Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
,Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
, Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
Chapter 14: European Exploration and Conquest, 1450–1650
14.1 European society transforms during Renaissance
Between 1450 and 1650 European society underwent accelerated transformation. The medieval
order — rooted in feudal loyalty, agrarian labor, and rigid hierarchy — gradually yielded to new
patterns of wealth, learning, and mobility. Trade networks expanded, banking systems matured, and
urban populations grew. Artisans, merchants, and financiers gained authority previously reserved for
nobles and clergy. A society once tied to land and lordship began to depend on contracts, markets,
and profit.
This shift was visible in everyday structures of life:
currency replaced barter in most commercial regions
households practised bookkeeping and credit exchange
guilds standardized labour, skill, apprenticeship
mobility increased as workers moved for wages and opportunity
Prosperity also changed mentality. Europeans increasingly viewed skill, innovation, and individual
achievement as pathways to status. The ideal of the self-made citizen emerged alongside a still-
present aristocratic elite. Education expanded beyond monasteries to lay schools. Literacy rose,
allowing citizens to read legal contracts, devotional texts, scientific treatises, and eventually printed
news. The printing press accelerated this process, transforming the circulation of ideas almost
overnight.
This transformation was not only material but intellectual. Europeans began to study the world
directly — measuring, observing, recording. Natural philosophy, engineering, perspective drawing,
and navigational science developed because society valued inquiry. The Renaissance was therefore
not merely a revival of art; it was a restructuring of how people thought, traded, governed, and
imagined possibility. Europe moved from local to continental horizons, preparing itself — willingly or
not — for global expansion.
14.2 Urban culture expands in Italy and beyond
The heart of this transformation was the city. Italy’s city-states — Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan,
Rome — functioned as commercial republics or oligarchies, wealthy from Mediterranean shipping,
banking, and manufacturing. Their governments hired diplomats, maintained armies, and competed
for prestige through artistic patronage. Palaces, cathedrals, universities, and public squares became
markers of civic identity.
Urban culture was dynamic and demanding. Densely populated streets housed bankers beside
blacksmiths, scholars beside sailors. Wealth encouraged patronage; patronage encouraged creativity.
Competition between families and guilds fueled innovation in architecture, fresco cycles, sculpture,
and literature. Public life was theatrical and political, filled with processions, markets, debates, and
negotiation.
, Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
Italy led, but the pattern spread outward. Antwerp’s warehouses rivalled Venice; London became a
port of global reach; Paris and Seville emerged as cultural and administrative capitals. The printing
press allowed books to circulate between cities, creating networks of knowledge stretching across
Europe. Universities multiplied, courts sponsored artists and musicians, and workshops trained
generations of skilled painters and goldsmiths.
Urban culture promoted a new social rhythm:
• fast communication and shared public space
• literacy as a civic asset rather than elite privilege
• markets as centers of both goods and ideas
• identity shaped by profession, not only birth
The city made Renaissance culture visible, audible, and communal. Here Europe learned to think
collectively — and competitively — about art, politics, technology, and faith. Urban dynamism
created the mental architecture of modernity.
14.3 Humanism influences education art political thinking
Humanism formed the intellectual core of Renaissance society. Scholars recovered ancient texts in
Latin and Greek, copied them, translated them, and debated them. Classical thought encouraged
attention to rhetoric, logic, ethics, and historical inquiry — disciplines grounded in reason rather than
authority alone. Humanism emphasized the dignity of the individual, the value of earthly experience,
and the ability of human intellect to understand and shape the world.
Education was transformed as schools adopted humanist curriculum:
grammar and rhetoric before theology
history and moral philosophy as civic training
mathematics, geometry, and astronomy for applied reasoning
Greek and Latin for original textual understanding
Students were taught not merely to absorb knowledge, but to question, compare, and persuade. In
this environment argument became an intellectual skill and disagreement became a catalyst for
learning.
Humanism reshaped art just as powerfully. Painters studied anatomy to broaden naturalism;
sculptors revived contrapposto and classical proportion; architects referenced arches, domes, and
balanced symmetry. Frescoes and canvases displayed emotional realism, depth through linear
perspective, and landscapes rendered with scientific observation. Portraits captured personality,
status, even introspection — evidence of rising individual consciousness.
Political thoughts also changed. Instead of grounding authority solely in divine lineage, thinkers
observed how states operated: armies, taxation, commerce, diplomacy. They examined ambition,
power, reputation, and the fragility of peace. Secular governance slowly gained legitimacy as rulers
justified authority through law, administration, and military capability rather than inheritance alone.
,Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
, Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
Chapter 14: European Exploration and Conquest, 1450–1650
14.1 European society transforms during Renaissance
Between 1450 and 1650 European society underwent accelerated transformation. The medieval
order — rooted in feudal loyalty, agrarian labor, and rigid hierarchy — gradually yielded to new
patterns of wealth, learning, and mobility. Trade networks expanded, banking systems matured, and
urban populations grew. Artisans, merchants, and financiers gained authority previously reserved for
nobles and clergy. A society once tied to land and lordship began to depend on contracts, markets,
and profit.
This shift was visible in everyday structures of life:
currency replaced barter in most commercial regions
households practised bookkeeping and credit exchange
guilds standardized labour, skill, apprenticeship
mobility increased as workers moved for wages and opportunity
Prosperity also changed mentality. Europeans increasingly viewed skill, innovation, and individual
achievement as pathways to status. The ideal of the self-made citizen emerged alongside a still-
present aristocratic elite. Education expanded beyond monasteries to lay schools. Literacy rose,
allowing citizens to read legal contracts, devotional texts, scientific treatises, and eventually printed
news. The printing press accelerated this process, transforming the circulation of ideas almost
overnight.
This transformation was not only material but intellectual. Europeans began to study the world
directly — measuring, observing, recording. Natural philosophy, engineering, perspective drawing,
and navigational science developed because society valued inquiry. The Renaissance was therefore
not merely a revival of art; it was a restructuring of how people thought, traded, governed, and
imagined possibility. Europe moved from local to continental horizons, preparing itself — willingly or
not — for global expansion.
14.2 Urban culture expands in Italy and beyond
The heart of this transformation was the city. Italy’s city-states — Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan,
Rome — functioned as commercial republics or oligarchies, wealthy from Mediterranean shipping,
banking, and manufacturing. Their governments hired diplomats, maintained armies, and competed
for prestige through artistic patronage. Palaces, cathedrals, universities, and public squares became
markers of civic identity.
Urban culture was dynamic and demanding. Densely populated streets housed bankers beside
blacksmiths, scholars beside sailors. Wealth encouraged patronage; patronage encouraged creativity.
Competition between families and guilds fueled innovation in architecture, fresco cycles, sculpture,
and literature. Public life was theatrical and political, filled with processions, markets, debates, and
negotiation.
, Summary a history of western society volume 2 14th edition 9781319343712 2024
Italy led, but the pattern spread outward. Antwerp’s warehouses rivalled Venice; London became a
port of global reach; Paris and Seville emerged as cultural and administrative capitals. The printing
press allowed books to circulate between cities, creating networks of knowledge stretching across
Europe. Universities multiplied, courts sponsored artists and musicians, and workshops trained
generations of skilled painters and goldsmiths.
Urban culture promoted a new social rhythm:
• fast communication and shared public space
• literacy as a civic asset rather than elite privilege
• markets as centers of both goods and ideas
• identity shaped by profession, not only birth
The city made Renaissance culture visible, audible, and communal. Here Europe learned to think
collectively — and competitively — about art, politics, technology, and faith. Urban dynamism
created the mental architecture of modernity.
14.3 Humanism influences education art political thinking
Humanism formed the intellectual core of Renaissance society. Scholars recovered ancient texts in
Latin and Greek, copied them, translated them, and debated them. Classical thought encouraged
attention to rhetoric, logic, ethics, and historical inquiry — disciplines grounded in reason rather than
authority alone. Humanism emphasized the dignity of the individual, the value of earthly experience,
and the ability of human intellect to understand and shape the world.
Education was transformed as schools adopted humanist curriculum:
grammar and rhetoric before theology
history and moral philosophy as civic training
mathematics, geometry, and astronomy for applied reasoning
Greek and Latin for original textual understanding
Students were taught not merely to absorb knowledge, but to question, compare, and persuade. In
this environment argument became an intellectual skill and disagreement became a catalyst for
learning.
Humanism reshaped art just as powerfully. Painters studied anatomy to broaden naturalism;
sculptors revived contrapposto and classical proportion; architects referenced arches, domes, and
balanced symmetry. Frescoes and canvases displayed emotional realism, depth through linear
perspective, and landscapes rendered with scientific observation. Portraits captured personality,
status, even introspection — evidence of rising individual consciousness.
Political thoughts also changed. Instead of grounding authority solely in divine lineage, thinkers
observed how states operated: armies, taxation, commerce, diplomacy. They examined ambition,
power, reputation, and the fragility of peace. Secular governance slowly gained legitimacy as rulers
justified authority through law, administration, and military capability rather than inheritance alone.
