HANDUT A€¦ · HANDUT A eachers urriculu nstitute Transformations in Europe 1 Michelangelo...

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© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Transformations in Europe 1

Michelangelo (1475–1564) was one of the leading artists of the Renaissance. He was born in a small village near Florence and grew up to be one of the greatest painters and sculptors in history. He was also a talented poet and architect. Of all these arts, he preferred sculpture because it seemed to bring his subjects to life.

Background and Personality Historians say that Michelangelo had a difficult childhood. His mother died when he was six years old. His father was stern and demanding. Perhaps this troubled early life contributed to Michelangelo’s famously bad temper. Although he was very religious, he was known to use fierce words when he was angry. He was also intensely ambitious.

When Michelangelo was 13, he became an apprentice to a painter in Florence, Italy. At 15, he began studying with a sculptor who worked for the powerful Medici family. Michelangelo lived for a time in the Medici household. There he met many leading thinkers, artists, and writers.

Talents and Achievements Michelangelo was gifted in both sculpture and painting. His art combines Renaissance ideals of beauty with emotional expressiveness.

Michelangelo’s sculptures show his amazing talent for carving lifelike figures from single blocks of marble. When he was just 24, he carved his famous Pietà. A pietà is a depiction of Mary, the mother of Jesus, mourning over her dead son.

Michelangelo’s Pietà shows Mary tenderly holding the body of Jesus across her lap. He carved the two figures from one block of marble. The sculpture is in the shape of a

pyramid, with Mary’s head forming the apex, or tip.

Two other magnificent sculptures by Michelangelo are his David and Moses. Michelangelo’s David is about 17 feet tall. The statue combines great beauty with the intense look of a youth who is about to go into battle. Michelangelo’s Moses is a strong, powerful figure. The statue shows Moses holding the Ten Commandments, which the Bible tells he received from God.

Michelangelo is perhaps best known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the pope’s chapel in Rome. Michelangelo labored for almost four years on a high platform to complete this work. He covered the curved ceiling with brilliantly colored scenes from the Bible. The scenes contain over three hundred figures and continue to awe visitors to Rome today.

Quotations from Michelangelo

“My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.”

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”

“The best artist has that thought alone

Which is contained within the marble shell;

The sculptor’s hand can only break the spell

To free the figures slumbering in the stone.”

Michelangelo

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This is only a small part of the ceiling Michelangelo painted in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. It is covered with brilliantly colored scenes from the Bible.

Discuss: What challenges did Michelangelo face when painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Located in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pietà is a life-like depiction of Mary tenderly holding the body of Jesus across her lap.

Discuss: What are some words that describe Michelangelo’s Pietà?

Michelangelo’s David is one of the world’s best known sculptures. The expression shows the concentration and tension of a real youth headed to battle.

Discuss: What are some other famous sculptures of Michelangelo’s?

Santa Croce Church in Florence, Italy, is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo.

Discuss: How did Michelangelo’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Michelangelo

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Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was one of England’s most popular and successful monarchs. Born in London, she was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his queen at the time, Anne Boleyn.

Background and Personality When Eliza-beth was two years old, King Henry lost interest in Anne Boleyn. Claiming that Anne had been unfaithful to him, he ordered her beheading.

Elizabeth was raised in a separate household, largely away from the royal court. An English scholar became her teacher and educated her as a possible future monarch. Elizabeth was a gifted student. She became highly educated and learned to speak Greek, Latin, French, and Italian.

Elizabeth was a strong-minded ruler, but she was not stubborn. As monarch, she was willing to listen to good advice and always kept in mind what was best for the people of England.

Talents and Achievements Elizabeth became queen at age 25 and reigned for 45 years, until her death in 1603. She never married, because she feared that a husband would take her power. She said she was married to the people of England.

Elizabeth was a hard-working and able ruler. She was independent, but she was also flexible. She was willing to change unpopular policies. She showed political skill in balancing the interests of different people in her court. She inspired great love and loyalty from her subjects, who called her “Good Queen Bess.”

Elizabeth’s long reign is often called England’s Golden Age. Culture thrived under her rule. She supported theater, fashion, literature, dance, and education. Poets and

playwrights during her rule composed some of the greatest works in the English language.

