History Final Exam

Explain the emergence of universities, and define scholasticism.

Before universities teaching took place in Cathedral and monastery schools for the clergy to study liberal arts. Eventually Cathedral schools started to teach non-clergy students who needed Latin, and other knowledge for their jobs such as secretaries and notaries. Universities used to mean, as the textbook says, "a corporation of individuals who joined for their mutual protection from overarching Episcopal authority and from the local townspeople." Now they are a place where people come together to learn in a more intense level to improve their chances of getting a job. Students hired and fired their own teachers. Teachers also organized themselves for protection and decisions of who was qualified to teach. The students brought wealth to the townspeople because they paid rent and bought food, but sometimes the people from the town did not like the students because of their behavior (students treated the town people as inferior, had privileges and special protections, could be abusive). The Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa established the first university in the West, he University of Bologna. This university was famous for the studying and teaching of Roman law which was much needed as towns and trade grew. Another university was the University of Paris, and it grew out of a cathedral school, Notre Dame. The most famous college was the theology college founded by Robert de Sorbon and this is the origin of today's La Sorbonne probably the most famous French university. Other medieval universities include Oxford, Cambridge and Heidelberg. One subject that became very important in all of these universities was to study Greek philosophy, mainly Aristotle as well as mathematics, astronomy and medicine as well as Roman law. Islam scholars played an important role by preserving classics and their work was translated to Latin and made available to the West. It was this interest in these translated works that actually propelled the growth of universities in the West. Students did not have books though since all was handwritten, since books were difficult to access, students relied mostly on lectures and discussions and taking notes. Scholasticism is "a "method of study, based on logic and dialectic." It was used in all fields. Students read the texts, discussed them and drew conclusions.

Explain belief in witchcraft and magic in the early modern period.

Despite this admiration for rational thought, witch panics and persecutions took place in the sixteen and seventeenth century. Why? First, superstition had been strong for centuries and was still strong among all social classes and these included the beliefs that some people (usually older single women) had extraordinary unnatural powers. In addition, the church promoted the idea that supernatural gifts could come from God (those in the Church could have access to these gifts) or from the devil (if these individuals worked outside and against the church). Most of the accused witches were poor older women, usually dependent of others (which could make them bitter, midwives who could be accused of being responsible for stillbirth and miscarriages and women healers/herbalists who could develop power and influence over people who trusted them. Perhaps the religious wars contributed to a climate of suspicion and hate among people and it made easier to suspect and accuse someone of having and using powers to harm others and to relate to Satan. Perhaps the Reformation took away some of the existing defenses against evil powers such as the grace of the sacraments and people felt move vulnerable. Perhaps the Church and rulers looked for total control and obedience and wanted to eliminate anybody or anything who seemed to have or claim to have extra powers.

Summarize the philosophies of Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke in relation to the scientific revolution.

Francis Bacon is considered the father of empiricism and experimentation in science. Bacon was one of the first major European writers to defend innovation and change. He criticized scholastic reverence for authority in intellectual life. He compared himself with Columbus in recognition that he was discovering a new way of understanding the world that rejected what was considered the simple view held in the Middle Ages. He believed that science should translate into practical advances to benefit humankind. Rene Descartes most important contribution was to develop a scientific method that relied on deduction - that is reasoning from a general principle to arrive to a specific fact instead of using empirical observation and induction. Decartes believed that the human reason could comprehend the world. In this view, there is no place for a spiritual world or for God. Thomas Hobbes was the most original political philosopher of the seventeenth century. Inspired by the new science, he rejected the Christian view that human beings are naturally sociable. Instead, he believed that human beings were selfish and thirsty for power. He thought the only way for society to survive was for human beings to be ruled by an absolute ruler and obedience to this ruler had to be absolute. John Locke criticized absolutism and his thinking provided the basis for liberal political philosophy in Europe and America. His book "First Treatise of Government" buried the idea of absolutism for good. In his "Second Treatise of Government" he proposed the idea of a government that was responsive and responsible. If this government failed to be responsive, that is, if a government failed to be responsive, the governed had the right to replace them. Locke defended religious toleration. He also spoke of freedom and equality and the natural rights of life, liberty and property.

