Yes, it used to be the theme to
Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. It's also Rondeau
by Jean Joseph Mouret (1729).
Religious persecutors are not believers, they are
rascals.
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1761)
Voltaire at Ferney
Notice the neatly organized garden, indicative of the
rationalist mindset.
Scientific Revolution
Lisa's definition of modern science: the combination of
empirical and rational knowledge.
Ptolemaic-Aristotelian system
Before the scientific developments of the 17th century, Europeans
knew that the pattern of the universe
was based on the systems developed by the ancient astronomer
Ptolemy and the Greek philosopher Aristotle. This
Ptolemaic-Aristotelian system put the earth at the center of the
universe, unmoving and pulling heavy elements (earth, water)
toward itself and pushing light elements (air, fire) away.
Surrounding the earth were a series of concentric spheres made of
a fifth element called quintessence (that is, the fifth
essence). On these transparent spheres rested the planets and
stars. These spheres rotated around the earth in predictable
patterns, causing the rising and setting of moon and planets, the
movement of stars, and the paths of comets and meteors.
Sound silly? Really? Tonight, if it's clear, go outside. Do the
stars seem to move in groups? Do you feel the earth moving, or do
you track the stars? Tomorrow, go to the beach. Does the sun set,
or do you feel the earth rotate?
My point is, the system was based on empirical knowledge,
that knowledge learned through your five senses (sight, smell,
taste, hearing, touch). The knowledge you have that makes you
think the earth rotates and revolves around the sun is rational
knowledge. It was told to you by your culture, taught to you over
and over. It's unlikely that you have empirical knowledge of the
system, unless you've been up on a spacecraft.
The Ptolemaic-Aristotelian system worked fine for Europeans for
centuries.
Copernican Theory
Then came Copernicus, a priest and mathematician. By
his time (the 16th century) earlier astronomers had added many
spheres to the original system to account for such observations as
retrograde motions and meteor paths. As a mathematician, dedicated
to reducing knowledge to quantifiable terms, Copernicus found the
system inelegant. He tried, on paper, to reduce the number of
spheres, to make the system more efficient. He succeeded. His
solution put the sun at the center of the system, making a heliocentric
universe.
The Catholic Church, however, had long interpreted the Bible to
mean that the earth was at the center of the universe. Copernicus
reserved publication of his theory until his death, but so long as
it was just presented as a theory, a hypothesis, a "what if", the
Church had no problem. Astronomers found the system handy because
it made their calculations more accurate.
What Copernicus had done, because he had never looked at the sky,
was added the rational element to an empirical
system.
Brahe, Kepler and Galileo
Although he did not accept Copernican heliocentrism,
Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (d. 1601) created new
instruments for studying the heavens and gathered a
tremendous amount of data. He observed bodies and tracked
the entirety of their orbits, bringing to light many
inaccuracies and throwing wrenches into the works of 17th
century astronomy. His observations of the birth of a star
and a new comet challenged Aristotle's premise that the
earth and the heavens were made of different substances,
with the heavens being unchangeable.
Johannes Kepler began as an assistant to Brahe and later
applied mathematics to Brahe's data. He was the first to
develop the notion that planets moved in ellipses around
Copernicus' heliocentric system. His three laws of planetary
motion were later used by Newton.
Galileo developed the telescope using optical lenses
available thanks to the technologies of Arab craftsmen. An
Italian professor of mathematics, he studied motion and
mechanics using experimentation, thus combining rationalism
with empiricism. He created controlled reenactments of
natural phenomena, such as rolling bronze balls down a
smooth channel to measure acceleration. He developed the law
of inertia, and thus destroyed the old concepts about heavy
objects being in a natural state of rest. Through his
telescope he saw other contradictions to prevailing theory,
such as Jupiter's moons, which appeared to be rotating
(against the rules) around a turning planet (also against
the rules) and thus weren't on a known celestial sphere.
So long as Galileo was willing to present his findings as
theories rather than facts, the Catholic Church had no problem.
Overwhelmed by his new discoveries, and filled with the knowledge
he was right, Galileo began to publish his findings as facts.
Members of the scientific community were intrigued by his work,
but some were concerned about the ways in which it contradicted
the Bible, which presented a still earth and the universe around
it. The Grand Duchess Christina was one such person, and Galileo's
letter to her has been taken as the ultimate break with the
Church's view of the heavens. Workbook document: Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)
Galileo's publications led to arrest by the Papal Inquisition.
When threatened with torture, Galileo agreed to recant his views
as facts.
Newtonian synthesis
Englishman Isaac Newton is credited with putting together into
one system the previous century's scientific achievements:
Copernican mathematical simplicity + Brahe's massive collection of
data + Kepler's elliptical orbits + Galileo's telescopic
observations.. His combination of the experimental method with
rational theory was seamless. His Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy (1687) broke new ground with some basic
principles, including the idea that natural forces act in
predictable ways. Of equal importance was the idea that there was
no difference between celestial (heavenly) and terrestrial
(earthly) physics. Therefore, experiments about the heavens could
be conducted on earth.
