The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Rise of Nations

by Andrew C. Fix

Between 1348 and 1715, western Europe was fraught with turmoil, beset by the Black Plague, numerous and bitter religious wars, and frequent political revolutions and upheavals.

Yet the Europe that emerged from this was vastly different from the Europe that entered it. By the start of the 18th century, Europe had been revitalized and reborn in a radical break with the past that would have untold ramifications for human civilization.

This comprehensive series of 48 lectures by an award-winning teacher and scholar sheds new light on this critical period by exploring the political, social, cultural, and economic revolutions that transformed Europe between the arrival of the Black Death in the 14th century to the onset of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.

It explains

- how these startling changes came about;

- the social, economic, and political factors that helped steer Europe away from the Middle Ages and into the modern world;

- the kinds of patterns we can see during this time; and

- how these centuries were critical to the entire narrative of history and have contributed to the Western world we know today.

Professor Fix covers a remarkable breadth of subjects relating to European history from 1348 to 1715. While religion, politics, wars, and economics dominate this period, he also pays close attention to art, exploration, science, and technology.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Religion, Historical, Renaissance, Philosophy

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been working my way up The Great Courses from Ancient Rome towards the modern era. All of the courses have been fantastic but this one stands out as particularly good.

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*
Read twice

[Bevan Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Andrew Fix of Lafayette College teaches courses in 'Intellectual History', however this interesting course pulls in social, political and economic history to provide a survey of European History from roughly 1300 - 1700. Professor Fix summarises the major elements in the course title well. Interesting insights included the economic and political impact of the wars and plague of the thirteenth century, an excellent look at the Reformation and a look at the crises of the seventeenth century.
In the year where we commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther issuing his Ninety-Five theses, Prof Fix's coverage of the Reformation is excellent. I certainly gained a much greater understanding of its course, and the attention to the 'outliers' of religious non-conformity such as the Anabaptists was interesting. Fix's view of Luther's actions is to emphasise their gradual quality and the fact that he certainly wasn't looking to create a new church, or indeed even to seriously challenge the Pope's position at first. It was the church's decision to vehemently oppose Luther's challenges that Fix sees as the decisive factor. He highlights the other challenges to areas of the church that required reform that had not attracted the same attention, and the fact that Luther's challenge to indulgences certainly wasn't unique. Fix does adamantly state that the theses weren't nailed to a church door in Wittenberg, a fact that my reading suggests is still debatable.
Fix's account of the religious wars is sound, highlighting the significance early on of Luther's decision to 'politicize' his campaign (the so-called Magisterial Reformation).
The seventeen century is fascinating, with Fix adopting the famous "Crisis of the Seventeenth Century" historical debate to argue that there was a crisis which was both economic and political. The greatest crisis was the thirty years war. Fix argues that although the war ended religious wars and encouraged the separation of religion and state it also left Germany devastated, although the kernel of possibility for the future was left with the Prussian-Brandenburg state.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were quite 'German' in their focus, but once Fix begins looking at the 'Rise of Nations', comparing absolutism and other political structures, his geographic focus broadens to consider France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, England and the Dutch republic. His assessment of the Dutch republic is quite positive and I would like to read more on this topic as some books I have dipped into seem more equivocal about its effectiveness and how democratic it was. Fix states in the accompanying guide that the republic "evolved a system of checks and balances that worked well to provide a stable and representative government." That may be but the disunity of the Republic in terms of whether to continue the war with Spain after the truce generated much controversy. Thomas Munck writes in Seventeenth-Century Europe: State, Conflict and Social Order in Europe 1598-1700 that “lacking central authority except for the loose confederal framework provided by the States General and the ill-defined rival authority of the stadholder in each province, the republic experienced recurrent crises of authority during the seventeenth century”. Certainly the structure of comparative lectures is useful however and provides greater clarity than a lot of histories of Europe.
Overall the course is extremely well structured, delivered and interesting. One minor quirk is that the lectures seem to end quite abruptly as though Professor Fix has run out of time. Overall however the material is interesting, well structured and the accompanying guidebook is also excellent.

[booklady · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually love Teaching Company Courses, but after a few lectures, I gave up on this one. There was too much that I questioned and the teacher couldn't even pronounce some words correctly, so that was enough.

