir-
monarchs, such as Frederick the Great in Prussia, tues practiced by citizens in a republic, offered the
who promised enlightenment but sought mainly to only alternative to the corruption and repression
increase their own power and that of their armies. associated with absolute monarchy assisted by the
Perhaps the happiest decision of Voltaire’s life church.
was to team up with the scientist and philosophe Political thinkers of the Enlightenment were
Madame du Châtelet (1706–1749). Together they ambivalent toward much of the writing of
read Newton, although she became the more Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). All, however, liked
proficient mathematician. Before her death dur- his belief that self-interest is a valid reason for
ing the birth of their child, Madame du Châtelet engaging in political activity and his refusal to
made the only French translation of the Principia, bring God into his system to justify the power of
explicated it, and trained scientists who took up kings. Hobbes said that power did not rest on di-
Newtonian ideas and spread them throughout vine right but arose out of a contract made among
Western Europe. men who agreed to elevate the state, and hence
the monarch, to a position of power over them.
That contract, once made, could not be broken.
POLITICAL THOUGHT As a consequence, the power of the government,
whether embodied in a king or a parliament, was
With the exception of Machiavelli in the Renais- absolute.
sance and Thomas Hobbes and the republicans Hobbes published his major work, Leviathan,
during the English Revolution of 1640–1660, in 1651, when England had just emerged from
the Enlightenment produced the greatest origi- civil war; thus, he was obsessed with the issue of
nality in modern political thought witnessed in political stability. He feared that, left to their own
the West up to that time. Three major European devices, men would kill one another; the “war of
thinkers and a host of minor ones wrote treatises all against all”5 would prevail without the firm
on politics that remain relevant to this day: John hand of a sovereign to stop it. Hobbes’s vision of
Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1690); human nature was dark and forbidding. In the
Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu, The Spirit state of nature, the original men had lived lives
of the Laws (1748); and Jean Jacques Rous- that could only have been “nasty, brutish, and
seau, The Social Contract (1762). All repudi- short.” Their sole recourse was to make a contract
ated the divine right of kings and strove to check among themselves and establish a power over
the power of monarchy; each offered different themselves that would restrain them. For Hobbes,
430 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
Locke
Probably the most widely read political philoso-
pher during the first half of the eighteenth cen-
tury was John Locke (1632–1704). Locke came
to maturity in the late 1650s, and like so many
of his contemporaries, he was drawn to science.
Although he was a medical doctor, his major in- LOCKE ON THE CONTINENT. John Locke enjoyed an
terest lay in politics and political theory. His Two international reputation. This highly stylized portrait
Treatises of Government was seen as a justifica- of him is adorned with French text. Locke had
tion for the English Revolution of 1688–1689 lived in the Dutch Republic, and his writings were
and the notion of government by consent of the promoted by French Huguenot refugees who hated
people. (Although the treatises were published in the monarchy they left behind. (© Bettmann/Corbis.)
1690, Locke wrote them before the Glorious Rev-
olution; that fact, however, was not known during
the Enlightenment.)
Locke’s theory, in its broad outlines, stated groups whose beliefs did not threaten the state.
that the right to govern derived from the con- Locke denied toleration to Catholics because of
sent of the governed and was a form of contract. their association with the Stuarts and to atheists
When people gave their consent to a govern- because their oaths to God could not be trusted.
ment, they expected it to govern justly, protect He also promoted the necessity for education,
their property, and ensure certain liberties for the particularly for those who saw themselves as the
propertied. If a government attempted to rule ab- natural leaders of society. And not least, he advo-
solutely and arbitrarily—if it violated the natural cated commerce and trade as one of the founda-
rights of the individual—it reneged on its con- tions of England’s national strength.
tract and forfeited the loyalty of its subjects. Such Late in the eighteenth century, Locke’s ideas
a government could legitimately be overthrown. were used to justify liberal revolutions in both
Locke believed that a constitutional government Europe and America. His Two Treatises of
that limited the power of rulers offered the best Government had been translated into French early
defense of property and individual rights. He in the century by Huguenot refugees. These Prot-
also advocated religious toleration for religious estant victims of French absolutism, persecuted for
Political Thought ❖ 431
their religion, saw that the importance of Locke’s country. In addition, Montesquieu’s ideas on a
political philosophy was not simply in his use of balanced system of government found favor in the
contract theory to justify constitutional govern- new American republic.
ment; he also asserted that the community could
take up arms against its sovereign in the name of
the natural rights of liberty and property. Locke’s Rousseau
ideas about the foundation of government had
greater impact on the European Continent and Not until the 1760s did democracy find its cham-
in America during the eighteenth century than in pion: Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Rous-
England. The Dutch and American revolutions seau based his political philosophy on contract
found their justification from reprinted editions theory and his reading of Hobbes. For Rousseau,
of Locke’s Second Treatise. the people choose their government and, in so do-
ing, effectively give birth to civil society. But he
further demanded (in contrast to Hobbes) that the
Montesquieu contract be constantly renewed and that govern-
ment be made immediately and directly respon-
Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu (1689– sible to the will of the people. The Social Contract
1755) was a French aristocrat who, like Voltaire, opened with this stirring cry for reform, “Man is
visited England late in the 1720s and knew the born free; and everywhere he is in chains,” and
writings of Locke. Montesquieu had little sym- went on to ask how freedom could be attained.
pathy for revolutions, but he did approve of con- Freedom is in the very nature of man: “to renounce
stitutional monarchy. His primary concern was liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the
to check the unbridled authority of the French rights of humanity and even its duties.”6 Human
kings. In opposition to the Old Regime, Mon- beings are born free and innocent in the state of
tesquieu proposed a balanced system of gov- nature; only society and government corrupt them.
ernment, with an executive branch offset by a Rousseau’s political ideal was the city-state of
legislature whose members were drawn from the ancient Greece, where men (but not women) par-
landed and educated elements in society. From ticipated actively and directly in politics and were
his writings we derive our notion of government willing to sacrifice self-interest to the communi-
divided into branches. Montesquieu genuinely ty’s needs. In the ancient republics, the state was
believed that the aristocracy possessed a natu- a moral association that made people better and
ral and sacred obligation to rule and that their in which good citizenship was the highest form of
honor called them to serve the community. He excellence. In contrast, modern society was prey
also sought to fashion a government that chan- to many conflicting interests; Rousseau said that
neled the interests and energies of its people, a the rich and powerful used the state to preserve
government that was not bogged down in cor- their advantages and power and that the poor
ruption and inefficiency. and powerless viewed it as an oppressor. Conse-
In stressing the rule of law and the importance quently, obedience to law, devotion to the state,
of nonmonarchical authority, Montesquieu be- and freedom—the characteristics of the Greek
came a source for legitimating the authority of city-state—had been lost.
representative institutions. Hardly an advocate of In The Social Contract, Rousseau tried to re-
democracy, Montesquieu was nonetheless seen as solve the conflict between individual freedom
a powerful critic of royal absolutism. His writings, and the demands of the state. His solution was
particularly The Spirit of the Laws, established a small state, modeled after his native city of Ge-
him both as a major philosophe who possessed neva as well as after the Greek city-state. Such
republican tendencies and as a critic of the Old a state, said Rousseau, should be based on the
Regime in France. Once again, innovative politi- general will: that which is best for the community
cal thinking highlighted the failures of absolut- and expresses its common interests. Rousseau
ist government and pointed to the need for some wanted laws of the state to coincide with the gen-
kind of representative assembly in every European eral will. He believed in human beings’ wisdom
432 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
SOCIAL THOUGHT
Rousseau looked on society as the corrupter of
human beings, who, left to their own devices,
were inherently virtuous and freedom loving.
Many enlightened thinkers also viewed society,
if not as corrupting, at least as needing constant
reform. Some critics were prepared to work with
those in power to bring about social reforms.
Other philosophes believed that the key to reform
lay not in social and political institutions but in
changing the general mentality through education
and knowledge. All developed new ideas about
humankind as travelers told of new peoples and
ROUSSEAU . Rousseau sought innocence and a
places where commonplace concepts, such as the
return to nature. Here children lead the way. (© Roger-
Judeo-Christian God, had never existed. The soci-
Viollet/The Image Works.)
eties of Native Americans fascinated Europeans,
who vacillated between feeling superior and be-
lieving themselves mired in baroquely rigid cus-
to arrive at laws that serve the common good, toms. In general, the travel literature freed the
but to do so, they must set aside selfish interests European imagination to think about the com-
for the good of the community. For Rousseau, plexity of human customs and to compare them-
freedom consisted of obeying laws prescribed by selves with other peoples and their religions.
citizens inspired by the general will. The citizens
themselves must constitute the lawmaking body;
lawmaking cannot be entrusted to a single person Epistemology and Education
or a small group.
