Conclusion

We have discussed three widely different topics which have often been regarded as marking a radical difference between the Middle Ages and the modern period. The Renaissance made Greek language and literature known to Europeans and made more texts available through the invention of printing, which in turn contributed to the scientific revolution.

Both contemporaries and later ages have regarded these novelties as the expres­sion of a radical break between the medieval and early modern period, but there is also a certain amount of continuity. The great maritime discoveries have their background in the expansion of Europe from the ninth and tenth centuries onwards, partly militarily through the conquests of the Mediterranean and the Baltic Seas and some of the countries along them, partly technologically through improvements in navigation and ship-building and partly culturally through the spread of Christianity. The rich cultural and intellectual tradition of the Middle Ages, combined with the introduction of printing, contributed to the Renaissance, partly also the Reformation, which in addition has its background in the increasing control of ecclesiastical institutions by kings and other secular authorities. In addi­tion, the Reformation forms a test of previous European state formation, which largely explains the success or failure of the movement in different parts of Europe. Finally, the discussion of the consequences of the Great Discoveries has led to the conclusion that the present-day European or rather Western dominance can hardly be the result of a sudden change around 1800 but must have its background in the development of European culture and society during the previous centuries.

Concerning the relationship between the three fields, there is a clear intellectual connection between the Renaissance and the Reformation. Criticism of tradition and the idea of a radical break with the past are common to both, while the knowledge of Greek and of textual criticism form a direct background to the Reformation. On the other hand, there is a radical difference between the largely optimistic view of humanity in the Renaissance and the dominance of original sin and predestination in the Reformation. The connection between the Great Dis­coveries and the two intellectual trends might immediately seem less obvious. The sailors, soldiers and merchants who took part in the former were hardly much influenced by the new intellectual trends. However, the result of the discoveries, i.e., the European dominance of the world in the following period, was not solely the result of long voyages and military conquest, but also of scientific discoveries and new ways of regarding the world. In practice, these discoveries led to major improvements in navigation and military technology and contributed to the Industrial Revolution. Although some of the intellectual trends can be traced further back in history than the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, this period nevertheless represented a new dyna­mism, which laid the foundation for the period of European supremacy in a more direct sense.

There are also arguments in favour of the importance of the state for this supremacy. The competition between the European states was an important factor in the development of the military and naval technology and the political impor­tance of merchants and capital was decisive in the success of English and Dutch colonialism. Some amount of intellectual freedom served to stimulate scientific discoveries in the first phase, while in the second one, it received active support through the formation of learned societies and awards to distinguished scientists.

Notes

1 For a brief introduction, see Burke, The Renaissance.

2Vasari, Lives of the Artists, pp. 3—6.

3Greenblatt, The Swerve.

4Mandrou, From Humanism to Science, pp. 40—9; Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution.

5 For the following, see Weinberg, To Explain the World, pp. 153—4 and Greengrass, Christendom Destroyed, pp. 216—26.

6 See e.g. Wilcox, The Development; Phillips, Francesco Guicciardini; lanziti, Writing His­tory, pp. 93—113 and Connell, ‘Italian Renaissance Historical Narrative’.

7 Bagge, ‘Medieval and Renaissance Historiography’, pp. 1353—6.

8 Najemy, ‘Arti and Ordini’, p. 175; Phillips, ‘Barefoot Boy’; Bagge, ‘Actors and Struc­tures‘, pp. 56—62.

9 MacCulloch, Reformation, p. 131.

10 For the following, see ibid., pp. 70—123.

11 Mandrou, From Humanism to Science, pp. 66—82; Van Engen, Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life, pp. 238—304. For the influence of this movement on Luther and other sixteenth-century reformers, see ibid., pp. 306—8, 315—20.

12 MacCulloch, Reformation, p. 47.

13 Ibid., pp. 111, 214—17; Greengrass, Christendom Destroyed, pp. 356—9.

14 Schwarz Lausten, ‘The Disintegration’; Grell, ‘The Reformation in Denmark, Norway and Iceland’; Kouri, ‘The Reformation in Sweden and Finland’.

