Word Definition and Significance

Renaissance The renaissance was characterized by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman
literature, art, civic virtue, and culture during the 15 and 16th centuries. It was caused by
the expansion of trade as well as the growth of an agricultural surplus. Moreover, the
renaissance was a cultural and political movement in Western Europe that began in Italy
c. 1400 and rested on urban vitality and expanding commerce. Part of the renaissance
was humanism, the focus on individuals rather than God. For example, people began to
consider not only their place in heaven but also their place in the world. There were also
cultural changes, such as the increased use of vernacular language which propelled the
rise of powerful monarchies, the centralization of governments, and the birth of
nationalism. In the southern renaissance, the city-states of Italy and in Spain were under
church domination and patronage. Many of the important sculptures and paintings have
religious subjects. As for the northern renaissance, there was a great emphasis on piety
among lay people, those who were not members of the clergy. There was also an
interest in understanding the physical world, an interest that would lead to conflict with
the catholic church. Northern renaissance art also differed from the art in Italy in a way
that it reflected middle-class occupations and peasant celebrations. Overall, the
renaissance featured literature and art with distinctly more secular priorities than those
of the middle ages.
Machiavelli Niccol Machiavelli, (born May 3, 1469, Florence, Italydied June 21, 1527,
Florence), Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, secretary of the
Florentine republic, whose most famous work, The Prince (Il Principe), brought him a
reputation as an atheist and an immoral cynic. Relatively little is known for certain
about Machiavelli's early life in comparison with many important figures of the Italian
Renaissance (the following section draws on Grazia 1989 and Viroli 2000). He was
born 3 May 1469 in Florence and at a young age became a pupil of a renowned Latin
teacher, Paolo da Ronciglione. It is speculated that he attended the University of
Florence, and even a cursory glance at his corpus reveals that he received an excellent
humanist education. It is only with his entrance into public view, with his appointment
as the Second Chancellor of the Republic of Florence, however, that we begin to acquire
a full and accurate picture of his life. For the next fourteen years, Machiavelli engaged
in a flurry of diplomatic activity on behalf of Florence, travelling to the major centers of
Italy as well as to the royal court of France and to the imperial curia of Maximilian. We
have letters, dispatches, and occasional writings that testify to his political assignments
as well as to his acute talent for the analysis of personalities and institutions. Florence
had been under a republican government since 1484, when the leading Medici family
and its supporters had been driven from power. During this time, Machiavelli thrived
under the patronage of the Florentine gonfaloniere (or chief administrator for life), Piero
Soderini. In 1512, however, with the assistance of Spanish troops, the Medici defeated
the republic's armed forces and dissolved the government. Machiavelli was a direct
victim of the regime change: he was initially placed in a form of internal exile and,
when he was (wrongly) suspected of conspiring against the Medici in 1513, he was
imprisoned and tortured for several weeks. His retirement thereafter to his farm outside
of Florence afforded the occasion and the impetus for him to turn to literary pursuits.
The first of his writings in a more reflective vein was also ultimately the one most
commonly associated with his name, The Prince. Written at the end of 1513 (and
perhaps early 1514), but only formally published posthumously in 1532, The Prince was
composed in great haste by an author who was, among other things, seeking to regain
his status in the Florentine government. (Many of his colleagues in the republican
government were quickly rehabilitated and returned to service under the Medici.)
Originally written for presentation to Giuliano de'Medici (who may well have
appreciated it), the dedication was changed, upon Giuliano's death, to Lorenzo
de'Medici, who almost certainly did not read it when it came into his hands in 1516.
Meanwhile, Machiavelli's enforced retirement led him to other literary activities. He
wrote verse, plays, and short prose, penned a study of The Art of War (published in
1521), and produced biographical and historical sketches. Most importantly, he
composed his other major contribution to political thought, the Discourses on the Ten
Books of Titus Livy, an exposition of the principles of republican rule masquerading as
a commentary on the work of the famous historian of the Roman Republic. Unlike the
Prince, the Discourses was authored over a long period of time (commencing perhaps in
1514 or 1515 and completed in 1518 or 1519, although again only published
posthumously in 1531). The book may have been shaped by informal discussions
attended by Machiavelli among some of the leading Florentine intellectual and political
figures under the sponsorship of Cosimo Rucellai. Near the end of his life, and probably
as a result of the aid of well-connected friends whom he never stopped badgering for
intervention, Machiavelli began to return to the favor of the Medici family. In 1520, he
 was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de'Medici to compose a History of Florence, an
assignment completed in 1525 and presented to the Cardinal, who had since ascended
the papal throne as Clement VII, in Rome. Other small tasks were forthcoming from the
Medici government, but before he could achieve a full rehabilitation, he died on 21 June
1527.
Gutenberg Johannes Gutenberg was a Ocnnan blacksmith and publisher, as well as an inventor and
printer. He was born in Mainz, Germany during the year ca. 1398 and died in ca. 1463,
still in Mainz. He was the first European to use movable type in 1439. However, his
date of birth is uncertain. but it is known to be between the years of 1394 and 1404 for
sure. In the 1 S90s, the city of Mainz announced that his official and symbolic date of
birth was on the day of June 24, 1400. He invented the movable type printing press and
introduced it to Europe, which started the Printing Revolution. When movable type
printing arrived in Renaissance Europe, it introduced the era of mass communication
which permanently changed the structure of society. More specifically, family structure
was changing. By the 15th century in the western part of the continent a European style
family pattern came into being. A late marriage age was involved in this pattern, as well
as a primary emphasis on nuclear families of parents and children. He made many
contributions to printing, including the invention of movable type, as well as the use of a
wooden printing press and the use of oil-based ink for printing books. Gutenberg's
technique of making movable type remains unclear. Punches and copper matrices
became standardized in the rapidly disseminating printing presses across Europe in the
following decades. The subject of considerable debate has been whether Gutenberg used
this sophisticated technique or a somewhat primitive version. Because of Gutenberg,
books were distributed in larger amounts in the West. This helped expand the audience
for writers of the Renaissance and disseminated religious ideas. Literacy then began to
gain around, becoming a fertile source of new kinds of thinking. Gutenberg was the
youngest son of his father, Friele Gensfleisch zur Lad and his father's second wife,
Else Wyrich. He worked with Johann Fust, a wealthy moneylender, on the printing
press. Gutenberg completed his 42-Iine Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible, in 1455.
He was later then sued by Fust because he accused Gutenberg of misusing the funds.
The court decided in favor of Fust, giving him control over the Bible printing workshop
and half of all printed Bibles. Then, Gutenberg went bankrupt, but he still retained a
small printing shop. He also participated in the printing of a Bible in the town of
 Bamberg around 1459. During the devastating Mainz Diocesan Feud in 1462, Mainz
was sacked by archbishop Adolph von Nassau, and Gutenberg was exiled. In January
1465, Gutenberg's achievements were recognized and he was given the title Hofmann,
which meant gentleman of the court, by von Nassau. Gutenberg then died in 1468 and
was buried in the Franciscan church at Mainz, his contributions largely unknown.
Unfortunately, this church and the cemetery were later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave
is now lost. Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime, the
printing technologies spread quickly, and news and books began to travel aero Europe
much faster than before. It helped in the growing of the Renaissance, and since it greatly
made scientific publishing much easier, it was a major catalyst for the later scientific
revolution.
Anglican Church When the Reformation spread to England, King Henry VIII seized on the opportunity to
separate the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church and place the
monarchy as the head of the Church. The Anglican Church, also known as the Church
of England, was started up after 1534 in England by King Henry VIII. For a time, all
Anglicans were members of the Church of England. Anglican simply means "of
England." Its a form of Protestantism, the general wave of religious dissent against
Catholic church. Henry VIII was the head of the church, at least in part to obtain a
divorce from his first wife. He was excommunicated from the Catholic church because
he wanted to be granted a divorce from his wife, who was unable to birth King Henry
VIII a son to his throne. It was initially started to challenge papal attempts to enforce his
first marriage, which had failed to produce a male heir. When the Pope refused the
Kings request, he began creating his own church which led to his excommunication
from Catholicism. Anglicanism is one of the major branches of the 16th-century
Protestant Reformation and a form of Christianity that includes features of both
Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The church became increasingly Protestant
following Henrys death. The Anglican church is closely related to the Catholic church,
which share many same traditions and rituals incorporated in each of them. The main
difference between the two churches was the fact that the ruler of England was the
leader of the church. The Anglican church was declared to be the supreme church
throughout Britain, and since everyone was forced to follow the religion and the English
ruler had complete power over the church, the church also granted the ruling King or
Queen much more influence over the daily lives of the English citizens. Although the
 Anglicans made many reforms to their church over time, making the differences
between it and the Catholics continue to grow, many people, known as Puritans, pushed
for the Anglican church to completely sever all of its ties from the Catholic church. The
Puritans were a very small minority though, and were persecuted for their beliefs,
although their influence did cause a few very small changes in the church. Anglicans
accept a threefold order of ministry, consisting of bishops, priests or presbyters, and
deacons. Worship is the centre of Anglican life. Anglicans view their tradition as a
broad form of public prayer, and they attempt to encompass diverse Christian styles in a
traditional context. Many Anglican doctrines follow traditional Christian thought. They
believe in and recite the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Anglicans believe in the Trinity,
the divinity of Christ and the Resurrection. Anglicans have two sacraments: baptism and
Holy Communion. Anglicans have articulated their beliefs in the Thirty-Nine Articles of
Religion, composed in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the Chicago-Lambeth
Quadrilateral, composed in the late 19th century. They also hold some distinctly
reformed views, such as the sufficiency of Scripture for salvation, salvation by faith and
the prominence of grace in salvation. Anglican church government is hierarchical. At
the bottom are the common parishioners. Above them, the clergy. Several levels of
clergy, including priests, bishops and archbishops, create the structure of the Anglican
religion. Bishops are all considered equals, with none having greater say than another.