In Rousseau’s view, those who disobey laws— Just as Locke’s Two Treatises of Government
who act according to their private will rather than helped shape the political thought of the En-
in accordance with the general will as expressed lightenment, his Essay Concerning Human Un-
in law—degrade themselves and undermine the derstanding (1689) provided the theoretical
community. Therefore, government has the right foundations for an unprecedented interest in
to force citizens to be obedient, to compel them to education. Locke’s view that at birth the mind
exercise their individual wills in the proper way. is blank—a clean slate, or tabula rasa—had two
He left the problem of minority rights unresolved. important implications. First, if human beings did
No philosopher of the Enlightenment was more not come into this world with innate ideas, then
dangerous to the Old Regime than Rousseau. His they were not, as Christianity taught, inherently
ideas were perceived as truly revolutionary—a sinful. Second, a person’s environment was the
Profile
Mary Wollstonecraft liberal Protestantism to freethinking and pos-
sibly atheism. She went to France during its
One of the founders of modern feminism and Revolution and wanted to raise her daughter
a deeply committed defender of liberty, hu- there because she believed that in France she
man rights, and the French Revolution, Mary would be freer. By far her most famous book
Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) came to maturity is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792),
in a circle of English radicals. Her friends in- a classic statement of women’s rights and the
cluded the Unitarian ministers Richard Price causes of prejudice and inequality. Since the
and Joseph Priestley, and she knew the Brit- two hundredth anniversary of Wollstonecraft’s
ish-born American radical Thomas Paine. famous book, her writings have been revived,
Although she received little formal education, and she has been placed at the center of the
she taught herself languages, made a living as European Enlightenment as an embodiment
a translator, read Rousseau critically, and be- of its belief in science and the possibility of
gan an intellectual odyssey that took her from human emancipation.
decisive force in shaping his or her character and suited to the interests of the laity. Predictably, sci-
intelligence. Nine of every ten men, wrote Locke, ence was given a special place. In France, for all
“are good or evil, useful or not, [because of] their the interest in education on the part of the phi-
education.” Such a theory was eagerly received by losophes, by 1789, probably only 50 percent of
the reform-minded philosophes, who preferred the men and about 20 percent of the women were
attributing wickedness to faulty institutions, im- literate.
proper rearing, and poor education rather than to The standards of education for girls and
a defective human nature. women were appalling. Only a few philosophes,
In the Enlightenment view, the proper study of mostly women, and the occasional clergyman
humanity addressed the process by which people who had seen firsthand the poor quality of female
can and do know. Locke had said that individu- education called for reform. But reform did not
als take the information produced by their senses come until after 1800, when industrialization put
and reflect on it; in that way, they arrive at com- more women in the work force and required some
plex ideas. Aside from an environment promoting literacy. As for higher education, women were
learning, education obviously requires the active excluded, with a few exceptions. Madame du
participation of students. Merely receiving knowl- Châtelet in France had studied mathematics with
edge not tested by their own sense experience is a private tutor; and in Italy, Laura Bassi became
inadequate. the first woman to teach in a European university,
More treatises were written on education dur- at Bologna. In the Netherlands, women founded a
ing the eighteenth century than in all previous scientific academy in 1785. However, these were
centuries combined. On the Continent, where the isolated waves in a sea of largely male and clerical
clergy controlled many schools and all the univer- indifference.
sities, the educated laity began to demand state Generally, Protestant countries were better at
regulation and inspection of educational facili- ensuring basic literacy and numeracy for boys
ties. This insistence revealed a growing discontent and probably also for girls. Lutheran Prussia and
with the clergy and their independent authority. Presbyterian Scotland excelled in the field of edu-
By the second half of the century, new schools and cation, but for very different reasons. In Prussia,
universities in Prussia, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Frederick the Great decreed universal public ed-
and Russia attempted to teach practical subjects ucation for boys as part of his effort to surpass
433
434 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
the level of technical expertise found in other and clerical authority. He also shared in the gender
countries. His educational policy was another ex- bias of his age, although what may seem bias to
ample of his using the Enlightenment to increase us may also have reflected his belief that women
the power of the central government. In Scot- sought the home as a solace and refuge. Certainly,
land, improvements in education were sponsored many women read him critically, but essentially as
mainly by the established Presbyterian (Calvinist) an ally and defender.
church. The Protestant universities were by and
large more progressive intellectually than their
Catholic counterparts. The Jesuits, for instance, Humanitarianism
resisted teaching the new science. By contrast,
medicine at the universities of Edinburgh—along Crime and Punishment. No society founded
with medicine at the University of Leiden in the on the principles of the Enlightenment may con-
Netherlands—became the most advanced of the done the torture of prisoners and the inhumanity
century. But ironically, the universities were never of a corrupt legal system. On those points, all the
at the forefront of the Enlightenment. For the philosophes were clear, and they had plenty of ev-
latest ideas, one went to the salons and not the idence from their own societies on which to base
professors. their condemnation of torture and the inhumanity
That fact fitted in very well with Locke’s doc- of the criminal justice system.
trine that knowledge comes primarily through ex- Whether an individual was imprisoned for un-
perience. Rousseau took it up and brought it to paid debts or for banditry or murder, prison con-
its logical conclusion. In Émile (1762), he argued ditions differed little. Prisoners were often starved
that individuals learn from nature, from people, or exposed to disease, or both. In many Continen-
or from things. Indeed, Rousseau wanted the early tal countries, where torture was still legal, prison-
years of a child’s education to be centered on de- ers could be subjected to brutal interrogation or
veloping the senses and not spent with the child to random punishment. In 1777, English reformer
chained to a schoolroom desk. Later, attention John Howard published a report in England and
would be paid to intellectual pursuits, and then Wales that documented how prisoners went with-
finally to morality. Rousseau grasped a funda- out food or medical assistance.
mental principle of modern psychology: the child It was the reformers of the Enlightenment who
is not a small adult, and childhood is not merely began to agitate against the prison conditions of
preparation for adulthood but a particular stage the day. Even if torture was illegal, as was the case
in human development with its own distinguish- only in England, prison conditions were often
ing characteristics. as harmful as torture to the physical and mental
Rousseau appealed especially to women to be health of inmates. Conditions still present in some
virtuous and to protect their children from social prisons and detention centers today would have
convention, that is, to teach their children about been intolerable to the philosophe-reformers.
honesty and sentiment. There were problems with Although there is something particularly
Rousseau’s educational system. He would make reprehensible about the torturer, his skills were
the family the major educational force, and he consciously applauded in many countries dur-
wanted the products of such education to be cos- ing the eighteenth century. Fittingly, the most
mopolitan and enlightened individuals, singularly powerful critique of the European system of
free from superstition and prejudice. However, punishment came from Italy, where the Inquisi-
women (whom Rousseau would confine to the tion and its torture chambers had reigned with
home) were to bear the burden of instilling en- little opposition for centuries. In Milan, during
lightenment, although they had little experience of the early 1760s, the Enlightenment had made
the world beyond the family, and in France their very gradual inroads, and in a small circle of re-
education was entirely in the hands of nuns. formers, the methods of torture employed by the
Rousseau’s contradictions, particularly about Inquisition and the relationship between church
women, sprang in large measure from his desper- and state in the matter of criminal justice were
ate search for an alternative to aristocratic mores avidly discussed.
Social Thought ❖ 435
Many philosophes on both sides of the Atlantic the eighteenth century, the emphasis that the
knew Quaker thought, and Voltaire, who had Enlightenment placed on moral sensibility pro-
mixed feelings about slavery, and Benjamin Frank- duced a literature that used shock to emphasize
lin, who condemned it, admired the Quakers and over and over again, and with genuine revul-
their principles. sion, the inhumanity of slavery.
