READING The emergence of modern Europe, 1500–1648 FOR IGCSE

 Economy and society

Worksheet 28

1. The 16th century was a period of vigorous economic expansion. This expansion in turn played a major role in the many other transformations—social, political, and cultural—of the early modern age. By 1500 the population in most areas of Europe was increasing after two centuries of decline or stagnation. Trade and commerce within European countries flourished. Most historians locate in the 16th century the beginning, or at least the maturing, of Western capitalism. Capital assumed a major role not only in economic organization but also in political life.

2. Capital could also support the technology required to develop new tools, enabling labourers to work more productively. The late Middle Ages was accordingly a period of significant technological advances linked with high capital investment in labour-saving devices. The development of printing by movable metal type substituted an expensive machine, the press, for many human copyists. Gunpowder and firearms gave smaller armies greater fighting power. Changes in shipbuilding and in the development of navigational aids allowed bigger ships to sail with smaller crews over longer distances. By 1500 Europe achieved what it had never possessed before: a technological edge over all other civilizations. Europe was thus equipped for worldwide expansion.3. Cities also grew, though slowly at first. The proportion of Europeans living in cities with 10,000 or more residents increased from 5.6 percent of the total population in 1500 to only 6.3 percent in 1550. The towns of England continued to suffer a kind of depression, now often called “urban decay,” in the first half of the century. The process of urbanization then accelerated, placing 7.6 percent of the population in cities by 1600, and even continued during the 17th-century crisis. The proportion of population in cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants reached 8.3 percent in 1650. Culturally, new values—many of them associated with the Renaissance and Reformation—diffused through Europe and changed the ways in which people acted and the perspectives by which they viewed themselves and the world.

Renaissance Geniuses (1500 – 1650)

Some of the most famous and ground breaking Renaissance intellectuals, artists, scientists and writers include the likes of:

Leonarda da Vinci (1452–1519): Italian painter, architect, inventor and “Renaissance man” responsible for painting “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.

Desiderius Erasmus(1466–1536): Scholar from Holland who defined the humanist movement in Northern Europe. Translator of the New Testament into Greek. 

Rene Descartes(1596–1650): French philosopher and mathematician regarded as the father of modern philosophy. Famous for stating, “I think; therefore I am.”

Galileo(1564-1642): Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer whose pioneering work with telescopes enabled him to describes the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. Placed under house arrest for his views of a heliocentric universe.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543): Mathematician and astronomer who made first modern scientific argument for the concept of a heliocentric solar system.

Thomas Hobbes(1588–1679): English philosopher and author of “Leviathan.”

Geoffrey Chaucer(1343–1400): English poet and author of “The Canterbury Tales.”

Giotto (1266-1337): Italian painter and architect whose more realistic depictions of human emotions influenced generations of artists. Best known for his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.

Dante (1265–1321): Italian philosopher, poet, writer and political thinker who authored “The Divine Comedy.”

Niccolo Machiavelli(1469–1527): Italian diplomat and philosopher famous for writing “The Prince” and “The Discourses on Livy.”

Titan (1488–1576): Italian painter celebrated for his portraits of Pope Paul III and Charles I and his later religious and mythical paintings like “Venus and Adonis” and "Metamorphoses."

William Tyndale (1494–1536): English biblical translator, humanist and scholar burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English.

William Byrd (1539/40–1623): English composer known for his development of the English madrigal and his religious organ music.

John Milton(1608–1674): English poet and historian who wrote the epic poem “Paradise Lost.”

William Shakespeare(1564–1616): England’s “national poet” and the most famous playwright of all time, celebrated for his sonnets and plays like “Romeo and Juliet."

Donatello(1386–1466): Italian sculptor celebrated for lifelike sculptures like “David,” commissioned by the Medici family.

Sandro Botticelli(1445–1510): Italian painter of “Birth of Venus.”

Raphael(1483–1520): Italian painter who learned from da Vinci and Michelangelo. Best known for his paintings of the Madonna and “The School of Athens.”

Michelangelo (1475–1564): Italian sculptor, painter and architect who carved “David” and painted The Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Renaissance Religion 

Humanism encouraged Europeans to question the role of the Roman Catholic church during the Renaissance.

The humanists and artists of the Renaissance would help characterize the age as one of individualism and self-creativity. Humanists such as Petrarch helped restore the dignity of mankind while men like Machiavelli injected humanism into politics. The Renaissance is credited with bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and modern-day civilization.

As more people learned how to read, write and interpret ideas, they began to closely examine and critique religion as they knew it. Also, the printing press allowed for texts, including the Bible, to be easily reproduced and widely read by the people, themselves, for the first time. In the 16th century, Martin Luther, a German monk, led the Protestant Revolution– a revolutionary movement that caused a split in the Catholic church. Luther questioned many of the practices of the church and whether they aligned with the teachings of the Bible. As a result, a new form of Christianity, known as Protestantism, was created. By the early 17th century, the Renaissance movement had died out, giving way to the Age of Enlightenment.