by Ted Stewart
Girolamo Savonarola, priest and secular leader of Florence in the late fifteenth century, portrayed the dilemma facing Europe: “There will not be enough men left to bury the dead; nor means to dig enough graves. So many will lie dead in the houses, that men will go forth through the streets crying, ‘Send forth your dead!’”24
A Matching Moral Decay
These abysmal conditions, along with the weakness of—indeed, the contempt for—the church resulted in a general collapse of morality.
The morality of the people shared in the common debacle. Cruelty, treachery, and corruption were endemic. Commoner and governor were alike open to bribes. Profanity flourished; . . . the most sacred festivals were passed in card-playing, gambling, and blasphemy. . . .
Sodomy was frequent, prostitution was general, adultery was almost universal.25
Another noted historian describes what an extraordinarily depressing time it was to be alive: “A general feeling of impending calamity hangs over all. Perpetual danger prevails everywhere.”26
Elsewhere he portrays the era:
Is it surprising that the people could see their fate and that of the world only as an endless succession of evils? Bad government, exactions, the cupidity and violence of the great. . . . The feeling of general insecurity which was caused by the chronic form wars were apt to take, . . . by the mistrust of justice. . . . The background of all life in the world seems black. Everywhere the flames of hatred arise and injustice reigns.27
Such hopelessness permeated the writings of the time: the poems, the histories, the songs and ballads, even the sermons delivered from the pulpits. Court poets reflected no hope or happiness, only suffering and misery. Life was bemoaned. Early death was sought. Even contracts and other forms of legal documents were steeped in pessimism.
One poet talked of the enviable state of the childless: “Happy is he who has no children, for babies mean nothing but crying and stench; they give only trouble and anxiety; they have to be clothed, shod, fed; they are always in danger of falling and hurting themselves; they contract some illness and die.”28
It was accepted that Satan controlled the earth. His devils and sorcerers and witches and warlocks were to be found everywhere. For some, even death brought no relief, for it was commonly believed that no one who had died subsequent to the Great Papal Schism of 1378 would be allowed to enter paradise.29
Little wonder, then, that it was assumed that the end was very near.
The end of the world: the idea was taken quite seriously by Europe of the late fifteenth century—not as a mere conceit . . . , but as a somber, terrifying prediction based solidly on the divine wisdom of biblical prophecy and the felt experience of daily life.30
A good example of the attitude of the time can be found in the Nuremberg Chronicle. Published in 1493, it was one of the first printed books in Western history, its purpose being to recount world history down to that age. One would think, considering this groundbreaking accomplishment, that the Chronicle would celebrate its significant place in history. Instead, it predicted only further discouragement and despair:
“Iniquity and evil have increased to the highest pitch.” . . . Only the wicked will prosper, good men will fall into contempt and penury; there will be no faith, no law, no justice, no peace, no humanity, no shame and no truth. . . . War and civil tumults will spread over the whole world, neighboring cities fall to fighting one another, and conditions become so abominable that no man can lead the good life. Then will be fulfilled the whole screed of the Apocalypse: flood, earthquake, pestilence and famine; crops will not grow nor fruit ripen; the springs will dry up and waters flow with blood and bitterness.31
True to its general theme, the Chronicle concluded by prophesying the immediate end of the world.32
But it was wrong, for just a few months earlier, the world had received stunning news. A previously unknown captain, a sailor named Christopher Columbus, had returned from a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in which he claimed that he had found land!
Europe would never be the same again.
Along the Black Sea’s Western Shore December 1493
The old man spoke honestly. “I don’t see it,” he admitted.
The Arab looked at him. “Walk with me,” he said, pushing himself to his feet.
The old man hesitated until the Arab reached out his hand. The European took it and pulled himself up on creaking knees. The Arab turned and started walking north.
“Where are you going?” the older man asked.
“Come with me,” the Arab said.
To the north, a rocky buttress pushed against the banks of the Black Sea. It rose sharply against the sky, the gray rock spotted with patches of vegetation. A game trail cut back and forth along the face of the outcropping and the Arab started climbing, using his hands as much as his feet. The older man hesitated at the base of the rock. He glanced over his shoulder to see a couple of his men watching, then started climbing the steep trail. Twenty minutes later, they had reached the top. Winded, the old man bent over to catch his breath, then straightened up and looked around. The view stretched before him: the sea to his back, the dark water an unending pool of blackness that seemed to suck up the failing light. Before him, rolling hills and plains. This was wilderness area, virtually uninhabited by man. Far to the north, he could barely see the outline of the Balkan Mountains that ran through a sparsely populated land. To the south, much too far to see, he knew the great city of Constantinople stood as the gateway between east and west.
The Arab stood with his face to the setting sun. Lifting a hand, he pointed to the western horizon. “Out of the smallest things, the greatest things may be.”
