Pre-Enlightenment Era

Pre-enlightenment era

Feudalism

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Politics

Society

Culture

Absolutism

Culture

• Superstition: widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation.
• In the 15th and 16th centuries, 40,000 people convicted of witchcraft or sorcery and executed.
• “Witches” were blamed for poor harvests, bad weather, illness
• Folk magic and medical remedies

Society

• Pre-Enlightenment Europe was traditional, and its economy was dependent on land.
• Religion was the foundation of society, and religious leaders decided what was moral.
• Monarchy was deeply rooted in society

Education

• European education focused only on producing religious officials, physicians, and lawyers
• Education was restricted to the wealthy male elite
• Most education was provided via religious institutions

Politics

• Monarchy: Government with a king/queen at the head; usually hereditary.
• Absolutism: a political system in which a ruler holds total powerr.
• Divine right: A political doctrine which asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.

• In the 17th century, absolutism became more popular among rulers.
• Average citizen had no way to affect change in government

Feudalism

The system in 10th-13th century European medieval societies where a social hierarchy was established based on local administrative control and the distribution of land into units (fiefs). A landowner (lord) gave a fief, along with a promise of military and legal protection, in return for a payment of some kind from the person who received it (vassal).