Elizabeth worked to strengthen England’s economy, and she encouraged trade and commerce. She authorized English trading companies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Her funding of sea exploration helped England gain territory in North America. In 1588, the English navy defeated the Spanish Armada, a mighty fleet that tried to attack England. This victory sparked a national celebration and further strengthened England’s sea power. By the time Elizabeth died, England was one of the strongest and richest countries in the world.

Quotations from Elizabeth I

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.”

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.”

“There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God.”

Elizabeth I

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Elizabeth inspired great loyalty and love from her subjects. Here she is being carried to a wedding in 1600, near the end of her life and reign.

Discuss: Describe Elizabeth’s personality and style of ruling.

In this image, Queen Elizabeth is featured on the title page of the Bishop’s Bible. While we may never know Elizabeth’s personal religious beliefs, we do know she tried to increase religious tolerance and allowed greater freedom of worship.

Discuss: Why might Elizabeth have promoted religious tolerance?

Elizabeth supported poets and playwrights, as seen in this image of William Shakespeare performing for the Queen.

Discuss: Why is Elizabeth’s reign often called England’s Golden Age?

Queen Elizabeth rallies her troops at Tilbury before England’s 1588 defeat of the mighty Spanish Armada, positioning England as one of the world’s strongest and richest nations.

Discuss: How did Elizabeth transform Europe at the time? How do her actions and ideas affect us today?

Elizabeth I

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William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was born in the English town of Stratford-on-Avon. He was a major figure of the English Renaissance. He is widely considered to be the world’s greatest playwright and one of its finest poets.

Background and Personality As a boy, Shakespeare studied Latin and classical litera-ture in grammar school. He never went to a university. His plays, however, show a broad knowledge of many subjects, from history and politics to music and art.

In his early twenties, Shakespeare became an actor with a theater company in London. He learned about drama by performing and writ-ing plays. Many of his plays were first presented at London’s Globe Theatre. Queen Elizabeth, among many others, enjoyed his work.

Shakespeare had a reputation for being quiet and a bit mysterious. His writings show that he was curious and keenly observant. He thought deeply about life and its sufferings. Yet he also had a sense of humor and found much to laugh at in life.

Talents and Achievements Shakespeare was a skilled actor, but he was an even greater poet and playwright. He had an enormous talent for expressing thoughts and feelings in memorable words. His plays show that he had a deep understanding of human behavior and emotions. Above all, he had the skill to present his understanding through vivid characters and exciting drama.

Shakespeare’s poetry is widely admired, especially the 14-line poems called sonnets. He is best known, however, for his 38 plays. He wrote both comedies and tragedies. Many of his plays are still performed around the world, and several have been made into television

series or movies. Among the most popular are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, All’s Well That Ends Well, and The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare’s plays cover a wide range of subjects. He wrote about history, romance, politics, prejudice, murder, and war. His plays remain popular in part because he wrote about timeless, universal themes such as love, jealousy, power, ambition, hatred, and fear.

Shakespeare has had a deep influence on later writers. He also left a lasting mark on the English language. Many common sayings come from Shakespeare, such as “Much ado about nothing.” People often quote his witty, wise lines, sometimes without knowing that they owe their clever or graceful words to Shakespeare.

Quotations from Shakespeare

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.”

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Shakespeare

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In 1599, Shakespeare helped build the Globe The-atre in London, where his plays were performed.

Discuss: What made Shakespeare such a talented poet and playwright?

Shakespeare wrote many 14-line poems, called sonnets. This is Sonnet 18, one of his most famous.

Discuss: Besides love and romance, what are some of the subjects that Shakespeare covered in his plays?

This photo shows a close-up of one of the walls at Juliet Capulet’s villa in Verona, Italy. Lovers from all over the world come here to write their names and personal notes on the “Wall of Love.”

Discuss: Which Shakespeare play do you think inspired the “Wall of Love”? Why do you think this play is still read and enjoyed today?

Shakespeare’s Hamlet contains many famous lines, such as “To be, or not to be; that is the question.”

Discuss: How did Shakespeare’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Shakespeare

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One of the most creative Renaissance thinkers was Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Leonardo was an artist, a scientist, an engineer, and an inventor. He was born in a village near Florence in Italy. His wide range of interests and accom-plishments made him a true Renaissance man.

Background and Personality Leonardo trained in Florence under a master sculptor and painter. Leonardo was endlessly curious about all aspects of the world around him. He did not accept anything as true until he had proved it himself. In his notebooks, he made sketches and wrote about an amazing variety of topics. He studied many subjects, including painting, sculpture, music, geometry, anatomy, botany, architecture, and engineering.