On the problem of slavery, some philosophes By the second half of the century, a new gen-
were strangely ambivalent. In an ideal world— eration of philosophes launched bitter attacks
just about all agreed—slavery would not exist. on slavery. With Rousseau in the vanguard, they
But the world was not ideal, and given human condemned slavery as a violation of the natural
wickedness, greed, and lust for power, Voltaire rights of man. The philosophes invented the con-
thought that both slavery and exploitation might cept of human rights. In a volume issued in 1755,
be inevitable. “The human race,” Voltaire wrote the great Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment,
in his Philosophical Dictionary (1764), “consti- edited by Diderot, condemned slavery in no un-
tuted as it is, cannot subsist unless there be an certain terms: “There is not a single one of these
infinite number of useful individuals possessed of hapless souls . . . who does not have the right to
no property at all.”8 Diderot thought that slav- be declared free . . . since neither his ruler nor his
ery was probably immoral but concluded that, father nor anyone else had the right to dispose of
given the importance of slavery in the colonies his freedom.”9 That statement appeared in thou-
and the fact that the French monarchy provided sands of copies and various editions of an ency-
no leadership in changing the situation, there was clopedia that was probably the most influential
no point in trying to abolish slavery at the time. publication resulting from the French Enlighten-
Indeed, not until 1794, and only after agonized ment. Indeed, French writers led the enlightened
debate, did the French government, no longer a attacks on slavery. The Dutch novelist Betje Wolff
monarchy, finally abolish slavery in its colonies. had to translate French writers when, in 1790,
It must be remembered that political thinkers she launched her attack on the Dutch slave trade.
of the Enlightenment, among them Locke (who These writers put the followers of the Enlight-
condoned slavery) and Montesquieu (whose ideas enment in the antislavery camp. But that victory
were used to condone it), rejected God-given was clouded by ambiguous language coming
political authority and argued for the rights of straight from the pens of some of Europe’s sup-
property holders and for social utility as the foun- posedly most enlightened thinkers and by their
dations of good government. Those criteria, prop- prejudice against blacks as non-Europeans.
erty and utility, played right into the hands of the
proslavery apologists. Montesquieu condemned Social Equality. The humanitarian impulse in-
slavery, but that did not stop its apologists from evitably entailed taking a cold, hard look at social
using his ideas about the relationship between hot inequalities, which were very obvious in a century
climates and sloth to justify enslaving Africans. when dress, speech, body gestures, and even smell
Even radicals inspired by the French Revolution, told all. The poor were visibly underfed; workers
such as the British manufacturer Thomas Cooper, wore the costumes of their trade; aristocrats, both
could emigrate to the Carolinas and become slave men and women, dressed in elaborate wigs, shoes,
owners and apologists for the system. silks, jewels, and lace. Devout Calvinist women
Ye t i f t h e p r i n c i p l e h e l d , a s s o m a n y often wore black, and only their rings or head-
philosophes argued, that human happiness was pieces betrayed their social status. How could the
the greatest good, how could slavery be justi- ideal of human equality be conceptualized in such
fied? In his short novel Candide, Voltaire has a society?
his title character confront the spectacle of a Voltaire despised the lower classes. Kant said
young African slave who has had his leg and that women should feel and not reason: “her phi-
arm cut off merely because it is the custom of losophy is not to reason, but to sense.”10 Women
a country. Candide’s philosophical optimism had few property rights, and the poor had even
is shattered as he reflects on the human price fewer; the Lockean contract seemed irrelevant
paid by this slave, who harvested the sugar that to their circumstances. Yet in the American and
Europeans enjoyed so abundantly. Throughout French revolutions, the leaders proclaimed human
Social Thought ❖ 437
equality as an ideal. But even though France freed on the mental agenda of Western societies. Men
the slaves in the colonies, the Jacobins closed down and women could meet as equals at social gath-
women’s political clubs. In the new American re- erings, the new novels could depict the suffering
public, women began to take a more active role in of women at the hands of brutal men or describe
civil society; slavery, however, remained (in every the wretched life of the poor, women could travel
northern state, though, it was abolished by 1804). abroad as never before, and traveling scientific
Modern critics condemn the Enlightenment for be- lecturers frequently sought their tuition. Leisure,
ing inconsistent, but historical reality can be under- literacy, public and secular culture, fiery journal-
stood only in relation to the backward alternatives ism, local newspapers, travelers’ reports, even the
offered by absolute monarchs and established new and naughty pornography—all attacked the
churches. superstitions and contradictions that centuries of
More than any other previous historical move- custom had enshrined. The new science pointed
ment, the Enlightenment put human equality to a universe where matter was everywhere the
438 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
same—atoms are all equal—and it universally thinking on ethics, was the role of self-interest. Far
obeyed impersonal and impartial laws. The strug- from being considered crude or socially danger-
gle to achieve democratic equality—the dilemma ous, it was seen as a good thing to be cautiously
of modern life—first came to the surface in accepted. In the mid-seventeenth century, Hobbes
countless acts of reading and conversing in the took the view that self-interest lay at the root of
new enlightened and urban culture. It continues political action. By the end of the century, Locke
to this day. argued that government, rather than primar-
ily restraining the extremes of human greed and
the search for power, should promote the inter-
ECONOMIC THOUGHT ests of its citizens. By the middle of the eighteenth
century, enlightened theorists all over Europe—
The Enlightenment’s emphasis on property as the especially in England, Scotland, and France—had
foundation for individual rights and its search decided that self-interest was the foundation of all
for uniform laws inspired by Newton’s scientific human actions and that at every turn government
achievement led to the development of the sci- should aid people in expressing their interests and
ence of economics. Appropriately, that intellec- thus in finding true happiness.
tual achievement occurred in the most advanced Of course, in the area of economic life, gov-
capitalistic nation in Europe, Great Britain. Not ernment had for centuries regulated most aspects
only were the British in the vanguard of capi- of the market. The classic economic theory be-
talist expansion, but by the third quarter of the hind such regulation was mercantilism. Mer-
eighteenth century, that expansion had started cantilists believed that a constant shortage of
the Industrial Revolution. Britain’s new facto- riches—bullion, goods, whatever—existed and
ries and markets for the manufacture and distri- that governments must direct economic activity
bution of goods provided a natural laboratory in their states so as to compete successfully with
where theorists schooled in the Enlightenment’s other nations for a share of the world’s scarce
insistence on observation and experimentation resources.
could watch the ebb and flow of capitalist pro- It required faith in the inherent usefulness of
duction and distribution. In contrast to its harsh self-interest to assert that government should
criticisms of existing institutions and old elites, cease regulating economic activity and that the
the Enlightenment on the whole approved of the market should be allowed to be free. The doctrine
independent businessman—the entrepreneur. of laissez faire—leaving the market to its own
And there was no one more approving than devices—was the centerpiece of Adam Smith’s
Adam Smith (1732–1790), whose Wealth of massive economic study on the origins of the
Nations (1776) became a kind of bible for those wealth of nations.
who regarded capitalist activity as uniformly As a professor in Glasgow, Scotland, Smith ac-
worthwhile and never to be inhibited by outside tually went to factories to observe the work. He
regulation. was one of the first theorists to see the impor-
Throughout the seventeenth century in Eng- tance of the division of labor in making possible
land, there had been a long tradition of economic the manufacture of more and cheaper consumer
thought. The resulting ideology stressed indepen- goods. Smith viewed labor as the critical factor in
dent initiative and the freedom of market forces a capitalist economy: the value of money, or of
to determine the value of money and the goods it an individual for that matter, rested on the ability
can buy. By 1700, English economic thought was to buy labor or the byproducts of labor, namely
already well ahead of what could be found on goods and services. According to The Wealth of
the Continent, with the exception of some Dutch Nations, “labor is the real measure of the ex-
writings. That sophistication undoubtedly re- changeable value of all commodities.”11 The value
flected the complexity of market life in cities such of labor is in turn determined by market forces,
as London and Amsterdam. by supply and demand. Before the invention of
One important element in seventeenth-century money or capital, labor belonged to the laborer,
economic thought, as well as in the most advanced but in the money and market society, which had
The High Enlightenment ❖ 439
evolved since the Middle Ages, labor belonged to of the Enlightenment. The Roman Catholic
the highest bidder. Church was deeply entrenched in every aspect of
Smith was not bothered by the apparent random- life: landownership, control over the universities
ness of market forces, although he was distressed and the presses, and access to both the court and,
by signs of greed and exploitation. Beneath the through the pulpit, the people. For decades, the
superficial chaos of commerce, he saw order—the church had brought its influence to bear against
same order that he saw in physical nature through the philosophes, yet by 1750, the Enlightenment
his understanding of the new science. He used the had penetrated learned circles and academies in
metaphor of “the invisible hand” to explain the Paris and the provinces. After 1750, censorship
source of this order; by that he probably meant of the press was relaxed by a new censor deeply
Newton’s regulatory God, made very distant by influenced by Enlightenment ideals. In fact, cen-
Smith, who was a deist. That hand would invisibly sorship had produced the opposite of the desired
reconcile self-interest to the common or public in- effect: the more irreligious and atheistic the book
terest. With the image of the invisible hand, Smith or manuscript, the more attractive and sought
expressed his faith in the rationality of commercial after it became.
