Ch
19: The Changing Life of the People
Marriage
and the Family
·
18th c: witnessed such an evolution in family – patterns of
marriage shifted and individuals adapted and conformed to the new and changing
realities of the family unit
Late
Marriage and the Nuclear families
·
3 generation extended family was a rarity In w and c Europe by 1700
·
When young European couples married, they normally established their
own households and lived apart from their parents
·
3 gen household would only occur if a widowed parent moved into the
home of a married child
·
Most ppl did not marry young in the 17th and 18th
c
o
Many years after reaching adulthood
o
Many years after beginning to work
o
25-27 y/o
o
10-20% never married at all
·
Delayed marriage reasons
o
Couples did not marry until they could start an independent household
and support themselves and their future children
o
Peasants needed to wait until their father’s death to inherit land and
marry
o
In towns, men and women worked to accumulate enough savings to start a
small business and establish a home
o
Laws and tradition stemmed tide of early marriage
o
In some areas, couples needed legal permission or approval of local
lord to marry
§ Poor couples had difficulty
securing approval of local officials, who didn’t want to propagate the peasants
(more abandoned children, etc.)
·
Custom of late marriage with nuclear family households distinguished
European society from other areas
·
This marriage pattern caused economic advantage in early modern Europe
o
Late marriage = mature man and mature women who had already accumulated
social and economic capital and could transmit self-reliance to the next
generation
o
Greater degree of equality between husband and wife
Work
Away from Home
·
Many young ppl worked within their families until they could start
their own households
·
Others left home to work elsewhere
o
Enter apprenticeship at 16, end at 20s
o
Couldn’t marry
o
Apprentice from rural village would typically move to a city or town to
learn a trade, earning little and working hard
o
If he was lucky he’d be admitted to a guild and establish economic
independence
·
Many poor families couldn’t afford apprenticeships
o
Without craft skills, these youths drifted from one tough job to
another
§ Hired hand for small farmer,
wage laborer on new road, etc
o
They were always subject to economic fluctuations and unemployment
·
Many adolescent girls also left families to work
o
Range of opportunities open was more limited
o
Apprenticeship was sometimes available for female occupations
§ Seamstress, midwife
o
With growth in production of finished goods for emerging consumer
economy, demand rose for skilled female labor à more opportunities for women
o
Some male guildsmen hired women against guild restrictions
·
Service in another family’s household was the most common job for
girls, even for middle class
o
Legions of young servant girls worked hard with little independence
§ Employer gave $ to parents
sometimes
o
Constantly under the eye of her mistress
o
Had many tasks (cleaning, shopping, cooking)
o
Often work was endless, there were no limitation laws
o
Servant girls often complained of physical mistreatment by mistresses
·
Male apprentices had similar tales of abuse, but were far less
vulnerable than female servants
·
Domestic service should have offered a young girl protection and
security in a new family
o
She was often easy prey to master or his sons or his friends
o
If girl became pregnant, she could be fired and thrown out
o
Many families would not accept a girl back into the home
o
Had to go to prostitution or petty thievery
Premarital
Sex and Community Controls
·
Long time to for sexually mature people to wait for sex
·
Many unmarried couples satisfied sexual desires with fondling and
petting
·
Others engaged in premarital sex
·
Those who did risked pregnancy and stigma of illegitimate birth
·
Birth control was known before 19th c, but it was primitive
and unreliable
o
Condoms from sheep intestine
o
Expensive, mainly for aristocrats
·
Most common method of contraception was withdrawal before ejaculation
o
French used it most
·
Did sex, unreliable contraception, mean late marriage caused illegitimate
children?