Leonardo spent much of his life in Florence and Milan. He worked as an artist, engineer, and architect for kings, popes, and wealthy commoners. He had a special love for animals. Sometimes he bought caged animals at the market and set them free. He also was a vegetarian, which was quite unusual at the time.

Talents and Achievements Leonardo was gifted in many fields. He was an accomplished painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer.

Leonardo’s notebooks show him to be one of the greatest creative minds of all time. He closely studied anatomy, including the circulation of blood and the workings of the eye, and proportions. He made precise draw-ings of people, animals, and plants. He also sketched out ideas about geometry and mechanics, the science of motion and force. He learned about the effects of the moon on Earth’s tides. He was the first person to draw maps from an aerial, or above-ground, view. He designed weapons, buildings, bridges and a

variety of machines. Many of the inventions he imagined, such as a helicopter, an underwater diving suit, and a submarine, were centuries ahead of their time.

Leonardo’s paintings are among the world’s greatest works of art. One of his masterpieces is the Mona Lisa, a painting of a woman with a mysterious smile. It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Like his other works, it displays a remarkable use of perspective, balance, and detail. The rich effects of shade and color reveal Leonardo’s close study of light. Students of his art also detect how principles of geometry helped him organize the space in his paintings.

Leonardo’s work inspired other great artists, such as Michelangelo. With his many interests and talents, Leonardo is a perfect example of the spirit of the Renaissance.

Quotations from Leonardo da Vinci

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

“The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects.”

“Human subtlety will never devise an inven-tion more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.”

Leonardo da Vinci

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This montage contains some of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works. In the top left, we see the Mona Lisa. Along the bottom, we see The Last Supper.

Discuss: What artistic techniques did Leonardo da Vinci use to such impressive effect?

Leonardo da Vinci studied many topics, including human anatomy. These sketches of the muscles of the arm are from his notebooks.

Discuss: Why was Leonardo da Vinci interested in studying proportion in nature and human anatomy?

The sketches of Leonardo da Vinci contain many ideas that were unthinkable in his time. Here we see his 1480s drawing of a helicopter.

Discuss: What other things did Leonardo da Vinci design or imagine?

Millions of people visit the Louvre museum in Paris each year to view Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Discuss: How did Leonardo da Vinci’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Leonardo da Vinci

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In the early 1500s in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, a priest named Martin Luther (1483–1546) became involved in a serious dispute with the Catholic Church. Condemned by the Church, Luther began the first Protestant church, which started the Reformation. This movement led to the start of many new Christian churches that broke away from the Catholic Church. The word “Protestant” refers to protests against the Church.

Background and Personality Luther was born in Germany and was raised as a devout Catholic. Luther’s father wanted him to become a lawyer. As a young man, however, Luther was badly frightened when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm. As lightning flashed around him, he vowed that if he survived he would become a monk. Luther kept his promise and joined an order of monks. Later, he became a priest. He studied the Bible thoroughly and earned a reputation as a scholar and teacher.

Talents and Achievements Luther’s views brought him into conflict with the Church over indulgences. In 1517, Pope Leo X needed money to finish building St. Peter’s Basilica, the grand cathedral in Rome. He sent preachers around Europe to sell indulgences. Buyers were promised pardons of all of their sins and those of friends and family. An outraged Luther felt that the Church was selling false salvation to uneducated people. Salvation means being saved from sin.

Luther posted a list of arguments, called theses, against indulgences and other Church abuses on a church door in the town of Wittenberg, Germany. He also sent the list, called the Ninety-Five Theses, to Church leaders.

Luther’s theses caused considerable con-troversy. Many people approved of his ideas, while the Church condemned them. Gradually, Luther was drawn into more serious disagree-ments with Church authorities. In 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. To be excom-municated means to no longer be allowed membership in a church.

After his views were condemned, Luther started a new Christian denomination known as Lutheranism. Luther and his followers dis-agreed with the Catholic Church about sin and salvation. Catholics believed that people earned salvation by following the teachings and prac-tices of the Church, taking part in the sacra-ments, and performing good works.

Luther did not believe that people could do anything to earn their salvation. He believed salvation was God’s gift, which people received in faith. People would be saved if they sincerely believed in Jesus Christ, were sorry for their sins, and accepted the words of the Bible as truth.

