SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?

Unit Essential Question(s): How do new ideas spark change? Do these ideas last?

Supporting Question(s):
● What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?

Objective(s):
● Examine events from the Middle Ages to the mid-1700s from multiple perspectives.

Vocabulary
The following words appear in this lesson.
Word/Phrase Definition
(part of speech)

monarch (n.) a king or queen

Catholic Church
an organized Christian church led by Pope centered in Rome
(n.)

people who work for a church; In the Catholic Church these include the Pope, bishops, and
clergy (n.)
priests

noble (n.) wealthy landowner

intellectual (n.) a well-educated person

merchant (n.) a person who is involved in trade

peasant (n.) a person in the lower class

Middle Ages (n.) the time period in - The Middle Ages are the time period from 476 CE to around 1450 CE in
Western Europe. Sometimes the whole post-classical era is referred to as the Middle Ages, but it
is referred to the “Middle” Ages because historians viewed it as an less important time period
between Rome and the Early Modern Period, and since Rome and the birth of the Early Modern
Period happened in Europe, we will only consider the Middle Ages to be an era specific to
Europe.

feudalism (n.) a decentralized system of power in which land owned by a powerful person is divided up and
given to others in exchange for work and a promise to fight for the interests of the land owner

Renaissance (n.) “rebirth” in French, a cultural movement in the 14th-17th centuries during which European
artists, scientists, and scholars, were inspired by Classical achievements of the Greeks and
Romans, which they became aware of through ruins and Greco-Roman texts preserved by Islamic
scholars in the Ottoman Empire.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
Protestant a 16th-century religious, political, intellectual, and cultural revolution that sought to change or
Reformation (n.) remake the Catholic Church. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther and
John Calvin protested and challenged Church authority.

Age of Absolutism a period of time from the 1500s through the late 1700s when absolute monarchs ruled many
(n.) countries

Scientific a period of time from the 1500s through the 1700s in which scholars started to question their
Revolution (n.) beliefs about the world and base their conclusions on observation and reason rather than
spiritual belief or what organizations like the Catholic Church told them. Scholars who studied
the natural world were often called “natural philosophers” during the Scientific Revolution.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca.
Objective: 1750?
● Examine events from the Middle Ages to the mid-1700s from multiple perspectives.

Introduction
➡ Directions: Below are six groups of people who had very different perspectives in history.
Try to imagine yourself as a member of each group when answering the questions.
What do you need to What would make you What power do you What power do you
Questions be satisfied? unsatisfied? have? want?

Monarchs Power over this Revolution Absolute power from Total power
(Kings and Queens) people makes me god
satisfied

Catholic Clergy People that join Other religions Divine power Holy power
(People who work for the the church make
church like the Pope,
bishops, and priests)
me satisfied

Nobles More land Less land Absolute over my Total power over
(Wealthy landowners) land other lands

Merchants People buying my Getting robbed No power No power

goods

Intellectuals People lisening to The Church none Power to make

(Artists, Philosophers, me people lisen
Scientists)

Peasants Surviving Jerk nobles none Power like the nobles

(Farmers, workers, lower
class people)

Big Idea
UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
➡ Directions: Read the BIG IDEA aloud three times.

Our Big Idea: At the beginning of the 18th century in Europe, different
social groups had different points of view about the most urgent political
problems.

Topic 1. Think 2. Pair

Independently, write or draw anything you Explain everything you wrote in the “Think” column
can remember about the topic from the to a partner then, ask them to do the same. Add
timeline above. new information from your partner below.

Many different kings and noble that have Knights and lords were everywhere
power over small parts of land, constant
Middle Ages warring and death. Lots of peasents

King was over land owners, creating a social fueding

Heirchy. Land owners required to support
Feudalism the crown. And the serfs and servents were
tied to the land and not the noble

A rebirth for Europe, full of art, culture, and Leonardo divinci

politics. The plauge happened, and
Renaissance merchants started to replace nobles

Proedstism was made in this time era, it was prodestents

Protestant a branch of christianity
Reformation

Monarchs had absolute power over the Kings and queens

Age of people and the lands
Absolutism

People bagan to question the church and Science rules

the monarchs
Scientific
Revolution

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
Review Topic #1- The Catholic Church Establishes Control in Europe (476- 1500s)
➡ Directions: Read through the descriptions of each review topic, then complete the point of
view chart.

After the fall of Rome in 476 CE, Western Europe was in chaos. Consequently, a social
hierarchy emerged to reestablish order and create some form of a centralized government.
The Catholic Church took power as the central political, religious, and economic force.

