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CHAPTERS

1 The Later Middle Ages, 1300–1450

2 European Society in the Renaissance, 1350–1550

3 European Exploration and Conquest, 1450–1650
4 Reformations and Religious Wars, 1500–1600

UNITS
Unit 1 Renaissance and Exploration
this sample.
Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Unit 2 Age of Reformation
Worth Publishers.

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medieval (from the fifth century to the fif- There were continuities across all these
teenth), and modern (from the fifteenth cen- breaks, however. The voyages of Columbus
by Bedford, Freeman &
tury to the historians’ own time). In this model, may have marked the beginning of European
the break between the Middle Ages and the exploration and colonization, but there were
modern era was marked by the first voyage of plenty of earlier contacts between Europeans
Columbus (1492) and the beginning of the and other cultures, and Columbus himself was
Protestant Reformation (1517), though some motivated more by religious zeal — generally
scholars, especially those who focused on regarded as “medieval” — than by a “modern”
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Italy, set the break somewhat earlier with the desire to explore the unknown. The Protestant
Italian Renaissance. As the modern era grew Reformation did bring a major break in West-
Distributed
longer and longer, historians began to divide it ern Christianity, but Martin Luther was seeking
into “early modern” (from the Renaissance or to reform the church, not split it, just like medi-
Columbus to the French Revolution in 1789) eval reformers, of which there were many.
and what we might call “truly modern” (from Other developments traditionally regarded as
the French Revolution to whenever they hap- marks of modernity, such as the expansion of
pened to be writing). They also saw a break in capitalism, the growth of the nation-state, or
the middle of the early modern period, with the increasing interest in science and technology,
Treaty of Westphalia that ended the Thirty also had earlier precedents, and their impact
Years’ War (1648). That treaty ended more was slow in coming. Many basic social struc-
than a century of wars over religion. After this, tures established before 1450 endured: most
wars in Europe were primarily fought for territo- people lived in villages and made their living by
rial gain and political power rather than reli- farming, the family remained the primary unit
gion, and Westphalia also ushered in a new of production and consumption, nobles
system of diplomacy based on the notion of a remained the dominant social group, and
“balance of power” that was supposed to whether one was born male or female shaped
lessen the frequency of war. every life experience and every stage of life.

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