The same holds for the archbishops.
Catholic Reformation The Catholic Reformation was the intellectual counter-force to Protestantism. The
desire for reform within the Catholic Church had started before the spread of Luther.
Many educated Catholics had wanted change for example, Erasmus and Luther
himself, and they were willing to recognize faults within the Papacy.
Scientific Revolution The scientific revolution is a concept used by historians to describe the emergence of
modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics,
physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the
views of society about nature. The scientific revolution took place in Europe towards
the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century,
influencing the intellectual social movement known as the Enlightenment. While its
dates are debated, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus
orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as
marking the beginning of the scientific revolution.
 The concept of a scientific revolution taking place over an extended period emerged in
the eighteenth century in the work of Jean Sylvain Bailly, who saw a two-stage process
of sweeping away the old and establishing the new. The beginning of the scientific
revolution, the Scientific Renaissance, was focused on the recovery of the knowledge of
the ancients; this is generally considered to have ended in 1632 with publication of
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. The completion of the
scientific revolution is attributed to the "grand synthesis" of Isaac Newton's 1687
Principia, that formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and completed
the synthesis of a new cosmology. By the end of the 18th century, the scientific
revolution had given way to the "Age of Reflection."
Newton Sir Isaac Newton was a knighted mathematician and physicist. He was one of the
greatest factors in the scientific revolution, who continued many theories, inventions,
and theorems. Newton was notorious for his bad temper. He had famous quarrels with
Hooke and Leibniz, who were very intelligent scientist of high position. Isaac Newton
was born January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe Manor, United Kingdom. From 1653-1657
Isaac was enrolled in King's School in Grantham, and lived with the town druggist. He
would build wooden models with the druggist in his free time. He originally does poorly
in the school, but soon rises to the top of the class. In 1661 Isaac Newton enrolls in
Trinity College Cambridge London, where in 1665 he gets his bachelors of art degree
in natural philosophy. While he is doing school, he is also doing his own studying. Due
to his harsh childhood, he was very secretive about his work. Isaac Newton returns
home while Trinity College is closed due to the plague. While he is home during 1666
he creates calculus, completes his early work on the 1hree laws of motion, which lay the
groundwork for mechanics, and experiments with the origins of color with refraction.
Calculus -The Newton-Raphson method is for equations numerically. it is based on the
simple idea of linear approximation. it homes in on a root with devastating efficiency.
The Newton-Raphson method xn+ 1 = xn -f(xn) / f(xn) where xn+l is the root calculated
from the n+ 1th iteration, xn is approximate root from the iteration, f(xn) is the function
to be solved and f(xn) is the derivative of the function.
Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes (French: dit de Nantes), signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV of
France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots)
substantial rights in the nation, which was still considered essentially Catholic at the
time.
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish monk, astronomer, and mathematician. He was born
on February 19, 1473 as the fourth and youngest child to a rich copper merchant family
in Torun, Poland. When Copernicus 's father died around mid-1480s, his uncle on his
mother's side, Bishop of Vannia Lucas Watzenrode, took it as his own responsibility to
give Nicolaus the best education possible. Nicolaus Copernicus entered the University
of Cracow in 1491 and studied mathematics and astronomy. He later took on the
position of a Frombork cathedral canon, which allowed him to fund his studies.
Copernicus's encounter with astronomer Domenico Maria Novara in Italy around 1496
allowed him to meet someone who dared to challenge the knowledge of the most
renowned ancient writers. In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus made the discovery
that the planets revolved around the sun. This discovery disproved the Hellenistic view
that the planets revolved around the earth. Copernicus's discovery set in motion several
other scientific advances, kick starting the Scientific Revolution. His theory inspired
later major thinkers such as Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, and Newton. He showed that
new thinking could improve traditional thinking, therefore promoting innovations. With
his finding, Copernicus is often considered a hero in western science and rationalism.
However, there is the question of whether Copernicus copied from earlier findings.
Copernicus made his discovery when he found that the Greek view of the earth as the
center of the universe raised calculation problems. Previous findings by two Arabs, al-
Urdi and al-Tusi showed similar results as Copernicus. It could just be that Nicolaus
copied from the Muslim scholars but kept quiet because Muslim knowledge are
considered unpopular during that time. It's also important to note that Chinese, Indian,
and Mayan scientists also had already realized that the planets revolved around the sun.
Nevertheless, Copernicus's discovery served important purposes in western science. His
work not only advanced studies in astronomy, but it also motivated general scientific
discovery. Copernicus's discovery was not fully accepted during that time period.
During that time, everyone understands as a matter of common fact that the earth was
the center of the universe and the planets along with the sun revolved around it.
Copernicus's major work, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions
of Celestial Spheres), was banned by the Catholic church in 1616. When it was just
published in 1543, famous religious leader Martin Luther was against the idea of the
heliocentric solar system mentioned in the book. Lutheran minister Andreas Osiander
disapproved of Copernicus's ideas so much that he wrote in the preface of the book that
 the heliocentric solar system is only an abstract hypothesis and might be incorrect,
making readers believe that Nicolaus Copernicus himself wrote it. Nicolaus died in
1543 from a stroke, the year when De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was
published, said to be clutching the book in his final moments. He was a lone scientist
defending his belief against the common perception of the time.
Adam Smith Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish social philosopher and pioneer of classical
economics. He his best known for his work The Wealth of Nations' which laid down a
framework for the basis of free market economics. Though often considered a champion
of Capitalism and laissez-faire economics, he was also aware of the limitations of
unbridled capitalism and considered his most important work to be The Theory of
Moral Sentiments. In this work Smith outlined the importance of sympathy for other
people as a key element of human morality. He was good friends with David Hume and
together they were a key element in the Scottish Enlightenment.
Jesuits 1) Important Dates:
The Society of Jesus was founded on August 15, 1534.
Officialized by the Pope Paul Ill on September 1540.
The Jesuits were founded during the Catholic Reformation.
In the 18th century, most European countries suppressed the Jesuits, and
in
1773 Pope Clement XIV dissolved the order under pressure from the
Bourbon
In the 18th century, Pope Paul III reestablished the Jesuits as an order,
and they continue their missionary work to this day.
Ignatius de Loyola was canonized a Catholic saint in 1622.
2) Where?
The Jesuits were originated in sixteenth-century Spain.
The Jesuits were founded in Montmartre, Paris, France.
Officialized in Rome.
3) Who are they?
The Society of Jesus, with members known as Jesuits, is a Roman
Catholic missionary organization consisting of priests and brothers.
The Society of Jesus was founded by soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius
Loyola.
 Jesuits draw on the rich tradition of lunation spirituality and reflection.
The Society of Jesus serves the Catholic Church for the greater glory of
God.
Jesuits take three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. A fourth vow
is taken in regard to worldwide mission meaning that Jesuits must be
ready to accept whatever mission the Pope requires.
The Jesuits were active in politics, education, and missionary work.
Thousands of priests were persecuted or killed by foreign authoritys
hostile to their mission of conversion.
However, in some nations, such as India and China, the Jesuits were
welcomed as men of wisdom and science.
4) Significance
The Society of Jesus regained some parts of Europe for the church and
sponsored Catholic missionary activity in Asia and the Americas.
Jesuits succeeded in converting millions to Catholicism.
5) Interesting Facts:
9% of the members of U.S. Congress are alumni of Jesuit colleges and
universities.
There are nearly 17,000 members in 112 different countries.
Pope Francis is the first Jesuit to be elected Pope.
