欧洲文化入门要点.doc

WEEK 1-3
Reformation and Counter-Reformation P138-139
The Reformation was a 16th century religious movement as well as a socio-political movement. It begin with Martin Luther‘s 95 thesis in 1517.
This movement aimed at opposing the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church and replacing it with the absolute authority of the Bible,
The demands of the reformists:
---direct communication between the individual and God
---simplifying rituals
---abolishing heavy taxes levied on their countrymen
---abolishing the indulgences
1) Pre-Luther Religious Reformers
John Wycliffe (about 1330¡ª1384) p-139
Chief forerunner of Reformation. English theologian and religious reformer.
He believed that Christ is man¡®s only overlord and that salvation depends upon predestination and grace rather than on membership of a visible church.
He took up the translation of the Bible into English for the first time.
Jan Hus (1372-1415)
A Bohemian Czech religious leader, theologian. Attacked the abuses of the Church/ was imprisoned and exiled/ was burnt at stake / the Hus War

2) Martin Luther(1483-1546) and His Doctrines
Martin Luther was the German leader of the Protestant Reformation. His doctrine marked the first break in the unity of the Catholic Church.
Beginning of the Reformation p-140
Translation of the Bible
Gospel of love and Ideas of Equality
In the history of Germany, Martin Luther was more than a religious leader, he was a fighter for democracy and nationalism, a humanist who helped to build a competent educational system and a writer whose forceful language helped fix the standards of the modern German language
3) John Calvin (1509-1564) and Calvinism
Calvin was a French theologian.
His Institutes of the Christian Religion was considered one of the most influential theological works of all times.
Presbyterian government
Calvinism stressed the absolute authority of the God’s will, holding that only those specially elected by God are saved.
Calvinism was one of the main courses of the capitalist spirit

