Francisco de Toledo - Spanish Viceroy of Peru

Francisco de Toledo

The most important reformer of Spanish administration in the newly conquered Andean highlands during the early colonial period, Francisco de Toledo, in his capacity as viceroy of Peru (1569–81), was instrumental in the transition from the violence and tumult of conquest to the emergence of a mature settler society.

Described by supporters and detractors alike as indefatigable, forceful, and ambitious, Toledo arrived in Peru just as the last of the civil wars among Spaniards were ebbing.

His most enduring accomplishment in his 12 years as viceroy was to strengthen and unify the colonial state under a grand design intended to consolidate Spanish rule and lay the foundations for continuing Spanish domination of the Andes and its native inhabitants.


Distinguished Heritage

Born in Andalusia, Spain, around 1520, Toledo hailed from one of the country’s most distinguished noble families. After effectively serving Charles V and Philip II, he was selected as viceroy (supreme direktur and direct representative of the king) of the newly conquered territories of New Castile (Peru). One of his first acts as viceroy was to launch a bold five-year visita, or tour of inspection, of all the Andean dominions subjugated by Spain.

Accompanied by the pomp and majesty appropriate to his office, Toledo undertook a census of the entire colony; ordered the reducción (forced resettlement) of surviving Indian communities into Spanish-style towns under the rule of Spanish and native authorities; directed the collection of testimonies on the injustice and tyranny of Inca rule with the intention of ratifying the morality of the Spanish invasion and conquest; abolished the Inca system of mita labor in the Andean highlands and in its stead imposed a new and even more onerous system of obligatory native labor and tribute; reorganized and streamlined the territory’s bureaucracy and administration; revitalized the emergent mining economy, particularly the vast silver mines of Potosí and the mercury mines of Huancavelica; and issued a vast corpus of laws and decrees that effectively limited the autonomy of colonial officials, encomenderos, and other elites while linking their fortunes ever more tightly to the well-being of the colonial state.

Intolerant of dissent or sustained challenge to Spanish rule, he also directed the invasion and destruction of the neo-Inca state of Vilcabamba, hidden for decades in one of the remotest and most inaccessible corners of the eastern highlands.

His decision to execute by beheading the kingdom’s captured ruler, Philip, who declared in a letter to Toledo that “some things about the execution would have been better omitted.”

All of these and related measures, commonly referred to as the Toledo reforms, had the effect of centralizing and strengthening the colonial state and laying the groundwork for a mature colonial economy and society that for the next two and a half centuries would ensure Spanish domination and funnel untold riches into Spain, thus marking Toledo as one of the most important actors in all of Peruvian history. In 1581, at the conclusion of his tenure as viceroy, Toledo returned to Spain. He died in Seville three years later.

Scientific Revolution

Scientific Revolution

Between 1500 and 1789, especially the period of 1600–1750, there occurred a shift in humans’ thinking from the medieval emphasis on God’s eternal unchanging world, which governed people, the universe, and nature, to an approach that defined knowledge and understanding as derived from the immutable laws of nature independent of received truth.

Knowledge and truth were to be gained by putting forth an idea, testing it, and expressing the results mathematically. The British coined the term empiricism to summarize the concept gained through human interaction with nature and continental Europeans followed the philosopher Descartes who put forth rationalism with its emphasis on knowledge that could be logically and mathematically proved.

Emphasis on Different Sciences

Different sciences came to the fore during these centuries. Physics and astronomy were especially prominent in the latter part of the 16th century and then 17th century; chemistry and biology, in the latter part of the 17th century and 18th century; and mathematics, throughout the period as part of scientific calculations. New methods of thought pushed to the surface.

These new patterns harkened back to the writings of Aristotle and other Greek and Roman philosopher/scientists that emphasized the use of reason in addition to faith in pursuit of knowledge, nature, and contemplating humanity and the universe. The methodology associated with these thoughts came to be called the scientific method and involved two approaches—the deductive and the inductive.


The former, which was associated with the medieval mindset, put the stress on going from a general proposition to particular situations. The inductive method started with an approach to a particular problem, then through testing and observation, the drawing of valid conclusions.

When combined, the two methods formed what came to be known as the scientific method. One would state a general proposition; then investigate through a review of the literature, logic, and experimental research; and then apply the result to a specific proposition or hypothesis.

The hypothesis would then be subject to observation, experimentation, and collection of data as part of a proof. The test result would either be positive or negative. Conclusions would then be reached confirming or denying or declaring the proposition moot or not proved.

The proponents of these combined related approaches to bring about a new scientific revolution were René Descartes and Sir Francis Bacon, respectively. Their seminal writings, published in the 1620s, became the underpinnings for the new way of thinking associated with the scientific revolution.

Descartes (1596–1659), the French philosopher and mathematician, concluded that thought stemmed from the mind. The use of logic would deduce all truths starting with the existence of God and the basic reality of both the material and spiritual worlds.

His grand concept was that of a unified and mathematically ordered universe that ran as a perfect mechanism. Everything could be explained rationally through logic and mathematics. “I think, therefore I am” summarized the approach known as rationalism.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626), a politician and scientist, went a step further. He conceived of an approach that later was identified with the inductive method. He presented a system that used human reason to interpret human experiences.

Bacon recommended that facts derived from experiments could be validated through proving the hypothesis. These hypotheses would then be subjected to further experimentation and ultimately be proved so as to reflect fundamental laws of nature.

His approach was validated with the advent of new scientific instruments that could measure the physical world. In the 17th century, the thermometer, barometer, air pump, pendulum clock (grandfather clock), telescope, and microscope became readily available.

Heliocentric Theory

The scientific revolution dates from the work of astronomer Hellenistic Greeks, he advanced the heliocentric or Sun-centered theory of the universe.

His work was reinforced by the observation of Tycho Brahe, who made hundreds of observations via the telescope. Brahe’s data were supported by Johannes Kepler through mathematical calculations that showed that the planets moved elliptically around the Sun and that the Sun exerted a magnetic and gravitational pull on the planets.

Galileo Galilei, the mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, perfected the telescope to investigate the Moon, sunspots, the satellites of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn. He also did work on physics through his former work from the leaning Tower of Pisa that originated basic laws of physics—the laws of motion and gravitation.

His experiments demonstrated that the velocity of falling bodies was related to the height from which they fell rather than their weight. These observations highlighted the relationship of gravitational pull to moving bodies. Acceleration would be constant no matter what the size or weight.

His experiments, which also involved hydrostatics, optics, and the pendulum, helped to develop his most famous law—the law of inertia—a body at rest or in motion will remain at rest or remain in motion unless affected by an external force such as gravitation.

Galileo and Copernicus suffered for their scientific advances. Both put forth ideas that went against the teachings of the Catholic Church; as a result, both were deemed heretical and had their discoveries challenged not scientifically, but theologically.