society and laid the first principle for the modern By the 1740s, the fashion among proponents
science of capitalist economics. He did not mean of the Enlightenment was to seek an encyclope-
to license the oppression of the poor and the la- dic format for presenting their ideas. After Bayle’s
borer. Statements in The Wealth of Nations such Dictionary, the first successful encyclopedia was
as “Landlords, like all other men, love to reap published in England by Ephraim Chambers in
where they never sowed” or “Whenever there is 1728, and before too long, a plan was under way
great property, there is great inequality”12 reveal for its translation into French. A leading Freema-
Smith to be a moralist. Yet he knew of no means son in France, the chevalier Ramsay, advocated
to stop the exploitation of labor. He believed that that all the Masonic lodges in Europe should
its purchase at market value ensured the working make a financial contribution to this effort, but
of commercial society, and he assumed that the few, if any, responded to the call.
supply of cheap labor was inexhaustible. Four aggressive Parisian publishers took up the
For all their differences, Smith and the French task of producing the encyclopedia. One of them
physiocrats shared certain characteristics common had had some shady dealings in clandestine lit-
to enlightened economic theorists. Smith wanted erature, which had acquainted him with the more
to find the laws that regulated economic life; in irreligious and daring philosophes in Paris. Hence,
that search, these economic theorists imitated the he knew the young Denis Diderot (1713–1784),
successes of the new science. In addition, they be- who had spent six months in jail for his philo-
lieved that progress was possible and that wealth sophical and pornographic writings. Out of that
and well-being could be increased for all. Knowl- consortium of publishers and philosophes came
edge is progressive; hence, by implication, the the most important book of the Enlightenment,
human condition also yields to constant improve- Diderot’s Encyclopedia. Published in 1751 and in
ment. This vision sometimes made the advocates of succeeding years and editions, the Encyclopedia
laissez faire myopic when it came to poverty and initiated a new stage in the history of Enlighten-
the injustice of the market. What they bequeathed ment publishing. In the process, it brought to the
to the modern age was a belief in the inevitability forefront heretical ideas, which, until that time,
of progress wedded to capitalism and free trade— only the most radical freethinkers in England and
a belief that remains powerful to this day. the Netherlands had openly written about. The
new era thus ushered in, called the High Enlight-
enment, was characterized by a violent attack on
THE HIGH ENLIGHTENMENT the church’s privileges and the very foundations
of Christian belief. From the 1750s to the 1780s,
More than any other political system in Western Paris shone as the capital of the Enlightenment.
Europe, the Old Regime in France was directly The philosophes were no longer a persecuted
threatened by the doctrines and reforming impulse minority. Instead, they became cultural heroes.
440
GREENLAND
ICELAND
Hudson
Bay
GREAT
NEWFOUNDLAND BRITAIN NETHERLANDS
NORTH Quebec
FRANCE
EUROPE ASIA
Montreal MANCHURIA
AMERICA Boston
New York Azores (Port.) PORTUGAL SPAIN
Philadelphia JAPAN
Williamsburg Madeira (Port.)
MEXICO Charles Town
St. Augustine
CHINA
Canary Is. (Sp.) Macao
PACIFIC
Bahamas (Br.) Calcutta (Port.) Formosa OCEAN
Mexico City ARABIA INDIA Canton
We Cape
stIndies SENEGAL (Fr.) Goa (Port.) Madras (Br.) Philippine Is. (Sp.)
GUATEMALA Verde Is.
Cartagena GUI GU Pondicherry
AN (Port.) INEA AFRICA Cochin (Du.)
NEW Caracas A (Fr.)
GRANADA ATLANTIC Ceylon
GOLD COAST
Quito OCEAN Borneo NEW
(Br.) Mombasa Sumatra GUINEA
PERU SOUTH BRAZIL Recife
Zanzibar
INDIAN DUTCH EAST INDIES
PACIFIC Java
Lima AMERICA OCEAN Timor
OCEAN
MADAGASCAR
Île de France (Fr.)
PARAGUAY Rio de Janeiro NEW HOLLAND
(AUSTRALIA)
ZEALAND
ON
British (Du.)
PATAG
French
Dutch
Portuguese
Spanish
0 250 500Km.
0 250 500Mi.
The High Enlightenment ❖ 441
DIDEROT AND ARTISANS. There are many extraordinary aspects of Diderot’s great
Encyclopedia. Among the most noted are the quality and precision of the engravings
that depict workers at their crafts. To this day, the volumes remain important
sources for knowledge about every craft of the age. (© Bettmann/Corbis.)
The Encyclopedia had to be read by anyone claim- a collector of facts; in addition, it gave dozens of
ing to be educated. examples of useful new mechanical devices.
In his preface to the Encyclopedia, Diderot’s D’Alembert in the preface also praised the epis-
collaborator, Jean d’Alembert (c. 1717–1783), temology of Locke: all that is known is known
summed up the principles on which it had been through the senses. He declared that all learning
compiled. In effect, he wrote a powerful summa- should be catalogued and readily available, that
tion of the Enlightenment’s highest ideals. He also the printing press should enlighten, and that lit-
extolled Newton’s science and gave a short de- erary societies should encourage men of talent.
scription of its universal laws. The progress of ge- These societies, he added, “should banish all in-
ometry and mechanics in combination, d’Alembert equalities that might exclude or discourage men
wrote in his preface, “may be considered the most who are endowed with talents that will enlighten
incontestable monument of the success to which others.”14
the human mind can rise by its efforts.”13 In turn, During the High Enlightenment, reformers
he urged that revealed religion be reduced to a few dwelled increasingly on the Old Regime’s inequal-
precepts to be practiced; religion should, he im- ities, which seemed to stifle men of talent. The ar-
plied, be made scientific and rational. The Ency- istocracy and the clergy were not always talented,
clopedia itself explicitly followed Francis Bacon’s and seldom were they agitators for enlightenment
admonition that the scientist should be first of all and reform. Their privileges seemed increasingly
less rational. By the 1780s, Paris had produced
a new generation of philosophes, for whom Vol-
◀ Map 18.1 EUROPEAN EXPANSION, 1715 taire, Diderot, and Rousseau were aged or dead
Globalization as a process began in the eighteenth heroes. But these young authors found the life of
century with European trade, exploration, and the propagandist to be poor and solitary, and they
colonization. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.) looked at society’s ills as victims rather than as
442 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
reformers. They gained firsthand knowledge of Early in the eighteenth century, the Dutch and the
the injustices catalogued so brilliantly by Rous- Spanish had largely dropped out of the race for
seau in The Social Contract. colonies in North America, leaving the field to the
The High Enlightenment’s systematic, sus- French and the English.
tained, and occasionally violent attacks on the By the middle of the eighteenth century, the ri-
clergy and the irrationality of privilege link that valry of these two powers for territory in the New
movement with the French Revolution. The link World increased tension in the Old World. Earlier,
did not lie in the comfortable heresies of the great the British had sought to contain the French co-
philosophes, ensconced as they were in the fash- lossus and to ensure their historic trading inter-
ionable Parisian salons. Rather, it was to be found ests in the Low Countries and the Rhineland by
in the way those heresies were interpreted by allying themselves with the Dutch Republic and
a new generation of reformers—Marat and the Austrians, who controlled what is today called
Robespierre among them—who in the early days of Belgium. The alliance of the Maritime Powers
the Revolution used the Enlightenment as a mirror (Britain and the Netherlands) with Austria tilted
on which they reflected the evils of the old order. the balance of power against France for the entire
first half of the eighteenth century.
Meanwhile, Prussia under Frederick the Great
EUROPEAN POLITICAL AND was entering the ranks of the major powers.
DIPLOMATIC DEVELOPMENTS In 1740, Frederick launched an aggressive for-
eign policy against neighboring states and ruth-
Warfare lessly seized the Austrian province of Silesia. The
forces of the new Austrian queen, Maria Theresa,
The dreams of the philosophes seemed unable to were powerless to resist this kind of military on-
forestall imperial developments in power politics, slaught. Silesia augmented the Prussian popula-
war, and diplomacy. The century was dominated by tion by 50 percent. The Austrians never forgave
two areas of extreme conflict: Anglo-French rivalry his transgression.
over control of territory in the New World and he- In 1756, Maria Theresa formed an alliance
gemony in northern Europe; and intense rivalry be- with France against Prussia; the ensuing Seven
tween Austria and Prussia over control of Central Years’ War (1756–1763) involved every major
Europe. These major powers, with their imperial- European power. Austria’s alliance with France
istic ambitions, were led by cadres of aristocratic in 1756, which ended the historic rivalry between
ministers or generals. The Enlightenment did little France and the House of Hapsburg, is known
to displace the warmaking role that had belonged as the diplomatic revolution. The Austrians had
to the aristocracy since the Middle Ages. In Berlin, grown to fear Prussia in the north more than
some philosophes enjoyed the brilliance of court they feared the French. From the Austrian point
life and turned a blind eye to Prussian militarism. of view, Prussia had stolen Silesia in 1740, and
France and England were the great rivals in regaining it was more important than preserv-
the New World, although colonization had been ing historic rivalries with France. On the French
well under way since the early sixteenth century. side, King Louis XV longed for an alliance with a
Spain had been the first sovereign state to estab- Roman Catholic power and for peace in Europe
lish an empire in America; located principally in so that France would be better able to wage war
South America and Central America, this em- against Britain in the New World.