What were the key figures and events in the English Reformation?

In the early 1520 future English reformers met in Cambridge to discuss Lutheran writings. One of them was William Tyndale who translated the New Testament into English. A very important event in the history of English Reformation was that Henry the VIII wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon and marry his wife's attendant lady Anne Boleyn. He was in love with Anne but also desperate to have a male heir that Catherine was not able to produce for him (they only had one daughter and Catherine had many miscarriages and stillbirths). The Pope did not give him an annulment for his marriage to queen Catherine. Henry was very determined to marry Anne but couldn't figure out how to solve his situation. Two of his closest advisors, Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, both of Lutheran tendencies, found a solution for the king: they suggested that the King could become the head of the church in England and as such, he would not need the pope's approval for the annulment. Pretty soon, Thomas Cranmer became archbishop of Canterbury and led the annulment process for the king. The Parliament issues the Act of Succession that made Anne Boleyn's children the legitimate heirs to the crown (ignoring Mary, Henry's daughter from Catherine) and the Act of supremacy that declared Henry "the only supreme head in earth of the church of England." Two other important figures in the history of the English reformation are also Thomas More who had been until then a close friend of Henry, his Lord Chancellor for three years and the most important humanist in England and John Fisher, bishop of Rochester. They both opposed the king's Act of Succession and Act of Supremacy and were executed as traitors to the crown. They are both considered martyrs and saints of the Catholic Church. Henry did not fully embraced Protestantism and directly opposed the movement by issuing the Six Articles of 1539. In these articles, Henry reaffirmed transubstantiation, oral confession, private masses, and celibate vows and denied the Eucharistic cup to laity. It is only after the death of Henry VIII that England could become Protestant. So after his death, Edward - Henry's son - was only 10 years old. The regents, Edward Seymour and the earl of Warwick pushed England into Protestantism. All images, statues and altars were removed from the church, no more masses for the dead were said, the Book of Common Prayer by Cranmer was introduced for all (replacing the Missal) English churches. A forty-two article of confession of the faith, also written by Cranmer presented a Protestant doctrine for England. It denies transubstantiation, kept only two sacraments and taught justification by faith alone and supremacy of Holy Scripture. There was a short parenthesis in this movement towards Protestantism when Mary (daughter of Catherine and Henry) became queen after the death of his brother Edward. This return to Catholicism was short lived. Elizabeth I (daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry) became queen after Mary's death and soon put England back into the protestant path.

How and why did Martin Luther attack the Roman Catholic Church? To what extent was he successful?

Martin Luther, a monk from Wittenburg, began to question the power and corruption of the Pope and the Catholic Church. At the same time, he was concerned with what he saw as a disproportion between his sinfulness (as a human being) versus God request for perfect righteousness for a human being to be saved. He thought it was just impossible to be saved by good works and he came to believe that human being could only be saved "by faith alone." The Church has always proposed that we are saved by the grace of God but humans need to cooperate with good works and being faithful to Jesus commandments. Luther also believe in good works needed to be done by Christians but he opposed the idea that good works could contribute to one's salvation. So Luther's belief in salvation by faith alone was not compatible with the idea of indulgences. Indulgences is a specific work or sacrifice done for the forgiveness of sins. At that time indulgences were dispensed in exchange of cash (seen as almsgiving). Luther attacked the Pope Leo X for pardoning people's sins in exchange for money because he thought that it was immoral for the pardoners to travel all over Europe selling these letters of indulgence, and that people thought that they could buy forgiveness. Another thing Luther accused the church was how the bible was not accessible for the people for it was written in Latin, and not in common popular languages like German, English, or French. He claimed that not everyone knew Latin, and that it was not fair that they had to rely on the priest to tell them how to interpret the bible. The way Luther tried to get his point across is that he wrote down on what he thought about the subjects and nailed it on the church door, he also argued that people should stop seeing the Pope as infallible because it was wrong to make people believe that they could just buy off God's forgiveness. Luther also argued that if Pope Leo X was capable of being wrong then there was the possibility that he was wrong about other things. Luther was successful since he gained lots of support, later they became known as Protestants. Luther's ideas also spread to other countries. Gradually large numbers of people living in England, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries began to call themselves Lutherans or Protestants. Protestants were no longer willing to accept the authority of the Pope. They argued that people needed to read the Bible if they wanted to find out how God wanted them to behave.

