All
 
|
 
 


“Our World Has Just Discovered Another Worldˮ: How the Discovery of the New World Influenced the Historical Consciousness of the Sixteenth-Century French Humanists
 
PIIS013038640025169-3-1
DOI10.31857/S013038640025169-3
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Dmitrij Samotovinskij 
Affiliation: Ivanovo State University of Chemical Technology
Address: Russian Federation, Ivanovo
Journal nameNovaia i noveishaia istoriia
EditionIssue 4
Pages72-81
Abstract

The author examines the influence of the discovery of the New World on the historical consciousness of the French humanists of the sixteenth century. A study of the Latin treatises of Jean Fernel (1548), Jean Bodin (1566), the French works of Louis Le Roy (1567, 1575) and Michel de Montaigne (1580, 1588), allows one to challenge the idea established in historiography, according to which the discovery of the New World, the appreciation of new achievements, such as the compass, artillery, and printing, led humanists not only to recognise the superiority of their time over the antiquity, but also to the “idea of progress”. Indeed, French humanists, referring to modern geographical discoveries and unprecedented inventions, proclaimed the superiority of their era over antiquity in knowledge of the world, declared that their contemporaries had transcended antique experience, learned the whole of the globe and transformed the world into a single space of exchange and trade for the first time. Critical position of De Montaigne, who disputed the exhaustive nature of modern geographical discoveries and the innovative nature of a number of inventions, did not spread, because it did not meet the needs of humanists in high historical self-esteem. It was this need that often led intellectuals of the epoch to compare “our age” and antiquity and to be convinced of the superiority of modernity. However, the idea of the superiority of the modern era never developed into the “idea of progress” in the culture of French humanism. For humanists, this complex conception, according to which humanity moved successively towards a desirable image of the future, was both superfluous (in terms of satisfying the need for a high historical self-esteem) and inconsistent with their world view. The conditions for the birth of the idea of progress emerged only in the eighteenth century, within the culture of the Enlightenment. The humanists' understanding of history was based on the idea of cycles, the idea that human civilization, once established, would periodically reach its peak and then inevitably decline. This was borne out by all the historical experience available to humanists.

KeywordsAge of Discoveries, historical consciousness, New World, humanism, Renaissance, France, antiquity
Received06.04.2023
Publication date31.08.2023
Number of characters26023
Cite  
100 rub.
When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 121