In the succeeding years of the 17th and 18th centuries, physicists built on the previous work. The French physicists Blaise Pascal and Jean Gay-Lussac developed laws and mathematical equations on volume, liquids, and gases.

Two professors at the university of Bologna, Mona Agnesi and Laura Bassi, verified Galileo’s work in mathematics and physics, respectively. Christian Huygens developed a wave theory to explain light. Otto von Gernicki proved the material composition of air in terms of its ability to have weight and exert pressure.

Other breakthrough work was done in other sciences. In astronomy, astronomer and mathematician Pierre Laplace discovered that comets were governed by mathematical laws, and that the Sun, which once had been a gaseous mass, threw off the planets as it solidified and contracted.

In biology, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria, protozoa, and human spermatozoa. Robert Hooke discovered the cellular structure of plants. Andreas Vesalius gave detailed drawings of the human anatomy. William Harvey traced the circulation of blood.

Chemistry Advances

Chemistry also saw breakthroughs. Robert Boyle developed an atomic theory and investigated fire, respiration, fermentation, evaporation, and metal rusting. Joseph Priestley also developed ammonia, generated carbon monoxide, and discovered oxygen and offered an explanation of combustion. Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen. Antoine Lavoisier proved that combustion resulted from a combination of oxygen with other elements.

He also showed that respiration was another form of oxidation. Ultimately, this led to a famous law of conservation—“Matter cannot be created or destroyed.” The supreme thinker of the early scientific age, perhaps, was Johannes Kepler, who developed differential calculus, mathematics of infinity, variables—the bases for modern algebra, geometry, and calculus.

So dominant was Isaac Newton (1640–1727) in the later scientific age that physical science is often characterized as Newtonian, pre-Newtonian, and post-Newtonian. His writing and ideas were so prevalent that ultimately they affected philosophy, religion, and social science. His ideas influenced reformers who believed (based on Newtonian science) that a science of humanity could solve human problems just as natural sciences were beginning to solve the questions of science.

Why was Newton so influential? It was because he was able to synthesize previous discoveries. His law of gravitation stated that all natural objects attract other bodies—inversely, according to the square of their distances and directly in proportion to the products of their masses. Newton had arrived at this conclusion by methods that combined the methods advocated by Descartes and Bacon in his major work, Principia.

In that work, he used mathematical proofs that were tested by observation. He arrived at the conclusion that underlies all modern science—all selesai conclusions have to be based on solid facts. Accordingly, the hypothesis even if supported by mathematics must be rejected if it is not supported by observation or experimentation.

More importantly, his basic premise, based on his own experiments in gravitation, was that laws govern all nature, including the universe. His universal laws were then applied to every area. The result in terms of religion and philosophy was deism. Succeeding philosophers following Descartes and Newton divided reality between mind and matter.

Science assisted human reason in dealing with matter; faith dealt with the truth beyond the natural senses and helped the mind to intuit truth directly from God. Taking the clue from Newton, clergymen subordinated science to faith. The world was run by universal laws, of which the first law was God’s will.

Deism

The greatest influence of science and future events was in the development of deism—a belief held by many of the leading members of the American Revolution such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Even though deists considered themselves Christians, they rejected many tenets of traditional Christianity.

They did accept Jesus Christ but as a great budpekerti teacher rather than as a human savior. The view of most deists was that God was a rather impersonal force—the great physicist or master clock winder in the universe. God set things in motion, but if people behaved according to the golden rule and the Ten Commandments, everything else was left to them.

God proposed; humans disposed. All budpekerti decisions were based on the individual’s reason and conscience. No formal denomination held their allegiance—nature was their church and natural laws were their spiritual guides, even their bibles.

In the 18th century, sciences passed into general acceptance. Kings endowed observatories, cities funded museums, wealthy benefactors established parks and gardens, and learned societies sponsored popular lectures. Learned societies were established, such as the Royal Society of London, the French Academy of Science, and the American Philosophical Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. The role of the sciences changed markedly in the 18th century.

Benjamin Franklin was lionized on both sides of the Atlantic for his many achievements including the Franklin stove and especially his research and experimentation that proved that lightning was another form of electricity. Whereas scientists such as Giordano Bruno were burned for heresy in 1600, and Galileo was forced by the Inquisition to recall his writings in 1633, the situation was different in the 18th century.

Isaac Newton received a well-compensated paying position, was knighted, and when he died in 1727, received the ultimate accolade—he was buried at Westminster Abbey. Joseph Priestley was a well-respected theologian and high-ranking church official as well as a scientist.

Effects on Technology

Just as the scientific revolution affected society, it also affected technology. Among the consequences was the application of scientific methods to farming. Scientific agriculture including planting with fertilizer and utilizing crops that restored fertilizer to the soil through legumes such as turnips, along with new methods of drainage such as irrigation, became common.

Landowners also began to experiment with cross-breeding so as to improve their livestock. England especially led the way. Jethro Tull plowed land that was planted in rows through the use of a drill he invented. Charles Townshend experimented in restoring soil fertility by applying clay lime mixture as well as planting turnips in crop rotation.

Robert Bakewell developed new techniques of stock raising through selective breeding that not only increased the size of meat cattle, but also increased the milk yield of dairy cows. Arthur Young lectured on the new agriculture and popularized the new method of scientific farming.

Science was applied to medicine, which utilized the findings of Vesalius, Harvey, and Leeuwenhoek. Dr. Edward Jenner developed the field of immunology through the injection of cowpox to combat smallpox, which had been the scourge of populations for two centuries.

Scientific knowledge was applied to draining mines, pumping water, drying textile fibers, producing gunpowder, manufacturing pottery, building ships, and improving navigation. The Industrial Revolution began in the first half of the 18th century of the application of science to economic development.

John Kay invented the flying shuttle and James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny. Thomas Newcomen produced the first steam engine; James Watt improved the design and revolutionized both factories and transportation.

Richard Arkwright invented the water frame. Samuel Crompton invented the water mule. Edmond Cartwright invented the power loom. This first stage of the Industrial Revolution in the middle and latter parts of the 18th century stemmed directly from the scientific revolution.

The scientific revolution marked the transition of society from the Middle Ages to modern times. It advanced the perception of people and their place in the universe, the source of knowledge, and the relationship of human society to nature. It led to great advancements in science and mathematics.

Beyond this direct outcome, its emphasis on reason directly led to the Enlightenment, which emphasized the natural rights of all human beings. Its questioning of previously accepted doctrines developed into a skepticism regarding received truth that ultimately led to revolution against the established order.

New technologies transformed economic options and eventually living situations as people moved from the countryside to cities to seek work in the factories based on the scientifically derived inventions that preceded this technology. Above all, the scientific revolution enshrined the spirit of human initiative, innovation, and invention, which has led to change and progress in succeeding ages.