But don't mistake Newton for a modern scientist. He also believed
in alchemy to turn metal into gold.
From Science to Enlightenment
The principles of combining rationalism with empiricism had their
basis in philosophy. In fact, what we would call science was
called "natural philosophy". Francis Bacon (1561-1626) popularized
the new scientific experimental method, and can be used to
represent the empirical side of the equation. He believed in inductive
reasoning, gathering data and using the data to develop a
conclusion (reasoning from the specifics to the generality).
René Descartes (1596-1650) was a mathematician and the developer
of analytic geometry. He used deductive reasoning,
deducing from large general truths the reality of the particulars.
For example, he began by doubting everything except the basic
truths that could not be discovered empirically. Geometry was
unquestionable. A line is always the shortest distance between two
points, for example.
Voltaire
These ideas mark the transition from Scientific Revolution to
Enlightenment. The Enlightenment can be seen as the application of
science to the rest of life. Enlightenment philosophers, the philosophes,
believed that all aspects of life could be understood in the same
way as natural phenomena. The application of reason to such areas
as politics, society, economics, etc. is the Enlightenment.
Voltaire and Reason
Just like science itself, the Enlightenment had two sides that
could be in opposition or work together.
The first concerns the issue of science itself, and its purpose.
Philosophes like Voltaire believed in science as the
ultimate expression of human control over nature. His faith was in
reason to solve human problems, such as religious intolerance (as
a lawyer, for example, he took a case defending a man accused of
murdering his son for converting to Roman Catholicism).
Along with him were scholars like Diderot, who
published the Encyclopedia, which purported to be a multi-volume
collection of all known facts. It contained marvelous drawings of
machinery (see some here), reflecting the Enlightenment
fascination with mechanical techniques of controlling nature.
Interestingly enough, the Encyclopedia contained no reference to
God, because God cannot be "known". The Catholic Church banned the
Encyclopedia, but most clergymen (who tended to be quite
scientific and intellectual) had subscriptions as the volumes were
published!
Rousseau and Emotion
The other side
of the Enlightenment is best represented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
To Rousseau, the rational mind was not what made one human.
Emotions, intuition, those parts of people which are natural, were
considered more important.
In practice, this meant a focus on the natural state of human
beings. Nature was the greatest teacher, and Rousseau's
educational method, published in his work Emile, promoted
a natural form of education based on the interests and needs of
the child.
Rousseau also promoted breastfeeding in a time when many wealthy
families sent their babies to wet-nurses. Breastmilk was nature's
food, and thus most suitable for a baby.
Freedom plays a large part in this aspect of the Enlightenment.
"Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains." Rousseau's
political treatise, the Social Contract, promoted this
idea, that government was meant not to control human beings, but
to do their collective will. Workbook document: Rousseau's Social Contract (1763)
Music
Late Baroque
The Late Baroque style was popular at the beginning of the
Enlightenment, but was also a holdover from the 17th century.
Handel is a great example:
Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks: Overture (1749)
The grandeur and formality of the style are characteristc. I
don't like listening to Handel. I keep looking over my shoulder to
see what great person is entering the room! Handel was a
professional composer, who achieved international fame and earned
a fortune with his music.
Johann
Sebastian Bach kept the drama, but focused on skillful renditions
of variations on themes people would enjoy listening to. In
contrast to Handel, Bach's influence was confined to Protestant
Germany until after his death, when others revived his music.
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos -- Concerto No. 4 in G major
(1721)
Bach's music is intellectual, and to my mind a far better
representation of refined Enlightenment tastes.
Classic music
Many of us use the term "classical music" to mean anything
that's old, doesn't have lyrics, and is played on violin or piano.
But in fact it's a specific era and style marking an effort toward
true lyricism, using clear melodies which could be enjoyed by the
elites in society who patronized composers. The music tends to be
light, with little of the dissonance that occurred in Baroque
music.
Classicists were trying to revive an ideal of balance and
moderation inherent in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome,
while at the same time creating graceful melodies and harmonies.
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart took what could have been a very austere and restrained
form, and created some of the most beautiful music in history.
Although he wanted to be a court composer, he worked in many
genres, including opera and dance music. He died unappreciated and
unfulfilled in his ambitions; in some ways I think his music was
simply beyond the comprehension of the wealthier set of patrons.
(In the play and film Amadeus, the Emperor tells him his
music has "too many notes".) In his case, it was the middle class
that knew a good thing when they heard it. Here's one with lots of
notes:
Mozart: First Movement, Sonata No. 15 in C Major
(1788)
Baroque music reflected the drama and emotion of religious
conflict between Catholic and Protestant, while Classical music
reflected an orderly, controlled, graceful society. The transition
marks the Enlightenment.
