The Rudolf Steiner Archive

History of the Middle Ages Up to the Great Inventions and Discoveries X

[ 1 ] As we continue our exploration of history, we are moving further and further back in time to the 15th century, when the great inventions and discoveries took place.

[ 2 ] A new era is beginning. This new era is of particular interest from a historical perspective; its defining characteristics mark the transition to the formation of Europe’s great states. We have seen how the transition from feudal power to modern princely power has unfolded. On the one hand, this represents a reaction to old remnants from earlier times and, only to a certain extent, a renewal. What remains of the old claims of princes and dukes—what was left behind—is regaining its strength and, through its private family ties, is shaping the map of Europe.

[ 3 ] The dominance of the landed gentry had been supplanted by that of the cities; the bourgeoisie was flourishing, and all the true forces of culture emanated from the cities. The empire had been reduced to a shadow of its former self; after a long interregnum, Rudolf of Habsburg was indeed elected, but the emperor had become largely superfluous in the empire—he hardly needed to make an appearance there anymore. The Habsburg dynasty sought only to use this imperial authority to expand its power base wherever it still held rights outside the sphere of urban power. It is a simple process that is unfolding here; the others—princes and dukes—are also gathering what remains to them in order to strengthen their domestic power, thereby laying the foundation for large political territories.

[ 4 ] The Mongol invasion, and later the Turkish incursions, were the catalyst for this. Only the larger princes were able to defend their territories; the smaller ones aligned themselves with the more powerful ones, thus laying the foundation for future states. The new emperor had very little influence by this point. As mentioned, Rudolf of Habsburg was concerned only with establishing a power base for his house. After the defeat of Ottokar of Bohemia, his son was enfeoffed with Ottokar’s lands; later, the Habsburg power base was strengthened as new territories were continually acquired through marriage.

[ 5 ] The only aspect of all these purely private ventures that is of interest to us is that they led to the uprising of the Swiss Confederates, who wanted to be free from the claims made upon them by Rudolf of Habsburg’s successor, Emperor Albrecht I. Through fierce battles, they succeeded in becoming subject only to imperial authority—as imperial subjects—and rejected any form of princely authority.

[ 6 ] The drive to expand one’s own power base continued under the subsequent emperors; thus, Adolf of Nassau seized a large part of Thuringia, which he wrested from its weak princes. Albrecht of Austria and his successor, Henry of Luxembourg, also sought to enrich themselves in this manner, the latter by marrying his son to a Bohemian princess. This is a typical example of how conditions developed at that time.

[ 7 ] This trend continued amid a resurgence of ecclesiastical power, but at the same time there was also a growing movement that wanted nothing to do with the Church. The teachings of the Waldensians and Cathars were provocative, and there were fierce struggles against the resurgent power of the princes. The situation of the peasants, which had improved with the rise of the cities, now became increasingly oppressive due to feudalism and robber barons, as well as the bishoprics and abbeys to which they were bound by serfdom. The cities had enjoyed a period of prosperity; back then, the principle had held true: “City air sets you free.” — But over time, many towns had fallen into dependency; the Hohenstaufen dynasty, in particular, had succeeded in bringing many towns under their control. Now the towns sought to stem the further influx of settlers; they put an end to it and sought princely protection here as well. As a result, the peasant population became increasingly dependent on their landlords. The mood among the oppressed was stirred up by the Waldensians and heretics, for whom the Church was no longer sufficient.

[ 8 ] The cry for freedom and the Christian-heretical sentiment went hand in hand; religious sentiment became intertwined with political movement, and this popular sentiment found its expression in the Peasants’ Wars. Anyone who wishes to grasp this spirit of heresy—independent of outward religiosity and princely authority—must bear in mind that, especially in the Rhine regions—“the clergy’s alley of the Holy Roman Empire”—fierce battles were waged for decades by the princely powers against this movement. Folk preachers, particularly those from the Dominican Order, resisted; indeed, a conflict arose among the preachers because they refused to submit to the oppression of the people by papal authority. They disagreed with the papacy’s expansion of political power and the growth of princely authority.

[ 9 ] The French kings saw the papacy as an ally in their struggle against German princely power. Thus, the pope was led to Avignon, and for about seventy years the popes had their seat there. Henry of Luxembourg fought against the pope, whom the King of France supported. Thus, the Pope of Avignon now ruled Christendom from France, and just as the princes increasingly asserted their power over their vassals, so too did the popes strive for ever greater expansion of their authority. The secular clergy, as well as the powerful abbeys and bishoprics, were dependent on the Pope. Meanwhile, the princes arbitrarily reshaped the map of Europe. Emperor Charles IV united Brandenburg, Hungary, and Bohemia under his personal rule. The imperial title had become a mere formality; the emperors were content to administer their private lands, and the imperial title was traded away by the princes.