Girolamo Savonarola

Girolamo Savonarola statue

Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian cleric and reformer whose sermons and writings predated the Reformation. Born in Ferrara in 1452, he was a scholar from boyhood and studied music, medicine, design, and theology.

Inspired by a sermon in 1474, he entered the monastery of St. Domenico in Bologna, where he spent six years in the novitiate. Even so young, his poems expressed disagreement and indignation against the venality of the Renaissance church.

Gradually Savonarola gained fame as a preacher of the Dominican order. By 1490, he was at the Priory of St. Mark and had become so influential with his listeners that in 1491, he was elected to head post. He had become so powerful by then that he felt able to denounce the customs and ethics of the rulers of the day including Lorenzo de’ Medici, the pope, and the king of Naples.

His powerful position in Florence was reinforced when Lorenzo de’ Medici called him to his deathbed and Savonarola refused to give absolution to the dying man because he refused to give up power in Florence.


Between 1492 and 1494, Savonarola’s power expanded through his sermons and writings wherein he proclaimed that he had apocalyptic visions that the wrath of the Lord would be visited upon the guilty and the world was threatened by famine, bloodshed, and pestilence. His fame as an orator spread throughout Italy.

In 1493, his order of Dominicans of St. Mark received a brief so that it was basically independent of most immediate church authority. His selesai ascent to power came when the Medicis were overthrown in 1494 at the approach of the French king Charles, who threatened Florence. Because of Savonarola’s remonstrance, the king withdrew from Florence without bloodshed.

Girolamo Savonarola preach

Because of the turn of events, Savonarola was the unofficial dictator of Florence for the next four years. He established a four-part formula for his rule: fear of God and purification of manners, promotion of the public welfare as opposed to private interests, general amnesty to all political offenders, and a council on the Venetian manner but without a doge.

Many of his prescriptions were followed during the next few years. All property was taxed. He organized boys of Florence into a secret militia. He established carnivals wherein the citizens gave away their most expensive possessions as alms to the poor as well as burning luxury items such as masks and other objects used for festivals. He did not oppose the arts, in general; in fact, he helped save the Medici Library through funds from his convent.

During this period, Florence became rather austere. Many people left their homes to join religious orders, and many sought Savonarola’s order, the Dominicans. People dressed ascetically. Hymns and psalms routinely were sung in the streets.

Savonarola’s downfall resulted both from enemies without and within. He made a bitter enemy of the Borgia pope Alexander VI, by denouncing him for his crimes. The Medici worked secretly from inside Florence to return to power. When the pope tried to bribe Savonarola to silence with a cardinal’s hat, he rejected it and continued his denunciations. When he declined invitations to visit Rome, Florence was threatened with an interdict.

In 1498, the repeated threats from the pope to the council of Florence coupled with Savonarola’s repeated denunciations of the “antipope” caused the council of Florence to become more hostile to him. At the same time, executions of Medici partisans, a desire for moderation, and resentment after the infamous Carnival of 1497 in which valuable books and artwork were burned all added to Savonarola’s decline.

May 23, 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.

The selesai cause of Savonarola’s downfall was an ordeal of fire called by his enemies, the Franciscans. When his accusers did not appear, the people felt cheated, and Savonarola became a scapegoat. He was arrested, tortured, and crucified with two followers on May 22, 1498. His death came to be seen as martyrdom in later years, and today, his life’s work is viewed as a forerunner of the Reformation.

Giotto di Bondone

Giotto di Bondone

The early life, artistic training, and attributed works of Giotto di Bondone (commonly referred to as Giotto) are all shrouded in mystery and legend. In his Lives, Vasari provided the first biography and chronicle of the works of Giotto. Giotto was born in 1276 in the village of Vespignano outside of Florence to a farmer named Bondone.

While still a boy Giotto developed the ability, without formal training, to draw from nature using whatever material was available, such as the ground, stones, or sand. Giotto would make these drawings to pass the time while tending to his flock of sheep.

Vasari tells us that his natural talent was so great that when Cimabue spotted his works while passing through his village he immediately sought the permission of Giotto’s father to take the 10-year-old Giotto to Florence to study with Cimabue as a member of his workshop.


Giotto has received credit from art historians as being among the first to abandon the medieval artistic tradition in favor of the early development of naturalism—a style that would be fully realized during the Italian Renaissance. Giotto received praise by such luminaries as Dante Alighieri in Divine Comedy, Giovanni Boccaccio in Decameron, and Vasari for breaking from what Vasari refers to as the “crude manner of the Greeks.”

In his Lives, Vasari recounts two stories that illustrate the talent of Giotto. According to Vasari, Pope Benedict IX sent an emissary to Tuscany to see Giotto and to judge his fitness for a papal commission. The courtier asked Giotto for a small drawing to take to the pope.

Giotto, without using a compass or moving his arms, drew a perfect circle and instructed the shocked courtier to take that simple drawing back to the pope. Pope Benedict immediately recognized Giotto’s greatness and sent him papal commissions. This story is also credited with giving birth to the Italian proverb “Thou art rounder than Giotto’s circle.”

The second story recounted by Vasari supports the claim that Giotto had a great gift for naturalism. As a boy in Cimabue’s workshop, Giotto painted a fly on the nose of a figure painted by Cimabue. Upon his return to the workshop Cimabue tried to shoo the fly away before realizing that it was just a painting.

One of the earliest works successfully attributed to Giotto is the crucifix (c. 1295) of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Giotto’s crucifix followed the design seen in Cimabue’s earlier crucifix with Christ flanked by images of the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist.

Giotto deviated from Cimabue with form clearly moving toward three-dimensional in its effect. The figures are also imbued with a humanity and emotion missing from earlier works. Italian Renaissance art historian Bernard Berenson credits him with the birth of modern painting particularly with regard to the portrayal of the human form.

Throughout his career Giotto received commissions from patrons in Rome, Naples, Ravenna, and Padua. In 1305 he executed frescoes commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni for his chapel commonly known as the Arena Chapel. While the entrance wall is covered by a fresco of the Last Judgment, a popular theme in medieval Italy, the remainder of the walls are devoted to a series of frescoes illustrating scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

In these frescoes Giotto employed simple but dramatic architectural and landscape elements to focus our attention on the massive forms and the story being told. This simple, but dramatic, style would influence future fresco painters such as Michelangelo.

Art historians have long debated whether or not Giotto is responsible for the frescoes chronicling the life of St. Francis at his basilica in Assisi. As early as 1313 a chronicle written by Riccobaldo attributes the St. Francis cycle to Giotto. The attribution to Giotto was further supported in later centuries by the writings of Lorenzo Ghiberti in the 15th century and Vasari in the 16th century. In addition to painting, Giotto was also an architect and sculptor.