Luther also preached that the Bible—not the pope or Church leaders—was the ultimate source of religious authority. The only true sacraments, he said, were baptism and Com-munion. The Church’s other five sacraments had no basis in the Bible. Moreover, Luther said that all Christians were priests, and, therefore, all should study the Bible for themselves.

Quotations from Martin Luther

“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.”

“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”

Martin Luther

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Luther nailed his list of 95 arguments, called the Ninety-Five Theses, to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Catholic Church leaders condemned Luther’s ideas.

Discuss: What complaints did Luther have about the Catholic Church?

Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther, but Luther still refused to take back his teachings. Luther is said to have burned the papal bull, or official papal docu-ment, announcing his banishment from the Catho-lic Church.

Discuss: Why was Luther excommunicated? What new Christian religion did he start?

Luther preached that the Bible—not the pope or Church leaders—was the ultimate source of reli-gious authority.

Discuss: What were the major differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism?

This painting of a Lutheran church shows clergy administering the sacraments of baptism and Com-munion, the only two sacraments Luther believed were clearly named in the Bible.

Discuss: How did Luther’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Martin Luther

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Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was an Italian astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician, and an important figure in the Scientific Revo-lution. Galileo used the scientific method to challenge long-accepted views about nature and man’s place in the universe.

Background and Personality Galileo Galilei was born in the Italian city of Pisa. When Galileo was 17 he went to the University of Pisa and became fascinated with mathemat-ics. He decided to make the study of mathemat-ics and philosophy his profession. He quickly rose to fame with his ingenious theories about the nature of gravity.

Throughout his life Galileo was a troublemak-er. He was intensely argumentative and many described him as having an unpleasant man-ner. His personality gained him many enemies. However, it was also central to the ground-breaking discoveries he made. Only a bold, defiant person such as Galileo would be willing to directly challenge theories about the world that had been widely believed for centuries.

Talents and Achievements Most scholars in Galileo’s time thought that the ideas of classi-cal authorities such as Aristotle could never be improved upon, and should just be accepted. Galileo rejected this way of thinking. He used the scientific method of experiment and obser-vation to investigate the world.

Galileo was especially interested in prob-lems of motion. In ancient times, Aristotle had claimed that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. Galileo disproved this by drop-ping objects of different weights off the famous leaning Tower of Pisa. He observed that objects of different masses hit the ground at the same time, in contrast to what Aristotle’s theory predicted.

Galileo next turned his curiosity toward the sky. Using the newly invented telescope, Gali-leo saw that the moon’s surface was rough and uneven. He discovered four of the moons that revolve around the planet Jupiter. He also deter-mined that Venus was a planet and not a star, as had been thought.

Galileo also rejected the geocentric theory of the universe. This idea placed Earth at the center of the universe. Galileo’s observations of the sky supported the heliocentric theory, which had been developed by the astronomer Copernicus. This theory positioned the sun at the center of the universe. The Catholic Church supported the geocentric theory and feared that attacks on it could lead people to doubt the Church’s teachings. In 1633 Galileo was charged with heresy and was forced to take back his ideas. However, Galileo’s denial of his own work could not change its influence. Gali-leo helped to set the groundwork for the mod-ern scientific view of the world. In 1992 Pope John Paul II even apologized for the Church’s treatment of Galileo.

Quotations from Galileo Galilei

“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.”

“Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.”

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”

Galileo Galilei

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Copernicus’s heliocentric theory put the sun at the center of a solar system. Before his work, most people thought the sun, planets, and universe re-volved around Earth.

Discuss: How did Galileo’s discoveries support Copernican theory?

Galileo tested his ideas about gravity by dropping two balls of different sizes and weights from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Discuss: What was the result of Galileo’s experi-ment? How does his experiment relate to the scien-tific method?

In this sketch, Galileo illustrates that the moon is not perfectly smooth, as Aristotle had previously taught.

Discuss: What other new discoveries did Galileo make?

Galileo was tried before the Roman Catholic court known as the Inquisition for heresy by going against Church teaching.

Discuss: How did Galileo’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Galileo Galilei

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John Locke

John Locke (1632–1704) was an English phi-losopher. His thinking about government and people’s rights had a major impact on the Enlightenment.