pire was based on mining gold and silver, trade, For their part, the British sought an ally in the
and slaves. The English and the Dutch had fol- newer, stronger Prussia and reneged on their tra-
lowed, first as settlers and then also as slave ditional ally, Austria. Frederick the Great stood at
traders, but their colonies lay to the north—in the head of a new state that was highly belligerent
Virginia, New Amsterdam (later to become New yet insecure, for all the European powers had rea-
York), and New England. Farther north, the sons to want to keep Prussia weak and small. The
French explored and exploited Canada and the re- Seven Years’ War—which seesawed between the
gion now known as the midwestern United States. opponents, with French, Austrian, and Russian
European Political and Diplomatic Developments ❖ 443
they regarded as the medieval outlook of the tra- ways their predecessors had not, that knowledge
ditional clergy. is power; they saw that application of learned the-
Dynastic consolidation and warfare did con- ories to policy can produce useful results.
tribute decisively to the creation of the Austrian But did these enlightened despots try to cre-
state. But in the eighteenth century, the intel- ate more humanitarian societies in which indi-
lectual and cultural forces of the Enlightenment vidual freedom would flourish on all levels? In
enabled the state to establish an efficient system this area, enlightened despotism must be pro-
of government and a European breadth of vi- nounced a shallow deployment of Enlightenment
sion. With these attributes, Austria came to ri- ideals. For example, Frederick the Great decreed
val (and, in regard to Spain, surpass) older, more the abolition of serfdom in Prussia, but he had
established states in Europe. Frustrated in their no means to force the aristocracy to conform
German territories, the Austrian Hapsburgs con- because he desperately needed their support. In
centrated their attention increasingly on their the 1780s, Joseph II instituted liberalized pub-
eastern states. Vienna gave them a natural power lishing laws in Austria; but when artisans began
base, and Catholic religiosity gradually united reading pamphlets about the French Revolution,
the ruling elites in Bohemia and Hungary with the state quickly retreated and reimposed cen-
their Hapsburg kings. Hapsburg power created sorship. In the 1750s, Frederick the Great too
a dynastic state in Austria, yet all efforts to con- had loosened the censorship laws, and writers
solidate the German part of the empire and to were free to attack traditional religion; however,
establish effective imperial rule met with failure. they were never allowed to criticize the army,
Also problematic were Joseph II’s interventions the key to Frederick’s aggressive foreign policy.
in the southern Netherlands. He offended the Although Catherine the Great gave Diderot a
clergy without winning liberal support. Revolu- pension, she would hear of nothing that com-
tion erupted in Brussels in 1787. promised her political power, and her ministers
were expected to give her unquestioning service.
Prussia. German unification proceeded very Finally, if the Enlightenment means the endorse-
slowly, and even enlightened despotism could not ment of reason over force, and peace and cos-
achieve it. Under the most famous and enlightened mopolitan unity over ruthless competition, then
Hohenzollerns of the eighteenth century, Prussian the foreign policies of these enlightened despots
absolutism acquired some unique and resilient were uniformly despotic. There were no major
features. Frederick II, the Great (1740–1786), philosophes who did not grow disillusioned with
pursued a policy of religious toleration and, in so enlightened monarchs on the rare occasions when
doing, attracted French Protestant refugees who their actions could be observed at close range.
had manufacturing and commercial skills. Intel-
lectual dissidents such as Voltaire also were at-
tracted to Prussia. Voltaire eventually went home THE ENLIGHTENMENT
disillusioned with this new Prussian “enlightened
despotism,” but not before Frederick had used IN EASTERN EUROPE
him and in the process acquired a reputation for
learning. By inviting various refugees from French The impact of the Enlightenment in the countries
clerical oppression, Frederick gave Berlin a minor of Eastern Europe varied enormously. Where it
reputation as a center for Enlightenment culture. made greatest inroads, we see the subsequent
But alongside Frederick’s courtship of the French
philosophes, with their enlightened ideals, there
remained the reality of Prussia’s militarism and Map 18.2 EUROPE, 1789 ▶
the serfdom of its peasants. The Hapsburgs had vast holdings, and this
Enlightened despotism was, in reality, the use of situation did not make the other German states feel
Enlightenment principles by monarchs to enhance secure. This entire map would change after 1800
the central government’s power and thereby their as Napoleon swept through Europe.
own. These eighteenth-century monarchs knew, in (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
EDEN
F SW St. Petersburg
0 200 400 Km. DOMO
G
NORWAY KIN Moscow
0 200 400 Mi.
KINGDOM OF
SCOTLAND
NORWAY AND
ea
ATLANTIC
cS
OCEAN Edinburgh DENMARK LITHUANIA
RUSSIA
lti
Ba
No r t h S e a DENMARK
IRELAND
GREAT BRITAIN
S I A
U S
R POLAND
UNITED HANOVER P
ENGLAND NETHERLANDS Berlin
Amsterdam Warsaw
RI A
VA
Vienna
BA
Buda Pest
FRANCE SWITZERLAND
HUNGARY
SAVOY M
IL ROMANIA Bl ack Sea
AN
R
Venice
E
le
PU
op
t in
B
Avignon A IC
NO
L
GE
n
O O
ta
ES
TUSCANY F T
ns
VE TO
AT
NIC
Co
E
M
ST
AN
AL
L
SPAIN KINGDOM Corsica
PA
PA
TUG
(To France)
OF SARDINIA Rome ALBANIA EM
Madrid PIR
POR
Lisbon E
Naples
Sardinia
KINGDOM OF
THE TWO
Mediterranean Sea (Ven. Rep.)
SICILIES
Sicily
445
446 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. The engraver chose to depict free blacks as well as
whites applauding one of the early acts that led to the American Revolution.
(akg-images.)
the whole burden, so the members of Parliament Indians. Thus, new colonial taxes and import duties
thought it quite appropriate that American colo- were imposed. Particularly galling to the colonists
nists should help pay the bill; they reasoned that were the Stamp Act (which placed a tax on newspa-
Britain had protected the colonists from the French pers, playing cards, liquor licenses, and legal docu-
and was still protecting them in their conflicts with ments) and the Quartering Act (which required
448 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
r se
ho
ENGLAND
,
ns
Bristol London
ne
NORTH
Li
AMERICA
EUROPE
ne
i
w
l stores
rs, nava
t,
Fish, fu
ui
oducts
tured pr
Fr
ac ts
an uf oduc
uit
Boston M
d pr
cts rs cture SPAIN
, fr
Newport d u o, fu
red p
ro
indig anufa
ne
New York fa c tu Ric e , M
PORTUGAL
Manu cco
Wi
Philadelphia Toba Lisbon
Meat, fish, rum,
lumber, grain
ENGLISH Manufactured pro
ducts
Cadiz
COLONIES Wi
ne
Charleston
Fis
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Slaves, molasses
h, l
it
fru
ive
Sl
av s, Wine Is.
se
Sla
sto , mol
e as
ol
ves
ck,
cts
s
M du
pro
flo
an
ope
ur,
Eur
ass
lum
AFRICA
es
ber
Cuba e
WE
p u
Hispaniola Sl
elo
ST av
ad
Jamaica Ru es
Gu
IND m
IES Martinique
Barbados Slave
s
VE
GO LD, SLA COAST
RY, S
IVO
Map 18.3 TRADE ROUTES BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS The trade
routes of the eighteenth century foreshadow the globalization of trade with
which we are familiar. (Copyright © 2013 Cengage Learning.)
colonists to provide living quarters and supplies to to sell tea in America. The colonists regarded this
English troops stationed in America). as yet another example of British tyranny. When a
Vigorous colonial protest against taxation for crowd of Bostonians dressed as Indians climbed
which no consent had been given compelled the aboard East India Company ships and dumped
British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, but about ninety thousand pounds of tea overboard,
new taxes were imposed, raising the price of many the British responded with a series of repres-
everyday articles, including tea. The stationing of sive measures, which included suppressing self-
British troops in Boston, the center of rebellious- government in Massachusetts and closing the port
ness, worsened tensions. In March 1770, a crisis of Boston.
ensued after a squad of British soldiers fired into The quarrel turned to bloodshed in April and
a crowd of Bostonians who had been taunting June 1775. On July 4, 1776, delegates from the
them and pelting them with rocks and snowballs. thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of In-
Five Bostonians died, and six were wounded. dependence, written mainly by the philosophe
A greater crisis occurred in 1773, when Parliament Thomas Jefferson. Applying Locke’s theory
granted the East India Company exclusive rights of natural rights, this document declared that
The Enlightenment and the Modern World ❖ 449
government derives its power from the consent of and elsewhere at the same time, and ultimately
the governed, that it is the duty of a government lacked commitment to the struggle.