As an architect, he is credited with the initial design and construction of the campanile of Saint Maria del Fiore (also known as the Duomo) in Florence. Giotto’s involvement with the construction ended upon his death, and construction continued under his former student Taddeo Gaddi. Giotto died in 1336 and was buried with honors within Saint Maria del Fiore.

Florentine Neoplatonism

Marsilio Ficino

Florentine Neoplatonism is the Italian Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, led by Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94), that flourished in 15th century Florence. This renewed interest in Neoplatonism, or the philosophy formulated by Plotinus (205–270 c.e.) and founded upon the thought of Plato (427–347 b.c.e.), was due both to the waning religious values of the time and to the aristocratic shift of emphasis under members of the Medici family from worldly affairs to a life of contemplation.

Plato’s portrayal of Socrates in the Republic as a sage critical of Greek democracy and devoted to meditation on timeless and immaterial truths lent itself so well to the new social sentiment that it supplanted the Roman statesman as the ideal of human life. Fascinated by the humanist rediscovery of classical ideals Cosimo de’ Medici selected his doctor’s gifted young son, Marsilio Ficino, to become a Greek scholar and Platonic philosopher.

An intellectual giant whose mind comprehended and synthesized complete philosophical systems, Ficino opened his Platonic Academy, not a school in the formal sense, but a salon where he oversaw the scholarly discussions of friends and visitors, at Careggi in 1466.

Two years later he edited the entire corpus of Plato, published by the Aldine Press in Venice, and translated Plato’s Dialogues into Latin. In 1469 Ficino composed his commentary on Plato’s Symposium and translated various treatises of Plotinus, Proclus, Porphyry, and Dionysius the Areopagite.


From 1469 to 1474, he developed his “pious philosophy” or “learned religion,” an elaborate Neoplatonic philosophical edifice, in his masterpiece, the Theologia Platonica. Emphasizing that divine poetry and allegory furnish the veil of true religion, which can only be expressed mystically and not in precise syllogisms, Ficino’s system proved quite congenial to several Renaissance poets, authors, and artists.

Central to Ficino’s system were the twin suppositions that the individual constitutes the center of the universe and that the goal of human life lies in the internal ascent of the soul toward the divine or God. Drawing heavily on Plotinus’s Enneads, Ficino pictured the cosmos and everything within it as a great hierarchy of being and described the “One,” or God, as the absolute universal essence.

God is the coincidentia oppositorum, or the reconciliation of all opposites, in whom all things find unity. Embracing infinity within himself, God brings the lesser orders into being through emanations from his substance, resulting in a ladder of bodies, natural attributes, souls, and angelic minds that delineates the way of ascent to the One.

At the center of this ladder, humanity is bound to the material realm by the body and to the intelligible, or spiritual, realm by the soul, which facilitates its rise to divine reunion through contemplation. For Ficino such philosophical contemplation comprises a spiritual experience in which the soul retreats from the body and from all external things into its own being, learning that it is a product of divine emanation and that God is therefore immanent.

Derivative from this conception is the immortality of the soul, as Ficino insists that no mortal entity can partake of the beatific vision. At this juncture Ficino imports Christian theology into his system: Where Plotinus had envisaged a mediator, or demiurge, between the untainted One and the subdivided intelligible and material realm, Ficino identified this mediator with the divine Logos, or Christ, “the Word who became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).

As the intermediary between God and humanity, Christ both serves as an archetype of sanctified humanity and leads fallen humanity to love God. Moreover Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross proves God’s unfailing love for humanity and frees all human souls for the ascent to God.

In order for the individual to reach the divine, however, Ficino contended that the soul must make a leap of spiritual love by loving God for his own sake, thereby attaining participation in the One, who is, by nature, love. This notion of “Platonic love” is the nucleus of Ficino’s philosophy, since the universe is formed and ruled by the ideal of love. Accordingly, four spheres of aesthetic values find their center in the good, the budbahasa nature of God, which is immovable and emanates divine majesty throughout the universe.

Ficino maintained that body and soul could only be inseparable, as they will be in the general resurrection, if they are merged into the activity of love. Therefore love originates in God and manifests as spiritual love in the angelic minds and becomes sensual, pleasurable, and erotic love in the corporeal realm.

Since humans possess free will, they can choose between the spiritual love of the intelligible realm and the erotic love of the physical domain. Ficino postulated a “light metaphysic” in which light is the laughter of heaven and expresses the joy of the communion of saints. This cosmology harmonized nicely with prevailing astrological theories already exerting a profound influence on many Renaissance thinkers.

Most brilliant of Ficino’s pupils was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the youngest son of Francesco Pico, count of Mirandola and Concordia, a small principality just west of Ferrara. Although matriculating at the University of Bologna at 14, he longed for international travel and left on a “student wandering” that took him to universities throughout Germany and France.

At Paris he became fascinated by the study of Scholastic theology and linguistics, learning Latin and Greek, but also Hebrew, Arabic, and other Near Eastern languages. He then took up study of the Kabbalah, or Jewish mystical tradition, and the Talmud. Cultivating his interest in mysticism, the Kabbalah enabled Pico to view the world and all states of affairs therein as revelations of the immanent presence of God.

In 1486 Pico journeyed to Rome, where he published 900 Conclusiones, as a thesis for a public disputation he wished to hold. Pope Alexander VI deemed several of Pico’s theses as heretical and blocked distribution of his small book. In his defense Pico drew up an Apology, which convinced Alexander to exonerate Pico from the anathema and confirm his orthodoxy. As a rhetorical preface to the Conclusiones, Pico wrote his famous “Oration on the Dignity of Man,” perhaps the most influential essay of the Renaissance.

Exceeding the anthropological assessment of his teacher Ficino, Pico asserted that humanity is the king of creation and the product of unique divine design rather than merely the middle link in the great chain of being. Such greatness is based on the human ability to renounce the material and direct all attention and energy to the spiritual aspect.

Attempting to reconcile Neoplatonic philosophy with the Jewish scriptures, Pico followed a line of Jewish exegetical tradition ranging from Philo of Alexandria (30 b.c.e.–50 c.e.) to Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) by interpreting its narratives as symbolic of a deeper and hidden meaning. In 1491 Pico composed the Heptaplus, a mystical commentary on the Genesis creation account, and Of Being and Unity, a philosophical treatise on the relationship between God and the world. He was drawn to the preaching of the friar Savonarola.

Savonarola’s accent of human sinfulness and demands for reform in the church provoked Pico to reflect on the darker side of human life. Pico wrote lamentful commentaries on selected Psalms, including the seven penitential ones (Pss. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), and on the Lord’s Prayer, where he underscored human dependence on God and the desperate human need for divine grace.