Now see how the art and music went together in the transfer from
Baroque to Classical
While the figures we study in the Enlightenment tend to be male,
without women-run salons the ideas of the Enlightenment would have
remained only among elite intellectuals.
Salons were informal gatherings of intellectuals. Originating in
France in the 17th century, they tended to be run by women who
opened their homes and parlors for discussions lasting several
hours. As a forum for both aristocrats (many of the salon
originators were upper-class) and middle-class scholars, it was
one of the few places where the classes mixed.
It was at the salons that the ideas of the culture
and civilization were transmitted. One reason was the lack of
formal education provided to women at the time, which left most of
them unable to read or write Latin, the language of science and
ideas. Such women demanded simplification and translations of the
major scientific and philosophical works of the day. Because of
them and their salons, most major works were translated into
vernacular languages (most commonly French, English, or German).
After a while, even doctors began writing in French! Please peruse
some document exerpts about the salons.
From France, the salon idea spread to other nations, though the
role of women differed in each. In Spain, for example, male and
female salons were separate. But the idea of female participation
was encouraged by Enlightenment thinkers, most of whom believed in
mothers as the first teachers of civilization.
The frustration of women with their poor education also was part
of the work of Mary Wollstonecraft. (This document isn't actually
assigned reading until we get to the French Revolution.)
Wollstonecraft claimed that society degraded women. Better
education would focus on making women into true adults, and thus
entitled to full rights. The popular training of women as "ladies"
hurt family and society; females needed to be "women". The basis
of her argument was that there was no difference of nature or
virtue between male and female. She was a radical.
Fashion
The most important thing to understand about fashion during this
era is the influence of the French Revolution.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the
extravagance of the late 17th century had calmed down a lot
(remember those ribbons and lace and powder?). By 1725 you
have a style of dress for men that should remind you of
later 18th century American revolutionaries like George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson (America was about a
generation behind European fashion). The origin of the suit
is more obvious here, though the vest is still long (they
called it a waistcoat, pronounced wes-cott). The
heels and lace are more reasonable, and elites wore wigs
(Jefferson wore his own full red hair). Male hair was tied
back with a ribbon. The tri-cornered hat on his knee was
made of beaver fur from the New World.
The hair was dressed over a huge pad made of horsehair,
and was often kept in place for days over the course of
the usual house parties. Women slept with their head
perched carefully on a roll pillow to preserve the
hairstyle. Such hair was subject to vermin, lice and
creatures that made the scalp itchy. (What we call a "back
scratcher" was originally used to scratch itchy heads!)
As the extravagance of royal families increased again,
dress became more showy, especially for women. For
elites, it was a political statement -- rich fabrics
showed wealth. Layers and layers of material were
required to make the wide skirts that were fashionable.
To the left is a classic dress worn by someone who looks
like Marie Antoinette, queen of France at the beginning
of the French Revolution. Doorways became wider in elite
homes as a result of these dresses.
The picture above is from a modern children's book, and
illustrates the novelty hats used to denote wealth and
status at court. This one is a bird cage with a real
bird; others had miniature fountains, ships or music
boxes!
With the Revolution came, shall we say, a distaste for
the aristocracy. The extravagance of the Ancién Regime was
swept away. Men in France wore more English-style
clothing. Collars rose precipitously. Napoleon's tax on
hair powder caused it to go out of fashion, and men tended
toward their own hair and other styles that did not
require a servant's help. The vest was now short. The guy
here looks exactly like Thomas Paine.
Women wore the "Empire" gown, which went straight down
from waist to stocking-clad feet in flat slippers. Far
more comfortable than the boning and petticoats required
for the previous style. Also more revealing, as light
showed through the skirts. The hair was simple, but the
ostrich feathers and turban were part of the "Orientalism"
fashionable after Napoleon's expansion in North Africa.
Sexuality
Sexuality says as much about cultural norms as art, music,
fashion or any other aspect of the humanities. Plus I find the
topic fascinating!
Condoms
Condoms were invented back in the 17th century in response to an
epidemic of syphilis (a sexually-transmitted disease that causes
insanity, sterility, and death). By the 18th century they were
popularized for birth control. Condoms were made of sheep gut or
fish skin, and were sold in brothels and by specialists who
supplied apothecaries (druggists), ship captains, and gentlemen.
Condoms were expensive and thus not disposable; they were highly
durable and were washed with soap in between uses. They were
usually soaked in water before use. Men of means sometimes "kept"
mistresses, housed in homes purchased for them (I'm sure some of
these women ran salons too). Condoms were a good way to protect
that relationship as well.
Non-mainstream sexuality
Gay history is its own field now, but the history of how
mainstream society treats gays says a lot about its level of
openness and tolerance.