Deism By the 1680s writers in Europe were affected by the new scientific achievements of
Scientific Revolution, and certain individual ls held out a new concept of God called
Deism argued that although there might be a divinity, its role was to simply set natural
laws in motion Christian beliefs in human sinfulness crumbled, because these new
individuals basically saw human nature as good. As a result, the Church lost some
control over the people because they no longer believed that they had to depend on the
Church in order to get to heaven, since they didn't believe that humans had sinned,
unlike Catholics. Deism was the religious arm of the Enlightenment. Existence of God
was a rational explanation of the universe and its form. God was a deistic Creator-a
cosmic clockmaker-who created the universe and then stepped back and left it running
like a clock. The universe was governed by "natural law", and not by a personal God. It
was the 18th Century concept which held that God created the world according to
rational laws and that he would not interfere in the natural order of things. It was the
 belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the
existence of a God, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a
source of religious knowledge. Deism is significant because it gave people another r
option regarding religion instead of Protestant or Catholic. Deists believed in humans'
ability to reason and that it is sufficient for knowledge. They also believed that God
created the world but did not interfere with mortal life. It was the concept of God
current during the Scientific Revolution. The role of divinity was to set natural laws in
motion, and not to regulate once the process was begun. It was also the religion of the
Enlightenment in the 1700s. Followers believed that God existed and had created the
world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. They denied that God
communicated to man or in any way influenced his life. Deism argued that God did not
regulate natural laws. Deism combined life of religion and of reason. It was empirical,
tolerant, and rational and encouraged living. Deism believed that God was like a
watchmaker. It was the belief that a divinity simply set natural laws in motion and then
did not interfere or cause miracles in the world. The Enlightenment 's emphasis on
reason inspired new attempts among intellectuals to establish the relationship of humans
to God or at least to God's natural world. Deists argued that God created the world and
then sat back to observe its movements according to natural laws that could be
discovered by scientific inquiry. Thomas Paine, never one to shrink from conflict, was
militant in his defense of Deism in the book The Age of Reason write in 1794.Paine's
previous work, Common Sense written in 1776, made him popular in America for
advocating liberty from Britain, but his anti-church writings damaged much of his
popularity. Deists compared the divinity to a watchmaker who makes a watch but does
not interfere in its day-to-day workings: he creates a world and si.t s back to watch it
move by its own natural laws The Deists relationship to God is consequently more
impersonal and theoretical than those of Christians who focused on miracles and faith.
Louis XIV Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was the king of France from
1643 to 1715. Born on September 5, 1638Louis XIV was left to the throne after his
father's passing when he was just 4 and a half years old. As he was too young to rule his
Chief Minister, Mazarin ruled in his place. In 1643 the Parliament of Paris rebelled
against him and a Civil War was waged. Mazarin achieved victory and won the war in
1653. After, Mazarin began to build an elaborate administration as Louis XIV stood by
and watched. At this point Louis XIV had come of age and was allowed to rule but was
 afraid to question Mazarin's authority. In 1660, he married the daughter of the king of
Spain (who happened to be his first cousin), Marie Therese. They had a total of 6
children together, which unfortunately only one made to adulthood. Yet, he had a
number of other children resulted from his numerous affairs. Louis XIV finally took
control of the French government after Mazarin died in 1661. Once in control, Louis
started the long process of reforming France with his full responsibility of the kingdom.
He improved France's disorganized system of taxation and limit formerly haphazard
borrowing practices. He created programs and institutes to infuse more art into the
culture. Such as the Academy of Inscriptions and Belle-Lettres founded in 1663,
followed by the Royal Academy of Music in 1666. He also had Colbert oversee the
construction of the Paris Observatory. In 1667 King Louis XIV launched an invasion of
the Spanish Netherlands, this was named The War of Devolution. It lasted for one year
and ended when the French surrendered yet this only led to the Franco Dutch War from
1672 to 1678. In the end of the 1680's Spain, England, and the Holy Roman empire
formed the Grand Alliance and war broke out between them and France in 1688. This is
commonly known as the Nine-Year War. The War of the Spanish Succession furthered
his decline as a leader and he appeared to place his personal interests over the good of
his country. The public went from hailing King Louis XIV to blaming for France's
devastation. Louis XIV died of gangrene at 76 years old in Versailles France on
September 1st, 1715.
Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft, married name Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (born April 27,
1759, London, Englanddied September 10, 1797, London), English writer and
passionate advocate of educational and social equality for women. The daughter of a
farmer, Wollstonecraft taught school and worked as a governess, experiences that
inspired her views in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787). In 1788, she
began working as a translator for the London publisher James Johnson, who published
several of her works, including the novel Mary: A Fiction (1788). Her mature work on
womans place in society is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), which calls
for women and men to be educated equally. In 1792 Wollstonecraft left England to
observe the French Revolution in Paris, where she lived with an American, Captain
Gilbert Imlay. In the spring of 1794 she gave birth to a daughter, Fanny. The following
year, distraught over the breakdown of her relationship with Imlay, she attempted
suicide.
 Wollstonecraft returned to London to work again for Johnson and joined the influential
radical group that gathered at his home and that included William Godwin, Thomas
Paine, Thomas Holcroft, William Blake, and, after 1793, William Wordsworth. In 1796,
she began a liaison with Godwin, and on March 29, 1797, Mary being pregnant, they
were married. The marriage was happy but brief; Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died 11
days after the birth of her second daughter, Mary.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is one of the trailblazing works of feminism.
Published in 1792, Wollstonecrafts work argued that the educational system of her time
deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable. She posited that an
educational system that allowed girls the same advantages as boys would result in
women who would be not only exceptional wives and mothers but also capable workers
in many professions. Other early feminists had made similar pleas for improved
education for women, but Wollstonecrafts work was unique in suggesting that the
betterment of womens status be effected through such political change as the radical
reform of national educational systems. Such change, she concluded, would benefit all
society.
Predestination Moment a person is born, God knows whether they will go the heaven, or not.
Conceptualized by Jean Calvin
Calvinists believe in hard work, discipline and frugality
Predestination encouraged people to work hard so they can prosper
Elect= predestined people who ran community
If a peasant could get into government, they must have the traits that Calvinists
admire
If they have these traits, God must have chosen them to be saved
Also, a predestination to damnation along with predestination to salvation
Explanations of this concept tend to address the "paradox of free will"
Humans have no free will:
If God knows that a person is good or bad, the person can't freely make a choice
(they are doing the will of God, and
don't have free will)
If one argues that free will is existent, then God's knowledge is wrong, making
him imperfect (impossible because He is supposed to be perfect)
 Humans have free will:
God doesn't know what you're going to do until you do It
Once you have done it, it has already happened for Him because God lives
outside of the timeline
If God let you prosper, then you are predestined for salvation
If you got into a position of government, you are going to saved
This is why the community leaders are called the elect
Idea originated in France
Also taught by St. Augustine
Although Calvinists believed in this belief, it was not popular everywhere
Lots of disagreement over faith and interpretations of the Bible
Predestination is a defining belief of Calvinism
Calvinism would not spark any religious excitement or debates had it not been or
this belief
Thirty Years War The Thirty Years began in 1618 in Germany. It was between German Protestants &
their allies - Lutheran Sweden, Denmark, & France - and the Holy Roman Emperor and
his ally - Spain. The war was so detrimental that it diminished German power and
prosperity for a century & the population decreased as much as 60% in some regions.
The war was started when the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II of Bohemia, tried to
limit the religious actions of his followers. This lead to a Protestant rebellion. The
original conflict began in the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire was a
massive complex of some one thousand separate semi-independent political units under
the loose suzerainty of the Austrian Hapsburgs. Prior to the war, during the former two
centuries, a balance of power had emerged among the leading states, but during the 16th
century the Reformation & the Counter Reformation had divided Germany into
aggressive Protestant & Catholic camps; each were prepared to pursue foreign support
to guarantee its honor if the need arose. Just like that in 1618 when Ferdinand II (not yet
the emperor) started to restrict certain religious privileges, his subjects instantly
appealed n for aid to the Protestants in the rest of the empire & to the leading foreign
Protestant states: Great Britain, Denmark & the Dutch Republic. Ferdinand II was
elected emperor in 1619 and in 1620 him & his allies won a major victory at White
Mountain, outside Prague, that allowed the annihilation of Protestantism in most
Hapsburg islands. After this win, his focus was on Bohemia's Protestant supporters in
 Germany in 1621. Bohemia lost & by 1629 imperial armies overran most of Protestant
Germany & much of Denmark. The Protestants had multiple victories. As the war came
to an end, it was finally settled with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The after effects
of the war were detrimental. Germany's total population had decreased by 20% & most
towns saw a major decline in their population, manufacturing & trade. The Thirty Years
War was the worst catastrophe in Germany until World War II in 1939. However, the
Thirty Years War helped to end the era of religious wars. Religion still maintained a
political importance after 1648, but they no longer dominated international alignments.
The greatest achievement of the Thirty Years war was receding the role of religion in
European politics. This is because it eliminated a major destabilizing influence in
European politics which had both overturned the diplomatic balance of power created
during the Renaissance and undermined the internal cohesion of many states
Treaty of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia was a series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War over
succession within the Holy Roman Empire as well as the Eighty Years' War between
Holland and Spain for Dutch independence. The treaties established religious tolerance
for Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists throughout the Holy Roman Empire and
granted complete or virtual independence to Holland, Switzerland, and numerous other
countries previously under control of foreign or transnational powers. In the following
centuries, European historians and political scientists claimed that the Peace of
Westphalia established the principles of national sovereignty and self-determination of
peoples, both central to the concept of the nation-state, though subsequent scholarship
has debated such claims.