Explain the causes and results of the Avignon papacy.

Nations were growing in power and ambition. England and France started conflicts with the church and the kings from these countries imposed taxes on the clergy. The king of France made Pope Boniface prisoner, he was beaten and abused for three days and he died a month after his release. He was succeeded by Benedict IX who was pope for a few months and died because someone poisoned him. So the cardinals then decided to elect a Pope who was friend of the King of France, Clement V who agreed to be crowned in France and he decided not to return to Rome. So Pope Clement V moved the capital city from Rome to Avignon in response to Rome being chaotic and divided into many factions but most importantly, because of pressure from Philip IV of France who wanted the pope to move closer to him. Avignon at that time was part of property that belonged to pope vassals and by 1348 it became a papal property. However, it was surrounded by French owned territory. Moving the papal court was not unusual but this lasted very long. The seven popes that resided in Avignon were all French and also most of the cardinals were French. So during this period, the pope is seen as easily influenced by the King of France and willing to respond to the King of France. So one consequence was that the prestige of the popes was damaged because they were seen as easily manipulated by politics. Many churches refused to send money to the papacy because they thought the pope was just a puppet of the French King. After Gregory XI who took the papacy back to Rome died, the cardinals of the Sacred College elected an Italian pope by only because they were threatened by the Roman population, Urban VI but this new pope was not liked by the French cardinals that had originally elected him so the cardinals selected a second pope, Clement VII, who assumed the vacant Avignon seat. This was the beginning of what is called the Great Schism and it took some time to be solved. For a while, there were two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon disputing as to who was the legitimate pope. This lasted until 1417. Poland, Hungary, Germany, England, most of Italy, and the Scandinavian countries sided with Rome. France, Scotland, Spain, southern Italy, and France sided with Avignon. This schism lasted over 40 years and caused much confusion in Europe. Today the Catholic Church recognizes Urban VI as the true pope and Clement VII as an anti-Pope. After this, it was clear that the cardinals could be very powerful in deciding matters related to who could or not be the pope and it is linked to "conciliarism", which is the idea that a general council of the church can have more authority than the pope and may, if necessary, depose him.

What was the scientific revolution? Discuss the achievements of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton.

Scientific Revolution refers to the process that established a new view of the universe. In the 16th century rational and impirical methods of research challenged original thought and promoted the rights of science and technology. New knowledge immerged from all types of areas during the 16th and 17th century like medicine, and chemistry. However the most compelling field that convinced people of the power of natural knowledge was astronomy. Nicolaus Copernicus, a polish priest and astronomer publish The Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. He moved from the Ptolemaic system to the explanation that Earth was not the center of the universe. It was the sun. Tycho Brache was a Danish astronomer and took the major step that the sun was the center. His key contribution was the construction of scientific instruments to observe planets in a way that no one did before. Johannes Kepler was Braches assistant. He was a German astronomer, a convinced Copernican, he wanted to find in Braches numbers the support for a sun centered universe. Kepler produced the astronomical model that showed motion. He used Copernicus theory and Braches data to make the idea of orbit that was elliptical. Galileo was an Italian mathematic and natural philosopher. He used the first telescope on the Heavens. He saw mountains on the moon, moons orbiting Jupiter, spots on the sun, stars not known by man. He gave support to the Copernican view of the heavens. Galileo argued that nature had mathematical regularity. He was the first to study astronomy through a telescope. Issac Newton was able to answer how planets and other heavenly bodies moved in an orderly fashion. The English man was able to explain planetary motion and in doing this he establish physics that had stayed for 2 centuries.

