gies7

Gies 7

The Gies's have been setting up an argument that the Renaissance was a continuation of trends in the Middle Ages, not an abrupt change
Those trends get to a tipping point

There are many steps to an invention. For example, what counts as the invention of the airplane?

People had long flown in balloons
People were routinely flying gliders before the Wrights
Powered heavier than air? Langley might count
Wright brothers figured out how to steer a plane

Leonardo issue—it isn't an invention if you don’t bring it into use (it isn't a discovery if you don't make it public)

renaissance printing press

Invention of the printing press:

medieval books cost $2000-10,000 in today's money
the first universities developed in the middle ages, and the demand for books was so high that some workshops had a kind of mass production with one person reading and a number writing
paper was already mass produced, the screw press and oil-based inks used for wooden block and copper plate prints
Gutenberg's key innovation (in 1452) was moveable type (more history )
the time was right and the technology spread very quickly
by 1483 the same amount of money would produce 3 hand copies of 1025 printed copies
the cost of a book dropped to a few hundred dollars in today's money
by 1500: about 40,000 editions printed for a total of 15 to 20 million copies--equal to total previous world output (p. 246)

77 percent in Latin
45 percent religious works

Early impacts of the printing press:

People at first saw only that knowledge would be more available
many small innovations were needed for the printing press to work well, for example positioning the paper accurately
at first printing was used to make the same kind of books that had been mass-produced by hand copying

The second generation of printers began to imagine what other things could be done with printing

for a wider reading public books began to be published in the local language, not just in Latin
what was the impact of this?
the form of German that is standard today was defined by Luther's translation of the Bible into Latin
indexes and tables of contents (normally not practical with a hand-copied book because each page doesn't necessarily have the same words)
another example is accurately reproduced scientific illustrations and maps

Consider the impact of the printing press on religion:

before the printing press only churches and monasteries and a few very rich people owned Bibles
the vast majority of people were dependent on the clergy (and the painting in churches) to tell them what the Bible said
after the printing press people read the Bible for themselves, leading to the reformation
the dubious practice of selling indulgences (forgiveness for sins) became more visible when indulgences were printed in large numbers
Martin Luther:
- Luther takes his stand in 1517 with the 95 Theses posted on the cathedral door (an invitation to a debate
- He argues that we are saved by God's grace not by good works
- everyone has the right to interpret the Bible for themselves
- the Bible will become our standard--if it isn't in the Bible don't do it
- the Catholic church refused to accept that--it seemed too dangerous to say people could interpret the Bible for themselves, instead of having the church tell them how to interpret it
- Luther's ideas were printed as pamphlets and that helped the ideas spread faster than the church could suppress them
- printing press made possible large numbers of pamphlets
- his ideas appealed to people in Germany for political reasons--the German princes wanted to get out of the control of the emperor who was supported by the church
- now there are two churches in Western Europe--Catholic and Lutheran--but kings still want all their subjects to share their religion
in 1531 Henry VIII breaks England away from the Catholic church, mostly for his own convenience
so then there are four churches (Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, and Church of England) and quickly more split off as people disagree about how much needs to be reformed.

Gunpowder weapons: military technology became critical because of fighting to control sea routes

primitive cannon about 1325 used carved stone balls and exploded a lot
iron cannonballs introduced 1350, corned (shaped into grains instead of loose powder) gunpowder for more even explosion about 1420
cannon became safe enough to use on a ship about 1500
very quickly warships began carrying large numbers of cannon--England rose to power partly because they were more successful in making iron cannon (because they happened to have high-phosphorous ore)
by 1429 hand-held gunpowder weapons were beginning to be effective, the musket was in significant use by 1500

early cannon

Leonardo Da Vinci and similar work show a new enthusiasm for machines
If you want more on Leonardo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTjvsTtSYdo is rather old-fashioned history but covers a lot of his engineering

Exploration:

in 1340 the Muslims cut off overland trade to Asia and Europeans start exploring outside the Mediterranean

slow exploration down the coast of Africa until Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1487
Columbus underestimated the circumference of the earth and reached America in 1492
in 1519 Magellan set out on a 3 year voyage around the world

Magellan's ships

the full rigged ship (about 1500) brought together many of the inventions of the middle ages

multiple masts and more than one sail on each mast
a lateen sail on the mizzen (rear) mast gave more maneuverability
rudder permanently attached to a stern post instead of a steering oar
rounded shape
only one of Columbus's ships was a carrack, the new cargo ship, the others were caravels, less study but faster

the problem of navigation was not solved in this period

magnetic compass introduced in 13th century, but knowing which way you are going doesn't help much if you don't know where you are
techniques for using astrolabes and quadrants increased the accuracy of measuring latitude in 15th century
navigation by going to the right latitude and then sailing east or west until you hit land
more careful mapmaking was the main improvement of the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly knowledge of the winds
the problem of measuring longitude was not solved until the mid to late 1700s ( story)

Europeans traded for exotic products (spices, silk, etc.) with Asians but it wasn't clear how to make money from the New World

the native people did not have many obvious trade products, except furs, plus the Europeans wiped out an estimated 90% of the population of Mexico (mostly by imported diseases, but also by war and harsh slavery)
Europeans chose to colonize and grow cash crops (eg. sugar, tobacco, eventually cotton)

p. 287-8: "in the 'non-material infrastructure' of medieval Europe was a spirit of progress whose ingredients included intellectual curiousity, a love of tinkering, and ambition 'to serve God' and also 'to grow rich as all men desire to do.

the idea of progress (instead of decline from a golden age) came from Christianity
use of mechanical power
larger-scale organization of work
Scientific Revolution