Week 4

Early Modern Period

• 1500-1800 AD
• More travel now, specifically the Columbian Exchange (transatlantic trade).
• Wunderkammer/Wunderkammern “room(s) of wonder/marvels”
• Information revolution
  • The printing press lowered the prices of books, making them more widely available.

Humanism

• Laurentius Valla was a major character in this area.
• Desiderius Erasmus
  • Translated a new edition of the Greek New Testament.
  • Wrote some satirical plays.
    • “In Praise of Folly”
  • Seeks the renewal of knowledge and belief based on the ancient doctors of the Church.
  • Is said to have laid the egg that Luther hatched.
  • Helps to determine not only religious but also social and political boundaries.
• Martin Luther
  • People before him also called out issues they saw with the Catholic Church.
  • Posts 95 theses, gets told to recant them, and gets excommunicated.