[ 10 ] If we are to understand the true course of history, we must bear in mind that the great turning point from the Middle Ages to the modern era consisted in the fact that the princes exploited that discontent for their own private interests; we see the emerging states spreading their tentacles over a centuries-long popular movement, and this movement is exploited in the name of religious freedom—first to combat the papacy and curtail its power, and then to insinuate themselves into that position of power.

[ 11 ] That movement took root in the depths of the people’s soul; it sought something entirely different from what the Reformation ultimately brought. The secularized clergy had become just as oppressive as the secular princes. The urban population, in its self-interest, did not feel compelled to side with the oppressed; only when their own freedom was threatened did we see them striving to preserve that freedom. Thus, they were ultimately unable to assert themselves in the Swabian League of Cities and in the Palatinate, with the result that new princely power emerged there as well.

[ 12 ] Even during the reign of Emperor Sigismund, a peculiar religious movement broke out in Bohemia. A movement that spread under the leadership of a man who—whether one agrees with or rejects what he stood for—relied solely on his own convictions; convictions grounded in the purest will, in the fire within his own breast. This man was John Hus of Hussonetz, the preacher and professor at the University of Prague. Drawing on a movement that was spreading throughout Europe—for even before that, Wycliffe in England had already pressed for a return to original Christianity—but which gained particular brilliance through the fiery eloquence of this outstanding man, Hus found support everywhere. His words found acceptance everywhere simply by pointing out the shameful conduct of the secular clergy, the sale of bishoprics, and so on. They were words that touched the heart, for they proclaimed a sentiment that was sweeping through all of Europe and emerged only where a personality was found to give it expression. The Church had fallen into disarray because of the popes and antipopes; the popes themselves had to take action. Thus, the Council of Constance was convened. It marked a turning point in medieval life. The goal was to transform the Church into a pure institution. This endeavor sparked vigorous opposition. Political motives were at play; Emperor Sigismund himself took a keen interest. The most egregious abuses within the Church were to be rectified, for the clergy had become completely derelict, and even in the monasteries, unbelievable abuses had taken hold. In Italy, Savonarola had begun his powerful campaign against the secularization of the Church. The Council sought to address this issue as well. The chairman of the Council was Gerson, the chancellor of the University of Paris—a second Tauler for the Romance-speaking lands. This fact was significant for the outcome of the Council, for with Gerson’s help, the emperor had been able to wrest leadership from the papal faction and put an end to Hussitism. Because this movement had nothing to do with the exercise of political power but sprang from the very depths of the people’s souls, it was so dangerous to the spiritual and, in particular, the secular rulers. It was not Rome alone, but the rising power of the princes to which Hus fell victim. The Hussites waged their war for a republican Christianity not only against the Church; it was waged against the encroaching power of the princes.

[ 13 ] In Protestantism, however, this power allies itself with religious discontent in order to exploit it for its own purposes. The actions of Hus’s followers were thus doomed to failure because princely power had prevailed. Otherwise, the emperors of that time held no particular power: Emperor Frederick II, for example, was commonly referred to as the “useless emperor.”

[ 14 ] This gives us a picture of the unique developments of that era. In the cities that were increasingly coming to the fore, life was flourishing; in contrast, where feudal power persisted, oppression continued to grow; and in the realm of deeper religious life, influenced by both of these factors, a powerful movement emerged, as evidenced by the rise of figures such as Wycliffe and Hus. Italy offers us a brilliant picture of that urban life in its city-states; in Florence, for example, it was the Medici merchants who played a fundamental role in Italian culture. All of these cities were influential cultural forces.

[ 15 ] Thus you will understand that the means by which power was otherwise attained were no longer sufficient. In the Middle Ages, apart from the clergy who served in monasteries and held public offices, no one could read or write. Now this situation has changed. Literacy is spreading through the new movements that are now sweeping across the masses. The great writing institutes disseminated, in the form of manuscripts, what had previously been forbidden to the people, and these manuscripts were purchased just as books would be later: writings from the New Testament, popular science books, books of myths, legends, heroic tales, and medical treatises were made widely available to the people in the 14th century.