European Style Family The European style family began to emerge in Western Europe by the 16th century, the
goal of protecting peasant property from the burdens of too many children played a
crucial role. In other words, it was a new response to the classical problem of population
control in the agricultural environment. Family structure was changing in the 15th
century, so a European-style family pattern came to be. This pattern involved a late
marriage age and a primary emphasis on nuclear families of parents and children rather
than the extended families. The impact of delayed marriage was beneficial. It gave
Europe an economic advantage, since a man and woman who married late had already
accumulated social and economic capital and there would be a greater equality between
them. Nuclear families are families that consist of a mother and a father with an average
of 2.5 children. While extended families include additional relatives such as,
 grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws. The goal was to limit family birth
rates to make sure the population didn't increase. By the 16th century, ordinary people
usually did not marry until their late 20s dues to multiple factors. One being that couples
could not marry until they could support themselves economically and another that
peasant sons often had to wait until their father's death to gain land (through
inheritance). Furthermore, a substantial minority of the poorest people, up to 20% of the
population, would never marry at all because they lacked access to landed property and
depended on a wage labor. These changes emphasized the importance of husband-wife
relations. They also closely linked the family to individual property holdings, for most
people could not marry until they had access to property. This was another key gesture
toward population control in a rapidly changing economy and amid new social
divisions. The results of the European style family pattern unquestionably helped
stabilize European population for several decades, particularly in the 17th century.
However, the upper classes did not participate in this pattern, they continued to feature a
younger marriage age for women and large families.
Kepler Kepler (157 1-1630) is a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution. He was a
mathematic s teacher who is best known for his laws of planetary motion. The law was
l) the planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus; 2) the time necessary to
traverse any arc of a planetary orbit is proportional to the area of the sector between the
central body and that arc; and 3) there is an exact relationship between the squares of
the planets ' periodic times and the cubes of the radii of their orbits. Which were based
on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican
Astronomy. These works provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton' s theory of
universal gravitation. Kepler incorporated religious arguments and reasoning into his
work, motivated by the religious conviction and belief that God had created the world
according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through the natural light of reason.
Kepler was able to justify six planets and their distances from the sun in terms of the
five Platonic solids. These are the five highly symmetrical, regular, 3D solids whose
perfect symmetry allows them to be used as dice. Kepler described his new astronomy
as "celestial physics." He also spent these years researching lenses, as well as
astronomy, adding several major contribution s to the field of optics. Kepler wrote a
study of the properties of lenses (the first such work on optic s) in which he presented a
new design of telescope, using two convex lenses. This design, in which the final image
 is inverted, was so successful that it is now usually known as the astronomical l
telescope. After years of thought, he came up with a new idea: the theory of universal
harmonies. Kepler decided that the planets were spaced around the harmonic ration of
another set of geometrical figures. Once again, he believed he had looked directly into
the mind of God. But, his theory was incorrect. But this incorrect theory led him to a
stroke of scientific genius. In 1618, Kepler published one of his works Harmonice
Mundi, in which he explained his new harmonic theory. Kepler's third law offered a
specific mathematical relationship between the distance of a planet' s orbit from the sun
and the time it took a plan et to circle the sun. Kepler thought little of this law, as did his
peers, because it made little sense to him at the time. In Kepler 's time, Central Europe
was convulsed with tensions between Catholicism and Protestantism, in which resulted
in the Thirty Years' War. Symbolic of the paranoia of these times, later in Kepler 's life
his, nature loving, herbalist mother was arrested in Wiirttemberg in 1620, charged with
witchcraft. She was held in prison for over a year, and the tortures she faced if she did
not confess to witchcraft were described to her in detail. Kepler moved around a lot
during the last few years of his life. His job as a mathematician disappeared and, in an
effort to make ends meet, he ended up casting horoscopes for a military commander,
General Wallenstein. Kepler is perhaps the least known of the major figures of the
Scientific Revolution. His scientific contributions are themselves harder to simplify than
Copernicus or Newton. But while he may be less known, Kepler is no less important.
Physics and astronomy had been separated for a long period of time before Kepler. It
was an incredible leap for him to put the two together, by doing so, be paved the way
for the Newtonian revolution that was to come.
Galileo Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician made many
fundamental contributions to science, astronomy, and the developments of the motions
of science. With the telescope, Galileo discovered the four most enormous moons of
Jupiter: Calisto, Ganymede, Europa, and Io. He also uncovered the Rings of Saturn in
1609 which were further observably identified as a disk surrounding Saturn by Christian
Huygens in 1655. Galileo was the first of six children born in Vincenzo Galilei, a
renowned musician and music theorist. At the age of ten his family moved to Florence
from Pisa where Galileo began a formal education at Camaldolese monastery in
Vallombrosa where he further cultivated his skills and interests in mathematics and
science. Just before his discoveries, Galileo developed a telescope of his own that was
 enabled to magnify 8x, but was later refined to 20x. His telescope had a convex
objective lens and a concave eyepiece placed in a long tube. With his construction,
Galileo supported the Copernican theory which basically supports a sun-centered solar
system. His telescope was used for spotting ships and exploring the universe, which,
was a philosopher, gave Galileo a very entertaining time, depicting his own discoveries
and developing stories about the Heavens. Throughout his career, Galileo published
many books which exhibited Galileos skills involving practical technological
applications and geometrical experiences. Although he began his education in the study
of medicine, Galileo became armed with high intelligence and fascination about physics
and math. Unfortunately, before Galileo was able to earn his degree, he learned he could
not support himself financially. Eventually, Galileo Galilei died an unfortunate death
due to a fever and heart complications in 1642. His contributions to science and
mathematics gave him an honorary title, The Father of Modern Science and he also
had a NASA telescope named after him.
William Harvey William Harvey was born in 1578 in Folkstone, England, the eldest of seven sons. He
went to Cambridge University and then studied medicine at the University of Padua. He
married Elizabeth Brown, daughter of the court physician to Queen Elizabeth I and
King James I. This brought him to the notice of rich and influential people, and he
quickly moved up the career ladder, becoming a very successful man. Eventually,
Harvey became court physician to both King James I and King Charles I. While acting
as doctor to the court, Harvey carried out lots of research into human biology and
physiology. He was very interested in the blood flow in the human body. Most doctors
of the time accepted the teachings of Galen and felt that the lungs were responsible for
moving the blood around the body but Harvey questioned these beliefs and investigated
them scientifically. Harvey carried out many experiments, both dissections and
physiological experiments on animals. His observations of dissected hearts showed that
the valves in the heart allowed blood to flow in only one direction. Direct observation of
the heartbeat of living animals showed that the ventricles contracted together, dispelling
Galen's theory that blood was forced from one ventricle to the other. Dissection of the
septum of the heart showed that it contained no gaps or perforations. When Harvey
removed the beating heart from a living animal, it continued to beat, thus acting as a
pump, not a sucking organ. Harvey also used mathematical data to prove that the blood
was not being consumed. Removal of the blood from human cadavers (dead bodies)
 showed that the heart could hold roughly two ounces of blood. By calculating the
number of heartbeats in a day and multiplying this by two ounces, he showed that the
amount of blood pumped was far greater than the amount that the body could possibly
make. He based this figure on how much food and liquids a person could eat during a
day. To Harvey, this showed that the teaching by Galen that the blood was being
consumed by the organs of the body was false. Blood had to be flowing through a
'closed circuit' instead. Even though he lacked a microscope, Harvey theorized that the
arteries and veins were connected to each other by capillaries, which would later be
discovered by Marcello Malpighi some years after Harvey's death. Harvey asked
simple, pointed questions such as why did both the lungs and the heart move if only the
lungs were responsible for causing circulation of blood? Why should, as Galen
suggested, structurally similar parts of the heart have very different functions? Why did
'nutritive' blood appear so similar to 'vital' blood? Harvey's lecture notes show that he
believed in the role of the heart in circulation of blood through a closed system as early
as 1615. Yet he waited 13 years, until 1628, to publish his findings. Why did he wait so
long? The study and practice of medicine as originally taught by Galen, was almost
sacred at the time Harvey lived. No one dared to challenge it. To rebel against the
teachings of Galen could quickly end the career of any doctor. Perhaps this is why
Harvey waited - and if so his fears were proved accurate. After Harvey's work was
published, many other doctors and scientists rejected him and his findings. Some of his
patients deserted him. Using different assumptions of the amount of blood contained in
the heart, scientists argued that the blood could indeed be consumed. Controversy raged
for a full twenty years after publication of Harvey's book. Yet, with time, more and
more people accepted Harvey's ideas. Harvey's new understanding of the circulation of
the blood had very little effect on the practice of medicine in his lifetime, yet it became
the foundation for all modern research on the heart and cardiovascular medicine. It has
been said that Harvey's proof of the continuous circulation of the blood within a
contained system was the seventeenth century's most significant achievement in
physiology and medicine - in fact, his work is considered to be one of the most
important contributions in the history of medicine.
John Locke John Locke was the first of the empiricist opponents of Descartes to achieve comparable
authority among his European contemporaries. Together with Newtons physics, the
philosophy of An Essay concerning Human Understanding gradually eclipsed
Cartesianism, decisively redirecting European thought. Neoplatonic innatism was
replaced with a modest, naturalistic conception of our cognitive capacities, making
careful observation and systematic description the primary task of natural inquiry.
