Professor Brophy
History 102

 
Introduction: Laying the Groundwork

 
I. Introduction

            - the early modern era in European history and its significance, 1400-1789

            -why 1648 as starting point?

            -the need to introduce prior significant movements that shaped seventeenth century

II.  The Renaissance

-the rediscovery of ancient learning: shift from Scholasticism to humanitas

-new emphasis on worldliness and individualism

-the statecraft of raison d’etat:  Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513)

-the print revolution; Gutenberg’s bible, 1455

III. The Reformation

-religious, social, political watershed

-Luther’s 95 theses (1517)

-princes’ support of church schism; Christendom divided

-Protestant churches as state entities; consolidation of state power

-The Peace of Augsburg, 1555

-The Council of Trent (1545-63) and the Counter Reformation

IV. The Age of Discovery and Conquest,
16^th-17^th Centuries

-caravel, compass, and cannon

-connecting of continents; transfer of wealth from new world to Europe

-a commercial revolution; new wealth of states and its consequences

-mercantilism, imperialism, and state formation

V. Europe’s Century of Crisis,
1555-1648

-the French wars of religion, 1562-1598

-The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-48

-brutal warfare, economic stagnation, political instability

-famine and population crises

- the witch craze (1570-1630: 2500 people executed)

-conclusion: the search for order and stability