Part 33 (1/2)

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.--The grand achievement in maritime exploration in this age was the discovery of _America_ by _Christopher Columbus_, a native of _Genoa_. The conviction that India could be reached by sailing in a westerly direction took possession of his mind. Having sought in vain for the patronage of _John II_. of Portugal, and having sent his brother _Bartholomew_ to apply for aid from _Henry VII_. of England, he was at length furnished with three s.h.i.+ps by Queen _Isabella_ of Castile, to whom Granada had just submitted (1492). Columbus was to have the station of grand admiral and viceroy over the lands to be discovered, with a tenth part of the incomes to be drawn from them, and the rank of a n.o.bleman for himself and his posterity. The story of an open mutiny on his vessels does not rest on sufficient proof: that there were alarm and discontent among the sailors, may well be believed. On the 11th of October, _Columbus_ thought that he discovered a light in the distance. At two o'clock in the morning of Oct. 12, a sailor on the _Pinta_ espied the dim outline of the beach, and shouted, ”Land, land!” It was an island called _Guanahani_, named by Columbus, in honor of Jesus, _San Salvador_. Its beauty and productiveness excited admiration; but neither here nor on the large islands of _Cuba_ (or _Juana_) and _Hayti_ (_Hispaniola_), which were discovered soon after, were there found the gold and precious stones which the navigators and their patrons at home so eagerly desired. _Columbus_ built a fort on the island of _Hispaniola_, and founded a colony. The name of _West Indies_ was applied to the new lands. _Columbus_ lived and died in the belief that the region which he discovered belonged to India. Of an intermediate continent, and of an ocean beyond it, he did not dream. The Pope granted to _Ferdinand_ and _Isabella_ all the newly discovered regions of America, from a line stretching one hundred leagues west of the _Azores_. Afterwards _Ferdinand_ allowed to the king of Portugal that the line should run three hundred and seventy, instead of one hundred, leagues west of these islands. In two subsequent voyages (1493-1496, 1498-1500), _Columbus_ discovered _Jamaica_ and the Little _Antilles_, the _Caribbean_ Islands, and finally the mainland at the mouths of the Orinoco (1498). In 1497 _John Cabot_, a Venetian captain living in England, while in quest of a north-west pa.s.sage to India, touched at _Cape Breton_, and followed the coast of _North America_ southward for a distance of nine hundred miles. Shortly after, _Amerigo Vespucci_, a Florentine, employed first by _Spain_ and then by _Portugal_, explored in several voyages the coast of _South America_. The circ.u.mstance that his full descriptions were published (1504) caused the name of _America_, first at the suggestion of the printer, to be attached to the new world.

LATER VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS.--On his return from his first voyage, _Columbus_ was received with distinguished honors by the Spanish sovereigns. But he suffered from plots caused by envy, both on the islands and at court. Once he was sent home in fetters by _Bobadilla_, a commissioner appointed by _Ferdinand_. He was exonerated from blame, but the promises which had been made to him were not fulfilled. A fourth voyage was not attended by the success in discovery which he had hoped for, and the last two years of his life were weary and sad. _Isabella_ had died; and in 1506 the great explorer, who with all his other virtues combined a sincere piety, followed her to the tomb.

THE PACIFIC.--The spirit of adventure, the hunger for wealth and especially for the precious metals, and zeal for the conversion of the heathen, were the motives which combined in different proportions to set on foot exploring and conquering expeditions to the unknown regions of the West. The exploration of the _North-American_ coast, begun by _John Cabot_ (perhaps also by his son), and the Portuguese _Cortereal_ (1501), continued from _Labrador_ to _Florida_. In 1513 _Balboa_, a Spaniard at _Darien_, fought his way to a height on the Isthmus of _Panama_, whence he descried the _Pacific Ocean_. Descending to the sh.o.r.e, and riding into the water up to his thighs, in the name of the king he took possession of the sea. In 1520 _Magellan_, a Portuguese captain, sailed round the southern cape of _America_, and over the ocean to which he gave the name of _Pacific_. He made his way to the _East Indies_, but was killed on one of the _Philippine Islands_, leaving it to his companions to finish the voyage around the globe. A little later the Spaniards added first _Mexico_, and then _Peru_, to their dominions.

