PURITANISM AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT

1. PURITANISM AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS • What were the essential features of Puritanism? • What factors contributed to the outbreak of the English civil war? • What were the goals of the English Enlightenment?

3. Prior to the Enlightenment(Review) • Charles I does not allow the Catholics or Puritans to practice their religion • Parliament passes the Act of Toleration (religious) • 1642-English Civil War begins • King James I rules 1603-1625 • King James dies and is replaced by his son Charles I – who believes in the Divine Right of Kings • Fights with parliament and dissolves is in 1626, • 1628, and 1640

4. English Civil War • Charles the I beheaded in 1649 and monarchy abolished • Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell • Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England-strict Puritan • Fought between the Royalists and the Puritan Roundheads • Catholics tend to resettle in France and Italy; Puritans in Holland, and then Massachusetts colony

5. Oliver Cromwell • Punishment for public swearing was a fine that varied according to social rank from 3-20 shillings. • Coffee houses became very popular • British slave trade grew a great deal • Closed theatres • Banned dancing • Banned celebration of Christmas • Puritanism was a radical form of Calvinism- wanted to eradicated the doctrines and rites that were retained by Catholicism

6. John Milton • Believed that the loss of a book was greater than the loss of a life for the book lives on as a distillation of human intellect. • Went blind at the age of 44 • A Puritan who valued civil liberties and defended their beliefs • He argued in Aeropagiticia that “he who destroys a good book, ills reason itself, kills the image of God , as it were in the eye”

7. The Enlightenment • Publication of the Dictionary • Begins with Charles II restored to the throne in 1660 • John Dryden named England’s first poet laureate. • Theory of gravitation • Development of the microscope

8. What was happening during this period? • 1666- Great Fire of London- lasted 4 days • 13,200 homes destroyed • 4 river bridges • Newgate and several other prisons destroyed • 1650- TajMahal completed • 1660- Charles II crowned • 1661- Louis XIV begins the Palace at Versailles • 1665- plague ravages London, killing 1/3 of the population

9. James II time period • 1685- Charles II dies and James II crowned • 1682- La Salle claims Louisiana for France • 1683- Ottoman Turks besiege Vienna • 1697 – Ashanti Empire formed in Africa

10. The Glorious Revolution • 1707= The Act of the Union establishes the state of Great Britain, composed of England and Scotland. Wales had been a part of England since the mid 1500s. • 1688- James II – a Catholic – deposed, and William III and Mary II accede to the throne. • Mary was Jame’s Protestant daughter and consort to the Dutch Prince William of Orange

11. Sir Christopher Wren and St. Paul’s Cathedral • 604- original built- ransacked by Vikings • 962- more elaborated version erected • 1087-1310- work underway in the grand Norman style- destroyed in the Great Fire • 1710- Wren designed the one we see today • Cost- 2 million pounds

13. More history of the period • 1752- Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar • 1756- Seven Year’s War begins in Europe • 1757- Victory at Plassey begins British rule of India • 1759-Voltaire completes Candide • 1762- Catherine II becomes ruler of Russia • 1714- Ruling house of Hanover founded by George I • 1742-George Handel’s Messiah first performed • 1746- defeat of Culloden Moor ends Jacobite Rebellion • 1750-London is the largest city in Europe

14. More History of the period • 1775- American Revolution begins

15. Authors and their Works • 1719- Defoe – Robinson Crusoe • 1726 – Swift – Gulliver’s Travels • 1729- Swift – A Modest Proposal • 1755 – Samuel Johnson publishes A Dictionary of the English Language • 1667- Milton – Paradise Lost • 1678- Bunyan – Pilgrim’s Progress • 1668- Samuel Pepys diary • 1711- The Spectator first published • 1714 – Pope- The Rape of the Lock – (mock epic)

16. NEOCLASSICISM • 18TH CENTURY Diests believe that God manifests himself not through the Bible or supernatural forces, but through the grandeur of his creation. Therefore, the way to know God is to use reason and observation, to study the laws that govern the physical universe. This way of thinking led to a creative outburst of scientific inquiry and intellectual freedom that was unprecedented in the Western world.

17. Scientific Inquiry • Francis Bacon – astronomer • Robert Boyle – chemist • Edmund Halley – astronomer • Isaac Newton- physics, math, and astronomy • Admiration of the ancient Greeks and classics

18. Why It Matters • The thinkers of the English Enlightenment helped to shape the ideals of the American Revolution and the U.S. Government. John Locke’s theory of natural rights is a key element in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Hobbes influenced the writers of the Federalist Papers, a series of articles supporting ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

19. Why it Matters, cont. • Laid the foundation for a modern worldview based on rationalism and secularism. Widespread use of the scientific method. • Rights of the individual paved the way for the rise of democracy in the 1800s and 1900s. • Pilgrim leader William Bradford advocated the use of a plain style that became an enduring influence on American literature.

20. Why it matters, page 3 • John Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost is an archetypal rebel who influenced such characters as the monster in Frankenstein and Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. • Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels has added several words to the English language, such as Lillipution (tiny) and Yahoo (crude person).