The European moved to his side, still panting in labored breath. It took him a moment before his breathing settled down. He was a little put out by the hike, and more frustrated at being made to feel as if he didn’t know what was going on. As the older man, if there was to be any teaching, it should have come from him. But he wasn’t completely stupid—his age and wealth were a testament to that—and so he didn’t speak.
The Arab pointed again. “To the west, two thousand miles, do you know what is out there? Look with me. Don’t you see it?” He gestured to the darkening horizon that had just lost the setting sun.
The European looked, then shook his head. All he saw were shadows of hills and trees and the first of the emerging stars.
“Look across the land that we call Greece. Imagine in your mind. Across the Adriatic, to your homeland, then across the Mediterranean Sea. That is the focal point of history now, the turning point of our day.”
The old man finally understood. “Christoffa Corombo,” he muttered softly.
The Arab turned and nodded to him. “Yes. Christopher Columbus. And the thing that he discovered is going to change virtually everything.”
The New World
The discovery of the Americas impacted the Old World in enormously important ways, many of which are not well known and maybe even less appreciated.
The Old World was about to become the beneficiary of unsurpassed amounts of gold and silver, new foods, a supply of timber and furs, and other sources of wealth and economic vitality.
But the most important changes that were about to unfold were not of a material kind. The psychological impact, the effect on the morale of the people, the burst of enthusiasm and energy and optimism that exploded after Columbus’s discovery far surpassed any economic benefits.
The historical perspective of Christendom in 1493 is desperate. Men felt the blankness of the outlook everywhere. . . .
Here comes one of the cataclysms of the human mind. Turning on a few years we find this disillusionment gone, and the world full of explosive ideals, moral, philosophical, cultural, social, religious. The change is complete and astounding. . . . A new envisagement of the world has begun, and men
are no longer sighing after the imaginary Golden Age that lay in the distant past, but speculating as to the Golden Age that might possibly lie in the oncoming future. . . .
But the change was complete and astounding, and the foundation of modern ways of thought had been laid.33
Another great historian put it this way:
In a few years we find the mental picture completely changed. Strong monarchs are stamping out privy conspiracy and rebellion; the Church, purged and chastened by the Protestant Reformation, puts her house in order; new ideas flare up throughout Italy, France, Germany and the northern nations; faith in God revives and the human spirit is renewed. The change is complete and astounding.34
But why were things so different? Why did the discovery of the New World change Europe in so many dramatic ways?
First, the Reformation began, allowing for the spiritual abuses of the church to be corrected:
The clash of controversy between Catholic and Protestant on the highest matters of faith produced an enthusiasm on both sides which shows that the moral fibre of Europe had tightened up to a surprising degree. . . . Men braced themselves up to face the hard duty imposed by conscience and a sense of spiritual obligation, in a way that had been much rarer in the Middle Ages.35
Second, with the size of the known world being instantly doubled, the greatest commercial revolution in history was about to begin:
The Atlantic nations found in the New World an outlet for their surplus population, their reserve energy, and their criminals, and developed there avid markets for European goods. Industry was stimulated in Western Europe, and demanded the mechanical inventions, and better forms of power, that made the Industrial Revolution. New plants came from America to enrich European agriculture—the potato, tomato, artichoke, squash, maize. The influx of gold and silver raised prices, encouraged manufacturers, harassed workers, creditors, and feudal lords, and generated and ruined Spain’s dream of dominating the world.
The moral and mental effects of the explorations rivaled the economic and political results. . . .
All limits were removed; all the world was open; everything seemed possible. Now, with a bold and optimistic surge, modern history began.36
The vast amounts of gold and silver found in the New World created great wealth. This infusion of gold and silver also led to the fluidity of currency. This boosted trade, not only within Europe but between Europe and the New World and Asia as well. International markets exploded, leading to vastly increased trade with the Middle East and even farther to the East. India became a noted trader with Western Europe. This surge in trade greatly increased wealth throughout Europe. In addition, it led to a severely weakened Ottoman Empire, which had held a stranglehold on these important trade routes and associations for many centuries.
Third, new foods from the Americas added to European diets greatly enhanced the health and longevity of the Europeans. Famines became less likely. Droughts became less deadly.
Finally, the New World provided the Europeans with a sudden source of cash crops, specifically coffee and sugar, which they had previously been forced to buy from the Ottomans. Instead of having to import these important commodities, the Europeans were soon able to support their own demand. Shortly thereafter, they started exporting these crops to the Middle East.
Financially weakened and isolated, their invasions thwarted, the Ottoman Empire began to fade as a threat to Europe.37
What If?
What if Europe, seemingly exhausted and in a spiral of decline, had never been exposed to the spark of hope that the discovery of the New World created? What if it had remained in its deep and depressing malaise?
Would the Ottoman Empire have overrun all of Europe? If that had been the case, would the New World have eventually been discovered by Ottoman ships, with Muslim sailors and Turkish soldiers? Would the Western Hemisphere, as well as all of Europe, be Muslim, even today?