Locke saw himself as carrying out just such a descriptive project with respect to the
mind itself. Theorizing is the construction of hypotheses on the basis of analogies, not
penetration to the essences of things by super-sensory means. In religion Locke took a
similarly anti-dogmatic line, advocating toleration and minimal doctrinal requirements,
notably in Epistola de tolerantia (A Letter concerning Toleration) and The
Reasonableness of Christianity. Through his association with the Earl of Shaftesbury he
became involved in government, and then in revolutionary politics against Charles II
and James II. The latter involvement led to exile, and to Two Treatises of Government,
a rejection of patriarchalism and an argument from first principles for constitutional
government in the interests of the governed, and for the right of the misgoverned to
rebel. Locke published his main works only after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He
undertook important governmental duties for a time, and continued to write on many
topics, including economics and biblical criticism, until his death. The Essay, Epistola
and Second Treatise remain centrally canonical texts. Locke held that all our ideas are
either given in experience, or are complex ideas formed from simple ideas so given, but
not that all our knowledge is based on experience. He accepted that geometry, for
example, is an a priori science, but denied that the ideas which are the objects of
geometrical reasoning are innate. Experience includes reflection, that is reflexive
awareness of our own mental operations, which Cartesians treated as a way of accessing
innate ideas, but which Locke calls internal sense. To have ideas before the mind is to
be perceiving given or constructed sensory or quasi-sensory images things as
perceived by sense. In abstraction, however, we consider only aspects of what is
presented: for example, a geometrical proof may consider only aspects of a drawn
figure, allowing generalization to all figures similar in just those respects. Universal
knowledge is thus perception of a relation between abstract ideas, but we also have
immediate knowledge, in sensation, that particular external things are causing ideas in
us. This awareness allows us to use the idea as a sign of its external cause: for example,
the sensation of white signifies whatever feature of objects causes that sensation.
Representation is thus fundamentally causal: causality bridges the gap between reality
and ideas. Consequently, we have sensitive knowledge of things only through their
powers, knowledge of their existence without knowledge of their essence. Each way in
which things act on the senses gives rise to a phenomenally simple idea signifying a
quality, or power to affect us, in the object. Some simple ideas, those of the primary
qualities, solidity, extension, figure, motion or rest, and number (the list can vary) can
be supposed to resemble their causes. Others, ideas of secondary qualities, color,
smell, taste and so forth, do not. We also form ideas of the powers of objects to interact.
Our idea of any sort of substantial thing is therefore complex, including ideas of all the
qualities and powers by which we know and define that substance. Additionally, the
idea includes the general idea of substance, or possessor of the qualities, a placemarker
signifying the unknown underlying cause of their union. Locke distinguishes between
the general substance, matter, and the particular constitution of matter from which
flow the observable properties by which we define each sort of substance gold, horse,
iron and so on. This real constitution or real essence is distinguishable only relatively
to our definition or nominal essence of the species. Locke extends this conceptualist
view of classification to individuation in a famous, still influential argument that a
person is individuated, not by an immaterial soul, but by unifying and continuous
consciousness. Because their real essences are unknown to us, we are capable only of
probable belief about substances, not of science. In mathematics, however, real
essences are known, since they are abstract ideas constructible without reference to
reality. So too with ideas of mixed modes and relations, including the ideas of social
actions, roles and relationships which supply the subject matter of a priori sciences
concerned with law, natural, social and positive. The three legislators are God, public
opinion and government. Gods authority derives from his status as creator, and natural
or moral law is his benevolent will for us. Lockes political theory concerns the
authority of governments, which he takes to be, at bottom, the right of all individuals to
uphold natural law transferred to a central agency for the sake of its power and
impartiality. Economic change, he argues, renders this transfer imperative. In a state of
nature, individuals own whatever they have worked for, if they can use it and enough is
left for others. But with land-enclosure (which benefits everyone by increasing
productivity) and the institution of money (which makes it both possible and morally
justifiable to enjoy the product of enclosure) this primitive property-right is transcended,
and there is need for an authority to ordain and uphold rules of justice for the benefit of
all. Any government, therefore, has a specific trust to fulfil, and should be organized so
 as best to safeguard this role. A ruler who rules in his own interest forfeits all rights, as a
criminal at war with his subjects. Then rebellion is justified self-defense.
Montesquieu Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu was born in France on January 181 in 1689. He
was born into a noble family, but was sent to a noble school for French children called
Catholic College of Juilly after the death of his mother when he was just seven. While at
the school, his father died. Charles is now under the custody of his uncle Baron de
Montesquieu. After graduating from law school, Charles worked as an attorney. While
working as an attorney, Charles married Jeanne de Lartigue in 1715. They eventually
went on to have a son and two daughters. A year after marrying Jeanne de Lartigue,
Uncle Baron de Montesquieu died. This left the title Baron de Montesquieu for Charles,
which he of course claimed. On top of fortune, Charles' uncle left for him the job
President a Mortier in the Parliament, which Charles indeed took instead of his attorney
job. During his time as President a Mortier, Charles heard several criminal proceedings
and supervised prisons. He would also study the government and laws of places around
the world, which led him to sell his office so he could focus on studying and writing.
The three most known writings that Charles has written are Persian Letters,
Considerations on the Causes of the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans, and The
Spirit of Laws. The first writing is a satire about the society, through the view of Persian
visitors, of Paris and Europe. The second writing talks about and is based around the
title of the book. It was seen as a transition from Persian Letters. The third and most
important writing made by Char les was De l'Esprit des Lois, which is also known as
The Spirit of Laws. This book influenced political thought mostly in the Americas and
Europe. This book explained one of his most well-known theories, which was known as
separation of powers. He wanted to split power between three branches of government
which would come to be known as the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. He
also led to the French society being divided into three classes and the government into
two, which comes before the division into the three branches of government. These
branches and classifications are used to this day all around the world. Baron de la Brede
et de Montesquieu ended up dying on February 10 of 1755, but he didn't leave without
making his legacy known. He left this world with influences all around the world, but
most of all in his field of law and politics. Without his ideas and philosophies, the ways
the U.S. government is run would be completely different. We may not have been able
 to last without his philosophies and political creations that sustain our modem
government to this day.
Diderot Denis Diderot was a member of the group of philosophers who wrote one of the
greatest monuments of the Enlightenment, the Encyclopedie. Diderot, in collaboration
with others, attempted to organize all of the knowledge people had from around the
world in order to create a "classified dictionary of the sciences, arts, and trades." Their
goals were to change the average person's way of thinking, bring glory to France, and to
expand and spread the ideas of the Enlightenment. The writers believed that if you read
the Encyclopedie, you would become very knowledgeable, and that by learning about
the world, people could improve the world. A key idea was that knowledge was rational,
therefore social and political organizations should reach rational standards. The 60,000
plus a1iicles criticized and highlighted imperfections in society, which offended some
monarchs and challenged their authority. They reached limits so far as to ban Volume 7
of the books. But it was later re-accepted as a product of raw material" (rather than a
threat to the church). Diderot's actions inspired people to help transform society. Instead
of just speaking to the people about the Enlightenment ideas, Diderot physically created
something to help influence change. Diderot, as much as he was a thinker, was a doer;
while other Enlightenment thinkers talked and debated about philosophical ideas and
how to improve society, Diderot compiled and published the information as a way of
accomplishing his goal of changing the general way of thinking through education. He
even went to jail for his actions. The Encyclopedie was one of the most important books
of the time period because it brought new ideas to the table that seemed revolutionary at
the time and because it reached a large public; even though it was an expensive book,
other editions trickled down into the middle class, which helped bring these new ideas
to more people.
Humanism Humanism is the philosophical idea that emphasizes the dignity and worth of the
individual. The term humanism is most often used to describe a literary and cultural
movement that spread through Florence, Venice, Pisa, Milan, Rome and other Italian
cities in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It involved a recovery of study of the
ancient Latin and Greek authors and trying to see what they really meant. The time in
which humanism grew was called the Renaissance, which means rebirth. Humanism
expressed a confidence in humanitys ability to apply control over nature or to shape
society according to its needs and desires. There are many different forms of humanism
and it exists in many different parts of the world. The collection and translation of
classical piece of music written by hand rather than typed or printed. became
widespread, especially among the nobility and higher clergy. The invention of printing
with movable type gave a further impetus to humanism through circulation of editions
of the classics (Encarta 1). Although in Italy humanism was made principally in the
fields of literature and art, the movement extended into the fields of theology and
education, and was a major Concealed because of the Reformation. Neither religion or
God was rejected by humanists. Their goal was to remove religion as a prime
dominating and obstructive force in their lives and to establish it as one of several
institutions in society (Comptons 2). Religion was seen to have a logical civil purpose
because it no longer pointed only toward heaven as mankinds main goal; it opened the
possibility of happiness and success on Earth. This approach toward religion helped
create tolerance among humanists. Because they believed in the unity of all truth, they
regarded diverse religious points of view as expressions of that one truth (Comptons
2). It took several centuries of conflict and effort before the idea of general religious
tolerance became widely accepted. By the late fourteenth century, the term studia
humanitatis (humanistic studies) had come to mean a well-defined cycle of education,
including the study of oratory, poetry, grammar, moral philosophy, and history.
Humanism was not limited to only Italy. By the fifteenth century, it had gone
across north of the Alps (Comptons 2). If someone wanted to study humanism, they
would have to travel to the universities of Italy, but near the end of the fifteenth
century such cities as Antwerp, London, Paris, and Augsburg were becoming humanist
centers (Comptons 2). Humanism north of Italy was not toward of a Christian type.
