SECTION V Chapter 9 - The Renaissance (1300's to 1600's) Renaissance, which is French for "rebirth", describes that period of time when Western Europe experienced a revival of learning and scientific advancement. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time and location of the Renaissance. As we have seen earlier, there was a movement in this direction during the twelfth century. This probably was influenced through the introduction of new ideas in the aftermath of the crusades--and the re-introduction of Aristotle's outlook, or paradigm on secular knowledge and learning within Christian intellectual circles. Some historians place the origins of the Renaissance in northern Italy during the mid 1300's. The reasons often given why the Renaissance grew especially strong in Italy, are: * Following the Crusades, there had arisen a strong demand in Europe for spices and luxuries in the East. The northern Italian city-states had grown prosperous from this revival in trade, and in this way also developed strong contacts with both Byzantine and Moslem cultures. With wealth came more leisure time. Wealthy merchants and bankers served as patrons to many of the early Renaissance artists and architects. * The authority of the papacy had been weakened in the eyes of the people. First, from its involvement in politics with Europe's secular kings--and secondly, from the scandal of having MORE than one proclaimed pope during the period of the Great Schism. * Even after the return of the popes to Rome, their attention was more on worldly politics and wealth, than on spiritual matters. Corruption and greed within the Church had become popularized by local writers--including Dante and Petrach in Italy, and Chaucer in England. These writers were beginning to write for the first time in the vernacular of the people, as opposed to only classical Latin or Greek. Chaucer was encouraged to write his CANTERBURY TALES in his native English after paying a visit to Italy. Although critical of current Church practices, these writers generally concluded with professions of faith on what they considered to be the "true" guiding principles of the Church! *Ancient buildings, monuments, and sculptures dating from classical Rome were still in existence (as any modern tourist to Rome will attest). Therefore, Italians did not have to travel very far to see first hand the ancient civilization of Rome. Indeed, the earliest periods of the Renaissance may be characterized whereby individuals began to COPY the architecture, art, and literary style from classical times. For example, this can be seen in the love poems composed by the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374 C.E.) who imitated the ancient Greco-Roman zest for life and happiness in his writings. *Some historians believe that, even with the above items, that the Renaissance did not gain any important momentum until around the fifteenth century in Italy--following the decline and fall of Constantinople in 1453, many Greek scholars took refuge in the West. As a result, the scholars of the West had direct access to the scientific works of antiquity, rather than indirect access through Arabic translations! Growth of Individual Freedom and Humanism Much of the early Renaissance--its literature, art and philosophy may be characterized as a look backwards towards classical antiquity to rediscover a "golden" age that had been lost for over a thousand years. The exposure to the culture of classical antiquity, led some people to question some of the old medieval assumptions regarding the inherent sinfulness and dejection of humanity. In its place, there emerged a new (religious) outlook that looked favorably on individual freedom. From the rediscovery of Greek and Roman classical writings, had come the revival of the spirit of Greek humanism--or belief in the worth and dignity of man to discover and learn the truths of nature and what is good in the universe. In opposition to the religious scholastic view (advanced by such men as St. Thomas Aquinas) that divine revelation relayed the ultimate, important truths of the universe, the philosophy of humanism taught that man--through human reason-- could direct its own life and that of society toward a fulfilled sense of living. (Scholasticism had never took a firm root in Italy, as it had in the rest of Europe.) It is interesting to follow how the philosophy of the Renaissance gradually took root in Italy. No where, perhaps was this influence greater than in the city-state of Florence, Italy. Around 1400 C.E., when Florence's leaders found themselves faced with justifying the defense of their city to the public, the ancient writings of Cicero were referenced. The citizens of Florence were now told that they were defending the very principle of LIBERTY itself! Liberty such as that which had been enshrined in the ancient Roman republic-- before it had become corrupted through the inaugeration of the Caesars. (E.R. Chamberlin, THE BAD POPES, Barnes & Noble, 1993, p 163) Was the Renaissance Humanism Anti-God? Critics of humanism (then as now) complained that during the Renaissance, pagan influences had infiltrated into society, trying to displace God as the central focus of man's attention. Although some historians in the past have charged that humanism was purely pagan in nature (For example, in 1863, Jakob Burkhardt in his CIVILIZATION OF THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY wrote that "This humanism was in fact pagan, and became more and more so as its sphere widened in the 15th century") most modern historians believe that Greek humanism was firmly adopted within a Christian framework. The writings of Pico