For the next two years Pico devised a new way of interpreting classical myths and themes by combining pagan motifs with Christian symbols. For Pico the only correct reading of ancient myths and stories was allegorical, as their true meaning was only to be understood by thorough analysis.

Such a meaning, when found, would always lie within the domain of Christian theology, thus illustrating the harmony of God’s natural revelation through the Gentiles and special revelation in the Bible. The myth of Mars and Venus, for example, foreshadowed the Christian budbahasa sentiments that love triumphs over violence and that reason should control passion.

This method would greatly influence Florentine humanism and art and is perhaps most clearly seen in the mythological paintings of Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510). In 1494 Pico died of a fever, when King Charles VIII of France went to Florence during his invasion of Italy and Savonarola took over governance of the city.

Based on their uniting of “profane wisdom,” or classical myths, with “sacred wisdom,” or Christian teachings, Ficino, Pico, and their followers devised a Neo platonic theory of symbolism, according to which each symbol not only displays the meaning and effect of what is represented, but also becomes interchangeable with it.

By sharing that which is portrayed, art and literature can move the soul to the transcending appreciation of beauty. The Florentine Neoplatonists substantiated this view through a circular relationship of beauty, love, and happiness, where beauty induces love and love generates voluptas, or pleasure. This circle was explained through both Christian theology and Greek mythology.

In Christian thought love is beauty and divine, the longing God has for the salvation of all souls. This love flows out of God and is carried off into the world, transforming the love of God for the world into the love of a person for God; thus beauty is converted into love.

The person becomes a vehicle for God’s love, loving other people for the sake of God, at which point love becomes felicity. The circle is complete when this felicity returns to its Creator in affective piety. For these reasons, the Florentine Neoplatonists regarded both humanistic learning and religion as paths to spiritual life, both culminating in the apprehension of God.

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Born the son of a lawyer in Florence in 1377, Filippo Brunelleschi rejected his father’s choice of a law career and trained as a goldsmith and sculptor. After six years of his apprenticeship he passed the exam and officially became a master in the goldsmith’s guild.

During his apprenticeship, he was a student of Polo Pozzo Toscandli, a merchant and medical doctor, who taught him the principles of mathematics and geometry and how to use the latest technology. Goldsmithing gave him the opportunity to work with clocks, wheels, gears, and weights, a skill that would come in handy for an architect destined to design his innovative dome of the cathedral in Florence.

In 1401–02, he entered a competition for the design of the new Florence Baptistery doors, but he was defeated by another goldsmith and sculptor, Lorenzo Ghiberti. This failure led him to architecture in addition to his artistic career.


In 1418 he entered another competition to design the dome of the Cathedral Maria del Fiore, (also known as the Duomo), in Florence. His design for the octagonal ribbed dome, not finished until 1434, is the work for which he is best known and one of his most important contributions to architecture and construction engineering. Brunelleschi designed special hoisting machines to raise the huge wood and stone elements into place.

He solved the duduk perkara of constructing a huge cupola (dome) without a supporting framework and invented a belt-like reinforcement of iron and sandstone chains to stabilize the outward thrusts at the base of the great dome. His innovative brick-laying techniques were refined in response to the requirements of the steep angles of the vaulting in the dome. It remains the largest masonry dome in the world.

In 1430 and again in 1432 Brunelleschi visited Rome with his friend, Donatello, where he became interested in Roman engineering, especially the use of vaulting and proportion. Influenced by Roman architecture, he used ancient principles in his projects, using Corinthian columns, geometrical balance, and symmetrical order.

the dome of the Cathedral Maria del Fiore

Brunelleschi’s oeuvre includes the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital, 1419–45), the reconstruction of San Lorenzo (1421–60), the Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo (1421), the New Sacristy at San Lorenzo (now known as the Old Sacristy; 1428), the Pazzi Chapel in the Cloisters of Santa Croce (1430), and Santo Spirito (1436).

These works renewed the appearance of Florence. His architectural works in other cities include the Ponte a Mare at Pisa, Palazzo di Parte Guelfa (1425), the unfinished Rotonda degli Angeli (1434), and the Pitti Palace (commissioned by Luca Pitti in 1440 when Brunelleschi was 60 years old) in Rome.

Brunelleschi’s design for the Ospedale degli Innocenti is mathematically based on repeated squares, and by a series of arches supported on columns—a motif later widely borrowed by renaissance architects. Brunelleschi often used the simplest materials: local gray stone (pietra serena) and whitewashed plaster.

The sober, muted colors give an air of peaceful tranquility to the walls of Brunelleschi’s buildings. Brunelleschi reintroduced the pendentive dome (developed long before by the Byzantines) in the Old Sacristy. The arched colonnade from the Ospedale degli Innocenti is again repeated inside the Church of San Lorenzo.

After his death in 1446, Brunelleschi was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore in a tomb that, though it lay unrecognized for centuries, was identified in 1972. There is also a commemorative statue of the architect in the Piazza del Duomo, facing the cathedral. He was a well-known and widely respected designer during his lifetime, and his fame continued long after his death.

Art and Architecture in the Golden Age of Muslim World

Art and Architecture in the Golden Age of Muslim World

Islamic art and architecture is that of the Muslim peoples, who emerged in the early seventh century from the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslim empire reached its peak during the golden age of Islam from the eighth to the 13th century.

Literary and archaeological evidence reveals that the early architecture of the Muslim communities in Medina and Mecca, presented through the prophet Muhammad’s mosque and residence in Medina and through other smaller mosques, continued the indigenous building style based on a rectangular structure with an open internal courtyard and a covered area. Older structures such as the Ka’aba in Mecca continued the ancient Arab architectural style found among the Nabataeans in Petra, Palmyra, South Arabia, and Hatra in Mesopotamia.

In pre-Islamic times, the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and its surrounding regions lived in scattered minority communities of Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian peoples among a majority of pagans or polytheists.


To these people, great legendary architectural palaces, castles, temples, and churches were still-vivid memories signifying power and prestige. They were recorded in poetry and other literary forms and associated with famous cities such as Petra, Palmyra, Hatra, Hira, Madain Salih, Kinda, Najran, Marib, and Sana.

Pre-Islamic records and literary evidence attest to the existence of visual art forms, especially sculpture and painting, which were employed primarily to disseminate copies of icons and sculptural depictions of the many deities and idols worshipped in the region.

For example monumental statues of major deities like Hubal, Allat, Al-Uzza, and others were still standing in public locations and temples on the eve of the advent of Islam prior to 630. Small-scale statues and figurines were abundantly available among the pre-Islamic population, and makers of images were active in such cities as Mecca and Taif.

