History Commons^™

2. The Modern State, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIX: An Analysis of the Contemporary World’s Search for Meaning

Nothing manifests the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary institutions more than the modern national state. Because in this country it reflects the demands of all the people and at the same time affects them and all their other institutions, it is the prime example of institutional growth. It is not an exaggeration to say that all other institutions serve but partial ends, no matter how total they may try to be in their relations with their members. Designed to be small, it has become huge. Once limited to action which was mainly negative, it has become more and more …

1. The Heirs Of The Roman Empire: Byzantium, Islam, And Medieval Europe, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section II: Medieval, Political and Economic Development: Feudalism and Manorialism

The fall of Rome did not, as many contemporaries had expected, preface the end of the world. Rather, it was the end of a world, of a way of life which had characterized the Mediterranean basin for centuries. Amid the ruins of Greco-Roman Civilization, three new civilizations arose in the old imperial territories and their borderlands. One of these new civilizations -- the Western - is our major interest and its first phase -- the medieval -- will here demand our closer attention. The other two -- the Byzantine and the Islamic -- were Eastern and influenced rather than fathered …

2. The Theory Of Special Relativity, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published his first work on relativity in 1905, the same year in which he published remarkable papers on Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect. At the time he did this work, he was a patent examiner in the Swiss Patent Office. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921 "for his services to the theory of physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." He became a professor of physics at several German universities, and in 1916, he took a position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin.

As the …

3. Sociology, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXI: Meaning in the Social Sciences

Sociology is one of the sciences of human behavior that has grown out of Enlightenment thought. In its present method and theory there is substantially nothing that was not anticipated by gifted seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century thinkers and their intellectual offspring in the Enlightenment tradition. From particular aspects of the grand theoretical syntheses that were characteristic of these centuries, a process of refinement and specialization has produced the sociology of the present day. [excerpt]

Xxiv. Historical Meaning, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXIV: Historical Meaning

Philosophers and theologians have not been alone during the present age of crisis in trying to solve, or at least to illuminate, the riddle of human existence. In their attempts to find meaning for the life of man, they have been joined by many historians who are convinced that it is also an essential part of their task to discover some clue to whatever destiny might be in store for the human species. As a result, the past quarter of a century has seen the appearance of a host of books, pamphlets, and articles devoted to the subject of meaning …

2. Toynbee And The Cyclical Pattern Of History, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XXIV: Historical Meaning

There has been recently a return on the part of some writers to the Greek theory that the course of history follows a cyclical pattern. An important motivation for this return is the conviction that neither the theory of progress nor the classical Christian understanding of history can explain the setback which has befallen Western culture. One of the most famous explanations of the current dilemma to employ this pattern was that offered by the German writer, Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), in the Decline of the West (1918-1922). Drawing his analogy from biology, Spengler argued that each civilization has a life …

3. The Church's Bid For Worldwide Leadership, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section III: The Medieval Church

The Church in the West had made the claim that it could and would bring all men into subjection to godliness, and that in so doing it would create a universal Christian society. Because of the great influence wielded in medieval society by the feudal nobles, the Church was particularly interested in directing their activities to what it considered to be useful ends. Accordingly, as we have already seen, it gave a religious coloration to knighthood and preached that knights should fight only in such just causes as defending the helpless and protecting the innocent. About the year 1000, synods …

2. The Means Of Grace, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section III: The Medieval Church

Central to the medieval Church and the ultimate source of its power, both spiritual and temporal, was its possession of the sacraments. The sacraments were based on the belief that what man could not do for himself God could and would do for him. Medieval man believed that there were at least two things that it was impossible for him to do: he could not create himself and he could not save himself. But the same God who had created man stood ready to snatch him from the terrible consequences of his sinfulness. This great favor was accomplished through the …

6. The Church In The Economic Sphere, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section III: The Medieval Church

Since the Church in the Middle Ages claimed to teach "in all its fulness every doctrine that men ought to be brought to know," it was obligated to enunciate and propagate a set of definite principles for guiding medieval men as, in one way or another, they engaged in making a living. The Church did, in fact; enter the Middle Ages with a set of general presuppositions regarding economic activity, a legacy from its first five hundred years of existence. The way in which it sought to apply these presuppositions during the succeeding thousand years is a good example of …

1. The Goliard Poets, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IV: The Medieval Ferment

One aspect of medieval variety was a love of this world and of nature. This naturalism had many bases in addition to the fact that man has always found nature unavoidable. It was due also, in part, to the pronounced emphasis on the other world, and arose as an understandable reaction to the prevailing concern for things spiritual. It was also due in part to the fact that, according to Christian teachings, this world of nature was in and of itself good because it had been created by a good God. Therefore it was not to be despised. Naturalism was …

4. The Church's Bid For Intellectual Leadership, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section III: The Medieval Church

