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.