15 Elton, England under the Tudors, p. 194; Shagan, The Rule of Moderation. By contrast, Ryrie, ‘Moderation, Modernity and the Reformation’, p. 273, is more sceptical of this explanation, pointing instead to Henry VIII’s unpredictability.

16 For this and the following, see Smith, The Emergence of a Nation State, pp. 109—11, 140—54. Admittedly, this was hardly a definite obstacle, as there were hints from the pope that a dispensation might be possible.

17 For the development of this movement from the early sixteenth century onwards, see Gunther, Reformation Unbound.

18 Elton, ‘The Reformation in England’.

19 Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars and Fires of Faith.

20 For this and the following, see Whaley, Germany, vol. I, pp.

21 Curtis, The Habsburgs, pp. 71—2.

22 MacCulloch, Reformation, pp. 57—64.

23 Curtis, The Habsburgs, p. 71.

24 The Utraquists (from utraque specie = in both species, namely, bread and wine) demanded that Holy Communion be given in this way to the laity, instead of the practice introduced by the Catholic Church from the thirteenth century, that the laity only received the bread. As a result of the reconciliation with the moderate Hussites in 1436, the Catholic Church accepted this practice.

25 MacCulloch, Reformation, pp. 340—4 and 358—65.

26 Nexon, The Struggle for Power, p. 173.

27 Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, pp. 115—24.

28 On the war, see e.g. Burkhardt, Der dreissigjährige Krieg and Wilson, The Thirty Years War.

29 Skinner, The Foundations, vol. II, p. 241.

30 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 242f.; Collins, From Tribes to Nation, pp. 247—51.

31 However, Onnekink and Rommelse, Ideology and Foreign Policy in Early Modern Europe (1650—1750), point to the continuous importance of religion in the following period.

32 For the following, see Skinner, The Foundations, vol. II, pp. 190—348.

33 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 195—6.

34 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 225-38 and van Gelderen, ‘Liberty, Civic Rights‘.

35 Weber, Protestantische Ethik.

36 Trevor-Roper, ‘Religion’.

37 Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 122-3; cf. also pp. 227-46.

38 Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, p. 373.

39 Hoppit, A Land of Liberty, pp. 212-13.

40 Ladurie, The French Peasantry, p. 283.

41 For the following, see Cipolla, Guns and Sails, pp. 75-89; McNeill, Venice, pp. 48-51.

42 Thomas, World without End, pp. 39-86.

43 Goodwin, Spain, pp. 15-19, 98-106.

44 Morner, The Political and Economic Activities of the Jesuits, pp. 194-216,with discussion of various views on their regime.

45 Thomas, The Golden Age, pp. 225—51.

46 Fukuyama, Political Order, pp. 248—52.

47 Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 99—102; Goldstone, Why Europe? pp.

48 Ferguson, Civilization, p. 34.

49 Acemoglou and Robinson, Why Nations Fail, p. 248.

50 McNeill, Venice, pp. 127-8.

51 Steensgaard, Carracks, pp. 154-69.

52 Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 96-115; Acemoglou and Robinson, Why Nations Fail, pp. 7-40; Fukuyama, Political Order, pp. 242-58.

53 Elliott, Imperial Spain, pp. 172-91.

54 For the following, see Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, pp. 45-105 and Fergu­son, The Square and the Tower, pp. 73-6.

55 Israel, The Dutch Republic, pp. 307-27, 934-58; de Vries and van der Woude, The First Modern Economy, pp. 155-349.

56 For the following, see Ferguson, Empire, pp. 1-29.

57 Supple, ‘The Nature of Enterprise', pp. 439-47.

58 Steensgaard, Carracks, pp. 114-53.

59 De Vries and van der Woude, The First Modern Economy, p. 499; O'Rourke et al., ‘Trade and Empire', p. 103.

60 Osterhammel, ‘World History'; Vries, ‘Global Economic History'.

61 Wong, China Transformed; Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, e.g. pp. 10-27, 43-68, 168-207, 279-97; Marks, The Origins; Goldstone, ‘Efflorescence' and Why Europe?; Goody, Capitalism; Parthasarathi, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not. Concerning the chronology, Pomeranz has later suggested a slightly earlier date for the European superiority (Pomeranz, ‘Ten Years After').

