Week 3: Expanding Horizons

Discussion: Europeans in the World
Read and discuss Ludovico di Varthema, The Second Book Concerning India (all)

Columbian Encounters
Image: an allegorical depiction of America as innocent, noble, female, and savage. Source: J. Falck, “America,” (c. 1650-1675). Copper engraving, 45x30 cm. Source: Atlas van der Hagen, Koninklijke Bibliotheek.

I.  India: Object of Imagination and Desire
A.  Fantasy World
B.  Venturing Into Unknown Waters

II.  Intellectual Ferment: Who (or What) are the Indios?

III. Myths of the Military and Spiritual Conquests

Identifications:

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
Sea Route to India
Christopher Columbus (c. 1446-1506)
Amerigo Vespucci
Hernan Cortes (1485-1547)
Revolutions in Science
Image: A representation of the heliocentric, Copernican model of the universe, published by Thomas Digges (c. 1545-c.1595) in his Perfit Description of the Coelestiall Orbes (1576). Image source: The Galileo Project.

I. Introduction: Galileo's Spots


Image: Galileo's observation of sunspots on 24 June 1612; Galileo Project

II. Nature Before the Scientific Revolution
A. Perfection and Imperfection
B. "Natural Motion"
C. Anthropocentrism

III. New Metaphors: Clocks and the Book of Nature
A. The Mechanical Cosmos 
B. Nature as Revelation

IV. Removing the Humors: A New Science of the Body

Image: The Anthropocentric Universe
Image: The “Tychonic” Universe

Graph: Galenic Physiology
Image: Andreas' Vesalius Dissection Amphitheater (1543)
Image: Illustration from Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1543)

Image: Jean Couet  (1485/90-1541), Portrait of Francois I, King of France (ca. 1516). Wood, 96 x 74 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Source: CGFA. 		The New Monarchies

I. The Revival of Monarchy
A. The Late Fifteenth Century—A Period of Transition?
B. What Was 'Feudal' about Medieval Monarchy?

II. Sources of Royal Power and Authority
A. Officers: Agents of Ongoing Local Supervision
B. Armies: Establishing a Monopoly Over the Use of Violence
C. Taxes: Regular Income and Uniform Subjection
D. Legitimacy: Representation and Ritual

III. The Revival of Roman Law

Map: Paris in Late Middle Ages
Interactive Map: The Rise of Universities, 1200-1500
Graph: Pounds of Sealing Wax Used per Week (1226-1271)
Graph: Cash Outlays in England, 1511-1518
Graph: English Crown Revenues, 1155-1452
Graph: English Crown Revenues, 1155-1688
Map: Europe in 1400
Map: Europe in 1500


Image: Charles VII "the Victorious" (1403-1461)
Image: The Royal Entry of Charles V into Paris, 1364
Image: A Sixteenth-Century Mercenary
Image: A Late Medieval Military Camp (Lager)
Map: The Gabelle in France

Elements of sovereign monarchic rule:

  • Continuous, local application of royal will
  • Monopoly over the legitimate use of violence
  • Uniformity of subjection
  • Legitimacy of rule

 
Identifications

“Great Vassals” 

Royal Officers: “shire-reeves,” Justices of the Peace (England), prévôts, baillis, sénéchaux (France), corregidores (Spain)

Indirect taxes: the Gabelle
Direct taxes: the Taille

Henry VII Tudor (England), 1485-1509 
Charles VIII (France), 1483-1498 
Francois I (France), 1515-1547 
Ferdinand and Isabella (Spain), 1479-1516 
Ivan the Terrible (Russia), 1533-1584 
Maximilian I (Holy Roman Empire), 1493-1519

Princeps legibus solutus -- the prince is not bound by the laws
Quiquid principi placuit legis habet vigorem -- the will of the prince has the force of law
Image: Charles VI is crowned king of France by the French peers (1380); Grandes Chroniques de France, fol. 3v. 220 x 140mm. Image source: Bibliotheque nationale de France.
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