CONQUEST OF MEXICO.--The Spanish conqueror of Mexico, the land of the _Aztecs_, was _Hernando Cortes_ (1485-1547). The princ.i.p.al king in that country was _Montezuma_, whose empire was extensive, with numerous cities, and with no inconsiderable advancement in arts and industry. From _Santiago_, in 1519, Cortes conducted an expedition composed of seven hundred Spaniards, founded _Vera Cruz_, where he left a small garrison, subdued the tribe of _Tlascalans_ who joined him, and was received by _Montezuma_ into the city of _Mexico_. _Cortes_ made him a prisoner in his own palace, and seized his capital. The firearms and the horses of the Spaniards struck the natives with dismay. Nevertheless, they made a stout resistance. To add to the difficulties of the shrewd and valiant leader, a Spanish force was sent from the West Indies, under _Narvaez_, to supplant him. This force he defeated, and captured their chief. In 1520 _Cortes_ gained over the Mexicans, at _Otumba_, a victory which was decisive in its consequences. The city of Mexico was _recaptured_ (1521); for _Montezuma_ had been slain by his own people, and the Spaniards driven out. _Guatimozin_, the new king, was taken prisoner and put to death, and the country was subdued. _Cortes_ put an end to the horrid religious rites of the Mexicans, which included human sacrifices. Becoming an object of jealousy and dread at home, he was recalled (1528). Afterwards he visited the peninsula of _California_, and ruled for a time in _Mexico_, but with diminished authority.

CONQUEST OF PERU.--The conquest of _Peru_ was effected by _Francisco Pizarro_, and _Almagro_, both illiterate adventurers, equally daring with _Cortes_, but more cruel and unscrupulous. The _Peruvians_ were of a mild character, prosperous, and not uncivilized, and without the savage religious system of the Mexicans. They had their walled cities and their s.p.a.cious temples. The empire of the _Incas_, as the rulers were called, was distracted by a civil war between two brothers, who shared the kingdom. _Pizarro_ captured one of them, _Atahualpa_, and basely put him to death after he had provided the ransom agreed upon, amounting to more than $17,500,000 in gold (1533). _Pizarro_ founded _Lima_, near the sea-coast (1535). _Almagro_ and _Pizarro_ fell out with each other, and the former was defeated and beheaded. The land and its inhabitants were allotted among the conquerors as the spoils of victory. The horrible oppression of the people excited insurrections. At length _Charles V._ sent out _Pedro de la Gasca_ as viceroy (1541), at a time when _Gonzalo Pizarro_, the last of the family, held sway. _Gonzalo_ perished on the gallows. _Gasca_ reduced the government to an orderly system.

THE AMAZON.--_Orellena_, an officer of _Pizarro_, in 1541 first descended the river _Amazon_ to the Atlantic. His fabulous descriptions of an imaginary _El Dorado_, whose capital with its dazzling treasures he pretended to have seen, inflamed other explorers, and prompted to new enterprises. The cupidity of the Spaniards, and their eagerness for knightly warfare, made the New World, with its floral beauty and mineral riches, a most enticing field for adventure. To devout missionaries, to the monastic orders especially, the new regions were not less inviting. They followed in the wake of the Spanish conquerors and viceroys.

REVIVAL OF LEARNING.--The stirring period of invention and of maritime discovery was also the period of ”the revival of learning.” Italy was the main center and source of this intellectual movement, which gradually spread over the other countries of Western Europe. There was a thirst for a wider range of study and of culture than the predominantly theological writings and training of the Middle Ages afforded. The minds of men turned for stimulus and nutriment to the ancient cla.s.sical authors. _Petrarch_, the Italian poet (1304-1374), did much to foster this new spirit. In the fifteenth century the more active intercourse with the Greek Church, and the efforts at union with it, helped to bring into Italy learned Greeks, like _Chrysoloras_ and _Bessarion_, and numerous ma.n.u.scripts of Greek authors. The fall of _Constantinople_ increased this influx of Greek learning. The new studies were fostered by the Italian princes, who vied with one another in their zeal for collecting the precious literary treasures of antiquity, and in the liberal patronage of the students of cla.s.sical literature. The ma.n.u.scripts of the Latin writers, preserved in the monasteries of the West, were likewise eagerly sought for. The most eminent of the patrons of learning were the _Medici_ of Florence. _Cosmo_ founded a library and a Platonic academy. All the writings of _Plato_ were translated by one of that philosopher's admiring disciples, _Marsilius Ficinus_. Dictionaries and grammars, versions and commentaries, for instruction in cla.s.sical learning, were multiplied. These, with the ancient poets, philosophers, and orators themselves, were diffused far and wide by means of the new art of printing, and from presses, of which the _Aldine_--that of _Aldus Minutius_--at _Venice_ was the most famous. ”By the side of the Church, which had hitherto held the countries of the West together (though it was unable to do so much longer) there arose a new spiritual influence, which, spreading itself abroad from Italy, became the breath of life for all the more instructed minds in Europe.”