o
No, there are low rates of illegitimacy, they were a rarity
·
Community pressure to marry often prevailed to control sex drive of
youths
o
Couples were engaged or in a relationship before going to intimate
relations
o
Pregnancy set relationship once and for all
·
Combo of low rates of illegitimate birth with large numbers of pregnant
brides reflects community controls of traditional village
o
Cooperation and common action
o
Spirit of common action was mobilized by prospect of an unwed mother
with an illegitimate child, viewed as a grave threat to the economic, social,
and moral stability of the community
o
Mad parents, anxious village elders, mad priests, all combined to
pressure young people who wavered about marriage in the face of unexpected pregnancies
·
In countryside, controls meant premarital sex was not ok, but only if
you’re contemplating marriage
·
Concerns of village and family weighed heavily on couples’ lives after
marriage
o
People in peasant communities gave such affairs loud publicity
o
Young men would gang up on the bad youngster and force him to shame
himself
o
Parade around spouse beater or adulterous couple
o
Rotten vegetables on doorstep
o
Insulting midnight serenades
·
These epitomize community’s effort to police personal behavior and
maintain moral standards
New
Patterns of Marriage and Illegitimacy
·
Second half of 18th c: long standing patterns of marriage
and illegitimacy shifted dramatically
o
Rise in young people’s ability to choose partners for themselves,
rather than following economic/social interests of families
§ Social and economic
transformations made it harder for families and communities to supervise their
behavior
§ More youths worked in
countryside for wages, rather than family farm
§ Economic autonomy translated
into increased freedom of action
o
Many youths joined flood of migrants to cities to search for work
·
Urban life provided young people with more social contacts and less
social control
·
Illegitimacy explosion came from loosening social control
o
The sharp increase in out of wedlock births that occurred in Europe
between 1750 and 1850, caused by low wages and the breakdown of community
controls
o
Births out of wedlock rose
o
People still disparaged single mothers, so the mothers were in
desperate situations
·
Why did number of illegitimate births skyrocket?
o
Rise in sexual activity among young people
§ Loosened social controls
§ Young ppl had more choice in
marriage
§ More opportunities to yield
to attraction of opposite sex
·
Some women had sex because they were promised marriage afterwards, but
were left pregnant and unmarried
·
Problem for young women who became pregnant: fewer men followed through
on their promises
o
Rising prices for food, homes, other necessities
o
Wages rose, but not enough to cover the cost of price increases
o
A lot of men were sincere but their new economic situations caused
insecurities, and they couldn’t take on a wife and child
·
Other men profited from eased social controls to make false promises
o
For seduced women, there was little recourse against a deceitful suitor
because she had to explain all of her sexual deeds
·
Some happy couples benefitted from matches of love rather than
convenience, but many did not
·
Romantic, yet practical dreams and aspirations were frustrated by low
wages, inequality, and changing economic and social conditions
·
Old patterns in marriage and family were breaking down
Sex
on the Margins of Society
·
Prostitution offered single and married men an outlet for sexual desire
·
After a long period of tolerance, prostitutes encountered
harsh/repressive laws as officials across Europe began to close brothels and
declare prostitution illegal
·
Despite repression, prostitution continued to flourish in 18th
c
·
Most prostitutes were working women who turned to sex trade when
confronted with unemployment or seasonal shortages of work
·
These women did not become social pariahs, but retained ties with
communities of laboring poor to which they belonged
·
Drawbacks of Prostitution
o
If caught by police, they were subject to imprisonment/banishment
o
Venereal disease was a constant threat
o
Humiliating police examinations for disease
·
Some courtesans/prostitutes had wealthy protectors who provided
apartments, servants, cash
o
If their protectors lost her client, she’d be forced back on the
streets
·
Protected by status, nobles and royals sometimes openly indulged in
same sex passions, which was accepted as long as they had heirs
o
King James I
o
King William of Orleans
·
Late 17th c: homosexual subcultures began to emerge in
Paris, Amsterdam, London, with own slang, meeting places, styles of dress
o
Groups included men exclusively gay
o
In London, they were “mollies”
o
Some began to dress like women and act feminine
o
New self-identity began to form among gays: their gay desire made them
fundamentally diff from other men
·
Gay relations existed among women too, but attracted less anxiety and
condemnation that that among men
o
Some were prosecuted for “unnatural” relations
o
Others attempted to escape by dressing like men
·
Beginnings of distinctive lesbian subculture appeared in London at end
of 18th c
·
Traditional tolerance for sexual activities among heterosexual marriage
(prostitutes or gay) began to fade
·
ENLT critics attacked court immortality and preached virtue and
morality for middle class men who should prove their worthiness to take over
the reigns of power
Children
and Education
·
European women married late, but began producing children rapidly
·
Infant mortality was extremely high, and many women died in childbirth
·
For surviving children, new ENLT ideals in the latter half of the
century stressed the importance of parental nurturing
·
New worldviews led to increase in elementary schools, but formal
education played only a modest role in lives of ordinary children
Child
Care and Nursing
·
Newborns were vulnerable to disease, and many died of diarrhea from
dehydration
·
Those who survived sometimes died in childhood
·
Childbirth was also dangerous
o
Blood loss, shock, unsanitary infections
·
Creation of life was also accompanied by suffering and death
·
Women of lower classes in countryside generally breast fed infants for
2 years or more
o
Breast feeding was decreased likelihood of pregnancy
o
Nursing saved lives: breast fed infants received precious immunity
producing substances and were more likely to survive on that than on other food
·
Women of aristocracy and upper middle class seldom nursed their own
children
o
Breast feeding was undignified and interfered with social
responsibilities
o
Hired a live in wet nurse to suckle her child: wet nursing
§ a widespread and flourishing
business in the 18th c in which women were paid to breast feed other
women’s babies
·
Working women in the cities
o
Used wet nurses because they needed a living
o
Unable to afford live in wet nurses, turned to cheaper rural wet
nursing
o
Conducted within frame of putting out system
·
Wet nursing was particularly common in northern France
o
Paris and other northern cities
o
Half go to government distribution network of rural wet nurses
o
25% went to Parisian nurses
o
25% abandoned to foundling hospitals
o
10% nursed at home by mothers or live in nurses
·
Reliance on wet nurses à high levels of infant
mortality
o
Dangers of travel, lack of supervision of conditions in wet nurses’
homes, need to share milk between babies
·
Those in England had actual mothers sucks their babies, so less deaths
than in France
·
Why did French women send their babies to wet nurses, despite high
mortality rates?