We have already noted the Church's claim to teach "in all its fulness every doctrine that men ought to be brought to know, and that regarding things visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth." During the Dark Ages it was too busy with other problems to be able to concern itself much with education. While there were sporadic attempts earlier, it was only during the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the Church turned more seriously to the problem of educating its members. This work was carried on primarily in the monastery and cathedral schools. But, because the monasteries of …

5. Marsiglio And The Defensor Pacis, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IV: The Medieval Ferment

While the struggle between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France may have marked the decline of papal temporal power, it did not end the efforts of the popes to restore themselves to their former position in European politics. Despite the fact that such a restoration became increasingly unlikely during the fourteenth century, these efforts were vigorously pursued by the Avignon papacy. At times they were merged with the execution of the historic papal policy of discouraging the creation of any strong power in Italy which might threaten the security of the Papal States. On one of these occasions the …

6. John Wyclif's Divine Dominion And The End Of The Middle Ages, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IV: The Medieval Ferment

John Wyclif (c. 1320-1384) has been called both the last of the schoolmen and the morning star of the Reformation. A native Englishman and a Franciscan, he spent most of his life at the University of Oxford, first as scholar, later as teacher of theology, and, from 1356 to 1382, as master of Balliol College. He witnessed the opening battles of the Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337-1453) with its heavy toll of life, the beginning of the Great Schism (1378-1417) during which there was one pope at and another at Avignon, and finally the spectacle of peasant …

3. The Decline Of The Manor, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

The development of towns into commercial centers was soon accompanied by the decline of the old manorial system of agriculture and serfdom. Changes were taking place in methods of agricultural production, systems of land holding, and the quantity of land under cultivation. These changes came about as it became increasingly apparent that population growth was creating demands for the products of the soil which the old agricultural methods no longer could meet. [excerpt]

2. The Rise Of Towns And Town Life, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

Towns as centers of a population devoted to commercial activity or as communities endowed with legal entity hardly existed anywhere in medieval Europe before the eleventh century. Some towns had survived the disorder of the Dark Ages, since societies require meeting places for religious purposes, to administer justice, and to muster military forces. These early centers were often located in old Roman towns where bishops resided, along well-established trade routes over which a trickle of commerce still passed, or on high ground which afforded some defensive advantage against the lawless bands of rovers or foreign invaders. Many early town were …

4. The Rise Of Capitalism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

It will be seen from the foregoing that some of the spirit and practices of modern capitalism were already apparent as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries. European thought was becoming more secular with the development of a mercantile culture which stressed the production of goods for profit in contrast with the former emphasis on production for use. Medieval man began exploiting opportunities for more effective production and is distribution of the products of farm, mine, and shop. From this search evolved the economic system we call capitalism. In its rudimentary form this institution was not unknown during the …

5. The Rise Of National Feeling, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

In the centuries under review in this chapter the self-sufficient manor, the feudal aristocracy, and the cultural isolation of Europe fell before the forces of economic change. In much the same way and for many of the same reasons the political institutions and practices of feudalism succumbed to the joint attacks or monarchs and the middle class. Even in its day of glory feudalism had within itself certain weaknesses. It had never been able to maintain more than a modicum of order, and indeed under the chivalric code the proper occupation of the knight was warfare. To the interminable civil …

10. The Political Thought Of Machiavelli, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

The national state in Western Europe was a new institution, without precedent in the European World. Its rise and almost immediate conflict with the Church challenged political theorists to reexamine the assumptions of a universal church in a universal empire upon which the theory of the two swords was based. These assumptions were so generally accepted that they were not easily abandoned. In the fourteenth century Marsiglia of Padua, for all his disinterest in the two swords, had arrived at his conclusions without denying either the existence of a universal church or the validity of the traditional morality. Other writers …

Vi. Renaissance Humanism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VI: Renaissance Humanism

Between the end of the High Middle Ages (about 1350) and the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, the character of Western Civilization was profoundly altered. Earlier chapters have already told how most institutions and values characteristic of the High Middle Ages began to disintegrate. Meanwhile, other institutions and ideas, many of which we think of as modern, gradually came to the fore. The intensification of this process of transition from medieval to modern is called the Renaissance. [excerpt]

6. England: A Case Study In Successful Monarchism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section V: The Rise of Capitalism and the National State to 1500

England led the way to national consolidation and a strong monarchy for a number of reasons. The geographical advantages have already been briefly mentioned. Of some importance were the Anglo-Saxon precedents in force between the seventh and eleventh centuries. Roman Civilization was never much more than a thin veneer in England and with the withdrawal of the Romans this veneer wore away. In its place rose Saxon England, and despite the partially successful invasions of the British Isles by the Northmen a degree of cultural homogeneity developed. In fact, these invasions promoted the levying of a royal tax known as …