Readers community rating: votes 0 

1. Batkin L.M. Ital'yanskoe Vozrozhdenie v poiskah individual'nosti [The Italian Renaissance in searching of individuality]. Moskva, 1989. (In Russ.)
2. Kudryavcev O.F. Mif o “zolotom veke” v kul'ture Vozrozhdeniya [The myth of the “Golden Ageˮ in the Renaissance] // Lichnost' – ideya – tekst v kul'ture Srednevekov'ya i Vozrozhdeniya: sbornik nauchnyh trudov v chest' shestidesyatipyatiletiya N.V. Revyakinoj [Personality – idea – text in the culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance: collection of scientific papers in honor of the 65th anniversary of N.V. Revyakina]. Ivanovo, 2001. S. 84–91. (In Russ.)
3. Monten' M. Opyty [Essays]: v 3-kh kn. Moskva; Leningrad, 1954–1960. (In Russ.)
4. Okuneva O.V. “Antarkticheskaya Franciya” v Brazilii: preddverie Religioznyh vojn vo Francii? ["Antarctic France" in Brazil: Was there a run-up to the Religious Wars in France?] // Religioznye vojny vo Francii XVI v. Novye istochniki, novye issledovaniya, novaya periodizaciya [Religious wars in France of the 16th century. New sources, new research, new periodization] / avtory-sostaviteli Yu. Dossi, V.V. SHishkin. Sankt-Peterburg, 2015. S. 229–247. (In Russ.)
5. Revjakina N.V. Chelovek i priroda u Mishelja Montenja [Man and nature in Michel Montaigne] // Cursor Mundi: Chelovek Antichnosti, Srednevekov'ja i Vozrozhdenija [Cursor Mundi: The Man of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance] / otv. red. V.M. Tjulenev. Vyp. 7. Ivanovo, 2015. S. 191–202. (In Russ.)
6. Revyakina N.V. Chelovek v gumanizme ital'yanskogo Vozrozhdeniya [Man in the Humanism of the Italian Renaissance]. Ivanovo, 2000. (In Russ.)
7. Revyakina N.V. Ital'yanskoe Vozrozhdenie. Gumanizm vtoroj poloviny XIV – pervoj poloviny XV v. [Italian Renaissance. Humanism of the second half of the 14th – first half of the 15th century]. Novosibirsk, 1975. (In Russ.)
8. Revyakina N.V. Koluchcho Salyutati v spore ob antichnosti i sovremennosti [Coluccio Salutati in the dispute about antiquity and modernity] // Formy istoricheskogo soznaniya ot pozdnej antichnosti do epohi Vozrozhdeniya (Issledovaniya i teksty) [Forms of historical consciousness from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (studies and texts)]. Ivanovo, 2000. S. 116–130. (In Russ.)
9. Samotovinskij D.V. Traktat Lui Le Rua “Rassuzhdenie o francuzskoj i vseobshchej istorii nashego vremeni, udivitel'nye sobytiya kotoroj kratko izlozheny” (1567): perevod i kommentarij [Loys Le Roy's treatise “A Discourse on the French and Universal history of our time, which summarizes amazing events” (1567): translation and commentary] // Cursor mundi: Chelovek Antichnosti, Srednevekov'ya i Vozrozhdeniya [Cursor Mundi: The Man of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance] / otv. red. V.M. Tyulenev. Vyp. 13. Ivanovo, 2022. S. 90–114. (In Russ.)
10. Samotovinskij D.V. Znal li chelovek Vozrozhdeniya ideyu progressa? (Lui Le Rua) [Did the Renaissance man know the idea of progress? (Loys Le Roy)] // Cursor mundi: Chelovek Antichnosti, Srednevekov'ya i Vozrozhdeniya [Cursor Mundi: The Man of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance] / otv. red. V.M. Tyulenev. Vyp. 12. Ivanovo, 2021. S. 122–143. (In Russ.)
11. Tarle E.V. Ocherki istorii kolonial'noj politiki zapadnoevropejskih gosudarstv (konec XV – nachalo XIX v.) [Essays on the history of the colonial policy of Western European states (late 15th – early 19th centuries)]. Moskva; Leningrad, 1965. (In Russ.)
12. Atkinson G. La littérature géographique française de la Renaissance: Répertoire bibliographique. Paris, 1936.
13. Atkinson G. Les nouveaux Horizons de la Renaissance française. Paris, 1935.
14. Baron H. The Querelle of the Ancients and the Moderns as a Problem for Renaissance Scholarship // Journal of the History of Ideas. 1959. Vol. 20. № 1. P. 3–22.
15. Bejczy I.P. Erasmus and the Middle Ages: the Historical Consciousness of a Christian Humanist. Boston, 2001.
16. Bodinus J. Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem. Genevae, 1610.
17. Bonnichon Ph. Des Cannibales aux castors: les découvertes françaises de l’Amérique (1503–1788). Paris, 1994.
18. Bourne E. The Naming of America // The American Historical Review. 1904. Vol. 10. № 1. P. 45–48.
19. Bury J.B. The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry into its Origin and Growth. London, 1920.
20. Delumeau J. La peur en Occident, XVIe–XVIIIe siècles: une cité assiégée. Paris, 1980.
21. Fernel J. Jean Fernel’s On the Hidden Causes of Things: Forms, Souls, and Occult Diseases in Renaissance Medicine. With an edition and translation of Fernel's De abditis rerum causis by John M. Forrester / eds J.M. Forrester, J. Henry. Leiden, 2005.
22. Gadoffre G. La révolution culturelle dans la France des Humanistes: Guillaume Budé et François Ier. Genève, 1997.
23. Gilmore M.P. The New World in French and English Historians of the Sixteenth Century // First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old: in 2 vols. Vol. 2 / ed. F. Chiappelli. Berceley, 1976. P. 519–528.
24. Le Roy L. De la vicissitude ou variété des choses en l’univers (1575) / éd. par P. Desan. Paris, 1988.
25. Losse D. Rewriting Culture: Montaigne Recounts New World Ethnography // Neophilologus. 1999. Vol. 83. № 4. P. 517–528.
26. McLaughlin M.L. Humanist Concepts of Renaissance and Middle Ages in the Tre- and Quattrocento // Renaissance Studies. 1988. Vol. 2. № 2. P. 131–142.
27. Plattard J. Guillaume Budé (1468–1540) et les origines de l'humanisme français. Paris, 1927.
28. Rubiés J.-P. The Discovery of New Worlds and Sixteenth-Century Philosophy // Routledge Companion to Sixteenth Century Philosophy / eds H. Lagerlund, B. Hill. New York, 2017. P. 54–82.
29. Weisinger H. Ideas of History during the Renaissance // Journal of the History of Ideas. 1945. Vol. 6. P. 417–424.

Система Orphus

Loading...
Up