Objective:

  • Specify how Enlightenment ideas challenged the established order.
  • Explain why some European rulers embraced Enlightenment ideas.
  • Identify the ideas that influenced artists and writers of the Enlightenment.
  • Describe how most people lived during the Age of Reason.

Enlightenment Ideas Spread 18.2

  • From France ideas spread to the rest of Europe.
  • Absolute monarchs tried out some of these new ideas, but they were careful not to upset old order.

The Challenge of New Ideas

  • Educated people read small pamphlets & the Encyclopedia. Middle class men discussed new ideas in coffeehouses.
  • Thinkers wanted a society that provided: material well being, social justice , & happiness.
  • Church & the king tried to defend the old order by censorship (banning & burning books).
  • Some writers published work in the Netherlands & others under false names.
  • Voltaire & Rousseau spread their ideas through works of fiction.

Salons:

  • Social gatherings where educated people exchanged ideas.
  • It started first in 1600s by Noblewomen & then 1700s some middle class women followed suit.
  • Madame Geoffrin had the most famous salon in the Rue Saint Honore (her house).
  • Mozart, Diderot, & kings visited the “kingdom” of Rue Saint Honore.

Enlightened Despots

  • Philosophes tried to “enlighten” rulers to bring about social & political change.
  • Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, had total power over his people but was still enlightened.
  • He saw himself as a servant of the state & tolerated other religions. “everyone can go to heaven”
  • Catherine the Great of Russia made a few changes in law & government. She gave nobles charter of rights & criticizes serfdom. She was still against a serf revolt.
  • Joseph II, the Hapsburg emperor, traveled in disguise to learn of the problems of his subjects (people).
  • He tolerated protestants & Jews, chose middle class officials, and ended censorship.
  • He also tried to bring the Catholic church under his control by selling church property.
  • He built hospitals & ended serfdom.

The Arts and Literature:

  • Baroque style: paintings are huge, colorful, & full of excitement.
  • Mid 1700s, art moved to rococo style: personal, elegant, charming. Portraits showed nobles with their happy servants & pets.
  • Middle class audience liked pictures of family life or realistic town or country scenes.
  • Famous musicians: Bach & Mozart were excellent composers.
  • 1700s, middle class liked to read stories about their own times written in prose. Novel developed.

Lives of the Majority

  • Most Europeans were untouched by noble or middle class culture.
  • Villages in Western Europe were more prosperous than those in Eastern Europe.
  • In the West, farmers paid rent or owned a piece of land. In the East & Central Europe, Serfdom was still in place.
  • In the West, farmers still provided free labor to fix roads & bridges.