Speaker
Description
Paradigm shifts are often long in coming, and when we consider the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern age, there are many factors that contributed to this major paradigm shift. While most historians and other scholars focus on economic, political, or military aspects, the truly influential aspects actually prove to be spiritual, cultural, and emotional factors. One major factor thus would be the global fear of the Ottomans in western Europe since the fall of Constantinople. Or the huge excitement about the discovery of the New World. In my talk, however, I will investigate a deep-seated spiritual movement that led to the undermining of the absolute authority of the Catholic Church and set the stage not only for the Protestant Reformation. Indeed, the profound destabilization of the Catholic Church also implied the rise of countless small spiritual groups, including the Devotio moderna, later the Mennonites, Amish, Schwenkfeldians, and so forth. At the same time, we recognize a considerable and new interest in Turkish culture that became more familiar through the accounts of former western slaves, diplomats, and military. In line with current research focused on the history of emotions, we can now write a new outline of the causes and conditions leading to the end of the Middle Ages.
| Keywords | Late Middle Ages, Spiritual Movements, Religious Crisis, Devotio Moderna, History of Emotions |
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| aclassen@arizona.edu |