o
Parental indifference to child’s survival
o
More likely: combination of cultural, socioeconomic, and biological
factors
§ Wet nursing was an old
tradition to France
§ Migration to cities, high
prices, and stagnant wages pushed more women into workforce, often into jobs
outside of the home and it was impossible to nurse their own babies
§ Few alternatives to breast
milk existed, ppl thought they were doing the more affordable and safer thing
for their babies
·
Artificial feeding methods were seen as dangerous
·
2nd half of 18th c: critics had harsh attacks
against wet nursing
o
ENLT thinkers: wet nursing was robbing European society of reaching its
full potentials
§ Thought population was
declining (not) and blamed this decline on women’s failure to nurture children
properly
o
Inveighed against practices of contraception and masturbation – robbing
nations of potential children
·
Many women had no choice but to rely on wet nurses until cow’s milk and
artificial nipples came into play
Foundlings
and Infanticide
·
Young woman who couldn’t provide for an unwanted child had few choices
o
Abortions illegal, dangerous, rare
o
Some women hid unwanted pregnancies, delivered in secret, smothered
infants
o
If discovered, infanticide was punishable by death
·
Women in cities had more choice of disposal
o
Foundling homes, first found in Italy, Spain, Portugal and spread
§ 18th c England:
gov acted on petition calling for founding hospital to prevent murders or poor
babies and leaving children on streets
·
As more foundling hospitals occurred, number of foundlings being cared
for surged
o
Admitting 100,000 across Europe a year, almost all infants
·
Foundling homes were favorite charity of rich and powerful
o
Good example of Christian charity and social concern in poverty and
inequality
·
Foundling home was not a panacea
o
1770s: 1/3 of all babies in Paris were being immediately abandoned
§ Many were single babies
§ Product of illegitimacy
explosion
§ Others were foundlings of
married poor couples
·
Great numbers of babies entered foundling homes, but few left
o
50% normally died in a year
o
Succumbed to long journeys over rough roads, neglect, illness
o
Foundling hospitals: legalized infanticide
Attitudes
Toward Children
·
Some scholars claim parents did not risk forming emotional attachments
with young children because of high mortality rates – attitude of indifference
or negligence
o
Edward Gibbon: said death of children
before parent was common
·
Emotional prudence could lead to emotional distance
o
Michel de Montaigne: lost 5 of 6 children says
he has to have forbearance with his obsession of caressing newborns because he
know they might die
·
Historians have gained evidence that parents did cherish their children
and suffered when they died
·
In society characterized by violence and brutality, discipline of
children was often severe
o
“Spare the rod and spoil the child”
o
Susannah Wesley
§ Mother of John Wesley,
thought parenting was about “conquering the will and bring them to an obedient
temper”
·
ENLT produced enthusiastic new discourse about childhood and child
rearing
o
Called for greater tenderness toward children and proposed imaginative
new teaching methods
o
Supported foundling hospitals
o
Urged women to nurse babies
o
Ridiculed swaddling babies in rigid whale bone corsets to mold
children’s bones – wanted freedom of movement with comfortable clothes
§ Celebration of nature and
natural laws that should guide human behavior
§ Best hopes of creating a new
society untrammeled by prejudices of past lay in radical reform of child rearing
techniques
·
Rousseau
o
Fervently advocated breast feeding and natural dress
o
Boys’ education should include plenty of fresh air and exercise and
should be taught practical craft skills in addition to book learning
o
Insisted girls’ education should focus on their future domestic
responsibilities
o
Women’s “nature” destined them to a life of marriage and child rearing
·
Ideas of Rousseau and other reformers were enthusiastically adopted by
elite women, who did not adopt universal nursing but began to supervise wet
nurses closer
·
Rousseau also reveals occasional hypocrisy of ENLT thinkers
