Global History and Geography Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Mr. Spear
Name: ______Date: ______
DO NOW
The map above shows European trade routes in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. How were European global trade routes different during this period than they had been a century earlier? How would the change in trade routes affect the Italian Renaissance?
______
AIM: What did the philosophers of the Northern Renaissance believe?
______
Reading 1
The Northern Renaissance
In the 16th century, the ideas of the Renaissance began to spread to the countries of Northern Europe and, at the same time, began to disappear in Italy. While areas like the Netherlands, France, England and the Holy Roman Empire experienced the Renaissance in many of the same ways that Italy had, there were also important differences. The Northern Renaissance was much more religious than the Italian Renaissance. Its writers and thinkers did not draw their inspiration from the writings of classical authors, as Italian philosophers had, but from scripture. In other words, they studied the Bible for evidence of Humanist ideas and tried to reconcile Humanism with Christian teaching. This type of Renaissance thought is called Christian Humanism.
Desiderius Erasmus
While Christian Humanists were themselves devoutly Catholic, they criticized the Church for being overly focused on ceremony and liturgical technicalities instead of actual gospel teachings. The most famous of the Christian Humanists was the Dutch writer Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus believed that the entire society of his day was corrupt because it had lost sight of the teachings of the gospels. To convey his message, Erasmus wrote three kinds of books: satires like In Praise of Folly and Colloquies, serious moral treatises like Handbook of the Christian Knight, and scholarly editions of basic Christian texts.
1. What areas of Europe participated in the Northern Renaissance?
______
2. What was Christian Humanism?
______
3. What were Erasmus’ complaints against the Catholic Church?
______
Reading 2
Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas More
Another great Northern Renaissance thinker was Sir Thomas More. More was a Christian intellectual and spiritual advisor to King Henry VIII of England well known for writing the book Utopia, a fictional account of a group of people who create a perfect society on a far away island. On the island no one owns any possessions - everything is shared. People only work six hours a day so that they can have the leisure time to read and reflect. Everyone on the island is moral and kind and practices such Christian virtues as wisdom, moderation, fortitude and justice.Unfortunately, More’s own life did not turn out so pleasantly. When King Henry VIII joined the Protestant Reformation in 1534 so that he could divorce his first wife, More refused to condone the act and was beheaded as a result. The episode is immortalized in the Robert Bolt play A Man for All Seasons.
4. Do you agree that a perfect moral society is one in which people have no possessions? Why? What would make the perfect society in your view?
______
Reading 3
Ulrich Van Hutten and Francois Rabelais
Ulrich von Hutten was less kind in his criticisms of traditional Christian doctrine than Erasmus. In 1515 the Dutch Humanist wrote Letters of Obscure Men. In this satirical book, fictional Christian scholars with last names like Goatmilker, Dungspreader, and Baldpate, write absurdist essays in bad Latin arguing in favor of traditional Christian doctrines. Francois Rabelais a French Renaissance satirist who wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a series of books that exposed and ridiculed the religious and ethical values of the early 16th century.
Gargantua and Pantagruel tells the story of two giants – a father, Gargantua, and his son, Pantagruel – and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein. While the first two books focus on the lives of the two giants, the rest of the series is mostly devoted to the adventures of Pantagruel's friends – such as Panurge, a roguish erudite maverick, and Brother Jean, a bold, voracious and boozing ex-monk – and others on a collective journey in search of the Divine Bottle. Even though most chapters are humorous, wildly fantastic and sometimes absurd, a few relatively serious passages have become famous for descriptions of humanistic ideals of the time. In particular, the letter of Gargantua to Pantagruel and the chapters on Gargantua's boyhood present a rather detailed vision of education.
5. What is Ulrich Van Hutten saying about Catholic scholarship in the book Letters of Obscure Men?
______
6. How could Rabelais absurd fantasy tales about two giants convey Humanist beliefs?
______