What were the social and economic consequences of the Black Death?

The Black Death had social and economic consequences. The biggest impact was felt in the agricultural sector. The issue was that because of the plague, there were less people available to work in the country side. Before the plague, a growing population kept wages low and rents and agricultural product prices high. This favored the lord over the peasants and many peasants had to accept this dependence on the lord. However, this changed after the years of the Plague. Serfs decided to do their payment in money as opposed to working the land, so there was even less people to work the land as some of the fewer people left after the plague, instead of working, paid their rents in cash. These peasants also demanded payment of wages in cash and higher wages. Meanwhile, as the farm laborers decreased, the skilled artisans soared in comparison. The nobles suffered from this because they had to pay more for finished products. The second consequence was the Peasants Revolt which took place in England. Peasants were afraid that after the Black Death, they would lose all of the gains they had achieved such as better wages, more freedom and respect. They wanted to be able to move to any place in where they could be paid higher wages and not to be tied to one lord. Government and lords tried to put limits to these gains with legislation. The new legislation limited wages and restricted the ability for the peasants to leave their master's land. In addition, Peasants did not want to work for free for the church since they would not make any money for this work so they were not happy for having to give time for free. Also taxes got higher because of war between England and France and it was these taxes that tipped the revolt. However, it is possible to say that it was the new better status that the peasants won after the plague that made peasants bold enough to revolt. The final consequence was the cities rebounded. It was easier for the cities to rebound because they could always attract new people from the country side. So the cities, along with their industries, came in to prosper. The cities expanded the interest in craftsmen, but not the farmers, so as a result agriculture sunk down even further.

How did medieval towns function? What were their main problems?

The lords created towns, so people who were skilled could make things the lords and bishops needed and wanted. The lords created the towns by "granting charters to those who would agree to work within them." Towns grew and serfs were attracted to them because they lived better and with more freedom, and they could make money. People in the towns struggled to have their own government and not to be controlled by the landowner lords. Eventually the wealthier people created the town councils and the artisans created their own associations or guilds not only to protect them but also to represent them in the town government. As some people in the towns became more and more wealthy, others did not and this produced conflicts. There were also conflicts between those who brought goods from afar and the ones who made the same type of goods in the town. Towns tended to ally themselves with kings because lords were more likely to take the town's autonomy away.

Why did the Hundred Years' War last as long as it did?

The reason why the Hundred Year War lasted so long was a series of reasons. One was that the nobles kept scheming and switching sides between the English and the French. At that time people were struggling with what their nationality was which is why a lot kept switching around. The second reason was battle tactics. Not only were the battles long but also there were long sieges of castles and cities that could take years before the castle or the city could be conquered. In addition, when one side claimed a piece of land, another piece of land was taken away because of the lack of soldiers to protect that previous piece of land that had been conquered. Another reason was that the leadership, the kings, kept changing. So sometimes after the two sides had agreed to something, a new King would arrive, change and decide to fight again over a new piece of land or place that has been lost and agreed that it was lost before.

To what extent did the scientific revolution conflict with religion?

There were clashes between the new science and religious faith: First, certain new facts and theories about the heavens seemed to contradict biblical statement about the heavens. Second, there was tension as to who should decide if there was a conflict between science and faith. Church authorities or natural philosophers? Third, for many of the new thinkers - a materialistic view of the world seem to replace a spiritual one.

