Good old Cowie

So finally, and lastly, we'll be looking at simply the age of the enlightenment in relation to what Cowie says about it. I am sure I have spoken about many of these points many times throughout all my blogs so I feel that it would be the most appropriate just to reiterate them through dot points and a few of Cowie's quotes (I still can't get over how useful this book has been).

Medieval Period and the Feudal system

A simplified diagram of the Feudal system

• After the collapse of the Roman Empire, raids and acts of looting and plundering were common. The people were reduced to a state where survival was of highest priority due to the uncertain nature of things --> "In such an atmosphere, the vital relationship between progress and security became evident. If a society lacks security, people can only live at the barest level of subsistence" --> With this fear people sought protection "at any cost"
• Often, with this condition, a supreme leader would offer his or her (rarely 'her') protection to the people in exchange for their loyalty and commonly a 'fief'. The latin term for this particular contract was called a 'feodum', which evolved to describe the kind of society at the time; a Feudal System --> "The Feudal system was thus a product of the condition of insecurity that developed as the Roman Empire crumbled away and the rule of law collapsed."
• In the Feudal system "a condition of vassalage assured obedience" --> The peasants were a vassal to the barons and lords, and the barons and lords were a vassal to the King
• Due to this system of loyalty it generally became accepted that the King ruled by 'divine right' (meaning his power was bestowed upon him by God) --> There were no liberties or freedoms in this society, only one's allegiance to the 'overlord'. 

The Role of the Christian Church

• Many people within the society were illiterate and could not read, nor were permitted to read the bible --> "The priests held the power of communication between ordinary people and God, and could withdraw this right from offenders"
• Having the power of knowledge, the church in this case had the ability to manipulate and in many ways 'control' the minds of people because of their fear of the 'overlords' and those above them --> "Everyone, from powerful Barons to peasants acknowledged the authority of the Church, which controlled the peoples minds and allowed no independence of thought

I think we can see, especially now, why the enlightenment destroyed the Feudal system and the authority of the church. Both in this case were founded upon the fear of the people, and through offering the people what they were so desperate to achieve - protection, they were able to take advantage of and manipulate them. Once this fear was no longer present, as will be seen after the renaissance, enlightenment, age of reason etc, the people began to question the idea of a supreme and omnipotent ruler. 

Features of Modern Society 

• The Renaissance: Sometimes known as the 'revival of learning' stressed the importance of knowledge and human improvement in society. It began to value academia over the Church --> "Concern for learning was now developing in a secular city-dwelling group, a group that had emerged as a result of the practice of investing capital in the search for profit from commercial venues"
• The Age of Discovery: expanded from the desire to learn more about the past into a search for knowledge of other parts of the world - led to imperialism and expansion of empires
• The Reformation: The challenging of the church and its weakening over the new sense of enquiry as a result of the Renaissance. --> "The role of the Church as a leading influence in society was coming under challenge... The long accepted dominance of the papacy was now regarded as an irksome intrusion upon personal rights" --> "Even more significantly, the Reformation provided an example of defiance of long-established authority, a precedent for later revolutions" - The Reformation was hence key in demonstrating to people that they did hold power and were more superior than they were originally made out to be. 
• The Bourgeoise: When the need for protection was coming to an end, people began to spread beyond towns and cities. This eventually resulted in the birth of another class, the middle class --> "As their wealth increased and they became more economically powerful, they naturally wanted a say in how the society was organised and regulated. Under the Feudal system the bourgeoise had no role and no status" - and obviously, the desire for role and status would have had a huge impact on the fate of revolutions
• The Age of Reason: previously people had been told what to practice and what to believe and they did so without question --> "Their capacity to think creatively had been largely negated by the authority of the Church, which claimed the right to interpret the teachings of God." --> Due to the renaissance and reformation people began to believe that they had what was called 'the gift of reason' and therefore no order or church in this case should manipulate what they do or how they think --> "In a great age of intellectual discovery called the enlightenment or the age of reason the leaders... emphasised seeking reasons, criticised existing practices, analysing problems and finding solutions... They wanted the individual to be free from the restraints on thought, religion and commercial enterprise imposed by the church and the monarchy. They wanted a new society based on rational principles rather than tradition"- and hence with such a strong opposition to what was practiced currently in their society, the need for revolution became visible. 
• The Rights of the Individual: this movement looked at the idea that if the authority of the church could be questioned, so could the authority of the monarch. For centuries it was generally accepted by all society that a person would be born within a particular class and would stay there by obligation for all their lives, all the above movements challenged this idea. --> It was posed to the society by many philosophers of the enlightenment that "the true function of government was not to impose laws upon the people but to discover what the laws of nature were and to protect and preserve the natural rights of people"

PHEW! That took a LOT longer than I had anticipated but all of it was extremely relevant and important background context of my topic. And whilst yes, it is 'background context', this particular background is extremely important in establishing where the ideas came from and how they came about. Even more specifically, what the ideas were. In knowing all this it will be much easier to answer my focus question for this Modern presentation. There is now one last step for my modern task: how to answer the question. But until next time.

VIVA LA REVOLUTION