della Mirandola, an Italian scholar-prince are sometimes cited as an example of how Greek classical thought was combined with Christian doctrine. Pico wrote that man is the molder of his own destiny--and as such had the freedom to choose whether he would elevate himself to the level of the Almighty One, or instead descend to the level of a brute. This, in essence was a reference to Neoplatonic mysticism. However, just as the early Christian fathers had merged Neoplatonic beliefs with that of a God who became a human to assist mankind in his ascent to heaven, Renaissance scholars overall did NOT abandoned their faith in Jesus Christ. Although the writings of Pico were under suspicion by the Church, he considered himself to be a good Christian--and even became a monk during the later years of his life. (Bainton, op cit., p 222) The Italian Renaissance The shift in focus from God to the dignity of man was central to the Renaissance's "rebirth" mentality. Medieval man saw himself as corrupt and helpless. Mankind was incapable of acting for himself, except through the agency of God's grace, as interpreted by Church authorities. During the Renaissance, this medieval paradigm was replaced by one that viewed humans as receiving the gift of genius from God. God gave selected individuals the this divine gift to rise above their curse of original sin-- to boldly chart out their own course in life. The "genius" (borrowing from Neoplatonic thought) was thus heralded as receiving "divine inspiration" from God--so that now both human ingenuity and God could SHARE together in the act of a new creation. (Kenneth Clark, GUIDE TO CIVILISATION, Time/Life, Inc., 1970, p 47). As an example, Giorgio Vasari wrote in his LIVES OF THE ARTISTS (1550) the following regarding the genius, Leonardo da Vinci: "The most heavenly gifts seem to be showered on certain human beings. Sometimes supernaturally, marvelously, they all congregate in one individual. Beauty, grace, and talent are combined in such bounty that whatever that man undertakes, he outdistances all other men and proves himself to be specially endowed by the hand of God. This was seen and acknowledged by all men in the case of Leonardo da Vinci." During the Renaissance, religious themes portraying human suffering and death became replaced by an emphasis on the individual and on finding happiness in THIS life. Renaissance scholars and artists believed themselves to have "rediscovered" the classical civilization of the ancient Roman empire. (Indeed, Renaissance writers were the first to use the term "middle ages" to describe the roughly 1000 years during which Europe was seen to have fallen into decline.) The new outlook towards Renaissance humanism could be seen at once in the arts-- whereby the relatively crude, simplistic works of the medieval age were replaced with paintings emphasizing color, depth, and perspective. Renaissance artists in Italy began studying the architecture and paintings from the ruins of old buildings dating from the Roman Empire. They studied the physiology of the body--its bone and muscular structures, in their striving to create beautiful secular art. From the simple chants sung in religious services, major and minor scales were developed into the form used today. Opera began appearing in Italy around the 1600's--inspiring a new generation of composers and musical instruments to write music for this new theatrical form. Keyboard instruments, such as the organ, appeared in its present form-- at least around the end of the seventeenth century. The piano was invented early in the next century--at which time it displaced earlier prototypes such as the clavier and harpsichord. (Mozart was one of the first great composers who wrote pieces for the piano.) The violin had been perfected by the first half of the eighteenth century. -- The famous workshops of the Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri families in northern Italy had reputations for crafting world class violins--whose secrets were only discovered in the late twentieth century. Later, instrumental music came into vogue and short orchestral works in both secular and religious works of music were composed. (This would further evolve during the next two centuries into a form known as Baroque.) George Handel (1685-1759) and Johann S. Bach (1685-1750) are examples of brilliant composers who developed music into a form that is now referred to as baroque music. Wolfang Mozart lived around a century later (1756-91). The brilliance of the new music had its parallels in the arts as well. Rembrandt, Rubens, and Velasquez are often heralded as the three greatest Baroque painters of this period. In addition to the arts and literature, the Renaissance was marked by a large number of monumental scientific discoveries whose effects would begin chipping away at the rigid structure of the medieval world. Strong secular kings used gunpowder to blast down medieval fortresses of local feudal rulers, thus making nationalism a strong force that would stand up to Church authorities. (Local German princes for example would later protect Martin Luther against the Catholic Church.) The invention of the compass allowed for ocean navigations to far off lands, and symbolized a new spirit of physical adventure and scientific interest. The practical invention of uniform, movable type for the printing press allowed access by a growing base of literate individuals to knowledge and new ideas. This last invention, broke the earlier monopoly of an ecclesiastical elite to learning. By mass-producing books at a cheap price, it was now possible for more ordinary people to buy and own books. (This also made it easier to