to protect the rights of its citizens, and that people Reformers in other lands quickly interpreted
have the right to “alter or abolish” a government the American victory as a successful struggle of
that deprives them of their “unalienable rights.” liberty against tyranny. During the Revolution,
Why were the American colonists so ready to the various former colonies drew up constitutions
revolt? For one thing, they had brought to North based on the principle of popular sovereignty and
America a highly idealized understanding of included bills of rights that protected individual
English liberties. Long before 1776, they had ex- liberty. They also managed, somewhat reluctantly,
tended representative institutions to include small to forge a nation. Rejecting both monarchy and
property owners who probably could not have hereditary aristocracy, the Constitution of the
voted in England. The colonists had come to ex- United States created a republic in which power
pect representative government, trial by jury, and derived from the people. A system of separation
protection from unlawful imprisonment. Each of of powers and checks and balances set safeguards
the thirteen colonies had an elected assembly that against the abuse of power, and the Bill of Rights
acted like a miniature parliament; in these assem- provided for protection of individual rights. To be
blies, Americans gained political experience and sure, the ideals of liberty and equality were not
quickly learned self-government. extended to all people. Slaves knew nothing of
Familiarity with the thought of the Enlighten- the freedom that white Americans cherished, and
ment and the republican writers of the English women were denied the vote and equal opportu-
Revolution also contributed to the Americans’ nity; human equality remained an issue through-
awareness of liberty. The ideas of the philosophes out the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as it is
traversed the Atlantic and influenced educated today. To reform-minded Europeans, however, it
Americans, particularly Jefferson and Benja- seemed that Americans were fulfilling the promise
min Franklin. Like other philosophes, American of the Enlightenment. They were creating a freer
thinkers expressed growing confidence in reason, and better society.
valued freedom of religion and of thought, and
championed the principle of natural rights.
Another source of hostility toward established THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND
authority among the American colonists was their
religious traditions, particularly Puritanism, which THE MODERN WORLD
viewed the Bible as infallible and its teachings as
a higher law than the law of the state. Like their Enlightened thought culminated a trend begun
counterparts in England, American Puritans chal- by Renaissance humanists, who attacked me-
lenged political and religious authorities who, in dieval otherworldliness and gave value to indi-
their view, contravened God’s law. Thus, Puritans vidual achievement and the worldly life. It was
acquired two habits that were crucial to the devel- a direct outgrowth of the Scientific Revolution,
opment of political liberty: dissent and resistance. which provided a new method of inquiry and
When transferred to the realm of politics, these verification and demonstrated the power and
Puritan tendencies led Americans to resist author- self-sufficiency of the human intellect. If nature
ity that they considered unjust. were autonomous—that is, if it operated accord-
American victory came in 1783 as a result of ing to natural laws without the need of divine
several factors. George Washington proved to be intervention—then the human intellect also could
a superior leader, able to organize and retain the be autonomous. Through its own powers, the
loyalty of his troops. France, seeking to avenge its mind could uncover the general principles that
defeat in the Seven Years’ War, helped the Ameri- operate in the social world, as well as in nature.
cans with money and provisions, and then in The philosophes sought to analyze nature, gov-
1778 entered the conflict. Britain had difficulty ernment, religion, law, economics, and education
shipping supplies across three thousand miles of by thinking for themselves, with little reference to
ocean, was fighting the French in the West Indies Christian teachings, and they rejected completely
450 ❖ 18 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason and Reform
the claims of clerics to a special wisdom. The phi- The philosophes wanted a freer, more hu-
losophes broke decisively with the medieval view mane, and more rational society, but they feared
that the individual is naturally depraved, that the people and their potential for revolutionary
heaven is the true end of life, and that human val- action. As an alternative to revolution, most phi-
ues and norms derive from a higher reality and losophes offered science as the universal improver
are made known through revelation. Instead, they of the human condition. Faith in reform without
upheld the potential goodness of the individual, the necessity of revolution proved to be a doctrine
regarded the good life on earth as the true pur- for the elite of the salons. In that sense, the French
pose of existence, and insisted that individuals Revolution can be said to have repudiated the
could improve themselves and their society by the essential moderation of philosophes such as Vol-
light of reason. taire, d’Alembert, and Kant.
In addition, the political philosophies of Locke, However, the Enlightenment established a vi-
Montesquieu, and Rousseau rested on an entirely sion of humanity so independent of Christianity
new (and modern) concept of the relationship be- and so focused on the needs and abuses of the
tween the state and the individual: states should society of the time that no established institution,
exist not simply to accumulate power but also to once grown corrupt and ineffectual, could long
enhance human happiness. From that perspective, withstand its penetrating critique. To that ex-
monarchy, and even oligarchy not based on merit, tent, the writings of the philosophes point toward
began to seem increasingly less useful. And if hap- the democratic revolutions of the late eighteenth
piness is a goal, then it must be assumed that some century. To a lesser extent, the writers of the En-
sort of progress is possible in history. lightenment also point toward ideals that remain
When we observe societies that have never strong in most democratic Western societies: hu-
experienced their own version of enlightenment, man rights in general, religious toleration, free-
oftentimes we see the oppression of women and dom from torture, a disdain for prejudice and
authoritarian governments, sometimes run by superstition, a fear of unchecked political author-
clergymen. Religion can turn to intolerance or ity, and, of course, a belief in the power of the hu-
even the fanaticism of terrorists if unchecked by man mind to recognize the irrational and attempt
questions or doubt. to correct it.
❖ ❖ ❖
Note: Page numbers followed by ph refer to photographs. Page numbers followed by m refer to maps.
I-1
I-2 ❖ Index
Ancient Greece (cont.) Aristotle, 62, 85–87, 95, 208, 212, 258–259, 262–263,
of the universe, 74; philosophy, 49, 73–86, 90–91, 401–402
257; Plato, 81–85; poetry, 88–94; politics, 54–56, Arius, 185
62–63, 66–70, 82–85, 97; reason, 97–98; religion, 54, Arouet, François Marie. See Voltaire
75, 77–78, 82; science, 257; slavery, 62; Sophist, 77–81; Art: ancient Greece, 87–88; baroque style, 335; disease
Sparta, 55–56; trade, 56; warfare, 56, 60, 92–93 and, 276, 278ph; Hellenistic Age, 107–108; the natu-
Andrea, Alfred J., 276 ral world and, 403; Neo-Platonism and, 403; Neth-
