Synopses & Reviews
Between roughly 1350 and 1650, Europe underwent seismic changes in economics, politics, culture, and religion. Feudal monarchies were reconceived as abstract states. The new technology of the printing press transformed how information was disseminated, bringing texts to different social groups. Painters perfected the artifice of perspective for an increasingly commercial patronage, even as they themselves cultivated the value of their own "genius" through increasingly distinctive styles and visions. Reformers called into question 1500 years of tradition, splitting the One True Church into multiple churches. In the midst of all these changes, Europeans reached farther and farther out into a world they did not yet dominate, even as they lived uneasily under the shadow of an expansionist Islamic Mediterranean. Indeed, that wider world was inseparable from those seismic changes in the political and cultural landscape of Europe.
Europe in a Wider World, 1350-1650 offers a concise discussion of these events and the impact they had upon an evolving European society. It provides a clear outline of political events and a lively exploration of developments in the social and cultural landscape. Along with traditional themes, such as Protestantism, the book examines the changing roles of European women and the effects of environmental fluctuation on the history of the continent. By looking at these years as a whole, the authors attempt to restore interconnections among events that are often lost when the time period is viewed through the double categories of "The Renaissance" and "The Reformation." Illustrated with nine detailed maps and twenty-four images, and offering chapter summaries and a chronology to aid students, this text is ideal for undergraduate courses in early modern European history.
Synopsis
This book is a compact, accessible history of the continent, during a time when it did not yet dominate the world in which it was situated. The text discusses the major events of the period, and also seeks to restore interconnections lost by thinkers who divided the period into "The Renaissance" and "The Reformation." With twenty-five illustrations and nine detailed maps, this short textbook is perfect for students of European history.
Table of Contents
1. The Late Middle Ages in Eastern Europe The Crusades
The Fall of Byzantium, 1081-1453
The Ottoman Empire, 1453-1699
Russia from the Thirteenth to the End of the Seventeenth Centuries
Summary
2. The Rise of the Nation
A World Turned Upside Down
The Emerging National Monarchies
Particularism in Germany and Italy
Summary
3. The Renaissance
A Money Economy
Printing, Thought, and Literature
Science and Religion
The Fine Arts
The Art of Daily Living
Summary
4. Exploration and Expansion
Exploration and Expansion
East by Sea to the Indies
West by Sea to the Indies
The North Atlantic Powers
Russia
The Impact of Expansion
Summary
5. The Age of Reformation
Protestant Founders: Martin Luther, 1483-1546
Protestant Founders: Zwingli, Calvin, and Others
Protestant Beliefs and Practices
The Catholic Reformation
Protestantism and the Idea of Progress
Summary
6. The Great Powers in Conflict
A Long Durée
A Complexity of Wars
The Catholic Monarchies: Spain and France
France: Toward Absolutism, 1547-1588
The Protestant States: Tudor England and the Dutch Republic
The Holy Roman Empire and the Thirty Years' War
Science and Religion
Summary