[Kristi Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was surprised at some facts this professor got wrong. He said Prince Arthur died in a boat accident, which is not true, he got ill and died in Wales from unknown causes. There was a Prince William that did die in a boating accident, but it wasn't him. William was Henry I heir, not Henry VII.

Bad scholarship.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of information, but how much of it can be trusted is questionable. Obvious errors (Henry VIII's older brother did not die in a shipwreck, what is this nonsense?) and speculation/unproven rumours that continue to be debated by historians stated as incontrovertible facts (the lecturer has clearly never met a scandalous rumour about the Borgias he didn't like) in this course hint at shoddy research - I'd have expected better from a supposed university level course. The fact that the lecturer sounded like he was half asleep for half the course didn't help.

[imngrer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely atrocious. If you bought it for its advertised excellence, demand your money back. I am not knowledgeable on the whole period, I have a very good acquaintance with most of it. He is just plain wrong on so many issues. I am not talking about the odd date or fact that he has misspoken, I am talking about him totally misunderstanding historical situations and relationships. He just makes himself look foolish. I don't know how they dare sell it.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Rise of Nations is a set of forty-eight half hour lectures, combined with a 267 page Guidebook, that was prepared and delivered by the late Professor Andrew C. Fix of Lafayette College in 2005. The series is a comprehensive high level course that covers the middle of the twelfth century following the Great Plague through the early eighteenth century at the beginning of the Enlightenment. It includes such topics as the Renaissance (as mentioned in the title of the course), the Period of Civic Humanism, the Protestant Reformation, the Age of Discovery, the Religious Wars, and the Age of Enlightenment. A large portion of the topics are religious by nature since that was the emphasis of the population during that time period but the purpose of the lectures is not to preach but to teach the history of the time. Professor Fix impartially covers all these topics without partisanship.

Although Professor Fix was not a charismatic speaker (in fact he spent most of his time standing behind a lectern), the information that he provided was well organized, very comprehensive, and extremely valuable. In my opinion, the professor accomplished his stated objective which was "... to focus on the elements of historical change in political, social, cultural, and economic life in the years 1348 to 1715 that gave birth to the modern world." Unlike lecture series that cover briefer time periods, the expansive scope of this course did not allow for many specifics. Rather it provided a broad aspect to learners who desire to understand more or obtain a refresher of that time in history. For me, it was similar to being soaked with a fire hose, there was so much information that it was almost overwhelming. However, he made sure the lectures were understandable, interesting and, in some cases, anecdotal.

For anyone that has a desire to learn about the history of the Western (and I emphasize Western) world during the years mentioned this course will provide the learner with a banquet of information. In addition, the guidebook is arranged in such a manner that one can refer to it subsequently to taking the course without difficulty. For someone that isn't a world history expert but has a desire to learn more about the 350 years following the Black Plague this course would be of great value.

[Georgiana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started well on the Renaissance, but the errors really began mounting up when he got to the Reformation. And since when is 'papal' pronounced like a roundish crunchy fruit?!?

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many errors in history and doctrine to finish.



I love The Great Courses, and have listened to many of them with great enjoyment but this one was a disaster. I'm not sure who is responsible for vetting these courses, but this one is so riddled with errors, I couldn't finish it. The lecturer mispronounces a number of common English words, and presents gossip as historic truth. The lack of understanding of basic Catholic and Protestant practices is deeply disappointing and misleading.

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

History in it's proper context is always relative to current times and is the best antidote to the stupidity in which I routinely see happening around especially during the political season.

This lecture starts the Renaissance with Florence and even will tell you practically the day that the Renaissance started. In 1382, Florence was in the process of losing a war with one of their weaker neighbors and the General leading the assault against Florence died and thereby saved Florence from defeat.

The city fathers decided to look at what had gone wrong and one of the things is they realized that their scholasticism was only geared towards producing Lawyers, Doctors and Theologians and not critical thinkers able to generalize from the particular to the universal (science and philosophy previously was not inductive, but deductive, from the universal to the particular).