CONTEST OF THE NEW AND THE OLD CULTURE.--In Germany, the new learning gained a firm foothold. But there, as elsewhere, the _Humanists_, as its devotees were called, had a battle to fight with the votaries of the mediaeval type of culture, who, largely on theological grounds, objected to the new culture, and were stigmatized as ”obscurantists.”

In Italy, the study of the ancient heathen writers had engendered, or at least been accompanied by, much religious skepticism and indifference. This, however, was not the case in Germany. But the champions of the scholastic method and system, in which logic and divinity, as handled by the schoolmen, were the princ.i.p.al thing, were strenuously averse to the linguistic and literary studies which threatened to supplant them. The advocates of the new studies derided the lack of learning, the barbarous style, and fine-spun distinctions of the schoolmen, who had once been the intellectual masters. The disciples of _Aristotle_ and of the schoolmen still had a strong hold in _Paris_, _Cologne_, and other universities. But certain universities, like _Tubingen_ and _Heidelberg_, let in the humanistic studies. In 1502 _Frederick_, the elector of Saxony, founded a university at _Wittenberg_, in which from the outset they were prominent. In _England_, the cause of learning found ardent encouragement, and had able representatives in such men as _Colet_, dean of St. Paul's, who founded St. Paul's School at his own expense; and in _Thomas More_, the author of _Utopia_, afterwards lord chancelor under _Henry VIII_.

REUCHLIN: ULRICH VON HUTTEN.--A leader of humanism in Germany was _John Reuchlin_ (1455-1522), an erudite scholar, who studied Greek at Paris and Basel, mingled with _Politian_, _Pica de Mirandola_, and other famous scholars at _Florence_, and wrote a Hebrew as well as a Greek grammar. This distinguished humanist became involved in a controversy with the _Dominicans_ of _Cologne_, who wished to burn all the Hebrew literature except the Old Testament. The Humanists all rallied in support of their chief, to whom heresy was imputed, and their success in this wide-spread conflict helped forward their cause. _Ulrich von Hutten_, one of the young knights who belonged to the literary school, and others of the same cla.s.s, made effective use, against their illiterate antagonists, of the weapons of satire and ridicule.

ERASMUS.--The prince of the Humanists was _Desiderius Erasmus_ (1467-1536). No literary man has ever enjoyed a wider fame during his own lifetime. He was not less resplendent for his wit than for his learning. Latin was then the vehicle of intercourse among the educated. In that tongue the books of _Erasmus_ were written, and they were eagerly read in all the civilized countries. He studied theology in _Paris_; lived for a number of years in _England_, where, in company with _More_ and _Colet_, he fostered the new studies; and finally took up his abode at _Basel_. In early youth, against his will, he had been for a while an inmate of a cloister. The idleness, ignorance, self-indulgence, and artificial austerities, which frequently belonged to the degenerate monasticism of the day, furnished him with engaging themes of satire. But in his _Praise of Folly_, and in his _Colloquies_, the two most diverting of his productions, he lashes the foibles and sins of many other cla.s.ses, among whom kings and popes are not spared. By such works as his editions of the Church Fathers, and his edition of the Greek Testament, as well as by his multifarious correspondence, he exerted a powerful influence in behalf of culture. If he incurred the hostility of the conservative Churchmen, he still adhered to the Roman communion, and won unbounded applause from the advocates of liberal studies and of practical religious reforms.

LITERATURE IN ITALY.--The first effect of the revival of letters in Italy was to check original production in literature. The charm of the ancient authors who were brought out of their tombs, the belles-lettres studies, and the criticism awakened by them, naturally had this effect for a time. Italy had two great authors in the vernacular, the poet _Ariosto_ (1474-1533), and _Machiavelli_: it had, besides, one famous historian, _Guicciardini_ (1482-1540).

RENAISSANCE OF ART.--This period was not simply an era of grand exploration and discovery, and of the new birth of letters: it was the brilliant dawn of a new era in art. Sculpture and painting broke loose from their subordination to Church architecture. Painting, especially, attained to a far richer development.

ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE.--In architecture and sculpture, the influence of the antique styles was potent. Under the auspices of _Brunelleschi_ (1377-1446), the _Pitti Palace_ and other edifices of a like kind had been erected at _Florence_. At _Rome, Bramante_ (who died in 1515), and, in particular, _Michael Angelo_ (1475-1564), who was a master in the three arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and a poet as well, were most influential. The great Florentine artist _Ghiberti_ (1378-1455), in the bronze gates of the Baptistery, exhibited the perfection of bas-relief. The highest power of _Michael Angelo_, as a sculptor, is seen in his statue of Moses at Rome, and in the sepulchers of Julian and Lorenzo de Medici at Florence. A student of his works, _Cellini_ (1500-1571) is one of the men of genius of that day, who, like his master, was eminently successful in different branches of art. In the same period, there were sculptors of high talent in Germany, especially at _Nuremberg_, where _Adam Kraft_ (1429-1507), and _Peter Vischer_ (1435-1529), whose skill is seen in the bronze tomb of _Sebaldus_, in the church of that saint, are the most eminent. After the death of _Michael Angelo_, in Italy there was a decline in the style of sculpture, which became less n.o.ble and more affected.

PAINTING IN ITALY.--The ancients had less influence on the schools of painting than on sculpture. In painting, as we have seen, _Giotto_ (1266-1337), a contemporary of the poet _Dante_, and _Cimabue_ (who died about 1302), had led the way. The art of perspective was mastered; and real life, more or less idealized, was the subject of delineation. In Italy, there arose various distinct styles or schools. The _Florentine_ school reached its height of attainment in the majestic works of _Michael Angelo_, the frescos of the Sistine Chapel at Rome. The _Roman_ school is best seen in the _stanzas_ of the Vatican, by _Raphael_ (1483-1520), and in the ideal harmony and beauty of his Madonnas. Prior to Michael Angelo and Raphael, there was the symbolic religious art of the _Umbrian_ painters. Of these, the chief was _Fra Angelico_ (1387-1455), the devout monk who transferred to the canvas the tenderness and fervor of his own gentle spirit. The _Venetian_ school, with its richness of color, has left splendid examples of its power in the portraits of _t.i.tian_ (1477-1576), the works of _Paul Veronese_ (who died in 1588), and the more pa.s.sionate products of the pencil of _Tintoretto_ (who died in 1594). The _Lombard_ school has for its representatives the older contemporary of _Raphael_, _Leonardo da Vinci_ (1452-1519), who combines perfection of outward form with deep spirituality, and by whom _The Last Supper_ was painted on the wall of the cloister at _Milan_; and _Correggio_ (1494-1534), whose play of tender sensibility, and skill in the contrasts of light and shade in color, are exhibited in _The Night_, or _Wors.h.i.+p of the Magi_ (at _Dresden_), and in his frescos at _Parma_. The school of _Bologna_, founded by the three _Caracci_, numbers in its ranks _Guido Rent_ (1575-1642), gifted with imagination and sensibility, and _Salvator Rosa_ (1615-1673), who depicted the more wild and somber aspects of nature and of life.

MICHAEL ANGELO AND RAPHAEL.--The two foremost names in the history of Italian art are _Michael Angelo_ and _Raphael_. ”If there is one man who is a more striking representative of the Renaissance than any of his contemporaries, it is Michael Angelo. In him character is on a par with genius. His life of almost a century, and marvelously active, is spotless. As an artist, we can not believe that he can be surpa.s.sed. He unites in his wondrous individuality the two master faculties, which are, so to speak, the poles of human nature, whose combination in the same individual creates the sovereign greatness of the Tuscan school,--invention and judgment,--a vast and fiery imagination, directed by a method precise, firm, and safe.” Raphael lacks the grandeur and the many-sided capacity of the great master by whom he was much influenced. Raphael ”had a nature which converted every thing to beauty.” He produced in a short life an astonis.h.i.+ng number of works of unequal merit; but to all of them he imparted a peculiar charm, derived from ”an instinct for beauty, which was his true genius.”

PAINTING IN THE NETHERLANDS.--In the Netherlands, a school of painting arose under the brothers _Van Eyck_ (1366-1426, 1386-1440). One of them, _John_, was the first artist to paint in oil. At a later day, a cla.s.s of painters, of whom _Rubens_ (1577-1640) is the most distinguished, followed more the track of the ancients and of the Italian school. These belonged to _Flanders_ and _Brabant_; while in _Holland_ a school sprang up of a more original and independent cast, in which genius of the highest order was manifested in the person of _Rembrandt_ (1607-1669), its most eminent master.