During the 1730s, the Netherlands experienced a mass persecution
of people we would today call gays. There were numerous trials for
sodomy. Since sodomy was the formal charge, those persecuted were
all men (lesbians didn't fit the charge, so to speak). If one
confessed to sodomy (as did about 10% of those put on trial), the
punishment was death. Those who didn't confess were subject to
30-50 years in prison or were banished. Death or banishment meant
all your property was confiscated. The Dutch blamed the
"effeminate French influence". Since sodomites were not considered
to be sexually different from others (in other words, they weren't
homosexuals, but rather men who had engaged in the act of sodomy),
historians suspect other causes of the persecution. Certain judges
made their careers this way, playing on local fears encouraged by
Calvinist churches. I'd like to see some research on the 600 or so
men who were convicted, because I suspect political motivations as
well.
Another element of 18th century sexuality was the advent of an
image related to fashion: the "Queen". Before 1700, as you've
seen, fancy dress for men was the norm, at least for elites.
Effeminacy, nice manners, makeup were not considered related to
ones sexual orientation. In fact, it is generally considered that
before 1700, many men were probably what we would call "bisexual",
but not in the sense of being sexually attracted to both men and
women at the same time of life. Rather, since ancient Greek times,
and again since the Renaissance, it was common for a mentoring
relationship to exist between older men and boys, which were also
sexual in their educational content. In addition, there were
"rakes", super-virile men who lived libertine lifestyles which
included fine food, fine wine, loose women, and boys.
Leslie Howard as The Scarlet Pimpernel,
the ultimate fop, with female friend
At the beginning of the 18th century, there were also men known
as "fops", who dressed a bit over-the-top and acted slinky.
Marginalized from the mainstream society, where men wore sword
canes and were ready for violence on a moment's notice, fops spent
much of their time with women. They were seen as having better
insight into women's emotional lives than men, and husbands
considered them non-threatening companions. But their sexuality
was seen as being mainstream.
By 1750, society began to see such fops as being gay. True
homosexuality, the orientation exclusively toward others of the
same sex, was not considered normal. As the revolution came
closer, men in fancy dress were seen as suspect, politically and
sexually. Gay men might have kept to the fashion to identify
partners, even in this dangerous time. Such men in Britain were
called "mollies", slang for prostitute.
Why such a shift in perceptions? One theory is that the
Enlightenment led to "too much" individuality and gender equality.
This made things insecure for men, so society found a way to
separate men into distinct types, in ways connected to sex.
Whatever the cause, our current definitions of gay, straight, and
bi date from this era.
Literature
Genre Novels
A favorite theme of 18th century literature is "The Love Game".
It was based on libertinism; libertines are men who indulge in
pleasure without restraint. In this pattern, a libertine conducted
four stages of a love affair with a young woman:
1. Selection -- wherein he selects the woman for his game
2. Seduction -- where he seduces her, physically and morally
3. Subjection -- where he bends her to his will until she breaks
(famous libertine Casanova said this was the best part)
4. Separation -- a moment of high drama, when he abandons her
Meg Tilly as the innocent
virginal victim in Valmont
The most popular novels of the day used this pattern; one example
is Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, a
psychological portrait of the players in this game. Typical to
most of these "genre novels", the story is about the corruption of
an innocent girl, and includes mental torture of the victim (in
some novels, it was physical torture). The movies Valmont
(1989) and Dangerous Liasons (1988) were both based on
this book.
Also popular were the novels of the Marquis de Sade, who spent
1777-1790 in prison for half-poisoning a prostitute with the
aphrodisiac Spanish Fly (cantharis). He wrote novels illustrating
not only extraordinary sexually diverse acts, but the intense
pleasure that some people get by causing others pain. The word
"sadism" is named after him.
These books all contained a moral lesson, in that the virtuous
girl always ends up in heaven, and the rake usually meets a
violent end. Yes, and people read Playboy for the articles.
Who read this stuff? Historians believe the best customers were
men tired of deferring to "ladies" in elegant, sophisticated
culture.
The Marriage Game
There are, of course, tamer novels focusing on other social
themes, in particular the habits of finding someone to marry. The
sentimentalism of the 18th century led to more marriages based on
love. Both selections in the workbook take a perspective on this
topic.
The 18th century saw enormous wealth change hands, particularly
in international trade. This wealth led to an increase in crimes
of theft.
Rare
picture of actual 18th century highwayman in action.
Just kidding. A movie still from 1951. Even the horse
is wrong, but you get the idea, right?
Highwaymen (and women)
House parties were common among elites. Guests would come from
miles away in their fancy coaches, bringing all the jewelry
necessary to establish their status at the party, plus gold for
tips and betting. Coachmen were sometimes armed against robbery.
Masked highwaymen would lie in wait for coaches, most often as
they returned exhausted from the multi-day party. At gunpoint,
they'd take jewelry and money.
Some highwaymen were poor farmers dispossessed by enclosure and
other economic changes, but those captured indicate that highway
robbery was also a recreational activity for bored elites. It was
dangerous and exciting; the punishment if caught was hanging.
Unmaskings sometimes revealed women, doing it for the same reasons
as men: money or excitement.