1. Fully describe the different levels of medieval society.

There were four major classes in medieval society. These were the nobles, clergy, peasants, and merchants. The first class was the Nobles. There were two ways to reach to this class, and that was if one was born into it, or earned it. A vassal, could earn it by cumulating wealth and land, a warrior could acquirer wealth by war looting, or being compensated for an act of heroism or war achievement. Nobles were not all equal, for there were those more important than others. The higher nobility had more land and were nobles for a long time, and the lower nobles had less land, could be those who only recently had become noble such as merchants who could buy land or farmers who could become landowners. At the beginning only nobles could be warriors, especially part of the Calvary. Every warrior's goal was to become a knight for the respect, benefits, and to protect the church and state. The ceremony for every knight was almost like a religious sacrament. Until the 12th century only the "high birth" could become knights, but with the increase of wealthy people who were earning their nobility, like merchants, others were able to become knights. The Clergy was different from the nobles and peasants because people from social classes were able to enter the clergy and not because of money, noble birth, land, or being great in war. The clergy was made up of monks, priests, and bishops. The clergy was divided in two types, which were secular and regular. Monks living in a monastery made the regular clergy. Monks made vows of poverty, obedience and chastity and isolated themselves from the world but not completely. They had contact with the outside world by teaching or taking care of people and helping in churches as needed and even the Pope. The secular clergy were those who live among the laity (today this group is called the archdiocesan priests). Most of the cardinals, bishops, and archbishops were of noble origin. There were many poor priests as well and these had to work to make a living. Until the 11th century many priests lived with women and had children. Note: the textbook includes nuns when speaking or the regular clergy but religious women are not, have never been clergy so I am not sure why the authors include nuns in this paragraph (chapter 8, page 205). When the Gregorian reform happened new orders came into being. They were the Cannon Regulars, Carthusians, the Cistercians, and the Praemonstratensians and these orders practiced their faith in the extremes. The strictest order were the Cistercians who fasted, lived in isolation, and made vows of silence. Another order was the Cannon Regulars and was made up by the secular clergy who remained in the world, but adopted the rule of St. Augustine. This was the precursor for the Dominicans and Franciscans who combined the monk life with an active role in the world. The clergy was found in towns with universities and cathedrals. They live of tithe and taxes. The clergy also owned land, so clergy became very rich and powerful. The next were the peasants, and according to the textbook they were a "largest and lowest social group in medieval society" and "the one on whose labor the welfare of all the others depended." Tenants living in a lords land had to give some of their products and services to the lord, but if any remained they could keep the rest. However there were peasant communities without a lord. The lord was judge and police for his tenants, and could force them to all kind of things ("banalities") such as making them pay for grinding grain in his mill or make wine in his wine press. In addition, serfs could not travel or marry without their lord's permission. Importantly though the lord had to protect and keep his serfs provided for and safe because he depended on them. Eventually, serfs began paying with money instead of service and goods, and became rent paying tenants. When this happened they lost the help of the lord during difficult times. Another change was that more tenants meant less days of work for the lord. The fourth class was Merchants who were composed by those dedicated to trade. They became quite wealthy by taking risks of bringing products from far and selling them for a profit. Merchants created their own protection groups and fought the lords on paying tolls for the use of their roads. We can also say that skilled workers or artisans also composed this fourth class. These artisans came to live in towns and grew wealthy and independent from the lords thanks to their own talents. This is why serfs were so attracted to move into towns.

Explain the reforms of Zwingli, the Anabaptists, nonconformists, and Calvin.