Wall paintings from the early Islamic secular buildings in Syria, Jordan, and Iraq reveal important examples of a blending of Mesopotamian, Sassanian, Hellenistic, and indigenous Arab styles. Architectural planning of early Muslim mosques in Egypt and North Africa reveals borrowing from ancient Egyptian architecture.

Early Islamic Art and Architecture

Great Mosque of Damascus

The prophet Muhammad died in 632 and within a few years the newly emerged Islamic state expanded quickly and swiftly claimed the realms of both the Sassanian and Byzantine Empires. In less than 100 years the new politicoreligious model reached the steppes of Central Asia and the Pyrenees in Europe.

As the Muslim community expanded, the need for a central place of worship emerged and was realized by the development of the mosque—a French distortion of the word masjid or “place of prostration.” Islam, a nonclerical, nonliturgical faith, does not employ ritualistic surroundings and the first mosque was actually the open courtyard of the house of the prophet Muhammad in Medina. It functioned as a meeting place and community center.

Later this tradition expanded to the establishment of a central mosque called al-Masjid al-Jami'—“the great mosque”—in every major city. With it developed the characteristics of the mosque and its components: an open courtyard (sahn); a roofed area for prayer (musallah) with a dome (qubba); a niche in the wall of the prayer area (mihrab) to indicate the direction of prayer (qiblat) toward the Ka’aba in Mecca; an elevated platform (mimbar), from which the congregational leader delivered the sermon; a tower (minaret), from which the call to prayer (adzhan) was issued; and an ablution place for performing the ritual washing before each prayer (wudhu).

This basic arrangement of functional space found in early mosques in Basra, Kufa, and Wasit in Iraq, and later in the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and elsewhere, became the prototype of traditional Islamic mosque architecture.

The rapidly growing state demanded a new Islamic architectural style that developed gradually, acquired new forms, and incorporated diverse methods of visual expression. During the golden age of Islamic civilization a blend of architectural designs and motifs from South and North Arabian, Byzantine, Hellenistic, Indian, Chinese, and other origins was employed in a new building kegiatan throughout the Islamic world.

Whatever the variety of its components, the jawaban result always presented a unique Arab Islamic style, especially in the early period, where the architecture and art were unified by strong Arab characteristics that can be detected in the art of the Umayyads in Syria, the Andalus in Spain, the Abbasids in Iraq, and the Fatimids in Egypt.

The Arabic language, derived from the Semitic Aramaic language, played a decisive role in the formation of Islamic culture and art. Arabic was the official and original language of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Arabic was a powerful cultural and literary vehicle with which to disseminate Arab culture throughout the new and diverse Muslim communities in the recently expanded regions of Central Asia, Anatolia, the Mediterranean coasts, Sicily, and Spain.

Verses of the Qur’an were inscribed in elegant Kufic and Thulth calligraphic styles on the interior and exterior of major mosques in Jerusalem, Damascus, Basra, Fustat, Tunisia, Sicily, and Spain in a variety of techniques such as stucco, wood carving, and ceramic tiles. The mosque thus became a unifying architectural form and symbol of the monotheistic concept of Islam.

Islam adopted an aniconic style in art that does not promote figurative representation. In the Qur’an, the sunna (manners, ethics, behavior, and social practice of the prophet Muhammad), and hadith (collection of sayings of Muhammad pertaining to a variety of topics, and everyday life situations), depiction of living forms is discouraged and according to certain interpretations is banned altogether, especially in religious environments such as mosques.

Sunni orthodox interpretation of figurative representation characterized it as an act of defying the power of God, who alone was ascribed the ability of creation. Furthermore the depiction of human beings was also thought to be reminiscent of and an encouragement of pre-Islamic idol worship.

These sanctions prompted Muslim artists to create a new form of expression based on the use of Arabic calligraphy—literal meaning and visual composition—and decorative ornamentations. The corroboration of these two powerful visual vocabularies with the already developed conventional Islamic components characterized Islamic art distinctly and continuously.

Umayyads: 661–750 c.e.

Borrowing, blending, and modifying motifs, forms, and techniques from Byzantine and Sassanian sources and incorporating them into the indigenous Arabic style characterize the art and architecture of this formative period. This approach was presented through the architectural planning and iconographic design in major buildings, both religious and secular.

Interior of Umayyad mosque

In the eastern Mediterranean region a new blend of styles and motifs was incorporated in the early Umayyad buildings. Mosaic decoration, a preferred Byzantine medium, is evident in the case of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, completed in 692; the Great Mosque of Damascus, completed in 715; and the desert palaces in the Syrian regions.

Presentation of power, triumph of the new religion, and the emphasis on Islamic theology in early Islamic art were realized through the use of monumental architectural forms, calligraphy, and the ornamental aniconic patterns as in the case of the Dome of the Rock, or the figurative representations in painting and sculpture at the desert palaces Qusayr Amra, Khirbat al-Mafjar, and Mshatta in the Syrian region, and during the early Abbasid period in palaces in Samarra and Baghdad in Iraq.

Abbasids: 750–1258 c.e.

Beginning around the 10th century the synthesis of Islam and Arab culture was modified by the emergence of decentralized, mostly non-Arab political powers such as the Samanids in Iran and the Ghaznavids in Afghanistan, the Seljuk dynasty in Anatolia, the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt and Tunisia, and the Almoravid Empire (al-Murabitun) and Almohads (al-Muwahhidun) in the western areas of Islamic lands.

These dynasties and mini independent states contributed to the spread of Islam and consolidated their political power in the Andalus in Spain and established bases in the heart of India with the Delhi Sultanate in 1206. Traders and merchants carried Islam as a religion and culture deep into Africa and Central Asia, and across the sea routes to Indonesia.

These new political powers with their cultural trends added new riches to the diverse collection of Islamic science, literature, art, and architecture. Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid dynasty, became the center of knowledge and scientific development.

The Islamic Renaissance

The Islamic renaissance, which witnessed tremendous advances in every field, prompted architects, visual artists, calligraphers, and artisans of all sorts to collaborate in the production of a vast body of monuments, masterpieces, and manuscripts.

A great number of these manuscripts were embellished and illustrated with fine visual presentations, such as the 13th century Maqamat al-Hariri illustrated by Mahmoud bin Yehya al-Wasiti, whose style set a standard for what is conventionally known as the Baghdad school of al-Wasiti. The diverse cultural input of new ethnic groups from Iran, Anatolia, Central Asia, India, and the Mediterranean region enriched the Islamic art repertoire.

interior of the great mosque of cordoba

Figurative illustrations gradually populated manuscripts, especially those of a literary or scientific nature. Figurative representation was used during the Abbasid, Fatimid, Seljuk, Mamluk, and later periods as well. It is important to note that depictions of human figures, although employed by both Shi’i and Sunni artists and patrons, were most common with Shi’i and Sufiart.