Pirates
The Golden Age of international trade meant the golden age of
piracy. They became a source of romantic culture and legend. You
may have heard of Blackbeard and such. But two of the most
interesting pirates were women: Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Anne Bonny was born in Charleston, South Carolina. She stabbed a
servant, beat an attempted rapist, and ran off with the pirate
Calico Jack Rackham. On board his ship, she fell in love with the
cabin boy, who turned out to be Mary Read in disguise. They became
close friends and fought together with Jack. In 1720 their ship
was surprised by a British navy vessel while the men of the crew,
including Jack, were drunk. Anne and Mary tried to fight them off
alone, Mary at one point stabbing a drunken crewmate and yelling,
"come up and fight like men!" They were captured and put on trial
in Jamaica. Both women "pled their bellies", meaning they were
both pregant and thus by law could not be hanged. Upon hearing
that Calico Jack had been hanged, Anne said he should have fought
like a man. No record shows her death, so she may have bought her
way out of prison, but Mary died of fever in prison.
These kind of stories led to centuries of pirate legends, theme
park rides, and movies.
18th Century Economy and Society
Marie Antoinette and Her Children (1787) Mary Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
Vigee-Lebrun, court painter at
Versailles, painted this in an effort to revive Marie
Antoinette's reputation by showing her as a gentle
mother. It didn't work, and garnered complaints that
the painting was paid for by the unearned taxes of the
people. Hence the French Revolution, 1789.
Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro
(The Marriage of Figaro) (1786)
Just couldn't resist a little more Mozart.
No limits whatever are placed to the productions of
the earth; they may increase for ever and be greater
than any assignable quantity, yet still the power of
population being a power of a superior order, the
increase of the human species can only be kept
commensurate to the increase of the means of subsistence
by the constant operation of the strong law of necessity
acting as a check upon the greater power.
-- Thomas Malthus (1798)
Agriculture
During the 18th century, the climate in Europe improved
enormously as part of a global climate shift. Summers became
warmer and drier, winters were warmer too. This led to a shift in
agriculture.
medieval open-field system -> three-field rotation
The old system was based on a big open field, where the whole
community farmed the same strips of land. The land was divided
into strips (rather than squares) so that horses or oxen could
pull the plow over a longer distance before having to turn, and
every third or fourth strip was farmed for the landlord to pay for
using the land. Since the same strips were planted with the same
crops each year, this led to soil exhaustion as the same crops
pulled the same nutrients out of the soil over and over. To help
prevent soil exhaustion, peasants left strips or fields "fallow"
(empty) each season, rotating their crops while the fallow fields
"recovered" and became more fertile. This worked well but left
one-half or one-third of good land unplanted at any one time of
year.
Three-field rotation
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
1st year
Fall:
wheat & rye
Spring:
oats, peas, barley, beans, lentils
Fallow
2nd year
Fallow
Fall:
wheat & rye
Spring:
oats, peas, barley, beans, lentils
3rd year
Spring:
oats, peas, barley, beans, lentils
Fallow
Fall:
wheat & rye
nitrogen-producing crops
In the 18th century, thanks to farming innovators like Jethro
Tull, crops like turnip and clover were added to the rotation. It
was noticed that these crops seemed to help the soil replenish
itself, and provide food for animals at the same time. Thus less
land was left fallow. We now know that this is because crops like
this are "nitrogen-fixing"; they take nitrogen from the air and
put it into the soil through nodules on their roots. Nitrogen is
the most important element for the growth of plant leaves. This
thinking actually led to a four-field
rotation that included nitrogen crops intentionally.
the great potato
The other great change that caused an agricultural revolution
during the 18th century was the common adoption of the potato.
Potatoes, brought in from the New World, were easy to plant, even
in soils that were sandy or rocky and had few nutrients. They
produced tons of food for animals, and eventually humans were
persuaded to eat them too. They provided healthful carbohydrates
and even Vitamin C. You can see an illustration of the potato
here: one piece of a single potato could produce 12-15 potatoes, a
highly productive use of farmland, especially in places like
Ireland where the sandy soil could grow little else.
Population
During the 18th century, Europe experienced an extraordinary
population boom. The availability of much more food and the
adoption of potatoes into the diet were one factor, but there were
others.
bubonic plague gone
This guy on the left is the hero of the 18th century: the
Brown Rat. (Go ahead, use your mouse to turn him around!)
Bubonic plague was a disease that had first hit Europe in
the 14th century, and had returned periodically and killed
lots of people, keeping the population low. This was because
immunity to plague could not be passed on; only those who
had contracted the disease and survived were immune. The
warmer climate had helped people's immune systems improve,
so that widespread epidemics of plague were already unusual.