later propagate Protestant heresies throughout Europe.) (Note, the printing press probably originated centuries earlier in China. Guttenberg's contribution to the printing press, was to invent uniform, re- usable, movable type, so that pages could be quickly assembled for use on the press.) Church doctrines and ideals were also examined for the first time. Criticism of corruption within the papacy became more openly discussed. (During this time, Renaissance popes such as Alexander VI, who ruled from 1492 to 1503, were heavily involved in base politics and intrigue.) Religious works became critically examined. In the 1440's, Lorenzo di Valla proved that the DONATION OF CONSTANTINE was in reality a forgery. (Valla also used the same techniques in finding some errors in St. Jerome's translation of the Bible from Greek into Latin--ie the Vulgage Bible). Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is probably remembered as the greatest of the Renaissance geniuses. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was NOT a blind follower of classical knowledge and scholasticism--but instead forged ahead in new areas based on the "new" idea of observing nature and conducting experiments. Leonardo da Vinci's brilliance lay not only in the arts--painting, sculptor, and philosopher, but in the sciences--engineering, physics, architecture, and biology, as well. For this reason, Lenodardo da Vinci is often held out as the ideal model for the "Renaissance" man. Decline of the Renaissance in Italy During the late 1400's and early 1500's, Italian city-states became engaged in civil wars, as various princes fought (unsuccessfully) among themselves to maintain total control over the peninsula. Florence became controlled by the powerful Medici family, who were bankers instead of princes. Although the corruption and intrigues were roughly the same as earlier periods, many people yearned for a strong leader who could end the fighting. In 1494, the Medici's in Florence were overthrown by Girolamo Savonarola, a religious Dominican preacher and reformer, whose ascetic teachings had greatly appealed to many of the Florentine common people. Determined to stamp out what he perceived to be the frivolity and paganism of Renaissance culture, Savonarola commanded Florentine citizens to surrender their articles of luxury and immoral paintings--The famous Botticelli BIRTH OF VENUS which depicts the goddess Venus as a nude female was hidden during this time from the flames. Botticelli himself became a follower of Savonarola, and switched to painting primarily religious themes. Over the next few years, the Florentine people grew weary of Savonarola's puritanical rules that viewed even marriage as a sexual sin. Savonarola's extreme reforms had also gained him important enemies--including the Pope. In 1498, Savonarola was first excommunicated, and later captured and executed with the blessing of the Pope. Although the Savonarola affair did not single-handedly cause the decline of Renaissance civilization, it was symptomatic of the strong opposing forces of religiosity and secularism that clashed within Renaissance Italy. During the next decade (1502-3) Cesare Borgia, one of four illegitimate children of Pope Alexander VI, rose as a strong power in Florence. Cesare gained for himself a small kingdom in Italy, using warfare and intrigue. Believing Italy's political turmoil to demand desperate solutions, Niccholo Machiavelli looked to Cesare as the role model for a strong, autocratic leader who could maintain peace and order. In his work, THE PRINCE, Machiavelli idealized the powerful, but unscrupulous king-- who did whatever it took, to stay in power. The Renaissance in Northern Europe During the last quarter of the fifteenth century, ideas from the Italian renaissance had slowly filtered into northern Europe. However, unlike the rich, materialistic atmosphere of Italian humanism, northern Europeans were more conservative in applying the Graeco-Roman humanism—being careful to interpret this within a Christian spiritual framework. The most famous and influential religious humanist of this era, was the Dutch religious humanist, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (c 1466-1536). Born as the illegitimate son of a priest and a lower class woman, Erasmus spent his boyhood in a monastery, where he learned Latin and the classics. As with his religious contemporaries, Erasmus believed that education in religion and the classics was the key to reform. He admired the ancient classical authors, such as Socrates and Cicero, because they exalted the ideals of naturalism, tolerance, and humanism. He believed that man was by nature good, and that the current misery and injustice he saw all around him would someday disappear--if only reason were allowed to break through the chains of ignorance, superstition, and hatred. Erasmus wanted everyone to be educated so that they could read the Bible for themselves-- a position which was diametrically opposed by the Catholic hierarchy. He made Latin and vernacular translation of the Bible from the Greek in order to correct what he perceived as translation errors. In his famous translation of the Bible, he wrote in the preface: "...Christ wished his mysteries to be published as openly as possible. I wish that even the weakest woman should read the Gospel--should read the epistles of Paul. And I wish these were translated into all languages, so that they might be read and understood, not only by Scots and Irishmen, but also by Turks and Saracens..." Erasmus concluded by questioning the monopoly of the Church in interpreting Christian doctrine, as opposed to encouraging each individual to learn