There was a substantial emphasis on study of Biblical texts and the message of the New
Testament (Comptons 2). However, the tools with which to study the biblical texts in
Greek and Hebrew were not accessible earlier than the late fifteenth century. When the
Bible texts were more fully understood, they were used to urge reform in the church
and a new commitment to Christian living throughout Europe (Comptons 2). The
resurrection of interest in the Bible soon came together with a number of complex
political and social issues to beginning the Reformation. The word humanism has many
different meanings and each meaning constitutes of different variety of humanism.
Renaissance Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the middle
ages with the reincarnation of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of
human beings to govern for themselves truth and falsehood (Edwords 1). Literary
Humanism is a faithfulness to the humanities or literary culture. Cultural Humanism is
the logical and experiential tradition that originated largely in ancient Greece and Rome.
It then moved into European history, and now is a basic part of the Western approach to
science, ethics, political theory, and law. Philosophical Humanism is any outlook or
way of life centered on human need and interest (Edwords 1). Christian and Modern
Humanism are subcategories of this type. Websters 3rd New International Dictionary
defines Christian Humanism as a philosophy advocating the self-fulfillment of man
within the framework of Christian principles (Edwords 1). This is more aligned to
human faith is a large product of the Renaissance. Modern Humanism can also be
referred to as Naturalistic Humanism, Scientific Humanism, Ethical Humanism, and
Democratic Humanism. One of its leading believers, Corliss Lamont defines Modern
Humanism as a naturalistic philosophy that pushes away all supernaturalism and relies
mostly upon reason and science, democrat and human compassion (Edwords 1).
Secular and Religious Humanism are subcategories of Modern Humanism. Secular
Humanism comes from the eighteenth-century enlightenment rationalism and nineteenth
century freethought. Many secular groups, such as the Council for Democratic and
Secular Humanism and the American Rationalist Federation, and many otherwise
independent academic philosophers and scientists, promoter this philosophy.
Renaissance Humanism is the most known form of humanism. Renaissance Humanists
were often faithful Christians, but they advertise secular values. Petrarch founded
Renaissance Humanism (Johnson 1). Through the fourteenth century, humanists relied
on Latin; however, in the early fifteenth century, classical Greek became a major study.
The Roman Catholic Jacques Maritain tried to make a new Christian Humanism, which
he based on the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Christian Humanists believe that
individuals and their culture have value in the Christian life (2). They thought that the
pursuit of a secular life was not only proper but even meritorious (Johnson 3). Many
Christians replied against the more secular approach of humanism, including Savonarola
and Ulrich Zwingli. Christian Humanists defend the contributions of other forms of
humanism, such as the classical variety that discovered the value of human liberty, and
the Marxists, who realize that man has been estranged from the
good life because he is ejected of property and subordinated to material and economic
forces (Johnson 3). They value culture, but confess that man is fully made only as he
comes into a right relationship with Christ (Johnson 3). Christian Humanists have
declared their opposing opinions to Secular Humanism, and they say that it is an
antireligious ideology...[which] pervades American society (Johnson 2). Christian
Humanism came out of Renaissance Humanism. Modern humanism is based on the
acceptance of naturalism as they counter to the supernaturalism of traditional views of
the world. The naturalistic point of view explains nature as continuous and all-
encompassing (Humanist.Net 1). Human beings are seen as an important part of nature.
The idea of naturalism is connected to the Renaissance. The Renaissance Humanists
who were most delighted by the ancient science tended to be the more revolutionary
thinkers of the period (3). Some of the greatest humanists of the time period had to deal
with both the literary and the scientific form of humanism. The belief of Unitarianism of
today is also connected (1). This naturalistic form of humanism is also the view of the
world that constituted the very core and reason for being of Unitarianism from its birth
and through much of its history (Humanist.Net 7). The defining feature of modern
humanism is its underlying philosophy of evolutionary naturalism. Religious Humanists
maintain that most human beings have personal and social needs that sometimes can
only be met by religion. They dont feel that one should have to make a choice between
meeting these needs in a traditional faith context versus not meeting them at all
(Edwords 2). According to Unitarian-Universalist minister, Kenneth Phifer, Religious
Humanism is faith in action and that humanism let us learn that it is wrong to wait for
God to act for us, we must act to stop the wars and the crimes and the cruelty of this and
future ages. Religious Humanism offers a basis for moral values, ideas for dealing with
lifes harsher existence, an inspiring set of ideals, an overall sense of purpose, and an
excuse for living life warmly. Secular Humanists believe that there is so much in
religion that needs to get criticism that the name Humanism should not be put together
with it. Secular Humanists accept a viewpoint of the world or philosophy called
naturalism, in which the physical laws of the universe are not superseded by non-
material or supernatural entities such as demons, gods, or other spiritual beings
outside the realm of the natural universe (Kurtz 1). Supernatural events are not left out
of hand, but are viewed with a high degree of skepticism. Secular humanists typically
describe themselves as atheist. They come from different philosophical and religious
backgrounds, ranging from Christian fundamentalism to liberal belief systems to
lifelong atheism (Kurtz 1). Secular humanists take the lessons they learned of their life
 and use it every day, this is how they rely on things not by a God or supernatural figure.
The Secular Humanist tradition is one of defiance, a tradition that dates back to ancient
Greece (Edwords 3). During the Dark Ages of Western Europe, humanist philosophies
were concealed by the political power of the church (Kurtz 2). Those who wanted to
show views relating to the accepted religious thoughts were executed. During the
Enlightenment, philosophers began to criticize the rights of the church and engage in
what became known as free thought. The regular citizen was able to push away blind
faith and superstition without the risk of death during the nineteenth century
Freethought movement of America and Western Europe. In the twentieth century,
scientists, progressive theologians, and philosophers began to organize in an effort to
promote the humanist alternative to traditional faith-based worldviews (Kurtz 2).
Authority often try to make Secular Humanism as a religion; however, it lacks the main
characteristics of a religion, including belief in an idol and an accompanying abstract
order. Humanism focuses on the significance of the person as an individual and the idea
that people are logical beings who hold within themselves the capacity for truth and
goodness. With Modern Humanism, one finds a philosophy or religion that is in tune
with modern knowledge. It is not only the persons thinking outlook, but also the
feelings of that person, as well. There are various meanings of the word humanism, and
with each meaning there is a different type of humanism. The movement first began in
Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and still has people who believe its
philosophies in todays world.
Martin Luther Martin Luther was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, and monk, and a
seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings
and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on
indulgences that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with
money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of
indulgences in his Ninety-Five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his
writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles
Vat the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and
condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor. Luther taught that salvation and,
consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free
gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His
theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the
 only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God and opposed sacerdotal by
considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with
these, and all of Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted
on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed
Christ.
Protestantism Protestantism is one of the major branches of Christianity today stemming from the
movement known as the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation began in Europe in
the early 16th century by Christians who opposed many of the unbiblical beliefs,
practices, and abuses taking place within the Roman Catholic Church. In a broad sense,
present-day Christianity can be divided into three major traditions: Roman Catholic,
Protestant, and Orthodox. Protestants make up the second largest group, with
approximately 800 million Protestant Christians in the world today.
Jean Calvin He was born 10 July 1509 to 27 May 1564, his actually birth name was Jehan Cauvin.
He was a French theologian, pastor, and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant
Reformation. He was a big part in the development of Christian theology later called
Calvinism. By other churches he was looked at like a mentor or a leader in some ways.
Jean was a writer that sti1Ted up a lot of cmitroversy. In addition to his seminal
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote commentaries on most books of the
Bible, confessional documents, and various other theological treatises. Originally
trained ns a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530.
After religious tensions erupted in widespread deadly violence against Protestant
Christians in France, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where in 1536 he published the
first edition of the Institutes. At the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to
Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a church of French refugees. He continued
to support the reform movement in Geneva, and in 1541 he was invited back to lead the
church of the city. Following his return, Calvin introduced new forms of church
government and liturgy, despite opposition from several powerful families in the city
who tried to curb his auth01ity. During this period, Michael Servetus, a Spaniard
regarded by both Roman Catholics and Protestants as having a heretical view of the
Trinity, arrived in Geneva. He was denounced by Calvin and burned at the stake for
heresy by the city council. Following an influx of supportive refugees and new elections
to the city council. Calvin's opponents were forced out. Calvin spent his final years
promoting the Reformation both in Geneva and throughout Europe. By 1532, he was a
 Doctor of Law at Orleans. His first published work was an edition of the Roman
philosopher Seneca the Younger's De dementia, accompanied by a thorough
commentary. Attracted by humanism, he set out to establish Biblical grounds for
humanistic concerns. He mastered Greek and Hebrew in order to read the scriptures in
their original languages. At some point between 1528 and 1533 he experienced a
"sudden conversion" and grasped Protestantism. "God subdued my soul to docility by a
sudden conversion" was how Calvin described this experience. Geneva was a French-
speaking Swiss city. At the time of Calvin's arrival, the city was struggling to achieve
independence against two authorities who were trying to exercise control over Geneva.
The first was the Dukes of Savoy and the second was the Bishop of Geneva. Geneva
was not yet part of Switzerland (not until 1815) and the city allied with the cantons of
Bern and Fribourg against Savoy.