The city fathers made a concerted effort to teach the people how to think critically and to conceptualize beyond the old standards. By rejecting the old ways of scholasticism, they led to providing a modern perspective which will ultimately lead to the Enlightenment. The Florentine city fathers would have realized how nothing could be more stupid than to have a politician be cheered when he says that "a welder is worth more than a philosopher" (this is an actual example from this current political season, and highlights the stupidity currently going on). That statement is wrong for multiple reasons. A person's worth doesn't come from what he does for a living, welders make good philosophers, and teaching one how to think critically is always a good thing to do. In the case of Florence it's going to ultimately lead to the creation of an Isaac Newton.

I don't want to imply that the reformation and nation building parts of this lecture are not relevant to today's times for they are and were just as entertaining as the Renaissance parts were. I just wish people who cheered such stupid statements as the one cited above would read (or listen) to history and science books and lectures and start to think beyond what they see on their TVs and blogs and get themselves out of the scholastic mindset and start to learn to think critically.

The lecturer does devote two hours to the development of science up to Isaac Newton and explains the Aristotelian Ptolemaic system better than most books I've read on the development of science. He'll end the lecture at the early Enlightenment, and he covers all the steps that are necessary for the creation of an Isaac Newton and a Pierre Bayle (one of my all time favorite people and I'm glad this lecture gives him his proper place within the Enlightenment, if only briefly).

[Heather Perkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this and it started fine. There were a couple points where I questioned if I wanted to keep going, stating that Lucretia Borgia had a child with her father as a fact was one of them, but I had to stop. This should not be a course used to instruct people on history. At all. The straw for me was saying that Prince Arthur, Henry VIII's older brother died in a boating accident. There was indeed an English prince, a son of a king Henry who died in a ship wreck, but he was William Æthling 400 years earlier. I don't understand how the Teaching Company could have put this out. It's like saying E=NC^2 and thinking that's publishable.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

A survey course, set on about a sixth grade level. I would rate this a little higher except that the first third or so was so full of generalities and so lacking in specific examples or facts that it was like listening to a series of topic sentences. And at the end, rather than offering a summary overview or preview of what came next, Prof. Fix just cuts off. He's easy enough to listen too...I wish he had worked with better written material.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listening to this again in 2020....
Appropriate to the times.....
Plague, upheaval and revolts..... sounds like today!

Excellent!!!

********************
2016 review:
Really excellent. Very very worthwhile.

[Brett Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecture series by late professor Andrew Fix provides a large number of “Aha” moments. While the transformation from Medieval to Modern mind gets good coverage, the emphasis is on transformation to the modern state.

We start with what motivated the change from the hardscrabble and abusive feudalist life among superstitious Medievals. With the Hundred Years War, plague, and multiple Popes fighting each other as a backdrop, the near fall of Florence to Millan in the late 1300s inspired Florence to strengthen itself. Determined to build a new world and replace the dying old one, they sought a revival. What they would label the Middle Ages they saw as a period of disaster, decay, and corruption. They decided that ancient Greece and Rome were the golden age of civilization and culture, so the Florentines set out to remake themselves into an image of antiquity. They believed education was key to strengthening their political system, educating their citizens in the “wisdom and eloquence” of “Civic Humanism.” (Opinion: This was, however, the birth of modern individualism which became independence, autonomy, then isolation.) Participation in public affairs was, they believed, essential to individual human development. However, to participate effectively, people had to be educated in moral philosophy and rhetoric, all taught by what the Romans called the “liberal arts” in the study of “what it means to be human.” With an emphasis on ethics, “The goal of Humanist education,” says Fix. “was to enable people to reach their full human potential: to help them be the best, most well-rounded people they could be.” What a shift from enslavement to lords and superstition that Europe had been subject to for the previous 700 years.

Francesco Petrarch—often credited with initiating this movement called the Italian Renaissance— arrived early with his rediscovery of Cicero’s letters. He believed everyone needed to know how to live a good life. According to him, they could learn that by reading history, poetry, and literature for examples of people to emulate, especially Cicero and Livy. All of these ancients had just been rediscovered thanks to contact with Islam and mined from monasteries across the continent, having hidden ancient writings from invading Barbarians with entry to the Dark Ages. This revival, this renaissance idea, swept through Europe, initiating Modernity, preceding the Scientific Revolution and the later Enlightenment that completed it. Unlike the Middle Ages when salvation, and what historian Crane Brinton called the “empty logic-spinning” of what God “really” thinks, the Renaissance adopted Protagoras’ view that “man is the measure of all things.”

