The reopening of the Western mind : the resurgence of intellectual life from the end of antiquity to the dawn of the Enlightenment

A monumental and exhilarating history of European thought from the end of Antiquity to the beginning of the Enlightenment—500 to 1700 AD—tracing the arc of intellectual history as it evolved, setting the stage for the modern era. With more than 140 illustrations; 90 in full-color. Charles Freeman, lauded historical scholar and author of The Closing of the Western Mind (“A triumph”— The Times [London]), explores the rebirth of Western thought in the centuries that followed the demise of the classical era. As the dominance of Christian teachings gradually subsided over time, a new open-mindedness made way for the ideas of morality and theology, and fueled and formed the backbone of the Western mind of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond. In this wide-ranging history, Freeman follows the immense intellectual development that culminated in the Enlightenment, from political ideology to philosophy and theology, as well as the fine arts and literature. He writes, in vivid detail, of how Europeans progressed from the Christian-minded thinking of Saint Augustine to the more open-minded later scholars, such as Michel de Montaigne, leading to a broader, more “humanist” way of thinking. He explores how the discovery of America fundamentally altered European conceptions of humanity, religion, and science; how the rise of Protestantism and the Reformation profoundly influenced the tenor of politics and legal systems, with enormous repercussions; and how the radical Christianity of philosophers such as Spinoza affected a rethinking of the concept of religious tolerance that has influenced the modern era ever since. Prologue. The collapse of learning -- The saving of the texts, 500- -- Charlemagne restores the discipline of learning -- Conformity and diversity in the Christian communities of the late first millennium -- The challenges of Christian leadership. Authority and dissent in the medieval church, 1000- -- Abelard and the battle for reason -- The cry of libertas, the rebirth of the city-state -- 'Completely new, without any real precedent and with an exceptional historical destiny' : success and failure within the medieval university -- The complexities of medieval philosophy : a reopening or a dead-end? -- The glimmerings of a scientific revival, 1200-1350? -- New directions in literature and political thought : Dante, Marsilius and Boccaccio and their worlds -- 'I snarl at the stupid Aristotelians' : humanism and the challenge to the scholastics -- 'It is but in our own day that men dare boast that they see the dawn of better things' : the exuberance of Florentine humanism -- The flowering of the Florentine Renaissance -- Plato re-enters the western mind -- The printing press : what was published and why? -- Filling the vacuum : the loss of papal authority and the rise of the laity, 1350- -- How Europe learned to see again : Leonardo and Vasalius -- Exploring the natural world in the sixteenth century -- Imagining princely politics, from utopia to the Machiavellian prince -- Broadening horizons : from the Laocoon to the academies. Recovering the ancient world -- Montaigne and Hamlet : peace or turmoil in the solitary soul? -- Defining global space : the mapping of the new world -- Encountering the peoples of the 'Newe founde worldes', 1492- -- Reformation : a restoration of Christian authority? -- The world of Catholic renewal -- Absolutist France versus the Dutch Republic : a study of contrasts in seventeenth century politics -- The seventeenth century : the most revolutionary century in the history of modern Britain? -- Thinking politically. Envisaging an ideal society in the seventeenth century -- From natural philosophy into science. The astronomers -- Was there an English scientific revolution? -- 'Once in a lifetime we must demolish everything' : (Descartes) did the seventeenth century see the making of the modern mind? -- Bringing it all together : was there really 'a reopening of the western mind? "A history of European intellectual life from 500 AD to 1700 AD"-- Provided by publisher