Roman Catholic
Church/Pope

Monarch: King/Queen

Lords: Wealthy Landowners

Vassals and Knights

Serfs and Peasants

Feudalism The Catholic Church

The feudal system (feudalism) attempted to reestablish
order in each kingdom in Europe by creating a social
hierarchy. The nobles (or lords) were wealthy
landowners. Vassals lived on the nobles, land and
provided protection and military service in exchange. At
the very bottom of this hierarchy were the peasants (or
serfs) who were bound to the land as unpaid laborers
who had to produce food. The peasants were unfree and
lived their lives restricted to laboring.
Due to the chaos, Catholic Church rose to power to
become a central political force. Monarchs were crowned
by the Pope, meaning the Church decided who would
lead. Additionally, the church was the source of all
knowledge. The Bible was printed in Latin which only the
educated clergy members could read. Everyone else who
was illiterates (unable to read) like the peasants heavily
relied on the Church to tell them how to live their lives.
The Church controlled everything.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 Monarchs Catholic Clergy Nobles Peasants
(Kings and Queens) (People who work for the church (wealthy landowners) (Farmers, workers, lower class
like the Pope, bishops, and people)
priests)

Question

During the middle ages I got powerful, we I got put on the seconf Nothing happed to us,
I didn’t have much declared that the level of the social we were and are dirt
power or land, but monarchs have a divine heirchy, I went from poor still
How did the
afterwards, I had right to rule, and we total control over my
Middle Ages
absolute power over got a lot of money from land to having to
affect you?
everything. people from tithinh answer to the
monarchs

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
Review Topic #2- The Renaissance: Trade and New Money Fuel a European Comeback
The Renaissance, “rebirth” in French, was a cultural Renaissance Art and Architecture
movement in the 14th-17th centuries during which
European artists, scientists, and scholars, were
inspired by Classical achievements of the Greeks and
Romans, which they became aware of through ruins
and Greco-Roman texts preserved by Islamic
scholars in the Ottoman Empire. The Renaissance
started in Italy in the 14th century (1300s), then its
ideas and cultural trends spread slowly across
Europe. The Renaissance marked the end of the
Middle Ages. The Pantheon, Rome
The Dome of the Basilica di
The end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Santa Maria del Fiore,
Renaissance occurred because of renewed trade Florence, Italy
connections and a great deal of wealth that was
David by Michelangelo
made off of that trade. The Crusades, which took
place during the Middle Ages, though destructive,
connected Europeans with Islamic traders in the
Middle East who had access to trade networks in
Asia. As a result, Western European interest in the
rest of the world grew.
Italy was the connection between Western Europe and Islamic Empires in the Middle East. After the Crusades, Italian
cities like Venice made strong trade connections with the Ottoman Empire. Wealthy merchants, like the Medici family,
turned their interest to beautifying cities like Florence. To do so, they funded artists, architects, and scientists to study
Greek and Roman buildings and texts, then to build new Italian achievements. Without money from trade the
achievements of the Renaissance would not have been created.
When the Black Death, a disease that spread through trade routes, swept through Italy, it killed off a lot of the nobles.
Merchants replaced the nobles as the wealthy people in Italy. The nobles held wealth in land, but the merchants made
money through trade. Peasants also had new options since the nobles that controlled them under feudalism were no
longer as strong and they could make money in businesses that made goods to trade.
Over the course of the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the wealth and cultural trends in Italy spread throughout
Europe inspiring achievements in the arts and sciences in the Netherlands, England, France, and elsewhere, bringing
Europe out of the “Dark Ages” and into the Modern Era.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 Nobles Merchants Intellectuals Peasants
(wealthy landowners) (Artists, Philosophers, (Farmers, workers, lower class
Scientists) people)

Question

We were killed off by We replaced the nobles We were given money We became smarter I
the plague because they died from from the merchants to guess
How did the the plague do whatever we
Renaissance wanted
affect you?

Review Topic #3- The Protestant Reformation: A Challenge to the Church’s Authority
The Catholic Church’s Authority
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the cultural, intellectual, and political center of Europe. Monarchs were
crowned by the Pope, most art and music was about Christianity and paid for by the Church, and the church was the
source of all knowledge.
The Bible, which was the source of the Catholic Church’s power and knowledge, was only written in Latin, a language
that very few people outside of the clergy (educated members of the church) could read, so priests interpreted the Bible
for everyone else and told them what it said they should do and how they should act.
The Protestant Reformation Questions the Catholic Church
The Protestant Reformation changed all of that. In 1517, a Catholic monk named Martin Luther started the Protestant
Reformation by writing, publishing, and distributing his critiques of the church’s selling of indulgences called the 95
Theses.
Martin Luther believed that the only true word of God
was the Bible and that people did not need a pope,
bishops, or priests to interpret it for them. He felt that the
Catholic Church had corrupted what the Bible actually
said and that the selling of indulgences was just one
example. Indulgences were pieces of paper issued by the
Catholic Church that forgave sins.
In response, Luther had the Bible printed in the languages
that most people spoke and created a new church called
the Lutheran Church. Later, many other Protestant
churches were created by other leaders of the
Reformation.
Many monarchs, especially in Northern Europe, converted
to Protestant religions as a way of freeing themselves
from the power the Catholic Church held over them since
the Middle Ages.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 Monarchs Catholic Clergy Intellectuals Peasants
(Kings and Queens) (People who work for the church (Artists, Philosophers, (Farmers, workers, lower class
like the Pope, bishops, and Scientists) people)
priests)