2. The Renaissance Of Northern Europe, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VI: Renaissance Humanism

The Renaissance north of the Alps was akin to the Italian Renaissance, but it appeared later and developed distinctive features of its own. It had a dual origin in infection and invention. Infection was the result of the brisk traffic of merchants, scholars, princes, soldiers, Churchmen, and artists which passed between Italy and the North, carrying tidings of the new developments in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan. In addition, northern Europeans hit on ideas of their own. Since they, like the Italians, were experiencing the growth of trade, urban life, and the centralized state, their response to these events was …

1. The Renaissance In Italy, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VI: Renaissance Humanism

Italian wealth in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was a fertile seedbed in which Renaissance civilization flowered. We have already noted how Italy led the way in the development of commercial capitalism. This flourishing economy placed in the hands of a vigorous class of self-made men sufficient wealth to give Italian civilization a gilding of luxury and display such as the Western World had not seen since the fall of Rome. [excerpt]

1. Prelude To Reform, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VII: The Protestant Movement

The more immediate background for the Age of Reformation includes factors which precede Luther by a Century and more. While the reformers themselves felt that these factors had roots in first century Christian history and literature, more directly relevant to the movement were political, social, and economic changes which produced severe tensions in the late medieval world. Some of these contributed significantly to the Protestant upheaval. Still more important, however, were diverse streams of religious ferment, such as late medieval scholasticism, mysticism, humanism, heretical propaganda , and anti-clericalism, which flowed toward a junction in the Reformation. While it must be …

4. The Anglican Settlement, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VII: The Protestant Movement

Before turning to the radical reformers who regarded Luther and Calvin as too compromising, let us consider another land in which a conservative expression of the Reformation developed. If the first important center of the Protestant movement was a university community, and the second a thriving commercial city, the third was the royal court of England. The English Reformation was an act of state. Until the occasion of his break with Rome, Henry VIII (1509-1547) was considered a faithful son of the Church. He had burned several Lutheran heretics and had written a tract against Luther's Babylonian Captivity. The pope …

2. The Lutheran Affirmation, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VII: The Protestant Movement

The individual who first brought the Reformation into full focus was Martin Luther (1483-1546). There are few more controversial personalities in history and few about whom it is less possible to get an unbiased estimate. He has been portrayed as a genial conversationalist fond of good living, as a sensualist who condoned immorality, as a patriotic and courageous prophet, as a moody neurotic, and as a man for whom the encounter with God was overwhelming. The abundant literature from many camps makes clear that Luther was both a giant figure in history and a very complex personality. [excerpt]

2. Copernicus, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VIII: The Development of Modern Science

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), of German and possibly Polish extraction, spent three years at the University of Cracow and then ten years at Italian universities. In Italy he was introduced to the Pythagorean ideas, which left a permanent mark on his mind, and became interested in astronomical theories. He returned home to the position of canon of Frauenburg cathedral where he stayed until his death. [excerpt]

4. Roger Bacon And Medieval Science, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IV: The Medieval Ferment

Throughout the Middle Ages there was little interest in theoretical science as such. Not since the Greeks had nature been considered a sufficient object in and of itself for most of the study that we would call scientific. The Middle Ages ' concern with nature was not its primary concern. The medievalist was interested in nature either as a mirror of the supernatural or as something which could be used in reaching the supernatural. The reappearance of Aristotle's thought and the development of those practical and technical interests which grew up around the problems of trade and industry demanded a …

7. A Postscript To The Age Of Reformation, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VII: The Protestant Movement

Estimates regarding the results of the Reformation differ as widely as do the names used to characterize it. As it has been called a revolt, a reaffirmation, a reaction, or a reformation, so its results have been assessed as a shattering of Christendom, a resurgence of the gospel, a return to religious scholasticism, or a real quickening in the faith of Western man. Therefore, any conclusions as to its influence which we might draw will of necessity be somewhat affected by the views of the writers. With this in mind, we shall examine several important ramifications of the Reformation. [ …

1. The Absolute Dynastic State, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IX: Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789

One of the most significant developments of the early modern period was the evolution of the national state from its beginnings in the feudal monarchy of the High and Late Middle Ages. The ghost of a universal state coincident with a universal church, which had lingered to the end of the Middle Ages, was finally laid to rest with the successful disruption of Christendom and recognition of the sovereignty of the national state. In its place there was a frank acceptance of the political fragmentation of Europe along the geographical lines which were already clearly discernible, at least in western …

4. Mercantilism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section IX: Early Modern Europe, 1500-1789

The rise of the national state and the expansion of Europe, which have just been described, were accompanied by the further development of commercial capitalism along lines already laid down in the later Middle Ages. The most notable fact about capitalism between 1500 and 1789 was its overall growth, not so much in the development of new techniques (at least not until the very end of the period) as in the wider use and elaboration of old ones. The New Monarchy and its successors afforded protection to businessmen and something resembling a national market. In addition, the government with its …