Power and Religion in Medieval and Renaissance Times

The sixteenth century in Europe was a period of vigorous economic expansion that led to social, political, religious, and cultural transformations and established the early modern age. This resource explores the emergence of monarchial nation-states and early Western capitalism during this period. Also examined in depth are the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, which exacerbated tensions between states and contributed to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Readers will come to understand how these events developed, how they led to the age of exploration, and how they inform modern European history.

Although once regarded as a time of uninterrupted ignorance, superstition, and social oppression, the Middle Ages are now understood as a dynamic period during which the idea of Europe as a distinct cultural unit emerged. This title dives into late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, a time when political, social, economic, and cultural structures were profoundly reorganized. As Roman imperial traditions gave way to those of the Germanic peoples who established kingdoms in the former Western Empire, new forms of political leadership were introduced, and the population of Europe was gradually Christianized.

The modern period of history is often considered to have begun with the Renaissance, one of the rare periods of genius in the world's history. This volume traces the Renaissance from its beginnings in Italy in the fourteenth century to its spread across the rest of Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Along with the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman writing, the Renaissance represented a new age in the fields of science, literature, religion, politics, and many others. Readers will learn about the great thinkers of their era and how their beliefs radically changed the landscape of Europe.

The Middle Ages were marked by economic and territorial expansion, demographic and urban growth, the emergence of national identity, and the restructuring of secular and ecclesiastical institutions. Readers will learn about the great achievements of the ninth through twelfth centuries, a time when people were often categorized into three orders: those who fight, those who pray, and those who labor. Other notable events and phenomena examined in this authoritative history include the Carolingian renaissance, the Crusades, Gothic art and architecture, the papal monarchy, the birth of the university, and the recovery of ancient Greek thought.