Question

My power was My power was This made me think We got another religion
threatened when threatened by these more that we can go to that
people started upsurters doesn’t take all of our
How did the supporting money, YaY
Protestant protestentism,
Reformation because I am mostly
affect you? chatolic

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
Review Topic #4- Political Life: Absolute Monarchs Ruled in Most European Countries
In the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s, some monarchs in Europe became very wealthy thanks to the increase in trade during the
Renaissance and colonies established during the Age of Exploration. As a result, they were able to pay for large and powerful armies
and expand their land and power. These kings and queens are known as Absolute Monarchs. Most of the countries in Europe were
ruled by absolute monarchs in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the absolute monarchs you studied last year were Louis XIV of
France and Peter the Great of Russia.

Portrait of King Charles I from the late 17th or

early 18th century.
Charles I, being crowned by a hand
from a cloud, possibly by God (1600s)

A DEO REX, A REGE LEX — “The

king is from God, and law is from the
king.” -James I

Source: NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

Absolute monarchs and people they ruled believed in divine right. DIVINE RIGHT is the belief that one’s authority to rule comes
directly from God.
Since people believed that the king received his authority to rule directly from God, this meant:
● The king had the 'right' to rule completely and totally without approval from the people
● The king was God’s representative on earth
● Only God could judge the king

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 Monarchs Catholic Clergy Nobles Peasants
(Kings and Queens) (People who work for the church (wealthy landowners) (Farmers, workers, lower class
like the Pope, bishops, and people)
priests)

Question

How did the I got the divine right to We got more power Nothing really, same Noting, absolutly
rule of rule, so I got more from the monarchs deal as before for us nothing
absolute power having a divine right to
monarchs rule
affect you?

Review Topic #5- Scientific Revolution (1600s- late 1700s): A New Way to Look at the World
The Renaissance brought ideas from the Ancient Greeks
and Romans, and from Asia, Northern Africa, and the
Middle East to Western Europe. Those ideas, combined
with religious doctrine from the Catholic Church became
the basis of knowledge in the 14th, 15th, and 16th
centuries.

As Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation changed the

way people looked at religion in Western Europe, the
Scientific Revolution changed the way people understood
the world. The scientific revolution was the beginning of
modern science when advances in mathematics, physics,
astronomy and biology gave people a better
understanding of the world around them and led them to
question what they were being told by monarchs and the
Catholic Church.

Scientists, known as “natural philosophers,” used the scientific method to examine the world. To use the method, a scientist
generated a hypothesis about solving a problem, experimented to test the hypothesis, observed and collected information based on
the experiment, used reason and logic to draw conclusions, and then shared his or her findings with other scientists to discuss them.
This process was very different from the way of finding truth in the Middle Ages, which was to ask a member of the clergy.
Scientists in the 1600s and 1700s discovered natural laws, facts proven true through the scientific method, that disproved what the
Catholic Church claimed. For example, Galileo Galilei, an astronomer whose ideas were based on an earlier scientist named Nicolaus
Copernicus, wrote about and taught that the sun was at the center of the solar system, an idea called the heliocentric theory. The
church claimed that the Earth was at the center and that the sun revolved around it. In 1633, Galileo was convicted of heresy,
teaching an idea that was in opposition to the church, was forced to state that he was wrong and spent the rest of his life under
house arrest.
Many other discoveries were made during the Scientific Revolution that changed human history including Isaac Newton’s discovery
of the laws of motion and gravity and advances in every field of science and technology.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 Monarchs Catholic Clergy Nobles Peasants
(Kings and Queens) (People who work for the church (wealthy landowners) (Farmers, workers, lower class
like the Pope, bishops, and people)
priests)

Question

My grip on power is Power is being lost, Losing power as well Maybe the Church isnt
beginning to slip away, they are suggesting because of forward right
people are questioning heresy, like that galileo thinking ideas
How did the my divine right
Scientific
Revolution
affect you?

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
 SQ 1: What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?
FA ➡ Directions: Based on what you have learned, complete the task below.
What are you concerned about in 1750? What do you hope will happen in the next
Questions hundred years?

Monarchs I am concerned about the power I have I want my power to remain absolute
(Kings and Queens) sliping away

Catholic Clergy I am concerned about all of these heritics That the heritics will die and the Chatholic
(People who work for the church like questionig the church church will remain
the Pope, bishops, and priests)

Nobles I am concerned that I will soon have no I hope that I am free of the crowns power
(Wealthy landowners) power one day

Merchants Im concered that there will be no one to That the plague will go away and I can sell
sell to, due to the plague my wares to people

Intellectuals I am concered that people wont accept That people will acept my ideas and keep
(Artists, Philosophers, Scientists) my ideas questioning everything

Peasants I just want to survive I hope the peasents get more power over
(Farmers, workers, lower class people) themselves over the next 100 years.

UNIT 10.2 | Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism| SQ 1. What was the political and cultural situation in Europe ca. 1750?