Absolutism And The Renaissance The Reformation

The Renaissance challenged the status quo of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the Church had authority over most people. These people also had limited rights. All of this changed during the Renaissance. This period of time focused on the philosophy of humanism, which embodied the idea that humans were a significant part of the world. The Renaissance changed man’s view of man through the institutions of literature, astronomy, anatomy, and art.

During the Age of Absolutism, views of how government should have been run were drastically different that the views of Enlightenment thinkers. The fundamental difference between these two views of government – absolutism and Enlightenment – was that, in an absolute view of government, it stated that it should be run by a monarch – such as a king or a queen – and that he or she should have complete and unquestionable authority over everything, whereas the Enlightenment resulted in the development of new ideas, many of which criticized absolute monarchies, such as the idea that the fundamental function of government was to protect it's people's rights. The Enlightenment thinkers all had different ideas, and all to varying degrees, but the

The 1600s and 1700s were times of change. The Reformation of the previous century had shaken the foundations of society in Europe, while the Age of Exploration had introduced Europe to lands, peoples, and resources that brought new wealth to individuals and countries. Building off of this wealth, monarchs in Europe began to centralize their power using methods of taxation and claims of divine right. These monarchs, including Louis XIV of France, Peter the Great of Russia, and James I of England, eventually created a governmental system, known as absolutism, that revolved entirely around themselves and their desires. Because of their claims to such extreme power, absolutism had wide reaching effects on many parts of their countries. The effects of absolutism were the Nobles got treated like servants, the king's power increased a lot, and the military improved.

During 1650-1750, a new political system known as absolutism emerged and became popular amongst many countries in central and Eastern Europe. Absolutism is a political system in which a divine-right monarch enjoys absolute power over all affairs of state. Supposedly, the “divine-right monarch” receives his power directly from God, meaning that he is only responsible to God and that no one can question his authority. In the 1600’s, taxes and famine began to rise in many European states, which resulted in dangerous and uncontrolled riots. Many countries began to adopt absolutism as a political system that could be a solution to these issues. As absolutism became a solution to these issues and gained popularity in France, Prussia, and Russia,

During the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, absolutist leaders, mostly monarchs, controlled all aspects of a country as well as its citizens. This absolutist control would come to have a mostly negative effect on Europe as a whole, but some monarchs were not tyrants. Most monarchs were seen as gods in the eyes of their citizens, absolutist leaders were given reasons to be cruel from writings, but some monarchs were prosperous leaders and led their countries well.

One main reason for why England did not become an absolutist state was, because previous laws that were long-standing clashed with absolutist ideas. James I lectured the House of Commons that “there are no privileges and immunities which can stand against a divinely appointed King” (McKay, 506). This contradicted the fixed law that a person’s land cannot be seized without the proper process of law. The absolutist idea that only God has power over the king and the king has complete power over everyone else was not accepted by the people of England, which contributed to why absolutism failed to exist. Due to the disagreements between the king and the Parliament, Charles I tried to govern without the Parliament.

During the late 17th and early 18th century, many European nations such as France and Russia were absolute monarchies. Even countries such as England had kings who at least attempted to implement absolutism. Indeed the concept of absolutism, where the monarch is the unquestionably highest authority and absolute ruler of every element in the realm, is certainly appealing to any sovereign. However, this unrestricted power was abused, and by the end of the 18th century, absolutism was gone. Absolutism failed because the monarchs' mistreatment of the population caused the people to revolt against their rule and policies. There are many factors which caused this discontent. For one, there was a great loss of human lives. Louis XIV of France

The renaissance was a time of renewed ideas and general ¨rebirth¨, which is what renaissance means in french. Since the renaissance was a time where everything was flourishing, government had to find a way to control the people and keep places in line. Even though law in the renaissance was harsh and different, it worked because it lowered crime rates and kept people in line.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe there was a lot of change between the Protestant Reformation, the Counter-Reformation as well as the Renaissance. All of these changes made a considerate impact on society and cultural production, a lot of which represented and spoke volumes of the feelings and views that resulted from such eventful times. The intense amount of religious sentiment that followed the Protestant Reformation and the Reformation had a large influence upon European life and cultural production.

Revolution and reformation; these are two words that are often identified with war, disagreement, and regional effects. While these things do indeed come along with a revolution or reformation, they heed an array of positive and secular outcomes as well. In addition, a revolution can, and usually will, cause a reformation. Conversely, a reformation can cause a revolution. This can happen despite the two things involved with the change or disagreement being seemingly unrelated. The world is connected and affected in ways that we cannot comprehend until we look at our world’s history and see how every small occurrence leads to a landslide of repercussions. The Renaissance is a prime example of this interconnectedness, as it was a time of rebirth, revolution and reformation. During the Renaissance, many changes ensued as a result of scientists, scholars and humanists who realized that they weren 't being taught or treated properly. This idea of unsatisfactory treatment as a result of the humanist spirit of the Renaissance led to the Scientific Revolution and The Protestant Reformation, movements that occurred during the Renaissance that changed life in Western Europe, and eventually the whole world, forever.

One of the greatest of all revolutions was the 16th religious revolt known as the Age of the Reformation that began as an attempt Reform of the Roman Catholic Church, but resulted in the founding of Protestantism. Although there had been earlier attempts to reform the Catholic Churches it was to no avail. It was initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early protestant Reformers. “This caused a great separation of the churches which had developed and started to spread across the continent” (Shelley 303).

Studying the world’s history is a way to understand how it has arrived at the present, as well as why it has become what it is. Politically, the Renaissance was a bridge from the medieval to the modern world because of the secularization of governing the state. Economically, because of the fluctuation of the economy. Religiously, the Renaissance acted as a bridge from the medieval to the modern world due to the realization that men have the power to decide their lives, rather than fate.

The Renaissance served as a time for rehabilitation of all that had been lost. The Dark Ages was a time preceding the Renaissance. It was a time containing nothing but turmoil, continuous fighting, horrible sickness, and a cultural standstill. The Renaissance was the Age that came directly after all this trouble. People began to think for themselves and actually voice their thoughts that were just completely outside of the church’s realm of comprehension. This Age was one in which people began to realize the importance of studying the past not only to learn from the mistakes but to learn about all the good. People saw the importance of looking back not just to the previous age, but at civilizations from hundreds & thousands of years prior to their time for wisdom, inventiveness, and creativity. The people looked all the way back to ancient Greek and Romans for ideas of how to rebuild their world. On the completely opposite side of the spectrum people

The Renaissance which translates roughly as a rebirth and fresh thinking which lasted from the 14th through 17th centuries attempted to reapply the ancient intellectual learning of the Greco-Roman Civilization. The thinkers and artists of this new era differed remarkably from their medieval counterparts. Broadly speaking, Mediaeval period was a period predominantly dominated by Christian outlook. Moreover, All of the Civilizations regarded as ‘Heirs’ of Rome paid significant tribute to their respective religion. Thus, it can be safely concluded that religion and politics were interwoven in Medieval period. The Renaissance, however, represented a dramatic transformation from the Medieval outlook. Secularism humanism and individualism were

The renaissance was the time of emerging out of the dark ages where so much that was learnt was lost. This period was one of the most important periods as it was the rebirth of education, science, art, literature, music and a better way of life for people. It was the rebirth of humanism and new discoveries. It helped shape the world we live in today.