But a change in the rat population ended the plague. As the
weather warmed, the Eurasian Black Rat was run out of its
European feeding area by the Brown Rat. Black rats were far
more likely to carry the kind of flea that carries plague,
and they loved hanging out with humans. Brown rats didn't
tend to carry the plague-ridden flea, and tended to stay
away from people.
increased food supply
Improved transportation networks (primarily ordered by absolute
monarchs to improve their control over their countries) meant that
fewer areas were isolated in times of famine.
gentlemanly war
Since war tended to be fought on battlefields away from the crop
land, there was less loss of food as a result of war (see later in
this lecture).
Marriage and family
William Hogarth, Shortly After the Marriage (1743)
As population grew, patterns of marriage and family life also
changed.
marriage patterns
Whereas in the 17th century couples had married later in life,
because they had to wait to inherit or earn their living, by 1750
they were marrying earlier. One reason was that cottage (or
domestic) industry had many poorer people earning money by working
at home, for example making woolen yarn or cloth. People needed
only a house and a loom to support a family, so they could be
independent earlier in life.
illegitimacy explosion
Sexual trends also changed. Before 1750, pre-marital sex was
frequent but usually occurred between people who were already
engaged. Thus there were few illegitimate children, although many
were conceived before their parents were actually married. But
beginning around 1750, the number of illegitimate children born in
Europe began to increase, from 3% of births in 1750 to 20% by
1850. This was for three reasons:
1) Greater social mobility meant that more young people
moved away from home, from the village or town where everyone knew
them. Thus they moved away from the social constraints of family,
church, and peers. With fewer restrictions, couples engaged in sex
without responsibility for the outcome, including children.
2) Unwed mothers were rejected by society. So if an
unmarried woman were pregnant, the father would be under no
compunction to marry her, and no one was there to force him to
acknowledge the child. There was no village or peer network to
care for the baby as the mother worked, and many unwed mothers
became prostitutes, often leaving their babies to foundling
hospitals or orphanages as they tried to survive. 50% of children
left in foundling hospitals or like places died.
3) New sentimental ideas about love encouraged the idea
that young people should "follow their heart" rather than the
wishes of their elders when selecting a mate. People who chose
poorly ended up with illegitimate children.
children
The mortality rates for children did not change that much during
this period. I think that more children could have lived
longer, given the changes in diet (next section),
Detail from William
Hogarth, Gerard Anne Edwards in His Cradle (1733)
but that the poor care of illegitimate children prevented this from
happening. Only about half of all children born lived to adulthood.
This has caused historians to believe that people tried not to love
their children too much, because the grief of losing half of them
would be too great.
Documents indicate, however, that this was not the case, and that
most people loved their children deeply.
Poor people tended to breastfeed their children, which helped
space the kids about 2-3 years apart. The rich used wet-nurses
(often with the best intentions -- country air, etc.) but many
found their children undernourished. Infanticide was common. Wet
nurses would kill a weak child, especially an older child, in
order to have room to take on more small babies who would consume
less breastmilk. Sometimes parents who couldn't afford another
mouth to feed would "overlay" their baby, smothering it in bed (a
crime that was hard to prove). Even children who were well
cared-for were subject to diseases and such.
Food and medicine
diet for poor and rich
Changes in diet helped increase general life expectancy, from 25
years old in 1700 to 35 years old in 1800. Before the 18th century,
the poor ate mostly grain and vegetables, peas and beans for
protein, and rarely had milk or meat. The rich, however, disdained
vegetables as "animal food", and ate tons of meat. Wealthy folks
often had meals with 3 fish and 3 meat courses, and gluttony and
overeating was a sign of wealth.
Of the new foods introduced to Europe from the
Americas (corn, tomatoes, chocolate), the potato was the most
significant. It improved the diet of the poor, adding needed
vitamins and starch. Believing that potatoes were for peasants
only, the rich turned instead to the other new stuff: refined
flour, refined sugar, chocolate. Thus the poor got healthier as
the rich got sicker.
smallpox innoculation and vaccination
In 1715, a lovely woman
named Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British ambassador to
the Ottomon Empire, contracted smallpox.It ruined her good looks,
pockmarked her skin, and left her without eyelashes. She also lost
her only brother to the disease. She learned about innoculation
from the Turks, and innoculated her own son in 1717, thus
introducing the smallpox vaccine to Europe (though it required
facing opposition from the medical community and needed Queen
Caroline's support to get her argument heard).Smallpox was a major
killer, and the innoculation consisted of putting a small amount
of pus from a pox under the skin of a healthy person. This was a
dangerous procedure because it made possible contracting the
disease itself from the innoculation. Doctor Edward Jenner was the
one who made the connection between smallpox and cowpox. In the
18th century everyone knew that milk-maids (who did their job with
their cheek leaning against the cow) got something icky called
cowpox, but never got smallpox. Jenner's vaccines were made with
cowpox (which wasn't fatal), so vaccines instead of innoculations
could be used to prevent smallpox.
Economy
The 18th century also saw a big shift in economic thinking.