Witchcraft England between 1590 and 1650. Although attacks on witches had developed before,
the new scale reflected intense social and cultural upheaval. Between 60,000 and
100,000 suspected witches were accused and killed. In many parts of Europe people
accused of witchcraft were tortured until they 'confessed'. Obviously if you were
tortured you would probably 'confess' to anything to stop the torture. However, torture
was not used in England and after 1594 it was not used in Holland the witchcraft
persecution reflected new resentments against the poor, who were often accused of
witchcraft by communities unwilling to accept responsibility for their poverty. The
hysteria also revealed new tensions about family life and the role of women, who were
the most common targets of persecution. A few of the accused witches actually believed
they had magical powers, but far more were accused by fearful or self-serving
neighbors. The whole witchcraft experience revealed a society faced with forces of
unusual complexity. The witch hunts reached its peak in Europe during the late 16th and
early 17th Century. People did not necessarily stop believing in witches, at least not at
first, but they became much more cautious about accepting 'evidence' of witchcraft
realizing that many maladies and mishaps have natural causes. Eventually however
educated people gradually stopped believing in witches and magic. During the 18th
century it became fashionable to regard witchcraft as just a superstition. In England, the
last execution for witchcraft was in 1682. In Scotland, the last execution for witchcraft
was in 1727. By 1736 attitudes in Britain had changed and a new law that made it illegal
to pretend to cast spells or tell fortunes. In 1643 - 1645. The very last execution for
 witchcraft in Europe took place in Poland in 1793, but practitioners of witchcraft stayed
hidden in the shadows and kept their faith secret, handing their knowledge down to
successive generations Further and broader Witchcraft Acts were passed by Queen
Elizabeth I in 1563 and by King James I in 1604, making witchcraft a felony, and
removing the accused witches from the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to the
courts of common law. The Inquisition, per se, did not operate in England, but the
procedure was comparable. The witch mania in Salem began when two girls tried
fortune telling. During the winter, they and their friends dabbled with fortune telling by
cracking eggs into a glass and interpreting the shapes that were formed. Whatever
exactly happened by 20 January 1692 the two girls were having strange fits. An actor
called William Griggs was called but he was unable to explain the fits. He claimed the
girls were bewitched. Unfortunately, he started a chain of events. The Salem witch trials
resulted in many innocent women getting executed Public opinion soon turned against
the witch trials. So many people were being accused of witchcraft it started to seem
absurd. There were also increasing doubts about the value of 'spectral' evidence. Finally,
on 8 October 1692 Sir William Phips eventually forbade the court to allow spectral'
evidence. Also on 29 October he dissolved the special court he had set up to try
'witches'.
Mercantilism Mercantilism was the theory of trade espoused by the European power in 1500 to 1800.
This urged that nation state not import goods from outside its own empire but sell
exports widely if possible. The exportation of goods was favored over extractive
industries like farming. Promotions of limitation of imports from other nations and
internal economies in order to improve the revenues. The tariff policies discouraged
manufacturing in colonial areas and stimulated home-based manufacturing. Beyond
Western Europe lay areas ammeter in the world economy but dependent to the core
nations. The areas produced low cost goods; precious metals and cash crops such as
sugar, spice, tobacco, and cotton. It advocated that nation should export more than It
imported and accumulate bullion, especially gold, to make up the difference.
Mercantilism led the adoption of trade restrictions which stunted the growth had
freedom of colonial business.
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution was the term contemporaries coined to refer to the events of
16881689 that led to the overthrow of the Catholic James II (ruled 16851688) in
England (and thereby also in Ireland and Scotland) and his replacement by the
Protestant William III and Mary II (ruled 16891702). Some historians see the Glorious
Revolution as a Whig victory that established limited monarchy in England; others have
emphasized the important role of the Tories in bringing down James II and stressed the
compromise nature of the revolution settlement; still others have seen it as little more
than a foreign invasion, a dynastic coup brought about from outside and from above
(within the royal family), not from below. One thing is certain: the Glorious Revolution
was not "bloodless," as it was once styled. Not only was there some bloodshed in
England, but the overthrow of James II provoked bloody wars in both Scotland and
Ireland, which left a bitter and long-lasting legacy. James II inherited a strong position
when he came to the throne in 1685. The Tory reaction of Charles II's (ruled 1660
1685) last years had not only seen a ruthless campaign against all forms of political and
religious dissent (with Whigs being purged from local office and Nonconformist
conventiclers harried in the law courts) and an effective bolstering of the powers of the
crown, but also witnessed a marked swing in public opinion. People rallied behind the
crown and the legitimate heir against what they saw as a threat to the existing
establishment in church and state posed by the Whigs and their Nonconformist allies.
James's accession in February 1685 was broadly popular, as evidenced by numerous
loyalist demonstrations and addresses, and when he met his first Parliament in May, a
mere 57 members of Parliament (out of a total of 513) were known Whigs, thanks in
part to Charles II's interference in borough franchises during his final years, but also due
to a shift in opinion in favor of the Tories. Although James Scott, the duke of
Monmouth, and a few radical Whigs did launch a rebellion that summer to try to
overthrow James, it met with very little support. Nevertheless, despite promises at the
beginning of his reign that he would respect his subjects' rights and liberties and protect
the existing Protestant establishment in the church, James immediately set about
advancing the interests of his fellow Catholics through the royal prerogative. Thus, he
issued dispensations to Catholics from the provisions of the Test Act of 1673, which
restricted political office to communicating members of the Church of England, winning
a decisive test case in favor of the dispensing powerGodden v. Hales in June 1686
(though only after a purge of the judicial bench). He also promoted the public
celebration of the Mass; sought to undermine the Anglican monopoly of education by
forcing the universities to admit Catholics; issued a Declaration of Indulgence (April
1687), which in one fell swoop suspended all penal laws against Protestant and Catholic
nonconformists; and engaged in a campaign to pack Parliament so that he could
establish Catholic toleration by law. His initiatives, however, met with considerable
obstruction from the ToryAnglican interest. His loyalist Parliament of 1685 called for a
strict enforcement of the laws against Catholics and condemned the dispensations given
to Catholic officers in the army and had to be prorogued before the end of the year; the
Anglican clergy began delivering fiery sermons against popery, which led the king to
set up an Ecclesiastical Commission to keep them in line; and the ToryAnglican
squierarchy, in response to a poll conducted by the crown, overwhelmingly refused to
commit themselves to support a repeal of the penal laws in a forthcoming Parliament.
When in April 1688 James tried to make the clergy read a reissue of his Declaration of
Indulgence from the pulpit, most refused, and seven bishops petitioned the crown
against the Indulgence on the grounds that it was against the law. The crown brought a
prosecution against the seven bishops for seditious libel, but in June 1688 they were
found not guilty by a King's Bench jury. In that same month, when James's second wife,
Mary of Modena (16581718) gave birth to a son, who would take precedence in the
succession over James's Protestant daughters by his first marriage, the prospect of a
never-ending succession of Catholic kings led a group of seven politicians to invite the
Dutch stadtholder William of Orange, husband of James's eldest daughter and fourth in
line to the throne in his own right, to come and rescue English political and religious
liberties. In the face of William's invasion, James began to backtrack and, following the
advice of his bishops, agreed to abandon the dispensing and suspending power and his
Ecclesiastical Commission and to restore things to the way they had been at the time of
his accession. In short, it was the ToryAnglican interest who defeated the drift toward
popery and arbitrary government under James. Following William's landing at Torbay
on 5 November 1688, members of the ruling elite and even sections of the army began
to desert James, while anti-Catholic rioting broke out in many parts of the country.
Although William invaded with a sizeable and well-trained professional army (estimates
vary from between 14,000 and 21,000 men), James was able to send nearly 30,000 men
to meet him at Salisbury Plain and had another 8,00010,000 men ready to bring into
action. However, James was not defeated by an invading army; he panicked in the face
of desertions by his subjects and opted to flee the country. Although his first attempt, in
the early hours of 11 December, was unsuccessful, he did leave on 23 December, after
William had already occupied the capital. In January 1689, a Convention Parliament,
which was evenly balanced between Whigs and Tories, met to settle the state of the
nation. Most Tories hoped to preserve the hereditary principle either by keeping James
as king with a regent ruling in his name or by settling the throne on his eldest daughter,
Mary (taking comfort in the myth that the Prince of Wales had not really been delivered
by the queen but had been smuggled into the bedchamber in a warmingpan). The
Convention determined, however, that James, by breaking his contract with the people
(a Whig doctrine) and withdrawing himself from the kingdom, had abdicated the
government, and proceeded in early February to fill the vacancy by declaring William
and Mary king and queen jointly (though with full regal power vested in William alone).
The Convention then determined what powers they should give the new monarchs.
