The Renaissance

[AndrewF1995]

Wasn’t sure where to put this,
So I just started a class on European history, and the teacher gave a preview of friday’s lesson by saying something similar to this:

Durring the dark ages the people in Europe were oppressed, and because of the plauge, and war thought it was the end of times, and after the plauge was over and the people realized the world didn’t end like was suggested from revelations, they all questioned there faith and they finally were no longer oppressed and were able to think freely.

I have a feeling this isn’t what happened, but I am having trouble coming up with a response other than the fact that people didn’t exactly leave Catholicism behind at all and all the great figures in the renaissance were Catholics.

I am also having trouble finding anything else online, can someone help me out?

 

[AndrewF1995]

I posted this on another part of the forum, then realized this would be a better place.

Wasn’t sure where to put this,
So I just started a class on European history, and the teacher gave a preview of friday’s lesson by saying something similar to this:

Durring the dark ages the people in Europe were oppressed, and because of the plauge, and war thought it was the end of times, and after the plauge was over and the people realized the world didn’t end like was suggested from revelations, they all questioned there faith and they finally were no longer oppressed and were able to think freely.

Someone asked her if this was the point that people stopped thinking everything in the bible was true, and she pretty much agreed to that statement.

I have a feeling this isn’t what happened, in fact i’m 99% sure this has no foundation in truth ahha. but I am having trouble coming up with a response other than the fact that people didn’t exactly leave Catholicism behind at all and all the great figures in the renaissance were Catholics.

I am also having trouble finding anything else online, can someone help me out?

 

[DavidFilmer]

For one thing, scholars no longer use the term “Dark Ages.”

For another thing, the Middle Ages spanned a thousand years (Fifth to Fifteenth Centuries), and were brought about by the fall of the Roman Empire (the barbarian invaders proved to be unskilled at governance). The plague (ie, the Black Death) spanned just two years (1348-1350) - a tick of the clock. Yeah, people thought it was the end of the world - but people have always thought that (and many still do).

And, finally, as you pointed out, God seemed quite popular in the Renaissance era. Most of the great works of art created during this period had religious themes.

Your teacher is either poorly educated herself, or she is presenting revisionist history.

 

[AndrewF1995]

For one thing, scholars no longer use the term “Dark Ages.”

For another thing, the Middle Ages spanned a thousand years (Fifth to Fifteenth Centuries), and were brought about by the fall of the Roman Empire (the barbarian invaders proved to be unskilled at governance). The plague (ie, the Black Death) spanned just two years (1348-1350) - a tick of the clock. Yeah, people thought it was the end of the world - but people have always thought that (and many still do).

And, finally, as you pointed out, God seemed quite popular in the Renaissance era. Most of the great works of art created during this period had religious themes.

Your teacher is either poorly educated herself, or she is presenting revisionist history.

Thank you, thats a pretty clear response to what she said. I’ll bring it up.

 

[bzkoss236]

This may or may not be a good idea, but I’ll throw it out there.

Also put into question her source for her alleged historical statement. Where did she read that this caused people to lose their faith, which allowed them to think freely (as if they couldn’t before). Make sure to ask her plainly what her source was, and if there is none, have her admit to falsely interpreting a historical event with her own bias.

 

[lerapt78]

I posted this on another part of the forum, then realized this would be a better place.

Wasn’t sure where to put this,
So I just started a class on European history, and the teacher gave a preview of friday’s lesson by saying something similar to this:

Durring the dark ages the people in Europe were oppressed, and because of the plauge, and war thought it was the end of times, and after the plauge was over and the people realized the world didn’t end like was suggested from revelations,** they all questioned there faith and they finally were no longer oppressed and were able to think freely**.

Someone asked her if this was the point that people stopped thinking everything in the bible was true, and she pretty much agreed to that statement.

I have a feeling this isn’t what happened, in fact i’m 99% sure this has no foundation in truth ahha. but I am having trouble coming up with a response other than the fact that people didn’t exactly leave Catholicism behind at all and all the great figures in the renaissance were Catholics.

I am also having trouble finding anything else online, can someone help me out?

I suspect that some people love to bash the medieval period, or at least make those centuries seem like a never-ending parade of suffering, largely in part because the Catholic Church was so influential at the time. I would give your history teacher a chance to bring up two of Western civilization’s most crowning achievements - universities and hospitals - and reference the fact that they flourished during the “oppressive” “Dark Ages”. If she doesn’t bring it up, please make sure *you *do!

 

[Mystophilus]

After pulling some interesting faces at what your teacher said, my Beloved (a mediaevalist) replied that it would be best for you to read something like this, to start to glean a clearer picture of the way that it actually worked.

As for attacking the teacher for her blunder, it would be very easy indeed, but I would advise against it, not least out of love for your neighbour. Instead, I would suggest taking this opportunity to study the topic for yourself, and then come to her with respectful questions about what you are reading, allowing her to gracefully admit her own fallibility.

 

[TypesAndShadows]

For one thing, scholars no longer use the term “Dark Ages.”
The plague (ie, the Black Death) spanned just two years (1348-1350) - a tick of the clock. Yeah, people thought it was the end of the world - but people have always thought that (and many still do).
.

Careful. When something kills a third of the population, if generally registers as more than a “tick of the clock”. The Black Death peaked over those two years, but it took society over a century to recover and the plague itself continued in waves for hundreds of years.

No society’s social structure is going to be unaffected by the sudden death of a third of the population (some estimates make it more like half the population), and it did indeed have a big effect on how people viewed all sorts of things. Think of how theology copes with things like the Holocaust, and how people struggled with that: now imagine a third to half the entire population in all the countries you know died suddenly over two years. Many people would describe that sort of pandemic as “apocalyptic”.

We can correct errors without suggesting the Black Death was no big deal.

 

[oldcatholicguy]

During the Renaissance people were still oppressed (actually more so given the rapid centralization of secular power), plagues still took place, war still took place (on a larger scale), and people were still Catholic. Your teacher is basically saying that the impact of the Black Death (the “end of the world” theme was really limited to this) was so great that it caused the Renaissance. I point toward the increase in tech (thank you Church), an increase in knowledge and education (thank you Church), an increase in economical development and trade (small thank you Church), and relative social/cultural stability (thank you Church) of the Middle Ages as causes of the Renaissance. But I only have a BA in History and a MA in Political Science with an amatuer education on the time period, so what do I know.

 

[gilliam]

After pulling some interesting faces at what your teacher said, my Beloved (a mediaevalist) replied that it would be best for you to read something like this, to start to glean a clearer picture of the way that it actually worked.

As for attacking the teacher for her blunder, it would be very easy indeed, but I would advise against it, not least out of love for your neighbour. Instead, I would suggest taking this opportunity to study the topic for yourself, and then come to her with respectful questions about what you are reading, allowing her to gracefully admit her own fallibility.

Also remember, we are dealing not only with religion here, but also what the local princes wanted (which was usually more power and wealth)

Note the term “Dark Ages” were dark not because of anything happening at the time but because historians didn’t know much about them. Once they found out some facts, they became less “dark” and more “middle ages.”