Ulrich Zwingle: Although not as well known the beliefs were straightforward and simple and made a huge demise of Catholicism in Switzerland. The Zwingli's believed that everything in the bible is truth, and whatever was not in the bible was a lie. This reform had brought rage, and civil war in Switzerland between Catholicism and Protestantism. Anabaptists: The Anabaptists were one of the most important groups of Protestant reform groups, and were the most radical. They sought the restoration of primitive Christianity, and did not believe in infant baptism. They insisted on adult baptism because they wanted the people who were being baptized to understand the scriptures, and choose to live a holy life. Nonconformists: Were English subjects who were not Anglicans. Today these people are called the Free Churches. Calvin: Made by John Calvin it was another diverse group of Protestant dissenters, and Calvinism replaced Lutherism in the second half of sixteenth century. Calvanists believed in "both the divine predestination and the individual's responsibility to reorder society according to God's plan." Genava became protestant in 1536, and Calvin who was exiled from France arrived in Genava in 1536 and stayed to help with the reformation. However more moderate Protestants rejected Calvin, and he was exiled in the city. Calvin went to Strasbourg, and there he learned from the reformer Martin Bucer. In 1540 Genava wanted independence from Bern and the city invited Calvin to help them with that. He arrived in 1540, and the city adopted his form of Protestantism. After 1,55 many protestants who left France, England, and Scotland arrived in Genava. Most of these refugees were Calvinist, and they helped the new religion become stronger in the city.

To what extent can one generalize about the lives of women and children in the Middle Ages?

What we know, according to the texbook, is that women in the Middle Ages who were nobles could aspire to the life of a housewife and lady of the manor or become a nun. As a nun, she could be in charge of a convent and have power and wealth. If she married, she could direct the household but always remain under the authority of her husband. She would have the responsibilities of running the house and producing children. Many medieval women, not noble, were workers (married or not). They would be skilled in a trade and could become craft masters. Women could not go to school though, be doctors, lawyers or scholars. Overall women were paid less and were less free than men in the same trade. What we know about children in the Middle Ages has changed lately. One is that it was believed that parents did not care much for their children since they had such a high probability of dying before the age of five and that children were treated like adults. However, there is evidence that people in the Middle Ages believed that children were different from adults (for example, Isidore of Seville wrote about the different stages of life and these included infancy, childhood, adolescence, and youth). Medical authorities also spoke of different stages according to children's age. There are objects specially designed for children and it proves children were special. Child abuse was condemned. Sending a child to study a trade at an early age was not abandoning the child but actually providing a future for the child. Although most children died at an early age it just made them more precious to the parents. Once monogamous marriage became the rule, in the ninth century, women received more protection but at the same time, their workload increased, as there would be only one woman in a household responsible for providing heirs, housework and as needed, works outside of their home.

What was involved in the Catholic Counter-Reformation?

Within the church, there were many internal criticisms even before the Reformation started. Many new orders were founded with the goal of reviving the church's piety within the church. Among these orders were the Capuchins who wanted to revive St. Francis de Assisi ideals, the Ursulines for women, the Somaschi and Barnabites in Italy and the Theatines. However, it was the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) lead by Ignatius of Loyola, who became the most successful counter-reformers of all the different religious orders. They proposed discipline, self-control and obedience to the church in combination with traditional spirituality, mysticism and loyalty to the church. Ignatius created the "Spiritual Exercises" as a guide for spiritual growth. The Pope Paul III called for a council to reassert church doctrine. This council met in the city of Trent for three times over 18 years. As a reaction to the Reformation's success, the council produced many internal reforms directed at improving church discipline. Measures were taken to prevent the selling of church offices and other church goods. Many bishops residing in Rome were asked to move to their own dioceses. Also, Bishops were required to be visible, to preach and visit their parishes and were given more authority so they could enforce or discipline local religious practices. Priests were required to be active, better educated, better dressed and celibacy was strictly enforced. Each diocese was required to have a seminary. The Council of Trent did not approve or concede anything to the Protestant movement. On the contrary, it reaffirmed transubstantiation, the seven sacraments, clerical celibacy, the authority of tradition, indulgences, refused the Eucharistic cup to the laity, purgatory, veneration of saints and relics and sacred images, the role of good works in salvation, traditional scholastic education for the clergy and in theology, ruled in favor of Thomas of Aquinas.