o
He believes child rearing techniques would create a better society, but
he himself abandoned all of his children to foundling hospitals
o
Idea of creating a natural man was more important than raising real
children
The
Spread of Elementary Schools
·
Availability of education outside home gradually increased over early
modern period
·
Wealthy led way with special colleges, often run by Jesuits in Catholic
areas
·
Schools charged specifically with educating children of common people
began to appear
o
Specialized in teaching 6-12 y/o basic literacy, religion, arithmetic
for boys, and needle work for girls
·
Number of such schools expanded in 18th c although they were
never sufficient to educate the mass
·
Religious faith was important in spread of education
o
Presbyterian Scotland was convinced that path to salvation was
established in effective network of parish schools for rich and poor
o
Church of England and its sects within established “charity schools” to
instruct poor children
o
Prussia: first proponents of universal education inspired by Protestant
idea that every believer should be able to read the Bible
§ Made education compulsory
for boys and girls
o
Protestant German states followed suit
·
Catholic states pursued their own programs of popular education
o
France: charity schools to teach poor children their catechism, prayer,
reading/writing
o
Run by parish priests or by new teaching orders
o
Most famous order: Jean Baptiste
de la Salle’s Brothers of the Christian Schools
·
Enthusiasm for popular education was greater in Habsburg empire,
inspired by expansion of schools in rival German states
o
Maria Theresa issued compulsory education edict
·
Across Europe, some elementary education was becoming a reality, and
schools were growing significance in the life of the child
Popular
Culture and Consumerism
·
New efforts in education, literacy was growing among popular classes,
whose reading habits centered primarily on religious material, also began to incorporate
more practical and entertaining literature
·
Also, they enjoyed range of leisure activities including storytelling,
fairs, festivals, and sports
·
One of most important developments in European society in 18th
c: emergence of a fledgling consumer culture
o
Much of expansion took place among upper and upper-middle classes
o
Boom in cheap reproductions of luxury items allowed people of modest
means to participate
o
Material worlds of city dwellers grew richer and more diverse
o
“Consumer revolution” created new expectations for comfort, hygiene,
and self expression in daily life
o
Dramatically changed European life in 18th c
Popular
Literature
·
Surge in childhood education à growth in basic literacy
o
1600: 1/6 in France and Scotland barely literate
o
1600: ¼ in England barely literate
o
1800: 9/10 Scottish males and 2/3 French males
·
Bulk of jump occurred in 18th c
·
Women were increasingly literate, but lagged behind men
·
Growth in literacy promoted growth in reading: common people
o
Bible remained overwhelming favorite, especially in Protestant
countries
o
Short pamphlets: chapbooks were staple of popular literature
§ Printed on cheap paper
§ Featured Bible stories,
prayers, devotions, lives of good Christians
§ Gave believers moral
teachings and a confidence in God that helped them endure struggles in everyday
life
o
Entertainment, often humorous stories, formed second element of popular
literature
§ Fairy tales, medieval
romances, crime stories, adventures
§ Presented a world of
danger/magic that provided temporary flight from harsh everyday reality
§ Had nuggets of ancient folk
wisdom, counseling prudence
o
Practical popular literature
§ Rural crafts, household
repairs, plants
§ Almanacs
·
Secular/religious/astrological
·
Arcane (little known) facts and jokes
·
Universal, not controversial
·
Highly appreciated
·
Elites still appreciated elements of common culture with masses
·
Vast majority of ordinary people (peasants in isolated villages) did
not read great works of ENLT, they were not immune to ideas
o
Urban working ppl were exposed to new ideas through
rumors/gossip/cafes/ taverns
o
Cheap pamphlets that had ENLT ideas