Background and Personality John Locke was born in the countryside of England in 1632. When he was young, he showed intelligence and academic promise, and he earned a spot at a prestigious boarding school in far-off London. At the age of 20 he entered Oxford University.

Locke was greatly influenced by his father. Between 1642 and 1651, during Locke’s child-hood, a civil war raged in England. The war was fought between those loyal to King Charles I, who supported absolute monarchy, and those who supported the Parliament and favored limited powers for the monarch. Locke’s father fought on the side of the Parliamentarians. John Locke’s political philosophy came to re-flect his father’s belief in limited government.

Talents and Achievements In the 1680s, another crisis developed in England. The new king, James II, was Catholic. His enemies in Protestant England feared that he wanted to put Catholics in power. In 1688, they forced James to flee the country. Parliament gave the crown to James’s Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William. Parliament also passed a bill of rights which strengthened the power of Par-liament as the representative of the people. This change in government is known as the Glorious Revolution.

Locke approved of these changes in England. At this time he had already written much of his most important work, Two Treatises of Govern-ment. However, he added a preface before it was published in 1690 to argue that his book offered a theory of government that justi-fied Parliament’s actions. In Two Treatises of

Government, Locke denied the divine right of monarchs to rule. The true basis of government, he wrote, was a social contract, an agreement in which free people give power to a govern-ment in exchange for its protections. Under this agreement, the purpose of government was to protect people’s natural rights. Natural rights were defined as rights that belong to people “by nature,” simply because they are human beings. These included the right to life, liberty, and property.

According to Locke, the people are the sole source of power. They agree to give power to the government to rule on their behalf. There-fore, according to Locke’s social contract, a gov-ernment’s authority was based on the consent of the governed. If the government failed to respect people’s rights, it broke the contract and could be overthrown.

Locke’s view of government had a wide influ-ence. In 1776, his ideas would be echoed in the American Declaration of Independence.

Quotations from John Locke

“All mankind . . . being all equal and indepen-dent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”

“The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.”

“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”

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In 1688, William and Mary were offered the English crown in exchange for allowing Parliament to pass the English Bill of Rights. This document limited the power of the monarchy and also listed some individual rights.

Discuss: What type of government did Locke favor and why?

Locke argued that government was a social con-tract among free people. The people are the source of power and allow the government to rule on their behalf.

Discuss: According to Locke, what is the purpose of government?

Locke’s list of natural rights—life, liberty, and prop-erty—are referenced in the American Declaration of Independence.

Discuss: According to Locke, when can a govern-ment be overthrown and why?

This fence clearly illustrates the concept of private property.

Discuss: How did Locke’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

John Locke

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Montesquieu (1689–1755) was a French political philosopher of the Enlightenment. His famous “separation of powers” theory forms the basis of much of our thought on government today.

Background and Personality Charles-Louis de Secondat was born in France in 1689. He is better known by his title, the Baron de Mon-tesquieu. His father was a nobleman of modest wealth. In his youth, Montesquieu attended a Catholic school. Later he became a lawyer. When his uncle died in 1716, Montesquieu inherited the title of baron along with his uncle’s fortune.

Montesquieu was at once critical, insightful, and humorous. He became an admired guest in the Enlightenment salons of Paris, where he was able to demonstrate his cleverness and biting wit. His amusing personality led many to underestimate his abilities as a serious thinker, but they were proven wrong after the publica-tion of his hugely influential book, The Spirit of Laws.

Talents and Achievements In 1721, Montes-quieu achieved fame as a writer with a satirical book called Persian Letters. The book described French society as seen by fictional travelers from Persia. It used humor to criticize French institutions, including the king’s court, the Catholic Church, and each of the social classes in French society. Since the book was both scandalous and funny, it quickly became very popular.

After his literary success with the Persian Letters, Montesquieu decided to take a grand tour of Europe, and he spent a long period of time in England. He was a great admirer of the English system of constitutional monar-

chy, which he thought was far superior to the French system of absolute monarchy. Montes-quieu’s time in England profoundly influenced his most famous book, The Spirit of Laws, which was published in 1748. In this book, he described his theory of how governments should be organized.

Montesquieu was especially concerned with how to protect political liberty. The best way to do this, he argued, was to divide power among three branches of government. In such a sys-tem, the legislative branch would make the laws, the executive branch would enforce the laws, and the judicial branch would interpret the laws. In this way, no one branch could become too powerful. Montesquieu called this concept the separation of powers. His theory was based on the English system, in which Parliament made the laws, the monarch enforced the laws, and courts interpreted them. Each branch of government checked, or limit-ed, the power of the others. When powers were not separated in this way, Montesquieu warned, liberty was soon lost.