Mercantilism had been the paradigm of the 17th century. It was based
on three ideas:
1) There's a finite amount of wealth in the world. Thus one
nation becoming richer meant others became poorer.
2) Wealth is gold and silver. Called "bullionism", this
meant that nations tried to keep gold and silver within their
countries, and export goods.
3) The government should control the economy. This idea is
expressed in these documents:
But in the 18th century, new ideas were emerging.
Perhaps there was plenty of wealth to go around. Perhaps
dominating trade was as important as hoarding bullion. Perhaps
free enterprise could create a better global (and national)
economy than government control could do.
This new approach will eventually be called Classical
Liberalism, and is based on Smith's ideas. I'd like you to
think of it as the economic verson of John Locke's political
liberalism. In both concepts, freedom is the foundation. For
Smith and economic liberals, it's the freedom of trade -- free
trade will create the best world for all. For Locke and political
liberals, it's freedom within the body politic.
We're using the word liberal, then, in its
18th (and later 19th) century context: do not confuse this
with the twisted way we use the word today! Liberals valued
freedom over either stability (valued by conservatives) or
equality (valued by radicals). In the U.S. today, both the
Republican and Democratic parties are conservative liberals.
Concepts of Warfare
The New International Relations
"balance of power"
This was the new concept that any nation that got too much power
needed to be restricted by the other nations. Thus, a country's
alliances might shift depending on which other power was gaining
ground. The new concept was based on Enlightenment rationality: a
sense of order, or balance, in human affairs. It was especially good
for Britain, which could stay apart from the continent, and only
intervene if one power (like France) was becoming too dominant.
old economic and political goals
However, although the concept of "balance of power" was new, the old
economic and political goals remained. Economically, each region of
Europe wanted to dominate trade, and increase their own wealth.
France wanted to expand on the continent, and was restricted by the
German Empire and Spain (both controlled by the Hapsburg family).
England wanted to expand internationally: her competitors were
France and Spain. Austria wanted to expand Hapsburg power,
especially against the Turks, and prevent Russia and Prussia from
expanding. Prussia wanted to unite its territory in northern Europe,
and prevent Austrian dominance to the south and Russian dominance to
the east. Russia wanted to expand to the Baltic and Black seas, and
prevent Austria and Prussia from dominating Europe.
significance: effect on warfare
These goals left no form of diplomacy
except war, in order to maintain the balance of power. It's ironic
that the system was based on rationality, but left war as the only
way to maneuver. The result was a pattern of "polite" or
"gentlemanly" wars. "Cabinet wars", as they were often called, were
limited in scope and had little effect on the ordinary populations.
Battlefields were the stage, away from population centers and crops.
There was a code of conduct; opposing generals sometimes dined
together the night before a battle, and there was no fighting on
Christmas. Soldiers died, but the goals of each war were known and
limited. No states were wiped off the map.
Changing Alliances
Wars of succession
Many of the European famillies were related to
each other, and the death of a monarch provided a good excuse for
war.
Austrian War of Succession (1740-1748)
In 1711, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI found
himself the last remaining male member of the Hapsburg family in
Europe. An old European law prevented women from inheriting the
throne, so Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction before his death
to ensure the succession of his daughter, Maria Theresa. The other
rulers of Europe agreed at the time, but as soon as Charles died,
they reneged and made claims to her land. War was, of course, the
result.
Diplomatic Revolution
The significance of the War of Austrian
Succession was that it left Austria and France too weak to
threaten each other, so the two countries formed a new diplomatic
alliance against the victors (Prussia and England). Historians
call this the Diplomatic Revolution. It lines everyone up for wars
like the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, and the wars
with revolutionary France.
Wars
Seven Years War (1756-1763)
This was the first real world war, with France,
Russia and Austria fighting Prussia and England, and Spain versus
England for colonies. It was fought on three continents.
Europe
Prussia fought most of the war on three fronts, against Russia,
France and Austria. Britain tired of supporting her, and in 1761 cut
aid to Prussia. Luckily, Peter III of Russia (husband of Catherine
the Great) was a big fan of Frederick the Great of Prussia, and made
peace. This infuriated Catherine and most Russians, by the way,
which led to Peter's demise and Catherine's accession to the throne
of Russia.
India
In India the French and British fought for economic dominance. The
native Mughal Dynasty was crumbling, and both the French and British
East India Companies vied for control of the disparate
principalities, forming alliances with local princes to fight each
other. In 1756, an incident of legend (and cultural literacy)
occurred when 146 captured British soldiers were kept in a
poorly-ventilated prison overnight, and 123 died. This was the
legendary "Black Hole of Calcutta", and although there may not have
been that many men involved (it's unlikely that many were stationed
there), the incident was used to justify the "civilizing" of India
by British rule.
France owned much of North America until the
Seven Years War.