o
Servants traveled from ruralàcity with new ideas from
city
·
Some ordinary ppl did assimilate ENLT ideals
o
Thomas Paine: Common Sense, the pamphlet attacked evils of gov
o
Proof of working people’s ability to receive ENLT ideas
Leisure
and Recreation
·
Despite spread of literacy, culture of village remained largely oral
rather than written
o
Peasant families gathered to talk, sing, tell stories around fireplace
during winter
o
Women gathered in cottages to talk, sew, laugh
o
Sometimes men would be invited as potential suitors
o
Drinking at taverns to socialize
§ Cheap/potent liquor
·
Towns and cities offered wider range of amusements
o
Pleasure gardens, theaters, lending libraries
o
Urban fairs with foods, acrobats, freak shows
o
Form of consumption marked by growing commercialization
§ Spectator spots to gain
profit
·
Horse races, boxing matches, bullfights
·
Brain bashing, heavyweight champions
o
Blood sports: Popular with 18th c European masses, events
such as bull baiting and cockfighting that involved inflicting violence and
bloodshed on animals
§ Bull-baiting, cockfighting –
people bet on winner
·
Popular recreation merged with religious celebration
o
Festivals/processions
o
Carnival: few days of revelry in Catholic countries preceding Lent that
included drinking, masquerading, dancing, and rowdy spectacles that turned the
established order upside down
§ Peasants dressed as nobles
and vice versa
§ Allowed ppl to release
frustrations before life returned to usual pattern
·
Vibrant popular culture of common people criticized by educated elites
in second half of 18th c
o
Previously shared enthusiasm for religious festivals, carnival,
drinking, blood sports, etc, now saw superstition, sin, disorder, vulgarity
o
Attacks on popular culture was tied to clergy’s effort to eliminate
paganism and superstition, which was intensified as educated public embraced
critical worldview of ENLT
New
Foods and Appetites
·
Beginning of 18th c: Ordinary men and women depended on
grain as fully as they had in the past
o
Staff of life
o
Washed down with water, wine, or beer
o
Dark bread made from roughly ground wheat and rye
o
Peasants normally needed to buy grain for food, and believed in moral
economy and just price: the idea that prices should be fair, protecting both
consumers and producers, and that they should be imposed by the gov decree if
necessary
o
When prices rose above this level, they often took action in form of
bread riots
·
Rural poor ate fair quantity of vegetables
o
Peas and beans
o
Grown as field crops
o
Dried vegetables for soup
o
On tables of poor in season: cabbages, carrots, wild greens
o
Fruits for summer
o
Milk used for cheese and butter, which was sold in market to earn cash
for taxes and land rents
·
Common ppl of Europe ate little meat
o
Expensive
o
Harsh laws reserved right to hunt and eat game for nobles and large
landowners
o
Bitterly resented, often broken
·
Diet of small traders and artisans – people of towns and cities had a
more varied meal
o
Bustling markets with variety of meats, vegetables, and fruits
o
Bread and beans still formed bulk
·
Diet of rich diff than diet of poor in towns/cities
o
Upper class was carnivorous who complemented meat with fish and sauces
and nuts
·
Patterns of food consumption changed as century progressed
·
Growth of market gardening à greater variety of
vegetables appeared in towns and cities
o
Low Countries and England pioneered new methods of farming
·
Potatoes, along with tomatoes, squash, and corn came from Americas with
many nutrients
o
Became important dietary supplement in much of Europe by end of 18th
c
·
Large towns/cities of maritime Europe began to receive semi tropical
fruits (oranges, lemons) but they were expensive
·
Most remarkable dietary change in 18th c: consumption of
sugar and tea
o
No other commodities grew so quickly in popularity
o
Previously expensive and rare luxury items
o
Became dietary staples for people of all social classes
o
Steady drop in prices created by expansion of colonial slave trade
·
Other colonial goods became goods of daily consumption: coffee,
tobacco, chocolate
·
Why were colonial products so popular?