Montesquieu’s ideas had a powerful impact on later thinkers. Among them were the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution. They made the separation of powers a key part of the American system of government.

Quotations from Montesquieu

“The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.”

“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty.”

Montesquieu

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Montesquieu’s Persian Letters is one of his most famous books.

Discuss: What French institutions did Montesquieu criticize and why?

The “Sovereign’s Entrance” is where the monarch of England enters Parliament when it is in session.

Discuss: Which two branches of government do the monarch and Parliament represent? What is the third branch of government and what does it do?

In The Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu explains his theory of how governments should be organized.

Discuss: Why did Montesquieu believe there should be three branches of government?

The American national government consists of a legislative branch, an executive branch, and a judi-cial branch.

Discuss: How did Montesquieu’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

Montesquieu

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Voltaire (1694–1778) was one of the most celebrated writers of the Enlightenment. He was a bold champion of religious tolerance and the right to free speech.

Background and Personality Francois-Marie Arouet, who eventually adopted the pen name Voltaire, was born in France in 1694. His mother died when he was very young, and he came under the influence of his free-thinking godfather, the Abbé de Châteauneuf. Voltaire attended a Catholic college in Paris, but the religious instruction he received only made him more skeptical of Christianity. After college he settled on a career in literature.

Voltaire soon earned fame as a writer and as a witty participant in the famous Parisian salons of the Enlightenment. Throughout his life, Voltaire criticized what he saw as intoler-ance and oppression. His outspokenness and unorthodox ideas often led to conflicts with authorities. He was imprisoned in the Bastille for nearly a year in 1717 when he dared to mock the Duc d’ Orleans, who was serving as the regent of France at the time. Several times he was forced to flee Paris or even to go into exile.

Talents and Achievements Voltaire believed passionately in reforming society in the name of justice and human happiness. He warned against what he saw as superstition, error, and oppression. Voltaire publicized his ideas through the plays, essays, and books he wrote. His most famous book, Candide (1758), attacked the French court and the power of the Catholic clergy with biting humor.

Like Montesquieu, Voltaire admired England’s constitutional monarchy and separation of powers. In one of his periods of exile, Voltaire lived in England for two years. When he returned to France he decided to

present England as a model of government to his fellow Frenchmen, which he did in his Philosophical Letters (1734). In his view, the English were governed by law, not by the arbitrary wishes of a single ruler. To be governed by law, he said, was “man’s most cherished right.”

Voltaire championed religious tolerance. He thought religious conflict was one of the main sources of evil in the world. He argued that no single religion possessed all the truth. At the same time, he held that there was a core of truth in all religions which constituted a “natural religion” that reason made available to everyone. Voltaire’s views on religion were quite unorthodox for his time, and his writings and pronouncements at salons scandalized many devout people.

Voltaire also spoke out for the right of free speech. Once he wrote a letter to a man whose views he strongly opposed in which he said that he would give his life so that his opponent could continue to write.

Voltaire’s ideas about religious tolerance and free speech greatly influenced early American political thinkers, who demanded that freedom of religion and free speech be included in the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Quotations from Voltaire

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

“It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.”

“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”

Voltaire

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Voltaire

Candide is Voltaire’s most famous work. It is a bit-ing and humorous attack on the French royal court and the power of the Catholic clergy.

Discuss: In what ways did Voltaire hope to reform society? What ideas did he speak against?

Voltaire was popular in Paris Enlightenment salons, such as this one, for his witty humor and forward thinking ideas.

Discuss: What did Voltaire believe about government?

Voltaire’s criticism of government actions sometimes landed him in jail. While imprisoned in the Bastille in France, he wrote the epic poem Henriade.

Discuss: What did Voltaire believe about religion and speech?

This plaque displays the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Discuss: How did Voltaire’s ideas transform Europe at the time? How do his ideas affect us today?

HANDUT A€¦ · HANDUT A eachers urriculu nstitute Transformations in Europe 1 Michelangelo...

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Transcript of HANDUT A€¦ · HANDUT A eachers urriculu nstitute Transformations in Europe 1 Michelangelo...