The European World - University of Warwick

The European World The European World c.1500 1500 The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans (1453) The beginning of the Tudor dynasty in England (1485) Columbus' first voyage to the Americas (1492)

Muslim stronghold of Granada falls to a unified Castile and Aragon (1492) Jews are expelled from Spain (1492) Social structures and economic change Population: Black Death of 1348 Social structures: The household The countryside: Elements

of continuity an economic system based on agriculture serfdom? Higher levels of market involvement Urban economic and social development Guilds Banking

a wider commercial network administrative centres: responsible for schools, hospitals, provision of welfare (looking after abandoned children, orphans, the elderly and the urban poor) Printing presses

Religious and intellectual life Religion has a strong presence in everyday life(baptism/marriag e/last rites) Attendance at church; saints, relics, penance, pilgrimages,

acquiring indulgences The Papacy has faced some challenges: The Great Schism Heretical movements: the Albigensian (Cathar) heresy, Waldensianism, Lollards (followers of John Wyclif in England) and Hussites (followers of Jan Hus)

Erasmian humanism; radical populism of Girolamo Savonarola in Florence Clashes between Church and State Intellectual developments Renaissance humanism humanists look backwards, not forward The medieval legacy? Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459) - monks and friars contributed nothing to the common good, claiming that Cities are founded on our labours, not by

these lazy scarecrows... those hypocrites and strolling scoundrels who preach... contempt of the world to others. Continuities in law, philosophy and medicine Universities Wider education humanists promote service of public domain (especially in government e.g. Machiavelli, Thomas More Power and authority in Europe: composite monarchies

Power and authority in Europe Importance of ceremony Move towards centralised states but with a stronger element of negotiation Professional administration

Warfare Relatively more efficient tax Map of the world c.1500 Portuguese expansion Under crown control Financed by private ships

Conducted by an international class of merchants Trade more important than political domination They reject Columbus proposal Spanish Expansion in the Americas

Accept Columbus proposal Religious motivations Territorial control Primary motivation is not trade Later on bring in landless knights or shepherds, cattlebreeders etc

Europe c.1500 Peasants: stronger market involvement Towns: wider trading networks Catholic church: alive and present Intellectual developments: printing press, education Politics: move towards centralisation The New World