o
Desire to emulate luxurious lifestyles of elite
o
Sought to experience pleasures for themselves
o
Quickened pace of work in 18th c à needs for stimulants (coffee, tea)
§ Gentry used tea for luxury,
lower classes used it to fight fatigue of work
·
Working people in Europe became increasingly dependent on far away
colonial economies and slave labor
·
Understanding of daily necessities and how to procure them shifted, and
linked them to global trade networks
Toward
a Consumer Society
·
All manner of other goods increased in variety and number in 18th
c
·
Led to growth in consumption and new attitudes toward consumer goods
·
Consumer revolution: wide ranging growth in consumption and new
attitudes toward consumer goods that emerged in the cities of NW Europe in 2nd
half of 18th c
·
New society where ppl derived self identity as much from their
consuming practices as from their working lives and place in production process
·
Ppl were provided with opportunity to pick and choose among new variety
of consumer goods
·
New notions of individuality and self-expression developed
·
Full consumer society didn’t emerge till later, but roots are in 18th
c
·
Increased demand for consumer goods wasn’t just response to increased
supply
o
Merchants cleverly advertised to incite demand
o
Marketing campaigns, boutiques with windows, patronage of royal princes
o
Seized reigns of fashion from courtiers who controlled it
o
Merchants dictated what was in fashion
·
Fashion extended to diff social groups
·
Clothing was one chief indicator of growth in consumerism
o
Entrepreneurs made fashionable clothing more desirable
o
Women entering textile business made it cheaper
o
18th c western Europe witnessed a dramatic rise in
consumption of clothing
o
Colonial economies lowered cost of materials due to unpaid slaves
o
Cheaper copies of elite styles made it possible for working ppl to
aspire to follow fashion for first time
·
Spread of fashion was mostly a female phenomenon
o
Women gained lots of clothing
·
New gender distinctions in dress
o
Noblemen vied with noblemen for magnificence/ostentatious dress
o
Men renounced brilliant colors/voluptuous fabrics for plain dark suits
·
Changes in outward appearances were reflected in new spaces and new
ideas of privacy and intimate life
o
Families began attributing specific functions to specific rooms
o
Erected inner barriers for privacy
·
New levels of comfort and convenience accompanied trend of more
individualized ways of life
o
Common dish à each person has his own
plate
o
More books decorated the walls
o
Transparent windows to allow sunlight to enter room
o
More efficient and cleaner stoves
o
Rooms were warmer, better lit, more comfortable, and more personalized
·
Developments were concentrated in large cities in NW Europe and in
colonial cities of N. Am
o
Elite benefitted most from new modes of life
o
Not yet society of mass consumption
o
Laid foundations for one of distinctive features of Western life:
societies based on consumption of goods/services obtained through market in
which individuals form self identities/worth from what they consume
Religious
Authority and Beliefs
·
Majority of ordinary men and women remained committed Christians
·
Religious faith promised salvation, and gave comfort in the face of
sorrow and death
·
Religion remained strong because it was embedded in local traditions
and everyday social experience
·
Popular religion of village Europe was enmeshed in a larger world of
church hierarchies and state power
·
Powerful outside forces sought to regulate religious life at the local
level
·
Efforts created tensions that helped set the scene for vigorous
religious revivals in Protestant Germany, England, and Catholic France
·
Tensions arose between authorities and people as powerful elites began
to criticize many popular religious practices that their increasingly
rationalistic minds deemed foolish and superstitious
Church
Hierarchy
·
Local parish church remained focal point of religious devotion and
community cohesion
o
Congregants gossiped and swapped stories after services, and neighbors
came together for special events
o
Priests/parsons kept community records, and provided primary education
o
Parish church was women into fabric of community life
·
Parish church was also subject to greater control from state
o
Prot areas: princes/monarchs headed official church and regulated their
“territorial churches” strictly
o
Radical ideas of Reformation had resulted in another version of church
bureaucracy
·
Catholic monarchs also took greater control of religious matters in
their kingdoms and weakened papal authority
o
Spain, deeply Catholic, took firm control of church appointments
o
Papal proclamations couldn’t be read w/o prior approval from gov
o
Spain asserted control over Spanish Inquisition
·
Fare of Society of Jesus, Jesuits
o
Well educated, extraordinary teachers, missionaries, agents of papacy
o
Exercised tremendous political influence, holding high gov positions,
educating nobility
o
Eventually elicited a broad coalition of enemies by having too much
political power
§ Louis XV ordered Jesuits out
of France and confiscate their property
§ France/Spain pressured Rome
to dissolve Jesuits
·
Some Catholic rulers also believed the clergy in monasteries and
convents should make it a more practical contribution to social and religious