In architecture, a blend of new elements from the recently acquired territories was incorporated in the design of mosques, hospitals (maristan), schools (madrasat), Sufi foundations (khanaqah), tombs, shrines, palaces, and gardens. This incorporation furthered and enhanced the defi nition of a distinct Islamic style. Muslim architects developed and employed the pointed arch as early as 776 at the al-Ukhaydhir palace in Iraq and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 780.

The pointed arch concentrates the thrust of the vault on a narrow vertical line, reducing the lateral thrust on foundation and allowing for higher walls. The double tier arch and the horseshoe arch were developed and used in the Great Mosque of Damascus in 715 and transmitted later to the Andalus in Spain and employed in the Great Mosque of Córdoba.

The square minaret appeared for the first time at the Great Mosque of Damascus and was transmitted later to North Africa and Spain. The pointed arch, horseshoe arch, and the square minaret impacted European architecture and were adopted in Romanesque churches and monasteries and especially in the Gothic cathedral and its towers. Much of the Islamic golden age achievement passed on to Europe through Sicily, Spain, Jerusalem, and other important centers in the Islamic world.

Muqarnas is probably the most distinct and magnificent architectural decorative element developed by Muslim architects around the 10th century, simultaneously in the eastern Islamic world and North Africa. Muqarnas is a three-dimensional architectural decoration composed of nichelike elements arranged in multiple layers. Soon after its appearance, muqarnas became an essential architectural ingredient in major buildings of the Islamic world in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sicily, North Africa, and Spain.

Muqarnas structures, augmented with the elegant Arabic calligraphy, floral design, and geometric patterns typically called arabesque, produced a dazzling visual composition that characterized the beauty of such places as the interior of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem or the Masjid al-Jami’ in Isfahan, among other examples.

This composition, accentuated by bands of the Kufic and Thulth styles of Arabic calligraphy, added spiritual and poetic dimensions to the adorned buildings and objects. Qur’anic texts usually cover the exterior and interior of religious buildings with verses and chapters at various locations in the building.

Poetry, proverbs, and celebrated sayings may cover secular buildings and nonreligious objects such as dishes, plates, and jewelry boxes. The continuous patterns and repetition of ornaments covering walls and ceilings, running along naves, arcades, and archways, echo a rhythmic tone that originates from one pattern and multiplies in endless, complex, repeated, and variant patterns.

It defines the unity in multiplicity of Islamic decorative style. This attractive visual system was so impressive that some early Renaissance artists could not resist copying and imitating bands of Kufic inscriptions to decorate the clothing of the figure of the Virgin Mary and other biblical figures and angels in paintings of the period.

The golden age of Islam witnessed the emergence of elegant visual art and magnificent architectural achievements that had a major influence on succeeding periods, with its characteristics echoing throughout the Safavid, Mogul, and Ottoman periods.

Heian

Heian building

The term Heian is derived from modern-day Kyoto’s previous name of Heian-kyo, a city founded in 794. The literal translation of Heian-kyo is “Capital of Peace and Tranquility” and was meant to reflect its peaceful and protected surroundings. The literal translation of Heian is “peace” in Japanese.

Located near the village of Uda, between the Katsura and Kamo Rivers, and with Mount Hiei providing spectacular natural geographical protection, the new capital was similar in design to the Chinese city Chang’an and was built according to Chinese feng shui principles. Heian-kyo was the center of political power and the capital of Japan until 1868, when the Meiji Restoration saw Emperor Kammu move to the city of Edo.

Edo was then renamed as Tokyo (Eastern Capital) to illustrate the shift in power. The Imperial Court remained at Heian-kyo. The Heian period witnessed the emergence of a Japanese identity that was distinct from Chinese influences and is often regarded as a golden age of Japanese culture.


The Heian period can be broken into three distinct eras. The first period, referred to as the Early Heian era, witnessed the foundation of Heian-Kyo in 794 b.c.e. and extended to around the late 960s b.c.e. The Middle Heian period extended to 1067 c.e. and was characterized by the rule of the Fujiwara clan and their courtly behavior. The Late Heian period extended to 1192 and is known for the insei (cloistered government) and for providing the framework for the establishment of the feudal system in Japan.

The move to Heian-kyo from the capital Nagaoka was necessary to curb the increasing struggles over the throne. The ongoing clan struggles resulted in Emperor Kammu taking drastic political and social reforms to try to stabilize the situation. As a result the Heian period experienced one of the longest periods of sustained peace in classical Japanese history.

Four noble families attempted to control the political scene during the Early Heian period. The Minamoto, Tachibana, Taira, and Fujiwara families all tried to influence the political atmosphere for the benefit of their own interests and pursuits. During the Middle period the Fujiwara family clearly dominated the government and because of familial ties influenced the imperial family.

The families required the services of the warrior classes to provide protection (much like security guards) thus creating the initial surge in the samurai and bushi numbers. Another important family that emerged during the Late Heian period, the Taira, eventually overthrew the Fujiwara family. The Minamoto clan then overthrew the Taira.

The Early period was also defined by the start of a clear religious doctrinal change. There was movement away from the Chinese influenced Neo-Confucianism toward a Buddhist religious perspective that echoed aspects of Japan’s indigenous religion Shinto. The imperial court adopted Mahayana Buddhism relatively quickly and it in turn merged with aspects of Shinto to create an essentially Japanese religion (called Shinbutso Shugo) that flourished.

It was during this period that Shinto architecture and art started to transform and mass temple building began. Buddhist artisans were abundant and produced sculptures as religious objects, but also as art objects for wealthy families. Stoneware and bronze were used by both the imperial households and the lay people, while the emperor preferred silver for monastic and royal events.

Metal craft reached its pinnacle during the Heian era, particularly during the Middle to Late periods, where samurai armor incorporated various motifs (according to the house that they served) and sword-smiths began to engrave their swords with their names. Armor was held in such high regard that the most powerful families and warlords offered them to Shinto shrines as holy relics.

The Early period also witnessed the introduction of new Buddhist sects called the Tendai (Heavenly Terrace) in 805 b.c.e. by Saicho and the Shingon (True Word), and in 806 b.c.e. by Kukai. The introduction of these sects contributed to stylistic changes in architecture—for example, Shingon temples adopted the use of the pagoda.

Pure Land Buddhism also began to take root within Heian society and around the same time Korean monks started introducing the now well-known Zen (or Ch’an) Buddhism. Gardens were used as contemplative areas and there was a movement toward meditative practice. Cultural festivals (Buddhist, Shinto, and Confucian) shaped the whole Heian period, and more festivals were introduced and conceived, including the Cherry-Blossom Feast and the Feast of Red Autumn Foliage.