and experience Christ's teachings for themselves: "Why do we prefer to study the wisdom of Christ in men's writings rather than in the writing of Christ himself?" Still, Erasmus hoped to reform the Church from within--as opposed to overthrowing Catholic Church authority. For this reason he was opposed to the early protestant reformers, including Martin Luther in Germany. Thomas More (1478-1535), was a famous humanist scholar in England who was a friend and admirer of Erasmus. In 1516, More wrote UTOPIA, which described an idealistic, happy world where all the citizens applied reason and rationality to their lives. (In Greek, Utopia means "no place". More used the word as a pun, because he argued that his Utopia is "a good place" which of course does not exist--ie this means "no place"). All goods and profit were shared in common for the benefit of the entire community. There were no wars, as community leaders bribed their enemies from the community treasury. All children in Utopia were given a strong education in the Graeco-Roman classics. However, learning continued after formal schooling, and intellectual activities were pursued long into old age. More's point was that IT WAS SOCIETY that could have a corrupting influence on humans--through its social institutions and wars. This was considered a profound and novel idea during the sixteenth century-- For it was in direct opposition to the medieval view of mankind being born into sin and evil--with salvation found only by looking from within one's soul. More was executed by King Henry VIII, for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy in 1534--which recognized the King as head of the new Church of England. Sir Francis Bacon Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is often held out as the greatest English philosopher of the Renaissance. He was a leading lawyer during the times of Queen Elizabeth. He was knighted in 1602. During the reign of James I he gained more political favor, attaining several posts of public service, including Lord Chancellorship in 1618. In 1621, he was found guilty of taking bribes and lost his public offices. He spent his remaining life in retirement on his studies and literary works. During his career, Bacon published a number of works on the natural sciences. The most important of these was NOVUM ORGANUM (1620), whose title was taken from Aristotle's ORGANUM, meaning "logical works". In it, Bacon proposed a radical new method for scientific inquiry: Instead of Aristotle's a priori, deductive syllogism, Bacon proposed in its place using an inductive or "a posteriori" method. Bacon still followed Aristotle by seeing science as the "discovery of causes", specifically its physical properties (such as temperature, color, etc). According to Bacon, scientific inquiry entails observing and collecting experiences, analyzing those based on what is known, and then acting on the most reliable results. Bacon described "Four Idols" which hindered the effort to studying nature: #1: "Idols of the Tribe" explains how humans falsely assume their perceptions are based on universals, when in fact these arise from human nature – ie their own individual opinions or views. #2: "Idols of the Cave" describes how a person's personality and experiences colors their interpretation of what they see. #3: "Idols of the Marketplace" describes how words themselves may convey or express the wrong idea or meaning. #4: "Idols of the Theatre" shows how errors can result from believing in philosophies that are already established and generally accepted as true. Bacon was careful to declare that the new science should never presume to question the Church on divine matters. For ultimate truths of the universe, we must: "quit the small vessel of human reason and put ourselves on board the ship of the Church, which alone possesses the divine needle for justly shaping the course. The stars of philosophy will be of no further service to us. As we are obliged to obey the divine law, though our will murmur against it, so we are obliged to believe in the word of God, though our reason is shocked at it. The more absurd and incredible any divine mystery is, the greater honor we do God in believing it." The Renaissance in England reached its peak in drama and literature during the Elizabethan Age. Especially after 1580, an array of brilliant playwrights arose--including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and of course, William Shakespeare (1564-1610). In Shakespeare's plays, can be seen the Renaissance's fascination with the individual-- as Shakespeare explores the deep psychological behavior of his characters. The writings of Shakespeare also portray the same realism and sensuousness, which can be seen in the works of the humanist painters and sculptors. (Interesting, some scholars theorize that Shakespeare was a pseudoname taken by Francis Bacon.) The Renaissance in France In France, France Rabelais (1490?