[ 16 ] As already mentioned, schools had been established everywhere, particularly by the Brothers of the Common Life. Along the Rhine in particular, what had previously been hidden away in monasteries was now brought to light. A formal manuscript copying industry emerged in Hagenau, Alsace, whose advertisements—such as those of the Lamberts—resemble modern catalogs. A thriving manuscript trade also originated in Cologne, and the Brothers of the Common Life were also known as the “Brödder von de penne.”

[ 17 ] Here we have the preparatory stage of the art of book printing. It arose from a deep-seated need; it did not emerge suddenly, but was brought about by the fact that it had become a necessity—since books produced by hand copying were too expensive, yet even the poorer classes of society were demanding books. At that time, it was a means of stirring up the people.

[ 18 ] The men who led the peasants’ cause at that time were able to distribute these pamphlets among the people only because circumstances were favorable to them. This is how the peasant alliances emerged at that time—the “Arme Konrad” and the “Bundschuh”—with the slogan: “We shall not be cured by priests and the nobility.” At that time, the need for something new was felt on all sides, and when Gutenberg invented movable type around 1445, the means were provided to shape the cultural life of the era. The groundwork had been laid for broadening people’s horizons. Under the influence of such sentiments, the secularization of the arts and sciences developed, giving rise to the period of inventions and discoveries. Whereas the Church had previously been the sole patron of the arts and sciences, the cities and the bourgeoisie are now the bearers of culture; it has been transferred from the former, purely ecclesiastical culture and secularized.

[ 19 ] We now turn to the discoveries—which we can only briefly list—that expanded the stage of human history to encompass vast, unknown territories. Added to this was the Turkish invasion of Greece, through which the culture still existing there came to influence Europe. A large number of Greek artists and scholars emigrated to other countries, notably Italy, and found refuge in the cities. They enriched the spirit of the West. This renewal is known as the Renaissance. Ancient Greece rose again; only now could people become acquainted with the writings upon which Christianity was founded. The Old Testament was read; we owe this in particular to Reuchlin, and through him and Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, the movement we know as Humanism was set in motion. From the aspirations sparked by these influences, the dawn of a new era emerged. The spread of Turkish power had yet another consequence. The West had long been in contact with the East. Through the maritime dominance of the Italian city-states—with Venice at their center—it had been possible to transport the products of the East, notably Indian spices, to Europe. When the Turkish incursions made it more difficult for merchants to maintain this connection, the need arose to find an alternative route to India by sailing around Africa. Expeditions were sent out from Portugal and other southern countries to explore the regions around Africa, and Bartolomeu Dias succeeded in reaching the Cape of Storms—later renamed the Cape of Good Hope—while Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India in 1498. This marked the dawn of a new era in European economic life, which reached its peak in 1492 with Columbus’s discovery of the Americas. But that belongs to the history of more recent times.

[ 20 ] This is how we have come to understand the end of the Middle Ages and the factors that led to a new era. We are shaken to see the very foundations of life itself. And while one often thinks that the dividing lines in historical analysis are chosen arbitrarily, this dividing line is truly significant. It was one of those “jolts,” as we have seen in the middle of the Middle Ages with the founding of cities and, earlier, during the Migration Period.

[ 21 ] Now, under the auspices of urban culture—combining all these inventions with the great scientific breakthrough that was Copernicus’s achievement—an entirely new culture is emerging. This trend brings about the secularization of culture and a strengthening of princely power. Smaller territories had been unable to resist the devastating campaigns of the Turks; they had aligned themselves with more powerful entities. The expansion of the great states is attributable to all these factors. Through a variety of examples, we have seen conditions change; we have seen how the bourgeoisie emerged, how it flourished, and how it faced a dangerous adversary in the form of princely power.

[ 22 ] You know that the present is the result of the past; we will therefore engage with history in the proper way if we learn from the past for the present and the future, in the manner expressed by an ancient Celtic bard, who said that the most beautiful music to him was hearing of the great deeds of antiquity that stir and inspire him. Just as it is true that human existence is the most important phenomenon—and thus that human beings themselves are the most worthy subject of study—so too is it true that human beings remain a great mystery. When a person realizes that he remains a mystery to himself, he will arrive at the true object of study. For only then will a person view himself with proper appreciation—when he knows that this is his mystery: his own existence in connection with the universe. This provides him with the proper foundation for all his deeds and actions.

[ 23 ] But if he wishes to learn anything about this mystery of his own existence, he must turn to the science that tells of his own striving. In world history, we see how feelings and thoughts give rise to actions. That is why we should study world history—so that it may inspire our hopes, our thoughts, and our feelings. Let us bring over from the past what we need for the future, what we need for life, for action!