Anglican Church. See Church of England erlands, 392; Paleolithic cave paintings, 7; politics
Anglo-Saxon England, 213, 230ph, 234, 236 and, 299; prehistoric, 7; Renaissance, 292ph, 297ph;
Animal shows, 156–157, 185 Roman, 270ph; Roman Empire, 155
Animals, domestication of, 7 The Art of Love (Ovid), 153
Annals (Tacitus), 153 Arteriosclerosis, 307
Anselm, Saint, 260, 262 Asceticism, 184
Anthrax, 276 Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, 24
Anti-Aristotelian physics, 267 Asia. See under individual countries
Antigonids, 104 Asia Minor, 20–22, 24, 51–54, 59, 61, 104, 108
Antiochus III, Seleucid king, 104–105 Assyria, 23–24, 25m, 34
Antipapalism, 280 Astrology, 179, 405
Anti-Semitism, 252ph, 337 Astronomy: ancient Egypt, 16; ancient Greece, 74;
Antoninus Pius, 148 Babylon, 14–15; Copernicus, 403–404; Greek,
Antony, Mark, 134–135, 138 401–402; Hellenistic Age, 109; Islamic civiliza-
Apollonius, 107 tion, 208; laws of planetary motion, 405; Medieval
Applied mechanics, 408–409, 415 universe, 258–259; Roman Empire, 154; universal
Aquinas, Thomas, 263–266, 282, 401–402 gravitation, 408
Arabs, 202, 204, 206–209, 231, 344 Atheism, 260, 426
Aramaean, 22–23, 25 Athens. See also Ancient Greece: athletics, 66ph; citizen-
Arch of Titus, 31ph ship, 61–62; as a city-state, 55; Cleisthenes, the Dem-
Archimedes of Syracuse, 109 ocrat, 59; culture, 56, 59; democracy, 56–65, 83–84;
Architecture: ancient Greece, 49, 51, 72ph, 80ph–81ph; in the fourth century B.C., 67; government, 63–64;
baroque style, 335; Byzantine civilization, 203ph; Peloponnesian War, 65–67; Pericles, 64, 67; Persian
Catholic revival, 335; Early Middle Ages, 214ph; Wars, 59–60; Pisistratus, the Tyrant, 59; Solon, the
France, 379ph; Gothic, 255, 259, 270–271; High Reformer, 57–59; warfare, 60
Middle Ages, 255; Islamic civilization, 205ph; Atoms, 402, 410
Medieval, 255, 270–271; Roman Empire, 149ph, Atonism, 20–21
151ph, 155; Roman Republic, 117ph, 129ph, 132ph; Attila, 165
Romanesque, 270–271 Auden, W. H., 98
Areté, 53–54, 56, 301 Augustine, Saint, 188–191
Argonautica (Apollonius), 107 Augustus (Octavian), Roman emperor, 118, 134–135, 138,
Arianism, 185 141–145, 151
Aristarchus, 109 Augustus, Philip, 236–237, 246, 249–250
Aristides, Aelius, 150, 152 Aurelius, Marcus, 140ph, 146, 148, 151ph, 154
Aristocracy: European expansion, 343; feudalism, 221; Austria. See also Hapsburg Empire: diplomatic revolution,
France, 357; Greek city-states, 56–59; Late Middle 443; emergence of, 394–396; enlightened despotism,
Ages, 277–278; Medieval society, 224; modern 443–444; inner, and adjacent territories, 333m
world, 283; Renaissance, 295, 298; Roman Republic, Austria Hapsburgs. See Hapsburg Empire
120–122 Autocracy, 145
Aristophanes, 93–94 Averroës, 208, 265
Aristotelianism, 264–265, 282 Avicenna, 208, 266
Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system, 404 Aztecs, 346, 374
Index ❖ I-3
Pius II, Pope, 281 Principia Mathematica (Newton), 401, 408, 420
Pizan, Christine de, 303 Printing press, 305–306, 318, 323–324
Pizarro, Francisco, 346 Private property, 7, 435
Plague, 167 Prophets (Hebrew), 41–45, 174, 205
Plataea, battle of, 60 The Proportions of Man (Da Vinci), 302ph
Plato, 75, 81–86, 160, 189, 402 Protagoras, 77
Platonism, 183 Protestant Reformation. See Reformation
Plautus, 130 “Protestant wind,” 387
Plebeian, 119–120 Protestantism. See also Luther, Martin; Reformation: Cal-
Plebeian Assembly, 120 vinism version of, 328; Edict of Nantes, 330, 378,
Pliny the Elder, 129 381, 420; English Revolutions and, 389; in Geneva,
Plotinus, 160–161 329–330; Inquisition, 336; Italy, 333; Lutheran
Plutarch, 68, 135 revolt, 324–325; and the Modern Age, 337; Peace of
Poetry: ancient Greece, 52, 88–94; High Middle Ages, 255; Augsburg, 327; as persecutors, 336; spread of, 326,
Medieval, 268; Roman Republic, 130; Sumerian, 327ph; worldy ascetic, 338
11; vernacular language, 268; women and Medieval, Prussia, 394–396, 444
268–269 Psychoanalytic theory, 91n
Poitiers, battle of, 278 Ptolemaic Egypt, 104–105, 124
Poland, 333–334, 446 Ptolemy, 154, 208, 401
Polis. See also City-states: 55, 102 Public culture, 422–425
Political thought, 86–87, 304–305, 429–432 Purgatory, 270
Politics. See also under individual countries: ancient Puritanism, 330–331, 387, 389, 449
Greece, 54–56, 62–63, 66–70, 82–87, 97–98; art Pyramid Age (ancient Egypt), 15
and, 299; enlightenment, 442–444; Latin Christen- Pyramids (ancient Egypt), 19
dom, 210–211; predestination, implications of, 328; Pyrrhonism, 426
Protestantism, effect on liberty, 337; Reformation, Pythagoras, 75
324; Renaissance, 299–305; reputation, 304; Roman Pythagorean theorem, 14
Republic, 135–137; the state and modern political
development, 396–398; theocratic, 54–55 Quakers, 389, 435–436
Politics (Aristotle), 86–87 Quartering Act, 447–448
Polybius, 108, 110–111, 123–124, 185
Polytheism, 17 Rabelais, François, 309–310
Pompeii, 147 Radical Enlightenment, 427
Pompey, 136–137 Radical Reformation, 334–335
Pontius Pilate, 146–147 Raison d’état, 379
Popes. See also under individual Popes: 184 Ramesses II, 21
Portuguese Empire, 344–346, 347m Randall, J. H. Jr., 287
Pottery, ancient, 8, 58–59 Raphael, 292ph, 299
Praise of Folly (Erasmus), 308, 319 Reason, 49, 55, 73, 78–81, 81–85, 94, 97–98, 261,
Predestination, 323, 328, 330 263–265
Price, Richard, 433 Reason and faith, 260–265, 282–285
Price Revolution, 351–353 Redemption, 263
Priestley, Joseph, 433 Reformation. See also Counter-Reformation; Protestant-
Priests. See also Religion: 321 ism: Antichrist, pope as the, 319, 324; Calvin and
Prime Mover, 258 Calvinism, 328–330; Catholic millenarian doctrine,
Primogeniture, 354, 357, 360 319; Catholic response, 335–337; chronology of,
The Prince (Machiavelli), 304–305, 307 317; England, 331, 386; Erasmus and the, 308–309;
Princeps, 142 Europe, Southern and Eastern, 333–334; France,
Principate, 142 330, 378; Hapsburg dynasty, challenge to the, 374;
Index ❖ I-17
Hapsburg Spain and, 393; inner light, 334; Latin Robespierre, Maximilien, 442
Christendom, 210; Lithuania, 333–334; magisterial, Roland, Paladin, 343
334; and the Modern Age, 337–338; overview of Roman, 268
the, 316–317; papacy, decline of the, 281–282; peas- Roman Catholic Church. See also Catholicism; Papacy:
ant uprising, 325–326; Poland, 333–334; Protestant commerce and trade as viewed by the, 233–234; in
and Catholic, 332m; Radical, 334–335; spread of, crisis, 317–319; Eastern Orthodox Church, 200, 250;
326–328; Whore of Babylon, pope as the, 319; end of the world, 319; England’s severance from the,
Wycliff and Hus, foreshadow of the, 318; Wycliff on 331; enlightenment, 439; excommunication, 247;
the, 276 heresy, 247; Index of Prohibited Books, 307, 336;
Relativism, 77 Inquisition, 333, 335–336; and the Modern Age,
Religion. See also specific religions: ancient Egypt, 16–17, 337; monks and the papacy, 213–215; Peace of Augs-
21; ancient Greece, 54, 75, 77–78, 82; Near East, burg, 327; and Protestantism, 325; shaper of Medi-
16–19, 27–28; Athenian, 58ph; church and state, eval civilization, 212–215; as unifier, 212–213
371–372; England, 387; European expansion, 343; Roman constitution, 118–122
Ferdinand and Isabella, 372; and the French state, Roman Empire: achievements of, 145, 148, 150; animal
377–378; Hebrews, 35–44; Hellenistic Age, 110; Hel- shows, 157; architecture, 149ph, 151ph, 155; army
lenistic Greece, 107; and human nature, 308; Islam, of the, 145, 161, 166; art, 155; Augustus (Octavian),
founding of a new, 204–206; Mesopotamia, 11–13; successors of, 146–148; chariot races, 157; chronol-
Middle Ages, 284; modern view of, 288; Monothe- ogy of, 142; citizenship, 161; cultural stagnation and
ism, 20–21, 37; mystery, 159; Neolithic Age, 8; transformation, 158–159; culture, 151; decline of
Olympian, 54; Paleolithic Age, 6–7; Persia, 25–26; Rome, 161–162, 165–168; economic weaknesses,