Fix then moves on to the Protestant Reformation with humanist elements, seeking reform of a corrupted Church. Unlike Constantine’s endorsement of Christianity—which strengthens on the back of a powerful Eastern Roman Empire—Lutheranism (hence Protestantism) strengthens on the back of a weak Catholic Germany that can’t fend it off. Fix then develops the following social earthquakes of counter-reformation and the rise of nation-states driven by organization and economics. His final lecture caps off with an introduction to the Enlightenment. An excellent overview of the first 300 years of 500 that made Modernity.

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult course to rate. It purports to be a history of the (European) Renaissance, Reformation, and Rise of Nations, but I think that misrepresents the material covered.

The story of the Renaissance is represented mostly by an economic history of Florence, covering its guild system and the creation therethrough of the Florentine Commune. We get intricate details of the interaction of major and minor guilds, a bit about foreign trade, and more about the rise of international banking.

There is also a bit about the Renaissance in Milan and just a touch about Venice, but the other Italian city states are mostly only mentioned in passing. There is some mention of the existence of military confrontation between the various states and the political complications of Guelph vs. Ghibelline, but very little in the way of detail. And the rest of Europe was barely mentioned at all, except to mention that the two largest Florentine banks were driven out of business when the King of England defaulted on loans.

The economic discussions are very well done, with details that I found fascinating, but the coverage of this period lacked the kind of context that would have been provided by discussing more than just that aspect of the period.

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation were similarly covered unevenly. We get specific details of Martin Luther's life and his decision to break away from the Catholic church, which is entirely appropriate. We get a fair amount about the creation of the Society of Jesus (including personal anecdotes about the charisma of modern-day Jesuit professors), and we get quite a bit of information about the competition between religious philosophies in the 16th century. But when it comes to the great contest of the age, the 30 Years War, we get few details. One of the results of that contest was the rise (for a short time) of Sweden to great power status, but Sweden is mentioned only in passing. Frankly, there is more about the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Danes than there is about the core of that war.

The third section of the course is the best of the lot, covering with some detail the passage of Spain, France, Austria, and England from medieval kingdoms to proto-modern nations. As is usual in English-language histories, the details of England from Henry VIII to the Glorious Revolution is given more time and attention than similarly momentous periods in the other states. While typical, I found this a bit disappointing.

The course ends with a short piece on the early Enlightenment period, especially the rise of the scientific method. This was handled fairly well for an introduction to the subject, though it was clearly just an introduction.

Overall, I can't recommend this course as an introduction to 15th-17th century European History. It's both too detailed and too superficial to work well. As a second look at the period, it would provide an interestingly different perspective, though.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a long audio book but the lectures in it are interesting and cover a lot of topics. I do wish the lecturer spent more time about the Art of the Renaissance as that was the main reason I wanted to listen to it in the first place. Unfortunately the Art section only received one whole lecture and then related details were sprinkled throughout a few other lectures. If you're checking this out for the Art, know that he talks about Art for less than 5% of the audio book.

This is a petty detail but I wasn't sure if I could listen to his voice for the whole thing as he sounded dry and dull at the beginning. Fortunately the lecturer knows his stuff and covers a lot of details on different subjects which makes up for it. Also he only sounds dry and dull at the beginning but he shakes that off after the first ten minutes.

I did like how the lessons were organized. Much of his lectures happened at the same time during this period so he split it up to focus on one area or person, like England or Luther, before backtracking and focusing on another country/person and their history. On a few lectures for one subject he funnels all of the timelines into one conclusive lesson to wrap up everything related to it.