PAINTING IN GERMANY AND FRANCE.--In _Germany_, a school marked by peculiarities of its own was represented by _Hans Holbein_ (who died in 1543), and by _Albert Durer_ the Nuremberg artist (1471-1528). In Spain, _Murillo_ (1617-1682) combined inspiration with technical skill, and stands on a level with the renowned Italians. _Velasquez_ (1599-1660), an artist of extraordinary power, is most distinguished for his portraits. The French artists mostly followed the Italian styles. _Claude Lorraine_ (1600-1682) was the painter of landscapes that are luminous in sunlight and atmosphere. In England, the humorous _Hogarth_ (1697-1764) was much later.

MUSIC.--Music shared in the prosperity of the sister arts. The interest awakened in its improvement paved the way in _Italy_ for _Palestrina_ (1514-1594), whose genius and labors const.i.tute an epoch. In _Germany, Luther_ became one of the most efficient promoters of musical culture in connection with public wors.h.i.+p. The great German composers, _Bach_ (1685-1750) and _Handel_ (1685-1759), belong to a subsequent period: they are, however, in some degree the fruit of seed sown earlier.

LITERATURE.--For works on general history, see p. 16. For general histories of particular countries, see p. 359.

On Modern Times. Dyer's _History of Modern Europe_; Duruy's _History of Modern Times_ [1453-1789]; Lavisse et Rambaud, _Histoire Generale_, Vol. IV.; _The Cambridge Modern History_, Vol. I.: _The Renaissance_; Heeren, _Political System of Europe_; _Historical Treatises_ (1 vol.); Heeren u. Ukert, _Geschichte der europaisch. Staaten_ (76 vols. 1829 75); T. ARNOLD'S _Lectures on Modern History_; Michelet's _Modern History_ (1 vol.), Yonge's _Three Centuries of Modern History_.

On the Age of the Renaissance. Symonds's _Renaissance in Italy_ (5 vols.); BURCKHARDT'S _The Civilization of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy_ (2 vols.); REUMONT'S _Lorenzo de'

Medici_ (2 vols); Roscoe's _Life of Lorenzo de' Medici_; VILLARI'S _Machiavelli and his Times_; Machiavelli, _History of Florence_; Oliphant, _Makers of Florence: Dante', Giotto, Savonarola, and their city_ (1 vol.); Voigt, _Die Wiederbelebung des cla.s.sischen alterthums_ (1859); Lanzi, _History of Painting_ (3 vols.); Vasari, _Lives of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects_; Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _History of Painting in North Italy_ [1300-1500] (2 vols., 1871); Crowe, _Handbook of Painting: the German, Flemish and Dutch Schools_ (2 parts, 1874); Eastlake, _Handbook of Painting, the Italian Schools_ (based on _Kugler_, 2 parts, 1874); Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _Life of t.i.tian_ (2 vols.); _Ill.u.s.trated Biographies of the Great Artists_ (14 vols.); Mrs. Jameson, _Lives of Italian Painters_; Grimm, _Life of Michael Angelo_ (2 vols.); Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _Life and Works of Raphael_; Fergusson, _History of Modern Styles of Architecture_; RUGE'S _Geschichte d. Zeitalters d. Entdeckungen_ (1 vol. in Oncken's Series); GEIGER'S _Renaissance und Humanismus in Italien und Deutschland_ (1 vol. in Oncken's Series); Lives of Erasmus, by Le Clerc, Jortin, Knight, Burigny (2 vols.), Froude, Emerton, Drummond (2 vols.); Lives of Columbus, by Irving, Major (1847), Harrisse (1884), Markham (1892), Winsor; PRESCOTT'S _History of Ferdinand and Isabella, History of the Conquest of Mexico_, and _History of the Conquest of Peru_; Robertson, _History of America_; Beazly, _Dawn of Modern Geography_ (2 vols.); Fiske, _Discovery of America_ (2 vols.); Payne, _America_ (2 vols.); Scebohm's _Oxford Reformers_; Robinson and Rolfe, _Petrarch_; Creighton, _History of the Papacy during the Reformation_ (Vols. I.-IV.); Pastor, _History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages_ (3 vols.); Janssen, _History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages_ (8 vols.); Whitcomb, _Source Books of the Italian and German Renaissance_; Grant, _The French Monarchy_ (2 vols.); Johnson, _European History in the Sixteenth Century_.

PERIOD II. THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. (1517-1648)