Twenty-Eight Heads of Grievances were drawn up, some of which were articulations of
existing rights, others demand for constitutional reform. In the end, the Convention
decided to leave out those grievances that would have required fresh legislation, and
instead agreed to a Declaration of Rights (12 February) that purported to do no more
than vindicate and assert ancient rights and liberties. There has been considerable
controversy over whether or not the Declaration of Rights in fact made new law under
the guise of proclaiming the old, especially with regard to its declarations that the
suspending power, the dispensing power (as exercised under James), the Ecclesiastical
Commission, and a standing army in time of peace without parliamentary consent were
illegal. What can be said with confidence is that the framers of the Declaration of Rights
genuinely believed that the powers they condemned were illegal, and that the
Declaration reflected the concerns of both the Whigs and Tories. William and Mary
were proclaimed king and queen in London and Westminster on 13 February and
shortly thereafter in the rest of the country; they were crowned on 11 April 1689. The
Declaration of Rights was not the totality of the revolution settlement, however. Several
of the reforms in the original Heads of Grievances that did not make it into the
Declaration were enacted during William's reign: in April 1689, a Toleration Act
secured limited toleration for Protestant nonconformists; in December, the Declaration
of Rights was passed into law with the Bill of Rights, which also barred Catholics from
the succession and prevented any future king or queen from marrying a Catholic; a
Triennial Act of 1694 secured frequent Parliaments (the act stipulated that Parliaments
must meet at least once every three years and that no Parliament was to last for more
than three years without a dissolution), while the Act of Settlement of 1701, in addition
 to determining that the succession should pass to the Hanoverians once the Protestant
Stuart line became extinct, also ensured the independence of the judiciary. Yet more
than anything else, it was the revolution in foreign policy that accompanied the dynastic
shift in 16881689 that changed the nature of the monarchy in England. The nation
became involved in an expensive war against France, which resulted in the setting up of
the Bank of England (1694) and the establishment of a national debt that had to be
serviced by regular grants of taxation. This increased the monarchy's dependence on
Parliament, while William's repeated absences from England in the 1690s, as he led the
war effort on the Continent, led to the emergence of the cabinet system of government.
Whereas the revolution in England was a bipartisan affair, the same was not true for the
other two kingdoms under Stuart rule. In Scotland, the Whigs and Presbyterians were
able to forge a more radical settlement in church and state, overturning episcopacy and
stripping the crown of many of the powers it possessed under Charles II and James II.
The government did not succeed in putting down Jacobite resistance until May 1690,
though Jacobite sentiment in the Highlands and among the Episcopalians of the
northeast remained strong, helping to fuel further Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745.
In Ireland, the Catholic majority declared for James II, who went there in March 1689
with the intention of trying to use the kingdom as base from which to reconquer
Scotland and England. An overwhelmingly Catholic Parliament that met in Dublin in
the spring of 1689 passed a legislative package restoring political and economic power
to the Catholics; but this was undone by Williamite victory in the ensuing warthe
turning point coming with William's victory at the Boyne on 1 July 1690 (after which
James fled), although Jacobite resistance continued until the final surrender at Limerick
on 3 October 1691. Following the peace, successive Protestant Parliaments passed a
series of repressive penal laws designed to guarantee the Protestant ascendancy and
make it extremely difficult for Catholics to exercise their religion, inherit property,
engage in trade or practice a profession.
Enlightenment The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th
centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily
influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its
prominent exponents include Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith.
Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588 in Westpon, England. At age 15, Hobbes attended the
University of Oxford where he studied arts and took an interest in maps. In 1608.
 Hobbes became the private tutor for William Cavendish, the son of Lord Cavendish of
Hardwick. The Cavendish family continually nourished Hobbes' interests in natural
science and politics. In 1610, Thomas Hobbes traveled with William Cavendish to
France, Italy, and Germany. There, Hobbes was introduced to other leading scholars
such as Francis Bacon and Ben Jonson. Thomas Hobbes continued to tutor other weal
thy students along with serving the family as a translator, keeper of accounts, business
representative, and a political advisor while developing more of his philosophical ideas.
Thomas Hobbes soon became an English political philosopher, scientist, and historian.
His fascination of mathematics and the properties of matter "laid the foundation" for his
Elements of Philosophy trilogy: De Cive, De Corpore, and De Romine. Thomas Hobbes
also produced a translation of the Odyssey and the Riad into English rhymes. He
continued to study and was even thought to be one of the founders of political
philosophy. Through his studies, he was mainly concerned with how humans can live
together in hannony while avoiding the danger of civil conflict. Thomas Hobbes came
out with many books on this theory such as Leviathan in 1651 and Behemoth in 1681.
Leviathan was the most popular showing the relationship between protection and
obedience. ''Believers do not endanger their prospects of salvation by obeying a
sovereign 's decrees to the letter." "Churches do not have any authority that is not
granted by the civil sovereign." Thomas Hobbes died in 1679 at age 91 but what he
introduced to other thinkers such as sciences and philosophical views will have forever
changed views and ideas of future thinkers.
English Civil War English Civil Wars, also called Great Rebellion, (164251), fighting that took place in
the British Isles between supporters of the monarchy of Charles I (and his son and
successor, Charles II) and opposing groups in each of Charless kingdoms, including
Parliamentarians in England, Covenanters in Scotland, and Confederates in Ireland. The
civil wars are traditionally considered to have begun in England in August 1642, when
Charles I raised an army against the wishes of Parliament, ostensibly to deal with a
rebellion in Ireland. But the period of conflict actually began earlier in Scotland, with
the Bishops Wars of 163940, and in Ireland, with the Ulster rebellion of 1641.
Throughout the 1640s, war between king and Parliament ravaged England, but it also
struck all of the kingdoms held by the house of Stuartand, in addition to war between
the various British and Irish dominions, there was civil war within each of the Stuart
states. For this reason, the English Civil Wars might more properly be called the British
 Civil Wars or the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The wars finally ended in 1651 with the
flight of Charles II to France and, with him, the hopes of the British monarchy.
Charles I Charles I, (born November 19, 1600, Dunfermline Palace, Fife, Scotlanddied January
30, 1649, London, England), king of Great Britain and Ireland (162549), whose
authoritarian rule and quarrels with Parliament provoked a civil war that led to his
execution. Charles was the second surviving son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of
Denmark. He was a sickly child, and, when his father became king of England in March
1603, he was temporarily left behind in Scotland because of the risks of the journey.
Devoted to his elder brother, Henry, and to his sister, Elizabeth, he became lonely when
Henry died (1612) and his sister left England in 1613 to marry Frederick V, elector of
the Rhine Palatinate (see James I). All his life Charles had a Scots accent and a slight
stammer. Small in stature, he was less dignified than his portraits by the Flemish painter
Sir Anthony van Dyck suggest. He was always shy and struck observers as being silent
and reserved. His excellent temper, courteous manners, and lack of vices impressed all
those who met him, but he lacked the common touch, travelled about little, and never
mixed with ordinary people. A patron of the arts (notably of painting and tapestry; he
brought both Van Dyck and another famous Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens, to
England), he was, like all the Stuarts, also a lover of horses and hunting. He was
sincerely religious, and the character of the court became less coarse as soon as he
became king. From his father, he acquired a stubborn belief that kings are intended by
God to rule, and his earliest surviving letters reveal a distrust of the unruly House of
Commons with which he proved incapable of coming to terms. Lacking flexibility or
imagination, he was unable to understand that those political deceits that he always
practiced in increasingly vain attempts to uphold his authority eventually impugned his
honor and damaged his credit.
English Bill of Rights Bill of Rights, formally An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and
Settling the Succession of the Crown (1689), one of the basic instruments of the
British constitution, the result of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kings
and the English people and Parliament. It incorporated the provisions of the Declaration
of Rights, acceptance of which had been the condition upon which the throne, held to
have been vacated by James II, was offered to the prince and princess of Orange,
afterward William III and Mary II. With the Toleration Act (1689), granting religious
toleration to all Protestants, the Triennial Act (1694), ordering general elections to be
 held every three years, and the Act of Settlement (1701), providing for the Hanoverian
succession, the Bill of Rights provided the foundation on which the government rested
after the Glorious Revolution (168889). It purported to introduce no new principles but
merely to declare explicitly the existing law. The revolution settlement, however,
made monarchy clearly conditional on the will of Parliament and provided a freedom
from arbitrary government of which most Englishmen were notably proud during the
18th century. The main purpose of the act was unequivocally to declare illegal various
practices of James II. Among such practices proscribed were the royal prerogative of
dispensing with the law in certain cases, the complete suspension of laws without the
consent of Parliament, and the levying of taxes and the maintenance of a standing army
in peacetime without specific parliamentary authorization. A number of clauses sought
to eliminate royal interference in parliamentary matters, stressing that elections must be
free and that members must have complete freedom of speech. Certain forms of
interference in the course of justice were also proscribed. The act also dealt with the
proximate succession to the throne, settling it on Marys heirs, then on those of her
sister, afterward Queen Anne, and then on those of William, provided they were
Protestants.

Focus Question: I believe that the term Enlightenment best defines the rapid changes and paramount developments of Western
Europe during the early modern era. European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the
course of the long 18th century (1685-1815) as a component of a kineticism referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or
simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment cogitators in Britain, in France and throughout Europe queried traditional ascendancy and
embraced the notion that humanity could be ameliorated through rational change. The Enlightenment engendered numerous books,
essays, inventions, scientific revelations, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by
Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the apex of its influence and the commencement of its decline. The Enlightenment
ultimately gave way to 19th-century Romanticism.