life
o
Maria Theresa began sharply restricting entry into “unproductive
orders”
o
Joseph II abolished contemplative orders, permitting only orders
engaged in teacher, nursing, or other practical worth
o
State expropriated dissolved monasteries and used their wealth for
charitable purposes and higher salaries for ordinary priests
o
Issued edicts of religious tolerance
Protestant
Revival
·
By 17th c Protestant Reformation reforms were complete and
were widely adopted in most Prot churches
·
Idolatry, veneration of saints all come
·
Many official Prot churches had settled into smug complacency
·
This, with growth of state power and bureaucracy in local parishes
threatened to eclipse Reformation’s main goal: to bring all believers closer to
God
·
People thought ppl needed to go back to original inspiration
·
Powerful Prot revival that succeeded because it answered intense but
unsatisfied needs of common ppl
·
Revival began in Germany in late 17th c
·
Called Pietism: A Protestant revival movement in early 18th
c Germany and Scandinavia that emphasized a warm and emotional religion, the
priesthood of all believers, and the power of Christian rebirth in everyday
affairs
o
Reasons for acceptance
§ Warm, emotional religion
that everyone could experience
·
Enthusiasm was key concept
·
The heart must burn
§ Reasserted earlier radical
stress on priesthood of all believers, reducing gulf between official clergy
and Lutheran laity
·
Bible reading extended to all classes
·
Spur for popular literacy and individ religious development
·
Did many educational reforms in Prussia
§ Practical power of Christian
rebirth in everyday affairs
·
Reborn Christians were expected to lead good, moral lives and to come
from all social classes
·
Pietism spread through
German speaking lands in Scandinavia
·
Had major impact on John Wesley
o
Catalyst for popular religious revival in England
o
Mapped “scheme of religion”
o
Organized a Holy club for similarly minded students: Methodists:
Members of a Protestant revival movement started by John Wesley, so called
because they were so methodical in their devotion
o
Remained intensely troubled about his salvation
·
Wesley’s anxieties related to grave problems in faith in England
o
Gov shamelessly used Church of England to provide favorites with high
paying jobs
o
Church and state officials failed to respond to needs of ppl
§ Ignored construction of
church with growing population
§ Ignored need of more pews
o
Services and sermons were an uninspiring routine
o
Separation of religion from local customs and social life
o
ENLT skepticism was making inroads among educated classes – deism
(belief in God, but not organized religion) was becoming popular
§ Bishops thought virgin Mary
was a superstition
·
Wesley had a conversion: He was reading Luther’s preface and felt heart
strangely warmed, and thanked God for his grace
·
Wesley was convinced that any person might have a similarly heartfelt
conversion and gain same blessed conversion
·
Took good news to ppl
·
Wesley preached in open fields because churches were often crowded
o
Ppl came in large numbers
·
Wesley rejected Calvinist predestination
o
Preached all men and women who earnestly sought salvation might be
saved
o
Message of hope and joy, free will, and universal salvation
·
Wesley’s ministry won converts, formed Methodist cells, and resulted in
a new denomination
o
Evangelicals in Church of England and old dissenting groups now
followed Wesley’s example of preaching to all ppl, giving an impetus to even
broader awakening among lower classes
·
In Protestant countries, religion continued to be a vital force in the
lives of ppl
Catholic
Piety
·
Catholic religion flourished, but diff from Prot practice
o
Visual contrast striking: Catholics like art and emotionally
exhilarating figures
o
Participated more actively in formal worship
·
Tremendous popular strength in Catholic religion due to church’s
integral role in community life and popular culture
o
Enthusiastically joined together in religious festivals
o
Reenactment of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem
o
Processions – escape from work, form of recreation
·
Catholicism had its own version of Pietist revivals – Jansenism:
“illegitimate offspring of Prot Reformation and Catholic Counter Reformation”
o
Originated with Cornelius Jansen
§ Called for return to austere
early Christianity of Saint Augustine
§ Not worldly Jesuits
§ Emphasized heavy weight of original
sin and accepted predestination
§ Outlawed by papal/royal
edicts as Calvinist heresy
§ Attracted Catholic followers
eager for religious renewal, particularly French
·
Members of French urban elite
§ Stern religious values
encouraged judiciary’s increasing opposition to French monarchy in 2nd
half of 18th c
·
Diff strain of Jansenism among urban poor
o
Prayer meetings brought men/women together in ecstatic worship
o
Convulsions, speaking in tongues
o
Police of Paris conducted mass raids
Marginal
Beliefs and Practices
·
In countryside, peasants continued to hold religious beliefs marginal
to Christina faith altogether, often even of pagan origin
o
Bless salt/bread for farm animals to protect them from disease
o
Healing springs
o
Buried live bull to ward off disease
·
Ordinary person combined strong Christina faith with wealth of
time-honored superstition
·
