The History of the Middle Ages

GA 51 — 29 December 1904, Berlin

X. The Rise of Science

We are advancing further and further in our examination of history to the times when the great inventions and discoveries took place in the 15th century.

A new era begins. This new era is of particular interest from a historical perspective; its characteristic features mark the transition to the formation of the great states of Europe. We have seen how the transition from feudal power to modern princely power developed. On the one hand, it represents a reaction to old remnants from earlier times and only in a certain sense a renewal. What remained of the old claims of princes and dukes gathered its strength again and determined the map of Europe through its family and private relationships.

Land ownership had been replaced by the dominance of the cities, the bourgeoisie flourished, and all the actual cultural factors emanated from the cities. The empire had declined to a shadow power; after a long interregnum, Rudolf of Habsburg was elected, but the emperor had become very unnecessary in the empire and hardly needed to show himself there anymore. The Habsburg dynasty is only striving to increase its power through this imperial authority wherever its rights remain outside the power of the cities. It is a simple process that is taking place here; the other princes and dukes are also gathering what they have left to strengthen their power bases, thus laying the foundation for large political territories.

The Mongol invasion, and later the incursions of the Turks, provide the impetus for this. Only the larger princes are able to defend their territories; the smaller ones join forces with the more powerful ones, thus forming the basis for future states. The new emperor meant very little. As mentioned, Rudolf of Habsburg was only interested in establishing a power base. After defeating Ottokar of Bohemia, his son was enfeoffed with Ottokar's lands, and later the Habsburg power base was strengthened by the acquisition of new territories through marriage.

The only thing that interests us about all these purely private enterprises is that they led to the uprising of the Swiss Confederates, who wanted to be free from the claims made on them by Rudolf of Habsburg's successor, Emperor Albrecht I. Through hard fighting, they achieved independence from imperial power—they became directly subordinate to the empire—and wanted nothing to do with princely power.

The desire to expand their own power base continued under the following emperors; Adolf of Nassau, for example, seized a large part of Thuringia, which he wrested from the weak princes. Albrecht of Austria and his successor Heinrich of Luxembourg also sought to enrich themselves in this way, the latter by marrying his son to a Bohemian princess. This is a typical example of the development of the conditions at that time.

This trend continued with the renewed growth of ecclesiastical power, but at the same time there was also a growing trend that wanted nothing to do with the church. The teachings of the Waldensians or Cathars had a provocative effect, and there were fierce battles against the resurgent power of the princes. The situation of the peasants, which had improved with the emergence of the cities, was now becoming increasingly oppressive due to feudalism and robber barons, the bishoprics and abbeys to which they had to pay tribute. The cities had enjoyed a period of prosperity, when the principle “city air makes you free” applied. — But over time, many cities had fallen into dependence, with the Hohenstaufen dynasty in particular succeeding in bringing many cities under their control. Now the cities sought to prevent further influx, putting an end to it and seeking princely protection here as well. As a result, the peasant population became increasingly dependent on their landlords. The mood of the oppressed was stirred up by the Waldensians and heretics, for whom the Church was no longer enough.

The cry for freedom and the Christian-heretical mood went hand in hand; religious sentiment merged with political movement, and this popular sentiment found its expression in the Peasants' Wars. Anyone who wants to understand this intellectual heretical sentiment, independent of external churchliness and princely power, must bear in mind that, especially in the Rhine regions – “the priests' alley of the Holy Roman Empire” – fierce battles were fought for decades by the princely powers against this movement. Popular preachers, mainly from the Dominican Order, resisted, and indeed a dispute arose among the preachers because they refused to submit to the oppression of the people by papal authority. They disagreed with the political power of the papacy and the expansion of princely power.

The French kings saw the papacy as a support in their struggle with the German princely powers. Thus, the pope was led to Avignon, and for about seventy years the popes had their seat there. Henry of Luxembourg fought against the pope, who was supported by the King of France. Thus, the pope of Avignon ruled over Christendom from France, and as the princes increasingly asserted their power over their vassals, the popes strove to expand their power even further. The secular clergy, the powerful abbeys and bishoprics were dependent on the Pope. Meanwhile, the princes arbitrarily redrew the map of Europe. Emperor Charles IV united Brandenburg, Hungary, and Bohemia under his rule. The imperial dignity has become a title, the emperors are content to administer their private lands, and the imperial title is traded by the princes.