Roman Empire, 158–160; Roman Republic, 121; 158; engineering, 155; entertainment, 156–157;
secularism and, 299; skepticism and, 426 foundations of the, 141–145; gladiatorial combat,
Renaissance: art, 292ph, 297ph, 302ph, 309ph–310ph; 157; history, 118, 151, 153–154; internal unrest,
chronology of, 294; culture, 312; English human- 157; Jesus (Christ) and, 175; law, 151, 155–156;
ism, 310–311; Erasmian humanism, 307–309; literature, 151, 153–154; map of, 144m; philosophy,
French humanism, 309–310; human creative pow- 154, 159–161; population, 167; regimented state,
ers, 301; humanism, 299–305; Italy, birthplace 162–163; religion, 158–160; Roman legacy, 168;
of the, 294–299; Latin Christendom and the, science, 154–155; Senate, 142; slavery, 149; social
209; man, 306–307; and Medieval culture, 294; weaknesses, 158; taxes, 163; technology, 167; Third-
Modern Age, 293–294, 311–313; movement, 293; Century crisis, 161–162; Time of Happiness, 148;
outlook, 299–305; period, 293; political thought, tribal migrations and invasions, 163–165; women,
304–305; printing press, 305–306; prosperity, 305; 149–150; world community, 150; world-state, 141,
secular politics, 299–305; society, 298–299; Spanish 150, 158
humanism, 310; spread of, 305–311 Roman Law, 267–268
Renaissance Platonism, 402–403 Roman Republic: achievements, 118, 124; agriculture,
Republic (Plato), 83–84, 189 133; architecture, 117ph, 129ph, 132ph; army of
Republica Christiana, 234 the, 122–123; art, 121ph; Carthage and the, 122;
Republicanism, 295, 297, 369, 392, 397, 426 Centuriate Assembly, 119–120; chronology of, 119;
Resurrection, 175 citizenship, 127; city-state to world empire, 118;
Revelation, 255, 259, 264, 282, 284–285 collapse of the, 131–133; culture, 129–131; drama,
Revere, Paul, 423 130; Etruscan influence, 118–119; expansion, con-
Revolution of 1640–1660, 388 sequences of, 126–127, 129; expansion to 146 B.C.,
Revolution of 1688–1689, 389 122; First Macedonian War, 126; First Punic War,
Revolution Settlement of 1688–1689, 390 124; government, 119–121, 137; Gracchan Revolu-
Rhazes, 208 tion, 133–135; Greek influence on the, 129; Hel-
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted), 246 lenism, influence of, 129–130; Hellenistic states and
Richelieu, Cardinal, 379 the, 122, 126; Italian peninsula, uniting of the, 122;
Ritual, 158–159 Italy, uniting of, 122–124; last years, 138;
I-18 ❖ Index
and biblical legislation, 40; Black slavery, 349–351; Stuart kings, 388–389
Christianity, 185, 187–188; in early civilizations, 9; Stubbe, Phillip, 363
Early Middle Ages, 219; Enlightenment, 435–436; Sulla, 136
European expansion and, 349–351; humanitarian- Sumer, 8
ism, 435–436; manumission, 149; Portuguese Empire, Sumerian, 9–11, 14–15
344; Roman Empire, 149–150; Roman Republic, Summa Theologica (Aquinas), 263
127, 133; Seneca’s denunciation of, 154; slave trade, Sunni Muslims, 207
349–351; traders, seventeenth-century, 350; United Swieten, Gerard van, 443
States, 449 Sympathetic magic, 7
Smith, Adam, 438–439 Synagogue of Dura-Europos, Roman Syria, 34ph
The Social Contract (Rousseau), 224, 429, 431, 442 Synoptic gospels, 184–185
Social justice, Hebrews, 42–44
Social thought, 432–438 Tabula rasa, 432
Social War, 136 Tacitus, 142, 153
Socialist, 435 Talmud, 262
Society of Jesus, 335 Tamerlane, 208
Socrates, 78–81, 94, 113, 190 Tanak. See also Hebrew scriptures: 35
Solomon, King, 33–34 Taxes, 371–372, 383, 447–448
Solon, the Reformer, 57–59 Teacher of Righteousness, 173
The Song of Roland, 268 Technology. See also Industrialization; Science: ancient
Sophist, 77–81, 94 Near East, 8; da Vinci, Leonardo, 307; European
Sophocles, 89, 91–92, 211 expansion, 343; gunned ship, 344; High Middle Ages,
Sophrosyne, 78 228–230; Medieval, 283, 285ph; Roman Empire,
South America, 442 167; ships, 343–344; weapons, 343–344
Soviet Union (USSR). See Russia Telescope, 406
Spain: art, 375ph; Carthaginian expansion into, 124, 126; Ten Commandments, 40–41
commercial development, patterns of, 357, 359; Teniers, David the Younger, 363ph
Inquisition, 373; map of, 373m; Roman aqueduct, Terence, 130
129ph; Thirty Years’ War, 376 Tertullian, 182
Spanish Armada, 376, 386 Tetzel, 321
Spanish Empire, 346–349 Thales of Miletus, 74–77
Spanish humanism, 310 Theater, Greek, 89
Sparta. See also Ancient Greece: 55–56 Themistocles, 60
Spartacus, 127 Theocracies, 55, 206
Spinoza, Benedict de, 414, 415ph, 429 Theocritus, 107
Spinozism, 414 Theodora, empress, 200–201, 202ph
The Spirit of the Laws (Montesquieu), 429, 431 Theodorakopoulos, John N., 74
Stace, W. T., 161 Theodoric I, 211–212
Stadholder, 390 Theodoric the Great, 210
Stamp Act, 447–448 Theodosius I, 181
The Starry Messenger (Galileo), 406 Theogony (Hesiod), 90–91
State, modern, 371–372, 396–397, 450 Theophrastus, 109
Steen, Jan, 392 Theory of ideas, Plato, 82, 85–86
Stephen II, Pope, 217 Thespis, 89
Stephen of Cloyes, 246 Third Crusade, 246
Stoicism, 111–114, 131, 154, 179, 183, 192 Third Punic War, 126
Strato, 109 Thirty Tyrants (ancient Greece), 67
The Structure of the Human Body (Vesalius), 410 Thirty Years’ War, 376, 379, 393
Struggle of the Orders, 119, 155 Thomistic Synthesis, 282–283
I-20 ❖ Index
Thucydides, 64–66, 68–69, 96–97, 110, 185 van Rijn, Rembrandt, 392
Tiberius Gracchus, 133–134 Vandals, 165
Time of Happiness. See also Pax Romana: 148 Vassalage, 221–222
Time of Troubles, 396 Venice, 297–298
Titian, 299 Vermeer, Jan, 392
Titus, 147 Vernacular literature, 268, 306
Toland, John, 409, 426 Verrocchio, Andrea del, 306
Tool making, 6, 22 Vesalius, Andreas, 410
Torah. See also Hebrews; Jews; Mosaic Law: 35–36, 44, Vespasian, 146, 149
172, 187 Vikings, 219
Tours, battle of, 216 Villages in Ancient Near East, 7–8
Towns, medieval, 231–234 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wollstonecraft),
Trade. See Commerce and trade 433
Tragedy, 89 Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, 378
Trajan, 147 Virgil, 122, 151
Trajan’s Column, 125ph Virgin Mary, 224
Transubstantiation, 327 Visigoth, 163–164, 202, 210
The Treatise of Three Impostors, 426–428 Vives, Juan, 302
Treaty of Augsburg, 393 Voltaire, 421, 423, 425, 435–436, 444
Treaty of Karlowitz, 394 von Bora, Katharina, 325–326
Treaty of Troyes, 286 von Maron, Anton. See Joseph II, kaiser
Treaty of Verdun, 219 Vryonis, Speros, 204
Treaty of Westphalia, 393 Vulgate, 188
Tribal Assembly, 120, 136
Trinity, 205, 262–263, 336 Wady Qumran Manuscripts, 173
Tripartite Society, 221 Waldensian, 248, 318
The Trojan Women (Euripides), 92–93 Waldo, Peter, 248–249, 318
Tudors, 331, 385–387 War of the Roses, 385
Tutankhamen, pharaoh, 18ph, 21 War of the Spanish Succession, 381, 394
Twelfth-Century Awakening, 256–257, 294 Wars /Warfare. See also under individual wars or battles:
Twelve Disciples, 175, 183, 187 ancient Greece, 56, 60, 92–93, 95; ancient Near
Twelve Tables, 120, 155 East, 22–24; in early civilizations, 9; enlightenment,
Two Treatises of Government (Locke), 429–430 442–443; feudal warriors, 223; Hellenistic Greece,
Tyldesley, Joyce, 20 106; monarchy, taxes and, 371; Roman Empire, 163;
Roman Republic, 122–123
Unam Sanctam (Boniface VIII), 279 Washington, George, 423, 449
Union of Utrecht, 391 Waterboarding, 435
United East India Company, 357 Watt, James, 416
Universalism, 25, 44–45, 103, 152, 178, 180 Watt, W. Montgomery, 207
Universities, 257, 268 Wealth of Nations (Smith), 438–439
University at Bologna, 257 Weapons, 22–23, 343–344
Unmoved Mover, 401 Weber, Max, 338
Urban II, Pope, 242, 251 West Africa. See also Africa /African: 344–346, 349
Urban VI, Pope, 281 William, duke of Normandy, 382
Utopia (More), 311 William of Ockham, 283
William of Orange, 390
Valens, Emperor (Roman Empire), 163 William the Conqueror, 235–236
Valla, Lorenzo, 316 William the Pig, 246
van de Velde, Jan, 392 William the Silent, 391
Index ❖ I-21