HIST108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Pope Pius Ii, Liberal Democracy, Eurocentrism
Roots of liberal democracy, capitalism, science and learning comes from a European origin.
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Globalisation --> From Eurocentric history to global history
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But Europe has shaped our globalised world.
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Europe as a mental human construct, no geographical boundaries.
What was Europe in medieval Europe
T n O map
Rare occasions of the use of the term 'Europa' rarely used in the middle ages. 0.18
East is at the top of the medieval map.
Before "Europe': Christianitas or respublica Christiana (Christendom)
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The Europeans' collective identity: 'Christian' (Islamic world)
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Viewed through a Christian lens.
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Common identity: religious
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Common religion: Christianity
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Common language: Latin --> almost exclusively used by elite intellectuals, priests, clergymen and
academics.
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Medieval Christiandom
The crisis of the medieval Church- The Great Schism (1378)
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The Protestant Reformation (1517)- Martin Luther's protest at Wittenburg, Germany.
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95 Thesis condemning the corruption of the Roman Catholic church, divide of Catholics and
protestant, then further divided, Lutherans etc.
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Increased used of vernacular languages. In the middle ages the Bible was only available in Latin,
later translated into many other languages, English, German etc. loss of language unity.
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Identity Crisis
Europeans begin to discover the world outside of the Islamic world, India, China etc.
Forced to have new geographical and cultural awareness of the world.
The crisis of religious identity and the discovery of the outside world --> new identity: "European"
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Pope Pius II (pope, 1458-1464) wrote Europa (1458) and Asia (1461)
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New Identity: "European"
Jesus depicted on the top of the map- represented as a ruler of the
world. Modelled on the OT map. Top of map Asia, bottom left
Europa and bottom right Africa.
Centre of the map is supposed to be Jerusalem, two faces 'Adam
and Eve' and the garden of Eden.
Medieval believed that 'monsters'
inhabited the parts of the world they had
not visited.
The Idea of Europe
Lecture 2: HIST108
Thursday, 11 July 2019
11:57 AM
HIST108 Page 1
Document Summary
Roots of liberal democracy, capitalism, science and learning comes from a european origin. Globalisation --> from eurocentric history to global history. Europe as a mental human construct, no geographical boundaries. Rare occasions of the use of the term "europa" rarely used in the middle ages. East is at the top of the medieval map. Jesus depicted on the top of the map- represented as a ruler of the world. Centre of the map is supposed to be jerusalem, two faces "adam and eve" and the garden of eden. Medieval believed that "monsters" inhabited the parts of the world they had not visited. Common language: latin --> almost exclusively used by elite intellectuals, priests, clergymen and academics. The crisis of the medieval church- the great schism (1378) The protestant reformation (1517)- martin luther"s protest at wittenburg, germany. 95 thesis condemning the corruption of the roman catholic church, divide of catholics and protestant, then further divided, lutherans etc.