If we want to understand the actual history, we must bear in mind how the great transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era consisted in the princes using this discontented mood for their own private interests; we see the states that are forming spreading their tentacles over a centuries-long popular movement, and this movement is being used for religious freedom, first to fight the papacy and suppress its power, and then to sneak into this position of power themselves.

This movement developed from the depths of the people's soul; it aspired to something completely different from what the Reformation ultimately brought about. The secularized clergy had become just as oppressive as the secular princes. The urban population, in its selfishness, did not feel compelled to side with the oppressed; only when their own freedom was threatened did we see them striving to preserve that freedom. Thus, they did not succeed in asserting themselves in the Swabian League of Cities and in the Palatinate, so that new princely power emerged here as well.

Even during the reign of Emperor Sigismund, a peculiar religious movement broke out in Bohemia. A movement that spread under a man who — whether one acknowledges or denies what he stood for — relied only on his own convictions; convictions based on the purest will, on the fire in his own breast. This man was John Hus of Hussonetz, preacher and professor at the University of Prague. Supported by something that was spreading throughout Europe—for even before that, Wiclif had been pushing for the restoration of original Christianity in England—but which was given special brilliance by the fiery eloquence of this outstanding man, Hus found approval everywhere. His words found acceptance everywhere because one only had to point to the shameful behavior of the secular clergy, the sale of bishoprics, and so on. They were words that touched the heart, for they proclaimed something that was a mood throughout Europe and only came to the fore where a personality was found who gave it expression. The popes and antipopes had thrown the Church into disorder, and the popes themselves had to do something. Thus, the Council of Constance was convened. It marked a turning point in medieval life. The aim was to transform the Church into a pure institution. This project set in motion a lively opposition. Political motives played a role, and Emperor Sigismund himself was keenly interested. The worst abuses of the Church were to be remedied, for the clergy had become completely degenerate, and incredible abuses had also crept into the monasteries. In Italy, Savonarola had begun his powerful agitation against the secularization of the Church. The Council wanted to deal with this as well. The chairman of the council was Gerson, the head of the University of Paris, a second Tauler for the Romance countries. This fact was significant for the outcome of the council, because with Gerson's help, the emperor was able to wrest leadership from the papacy and put an end to Hussitism. Because this movement had nothing to do with the exercise of political power, but sprang from the deepest Folk-soul, it was so dangerous to the spiritual and especially the secular rulers. It was not Rome alone, but also the rising power of the princes that Hus fell victim to. The Hussites waged their war for a republican Christianity not only against the Church, but also against the approaching power of the princes.

In Protestantism, however, this power allied itself with religious discontent in order to exploit it for its own purposes. The actions of Hus's followers were thus doomed to failure because princely power had triumphed. Otherwise, the emperors of that time did not have any particular power: Emperor Frederick II, for example, was commonly referred to as the “useless emperor.”

This gives us a picture of the peculiar developments of that time. In the increasingly emerging cities, life flourished, whereas in those areas where feudal power prevailed, oppression continued to grow. At the same time, in the realm of deeper religious life, influenced by these two factors, a powerful movement emerged, as exemplified by the appearance of Wycliffe and Hus. Italy offers us a brilliant picture of that urban life in its city-states; in Florence, for example, it was the Medici merchants who had a fundamental influence on Italian culture. All these cities were decisive cultural factors.

You will understand, then, that the means by which power was otherwise attained were no longer sufficient. In the Middle Ages, apart from the clergy who worked in monasteries and civil service, no one could read or write. Now this situation has changed. Reading and writing are spreading through the new currents that are now flooding the masses. The great writing institutes distributed copies of what was previously forbidden to the people, and these copies were bought just like books later on: writings from the New Testament, popular science books, books of myths, legends, heroes, and medicine were thrown to the people in the 14th century.