4) Reformation in England p-143
John Knox Scottish Presbyterianism
Henry VIII / matrimonial affairs / Catherine Aragon / Anne Boleyn
In 1534, the Act of Supremacy marked the formal break of the British with the papal authorities. Thomas Cromwell---Vicar-General of the Church, King’s Chief Minister further broke from the Pope, closed the monasteries, took away their land and introduced church reforms.
In England, the question of reform was not fundamentally one of belief or interpretation of the Bible but one of rejection of the supremacy of the Pope.
5) Counter-Reformation p-144
Council of Trent
The sessions of the Council reaffirmed that the Church had the sole right to interpret the Bible. The Council declared that the Latin Vulgate of Jerome to be the definitive translation of the text. It was also stressed that Catholicism was a religion of infallible authority.
The Catholic Reformation, that is, counter-reformation afterwards was to a great extent occupied with the principles and requirements laid down at the council of Trent.
Ignatius and the Jesuits p-145
Ignatius was a Spaniard who devoted his life to defending the Roman Catholic Church.
Ignatius and his followers called themselves the Jesuits, members of the Society of Jesus.
Today the Society of Jesus is still active with a membership of 31000, having institutions in various parts of the world.
6) Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism p--146
Reformation movement broke the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
Protestantism came into being.
Liberal ideas
Science
Calvinism
Navigation and discoveries of new lands
7) Conclusion P147
In education and cultural matters
In religion
In language
In spirit
D. Renaissance in Other Countries
The influence of the Italian Renaissance reached every corner of Europe.
In France
In Spain
In the north: Flanders
In the Netherlands
In Germany
In England
In one word, Renaissance in Europe ¨produced giants in power of thought, passion and character, in universality and learning.”
1) Renaissance in France
Historical Background
A whole generation of humanists emerged in France. They began to study Greek culture and philosophy and this gave rise to writings of Ronsard, Rabelais and Montaigne.
The Chateau of the Loire Valley was a great landmark in architecture
In music, the beginning of polyphony
In religion, Calvinism won great popularity
Huguenots—the Protestant group in France
Renaissance Writers in France
i. Francois Rabelais (about 1483---1553)
ii. Pleiade
iii. Michel Eyques de Montaigne ( 1533---1592)
2) Renaissance in Spain
By 1479, the union of Castile and Aragon.
In 1492, Moors were driven out; Columbus discovered America and claimed America for Spain. The 16th century, the beginning of the Golden age of Spanish literature.
Meanwhile, Polygolt Bible
Literature
Miguel de Cervantes (1547---1616) a novelist, a dramatist and a poet.
Don Quixote was a parody satirizing a very popular type of literature at the time, the romance of chivalry. Its sources are romantic as well as realistic, truthful and imaginative. It is recognized as the father of the modern European novel, and has had great impact on world literature.
Art
El Greco (1541---1614) a Spanish painter
Major Work: The Burial of Count Orgaz
3) Renaissance in the North
Renaissance in the Netherlands
Erasmus (about 1466?---1536) a great Dutch scholar and humanist. P-160
Work: The Praise of Folly
Renaissance in Flanders
Pieter Bruegel (the Elder) (about 1525---1569) a Flemish painter of landscape and scenes of rural life. He was called peasant Bruegel
Major Works: The Land of Cockayne (1567)
The Return of the Hunters (1565)
Renaissance in Germany
Albrecht Durer (1471---1528)
He was the leader of the Renaissance in Germany.
He was a master of woodcut. His engravings are unsurpassed and his Water colours of animals and plants are exceedingly sensitive.
Major Works: The Four Horsemen of Apocalpse
Knight, Death and Devil,1513
Hans Holbein (the younger) (1497--- 1543)
He was the last great German master of the 16th century. His best known works are his portraits.
Major Works: Erasmus of Rottendam
Portrait of Henry VIII
4) Renaissance in England
Historical Background
The War of Roses(1455-1485)
The Reign of Elizabeth I (1558 -- 1603 ) was a period of political and religious stability and economic prosperity.
The Church of England was re-established, ending the long time religious strife;
Commerce and industry forged ahead as a result of the enclosure movement at home and the opening of new sea routes in the world.
England began to embark on the road to colonization and foreign control that was to take it onto its heyday of capitalist development.
Thomas More (1477---1535)
A great humanist during the Renaissance. Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII. He resigned (!532) after refusing to agree to the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. When he refused to conform to the Act of Supremacy, he was imprisoned, found guilty of treason and beheaded. Among his writings the best known is Utopia (1516)
William Shakespeare (1564---1616)
English playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. His plays, many of which were performed at the Globe Theatre in London, include
historical works, such as Richard II,
comedies, including Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It,
and tragedies, such as Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear.
He also composed 154 sonnets.
The earliest collected edition of his plays, the First Folio, contained 36 plays and was published posthumously (1623).
Taken as a whole, it could be said that Shakespeare’s early works showed optimism and his belief that love and benevolence will triumph over everything and concern for a peaceful and unified England whereas his later works, with deep insight, brought to light the contradiction between the humanists and the dark and brutal feudal and capitalist reality.
E. Science and Technology during the Renaissance
The Renaissance, among other things, was a revolt against the medieval concepts and an age of creation and discoveries.
1) Geographical Discoveries
a. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Italian explorer in the service of Spain who determined that the earth was round and attempted to reach Asia by sailing west from Europe, thereby discovering America (1492). He made three subsequent voyages to the Caribbean in his quest for a sea route to China
b. Bartholomeu Dias (1466?--- 1500)
A Portuguese navigator who discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1487.
c. Vasco da Gama (about 1460---1524)
A Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. The first European to sail to India (1497-1498), he opened the rich lands of the East to Portuguese trade and colonization.
d. Amerigo Vespucci (1457---1512) Italian navigator and explorer of the South American coast. America was named in his honor.
2) Astronomy
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--- 1543)
A Polish astronomer who advanced the theory that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun, disrupting the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. He is known as father of modern astronomy.
3) Anatomy
a. Leonardo da Vinci (1452--- 1519)
a great anatomist in Italy and during his life time Leonardo dissected more than 30 corpses.
b. Andreas Vesalius (1514---1564)
A Flemish anatomist. The founder of modern medicine His work Fabrica marked the beginning of a new era in the study of anatomy.
4) Printing
Aldus Manutius (1450---1515) The foremost printer in Italy.
5) Political Science and Historiography
a. Dante (1265-1321)
Dante contributed a great deal to the establishment of the equality of the divine power and the secular power. Although a poet, Dante was a great innovator. He regards Emperor and Pope as independent, and both divinely appointed.
b. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469--- 1527)
An author and a statesman. He was called ¨DFather of political science¡¬ in the West. Works: Prince and Discourses
c. Giorgio Vosari (1511---1574)
Vosari was best known for his entertaining biographies of artists, Lives of the Artists (a study of cultural history).
F. Summing-up
The Renaissance created a culture which freed man to discover and enjoy the world in a way not possible under the medieval Church¡®s dispensation. In this release lay the way of development of the modern world. The Reformation dealt the feudal theocracy a fatal blow. It shattered Medieval Church’s stifling control over man, thus paving the way for capitalism