-1553) and Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) were the most outstanding of the Renaissance philosophers/writers. As with Erasmus, Rebelais had been educated as a monk. He left the monastery to become a physician and to lecture on medicine. Appalled at the superstition and repression he saw all around him, he began to write satires which ridiculed the practices of the Church, Scholasticism, and superstitions such as astrology. His most famous work, GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL, was a satire contrasting the asceticism of Christianity with the mirth and individual freedom from the new humanism. Michel de Montaigne, was, like Rabalais a skeptic towards Christian dogma and its claims towards ultimate truth. In his ESSAYS, he wrote how knowledge on the diversity of beliefs and customs around the world, and the recent discoveries in the sciences--pointed towards the conclusion that no one religious sect really possessed exclusive "truth". It seemed to him, that religion and morality were the outcome of custom--just as one's habits in eating and dressing were a function of geography and time period. Montaigne wrote that he could see no real difference between the morals and crusades/ wars between Christians and non-Christians. All sects, he concluded, fight each other with great ferocity for their beliefs, convinced that each is right and the other wrong. Montaigne taught that God is unknowable, and how it is foolish to "weep that we shall not exist a hundred years hence as it would be to weep that we had not lived a hundred years ago." Mankind should learn to live nobly in this life-- imperfect as it is and shortened by death--than to yearn piously for a perfect afterlife that has never been proven to really exist. No ideal, he argued, was worth burning your neighbor for. Vesalius vs. the Infallibility of the Authorities Following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, physician practices continued as they always had (setting bones, treatment of wounds and ailments, midwifery, etc). However, the vast majority of the "learned" or theoretical writings on medicine (including the medical and anatomical writings of Galen – who was the ancient physician to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius) were lost in the West. In this, we see the general disinterest in the sciences resulting from the tension that arose between viewing the world along natural causes vs. supernatural causes. According to David Lindberg, in THE BEGINNINGS OF WESTERN SCIENCE: The sources of tension [in medicine] are obvious enough. As medieval Christians matured it became common for sermons and religious literature to teach that sickness is a divine visitation, intended as punishment for sin or a stimulus to spiritual growth. The cure, in either case, would seem to be spiritual rather than physical. Moreover, within medieval Christianity there developed a widespread tradition of miraculous cures, associated especially with the cult of saints and relics. And to complete the picture, we have concrete evidence of religious leaders denouncing secular medicine for its inability to produce results. (p. 320) Lindberg notes that this did not mean disease could not have BOTH a natural and divine component. For it made sense within medieval Christian doctrine, that God employed NATURAL means to accomplish a DIVINE purpose. (For example, plague could be sent as a punishment for sin.) Still, virtually all Christian writers would have agreed that the cure of the soul was more important than the cure of the flesh or body. (Ibid) The writings from medieval time typically invoke a supernatural or miraculous element within medical cures. It was not until the twelfth century, with the retranslations from Arab works that these ancient Greek theoretical writings on medicine (including Galen) were reintroduced back into the West, now also with Arab expanded knowledge and commentaries. A new interest in anatomy was first taken up in Salerno, with the first subject for dissection being a pig. Late in the thirteenth century, human dissections made their first appearance at Italian universities. Although the records are murky, it appears the first human dissections were first allowed to conduct legal autopsies to determine the cause of death. This spread to medical schools during the 14th century. Dissections were typically performed on the corpses of criminals, and were an infrequent occurrence, maybe once a year. The purpose of such dissections was to demonstrate Galenic text, never to question it. Even the most famous of the Italian anatomists of the fourth century, Mondino dei Liucci did not question authorities. It was the custom for the teacher to leave the actual dissection to an underling or assistant. (Rotting organs was a problem due to no refrigeration-- probably making this an unpleasant task that one was happy to delegate to subordinates.) Mondino performed his own dissections and his observations could have easily corrected the earlier Greek and Arab texts. Still he chose not to do so, in order not to contradict the authorities. Even when the authorities contradicted themselves, Mondino chose to harmonize their views. ("Biological Sciences", Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, 1980, Vol 2, p. 1019-20) Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) did make discoveries in anatomy (including preparing the first cross-sectional drawings of the body, and drawing the uterus as a single cavity with the fetus in its true position). Da Vinci was also the first to compare animal and human structures to indicate the homology between the arrangements of bones and joints, (a grouping that was to be of significance many centuries later in the study of evolution). Da Vinci's dissections were performed at night, possibly in secret. His findings were written in his personal, mirror-encrypted notebooks, that were not published for another 300 years. In this manner, Vinci's questioning of medical authorities such as Galen, was not made public during his lifetime. Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) is today heralded as the father of anatomy. He attended medical school at the University of Paris, and later studied at the University of Louvain, where the influence of Arab medicine was still dominant. He received his MD degree at the University of Padua. At first he had no reason to question the theories of Galen. However, Vesalius insisted on dissecting his own cadavers and lectured to students from his findings. He proved that Galenic anatomy had not been based on the dissection of the human body, which had been strictly forbidden by the Roman religion. Instead Galenic anatomy had drawn its human conclusions based on the dissections of animals--mostly dogs, monkeys, or pigs. Vesalius wrote his revised description of the human body in THE SEVEN BOOKS OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY in 1543, an extensive and accurate rendition of the human body than had ever been produced. The success of his book was a major blow to the prestige and authority given to ancient writers to Galen, for Vesalius had proven their inaccuracy, and more important – demonstrated that it was possible to improve on the writings of the Ancients. Successful in his medical practice, Vesalius was retained as the family physician to the Holy Roman emperor Charles V. He traveled to Spain in 1559 to take up an appointment by Philip II to become a physician at the Madrid court. However, he was not to escape the superstitions of his time. While conducting one of his autopsies, it was claimed that the "heart of the outraged body was seen to palpitate" (ie the cadaver was not really dead). This was immediately brought to the attention of the Inquisition. Only the intervention of the king rescued Vesealius from a trial. As part of the plea bargaining, Vesealius agreed to perform a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit the Holy Sepulchre. Upon his return, he apparently became sick aboard his ship and was put ashore the Greek island of Zacynthus, where he died. Arguably Vesalius' greatest achievement was to break the medieval mindset on the infallibility of authorities--inspiring the next generation of scientists not to accept an authority but to critically question it by subjecting it to verification. One of Vesalius' successors, Michael Servetus (both a theologian and a physician!) discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood. William Harvey studied at Padua with one of Vesalius' students, and is credited today with discovering the circulation of the blood. The Renaissance in Spain Despite, the great wealth brought into Spain from her conquests in the Americas, Spain never became one of the leaders of Renaissance culture. The authority of the Church had increased through the operations of the Inquisition, and the expulsion of Jews towards the end of the fifteenth century from its borders removed important intellectual talent from the region--especially in the sciences. Still the influence of the Renaissance did have some effect on Spanish culture – especially in the arts and literature. Still, even new developments within art and literature during the Spanish Renaissance, were often closely interwoven with religious themes. The most famous artist of the Spanish Renaissance was not a native of Spain--but instead an immigrant from the island of Crete. His real name was Domenico Theotocopuli, although he became known as El Greco (the Greek). Considered a brilliant master of art, El Greco abandoned the warmth and humanism of the Venetian school, to portray religious themes of suffering and death, usually against a stark mystical background inspiring awe and fear. The most important Spanish Renaissance writer was Miquel Cervantes (1547- 1616). His work, DON QUIXOTE, has been hailed by critics everywhere as one of the most brilliant novels ever written. The storyline is a satire on a friendly (but mentally unbalanced) Spanish gentleman who has listened to too many chivalric romances. He imagines windmills to be towering giants, inns to be remote castles, and sheep to be armies of infidels whom he attempts to route with his spear. The book is overall a satire on feudalism, and especially the pretensions that noblemen in the role of knights were really champions of honor and justice. DON QUIXOTE is considered one of the great classics.-- It was very popular even during Cervantes' lifetime. * * * It is important to note that the Renaissance and its rediscovery of religious humanism was only one of many forces operating within Western Europe during this time. It began as a movement among a very small number of educated intellectuals. As such, it would take centuries before infiltrating into the consciousness of European society. Even throughout the Renaissance and its emphasis on individualism, most of Europe remained largely under the control of the Inquisition and powerful secular kings and princes-- who claimed that their rule was "divinely" ordained from God Himself. Renaissance political leaders (as did their medieval predecessors) insisted on absolute authority from their subjects--although this authority was being directed more towards nationalistic/patriotic loyalty towards the "state", as opposed to spiritual feelings toward the church. Newly discovered technologies were seized upon by local secular rulers, who quickly recognized their value in increasing personal power and wealth. Gunpowder and canons were used by kings to control local rebellious lords and nobles (spurring interest in military science dealing with missile trajectories.) Likewise, the discovery of the compass (originating in China along with the inventions of gunpowder and printing) meant ships could navigate to far off places. This in turn, opened up new ports, and in the process brought home great wealth to entrepreneurs financing the expeditions. Both the inventions of the compass and gunpowder helped kick off a new age of exploration to other lands--leading to the discovery and colonization of the Americas.