62 Mokyr, Culture of Growth, p. 297, with reference to Goody's allegations.

63 Goldstone, Why Europe?, pp. 16-51.

64 Morris, Why the West, pp. 145-70.

65 Morris, Why the West, p. 168.

66 Cipolla, Guns and Sails, pp. 92-9; Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 50-9.

67 For the following, see Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 20-33; and Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 287-341.

68 Marco Polo, The Travels, vol. II, Chapter 68.

69 The text has miles, which probably corresponds to Chinese li, a measure of length which varies but is usually around 500 metres.

70 Marco Polo, The Travels, vol. II, Chapters 5-25.

71 Huff, The Rise, p. 319, with reference to Needham.

72 Bin Wong, China Transformed, pp.

73 Ferguson, Money, pp. 286-8.

74 Gupta and Ma, ‘Europe in an Asian Mirror'; cf. also Morris, Why the West, p. 502.

75 Pomeranz, ‘Ten Years After', p. 23.

76 Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 291-5.

77 Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 28-33.

78 Morris, Why the West, pp. 427-31.

79 Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 288-9.

80 Spence, ‘The K'ang-hsi Reign', pp. 150-60; Woodside, ‘The Chi'en-lung Reign', pp. 268-82.

81 Ferguson, Civilization, p. 47.

82 Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, pp. 157-8.

83 Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, pp. 287-320. Cf. also Mokyr's comment on the episode. While admitting that one emperor's rejection is not necessarily evidence of general attitudes, he finds that it corresponds to other cases (Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 334-6).

84 Ferguson, Empire, pp. 29-52, 163-92.

85 Keegan, A History of Warfare, pp. 346—7.

86 Ferguson, The Ascent of Money, pp. 290—3; Morris, Why the West?, pp. 7—8.

87 Fukuyama, Political Order, p. 132.

88 Goldstone, Why Europe?, p. 165.

89 Hoffman, Why Did Europe?, pp. 19—153.

90 Goldstone, Why Europe?, pp. 99—102; Mokyr, Culture of Growth, p. 291.

91 Frankopan, The Silk Roads, p. 261.

92 Ferguson, Civilization, pp. 70—1, 198—212. See also Lenman, Military Engineers.

93 Meyer, ‘State, Roads, War', pp. 120-4.

94 Frankopan, The Silk Roads, pp. 244, 254.

95 Sobel, Galileo's Daughter, p. 81.

96 Hoffman, Why Did Europe?, pp. 90-1.

97 Abulafia, The Great Sea, p. 461.

98 Pomeranz ‘Ten Years After', p. 21, admits that he has neglected this aspect in his book.

99 Morris, Why the West, p. 476.

100 Weinberg, To Explain the World, pp. 120-3.

101 Berman, Law and Revolution, vol. I, pp. 151-64, 271-94, 520-58; Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, pp. 119-48, 321-64.

102 Weinberg, To Explain the World, pp. 124-88.

103 Goldstone, ‘Efflorescence', pp. 359-79 and Why Europe?, pp. 120-61, who is generally sceptical of the idea of a long-term European superiority, regards this as the decisive factor.

104 Needham's studies are published in a series of volumes, comparing European and Chinese science in various fields. The following is based on his discussion of the main differences and similarities in The Grand Titration.

105 Needham, The Grand Titration.

106 For the following, see Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 247-83.

107 Monod, The Power of Kings, pp. 219-20; Mokyr, Culture of Growth, pp. 248-56.

108 De Weerdt, Negotiating Standards; Mokyr, Culture and Growth, pp. 303-7. Thanks to Hilde De Weerdt for sending me her book.