The Reformation is often depicted by historians as one of the great turning points that separate medieval and modern Europe. In fact, the history of the time period does reflect a distinct change. The major development that the Reformation wrought was to break down the

In conclusion, the transition from medieval to early modern Europe was both continually progressive and revolutionary. Drawing on many cultural, social, and religious trends of the medieval period, the Reformation, voyages of discovery, and the intellectual revolution simply added one or two major developments or points of departure to pre-existing themes. The profound impact that these changes had often misleadingly guides us to believe that the origins of modern Europe represent a complete break with medieval Europe. Yet, through careful examination of the medieval period, we come to find that to write off this portion of history as being counter-progressive or

By openly questioning the practices and purpose of the universal church with the aid of the printing press, Luther and the Reformists marked a broken sense of a unified Christian society. In the wake, many groups sprung up, each with their own ideal of what a church’s role should be. Though not his original intent, Luther’s reforms birthed a German Protestant Church, separate and distinct from the Catholics. This new division of Christianity brought with it a new line of fresh thinking, one of realism that abandoned old superstitions in favor of a sober, serious, rational, and “true” Christianity. In addition, the Reformation altered the manner in which people placed power. While the church argued that power lies in the tradition and authority of institutions, Luther continued his argument that scripture alone had authority, opening the door for individuals to conceive of their beliefs as being as viable as those of any institution (if not

people and an unknown land. For some, especially those who believed in Franciscan Millennialism, these new discoveries marked the end of an effort to bring about the

Aquinas, inventor of his own philosophical system (the “Question” format of starting with a question and offering all of the pros and cons before personally answering objections used in The Summa of Theology), helped make logical, sequential thought and argumentation regarding long-standing beliefs acceptable and widely practiced in his attempt to eliminate emotionalism (the area where he was most successful) and multiple meanings with the goal of precision in mind. Though Descartes and other proponents of the scientific revolution rejected Aquinas’ coldly intellectual method, they drew on the general premise of Aquinas’ goal of applying intellect to deeply meaningful questions. Another medieval scholar who furthered the cause of questioning long-held beliefs, Peter Abelard was also instrumental in developing the potential of universities, setting up a school in Paris with himself as the headmaster. A challenger of authority himself, as evidenced in his depiction of his youthful argumentativeness in Historia Calamitatum, Abelard was not afraid to stand up to older philosophers and be critical of his elders. Though he later denounces the practice in the Historia Calamitatum, Abelard was a conqueror who used rhetoric to gain others to his point of view, another practice employed by the early modern scientists. The work of the scientific revolution had more of a profound impact only as the printing press spread more editions and better text to a broader reading public, an advantage unavailable to the philosophers of the medieval period. Thus, the thought process that went into creating what we now call the scientific revolution was more of a development on older practices of though supported by medieval universities and philosophers. Like nearly every other theory on the origin of modernity, the scientific revolutionists did not feel that they were doing something specifically divergent. However, their efforts, though in essence a culmination of past trends, became a more widely popularized turning point from the medieval basis on Aristotelian philosophy, an easy target for historians to place the label of revolution on in order to

Some topics in this essay:
Calamitatum Abelard, Ptolemy Aquinas, Catholic Church, Spanish Portuguese, Subsequently Catholics, Protestant Church, Summa Theology, Medieval Modern, European World, Natural Philosophy, scientific revolution, medieval europe, modern europe, voyages discovery, catholic church, medieval period, medieval modern, natural world, origin modernity, medieval modern europe, history medieval europe, history medieval, historia calamitatum abelard, reformation voyages discovery, break medieval europe,