As already mentioned, schools had been established everywhere, particularly by the Brothers of the Common Life. Along the Rhine in particular, what had previously been hidden in monasteries was now brought to light. A formal transcription industry emerged in Hagenau in Alsace, whose advertisements, such as those by Lamberts, are similar to today's catalogs. Cologne also saw a sustained trade in manuscripts, and the Brothers of the Common Life were also called “Brödder von de penne.”

Here we have the preparatory stage of the art of printing. It arose from a deep need; it did not come about suddenly, but was prepared by the fact that it had become a necessity, as the books produced by transcription were too expensive, but the poorer classes also demanded books. At that time, it was a means of stirring up the people.

The men who led the peasants' cause at that time could only distribute these pamphlets among the people because the circumstances were favorable to them. This is how the peasant alliances arose at that time, the “Poor Konrad,” the ‘Bundschuh’ with the slogan: “We do not want to be healed by priests and nobility.” At that time, there was a widespread need for something new, and when Gutenberg invented movable type around 1445, the means were available to shape the cultural life of the time. The receptivity was prepared for the broadening of horizons. Under the influence of such sentiments, the secularization of the arts and sciences developed, and with it the period of inventions and discoveries. Whereas previously the church had been the sole patron of the arts and sciences, now the cities and the bourgeoisie were the patrons of culture; it had been transferred from its former purely ecclesiastical culture and secularized.

We come to the discoveries, which we can only briefly list, that extended the stage of human history to vast unknown areas. Added to this was the invasion of Greece by the Turks, which brought the culture still existing there to bear on Europe. A large number of Greek artists and scholars emigrated to other countries, notably Italy, and found accommodation in the cities. They enriched the spirit of the West. This reformation is called the Renaissance. Ancient Greece rose again, and only now could people become acquainted with the writings on which Christianity was based. The Old Testament was read, and we owe this to Reuchlin in particular. Through him and Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, the movement we know as humanism was launched. The efforts initiated by these influences gave rise to the dawn of a new era. The spread of Turkish power had another consequence. The West had long been in contact with the Orient. Through the rule of the Italian cities over the seas, with Venice at their center, it had been possible to transport the products of the Orient, namely Indian spices, to Europe. When the invasion of the Turks made this connection more difficult for merchants, the need arose to find another route to India around Africa. Expeditions set out from Portugal and other southern countries to explore the regions around Africa, and Bartolomeo Diaz succeeded in finding the Cape of Storms, later renamed the Cape of Good Hope, and Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India in 1498. This marked the beginning of a new era for European economic life, which culminated in 1492 with Columbus' discovery of America. But that belongs to the history of more recent times.

Thus we have learned about the end of the Middle Ages and the factors that led to a new era. We see the whole of life shaken to its foundations. And although it is often thought that the turning points in history are chosen arbitrarily, this turning point is truly significant. It was one of those “jolts” that we saw in the middle of the Middle Ages with the founding of cities and at the beginning of the migration of peoples.

Now, under the aegis of urban culture, in connection with all these inventions and the great scientific conquest that is the work of Copernicus, a whole new culture is emerging. The secularization of culture and a strengthening of princely power are brought about by this trend. Smaller areas had been unable to resist the devastating advances of the Turks and had joined forces with more powerful ones. All these factors contributed to the expansion of the large states. We have seen the conditions change in many different ways; we have seen how the bourgeoisie arose, how it flourished, and how it faced a dangerous opponent in the power of the princes.

You know that the present is the result of the past, so we will study history in the right way if we learn from the past for the present and the future in the manner described in the saying of an ancient Celtic bard, who said that the most beautiful music to him was hearing the great deeds of the past, which stirred and inspired him. As true as it is that human existence is the most important phenomenon and therefore human beings themselves are the most worthy subject of study, it is also true that human beings remain a great mystery. When human beings realize that they remain a mystery to themselves, they will arrive at the right subject of study. For only then will man face himself with proper appreciation, when he knows that this is his mystery: his own existence in connection with the universe. This gives him the right foundation for all his actions and deeds.

But if he wants to learn something about this mystery of his own existence, he must turn to the science that tells of his own striving. In world history, we see how feelings and thoughts are transformed into actions. That is why we should study world history, so that we can use it to inspire our hopes, our thoughts, and our feelings. Let us bring over from the past what we need for the future, what we need for life, for action!