Inspired by fervor of Reformation era, then by rationalism of ENLT,
religious and secular authorities sought increasingly to “purify” popular
spirituality
o
French priests denounced remnants of paganism found in bonfire
ceremonies where men jumped over fire to try to protect themselves from disease
o
Saw regressing into paganism “triumph of Hell and the shame of
Christianity”
·
Severity of attack on popular belief varied by country and region
o
Where authorities pursued purification (Austria) pious peasants drew
back in anger
o
Reaction dramatized growing tension between educated elite/common ppl
·
Growing intellectual disdain for popular beliefs
·
Persecution of witches came to end
o
Elite dismissed such fears and refused to prosecute witches
Medical
Practice
·
ENLT’s growing focus on discovering laws of nature and on human
problems gave rise to great deal fo research and experimentation
·
Medical practitioners greatly increased in number, though techniques
did not change
·
Care of sick was domain of competing groups
o
Faith healers
o
Apothecaries
o
Physicians
o
Surgeons
o
Midwives
·
Both men and women were medical practitioners
·
Since women were generally denied admission to medical colleges and
lacked diplomas necessary to practice, the rage of medical activities open to
them was restricted
·
18th c: Women’s traditional roles as midwives and healers
was eroded even further
Faith
healing and General Practice
·
Faith healers remained active
o
Thought evil spirits caused illness by lodging in ppl
o
Proper treatment was exorcism
o
View most common in countryside, where popular belief emphasized
healing power of relics, prayer, etc
·
Larger towns and cities: apothecaries
o
Sold herbs, drugs, medicines
o
Some worked
§ Laxatives
o
Advertised their wares, high class customers, miraculous cures in
newspapers
o
Medicine joined era’s new commercial culture
·
Physicians
o
Invariably men
o
Apprenticed in their teens to practicing physicians
o
Training rounded with hospital work/university courses
o
Prolonged training was expensive à physicians came from
prosperous families, and concentrated on urban patients from similar
backgrounds
o
Little contact with urban workers and less with peasants
·
Physicians in 18th c were increasingly willing to experiment
with new methods, but time honored practices lay heavily on them
o
Laid great stress on purging and bloodletting (thought as a panacea)
§ “Bad blood” caused illness
§ Balance of humors was
necessary for good health
Hospitals
and Surgery
·
Surgery was long thought of as a craft comparable to butchers and
barbers
·
18th c: Surgeons began to study anatomy seriously and
improved their art
·
Endless opportunities to practice – army surgeons
o
Learned that a soldier with a big would could be saved if cauterized
·
18th c surgeon labored in face of incredible difficulties
o
Almost all operations performed without painkillers (anesthetics were
hard to control/dangerous)
§ Patients died from
agony/shock
o
Surgery was performed in unsanitary conditions
§ No knowledge of bacteria and
infection
§ Simplest would could be
fatal
Midwifery
·
Midwives continued to deliver the majority of babies in 18th
c
·
Trained by another woman practitioner and regulated by guild
·
Treated female problems: breast feeding, irregular periods, etc, and
ministered to small children
·
Midwife orchestrated labor and birth, where relatives assisted pregnant
woman in familiar surroundings of her own home
·
Male surgeon rarely entered female world, because births were now
normal
·
After invention of foreceps (tweezer things) surgeon-physicians used
their monopoly over this and other instruments to seek lucrative new business
·
Attacked midwives as ignorant and dangerous, they sought to undermine
faith in midwives and persuaded wealthy women of their superiority to midwives
·
Women practitioners successfully defended much but not all of their
practice in 18th c
·
Madame du Coudray
o
Wrote widely used textbook
o
Manual on the Art of
Childbirth
o
Secured royal financing for her campaign to teach better birthing
techniques to village midwives
o
Traveled all over France with life-size model of female parts to teach
illiterate women
·
Midwives generally lost no more babies than did male doctors, who were
still summoned to treat non-elite women in life threatening situations only
The
Conquest of Smallpox
·
Experimentation and the intensified search for solutions to human
problems à real advances in medicine
after 1750
·
Greatest medical triumph: eradication of smallpox
·
After decline of bubonic plague, smallpox became most terrible disease
·
First step in conquest of smallpox was by English aristocrat Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
o
Learned about smallpox inoculation in Muslim lands of western Asia
o
She had her son inoculated and spread the practice in England
o
Inoculation was risky and widely condemned because 1/50 ppl were
infectious and spread disease
·
Practice of inoculation was refined over the century
·
Edward Jenner
o
Countryside belief that maids who got cowpox didn’t get smallpox
o
Practiced Baconian science, collecting data
o
Formed first vaccination on young boy using matter from a milkmaid with
cowpox
o
New method of treatment spread rapidly, and smallpox soon declined to
disappearance in Europe
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