The concept of art underwent a transformation during the Heian periods—it was used for aesthetic as well as religious purposes, and new art practices were created. Art for art’s sake was encouraged and artists, poets, and writers began to create and recognize a distinct Japanese identity.

Secular paintings and art have been referred to in literature of the day; however very little survived to the present. Japanese artists would paint sutras (Buddhist writings) or intricate landscapes onto folding fans, which became highly desirable and exported items during this period.

Heian painting

Literature also started to become fashionable, especially diaries of court providing details of life inside the palace. The most popular book of the early periode was Makura no soshi (The Pillow Book) written by Sei Shonagon. Sei came from a literary family, her father Kiyohara Motosuke (a poet) and her great-grandfather the well-known Fukayabu.

It in turn influenced many other writers to pen their experiences in the imperial household, thus creating a distinct phase of early Japanese literature. Monogatari-e (illustrations for novels) emerged during the late 10th century and was viewed as the perfect coupling of prose and painting. It became the preferred pastime of those in the imperial household and during the Late Heian period, art competitions and shows were commonplace.

The Heian Middle to Late period is generally viewed as the most productive sociocultural period in Japanese history, as it marked a move away from Chinese influence on culture, society, and religion toward the creation of an essentially Japanese identity. The Middle Heian period witnessed a flourishing of literary and artistic pursuits and is often described as the “early” history of Japan.

During the late stages of the Early Heian period and blossoming during the Middle period, a new writing system was developed. Based upon syllables (hiragana and katakana), the new kana writing system allowed for the creation of Japanese literature and texts without depending upon kanji. It initiated a new sociocultural identity, a unique Japanese perspective that would profoundly influence Japanese life.

Calligraphy and calligraphers were attached to imperial offices and were required to provide calligraphy for things as diverse as imperial temple walls and hanging scrolls. New calligraphy styles such as “Women’s Hand” became widely recognized because of their use in calligraphic poems. It was also popular to determine one’s character by the style of writing, and use of medium.

A favorite pastime of imperial ladies was to swap poetry in elaborate folded pieces of paper, using different fasteners to convey hidden meanings. Decorative paper was highly prized and paper collages became an art form that has continued to the present time. The majority of lay people (other than the warrior classes) were not exposed to such hobbies as most were illiterate.

Literary forms experienced change with the advent of court diaries and their tendency toward long sections of prose and observation. The Middle to Late Heian period witnessed a further flourishing of literature. The establishment of an office of poetry by the imperial court in 951 accounted for the initial explosion of interest in waka (tradtional Japanese poetry).

Diplomatic ties were increasingly cut with the Chinese Tang (T’ang) dynasty during the Middle Heian period and thus there was a movement away from the Chinese style of poetry (kanshi). There were frequent poetry contests between noble contestants—the imperial palace often acting as a backdrop to the proceedings. Although the Heian court demanded its subjects write in Chinese, they compromised by writing sections of their poems with Japanese script toward the end of the prose.

A popular literary writer of the Middle to Late Heian period was Murasaki Shikibu, who created a sensation with her novel Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji). Written around 1000 to 1008, it is often credited as the world’s first novel. The novel relates the customs and practices common to the Heian era. Men and women of high status powdered their faces white.

The imperial households wore stately robes, which were modeled on Chinese state robes. Several types of hats were worn, depending upon rank and the formality of the events. Women in the court would wear white silk with heavy brocade jackets and wore their hair long, often with the aid of wig attachments. It was fashionable to leave it unfastened so it flowed freely.

The Late Heian period witnessed what could be described as an elitist form of social hierarchy; it was highly formalized and exclusive. Although the Heian period underwent enormous social and cultural change it was economically stagnant; thus the majority of people were poor and uneducated.

Little social or cultural change occurred within this class with the exception of the rise of the warrior class, which was able to exist on the fringes of both classes with relative ease. Despite this, the Heian period left a great cultural heritage and contributed toward the social and cultural psyche of modern Japan.

Johann Gutenberg

Johann Gutenberg

The dissemination of knowledge occurred more quickly after Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440. Gutenberg, the son of a businessman named Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, was born in Mainz, Germany, and was a goldsmith by profession. Movable type made of wooden blocks had been developed by the Chinese but was a time-consuming process.

In Holland and Prague, experiments on a sophisticated printing process were already taking place. Gutenberg’s goal was to reproduce medieval liturgical manuscripts by using movable pieces of metal blocks for each letter. Many copies of a book were printed without loss of color and design. An assembled page was placed into a frame, and afterward a heavy screw forced the printing block against the paper. He combined paper technology along with oil-based ink.

With the financial backing of a rich German lawyer, Johann Fust, Gutenberg established the first printing press, ushering in an kala of enlightenment. A large portion of society received an opportunity to read, and literacy was not confined to church, monastery, and nobility. The labor-intensive hand copying of books was no longer necessary, while the printing of books became fast and inexpensive.


Gutenberg published the 42 Line Bible, or the Gutenberg Bible, in Mainz in 1445 after two years of hard labor. Each column had 42 lines, and the whole Latin Bible had 1,282 pages. He printed 180 copies, out of which 47 are still extant. The words from the original Bible were not changed.

He sold copies of the Biblia Sacra at the Frankfurt Book Fair of 1455. Adolf of Nassau, the elector of Mainz, gave him a benefice in 1465. Gutenberg printed indulgences, slips of paper used by the church. He also produced parts of Aelius Donatus’s Latin grammar, Ars Minor, which had 24 editions. Persons trained by him established their own printing presses.

Within a span of 50 years about 100,000 publications emerged. In libraries, books were to be distinguished from archival materials. Very soon, literacy expanded with the printing of maps, posters, pamphlets, and newspapers. Novel ideas of Renaissance Europe were fostered and preserved. National languages replaced Latin, a change important for the creation of nation-states.

The invention of the printing press was received with opposition from the Catholic Church. The printers of Mainz fled after an attack from soldiers of the archbishop of Nassau in 1462. But European cities benefited from the printers’ skill.

Some of the elite did not want to keep printed books along with hand-copied manuscripts in libraries. This dissipated gradually, and the printing press spread all over Europe. In 1476 William Caxton established the first printing press in England at Westminster.

printing press

He published Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’ Arthur. In the 1480s, a printing press opened in Andalusia, Spain. By the end of the 15th century, the printing industry existed in 250 cities of Europe. The 1,000 printing presses published 35,000 titles and 20 million copies.

Afterward, Roman type styles replaced Gothic types and metal screws were used in place of wooden ones. The printing press in the 15th century was modest compared to a modern press. A standard press having five workers could publish only five books a year, but an important discovery had been made in the history of human civilization.

Statues of Gutenberg adorn many places in Germany and notable institutions are named after him. Gutenberg is credited with transforming medieval Europe into a modern society, bringing about a scientific revolution.