North
America
In North America the war was called the French and Indian war, since
the French had Native American allies against the British. The
French were trying to connect their territory around the Great Lakes
with their holding at New Orleans. The British were trying to expand
westward from their colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. This was
the scene of George Washington's first command, of British troops
against the French (he surrendered at Fort Duquesne). The British
were victorious here, as they were in India.
War of
American Independence (1775-83)
end of
benign neglect
After the Seven Years War, Britain had a huge debt. Although she had
won in North America and India, the cost had been great. Many of her
trade laws had gone unenforced in America for about 80 years.
Britain had to end this "benign neglect" and begin collecting the
duties due to her from British subjects in North America in order to
pay for the war.
Patriots pouring
boiling tea down the throat of a tarred-and-feathered
servant of the Crown. Such acts of terrorism are
constitutional
arguments
American merchants did not want to pay. The Stamp Act of 1765 was
particularly galling to them, and they avoided it and other taxes
and acts, engaging in smuggling and considering it a patriotic act.
The claim began that Americans were no longer British subjects, but
a different people. Few went along with it, and most believed in the
authority of the British Parliament and King. You can read any
American History book for details on how merchant upstarts and
lawyers in Boston found commonality with constitutional lawyers in
Virginia to create the American Revolution. Their primary source of
a constititutional argument against Britain was John Locke.
Remember from the first unit? Workbook
document: Locke
patterns
of warfare broken
The American War for Independence (as it came to be called in
Europe) broke the pattern of gentlemanly warfare that had become
common. Americans, learning from Amerindians, were as likely to
shoot at British soldiers from their homes or from behind trees as
meet them on the battlefield. Americans used their knowledge of the
terrain and the sentiments of local populations to outmaneuver the
British. They even attacked at Christmas.
significance
The Treaty of Paris that ended the war did not eliminate the British
presence in North America; that would have to wait till the War of
1812. But it did set an extraordinary precendent for colonies to
break from their mother countries, using Enlightenment
constitutional justifications. It began a trend of political
liberalism that would be an example for revolutionary leaders,
especially in France.
All text, lecture voice
audio, and course design copyright Lisa M. Lane
1998-2018. Other materials used in this class may be
subject to copyright protection, and are intended for
educational and scholarly fair use under the Copyright
Act of 1976 and the TEACH Act of 2002.
universe
was based on the systems developed by the ancient astronomer
Ptolemy and the Greek philosopher Aristotle. This
Ptolemaic-Aristotelian system put the earth at the center of the
universe, unmoving and pulling heavy elements (earth, water)
toward itself and pushing light elements (air, fire) away.
Surrounding the earth were a series of concentric spheres made of
a fifth element called quintessence (that is, the fifth
essence). On these transparent spheres rested the planets and
stars. These spheres rotated around the earth in predictable
patterns, causing the rising and setting of moon and planets, the
movement of stars, and the paths of comets and meteors.
By
his time (the 16th century) earlier astronomers had added many
spheres to the original system to account for such observations as
retrograde motions and meteor paths. As a mathematician, dedicated
to reducing knowledge to quantifiable terms, Copernicus found the
system inelegant. He tried, on paper, to reduce the number of
spheres, to make the system more efficient. He succeeded. His
solution put the sun at the center of the system, making a heliocentric
universe. 
Workbook document: 
Along with him were scholars like Diderot, who
published the Encyclopedia, which purported to be a multi-volume
collection of all known facts. It contained marvelous drawings of
machinery (see some 
The other side
of the Enlightenment is best represented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
To Rousseau, the rational mind was not what made one human.
Emotions, intuition, those parts of people which are natural, were
considered more important. 
Johann
Sebastian Bach kept the drama, but focused on skillful renditions
of variations on themes people would enjoy listening to. In
contrast to Handel, Bach's influence was confined to Protestant
Germany until after his death, when others revived his music. 
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart took what could have been a very austere and restrained
form, and created some of the most beautiful music in history.
Although he wanted to be a court composer, he worked in many
genres, including opera and dance music. He died unappreciated and
unfulfilled in his ambitions; in some ways I think his music was
simply beyond the comprehension of the wealthier set of patrons.
(In the play and film Amadeus, the Emperor tells him his
music has "too many notes".) In his case, it was the middle class
that knew a good thing when they heard it. Here's one with lots of
notes:
of international trade meant the golden age of
piracy. They became a source of romantic culture and legend. You
may have heard of Blackbeard and such. But two of the most
interesting pirates were women: Anne Bonny and Mary Read. 
These goals left no form of diplomacy
except war, in order to maintain the balance of power. It's ironic
that the system was based on rationality, but left war as the only
way to maneuver. The result was a pattern of "polite" or
"gentlemanly" wars. "Cabinet wars", as they were often called, were
limited in scope and had little effect on the ordinary populations.
Battlefields were the stage, away from population centers and crops.
There was a code of conduct; opposing generals sometimes dined
together the night before a battle, and there was no fighting on
Christmas. Soldiers died, but the goals of each war were known and
limited. No states were wiped off the map. 