What would be the status of Christianity in our modern world? Would it even exist, except in small and isolated pockets around the globe? What if Christianity had not been allowed to play the vital role it did in the development of the West, especially in regard to the political and philosophical evolution that led to its unique belief in freedom, individual rights, and equality?
If Europe had continued its precipitous slide, would its people have developed the moral courage to begin the Reformation? Would the word Renaissance have the same meaning as it has for us today?
Would Europe have ever mustered the rational energy that was necessary to develop the political and moral philosophy that we refer to as the West? Or would the classical Greek ideas of democracy that we inherited, as well as the Roman philosophy of government, been utterly lost in time?
Would Europe, and then the United States, ever have developed into a place where personal liberty was recognized, equality was sought, the rule of law replaced the rule of man, and the original ideas of self-government began?
And without the influence of the United States, what kind of world would we live in today?
• • •
We do not need to find the answers to these questions. The New World was discovered. And that changed everything.
Europe was revitalized with hope. It regained its religious faith and confidence. It gathered the fortitude to fight off the Turks. The economic and innovative opportunities created by the discovery of the New World allowed Europe to leap forward in wide areas of trade, science, philosophy, and technology, initiating a new era of wealth and discovery. This period of revitalization then launched the most significant developments ever seen by man in government, law, ethics, philosophy, and liberty.
In short, this period of revitalization allowed Europe to evolve into the home of Western thought and philosophy.
Then, when the time was right and the foundation had been settled, these elements gave birth to the United States.
Along the Black Sea’s Western Shore December 1493
They stood atop the rock. The sun had gone down now and the world had turned dark. Overhead there were too many stars to count, too many stars even to comprehend. The Arab looked at the constellations, then nodded to the Pole Star, knowing the sailor Christopher Columbus must have used it to navigate, just as he and his people did. “The world has opened up,” he stated. “Perhaps it has doubled in size. Instantly, there is triple, maybe quintuple, the amount of gold and silver that existed in the world as we knew it just a short while ago. And that is just the beginning. I can feel it. Can you feel it? There is something in the air. A new beginning. A new door. It is as if the sky has opened and the hand of God has been seen. We don’t understand what is out there, but everyone wants to know. There will be a whole new world in exploration. Inspiration. Motivation. Hope. Wealth. And all of it will go through Europe. It will lift and sustain your people, even the fools that you are. It will lift you and change you and leave us all behind. I wish I could see another answer, but I know that that’s the truth. You will rise. Then we must fall. It is the way it has always been.”
The older man shook his head. Even if it was true, he didn’t care. All he wanted was to create a hint of security among the chaos that his homeland had become.
The Arab seemed to read his mind. “Have good hope, my friend from Europe, your best days are yet to come. Born again. Risen from the ashes. So many good things are in store.”
Notes
^1. See Durant, Reformation, 230.
^2. Ibid., 183.
^3. Ibid., 187.
^4. Ibid., 704.
^5. For information about the Ottoman Empire’s invasion of southeastern Europe and its ascent to world power, see Durant, Reformation, 175–90, 702–7; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1197–1218; Lewis, Middle East, 106–15.
^6. Quoted in Lewis, Middle East, 115.
^7. Durant, Refor
mation, 5.
^8. Ibid., 6.
^9. Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 16.
^10. Oman, On the Writing of History, 113.
^11. See Durant, Reformation, 17.
^12. Ibid., 18.
^13. Oman, On the Writing of History, 115–16.
^14. See Durant, Reformation, 20.
^15. See Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages, 19–20.
^16. For information about the status of the Catholic church prior to and during the era of Columbus, see Durant, Reformation, 3–25, 213–216; Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages; Oman, On the Writing of History, 110–17; Sale, Conquest, 16, 37.
^17. Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages, 13.
^18. Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 31.
^19. See ibid., 13.
^20. Durant, Reformation, 112.
^21. Ibid., 115.
^22. Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages, 15.
^23. See Durant, Reformation, 71.
^24. Quoted in Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 34.
^25. Durant, Reformation, 71–72.
^26. Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages, 20.
^27. Ibid., 21.
^28. Ibid., 25–26.
^29. See ibid., 21.
^30. Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 29.
^31. Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, 4–5.
^32. For information about the conditions in Europe during the end of the Middle Ages and prior to the Renaissance, see Durant, Reformation, 39, 64–65, 72–73; Huizinga, Waning of the Middle Ages; Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, 3–5; Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 28–46.
^33. Oman, On the Writing of History, 117, 118.
^34. Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, 5.
^35. Oman, On the Writing of History, 119.
^36. Durant, Reformation, 269, 270.
^37. For information about the impact of the New World on the Old, see Cowley, What If? 813–27; Durant, Reformation, 269–70, 752, 755, 849; Lewis, What Went Wrong, 15–16; Mann, 1491, 177; Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, 3–6; Oman, On the Writing of History, 117–22; Sale, Conquest of Paradise, 46.