[Valery · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the majority of the Great Courses lectures, especially the long ones, but this one was a challenge.
The best part of it is, without doubt, about Reformation. Here the lector offers interesting insights, really helps to organise a lot of information and goes beyond the general idea of 'Luther-90 thesis-church-bad'
As for the renaissance, late medieval as well as early age of enlightenment parts - they are very broad and general. I came into this course after finishing 3 parts on Early, High and Late Middle ages by Philip Daileader (also TGC lecturer) and i feel like they offer a better insight on the Renaissance part, though they don't spend nearly as much time dwelling on it. Same for the enlightenment. This might be okay if you really have no previous knowledge and just want to get a general impression of the age, but if you are interested in deeper take i wouldn't advise this course.
Lecturer is at times very captivating and interesting, and at times very difficult to get through. All in all this was okay as a lecture course, though i wouldn't recommend it if you want to deepen your knowledge about these periods. You should check separate TGC courses for this, or only listen to the Reformation part, which was really great.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a historian by any means, but I’m not so sure that this lecture series is the best source out there. For one thing, I (an amateur) noticed two incorrect statements that the instructor made. One was that Catherine of Aragon was Charles V’s niece, when she was his aunt (he mentioned this TWICE, so it wasn’t that he misspoke). The other was that Prince Arthur Tudor died in a shipwreck. Every other source I’ve seen says that he died of an illness. Also, when he said that Frederick, the Winter King, was refused assistance by King James of England, he failed to mention that Frederick’s wife was James’ daughter. You would think that that would be kind of an important thing to mention…Nitpicking here, but also, Van Leeuwenhoek was first a draper by trade and a lens grinder (what the instructor said) second. He originally used the microscope to examine the quality of the fabric he dealt with.

And that’s all that I caught, but judging from this, I’m sure there are more.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A look at Europe, and only Europe, from the 1300s to the early 1800s. So first the good points.

- Good engaging speaker
- his Reformation portion is fairly well done.

The bad

- Some information is flat wrong or misleading.
- He generalizes way too much. Europe was most definitely not a monolithic block.
- Lacks context, this is high school level overview with the lack of insight of that level.
- A europe-centric view that fails even to consider the broader Mediterranean much less global pressures."
- He knows nothing about the conquest and discovery of the new world, but what he learned in High School,

Id give this one a hard pass. If the lecturer wasnt such a good speaker I would of probably gave it a lower rating.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars rounded up
I quite enjoyed this and found this interesting enough to hold my interest through this long rather complicated lecture.
That said the author got lots of simple, Google-able information incorrect. It leads to doubt about the author/professor/historians actually basic knowledge abd understanding of this subject.
Again most of the errors could've been corrected with a simple Wikipedia search as it's dates, ancestry, etc.

This is a dynamic and convoluted period in British history.
Whew chile!

[Nick Heim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in preparation for a college course. It was one of the better great course lectures I've listened to. The speaker is a little dry and dispassionate, but the scope of time and observations are dizzying. If you're looking for something on the Italian rennaisance and humanist movement, it's a little light.

However, it explores the causes and effects of humanism masterfully. It covers from the 14th century up to the scientific revolution in detail. Primarily focusing on developments in England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

[Lamadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a harder time than usual paying attention and absorbing the material. I would basically give up and not go back to replay the section I missed. I don't know why it was less interesting than other very similar Great Courses. While at the beginning I found the professor's uncommon pronunciation of some words to be amusing, I eventually found it to be annoying when they were commonly used words, like "papal". In the end, I was trying to rush through to just get to the end. Other Renaissance history Great Courses were much better.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! I listened to this after The Six Wives of Henry VIII, so I was in the mood, but I loved this lecture series! I learned so much that I had never heard of before- like Anabaptists taking over Muenster, the English civil war, everything with William of Orange, so much about society, politics, religion, science! I also really enjoyed Fix’s style, very easy to listen to and learn from, like a friendly chat about all the history.

[Eric Mortensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read other books on the period and wasn't sure what to expect the additive value to be of this book but was pleased to obtain an excellent understanding off the period personalized to conditions within each if the EU counties involved. I learned things about the cultures if these regions that is never known. I'd definitely recommend this to those interests in the period.

[JanaT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a bit divided on the course. The course is amazing and offers a wide variety of topics and practical approach to the past. However, giving the wideness, I'm not sure if it can be a first touch. I have immensely enjoyed it, even though there are some tiny boo-boos. Highly recommending as revision or deeper dive.

[Bob Szesnat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overall of the period. I was most impressed by the speaker's grasp of the reformation. I would recommend this to anyone interested in investigating or have a general interest in the time period.

[Kayiris · Rating 4 out of 5]

good. the professor was not as good as others. gave a lot of insight.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite presenter as a speaker, but the course was entertaining and informative.

[XXX · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad to say I waited too long on this review [darn job market]