A Short History of Europe: From Charlemagne to the Treaty of Europe by Gordon Kerr Page A
Authors: Gordon Kerr
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work is often cited as sowing the seeds for the mode of thinking that would characterise the eighteenth century – the period known as the Enlightenment.
Breaking Free
The Age of Enlightenment
The sheer joy of Baroque art and architecture had provided a little light relief for those who lived in the seventeenth century, for it had been a difficult and dangerous time to be alive. War, famine and pestilence had ravaged Europe, resulting in a population of around 100 million, a headcount that had not changed in a century. Successive poor harvestsand a lack of agricultural development did not help and a series of disastrous epidemics – smallpox, typhus and cholera – had a devastating effect. Plague was almost as virulent as in the fourteenth century and, even though the number of babies surviving birth was on the rise, it had been more than offset by the frighteningly high death rate.
Furthermore, the second half of the century had seenEurope in deep recession, as imports of gold to Spain went into decline. Only trade prospered and Great Britain and, especially, the Netherlands were the major beneficiaries, the Channel and North Sea ports becoming the most important in the world. Dutch shipping controlled the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and they dominated the important spice trade through the Dutch East India Company, foundedin 1602, creating a large colonial empire in the process. By 1700, the British had overhauled the Dutch to become the world’s leading global trader, building an empire of their own and adding 13 colonies along the North American east coast to possessions in Canada and the West Indies. The Bank of England, founded in 1694 by a Scotsman, William Paterson, became the world’s most important financialinstitution and sterling Europe’s strongest currency.
Meanwhile, across Europe, affairs were less secure, especially economically. High rents and taxes created poverty and social unrest. The nobility, enriched by the money generated by increased rents, moved to large expensively appointed town houses from their country estates and became courtiers. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer,and angrier. Much of the seventeenth century had been blighted by clashes between lords and peasants, both in the countryside and in towns.
The horrific conflicts and diseases of the seventeenth century may have been long gone, but life was not a lot better in the eighteenth century, especially for the poor. With improvements in medicine and healthcare, the population rose, but there was barelyenough food to feed them all. Towns became overcrowded as peasants left the countryside in search of better prospects, only to find appalling living conditions. People began to realise the need for improvements in transportation, roads and safety. Town planners began to create large open spaces, providing recreational opportunities.
The agricultural revolution in the eighteenth century greatlychanged farming practices and increased yields, particularly in Britain. Mechanisation, the use of enclosures and four-field crop rotation were introduced and innovators such as Jethro Tull (1674–1741) devised new ideas that helped to feed the increasing population. This increase in population in Britain would eventually provide the workforce necessary to drive the industrial revolution in the lateeighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
There were many efforts to help the ‘deserving’ poor. The Church operated various organisations and in a number of Protestant countries, measures were enacted to raise taxes to aid those in trouble. Hospitals were becoming more numerous but treatment, especially surgery, remained, at best, rudimentary. Anaesthesia was being used more often, however, and thediscovery of a smallpox vaccine by English scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823) represented a huge advance.
Thinkers of the Enlightenment
Men such as René Descartes (1596–1650) and Isaac Newton (1643–1727) had, in the seventeenth
Breaking Free
The Age of Enlightenment
The sheer joy of Baroque art and architecture had provided a little light relief for those who lived in the seventeenth century, for it had been a difficult and dangerous time to be alive. War, famine and pestilence had ravaged Europe, resulting in a population of around 100 million, a headcount that had not changed in a century. Successive poor harvestsand a lack of agricultural development did not help and a series of disastrous epidemics – smallpox, typhus and cholera – had a devastating effect. Plague was almost as virulent as in the fourteenth century and, even though the number of babies surviving birth was on the rise, it had been more than offset by the frighteningly high death rate.
Furthermore, the second half of the century had seenEurope in deep recession, as imports of gold to Spain went into decline. Only trade prospered and Great Britain and, especially, the Netherlands were the major beneficiaries, the Channel and North Sea ports becoming the most important in the world. Dutch shipping controlled the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and they dominated the important spice trade through the Dutch East India Company, foundedin 1602, creating a large colonial empire in the process. By 1700, the British had overhauled the Dutch to become the world’s leading global trader, building an empire of their own and adding 13 colonies along the North American east coast to possessions in Canada and the West Indies. The Bank of England, founded in 1694 by a Scotsman, William Paterson, became the world’s most important financialinstitution and sterling Europe’s strongest currency.
Meanwhile, across Europe, affairs were less secure, especially economically. High rents and taxes created poverty and social unrest. The nobility, enriched by the money generated by increased rents, moved to large expensively appointed town houses from their country estates and became courtiers. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer,and angrier. Much of the seventeenth century had been blighted by clashes between lords and peasants, both in the countryside and in towns.
The horrific conflicts and diseases of the seventeenth century may have been long gone, but life was not a lot better in the eighteenth century, especially for the poor. With improvements in medicine and healthcare, the population rose, but there was barelyenough food to feed them all. Towns became overcrowded as peasants left the countryside in search of better prospects, only to find appalling living conditions. People began to realise the need for improvements in transportation, roads and safety. Town planners began to create large open spaces, providing recreational opportunities.
The agricultural revolution in the eighteenth century greatlychanged farming practices and increased yields, particularly in Britain. Mechanisation, the use of enclosures and four-field crop rotation were introduced and innovators such as Jethro Tull (1674–1741) devised new ideas that helped to feed the increasing population. This increase in population in Britain would eventually provide the workforce necessary to drive the industrial revolution in the lateeighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
There were many efforts to help the ‘deserving’ poor. The Church operated various organisations and in a number of Protestant countries, measures were enacted to raise taxes to aid those in trouble. Hospitals were becoming more numerous but treatment, especially surgery, remained, at best, rudimentary. Anaesthesia was being used more often, however, and thediscovery of a smallpox vaccine by English scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823) represented a huge advance.
Thinkers of the Enlightenment
Men such as René Descartes (1596–1650) and Isaac Newton (1643–1727) had, in the seventeenth
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